| 1 |
The church or chapel of St. Roche was
situated on the common muir, to the north of
the city, near the place now known by the
corrupted name of St. Rollox. A cemetery
was attached to this church, and was used for
the interment of persons who died during the
visitation of the plague in 1645–6. A similar
church and cemetery existed on the borough
muir of Edinburgh. The former was used
in 1530 as an hospital for persons infected
with the plague, and those who died were
buried in the cemetery. In 1532 the chaplain
received four acres of land in the muir in consideration of suffrages and prayers to be done
in the church for the souls of those interred
in the cemetery. [Edin. Council Records, II.,
45–59.]
St. Roche was born in Montpellier, in
France, about 1295. Having joined the Franciscan Tertiaries, he went, during the prevalence of the plague, to Italy, and diligently
tended there the sick in the hospitals of Rome
and other towns, where he effected many
miraculous cures by prayer and personal contact. Returning to his native town, he was
arrested as a spy and died in prison in 1327,
previously obtaining from God, it is said, the
favour that all plague-stricken persons who
invoked his aid should be healed. In 1385
his remains were removed to Venice. He is
commemorated chiefly in Italy and France as
the patron of the sick, and especially of the
plague-stricken. |
| 2 |
No. XLII., pp. 97, 99. |
| 3 |
Lesley's History of Scotland (Bannatyne
Club), p. 78. |
| 4 |
During Archbishop Blacader's tenure of
the see, Lollard doctrines were taught in his
diocese, and in 1494, thirty persons, men and
women, were summoned by him to answer for
the heretical doctrines which they held and
taught. These doctrines seem to have been
first introduced into Scotland shortly after
the death of Robert III. in 1406; and for
holding and teaching them, James Resby, an
English priest and disciple of Wyckliffe, was
condemned and burned at Perth in 1406 or
1407. Nevertheless they continued to be extensively held. On 12th March, 1424, the
Scottish parliament passed an act against
them [1424, c. 3, A.P.S., II., 7], and on 23rd
July, 1433, Paul Craven, a German, was
burned at St. Andrews for propagating them.
The persons charged with this heresy in 1494
were, however, more fortunate, for though
Adam Reid of Barskimming, one of the accused,
defended the doctrines held by himself and his
companions, they were dismissed with an admonition to take heed of novel doctrines and
to content themselves with the faith of the
church. Whether their escape was brought
about by the king's dislike to persecution or
from some other cause does not appear [Burton,
II., 386; III., 43. Grub, I., 365, 389. Cunningham, I., 136, 153. Bellesheim, II., 111, 112]. |
| 5 |
No. XLII., p. 100. |
| 6 |
Bellesheim, II., 111. |
| 7 |
The phrase in commendam was used with
reference to the tenure of a benefice "commended" or given in charge to a qualified
clerk or layman to hold until a proper incumbent was provided for it, or, according to a
practice of later development, bestowed upon
a layman or secular ecclesiastic, with enjoyment of the revenues for life. It was specially
used with reference to a benefice which a
bishop or other dignitary was permitted to
hold along with his own preferment. This
was abolished in England by statute in 1836.
[Voce Commendam, New English Dictionary,
edited by Dr. Murray, Oxford.] Commendators in Scotland, in Roman Catholic times,
were stewards appointed to levy the fruits of
a benefice during a vacancy. They were mere
trustees; but gradually the pope assumed the
power of appointing commendators for life,
without any obligation to account. [Voce
Commendam, Chambers' Encyclopædia.] |
| 8 |
James Stuart, duke of Ross, the second
son of James III., was born in 1476, and at
his baptism was created marquis of Ormond.
On 23rd January, 1480, he was granted the
earldom of Ross, and on 29th January, 1488,
was made duke of Ross. After his father's
death he devoted himself to study, and took
holy orders, and, on the death of Archbishop
Scheves, was appointed primate, when he was
only twenty-one years of age. But the pope
granted him the requisite dispensation, and
he proceeded to Rome to receive the papal
confirmation. It is not known, however,
whether he was consecrated. On his return
to Scotland he was made chancellor of the
kingdom in 1502, and had the abbacy of
Dunfermline conferred upon him in commendam. He also held the abbacy of Arbroath.
He died in 1504, at the early age of twentyeight. The see then remained vacant for six
years, during which time the prior and archdeacon of St. Andrews were empowered to
collate to all such vacant benefices as were in
the patronage of the archbishop and should
happen to become void. [Keith's Catalogue
of Scottish Bishops (1824), pp. 32, 33. Crawford's Officers of State, pp. 58–59. Concilia
Scotiæ, Pref., p. cxxiv. Grub, I., 394–395.
Bellesheim, II., 113, 114.] |
| 9 |
Alexander Stuart, a natural son of the
king by Mary Boyd of Bonschaw, was born in
1495; and in 1509, when only fourteen years of
age, was nominated to the archbishopric of St.
Andrews,—Pope Julius II. having granted to
him a dispensation from the impediment of
illegitimacy. The young archbishop, who had
been carefully trained for the church, and had
studied at Padua and Siena, under Erasmus,
of Rotterdam, returned to Scotland in 1510,
was made chancellor of the kingdom in 1511,
and received from the pope the appointment
of legate a latere, the abbacy of Dunfermline,
and the priory of Coldingham in commendam.
He fell, with his father, on the fatal field of
Flodden, on 9th September, 1513. [Keith's
Catalogue, pp. 33, 34. Crawford, pp. 59–61.
Concilia Scotiae, Pref., p. cxxiv. Grub, I.,
395, 396. Cunningham, I., 155. Bellesheim,
III., 114–116.] |
| 10 |
The provost of Glasgow at this time was
Mathew Stewart, second earl of Lennox. If,
therefore, the provost who led the citizens of
Glasgow to the field of Flodden fell there with
his sovereign, as is said, he was Mathew
Stewart, and not Sir John Stewart of Minto,
who had died a year before the battle. [Liber
Protocollorum, Pref. by Joseph Bain and
Charles Rogers, Vol. I., pp. 18, 19.] |
| 11 |
Meanwhile the queen-dowager had, in
1525, obtained her divorce from the earl of
Angus, and had entered into a third marriage
with Henry Stewart, the second son of Lord
Avondale, afterwards created Lord Methven.
From this marriage, also, she sought to be
relieved, without success; and she died at
Methven, Perthshire, in October, 1541. |
| 12 |
Andrew Forman was a son of the laird of
Huttoun, in Berwickshire, and in 1499 was
appointed proto-notary apostolic in Scotland.
He was promoted to the see of Moray in 1501,
and, besides holding that bishopric, was commendator of Dryburgh and Pittenweem, and
of Cottingham in England, and archbishop of
Bourges in France. The king was desirous to
secure the cardinalate also for him, and the
pope is said to have been willing to grant it.
The archbishop also was so sanguine in his
expectation of securing the coveted dignity
that he made arrangements for borrowing 5,000
ducats to meet the attendant expenses, but the
appointment was never conferred. Forman set
himself vigorously to work to consolidate the
authority of his metropolitan see, and, among
other things, succeeded in having the sees of
Dunkeld and Dunblane, which had been
attached to the archbishopric of Glasgow, restored to St. Andrews. It would seem that
Archbishop James Beaton, who had been
appointed to the see of Glasgow in 1508, had
succeeded somehow in obtaining the exemption
of his see from the jurisdiction of St. Andrews,
an exemption which had existed during the
lifetime of Archbishop Blackadder, and which
James IV., acting apparently in the interest
of his son, Archbishop Alexander Stuart of St.
Andrews, had induced Pope Julius II. not to
renew. Be that as it may, Archbishop Forman
induced the pope to limit the exemption to the
lifetime of Archbishop Beaton. It is curious to
notice that, while bishop of Moray, Forman
had successfully resisted attempts, supported
even by the king, to subject that see to the
jurisdiction of St. Andrews. Forman's administration of the archbishopric was characterised by great energy and a reforming
spirit. He died towards the close of 1521.
[Keith's Catalogue, pp. 146, 147, 35. Bellesheim, II., 116, 117, 118, 125. Concilia Scotiæ,
Pref., c., cxxv. Grub, I., 397, 398, 402. Cunningham, I., 151, 159, 160. Reg. Epis. Glasg.,
II., 533, 534.] |
| 13 |
James Beaton was the second son of John
Beaton of Balfour and Marjory or Mary,
daughter of Sir David Boswell of Balmuto. He
was educated in St. Andrews, where, in 1493,
he took his degree of M.A. In 1503 he was
appointed provost of Bothwell, then prior of
the Cathedral Church of Whithorn, and in
1504 abbot of Dunfermline. In 1505 he was
appointed by James IV. to be Lord High
Treasurer, and in 1508 succeeded George Vaus
as bishop of Galloway, whence in the same
year he was translated to Glasgow, when he
resigned the treasurership. He was consecrated
at Stirling on 15th April, 1509, and took the
archiepiscopal oath two days afterwards. In
1515 the Regent Albany promoted the archbishop to the chancellorship of the kingdom,
and he also got the abbacies of Arbroath and
Kilwinning in commendam. In 1518 he was
named by the regent Albany to be one of the
regents of the kingdom during his absence
from Scotland, and he strenuously upheld the
Hamilton against the Douglas faction. It was
in connection with one of the street fights between these factions, on 30th April, 1520, that
the incident known as "Clean-the-causeway"
took place. During his tenure of the archbishopric of Glasgow he enclosed the episcopal
palace with a stone wall on the east, south,
and west, and erected a bastion at the one
corner, and a tower at the other, fronting the
High Street. He also increased the altarages
in the choir of the cathedral, and expended
considerable sums in building and repairing
bridges at different places within the regality.
On the death of Archbishop Forman, of St.
Andrews, towards the close of 1521, Beaton
was transferred to that see in 1522, and during
his tenure of it, Patrick Hamilton and three
other protestants were burned in St. Andrews.
In 1525 he appears to have aspired to the
cardinalate and the position of legate a latere.
James Beaton was more of a statesman than
ecclesiastic, and strove earnestly not only to
emancipate James V. from the tyranny of the
Douglases, but to maintain the independence
of Scotland against the insidious attempts of
Henry VIII. He died in the autumn of 1539.
[Keith's Catalogue, pp. 36, 37. Theiner, p.
522. Crawford, pp. 61, 64. Grub, I., 411;
II., 2. Bellesheim, II., 131, 133, 136, 154.] |
| 14 |
Gavin Dunbar was a scion of the house of
the earl of Dunbar and March, and second son
of John Dunbar of Mochrum and Margaret
Dunbar, his wife. Gavin Dunbar was educated at the university of Glasgow, and afterwards studied theology and common law. In
1514, his uncle, Bishop Dunbar of Aberdeen,
made him dean of Moray, after which he was
appointed prior of Whithorn. He subsequently
became tutor to James V., and, on the vacancy
occasioned by the preferment of Beaton to St.
Andrews, was appointed to the see of Glasgow
by the lords of the regency on 27th September,
1524. In 1526 he was appointed a member of
the privy council, and on the fall of the earl
of Angus he was, on 21st August, 1528, constituted chancellor of the kingdom. He was
elected a lord of the articles in 1531 and 1532,
in which last year the college of justice was
instituted, and the statute establishing it appointed the chancellor to "have vote and be
principal of the said counsale." [A. P. S., II.,
335.] The first session of the new institution
was begun in his presence and that of the
king, on 27th May, 1532. When the king went
to France to espouse Queen Magdalen, the
archbishop was nominated one of the regents.
About this time, also, he was appointed to the
abbacy of Inchaffray in commendam. After the
death of the king in December, 1542, and the
appointment of the earl of Arran to the
regency, the archbishop was continued chancellor, and appointed one of the regent's council.
When, in March, 1543, the lords of the articles
sanctioned a proposal by Lord Maxwell that
the bible should be allowed to be read in the
vulgar tongue, the archbishop, as chancellor,
opposed the proposal in parliament until it
should be considered and approved of by a
provincial council. Notwithstanding his opposition, however, the proposal received the
sanction of the legislature. [A. P. S., II.,
415, 425.] Nevertheless, he was not regarded
as sufficiently zealous in the interest of the
church, and Cardinal Beaton was appointed
to the chancellorship in 1543, and Archbishop Dunbar returned to his diocese, where
he built the gatehouse of the episcopal palace.
He died on 30th April, 1547. [Keith's Catalogue, pp. 256–259. Brunton and Haig's
Senators of the College of Justice, pp. 1–5.
Theiner, p. 594. Concilia Scotiæ, pp. cxxviii.,
cxxix. Grub, II., 7, 18, 19. Bellesheim, II.,
133, 134, 137, 138, 171, 182.] |
| 15 |
David Beaton was the second son of John
Beaton of Balfour, in Fifeshire, and Isabella,
daughter of David Monypenny of Pitmilly,
and was born in 1494. Educated at St.
Andrews till he was sixteen years of age, he
proceeded to the University of Glasgow in
1511, and afterwards to Paris, where he completed his studies. In 1519 he was appointed
by James V. to be envoy for Scotland at the
court of France, and received the rectories of
Campsie and Cambuslang from his uncle, James
Beaton, then archbishop of Glasgow, who also
presented him to the chancellorship of that
see. On the translation of the elder Beaton
to the archbishopric of St. Andrews in 1522,
he resigned the abbacy of Arbroath, of which
the life of archbishop Dunbar. This bull only gave effect, says Dr. Joseph
Robertson, to a friendly compromise between the rival metropolitans. Yet
their strife was not at an end. Two points of controversy were still left
open:—Had the primate of Scotland right to carry his cross in the diocese
or in the province of Glasgow? Was the successor of St. Kentigern entitled
to raise his cross and to bless the faithful in the presence of the cardinal
legate of St. Andrews? These questions were fiercely debated, and issued
at length in a scandalous riot in the cathedral of Glasgow, where, in the
presence of the queen-dowager, of the regent, and apparently also of the
he was commendator, to his nephew, under
reservation of one half of the revenues during
his lifetime, and the requisite bulls of investiture were obtained from Pope Adrian IV.,
on the solicitation of the king and the archbishop. In 1525, David Beaton returned to
Scotland and took his seat in parliament as
abbot of Arbroath, and two years later was
appointed keeper of the privy seal. In 1533,
he (then proto-notary apostolic) and Sir
Thomas Erskine, secretary of state, were
appointed ambassadors to France to renew
the alliance with Francis I., and to negotiate
a marriage between King James and one
of the French princesses, and while there
so ingratiated himself as to be naturalized.
He was present at the marriage of the king to
the Princess Magdalen, nearly four years
afterwards, and returned with them to Scotland. After the queen's death, a few months
subsequently, he was again sent to France to
negotiate the king's marriage with Mary of
Guise, or of Lorraine, widow of the duke of
Langueville, and during that visit had conferred upon him the bishopric of Mirepoix in
Foix, to which he was consecrated on 5th
December, 1537. This bishopric was a suffragan
see of Toulouse, and brought him an annual
income of 10,000 livres. He afterwards conducted Mary of Guise to Scotland, and in June,
1538, solemnised her marriage to the king in
the cathedral of St. Andrews. On 20th
December, in the same year, Pope Paul III.,
at the request of the kings, both of France
and Scotland, appointed him a cardinal priest,
under the title of St. Stephen, on the Caelian
Hill, and in February, 1538–9, he was made
coadjutor to his uncle, the archbishop of
St. Andrews, and successor to him; and upon
his death, in 1539, he was fully invested in
the primacy. After the death of the king in
December, 1542, and the coronation of the
infant Queen Mary, he was created chancellor
of the kingdom in December, 1543, when he
resigned the privy seal, and on 30th January,
1544, was appointed by the pope legate a
latere throughout Scotland.
After his appointment to the archbishopric,
he manifested great energy in his endeavours
to suppress the teaching of reformed doctrine
in Scotland. At a conference of the clergy
and laity he denounced heresy, and a number
of persons who were accused of having dispersed
books and taught doctrines opposed to those
of the church were compelled to flee from the
country. Among these were Sir John Borthwick; Andrew Cunningham, son of the master
of Glencairn; James Hamilton of Livingstone,
brother of the Patrick Hamilton who had
suffered martyrdom under archbishop James
Beaton; and George Buchanan, the poet and
historian. But others were executed, and,
among them, George Wishart, whose burning,
it is said by Buchanan, in view of the arch
bishop, on 1st March, 1546, excited an amount
of hatred against himself which encouraged a
party, including the master of Rothes, his
uncle, Kirkcaldy of Grange, and a number of
others, to obtain entrance into the castle of
St. Andrews on the morning of 28th May,
1546, and slay him in his own room, from the
window of which his body was afterwards
hung, attired, it is said, in his cardinal's dress.
[Keith's Catalogue, pp. 36–38. Burton and Haig's
College of Justice, 71, 72. Burton, III., 112,
168, 170, 253, 258, 262; IV., 20, 25. Grub,
II., 16, 17, 23, 24, 27, 28. Bellesheim, II., 151,
152, 153, 154, 158, 161, 164, 165, 166, 176, 178.
Statuta Ecclesiæ, Pref., cxxix. - cxxxiii.;
Cunningham, I., 172, 180, 181, 189, 191, 192.] |
| 16 |
Accounts of this dispute by the Queen
Dowager (Mary of Guise), by Cardinal Beaton,
and by John Knox, are given by Dr. Joseph
Robertson in his Preface to Concilia Scotiæ
(Bannatyne Club), p., cxxxii. See also Diurnal
of Occurrents, p. 39; Bellesheim, II., 171;
Grub, II., 18, 19. |
| 17 |
He was also chaplain of St. Nicholas Hospital, and afterwards vicar of Dalyell, in
Lanarkshire. |
| 18 |
Diocesan Register of Glasgow (Liber Protocollorum M. Cuthbert Simon), I. 495–499;
II., 385–390. |
| 19 |
St. Christopher was a native of Palestine or
Syria. Possessing immense strength, he resolved to serve no one who owned a superior.
Having, however, served a king for some time,
he discovered that his master was afraid of the
devil, so he transferred his allegiance to him.
But observing that his new master trembled
before the image of Christ, he adopted
Christianity, and, as a penance, undertook
to carry pilgrims across a broad, unbridged
stream. While so engaged, Christ appeared to
him as a little child, and desired to be carried
over; but while carrying him, the weight of
the child proved to be so great as to make it
difficult for his bearer to reach the opposite
side. "Marvel not, Christopher," said the
child, "for with me thon hast borne the sins
of the world." His adoption of the name
"Christopher" (Christ-bearer) is thus explained. His subsequent work as a saint led
to his martyrdom. The Greek Church
celebrates his festival on the 9th of May, and
the Roman Catholic Church on 25th July. St.
Christopher was invoked as a defence against
pestilence. |
| 20 |
No. XLIV., 101–105. Abstract of Charters,
No. 47, p. 440. |
| 21 |
Notarial Copy Seal of Cause in Archives of
Skinners' Incorporation. |
| 22 |
No. xlv., pp. 106, 107. |
| 23 |
No. xxiv., p. 37. |
| 24 |
No. xxxi., p. 58. |
| 25 |
No. xliii., p. 100. |
| 26 |
St. Kentigern is said to have been
the son of Eugenius, king of Cumbria,
and of Tenaw, daughter of Loth, king of
Laudonia, and to have been born in 518
or 527. His biographer, Joceline, states
that he was adopted and educated by St.
Servanus or St. Serf, who lived at Culross,
and that he so ingratiated himself with the
saint as to be called by him, in his native
tongue, "Munghu," i.e., "dearest friend."
But this has been shown by Dr. W. F. Skene
to be a mistake, for Servanus lived nearly
two centuries after Kentigern's time. [Celtic
Scotland, II., 184, 185.] When a child,
Kentigern is said to have done many wonderful
things, such as restoring a dead bird to life,
raising from the dead the cook of his master,
and other miraculous works. On attaining
the age of about twenty-five years, he, according
to his biographer, proceeded to Carnock,
where lived a holy man named Fergus, to
whom it had been revealed that he should not
die till he beheld Kentigern. After he reached
the abode of Fergus, the good man said his
"nunc dimittis" and died, and Kentigern,
placing the body on a wain drawn by two
untamed bulls, took his departure, praying
God to carry the precious burden to the place
which he might appoint for its burial. The
place at which the wain stopped was Cathures,
afterwards called Glasgow, where St. Ninian
(A. D. 432) had consecrated a cemetery, and in
it the body was buried. Pressed by the king
and christians of this district to become their
bishop, Kentigern yielded, and was consecrated
—establishing his see at Cathures, afterwards called Glaschu, and there founded
a lay society of the servants of God or
College of Culdees. His residence was on
the banks of the Molendinar. After some
years of singular austerity, sanctity, and
usefulness there, during which he performed
many miracles, he was driven by the persecution of an apostate British prince, named
Morken, and his successors (circa 540) to leave
his diocese, and, after several wanderings,
settled in the Vale of Clwyd, North
Wales, where he built a monastery, which
was speedily occupied by nine hundred and
sixty-five men of all ages and ranks. He
afterwards visited Rome seven times—on
one of which visits he saw Pope Gregory,
the special apostle of England— and then
settled down in his monastery. After a
time, however, at the urgent solicitation of
Rhyderch Hael, the king of Cumbria, and in
obedience to a divine command, he appointed
St. Asaph to be his successor in the government of the monastery, and returned to his
diocese. There also he performed many
miracles—among these being that of the ring
and the fish, which is said to be commemorated
in the arms of the city—and there, too, he
was visited by St. Columba, abbot of Iona.
After a prolonged life, he passed into his rest
in the year of our Lord 603 or 614. He was
buried in Glasgow, which is still known as
the City of St. Mungo—Mungo being his
honorific and affectionate appellation.
Reference has already been made [p. xxviii.]
to the lights which were maintained around
his tomb in the crypt of the cathedral.
"Of special recollections of St. Kentigern,"
says bishop Forbes, "besides his bell, which
existed till after the Reformation, his well
still exists in the cathedral." Of the bell
accounts are given by Dr. Joseph Robertson
in his preface to Liber Coll. N.D. Glasgow
(Maitland Club), pp. xxiv.-xxviii., and by
Dr. Macgeorge in his "Old Glasgow" (1st
edition), pp. 18–25. The body of the
saint, contained in a feretrum or shrine,
was the object of the reverence of King
Edward I. when he visited Glasgow. The
compotus garderobe of the twenty-ninth year
of his reign (1300–1301), records seven shillings
given on the 20th of August, "ad feretrum
Sancti Kentegerni in ecclesia Cathedrali,
Glasguensi," the same sum on the 21st at the
high altar and at the shrine, and again on
the 3rd of September. [Reg. Epis. Glasg.,
II., 621.]
In an inventory of the ornaments, relics,
and jewels of the church of Glasgow, made in
the reign of James I., the following articles
connected with St. Kentigern are enumerated:
—Item, 18 precious stones of red colour for
the shrine of St. Kentigern, in a paper; item,
26 precious stones of divers colours, for the
said shrine, in another paper; item, 26 other
precious stones of divers colours, for the said
shrine, in a third paper; item, £26 15s. in
money, for the shrine, reckoning a demy for
8s. and a lyon for 5s. Among the relics, also,
were the following:—Item, in a silver coffer a
portion of the corslets of St. Kentigern and of
St. Thomas of Canterbury, and a part of the
hair shirt of our patron, St. Kentigern; item,
in a small vial, of a yellow colour, oil which
flowed from the tomb of St. Kentigern;
item, a precious bag, with the combs of St.
Kentigern and St. Thomas of Canterbury;
item, two linen bags containing "bones of St.
Kentigern, St. Thenaw, and sundry other
saints." [Reg. Epis. Glasg., II., 329.] With
reference to these portions of the saint's clothof
ing, it may be noticed that Joceline says he
wore "the roughest haircloth next the skin,
then a garment of leather made of the skin of
goat, then a cowl like a fisherman's bound on
him, above which, clothed in a white alb, he
always wore a stole over his shoulders."
[Pinkerton's Lives of the Scottish Saints (1889),
Dr. Metcalfe's edition, I., xxxvii.; II. 116.
Life of St. Kentigern; Historians of Scotland,
Vol. V. Kalendar of Scottish Saints, by
Bishop Forbes, pp. 362–372. Skene's Celtic
Scotland, II., 127–143. Macgeorge's Old
Glasgow, pp. 1–18.]
Combs used by deceased ecclesiastics were
often enclosed in their sepulchres. When
the grave of St. Cuthbert, at Durham, was
opened in 1826, a comb and other relics were
found, and these are still preserved in the
cathedral library.
In honour of St. Kentigern, David Cuningham, archdeacon of Argyle, sometime before
1500, founded immediately outside the city
port a chapel and chaplainry, which was known
as Little St. Mungo's chapel. It was surrounded by a burying ground, and is described
in the deed of foundation as situated "without
the walls of the city on the common way,
beyond the Molendinar," and near the trees
called "St. Kentigern's trees." After the
Reformation, the chapel and churchyard seem
to have passed into the possession of Donald
Cuningham of Aikenbar and his wife, who,
on 10th May, 1593, sold the property to the
town for 200 merks Scots (£13 6s. 8d), in
order to its being converted into an hospital
for the poor. [Abstract of Charters,
No. 105, p. 454. In this conveyance the
property is described as lying beyond the
Gallowgate bridge. It was converted into a
leper hospital and used as such for some time,
but about the middle of the eighteenth
century it was sold to Robert Tennant, who
built upon the ground the inn known as the
Saracen's Head. |
| 27 |
Regis. Epis. Glasg., p. 537, No. 495. |
| 28 |
James Houston, vicar of Eastwood, in the
deanery of Rutherglen, was connected with
the old family of Houston of that ilk in Renfrewshire. About 1527 he succeeded Roland
Blackadder as sub-dean of Glasgow, an office
to which the rectory of the parishes of Cadder
and Monkland was attached. He was elected
rector of the university of Glasgow in 1534,
and re-elected to that office till 1541. He also
held the dignity of vicar-general of the see
during the time which intervened between the
death of Archbishop Dunbar and the appointment of Archbishop Beaton. He died about
1551.
For the service of the church a provost,
eight canons or prebendaries, and three choristers, were appointed, and three prebendaries were added by subsequent benefactors;
one—the ninth—being founded by Nicholas
Witherspowne, vicar of Strathaven, in the
deanery of Rutherglen, and two by Sir Martyn
Reid, chaplain at the altar of St. Christopher
in the High Kirk of Glasgow. Endowments
for the support of these were provided, not
only by the founder and by Witherspowne
and Reid, but by the magistrates and council,
partly from lands and houses within or near
to Glasgow and partly from the fruits of the
parish churches of Dalry and Maybole. The
third prebendary of St. Anne was required
to be learned and expert in playing on the
organ, and to perform on it daily according
to the use and wont of the metropolitan
church. He had also to keep a "song school"
for the instruction of youth in plain-song and
descant. The right of patronage of the provostry was vested in the abbot and convent of
the Benedictine Monastery of Kilwinning;
that of the first and second prebends in the
prioress and convent of the Cistertian Monastery of North Berwick; and that of the third,
fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth,
tenth, and eleventh, in the bailies and council
of the city.
The sixth prebend was designated after St.
Roche, and the prebendary had assigned to
him certain payments from houses within the
burgh, and also the lands belonging to the
church dedicated to that saint by Thomas
Muirhead in 1508, previously referred to. The
patronage of St. Roche's church was vested in
the magistrates and council of the burgh, and
they, as well as its chaplain, appear to have
consented to its incorporation with the college
church of St. Mary and St. Anne, on the footing
of the prebendary being bound, thrice a week,
to say mass and perform other offices in the
church of St. Roche for the soul of the
founder. When not performing service there,
he had to be present with the other prebendaries at certain specified services in the
collegiate church.
The endowments of the church appear to
have been enjoyed after the Reformation by
the prebendaries, upon whose death they
passed into the hands of the municipal corporation, by virtue of a charter granted by
Queen Mary to the magistrates, council, and
community, on 16th March, 1566–7. [No. LIX.,
pp. 131–137], and a precept, dated 5th June,
1568, by King James, with advice of the earl
of Moray, extending the donation made by
that charter. [No. LX., pp. 137–140.] They
were subsequently either transferred to the
university by the magistrates and council,
under a charter dated 8th January, 1572–3
[No. LXIII., pp. 149–162], and ratified by
parliament on 26th January, 1572–3 [No.
LXIV., pp. 162–3], or were applied towards
payment of the stipend of the minister of the
Tron Church. In 1598 Sir Patrick Houston
unsuccessfully claimed the several endowments
made by his ancestor, on the ground that they
had been diverted from the purposes of the
foundation. The chaplainry of St. Roche was
one of the church livings specially conveyed
to the university and college of Glasgow by
the charter of confirmation and novodamus
granted by Charles I. on 28th June, 1630 [No.
CIV., pp. 328–347], and ratified by parliament
on 28th June, 1633 [No. CV., pp. 347–351].
The church of St. Mary and St. Anne was
surrounded by a burying-ground, on the west
side of which stood the song school, which was
appointed, on 24th December, 1588, to be sold,
with certain portions of the common property
of the city, to defray debt incurred by the
council in adopting precautions against the
plague. [Council Records (S. B. R.), I., 124.
Memorabilia, pp. 27–28.] The church itself
lay waste for more than a quarter of a century
after the Reformation. It was sold to James
Fleming and spouse in 1570 [No. LXL], but was
reacquired and again frequented as a place of
worshipabout 1592. The council wereappointed
patrons of the Trongate church by crown
charter granted in 1636 [No. CX.], confirmed by
act of parliament, 1641, c. 225. [No. CXVIII.,
A. P. S., v. 473]. It was destroyed by fire
in 1793, when the present church, known as
the Tron, St. Mary's, the New Kirk or
Laigh Kirk, was erected on the same site.
The tower or spire adjoining the existing
church was erected in contiguity to the old
church about the year 1637. [Liber Collegii
Nostri Domini (Maitland Club), Pref., pp.
xiv.-xxxiv. M'Ure's View of the City of
Glasgow, p. 59]. |
| 29 |
Loretto is an Italian city about three miles
from the Adriatic, and the legend of the holy
house connected with it, and which seems to
have sprung up at the close of the crusades,
has given it the name of the Christian Mecca.
This legend represents that the house of
Nazareth in which Mary was born, brought
up, and received the annunciation, and in
which she lived during the childhood of Jesus
and after his ascension, was converted by
the apostles into a church; that in 1291 it
was carried by angels through the air, and
deposited first in Dalmatia, where an appearance of the virgin and numerous miraculous
cures attested its sacredness; three years
later it was again carried by angels across
the Adriatic to a wood near Recanti, from
which wood (lauretum), or from the name of
its proprietrix (Laureta), the chapel derived
the name "sacellum in Laureto." In 1295 it
was finally removed to its present site. Bulls
in favour of the shrine of Loretto were issued
in 1491 by Pope Sixtus IV., and in 1507 by
Pope Julius II., and it was subsequently recognised by other pontiffs. |
| 30 |
Abstract of Charters, No. 47, p. 440. |
| 31 |
No. XLVI., pp. 107–109. |
| 32 |
No. XLVII., pp. 109–112. |
| 33 |
No. XLVIII., pp. 113–117. |
| 34 |
Liber Coll. Nostre Domine Glasg., pp.
48–50. Abstract of Charters, No. 51, p. 441. |
| 35 |
1457, c. 24, A. P. S., II., 50. |
| 36 |
1491, c. 17, A. P. S., II., 226, 227. |
| 37 |
Historical MSS. Commission, XI. Report
(Hamilton MSS.), p. 34. |
| 38 |
1555, c. 17, A. P. S., II., 495. |
| 39 |
A collection of these bonds will be found
in a Miscellany of the Spalding Club—one
from the charter room of Slaines, and the
other from Gordon Castle. Miscellany, II.,
cvi., cx.; IV., xlviii., xlix. |
| 40 |
In virtue of grants from the crown and
subject superiors of great districts of country,
including many baronies and regalities, the
bishops and archbishops of Glasgow enjoyed
well defined jurisdictions within their territories, which were exercised by deputies or
bailies. This jurisdiction extended both to
civil and criminal matters. According to
Erskine [Institutes of the Law of Scotland
(Nicolson's edition), I., 105], the baron, or his
bailie, might, in the exercise of his civil
jurisdiction, judge in questions of debt within
the barony, and in most of the possessory
actions; and though, by a known rule, no
person ought to judge in his own cause, a
baron might judge in all such actions between
himself or his vassals and tenants as were
necessary for making his rents and feu duties
effectual. Thus he might ascertain the price
of corns due by a tenant, and pronounce
sentence against him for arrears of rent. He
might, in consequence of his own decree,
compel his tenants to perform to him all the
services, either contained in their rights or
fixed by usage, and to carry their corns to the
mill of the barony. He might punish them
for abstracting their grain to another mill;
and he could anciently have brought actions of
removing against them before his own court;
but in all the cases where he himself was a
party, he could not judge in person. He had
also a power of police, by which he might fix
reasonable prices upon work wrought within
the barony. According to the laws ascribed
to Malcolm Mackenneth, c. 13, the criminal
jurisdiction of a baron reached to all crimes
except treason and the four pleas of the crown
[robbery, murder, rape, and fire-raising], and
even by our later law he might have judged,
not only in reckless fire-raising, in processes
for breaking of orchards and dovecots, destroying of green wood and of planting, etc.,
provided the offenders were taken in the fact,
and in riots and bloodwits, the fines of which
he might have appropriated to himself; but,
according to the general opinion of our lawyers,
in the capital crime of theft, though he should
not have had the clause cum fossa et furca in
his charter, yet he could judge in no other
capital crime if he had not been specially
infeft with that privilege. [See also Stair's
Institutions, by More, I., pp. 198, 199, 240–
242.] The baron's judicial powers as thus
indicated remained till the Act 20, George II.,
c. 43, largely curtailed them. Much interesting information as to the constitution and
functions of these courts will be found in Dr.
John Stuart's preface to volume ii. of the
Miscellany of the Spalding Club, pp. xlii.–lii.;
Extracts from the Register of the Regality
Court of Spynie, Ibid., pp. 119–146; Extracts from the Court Books of the Baronies
of Skene, Leys, and Whitehaugh; Miscellany,
vol. v., pp. 217–238; and in the Rev. Douglas
Gordon Barron's Introduction to the Court
Book of the Barony of Urie, in Kincardineshire.
[Scottish History Society, vol. 12.] A burgh
of barony is a corporation consisting of the
inhabitants of a determinate tract of ground
within the barony, erected by the sovereign
and subjected to the government of magistrates, elected sometimes by the inhabitants,
and sometimes by the baron, their superior.
A burgh of regality, on the other hand, was
similarly constituted, but existed within the
lands of a regality which held the highest
rank, and possessed the amplest jurisdiction
under the crown. As regards both descriptions of burghs, whatever jurisdiction belonged
to the respective magistrates was possessed
also cumulatively by the superior. Glasgow was
first a burgh of barony and afterwards a burgh
of regality, before it attained the rank and
privileges of a royal burgh. All jurisdictions
which were formerly competent to burghs of
barony or regality, or their respective magistrates, in so far as such burghs were independent of the baron or lord of regality, or in so
far as they were dependent on royal burghs,
were reserved entire by the Heritable Jurisdiction Act 20, George II., c. 43, before
referred to, excepting only their power to
repledge from the court of the sheriff or
steward. |
| 41 |
Narrated in and confirmed by the act 1681,
c. 140, A. P. S., viii., 396. |
| 42 |
St. Eloy, or Eloi, or Elijius, born at
Castillac, near Limoges, in 588, was originally
a goldsmith, afterwards coiner to Clothaire II.
of France, and treasurer to his successor,
Dagobert. He afterwards became a priest, and,
in 640, was raised to the bishopric of Noyon.
He became the apostle of Flanders, and
founded a great many monasteries and
churches, dying in December, 659. On
account of his training and eminence as a
goldsmith, he became the patron of goldsmiths
and hammermen. |
| 43 |
Copy in minute book of the Incorporation
of Hammermen. |
| 44 |
Original in the Archives of the city. |
| 45 |
Such schools may at first have existed only
in cathedral towns, for the training of choir
boys, but long before the Reformation they
were established in connection with great
abbeys and religious houses, and in many of
the larger burghs. They were continued after
the Reformation, and English as well as music
was taught in them. In his History of the
Burgh and Parish Schools of Scotland, the
late James Grant refers to the existence of such
schools in St. Andrews, Aberdeen, Perth,
Brechin, Forfar, Crail, Kirkcudbright, Kirkwall, Wigtown, and Kilmarnock; and he observes that, though the "sang school" was
primarily founded for the service of God in
the church, provision was made for instructing
the lay people in music who were willing to
avail themselves of it. It would seem also
that to the sang school of the cathedral the
precentor or cantor held the same relation as
the chancellor did to the grammar school.
After the Reformation the cultivation of music
so declined that, in 1579, parliament passed
an act to arrest the decay. By it the patrons
of colleges in which sang schools were founded
were required to erect such schools and to
supply masters competent to instruct the
youths in the science. [1579, c. 58, A. P. S.,
III., 174.] But this legislation, followed by
special encouragement given by James VI. and
his queen to music schools in Musselburgh,
Elgin, and Dunfermline, failed to effect its
praiseworthy object. On each of 18th May
and 2nd July, 1577, and 18th June, 1583, payments of 40s. were made by order of the town
council of Glasgow, as the rent of a chamber to
be a "sang school" [Council Records, I., 462,
463, 472], and in 1626 they sought to afford
protection to the teaching of music by discharging all schoolmasters other than James
Sanders from teaching music. [Ibid., I., 354.]
Twelve years afterwards the council, finding
the music school to be "altogether decayed,"
called Sanders before them, and, having obtained his consent, authorised Duncan Birnet
to take up a music school in the burgh, and
prohibited every other school from teaching
music during the subsistence of the engagement of the teacher appointed by them. [Ibid.,
I., 388.] On 12th September, 1646, the
council agreed with John Cant, musician, to
pay him £40 for each of five years, "for raising
the psalms in the high kirk on the sabbath,
and in the Blackfriars at the weekly sermons,
and for keeping ane music school." [Ibid., II.,
96.] But in 1669 Glasgow was altogether
"destitute of a teacher" of music, and "many
were the honest men who wished that an able
musician should be hired out, and brought to
the town." From the information collected
by Mr. Grant, it appears that, from an early
period down to the end of the seventeenth
century, there was in several of the most
important burghs either a separate school for
teaching music—vocal and instrumental—or
it formed one of the branches of education
in the grammar school. The art seems not
to have been studied anywhere with interest
or zeal, though during that period it does not
appear to have been a dead subject.
See a valuable paper "on scholastic offices
in the Scottish Church in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries," by Dr. Joseph Robertson, in Miscellany of the Spalding Club, V.,
pp. 56–77; and Edgar's History of Early
Scottish Education (1893), Vol. I. |
| 46 |
P. vi. |
| 47 |
This right was confirmed by King Alexander II. on 23rd July, 1224–7 [No. V.]; and
again on 22nd November, 1225 [No. VII.]. |
| 48 |
No. III., and this charter was also confirmed
by Alexander II. on 23rd July, 1224–7 [No.
VI.]. |
| 49 |
P. x., footnote 9. |
| 50 |
No. VIII., pp. 12, 13. |
| 51 |
P. xxviii., footnote 1. |
| 52 |
P. xxx., note 2. |
| 53 |
No. XLIX., p. 117. |
| 54 |
Eldest brother of Jane Seymour, and uncle
of Prince Edward. |
| 55 |
Dalyell's Frag. of Scottish History (1798),
Erle of Hertforde's Expedicion. |
| 56 |
Ibid., Expedicion of Edward, duke of
Somerset (Ibid.). |
| 57 |
St. Anne was said to be the wife of Joachim
and mother of the Virgin Mary. No reference
to her occurs in the fathers of the first three
centuries, and she is first referred to in A.D.
368. About the time of Charlemagne her
name became familiar to the churches of the
west. She soon afterwards obtained a wide
celebrity in the Latin Church, and in Spain
especially became the patron saint of many
churches. In 1584 the observance of her
festival was imposed on the western church,
but long previously the feast of St. Anne had
become general and popular. Previous to the
end of the fifteenth century the parents of the
Virgin appeared as subordinate only to the
Virgin herself. Later on, St. Anne appears
in devotional art not merely as a historical
personage, but as occupying an independent
position, and in herself the object of reference
or of worship. St. Anne's day in the Roman
calendar was held on 26th, and in the Greek
calendar on 25th July. |
| 58 |
Excerpts from the Records of the Incorporation of Tailors of Glasgow, 1872. |
| 59 |
P. xlii.; No. XXXVII., pp. 83–84. |
| 60 |
Lady of Piety—the name given to the
representation of the Virgin Mary embracing
the dead body of her Son. It is a counterpart
to the Madonna with the infant Jesus in her
arms. The one is a representation of the
purest joy and highest motherly love; the
other, of the utmost pain and grief. The
pieta forms one of the stations of the cross. |
| 61 |
Original in the archives of the city. |
| 62 |
LXXII., pp. 189, 191. |
| 63 |
LXXIII., pp. 191, 192. |
| 64 |
L., pp. 118, 119. |
| 65 |
No. XXIV., pp. 37, 38. |
| 66 |
No. XXX., pp. 55–57. |
| 67 |
No. XLII., pp. 97–99. |
| 68 |
No. XLV., pp. 106, 107. |
| 69 |
John Hamilton was a natural son of James,
first earl of Arran, and was made abbot of
Paisley in 1525. He proceeded to France to
pursue his studies, and while there his halfbrother, the earl of Arran, was appointed
regent of Scotland, on the death of James V.
Returning through England, he was hospitably
entertained by Henry VIII. In 1543 he was
made keeper of the privy seal, and soon after
lord treasurer. On 24th January, 1543–4, the
bishopric of Dunkeld became vacant by the
death of bishop Crichton, and, after some
delay, occasioned by the opposition of Robert
Crichton, a nephew of the late bishop, Hamilton was appointed to it by the queen and
lord governor. After the death of cardinal
Beaton, he was promoted to the archbishopric
of St. Andrews. The exact date of his pro
motion is not known. He was consecrated
while bishop of Dunkeld, probably in 1546, and
his formal translation took place in 1549. He
continued to keep possession of the abbacy of
Paisley after he was made archbishop. In
August, 1549, he, as primate and legatus natus,
summoned and presided at an ecclesiastical
council in Edinburgh, which enacted a number
of canons to correct prevalent abuses. He
was also active in the suppression of heresy,
and during his tenure of the archbishopric
Adam Wallace was burned on the Castlehill
of Edinburgh in the autumn of 1550, and
Walter Mill, a quiet country priest, upwards
of eighty years of age, was burned in St.
Andrews in 1558. Another provincial council
was held under his direction at Edinburgh on
26th January, 1552, when seventeen canons
were enacted, chiefly enforcing the orders of
the council of 1549. In 1552 his catechism,
prepared in accordance with the resolution of
1549, appeared, and in the same year he
suffered from a severe illness, in consequence
of which, probably, Gavin Hamilton, an
ecclesiastic of the diocese of Glasgow, was
appointed his coadjutor, and held that office
for some time. In consideration of that service
the coadjutor had assigned to him £400 a year
from the revenues of the archbishopric, and also
had conferred on him the commendatorship
of the Benedictine monastery of Kilwinning.
Another provincial council was summoned by
Hamilton, and held by him at Edinburgh on
1st March, 1559. He attended the parliament
of 1560, and voted against the adoption of the
Confession of Faith. On 19th May, 1563, he
and forty-six other persons were tried before
the court of justiciary at Edinburgh for hearing auricular confession and assisting at the
celebration of mass, and he was sentenced to
imprisonment in Edinburgh Castle. On 17th
December, 1566, he baptized the infant prince
James in the chapel royal at Stirling, and this
was the last occasion on which a public solemn
ceremonial of the Roman Catholic Church took
place in Scotland. In 1567 Queen Mary
restored to him his consistorial jurisdiction, of
which he had been deprived in 1560. He
strenuously supported the cause of the queen,
and, after her defeat at Langside, endeavoured
to dissuade her from trusting herself to the
protection of Elizabeth. He was afterwards
accused of complicity in the murder of Darnley,
and condemned, but escaped into the castle of
Dunbarton, then held for the queen. After
the assassination of the regent Moray by
Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, at Linlithgow,
on 23rd January, 1570, and the election of the
earl of Lennox to be regent, on 12th July in
the same year, two English armies entered
Scotland, under lords Sussex and Scrope, to
support the cause of the reformers, and Dunbarton fell into the regent's hands on 2nd
April, 1571. Among the prisoners then captured was archbishop Hamilton, who was
taken to Stirling, there summarily tried, condemned in terms of his former attainder, and
hanged in his pontificial robes on the 7th of
the same month. [Keith, pp. 38, 39. Grub,
II., 17, 30, 33, 36, 55, 84, 86, 134, 153, 154,
168. Burton, III., 283, 333; IV., 64; V., 3,
36, 37. Hossack's Mary Queen of Scots, II.,
93. Bellesheim, II., 181, 182, 194; III., 72,
73, 104, 114, 170, 214.] |