Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology in the Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray 1138640670, 9781138640672, 9781315630786

Table of contents :
List of Abbrevations vi
Preface vii
Locating Aberdeen and Elgin in the Later Middle Ages: Regional, National and International Paradigms / David Ditchburn 1
The Medieval Church in the Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray / Richard Oram 16
Elgin Cathedral and Medieval Church Architecture in North-East Scotland / Richard Fawcett 33
Bishops' Palaces in the Medieval Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray / Penelope Dransart 58
Excavations within the East Kirk of St. Nicholas, Aberdeen / Alison S. Cameron and Judith A. Stones 82
Post-Reformation Church Architecture in the Marischal Earldom, 1560–1625 / Miles Kerr-Peterson 99
Patronage of the Collegiate Church at Cullen / Lizzie Swarbrick 121
From Relegation to Elevation: The Viewer’s Relationship with Painted Ceilings from the Medieval to Renaissance Eras in North-East Scotland / Fern Insh 139
Piping Pigs and Mermaid Groping: Six Carved Panels from Fetteresso / Jane Geddes 158
The Arbuthnott Manuscripts: The Patronage and Production of Illuminated Books in Late Medieval Scotland / Julian Luxford 183
The Arbuthnott Book of Hours: Book Production and Religious Culture in Late Medieval Scotland / Marlene Villalobos Hennessy 212
North-Eastern Saints in the Aberdeen Breviary and the "Historia Gentis Scotorum" of Hector Boece: Liturgy, History and Religious Practice in Late Medieval Scotland / Tom Turpie 239
Index 248

Citation preview

Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology in the Dioceses of ABERDEEN AND MORAY

General Editor

Helen Lunnon

North-east Scotland

Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology in the Dioceses of ABERDEEN AND MORAY Edited by Jane Geddes

The British Archaeological Association Conference Transactions XL

First published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ox14 4rn and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business # The British Archaeological Association 2016 The right of the editor to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-1-138-64067-2 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-64068-9 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-63078-6 (ebk)

Cover illustration: John Slezer, The Prospect of Old Aberdien, 1693 Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland

Typeset in Sabon by The Charlesworth Group

Contents List of Abbrevations Preface Locating Aberdeen and Elgin in the Later Middle Ages: Regional, National and International Paradigms david ditchburn

page vi vii

1

The Medieval Church in the Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray richard oram

16

Elgin Cathedral and Medieval Church Architecture in North-East Scotland richard fawcett

33

Bishops’ Palaces in the Medieval Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray penelope dransart

58

Excavations within the East Kirk of St Nicholas, Aberdeen alison s. cameron and judith a. stones

82

Post-Reformation Church Architecture in the Marischal Earldom, 1560–1625 miles kerr-peterson

99

Patronage of the Collegiate Church at Cullen lizzie swarbrick

121

From Relegation to Elevation: The Viewer’s Relationship with Painted Ceilings from the Medieval to Renaissance Eras in North-East Scotland fern insh

139

Piping Pigs and Mermaid Groping: Six Carved Panels from Fetteresso jane geddes

158

The Arbuthnott Manuscripts: The Patronage and Production of Illuminated Books in Late Medieval Scotland julian luxford

183

The Arbuthnott Book of Hours: Book Production and Religious Culture in Late Medieval Scotland marlene villalobos hennessy

212

North-Eastern Saints in the Aberdeen Breviary and the Historia Gentis Scotorum of Hector Boece: Liturgy, History and Religious Practice in Late Medieval Scotland tom turpie

239

Index

248

List of Abbreviations BAACT RCAHMS

British Archaeological Association Conference Transactions Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland

Preface There was always a risk to holding the British Archaeological Association Conference in Aberdeen. We were warned of reduced numbers and expected the dreich weather. However, 18–24 July 2014 saw a full turnout of over ninety participants, and unbroken sunshine which glowed regularly until almost midnight. The conference was held in the picturesque, medieval ambience of Old Aberdeen, a short walk through Seaton Park from the halls of residence for Aberdeen University. The daily stroll took delegates past a procession of medieval monuments: the audacious Crown Tower of King’s College Chapel and the ferocious castellated twin towers of St Machar’s Cathedral, stopping short of the medieval Brig of Balgownie over the River Don. Twelve of the eighteen papers are published here. Other vivid contributions came from John Goodall, ‘Medieval castles in Aberdeenshire’; Stephen Holmes, ‘Lost interiors of north-east churches’; Charles Burnett, ‘Ecclesiastical and secular heraldry in north-east Scotland’; Shannon Fraser, ‘The history of Drum Tower’; Aidan Harrison, ‘King James IV’s marriage chest’; Richard Fawcett and Jane Geddes, ‘King’s College Chapel’. Highlights of the conference were long bus journeys through peaceful countryside, firstly to the Pictish Maiden Stone, Elgin Cathedral and Museum, Spynie Palace, and vespers after tea at Pluscarden Abbey, the only British medieval monastery still occupied and in use by monks. The next tour was to 12th-century Monymusk Church and Pictish stone, castles at Kildrummy and Huntly, and a gala dinner in the great hall following a tour of Fyvie Castle. In Aberdeen there were also tours of King’s Chapel, St Nicholas Kirk and a look at the work of Sir Ninian Comper at St Margaret’s Gallowgate and St Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral. Finally, there was a Pictish tour to the sculpture collections at St Vigeans and Meigle. Enthusiastic guiding was led by Piers Dixon, Richard Fawcett, Shannon Fraser, Jane Geddes, John Goodall, Richard Oram, Matthew Woodworth and David Walker. Many people and organizations contributed to making the conference both stimulating and financially viable. The British Archaeological Association would like to thank them for their generosity. Both Historic Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland gave us privileged access to their sites, and we were warmly received by the monks at Pluscarden Abbey. Sir Ian Diamond, principal of Aberdeen University, contributed generously to both our reception in the chapel and dinner in the Elphinstone Hall, while the librarians and custodians in Sir Duncan Rice Library assisted with our reception there. The guides at St Machar’s Cathedral allowed us to practice in their bell chamber, while Ronald Leith performed a carillon at St Nicholas. The National Trust guides at Fyvie sped us through bespoke tours and the Moray Society granted us access to Elgin Museum. Backstage, staff at Aberdeen University External Affairs department coped with all our room bookings and campus catering. The BAA conference organizers were Jane Geddes, Lizzie Swarbrick and Matthew Woodworth. Behind these newcomers to the task were Kate Davie and John McNeill providing experienced back-up and ever-cool John Dunlop who handled the finances. In terms of architectural heritage, Aberdeenshire and Moray are mainly famous for their distinctive tower-houses whose development peaked around 1600 but whose origins go back to the high Middle Ages. Drum, Huntly, Kildrummy, Spynie and Fyvie provided different examples of their evolving use or abandonment. Compared to other parts of Britain and Europe, medieval churches in Aberdeenshire were generally poorer and suffered disastrously during the Reformation and Civil War. The papers about and vii

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visits to Elgin and St Machar’s Cathedrals along with their bishops’ palaces, King’s Chapel, St Nicholas, Monymusk, Cullen, and gracious Pluscarden nonetheless bring out the best that has survived. Papers on these sites were presented by Richard Fawcett, Richard Oram, Penny Dransart, Jane Geddes, Ali Cameron, Shannon Fraser and Lizzie Swarbrick. Almost lost but still detectable was the liturgical richness of the North-East at the end of the Middle Ages. Based on his recent book, Stephen Holmes1 revealed the rich inventories and the few surviving objects including the distinctive local sacrament houses. Tom Turpie explored the patriotic cult of local saints, culminating in the printing of the Aberdeen breviary in 1510. Julian Luxford and Marlene Hennessey presented the unique manuscript treasures from Arbuthnott: the missal, psalter and book of hours, rare survivors of an entire class of evidence which has mainly vanished. Objects displayed in public for the first time were the Fetteresso panels, probably of local manufacture just after 1500, miraculously preserved from the Reformers, with both figurative scenes of saints and profane humour. Jane Geddes is grateful to John Coyne for the custody and delivery of these panels, and to their anonymous owner for permission to study them. Aidan Harrison brought his exquisite coffer decorated with the initials I and M joined by a love-knot, plausibly a marriage gift from James IV to Margaret Tudor, and therefore in keeping with the royal marital decorations at King’s Chapel.2 Heraldic display was a distinctively rich and approved art form in the North-East, generally surviving the Reformation better that religious art. Charles Burnett drew attention to the numerous Arma Christi, often displayed in the same context as family badges, but generally excised by the iconoclasts. The unravelling of this medieval heritage was explained by Miles Kerr-Peterson who showed how the material transfer of churches from Catholics to Protestants physically took place, seen through the patronage of the Earls Marischal. Spanning the pre- and post-Reformation period, Fern Insh explored in practical, physical terms how ceiling decoration was ‘read’ and received by viewers. This volume makes a fresh and diverse contribution to the field of medieval art and architecture in north-east Scotland. With new approaches and asking new questions, it opens up many opportunities for further research in this area. For readers wishing to make a start, a short historiography of the region follows. David Macgibbon and Thomas Ross dominated the architectural field in the 19th century with their fundamental surveys of almost all the medieval castles and churches known in Scotland at the time.3 In thoroughness and scope they were matched by J. Romilly Allen and Joseph Anderson whose Early Christian Monuments of Scotland recorded all the early sculpture, in particular the Pictish symbol stones which are such a feature of the north-east countryside and churchyards.4 The Spalding Club, founded in Aberdeen by Joseph Robertson in 1838, has provided a bed-rock of documentary sources, thanks to its antiquarian and text publications.5 From 1926, Aberdeen University was privileged to have William Douglas Simpson employed as librarian for forty years. There are over 400 catalogue entries for his publications in Aberdeen Library, including his research archive.6 His prolific studies of castle archaeology have dominated the field for decades but are coming up for reassessment. Richard Fawcett has carried out the most recent work on all the medieval churches in Aberdeenshire and Moray through a number of surveys and monographs, notably Elgin Cathedral (shared with Richared Oram).7 King’s College Chapel Aberdeen, with its remarkable furnishings and documented history, has received a similarly detailed study, edited by Jane Geddes.8 The Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland produced In the Shadow of Bennachie, a field archaeology of Donside, where all the buildings are embedded viii

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deeply into their historical landscape.9 The architecture of Aberdeenshire and Moray has recently received the holistic and thorough investigation which it deserves, in the two substantial volumes of the Buildings of Scotland series, written by David Walker, Matthew Woodworth and Joseph Sharples. The medieval church sections were contributed by Richard Fawcett.10 The county as a whole has not had a recent historical survey, but Aberdeen City before 1800: a new history provides a fresh assessment of the town.11 One of its authors, David Ditchburn, brings out the relevant parts of that story in this volume, while Richard Oram extracts from the counties the medieval history of the Aberdeen and Moray dioceses. With its powerful legacy of supporting Catholics and Jacobites after the Reformation, Aberdeenshire has been traditionally strong in medieval liturgical scholarship. The Aberdeen breviary, instigated by Bishop William Elphinstone of Aberdeen and published in 1510, contained copious contemporary research into Scottish saints.12 Aberdeen University Library also preserves the medieval manuscripts and printed books bequeathed by its founder Bishop Elphinstone and its early staff members like Hector Boece.13 Fostered by a strong Episcopalian background, Dr James Cooper (1846–1922) ‘dismissed in some judgements as a ‘‘medievalist’’’, nonetheless founded the Aberdeen Ecclesiological Society in 1886 to gain greater knowledge of ancient liturgical furnishings and arrangements. Thanks to the society’s research, medieval buildings like King’s College Chapel received thoughtful and sensitive restorations. The architect William Kelly was likewise influenced by the Society’s interests, and this is seen in his sympathetic renovations and perceptive historical writing.14 Francis Eeles used the ample documents from Aberdeen University to develop a broad understanding of medieval worship and its rich material culture.15 The editor would like to thank Richard Fawcett, Richard Oram, and John McNeill, for their generous and timely consultations during the production of this volume, while Linda Fisher has managed the publication process itself with meticulous patience. Jane Geddes

NOTES 1. D. McRoberts and S. M. Holmes, Lost Interiors: the Furnishings of Scottish Churches in the Later Middle Ages (Edinburgh 2012). 2. This was already published: ‘A Small Scottish Chest’, Regional Furniture, 26 (2012), 1–22. 3. D. Macgibbon and T. Ross, The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland, 5 vols (Edinburgh 1887–92); ibid., The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland, 3 vols (Edinburgh 1887). 4. J. R. Allen and J. Anderson, The Early Christian Monuments of Scotland, 2 vols (Edinburgh 1903). 5. http://royalhistsoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/spaldingclub.pdf [accessed 14 August 2015]. 6. Examples of work by W. D. Simpson: The Castle of Kildrummy, its place in Scottish history and architecture (Aberdeen 1923); The Earldom of Mar (Aberdeen 1949). 7. R. Fawcett, Scottish Architecture from the accession of the Stewarts to the Reformation, 1371–1560 (Edinburgh 1994); idem, Architecture of the Scottish Medieval Church, 1100–1560 (New Haven 2011); idem and R. Oram, Elgin Cathedral and Diocese (Edinburgh 2014). St Machar’s Cathedral, Aberdeen, is served by a series of useful Occasional Papers for the general reader, produced by the Friends of St Machar’s Cathedral, but lacks a scholarly monograph. 8. J. Geddes ed., King’s College Chapel, Aberdeen, 1500–2000, 2nd edn (Leeds 2014). 9. RCAHMS, In the Shadow of Bennachie: a field archaeology of Donside (Edinburgh 2011). 10. D. W. Walker and M. Woodworth, Buildings of Scotland: Aberdeenshire, North and Moray (New Haven and London 2015); J. Sharples, D. W. Walker and M. Woodworth, Buildings of Scotland: Aberdeenshire: South and Aberdeen (New Haven and London 2015).

ix

Preface 11. E. P. Dennison, D. Ditchburn and M. Lynch ed., Aberdeen before 1800: a new history (East Linton 2002). 12. A. Macquarrie ed., Legends of Scottish Saints, the Aberdeen Breviary (Dublin 2012). 13. I. Beavan, P. Davidson, et al. ed., The Library and Archive Collections of the University of Aberdeen: an introduction and description (Manchester 2011). 14. W. D. Simpson ed., A tribute offered to the University of Aberdeen in memory of William Kelly (Aberdeen 1949). 15. F. Eeles, King’s College Chapel, Aberdeen, its fittings, ornaments and ceremonial in the sixteenth century (Edinburgh 1956).

x

Locating Aberdeen and Elgin in the Later Middle Ages: Regional, National and International Paradigms DAVID DITCHBURN

This article examines the regional, national and international identities of Aberdeen and Elgin in the later Middle Ages. Both towns were fully integrated into the religious experience and the ecclesiastical structures of Christendom, as well as into the economy of western and northern Europe, though the extent of this engagement has sometimes been exaggerated. Continental connections have also tended to overshadow analysis of the extent to which the two towns interacted with their immediate hinterlands and with other parts of Scotland. Inter-regional economic encounters were, however, significant and much of the north-east’s wealth derived from the dispatch of salmon, its most important export by the 15th century, to the Forth estuary and to London. Longer periods of economic growth appear to have corresponded with the patronage of new altars in Aberdeen’s parish church; but in times of recession the towns were increasingly thrown back on their inter-regional rather than their continental connections. keywords: Aberdeen, Elgin, medieval, ships, saints, churchmen, trade The ceiling of St Machar’s Cathedral in Old Aberdeen presents a striking symbolic depiction of Aberdeen’s place in Christendom (Insh, Fig. 1, 141).1 Largely completed by 1521, forty-eight heraldic emblems are mounted on the church’s timber roof and divided into three columns, each in turn headed by the arms of the Emperor Charles V (1519–58), Pope Leo X (1513–21) and King James V (1513–42). On the most northerly column, the Emperor’s arms are followed by those of other kings, those of the English king deliberately placed after those of the kings of France and Castile. The line ends with the shield of the episcopal burgh of Old Aberdeen — probably an ancient settlement, but only erected into a burgh of barony in 1495.2 The pope’s arms headed a central line of episcopal representations, Aberdeen — in accordance with tradition — following St Andrews, Glasgow and Dunkeld, with neighbouring Moray placed next after Aberdeen. This column ends with the arms of King’s College, the new university located in Old Aberdeen which had won papal authorization in 1495. The southern column commences with the arms of the king and then those of the royal saint, Margaret, whose insignia are followed by a series of comital devices. The line concludes with the arms of the nearby royal burgh of Aberdeen, founded in 1124653. A frieze which surrounds the heraldic display names each of the bishops of Aberdeen and, except for the ill-fated John (1296–1306), each Scottish monarch from 1130, when the see was supposedly transferred from Mortlach to Aberdeen, the 19th-century restorers having added the names of Queen Mary (1542–67) and the outstanding bishops # British Archaeological Association 2016

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between 1521 and the Reformation of 1560.3 Mitre and crown thus enveloped town and gown, and all four were ordered under God’s roof and referenced to the rest of Christendom. Aberdeen knew where it stood, or at least where its bishop thought it should stand, in the wider world. The aim of this introductory chapter is to assess the accuracy of this vision and to compare the standing of the two Aberdeens — the royal burgh and the separate episcopal burgh — with that of Elgin, seat of the neighbouring bishops of Moray, which was established as royal burgh in 1130653.4 Scotland’s episcopal and commercial centres boasted wide horizons. At their broadest and perhaps best understood these stretched to the very corners of Christendom. The Templar (and later Hospitaller) house at Maryculter, in Kincardineshire, its associated churches in the north-east and its urban properties in Elgin and at Upperkirkgate and Ship Row in Aberdeen presumably fostered an awareness of distant crusading enterprises.5 So, too, did the manuscript volume entitled De Passagio ad Terram Sanctam, which by 1465 was lodged in Aberdeen Cathedral, and the other published texts about the Holy Land which were in the cathedral’s possession by the 1530s.6 Additional evidence of distant pilgrimage is suggested by the 12th-century body buried with scallop shells, excavated in Aberdeen’s parish church of St Nicholas in 2006 (see Cameron, 87, 91).7 These shells are suggestive of Compostelan links and the enterprise of other pilgrims was occasionally recorded in the town’s council register: in 1494, for example, the chaplain Thomas Prat was granted permission to undertake a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.8 The exodus of crusaders and pilgrims was supplemented by that of students. University degrees were not an episcopal preserve, but they were an increasingly normal qualification for senior clergymen in Scotland, even by the 13th century. By the 14th century most bishops of both Aberdeen and Moray had studied in foreign universities, usually at Paris or at Orle´ans, though before the War of Independence (1296–1328), and occasionally afterwards, too, some ventured to England. Peter Ramsay, bishop of Aberdeen (1247–56), probably studied in Paris, but also with (the later St) Edmund of Abingdon in Oxford, where Columba Dunbar, bishop of Moray (1422–35), probably also progressed his studies, during the exile of his father, George Dunbar, earl of March.9 The bishops of the two sees were cosmopolitan figures whose continental contacts were maintained after their episcopal elevation. The papacy had confirmed by 1189 (or perhaps by 1192) that Scotland’s bishops might enjoy direct access to the papal court with no intermediary archbishop.10 This did not end with the belated elevation of St Andrews to archiepiscopal status in 1472 for in 1474 Bishop Spens of Aberdeen (1457–80) won exemption from metropolitan oversight, as did his successor, William Elphinstone (1483–1514), who confirmed Aberdeen’s exemption on his own promotion to the archbishopric of St Andrews in 1514. Meanwhile, Andrew Stewart, bishop of Moray (1482–1501), had won exemption for his diocese in 1488.11 For most of the middle ages, then, both Moray and Aberdeen enjoyed direct access to the papacy. This direct relationship was sustained in various ways, not least through personal contact. Most of the 14th- and 15th-century bishops of Aberdeen and of Moray personally visited the curia at some point in their careers. David de Moray of Moray was consecrated at Anagni on 28 June 1299 and his five successors also travelled abroad for consecration: John de Pilmuir to Avignon on 30 March 1326, Alexander Bur to Avignon, probably in January or February 1363; William de Spyny to Avignon on 16 December 1397, John de Innes probably to Marseille on 23 January 1407 and Henry de Lichton to Valencia on 8 March 1415.12 Episcopal conferment was, however, only the tip of the system of ecclesiastical provision. Ever since the 12th century the papacy 2

Locating Aberdeen and Elgin in the Later Middle Ages

had been extending the circumstances in which popes themselves might appoint clerics, and by 1466 Bishop Spens of Aberdeen complained to Pope Paul II that ‘since there have emanated from the Pope so many expectative graces, special reservations, nominations, unions, and other graces, even mandates of provision to benefices in the city and diocese of Aberdeen [. . .] [I] can scarcely exercise [. . .] ordinary jurisdiction over vacant benefices’.13 The bonds with the papal court spawned by ecclesiastical appointment were paralleled in the later Middle Ages by financial and judicial ties. As is well known, ecclesiastical appointments made by the pope were effectively taxed; less well known is how the money was transferred to the papacy. As late as the 14th century an intermediary sometimes carried coin to the curia. Thus James Scrimgeour delivered ‘by hands’ 100 florins to the Apostolic Camera, in payment of the common services owed by Bishop Henry Lychton of Aberdeen (1422–40) in 1429.14 This was not perhaps the safest means of transferring cash, and by the 15th century it was normal for Scottish bishops to engage the services of bankers. Of course, there were no bankers in Scotland; but there were plenty of them, mainly of Italian origin, in the Netherlands, and the ships which sailed between Scotland and the Netherlands were probably at least as important for the access which they afforded to banking facilities as for their commercial cargoes. Aberdeen and Moray bishops were as tuned into these facilities as others: Henry de Lychton, Ingram Lindsay (1441–58) and Thomas Spens of Aberdeen, and Columba Dunbar and John Winchester (1435–60) of Moray, used the Medici to deliver their common services, as did many other clergymen from Aberdeen and Moray.15 Others preferred the services of rival Florentine bankers, such as the Pazzi, the Strozzi and the Spinelli.16 In the case of bishops, the sums handled by the international bankers could be significant. In June 1498 Bishop Elphinstone of Aberdeen transferred £23 6s. 8d. Scots to the Atlantis bank for dispatch to Master Adam Elphinstone, the archdeacon of Aberdeen and the bishop’s agent in Rome. Three months later £20 was delivered to the same bankers in Antwerp for onward delivery. Another £40 followed in May 1499 and then in August Elphinstone transferred £9 10s. to expedite the acquisition of a dispensation for another kinsman, John Elphinstone.17 That made for £122 16s. 8d. in two years — at a time when the average wage of an ordinary labourer was roughly 1s. per day.18 If ecclesiastical appointment and taxation bound the clergy ever more tightly to the papal court, the tentacles of papal justice embraced the laity as well as the clergy. By the 13th century papal justice was often dispensed locally by delegated judges who were usually of Scottish extraction, though not always from the north-east.19 By the 15th century the various organs of papal justice located in Rome — the Chancery, the Datary, the Penitentiary and the Rota — also had their fill of business from northeastern Scotland. Of just over a hundred Scottish cases identified at the Rota between 1464 and 1500, eight involved the diocese of Aberdeen and three the diocese of Moray; and of just over nine hundred Scottish cases that ended up in the Penitentiary between the mid-15th and mid-16th centuries, just over 9% came from Aberdeen, while 5.5% came from Moray.20 While ecclesiastical monies flowed out of Aberdeen and Moray, religious artefacts and influences flowed in. We know, for instance, from an inventory of 1436 that the cathedral library in Old Aberdeen possessed a significant collection of canon law volumes, including work by such leading legal authorities as Tancred, Giovanni d’Andrea, Henricus de Segusio, William Durand, Geoffrey of Trani and Ramo´n Penyafort. There was, too, a substantial civil law collection, other core texts which were common to the 3

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international world of learning, written by the likes of Isidore of Seville, John of Salisbury and Thomas Aquinas, and also a copy of the ecclesiastical statutes of Cologne and Lie`ge, borrowed (but not returned) by Master Nicholas Tunnock.21 The cathedral was a centre of learning long, in other words, before the foundation of the university in 1495. It is uncertain if Elgin’s cathedral was equally well stocked with books though, if so, much of its collection was probably damaged or destroyed in the fires of 1270, 1390 and 1402 and few volumes associated with the diocese have survived.22 Although limited literacy impeded direct access to scholarship, the canon law recorded in cathedral libraries had an impact upon ‘every nook and cranny of human conduct, both public and private’.23 Saintly veneration was a more personal matter, but it, too, reflected external influences on the three north-eastern towns. By 1497 St Machar’s Cathedral in Old Aberdeen possessed the bones of St Helen (mother of the Emperor Constantine) as well as those of Isaac the Patriarch, St Margaret (probably of Antioch), and St Katherine (probably of Alexandria) — all brought to Aberdeen either by someone who had been on crusade, or perhaps more probably by someone who had picked them up second-hand in Paris, the destination of many relics plundered from Constantinople after the Fourth Crusade. Another reliquary contained clothes supposedly belonging to the Virgin Mary and the purported bones of SS Peter, Paul and Edmund of Abingdon, the last perhaps suggesting a link with Bishop Peter Ramsay, Edmund’s pupil, who had visited his shrine in France.24 There were too the remains of the Celtic saints Duthac, Fergus and medieval Ireland’s greatest export, Brigid.25 The cathedral’s saintly attachments were markedly more Celtic than the repertoire of cults evident in the royal burgh — though in both historians have long since detected growing continental influences in the appearance of several fashionable Christocentric and Marian cults.26 The most remarkable cult in the town’s hagiographic programme was that of St Anne, evident by the mid-14th century and lavishly patronized by, among others, the town’s provost in the early 15th century, Robert Davidson.27 Anne’s popularity seems to have been established long before her cult found fashion elsewhere in Scotland or across much of Europe more generally.28 Where and why Davidson acquired his devotion to St Anne is not clear. He is perhaps best known nowadays for his piratical activities and for having met his death while leading a contingent of fellow townsmen who sought to stall the westward progress of Donald of the Isles at the battle of Harlaw in 1411.29 These facets of posthumous celebrity mask, however, Davidson’s more mundane career as a merchant. Trade was the raison d’eˆtre of all towns, though, as a burgh of barony, Old Aberdeen’s merchants were curtailed from participation in overseas trade. By contrast, the trading connections of both Aberdeen and Elgin extended across the North Sea. Aberdeen exercised monopolistic rights across a trading liberty which extended throughout the sheriffdom of Aberdeen, and the profits to be made from this extensive region partly explain why Aberdeen was regarded in mid-14th century Flanders as one of the four great towns of Scotland.30 Elgin’s overseas trade, directed through Findhorn and also illegally through the bishop’s haven at Spynie, was more modest than that of Aberdeen, but Elgin merchants, too, could be found on the Continent.31 In 1479, for instance, Alan Beltmaker from Elgin, in partnership with one merchant from Forres and another from Invernairn, freighted a ship in Veere with forty vats of salt, wine and other goods for Findhorn.32 It may be unwise to draw too much significance on this one example but it, and the frequent grouping of the port of Findhorn and the burghs of Elgin, Forres and Invernairn (sometimes with Inverness) in the customs administration, suggests that the smaller towns and traders of the inner Moray Firth constituted a loose 4

Locating Aberdeen and Elgin in the Later Middle Ages

but linked social and economic region, as well as an administrative unit.33 Banff, by contrast, was more usually linked with Aberdeen than with the Moray towns, suggesting that a significant inter-regional boundary lay between the Rivers Spey and Deveron.34 While the sea afforded Aberdeen and Elgin with business abroad, it also brought foreign merchants to the two towns. Several Englishmen, including the London-based Florentine Dominic Villani, were, for instance, active in Elgin during the 1420s, though the number and range of foreigners to be found in Aberdeen was greater.35 In the early 1330s (one of the few periods for which such calculations can be made) around 20% of all alien trade customed in Scotland was funnelled through Aberdeen.36 Aberdeen’s attraction to foreign merchants derived in part because of its distance from the main theatres of Anglo-Scottish war further south. It was not, of course, immune to these developments. The town was sacked by Edward III’s armies in 1336 and rumours of English attack arose periodically throughout the later Middle Ages, stimulating the construction of defensive installations at the harbour in 1513.37 Prior to Edward III’s arrival ten ships had left port in haste, without paying customs.38 Merchants craved political stability to further their business interests, and this perhaps explains why Hanseatic merchants apparently assisted Aberdonians in ousting the beleaguered, but no doubt still threatening, English garrison from the town in 1308.39 The castle was subsequently demolished. Despite reasonably regular commercial traffic from the 15th century to Danzig and intermediate ports such as Copenhagen, Lu¨beck and Stralsund, it was not primarily with the Baltic lands that Aberdeen or Elgin traded. Nor was it with most of eastern England or western Scandinavia, though the demand for timber in Scotland stimulated closer ties with Norway from the later 15th century.40 It is not proximity but commodities that explain trade, and there was little demand in these regions for the wool, leather and cheap cloth which formed the core of much mercantile business in the north-east. The Hanseatic merchants who visited Aberdeen were probably in the main middlemen who, along with the town’s own merchants, transported these goods to the Flemish ports of Damme and Sluis, and latterly to Veere in Zeeland. From there the wool reached the textile manufacturing centres of the Low Countries, while the northeast’s cheap cloth was destined for the urban poor of Flanders. This was, however, only one dimension to the north-east’s trade. The other key export was fish. Aberdaan, a form of cod, found fame by the 13th century as far away as Flanders and Cologne, and fresh-water fish were still sent to the Low Countries at the end of the 15th century.41 In October 1497 the bishop of Aberdeen dispatched sixteen barrels and two lasts of salmon, together with six barrels of trout, which were sold for £57 16s. 2d.; and in the same month the archdeacon of Aberdeen sold a further nine barrels of salmon to a merchant from Lille in Flanders for £11 5s.42 More fresh-water fish was bound for Normandy and for England.43 While Dieppe was a relative newcomer on the town’s trading radar from the later 15th century, London constituted a significant market for north-east traders from at least the later 14th century.44 The basis of these connections rested in part upon ecclesiastical dietary regulations which dictated that a third to half of the year comprised days on which meat was theoretically not eaten, but fish was.45 But the salmon trade probably also benefited from the little-studied matter of new methods of preserving fish, from the devaluation of the Scottish currency and perhaps also from the demise of the sea fishing in eastern England from the 14th century.46 The supply of fish to large conurbations (and London was perhaps the second biggest town north of the Alps) was 5

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a challenging enterprise, but the profits to be had from its delivery to the great urban centres were substantial. It was presumably this which explains the repeated disputes between bishops of Moray and the burgesses of Elgin and Forres over fishing rights on the River Spey; and maximizing profit perhaps also accounts for the bishop’s attempts in the 14th century to develop his haven at Spynie, which seems to have been prone to silting.47 It is also profit which induced some of London’s wealthiest merchants to invest in the salmon trade. Their number included Thomas Barnwell, a prominent fishmonger who also served as an alderman and sheriff of London, whose trading enterprises extended throughout eastern Scotland in the 1430s and usually involved Aberdonian partners.48 The exemption of Aberdeen burgesses from the customs levies imposed on salmon was a lucrative advantage to working with Aberdonian merchants, and the value of this concession can be appreciated by the initial refusal of Elgin merchants to pay the new levy.49 This was an important trade and, except during the economic depression of the early 15th century, the abundance of local salmon and to a lesser extent wool meant that in Scotland Aberdeen’s exports were generally second only in volume and value to those of Edinburgh. The north-east’s export trade was not nearly as glamorous as the goods which were imported. Once Elphinstone’s fish and wool had been sold in October 1497, the bishop’s agent in the Low Countries purchased gunpowder, presumably to be used in the construction work of the new university. More typically, in November he bought cloth in Bruges and in December a range of spices and other delicacies in Bergen-opZoom: almonds, rice, confections, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, mace, nutmeg, pepper, sandry, truss and saffron. Black cloth manufactured in Lille was purchased in Bergenop-Zoom for the bishop the following May, along with two black bonnets and several red caps. Others merchants (including the London fishmonger Thomas Barnwell) delivered salt to Aberdeen and Elgin, vital for preserving fish; vinegar was perhaps occasionally used for the same purpose, but the strong preference for salt was highlighted by the urgency with which Aberdeen’s council sent to Flanders in 1449 ‘in all haste to buy a ship-full of salt’.50 The north-east was not rich in raw materials, so alum, coal and iron were occasionally imported, as was soap.51 Timber, along with pitch, tar and wax, was initially imported from the Baltic but, as noted above, by the later 15th century increasingly from Norway, too.52 Wine was required for both ecclesiastical and social purposes, while wheat and sometimes other grains augmented local production.53 The many different types and colours of cloth which arrived in Aberdeen from both the Continent and England were presumably intended for the affluent, as a mark of social distinction, rather than for the lower orders. That this extensive shopping-list could be afforded is further evidence of the wealth to be had from the export of wool and fish. So, Aberdeen was a town of cosmopolitan tastes and connections; that, at least, is the generally accepted historiographical consensus.54 Yet much of this impression rests upon extrapolation of isolated examples into a more generalized narrative which is not entirely convincing. Although, for instance, parts of the north-east were familiar with the military orders as local landlords and while some of the clerical elite perhaps amused themselves reading literature about the far-away east, Alan Macquarrie’s seminal study of the crusades has identified hardly anyone from the north-east who actually participated in a crusade.55 Indeed, the rash crusading vow taken by Patrick Menzies, a layman from Moray, resulted not in combat with Muslims, but rather in embarrassment, regret and commutation of his oath in 1479.56 Similarly, notwithstanding the excavated Compostelan shells in Aberdeen, there is remarkably little evidence, either in the archaeological or in the documentary record, of pilgrims from 6

Locating Aberdeen and Elgin in the Later Middle Ages

Aberdeen or from Elgin having visited distant continental shrines. Neither is there much evidence to suggest that the promotional indulgence obtained by St Machar’s Cathedral in 1379 resulted in flocks of foreign visitors — but then it had been issued just after the start of the Schism.57 For most in the north-east, pilgrimage was an essentially local experience and in this guise it survived in Elgin even after the Reformation of 1560.58 What, then, of the ecclesiastical sphere? How often did clergymen visit the papal court? How frequently did the papacy intervene in the matter of appointments? How extensive was the drain of money to the curia? In none of these matters were ties to the papacy quite as intense as it sometimes seems. Most of Aberdeen’s bishops (including all eleven bishops between 1329 and 1514) visited the papal court; but of the great church councils — Lateran I (1123), II (1139), III (1179), IV (1215) and V (1512–17), Lyons I (1245) and II (1272–74), Vienne (1311–12), Perpignan (1408), Pavia/Siena (1423–24), Basel (1431–49), Ferrara/Florence (1437–39) — only one (Basel) was attended by a bishop of Aberdeen; similarly, only one (Lateran IV) was attended by a bishop from the neighbouring diocese of Moray, though John Winchester, the future bishop of Moray and several lesser clergymen from both Aberdeen and Moray, also visited Basel in 1432.59 Whether practicalities or inclination inhibited participation in these seminal events is uncertain; but this was not how it was meant to be. In 1472 Bishop Spens of Aberdeen admitted that he had not fulfilled an oath to visit the papal court personally or by proxy after his provision to the see, and he sought a dispensation to absolve himself of perjury as a consequence.60 Spens, as has already been noted, was outspoken in his disapproval of papal provisions. Nevertheless, between 1342 and 1370 an average of only thirteen papal provisions per annum affected Scotland and, even though Bishop John Pilmuir of Moray (1326–62) was amongst the most active petitioners for benefices anywhere in the insular world, papal intrusions were on the whole irregular occurrences in the north-east.61 There is little sign, too, of foreign benefice-hunting. While some 13th-century Englishmen, such as Bishops Peter Ramsay (1247–56) and Richard de Potton (1256–70672), acquired episcopal office in Aberdeen, the successful intrusion of foreign clerics was rare after the Wars of Independence (1296–1328) and Master John Adornes from Bruges, who obtained the Aberdeenshire benefice of Tullynessle in the later 15th century, did so because he had been able to rely on powerful support at the Scottish court.62 As for interaction with the main agencies of papal government, provisional analysis suggests that far fewer cases from Aberdeen or from Moray reached the curia in the later 15th century than might be expected, given their proportion of the total number of Scottish parishes and given their proportion of the overall taxable wealth of the Scottish church. At the Rota, 5.9% of Scottish cases were from Aberdeen and only 2.9% were from Moray, while McDonald’s study of illegitimate clerics petitioning the Penitentiary provides figures of 9% and 5.5% respectively. Aberdeen accounted for 10.9% of Scotland’s parishes around 1300 and for 13.2% of the church’s taxable wealth in Scotland; and Moray added 9.1% and 5.4% respectively.63 If business from the north-east was slow, its profits were comparatively meagre. Although the sums that Elphinstone transferred to Rome — as noted above, extending to an average of over £60 per year — were significant, the bishop could anticipate raising similar amounts just from his fishing rights on the Rivers Don and Dee and at the coastal village of Futy, just outside Aberdeen.64 For ordinary Aberdonians, Rome’s levies were insignificant compared to the total amounts raked in by local churchmen. 7

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If we turn to saints and their cults, the image of a fashionable adherence to continental norms of saintly attachment also requires some qualification. Many — though not all — of the great Christocentric cults were evident in Aberdeen. St Nicholas (whose cult was common in coastal communities from the Baltic to the Mediterranean) appears to have been an early arrival in the 12th century (see Cameron, 95–97); but there are some notable saintly absences, too. There is little evidence of a significant cult of mendicant saints, despite the existence of a Dominican friary from the mid-13th century and a rather belated Franciscan friary from the 1460s;65 and there is no evidence of other highly fashionable cults, such as those of Catherine of Siena, Bridget of Sweden, or the plague saint, St Roche — cults which were evident elsewhere in Scotland.66 In part, these absences reflect more limited commercial interaction with the outside world than might initially seem to have been the case. Aberdeen’s trade, like that of Scotland more widely, resembled colonial patterns, by which raw materials were exchanged for manufactured foreign goods and luxuries. In times of economic boom, significant profit was to be had from this type of trade. The wealth generated by wool in the 13th century has been compared to that derived from North Sea oil in the later 20th century, and a new source of wealth was subsequently found in fish: both explain why numerous types of foreign coin were available in Aberdeen.67 Yet there were also periodic constraints on the export levels of key commodities. In the 13th century Aberdeen wool was dispatched to the textile manufacturing centre of St Omer, noted for its production of hybrid cloths called says.68 The market for these cloths declined significantly from the 14th century, and with it demand for the north-east’s wool. The north-east’s wool was not specifically identified on the surviving 13th-century price schedules from other parts of Flanders, suggesting that it was not especially distinctive in either volume or value; and from the later 14th century Aberdeen’s wool, like that of Scotland more generally, struggled to find a market.69 There are signs of a simultaneous recession in another mainstay of the local economy, the leather industry, with the decline of exports in the last decade of the 14th century and the abandonment of tanneries in the Gallowgate area c. 1400.70 Meanwhile, exports of some species of fish also fluctuated. There must be some doubt about the relationship between Aberdeen and the supposedly synonymous Aberdaan. The 3,430 haburden which arrived in Bristol from Ireland in February 1480 are more likely to have reached the insular world from Bayonne than from the North Sea;71 and once the Scottish government introduced customs duties on cod and herring in the 15th century neither type of fish constituted a major, or even a regular, item of external trade from either Aberdeen or the Moray Firth. White fish, such as turbot, landed at the small settlement of Futy, just outside Aberdeen, was presumably intended largely for local consumption.72 The diverse range of imports suggests other weaknesses in the local economy. Although goldsmiths were periodically recorded in Aberdeen, on the whole the range of crafts pursued in the town was remarkably narrow.73 The skilled labour which comprised Aberdeen’s incorporated trades (baxters, cordwainers, fleshers, litsters, skinners, smiths and hammermen, tailors, and websters and walkers) produced their wares mainly from the resources of the hinterland. So, too, did the masons employed on the construction of the great churches of the north-east. But when his clock needed mending, Bishop Elphinstone dispatched it to the Low Countries.74 The archaeology of the two towns supports the impression of locally focused industrial activity. Other than a few sherds of English, Low Countries and Rhenish pottery, the archaeological record reveals little about Elgin’s wider trading connections;75 it instead reinforces the image 8

Locating Aberdeen and Elgin in the Later Middle Ages

of a small and unexceptional town, where industrial and trading activity was focused primarily on processing animals and crops from the surrounding environment. Aberdeen was clearly a more significant settlement but here, too, despite the excavation of exotic silks and ivory, surprisingly little archaeological material ‘can be construed as direct evidence of trade’.76 There was, of course, contact with foreign countries, but especially in periods of economic recession the frequency of such contact was irregular. In the later 14th century, just before the decline in exports, an average of between only four and five ships left the Moray Firth with customed goods; by 1434–35 only two vessels exited Findhorn with goods exported by merchants from Elgin and Forres.77 Up to fifty ships departed the port of Aberdeen for foreign ports in the years up to 1340 — almost one ship per week. By the early 15th century departures had slowed to about four vessels a year.78 Vessel movements had increased again by the end of the century, but fewer than twenty vessels departed with customed goods in 1499–1500.79 This was hardly a town with regular international contacts. And that perhaps explains why Aberdeen seems to have been so lightly affected by disease. True, syphilis reached Aberdeen with amazing speed: ‘the infirmity coming out of France’ had arrived in Aberdeen by 24 April 1497, just two years after first recorded in the Neapolitan kingdom; and the ‘strange sickness of Naples’ was still causing alarm in the town in 1507.80 But the progress of the Black Death seems to have been rather different. Robert Tyson has argued that Aberdeen probably had fewer visitations of the disease than any other large town in the British Isles. There appear to have been no major epidemics between the first outbreak of the Black Death in 1349 and 1499-1500; and only three — in 1514–16, 1547–48 and 1549 — between then and 1550.81

Tyson explained this ability to keep plague at bay in terms of the robust oversight which the town exercised on its access points. The town certainly exercised considerable caution in this respect; but it is telling that, while sometimes sickness arrived by ship, the town’s precautions were often mounted on access points from the landward side (see Geddes, 167–68).82 It seems likely that part of Aberdeen’s unusual ability to withstand the vectors of disease was simply because of its limited exposure to distant markets. Aberdeen’s contacts with its hinterland, and the land routes through the north-east, have been much less thoroughly examined than the glamorous business of international sea-borne trade.83 The town’s contacts with its hinterland were, however, extensive. Aberdeen merchants frequently did business with their counterparts in Banff, Elgin and Forres, and Aberdeen was not alone in guarding against encroachments upon its trading privileges in the hinterland. In 1289 the burgesses of Banff, too, complained that incursions by those from Montrose damaged the interest of not only Aberdeen but the whole northern province.84 It was not just burgesses and chapmen from rival southern towns such as Brechin, Dundee and Montrose who offered unwelcome competition. In 1502 Aberdeen sought royal support against ‘those dwelling to land outwith the burgh’ who were buying and selling the staple goods of wool, hides and skins without recourse to the town.85 All this suggests a well-traversed network of roads in the north-east, and it was probably as much by road as by ship that external connections were forged. Horses were used for the communication of urgent and official business and also by armed knights;86 but others simply walked, as best they could. In 1445 Alexander Stephenson of Aberdeen was ‘carried with much trouble and supported by other contrivances for the weak’ to the shrine of St Thomas at Canterbury.87 Construction of the 9

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Bridge of Dee, promoted by Bishop Elphinstone and completed in 1529, facilitated access to from the south of Scotland.88 The sea, too, had its hinterland and much of its traffic was probably local rather than international. Since the records of the levies which were imposed on local shipping have not survived, inter-regional vessels movements are unquantifiable. We do know, however, that ships connected the north-east with ports as far south as Berwick-uponTweed and probably more frequently still with the Forth.89 This is hardly surprising, as vessels from the east Fife ports, stretching from Kirkcaldy to Crail, constituted the mainstay of later medieval Scotland’s mercantile fleet, their business oiled by the capital of Edinburgh’s merchants who by the 15th century increasingly dominated Scotland’s international export trade. The cargoes which filled the coastal shipping sailing to and from the north-east were often of unremarkable local produce. The lime aboard a Dysart vessel in 1483 was used for ecclesiastical building work in Aberdeen; and victuals, too, were shipped north on occasions.90 Salmon, by contrast, was dispatched south from the Spey and from Aberdeen; by 1449 consignments from Aberdeen were sufficiently large for the imposition of a new levy of one penny per barrel on Forthbound cargos.91 This newly taxed fish may have been destined for the court and/or for the wider Edinburgh market, but it is perhaps just as likely that it was trans-shipped in the Forth for sale further afield. The east Fife coast was Scotland’s most important source of salt and this, as we have seen, was a commodity sometimes in short supply in the north-east but essential for marketing salmon. Certainly, the detailed but patchy surviving customs data of the early 16th century suggests that the north-east found an outlet for at least some of its exports through more southerly ports. Goods passing through Leith in 1491–92 and 1527–28 included cargoes cocketed in Banff, Aberdeen and Elgin, while others passing through Dundee in 1554–55 hailed from as far away as Aberdeen.92 In other words, by the 15th century southern ports, especially those in the Forth estuary, had become an entrepoˆt for the north-eastern burghs, much as Bruges had been in earlier centuries, a place where agricultural and marine surpluses were exchanged for fancy consumer goods, such as the satins and velvets which an Edinburgh merchant dispatched to Elgin in 1553 while the Brig of Balgownie, constructed by c. 1300, carried the main road north over the River Don.93 Indeed, the north-east’s growing dependence on the Forth was manifested in other ways, too. In the mid-15th century Aberdeen’s town council does not seem to have possessed a copy of maritime laws and, uncertain about aspects of such law, on at least one occasion it deferred to the superior knowledge of its counterpart in Edinburgh.94 And in 1533 it stipulated that craft festivities should be held in conformity not just with traditional practice in Aberdeen but also with those of ‘of the noble burgh of Edinburgh’.95 Coastal traffic was not just with the south. It has been suggested that it was via the sea ways from Tain that Aberdonian merchants popularized the cult of St Duthac.96 There was certainly at least occasional contact with places north of Tain. In 1431 rabbit skins from Wick were taxed at Inverness and then exported from Aberdeen, suggesting conduits from Aberdeen to the west, along the Moray Firth coast, and to the north as far as Caithness.97 The first entry in the surviving council record of Elgin relates to a man from Caithness.98 Relevant, too, are the annuities payable from the Aberdeen customs to the bishops of Caithness and of Orkney.99 How such profits reached the north is not certain, though reference in 1444 to the earl of Orkney’s shipwrecked barge, freighted by Aberdeen merchants, is suggestive, as is the presence of the bishop of Orkney’s factor in Aberdeen in 1492.100 10

Locating Aberdeen and Elgin in the Later Middle Ages

My hypothesis is, then, that Aberdeen’s landward and coastal traffic was more significant than has been generally recognized; and that direct contacts with the Continent were correspondingly less important — especially in periods of recession. During the general economic boom across Europe — in the later 13th century, in the mid-14th century (after Aberdeen recovered from its sack by Edward III in 1336), and in the later 15th and early 16th centuries there are signs of reasonably significant, if unsophisticated, Aberdonian trade. Agricultural produce and fish from the north-east’s towns was dispatched to domestic and foreign markets (including the Forth estuary and England) and merchants returned with raw materials, fancy consumables and ideas. These ideas, ranging from fashionable religious cults such as the Holy Blood to knowledge of the law of the sea, did not necessarily reach the north-east from continental Europe, as is usually assumed: they may have been introduced through contacts closer to home in the Forth. Nevertheless, although extant records are not complete and considerable caution is therefore required, the three periods of general economic boom seem to correspond approximately with three periods of significant new altar patronage in Aberdeen’s parish church — and a fourth period of extensive patronage (the mid-15th century) can perhaps be explained by booming sales of local salmon.101 When, however, the European economy stagnated, as it did for much of the later 14th and earlier 15th centuries in particular — peripheral Aberdeen and Elgin were frozen out of the international commercial networks. In these years direct continental contacts of all sorts were very limited, surviving indirectly largely by means of coastal traffic and the piracy for which Aberdeen won international notoriety in the opening decades of the 15th century. Let us return to the bishop of Aberdeen’s ceiling, newly erected by 1521. How accurate a depiction, then, did it offer of Aberdeen’s place in Christendom? It was not fantastical for the bishop to place his own arms in the company of those of the emperor, the pope and the king; neither was it ridiculous for the bishop to boast for posterity about his association with the greatest men in his kingdom and in Christendom. In 1494–95 Bishop Elphinstone had visited Rome to win papal authorization of his new university. On his return he spent time in the Rhineland, where he bought at least one book published in Cologne for his library and attended to diplomatic business at Worms, seeking to promote a marriage alliance between King James IV and the Emperor-elect Maximilian. He progressed to the Low Countries, officiating at religious services in Bruges and then presumably headed for the coast, perhaps imbibing wine at the expense of the town of Veere while he waited for transit back to Scotland, as his predecessor had done in 1481–82.102 The family of the Medici pope, Leo X, had accrued some of their vast profits on the basis of handling the papal dues of Elphinstone and several of his episcopal colleagues. Elphinstone was, moreover, not unique. His clerical kinsmen were as familiar with the international world of commerce as they were with the cosmopolitan milieu of the papal court and the world of scholarship. And his contemporary in Moray, Andrew Forman, was also an accomplished bishopdiplomat, well known in Habsburg and Medici circles, but thwarted by Leo’s nephew in his attempt to win appointment to the archbishopric of St Andrews after Elphinstone’s death. This world was not alien to Aberdeen’s or Moray’s bishops or to the leading merchants from Aberdeen and Elgin, whose trading encounters and cultural influences stretched from the eastern Baltic to Iberia — and who were occasionally asked to stump up the cash to pay for diplomacy.103 But this is ‘great man’ history. And even though women, usually wives acting on behalf of absent husbands, entered the records very occasionally to handle matters of international commerce;104 and even 11

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though they and their husbands consumed foreign commodities, this was not the routine experience of most who lived in the dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray during the later Middle Ages. The more modest and discreet shields and depictions which decorated the chapter house of Elgin Cathedral were perhaps a more accurate representation of the north-east’s horizons. The arms of the king and of Bishop Andrew Stewart were intermingled with several scenes from the Passion.105 The local, the national and the international intermingled in a less complex and a less grandiose fashion than at St Machar’s Cathedral in Old Aberdeen. Both Aberdeen and Elgin were fully integrated within Christendom and engaged with its key ideologies; but distance and limited resources also placed a significant brake on that engagement, which was instead often balanced and mediated by inter-regional and national connections.

NOTES 1. http://www.electricscotland.com/historic/st%20machar%201520%20ceiling.pdf 2. A. M. Munroe ed., Records of Old Aberdeen, 1157–1891, 2 vols, New Spalding Club 20 and 36 (Aberdeen 1899–1909), I, 6–12. 3. G. G. Simpson and J. A. Stones, ‘New Light on the Medieval Ceiling’, in J. Alexander et al., The Restoration of St Machar’s Cathedral (Aberdeen 1991), 21–26. 4. G. S. Pryde, The Burghs of Scotland: A Critical List (Glasgow 1965), nos 7, 13, 162. 5. I. B. Cowan and D. E. Easson, Medieval Religious Houses: Scotland, 2nd edn (London 1976), 158–61; I. B. Cowan, P. H. R. Mackay and A. Macquarrie ed., The Knights of St John of Jerusalem in Scotland, Scottish History Society, 4th series, 19 (1983), 30-31. 6. C. Innes ed., Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis, 2 vols, Spalding Club 13 and 14 (Aberdeen 1845), II, 156; J. Durkan and A. Ross, ‘Early Scottish libraries’, Innes Review, 9 (1958), 5–167, at 40, 150–51. 7. http://www.scottishheritagehub.com/content/case-study-st-nicholas-east-mither-kirk-aberdeen 8. J. Stuart ed., ‘Extracts from the Register of the Burgh of Aberdeen’, Miscellany of the Spalding Club, 5 vols, Spalding Club 3, 6, 16, 20 and 24 (Aberdeen 1841–52), I, 1–38, at 32. 9. D. E. R. Watt, A Biographical Dictionary of Scottish University Graduates to A.D. 1410 (Oxford 1977), 159–61, 460–63. 10. A. D. M. Barrell, ‘The background to Cum universi, 1159–1192’, Innes Review, 46 (1995), 116–38. 11. A. Theiner ed., Vetera Monumenta Hibernorum et Scotorum (Rome 1864), 473–74; R. K. Hannay and D. Hay ed., Letters of James V (Edinburgh 1954), 4; W. H. Bliss et al. ed., Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland: Papal Letters, 1198–, 20 vols (London and Dublin 1893–), XV, no. 377. 12. Watt, Biographical Dictionary (as n. 9), 68, 279, 361, 411, 451, 505. 13. E. R. Lindsay et al. ed., Calendar of Scottish Supplications to Rome, 6 vols, Scottish History Society, 3rd series 23, 48; 4th series 7 (Edinburgh and Glasgow, 1956–) [CSSR], V, no. 1089. 14. A. I. Cameron ed., The Apostolic Camera and Scottish Benefices, 1418–1488 (Oxford 1934), 11. 15. Apostolic Camera (as n. 14), 11, 17, 22, 29, 35, 47, 260–61, 268, 275. 16. Apostolic Camera (as n. 14), 48, 237, 250, 254–55, 290, 295. 17. C. Innes ed., Ledger of Andrew Halyburton, 1492–1503 (Edinburgh 1867), 183–85. 18. T. Dickson et al. ed., Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, 13 vols (Edinburgh 1977–78), I, p. cclxxiii. 19. P. C. Ferguson, Medieval Papal Representatives in Scotland: Legates, Nuncios, and Judges-Delegate, 1125–1286, Stair Society 45 (Edinburgh 1997), 40–43, 236–39, 246, 250, 257. 20. J. J. Robertson, ‘The development of the law’, in Scottish Society in the Fifteenth Century, ed. J. M. Brown (London 1977), 136–52, at 151; J. R. McDonald, ‘The Papal Penitentiary and Ecclesiastical Careers: The Requests of Scottish Clergy in the Registers of the Sacra Apostolica Penitenzieria, 1449–1542’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Aberdeen, 2005), 61–64, 247. 21. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 6), II, 127–37. See, too, L. J. Macfarlane, ‘William Elphinstone’s Library Revisited’, in The Renaissance in Scotland: Studies in Literature, Religion, History and Culture Offered to John Durkan, ed. A. A. MacDonald, M. Lynch and I. B. Cowan (Leiden 1994), 66–81.

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Locating Aberdeen and Elgin in the Later Middle Ages 22. Walter Bower, Scotichronicon, ed. D. E. R. Watt et al., 9 vols (Aberdeen and Edinburgh 1987–98), V, 378–79; VII, 118–19; C. Innes ed., Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis, Bannatyne Club 60 (Edinburgh 1837), no. 303. 23. J. A. Brundage, Medieval Canon Law (London 1995), 175. 24. C. H. Lawrence, St Edmund of Abingdon (Oxford 1980), 323. 25. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 6), II, 167. 26. L. J. Macfarlane, William Elphinstone and The Kingdom of Scotland, 1431–1514: The Struggle for Order (Aberdeen 1985), 232; I. Fraser, ‘The Later Medieval Burgh Kirk of St Nicholas, Aberdeen’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1989), 117–18. 27. J. Cooper ed., Cartularium Ecclesiae Collegiatae Sancti Nicholai, 2 vols, New Spalding Club 2 and 7 (Aberdeen 1888–92), I, 18; II, 16; Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 6), I, 282. 28. The growth of Anne’s cult in the Latin West is briefly surveyed in C. Lawless, ‘‘‘A widow of God’’? St Anne and representations of widowhood in fifteenth-century Florence’, Women in Renaissance and Early Modern Europe, ed. C. Meek (Dublin 2000), 15–42, at 19–22; T. Brandenbarg, ‘Saint Anne: a holy grandmother and her children’, in Sanctity and Motherhood: Essays on Holy Mothers in the Middle Ages, ed. A. B. Mulder-Bakker (New York 1995), 31–65. For Anne’s cult in Scotland, see the ‘Survey of Dedications to Saints in Medieval Scotland’ (http://www.shca.ed.ac.uk/Research/saints/ [accessed 29 May 2015]). The database is not comprehensive, but it does suggest that in Scotland Anne’s cult was at its strongest in the diocese of Aberdeen. All of the there recorded references to her cult date to the 15th or 16th centuries. 29. D. Ditchburn, ‘The pirate, the policeman and the pantomime star: Aberdeen’s alternative economy in the early fifteenth century’, Northern Scotland, 12 (1992), 19–34. 30. P. G. B. McNeill and H. L. MacQueen ed., Atlas of Scottish History to 1707 (Edinburgh 1996), 234; L. Gilliodts-van Severen ed., Inventaire des Archives de la Ville de Bruges, 9 vols (Bruges 1871–85), I, no. 464; K. Ho¨hlbaum et al. ed., Hansisches Urkundenbuch, 11 vols (Halle, Leipzig and Weimar 1876–1939), III, no. 131. 31. Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (as n. 22), no. 163; J. Stuart et al. ed., The Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, 23 vols (Edinburgh 1878–1908), III, 112; IV, 534, 624–25. 32. H. J. Smit ed., Bronnen tot de Geschiedenis van den Handel met Engeland, Schotland en Ierland. Eerste Deel: 1150–1485, 2 vols, Rijks Geschiedkundige Publicatie¨n 65-66 (’s-Gravenhage, 1928), II, no. 1863. For an Elgin burgess of the same name and his dealings in Aberdeen in 1487, see Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archives, MS Council Register, VII, 21–27. 33. E.g. Exchequer Rolls (as n. 31) II, 68, 568; III, 111–12; IV, 534, 624–25; VI, 218, 485, 522; VII, 508 665–66, XII, 93, 369. 34. E.g. Exchequer Rolls (as n. 31), III, 112; X, 362; XI, 374; XII, 87; XIII, 572. 35. Exchequer Rolls (as n. 31), IV, 480–81; J. Stuart ed., Extracts from the Council Register of the Burgh of Aberdeen, 2 vols, Spalding Club 12 and 19 (Aberdeen 1844–48), I, 49, 63, 161. 36. Atlas (as n. 30), 249. 37. E.g. Aberdeen Archives, Council Register (as n. 32), 5/i, 485; E. P. Dennison and J. Stones, Historic Aberdeen: the archaeological implications of development (Edinburgh 1997), 83. 38. Exchequer Rolls (as n. 31), I, 449. 39. J. W. Dilley, ‘German Merchants in Scotland, 1297–1327’, Scottish Historical Review, 27 (1948), 142–55, at 149–50; D. Ditchburn, ‘Cargoes, and commodities: Aberdeen’s trade with Scandinavia and the Baltic, c.1302–c.1542’, Northern Scotland, 27 (1990), 12–22, at 14–15. 40. For Norwegian activity in Aberdeen, see Exchequer Rolls (as n. 31), II, 474; Aberdeen Archives (as n. 32), MS Sasine Register, 1484–1502, 650, 750; Edinburgh, National Records of Scotland, E71/12/1, fols 3v, 7; D. Ditchburn, ‘A note on Scandinavian trade with Scotland in the later middle ages’, in Scotland and Scandinavia, 800–1800, ed. G. G. Simpson (Edinburgh 1990), 73–89. For the occasional visit of Aberdeen ships to Hull, Scarborough and Yarmouth, see Aberdeen Archives (as n. 32) Council Register MS, V/i, 192; London, The National Archives, E122/202/5, fol. 28v; E122/64/15, fol. 4v; Norwich, Norfolk Record Office, Y/C4/170, m. 12r. 41. H. Pirenne, Histoire de Belgique, 5th edn, 7 vols (Brussels 1929), I, 265, n. 2; Quellen zur Geschichte des Ko¨lner Handels und Verkehr, ed. B. Kuske, 4 vols (Bonn 1918–54), IV, 480. 42. Ledger (as n. 17), 182, 186. 43. National Records of Scotland (as n. 40), E71/1/1. 44. The London customs accounts rarely specify the origin of shipping, but for exceptional references to Aberdeen vessels see The National Archives (as n. 40) , E122/76/38, m. 2r, 4v, 5r. See, too, Aberdeen Archives, Council Register (as n. 32), IV, 403, 414; V/i, 29, 156; Exchequer Rolls (as n. 31), III, 90, 662. 45. C. M. Woolgar, ‘Group Diets in Medieval England’, in Food in Medieval England: Diet and Nutrition, ed. C. M. Woolgar, D. Sergeantson and T. Waldron (Oxford 2006), 191–200, at 191–96, 199.

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david ditchburn 46. For new technologies developed by the Dutch for preserving sea fish, see R. W. Unger, ‘The Netherlands Herring Fishery in the Late Middle Ages: the False Legend of Willem Beukels of Biervliet’, Viator, 9 (1978), 335–56. For the decline of the sea fisheries in eastern England, see P. Heath, ‘North Sea Fishing in the Fifteenth Century: The Scarborough Fleet’, Northern History, 3 (1968), 53–69; A. Saul, ‘Great Yarmouth and the Hundred Years War in the Fourteenth Century’, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, 52 (1979), 105–15. For salmon prices, see E. Gemmill and N. Mayhew, Changing values in medieval Scotland. A study of prices, money, and weights and measures (Cambridge 1995), 303–17. 47. G. Neilson and H. Paton ed., Acts of the Lords of Council in Civil Causes (Edinburgh 1918), 109–10; Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (as n. 22), nos 163, 289–90. 48. J. Bain et al. ed., Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, 5 vols (Edinburgh 1881–1985), V, nos 1018, 1025, 1050, 1051; D. Macpherson ed., Rotuli Scotiae in Turri Londinensi et in Domo Capitulari Westmonasteriensi Asservati, 2 vols (London 1814–19), II, 275, 282, 284, 301–03, 312. See, too, The Views of the Hosts of Alien Merchants, 1440–1444, London Record Society 46 (Woodbridge 2012), 166. 49. Exchequer Rolls (as n. 31), IV, 481. Although the exemption of Aberdeen burgesses was revoked in the 1480s, it continued in practice for some time (ibid., IX, 444, 545; X, 64, 134, 236). 50. Calendar of Documents (as n. 48), IV, no. 1102; Ledger (as n. 17), 179, 181; Aberdeen Archives, Council Register (as n. 32), V/ii, 741; VII, 22–24; VIII, 15. 51. E.g. The National Archives (as n. 40), E122/106/15, m. 1r; E122/106/16; Ledger (as n. 17), 179, 181, 232; Aberdeen Archives (as n. 32), VII, 48. 52. E.g. Aberdeen Archives, Council Register (as n. 32), V/ii, 700; VIII, 131, 143, 165, 552, 554, 926. See, too, n. 40, above. 53. E.g. Aberdeen Archives, Council Register (as n. 32), V/ii, 687, 700. 54. E.g. I. B. Cowan, ‘The church in the diocese of Aberdeen’, in I. B. Cowan, The Medieval Church in Scotland, ed. J. Kirk (Edinburgh, 1995), 97–128, at 97; Macfarlane, William Elphinstone (as n. 26), 232. 55. A. Macquarrie, Scotland and the Crusades, 1095–1560 (Edinburgh 1984). 56. Calendar of Scottish Supplications (as n. 13), VI (forthcoming), no. 706. 57. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 6), I, 131–33. 58. J. E. Thomas, ‘The Burgh of Elgin in Early Modern Times’ (unpublished M.Litt. thesis, University of Aberdeen, 1990), 92–93. 59. D. E. R. Watt, Medieval Church Councils in Scotland (Edinburgh 2000), 18, 25, 36–37, 87–88, 95–96, 107–08, 153–54; J. H. Burns, Scottish Churchmen and the Council of Basle (Glasgow 1962), nos 2, 12, 14, 16, 19, 20, 22, 26, 29, 31–33, 47, 53, 60. 60. Calendar of Scottish Supplications (as n. 13), VI (forthcoming), no. 30. 61. A. D. M. Barrell, The Papacy, Scotland and Northern England, 1342–1378 (Cambridge 1992), 83, 205. 62. Het Archief van de Familie Adornes en Jeruzalemstrichting te Brugge, ed. N. Geirnaert, 2 vols (Bruges 1989), II, no. 326. 63. Robertson, ‘Development’ (as n. 20), 151; McDonald, ‘Papal Penitentiary’ (as n. 20), 239–40. For the number of parishes per diocese in c. 1300, see Atlas (as n. 30), 354–55; Cowan, ‘Church’ (as n. 54), 128. 64. Exchequer Rolls (as n. 31), V, 95. 65. Cowan and Easson, Religious Houses (as n. 5), 116, 130, 135; ‘Necrologia Coenobii Sancti Francisci apud Abredonenses’, in Miscellany of the Spalding Club (as n. 8), I, 61–79; Extracts from the Council Register (as n. 35), I, 211–12. 66. The reference to St Bridget of Sweden in the ‘Survey of Dedications to Saints in Medieval Scotland’ (http://webdb.ucs.ed.ac.uk/saints/; EN/EW/1818) is surely a mistake for St Bride. 67. A. Grant, Independence and Nationhood: Scotland, 1306–1469 (London 1984), 72. 68. Recueil de documents relatifs a` l’histoire de l’industrie drapie`re en Flandre. Premie`re partie: Des origins a` l’e´poque bourguignonne, ed. G. Espinas and H. Pirenne, 4 vols (Brussels 1906–24), III, 234–35; Calendar of Documents (as n. 48), II, nos 9–10; V, no. 35. 69. J. H. Munro, ‘Wool-Price Schedules and the Qualities of English Wools in the Later Middle Ages, c.1270–1499’, Textile History, 9 (1978), 118–69, at 122, 132; D. Ditchburn, Scotland and Europe: The Medieval Kingdom and its Contacts with Christendom (East Linton 2001), 163–72. 70. Exchequer Rolls (as n. 31), III, passim; Dennison and Stones, Historic Aberdeen (as n. 37), 43. 71. The National Archives (as n. 40), E122/19/4, fol. 16; D. Serjeantson and C. M. Woolgar, ‘Fish Consumption in Medieval England’, in Food in Medieval England (as n. 45), 105. 72. Atlas (as n. 30), 257–58; Aberdeen Archives, Council Register (as n. 32), IV, 452; VII, 230. 73. Extracts from the Council Register (as n. 35), I, 26, 52, 434. 74. Ledger (as n. 17), 183–84. 75. D. W. Hall, A. D. S. MacDonald, D. R. Perry and J. Terry, ‘The archaeology of Elgin: excavations on Ladyhill and in the High Street, with an overview of the archaeology of the burgh’, Proceedings of the Society

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Locating Aberdeen and Elgin in the Later Middle Ages of Antiquaries of Scotland, 128 (1998), 753–829, at 764–65, 790. On the agricultural nature of the Moray Firth towns, see, too, E. Ewan, Townlife in Fourteenth-Century Scotland (Edinburgh 1990), 109–10. 76. Dennison and Stones, Historic Aberdeen (as n. 37), 19. 77. Exchequer Rolls (as n. 31), II, 97, 143, 319, 389; IV, 624–25. 78. Exchequer Rolls (as n. 31), I–IV, passim. 79. National Records of Scotland (as n. 40), E71/1/1. 80. Aberdeen Archives, Council Register (as n. 32), VII, 797; VIII, 753. 81. R. E. Tyson, ‘People in the two towns’, in Aberdeen before 1800: A New History, ed. E. P. Dennison, D. Ditchburn and M. Lynch (East Linton 2002), 111–28, at 113. 82. Aberdeen Archives, Council Register (as n. 32), VII, 1067–68, 1105, 934–35. 83. See, however, H. Booton, ‘Inland trade: a study of Aberdeen in the later middle ages’, in The Scottish Medieval Town, ed. M. Lynch, M. Spearman and G. Stell (Edinburgh 1988), 148–60. 84. P. J. Anderson ed., Charters and Other Writs Illustrating the History of the Royal Burgh of Aberdeen, 1171–1804 (Aberdeen 1890), 289–90. 85. E.g. Aberdeen Archives, Council Register (as n. 32), V/ii, 702, 825, 828; VIII, 187; XII/ii, 707. 86. ‘Extracts from the Accounts of the Burgh of Aberdeen’, Miscellany of the Spalding Club (as n. 8), V, 49–50; Exchequer Rolls (as n. 31), VI, 656; I. A. MacInnes, ‘‘‘To subject the north of the country to his rule’’: Edward III and the Locindorb chevauche´e of 1336’, Northern Scotland, new series, 3 (2012), 16–31. 87. J. Stuart, ‘Notice of an original instrument recently discovered among the records of the dean and chapter of Canterbury . . .’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 10 (1875), 528–35. 88. Macfarlane, William Elphinstone (as n. 26), 267–68; E. P. Dennison, A. T. Simpson and G. G. Simpson, ‘The Growth of Two Towns’, in E. P. Dennison, D. Ditchburn and M. Lynch ed., Aberdeen before 1800: A New History (East Linton, 2002), 13–43, at 15–17. 89. Aberdeen Archives, Council Register (as n. 32), V/I, 156. 90. Extracts from the Council Register (as n. 35), I, 38; National Records of Scotland (as n. 40), C5/28, fol. 197v. 91. Exchequer Rolls (as n. 31), IV, 617; V, 93; VI, 380, 531, 657; VII, 19; Aberdeen Archives, Council Register (as n. 32), V/ii, 743. 92. Exchequer Rolls (as n. 31), X, 358; National Records of Scotland (as n. 40), E71/29/4, fols 20r, 26v; E71/12/5, fol. 6r. See too E71/1/2, fols 3r–v. 93. The Records of Elgin, 1234–1800, ed. W. Cramond and S. Ree, New Spalding Club 27 and 35 (Aberdeen 1903–08), 488. 94. Aberdeen Archives, Council Register (as n. 32), V/i, 216; E. Frankot, ‘Of Laws of Ships and Shipmen: Medieval Maritime Law and its Practice in urban Northern Europe (Edinburgh 2012), 155-57, 168, 182; E. Frankot, ‘Maritime Law and Practice in Late Medieval Aberdeen’, Scottish Historical Review, 89 (2010), 13652, at 141–44. 95. Extracts from the Council Register (as n. 35), I, 449–50. 96. T. Turpie, ‘Our Friend in the North: The Origins, Evolution and Appeal of the Cult of St Duthac of Tain in the Later Middle Ages’, Scottish Historical Review, 93 (2014), 1–28, at 14–17. 97. Exchequer Rolls (as n. 31), IV, 479. 98. Records of Elgin (as n. 93), I, xx. 99. Exchequer Rolls (as n. 31), I–VIII, passim. 100. Aberdeen Archives, Council Register (as n. 32), IV, 392, 407; Extracts from the Council Register (as n. 35), I, 14, 421. 101. For details of altar patronage, see Fraser, ‘Burgh Kirk of St Nicholas’ (as n. 26), 279–302. 102. Macfarlane, Elphinstone (as n. 26), 308; Aberdeen University Library, Inc. 34 (probably published in Cologne in 1492); Middelburg, Zeeuws Archief, 2000/357, MS Accounts of the town of Veere, 1481–82, fol. 7v. 103. E.g. Aberdeen Archives, Council Register (as n. 32), V/ii, 666; VI, 544; Extracts from the Council Register (as n. 35), I, 10, 71. 104. E.g. Aberdeen Archives, Council Register (as n. 32), VI, 314. 105. R. Fawcett, Elgin Cathedral (Edinburgh 2001), 63.

15

The Medieval Church in the Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray RICHARD ORAM

Aberdeen and Moray dioceses emerged in the second quarter of the 12th century as part of the wider development of Scottish ecclesiastical government. Growth of diocesan structures was coeval with formation of a parochial system; many parishes were quickly appropriated to the cathedrals to provide prebends for diocesan officials and canons. Consequently, whilst the cathedrals were richly endowed and architecturally sophisticated few parish churches saw resources devoted to their enlargement. A limited pool of magnate patrons and their limited economic resources resulted in the founding and endowment of few significant monasteries, but royal patronage resulted in some being conceived and built on a grand scale before crown support switched from the monastic orders to the orders of friars. Lesser nobles directed their patronage to the founding of hospitals and, later, to collegiate churches, whilst burgess communities invested heavily in endowing their burghs’ parish churches. A late medieval flourishing of patronage coincided with internal reform at diocesan and individual monastic level, resulting in a higher standard of clerical education and spiritual commitment at the time of the Reformation than in some other Scottish dioceses. Reform, when it came, was often imposed through external political direction rather than local action. keywords: Appropriation, prebends, lay patronage, monasteries, almshouses, secular colleges, religious reform North-East Scotland’s two medieval dioceses, Aberdeen and Moray, together encompassed around one-fifth of the mainland landmass of the kingdom and were regarded as fourth and fifth respectively in the hierarchy of seniority within the thirteen sees of the Scottish church province. Despite their territorial extent and the prosperity of Aberdeen as a commercial centre, neither diocese contained wealth that in any way approached the level of Glasgow or St Andrews, the richest and most populous sees in Scotland. In contrast to the 282 parishes of St Andrews diocese, Aberdeen contained only 85 and Moray 71 parishes;1 the resource base upon which these sees were built was a fraction of that which sustained the institutions of religious life in St Andrews. Both dioceses contained four royal burghs each by the end of the 12th century, as well as a number of baronial burghs by the early 16th century, but of these only ‘New’ Aberdeen — which was distinct from the bishop’s burgh of ‘Old’ Aberdeen — held a population and generated wealth similar to levels in burghs like Dundee, Perth or Edinburgh; some, like Cullen or Kintore, were simply large villages. In common with most of medieval Britain, the bulk of the population was rural and sustained by agriculture, but it was not spread evenly throughout the dioceses where complex geology and geomorphology meant that good soils existed only in discrete pockets. Concentrations of 16

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population in Aberdeen diocese were located in coastal districts and the eastern parts of Mar and the Garioch, while in Moray the chief centres were in Strathbogie and the eastern end of the low-lying coastal district known as the Laich. In both, the settled areas penetrated the mountainous interiors along the main river valleys but both also contained large swathes of thinly populated land. This was either mountainous uplands like the Mounth that separates Aberdeen’s Deeside from Angus and the Mearns to the south, and the Cairngorm plateau that extends west from Mar through the southern half of Moray, or zones of poor and stony or boggy land like the interior of Buchan. Such areas possessed wealth of a different kind, mainly pasture, and both the bishops and the major monastic communities controlled extensive blocks of upland grazing on which sheep but more especially cattle were raised. Even more important, however, were the fishing resources of the region, especially salmon fisheries on the Dee, Spey and Findhorn, which in the later Middle Ages delivered significant income to the bishops of Aberdeen and Moray, and contributed substantially to the wealth of monasteries like Kinloss. But such wealth was relative, and to build a cathedral of the scale and sophistication of Elgin meant the diversion of resources from the parishes to the diocesan centre. Given that slender economic base and competition to exploit it, it is unsurprising that neither diocese sustained the number and diversity of religious institutions of the richer sees to the south, but that also begs the question of why two sees were created in a region where population and resource levels could have better sustained one. origins and diocesan institutional structures At Aberdeen, a complex ‘prehistory’ of the see has been confused by the forging of early charters in the surviving cathedral cartulary and through the semi-fabulous account offered by Hector Boece in his 1522 Vitae of the bishops of Mortlach and Aberdeen.2 The origins of the see have been discussed at length elsewhere and the debate will not be rehearsed here.3 The key point, however, is the traditional insistence that Old Aberdeen was a new location to which the see was moved in the 1130s from an earlier episcopal centre at Mortlach in the Moray uplands. There may have been an early church at Old Aberdeen, but there is no secure historical evidence for any pre12th-century monastic or episcopal centre there; a monasterium de murthillach and five churches pertaining to it, however, were recorded in 1157.4 Memories of Mortlach’s earlier importance are expressed in a spurious Aberdeen charter purporting to be granted by a ‘King Malcolm’ to a Bishop Bean, giving him the church and its dependencies for his see. Boece later used this charter to validate his argument for the early origin of Aberdeen diocese and identified this king as Malcolm II (1005–34). If any 11th-century king of that name was involved, however, it is more likely to have been Malcolm III (1057–93), who was politically active in north-eastern Scotland in the 1070s.5 That Boece names only three successors to Bean before the fourth, Nechtan, moved the see to Old Aberdeen c. 1136 suggests a stretching of chronology to accommodate the forgery into his narrative. The aim of that forgery was straightforward: to assert Aberdeen’s property rights in a distant corner of a see whose territorial limits were still imprecise in the mid-12th century. Formalization of Aberdeen’s diocesan structures was protracted. After Bishop Nechtan fixed his see at Old Aberdeen, no progress towards instituting a chapter was made until 1157 when Pope Adrian IV gave Bishop Edward permission to establish either monks or canons in his cathedral, but no immediate move was made in either 17

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regard.6 Instead, a gradual introduction of key dignitaries occurred down to the mid1200s.7 These ad hoc arrangements were eventually formalized in 1249 when Pope Innocent IV issued a bull to Bishop Peter Ramsay (1247–56) ratifying his cathedral constitution.8 The bull identified a chapter of dean, chanter, chancellor, treasurer, archdeacon and eight simple canonries, all supported on prebends. Further canonries, amongst them a prebend by 1256 for the bishop supported on the fruits of St Nicholas’s parish church in New Aberdeen, were added down to 1445, by which date the chapter comprised four dignitaries, an archdeacon and twenty-four simple canonries.9 Occasional prebends ad vitam were created, but only one further permanent prebend was added when the sub-chantership was created between 1527 and 1534.10 To maintain these canonries, nearly half of the diocese’s eighty-five parish churches were appropriated, in most cases with both parsonage and vicarage teinds annexed and the cures being served at best by pensionary vicars and more commonly by chaplains or curates. By the time of the Reformation, the cathedral and its clergy were drawing in around one-third of the total ecclesiastical revenues of the diocese. The emergence of the diocese of Moray and the provision of a permanent cathedral and constituted chapter was even more complex and protracted. That process has been explored in detail elsewhere by the present writer; the following is a summary outline.11 Bishops ‘of Moray’ are on record from c. 1114, but what their diocese encompassed or where their see was located is unknown.12 From the 1130s the centre of the diocese lay at the east end of the Laich but, like Aberdeen, Moray shows signs of composite origins, especially along its borders with Aberdeen and Ross diocese; Ardersier parish is a detached portion of Ross on the south shore of the Moray Firth conceded to the bishops of Ross in settlement of a claim to wider territorial rights.13 Mortlach’s location in a salient of Aberdeen territory jutting into Moray hints at a former centrality to a bishopric that extended further west; the Moray diocese that emerged in the 12th century may, therefore, have been formed from portions of former Ross and Mortlach territory. Pictish sculpture from Kinneddar, a church which served as the cathedral of Moray in the 12th century, reveals that a significant ecclesiastical establishment existed there in the 8th century;14 probably a monastery, but there is no evidence to suggest that it was an episcopal see before the 12th century. Indeed, the rootlessness of the bishops of Moray down to the early 1200s suggests the absence of a location within their diocese that had a previous history as an episcopal see. The episcopate of Simon de Toeni (1171–84) saw progress to secure diocesan finances. His successor, Richard of Lincoln (1187–1203), started to provide his see with a constitution,15 but it was Bishop Brice Douglas (1203–22) who made the most radical changes. Having received a papal mandate in 1207, in 1208/09 Brice fixed his see at Spynie and introduced the Constitution of Lincoln as the basis for its organization.16 Under this new arrangement a chapter was instituted, headed by a dean, with chanter, treasurer, chancellor and archdeacon forming the principal dignitaries, plus three other ‘simple’ canonries, all supported by prebends. As at Aberdeen, the bishop originally had no seat in the chapter, a position that changed under his successor, Andrew Murray. It is not known how far work on Brice’s cathedral at Spynie had advanced by the time of his death in 1222, but in 1224 Bishop Andrew secured papal authorization to move from Spynie on account of that place’s supposed exposure to the threat of war, its isolation, unsuitability of trade, difficulty of supplying it and consequent problems of suitably supplying necessary provision for divine worship.17 Following investigation by papal mandatories, on 19 July 1224 Andrew moved his cathedral 2 km south to Elgin, where it thereafter remained fixed.18 From the outset, Andrew’s ambitions for Elgin 18

The Medieval Church in the Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray

were on a grand scale and he embarked on a commensurate reorganization of the chapter structure. His 1226 constitution brought the number of canonries from eight to eighteen (one to be held by bishop), increased in 1232 to twenty-three.19 Although like Aberdeen provision was made for chaplains and vicars choral, the twenty-three canonries of the 1232 constitution remained the complement until the 16th century when two further prebends were created.20 parishes, prebends and appropriations At both cathedrals, the majority of the prebends were supported on parishes that had been appropriated for that purpose. The consequences of such annexations to fund often quite remote religious corporations was recognized widely at the time by diocesan and episcopal authorities, who sought to regulate the process and at least ensure that good-quality vicars were instituted in place of the parson or rector, and the impact of the level of appropriation that occurred in Scotland has seen wide academic discussion.21 In common with much of mainland Scotland, the network of parishes which formed the basic building block of secular church government had only begun to crystallize in the course of the 12th century and was still not fully formed as late as the mid-13th century; often, the first record of a parish was the charter conveying possession of advowson rights or annexation of revenues to an appropriator. This delayed evolution of a comprehensive parish system is one key reason for the lateness of the formalization of the cathedral constitutions; without parishes, the teind-gathering from which spiritual services were funded and upon which the organs of ecclesiastical administration could be sustained, lacked any mechanism for collection. Development of the parochial system and construction of diocesan administration went hand in hand.22 monastic foundations A further factor with a direct influence on the pace and scale of parish appropriation is that the process of parochial establishment was at best coeval with and more frequently later than the foundation of the institutions to which they were appropriated. This is certainly the case with monasteries, the first of which was founded almost three generations before anything approximating to a comprehensive parish system had formed in either diocese. Reformed Benedictine monasticism was introduced into the North-East in the wake of King David I’s imposition of his authority in Moray in the 1130s following his defeat and elimination of the native ‘kings’ of Moray who had presented a challenge to his own family for over a century.23 The introduction of Benedictine and Cistercian monks through David’s patronage represented only one facet of a systematic process of colonization intended to bind the conquered region more firmly into the Scottish kingdom which progressed in parallel with the founding of burghs populated with mainly eastern English and north-west European colonists and the introduction of new colonial lords, represented by families like the ‘de Moravia’ or Murrays, Comyns and, later, Bissets. The three monastic communities founded in the region before c. 1230 have been posited as ‘victory churches’ associated with the defeat of dynastic challengers to the ruling lineage but as the cartularies of none of the monasteries have survived to reveal such a motivation this suggestion is conjectural.24 The first community of any reformed order in the region may have been at Urquhart near Elgin in Moray, where a dependent cell of the Benedictine abbey of Dunfermline in Fife was 19

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perhaps established by as early as 1136 and certainly by 1150 on land probably seized from the defeated rulers of Moray.25 Although Urquhart received substantial properties around the Spey estuary, David’s founding gift to the colony of Cistercian monks from Melrose Abbey which he planted in 1150 at Kinloss near Forres was of an altogether higher order of magnitude.26 Expanded by David’s grandson, King William, with gifts of woodland tracts for agricultural clearance and of upland pasture in Strathisla,27 the landed resources of Kinloss established it as the greatest monastery in the region. It thrived on the secure income which this landed estate provided and in 1217 and 1219 could support two colonies, that at Deer in Buchan being the first reformed Benedictine community in Aberdeen diocese.28 Founded by William Comyn, earl of Buchan, Cistercian Deer was originally a much smaller and poorer community than its motherhouse — the ‘hovel’ of Deer as one Melrose monk referred to it29 — and the fragmentary remains of its buildings indicate that its church developed little beyond its original Bernardine-plan layout, but it nevertheless became the fourth richest house of the ten Cistercian abbeys in Scotland by the Reformation.30 Although the pace and scale of monastic foundation was slackening by the time of Deer’s foundation as new forms of organized religion gained in popularity with patrons, very austere expressions of monasticism still found favour with benefactors who saw their austerity as delivering more effective intercessory benefits. For King Alexander II it was the Burgundian Valliscaulian order whose practices satisfied his personal spiritual preferences. Founded in the late 1100s by Viard, a former Carthusian lay-brother, the order united elements of Carthusian and Cistercian practice in its rule, which received papal sanction in 1205.31 The Valliscaulians, however, made little headway outside Burgundy, and the three priories planted in Scotland in 1230–31 represented its only presence in the British Isles. Of these colonies, Alexander founded one at Pluscarden in Moray, possibly in thanksgiving for the final elimination of his dynastic rivals.32 No foundation charter survives, but the scale of Alexander’s endowment is evident from a confirmation made by Bishop Andrew of Moray in 1236, which lists the site in a secluded glen west of Elgin, a large block of royal hunting-forest, several mills, and salmon fisheries on the rivers Spey and Findhorn.33 Despite the loss of most of its records, it is evident from what was built and what passed over to the Valliscaulian’s Benedictine successors in the 1450s that Alexander poured money and energy into his project. Pluscarden was not the last monastic foundation in either diocese; that was Fyvie Priory in Aberdeenshire, a dependency of Tironensian Arbroath Abbey founded shortly before 1285 by Reginald le Cheyne.34 The ‘monks [of Arbroath] dwelling in the religious house built in the land of Ardlogie near the church of St Peter of Fyvie’ are first identified in Reginald’s confirmation on 16 October 1285 of their possession.35 He is specifically identified as founder in his kinsman Bishop Henry Cheyne’s settlement of arrangements for the vicarage of Fyvie, issued two days after Reginald’s charter.36 The cell’s status was precarious from the outset and by 1325 instructions from the abbot of Arbroath to the custos (as the head of the small community was titled) indicate that there were concerns over the proper observance of monastic discipline there.37 Alongside these houses of monks there was only one community of canons regular in either diocese, Monymusk Priory west of Aberdeen.38 In common with several Scottish Augustinian houses, it originated in an older, non-regular community which included Ce´li De´ in its number, which ‘reformed’ and adopted the rule of St Augustine.39 Confirmations by Bishop John of Aberdeen refer to gifts to ‘the church of St Mary of Monymusk and the canons who are called Ce´li De´ serving there’ made before 1200 by 20

The Medieval Church in the Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray

Gille-Chriosd, earl of Mar, and to the same earl’s gifts to ‘the monastery built by him at the church of St Mary of Monymusk where the Ce´li De´ had been before’, suggesting that Gille-Chriosd had refounded the older community as an Augustinian house.40 This arrangement was challenged c. 1209 by William Malveisin, bishop of St Andrews, secular lord of Monymusk, who referred to ‘certain keledei who profess to be canons [. . .] [who had established] a kind of regular canonry in opposition to him’. An appeal to Pope Innocent III saw the case remitted to judges-delegate who secured a compromise which saw the Ce´li De´ continue to function under the bishop’s lordship, but by 1245 the community had apparently been fully converted to the Augustinian rule.41 founders and patrons Six regular monastic communities, two of which were only dependent cells of monasteries elsewhere in Scotland, is a modest tally. It is striking, too, that nowhere in either diocese was there any provision for the female religious; no convents of nuns were founded or contemplated by any patron, a situation common to all mainland dioceses north of Glasgow and St Andrews. Even when the military orders are added to the equation, a house of the Knights Templar being established at Maryculter west of Aberdeen sometime between 1221 and 1236 by Walter Bisset of Aboyne,42 the total of seven monastic or quasi-monastic institutions remains unimpressive. The reasons for this limited group of endowments, however, probably lie in the equally limited group of potential founders with the resources upon which to draw to support large-scale monastic foundations. In Moray, David I’s destruction of the native ruling house and their non-replacement until Robert I’s establishment of the Randolphs as earls of Moray in the 14th century meant that only the crown and the bishops of Moray possessed resources commensurate to the task. With the bishops focusing their efforts on the apparatus of diocesan government and construction of their cathedrals, it was left to the crown to invest in monastic foundations. In Aberdeen diocese, the crown’s landed resources were slenderer and its political presence was altogether less interventionist, while like their counterparts in Moray the bishops of Aberdeen were concerned with the organs of secular church government and the clergy to administer it; there it was the greatest regional nobles — the earls of Buchan and Mar — who founded the principal monasteries, probably as mausoleums for their families. Like their counterparts in Strathearn, Fife and Menteith, however, neither earl had the resources to divide their patronage to found other communities on a similar scale. Only one second-rank noble family, the Cheynes, attempted to found a regular monastic community and the limited resources at their disposal resulted in a precarious existence. Second-rank noble families, however, wished to demonstrate their individual piety and devotion, and to secure the spiritual benefits that flowed from their good works and from the masses and prayers of the clergy whom they supported. In this region, such families adopted different strategies to achieve those ends, many opting to channel their pious benefaction towards the crown- or comital-founded monasteries or the two cathedral establishments. Others opted to found smaller, often quasi-monastic institutions like hospitals and almshouses, twelve of which were established by senior clerics and lay patrons between the late 12th and 16th centuries. Five of these foundations were leper hospitals: Aberdeen, Banff, Elgin and Forres, with the most important being St Peter’s at Rathven, founded 1224–26 by John Bisset.43 His endowment of Rathven was to support a chaplain, seven lepers and a servant, maintained on the fruits of three 21

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parish churches in Aberdeen and Moray dioceses.44 By 1445 when its revenues were annexed by Bishop Ingeram Lindsay to support a new prebend at Aberdeen, Rathven may already have become an almshouse (its inmates were simply referred to as ‘infirm’).45 Despite the annexation, the hospital still supported three bedesmen and its function as an almshouse was augmented in 1536; it continued to operate as an almshouse through the Reformation and down to the mid-19th century.46 almshouses and hospitals In Aberdeen diocese, important almshouses were founded at Aberdeen (St Peter’s) by Bishop Matthew (1172–99) and (St Mary’s) by Bishop Gavin Dunbar in 1532, and at Newburgh and Turriff in Buchan in c. 1261 and 1273 by Alexander Comyn, earl of Buchan.47 For St Peter’s at Aberdeen, Bishop Matthew’s foundation charter survives and reveals a generous endowment of land, cash resources and foodstuffs.48 In 1256, when the revenues of the hospital were explicitly excluded from the resources allocated for the maintenance of the dean of Aberdeen, reference was made to the ‘sisters’ living there,49 the only surviving evidence from either diocese for an establishment providing for bedeswomen until reference to the Hospital of St Anne at Footdee outside Aberdeen, to which Alexander Galloway, official of Aberdeen, gave land in 1519 for a chapel to serve the ‘pure ladiis’ in their ‘seikhous’ there.50 Bishop Dunbar’s hospital of St Mary was founded to the west of the cemetery of the cathedral as an almshouse to support twelve old men.51 His very detailed foundation charter survives, setting out the layout of the building — its principal ‘house’ to be 100 ft long by 30 ft wide and divided into 14 ft612 ft ‘cells’, each with a little fireplace, to accommodate the poor men, plus common passageways, common room and oratory — and making extensive provision for its financial and material support.52 Of Alexander Comyn’s two foundations, Newburgh, whose foundation charter also survives, was small-scale, comprising a chaplain and six poor men, sustained on half an acre of land outside the burgh, common pasture for six cows, and an annual gift of oatmeal and eighteen shillings cash, an endowment which underscores the precarious financial state of the smaller charitable establishments throughout both dioceses.53 His second hospital, St Mary and St Congan’s at Turriff, was far larger, having provision in its foundation charter for a master, six chaplains and thirteen poor people.54 Despite its generous landed endowment, it had already become moribund by the 14th century and eventually in the early 15th century its resources were annexed to a new prebend at Aberdeen.55 Moray had only three hospitals, of which the Maison Dieu at Elgin, founded before c. 1235 as an almshouse by Bishop Andrew Murray, was the largest.56 Neither a foundation charter nor constitution survives, but mid-14th-century inspections preserve King Alexander II’s confirmation of its foundation charter on 23 February 1235.57 This gives the dedication of the hospital as the Virgin Mary and St John the Evangelist, identifies it as an almshouse to receive and support the poor, and records its endowment with land near Elgin. In 1343 when David II confirmed Alexander’s charter, the Maison Dieu was described as poor and wasted. Worse came in June 1390 when Alexander Stewart, earl of Buchan, burned Elgin, including the Maison Dieu.58 Its revival after this event was short-lived and a papal mandate in 1432 instructed Bishop Columba Dunbar (1422–35) to conduct an enquiry following accusations of neglect, mismanagement, fraud and non-residency against the incumbent master.59 The outcome of his inquiry is unknown, but by 1445 the Maison Dieu was again said to be failing as an almshouse, its resources being diverted to non-charitable purposes.60 22

The Medieval Church in the Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray

Two hospitals had both a charitable role as almshouses and also as hospices for the reception of travellers at key points on major routeways. In Aberdeen diocese one of the largest and most important hospitals, St Mary’s at Kincardine O’ Neil on Deeside, was founded by Thomas Durward (d. 1231), grandson of Earl Gille-Chriosd of Mar. A confirmation of the foundation in 1234 described it as being ‘for reception of the poor’ and to serve travellers on the important north–south routes over the high ground of the Mounth.61 The hospital was endowed with the church of Kincardine, to which the hospital building was attached, and Kincardine’s four pendicles of Cluny, Glentannar, Lumphanan and Midmar.62 Despite this relative wealth, by 1330 the hospital was defunct as an institution; this enabled Bishop Alexander Kinninmonth to annexe Kincardine to fund a cathedral prebend.63 The second such hospital was established shortly after 1222 by Muriel of Pollock, lady of Rothes on Speyside, for the reception of poor travellers.64 On St Nicholas’ Day 1238, she confirmed the gift of her mill of Inverorkell to sustain the poor at what was by then known as the Hospital of St Nicholas ‘beside the Bridge of Spey’.65 Another prominent local lord, William Murray of Boharm, added land on the east side of the river, while in 1232 King Alexander II gave revenues from his mill at Nairn to support a chaplain and ‘clerks’ serving at St Nicholas’s, which hints at a quite substantial establishment at the hospital.66 houses of mendicants Until the re-emergence of hospitals as a favoured type of endowed foundation in the 16th century, almost all such establishments in these dioceses had been erected before the 1240s. Apart from the basic issue of over-provision in the relatively non-urbanized region, one reason for declining interest in hospitals is that from the 1230s an alternative focus for lay endowment had appeared with the arrival of Dominican friars in north-eastern Scotland. A house of Trinitarians perhaps existed at Aberdeen late in the reign of King William (1165–1214), but they were not a true mendicant order, being able to receive landed endowments for their support rather than being maintained on alms.67 True mendicants arrived between c. 1230 and 1249 by which time Dominican convents were present in Aberdeen, Elgin and Inverness. The first was probably at Aberdeen, whose foundation is attributed to King Alexander II, but no early record of its foundation and endowment survives.68 Elgin is also said to have been founded by Alexander II, but no records survive earlier than 1285.69 A similar situation occurs at Inverness, where again Alexander II is identified as the founder, but the earliest extant record is a 1275 grant of property preserved within a confirmation charter of 1530.70 Such pre-16th-century documentation as remains for these convents indicates that they enjoyed the patronage of Alexander’s successors as kings of Scots and a steady, if unspectacular, flow of gifts from senior clerics, regional nobles and the leading burgess families of the towns in which they were located.71 Although Franciscan friars were also entering Scotland from the 1230s, no early community of that order was founded successfully in Aberdeen or Moray diocese. A charter of William, earl of Ross, probably issued in the early 1280s, assigned properties in Ross for either the maintenance of a house of Franciscans in Elgin or, if that foundation failed to mature, two chaplains in the cathedral there.72 As the latter solution came into effect, it seems that plans for a friary were abortive and there is no evidence for a Franciscan house at Elgin before the later 15th century.73 Instead, it was the Carmelites who were next introduced to the region with a friary at Aberdeen by c. 1273.74 A second house was founded at Banff in 1321–23 as a result of endowments 23

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from King Robert I,75 but it was a further century and a half before a third followed at Kingussie in Moray diocese between 1480 and 1501.76 The slowing rate of new foundations was not simply a sign that saturation point had been reached in terms of density of religious institutions; it was matched by a more general decline in the flow of patronage towards the church and a marked change in the nature and focus of new endowments. Through the 14th century, the main burgh churches and some larger collegiate establishments like the cathedrals saw a proliferation of subsidiary altars and associated chaplainries, many with a primarily chantry function. One of the earliest and largest examples of this was the chapel of St Thomas of Canterbury and its five chaplainries that Thomas Randolph, 1st earl of Moray, founded at Elgin Cathedral in 1328 and endowed with rental income of £23 14s. 4d. annually.77 Earl Thomas’s foundation charter survives, setting out the chantry role of his chapel and providing a detailed record of his personal devotional preferences and how those were reflected in the prescribed services to be conducted in perpetuity for the weal of his soul and the souls of his family and wider kin.78 Few laymen controlled resources on the scale of the Randolphs, however, and it was more common for single chaplainries to be founded and funded, such as that in the chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Garioch endowed with annual rents of £6 13s. 4d. before April 1426 by Sir Patrick Ogilvy of Grandon.79 The proliferation of such chaplainries provided new and alternative foci for the devotions of the faithful, particularly as the process of appropriation of parsonages and, increasingly, of vicarages too continued. burgh churches and collegiate churches By the early 16th century, fifty-five of the eighty-five parishes of Aberdeen diocese had been appropriated in full and only four remained as free parsonages in lay patronage. Appropriation’s negative consequences in terms of the quality of the provision for the spiritual needs of parishioners and the detrimental impact on the fabric of spiritual life has been long understood and discussed.80 What is less well understood or recognized is the unintended positive contribution it stimulated where laymen who were unwilling to make an endowment that would simply pass straight to an appropriator chose instead to endow a separate foundation, probably physically attached to an existing church but institutionally distinct from it. In the case of the burgh churches, this attitude led to a multiplicity of subsidiary altar foundations by individuals, families and, increasingly from the later 15th century, by craft and trade guilds. At St Nicholas’s in Aberdeen, whose revenues had been appropriated to fund a prebend of the cathedral in 1256, a perpetual vicarage had been established in 1345, only for part of the vicar’s income to be assigned to support two chaplains in the cathedral in 1427.81 The vicar-portioner who remained, however, shared the church with several chaplains at altars in the nave, crossing and sub-church; by the time of Bishop Ingeram Lindsay (1441–59) they were sufficiently numerous to warrant the bishop’s drawing up of regulations to govern their organization.82 When a new constitution which gave them a quasi-collegiate status was agreed in 1491 there were twenty-two chaplains in St Nicholas’s in addition to the vicar,83 all supported on private endowments. Although it was effectively functioning as a collegiate church from this time, and the provision in December 1507 of new choirstalls with seats for thirty-four implies that the establishment was still growing, it was only in 1540 that Bishop William Gordon formally instituted it as such and reassigned the vicarage fruits to sustain the provost who headed the organization.84 24

The Medieval Church in the Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray

Aberdeen St Nicholas’s was not the only burgh church to be elevated to collegiate church status in the north-eastern dioceses, St Mary’s at Cullen also gaining that status in 1543.85 There, however, circumstances were radically different to those at Aberdeen. Cullen, which gained a separate identity as a parish church from its original motherchurch at Fordyce in the mid-13th century, had its revenues fully appropriated to the common fund of the canons of Aberdeen from the outset and the cure was served by a chaplain down to 1543.86 In that year Sir Alexander Ogilvy of Findlater, Alexander Dick, archdeacon of Glasgow, the local laird John Duff, and the community of Cullen inserted a collegiate institution of a provost, six prebendaries and two choirboys into their parish church in a single act of endowment;87 Cullen was not the cumulative result of generations of patronage by multiple benefactors. It was, however, the only such foundation in these dioceses and the last collegiate church founded in the region. With only two collegiate churches out of the forty-two successful foundations in existence at the time of the Reformation, Aberdeen and Moray are again distinctive in terms of the relative poverty of large-scale examples of religious patronage compared to other parts of the kingdom. from late medieval torpor to spiritual revival Although the erection of St Nicholas’s as a collegiate church was consequent on cumulative acts of patronage and devotion by generations of Aberdeen burgesses, it should not mask a wider malaise evident in organized religion in the region by the 15th century. The precarious state of many hospitals and almshouses has already been mentioned, but the monasteries were also experiencing a decline in morale and discipline as well as suffering a crisis in recruitment in the 1400s. The priories at Pluscarden and Urquhart in particular were in poor condition physically and institutionally by the 1450s. A petition to Pope Nicholas V in 1454 requested their union, claiming that only six monks remained at the former and two at the latter.88 With papal approval, Pluscarden was placed under the authority of the abbot of Dunfermline and united with Urquhart, the abbot subsequently deciding that since Pluscarden’s buildings were better quality that the united community would be located there.89 Two Valliscaulians from Pluscarden who were unwilling to become Benedictines were received into Cistercian Kinloss rather than transferring to another Valliscaulian house; one of these monks was later transferred to Deer for correction on account of his ‘lewd living’.90 Kinloss itself suffered some decline in the quality of monastic life and leadership: Abbot Adam Tarras (1389–1414) was described as morally lax and fathered several children by various mistresses; Abbot John Floter (1431–44), resigned ‘on account of his excessively shameful living’.91 Alongside this negative picture of promiscuous abbots and incompetent management, however, the history of Kinloss produced by Giovanni Ferrerio reveals continuing but low-key spirituality and generally steady recruitment. It was on that foundation that Abbot Thomas Crystall (1500–28) reformed the house, encouraging study amongst his monks and providing new devotional materials and liturgical furnishing.92 His successor, Robert Reid (1528–53), went further and brought Ferrerio, a Piedmontese humanist scholar, to Kinloss for five years in 1530s to educate his monks and prepare them for degree-level studies.93 These developments have often been presented as little more than an interesting footnote in more general studies of the late pre-Reformation church in Scotland, but they should be recognized as quite exceptional evidence for the reach and impact of humanist education in early Renaissance Scotland beyond the university centres. 25

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The ecclesiastical reform and spiritual renewal at Kinloss was in evidence more widely in both dioceses between the 1490s and 1540s. After the Hussite missions of the 1410s, challenges to orthodox teaching and the spread of heretical beliefs had reemerged in Scotland toward the end of the 15th century.94 The need to combat the appeal of those teachings to segments of the populace who sought more fulfilling religious experiences drove many of the measures taken by leading clerics to raise clerical standards. As King James V’s letter of 14 August 1525 to the sheriff of Aberdeen observed, Lutheran materials and Protestant sympathies were widespread within the diocese.95 There, however, the spiritual leadership of Bishop William Elphinstone (1483–1514) had given impetus to steps to improve the quality of the clergy serving throughout the diocese and to address calls for a more fulfilling religious experience.96 His main achievements in the former aim saw him involved in a constant struggle to prevent inappropriate ecclesiastical appointments to key benefices within his diocese, resisting the provision of pluralist, under-aged and ill-educated priests; the latter aim was delivered largely through innovation in liturgical practice, underpinned by 1507 through the production of the Aberdeen Breviary (see Turpie, 239–41). That text established a distinctly Scottish liturgical calendar populated with the feast-days of eightyone Scottish saints and replaced the English-focused Sarum Use.97 Elphinstone’s reforms in the secular church in his own diocese also had a positive reception in neighbouring Moray, but there the main ‘home-grown’ reformist activity was within the monastic communities, Kinloss especially. As mentioned above, Thomas Crystall and Robert Reid revived discipline there and placed emphasis on formal education for their monks, coupled with renewal of buildings and provision of books, furnishings and equipment to enhance devotional and liturgical practice. Education lay at the heart of these reforms, and Bishop Elphinstone understood that, if high-quality clergy were to be produced to serve in the churches of his diocese and more widely in northern Scotland, degree-level study was required to be available locally. To address that need, in 1495 Elphinstone secured a bull from the Borgia pope, Alexander VI, for the foundation of a college at Old Aberdeen which would become the third of Scotland’s medieval universities on its formal erection in 1505. Pope Julius II (1503–13) further affirmed and extended the rights of the university in a series of bulls.98 Mendicants were prominent in this reforming activity from the mid-15th century. A revival in their fortunes had begun with the establishment of a convent of the austere Observantine Franciscans at Aberdeen in 1469, followed by a second community at Elgin before 1494. With their emphasis on preaching and adherence to the traditions of St Francis, they won widespread popular support. The Carmelites in the North-East may have shared in the re-energizing that has been claimed for the mendicant orders in general in Scotland in the later 15th century. Certainly, there is nothing in the records of the relatively well-documented Aberdeen convent to suggest any decline in either religious observance or social behaviour as afflicted communities in other Carmelite provinces.99 In 1529, King James V wrote to Nicholas Audet, the vicar general of the order and key figure in their internal reform, asking for some of his brethren to reform the Scottish houses of the order; later that year Audet sent Iacopo Calco to Scotland, but in 1530 it was reported that the mission had achieved nothing, and a second mission in 1529–30 headed by Jacob Colckman was likewise a failure.100 King James was, however, determined to advance the reform of the Scottish Carmelites and in December 1537 secured approval of William Stob’s appointment as vicar general to work with the conservators of the order in Scotland (the archbishops of Glasgow and St Andrews and the bishop of Aberdeen) to investigate and correct abuses.101 Rather than a reformist 26

The Medieval Church in the Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray

programme, the result was a protracted dispute with Stob’s disgruntled predecessor, John Malcolmson, the head of the Aberdeen convent, which was finally resolved only in February 1541. Despite the tensions within the order in Scotland that this dispute reflected more generally, the Carmelite’s spiritual reputation in Scotland remained high. While the Carmelites’ focus was inwards on their own order’s needs, the Dominicans were key players in Elphinstone’s plans for his diocese; the first doctor of theology at his new college was John Adamson, who later became Provincial of the order in Scotland and under whose guidance important scholarly libraries were built up in most convents, including at Aberdeen and Elgin.102 In Moray, although the convent at Elgin was controlled by the locally powerful Dunbar family from 1526, standards of discipline and observance remained high and the friars continued to maintain the charitable functions of the Maison Dieu which had been placed in their charge in 1520.103 It was to the Dominicans of Aberdeen that Thomas Crystall sent two Kinloss monks for instruction to enable them to become tutors for their younger brethren, one in music and chant to improve the quality of the choir services and the other in theology.104 Ironically, however, it was two renegade Dominican friars who were sent to Aberdeen in 1543 by Regent Arran to preach reformist thinking as part of his brief flirtation with Protestantism following the Treaty of Greenwich with Henry VIII of England,105 who perhaps had the greatest impact on lay religiosity. towards reformation While the internal reform of the early decades of the 16th century had powerful lay sponsors in the Gordons of Huntly and Hays of Erroll, whose personal adherence to Catholicism provided a regional bulwark against the spread of Protestantism into the 1560s, the movement was perhaps too introspective and intellectual to provide an effective counter to growing popular support for a form of worship that invited individual dialogue with the Divine rather than through the intercessory agency of priests or saints (see Insh, 00–00). Evidence for the provision of new furnishings — especially of richly decorated sacrament houses — and highly visible symbols of Catholic devotion in parish churches and private residences show the receptiveness of laymen to the new forms of religious expression being promoted from within the established church. It is questionable, however, whether this reflected deep spiritual conviction or a wider hunger for a more participatory personal involvement in religious activity. Signs of renewed disenchantment with the institutions of the church suggest that for many it was the latter that was being sought. From the mid-1540s onwards the Aberdeen Carmelites in common with their mendicant brethren elsewhere in the kingdom were becoming increasingly involved in litigation over unpaid annual rent income. While this may in part have been a reflection of Scotland’s contemporary economic woes, there was also, it seems, an element of Protestant-inspired resistance in withholding income.106 In Banff, the decisive moment came on 20 July 1559 when arsonists struck the Carmelite friary ‘under sylens of nicht’.107 Less than four weeks later the prior leased what was left of the buildings, ‘in quhat stait yat ewer yai be’, effectively ending religious life at the friary.108 Scotland’s convents of friars generally were amongst the first targets for the Reformers on account of the possible counter-reformist challenge that the often university-educated Dominicans and Observantine Franciscans could pose, but in the dioceses of Moray and Aberdeen the experience of the friars was different. At Elgin and 27

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Inverness, the convents of both orders simply faded out of existence, the Dominican friary at the former passing into the possession of the Dunbar family, while the Franciscan friary buildings there passed into the hands of the burgh.109 At Inverness likewise, the Dominicans quietly slipped away, the prior and four friars who remained on 20 June 1559 surrendering the property of their house to the provost and baillies which may account for it being one of the few Scottish Dominican friaries described as undemolished on 13 February 1562.110 The community had disappeared before 19 January 1567 when it was described as ‘quondam’ in a property transaction.111 In Aberdeen diocese the end was altogether more violent. The fate of the Carmelite house at Banff has already been referred to, but their house in Aberdeen, together with the Dominican convent there, was attacked, ransacked and burned by Protestants from the Mearns to the south who entered the burgh on 4 January 1560. It was later recorded that the convent of the Blackfriars was ‘was so industriouslie razed [. . .] that now ther is nothing of that building to be seen’.112 The church of the Observantine Franciscans fared better, for on 29 December 1559 the friars had resigned their property into the hands of the council, which on 11 March 1560 decided to retain the buildings for the town’s uses.113 In 1624 the church was refitted as another parish church for the burgh,114 remaining in use until 1903 when it was demolished as part of the siteclearance programme for the new Marischal College building. Moving on from New Aberdeen, the Mearns reformers descended on Old Aberdeen, seeking first to ‘purge’ the chapel of King’s College, but were prevented from entering the college precinct by the students and masters. As a result, the magnificent early Renaissance fittings of the chapel escaped the orgy of destruction which engulfed Aberdeen’s other medieval churches and survive as one of the finest assemblages of pre-Reformation ecclesiastical furnishing still in situ in Scotland. Their survival is testimony to the continued dynamism of the established religious educational tradition within the university and commitment of the college’s staff to active support and advancement of the emerging Counter-Reformation movement within the Roman Catholic Church. Although that resistance soon proved fruitless and the university was later purged of staff who failed to embrace Protestant principles, the successful defence of the college buildings and their contents is emblematic of the wider regional adherence to traditional loyalties. Baulked at the university, the reformers entered the neighbouring cathedral precinct, looting the canons’ manses, ransacking the cathedral and adjoining hospital chapel, and destroying the contents of the cathedral library.115 Although the bulk of the cathedral’s treasures had been taken into the safe-keeping of the earl of Huntly, the altars, screens, stalls and other devotional elements were destroyed. Damage to the cathedral’s chancel appears to have been severe and, when the triumph of the Protestant Lords in the religious conflict that had engulfed Scotland was confirmed in the summer of 1560 and a reformed church settlement proclaimed, the eastern limb was abandoned as redundant and quickly plundered for building-stone, while the roofs of the equally redundant transepts and the spire of the central tower were stripped of lead.116 Only the nave, south-west porch and western towers were preserved, speedily refitted out in Protestant form as the parish church of Old Aberdeen, but with the splendid early-16th-century timber ceiling of the central compartment of the nave, complete with its heraldic display of the pre-Reformation Christian world order, left almost untouched. Although the distinctive patterns of ecclesiastical development that emerged in Aberdeen and Moray dioceses as consequences of the political and economic circumstances of the 12th century yielded much the same results as elsewhere in the kingdom — high 28

The Medieval Church in the Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray

levels of parish appropriation, poor-quality spiritual provision locally, pluralism and absenteeism — the internal reforms in process from the late 15th century contributed to a different response to Reformation. Social as much as religious conservatism may have been responsible for the relatively lukewarm reception of the south-east Lowlandsfocused religious revolution in the North-East,117 but some of that conservatism seems also to have been born of a degree of satisfaction with the devotional and liturgical experience of the leading members of regional lay society, who had invested deeply and personally in the renewal of the regional church in the previous generation.

NOTES 1. See P. G. B. McNeill and H. L. MacQueen ed., Atlas of Scottish History to 1707 (Edinburgh 1996), 354–55. 2. C. Innes ed., Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis, 2 vols, Spalding Club 13 and 14 (Aberdeen 1845); Hector Boece, Murthlacensium et Aberdonensum Episcoporum Vitae, Spalding Club (1894), 6–8. 3. I. B. Cowan, ‘The church in the diocese of Aberdeen’, in The Medieval Church in Scotland, ed. J. Kirk (Edinburgh 1995), 97–128, at 98–100. 4. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 2), I, 6. 5. R. D. Oram, Domination and Lordship: Scotland 1070–1230 (Edinburgh 2011), 30. 6. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 2), I, 5–7. 7. D. E. R. Watt and A. L. Murray ed., Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae Medii Aevi ad annum 1638, Scottish Record Society (2003), 6–7. 8. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 2), II, 38–49. 9. Cowan, ‘Diocese of Aberdeen’ (as n. 3), 101–12. For the bishop’s prebend, see Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 2), II, 40, 252. 10. Cowan, ‘Diocese of Aberdeen’ (as n. 3), 111. 11. R. Fawcett and R. Oram, Elgin Cathedral and the Diocese of Moray (Edinburgh 2014), 21–33, 120–26. 12. Liber Ecclesie de Scon, Bannatyne and Maitland Clubs (1843), no. 4; G. W. S. Barrow ed., The Charters of David I (Woodbridge 1999), no. 33. 13. Fawcett and Oram, Elgin Cathedral (as n. 11), 22–3; C. Innes ed., Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis, Bannatyne Club (1837), no. 75. 14. Fawcett and Oram, Elgin Cathedral (as n. 11), 21–22; P. Dransart, ‘Saints, Stones and Shrines: The Cults of Sts Moluag and Gerardine in Pictland’, in Celtic Hagiography and Saints’ Cults, ed. J. Cartwright (Cardiff 2003), 232–48; P. Dransart, ‘Two shrine fragments from Kinneddar, Moray’, in Patterns and Purpose in Insular Art, ed. M. Redknap, N. Edwards, S. Youngs, A. Lane and J. Knight (Oxford 2001), 233–40. 15. Fawcett and Oram, Elgin Cathedral (as n. 11), 26–28. 16. Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (as n. 13), nos 45, 46; Fawcett and Oram, Elgin Cathedral (as n. 11), 28–29. 17. Ibid., no. 57. 18. Ibid., no. 58. 19. Ibid., nos 60 (1226), 81, 82 (1232); Fawcett and Oram, Elgin Cathedral (as n. 11), 123–24. 20. Fawcett and Oram, Elgin Cathedral (as n. 11), 124, 126. 21. The first detailed discussion of the process of appropriation and the institution of vicarages was in R. A. R. Hartridge, A History of Vicarages in the Middle Ages (Cambridge 1930). In Chapter 6, Hartridge explored the Scottish experience of appropriation. This subject was re-examined in I. B. Cowan, ‘The Appropriation of Parish Churches’, in The Medieval Church in Scotland (as n. 3), 12–29. 22. I. B. Cowan, ‘The development of the parochial system’, in The Medieval Church in Scotland (as n. 3), 1–11. For specific discussion of Aberdeen, see his ‘Diocese of Aberdeen’. For Moray diocese, see Fawcett and Oram, Elgin Cathedral (as n. 11), chapter 8. 23. For David I’s ‘conquest’ of Moray, see Oram, Domination and Lordship (as n. 5), 70–73, 75–85. 24. R. D. Oram, ‘David I and the Conquest and Colonisation of Moray’, Northern Scotland, 19 (1999), 1–19; Oram, Domination and Lordship (as n. 5), 77; R. D. Oram, Alexander II, King of Scots, 1214–1249 (Edinburgh 2012), 216–18; D. Broun, Scottish Independence and the Idea of Britain from the Picts to Alexander III (Edinburgh 2007), 28 note 42. 25. I. B. Cowan and D. E. Easson, Medieval Religious Houses, Scotland (London 1976), 61.

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richard oram 26. For Urquhart, see Registrum de Dunfermelyn, Bannatyne Club (1842), nos 33, 34; Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (as n. 13), no.254. David’s foundation charter to Kinloss has not survived, but its generalities are preserved in a confirmatory bull of Pope Alexander III: J. Stuart ed., Records of the Monastery of Kinloss (Edinburgh 1872), 105–08. 27. G. W. S. Barrow ed., Regesta Regum Scottorum, II, The Acts of William I (Edinburgh 1971), nos 159, 237, 391, 392, 543. 28. Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 47, 74. 29. Chronicle of Melrose, s.a.1267, in A. O. Anderson ed., Early Sources of Scottish History, II (Edinburgh 1922), 659–60. 30. Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 72. 31. S. R. Macphail, History of the religious house of Pluscardyn, convent in the Vale of St Andrew, Morayshire (Edinburgh 1881), 12–13; Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 7. 32. Oram, Alexander II, 216–18 (as n. 24); Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 83–85. The others were at Ardchattan in Argyll diocese and Beauly in Ross diocese. 33. Macphail, Pluscardyn (as n. 31), 201–03. 34. Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 67. 35. Liber S Thome de Aberbrothoc, I, Bannatyne Club (1848), no. 234. 36. Ibid., I, no. 235. 37. Ibid., I, no. 354. 38. Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 93; W. D. Simpson, ‘The Augustinian priory and parish church of Monymusk’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, LIX (1924–25), 34–71. 39. See Abernethy, Inchaffray, Lochleven, St Andrews and Whithorn in Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25). 40. Liber Cartarum Prioratus Sancti Andree in Scotia, Bannatyne Club (1841), 374. 41. Ibid., 370–72. 42. Liber S Marie de Calchou, Bannatyne Club (1846), no. 233. King Alexander II issued a general confirmation in favour of the Templars in 1236, which does not name any of the order’s properties in Scotland: Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 2), II, 269–71. Between 1239 and 1242, Bishop Ralph of Aberdeen confirmed the Templars in possession of Aboyne, which had been granted to them by Walter Bisset, and confirmed again by Alexander II on 15 April 1242: Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis, 271–73. 43. Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 168, 171, 178, 179, 189. 44. No foundation charter survives, but Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (as n. 13), no. 71 records Bisset’s gift of the patronage of the parish church of Kiltarlity in Moray diocese to the hospital of St Peter, with no. 72 recording its annexation in proprios usus by Bishop Andrew. The parsonage of Dundurcus in Moray diocese had been annexed to it before 1274: I. B. Cowan, The Parishes of Medieval Scotland, Scottish Record Society (Edinburgh, 1967), 52. In Aberdeen diocese, the parsonage of Rathven itself was annexed to the hospital, probably from the time of its foundation, along with the fruits of its dependent chapel at Farscan: Cowan, Parishes (as above), 65, 169. 45. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 2), II, 253. 46. Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 189. 47. Ibid., 169, 186. 48. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 2), II, 11. 49. Ibid., II, 39. 50. Extracts from the Council Register of the Burgh of Aberdeen 1398–1570, Spalding Club (1844), 96. 51. Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 168–69. 52. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 2), I, 401–06. 53. Ibid., II, 276–77. 54. Ibid., I, 30–34. 55. Ibid., I, 213–14. 56. Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 179; Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (as n. 13), no. 116. 57. Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (as n. 13), no. 114. 58. Ibid., 381. 59. A. I. Dunlop and I. B. Cowan ed., Calendar of Scottish Supplications to Rome, III, 1428–1432 (Edinburgh, 1970), 205. 60. Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 179. 61. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 2), II, 268–69, 274.

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The Medieval Church in the Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray 62. W. D. Simpson, The Province of Mar (Aberdeen 1943), 115–20; Cowan, Parishes (as n. 44), 32, 77, 110, 140, 147. 63. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 2), 51, 64–65, 252. 64. Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (as n. 13), no. 106; Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 191. 65. Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (as n. 13), no. 107. 66. Ibid., nos 108, 110. 67. Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 108. 68. Ibid., 116. The earliest dated reference to its existence is in a mandate of Pope Alexander IV dated 2 October 1257: A Theiner ed., Vetera Monumenta Hibernorum et Scotorum Historiam Illustrantia (Rome 1864), no. CCIII. 69. Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 118; J. B. Paul ed., Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum, I, 1306–1424 (Edinburgh 1882), no. 245. 70. Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 199; J. B. Paul and J. M. Thomson ed., Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum, III, 1513–1546 (Edinburgh 1883), no. 962. 71. See, for example, J. M. Thomson ed., Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum, II, 1424–1513 (Edinburgh 1882), no. 1311 for James III’s general confirmation in favour of the Dominicans at Aberdeen. 72. Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (as n. 13), no. 220. 73. Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 127. 74. R. Copsey, Carmel in Britain: Studies on the Early History of the Carmelite Order, III, The Hermits from Mount Carmel (Faversham 2004), 163–240; Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 135; B. Webster ed., Regesta Regum Scottorum, VI, The Acts of David II (Edinburgh 1982), no. 260. 75. Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum, I, appendix I, no. 91 (as n. 69); Illustrations of the Topography and Antiquities of the Shires of Aberdeen and Banff, II, Spalding Club (1847), 114–15. 76. Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 137. 77. Fawcett and Oram, Elgin Cathedral (as n. 11), 130. 78. Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (as n. 13), no.224. 79. Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum, II (as n. 71), no. 41. 80. Cowan, ‘Appropriation of Parish Churches’ (as n. 21), 26–29. 81. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 2), I, 226–6; II, 40. By the 16th century £6 annually was taken from the vicarage fruits to support six choirboys in the cathedral: Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis, II, 114. 82. Cartularium Ecclesiae Sancti Nicholai Aberdonensis, II, New Spalding Club (1888), no. CXXII. 83. Ibid., I, no. CXXIV. 84. Ibid., II, 346, 381. The date of the erection into a collegiate church is preserved only in a minute in the town council register dated 12 January 1614. 85. Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 218. 86. Cowan, Parishes (as n. 44), 40–41. 87. Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 218. 88. J. A. Twemlow ed., Calendar of Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland, X, 1447–1455 (London 1915), 253–54. 89. Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 61, 85. No trace of Urquhart’s buildings survives. 90. Ferrerii Historiae Abbatem de Kynlos, Bannatyne Club (1839), 30. 91. Ibid., 28, 29–30. 92. For Crystall’s achievements, see Ferrerio’s vita of the abbot in Records of the Monastery of Kinloss (as n. 26), 17–48. 93. Ibid., 53. 94. The political motivation behind the action against the so-called Lollards of Kyle has been discussed elsewhere: N. MacDougall, James IV (East Linton 1997), 105–07; D. E. Easson, ‘The Lollards of Kyle’, Juridical Review, XLVIII (1936), 123–28), but Archbishop Blacader of Glasgow’s use of heresy charges as weapons against his opponents shows awareness that heterodox views were current and clerical readiness to use church courts to counter the threat. 95. Extracts from the Council Register of Aberdeen (as n. 50), 110. 96. L. J. Macfarlane, William Elphinstone and the Kingdom of Scotland, 1431–1514 (Aberdeen 1995), 200–89. 97. J Dawson, Scotland Re-formed 1488–1587 (Edinburgh 2007), 53, 55, 70.

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richard oram 98. M. J. Haren ed., Calendar of Papal Letters Relating to Great Britain and Ireland, XIX, 1503–1513 (Dublin 1998), nos 906, 907, 1435, 1436. For the foundation of Aberdeen University; Macfarlane, William Elphinstone, 290–402. 99. Copsey, Carmel in Britain (as n. 74), 220. 100. Ibid., 223–24. 101. D. Hay ed., Letters of King James V (Edinburgh 1954), 339. 102. Dawson, Scotland Re-formed (as n. 97), 55; J. Wormald, Court, Kirk and Community: Scotland 1470–1625 (London 1981), 87. 103. Cowan, ‘Diocese of Aberdeen’ (as n. 3), 147. 104. Ferrerius, Historia Abbatum de Kynlos, Bannatyne Club (1839), 80. 105. A. Ryrie, The Origins of the Scottish Reformation (Manchester 2006), 57; A. White, ‘The Impact of the Reformation on a Burgh Community: the Case of Aberdeen’, in The Early Modern Town in Scotland, ed. M. Lynch (London 1987), 81–101, at 85. 106. Dawson, Scotland Re-formed (as n. 97), 71; Copsey, Carmel in Britain (as n. 74), 230. 107. Scottish Notes and Queries, 4th series, VI, 521, cited in Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 135–36. 108. Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 25), 136. 109. Ibid., 118, 131. 110. A Genealogical Deduction of the Family of Rose of Kilravock (Spalding Club 1848), 226–27; J. Hill Burton ed., The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, I (Edinburgh 1877), 202. 111. J. M. Thomson ed., Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum, IV, 1546–1580 (Edinburgh 1886), no. 2760. 112. James Gordon of Rothiemay, Abredoniae Utriusque Descriptio, Spalding Club (1842), 16. 113. W. M. Bryce, The Scottish Grey Friars, I, History (Edinburgh 1909), 322–23. 114. Gordon, Abredoniae Utriusque Descriptio (as n. 112), 11. 115. Ibid., 22. 116. Ibid., 22. 117. White, ‘Impact of the Reformation’ (as n. 105).

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Elgin Cathedral and Medieval Church Architecture in North-East Scotland RICHARD FAWCETT

Elgin Cathedral, the product of three principal phases of construction, was the most ambitious building erected in north-eastern Scotland in the course of the Middle Ages, and at a number of stages of its history it was evidently a conduit for the introduction of recent architectural fashions into the area. In its turn, it appears to have provided architectural inspiration for several other buildings, including parts of the cathedrals of Dornoch and Fortrose, the Valliscaulian priory churches of Beauly and Pluscarden and the collegiate church of Tain. Apart from its architecture, one of its tombs was to be emulated for almost a century, being particularly favoured by members of the Ogilvy family. keywords: Elgin, Dornoch, Beauly, Pluscarden, Fortrose, Tain, medieval Elgin Cathedral, the principal church of the bishops of Moray, was one of the most impressive buildings in pre-Reformation Scotland. In its final state it was the largest of the nation’s cathedrals after those of St Andrews and Glasgow; it was one of only three cathedrals to have a triplet of towers, the others being at Glasgow and Aberdeen; and it was the only one in Scotland to have the most unusual feature of pairs of aisles running the length of each side of the nave.1 It is only to be expected that such a magnificent building should have been looked to as a source of inspiration by the patrons and masons responsible for several other buildings around the shores of the Moray Firth; this paper will examine a number of those cases in which the architectural evidence points to a lead having been taken from the cathedral. As first built after the see was relocated to Elgin from Spynie, in accordance with a papal mandate of April 1224,2 the cathedral probably consisted of an unaisled eastern limb equivalent to three bays of the later building, a pair of unaisled transepts, and an aisled nave of seven bays (Fig. 1). It is assumed that there was a central tower from the start, as there certainly was later, and there is a pair of towers flanking the westernmost nave bay, though changes in the base courses could indicate that the decision to add the latter was taken in the course of construction. Possibly around the middle decades of the century a three-bay chapel was added against the eastern bays of the south nave aisle, in the re-entrant angle with the south transept. There is a reference to unspecified damage in 1244,3 but it was evidently a disastrous fire in 12704 that was seized upon as the opportunity to greatly enlarge the building. The eastern arm appears to have been almost doubled in length to seven bays, with a broad tierceron-vaulted aisle added along all but the two narrow easternmost presbytery bays where the principal altar was located, and an octagonal chapter-house was # British Archaeological Association 2016

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Fig. 1.

Elgin Cathedral: plan

Image: Sam Scott, Richard Fawcett

built off the north flank. In the nave an outer aisle was added along each flank, incorporating the chapel that had earlier been built against the south side. Vaults were inserted over the original aisles and over the north outer aisle, though it was only later that a vault was inserted over the south outer aisle. A two-bay porch was constructed against the outer south aisle, immediately to the east of the south-west tower, and the two western towers themselves were heightened by an additional storey. A later protracted campaign of major works was required after an attack by the earl of Buchan on 17 June 1390,5 and a further attack in 1402 by Alexander MacDonald, a younger son of the Lord of the Isles.6 But whilst those further works certainly had a major impact on many aspects of the final appearance of the building, and appear to have been closely observed by the patrons of other building operations in the area, they did not involve any significant augmentation of the cathedral’s footprint. The earliest surviving fragment of the cathedral as built following the relocation of 1224 is a stretch of wall in the western three bays of the eastern limb’s north wall, which has been refaced after the fire of 1270, when a clerestory was also added above it, and there was further refacing after 1390 or 1402 (Fig. 2). The form of this wall suggests that, as first built, the eastern limb rose to a lesser height than the transepts and nave, and that its internal walls were decorated with an engaged arcade of alternating wider and narrower arches, with windows set within the former. Although the wall has been remodelled to present a uniformly flat surface, the evidence for this arcading is still to be detected in the ghosting of cut-back arches and capitals, and externally — albeit now within the north aisle — in changes of coursing which indicate that at least one window has been blocked (Fig. 3). 34

Elgin Cathedral

Fig. 2.

Elgin Cathedral: the north side of the eastern arm Photo: Author

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Fig. 3. Elgin Cathedral: traces of the cut-back arcading along the south wall of the eastern limb Photo: Author

elgin and dornoch cathedrals The first phase of work on the eastern limb at the cathedral was carried out during the episcopate of Bishop Andrew de Moravia (1222–42), a member of the dominant local family.7 We can gain some impression of how the interior of the eastern limb must have appeared before its modification by looking at the eastern limb of the cathedral of the diocese of Caithness, at Dornoch. It is likely that a family connection lay behind the architectural similarities, because Dornoch was almost certainly started during the episcopate of Gilbert de Moravia (1222/3–45),8 who was a kinsman and close contemporary of Bishop Andrew. It was Gilbert who moved the base of episcopal activity from Halkirk to Dornoch,9 and enough of the cathedral was complete by 1239 for his predecessor, Adam (1213–22), who had been murdered at Halkirk, to be reinterred in the new work.10 Dornoch, as the cathedral of a relatively poorly endowed diocese, was a very much smaller building than Elgin. It remains in use as a parish church, though as a consequence of its continued use it has undergone a sequence of Draconian modifications and restorations, the latter most notably in 1835–37 and 1924–27.11 It was set out with an unaisled eastern limb and unaisled transepts; the nave is now also unaisled, although by the later Middle Ages, and perhaps from the start, it was aisled.12 The original design of the internal walls of the eastern limb is still clearly discernible below the 19th-century plaster vault, and the pattern of alternating narrow blind arches and wider arches framing windows along the north and south walls is presumably similar to what once existed at Elgin (Fig. 4). Although the capitals which support the arches have been modified to serve as corbels, and additional corbel-like projections have been inserted between them, the survival of several of the corresponding bases makes clear that there were once en-de´lit shafts interconnecting the shafts and bases, and giving a clear sense of articulation to the design. elgin cathedral and beauly priory A related approach to design as that seen in the eastern limbs of Elgin and Dornoch was adopted in the eastern limb of the small priory church of Beauly, at the head of the Beauly Firth, and approximately half-way between Elgin and Dornoch. This was one 36

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Fig. 4.

Dornoch Cathedral: the north wall of the eastern limb Photo: Author

of three Scottish foundations for the rather obscure Valliscaulian order, all of which took place in 1230 or 1231, the others being at Pluscarden, to the south of Elgin, and Ardchatten on the north shore of Loch Etive in Argyll. The prime movers behind the introduction of the order may have been King Alexander II (1214–49) and Bishop William Malvoisin of Glasgow (1199–1202) and of St Andrews (1202–38), though the founder of Beauly itself is thought to have been the local land holder, John Bisset.13 Beauly was the least ambitious church of its order in Scotland, being probably initially of simple rectangular plan, although the addition or formation of lateral chapels later gave it a cruciform plan.14 It seems that the initial intention for the interior of the eastern parts had been to set the windows within an arcade that was much shallower than that at Dornoch, with the arches that frame the window heads being no more than slender hood-moulds interconnected between the window rear arches by narrower arches of the same form. It may be added that the windows at Beauly are relatively wider than those at Dornoch, and contain Y-tracery (Fig. 5). That shallower arcading is seen along the north wall of Beauly, and, since a similar slender hood-mould was also provided at the east end of the south wall, it seems that this approach represents the first intention. West of the east end of the south wall, however, a more deeply modelled approach was adopted, in which the blind arches between the windows are 37

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Fig. 5.

Beauly Priory: the north side of the eastern limb Photo: Author

recessed, and framed with broad chamfers of a similar form as those of the window rear arches, as well as being framed by hood moulds (Fig. 6). Apart from the provision of Y-tracery, therefore, the treatment of the internal south wall at Beauly exhibits a similar approach to that seen at Dornoch, and which is also like that which it must be presumed once existed at Elgin. Taking account of the fact that the treatment along the south wall represents a variation on the first design as seen along the north wall, and that it incorporates simple tracery, of the three examples of this approach that have been discussed, Beauly appears likely to have been the latest in date. In the absence of detailed information on the precise treatment at Elgin, there can be no certainty of its chronological primacy over Dornoch, though it may be suspected that such a manifestly generously endowed and artistically creative building as Elgin is inherently more likely than the more modest Dornoch to have been the place where the idea first took root in this area. elgin cathedral and pluscarden priory Since so much of the other parts of the post-1224 building campaign at Elgin has been lost, it is difficult to draw any conclusions as to whether or not it was looked to as a model in other respects. As one possibility, however, it might be wondered if the 38

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Fig. 6.

Beauly Priory: the south side of the eastern limb Photo: Author

two-storeyed design of the nave at Elgin could have conditioned the choice of twostoreyed designs for the transepts of Pluscarden Priory. In some support of possible artistic linkage is a commonality of royal interest in the two buildings, since Pluscarden was a foundation of King Alexander II, in 1230,15 and that king had earlier taken a close interest in the relocation of Moray’s cathedral from Spynie to Elgin. But the internal nave elevations at Elgin, with their regular sequence of three clerestory windows to each bay, immediately above the arcade arches, were rather different from those in the Pluscarden transepts. There is also the difference that Elgin’s aisles appear to have been initially unvaulted, since the original north aisle roof moulding against the east side of the north-west tower would not have allowed space for a vault. By contrast, at Pluscarden, where the transepts are likely to have been the first parts to be carried up to full height, their east chapel aisles were vaulted. In them we find two strikingly different approaches to designing two-storeyed elevations in which the vaulting of the aisles had the consequence that care was taken to design the clerestories in ways that minimized the visual impact of the dead area of wall corresponding to the roof space over the aisle vaults. This was, of course, a problem that was being tackled in a range of ways across the British Isles around the second quarter of the 13th century, as seen variously at Southwell Minster in Nottinghamshire and Pershore Abbey in Worcestershire, for example;16 the approach adopted in the Pluscarden north transept, 39

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in particular, may be thought to have more in common with such buildings than with Elgin’s nave. However, the likelihood of architectural inter-relationships between Elgin and Pluscarden appears far more likely in the post-1270 phase of works at the former and in the undated three-bay eastern limb of the latter. This second phase at Elgin involved the introduction of a number of features that were novel in Scotland at this time, as seen most notably in the use of tierceron vaulting and bar tracery. So far as the tierceron vaulting is concerned, this was a type of vaulting that was in due course to be widely favoured in major Scottish churches from the later 14th century up to the eve of the Reformation. However, considering that it had attained fully developed form in the nave of Lincoln Cathedral and the retrochoir of Ely Cathedral around the 1230s, it is perhaps surprising that few examples are known of in earlier 13th-century Scotland. Those at Elgin are the first that can be approximately dated. They were provided over the broad aisles added along the eastern limb (Fig. 7) and also over the new outer north aisle of the nave; they were also inserted over the inner aisles of the nave, and eventually over the western bays of the outer south aisle. Other Scottish examples of tierceron vaulting likely to be of a similar date as at Elgin are over the lowest storey of the free-standing bell tower to the north of the nave at Cambuskenneth Augustinian Abbey in Stirlingshire,17 and over the stairs to the crypt of Glasgow Cathedral. The Cambuskenneth tower is undated, but can be reasonably attributed to the later decades of the 13th century on stylistic grounds. The Glasgow vaults must be some time after funds were sought for work on the eastern limb in 1242, but, since they are within the area of the non-projecting transepts rather than the eastern limb, it is generally agreed that they are unlikely to date from before the 1270s.18 It may be mentioned that the Elgin vaults differ from those at Lincoln, Ely and Glasgow in the way that the lateral ridge ribs extend to meet the walls on each side, though in this they are similar to the tower vault at Cambuskenneth. The bar tracery at Elgin is one of the two earliest datable groups of such tracery in Scotland, the other being in the presbytery and transepts of Sweetheart Cistercian Abbey in Kirkcudbrightshire, which was founded in 1270 and colonized in 1274.19 There is a possibility that a window at Glasgow Cathedral could also be of a similar date: that is the second window from the west of the south choir aisle, which differs markedly from the plate-traceried windows elsewhere in the choir aisles, and it may be suspected that its arch had been left open until the final stages of the work to allow materials to be lifted into the upper storey of the eastern limb, which is raised above a crypt, while building was still in progress. If that is the case, it is likely to date from before 1277, when timber was provided for the treasury and bell tower.20 While it is difficult to understand why a taste for bar tracery should have lagged almost quarter of a century behind its introduction into England, the likely concentration of ensembles in three major building campaigns of the 1270s does suggest that is when it was first introduced and that, as with the use of tierceron vaulting, Elgin was one of the first places where it was used in Scotland. The earliest of the bar tracery at Elgin was presumably that in the unaisled section of the presbytery, where it was confined to the lower tier of windows. On the evidence of the surviving stubs, the five single lights of the east wall had a circlet above a lower arch (Fig. 8). The two-light windows of the unaisled portion of the presbytery flanks appear to have had a permutation on this theme, with a pair of sub-arches that each contained a circlet above a lower arch, and with a third circlet at the light head. The windows of the aisled section of the eastern limb were replaced after the onslaughts of 1390 and 40

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Fig. 7.

Elgin Cathedral: the south choir aisle vault Photo: Author

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Fig. 8. Elgin Cathedral: stubs of the tracery in the lower tier of windows in the east wall Photo: Author

1402, and there is no way of knowing if they contained tracery as part of the post-1270 building campaign. It may be assumed, however, that the chapter-house contained some of the most splendid tracery of the post-1270 campaign (Fig. 9). It almost certainly dates from a second phase of those operations, since a cut-back gable over the outer face of the door that leads from the choir aisle into its vestibule suggests that door was initially to have been an external entrance. The consequently slightly later date of the chapter-house may help to explain the more ambitious scale of its windows. The existing windows date from the rebuilding by Bishop Andrew Stewart (1482–1501),21 and owe their present state to reconstruction in 1972–86. But it can be seen from the masonry around the windows that, as first built, the original windows were wider than those we now see, occupying virtually the whole width between the buttresses of seven of the eight faces of the octagonal structure. A clue to the possible form of the chapter-house windows is provided by the door from the choir aisle into its vestibule as it was eventually completed: it was subdivided 42

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Fig. 9.

Elgin Cathedral: the chapter-house from the South-West Photo: Author

into two arched openings originally carried on a central trumeau, with an open circlet at the head (Fig. 10), and was thus essentially the same as the basic module of firstgeneration bar tracery that is seen at Reims Cathedral in France and Westminster Abbey in England. On that basis, it is attractive to suspect that the windows of the chapter-house itself could have been the four-light permutation on that theme, that is seen in the English chapter-houses of Westminster Abbey and Salisbury Cathedral. Although there can be no certainty of the existence of this tracery type at Elgin, that four-light form was clearly what was originally provided in the flanks of the presbytery at Pluscarden Priory in the two bays to the east of the flanking transept chapel aisles (Fig. 11). The architectural evidence for the building of the church at Pluscarden suggests a rather unorthodox sequence. The plan consists of an unaisled eastern limb, transepts with chapel aisles, and a nave with a single south aisle. The stump of what appears to have been a dwarf wall below the east respond of the south nave arcade indicates that at first the monastic choir is likely to have extended into the nave, and that the eastern limb was no more than a presbytery. This is supported by the provision of sedilia on the south side of the middle bay of the eastern limb, to the east of the arch into the transept chapel aisle, which would have meant there was no space for the monks’ choir east of the crossing. While the three-bay presbytery and the transepts with their two bays of chapels were evidently laid out in a single operation on the evidence of the continuity of their 43

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Fig. 10. Elgin Cathedral: the door into the chapterhouse vestibule Photo: Author

base courses, as has already been suggested it is likely that it was the transepts that were raised up to full height first.22 This suggests that the community initially worshipped in a temporary oratory, and postponed construction of the presbytery until funds were available to complete it in the most ambitious manner. That ambitious manner involved the construction of windows of great scale in both of the flanks, and even more so in the east wall. It also entailed the provision of a high vault, an item of conspicuous expenditure for which there can have been few parallels in Scotland at that time, other than in the east limb of St Andrews Cathedral and the nave of Holyrood Abbey. Unfortunately, the architectural evidence at Pluscarden has been disrupted by extensive later medieval rebuilding. At some stage the presbytery windows have been partly infilled, with much smaller fenestration of pedestrian types set within that infilling, and the high vault has been dismantled. This was clearly prompted by a major fire, for which the most extensive evidence is damage to the masonry of the transept arcades. The date of that fire is not recorded. In 1457, however, it was said that the buildings 44

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Fig. 11. Pluscarden Priory: the eastern limb and south transept from the South-East Photo: Author

were in a state of near collapse after nearly sixty years of neglect.23 That raises the tantalizing possibility that the cause could have been one of the destructive rampages that so damaged Elgin in 1390 and 1402, though it must be conceded that there is no documentation to indicate that either the earl of Buchan or Alexander of the Isles extended their attentions to Pluscarden. No more than a number of the cut-back springers and wall ribs now survive from the presbytery vaulting at Pluscarden, and on this limited evidence we cannot be certain if it was of tierceron or simple quadripartite form. However, it is clear from what we can see of the stumps of the tracery embodied in the later infilling that the windows must have been of four lights, with two pairs of lights and a circlet within sub-arches, and a third circlet between the sub-arches (Fig. 12). If, as has been tentatively suggested, the Elgin chapter-house windows were of this type, it would be probable that it was nearby Elgin that had provided the model. The possibility of a direct link between Elgin and Pluscarden finds some additional support in the form of some of the buttresses at the two buildings. At Elgin those buttresses are at the east angles of the aisle and around the chapter-house: they have lower stages of rectangular profile, from the offsets of which emerge upper stages with broadly chamfered angles which are capped by gablets emerging from flanking halfgablets. 45

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Fig. 12. Pluscarden Priory: traces of vaulting and window tracery in the eastern limb Photo: Author

elgin and fortrose cathedrals All of the relationships that can be observed between the Pluscarden presbytery and Elgin Cathedral involve the post-1270 work at the latter. It seems, however, that something rather different was to happen at Fortrose Cathedral, where work dating from both the post-1270 and post-1390/1402 campaigns at Elgin was to be reflected within a single building campaign, with little apparent concern for the date of the work that was providing the inspiration.24 The cathedral at Fortrose was one of the smallest in Scotland. The main body consisted of an elongated rectangle with a tower on the north side at the west end of the nave, and a two-storeyed sacristy and treasury range that ran along the north flank of the eastern part; there may also have been a south nave aisle from an early date.25 The main body and tower have been lost and are now only known from inadequate excavations carried out in about 1870, though the largely 13th-century sacristy and treasury range were preserved through post-Reformation community use.26 Also preserved is the part of particular interest for this study: a two-bay chapel that was set against the south flank of the eastern part of the nave, to the west of which is a narrower two-anda-half bay aisle, which was evidently remodelled at the same time that the chapel was built (Fig. 13). The patron of these structures on the south side of the nave is traditionally said to have been Euphemia, countess of Ross in her own right, who died in 1395, though construction may not have been completed by the time of her death. Under the circumstances, it is more than a little ironic that she was the estranged wife of that earl of Buchan who carried out the devastating attack on Elgin Cathedral in 1390. It is assumed to be her canopied tomb that forms an integral part of the eastern of the two 46

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Fig. 13. Fortrose Cathedral: the south chapel from the South Photo: Author

arches that opened into chapel from the main body of the cathedral. Work on the aisle is approximately dated by arms on a boss in the east bay of its vault that are assumed to be those of her first husband, Sir Walter Leslie,27 who died in 1382, while the arms of Bishop John Bullock (1418–c. 1440)28 on a boss in the middle bay suggests that completion of the aisle vault was a slow process. The similarities with the post-1270 work at Elgin are seen in the use of the same type of buttress and in the tierceron vaulting that covers both chapel and aisle, in which the transverse ridge ribs extend to meet the wall, in the same way as at Elgin (Fig. 14). However, the tracery stumps show that the four-light windows in the south flank of the chapel were smaller versions of those that must have been inserted very recently in the aisles of the eastern limb at Elgin, following the damage of 1390 (Fig. 15). Although the relative scale of the windows is considerably less at Fortrose than at Elgin, like those at Elgin they have circlets set within a matrix of intersecting arcs. Such debts to Elgin suggest that its architectural authority was so great that it was considered acceptable to draw inspiration from details of different dates, with no sense of temporal inconsistency in doing so. This is not something that might have been expected at an earlier date than the later 14th century. Here, however, it must be borne in mind that the later 14th century was a phase in Scottish architectural history unlike anything previous. After a period of about 47

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Fig. 14.

Fortrose Cathedral: the south chapel vault Photo: Author

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Fig. 15. Elgin Cathedral: the south flank of the eastern limb Photo: Author

three-quarters of a century when the warfare with England that had broken out in the 1290s had exerted a stifling impact on the ability to fund major building campaigns, such operations were once again beginning to be instigated at this time. Before the outbreak of those wars, Lowland Scotland’s closest architectural relationships over two centuries had been with its southern neighbour; but when it again became possible to contemplate major construction projects, we begin to find patrons and masons looking more widely for their inspiration than simply to the southern neighbour which had by then long been viewed as an implacable enemy. Amongst the possibilities that were investigated, apart from limited renewed contacts with England, were cross-fertilization of ideas with secular architecture, especially in the use of varieties of barrel-vaulting, which was to be deployed increasingly frequently both in the towers that formed the nucleus of many of the residences of land owners, and in churches of middling scale.29 Looking to Continental Europe for ideas, and particularly to France and the Low Countries, with which Scotland enjoyed close diplomatic, artistic and commercial links, was also an increasingly favoured option. But another alternative was a limited willingness to look to Scotland’s own past architectural achievements, at a time when the nation’s leaders were especially anxious to establish its history as an autonomous kingdom with its own very distinctive history. 49

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It must be considered a possibility that this was a factor at Fortrose in the apparent willingness to replicate work that was more than a century old, at the same time that work which was very recent was also being looked to as a source of ideas.30 elgin cathedral and tain collegiate church Amongst this group of buildings, Fortrose is exceptional in its apparent willingness to take architectural ideas from the past as well as from the present. One other building that may reflect recent work at Elgin, albeit on a more modest scale, is the collegiate church at Tain, in Ross, a structure whose date is unfortunately less than certain. The college was not formally founded until 12 September 1487, though it is accepted that there had been a community of clergy living some form of collegiate life well before then, and it was certainly referred to as collegiate following a fire in 1427.31 On stylistic grounds, it is attractive to wonder if it could date from around 1390, when Sir James Douglas of Dalkeith bequeathed funds for vestments,32 which might be consistent with the possibility that the church was being replenished around the time of a rebuilding. The church is a rectangular structure of four bays marked by buttresses, with large three- or four-light windows in three of the bays on the south side and smaller singlelight pointed-arched windows in the corresponding bays on the north side; there are doors on both sides in the west bay (Fig. 16). The largest windows are in the two

Fig. 16.

Tain Collegiate Church, from the South Photo: Author

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gable walls, with that in the west wall being of four lights and that in the east wall of five. There have been rather invasive restorations in the 1860s and 1890s which call for some caution when assessing the acceptability of a number of features, though most of the diagnostically significant details can be verified from depictions of the building made before either of those operations. The elements which suggest the impact of ideas emanating from the post-1390 works at Elgin are: the three-light window in the east bay on the south side, which has circlets within a matrix of intersecting arcs; the buttresses with chamfered angles to their upper parts and gabletted caps;33 and perhaps also the double-chamfered base course (Fig. 15). While individually these would be insufficient to make a case for debts to Elgin, considered together they provide more persuasive evidence. the tomb of bishop john winchester as a model for other monuments At a later stage in its history, Elgin may also have been looked to for guidance on tomb design, with the tomb of Bishop John Winchester (1435–60) evidently being particularly admired.34 Winchester was a prelate of English origin who had come to Scotland in the train of James I and his wife Queen Joan Beaufort on the king’s return from English captivity in 1424.35 It may be wondered if his name indicates that he had earlier been in the service of the queen’s uncle, Cardinal Henry Beaufort, who was bishop of Winchester from 1404 until 1447. Winchester’s tomb, which is set in the north wall of the chapel of St Mary, on the south side of Elgin’s presbytery, is a handsome composition (Fig. 17).36 The tomb-chest rests on a high plinth, and is decorated with a shallow blind arcade of cusped arches enriched with crockets. Above the chest the recess for the effigy is framed by an ogeearched canopy with cusped cusping to the leading face of its soffit, from which terminal finials appear to have been broken away; there is foliate decoration to the hollow of both the arch mouldings and the hood mould, and the extrados of the hood mould has lavish crocketing. Framing the chest and arch are micro-architectural buttresses with an offset at mid-height, above which is a shield. Polychromy has presumably played an important part in the total impact of the tomb, though the only survivor of this is the outlined, and probably heavily restored, under-painting of a choir of angels on the soffit of the canopy. It would be difficult to find convincing Scottish prototypes for this design, and it may be wondered if Winchester had imported masons from beyond Scotland to provide him with a last resting place of appropriate splendour. Amongst the drawings of Roger de Gaignie`res some French parallels can be found for the basic form of the tomb, such as the monument at the abbey of Bouchet of Archbishop Gui d’Auvergne of Lyon, who died in 1373.37 But it is hard to imagine that such a tomb would have been known to Winchester. Bearing in mind his own English origins, is it perhaps more plausible to conclude that his mason was from England? One tomb amongst a number of others that shows significant overall similarities with Bishop Winchester’s, for example, is that of Sir William and Lady Elizabeth Wilcote at North Leigh Church in Oxfordshire, the latter of whom died in 1442. Apart from differences such as the absence of cusping to the canopy soffit, and the way in which the tomb arch was cut through the wall rather than simply recessed into it, a tomb of this kind can be seen to have more in common with Bishop Winchester’s than had anything that had gone before it in Scotland, and an English origin for the design must therefore be seen as at least a possibility. 51

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Fig. 17. Elgin Cathedral: tomb of Bishop John Winchester Photo: Author

Winchester’s tomb was to be copied very soon afterwards within Elgin Cathedral itself, in the tomb in the south transept that the heraldry indicates was provided for one of the bishops of the Stewart family, and that is assumed to be the last resting place of Bishop David Stewart (1462–76).38 All of the essential elements of Winchester’s tomb are found repeated there, and in the same inter-relationships with each other, though some slight coarsening of detail is to be observed in the treatment of the arcading on the tomb-chest and in the greater heaviness of the canopy arch mouldings (Fig. 18). The design of the Winchester tomb appears to have been particularly admired by branches of the Ogilvy family, and at least three of that family’s tombs took the design as a starting point in the course of the 16th century. This provides an intriguing demonstration of the possibility of a design continuing in favour for almost a century in later medieval Scotland, and in this there may be parallels with the way in which earlier forms are reflected in aspects of the south nave chapel at Fortrose. Two of the later copies of the Winchester tomb are in the abandoned shell of the parish church at Fordyce in Banffshire, the closest to the prototype being that of Sir James Ogilvy, who died in 1509 (Fig. 19).39 In this case the only significant difference 52

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Fig. 18. Elgin Cathedral: tomb thought to be of Bishop David Stewart, now containing an unidentified armoured effigy Photo: Author

from the Winchester tomb is a slight loosening of the treatment of the arcading on the tomb-chest, and the absence of foliage decoration to the hollows of the arch. However, that tomb is of added interest because it has preserved two of the terminal finials to the cusping, demonstrating how that feature was presumably treated at Elgin. A second tomb at Fordyce, whose occupant and date are unknown, has a simplified version of the design, with no arcading to the tomb-chest and no cusping to the arch soffit. The most extraordinary development on the theme of the Winchester tomb is at Cullen Collegiate Church in Banffshire, where it was provided for Alexander Ogilvy, who died in 1554 (Fig. 20).40 This has all the constituent elements of the tomb at Elgin: an arcaded tomb-chest; an ogee-arched canopy with cusped cusping enriched with terminal finials and with elaborate crocketing to the extrados; and flanking microarchitectural buttresses. But that combination of elements is no more than the starting point for an altogether more ambitious composition. Within the arcading of the tombchest are figures carved in high relief; at the back of the recess is a relief depiction of God the Father above an inscribed cartouche; flanking the tomb are bundled-shaft responds capped by pinnacles; running along the top of the tomb is a horizontal cornice 53

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Fig. 19. Fordyce Church: tomb of Sir James Ogilvy Photo: Author

with multiple small-scale tabernacle heads; and within the spandrels between the canopy and cornice are classicizing roundels with kneeling figures of Ogilvy and his wife. In this case, though there could be little doubt that the Winchester tomb, or one of its followers, was the starting point for the design, almost a century after the model had been created, the overall impact was very different. conclusion On the basis of the foregoing discussion there would appear to be adequate grounds for concluding that Elgin Cathedral was widely admired amongst the patrons of church building operations in north-eastern Scotland, and that the architectural solutions formulated by a sequence of master masons who worked at Elgin were regarded as offering a sound starting point for other projects in the area. In some cases this was presumably simply a case of one mason deciding to copy the work of another, or of his being instructed to do so by his patrons, though in other cases the similarities are so specific that it must be suspected the ideas passed from one building to another through 54

Elgin Cathedral

Fig. 20. Cullen Collegiate Church: the tomb of Alexander Ogilvy Photo: Author

the movements to those other projects of masons who had been involved in the work at Elgin. In nearly all cases, as might be expected, it was recent work that was being emulated. But in the case of Fortrose it appears that what had been achieved at Elgin was so deeply respected that work which was already about a century old was regarded as continuing to provide an acceptable model, alongside the most recent work. It was the total appearance that was admired in that case. Such a willingness to resort to partial archaism was something that was more likely to happen at a phase of architectural reorientation, such as that which was taking place in later 14th-century Scotland, at the end of an extended hiatus in major building activity. But another aspect of the willingness to see long-established solutions as having continuing validity is seen in the repeated copying of the tomb of Bishop Winchester over a period of about a century, 55

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culminating in an example in which an essentially medieval approach to design is combined with elements that take their lead from the newly emerging interest in classical forms. Considered as a whole, what we can understand of Elgin Cathedral’s relationships with other buildings in north-east Scotland is instructive about the possible processes involved in the transference of architectural ideas. Nevertheless, it must be conceded that no more than a partial picture can be painted, and there is much that must remain uncertain when our only evidence is the buildings themselves, several of which survive in no more than fragmentary state.

NOTES 1. Plans of the Scottish cathedrals at a uniform scale will be found in R. Fawcett, Scottish Cathedrals (London 1987), 118–22. 2. C. Innes ed., Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis, Bannatyne Club (1846), no. 57. 3. D. E. R. Watt et al. ed., Scotichronicon by Walter Bower, 9 vols, V (Aberdeen 1990), 186: ‘in modico lesum est’. 4. Ibid., V, 378, an addition to the text states ‘Eodem anno combusta est ecclesia de Elgyn et edificia canonicorum’. 5. Ibid., VII, 446, ‘Isto eodem anno dominus Alexander Stewart comes Buchanie filius regis combussit cathedralem ecclesiam Moravie de Elgine’. 6. Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (as n. 2), nos 382–83. 7. For a brief account of Andrew de Moravia’s career, see R. Oram, in R. Fawcett and R. Oram, Elgin Cathedral and the Diocese of Moray (Edinburgh 2014), 29–31. 8. For a brief account of Gilbert de Moravia’s career, see J. Dowden, The Bishops of Scotland (Glasgow 1912), 234–35. 9. Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae Medii Aevi Ad Annum 1638, rev. edn, Scottish Record Society (2003), 82–83. 10. J. Stevenson ed., Chronica de Mailros, Bannatyne Club (1835), 150. 11. J. Gifford, The Buildings of Scotland: Highland and Islands (London 1992), 562–67. 12. An engraving of the ruined nave by Charles Cordiner shows the south arcade wall as virtually complete: the arcades are supported by cylindrical piers and there are small rectangular clerestory windows within arched rear arches above the arcade arch apices; however, there is insufficient detail to be able to assess the date of the nave. C. Cordiner, Remarkable Ruins and Romantic prospects of North Britain, II (London 1795). 13. E. C. Batten, The Charters of the Priory of Beauly, Grampian Club (1877), 14; I. B. Cowan and D. E. Easson, Medieval Religious Houses Scotland, 2nd edn (London and New York 1976), 84. 14. A north projection was evidently laid out at the same time as the main body of the church on the evidence of the continuity of the base course, but was adapted as a tomb chapel for Sir Kenneth Mackenzie of Kintail who died in 1491; on the opposite side of the church a chapel was contrived within the east conventual range, perhaps as a tomb chapel for one of the priors. However, though these chapels gave the church a cruciform plan, neither of them appears to have been more than minimally spatially linked with the main body. See W. D. Simpson, ‘The Valliscaulian priory of Beauly’, Antiquaries Journal, 35 (1955), 1–19, and R. Fawcett, Beauly Priory and Fortrose Cathedral (Edinburgh 1987). 15. S. R. Macphail, History of the Religious House of Pluscardyn: Convent of the Vale of St Andrew (Edinburgh 1881), 199–201; Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 13), 84–85. 16. J. McNeill, ‘The Chronology of the Choir of Southwell Minster’ and U. Engel, ‘Two-Storeyed Elevations: the Choir of Southwell and the West Country’, in Southwell and Nottinghamshire, Medieval Art, Architecture and Industry, ed. J. S. Alexander, BAA Trans., xxi (Leeds 1998), 13–23 and 33–43; R. Stalley and M. Thurlby, ‘The Early Gothic Choir of Pershore Abbey’, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 48 (1989), 351–70. 17. RCAHMS, Stirlingshire (Edinburgh 1963), I, 122–25. 18. T. L. Watson, The Double Choir of Glasgow Cathedral a Study of Rib Vaulting (Glasgow 1901), 90–102. 19. J. M. Canivez ed., Statuta Capitulorum Generalium Ordinis Cisterciensis (Louvain 1933–41), III, 91 and 138; Cowan and Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (as n. 13), 78. 20. C. Innes Registrum Episcopatus Glasguensis, Bannatyne and Maitland Clubs (1843), I, xxviii.

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Elgin Cathedral 21. His arms are on the pier that supports the central cone of the vault: Quarterly first and fourth a lymphiad; second and third a fess chequy. W. R. Macdonald, ‘Notes on the Heraldry of Elgin and its Neighbourhood’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 34 (1899–1900), 350–53. 22. The building sequence is discussed more fully in R. Fawcett, ‘The Priory Church’, in F. McCormick et al., ‘Excavations at Pluscarden Priory, Moray’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 124 (1994), 396–403. 23. W. H. Bliss et al. ed., Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers relating to Great Britain and Ireland: Papal Letters (London 1893– ), XI, 330. 24. For further discussion of such an archaizing approach, see R. Fawcett, ‘Reliving Bygone Glories? The Revival of Earlier Architectural Forms in Scottish Late Medieval Church Architecture’, JBAA, 156 (2003), 104–37. 25. Fawcett, Beauly and Fortrose (as n. 14), plan inside back cover. 26. According to D. MacGibbon and T. Ross, The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland, 2 (Edinburgh 1896), 395, the excavation was carried out ‘about twenty-five years ago’. 27. On a bend, three buckles. 28. A bull’s head caboshed. These two arms were identified by Batten (as n. 13), 189. 29. For further discussion of such vaults see Richard Fawcett, ‘Barrel-Vaulted Churches in Late Medieval Scotland’, in Architecture and Interpretation: Essays for Eric Fernie, ed. J. A. Franklin, T. A. Heslop and C. Stevenson (Woodbridge 2012), 60–77. 30. For fuller discussion of the possible range of sources that were an inspiration for the design of later medieval churches in Scotland, see R. Fawcett, The Architecture of the Scottish Medieval Church 1100–1560 (New Haven and London 2011), 207–391. 31. J. Durkan, ‘The Sanctuary and College of Tain’, Innes Review, 13 (1962), 147–56. 32. ‘Testamentum Domini Jacobi de Douglas Domini de Dalkeith Militis’, in The Bannatyne Miscellany, 2, ed. D. Laing, Bannatyne Club (1836), 109. 33. Several of the buttresses have been restored without chamfered angles. 34. Discussion of some of this group of tombs will also be found in R. Fawcett, ‘Aspects of Scottish Canopied Tomb Design’ and R. Oram, ‘Bishops’ Tombs in Scotland’, in Monuments and Monumentality across Medieval and early Modern Europe, ed. M. Penman (Donington 2013), 129–42 and 171–98. 35. For a brief account of Winchester’s career, see R. Oram, in Fawcett and Oram, Elgin Cathedral (as n. 7), 41–42. 36. It is inscribed ‘hic jacet recolende memoe johanes winnechestair dns epus moravien q obit xxii die me apl ano dni mocccclx’. 37. J. Adhe´mar, ‘Les Tombeaux de la Collection Gaignie`res’, Gazette de Beaux Arts, 84 (1974), fig. 853. 38. The arms on the shield on the east buttress are: a fess checquy between two crescents in chief and an open crown in base, impaling a fess chequy between two open crowns in chief; the charge in chief is broken away. The arms on the west shield have not been identified. Macdonald, ‘Heraldry of Elgin’, (as n. 21), 369–70. According to J. Spottiswoode, An Historical Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops Down to the Year 1688, new edn (Edinburgh 1824), 144–45, Bishop David Stewart was buried ‘in St Peter and St Paul’s aisle’, though he was mistaken in saying that aisle was ‘on the north of the cathedral’, since it was on the south. 39. According to A. E. Mahood, Banff and District (Banff 1919), the inscription on the tomb read: ‘Hic nobiles viri Jacobus Ogilvy de Deskfvrd miles at Jacob ej filivs et haeres apparen obitvs vero dicti militis 13 Februarii ao di 1505 obiit aute dicti fillii 1o Februarii ao di 1505. Orate pro aiab eorum’. 40. The Ogilvy tomb at Cullen is discussed more fully in the contribution by Lizzie Swarbrick to this volume (see Swarbrick, 132–35).

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Bishops’ Palaces in the Medieval Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray PENELOPE DRANSART

A narrative account is presented of the location and functions of residences of the bishops of Aberdeen and Moray. Archaeological, documentary and place-name evidence is used, as well as vernacular traditions, to examine the development of bishops’ palaces, castles and manors in the two sees from Pictish times up to the Reformation. The role of chapels in bishops’ residences is addressed as well as the co-option of the cults of local and national saints in the maintenance of episcopal authority. Because the documentary evidence is sparse and there is considerable variation in the surviving physical evidence (from earthworks to an extremely large masonry tower at Spynie), bishops’ palaces in Scotland have received less attention than is the case with monasteries. In reviewing the evidence, this article contrasts the geographically widespread distribution of residences in the diocese of Aberdeen with the concentration of sites round the now drained Loch Spynie in Moray. keywords: bishops’ residences, Aberdeen, Moray, earthworks, masonry castles, saints’ cults, governance Bishops’ residences in north-eastern Scotland first appear in the archaeological record during the 12th and 13th centuries. Conventionally, such buildings are known as ‘palaces’. For some authors this term is a functional one, referring to an architectural plan in which a specific architectural component, the hall, is prominent.1 Political connotations are also important since the term palatium was first applied to imperial or royal residences and it evoked notions of authority. In northern and central Italy the word appears in medieval documents in reference to buildings where royal control and administration were exercised. It was extended to seats of episcopal authority during the 11th and 12th centuries at a time of contestation between bishops and communes.2 Prior to these centuries, the residence of a bishop had been called an episcopium. In the days of Pope Gregory the Great (590–604), episcopia were centres where bishops dispensed charity and provided sanctuary; that, at least, was the ideal, but the material resources housed in such establishments might make them vulnerable to appropriation by persons unauthorized by the church.3 In Italy, bishop’s residences formed part of an urban topography.4 The siting of many a palace within the city wall, near a gate, or located arterially on a thoroughfare or river route meant that it looked towards different constituencies, the urban Christians within the city, the consistency of whose faith apparently required perpetual episcopal encouragement, and the rural inhabitants of the late antique countryside whose conversion had yet to be fully accomplished. Bishops and other prelates were supported by the mensa, defined by Everett Crosby as the ‘entirety of property and goods which, as capital and income, served to support the members of an ecclesiastical body’.5 In time, these resources became divided into a 58

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Bishops’ Palaces in the Medieval Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray

mensa episcopalis and a mensa capitularis. Historians have discussed various explanations to account for this separation, whether it was to protect the integrity of the cathedral chapter from an over-powerful bishop or from sequestration by a monarch on his death. Crosby saw it instead as part of the reforms put in place during Carolingian times in recognition of the fact that bishops did not inevitably live next door to the cathedral.6 Because most people in north-eastern Scotland lived in widely dispersed communities, there being few large burghs and fewer cities, the location of bishops’ palaces is of relevance in a discussion of the functions of such residences in medieval society. From Pictish times, at least, Mortlach in the medieval diocese of Aberdeen, and Birnie and Kinneddar in Moray already had been ancient religious centres. The antiquity of these rural centres enabled them to claim a privileged status which, at Mortlach, is echoed today in the pronouncement that St Moluag (Mo Luo´c), an Irish saint who had established a community on the island of Lismore, founded its church in ad 566.7 While these sites might once have been monastic, by the 12th century at Mortlach a minster-like arrangement seems to have pertained. A charter of Pope Adrian IV, dated 1157, confirmed that the monasterium de murthillach and its five dependent churches were held by the bishop of Aberdeen.8 From the 12th century, first Birnie then Kinneddar emerged as seats of episcopal authority in Moray. Such sites became the locus from which a bishop, in line with the prevailing norms, could establish his pre-eminence in the diocese as the foremost administrator of the church.9 While the residences of the bishops of Moray were mostly concentrated round a now drained sea loch (Loch Spynie), those used by the bishops of Aberdeen were more widely dispersed throughout the diocese, especially on lands north of the River Don (Table 1). Using evidence obtained from archaeological excavation, documentary records, place-name evidence and vernacular traditions, this article examines the buildings of these bishops, taking into account their duties as leading churchmen and barons of the realm, in the light of religious organization. Many of the places where bishops focused their building activities already possessed local ecclesiastical significance associated with specific saints’ names — for instance, Moluag (Mo Luo´c) and Machar in what became the diocese of Aberdeen and Gervadius (Gartnait) in Moray. These dedications had an important legacy for the development of palaces as centres of authority. By the 13th century the bishops also sought the patronage of the Virgin Mary in Aberdeen and the Holy Trinity in Moray. This choice of divine sponsorship in each diocese had been given a seal of approval that was both royal and episcopal, because Bishop Turgot of St Andrews stated in his Vita of Queen, later Saint, Margaret of Scotland that she supplicated the Holy Trinity, the Holy Cross and Saint Mary in her morning prayers.10 Scotland, however, lacked the metropolitan system that characterized diocesan organization in most other European regions. From the last decade of the 12th century, her church formed an independent province, possessing no metropolitan archbishop until 1472. Churchmen answered directly to Rome, recognizing the papacy as their ‘mother and metropolitan with no intermediary’.11 By the 13th century, the church was governed by provincial councils, which met in different Scottish burghs. the emergence of an architecture of episcopal authority Archaeologically, it is difficult to distinguish early episcopal centres from monasteries because both types of establishment might be characterized by communal living 59

penelope dransart Table 1.

List of bishops’ residences in the medieval Dioceses of Moray and Aberdeen

Name 1. Castle Maud 2. Easter Clune Castle 3. Fetternear — Bishop’s Palace

NGR

Parish

Earthwork

NO 62380 99480 NO 61230 91500 NJ 72260 17220

Moat/Ditch

Forest of Birse Castle Knockespock House Loch Goul — Bishop’s Manor Mortlach — Balvenie Castle Mortlach — Bishop’s Palace Murtle - Old House of Binghill Old Aberdeen — Bishop’s Palace Rayne — Bishop of Aberdeen’s House 12. Birnie — Castle Hill 13. Elgin — Precentor’s or Bishop’s House 14. Kinneddar — Bishop’s Palace

NO 52019 90560 NJ 54465 24092 NJ 91170 14270 NJ 32600 40870 NJ 32600 39700 NJ 85760 02260 NJ 93980 08770 NJ 67520 28460

Kincardine O’Neil Birse Chapel of Garioch (formerly Fetternear) Birse Clatt New Machar Mortlach Mortlach Peterculter Aberdeen Rayne

NJ 21690 57990 NJ 22114 63095

Birnie Elgin

Natural mound

NJ 22430 69690

Moat/Ditch

15. Loch-an-Eilein Castle

NH 89862 07931

16. Moy — Isle of 17. Spynie Palace 18. Thomshill — Castle Hill

NH 77580 34310 NJ 23091 65852 NJ 21700 57900

Drainie (formerly Kinneddar) Duthil & Rothiemurcus Moy & Dalarossie Spynie Birnie

4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

Moat/Ditch

Island in loch Moat/Ditch

Moat/Ditch

Island in loch Island in loch Moat/Ditch Natural mound

with similar architectural planning. The residents in the former were canons overseen by a bishop, while in the latter they would have been monks or nuns overseen by an abbot or abbess. In the absence of documentary evidence, an enclosed cluster of buildings might equally signal the presence of a bishop’s residence or a monastery.12 In time, some early sites that had been associated with the church in the sees of Aberdeen and Moray underwent development to become castles of enclosure, imposing a statement of authority on the land. Earthworks including moats or ditches have been detected at a number of sites that served as the residence of a bishop and his household (Table 1, Fig. 1). Other residences were built on naturally occurring islands in lochs. Enclosure by water accompanied by a palisade or masonry walling carries with it a notion of defence that operated on both a physical and a spiritual level, and may have helped convey the idea that such places offered sanctuary.13 Some of the sites discussed here remained in church hands until the Protestant Reformation of 1560, but others passed into lay ownership. The original cathedral, which had been at Mortlach, moved in the 12th century to Aberdeen and, in Moray, the cathedral migrated from Birnie to Kinneddar, only settling in Elgin in the 13th century. The episcopal residences associated with the earliest cathedrals have left few traces in terms of architectural plans. Because they were not necessarily adjacent to the cathedral itself, the hierarchy that Michael Thompson devised for episcopal residences in 60

Bishops’ Palaces in the Medieval Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray

Fig. 1. Distribution of bishops’ residences in the medieval Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray

England and Wales — first, a see palace next to the cathedral in an urban centre; second, a manorial castle; third, a manor house on one of the bishop’s rural estates — does not lend itself to bishop’s residences in north-eastern Scotland.14 More often than not, the bishop’s residences mentioned in medieval charters of Aberdeen and Moray appear only as a name of the place where the document was sealed. Occasionally the scribes referred to the residence using the terms manierum (‘manor’), castrum (‘castle’) or palacium (‘palace’); Fetternear, Old Aberdeen and Spynie, in particular, are called ‘palace’.15 One of the earliest descriptive statements mentioning the buildings comes from Hector Boece who, in 1522, wrote a book of lives of the bishops of Aberdeen, but the dates he supplied for their episcopates are unreliable.16 In presenting the bishops as vigilant overseers serving both church and monarch, his account seems closer to hagiography than history.17 He described them as modest in their personal habits but generous in their hospitality when receiving guests. This characterization sounds like an echo of senior churchmen’s lives elsewhere. The personal frugality of the Avignon popes, for instance, was held to be in contrast to the lavishness of the feasts they hosted.18 Architectural settings are, of course, necessary for such conviviality and, to set the scene for the Aberdeen bishops, Boece provided an indication of their residences, using the terms praediis for the landed estates as a whole and pontificias aedes for the buildings. This latter term, he explained, was in reference to the praesulis mansiones — the ‘bishop’s mansions’.19 In what follows, where I use the word ‘palace’, it is a conventional term to discuss evidence first for the diocese of Aberdeen and second for the diocese of Moray. 61

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medieval diocese of aberdeen The medieval diocese of Aberdeen was geographically larger than the shire of the same name, incorporating Banffshire and parts of Kincardineshire. In a compilation of historical materials, Joseph Robertson included a manuscript written by A. Keith, dated 1732, which draws attention to a series of significant places in the ecclesiastical history of the diocese. Using some different spellings from those of today, Keith stated there were: Two cathedrals: Murthlach; and Old Aberdeen. One city: Old Aberdeen. Two episcopal palaces: Balvanie; and Old Aberdeen. Two episcopal manours: Fetterneir; and Lochgowl [. . .]20

Missing from this list is the manor of Rayne, whose township in 1492/3 acquired the status of a burgh of barony and its own market day (the Lourin Fair, on 16 August each year).21 Other residences do not feature in the list, either: Murtle (also known as Old House of Binghill), Knockespock, Castle Maud and Birse. The exact site of an episcopal palace at Murtle was reported as being some 220 yards south of the current house of Binghill in the parish of Peterculter, but the only material trace discussed in 19th-century sources relates to a hoard of silver coins, seemingly from the reign of David II.22 Knockespock has a splendid toponym, ‘bishop’s hill’, but the documentary and archaeological records are elusive. Ian Shepherd mentioned some masonry evidence for two towers protruding from the 18th-century core of Knockespock House.23 In 1242, Alexander II granted the lands of Birse as free forest to Bishop Radulphus de Lambley and his successors in a charter that also granted them lands at Fetternear.24 There are two potential sites, both south-west of Banchory, near the Water of Feugh. These are the castles of Easter Clune and Forest of Birse, although the surviving architectural evidence in both cases is of 16th- to 17th-century date. By this time, Forest of Birse Castle was in the hands of the Gordons of Cluny and an Archbishop Ross reputedly was responsible for the construction of the now fragmentary Easter Clune Castle.25 Of the sites discussed in this paragraph only Castle Maud has a tangible existence unobscured by post-medieval developments. It takes the form of a masonry castle surrounded by a moat, part of which survives on its west.26 The documentary record is silent on Castle Maud. The following sections provide details for sites that have received more sustained attention from archaeologists and historians than those already mentioned. The order is roughly chronological. Mortlach/Balvenie Mortlach, claimed as the seat of the earliest bishops of Aberdeen, is an upland community now forming part of Dufftown. The church is sited on the banks of the Water of Dullan, near its confluence with the River Fiddich, and the presence of Pictish symbol stones provides evidence for its antiquity. It seems that leading families of Celtic descent made early endowments of land to the church, prompting Geoffrey Barrow to suggest that what was to become the diocese of Aberdeen had ancient Pictish-Gaelic origins.27 In addition to the tradition that the church was founded in the 6th century, a conventional belief also holds that c. 1010 a battle between the Scots and Danes took place there. 62

Bishops’ Palaces in the Medieval Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray

A papal bull of 1157 confirmed lands to Bishop Edward including Mortlach with its large district of five dependent churches. If the churchmen serving this minster-like arrangement can be seen as constituting a college of clerks, their organization would have been similar to that of the Ce´li De or Culdees, whose presence is known from what became the episcopal centres of Brechin, Dunkeld and St Andrews. According to Ian Cowan, their social organization resembled a grouping of secular priests or a college of clerics and he saw such an arrangement as providing the basis for the emergence of bishoprics.28 In north-eastern Scotland this kind of development would have been at the expense of other Ce´li De-like establishments. During the first half of the 12th century, clerici recorded at Deer belonged, perhaps, to a non-monastic minster until c. 1219 when William Comyn, earl of Buchan, re-founded it as a Cistercian abbey.29 At Monymusk, a direct neighbour of the ecclesiastical estate of Fetternear, the clerics were subject to the bishopric of St Andrews and their community became an Augustinian Priory. There is no physical evidence for an early bishop’s house adjacent to the church in Mortlach. Balvenie Castle, also known as Mortlach Castle, at just over one mile (2 km) north of the church, however, is a candidate for consideration as such a residence (Fig. 2). John of Fordun, writing in the 14th century, attributed the foundation of the see to King Malcolm II, in recognition of his victory over the Danes and Norwegians. In Fordun’s account, Malcolm named Beyn as the first bishop, a man both ‘holy and

Fig. 2. Balvenie Castle, drawn by C. Cordiner and engraved by P. Mazell (1787) in Remarkable Ruins and Romantic Prospects of North Britain (1795) Photography by courtesy of Roderic Bowen Library, University of Wales Trinity Saint David

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worthy’ of the dignity.30 A medieval church tradition has also survived in the form of a memoria, which Cosmo Innes thought must have been recorded in written form during the bishopric of Gilbert de Greenlaw (c. 1390–1422).31 It lists Beyn, Donortius and Cormacus as successive bishops at Mortlach. Place-name specialists have derived the name Balvenie from Baile Bheathain, meaning ‘Bean’s [home]stead’.32 The castle is situated on ground overlooking the River Fiddich, surrounded by a substantial, flat-bottomed moat on three sides, formerly with a drawbridge giving access from the south-east.33 David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross measured the moat as 30 feet (9.14 m) in width, and they wondered if it dated from an earlier period than the masonry castle now standing within it.34 Locally, people held that Balvenie was the site of a ‘Pictish town’ and that there was a chapel in the southeastern corner of the castle enclosure.35 Nicholas Bogdan detected evidence for 13th-century masonry in the enceinte, drawing attention to the splayed base of the rubble walling and a clasping buttress at the north-eastern corner, with a hollowed-out garderobe on the level of the first floor.36 This construction pre-dates the castle’s appearance in the surviving documentary record, by which time it had passed into the possession of the ‘Black’ Comyn earls of Buchan. It was one of the two castles Edward I of England retained when, in 1304, he restored other confiscated property to the earl of Buchan.37 The full title of Boece’s work on the lives of the bishops — Murthlacensium et Aberdonensium Episcoporum Vitae — emphasizes the venerable status of Mortlach as the mother church. Boece recorded that the 13th- and 14th-century bishops made regular progressions round the diocese. He provided the most detail for the second quarter of the 14th century, when Alexander de Kininmund I followed a regular routine in an annual ritual cycle: this bishop apparently spent Lent and Easter in Old Aberdeen, summer and autumn at Fetternear and Rayne, while he was at Mortlach for Christmas. To assist him in accomplishing this schedule, Boece said that he began to build residences in all four places, completing construction at Aberdeen and Fetternear, but leaving William de Deyn, his successor, to finish the other two.38 The site of the manor in Mortlach is marked on 19th-century Ordnance Survey maps, by which time the foundation was ‘overgrown with grass, which would be walked over with little notice, if one were not told, that here was the bishop’s palace’.39 Sited on a bank above the Dullan, it was closer to the church than Balvenie Castle. An annual progress through the diocese from Old Aberdeen to Fetternear, then to Rayne and ultimately to Mortlach, would have taken the bishops on a route through the heartlands of the Garioch where there are some church dedications to Mo Luo´c. It is of comparative interest that a study of the diocese of Argyll found indications not only for the possible existence of a Ce´li De´ community on Lismore by the end of the 12th century, but also suggestions that Mo Luo´c’s life had been recast as a bishop in charge of a territorial jurisdiction.40 In a periodic rejuvenation of the saint’s cult, St Molocus appears in the 16th-century Aberdeen Breviary, where he is described as a Scot who followed St Brendan, while the Calendar produced in 1527 for a manuscript known as Bishop Gavin Dunbar’s Epistolare underscores his continuing importance because his festival on 25 June appears as a red letter day.41 Translation of the see to Old Aberdeen The fourth Mortlach Bishop, Nechtan, has a stronger presence in the documentary record than that of his predecessors because his name appears as a witness in a land 64

Bishops’ Palaces in the Medieval Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray

grant dated 113161132 in the Gaelic notes in the Book of Deer.42 He is remembered as overseeing the translation of the cathedral from Mortlach to Old Aberdeen. The Epistolare has this event occurring during the reign of King David I, ‘born of Malcolm Canmore and his most holy wife Margaret’.43 In other words, the author of the 16th-century text used the aura of David’s parentage as a heavenly endorsement for the move. Writing in the 20th century, Ian Cowan highlighted instead the fiscal arrangements, by which David I enacted an assize for the compulsory payment of teinds on lands served by what henceforth became parish churches.44 Old Aberdeen has its own hagiographic tradition, which associates the crook taken by the River Don as the sign of a bishop’s crosier. One of the lives of Columcille recorded that the saint instructed his pupil Mochonna to convert the Picts to Christianity and to establish a church on the bank of a river where it curved in resemblance of a pastoral staff.45 Commentators have often assumed that Old Aberdeen was the unnamed place. The tradition presents a retroactive perspective as a form of prescience. In a similar vein, Cosmo Innes had reservations concerning the cathedral’s charters containing 12th-century land grants.46 Historians have not called into question that people endowed the lands as named to the church, but they have commented on the character of the written evidence, which seems to be the product of 13th- and 14thcentury scribal practices. The cadence of the writing in the dedication of a putative 12th-century document to ‘deo et beate marie et beato machorio’ perhaps provides another instance of such practices. It echoes the invocation ‘Deo et beate Marie Virgini et Omnibus Sanctis et Sancte Trinitate de Elgyn’ in a grant to Archibald, bishop of Moray.47 From the 13th century onwards, the Virgin became an important patron in the diocese of Aberdeen (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. The seal of Bishop Gavin Dunbar (1518/19–32), Aberdeen Diocese Photo: Author

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Despite the elevation of St Machar’s to cathedral status, there is no 12th- or 13thcentury evidence for a see palace in Old Aberdeen. Some people have claimed that an earthen mound called Tillydrone served as a motte, but Nicholas Bogdan doubted such an attribution because the smallness of the summit made it unsuitable as a residence.48 The question has now been settled by excavation, which provided evidence for human activity dating from the Iron Age and, if the site continued to be used, it was perhaps as a beacon or meeting place.49 Loch Goul/Bishop’s Loch For part of the 13th century a small island in Loch Goul, situated close to the road leading from Old Aberdeen to Buchan, supported an episcopal residence. By the early 20th century, its water levels became very reduced compared with those of the medieval period and the site is now a promontory. The complex of buildings on the island was approached from the west by means of a drawbridge, which was possibly located where today there is an earthen ramp.50 An 18th-century account described the bishop’s lodging comprising a long hall oriented south-west to north-east (Fig. 4), with buildings either side and, to the south, a chapel, aligned east–west. This was reputed to have been dedicated to the Virgin.51

Fig. 4. Loch Goul (Bishop’s Loch). The ‘hall’ taken from the South-West, looking North-East Photo: Author

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In the documentary record, Loch Goul is associated with Hugh de Benham, who travelled to Orvieto for his consecration in 1272. According to Boece, he was active in matters of state, but in old age ‘he found such delight in the pleasant groves adjoining [the island] that he sought no other retreat’.52 Attributing his death to ‘an excess of rheum’, Boece evidently wished to quash alternative accounts that the bishop had been murdered.53 The site has not been excavated and there is no documentary record associating it with bishops after Hugh’s episcopate. Whatever the reasons for its abandonment, it seems that it no longer served as a place of sanctuary. The end of the 13th century saw the incursion of English military forces under Edward I and Loch Goul was, perhaps, perceived as being vulnerable to attack. Fetternear and Rayne were in more suitable locations for defensive strengthening. These estates also had potential for generating income and allowing access to more distant parts of the diocese when the bishop was conducting visitations. Fetternear Pope Adrian IV’s charter of 1157 assigned the church and township of Fetternear to the bishop of Aberdeen and, as mentioned in connection with Birse, in 1242 the bishop obtained further grants of land at Fetternear in free forest. The site of the palace is about a mile (1.6 km) from the parish kirk, which was dedicated to St Ninian.54 Fetternear was a small rural parish. Its settlement pattern was presumably dispersed and the development of the palace from the 13th century would have made a strong economic contribution to the local community. Unlike many other churches in the diocese, St Ninian’s did not become a prebend of the cathedral. Instead, Ian Cowan noted that the bishops retained it ‘as a mensal church whose revenues would accrue to the bishop and could sometimes be used by him as an additional item of episcopal patronage’.55 The bishop’s palace and the post-medieval mansion that replaced it are sited on south-facing, sloping ground close to the Marshes Burn, near its confluence with the River Don (Fig. 5). This location is half a mile (0.8 km) from a ford at Garmonend, which must have been a medieval crossing point of the Don.56 Excavations conducted from 1995 to 2010 as part of the Scottish Episcopal Palaces Project (SEPP) have demonstrated heavy remodelling of walling south of the present building, which Harry Gordon Slade suggested was the remains of a tower with walls about 7 ft thick built on an L-plan.57 This reconstruction is recent; it followed an excavation in c. 1896 under the instruction of Charles Stephen Leslie, a laird with antiquarian interests, whose father was the co-author of a family history in which it is stated that there was formerly a fosse surrounding the palace. The 19th-century excavators did not remove deposits filling the fosse, nor did they record it in the plan that was appended to the 1900 edition of the OS map.58 The work of SEPP has investigated sections of the moat on the north, east and south of the site.59 To the north, the moat was cut into granitic bedrock but, elsewhere, it was dug into alluvial clays and sand. Cross-sections indicate that it is about 6 m in width and, where cut into alluvial deposits, is flat-bottomed. It surrounds an artificial island, roughly rectangular in shape, but it is not continuous. The moat’s west arm ends to the south of the site and its east arm terminated where a wooden sluice channelled water into a deep ditch with a sharp V-shaped profile, draining into the Marshes Burn. Inside the moat, the palace was enclosed by a palisade, which was later replaced by a masonry curtain wall. From the surviving charter evidence, in January 1277, Bishop 67

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Fig. 5. Aerial view at the beginning of the 2009 excavation season at Fetternear Photo by courtesy of M. Greig and Aberdeenshire Council

Hugh de Benham sealed a document at Fetternear, indicating that there were buildings there by then.60 The pottery evidence indicates that the palace was further developed as a stronghold from the 1280s, during the bishoprics of Henry Le Chen (1282–1328) and Alexander de Kininmund I (1329–44).61 From the 16th century, the site was subject to more than one episode of levelling in preparation for other phases of development. To compound our difficulties in establishing the layout of the site, the late-19th-century excavators removed many of the foundations that had survived until then (Fig. 6). Post-excavation analysis of the finds, however, assists in the identification of different functional areas of the bishop’s palace between the late 13th and 15th centuries. A sole plate of a timber trestle bridge inserted into a slot cut into the natural alluvium at the base of the moat demonstrates that the main entrance was on the east. On gaining admittance, a visitor might turn right (northward) to go to the counting house, or to the chapel. The latter was a masonry building aligned east–west, and when the curtain wall was constructed to replace the palisade this wall butted against the east end of the chapel. Styli from the area of the counting house bear witness to record keeping, although the accompanying wax tablets have not survived (Fig. 7). If, instead of turning right after crossing the bridge, the visitor had walked directly ahead, he or she would have arrived at the kitchen, in the south-west corner. The finds include jugs of local pottery, which had been used for heating liquids, and knives with both whittle-tang and scale-tang attachment of the blade to the handle.62 68

Bishops’ Palaces in the Medieval Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray

Fig. 6. George Washington Wilson photograph of Fetternear c. 1896–1900. Note the stones removed by excavation and placed on the lawn directly in front of the mansion Photo by courtesy of University of Aberdeen

Fig. 7.

Styli excavated from the counting house of Fetternear Photo: Author

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By the 16th century, the palace seems to have been extensively remodelled. The chapel went out of use, its walls were cut down to foundation level and the flooring, which perhaps had been tiled, was removed. A now-vanished range, aligned north– south, was built over it. Evidence dating from the 16th century includes Siegburg pottery, a large granite capital and wide-splayed shot holes, which in the 1640s were reused in the rear elevation of the mansion.63 Old Aberdeen Boece credited Bishop Alexander Kininmund I with building a palace in Old Aberdeen, commenting that he finished the task despite being ‘distracted by the confusion into which the English along with Edward Balliol had at that time thrown a great part of the country’.64 Located east of the cathedral, it was possibly attacked by the forces of Edward III, who are on record as having sacked and burned Aberdeen in 1336.65 According to Boece, Bishop William de Deyn finished the projects initiated by his predecessor Alexander de Kininmund I and ‘restored those [buildings] destroyed by the English’.66 During the bishopric of Thomas Spens, c. 1459, the palace in Old Aberdeen featured once more in Boece’s account. As translated by Moir, Bishop Thomas ‘built anew the residence of the bishop, demolishing the old turrets and battlements and erecting new ones’.67 In the original Latin text, the term ‘pontificias aedes’ is in the plural. The comment might be generic, intended to apply to nearly all episcopal residences in the diocese, but the context implies that it refers to Old Aberdeen because the statement follows immediately after the bishop’s donations and improvements to the cathedral. It is therefore a specific description of the bishop’s residence, although it suggests that the outward appearance of this residence differed little in style from late medieval seigneurial architecture more generally. An inventory of the palace’s contents was taken in 1519 of ‘all the geyr [gear]’ left inside when Gavin Dunbar succeeded to the bishopric following the death of Alexander Gordon. The scribe listed the contents according to the rooms in which they were found. These are named as the wardrobe, the chamber above the wardrobe, the chapel, the chapel chamber, the great chamber, the closet, the study, the hall, the pantry, the cellar, the kitchen, the larder, the brewhouse, the bakehouse, the south-east tower and the south-west tower.68 The towers harboured very few items and it is likely that the scribe listed only those rooms containing items to be inventoried. This might account for the omission of the north-east and north-west towers. In a detailed description, written early in the 18th century, William Orem said the palace consisted of a ‘large court, having four towers, one in every corner of the close, and a great hall and chambers, where the bishop dwelt. On the South side of the close were an outer and inner port, in the middle a great deep well’.69 By the middle of the 17th century, the palace had suffered a series of depredations and building material was removed to construct a fort on Castle Hill in New Aberdeen and the Cromwell Tower, at the north-eastern corner of the quadrangle of King’s College, University of Aberdeen.70 A drawing of the palace appears in Gordon’s map of Old and New Aberdeen, showing it after demolition had commenced — the range on the west of the courtyard is missing (Fig. 8). Curiously, only one tower is shown unequivocally on the north-east of the building; the south-east and south-west towers of the inventory do not appear. The south-west tower might already have been 70

Bishops’ Palaces in the Medieval Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray

Fig. 8. The bishop’s palace, Old Aberdeen, from a plan by J. Gordon, Abredoniae Novae et Veteris Descriptio (1661) Detail of an image supplied by courtesy of National Library of Scotland, licensed under CC BY 2.0

flattened, but one would expect to find something still standing in the south-east corner. The towers named in the inventory do not tally with Gordon’s drawing and Orem’s description of the palace. In the 1960s, the University of Aberdeen built Dunbar Hall of Residence on the site of the palace. Prior to its demolition in 2002, parts of the site became available for excavation, revealing a wall which incorporated ashlar cut freestone. A further season of excavation uncovered a well located within a cellar, measuring 5 m square.71 Rayne This manor is located in the parish of Rayne on a route known locally as the St Lawrence Road traversing the burgh of what is now called Old Rayne. The bishops of Aberdeen held the township of Rayne from at least the 12th century.72 Excavations conducted in advance of planning consent have demonstrated that a moat, oval in plan, was dug perhaps in the 13th century. The footings of masonry buildings within this area are dated to the late 13th or early 14th century, corresponding to the bishopric of Alexander de Kininmund I.73 A high-status building was roofed with well-cut slates and a ridge of ceramic tiles that were mostly locally made but included a decorated lustrously glazed ridge tile of imported Yorkshire ware. This roof is likely to be similar to the contemporary roofs at Fetternear and it (or one like it) would have covered the chapel mentioned in a charter dated 1382 when Bishop Adam de Tynninghame, in the presence of numerous witnesses, absolved Johannes de Camera from the sentence of excommunication.74 Occupation at Rayne continued into the 15th century, with a gradual period of decline in the 16th and 17th centuries. A notable feature of the site is a timber-lined cistern for fresh water.75 71

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medieval diocese of moray Geoffrey Barrow thought that the origins of the diocese of Moray differed from those of Aberdeen, attributing its foundation to a 12th-century reorganization of the pre-existing church during the reigns of Alexander I and David I.76 By this time, Birnie had acquired an association with the bishops of Moray, but the focus of attention turned to Kinneddar, Spynie and, ultimately, to Elgin. Like their counterparts in Aberdeen, the bishops had hunting lodges, two of which have been named, but little information on them is available. One is the Isle of Moy and, if it supported a building, this construction was presumably of timber. In the absence of a programme of survey and excavation, it is difficult to hazard a date range for episcopal ownership of the island. By the 14th century, the estate was in the ownership of the Mackintosh family.77 Alexander II made a grant of the Forest of Rothiemurchus to Bishop Andrew de Moravia in 1226.78 Ten years later it was no longer in his hands. The castle associated with this forest is on a small island, Loch an Eilein, but the study of its architecture has been restricted due to difficulties of access. W. D. Simpson made a visit in 1935 and he dated the tower at the north end to the 14th century.79 It is joined by a curtain wall to a first-floor hall with a barrel-vaulted basement, which he dated to his second phase. Ian Bryce examined the architecture after vegetation had been cleared and he reversed Simpson’s chronological scheme, attributing the hall building to Andrew de Moravia (or to Shaw Mackintosh, 1236–c. 1265), and the tower to the second half of the 15th century. In contrast to these sites, more can be said for the remarkable architectural patronage of the bishops of Moray at Birnie, Kinneddar and Spynie. Birnie The earliest known episcopal residence in the diocese of Moray was at Birnie, close to the site of an ancient church. A Pictish stone now stands at the entrance to the graveyard, which was oval in plan. The Ordnance Survey Name Book (ONB) reported that originally there were more Pictish stones, but that they were broken up for building material used in the wall.80 The church also possessed an iron hand-bell.81 Places chosen by 12th-century bishops for development as sites of episcopal authority discussed elsewhere in this article had been occupied since prehistoric times. Birnie, however, is particularly rich in terms of human habitation from late prehistoric times into the early medieval period.82 The bishop’s residence was reputed to be an ‘extensive building’ in the corner of a field known as Castlehill, which is also described as ‘a bold eminence’. Its foundations survived until 1802, when they were removed for land reclamation.83 Thomshill, to the east of Birnie, has also been suggested as an alternative site for a bishop’s residence because it, too, is associated with a ‘Castlehill’ place-name, but local people made no mention of a prelate’s abode when, between 1868 and 1871, surveyors compiled the records for the ONB.84 Birnie church, constructed from ‘square dressed freestone ashlar, both externally and internally’, has been dated to the end of the 12th century.85 Such a date is more recent than the episcopacy of Gregory, the bishop of an unnamed see, possibly of Moray, who witnessed the foundation charter of Scone Priory in 1114.86 An ancient stone font survives perhaps from the incumbency of the earliest bishops and acquires significance 72

Bishops’ Palaces in the Medieval Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray

because of the 11th-century custom whereby bishops alone administered the sacrament of baptism.87 Birnie has been noted as the burial place of the fourth bishop, Symon de Tosny, in 1184, a date in keeping with the architectural style of the church.88 Kinneddar By the 8th century, Kinneddar was an important centre sited within a ditched earthwork enclosure on the edge of a now-drained sea loch. When, in the 19th century, labourers levelled the ramparts, they reported finding large numbers of stone cists containing human bones, ashes and oak charcoal. The Revd Dr Richard Rose, author of the New Statistical Account entry on Drainie, investigated these reports. On the east of the site he discovered the remains of a high wall supported by solid buttresses built above an earth rampart. Underneath he found previously undisturbed graves aligned with the wall.89 In 1855, workmen found a Class I Pictish stone and Class III stones when they dismantled a wall surrounding the manse. Further Class III stones have been encountered in digging graves in Kinneddar churchyard.90 The site is thus multi-phase, with prehistoric and early medieval burials. Between the 8th and 10th centuries the church had at least two shrines, which probably contained the relics or contact relics of one or more saints. The place is associated with an Irish saint and miracle worker known locally as St Gerardine or, in Latin, Gervadius, whose feast day was 8 November. According to the 16th-century Aberdeen Breviary, his stone bed was at Kinneddar, which may be a description of a shrine.91 The early ramparts constrained the architectural development of the episcopal residence, but Revd Rose’s description of it makes it sound exceptional. It occupied about two acres of ground (Fig. 9). Two walls on an irregular hexagonal plan were approximately ‘fifty paces’ apart, each with a ditch in front and a rampart behind. The outer wall was buttressed at each angle by small towers, which were solid and projected 6 ft from the wall, access to the wall head being provided by an internal ‘rough stone stair’. At the centre of the enclosed space there was a ‘great tower, which [. . .] after being deserted by the bishops [. . .] was [. . .] appropriated as a belfry to the ancient adjoining church’. To the east of the tower were the vaulted storehouses. Among the demolition material, the minister noted work of ‘the Gothic order, and highly ornamented in its day’.92 Bishop Richard of Lincoln (1187–1203) is said to have adopted Kinneddar as the cathedral. Its cruciform ground plan, south of the palace, was detected by geophysical prospection in 1995.93 The presence of Gothic tracery is likely to date from the bishopric of Archibald (1252–98). A relatively high number of charters were witnessed in what was called the ‘manor’ or the ‘castle’ of Kinneddar, two during the bishopric of Andrew de Moravia, four during that of Archibald, one during that of John of Pilmuir (1326–62) and a memorandum during that of Alexander Bur (1362–97).94 John of Pilmuir sealed his charter ‘in the chapel of the bishop’s manor of Kinneddar’.95 Spynie In 1207/08 Pope Innocent III issued a bull confirming the church of the Holy Trinity at Spynie as the cathedral of the diocese of Moray.96 A residence of comparable scale to those discussed above, located on the south shore of Loch Spynie, a short distance north of what is now a ruined parish church, thus became the see palace. As with 73

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Fig. 9. Conjectural plan of the bishop’s castle and cathedral of Kinneddar based on survey undertaken by A. Aspinall in association with Scottish Episcopal Palaces Project and further survey undertaken by CFA Archaeology

Fetternear and Kildrummy Castle, in the earldom of Mar, the complex of buildings comprising Spynie underwent ‘prolonged development’ between the 13th and 15th centuries.97 Early in the 16th century, a tower-house was constructed at the west end of Kildrummy’s great hall, but Spynie’s architectural grandeur had already begun to outstrip it (Fig. 10). In the 1460s–70s, Davy’s Tower was taking shape at the south-west of the site. It exceeded in height the robustly proportioned tower (now demolished) that Bishop John Cameron built in the 1430s immediately west of Glasgow Cathedral.98 To find parallels one has to look as far afield as Threave, in Galloway (probably erected 1369–90), and Alloa, the tower of the Erskines of Mar (perhaps built in the 15th century).99 The following brief description of Spynie is based on the report of excavations and survey conducted between 1986 and 1994.100 Early evidence of occupation survives in the form of a ringwork and the fill of its ditch on the south contained 12th-century pottery. Within the enclosed area, the excavators detected traces of 13th-century masonry buildings, including the corner of a structure protruding beneath Davy’s Tower. It was destroyed by burning; shards of plain and painted glass in the debris suggest that it was a chapel. Pamela Graves compared the grisaille glass, painted with trefoils and other motifs, to contemporary glass from Elgin Cathedral, dating to the period c. 1224–70.101 Of the current standing architecture, much of the masonry in the curtain wall, the north-west and south ranges, and the south-east tower date from between the 14th and early 15th centuries. The kitchen was in the north-west range. At this period, the main 74

Bishops’ Palaces in the Medieval Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray

Fig. 10. Spynie Palace by C. Cordiner and engraved by P. Mazell (1787) in Remarkable Ruins and Romantic Prospects of North Britain (1795) Photo by courtesy of Roderic Bowen Library, University of Wales Trinity Saint David

entrance was in the south wall and the excavators interpreted part of the south range as a gatehouse with a first-floor chapel. From early in the 15th century until 1538, masons inserted a new entrance on the east of the site and they remodelled the north range, incorporating a hall, with a well at the east end. Its upper courses are lined with ashlar masonry. They also began to construct the aforementioned Davy’s Tower, named after Bishop David Stewart (1462–76), which extends beyond the area enclosed by the enceinte. This tower rises from a double-splayed base. Its original appearance was severe, accented by many small windows. Filleted triple corbels supporting a parapet provide sculptural relief at the wall-head. At three of the tower’s corners, the angle of the corners is chamfered and the corbelling emerges from the wall-head to support the rounds, which have not survived. Similar characteristics also feature at the wall-head of the south-east tower; they are visible in the engraving of Spynie by Billings (Fig. 11). Davy’s Tower was surmounted by a cap-house. Inside there were chambers of both a public and a private character. The excavators identified a fourth floor mural chamber as a private chapel, serving what was probably the bishop’s bed-chamber.102 Davy’s Tower seems to have been completed during the bishopric of William Tulloch (1477–82) because his coat of arms is carved near the top of the south wall. The last Roman Catholic bishop of Moray, Patrick Hepburn (1538–73), made further modifications. He had some windows enlarged, inserting a triple heraldic panel on the 75

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Fig. 11. Spynie Palace from R. W. Billings, The Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Scotland (1813–74) Photo by courtesy of R. Bogdan and R. Smeeton

south fac¸ade between the first- and second-floor windows. He also inserted wide splayed short holes at ground level on the south and west, and another in the east wall of the south-east tower. Spynie exudes architectural authority, and it continued to be the principal residence of the bishops after Elgin’s church of the Holy Trinity was granted cathedral status in 1224.103 It is not known whether the bishops had a residence in Elgin itself. An attractive tower-house situated at the north-western corner of buildings surrounding the cathedral is known variously as Alves Manse, the Bishop’s Palace and the Precentor’s (or Chantor’s Manse). This building sports distinctive gabletted crowsteps and Bishop Patrick Hepburn’s arms were prominently displayed on a wall facing the cathedral.104 the protestant reformation By the time Scotland’s first Reformation parliament met in 1560, the bishops of Aberdeen and Moray were, respectively, William Gordon and Patrick Hepburn. Their access to church lands necessary to support their way of life was changing irrevocably. In the 12th to 15th centuries bishops’ landed estates were an economic resource that enabled the bishops to maintain herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and to cultivate crops as a complement to their pastoral duties in the diocese. By the end of the 76

Bishops’ Palaces in the Medieval Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray

15th century, the situation was changing and bishops started to lease their lands to third parties. Their estates were still an important economic resource and they retained an active interest in their building programmes.105 In the decades leading up to the Reformation, bishops were caught between the demands of leading noble families and the demands of the Reformers. They had started to alienate church lands, especially to members of their own family. From 1549, Bishop William began to grant feu charters and long leases against the acts of provincial councils.106 Bishop Patrick did likewise. After the Reformation he continued to reside at Spynie until his death in 1573.107 Both bishops maintained families and had a considerable number of children. Patrick’s great-nephew, James Hepburn, 4th earl of Bothwell, became an exile in 1567 after the battle of Carberry at the end of his short marriage to Mary Queen of Scots. He sought sanctuary in Spynie, but the illegitimate children of his great-uncle did not welcome him and he fled to Denmark. Fetternear was leased to a member of the Gordon family before being leased and then granted to the Leslies of Balquhain in recognition of the assistance William Leslie, as sheriff-depute, gave to the earl of Huntly as sheriff-principal of Aberdeen. The bishop no longer had access to his palaces in the diocese, but he continued celebrating mass with his chapter in Old Aberdeen until 1577, the year of his death.108 conclusion This narrative account has considered the residences of the medieval bishops in the sees of Aberdeen and Moray in respect of their location and of Pictish precedents. It has used archaeological and documentary sources combined with vernacular traditions and place-name evidence. These sources overlap but are not always congruent. The architectural appurtenances of bishops’ residences included bridges and gatehouses, halls and kitchens, chapels and counting houses. Such features come into and go out of focus at the various sites during the different periods during which they served as bishop’s residences. Miller has noted that there is no functional requirement for a chapel in a bishop’s palace. In Italy, she argued, 11th-century reforms led to developments in the governance of cathedrals that resulted in bishops seeking to develop their sacral authority independently of the chapter.109 The presence of chapels at Balvenie, Loch Goul, Fetternear, Old Aberdeen, Rayne, Kinneddar and in the different phases of Spynie suggests that in Scotland, too, bishops sought to reinforce their sacral authority in their palaces. Some of the places considered here began as moated enclosures, and the earliest buildings were probably of timber. Whether rectangular or oval, the enclosed area was extensive and masons were later able to accommodate stone buildings within these enclosures, and in time extend particular constructions across the earthworks. This is a feature of several sites, including Fetternear, Kinneddar and Spynie. In the diocese of Aberdeen, residences were widely distributed, enabling the bishops to undertake pastoral inspections of distant parishes. Its origin in Mortlach and the subsequent migration to Old Aberdeen meant that the bishops inherited a tradition that kept them travelling between these two important poles. Reforms in the late 15th and early 16th centuries (especially under bishops William Elphinstone and Gavin Dunbar) recognized local saints’ cults, which the bishops attempted to co-opt to bolster episcopal authority. Indeed, according to the Aberdeen Breviary, St Gilbert, an archdeacon of Moray who became bishop of Caithness (1223–45), worked earlier in his life for 77

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both church and country in the south of Scotland, as a warden and builder of castles and other buildings.110 There was an expectation that bishops should be builders. The bishops of Moray did this in spectacular style first at Birnie, then at both Kinneddar and Spynie and, finally, at Spynie alone.

NOTES 1. W. M. MacKenzie, The Mediaeval Castle in Scotland (London 1927), 161; M. Thompson, Medieval Bishops’ Houses in England and Wales (Aldershot and Brookfield 1998), 5. 2. M. C. Miller, ‘From Episcopal to Communal Palaces: Places and Power in Northern Italy (1000–1250)’, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 54 (1995), 175–85. 3. M. C. Miller, The Bishop’s Palace: Architecture and Authority in Medieval Italy (Ithaca and London 2000), 16. 4. Ibid., 17. 5. E. U. Crosby, Bishop and Chapter in Twelfth-century England: A Study of the Mensa Episcopalis (Cambridge 1994), 1. 6. Ibid., 11. 7. The obit of Mo Luo´c of Lismore is c. 592 in The Annals of Tigernach, trans. W. Stokes (Felinfach 1993), I, 119. 8. C. Innes ed., Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis Ecclesie Cathedralis Aberdonensis Regesta que Extant in Unum Collecta, 2 vols (Edinburgh 1845), I, 6; I. B. Cowan and D. E. Easson, Medieval Religious Houses in Scotland, 2nd edn (London and New York 1976), 51. 9. Crosby, Bishop and Chapter (as n. 5), 10. 10. Turgot of Durham, ‘Vita Sanctae Margaretae Scotorum Reginae’, in Symeonis Dunelmensis Opera et Collectanea, ed. J. H. Hinde (Durham 1868), 234–54; M. H. Hammond, ‘Royal and Aristocratic Attitudes to Saints and the Virgin Mary in Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century Scotland’, in The Cult of Saints and the Virgin Mary in Medieval Scotland, ed. S. Boardman and E. Williams (Woodbridge 2010), 61–85. 11. D. E. R. Watt, Medieval Church Councils in Scotland (Edinburgh 2000), 44, 165. 12. R. G. Lamb, ‘The Cathedral of Christchurch and the Monastery of Birsay’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 105 (1972–74), 200–05. 13. P. Dransart, ‘The Origins of Some Bishops’ Residences as Castles in Scotland’, Chaˆteau Gaillard, 25 (2012), 119–24. 14. Thompson, Bishops’ Houses (as n. 1), 5. 15. C. Innes ed., Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (Edinburgh 1837), 151, 204, 208, 369, 405; Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 8), I, 316, 365, 389, 403. 16. J. Dowden, The Bishops of Scotland Being Notes on the Lives of All the Bishops, Under Each of the Sees, Prior to the Reformation, ed. J. M. Thomson (Glasgow 1912), 98. 17. It should be noted that hagiography is a different genre of writing from history; P. Dransart, ‘Saints, Stones and Shrines: The Cults of Sts Moluag and Gerardine in Pictland’, in Celtic Hagiography and Saints Cults, ed. J. Cartwright (Cardiff 2003), 232–48, figs 13.1–13.5. 18. G. Mollat, Les papes d’Avignon 1305–1378 (Paris 1949), 481. 19. The context makes it clear that the translation of pontificias aedes should be ‘episcopal buildings’ rather than ‘papal buildings’; H. Boece, Murthlacensium et Aberdonensium Episcoporum Vitae, ed. and trans. J. Moir (Aberdeen 1894), 13, 19 and 53. 20. J. Robertson ed., Collections for a History of the Shires of Aberdeen and Banff (Aberdeen 1843), 69. 21. G. S. Pryde, The Burghs of Scotland: A Critical List (Oxford 1965), 54. 22. Ordnance Survey, Name Book (1865–71), Aberdeenshire, LXXI, 58; D. H. Evans and S. Thain, ‘New Light on Old Coin Hoards from the Aberdeen Area’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 119 (1990), 327–44. 23. I. Shepherd, Gordon: An Illustrated Architectural Guide (Edinburgh 1994), 51. 24. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 8), I, 15–16. 25. D. MacGibbon and T. Ross, The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Centuries, 5 vols (Edinburgh 1887–92), II, 49–50 and III, 458. 26. W. D. Simpson, ‘Castle Maud’, Scottish Notes and Queries, 2, 3rd series (1924), 86–87; P. Dransart, ‘Prospect and Excavation of Moated Sites: Scottish Earthwork Castles and House Societies in the Late Twelfth to Fourteenth Centuries’, Chaˆteau Gaillard, 23 (2008), 115–28. 27. G. W. S. Barrow, Kingship and Unity: Scotland 1000–1306 (Edinburgh 1989), 67.

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Bishops’ Palaces in the Medieval Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray 28. I. B. Cowan, ‘The Medieval Church in the Diocese of Aberdeen’, Northern Scotland, 1 (1972), 19–48, at 21. 29. Ibid., 22 and 39; A. C. Lawrie ed., Early Scottish Charters Prior to 1153 (Glasgow 1905), no. ccxxiii. 30. ‘[P]rimus episcopus vir sanctus et episcopatu dignus’; Johannis de Fordun, Chronica Gentis Scotorum (Edinburgh 1871), 183. 31. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 8), I, lxxviii and 125. 32. W. J. Watson, The History of the Celtic Place-names of Scotland (Edinburgh 1993, originally published ´ Maolalaigh, ‘Place-names as a resource for the historical linguist’, in The Uses of Place1926), 312; R. O names, ed. S. Taylor (Edinburgh 1998), 12–53, at 23. 33. Ordnance Survey, Banff Sheet XXV.5 (Mortlach), 1st edn, 1872. 34. MacGibbon and Ross, Castellated and Domestic Architecture (as n. 25), I, 386–90. 35. Ordnance Survey, Name Book (1867–69), Banffshire, XXIII, 60–61. W. Douglas Simpson identified the chapel as a small masonry building outside the moated area, that is, not inside the castle of enclosure as indicated by the Name Book entries. I have suggested the building was a mill, or a structure connected with the drawbridge; W. D. Simpson, ‘The Development of Balvenie Castle’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 60 (1926), 132–48; Dransart, ‘Origins’ (as n. 13), 120–21. 36. N. Q. Bogdan, ‘Some Aspects of Early Castle-building in Scotland’ (unpublished M.Phil. thesis, University of St Andrews 1979), 41. 37. F. Palgrave, Documents and Records Illustrating the History of Scotland and the Transactions between the Crowns of Scotland and England, 2 vols (London 1837), I, 288. 38. Boece, Vitae (as n. 19), 19–20. 39. J. Sinclair ed., Statistical Account of Scotland, 20 vols (1791–99), XVII, 432; Ordnance Survey, Banff Sheet XXV.5 (as n. 33); Name Book, Banffshire (as n. 35), XXIII, 113. 40. I. MacDonald, Clerics and Clansmen: The Diocese of Argyll between the Twelfth and Sixteenth Centuries (Leiden 2013), 22, 33–35. 41. Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, Aberdeen Breviary, Copy 1, Pars Aestivalis, Sanctorale, fol. 5v, http://digital.nls.uk/74628176 [accessed 26 April 2015]; Aberdeen, University of Aberdeen, MS 22, Epistolare de Tempore et de Sanctis ad Cathedralis Ecclesiae Aberdonensis Usum de Consuetudinem per Anni Circulum Divisum, 1527, fol. 6v. 42. J. Stuart ed., The Book of Deer (Edinburgh 1869), liv–lv, 93. 43. University of Aberdeen, MS 22 (as n. 41), fol. 160r. 44. Cowan, ‘Medieval church’ (as n. 28), 23. 45. J. Gammack, ‘S. Machar, Patron Saint of Old Aberdeen’, Scottish Notes and Queries (1887), 66–68. 46. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 8), I, xii. 47. Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (as n. 15), 144. 48. G. G. Simpson and B. Webster, ‘Charter Evidence and the Distribution of Mottes in Scotland’, Chaˆteau Gaillard, 5 (1972), 175–92; Bogdan, ‘Early Castle-building’ (as n. 36), 485. 49. A. Cameron, ‘Tillydrone Motte, Aberdeen City (Aberdeen Parish)’, Discovery and Excavation in Scotland, 7 (2002), 7. 50. W. Orem, A Description of the Chanonry in Old Aberdeen, in the Years 1724 and 1725 (Aberdeen 1830), 90; Statistical Account (as n. 39), VI, 466–67. 51. The New Statistical Account of Scotland, 15 vols (Edinburgh and London, 1834–45), XII, 1029. For a plan, see RCAHMS, In the Shadow of Bennachie (Edinburgh 2009), fig. 8.26. 52. Boece, Vitae (as n. 19), 15–16. 53. Anonymous [‘C’], ‘The Bishop’s Loch’, Scottish Notes & Queries, 3rd series (1923), 1 no. 11, 169–71. 54. J. Robertson, Illustrations of the Topography and Antiquities of the Shires of Aberdeen and Banff (Aberdeen 1857), III, 389. 55. Cowan, ‘Medieval church’ (as n. 28), 26. 56. Name Book (as n. 22), XIII, 124. 57. H. G. Slade, ‘The House of Fetternear: A History and Description’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 103 (1970–71), 178–91, pls 19–20. 58. C. Leslie, Historical Records of the Family of Leslie from 1067 to 1868–9, 3 vols (Edinburgh 1869), I, 120; Ordnance Survey, Aberdeen sheet LIV.14, 2nd edn, 1900. 59. P. Dransart, ‘The Big Dig: Fetternear’, British Archaeology (September–October 2009), 16–19. 60. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 8), II, 277–78. 61. W. J. Lindsay, ‘Medieval Pottery’, in P. Dransart and J. Trigg, The Bishop’s Palace, Fetternear 2005– 2006 (Lampeter 2008), 17–18, http://www.trinity-cm.ac.uk/research/fetternear/2005-2006-season/ [accessed 26 April 2015]. 62. P. Dransart, ‘Ferrrous Metal’, in Dransart and Trigg, Bishop’s Palace (as n. 61), 28–40.

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penelope dransart 63. In Scotland, horizontal gun ports with a wide splay date from c. 1515–20; J. Zeune, The Last Scottish Castles (Leidorf 1992), 68. 64. Boece, Vitae (as n. 19), 19. 65. Androw of Wyntoun, The Orygynale Cronykill of Scotland (Edinburgh 1872), 430. 66. Boece, Vitae (as n. 19), 20. 67. Ibid., 53–54. The original is: ‘Pontificias aedes de integro aedificavit cum turribus et propugnaculis veteribus demolitis’. 68. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 8), II, 174–78. 69. Orem, Description (as n. 50), 66. 70. E. P. Dennison and J. Stones, Historic Aberdeen: The Archaeological Implications of Development (Edinburgh 1977), 22; C. A. McLaren, ‘New Work and Old: Building at the Colleges in the Seventeenth Century’, Aberdeen University Review, LIII (1989–90), 208–17. 71. A. Cameron, ‘Dunbar Halls of Residence (Aberdeen parish)’, Discovery and Excavation in Scotland, 3 (2002), 7; A. Cameron, ‘Dunbar Halls of Residence (Aberdeen parish)’, Discovery and Excavation in Scotland, 6 (2005), 9. 72. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 8), I, 6. 73. H. K. and C. H. Murray, ‘Excavations at the Bishop’s Manor, Old Rayne, Aberdeenshire in 1990 and 2008’, Scottish Archaeological Internet Report, 52 (2012), www.sair.org.uk [accessed 26 April 2015]. 74. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 8), I, 164. 75. Ibid., 12–14. 76. G. W. S. Barrow, Kingship and Unity in Scotland 1000–1306 (Edinburgh 1989), 67–68. 77. I. B. D. Bryce, ‘Loch an Eilein Castle, Rothiemurchus’, Aberdeen University Review, 186 (1991), 135–50. 78. Ibid., 135–50; Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (as n. 15), 21–22. 79. W. D. Simpson, ‘Lochaneilean Castle, Inverness-shire’, The Antiquaries Journal, 17 (1937), 56–62. 80. Ordnance Survey, Name Book (1868–71), Morayshire, II, 5; J. R. Allen and J. Anderson, The Early Christian Monuments of Scotland, 2 vols (Edinburgh 1903), II, pt 3, 118–19, 136; A. D. S. Macdonald and L. R. Laing, ‘Early Ecclesiastical Sites in Scotland: A Field Survey, Part II’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 102 (1969/70), 129–44. 81. C. Bourke, ‘The Hand-bells of the Early Scottish Church’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 113 (1984), 464–68. 82. F. Hunter, ‘Excavations at Birnie, Moray, 2008’. Unpublished report available at http://repository. nms.ac.uk/10/1/10_Excavations_at_Birnie,_Moray,_2008.pdf [accessed 24 April 2015]. 83. New Statistical Account (as n. 51), XIII; 85; Name Book, Morayshire (as n. 80), II, 11 and 18. 84. Name Book, Morayshire (as n. 80), II, 13. 85. D. McGibbon and T. Ross, The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland from the Earliest Christian Times to the Seventeenth Century, 3 vols (Edinburgh 1896–97), I, 219. 86. Dowden, Bishops (as n. 16), 144. 87. Miller, Bishop’s Palace (as n. 3), 226–27. 88. McGibbon and Ross, Ecclesiastical Architecture (as n. 85), 218; Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (as n. 15), 359; Dowden, Bishops (as n. 16), 146. 89. New Statistical Account (as n. 51), XIII, 153. 90. Dransart, ‘Saints’ (as n. 17), 241–2. 91. It is possible his name was Gartnat, Garnard or Gartnait and Latinized as Gervadius or Gernadius. Boece recognized him as a bishop and a distinguished preacher: ‘Ex nostratibus Geruadius episcopus insignis Christi dogmatis in Morauia concionator’. H. Boece, Scotorum Historiae a Prima Gentis Origine (Paris 1527), fol. CXCVIIv. See also W. P. Forbes, Kalendars of Scottish Saints (Edinburgh 1872), 355; Dransart, ‘Saints’ (as n. 17), 241, 247 n. 67; P. E. McNiven, ‘Gaelic Place-names and the Social History of Gaelic Speakers in Medieval Menteith (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Glasgow, 2011), 102. 92. New Statistical Account (as n. 51), XIII, 151–53. Ground resistance prospection was undertaken by Arnold Aspinall in association with SEPP. Trial excavation was conducted by Edinburgh University Centre for Field Archaeology; K. Cameron, ‘Kinneddar (Drainie parish)’, Discovery and Excavation in Scotland (1995), 36. 93. A. Aspinall, N. Q. Bogdan and P. Dransart, ‘Kinneddar (Drainie Parish)’, Discovery and Excavation in Scotland (1995), 35–36. 94. Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (as n. 15), 81–82, 101–03, 139–40, 144–45, 150–54, 278, 369–70. 95. Ibid., 151. 96. Ibid., 39–40.

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Bishops’ Palaces in the Medieval Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray 97. M. R. Apted, ‘Excavation at Kildrummy Castle, Aberdeenshire’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 96 (1963–64), 208–36, at 218. 98. J. C. Roger, ‘Notices of Sculptured Fragments, Formerly in the Episcopal Palace, Glasgow’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 2 (1854–57), 317–29; A. L. Murray, ‘Preserving the Bishop’s Castle, Glasgow, 1688–1741’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 125 (1995), 1143–61. 99. G. L. Good and C. J. Tabraham, ‘Excavations at Threave Castle, Galloway, 1974–1978’, Medieval Archaeology, 25 (1981), 90–140. 100. J. Lewis and D. Pringle, Spynie Palace and the Bishops of Moray (Edinburgh 2002). 101. C. P. Graves, ‘Window glass’, in Lewis and Pringle (as n. 100), 132–37. 102. Lewis and Pringle, Spynie Palace (as n. 100), 58. They called it an oratory, but because the bishops were ordained priests it is more appropriate to call it a chapel. 103. Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (as n. 15), 63–65. 104. This wall suffered a collapse. See MacGibbon and Ross, Castellated and Domestic Architecture (as n. 25), II, 59; P. Dransart. ‘A Three-faced Sentinel: A Proclamation of the Holy Trinity from an Urban Tower in Elgin, Scotland’, in ‘Urbs Turrita’: The Towered City. Towers and Tower-building in Medieval European Towns and Cities, ed. R. D. Oram, Donington, forthcoming. 105. Fetternear seems to be a case in point. Its lands were being cultivated under lease by 1485, but the archaeological evidence demonstrates building activities; Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 8), I, 318. 106. B. McLennan, ‘The Reformation in the Burgh of Aberdeen’, Northern Scotland, 2 (1976–77), 119–44. 107. J. Kirk, ‘Hepburn, Patrick (c.1487–1573)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford 2004), http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/13008 [accessed 21 June 2015]. 108. McLennan, ‘Reformation’ (as n. 106), 137. 109. Miller, ‘Bishop’s Palace’ (as n. 4), 217–24. 110. Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, Aberdeen Breviary, Copy 1, Pars Hiemalis, fol. 83v, http:// digital.nls.uk/74487420 [accessed 26 April 2015]. The text reads ‘et castrorum custodiensis edificandis et aliis edificiis pro utilitate regis et reipublice reparandis prefecerunt’.

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Excavations within the East Kirk of St Nicholas, Aberdeen ALISON S. CAMERON and JUDITH A. STONES

Excavations in 2006 in the East Kirk uncovered the foundations of the earliest church on the site dating from the 11th to 12th century. Around the exterior of the apse, child burials were placed in a radiating arrangement, centred on a privileged burial on the axis of the church. In the mid-12th century a new east end was constructed. Further rebuildings took place in the 15th and 19th centuries. Burials within the walls and outside were accompanied by significant finds of textiles, coins, pottery and scallop shells. The dedication to St Nicholas, patron saint of both children and seafarers, is also briefly considered in this paper. keywords: medieval, apse, child burials, grave markers, 12th-century churches, St Nicholas, coffin burials In 2006 over eighty archaeologists, students and volunteers took part in one of the largest archaeological excavations carried out in Aberdeen (Fig. 1). The Kirk of St Nicholas Uniting in Aberdeen is planning to redevelop the East Kirk as a community facility run by the non-denominational Open Space Trust (http://www.openspace aberdeen.org.uk/). The excavation to create a new lower level 20620 m in size was dug to a depth of 3.5 m. Four medieval east ends, nearly 900 articulated burials and 3.5 metric tonnes of disarticulated human bones were recovered. The only report completed so far concerns the human remains, to allow reburial by the Kirk of St Nicholas; all other aspects of the post-excavation are incomplete, including the conservation of fragile textiles, wood and other organic materials, the research on all aspects of the buildings and finds. This account is therefore a truncated and preliminary summary of the findings. Financial support is actively being sought to complete the post-excavation and publication.1 The church is situated on elevated ground above The Green which slopes down to the foreshore. At the east end, the ground drops sharply, so as the church expanded it eventually required an undercroft beneath the extended eastern arm. Its location, just outside the medieval settlement, west of its gates and ports, is unusual but not unique, with another example at St Mary’s, Dundee. It raises the question whether the church existed before the town developed, but that is not an issue for this paper.2 By the end of the Middle Ages, St Nicholas Kirk was one of the largest burgh parish churches in Scotland. After the Reformation its long eastern arm and nave were divided at the crossing, forming two separate churches.3 The building that stands today has a crossing and transept in Transitional style, from the later 12th century.4 The medieval nave, in a state of dilapidation by 1741, was replaced by the Baroque West Kirk, designed by James Gibbs, and built between 1752 and 1755. The long choir of 1483 was rebuilt in 82

# British Archaeological Association 2016

Excavations within the East Kirk of St Nicholas, Aberdeen

Fig. 1. East Kirk, 2006, showing 15th-century sleeper walls and gallery (above) where over 14,000 people visited the excavation # Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums Collections

Gothic Revival style as the East Kirk by Archibald Simpson in 1835, and restored after the fire of 1874.5 Beneath the east end, compensating for the sharp drop in the land, is St Mary’s Chapel, an undercroft completed in the 15th century, constructed east of the original apse. Parson Gordon of Rothiemay in 1661 recorded a tradition that the original church was begun around 1060.6 John Ramsay recorded seeing a trace of the rounded east end during the major building works of the 1830s. He compared this to the apse of Durham Cathedral, and thereby suggested the church was begun in the time of Malcolm Canmore (1058–93) and completed under Malcolm IV (1153–65).7 John Hunter excavated the transepts in 1974, finding valuable coin evidence relating to the reign of Malcolm IV, thereby confirming their Transitional date. He concluded then that the apse, which he had not seen, was probably part of a single building campaign taking place in the third quarter of the 12th century, safely after a Norse raid recorded in 1153 had apparently ‘wasted’ the young Aberdeen settlement.8 The excavations of 2006 have shown that, although building did take place in the mid-12th century at the east end, this overlay an earlier construction. Documentary evidence for the start of St Nicholas church is necessarily tied up with records for the existence of Aberdeen itself. William the Lion (117161185) granted liberties to the burgesses of Aberdeen, as freely as their ancestors enjoyed them under King David I (1124–53).9 This indicates a commercial centre already flourishing by the 83

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second quarter of the 12th century. A papal bull of 1157 provides the first reference to the church in Aberdeen, although its fabric is clearly older.10 the excavation Possible prehistoric flint scatters and probable medieval fish and shell processing waste indicated that this site was occupied prior to the first church being built. A pebble surface, which followed the natural slope of the site downwards to the east, may be related to the earliest church or pre-date it and two ditches may delineate boundaries of the early churchyard or slightly pre-date the structure. the earliest church The earliest structure consisted of a semi-circular wall foundation 1.2 m thick and forming an apse with internal width of 3.5 m (Fig. 2).The foundation was of mortared granite fieldstones. The apse had been cut through by later burials, but remains of at least two mortar floors were identified (Fig. 3). When this church went out of use these remains were covered with the later churches being built at a slightly higher level, allowing for the excellent survival of the earlier remains. Examples of this type of apse have been found in a Scottish context at Dunfermline and Coldingham Priory (both dated to around 1100).11 This type of structure is known in Europe from the time of the Roman Empire; it is likely that earlier examples were constructed in Scotland, including one excavated at the Hirsel in the Borders, which may date to the 10th century.12

Fig. 2.

Plan of excavation in East Kirk

# Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums Collections

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Excavations within the East Kirk of St Nicholas, Aberdeen

Fig. 3. Interior of apse showing mortar floor and later burials cut through # Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums Collections

Associated with the apse was a group of at least twenty-three burials of babies and children (Fig. 4) clustered outside the exterior of its east end. None of the burials intercut each other and they must therefore have been marked and probably also interred over a relatively short period of time. All of the individuals were buried with their head to the west, although several were slightly off the E–W alignment, giving the appearance that they were radiating out from the apse (Fig. 5). Examples of possible grave markers included large stones, post-holes where a post may have been erected after the burial and two areas of mussel shells. Most of the burials were in stone or wooden coffins. The most sophisticated stone coffin was for the burial of a child who had been buried in the centre (most easterly) point of the apse, arguably in the most prominent position in this burial area. The neatly worked slabs had been lightly bonded together with mortar and slabs had been placed over the top forming a cover. Several other burials took place within stone-lined cists, whilst some had pillow stones around the head and in one case the feet. Traces of wooden coffins with iron nails and fittings also survived and one child’s skeleton had been buried in a burnt and hollowed-out log. A sample of one wood coffin has produced a radiocarbon date from the early 11th century. One radiocarbon date for the bones has so far been processed with a date of ad 1075t35 years; the child had eaten up to 40% fish in its diet and this date has been recalibrated as a result.13 One of the burials had been disturbed during the construction of the mid-12thcentury east end and the bones had been reinterred at the bottom of the wall foundation. 85

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Fig. 4.

Apsidal east end exterior with child burials

# Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums Collections

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Excavations within the East Kirk of St Nicholas, Aberdeen

Fig. 5.

Plan showing apse and associated burials

# Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums Collections

Another series of burials, possibly associated with this apsidal church or the mid12th-century east end, consisted of a series of deep burials cut into the natural sands and gravels and through the earlier pebble path. The bones of some of these skeletons were poorly preserved but several graves contained coarse textile, examples of hair cloth or cilicium (see below) under the bodies. Several burials had the remains of twigs placed at the side of the body. One had two pierced scallop shells next to the head, and there was a scallop shell over the thigh of another burial. These individuals may have gone on a pilgrimage to the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia in north-west Spain. It was the custom during the visit to attach the shells to the hat or other clothing. These shells are rarely found in Scotland, but one was found during an excavation at the Benedictine monastery on the Isle of May, in the Firth of Forth, in the mouth of the skeleton of a man buried in the 14th century.14 The twigs might be the remnants from, or the representation of, the staff carried by a pilgrim; further analysis of samples of this wood may help with the interpretation of these finds. Four of these burials had been disturbed by the construction of the mid-12th-century church. At least one of these burials had taken place within the previous forty years and it is likely that, when the wall cut through it, ligaments still held the bones of the body together. The body was then ‘folded’ over out of the way of the new wall, and when excavated appeared to be a ‘pile’ of bones with wood and textile in between the layers of bone. One of these individuals was interred with a lead-alloy cross suspended on a copper-alloy chain around the neck, and this survived intact even though there was later disturbance of the grave. 87

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the mid-12th-century east end The mid-12th-century east end was constructed above and east of the earlier apse; it was 5.6 m wide and 12.8 m of its length was excavated (Fig. 2). It was built on substantial foundations 1.1–1.3 m wide; several courses of ashlar masonry survived as well as one section of plastered wall. It had two buttresses on the east facing gable end, but other such features were lost when the east end of this building was reconstructed, probably in the late 12th century. A stone coffin, possibly associated with this 12th-century east end, had been disturbed and sealed by the later 12th-century building work. consolidating the 12th-century east end In the late 12th century, the east end gable wall was reconstructed. This wall survived to a height of 1 m internally (Fig. 6) and three courses of ashlar masonry survived on the exterior. There is evidence that parts of the north and south walls were also rebuilt at this time, possibly due to structural instability. Pilaster buttresses (Fig. 7) have been dated to the late 12th century.15 Two buttresses on the east gable were badly damaged by 15th-century building operations but traces of ashlar facings survived. One buttress survived on the south wall and traces of a parallel one were found on the north wall. the sacristy? A building 4 m wide was added on to the north side of the late-12th-century east end, possibly as a sacristy. Evidence for the length of the building was lost when the north

Fig. 6. Interior of north-east corner of later 12th-century church # Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums Collections

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Excavations within the East Kirk of St Nicholas, Aberdeen

Fig. 7. Exterior north-east corner showing pilaster buttress and three courses of masonry surviving of east wall (left) # Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums Collections

wall of the 15th-century choir demolished part of this building. On the ground floor, two steps within the building suggested that it could be accessed from the graveyard and although no evidence survives for this it could presumably have also been accessed directly from the church. During the demolition of this building very little material was reused and so there were substantial layers of roofing stone, worked stones, iron fittings, window glass and a small number of floor tiles, although no floors were recorded in situ. Within the fill were several copper-alloy objects including book fittings and chain link as well as sherds of pottery discarded in the corners of the room. These pots were freshly broken and had probably been in use in the building: it is possible that they were used for a religious purpose, or that the ground-floor room was used for domestic or light industrial purposes, possibly for a short while before its demolition in the 15th century. burials in the 13th- to 14th-century graveyard The graveyard associated with the late-12th-century east end, in use until the construction of the 15th-century east end, was excavated around the south (Fig. 8), east and in a small portion of the north side adjacent to the sacristy. Of the burials dating to this period, some were in coffins whilst others were in shrouds. Associated with one of these 89

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Fig. 8. Burials outside east wall of 12th-century church; on the right, one of the 15th-century church walls (the W wall of St Mary’s Chapel) has cut through the feet of these burials # Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums Collections

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Excavations within the East Kirk of St Nicholas, Aberdeen

burials were four fragments from a limestone sarcophagus, including the head and shoulder section. The burials to the east of the later 12th-century east end were well preserved, although the feet of several had been cut during the construction of the 15th-century choir. The burials included the skeleton of a woman with an unborn baby, both presumably having died in childbirth. A skeleton with a scallop shell beside the left leg suggested the individual had been buried with a long bag (or scrip) commonly carried by pilgrims. Other finds associated with the 12th-century churches include window glass, floor tiles and several hundred fragments of worked stone. These will all be studied to gain as full a picture as possible of this building. An ear scoop found in one of the burials would have formed part of a medieval toiletry set and was one of several examples found on this excavation. Several bone items were recovered: bone was used to make combs, dice, gaming pieces and other intricately decorated items. the 15th-century church Prior to the building of the 15th-century choir, a large volume of soil was brought in to level up the area thereby protecting the underlying building remains. The early19th-century East Kirk utilized the walls and foundations of the 15th-century east end, or choir. The eastern boundary of the excavation was the 1.2 m thick west wall of St Mary’s Chapel, possibly built in the early 15th century. A sloping corridor had been constructed adjacent, and attached to, the south wall of the 15th-century choir to allow access through the west wall of St Mary’s Chapel. The wall of the corridor had been plastered and a window inserted into the external wall allowing natural light to enter the corridor from the south. It may have been a construction corridor, one which was in use during the building of the choir in the 15th century and then dismantled. At the north side of the choir a flight of stairs was uncovered which would have been used to access St Mary’s Chapel which is at a lower level. These stairs probably went out of use at the Reformation when a brick vaulted roof (Fig. 9) was built creating a division between St Mary’s and the choir. A series of pier or pillar bases up to 2 m diameter had been dug through the walls of the 12th-century choir and would have supported the weight of the roof and walls of the 15th-century church. Their foundations were mainly bonded with pink clay and were surrounded by two linear sleeper walls (Figs 2 and 10) constructed of large and small stones bonded with both pink clay and cream mortar. Paving survived on the upper surface of these walls as well as the impressions of several of the piers. Hundreds of fragments of carved stone from the 15th-century east end were found. One granite corbel was carved with a face and had been reused in the manufacture of a 19th-century wall and several masons’ marks were recorded including a star and an M with a tail. Two or three altar bases were uncovered on the north side of the south aisle. These were constructed of mortared stones and at least one had a burial immediately in front of it. In the north aisle, foundations for a possible wooden loft had been constructed out of stacks of mortared reused gravestones. burials within the 15th-century church Areas of multiple burials within the 15th-century church may suggest family groups. Two of these areas contained six individuals: further analysis of the human bones may include the extraction of DNA to indicate whether and how these individuals were 91

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Fig. 9. Recording the north stairs which were blocked with a brick arch (top), possibly at the Reformation # Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums Collections

related. One of the family areas had at least two burials with coins which have dated them. One of the later burials had four coins placed onto the lid of the coffin. They had corroded onto the wood and remained in place. The latest coin was dated to 1691, whilst one found in one of the earlier burials dated to the 1590s, suggesting six members of the same family were buried within this burial ‘vault’ over a period of about 100 years. Some burials had been cut through earlier walls, including the grave of an elderly woman which had cut through the late-12th-century east end gable wall. She had been buried with her legs bent and one of her hands under her pelvis. In general, arms were placed at the side of the body, crossed at the pelvis or over the chest. The legs were usually laid side by side but occasional ones were different: one had its legs crossed at the ankle. The upper part of a skeleton of a middle-aged male indicated that he had died from blade wounds in battle. The skull had six blade wounds including major injuries on the 92

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Fig. 10. One of the 15th-century sleeper walls # Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums Collections

back and the side of the head as well as one wound which removed the left half of the upper jaw including the teeth. A sixteen- to nineteen-year-old male who died in the 16th or 17th century had severe bony changes from syphilis. One middle-aged female suffered from chronic osteomalacia (soft bones or adult rickets). This woman was buried with a lead religious badge decorated with an image of Our Lady of Pity (pieta`), the image of the Virgin Mary with the body of Christ supported on her knees (Fig. 11). It may have been that the woman buried in this grave bought this badge on a pilgrimage, or it may have been made in Aberdeen, as St Mary’s Chapel was dedicated to our Lady of Pity, a very popular devotion in the 15th century. It is also possible that this badge is associated with Walsingham.16 It is possible that she carried the badge as a medicinal token to cure her of what 93

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Fig. 11. Lead alloy badge depicting Our Lady of Pity # Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums Collections

ailed her, or as a symbol of piety. Several 17th-century burials had distinctive notches on front teeth, suggesting that a clay pipe had been held between the teeth over long periods of time. clothing, jewellery and personal items A preliminary assessment of the large quantity of funerary textiles and leather has been prepared by Penelope Walton Rogers at The Anglo-Saxon Laboratory, but full analysis, research and conservation of this extremely important collection is still awaiting funding. At least three early burials contained a very coarse textile that is thought to represent the medieval cloth known as cilicium.17 This textile type is often found in quaysides and trading places, but it also occurs in monastic and lay burials, where it has been interpreted as the sackcloth of the penitent. Some of the later medieval graves contained small fragments of robes — probably the remains of mass vestments — as well as shoe leather, and can be compared with similar evidence from tombs in England and on the Continent.18 There are also remains of silk lacework cauls attached to the head hair in two burials. Of exceptional interest are some caps of the style worn by highranking clerics, of which there are two complete examples and fragments of two more. These are made of silk with trimmings in metal thread, in similar, but not identical, designs. The textile techniques suggest a date in the 15th or 16th century. The numerous silk bows and ribbons in other graves find better comparisons in post-medieval burials in England, and thus extend our knowledge of funerary traditions in Scotland. A full study of this collection will make a substantial contribution to the history of funerary customs, church vestments and textile history, and, most importantly, will 94

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allow comparison between the textile evidence and the individual analyses of age, health and diet in the human remains. A few items of jewellery were found in burials, including a heart-shaped brooch which was found over the heart of one individual, and a small number of other brooches found in situ. Two gold earrings were found loose in soil and have not yet been dated: one was a plain ring with a cuff and one probable earring was in the form of a spiral. A large number of pins were recovered, mainly in copper alloy. These would have been used for pinning clothing and shrouds. Several examples of spectacle frames and lenses were excavated as well as many beads made from bone, glass, ceramic and jet. two 19th-century east ends In 1837 a new East Kirk designed by Archibald Simpson was built over the medieval chancel and St Mary’s Undercroft. Simpson’s building was severely damaged by a fire in 187419 and restored shortly afterwards by William Smith. Foundation trenches for walls to support the floors and pews of the 1874 East Kirk were very substantial. They had cut through many burials and the larger bones had often been carefully reinterred. Areas of burning on the internal face of the south wall and in soil layers probably came from the 1874 fire, showing that the walls of the 1837 church were retained but the roof and internal fittings were rebuilt. the human remains Post-excavation analysis of the human remains was carried out by Paul Duffy and his team at GUARD between 2007 and 2009.20 In total, the excavation produced 897 articulated skeletons, 478 from the 11th- to 15th-century period and 341 from the 15th to 18th centuries. The bones represent 2,072 individuals, including 3.5 metric tonnes of disarticulated human remains. These include 184 males, 148 females and 109 other adults, but almost half of the remains were of young people under the age of 15. Twenty-five per cent of the people died under 3 years of age and 50% under 15, whereas only 3% lived until ‘older adulthood’ or over 50. More children died in the pre-15th-century period than the later periods, and it is tempting to interpret this as the result of better medication or more understanding of children’s health after the 15th century. Men and women were slightly taller after the 15th century, and this may have been due to better quality diet. There are, however, many examples of dietary deficiency and so this data is not easy to interpret. There were 124 individuals suffering a variety of degrees of osteoarthritis, with most common sites being the spine, hand and foot and with a much higher instance in younger adults than today. Nearly 100 fractures were identified mainly of the rib, spine and arm, whereas today the most common sites are the clavicle, wrist and hip. Sinusitis decreased substantially after 15th century, possibly reflecting the start of the construction of better ventilated stone houses. the dedication to st nicholas In the light of these excavations, the dedication of Aberdeen’s burgh church to St Nicholas of Myra becomes intriguing. The saint, who probably flourished in the 4th century, is not actually recorded in any contemporary documents, so much of his 95

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life-story is based on tradition. That suggests that he was born in modern-day Turkey, travelled to Palestine and Egypt and became bishop of Myra. He is said to have suffered imprisonment under Diocletian but was released during the reign of Constantine and attended the first Council of Nicaea in 325. His shrine in his church at Myra had become popular by the 6th century. In that same period a church was dedicated to him in Constantinople. His popularity in the western church derived from and developed with the translation of his relics from Myra to Bari in southern Italy in 1087, by a group of Barese merchants, driven variously by religious fervour, financial motives and civic pride.21 The endeavour was made urgent by the possibility that Venice, a rival port in terms of both pilgrimage routes and economic development, might acquire relics of St Nicholas first. Miracles abounded following the translation, and people flocked to the shrine from the immediate locality and further afield.22 The cult of St Nicholas spread rapidly across Europe following 1087, with lesser centres appearing, notably in France. Expansion beyond Italy was related to monastic networks23 and also to the placing of the port-town of Bari on growing routes associated with trade and pilgrimage. It is significant that St Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, took part in a papal council held by Urban II in 1098 at Bari noted as taking place ‘before the body of St Nicholas’. But there is also evidence that his cult was established in England before that and prior to the translation of 1087.24 In Scotland the earliest recorded dedication is at Hume, Berwickshire, near Kelso Abbey, 1127638.25 At Aberdeen the dedication is first mentioned in a papal bull of Adrian IV, dated 1157 but, as shown above, the church existed before then.26 One of the prime privileges of a Scottish medieval royal burgh was the right to trade overseas, and Aberdeen had acquired this status under King David, 1124653.27 So the choice of St Nicholas may have related to the town’s growing trade connections. He was the patron of merchants and seafarers and was similarly selected by other European cities with strong overseas trading contacts and aspirations, notably Amsterdam, Hamburg, Liverpool and Kiel. However, at the mouth of the River Dee, in the fishing hamlet of Footdee, is the parish church of St Clement. Although its first documented references are from the later 15th century, the choice of saint is ancient. The cult of St Clement, patron saint of fishermen and seamen, was particularly widespread in Scandinavia and around the North Sea, flourishing strongly in the 10th and 11th centuries.28 It is possible that a cult of St Clement existed at the mouth of the Dee, protecting the fishermen and seafarers, before St Nicholas church was dedicated near the town centre.29 So, St Nicholas may have been chosen for another reason. Depending upon the wishes of his devotees or the context of his dedication, St Nicholas could be illustrated with many different attributes: rescuing a shipwreck; bringing a dowry to impoverished girls; standing up in his bath while a baby; healing the sick; or releasing prisoners from prison. At Aberdeen, the choice was to emphasize his salvation of children after death. Aberdeen burgh seal of 1430 shows Nicholas as a bishop within the walls of a city, performing the miracle of the three boys in the vat of brine, slaughtered by a butcher but brought back to life by the saint.30 In this context, the archaeological discoveries around the apse are therefore intriguing. The cult of St Nicholas seems to have been adopted in Aberdeen quite swiftly after his relics arrived in the West in 1087. On the city seal he is remembered for his salvation of dead children, rather than any connection to trade or the sea, and the primary burials around the newly constructed apse are an array of children buried with exceptional dignity and care, centred on one privileged child lying on the axis of the 96

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building, right behind the high altar. The choice of St Nicholas might thus allude to some lost historical and potentially tragic events.31 The excavations in St Nicholas East Kirk exposed a crucial location at the heart of Aberdeen’s development as a city and religious community. While confirming later stages in the development of the church, they also reached back into its shadowy origins, to just beyond the point where documentary evidence begins to make the search for the past clearer. It also brought to light exceptional details about the anonymous townsfolk of the Middle Ages, revealing details about their rituals, lives and deaths.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to Arthur Winfield, Project Leader, Mither Kirk Project for initiating this project and to the Kirk of St Nicholas and Aberdeen City Council for funding. Thanks to all staff who worked on this site, specialists and archaeologists who visited the site particularly Professor Richard Fawcett for his visits to the excavation and extensive discussion. Thanks to everyone else involved in this project including archaeologists, students, congregation of St Nicholas and staff at Aberdeen City Council, particularly illustrators Jan Dunbar and Claire Roberts and photographers Sandra McKay and Helen McPherson.

NOTES 1. A weekly blog and summaries can be found on Aberdeen City Council website*, http: //www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/LocalHistory/loc/loc_ArchKirkNicholas.asp and the OpenSpace Trust website. 2. J. Cripps, ‘Establishing the Topography of Medieval Aberdeen: an assessment of the documentary sources’, in New Light on Medieval Aberdeen, ed. J. S. Smith (Aberdeen 1985), 20–31, at 22–23. 3. E. P. Dennison, D. Ditchburn and M. Lynch ed., Aberdeen before 1800, a New History (East Linton 2002), 23, 291–94, 289. 4. J. Hunter, ‘The Church of St Nicholas, Aberdeen’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 105 (1972–74), 236–47, at 238, 240. 5. R. Fawcett, The Architectural History of Scotland: Scottish architecture from the Accession of the Stewarts to the Reformation 1371–1560 (Edinburgh 1994), 210–11. 6. Parson Gordon, A description of Both Touns of Aberdeen, ed. C. Innes, Spalding Club, 5 (Edinburgh 1842) 14; J. Robertson ed., Collections for the History of the Shires of Aberdeen and Banff, Spalding Club, 9 (Aberdeen 1843), 205–09, cites a detailed record from 1732 by Alexander Keith, describing the appearance of the medieval church. 7. A. Walker ed., The Selected Writings of John Ramsay (Aberdeen 1871), 207. 8. Hunter (as n. 4), 240, 245. The raid is mentioned in Heimskringla, cited in A. O. Anderson, Early Sources for Scottish History 500–1286, 2 vols (Stamford 1990), II, 216. 9. G. Pryde, The Burghs of Scotland (Oxford 1965), no. 7. 10. Cartularium Ecclesiae Sancti Nicholai Aberdonensis, ed. J. Cooper, 2 vols, New Spalding Club (Aberdeen 1888–92), I, vii–ix. 11. R. Fawcett, Scottish Medieval Churches (Stroud 2002), 25. 12. R. J. Cramp, ‘Excavations at the Hirsel, Coldstream, Borders Region’, University of Durham Newcastle upon Tyne Archaeological Report, 3 (1980), 17–19. 13. G. Cook, Scottish Universities Environment Research Centre (SUERC), pers. comm. 14. H. F. James and P. Yeoman, ‘Excavations at St Ethernan’s Monastery, Isle of May, Fife’, Tayside & Fife Archaeological Committee Monograph Series, 6 (Perth 2008), 58–59. 15. R. Fawcett, pers. comm. 16. P. Yeoman, Historic Scotland, pers. comm. 17. P. Walton Rogers, ‘Cilicium’, in Encyclopedia of Medieval Dress and Textiles of the British Isles, ed. G. Owen-Crocker, E. Coatsworth and M. Hayward (Leiden: Brill 2012), 125–26. 18. P. Walton Rogers, preliminary assessment report, presented to Aberdeen City Council.

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alison s. cameron and judith a. stones 19. Hunter (as n. 4). 20. P. R. J. Duffy, I. Arabaolaza and M. Kilpatrick, ‘The Human Remains from the Kirk of St Nicholas Uniting, Aberdeen’, Draft report lodged with Aberdeen City Council, 2008. 21. P. Oldfield, Sanctity and Pilgrimage in Medieval Southern Italy, 1000–1200 (Cambridge 2014), 97. 22. Oldfield (as n. 21), 99. 23. A. Binns, Dedications of Monastic Houses in England and Wales, 1066–1216 (Woodbridge 1989), 18–39. 24. Oldfield (as n. 21), 203, mentions a relic of St Nicholas at Exeter. 25. C. Innes ed., Register of Charters of the Abbey of Kelso, I, Bannantyne Club 15 (Edinburgh 1846), 234. 26. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis, ed. C. Innes, 2 vols, Spalding Club 13 & 14 (Aberdeen 1845), I, 84–86. 27. Pryde (as n. 9), no. 7. 28. E. Cinthio, ‘The Churches of St Clemens in Scandinavia’, Archaeologia Lundensia, 3 (1968), 103–16; B. Crawford, The Churches dedicated to St Clement in Medieval England (St Petersburg 2008). 29. As suggested by M. Lynch (as n. 3), 289–90. 30. D. H. Caldwell ed., Angels, Nobles and Unicorns (Edinburgh: National Museum of Scotland 1982), 99. 31. It is not currently known to the authors if similar arrangements of child burials are found in other churches dedicated to St Nicholas.

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Post-Reformation Church Architecture in the Marischal Earldom, 1560–1625 MILES KERR-PETERSON

This paper will focus on the impact of the Reformation on parish churches and rural chapels within the lordship of the Earls Marischal from 1560 to 1625. The immediate problem for the Reformed Church was that of pre-Reformation neglect and a shortage of funds. Superfluous chapels were abandoned (Cowie, Kincardine) and old kirks were adapted as best they could, even if they were ill suited as preaching boxes (Fetteresso). Gradually, there was more intervention in the fabric of parish churches by landowners and the nobility, in the form of burial aisles and vaults (Dunnottar, Benholm). Once the reformed kirk had consolidated its position in the 1610s it entered a period of rationalization, for which the noble patrons of the parishes were intimately involved. Some churches were abandoned (Fetterangus, Keith Marischal), some moved to more convenient locations (Longley) and wholly new churches were built in newly created parishes (Longside and New Deer). The new kirk of Longside (1620) is considered in detail as it shows the notion of what a reformed kirk should look like as well as the process by which it was made. This chapter argues that often the kirks and their patrons had an uneasy relationship and parish reform could be slow and painful. keywords: Scottish Reformation, church architecture, rural parishes, memorials, Keith Earls Marischal, Aberdeenshire, Kincardineshire This brief survey will explore the story of Scottish rural churches from the point of the Reformation in 1560, through to the death of King James VI in 1625. This will be done through the lens of an earldom, that of the Keith Earls Marischal, and not via old diocese or new presbytery. This is because the material story of the new church was intimately entangled with parish patronage, which through the Reformation period passed from the collapsed ecclesiastical structure to local landowners. The Earls Marischal were recognized as the richest noble family in Scotland and had some of the most extensive landholdings in lowland Scotland.1 The maxim that the earls could travel from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Caithness and eat and sleep every night on their own estates was an exaggeration, but one which was not far from the truth.2 William Keith, the 3rd Earl Marischal (1510–81), had converted to Protestantism in 1544 and appears to have been a highly religious man.3 His successor, George Keith, the 4th Earl Marischal (1553–1623), presented himself as the staunchly Protestant champion of the North-East, especially in opposition to his great rival the Catholic earl of Huntly. As he founded Marischal College in New Aberdeen in 1593, ninety-eight years after King’s College had been founded in Old Aberdeen, he might be regarded as the postReformation successor to Bishop Elphinstone. But was this apparent conviction felt in the parishes? This paper will focus on parish churches and rural chapels in the earldom # British Archaeological Association 2016

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to try and answer this question. Furthermore, the Earls Marischal gained possession of the abbey of Deer and two of the four friaries of Aberdeen, but there is not the space to deal with them here. A study of this sort is also generally hamstrung by the severe damage, destruction and change that all the buildings have suffered in the following centuries. All except for three of Marischal’s churches — King Edward, Dunnet and Strathbrock — are today either demolished or in ruins.4 The majority, as was the wider trend in Scotland, were either rebuilt or simply left to decay in the late 18th or early 19th centuries.5 Although we can make some observations, the sheer scale of destruction and change mean that these can at best be modest. At the point of the Reformation, the Scottish rural parish had long been neglected. Under the old church it was common for entire benefices, both vicarage and parsonage, to be appropriated to support monasteries, cathedrals, universities and collegiate churches. The appropriating bodies were expected to maintain the kirk building and pay a salary to a vicar pensionary. However, this system was open to considerable abuse and led to significant neglect, which was made worse during the Reformation crisis by opportunistic plundering.6 That the new Protestant Church would even have to command the most basic necessities, that every kirk should have ‘dores, close windowes of glasse, thack or sclait [thatch or slate] able to withhold raine’ is indicative of the poverty they inherited.7 Initially, kirk repair was to be carried out by the parish elders and through taxation of the parishioners, which would be overseen by the superintendents or church commissioners. However, this proved ineffectual and increasingly the parish patron and major local landowners were expected to provide financial and administrative support.8 In 1567 the old rights of presentation belonging to patrons who held the benefices was recognized.9 Over time, the patron was gradually seen to have also inherited the responsibility to maintain the kirk itself, as well as the right of presentation and responsibility to pay the minister, although this situation was not formally legislated for until 1633.10 The Reformed Church was badly lacking in resources to pay ministers, let alone to build and maintain churches, and had to rely on whatever help it could obtain; nobles were expected to be a central element of this effort.11 At the Reformation William, the 3rd Earl Marischal, already holding the patronage to certain chaplainries, quickly set about retrieving the church property long ago donated by his ancestors to various ecclesiastical bodies (Fig. 1). By 1562 he had reclaimed the parsonages of Strathbrock and Duffus (with shared patronage of each) and both vicarage and parsonage of Fetteresso.12 By 1566 he had acquired the patronage of the joint parishes of Fetterangus and Longley (the latter also known as Inverugie or St Fergus), and Dunnottar by 1574. 13 Through his brother Robert Keith, the Commendator (a secular abbot) of the Cistercian abbey of Deer, appointed in 1543, and later through his second son, by 1552 William had indirect control of all the abbey’s assets which included the vicarages and parsonages of Deer (Old Deer), Peterugie (Peterhead), Foveran, King Edward and Dunnet.14 By 1587 the Earls Marischal, now represented by George Keith, William’s grandson, had also acquired Keith Marischal.15 That year Marischal was entailed to the possessions of the abbey of Deer which had now been erected into the temporal lordship of Altrie, for which he took over immediately from the aging Robert Lord Altrie. 16 He would sell Dunnet in 1612 and acquired the patronage of Benholm in 1617.17 This gives a total of thirteen parishes, scattered across the east of Scotland, contiguous with the scattered lands of the earldom. 100

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Fig. 1. Map of Scotland showing Marischal’s parishes. 1. Dunnet, 2. Duffus, 3. King Edward, 4. New Deer, 5. Fetterangus, 6. Longside, 7. Longley, 8. Peterhead, 9. Deer, 10. Foveran, 11. Fetteresso, 12. Dunnottar, 13. Benholm, 14. Strathbrock, 15. Keith Marischal Author

abandonment and adaption After the Reformation a number of ecclesiastical buildings were sacrificed as they were now spiritually redundant. In Fetteresso parish lie the picturesque ruins of the chapel at Cowie, a gabled box with three narrow lancet windows and a damaged aumbry (Fig. 2). There were two chaplainries within the chapel, both of considerable value, St Nathlan, of which the Hay Lairds of Ury were the patrons, and St Mary, which was patronized by the Earls Marischal.18 When the chaplainries were suppressed at the Reformation, the revenues reverted to the two patrons. In 1593 the 4th Earl Marischal assigned the St Mary chaplainry of Cowie along with the chapel of Bervie to the newly founded Marischal College.19 While the revenues were divided up the chapel was abandoned. In 1642 John Keith, the minister of Dunnottar since 1593, noted: After the Reformation of Religion in this Kingdom, in Queen Marie’s time, this chapel being demolished by reason of superstition resorting thereto, a certain man called William Rait of Redcloak brought away some of the Roof of this Chappel, and built a House therwith, and a little thereafter the whole House rained drops of bloud. There be some living yet, that can testify this.20

Although the blood might be far-fetched, the salvaging of material seems likely. While Cowie was redundant spiritually, it continued to have a social function; burial continued in its church-yard right into the 20th century, which was a common use for sites of redundant churches and chapels. Further buildings fell out of use for similar reasons. 101

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Fig. 2.

The ruins of the chapel of Cowie, Fetteresso parish Photo: Author

As part of his office of sheriff of the Mearns (Kincardineshire), Marischal held the patronage and revenues of the Chapel of St Catherine of Sienna in the burgh of Kincardine, which was likewise abandoned, although the burial ground was used until the end of the 18th century.21 While Cowie was stripped by entrepreneurs and left to crumble, the main parish kirk at Fetteresso was converted to the new form of worship, as the new church took over the old Catholic churches and the old Catholic parishes. The old kirk had been designed around the sacred Mass and a hierarchy of spaces ill-adapted for Calvinist worship, which centred on preaching and congregational devotion, meaning rearrangement had to take place.22 In plan, most rural pre-Reformation churches were simple rectangles which would be converted by removing any screens, ornament and iconography and then by setting up a communion table and pulpit to turn the building into a preaching box. Table and pulpit would usually be located in the middle of the kirk, then lofts could be erected at either end. If the patron wished he could add an aisle for himself, creating a T-shaped building.23 The problem with Fetteresso was that the old medieval plan was an unusual five times the length of its width and was wholly unsuitable for preaching (Fig. 3). Sometime after the Reformation, it seems that one end of the building was made shorter in an effort to address this problem. John Hutcheon, 102

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Fig. 3.

The kirk of Fetteresso Photo: Author

minister of the parish in the 1790s, complained that the kirk was ‘old, inconvenient and unfit to contain the congregation, when fully assembled together’, despite the population of the parish being ‘no so great as it was formally’, and even after a further truncation of the building with the addition of a side aisle in 1720.24 The Reformed Church simply did not have the money to create purpose-built preaching boxes and had to make do with this ill-suited space. The Earls Marischal certainly did have the money to carry out such work, but did not see it as their responsibility and were not prompted to do so. However, not all were so inactive, as a heraldic stone on King Edward parish church records how Robert Keith the Commendator of Deer extended the kirk in the 1570s to better accommodate the congregation, showing that the nobility could and sometimes did take an interest, though again we see conversion rather than more substantial and costly works.25 The earls’ money would, however, go on other more aggrandizing projects. 103

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nobles and kirk burial Where we do find evidence for the Keiths’ involvement and lavish expenditure in parish churches, it generally relates to memorialization. Establishing new burial practices was a problem for the Reformed Churches across Europe, especially where old habits and traditions were entrenched, and Scotland was the most hard-line in forbidding burial within church buildings.26 The 1561 First Book of Discipline, the Church’s blueprint for reform in Scotland, had spoken against burial within kirks, stating that churches should be specifically for preaching and the sacraments, preferring burial in ‘some other secret and convenient place, lying in the most free aire’.27 The General Assembly enacted various acts to discourage burial within churches and the Minister for Lanark, William Birnie, wrote an extended piece on the ‘barbarity of kirk-burial’.28 The Reformed Church’s disapproval fell on deaf ears in some parishes. In 1604 brothers William and Alexander Thomsoun were accused of having buried their parents within the Kirk of Fetterangus and refusing to pay the 40 shilling fine, arguing that there was no law to stop them.29 The nobility managed to get round the problem of intra mural burial through the use of burial vaults and aisles, attached to the kirks but technically defined as separate. A neighbour to Fetteresso, the parish kirk of Dunnottar had been built in 1395 by Sir William de Keith, Marischal of Scotland, who in building his new castle had blocked access to the much older kirk on the crag.30 The 4th earl remodelled the kirk in 1582 and added a new aisle to the side, which had two purposes. A loft facing the body of the kirk opposite the pulpit provided a place for him and his household to sit during service and a vault below was where he could bury the dead of his family.31 The immediate impetus behind the building of the aisle was the death of Earl George’s father and grandfather, who had died in August 1580 and October 1581 respectively, the first major members of the family to have died since the Reformation.32 The Dunnottar Aisle is one of the earliest in Scotland, contemporary with the Hepburn Aisle in Oldhamstocks in East Lothian and the Ogilvy Aisle of Banff (Fig. 4). Dunnottar is slightly unusual as lateral aisles were normally on the north side of churches to allow greater light on the south side, although this was not universal.33 The Marischal Aisle was described by Walter MacFarlane as ‘a large vault and an Isle cieled above, and decorated with scutcheons of the deceased worthies [which] joins to the wall of the church’.34 None of the escutcheons survive, although Earl George’s own epitaph was recorded: Cum Patriam et Proavos raris virtutibus ornes / Nonne ergo debet Scotia multa tibi. / Ecclesia; Turras [sic: turres], Palatia splendida abunde, / Ingenio jam stant edificata tuo. / Est Marischalla domus Boreae lux maxime pura, / Semper Romani a Dogmate Pontificis./Rex et Regna tibi debent quoque Danica quod tu/ Curaris Thalamis consociare suis. / Sic merito Rex, Religio, Respub. Musae / Legent in Tumulo nunc Marischalla tuo. / Struxit Aberdoniae Solymam, fundavit Ahenas / Phoebus ubi cantant, et sacra turba vigent.35 Since you decorated the nation and ancestors with rare virtue, does Scotland therefore not owe as much to you? This Kirk, towers and palaces splendid in their abundance now stand, having been built with your genius. The house of Marischal is the greatest pure light of the North, forever free from the dogma of the Roman Pontiff. The king and Danish kingdoms are in your debt too, because you took pains to unite them by means of the marriage bed. So fittingly, the king, religion and muses of the nation will send ambassadors to your grave, Marischal. An Apollo who built a Jerusalem for Aberdeen, and founded an Athens, where the holy multitude sing and flourish.

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Fig. 4.

The Dunnottar burial aisle Photo: Author

During its restoration in 1913 a deep burial chamber was observed beneath the aisle, and the stonework of the walls suggested that the ceiling had been barrel vaulted.36 This would have been similar to the beautiful ceiling in Grandtully Chapel in Perthshire, or the Montgomery Aisle in Largs. Only two pieces of decorative masonry survive from inside the aisle; a heraldic stone commemorating a later earl and his wife and a heavily damaged set of royal arms, which would have been supported as a centrepiece above the loft (symbolically the only earthly entity in the parish more important than Marischal). The earl, thus representing temporal authority, sat directly opposite and level with the minister in his pulpit, representing the word of God. The loft, vault and ceiling would all have been brightly decorated and painted to reflect the status and grandeur of the earls. In 1605 a man called Andrew Melville was owed money by the earl for the painting of a dask (or desk — a seat or pew inside a church).37 Although there is no record as to where this particular dask was located, this at least shows that Marischal was commissioning decoration in church contexts. Symbolism was a contested field within the reformed community; Lutheranism held that only the image of God was unholy, whereas Calvinism was strictly against any form of symbolism.38 However, the Reformed Church in Scotland rarely had much influence over the nobility when it came to their self-expression, and a blind eye was turned as long as the symbolism used was heraldic and secular.39 105

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The loft was where Marischal and his household would sit for service, physically and symbolically separated and raised above the rest of the congregation. It was reached by a door in the side of the aisle, above which is the datestone and a panel for a heraldic motif. The space behind the loft contained the family memorials. The aisle contains five heavily restored curved recessed arches. Only one memorial survives; a heavily worn portion of a recumbent floor slab. It bears the arms of the Earls Marischal, held up by two deer, surmounted by the initials e m (Earl Marischal). The only words which are decipherable are dochte[r] (daughter), departed and a year, possibly 1585. This represents an unknown daughter of an Earl Marischal. That the slab is evidently recumbent by the layout of its inscription would indicate that the five recesses were reserved for higher-status members of the family, presumably just for the earls. John Henderson has suggested that in 1587 Marischal purchased the Black Friars of Aberdeen in order to retrieve the remains of his ancestors, this being the family’s traditional place of burial before the Reformation.40 This possibility tempts one to wonder whether their funerary effigies were also retrieved in order to fill these recesses, although without further evidence this can only remain speculation. Dunnottar was just one place at which Marischal buried his immediate family. At the kirk of Benholm, south of Dunnottar in Kincardineshire, was the resting place of Marischal’s five-year-old daughter Mary, who died in 1620 (Fig. 5). Instead of a side aisle with family vault below, the redundant chancel was converted into a mausoleum and a huge memorial to Mary was raised on its wall. This memorial consists of several layers. Near the bottom, carved figures of the earl and countess of Marischal are speared by death, representing the earthly world Mary has left behind and the grief which has struck her parents. Above this are their arms, showing how the family is literally and symbolically above death, even if its members are not. Above this is a Latin poem, celebrating Mary and espousing a lesson to abandon the mundane and to embrace the spiritual. This lesson is the gateway to the top most layer, where an escutcheon with arms representing the soul of Mary (directly above death at the bottom where she was in life) ascending to heaven, carried by two angels.41 If this memorial to just one of his daughters is anything to go by, the tombs of the earls at Dunnottar must have been magnificent. At the kirk of Old Deer there is evidence for other Keith burial practices. Old Deer was partially demolished and converted into a burial enclosure when a new church was built next to it in 1788. Today, on the south wall is a pointed arched tomb recess, the corbels of which closely resemble some found at the nearby abbey of Deer, around which is set a jumble of monument fragments (Fig. 6). In 1732 an aisle for the Keiths was noted as being attached to the church, so it is possible that when the old kirk was converted these features were removed from the old chancel or lateral aisle and disarticulated in the process, in order to clear that space for more prestigious burials. The pointed arch may have originally been a door from the truncated nave.42 This was a memorial to the Keiths of Auldmad (now Old Maud). At the very bottom, is a Latin inscription. What can be deciphered reads: . . . ie . . . infra tam alis post tot tantosque labores / . . . ebria facta bonis ad svper . . . astra volat . . . posc deum pregirvs mihi det si possed . . . . . . below many differences and after many great labours . . . having done good deeds, he now flies above the stars . . . the bearing God may deliver to me if possible . . .

Above this and within the arch is a stone showing two figures, male and female with the initials ak 1603 sk (Andrew Keith and Sarah Keith). This stone has evidently been 106

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Fig. 5. The memorial to Mary Keith in Benholm parish kirk # Crown Copyright: RCAHMS. Licensor www.rcahms.gov.uk

moved as it has lost a section of its decorative border. Above this is an escutcheon showing the arms of the Keiths of Auldmad (the Keith arms above a heart and a crescent). The decoration around the escutcheon suggests that it was the key stone to a decorative ogee arch. Above the arch is another inscription, and what survives reads: andreas kethis ball[ivm] . . . [mari]schalli . . . s . . . andreas ita ivstissimus omn . . . pius atq[ue] probus kaethiad m . . . vs . . . sit faeminei sexus cognomini kaethia nomine et aegidie comtvmulata iacet obiere 1603 1608 lais deo Andrew Keith, bailey of the Marischal . . . Andrew truly the most just of all . . . pious and honest of the sons of Keith [here is also buried his wife:] she may be of the feminine sex [but was] called and bore the surname of Keith, legitimate daughter of the earl, here lie. They died 1603 and 1608. With all glory to God.

At the top are the arms of the Earl Marischal and the initials g m, representing George Earl Marischal, which is in the same granite as the escutcheon.43 In its original form 107

miles kerr-peterson Fig. 6. The reconstructed memorial to the Keiths of Auldmad on the ruins of the Kirk of Old Deer Photo: Author

the memorial probably had the arms of the Earl Marischal directly above the arms of the Keiths of Auldmad, which formed the centre of an ogee arch framing the rest of the memorial below. Next would have been the effigies, then the inscription starting ‘Andreas’. Below this there may have been a ledge before the ‘infra’ inscription. In 1721 an aisle for the Keiths of Ludquharn was noted as being attached to the kirk of Peterhead.44 Unless there was a lateral aisle which has hence been lost, this is possibly the surviving ruined chancel — its use as a mausoleum meaning it survived the demolition of the nave in 1806. There may have been another Keith burial aisle at the kirk of Garvock, as attributed by later memorials, although no trace survives.45 Altogether, Dunnottar, Benholm and Old Deer testify to the lavish expenditure spent by the Keiths on tombs and self-aggrandisement. parish reforms In time the Reformed Church had consolidated itself enough to be able to consider rationalizing the antiquated parish system that it had inherited and to compel the nobility to help them (Fig. 7). On 25 August 1603 a visitation by the presbytery of Deer to Longley Parish Kirk concluded that the building was both ‘water fast and wind fast’, but ‘jugeit unmeit becaus both kirk and kirk yeard is ovirblawin wt the sand’. It was therefore thought necessary to build a new kirk at the Burn of Cuttie near the main road, to the south-west of the old site. Fortunately, the minister, David Robertson, had 108

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Fig. 7. A map of the parishes of the Presbytery of Deer with Gamrie and King Edward (Presbytery of Turriff). Marischal was patron to those parishes in yellow, orange and red. This also shows the newly created parishes, New Deer being separated from Old Deer, Longside being separated from Peterhead and Fetterangus being separated from Longley and attached to Old Deer. Crosses indicate the location of the churches (and the abbey of Deer) mentioned in the text Image: Author

already organized a contract with the Earl Marischal to do so.46 The neighbouring parish to the north, Lonmay, was suffering a similar problem with sand and was successfully moved to a new site, two miles inland, close to the main road, in 1607.47 However, the plans for the Kirk at Cuttie came to nothing, although there is no note as to why. It was not until 1610 when the minister complained about having to serve the two kirks of Longley and Fetterangus that the idea for a new kirk in the middle of the combined parish resurfaced.48 It would be another two years until, in November 1612, the presbytery ordered that as the Mother Kirk [Longley] is now standin at the east-most end of the paroch in ane wilderness oerblawin with sand, it is ordanit that the minister, with all possible dilligence, sall deil and travile with my Lord Keith to transport the Auld Kirk to the middle of the paroch, for the ease of the haill parochiners, that they may have hearing of the word every Sabbath.49

William Keith, Master of Marischal and Lord Keith, had taken over the running of his father’s estates in Buchan in about 1610 and would be involved with all the northern parish reforms. Another year passed though and still nothing was done. In September 1613 the presbytery again ordered that the minister ‘put him self in posession of the 109

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mansion & gleib according to the act of parliament & to deill wt my Lord Keyt & parochen for transporting the kirk out of the sands to the mids of the paroche’. The next month the order was repeated.50 Another year passed, and the presbytery complained again.51 Finally, after another year of inaction, on 31 August 1615 Lord Keith personally attended the presbytery meeting and agreed that the kirk needed to be moved and they set a date to meet again to discuss the location.52 The project moved with great speed thereafter. On 28 September 1615 William convened with the presbytery’s commissioners and they settled on a suitable place for a new kirk, manse and glebe.53 Within a year the kirk was ready for services and the presbytery found that the new kirk ‘is found commodiuslye transportit and very cumlie meed feit to the gryt ease of the paroche’.54 This kirk, however, was not in the middle of the combined parish of Longley/Fetterangus as originally planned, and was only two miles to the north-west of the old, on rising ground, but this at least solved the problem of the sand. The old building was thereafter left for ruin.55 A tablet survives from the 1616 kirk, which bears the initials vlk 1616 (William Lord Keith) and mdr (Mr David Robertson).56 The neighbouring parish of Deer was one of the biggest lowland parishes in Scotland. The minister Abraham Sibbald complained about the size of the parish in 1609 and again in 1610, saying how it was difficult for the parishioners to attend service, especially if the weather was bad, and he suggested that the parish be divided and a new kirk built.57 As with Longley, the actual process of getting this done would move painfully slowly. In May 1613 Sibbald reported to the presbytery that he had talked with Lord Keith and the Laird of Drum, but had not gained anything more than overall consent for the project.58 A year later, in May 1614, Sibbald reported that the Laird of Drum had said that if the kirk was to be built on his lands, he would give suitable land for kirk, manse and glebe, although he had not done anything more. The presbytery felt, however, that as Lord Keith was the patron of the parish and more able to provide adequate provision, it was decided to appoint and send commissioners to him to negotiate an appropriate settlement.59 Another year passed, and in May 1615 Sibbald reported that he had spoken with Lord Keith about the matter, but had achieved nothing. Similar reports followed for the next two years.60 Much like Deer, the size of Peterhead parish was considered to be a problem. There had been abortive attempts in 1604 to persuade Marischal to divide the parish, but protracted problems with even appointing a new minister had put these on hold.61 However, a taxation was levied with a mind to either enlarge the old building or build a second kirk and divide the parish in May 1609.62 In October 1610 it was decided that a new kirk was the best course of action, and commissioners were appointed to deal with Lord Keith or his kinsman, William Keith of Ludquharn.63 Three years later, in September 1613 it was reported that ‘Alexander Keyt haid diretley travelit wt my lord Keyt for ye erection of ane new kirk in ye head of the paroche & wes in expectation to get that wark scartly effetuatat’.64 Alexander was somewhat over-optimistic; a year later nothing had been achieved.65 In September 1615 Lord Keith again gave his consent to the project and efforts were made to meet and decide on a suitable location.66 The following year it was reported that the project had stalled because Lord Keith and the heritors of the parish could not agree on exactly where the new kirk should be located.67 By the following month the small settlement of Longside was agreed upon, although now Lord Keith needed to get the consent of his uncle, Robert Keith of Benholm, for the project to proceed. Fortunately, this was obtained by December.68 Although Longside had been selected, the whole of 1617 was spent in disagreement over the provision of the manse and glebe.69 Although Longley had eventually been 110

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moved with Lord Keith’s help, he was proving obstinate with Deer and Peterhead. The projects indicate both the incredible slowness with which the presbytery moved, and also the inertia of Lord Keith. In 1617 an Act of Parliament was passed regarding the plantation of kirks, which stipulated that parishes with insufficient revenues should be merged, and through this Marischal and Lord Keith would lose two parishes.70 The parish kirk of Keith Marischal, largely built in the early 13th century, was abandoned as a cost cutting exercise.71 The revenues of the parish were diminutive; in 1562 they totalled just £50 Scots a year.72 John Nimmil, briefly serving as minister of the parish, complained that as there was no manse and no money to support one, he had to travel from Edinburgh every Sunday for service and so requested to be relieved of the position. 73 From at least 1613 the benefice was thereafter vacant.74 The commissioners of the 1617 Act for the Plantation of Kirks came to Keith Marischal in 1618. They decided to merge it with the neighbouring parish of Humbie (from which Keith Marischal had originally been detached in the 13th century), because of the lack of revenues, the close proximity to the Kirk of Humbie (a quarter of a mile), the fact that there were only sixty communicants in the parish and because the parish was already being served by the minister of Humbie. With this dissolution Marischal lost patronage, the king being made patron of the united parish.75 The commissioners also solved the problem of Fetterangus the same year, when they attached it to the parish of Deer.76 Both kirks of Keith Marischal and Fetterangus were abandoned and turned over to burial. In October 1618 the synod of Aberdeen firmly ordered that new kirks should be built in Peterhead and Deer parishes to form two new parishes and ordered commissioners to meet with Lord Keith to discuss the matter.77 Either by the efforts of the synod or by the Act of Plantation, Lord Keith was at last spurred into action. With his advice and consent, on 27 May 1619 it was decided that the new kirk of Deer would occupy the site of the old abandoned chapel of Auchreddie. A new obstacle emerged in the form of Lord Keith’s tacksman in that part of the parish, also called William Keith, who flatly refused to have the new kirk on the lands he held. Lord Keith had to be consulted again to overrule his subordinate.78 Even though the site for the kirk had been designated the project still moved slowly and on 24 May 1621 the presbytery still required Lord Keith’s help to locate and build the manse and to designate the glebe.79 The presbytery records do not survive past 1621, but a stone on the kirk recorded the date of completion to 1622, which shows that eventually the project came unstuck. Another block, however, bearing the initials k. a.; w.e.m.l (William Earl Marischal, Lord Keith and Altrie), thought to have come from the bellcote, indicates that William was involved with further works after 1623, which suggests further delays.80 It is perhaps unsurprising that considering the prolonged timescale involved with New Deer that Abraham Sibbald, the minister of Old Deer, found it easier to rebuild his kirk with his own money, having come from a wealthy family. A worn plaque described this effort, translated as: . . . abrahamvs sibbaldvs kair familia merenia ministeri hvic ecclese legit . . . sectus 18 iunias 1586 summa fide dei gloria . . . gregis salvti stvdvit doctrina et scirima et templi strvctura avcta Mr Abraham Sibbald, of the family of Kair in the Mearns, minister lawfully appointed to the charge of this church on 18 June 1586. With the utmost fidelity in learning and in teaching he sought the glory of God and the salvation of his flock, and with the church edifice having been enlarged he left that as a monument.81

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A corresponding plaque of similar design is next to this, bearing the arms of the Earl Marischal and the simple inscription translated as ‘George Earl Marischal Lord Keith and Altrie and patron’. Below this is a carved spear head. There is no indication that Marischal contributed to the enlargement of the kirk. Interestingly, as these two plaques appear to have been intended to be displayed side by side, we again see the visual representation of equal temporal and spiritual authority, just like the loft and pulpit arrangement at Dunnottar. Like Sibbald, another minister to expand a kirk under the patronage of the Earl Marischal with his own money was William Guild at King Edward. He extended the kirk and added a decorative bellcote and lych-gate.82 The problems of Deer and Peterhead no doubt informed the 1621 ‘Act regarding the plantation of kirks as yet unplanted’ which legislated specifically for the problem of dividing old parishes and was a revision of the 1617 legislation.83 The works in Peterhead parish, however, moved at a marginally faster pace than Deer. After the Synod of Aberdeen’s order of October 1618 the Longside project gained some impetus. In September 1619 the presbytery reported that progress was at last being made with the new kirk.84 By July 1620 the new kirk session for Longside had been established and was keeping records, showing that even if the kirk was not yet completed the project was far enough advanced for this to be considered worthwhile.85 On 15 August 1620 the kirk session recorded ‘from this [day] furth doctrine salbe in ye new kirk’, indicating that the new building was serviceable enough for worship.86 When the presbytery visited on 20 October 1620 they commented that ‘ye work of ye kirk edifice [is] diligentlie going forward’.87 The fabric of the building holds certain clues to its construction (Fig. 8). On the south-eastern skewput is the date 1620 and the arms of Lord Keith. On the southwestern skewput are the initials gb/mm. This is explained on the bellcote which carries the initials GB and 1620 and the words ‘mr. meason’ along with the arms of the Bruce family, so we may suspect that a man called George, Gilbert or William (Gulielmus) Bruce was the builder. Also on the bellcote are the initials ar (possibly a misreading of am, Alexander Martin, the first minister), along with as coupled with the Sibbald arms, denoting Abraham Sibbald, moderator of the presbytery.88 The church building of Longside is relatively unremarkable. A simple rectangle, it had far better proportions as a preaching box than Fetteresso and was ample in size for the time. When in use it had six doors and is modest in external decoration except for two small lancet windows, which are located above and on either side of the main west door.89 As the gothic style no longer had a living tradition in Scotland by this time, these can be seen as deliberately invoking a medieval form to make this a recognizable church. However, this is done on a much more modest scale when compared to Bishop Spottiswood’s model kirk of Dairsie of 1621, its strong gothic forms reflecting the doctrinal ambitions of the bishop. Longside is also somewhat old-fashioned in that its main door was placed on the west gable, a hangover from the pre-Reformation ascending hierarchy of spaces from west to east.90 In answering the question of what a new Protestant church should look like, Master Mason Bruce settled for a traditional design rooted in the Catholic past, which shows none of the experimentation present in the radical new kirk of Burntisland of the 1580s or the equally radical but Episcopalian Dairsie already mentioned. Longside shows a simple, practical and conservative design, representing a long tradition in Scottish church architecture.91 Not only was the kirk designed, but so was the church-yard. The innovative design of the lych-gate is quite remarkable, and it may have had its own bellcote (Fig. 9).92 The construction of the rounded arch closely resembles that of the kirk-yard memorial of 112

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Fig. 8. The Kirk of Longside. The south-east elevation shows a central window which has been blocked to accommodate a later door. Presumably this door and the other two windows were inserted for Ludquharn’s loft. The north-east elevation shows no evidence of any windows on this side. There is mention of a north window in 1621 (NAS CH2/699/1/21). This has either been thoroughly filled in then covered over, or was perhaps a dormer in the roof. The south-west elevation shows a cluster of features which presumably relate to Muchall’s dask. There is no sign of another door as suggested in the historical record, although the tall window on the right may have been blocked in order to build Ludquharn’s loft. An inscription above the westernmost window on this side reads ‘heare my pryer o god ps’ Image: Author

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Fig. 9. The Kirk of Longside and its Lych Gate, with the new kirk in the background Photo: Author

the Keiths of Ludquharn, which is directly opposite the lych-gate on the other side of the kirk. This was the most prestigious monument space in the new kirk-yard and the memorial is probably contemporary with kirk and gate, with the family arms apparently updated in 1629 when the laird was granted a baronetcy.93 As the Keiths of Ludquharn already had an aisle attached to the kirk in Peterhead, we might assume the family was marking its territory in this parish by burying members of the extended family here, like the Earl Marischal had at Benholm. A violent feud and subsequent legal battle in 1622 between Andrew, the son of Andrew Fraser Laird of Muchall, and Sir William Keith of Ludquharn give extraordinary detail about the process by which this kirk was created. It seems that Keith of Ludquharn, whose principle lands were in the parish, had been instrumental in persuading his kinsman Lord Keith to support the project. After Lord Keith had provided the money to support the minister Ludquharn then contributed a further sum. In total the minister was to receive £386 Scots 13s. 8d. a year, of which Ludquharn contributed £66 13s. 4d., about 17%.94 The parishioners then contributed to the cost of the kirk building itself, led by the laird of Muchall, who owned a third of the land of the new parish.95 The parishioners collected materials and, once assembled, the kirk was built, along with a bridge over the River Ugie, to access the site from the north and east. Once the building was complete the space inside was divided and assigned for dasks and seating (Fig. 10). Andrew Fraser, younger of Muchall, set aside space for himself and his dask in what was considered to be the best part of the kirk, in the middle of the south side, and so punched a door through that wall in order to access it. Ludquharn set aside a third of the east end of the kirk (26 ft) for a loft (despite the complaint that he only owned one-tenth of the parish to Muchall’s third), arguing his right because his contribution to the ministers fund was second only to Lord Keith and that the Frasers had not contributed to that at all, only the one-off payment for building works. For this loft 114

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Fig. 10. Plan of the Kirk of Longside. The layout of the dasks is described in considerable detail in the Kirk Session register (NAS CH2/699/1/21). They belonged to: 1. John Forbes, Thomas Forbes and Arthur Dilgarnot in Fortrie; 2. Andrew Watson; 3. William Kellie, William Sangster, Thomas Moris and Andrew Davidson in Auchtidonald; 4. Andrew Keith and Patrick Chalmer; 5. Thomas Davidson, John Crap and William Duncan in Sawock; 6. The Laird of Carnegaw, his son and Alexander Arbuthnot; 7. Alexander Smith, George Smith and George Nicholson in Rora; 8. Alexander Donald in Inveradie and John Peid at the Mill of Fifra; 9. Gilbert Cocks and William Cocks; 10. William Davidson and Alexander Johnson in Ludquharn, Jacob Steinfeld in Longside and James Calle in Auchtidonald; 11. Thomas Fraser in Inveredie and Alexander Peddeg in Faichfield; 12 John Davidson, George Davidson, Alexander Carle in Ludquharn and James Davidson in Auchtidonald; 13. William Macdois, George Macdois in Ludquharn and Alexander Smith in Longside; 14. Andrew Kere and William Davidson in Bothlaw and James Aidie in Thundertoun; 15. William Robertson in Thundertoun, Thomas Robertson in Dennis, Thomas Robertson in Calderhills and Alexander Cowy in Langumie; 16. Alexander Forbes and Andrew Forbes of Kinmundy Image: Author

Ludquharn punched windows in the east gable and side walls to light it, along with yet another door.96 The other parishioners complained that Muchall’s dask was too big and that Ludquharn’s loft extended too far, blocking the light and dampening the acoustics. Muchall did not reply, but Ludquharn said the size of his loft was necessary due to his ‘thicknes of heiring’, which could only be helped otherwise if they moved the pulpit further east. With Muchall and Ludquharn taking the best places, on 19 March 1621 a committee was formed to divide the rest of the space into sixteen smaller dasks. It was agreed that no dask should be too tall or be wider than 6 ft, and that they should all be built before November 1621, otherwise the session could confiscate and reappoint the space.97 Fraser and the rest of the parishioners had assembled a number of large joists to build the bridge over the Ugie, but Fraser complained that Ludquharn had taken the best one and fixed it to the side walls to support his loft. This was set immediately above Fraser’s door, which Fraser had to then block up and make a new one 8 ft further 115

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west. Ludquharn later claimed that the joist had been supplied entirely at his own expense, although a third version stated that the parishioners had supplied the joist, but it had been given to Ludquharn by the minister. Either way, Fraser stated that he and the parishioners then begged Ludquharn to make his loft smaller and leave room for everyone else, which was disregarded. While the loft was in preparation, Ludquharn set up some chairs in the space east of Fraser’s, but it seems Fraser removed these and claimed the space as his own. As a response Ludquharn came into the kirk, smashed Fraser’s temporary seats (as his permanent dask could not be constructed until after the loft was completed), then arranged the shattered pieces to block up Fraser’s new door. In retaliation, on 21 December Fraser came to the kirk and hacked apart Ludquharn’s chairs and chopped the big joist to pieces, leaving just stumps on either wall, before retreating to his father’s house at Cairnbulg. In response, on Christmas Day 1621, Ludquharn and about twenty retainers attacked Fraser’s house of Faichfield. Initially unable to force the main gate, they had the high wall scaled and the door opened from the inside; they then set about destroying the interiors of the house and rough-handling the servants, before returning to the tower of Ludquharn. A bitter legal battle carried on for a number of years and news of the incident even reached the king in London.98 Even after settlement was reached between the two families, Ludquharn’s loft remained unbuilt in 1625.99 The detail from this account is remarkable in that it implies that the shell of the building was built first with little consideration for the layout of the interior, hence additional doors and windows being added ad hoc afterwards, which explains the rather haphazard arrangement and various types of window and door styles extant on the ruins. conclusion The material and architectural development of the post-Reformation Scottish rural parish was severely compromised by a number of issues. Firstly, the Protestant Church inherited buildings and parishes with Catholic and even Celtic origins, which were wholly ill-suited for the new form of congregational worship and preaching. Parishes (such as Deer and Peterhead) were far too big, churches were located in inconvenient locations (such as Longley) and the buildings themselves were usually ill-suited as preaching boxes (illustrated by Fetteresso). By suppressing all forms of Catholic worship the reformers had extinguished the rural chapels (such as Cowie and Kincardine) which had previously augmented the parishes, bringing the new problems into starker relief. The new Church of Scotland was underfunded, understaffed and administratively slow, factors which combined with the disinterest and inertia among the patrons, even in supposedly godly families such as the Keiths, to ensure that reforms and rebuilding could take decades to achieve. The parishes were often subject to the whim and character of the individual noble they were associated with. Left to their own devices the nobility were more concerned with tombs and their own self-aggrandisement than the needs of the church, exemplified by the Dunnottar aisle and the petty squabble over seating between Keith of Ludquharn and Fraser of Muchall. Getting anything achieved required protracted lobbying, negotiation and coordination. Gradually the new church consolidated its position, from an initial period of adaption and making-do and mending, to more ambitious if fruitless plans in the 1610s followed by more serious and lasting efforts in the 1620s, which saw the creation of Longside and New Deer together with the rationalization which extinguished Fetterangus and Keith Marischal. Overall 116

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the study of the Scottish rural parish reveals the difficult and protracted process of the Protestant revolution, which even sixty years after the Reformation was only starting to realize some of its ambitious plans. At least by this time all of the churches mentioned, which were in use, had doors, windows and a roof.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Sincere thanks are expressed to Drs Steven Reid and Martin MacGregor for their comments, Catherine McMillan for advice with using the presbytery records and Dr Keith Stewart for guiding me round Fetteresso, Dunnottar and Benholm. All errors are my own.

NOTES 1. C. Rogers ed., Estimate of the Scottish Nobility during the Minority of James the Sixth (London 1873), 8. 2. See M. Kerr-Peterson, ‘The Noble Houses of George Keith the 4th Earl Marischal’, in Conference Proceedings of A New Platform, Essays for Charles McKean, ed. A. MacDonald (forthcoming). 3. D. Laing, The Works of John Knox, 6 vols (Edinburgh 1895), I, 126. 4. H. Honeyman, ‘The Parish Churches of Uphall and Ecclesmachan’, in Transactions of the Scottish Ecclesiological Society, 3.2 (1911), 155–66; http://canmore.org.uk/site/8890/dunnet-parish-church [accessed 3 August 2015]; J. M. Thomson and J. B. Paul ed., Registrum Magni Sigilli Regnum Scotorum, Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, 11 vols (Edinburgh 1882–1914), VI, 286–87. 5. A. Drummond, The Church Architecture of Protestantism (Edinburgh 1934), 22–23. 6. J. Kirk, The Book of Assumption of the Thirds of Benefices (Oxford 1995), xxx–xxxii; J. Reid-Baxter, Scottish Schools and Schoolmasters 1560–1633 (Woodbridge 2013), 46–47. 7. J. Cameron ed., The First Book of Discipline (Edinburgh 1972), 203. 8. F. Bardgett, ‘Faith, Families and Factions: The Scottish Reformation in Angus and the Mearns’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Edinburgh University, 1987), 229–31. 9. J. Kirk, Patterns of Reform: Continuity and Change in the Reformation Kirk (Edinburgh 1989), 386–90. Records of the Parliament of Scotland 1567/4/6. http://www.rps.ac.uk/ [accessed 23 January 2014]. 10. Records of Parliament (as n. 9), 1633/6/32. 11. G. Hay, The Architecture of Scottish post-Reformation Churches 1560–1843 (Oxford 1957), 8–9. 12. Kirk, Assumption (as n. 6), 152–53, 404; Edinburgh, National Archives of Scotland (NAS), CH7/74. 13. J. Beveridge ed., Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland, 8 vols (Edinburgh 1957), V, 117 no. 2822; H. Scott, Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae, 9 vols (Edinburgh 1925), V, 459, 464. 14. Kirk, Assumption (as n. 6), 457–59; J. Robertson and G. Grub, Illustrations of the topography and antiquities of the shires of Aberdeen and Banff, 4 vols, Spalding Club (Aberdeen 1862), IV, 18–19. 15. Register Great Seal (as n. 4), V, 463–64, 742–48. 16. Ibid., 445, 463; W. Boyd ed., Calendar of State Papers Relating to Scotland, 13 vols (Glasgow 1915), IX, 576. 17. Register Great Seal (as n. 4), V, 745–47; Register Great Seal (as n. 4), VII, 286–87; NAS (as n. 12), GD4/123; 43–47. 18. Register Great Seal (as n. 4), IV, 576; Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, MS 21183, fol. 59r. 19. P. Anderson, Fasti Academiae Mariscallanae Aberdonensis. Selections from the records of the Marischal College and University, 3 vols, New Spalding Club (Aberdeen 1889), I, 41, 62. 20. It was asserted by Revd J. Burnett in 1927 that it was unroofed before the Reformation for certain unrecorded scandals. In this he appears to follow an unsubstantiated conjecture by Andrew Jervise made in 1875. A. Mitchell and J. Toshach Clark ed., Geographical Collections relating to Scotland made by Walter Macfarlane, 3 vols, Scottish History Society 51–53 (Edinburgh 1908), III, 237; J. Burnett, The Kirks of Cowie and Fetteresso (Stonehaven 1927), 12; A. Jervise, Epitaphs and Inscriptions from Burial Grounds and Old Buildings in the North East of Scotland, 2 vols (Edinburgh 1875), I, 53. 21. Records of Parliament (as n. 9) 1600/11/64; Register Great Seal (as n. 4), III, 242–43; ibid. (as n. 4), VI, 282–84; http://canmore.org.uk/site/36120/kincardine [accessed 3 August 2015]. 22. Drummond, Architecture (as n. 5), 19. 23. Hay, Architecture (as n. 11), 14, 21–22.

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miles kerr-peterson 24. The kirk may have been further truncated since 1791, as the minister recorded the internal dimensions as 94 ft by 19 ft, which today are 81 ft by 17½ ft. Considering the minister had to climb over the pews we might forgive a small discrepancy in width, but the 13 ft difference for the length seems beyond accident. A new kirk was built closer to Stonehaven between 1810 and 1813. Burnett, Cowie (as n. 20), 27; http://canmore. org.uk/site/36887/fetteresso-old-parish-church-and-graveyard [accessed 3 August 2015]; D. MacGibbon and T. Ross, The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland, 3 vols (Edinburgh 1897), III, 564–65; J. Hutcheson, ‘Parish of Fetteresso’, in Statistical Account of Scotland 1791–1799 (Edinburgh 1794), XII, 594–95; G. Thomson, ‘Parish of Fetteresso’, in the New Statistical Account of Scotland 1834–1845, 15 vols (Edinburgh 1845), XI, 264–65. 25. http://canmore.org.uk/site/19240/king-edward-old-parish-church-and-burial-ground [accessed 3 August 2015]. 26. A. Spicer, ‘Rest of their bones: fear of death and reformed burial practices’, in Fear in Early Modern Society, ed. W. Naphy and P. Roberts (Manchester 1997), 167–83. 27. Cameron, Discipline (as n. 7), 201. 28. For example, see T. Thomson ed., Acts & Proceedings of the General Assemblies of the Kirk of Scotland, 1560–1618, 3 vols, Bannatyne Club (Edinburgh 1839), II, 585–611; W. Birnie and W. Turnbull ed., The Blame of Kirk-Buriall (London 1833), unpaginated, although the introduction contains a list of the acts made by the general assembly against kirk burial, v. 29. NAS (as n. 12), CH2/89/1/19. 30. D. Simpson, ‘The Development of Dunnottar Castle’, Archaeological Journal, 98 (1942), 87–98. 31. The medieval kirk of 1395, to which the aisle was joined, seems to have been remodelled sometime between 1593 and 1630 as a surviving pediment for a door or window bears the initials m.i.k., Mr John Keith, who was minister during those dates, although exactly when the work was carried cannot be determined. This church was demolished in 1782. The aisle was then left freestanding. It fell to ruins, and was restored by the University of Aberdeen in 1913. A. Watt, Highways and Byways Round Stonehaven (Aberdeen 1976), 90; Scott, Fasti Ecclesiae (as n. 13), V, 459. 32. During restoration a number of lead coffin fragments were found from the old vault. Watt, Highways and Byways (as n. 31), 90; J. Stuart ed., The Miscellany of the Spalding Club (Aberdeen 1842), II, 53; P. Buchan, An Historical and Authentic Account of the Ancient and Noble Family of Keith, Earls Marischal of Scotland (Peterhead 1820), 51. 33. Hay, Architecture (as n. 11), 53; A. Spicer, ‘‘‘Defyle not Christ’s Kirk with your Carrion’’: burial and the development of burial aisles in post-Reformation Scotland’, in The Place of the Dead: Death and Remembrance in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe, ed. B. Gordon and P. Marshall (Cambridge 2000), 149–69; D. Howard, Scottish Architecture: Reformation to Restoration 1560–1660 (Edinburgh 1995), 198–200. 34. Mitchell and Toshach Clark, Geographical Collections (as n. 20), 231. 35. Buchan, Authentic Account (as n. 32), 54. 36. H. Cowan, ‘The Tomb of the Founder of Marischal College’, Aberdeen University Review, 1 (1913/14), 219–28. 37. M. Apted and S. Hannabuss, Painters in Scotland 1301–1700 (Edinburgh 1978), 64. 38. Drummond, Architecture (as n. 5), 19–20. 39. K. Brown, Noble Society in Scotland (Edinburgh 2000), 262, 266. 40. J. Henderson, Aberdeenshire Epitaphs and Inscriptions (Aberdeen 1907), 222; P. Anderson, Aberdeen Friars: Red Black White Grey (Aberdeen 1909), 73; Anderson, Fasti Academiae (as n. 19), 99. 41. For further discussion of this monument, see M. Kerr-Peterson, ‘Neo-Latin on Tombs: the Case of Benholm’ feature for Bridging the Continental Divide (September 2014), http://www.dps.gla.ac.uk/features/ display/?fid=benholm [accessed 30 January 2015]. 42. It was thought to have once been a doorway and that Robert Keith of Auldmad ordered for himself to be buried below it and then for the door to be blocked up, as ‘no man went over him in life and should not in death’. A variant of this is that Robert was buried below the wall of the church for the same reason. Henderson, Aberdeenshire Epitaphs (as n. 40), 390–92; J. Robertson ed., Collections for A History of the Shires of Aberdeen and Banff (Aberdeen 1843), 397. 43. Rather oddly, this stone had lost its bottom half since 1913, yet still sits atop the Andreas inscription. RCAHMS Photo AB3658. 44. Robertson, Collections (as n. 42), 418. 45. Jervise, Epitaphs (as n. 20), II, 318. 46. NAS (as n. 12) CH2/89/1/8. 47. Henderson, Aberdeenshire Epitaphs (as n. 40), 58; Scott, Fasti Ecclesiae, VI, 228. 48. NAS (as n. 12) CH2/89/1/137.

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Church Architecture in the Marischal Earldom 49. Henderson, Aberdeenshire Epitaphs (as n. 40), 213–14. 50. NAS (as n. 12) CH2/89/1/152, 153. 51. NAS CH2/89/1/167. 52. NAS CH2/89/1/186. 53. NAS CH2/89/1/188. 54. NAS CH2/89/1/201. 55. http://canmore.org.uk/site/21344/st-fergus-links-st-ferguss-church-and-churchyard [accessed 3 August 2015].; J. Cragie, ‘Parish of St. Fergus’, in Statistical Account (as n. 24), XV, 134–54, at 134; Henderson, Aberdeenshire Epitaphs (as n. 40), 213–14. 56. The 1616 church was demolished in 1763 and its successor was again replaced in 1869. Henderson, Aberdeenshire Epitaphs (as n. 40), 214. 57. NAS (as n. 12) CH2/89/1/122, 133. 58. NAS CH2/89/1/147. 59. NAS CH2/89/1/160–61. 60. NAS CH2/89/1/180, 195, 208. 61. NAS CH2/89/1/16, 35. 62. NAS CH2/89/1/121. 63. NAS CH2/89/1/136. 64. NAS CH2/89/1/153. 65. NAS CH2/89/1/168. 66. NAS CH2/89/1/187. 67. NAS CH2/89/1/202. 68. NAS CH2/89/1/203. 69. NAS CH2/89/1/205, 210. 70. Records of Parliament (as n. 9), 1617/5/17. 71. ‘Keith-Marischal / Keith Harvey Parish Church’, in A Corpus of Scottish Medieval Parish Churches, http://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/corpusofscottishchurches/site.php?id=158652 [accessed 30 January 2015]. 72. Kirk, Assumption (as n. 6), 95. 73. The Fasti has the date of Nimmil’s complaint as 15 August 1607, although it is not apparent at that date in the Presbytery Records. Scott, Fasti Ecclesiae (as n. 13), I, 377–78; NAS (as n. 12) CH2/185/2. 74. NAS (as n. 12) CH2/185/3/13, 27, 35, 43. 75. A. MacGrigor ed., Reports on the State of Certain Parishes in Scotland, made to his Majesty’s Commissioners for Plantation of Kirks (Edinburgh 1835), 121–24. 76. NAS (as n. 12), CH2/89/1/228. 77. NAS CH2/89/1/227. 78. NAS CH2/89/1/232–33. 79. NAS CH2/89/1/266. 80. Henderson, Aberdeenshire Epitaphs (as n. 40), 401–02. 81. The inscription has weathered since Henderson translated this, meaning that a few words could not be checked. Ibid., 378. 82. Robertson, Collections (as n. 42), 480–81. 83. Records of Parliament (as n. 9), 1621/6/17; A. Spicer, ‘‘‘Disjoynet, Dismemberit and Disuneited’’. Church-building and Re-Drawing Parish Boundaries in Post Reformation Scotland: A Case Study of Bassendean, Berwickshire’, in The Archaeology of Post-medieval Religion, ed. C. King and D. Sayer (Woodbridge 2011), 19–33. 84. NAS (as n. 12) CH2/89/1/238. 85. The surviving session book is missing its first few pages so it may have been established sooner. NAS CH2/699/1. 86. NAS CH2/699/1/9. 87. NAS CH2/89/1/260. 88. Jervise, Epitaphs (as n. 20), I, 95. 89. Robertson, Collections (as n. 42), 411. 90. R. Fawcett, ‘Gothic or Classical? The Continuity of Medieval Forms in Scottish Church Architecture’, in Konstruktion der Gegenwart und Zukunft, ed. R. Suntrap and J. Veenstra (Frankfurt 2008), 93–120. 91. A. Spicer, ‘‘‘What Kind of House a Kirk is’’: Conventicles, consecrations and the concept of Sacred Space in post Reformation Scotland’, in Sacred Space in Early Modern Europe, ed. W. Coster and A. Spicer (Cambridge 2005), 81–103; A. Spicer, ‘Architecture’, in The Reformation World, ed. A. Pettegree (London 2000), 505–20. 92. C. McKean, Banff and Buchan: An Illustrated Architectural Guide (Edinburgh 1990), 94.

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miles kerr-peterson 93. Jervise, Epitaphs (as n. 20), I, 96. 94. W. Greig, ‘Parish of Longside’, in Statistical Account (as n. 24), XV, 282; D. Masson ed., Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 38 vols (Edinburgh 1895), XII, 723–27. 95. Register Privy Council (as n. 94), XII, 723–27. 96. Ibid. 97. NAS (as n. 12) CH2/699/1/21. 98. Register Privy Council (as n. 94), 646, 652–55, 723–27; NAS (as n. 12) CH2/699/1/33. 99. NAS CH2/699/1/83.

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Patronage of the Collegiate Church at Cullen LIZZIE SWARBRICK

St Mary at Cullen is an often-overlooked medieval church in Banffshire. Elevated to collegiate status in the mid-16th century, it presents in some ways an instructive example, characteristic of late-medieval Scottish secular endowment. However, the idiosyncrasies of the auld kirk at Cullen are many. This paper seeks to re-evaluate its importance, tracing the church from its beginnings, through the patronage of King Robert the Bruce, to its patterns of patronage in the 16th century. The focus of this paper is on the chaplainry foundations in St Anne’s aisle c. 1539 and its collegiate foundation c. 1543. St Anne’s aisle contains within it a unique survival in Scotland of fulsome inscriptions detailing the endowments, stipulations, and aims of chaplainry foundations at Cullen. The east end of the church, extended at the time of Cullen’s erection into a college, presents more unusual medieval features. A figurally carved sacrament house is one of only a few left in Scotland, and the imposing tomb of Alexander Ogilvy is one of the finest extant funerary monuments in Scotland, comprising complex micro-architecture and rare figural sculpture. Patterns of patronage indicating dual concerns for worldly prestige and salvific commemoration are traced in the history of Cullen’s successive elaborations. keywords: Cullen, medieval, college, patronage, architecture, Ogilvy, tomb Cullen Auld Kirk looks, at first, to be a rather unprepossessing structure (Fig. 1). This is perhaps to be expected in a burgh, which was described in the later 19th century by William Cramond as having ‘a long history of [. . .] almost one unbroken wail of poverty’.1 Now set back from the current site of the town,2 and despite being cherished by many of its parishioners, the church is in need of repair and its future is unfortunately far from certain. However, its isolation and rather plain exterior do little to indicate that Cullen is in fact a medieval church of significant historical and visual interest. No concerted investigation of St Mary’s at Cullen has been published since Cramond’s volume of 1883, and a re-evaluation of this church is overdue. Eventually attaining the prestigious form of a collegiate foundation in the mid-16th century, an investigation into the history of Cullen Church provides insights into aspects of the cultural and religious life of medieval Scotland, seldom discussed in modern scholarship on the Middle Ages. Furthermore, an examination of the fabric of this church, and the unusual survivals it contains, may illuminate significant points of interest in regards to artistic currents in medieval Scotland. chronology of cullen church Originally a pendicle of Fordyce,3 a chapel of ‘Inverculan’ is first mentioned in 1236 as petitioning for parochial status.4 A church building of some sort had probably been in existence on this site for some time before this date, although little trace of this early # British Archaeological Association 2016

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Fig. 1. Cullen: exterior general view from south-west showing blocked lower round-headed portal and St Anne’s aisle Photo: Author

church remains. Cullen’s current cruciform plan was only achieved towards the end of a complex structural history and the small rectangular nave probably represents the nucleus of the old church, although it has fallen into ruin, been adapted, and restored on various occasions. At the south-west of the single-celled structure is a holy water stoup, and despite the fragmentary and rather basic nature of this feature making it impossible to date with any accuracy, it demonstrates that some of the fabric which remains is medieval. It has been argued that the round-headed blocked portal at the south-west of the nave is a remnant of the 13th-century building.5 However, it is likely that it is an insertion, with mouldings indicative of a date in the late 15th or 16th centuries. If it dates from the 16th century then it could be contemporaneous with the building programmes, discussed below, when the church was significantly extended and enriched. It is possible that confusion over the date of this doorway has stemmed from the use throughout the Middle Ages in Scotland of what are often thought of as early forms, including round-headed arches.6 The small rectangular central vessel certainly predates the adjoining aisle, which projects from the south of the nave (Fig. 2), and which was built c. 1536 to accommodate a chaplainry.7 The eastern parts of the church (Fig. 3) were probably enlarged around the time of the collegiate foundation in 1543 to accommodate the larger body of clergy, and the enhanced liturgy they performed. The majority of this paper will focus on these late medieval additions to Cullen. 122

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Fig. 2. Cullen: interior to south-west showing intersection between nave and St Anne’s aisle Photo: Author

After the Reformation in 1560 the church continued in use and the new forms of worship, as Cramond puts it, seem to have been ‘embraced or submitted to [. . .] with unusual apathy’.8 The physical evidence of this rather lax attitude to the removal of the vestiges of Catholicism at Cullen is returned to below. After the Reformation the internal arrangement of the kirk was drastically altered, internal divisions would have been removed and most furnishings stripped. The Seafield loft in the choir was added in first decade of the 1600s and shortly after 1797 a north aisle, almost symmetrical with the south, along with western and northern lofts, were constructed to increase the little medieval church’s congregational capacity. Finally, a small vestry was added in 1962, to the east of the north aisle.9 From the kirk session records it is apparent that the church regularly fell into disrepair, including numerous occasions in the late 17th, 18th and 19th centuries when various parts of the church are described as ‘ruinous’,10 and work was carried out to shore up the structure.11 Between 1877 and 1882 the eastern parts of the church were remodelled, revealing hitherto hidden medieval features, and the interior was refaced.12 This tumultuous, although not atypical, history of Cullen Church thus leaves the modern viewer with the rather disjointed structure now extant and, perhaps, with the impression that there may be little remaining for those interested in the material culture of the Middle Ages. However, whether through the apathy or interest of its custodians, Cullen retains medieval features unique in Scotland, of artistic and historical significance. 123

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Fig. 3.

Cullen: interior to east showing internal change in roof height, Seafield loft (right) and Ogilvy tomb (left) Photo: Author

the context of scottish collegiate churches Cullen is one of forty-nine collegiate churches to have been founded in medieval Scotland, and is part of an upsurge in collegiate foundations from the end of the 14th century lasting almost up to the eve of the Reformation. Along with the vast majority of Scottish colleges, Cullen belongs to the broad category of the chantry type,13 most colleges in Scotland essentially being incorporations of, or additions to, existing chaplainries founded by nobles for the ‘weal of their souls’.14 Cullen’s place in this ‘surprisingly integrated phenomenon’ of Scottish collegiate churches, as Helen Brown describes it,15 seems at first to be one of a neat example of a normative trend, in regards to both its date and the college’s general form. However, the college at Cullen may also be seen as rather an oddity. Its position as a geographical outlier to other collegiate foundations in Scotland poses certain questions about its foundation and, to some extent, queries in general the picture of Scottish colleges as relatively unified. Collegiate foundations often served the prosperous nobility and were a popular form of flexible, relatively cheap, but undoubtedly prestigious church foundation. Colleges in Scotland are highly concentrated in the south of the country, and subsequently there is a sense, often hinted at in literature on collegiate establishments, that a significant impetus for their foundations is a kind of ecclesiastical one-upmanship between families. Brown’s works on the subject often refer to ‘fashion’16 and ‘trend-setting’17 as reasons for the popularity of the form, and David Easson speaks of colleges as ‘the vogue of the period’ from the late 14th century onwards.18 Richard Fawcett suggests 124

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that ‘rivalry between families [. . .] may account for the concentration of collegiate churches in the Lothians’.19 As such, Cullen’s position within a relatively impoverished burgh on the north-east coast, physically isolated from any other colleges,20 sheds doubt on whether this sort of pious competition provided the stimulus for founding a college here. Added to this is the question of why erect a college at Cullen, and not at other nearby prominent churches such as Fordyce (the parish on which Cullen was dependent) or Deskford, both of which enjoyed the patronage of the same family who founded the college at Cullen.21 Understanding the pre-collegiate history at Cullen may provide a solution to these questions surrounding the establishment of this seemingly humble church as a college. Because collegiate churches in Scotland were rarely founded on ecclesiastically barren land, most Scottish collegiate churches grew out of chaplainries in existing chapels or parish churches. The provision of a completely new organizational and physical structure in which the college of clergy could offer prayers in the hope that such suffrages would remit the pains of Purgatory did occur in some cases, such as at Roslin. However, Cullen is typical of a relatively modest type of collegiate church in which the eventual foundation of a college was a result of a long history of small endowments. This process of successive endowment had an unusual genesis at Cullen, which may explain why this isolated church was eventually erected into the prestigious and costly form of a college. royal patronage There is a significant event in the history of Cullen which arguably had great bearing on the later evolution of this hitherto humble ‘capella of Inverculan’.22 In 1327 the viscera of Robert the Bruce’s second wife Elizabeth de Burgh were buried in Cullen Church, and Robert the Bruce subsequently endowed a chaplain there to pray for her soul.23 Michael Penman suggests that the burial of her internal organs at Cullen was a ‘deliberate separation of royal remains and corpse’.24 However, it may be more likely that Elizabeth simply died in or near Cullen, and to save the decomposition of her body on the journey south to Dunfermline, her organs were buried in a convenient nearby church and an endowment made to ensure proper commemoration.25 This theory is supported by the wording of Mary Queen of Scots’ ratification of the Bruce endowment, which states the auld chaplainrie of fiwe pundis infeft be umquhile our predecessoure King Robert the Bruce [. . .] to sustene ayn cheplane daylie . . .. To pray for the saule of Elizabeth, his spous, quene of Scottis, quhilk deceissit in our said burgh of Culane, and her bouallis erdit in oure Lady Kirk thairof.26

Whatever the reason for the burial of Elizabeth de Burgh’s viscera at Cullen, it is certain that a royal endowment was made for a chaplain to pray for her soul, and that this endowment continued throughout the Middle Ages. This royal patronage can be seen as the progenitor for the enrichment of the church which followed. The increase in the church’s funding and the prestige entailed in this royal link at Cullen attracted further endowment, culminating in the eventual collegiate elevation of the church. It is noteworthy that the confirmation by Mary Queen of Scots made specific allowance for the finances from the Bruce chaplainry to ‘help towards our college kirk newlie erectit’.27 The Bruce endowment was incorporated into the college in the guise of the prebend 125

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of St Andrew, the patronage of which was shared by the college founders and the monarch.28 Taking this important event in the pre-collegiate history of Cullen into account thus goes some way to explain why Cullen in particular was singled out to be made a college. It is perhaps significant that, putting aside the curious outlier at Dunrossness in Shetland, the two northernmost colleges at Tain and Cullen both enjoyed royal patronage. This suggests that, whilst many collegiate churches in Scotland were founded as part of a trend amongst noble rivals, the role of quirks in a church’s individual history should be recognized as potential factors. Cullen’s elevation to collegiate status thus could be seen to come about as a result of happenstance, capitalized on by ambitious patrons. Unfortunately, the burial of Elizabeth de Burgh’s internal organs in Cullen, and the resultant chaplainry, are indicated now only by documentary evidence and we are left with no physical trace in the church to suggest this early enrichment. As previously mentioned, Cullen’s interior has gone through successive alterations and it is likely that any monument which may have marked the burial was lost or destroyed in the process of these changes to the church’s fabric. However, the later Middle Ages saw a flourishing of Cullen Auld Kirk both institutionally and physically. In many ways a continuation of the commemorative functions of the royal chaplainry, the 16th-century expansion of Cullen provides a wealth of physical material, which gives a modern viewer glimpses into the piety of Scotland in the late Middle Ages. st anne’s aisle What followed from the Bruce chaplainry was a series of endowments in the later Middle Ages, which are notable as their physical manifestations comprise a great deal of the extant elaboration within the church. Inscriptions testifying to the patronage and date of a foundation are relatively numerous, for example at Corstorphine collegiate church and King’s College Aberdeen. However, St Anne’s aisle features inscriptions which detail almost every conceivable particular of the foundation of the chaplainry or chaplainries which the aisle housed. These inscriptions provide a unique physical document of the practical and pious considerations surrounding chaplainry endowments in late-medieval Scotland. Scattered around this south aisle at Cullen is a plethora of texts (see Figs 2, 4, and 5), although it is unclear as to whether the current positions of these inscriptions reflect the medieval arrangement. Some, such as the longer inscriptions over the tomb recess and the window, are clearly created specifically for these positions. However, there are a number of other short missives on both the interior and exterior of St Anne’s aisle, and it is likely from their fragmentary nature and haphazard placing that they represent the remnants of longer inscriptions lost at some point due to the aisle’s rather mixed fortunes.29 The longer inscriptions, and those in their original positions will be discussed in detail here but they should be considered as parts of a literary whole, including fragments on which are inscribed, for example, ‘memento mori’, ‘per ¶ elena ¶ hay’, and the exterior inscription now weathered to obscurity but quoted by Cramond as ‘soli ¶ deo ¶ honor ¶ et ¶ gloria’.30 All of the inscriptions in St Anne’s aisle appear to be contemporaneous and most probably the work of a single hand. Indeed, low on the intersecting arch between aisle and nave in the same ‘prettily formed capitals’ as all the inscriptions31 is carved ‘robert ¶ moir mason’ (Fig. 5). 126

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Fig. 4.

Cullen: interior of St Anne’s aisle to west showing tomb of John Duff of Muldavit and inscription over the recess detailing the endowment of John Hay Photo: Author

A long inscription (Fig. 4), which is over the tomb recess at the west of St Anne’s aisle, details an endowment which predates the construction of the aisle. jhon hay [. . .] gudsir ¶ to elen hay ¶ yt bigit yis ¶ ile ¶ feft ¶ a ¶ chaplari ¶ heir to ¶ sing ¶ personalie ¶ of his ¶ ladis of ordihvf.

There is some confusion as to who provided for the aisle to be built. This inscription could be interpreted as identifying either Elene or John Hay (Elene’s grandfather) as the person who ‘bigit’, or built, the aisle.32 Another inscription (Fig. 5) may intimate that the creation of the aisle occurred a generation later . . . elen ¶ hay ¶ ion ¶ duffis ¶ modir / of ¶ maldavit ¶ yat ¶ maid ¶ yis ¶ ile ¶ ye cha / planri . . .

John Stuart firmly dates the foundation of the chaplainry of St Anne to 10 December 1536 and the patronage to John Duff, possibly in reference to a since lost deed.33 Cramond quotes a late-17th-century minister as stating that the date 1539 was once inscribed in the aisle, which would indicate that Elene Hay, or John Duff, were responsible for the chaplainry’s foundation and the aisle’s construction. It is certainly 127

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Fig. 5. Cullen: details of inscriptions on the intersecting arch between St Anne’s aisle and nave. Clockwise from top left: 1. Inscription mentioning John Duff of Muldavit and Elene Hay in regards to the foundation of the aisle and the chaplainry; 2. Meme[n]to mori; 3. Disce mori; 4. Robert Moir Mason Photo: Author

the case on the evidence of the architecture that the aisle was constructed in the mid16th century rather than the early 15th.34 It seems likely, given that she is named within both these inscriptions, and others, that the aisle was constructed under the auspices of Elene Hay. As such, the John Hay inscription provides a notice of a previous endowment, which Cramond dates to before 1426,35 suggesting a dynastic character to the commemoration within St Anne’s aisle.36 Cullen’s collegiate foundation charter of 1543 seems to provide at least some clarification, separately detailing endowments by John Hay, Elene Hay and (contemporaneously with the charter) John Duff, within the particular duties and financing of the college’s prebendaries.37 Whoever oversaw the construction of St Anne’s aisle at Cullen, this familial history of pious acts of charity inscribed in the walls fulfils the dual function of exhorting chaplains and worshippers to remember the family in their prayers, whilst also asserting the enduring earthly power of the Hays. These aims of spiritual salvation and worldly remembrance are thus ensured through the aisle’s inscribed cues to those present. The inscriptions also unusually describe the specific nature of the 1536/9 bequest and what was required of the beneficiary. Above the south window an inscription stipulates that sant anis chaplan heir dotat ¶ 35 acre[s of] ¶ gud croft ¶ land [. . .] sal be ¶ a gud singar of hali ¶ lif dali resident to pray for elen hay and hir bairns his fundors.

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The inscription goes on to indicate an uncommon and prudent feature of the terms of the endowment, which is that if John Duff of Muldavit and his heirs fail in the upkeep of the chaplainry, then responsibility should be transferred to the ‘balzeis + comunite of cula’. The chaplainry at Cullen thus mixes two normally separate types of secular foundation: those of a chaplainry founded for named persons and their families, and that of a burgh foundation in which chaplainries, and indeed colleges, were endowed and organized by the community in which they were founded.38 Given that Cullen was hardly a major settlement (unlike Edinburgh, Stirling or Aberdeen, for example, which erected grand burgh churches that eventually became collegiate) it is likely that this is evidence of carefully ensuring the chaplainry’s continuation, rather than evidence of ambitious collective development in Cullen.39 The prominent display of these inscriptions acts as a public manifestation of the patronage and purpose of the chaplainry endowment and the building of the aisle, and the terms under which this investment was to be administered. This, when considered alongside the unusual authorizing of the transferral of patronage could, perhaps, suggest a mixture of boastfulness and nervousness in the foundation of this chaplainry. In their reiteration of the Hays’ investment, and stipulations in regards to its use, the inscriptions form almost a charter writ in stone to guard against any uncertainty, laxness or wrongdoing, which might undo the pious work of the endowment. The essential commemorative functions of a chaplainry are affirmed by an inscription on the arch at the junction between the aisle and the nave (Fig. 5). Inscribed upon either side just under the capital are the exhortations ‘disce ¶ mori’ and ‘memeto ¶ mori’. Here the incitements to ‘learn to die’ and to ‘remember you shall die’ form part of the very structure of the aisle, both literally in terms of their placement and figuratively in regards to the aisle’s commemorative functions. Taken together with the incitements to ‘pra for . . .’ the various named persons, the details of the patron’s financial commitment, and stipulations for the performance of those prayers, St Anne’s aisle provides a uniquely fulsome material expression of Scottish late medieval chaplainry endowment. Every effort seems to have been made in this small south aisle at Cullen to make the funding, organization, functions and meaning of this chaplainry explicit to all who entered. That these inscriptions have remained is remarkable and they represent a curious survival of Catholic sentiments within a now Presbyterian church. Furthermore, although belief in Purgatory and the efficacy of praying for the dead were wholly at odds with the sort of religious practice at Cullen after the Reformation, the eschatological bent of this chaplainry aisle was echoed in the 1720s when the walls of the aisle were plastered (possibly obscuring some of the medieval inscriptions) and painted with passages of scripture concerning Judgement.40 The remains were recorded in the 19th century by Cramond, although they are sadly no longer visible.41 This Protestant decorative scheme, and the sentiments it expressed were not so at odds with the medieval form and functions of the aisle as one might perhaps presume. Continuity of decoration reflecting the lasting function of caring for souls which Cullen, albeit in markedly different forms of worship, has worked to achieve since the church’s inception. The proximity of a funeral monument to where prayers were offered for the tomb’s occupant was thought to add to their salvific efficacy. The tomb’s prominent position would also serve to provide a visual reminder of whom to pray for. As such, the use of a chaplainry aisle as a mausoleum is customary, and here John Duff of Muldavit’s monument, his effigy unusually in civilian dress, is set within the west wall (Fig. 4). This 129

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monument, and the armorial panels which surround it, now only partly reflect the original arrangement as they have been reset and interfered with. Even a passing inspection of the tomb reveals that the date on the tomb has been recut to read 1404.42 This was an effort, perhaps when the tomb was moved in 1759 to the mausoleum in the park of Duff House, to provide evidence of an ancient lineage for the Earls of Fife.43 Another monument within Cullen Church, an inscribed grave slab originally the memorial of Alexander Innes, has also been recut, substituting the name for that of John Duff with the date similarly altered to 1404.44 The likelihood of two funerary monuments commemorating the same person is extremely doubtful, however the falsified earlier date is evidence of a continuing interest in the dynastic power of these representations, long after prayers for their souls ceased to be considered effective. The post-Reformation retention of the panoply of inscriptions in St Anne’s aisle may well be a product of continuing interest in familial power structures in Cullen. The church, from the time of the Bruce foundation onwards, acted to preserve and commemorate these bonds. Cullen’s functions of memorializing individuals, ensuring their salvation and asserting their dynastic power, culminated in the church’s collegiate foundation. the college at cullen The erection of Cullen into a collegiate church occurred only a few years after St Anne’s aisle was built. The foundation charter of 23 April 154345 was confirmed by the archbishop of St Andrews in 1552,46 and (as with St Anne’s chaplainry) the terms of the foundation for a provost, six prebendaries and two singing boys were minutely described.47 The qualifications (e.g. singing skill and knowledge of grammar), duties, residence, fines for absence, dress and so on for the college’s body of clergy are carefully prescribed. The constitutions of collegiate churches in Scotland were variable and those colleges in which a member of the clergy had a hand in their foundation tend to be the most prescriptive in their stipulations.48 Although Cullen was endowed primarily by local prominent families, the Hays and the Ogilvys, it is important to note that Alexander Dick, son of Elene Hay, was archdeacon of Glasgow Cathedral and is a named founder of the college.49 His experience in ecclesiastical matters is perhaps manifest in the level of detail provided. Every effort appears to have been made in the college’s foundation to ensure the quality and continuation of services at Cullen. Easson, in his rather censorious appraisal of Scotland’s colleges, singles out Cullen’s foundation charter as being particularly stringent, quoting the following stipulation: Before the beginning of masses and hours, all the prebendaries will gather at the church and there, without gossip, whispering, laughter and without vain and empty looks during silence, in peace and with due gravity sing and so continue to the end (of service).50

Stipulations aiming to ensure the quality and solemnity of services at Cullen suffuse the charter, which prescribes at length the prayers to be offered for the souls of founders and other named persons. Devout performance of the services assured the efficacy of the prayers, and thus secured salvation for the college’s founders by means of such suffrages. It is not certain what extent of the building we now see at Cullen is a result of the establishment of the college; however it appears that the east end was restructured or extended at this point (Figs 3 and 6). It is possible that the change in roof height may 130

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Fig. 6. Cullen: general view of exterior from south-east showing St Anne’s aisle and change in roof height which may indicate the collegiate extension Photo: Author

indicate the lengthening of the church in the 1550s, but unfortunately the east end has been so extensively reworked and restored that distinguishing the precise building sequence is all but unfeasible on current evidence.51 Given the limited extra space the eastern extension provides, it should be understood as an effort to increase the choir’s space rather than as a provision of a new choir. Furthermore, it is clear from the foundation charter that the services performed and prayers offered by the prebendaries took place at altars in St Anne’s aisle and in the north of the church, as well as the choir, 52 so the relatively small eastern end of Cullen should not be taken to be the extent of the space allotted for the services for the college’s clergy. The foundation charter stipulates that the tomb of Alexander Ogilvy of Findlater, which now dominates the east of the church, was to be ‘over the first step of the high altar’,53 which may go some way to indicate the topography of Cullen’s medieval interior. In addition to the tomb Ogilvy provided (discussed in detail below), the other extant medieval furnishing in the choir is the sacrament house, located immediately east of the funerary monument (Fig. 7). This sacrament house appears to have suffered much from cutting back and subsequent clumsy retooling, the former probably when a monument was erected in front of it c. 1730 and the latter perhaps when the sacrament house was uncovered in 1863 and 1877.54 In its original state it may have borne more obvious relation to the very similar but finer example in nearby Deskford church, also gifted by the Ogilvy family.55 Cullen’s sacrament house is a pared down version of that at Deskford, without the latter’s patronal inscription, heraldry or chunky vine scroll. The carving at Cullen, as with the Deskford example, is of two angels bearing aloft a large 131

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monstrance, above a splayed ogee arch which surmounts the locker. However, at Cullen the ogee is simply crocketed and the rectangular sacrament house is bordered by mouldings and supported by two three-sided conical corbels. The verdant elaboration at Deskford is exchanged here for simple micro-architecture. At Cullen, above the angels, is an inscription from John 6:55 which can be translated as my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed: He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, shall live forever.

This setting of the sacrament makes clear both pictorially and in writing that the path to salvation is through meditation on the death of Christ and involvement in the liturgical sacrificial sacrament. Although this liturgical furnishing is merely the only remaining element of what would presumably have once been a rich medieval setting, its character physically asserts the salvific aspirations of the collegiate church of Cullen. The college foundation provides not only precise stipulations for the character and quality of the liturgy performed, but also a fittingly elaborate setting for these prayers. Just west of the sacrament house is the lavish funerary monument of c. 1554 commemorating Alexander Ogilvy of Findlater and his wife Elizabeth Gordon (Figs 8 and 9). This micro-architectural confection, containing a single male effigy in armour,

Fig. 7. Cullen: sacrament house Photo: Author

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Fig. 8.

Cullen: tomb of Alexander Ogilvy of Findlater Photo: Author

Patronage of the Collegiate Church at Cullen

Fig. 9. Cullen: detail of relief sculpture on recess of tomb of Alexander Ogilvy Photo: Author

stands apart from other extant tombs of this period in medieval Scotland in the complexities of its form and in the figural sculpture it contains. Fawcett has identified this tomb as part of a stylistic group in north-eastern Scotland, the earliest of which is Bishop John Winchester’s tomb of c. 1460 at Elgin Cathedral, and which possibly has English antecedents.56 Clearly, the Ogilvy tomb here at Cullen is an extreme elaboration of this basic form and, as it is possible to trace the formal lineage through other tombs at Fordyce such as the monument for James Ogilvy (d. 1509), some sort of aesthetic transmission is probable. Whilst likely that those at Cullen knew of this design from Elgin, it may be said that this basic form57 enjoyed more widespread popularity in Scotland than this group of tombs in the North-East. For example, the monument of Princess Margaret (d. 1450) at Lincluden, Dumfries, comprises many of the same elements. This is not to suggest that Lincluden rather than Elgin is the direct source, but instead re-emphasizes the invention apparent at Cullen. The elaborate spandrels either side of the central ogee featuring portraits of Ogilvy and Gordon within large Italianate medallions and surrounded by foliage, and the grand tabernacled micro-architectural frame in which the whole is set are quite unlike any other medieval tomb in Scotland. Such composition calls to mind, perhaps, ensembles like the south door at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, the completion of which is roughly contemporary with Cullen’s collegiate establishment.58 Other elements seem to belie any comparison with earlier models, particularly those in Scotland, such as the extensive figural sculpture on the tomb recess (discussed below). Fundamentally, it should be recognized that this tomb is 133

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extraordinary and represents a fascinating departure from any of its formal antecedents, it is a highly inventive hybridization of forms, taken to the extreme. Ogilvy appears to have been one of the main instigators of Cullen’s collegiate foundation and many of the main duties prescribed for the prebendaries are for the care of Ogilvy, his spouse, and their successors’ souls. The second prebend was to perform daily prayers at the altar of the Holy Cross for their welfare, and afterwards to sprinkle the tomb with holy water while chanting the De profundis in their memory. This prebendary was also to keep the anniversaries of Ogilvy’s and his spouse’s deaths, performing vigils and the Placebo et dirige’ with full solemnity, as part of their annual commemoration. 59 Furthermore, prebends four, five and six were charged with processing to the tomb to assist in the daily rites after their other duties.60 The care taken here to ensure proper commemoration places the tomb, second only to the altars, as a site of liturgical performance at Cullen. The blind arcade on the tomb-chest of the Ogilvy monument is filled with subtly differentiated mourners, a formalized sculpted re-enactment of respectful funeral rites or obit services for the weal of Ogilvy’s soul. Perhaps significantly, the number of mourners shown here reflects the number of prebendaries and singing boys which made up the collegiate establishment of Cullen. This may be incidental, however, whether a precise confluence was intended or not, the monument fuses together images which are both aspirational and descriptive, pictorially iterating how Ogilvy intended to be commemorated alongside the desired outcome of such prayers and rituals: the salvation of his soul. The figural sculpture of this grandiose tomb suggests something of the aspirations towards the good, or ‘tamed’ death,61 in late medieval Scotland. The tomb recess features a figural relief, a rare survival (Fig. 9). Here, under the titulus which proclaims Ogilvy to be ‘just and pious’, is a depiction of a single male body, presumably Ogilvy’s, lying on a winding sheet, his exposed ribcage and the stringy muscularity of his legs stressing the figure’s corporeality. This image seems to document the practice of anointing and laying-out the corpse prior to burial, essential parts of the established ritual for the treatment of the dead, and one, which through processes of purification, prepared the individual for the afterlife. So scrupulous in his apparent desire for proper commemoration, Ogilvy appears, in both this detail of the tomb recess and the pleurants on the chest, to have commissioned a monument which asserts the care to be taken over his death and creates a re-performance in stone of those rites by which he would attain salvation. This image of the newly dead occupant of the tomb can also be linked to didacticism in regards to death in the Middle Ages. The part-enshrouded body serves as a direct pictorial reminder of mortality, and thus the urgency of considering the fate of one’s soul. More puzzling are the forms of the memento mori, which appear on the upper left and right of the tomb recess. Here, the common skull and crossed femurs are accompanied by scapulae, which are joined to the carefully modelled skulls by thin winding bands. Whether these bands represent entrails, snakes (although no heads are apparent), worms, or more prosaic ties is unclear. However, they seem to link the formalized skeletal parts into approximations of more complete personal remains. They also provide an aesthetic counterpoint to the unfurled wings of the angels, which appear immediately below them, directly juxtaposing the mortal and macabre with the immortal and heavenly. This lower part of the tomb recess is therefore concerned primarily with mortality and alongside these images of death are indications of the worldly power of the tomb’s 134

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occupant. Heraldic shields of Alexander Ogilvy and Elizabeth Gordon flank the central inscription. Notably the angels which hold aloft the inscribed tablet are also grounded, the left angel balancing on branches, and the right on boulders. Testimonies of lineage, earthly prestige, and the inevitable end thus form the lower registers of the tomb recess. Surmounting these in the apex of the ogee is an evocation of the heavenly realm. Borne aloft by clouds and set within framing Corinthian columns from which spout a rainbow and an emerging sun is the Trinity. God the Father seated, wearing the triple crown, with his hand raised in benediction holds an orb on which is incised a cross, a reference to the otherwise absent Son. Perched on his shoulder is the dove of the Holy Spirit, facing downwards towards the mortal realm below. This harmonious end to which the tomb’s occupant no doubt aspired was, in part, ensured by the college founded to care for Ogilvy’s soul, and by the splendour of this physical memorial, inciting those present to remember Ogilvy in their prayers. The tomb thus fuses worldly and spiritual preoccupations to provide a complete picture of both the founders’ power, and their supplication to God in the face of death. It is important not to anachronistically overstate the tomb’s centrality to Cullen’s artistic programme as it would have been just one of a plethora of, now lost, furnishings. However, its size, detail, high quality and its stipulated importance in the rituals of the college would have made it a compelling monument. What is clear is that this imposing tomb and the contemplation on mortality its sculpture encourages was, in many ways, a significant nodal point for the collegiate establishment. conclusion Taken together, these unusual material survivals of a rich patronal history at Cullen elevate the Auld Kirk to rather more than the modest and fragmentary medieval structure first apparent. Furthermore, this history of successive organizational and physical elaborations can be seen as varied expressions of what are essentially the same aspirations. The furnishings of the tomb and sacrament house provide the viewer or worshipper with the same core of instructions that the inscriptions in St Anne’s aisle explicitly state. Here in the choir at Cullen they are wrought predominantly through pictorial devices rather than through inscribed missives, but the message is the same. The late medieval building programmes at Cullen function in a way which is orientated towards the hereafter, but they also serve as an insistent statement of the earthly prestige of dynasties involved. Both the aisle and the choir of Cullen are emblematic of a private, secular, artistic, pious, and cultural trend in the late Middle Ages. They express the essential twofold nature of secular endowment by the construction of a church ritually and physically, which is both a spiritual benefice and an earthly treasury. postscript As a brief postscript to this overwhelmingly medieval discussion of Cullen it is interesting to note that remnants of this dichotomy can be traced after the Reformation. The democratization of religious service and subsequent reorganization of space in Cullen Auld Kirk did a great deal to change its appearance. However, much of the choir is now taken up with the Seafield loft, made in 1602 and still occupied by that family (see Fig. 3). Its lower parts are partially constructed out of pews, made for named persons, repurposed from St Anne’s aisle. Its upper parts are embellished with eight roundels 135

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containing heraldric devices, echoing the elaboration on the canopy of the medieval tomb opposite. The kirk session records also detail the private ownership of various seats in the church,62 physically evidenced by the semi-private pumphals (enclosed pews arranged in a small square, accessed by a low door) which have been retained under the Seafield loft. These features, albeit in a different aesthetic form and religious context, continue the medieval traditions of the Hays and the Ogilvys. Cullen’s physical history remains one of enriching the church with expressions of prestige as well as devotion. Pious utterances and dynastic attestations continue to make themselves heard in Cullen Auld Kirk.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to extend my thanks to Gordon McNeill and James Findlay for facilitating my visits to Cullen Auld Kirk. Their care for this church is laudable, and I wish them the best of luck in securing its future. Thank you to my Ph.D. supervisors, Richard Fawcett and Julian Luxford, for providing guidance, suggestions, and corrections during the preparation of this article. Thanks also are due to Max Jaede for proofreading, and Nick Swarbrick for assistance with Latin sources. All errors which remain are entirely my own. Last, but not least, I would like to say thank you to Jane Geddes for her patient help, Matthew Woodworth for his support, and all of the delegates at the BAA Aberdeen Conference for their feedback and encouragement.

NOTES 1. W. Cramond, Church and Churchyard of Cullen (Aberdeen 1883), 3. 2. The exact date appears to be uncertain, but much of the new town seems to have been constructed 1820–24, see Cramond, Cullen (as n. 1), 82; G. Henderson, ‘Cullen’, in New Statistical Account of Scotland, 15 vols (Edinburgh and London 1834–45), XIII, 313–55, 342; and Dictionary of Scottish Architects: William Robertson, http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=201792 [accessed 25 March 2015]. 3. Cramond, Cullen (as n. 1), 10. 4. ‘super capella de Inverculan que petitur ut ecclesia’, C. Innes ed., Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis e pluribus codicibus consarcmatum circa A. D. 1400. Cum continuatione diplomatum recentiorum usque ad A. D. 1623, 88 (Cullen), Bannatyne Club 61 (Edinburgh 1837), 101. 5. T. Muir, Characteristics of Old Church Architecture in the Mainland and Western Islands of Scotland (Edinburgh 1861), as referenced in Cramond, Cullen (as n. 1), 6, n. 2. 6. See I. Campbell, ‘A Romanesque Revival and the Early Renaissance in Scotland’, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 54, iii (September 1995), 302–25, at 308. 7. In Scotland, the term aisle often refers to a lateral projection from, instead of a longitudinal addition to, a central vessel. Also, in Scots, chaplainry is the term for what, in England, is called a chantry. Therefore, this chaplainry aisle in Cullen is essentially a chantry chapel. 8. Cramond, Cullen (as n. 1), 61. 9. Ibid., 61–87 for details of the post-Reformation church chronology. 10. Ibid., 136. 11. Ibid., 82, 84, 136, 139, 141, and 152 for details of repairs. 12. Ibid., 81–85. 13. For discussions of the taxonomy of colleges, including the chantry type, A. Hamilton Thompson, ‘Notes of Colleges of Secular Canons in England’, Archaeological Journal, 74 (1917), 139–239 and A. Hamilton Thompson, ‘The Statutes of the College of St Mary’, Archaeological Journal, 75 (1918), 241–309. See also the summary of Hamilton Thompson’s taxonomy in J. Luxford, ‘The Collegiate Church as Mausoleum’, in The Late Medieval English College and Its Context, ed. C. Burgess and M. Heale (York 2008), 110–39, 111.

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Patronage of the Collegiate Church at Cullen 14. Register of the Collegiate Church of Crail, ed. and trans. C. Rogers, Grampian Club 13 (London 1877), 32. 15. H. Brown, ‘Secular Colleges in Late Medieval Scotland’, in English College (as n. 13), 44–66, 45. 16. H. Brown, ‘Lay Piety in Later Medieval Lothian c.1306–c.1513’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2006), 29. 17. Brown, ‘Secular Colleges’ (as n. 15), 50. 18. D. Easson, ‘The Collegiate Churches of Scotland: Part II — Their Significance’, Records of the Scottish Church History Society, 7 (Glasgow 1941), 30–47, 32. 19. R. Fawcett, Scottish Architecture from the Accession of the Stewarts to the Reformation 1371–1560 (Edinburgh 1994), 143. 20. Cullen is the third-most northerly of Scotland’s colleges, with only Tain (Ross), which was the site of a flourishing cult of St Duthac, and the slightly doubtful foundation at Dunrossness (Shetland), further north. 21. Deskford church contains a sacrament house of finer quality than its counterpart at Cullen, which was gifted by Cullen’s collegiate founders Alexander Ogilvy and his wife Elizabeth Gordon in 1551. Fordyce church also contains two Ogilvy family tombs which predate the collegiate foundation at Cullen, suggesting that Fordyce church was important in regards to familial commemoration, an important function of colleges. See R. Fawcett, Scottish Medieval Churches: Architecture and Furnishings (Stroud 2002), 262–63 and 318–20. 22. Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (as n. 4), 101. 23. J. Stuart and G. Burnett ed., Rotuli Scaccarii Regum Scotorum (The Exchequer Rolls of Scotland Series, Edinburgh 1878), I, 61. This is the first instance of the payment for a chaplain but it is clear from the Rolls that sustained payments were made. 24. M. Penman, ‘‘‘Sacred Food for the Soul’’: In Search of the Devotions to Saints of Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, 1306–1329’, Speculum, 88, 4 (October 2013), 1057. 25. Geoffrey Barrow states that Elizabeth de Burgh indeed died in Cullen, see for example, G. Barrow, Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland, 4th edn (Edinburgh 2005), 493n. 26. J. Stuart, ‘Manuscripts of the Right Honourable the Earl of Seafield at Cullen House’, in Third Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts (London 1872), 404, emphasis added. 27. Ibid. 28. Cramond, Cullen (as n. 1), 26 and in Cullen’s foundation charter, the stipulations of the fifth prebend of the college, 45–46. 29. Including a time when it was used to store peat, see Cramond, Cullen (as n. 1), 12 and 82 in which the window of St Anne’s aisle is described as having been used as a door until a restoration in 1842. 30. Ibid., 12. 31. A. Jervise, ‘Notices regarding the antiquities of Cullen, in Banffshire — Its castle hill and parish church, etc’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 9, 1 (1871), 274–83, 278. 32. Ibid., 280 is to some extent responsible for the degree of confusion over the date and patronage of St Anne’s aisle due to a misapprehension of the dates of John Duff of Muldavit, putting his death as 1404. See discussion below of the effigy in St Anne’s aisle. 33. Stuart, ‘Manuscripts at Cullen House’ (as n. 26), 404. 34. Cramond, Cullen (as n. 1), 15; D. Macgibbon and T. Ross, The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland from the Earliest Christian Times to the Seventeenth Century, 3 vols (Edinburgh 1897), III, 402. 35. Cramond, Cullen (as n. 1), 11. 36. A thorough investigation of the history of the Hays at Cullen is outside the scope of this short paper. However, the papers from Cullen house, now held in the repository of the National Records of Scotland may provide clarification of, and insight into, this family’s patterns of patronage. 37. The sixth prebend of the collegiate church was partly funded from the £5 of John Hay’s benefice. The first prebend was funded by the gift of 35 acres by Elene Hay and her son Alexander Dick, although the patronage was held by John Duff. John Duff’s endowment for the chaplains to celebrate services on his behalf seems to be separate. See Cramond, Cullen (as n. 1), 26–27 and 46–47 (John Hay), 23–25 and 37 (Elene Hay), 27–28 and 51 (John Duff). 38. Brown, ‘Secular Colleges’ (as n. 15), esp. 63; and K. L. Wood-Legh, Perpetual Chantries in Britain (Cambridge, 1965), 155–81. 39. Wood-Legh, Perpetual Chantries (as n. 38), esp. 65, and details of transferals of patronage on practical grounds, 68, 155–56. 40. D. McRoberts and S. Holmes, Lost Interiors: The Furnishings of Scottish Churches in the Later Middle Ages, 2nd edn (Edinburgh 2013), 8. Here these painted texts are assumed to be late medieval, however, expenses for the plastering and ‘portions of scripture drawn upon the church’ appear in the Cullen Kirk Session Records in 1721 and 1728 and thus the remnants in St Anne’s aisle are likely to be from this time; see Cramond, Cullen (as n. 1), 144, 146.

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lizzie swarbrick 41. Illustration in Cramond, Cullen (as n. 1), 83. 42. Jervise, ‘The antiquities of Cullen’ (as n. 31), partly bases his understanding of the aisle from the evidence of this 1404 date on both the tomb and the Innes grave-slab, believing them to be of the same individual. 43. Cramond, Cullen (as n. 1), 31–32, 110. 44. Ibid., 18–19. 45. Ibid., 28, 52. 46. Ibid., 28. 47. Space here does not permit the opportunity to fully explore the documents surrounding Cullen’s erection into a college. See the foundation charter given in full in Cramond, Cullen (as n. 1), 33–56 and summaries of other records in W. Cramond, The Annals of Cullen 946–1904 (Buckie 1904), 5–16. 48. Brown, ‘Secular Colleges’ (as n. 15), 60. 49. Cramond, Cullen (as n. 1), 22. 50. D. Easson, ‘The Collegiate Churches of Scotland: Part I — Their Characteristics’, Records of the Scottish Church History Society, 6 (Glasgow 1938), 193–215, at 199 and, for the original Latin, see Cramond, Cullen (as n. 1), 49. 51. See above, 122–23, for the building chronology at Cullen and the 19th-century restorations. 52. See, for example, the duties of the fifth prebend in St Anne’s aisle and the 6th prebend’s celebration at the altar of St Mary Magdalene ‘in boreali parte ecclesia de Culan’, Cramond, Cullen (as n. 1), 46, 48. 53. Ibid., 25, 42. 54. Ibid., 58–59. 55. See comparisons in Fawcett, Scottish Medieval Churches (as n. 21), 262–63 and McRoberts and Holmes, Lost Interiors (as n. 40), 155–56. 56. R. Fawcett, ‘Aspects of Scottish Canopied Tomb Design’, in Monuments and Monumentality Across Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Proceedings of the 2011 Stirling Conference, ed. M. Penman (Doddington 2013), 129–42, at 140–42, and Fawcett, Scottish Medieval Churches (as n. 21), 318–20. See also Fawcett, this volume, 51–54. 57. Fawcett, ‘Tomb Design’ (as n. 56), 140. 58. I am grateful to Julian Luxford for this suggestion. 59. Cramond, Cullen (as n. 1), 42. 60. Ibid., 45–46, 48. 61. P. Arie`s, Western Attitudes toward Death: From the Middle Ages to the Present, trans. P. Ranum (Baltimore and London 1978), 2. 62. Cramond, Cullen (as n. 1), see, for example, 129, 131, 133, 135, 146, esp. 141–42 where it is clear that those occupying pews were required to financially support the church.

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From Relegation to Elevation: The Viewer’s Relationship with Painted Ceilings from the Medieval to Renaissance Eras in North-East Scotland FERN INSH

This paper explores the impact which the Reformation had on viewers’ relationships with painted ceilings, and the spaces which they ceiled, in Aberdeen and its surrounding area. The principal sites are at St Machar’s Cathedral, Crathes Castle and at Provost Skene’s House. Analysis of these three examples shows that the Reformation prompted a desire in Scottish viewers to transcend space. It is suggested that the ceiling of preReformation St Machar’s relegated its viewers, excluding all but the elite from its coded message; that the ceiling of post-Reformation Crathes Castle elevated the minds, yet relegated the bodies, of its educated Humanist audience; and that the ceiling at Provost Skene’s House, which once presided over a clandestine rosary chapel, spiritually elevated Aberdeen’s recusant Catholic community from their testing existence in early post-Reformation Scotland. keywords: Scotland, Aberdeen, Reformation, early-modern, ceilings, St Machar’s Cathedral, Crathes, Provost Skene’s House introduction: from relegation to elevation A detailed social history of early-modern Scottish visual culture is yet to be written.1 When such an account is produced, however, it will provide a fascinating explanation of how a people, cautious to produce images for a considerable amount of time after the Reformation year of 1560, reconnected with art and fashioned a new visual identity. This paper acts as a precursor to such a text. This article examines a shift in the way people responded to, and engaged with one type of decorative stimulus in early-modern Scotland. The people in question are the citizens of the North-East of the country, of Aberdeen and its surrounding area, and the stimuli are the decorative ceilings that presided over their public and private spaces. It will be shown that the Reformation acted as a catalyst to bring about a dramatic change in how Scottish viewers connected with architectural space. Iconoclasm, religious conflict and new attitudes to social purpose, brought on via an increase in middle-class wealth,2 prompted early-modern Scots to respond to space differently. Combined, these three factors nurtured an environment which encouraged a desire in some individuals, both Protestant and Catholic, to transcend space via art; to, ultimately, be lifted and liberated from the frustration of their volatile social environment via the combined power of images and architecture. Three # British Archaeological Association 2016

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notable north-east Scottish ceilings are used to demonstrate this idea: at St Machar’s Cathedral in Old Aberdeen, Crathes Castle in Deeside and at Provost Skene’s House, a residence in the heart of New Aberdeen. They are situated, respectively, in the nave of a cathedral, a sequence of intimate domestic chambers, and a large, lofty attic. relegation and st machar’s cathedral Bishop Gavin Dunbar, assisted by Alexander Galloway rector of Kinkell, oversaw the design and erection of the remarkable heraldic display in his cathedral between 1519 and about 1521 (Fig. 1).3 Across the flat panelled ceiling, forty-eight shields are arranged in three columns of sixteen, proceeding from the west to the east end of the nave. In the crossing, documents suggest there was a statue of the Virgin and Child, presumably preceded by the rood, with large statues of the Crucifixion, Mary and John. So, symbolically all the people represented by the shields were making their way to honour Mary and Christ.4 The central column, at the east end, is led by the pope, Leo X, followed by the hierarchy of the Scottish church. The pope is flanked to the south, his more important dexter side, by King James V of Scotland, followed by the saintly Queen Margaret and then the Scottish nobility. To the north, on the pope’s sinister side, is Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, followed by other Christian rulers of Europe. At the western end of this carefully selected display of rulers are the shields of the University of Aberdeen tailing the pope, the Royal Burgh of Aberdeen behind the Scottish earls, and the Burgh of Old Aberdeen behind the European rulers. McRoberts has pointed out details which make this heraldic display so topical for its time. The shields themselves include elements of relegation and notable exclusion. The ceiling was created shortly after the disastrous Battle of Flodden (1513) in which King James IV, aiming to assist his long-standing ally Francis I, King of France, invaded England. During the battle not only the king but also most of the Scottish nobility and many of the higher clergy including the archbishop of St Andrews, were killed. Thus, on the royal column, Henry VIII of England is placed fourth, behind the emperor, France and Spain. Henry’s shield shows only the lions passant guardant, omitting the normal quartering with the fleurs-de-lis of France, which symbolized the English claim to the kingdom of France from 1340 to 1801. James V is proudly represented with the closed crown of Scotland, mimicking that of the Holy Roman Emperor. The closing bars over the crown symbolized, in feudal terms, that no one but God had superiority over the wearer. The inscription which ran around the wall-head beneath the ceiling listed Scottish kings from Malcolm II. Although John Balliol ruled as king from 1292 to 1296, his name is omitted while Robert Bruce and David Bruce are emphasized by the inclusion of their family name.5 Although the years 1519–21 witnessed the convulsions of Martin Luther’s attacks on Rome, the shields at St Machar’s, linked by the framing beams of the panelling, display the last moments of a Christian Europe united under the pope. A flat panelled ceiling of this type provided many choices for decoration ranging from foliage bosses on the panelled frames like that in King’s College Chapel at Aberdeen University, to an extensive figurative, painted narrative like the contemporary Sistine Chapel or 13th-century Peterborough Cathedral, which include many familiar and therefore inclusive biblical themes. Instead at Aberdeen, Bishop Dunbar, second principal of the university, probably with his assistant Alexander Galloway, chose the language of heraldry, with accompanying lettering on the adjacent name-labels and frieze below. McRoberts considered that the aim of the person who designed the ceiling 140

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Fig. 1. St Machar’s Cathedral ceiling, c. 1519–21. Painted heraldic shields on wood Photo: Author

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was to educate the citizens of Aberdeen. Its lesson of politics was ‘as easily understood by us in the twentieth century as it was by the sixteenth-century Aberdonians’.6 In the following discussion of space and vision, this view will be contested. Although heraldry was a familiar sight in the later Middle Ages, it remained an erudite and arcane subject, controlled and developed since the 15th century in Scotland by the Lyon King of Arms. Heraldry would be recognized by armigerous people, and probably retainers of the local nobility would recognize their lord’s badge. However, only the learned could identify the foreign shields, and only the literate could read the inscriptions (which might even exclude some of the nobility). Therefore the shields at St Machar’s, in their particular arrangement, were intended to depict earthly power and rank specifically to those who understood the language of power. For the lay congregation flocking to the cathedral nave on the great feast days, probably only a few of the shields would have been familiar, apart from the consoling presence of the three Aberdeen shields at the west end. The laity would generally have entered the nave from the porch, half-way along the south side of the nave. From this initial location, looking northwards at right-angles across the three ranks of shields, their message is almost incomprehensible. They only merge into focus if one enters through the processional doors at the west end, an access mainly used by the bishop, clergy and perhaps senior civic officers. From this position, only the three Aberdeen badges are immediately recognizable, while the rest begin to convey a message as one proceeds eastwards and can attempt to read them one at a time. This processional route of the bishop and his retinue was full of colour and interest, particularly at high points of the church year like Palm Sunday and Easter. St Machar’s had especially spectacular equipment for the Corpus Christi procession, using a canopy of blue velvet, embroidered with gold and fine figures, fringed with dazzling golden balls and held aloft by painted staves.7 On occasions like these, the bishop and his crowd became the terrestrial part of the procession which was already taking place above their heads. This brought the ceiling to life for the congregation as they watched the robed and badged dignitaries pass among them. Later, when they filed up to take communion at the nave altar, the congregation would become part of this forward movement. The congregation is not so much relegated as made a humble part of an orderly feudal world, with Pope Leo X at its head, Bishop Dunbar of Aberdeen four steps behind him on the ceiling, and perhaps also leading the procession below. It was not necessary to portray the rulers and clergy in a figurative way on the ceiling, with all the visual limitations of mundane paint, when the reality of sparkling vestments and flickering candle-light could be experienced on the floor. The ceiling thus had two levels of meaning, which only became apparent through the performance of the liturgy. The educated male clergy and some aristocracy, with their wide international outlook, would understand its significance and see themselves included in this political, celestial diagram. The rest of the congregation were on the floor, following obediently behind this parade of power in a position of submission, literally beneath the shields of their rulers. Most of the laity would be unaware of the detailed significance of each shield and be unable to read or perhaps even to discern through the gloom the meaning of the distant inscriptions. Moreover, women would find only one female representative of power and she was dead: Margaret, queen and saint. Elsewhere in the church there were statues of saints, the Madonna, the Holy Rood and fine painted altarpieces for spiritual contemplation, but by far the largest message within the church was this 142

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complex political statement to ‘know your place’ on Earth. For most of the congregation, that place was small, lowly and anonymous. relegation, elevation and crathes castle Work on the Crathes Castle ceilings began during the late 16th century and finished in the early 17th century under the co-ordination of its owner, Sir Alexander Burnett of Leys. Two inscriptions clarify the date range: 1599 for the Muses (Fig. 3) and 1602 for the Nine Worthies (Fig. 2). The significance and impact of the ceilings at Crathes Castle have proved difficult for previous scholars to interpret. Relating the images in the Green Lady’s room (Fig. 4) to their inscriptions has been a struggle.8 In general, however, it is maintained that the ceilings are loosely related to one another in that they all bear moralizing instructions, via pictures and text, regarding family counselling and how to run and maintain an efficient household.9 The following analysis regarding the relationship between viewers, the ceilings and the space below the ceilings confirms this statement in general terms but brings in new insights. Particular attention is paid to how the human body physically functions within this domestic space; the social context of the ceilings’ images; and the printed source material which provided models for the images. These three issues reveal more about the impact of the images on those who occupied the rooms. Four rooms in Crathes Castle have painted ceilings. The Stair Chamber has suffered such significant deterioration that it has not been restored. The beams of this room bear inscriptions derived from the Geneva bible. For example, viewers are still able to read fragments such as ‘The descretione of a man defarrethe his anger [and his glories] is to passe by and offence’ (Prov 19.11. ‘Those with good sense are slow to anger, and it is their glory to overlook an offence.’ New Revised Standard Version) and ‘It is [better to] duel in the corner [of] th[e] hu[se] top then with a [con]tentius [woman] in a wide [house]’ (Prov. 25.24 ‘It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a contentious wife’).10 The lack of any surviving traces of the ceiling’s original imagery, due to centuries of repainting, means that this space must be discounted from the new analysis. However, its inscriptions are similar to those in the other rooms, so presumably this room continued the message conveyed by the other ceilings. The three rooms in this sequence occupy two levels of the house. The second and third rooms are connected via stairs. The first room has the Nine Worthies depicted upon its ceiling.11 The second (the Green Lady’s) has some hitherto unidentified male and female characters, dressed in splendid brightly coloured courtly attire, depicted upon it. The ceiling in the third room, the Muses Room, is adorned with personifications of the seven Cardinal Virtues (plus the additional personification of Fame)12 and the Nine Muses.13 All of the subjects on the three ceilings are depicted singly, or above one another vertically in pairs, between thick painted wooden beams. As these dividing beams protrude significantly from the ceiling, viewers can only see the images if they are to stand directly underneath them and look upwards with a full contraction of the neck muscles. Viewing the figures therefore exerts a considerable strain, and in normal circumstances it is doubtful if inhabitants or visitors regularly spent much time locked in this position. Viewers would only have stopped to contemplate the images for a specific purpose rather than a casual glance. By contrast, the inscriptions painted on the sides of the beams, flanking and perpendicular to the images, are exposed and easy to read. Each line may be comfortably read as visitors pass from one side of a room to 143

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Fig. 2. Detail of the Nine Worthies ceiling: Hector of Troy, Alex the Great, Julius Caesar, Joshua, Judas Maccabeus and King David, Crathes Castle, 1602. Tempera on panel # Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Licensor: www.scran.ac.uk

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Fig. 3. Detail of the Muses’ Room ceiling: Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Euterpe, Calliope, Erato, Urania and Polyhymnia, Crathes Castle, 1599. Tempera on panel # The National Trust for Scotland. Licensor: www.scran.ac.uk

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Fig. 4. Detail of the Green Lady’s room ceiling, Crathes Castle, c. 1600. Tempera on panel # The National Trust for Scotland. Licensor: www.scran.ac.uk

the other at a normal pace without raising the head or straining. This means that there are essentially two, easily readable, verses visible in each room: one text which visitors begin reading when they enter the room and proceed through it and, respectively, one text which visitors read when they return the other way through the room when exiting. It is important to keep this overall form of the images, and how they relate to the architecture, clear in mind when decoding the significance of the decoration of the ceiling and its resulting impact on its original viewers. The first ceiling depicts illustrious male figures — the Nine Worthies (Fig. 2). The inscriptions on the beams around the subjects describe the triumphs (and the failures) 146

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of each man. For example, prior to being presented with the picture of Alex the Conqueror (Alexander the Great), viewers read the inscription: I Alexander conquest in short space, The world & joyt this monarchie in peace, Yet all this wealth fulfilled not my desire Sick was my lust by measure to Impyre

In contrast to this, the ceiling in the third room in the decorative scheme depicts women; representations of the allegories of the Virtues and the Muses (Fig. 3). The inscriptions around each of the Virtues explain the benefits of personally espousing each trait. For example, prior to the image of Fortitude, the inscription reads: Fortitude is most power onto man, A vertue recht and stillt in equitie With curage balde doing quhat scho can Wrong to repelle and despyse miserie

Similarly, the inscriptions which are presented to viewers prior to the images of the Muses reveal the power which each allegorical female has over mankind and its productivity. For example, prior to the image of Urania the inscription reads: Urania behalde me heir My globe may travel testifie I rule the planetis and the spear As maistres of astronomie

To clarify, the text and images in the first room demonstrate how male power can lead to success and to failure, whilst the third room, by contrast, uses female characters as a way of demonstrating the most desirable traits of a human character and, moreover, the underlying power which women have over the endeavours of ambitious men. The imagery in the room decorated with female subjects is, in contrast to the male room, very temperate. Unlike the imposing arms and armour which adorn the ceiling of the male space, the ceiling of the female space is decorated with non-violent depictions: pictures of musical instruments and brightly coloured flowers. Essentially, at the two separate ends of the decorative scheme at Crathes there is a visual embodiment of chaos (represented by the images in the male room) and a visual embodiment of order (represented by the images in the female room). Once this duality of forces is acknowledged and understood, the decoration on the ceiling in the room which divides these two spaces instantly makes more sense (Fig. 4). Quite simply, the central room in the scheme is the space in which the two identified forces meet. Within this middle room, males and females, or, more specifically, the stereotypical characters of males and females commence a (metaphorical) battle. This perspective on the decorative scheme at Crathes would explain why both sexes are represented upon the ceiling of the central room. Additionally, this interpretation would account for the choice of inscriptions. When reading the inscriptions written on the beams within this central space, viewers gain further insight into the complexities of the relationship between males and females. This point of view is supported when it is noted that visitors passing through this room, having just come from the male room, on their way to the female room, are presented with the following verse: A wise sone make a glad father, but a follishe sone is an heaviness to his mother

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Similarly, when passing from the female domain to the male area, the viewer gains more insight into the complexities between male and female relationships by reading: Wine, wemen taken insatia-blee Has brocht great kings to miser-ee Therefor my God I pray to thee Keep me from crymes and harlotrie.

Understanding the ‘Battle of the Sexes’ theme uniting the three rooms in the decorative scheme at Crathes Castle, in turn, facilitates a deeper understanding of the relationship between viewers and the route’s ceilings — especially when it is remembered that the original viewers would have been the castle’s resident married couple: Alexander Burnett of Leys and his wife, Katharine Gordon. At this point, it is useful to imagine each partner in the marriage standing in their separate domains looking up at inspirational images of idealized male and female characters. When gaining a clear idea of this action, readers may be able to further appreciate that the couple would have experienced, what shall tentatively be defined as ‘intellectual elevation’ via contemplation. When looking up at the ceiling of his male-orientated space, Burnett could have meditated upon both the capabilities and shortcomings which he experienced as a man. Similarly, Katherine Gordon, looking up at the Virtues and the Muses, would have been able to contemplate the innate powers she had as a woman to diffuse and bring order to the World, mankind and, specifically, the man, around her. When this couple were getting on with their daily business as a married pair, however, and passing through the rooms at pace, they would only have been able to view the inscriptions on the beams which helped them to live as a successful unit in the real world — the inspirational pictures were not visible. In essence, therefore, the ceiling served two separate functions for the couple in Crathes Castle. The areas of the ceiling which are less swiftly visible, namely the paintings, were there to elevate the thoughts of the pair as individuals during still contemplation, but the inscriptions which they saw frequently, when operating as a unit, supported them as a cohesive partnership in reality. Quite literally, it is as if the imagery and orchestration of the ceilings warned the couple not to have their ‘head in the clouds’ too often. In order to appreciate this interpretation of the purpose of the decorative scheme at Crathes, it is useful to remember the anomaly which features on one of the ceilings; the inclusion of Fame, who is neither a Muse nor a Virtue, on the ceiling in the Muses Room. The inscription presented to viewers before ‘Fame’, before the viewer embarks on a journey which explores the opposing forces of male and female partnership, reads: I Fame, be my eies & wingis wondrous fair Ane trumpet shyle through all the warlde wide Am drawin thus my heid doth perce the air Althocht my feit heir on the earth abide

‘Fame’, like the general layout of the decorative scheme at Crathes, warned viewers to think big, on a high plane, but to remain ever grounded. The allegory of Fame on the ceiling in the Muses Room no longer appears an anomaly. On the contrary, this subject, and the decoration on these post-Reformation ceilings in general, elevated viewers in terms of their aspirations, but, fundamentally relegated viewers in reality by reminding them that though they may aspire to be exceptional, they were just human and that they come with limitations. In order to transcend the physical world, to reach heaven, Burnett and his wife had to achieve successful lives together first, in their space at 148

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Crathes Castle, on Earth. There were definitely no feelings conjured of being physically lifted, their ‘feit heir on the earth abide’. The ceilings at Crathes instead intended to lift viewers mentally, ‘my heid doth perce the air’. The ceilings allowed the couple to dream, and to ponder, about their role in the wider world and their role as a man and a woman living together on God’s Earth. This interpretation of the ceilings’ function is supported by the choice of sources referred to by whoever orchestrated the original design. The Nobles, the Muses and the Virtues are all subjects which would have featured in high quality and expensive prints by virtuoso printmakers such as Crispijn de Passe the Elder, Hendrick Goltzius and Virgil Solis.14 Based on a simple stylistic analysis, it appears highly probable that the Crathes ‘Worthies’ or Nobles were derived from a source which pre-dated and inspired the aforementioned expensive prints. Specifically, the prints used were, or were relatives of, images made by the Master of the Banderoles, c. 1470. There are clear similarities between Joshua (Fig. 5), on the Netherlandish print and the same figure on the Crathes ceiling. Both are in profile, walking forwards, holding a sword in their right hand which they rest on their corresponding shoulder. Differences such as the beard on Crathes’ Joshua which is missing on the print make the direct link still somewhat tentative. Even if the Master of the Banderoles is not the direct source, the design

Fig. 5. Master of the Banderoles, Three Jewish Worthies: Joshua, David, Judas Maccabaeus, c. 1470. Engraving, 2336304 mm # Trustees of the British Museum

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probably originated from the same geographic area (Flanders) around the same period in time (the late 15th century). The Master of the Banderoles’ ‘Worthies’ series was aimed at an educated audience who had a disposable income. The original prints were intended to educate, inform and mentally uplift their original audience. In turn, they inspired the finest prints being made at the same time as the Crathes ceiling was being painted. In contrast to prints depicting subjects such as the Worthies, the Muses and the Virtues, prints which depicted generic couples, dressed in courtly attire, were massproduced and low in cost. These types of images were commonly used as illustrations for popular ballads. For example, the figures depicted on the ceiling of the Green Lady’s room at Crathes share obvious similarities, in terms of dress and pose, with two figures who illustrate a ballad called ‘Loue without Lucke’ (c. 1631, Fig. 6) and another called ‘A Merry Dialogue Betwixt a Man and his Wife, Concerning the Affaires of this Carefull Life’ (c. 1628). In this second ballad,15 the husband and wife protagonists spend the first verse arguing about the pain and annoyance which they inflict upon one another. In the second verse, the tension between the couple escalates. Despite a crescendo in conflict, the ballad concludes with each member of the couple admitting that they cannot live without the other despite their opposing natures. The general purpose of the ballad is to help readers to understand, and see the amusing side to domestic disagreements. Although a definite source for the images on the ceiling in the central room at Crathes Castle is yet to be located, these generic images provide a social context for them, namely light-hearted homilies on domestic strife and harmony. They also show how the Crathes couple were expected to respond, with humour and respect. Unlike the public heraldry at St Machar’s, the Crathes painted ceilings were tailored to the direct

Fig. 6.

Illustration from ‘Loue without Lucke’, c. 1631 # English Broadside Ballad Archive

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and intimate interest of their immediate audience. Although they invited the viewers to contemplate their wider social network, outside their immediate space, they did not promote any illusion of being physically extracted from the room. elevation and provost skene’s house ‘Provost Skene’s House Ceiling’, as it has come to be known locally and in the relevant literature,16 should more correctly be called the ‘Matthew Lumsden Ceiling’. This rebranding provides further insight into the lives and actions of the people who used the space underneath this remarkable 17th-century survivor. Matthew Lumsden, a successful merchant, owned the house in the 1620s.17 On the exterior of the wing in which the ceiling is located, there is a coat of arms for both he and his wife, Elisabeth Aberdour. The arms of Lumsden reappear painted in a recessed hollow above a window on the back wall of the room. Stylistic analysis of the ceiling and comparisons with other painted ceilings made in Scotland during this period, such as Alexander Seton’s Stoa Poikile at Pinkie House (c. 1619), indicate that it is very likely to have been painted in the 1620s.18 Matthew Lumsden’s cousin William was amongst Aberdeen’s most well-known Catholics during the early 17th century. William Lumsden and his wife Helen Barclay were excommunicated from all churches in the Aberdeen area in 1649 for being Papists.19 This meant that their names were read out at the beginning of local services in order to warn other citizens of their beliefs and affiliations. William and Helen’s son, Alexander, attended the Scots Benedictine monastery of Wu¨rzburg in 1644 and the Scots College in Rome in 1645.20 Alexander went on to be ordained in 1650, completed a Dominican mission in Caithness, and then appears in records once again in 1678 when on trial for treason in England.21 Although specifics concerning Alexander are not wholly necessary for the purposes of the current discussion, his commitment to Catholicism clarifies the kind of people with whom Matthew Lumsden associated. The cousins Matthew and William knew each other well: they owned land together and, moreover, were present as witnesses for one another when large sums of money exchanged hands.22 The close relationship between the successful merchant and his apparently radical cousin goes some way to explain how the space beneath the ceiling was used. The iconography and subject matter of the pictures on the ceiling strongly suggest that it is all that remains of a clandestine rosary chapel utilized by Aberdeen’s recusant community during a period of less aggressive, but still rampant, religious friction in the town. Tucked under the rafters at the top of a town-house, the ceiling is literally a place apart, a retreat far above the bustling streets. The ceiling is relatively low and its panelling extends down the sloping sides of the roof. The walls were covered in illusionistic painting of classical architecture, with fluted columns and capitals. Half of the painting on the Lumsden Ceiling is missing and the half which remains experienced considerable restoration in the 1950s.23 It is this lack of completeness and, also, additions and subtractions administered by the restoration team which have deterred previous scholars from being certain about the rosary subject.24 It is useful to imagine that the blue sky in the roundel was not actually there in the 1620s and that this, and a few other key features, were the inventions of the restorers who, though they meant well, did not understand how all of the scenes worked as a single entity. Previous scholars have highlighted prominent similarities between the Lumsden ‘Annunciation’ (Fig. 7) and an 151

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Fig. 7. The Annunciation of the Lumsden Ceiling, Provost Skene’s House, c. 1626. Tempera on panel # Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum. Photo: Author

engraving by Goltzius, although the match is not perfect (Fig. 8).25 On the print, Gabriel enters with such bravura that he leaves an opulent trail of billowing clouds which cushion an orchestra of angels. On the panel he arrives with much less of a fanfare; no clouds and no chorus. Photographs taken before conservation confirm the Goltzius print as the source for the ‘Annunciation’. These images show that the restorers simply added what they deemed should have been in the unsalvageable areas; they did not replace what had actually been lost. The pre-conservation photographs enable a reconstruction to be made of the original iconographic scheme. The central roundel today shows a simple sky-scape (Fig. 9), but it originally depicted the Coronation and Assumption of the Virgin. The photo (Fig. 10) shows two distinct halves to the scene. Below is a crowd of individuals, while above there are cloud-like forms. The original print source is a woodcut by Albrecht Du¨rer (Fig. 11). After looking at Du¨rer’s print, the crowd in the roundel is much easier to recognize. A telling detail is the head of an elderly saint with a beard depicted in profile on the far left. Both images share the dark line which separates the crowd and the Assumption of the Virgin itself. Once most of the original scenes were detected by using similar methods, it was possible for the present author to clarify that the Lumsden Ceiling had originally depicted a cycle representing the Mysteries of the Rosary.26 152

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Fig. 8. Hendrick Goltzius (Published by Volcxken Diericx), The Annunciation, c. 1580. Engraving, 215 6 290 mm # Trustees of the British Museum

Fig. 9. The central roundel of the Lumsden Ceiling, Provost Skene’s House, c. 1626. Tempera on panel # Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums. Photo: Author

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Fig. 10. A pre-restoration Image of the central roundel on the Lumsden Ceiling (c. 1951, Photograph AB/1730) # RCAHMS Licensor: http://www.rcahms.gov.uk

The Lumsden Ceiling was the most uplifting ceiling to have survived from Aberdeen during the 17th century. Certainly, of all of the three examples discussed in this paper, this is the one which is most capable of generating feelings of physical and spiritual elevation within its original viewers. When it is considered how the recusant Catholics of Aberdeen used this space, the concept of elevation can be wholly understood. It is logical to assume that the ceiling’s subject aided the Rosary prayer and it was not, therefore, meant to be viewed from one static position. As viewers passed underneath the images, reciting the rosary prayer, they became increasingly engaged with God. At the finale of the rosary, they would have been rewarded with the ceiling’s Assumption. The crowd depicted at the front of the scene, aligned with where an individual below would have been standing, beckoned the viewer up from the floor. An illusion of physical ascension was aided via the orchestration of the fictive architectural framework. The circular roundel would have been unusual to a typical Aberdonian of this era. Art and fictive architecture fused together, therefore, to wholly embrace its viewers; the roundel became a portal to the Divine realm. Although muted when compared to the illusionistic wonders of Roman painters like Giovanni Lanfranco at Sant’ Andrea della Valle,27 the Lumsden Ceiling is an example of Continental CounterReformation art making a rare appearance in Scotland. Furthermore, the ceiling’s purpose was to reward recusant Catholics, weathering the storms of conflict, with a glimpse at what awaited them after their committed piety on Earth; the roundel facilitated a momentary experience of elevation from a less than ideal daily life. 154

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Fig. 11.

Albrecht Du¨rer, The Coronation and Assumption of the Virgin, 1510. Woodcut, 2906207 mm # Trustees of the British Museum

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conclusion In conclusion, this paper proposes that the Reformation had a significant impact on the relationship between people and the spaces which they occupied in Aberdeen and its locale. By exploring how individuals are likely to have responded to decorated ceilings in three key locations in the north-east of Scotland, it was possible to posit that religious change instilled a desire amongst viewers to transcend space. At preReformation St Machar’s, the congregation was starkly reminded of their position as individuals within God’s creation: either notable and above, or anonymous and below. It was only through joining in the crowd moving eastwards towards the Madonna that an individual could participate in the programme of the ceiling. The stiff frames of each panel allowed no diversions or potential to break out from the ordered scheme of a united Christendom. At Crathes Castle, a married couple living in post-Reformation Scotland chose dualfunction ceilings to decorate their home. The pictures of aspirational male and female characters (the Nobles, Virtues and Muses) were positioned in such a way, in separate domains, which facilitated solitary contemplation on the true nature of male and female characters. These images mentally elevated the couple in a Humanist sense. The lower beams with the inscriptions written upon them, which the couple saw more often, however, relegated the pair by providing advice on how to live a successful life together as a cohesive male and female partnership in the real world. The Lumsden Ceiling, used by the recusant Catholics of Aberdeen, had the power to elevate its viewers through the familiar stories and individual participation in prayer. Those using the space underneath the ceiling, reciting their rosary prayers and walking around the room, were rewarded with a momentary ascension for weathering a harsh reality down on Earth. As a trio, therefore, these ceilings provide unique insight into individuals’ responses to religious change in Aberdeen during the early-modern period. The survival of these three ceilings is a significant reflection on the nature of the people living in Aberdeen and its surrounding area. The St Machar’s ceiling survived because it continued to serve a purpose in the parish church which subsequently occupied the nave. Its non-figurative theme, celebrating genealogy and rank, was acceptable to the reformed church. Crathes was a family home. Pride in family heritage meant that the images were unaffected by changes in fashion. Finally, the Lumsden Ceiling was boarded over, as opposed to destroyed, during later renovations. Thus, all three ceilings survival is indebted to the local culture of frugality and functionality. It is hoped that this preliminary study on Scots and how they used domestic and sacred space prompts further discourse on the fascinating, yet underexplored, social history of earlymodern Scotland.

NOTES 1. Although a definitive guide to the social history of early-modern Scottish visual culture is yet to be written, there is a detailed examination of the relationship between patrons and painters in Scotland from 1650–1760: J. Holloway, Patrons and Painters: Art in Scotland, 1650–1710, 1st edn (Edinburgh 1989). 2. Discussion on the increased wealth of the Scottish merchant class during the 17th century may be read in I. Whyte, Scotland before The Industrial Revolution: An Economic & Social History c.1050–c.1750, 1st edn (Oxford 1995), 271–82. 3. J D. McRoberts, The Heraldic Ceiling of St Machar’s Cathedral, Friends of St Machar’s Cathedral, Occasional Paper, First Series, No. 2 (Aberdeen 1981), 2.

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From Relegation to Elevation 4. It was said that an image of the Virgin in Child ‘in curious wark’ was situated ‘wnder the syrling at the wastend of the pend, quhairon the gryte stepill standis’. D. Stevenson, St Machar’s Cathedral and the Reformation 1560–1690, Friends of St Machar’s Cathedral, Occasional Paper, First Series, No. 7 (Aberdeen 1981), 10. 5. J. H. Alexander et al, The Restoration of St Machar’s Cathedral (Aberdeen 1991), 24. 6. McRoberts, Heraldic Ceiling (as n. 3), 3. 7. D. McRoberts and S. M. Holmes, Lost Interiors: the Furnishings of Scottish Churches in the later Middle Ages (Edinburgh 2012), 159. 8. M. Bath, Decorative Painting, 1st edn (Edinburgh 2003), 174. 9. Ibid., 175. 10. The incomplete inscriptions were originally deciphered by Michael Bath: Bath, Decorative Painting (as n. 8), 220. 11. ‘The Nine Worthies’ comprise three good Christians (King Arthur, Charlemagne and Godfrey of Bouillon); three good Jews (Joshua, King David and Judas Maccabeus); and three good pagans (Hector of Troy, Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar). 12. The Cardinal Virtues comprise Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Courage. 13. The Nine Muses comprise Calliope, Clio, Euterpe, Erato, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia and Urania. 14. For examples of the kind of prints being discussed here, see digital images depicting four of de Passe’s engravings of ‘The Nine Worthies’ available on the BM online database: Charlemagne (1868,0612.2085); Joshua (1868,0612.2083); Godfrey of Bouillon (1868,0612.2086); and King Arthur (1868,0612.2084). Available at: https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx [accessed 25 March 2015]. 15. M. Parker, A merry dialogue betwixt a married man and his wife, concerning the affaires of this carefull life: To an excellent tune, trans. T. Symcocke, rev 1st edn (London 1628). English Broadside Ballad Archive, 2014. A Merry Dialogue. Available at: http://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/30190/xml [accessed 25 March 2015]. 16. The ceiling acquires its name in two separate seminal publications on the interior of Provost Skene’s House by Edward Meldrum and David McRoberts: E. Meldrum, ‘Sir George Skene’s House on the Guestrow, Aberdeen — its History and its Architecture’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, ns, 92 (1958–59), 85–103; D. McRoberts, ‘Provost Skene’s House, in Aberdeen, and its Catholic Chapel’, Innes Review, ns, 5 (1959), 119–24. 17. Matthew Lumsden is noted as the owner of the house during the 1620s in Aberdeen City Council, Provost Skene’s House, 1st edn (Aberdeen 2004). 18. A stylistic analysis is provided in F. Insh, ‘Recusants and the Rosary: A Seventeenth-Century Chapel in Aberdeen’, Recusant History, ns, 31 (October 2012), 196–97. 19. This was noted by Bruce McLennan in B. McLennan, ‘Presbyterianism Challenged’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Aberdeen, 1977), 217. 20. McLennan, ‘Presbyterianism’ (as n. 19), 215. 21. Ibid. 22. The Cushnie Muniments, ‘Instrument of reversion respecting the redemption of lands sold by Robert Cushnie, 25 May 1621’: Aberdeen, Aberdeen University Library, MS 930, fol. 254. The Cushnie Muniments, ‘Contract which hands over ownership of lands at Fowlis Mowat to Andrew Birnie, 1628’: Aberdeen, Aberdeen University Library, MS 930, fol. 291. 23. Photographs revealing the extent of the 1950s restoration project are available at The Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (AB/1724–AB/1811). http://canmore.org.uk/site/ 20175/aberdeen-broad-street-provost-skenes-house-and-archway?display=image [accessed 6 August 2015]. 24. Previous scholars have posited that there may be some relation to rosary imagery evident in the ceiling at Provost Skene’s House. However, these suggestions have remained inconclusive, and wholly tentative, due to these authors’ lack of certainty regarding the missing scenes. For example, see McRoberts, ‘Provost Skene’s House (as n. 16), 120 and Bath, Decorative Painting (as n. 8), 125–26. 25. Bath, Decorative Painting (as in n. 8), 127. 26. The Mysteries of the Rosary: The Annunciation; The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth; The Nativity; The Presentation of Jesus; Finding Jesus in the Temple; The Agony in the Garden; The Scourging at the Pillar; Jesus Crowned with Thorns; Jesus Carrying the Cross; The Resurrection; The Ascension of Jesus to Heaven; The Descent of the Holy Ghost; The Assumption of the Virgin; The Coronation of the Virgin; and The Crucifixion. For more information on the ceiling’s original appearance, see F. Insh, ‘Recusants and the Rosary’ (as n. 18), 215. 27. Rome, Sant’ Andrea della Valle, the Assumption of the Virgin, 1625–27.

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Piping Pigs and Mermaid Groping: Six Carved Panels from Fetteresso JANE GEDDES

Six carved medieval panels have survived from Fetteresso Church. They consist of two foliage panels whose style has close similarities to the work in Aberdeen, made by John Fendour around 1500. The other four scenes in roundels, Saints George and Sebastian, pigs piping and dancing, and the Devil groping a mermaid, are finely carved but more eclectic in style. These derive from Continental prints also made around 1500. Books of Hours, printed by Philippe Pigouchet and Thielman Kerver, provide close models for the mermaid and piping pig. An inscription on the pig scene ‘Alorgis’ provides a link to the social and intellectual world of orgies, as understood by humanist scholars in 16th-century Paris. Historical circumstances link these panels to the priest of Fetteresso, Patrick Panter, who was a known patron of woodcarving, and to the visits and donations of his friend King James IV to nearby Cowie. keywords: Fetteresso, Panter, Pigouchet, Kerver, wood-carving, Fendour, Cowie Six carved panels have recently emerged from a previously very private existence (Fig. 1). They consist of two foliage panels and four based on roundels containing images of Saints George, Sebastian, the Devil groping a mermaid, and pigs dancing and playing bagpipes. This chapter will discuss their provenance, explore the meaning and sources for the iconography, and then attempt to place them within some contemporary context in Scotland and Europe. provenance The carvings are currently in private ownership, stored in Deeside. They were bought from the estate of Geraldine Simpson who latterly lived in Bridge of Muchalls, south of Aberdeen and who died in 2010 (see map, Frontispiece). She had them fitted up as cupboard doors. Their early modern provenance is quite clear. The original Fetteresso Church of early medieval origins, in the countryside west of Stonehaven, dilapidated by 1812, was replaced by a new building nearer the growing town (see Kerr-Peterson, Fig. 3, 103). The old kirk was bought by Mr Duff of Fetteresso Castle, and it became his family burial aisle.1 The minister of Fetteresso, J. B. Burnett, in 1933 recorded details from living memory. Its old pulpit, after being removed from the church stood for a time in the entrance hall of Fetteresso Castle, and was eventually thrown out to be broken up for firewood. The two panels aforementioned [the John Milne and pigs panels] owe their preservation to the thoughtfulness of a young lad named William Donald, son of a joiner on the estate. Unwilling to destroy such venerable relics he left the one with the picture of the pigs in the castle, and the other with the minister’s initials he

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# British Archaeological Association 2016

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Fig. 1.

Panels from Fetteresso Photo: John Coyne

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jane geddes took to his own home where it was carefully treasured. On the occurrence of the centenary of the present church [1912], he presented the [Milne] panel to the kirk session.2

The two panels mentioned by Burnett are those with the minister’s initials dated 1682, and the dancing pigs. It is notable that Burnett only mentions the rescue of one medieval panel, when clearly six panels survive today, presumably all from the dilapidated pulpit. They were photographed made into a wardrobe in the King’s Bedroom at Fetteresso (RCAHMS, KC330/30). The castle passed into the hands of Geraldine Simpson’s family who subsequently owned Muchalls Castle nearby.3 The doors moved to Muchalls Castle in 1954 with the Simpsons and thence to their cottage at Bridge of Muchalls, until Geraldine’s death in 2010. The Fetteresso pulpit must have been a composite item, perhaps made in the 18th century. In addition to the medieval panels, it contained one panel inscribed MIMPF 1682, commemorating ‘Master John Milne Parish of Fetteresso’, the last Episcopalian minister of the church. This panel was made into a chair back and presented to the new Fetteresso church in Bath Street, Stonehaven, where it still survives. In 1720 a north aisle was added to the old kirk, its date carved on the door lintel, and the kirk session records re-ordering all the seating. The pulpit faced this aisle, ‘enabling the preacher to speak with greater ease’.4 These renovations could have provided a suitable occasion to assemble disparate panels from the old church to make a new pulpit. How the panels came to be part of the furnishings of Fetteresso church will be discussed at the end, when their historical context can be assessed. Four of the panels contain figurative scenes in roundels, surrounded by marginal hybrid monsters (Figs 8, 10, 12, 14). Currently, in the bottom row are two religious scenes of virtue, Saints George and Sebastian; and in the middle row, two scenes of vice, dancing pigs, and a mermaid. 5 At the top are two rectangular panels of foliage scrolls set in curving frames (Figs 3, 6). Each pair of panels is a different size, and the foliage panels appear to be carved in a simpler, coarser way. While this could imply that they come from different objects, particularly the foliage panels which appear a different colour and grain on the back, in fact many examples of medieval furniture incorporate panels of different size, and may have simpler ornamental panels around the base or sides. An example of this is the 16th-century armoire possibly from Pittenweem, Fife (Fig. 2). 6 The Fetteresso foliage panels may currently be placed the wrong way up as the back-to-back scroll pattern is normally arranged vertically in other locations like Kings’ Chapel pulpitum doors and St Mary’s Undercroft, Aberdeen (Fig. 4).7 the foliage panels The foliage panels are based on the common late medieval layout of back-to-back C shapes which create a frame for the foliage (Figs 3, 6). The simpler panel has three thistles, a square leaf and double and single five-petal rosettes. The stems have a rectangular profile defined by two incised lines. The other panel has six leaf types and two simple rosettes. The stem profile is rounded, with grooved outlines. It should be noted that in contrast to, for example, the Edzell or Panter panels discussed later, these produce a lively three-dimensional surface, modulating light and shade, while the others appear more pedantically flat.8 In terms of quality, they may be compared with the surviving work in Aberdeen, where there are also some relevant stylistic parallels. Around 1500 John Fendour operated a prolific carpentry workshop which supplied the roof, ceiling and choir-stalls for St Nicholas between 1495 and 1515, and the steeple of 160

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Fig. 2. Cupboard from Pittenweem, Fife # National Museums of Scotland. Photo: Author

St Machar’s Cathedral in 1511. Close stylistic comparisons indicate his team also completed the undocumented ceiling and choir-stalls for King’s Chapel around 1506.9 Parts of Fendour’s work survive in St Mary’s, the undercroft to St Nicholas’s church, reassembled into a desk.10 Here we find the distinctive square leaf with a raised rib across each segment (Fig. 4). Amid a garden of foliage in King’s Chapel, Aberdeen, this particular leaf is the most common, found on the canopies and misericords. The square leaf with four segments and a nibbed outline is found on a misericord, armrest, and back rest (Fig. 5a). These two distinctive leaf types are also found on the tracery sections of the Beaton Panels, made for Cardinal Beaton of St Andrews in the 1530s.11 161

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Fig. 3. Fetteresso panel, foliage Photo: Author

Fig. 4.

St Mary’s Undercroft, St Nicholas’s church, Aberdeen: desk frontal Photo: Author

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Fig. 5a.

King’s College Chapel, Aberdeen: foliage Photo: Author

Fig. 5b. King’s College Chapel, Aberdeen: rosettes Photo: Author

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Rosettes can be made in a number of different ways and John Fendour’s work at Aberdeen shows many different hands at work. The Fetteresso rosettes have five petals and those at King’s have seven, but the petals and central boss are fashioned in the same way (Fig. 5b). Scotland does not have a monopoly on the use of the thistle. The engraving by Master ES (1450–67), from a pattern book, is probably from Germany.12 In Spain, thistles are carved on the choir-stalls at Yuste.13 Both depict elegant, sinuous organic plants. These serve to show how different thistle designs can be, thereby adding a local flavour to the stiffer and coarser Fetteresso examples (Fig. 6). The thistle is widely used in King’s Chapel, in association with King James IV and Scotland (Fig. 7). An end panel of the choir-stalls is particularly close. There are technical similarities between the treatment of the hatching on the seed head, chip carved around the edges of each

Fig. 6. Fetteresso panel, thistles Photo: Author

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Fig. 7.

King’s College Chapel, Aberdeen: thistles Photo: Author

segment. On both, the seeds brush against and are stopped by the frame. But above all, the side stems attach to the main shoot in the same way: either at an abrupt T-junction, or as a tapered joint. These comparisons, particularly with the thistles, show some relatively close connections between the workshop of John Fendour in Aberdeen and the Fetteresso panels. They also show some similar leaf forms to the Beaton panels. Clearly, in all these examples we are dealing with a large workshop of many hands and we should not expect identical workmanship. While these comparisons cannot prove a direct association with the Aberdeen workshop, they definitely show sufficient similarities to claim a north-east origin for the foliage panels. st george (Fig. 8) There are numerous variations to St George iconography.14 In this version George is in a roundel, on horseback. He wears a triple-plumed helmet. His lance is pointing forwards and downwards, and he wears articulated armour. The horse has notably fine trappings, with scalloped reins, breeching and crupper (the tail pieces). The dragon twists its head up towards Saint George and is being lanced through its mouth. This design has several similarities with a woodcut from Paris of 1504 (Fig. 9).15 Although the dragon’s position is different, George has the triple-plumed helmet, articulated armour, the horse trappings have similar scalloped design and, in a telling detail, the horse’s mane is bound over in the same ribboned way. A closer pose for the dragon is found in a painting from Majorca, 1468-70, by Pere Nissart and Raphael Moger which 165

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Fig. 8. Fetteresso panel: St George Photo: John Coyne

shows the horse trappings, spearing through the mouth and the horse trampling.16 St George is accompanied by two inscriptions discussed below. st sebastian (Fig. 10) St Sebastian stands in a roundel, tied to a tree with his hands behind his back and, beneath a folded loin cloth, his legs are crossed and tied at the ankle. On either side of him are archers dressed in tunics, drawing longbows. The one on the left has a flat cap, belt, and ankle boots. The one on the right wears a Phrygian cap, has a flagged doublet with loose sleeves and carries a dagger at his waist. He wears tall ruched boots. The drolleries above comment on the scene by spitting arrows at each other. This image derives from a pattern book related to the following examples. On the first woodcut, c. 1440–50, Sebastian is tied to the tree, hands behind his back, studded with arrows. Although there are three attackers, the two main archers show some similarities. They both wield longbows. One has plain hose, the other has ruched long boots. One has more elaborate sleeves than the other. One has a low hat with headband and the other has a pointed hat.17 Its style is quite angular and coarse, like that of the carving. The Daniel Hopfer etching, 1505–36, is a slightly more advanced style, but the entire layout is similar, showing a roundel framed by grotteschi (Fig. 11). Sebastian is again against 166

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Fig. 9. St George. Woodcut from Paris, 1504. BM 1854, 0812.44 # The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved

the tree with his hands behind his back. The archer on the right appears to wear a quilted skirt and has a sword with belt.18 Hopfer was an etcher and printer working in Augsburg from 1494 to 1536. It would appear, therefore, that both these images of saints derive from familiar Continental models, French or German, from around 1500. Although possibly from different sources, they have been placed in roundels and surrounded by drolleries as part of a uniform ensemble. Sebastian and George share some similar roles as saints, which may help to explain the requirements of the patron. Sebastian was a Roman soldier who was martyred by Diocletian in the 3rd century. He was ordered to be shot to death by arrows, but he survived the ordeal and was eventually clubbed to death. His cult became very popular in the 15th century. He was the patron saint of archers and soldiers. According to classical belief, the plague was caused by the arrows of Apollo, so Sebastian was also a protector against the arrows of plague. According to legend, St George was also martyred under Diocletian. He was patron saint of archers, soldiers and provided protection against plague, leprosy and syphilis. George and Sebastian were numbered among the Fourteen Holy Helpers, a cult which spread from the Rhineland in the 14th century, flourished in the 15th century but, in the face of the Reformation, fell rapidly from favour in the 16th century. This gathering of saints varied somewhat in identity according to region, but their principal role was to offer intercession in the face of various diseases, and protection in the hour of death where they could insure salvation.19 Ditchburn points out how meticulous the Aberdeen city authorities were to ward off travelling carriers 167

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Fig. 10. Fetteresso panel: St Sebastian Photo: John Coyne

of disease, particularly plague,20 and Fetteresso parish lies just about 10 miles south, traversed by the main road, so these saints would serve a purpose in such a location. These saints enjoyed a local popularity. At St Nicholas Kirk, Aberdeen, there were altars to both of them in the 15th century. There was also an altar to St Sebastian at St Machar’s Cathedral and in the parish church of Montrose. St George had an altar at Brechin Cathedral and Dundee. 21 For the medieval guild plays in Aberdeen, St Sebastian and his tormentors were represented by the Fleshers, while St George was represented by the Baxters.22 the devil and the mermaid (Fig. 12) The mermaid is in a roundel, arms aloft, brazenly exposing her breasts. On the left the Devil incarnate grabs her tail and elbow. On the other flank is a lion rampant. Below is a quadruped who, because of his long ears and short tail, may be understood as a rabbit or perhaps hare. Around the edge are various sinister birds, perhaps an owl and raven below, and birds of prey above. Mermaids are common creatures in the world of drolleries, frequently found on church woodwork, but they take two meanings. With a mirror and comb, they represent vanity, but in this pose, full frontal and manhandled by the Devil, they represent lasciviousness and the lure of the siren. The rabbit below reinforces the sexual imagery, while the lion might be seen as Christ the lion of Judah, and the resistance to temptation, or he might be ready to savage her. 168

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Fig. 11. St Sebastian. Daniel Hopfer. BM 1854, 0809.1329 # The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved

This image enjoyed wide circulation, spreading to many woodwork examples through the medium of printed books. It is found in the Sarum Book of Hours, amongst the dense marginalia created by Philippe Pigouchet and published in Paris in 1502 (Fig. 13).23 In this image the Devil is on the left as at Fetteresso, but Pigouchet’s design was swiftly copied and reversed by Thielman Kerver for his Hore intemerate Virginis Marie secunda usum Romanum in 1503, also made in Paris. Here the Devil is on the right and the mermaid is looking at him instead of directly at the viewer.24 Pigouchet’s book provides a source for the Bristol Cathedral misericord, c. 1520, of the mermaid between the Devil and a wyvern.25 The Bristol artist is more faithful to the Pigouchet model: the Devil does not actually grasp the mermaid’s arm, and she turns towards him, whereas on the Fetteresso design, the Devil holds her with both hands, and she faces forwards. At Ciudad Rodrigo Cathedral, 1498–1503, the Devil has a similar cloak and instead of a pointed hair style he has a pointed hat.26 Elements of this composition are selected in other examples. At Lausanne Cathedral, 1509, on the bench end, the Devil is alone with the mermaid.27 169

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Fig. 12. Fetteresso panel: the Devil and Mermaid Photo: John Coyne

Fig. 13.

Book of Hours, Philippe Pigouchet, 1502

# The Bodleian Libraries, The University of Oxford, 8o H 6 Th.BS., Sig.Y.viiiv & Sig Z.ir.

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the pigs (Fig. 14) The piping pig panel can be examined from four angles: the bagpipes as an instrument; pigs playing pipes; pigs dancing; and the inscription ALORGIS. The pipes are shown with sack, chanter complete with finger holes and a bell end fixed with some attachment, a mouthpiece, and drone in two sections. According to Hugh Cheape, this is an accurately depicted example rather than a schematic generalization.28 The instrument resembles the Spanish gaita, an ancient form of bagpipe found across Europe. Pipes were considered vulgar instruments, from the time of Aristophanes who mocks the pipers of Thebes with ‘bone pipes blowing the back end of a dog’.29 This lowly status is shown on the misericord at Beverley Minster (1520) where an ape plays the tail and back legs of a dog.30 A 17th-century Gaelic poet refers to ‘the bladder of a pig being over-blown, the first bagpipe was not sweet sounding’.31 It is perhaps fitting that, in the earliest representation of the Scottish national instrument, it is being played by a pig, on a 14th-century corbel at Melrose Abbey. For our purposes it is significant that the location is ecclesiastical, even Cistercian, but the pig is given a marginal or liminal situation, high up on a corbel.32 The joke was thus appreciated and endorsed by ecclesiastics in Scotland from the 14th century. On their own, pigs playing bagpipes belong to the genre of absurd animal scenes. Boethius, in Consolation of Philosophy, uses an expression of impossibility, ‘like an ass playing the lyre’, an image deriving ultimately from Aesop’s Fables. There are

Fig. 14. Fetteresso panel: pigs piping and dancing Photo: Author

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numerous examples all over Europe: for instance at Yuste, Leon in Spain, and Kalkar in Germany.33 However, the badges found in Holland, of a pig on his hind legs playing the bagpipes, clearly associate both the actions of blowing and squeezing and the sound itself with lust and arousal. These boar musicians have conspicuously erect penises. One of the badges is inscribed AMOURS.34 This meaning is made even plainer in a joyful marginal scene of Aristotle’s De Celo et Mundo, dated 1487, and signed by the scribe Malcolm Ramsay (Fig. 15).35 The way the pigs hold their pipes in the manuscript and panel is quite similar, while the scribe’s name potentially suggests a Scot from the eastern side of the country. However, a wider look at the sketch puts the pig’s squeezing of the bagpipes and its squealing sound into graphic context. It is a scene of cacophonous debauchery. The adjacent man has ass’s ears denoting his deaf stupidity, while he mimics the piper by squeezing and fingering his bare genitals. This meˆle´e takes place amidst the ribald tooting of trumpets. However, the source for the Fetteresso pig, squatting and facing right, clearly comes from another book by Kerver, his Sarum Hours of 1510 (Fig. 16). Once more, Kerver had copied and reversed an original by Pigouchet. The latter prints the same piping pig facing left in his Sarum Hours of 1498.36 The features which are shared with the Fetteresso piper are the tufty top knot, the curly ear, the pleated cloak and bristly spine. This suggests that our wood carver, unless he independently reversed Pigouchet’s image, created his roundel after 1510. Pigs playing to an audience of other pigs or piglets are a popular theme in many misericords, either side of 1500. Examples come from misericords particularly in the north of England, where a sow plays to her little piglets.37 But the affronted animals on

Fig. 15. British Library, Sloane MS 748, fol. 82v # British Library Board

Fig. 16. Book of Hours, Thielman Kerver, 1510 #The Bodleian Libraries, The University of Oxford, Gough Missals 87, Sig. Bi v and Biir

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the Fetteresso panels are not notably tiny. They fit more closely into the pig fest at Oviedo Cathedral, where there are twelve carvings of pig activity, including two frontal pigs kissing, and another pair, to the accompaniment of rousing bagpipes, coyly described by the authors Kraus and Kraus as ‘making love’.38 On that scale of activity, the Fetteresso pigs might be classified as indulging in rhythmic foreplay. the marginalia The roundel panels have an animal in each corner. Most are hybrids, with a few exceptions. There is an indication that their selection produces some commentary on the main scene, if not in every case. Around St Sebastian, the upper animals enforce the arrow theme by spitting darts at each other. The beasts are a long-necked bird with a human head coming out of its chest, and a cockatrice. Below them are a dog/lion with a tuft on his head, and a complex creature with a human head coming out of his backside, strutting cock’s legs, a face with the tusks of a boar and a head tuft. The mermaid scene is uniquely surrounded by menacing birds of prey and of the night, including an owl and possibly eagle. They enforce the theme of threat and attack by evil, shown by the Devil grabbing the lascivious mermaid within the frame. Their selection extends the realm of threat to all the elements: air, earth and water. It is less clear how the remaining animals surrounding St George and the pigs add to the interior message. The quadrupeds at the bottom of the St George scene are indeed ferocious beasts but not quite echoes of the dragon within. At the top, the hybrids lack strength or ferocity. The pig scene has similar hybrids above and a couple of lively dogs or even puppies below. Neither chasing, snarling nor killing, these dogs emphasize the general playfulness of the panel. These creatures come out of exactly the same world as the images of the main scenes. In books they frame sacred texts, and as illustrations they are placed adjacent to holy scenes among the border decoration. The creature on the St Sebastian panel, lower right (Fig. 10), has the boar’s head with tusks and head tuft, like the piping pig from Pigouchet’s 1498 Hours. The bird, top right, has a long neck and a human head coming out of his chest. This creature can be seen in Pigouchet’s Sarum Hours of 1501.39 The dog/lion, lower right on the St Sebastian panel, twists his head back over his shoulder, has a tufty top-knot, and an eye emerging from his thigh. This type of animal can be found in Pigouchet’s stock and is also carved in the De La Warr chantry, Boxgrove, Sussex, c. 1532. 40 The animal, lower left, on the St George panel, a prancing lion with teeth, tufty top, and head coming out of his belly can be seen in the 1525 comedy by John Rastell.41 No doubt further survey of early printed books and their marginalia would provide models for all the remaining images. These designs have all benefited from translation to another medium. In the early printed books of hours, they are tiny crowded details, crammed among a myriad of other scenes and usually flanked by a jungle of busy foliage. Taken out of the books and enlarged onto panels, they expand graciously with more space and less clutter. Having examined the design and sources for all the panels, we are left with a final question about their production. Where were they made? It has been established elsewhere that Aberdeen had a flourishing woodworking trade around 1500, led by John Fendour.42 He was able to supply at least three churches, St Nicholas, King’s Chapel and St Machar’s Cathedral, with lavish furnishings and ceilings. He also worked at Falkland Palace for King James IV between 1501 and 1504.43 Comparisons with the foliage panels show that, at the very least, closely similar work was being produced in 173

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Aberdeen, and elements of the style were found elsewhere in Scotland. The figurative panels derive from mainly French (Parisian) printed exemplars. David Caldwell has established that two of the intricate panels made for Cardinal David Beaton, archbishop of St Andrews (1539–46) are also directly inspired by the designs of Thielman Kerver’s books of hours. Caldwell is nonetheless confident in assigning them to Scottish workmanship.44 Many features of the Fetteresso roundels suggest they, too, could have been made in Scotland, although there is so little evidence of other Scottish figurative carving from this period that few features on the figures can therefore be described as distinctively Scottish. All the images derive from readily available and portable printed sources. Mistakes in the spacing and orientation of the lettering suggest the carver was unfamiliar with both Latin and French, perhaps barely literate. He could therefore be a Scottish craftsman, familiar with the local foliage work in Aberdeen and supplied with visual models by an educated patron who had access to French publications and understood the French language. A local patron of such sophistication is introduced below. the inscriptions Two of the panels have inscriptions: St George and the Pigs. Both use ‘humanistic’ capitals. These are straight Latin letter forms which John Higgitt deftly describes as ‘embellished with ‘‘bites’’ in the top and bottom of the verticals and with knob-like protruberances’.45 At this period around 1500, letter forms were is a state of transition; it was common to find both Gothic black-letter and humanistic capitals occurring even in the same location. So, for instance, on the front of King’s College Chapel, Aberdeen, the foundation inscription is rendered in Gothic minuscule, but contemporary and slightly above it the coat of arms of King James IV is inscribed with ANNO DNI 1504 in the humanistic form already mentioned.46 In view of their clear influence on the mermaid and pig panels, it is notable that the Parisian printers Philippe Pigouchet and Thielman Kerver employ both the old-fashioned Gothic letters and the new humanistic capitals on the same page of their books. In both cases, on the frontispiece they give the title of their book in Gothic, but present their own names in the modern way.47 So, in terms of lettering, the Fetteresso panels would be perceived as up-to-date at the time they were produced, even if the carver was somewhat careless with his positioning of the letters and words. On the St George panel, the carver makes use of a spacer which looks like the letter ‘I’ but without the ‘bites’ and ‘knob’. The banderole reads S[spacer]GEORGII, presumably genitive case for Imago Sancti Georgii. Within the wreath are M[upside down] ARIA[spacer] blank IHESUS, Mary Jesus. This brings us to the enigmatic letters on the pigs’ panel, ALORGIS, which linguist colleagues cannot recognize as a real word in either Latin, French, Dutch, German or lowland Scots. Transcription is not helped by the close and even spacing of the letters. According to Margaret Jubb and Glyn Hesketh, there are three possible French translations: a` lor gi(u)s — at their games (giu = jeu); a` leur guise — in their fashion, in their own way; or a` l’orgies — to the orgy.48 Each would make sense in relation to the picture, but the concept of ‘orgies’ had recently become topical, particularly in connection with bagpipes. If the meaning is ‘orgy’, this poses a question about audience. Who would have understood this Greek word connected to the wanton revels of Dionysian/ Bacchic rites? According to the etymological dictionary, this word first appears in the French language as orgies, published in 1469 and 1501, while it takes about 100 years longer to appear in English. It creeps in through the spreading of humanist education 174

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and the reading of Greek texts, so its first recorded usage in French is in the context of ‘feˆtes solennelles en l’honneur de Bacchus’.49 In Greek mythology, the reeded pipe was associated with Dionysius/Bacchus and his revels. Plato condemned the pipes because they only ‘pursue pleasure’; Aristotle added that aulos (pipe) playing does not contribute anything to the mind, and makes the player look ugly. The dichotomy between the sensual intoxicating pleasure of pipe music, contrasted with the temperate and ethical music of the harp was brought out by the legend of Apollo and Marsyas, whereby Marsyas the pipe player lost a music competition against Apollo the harpist, and lost his life as forfeit. This legend, with its overtones of physical abandonment versus intellectual appreciation, became a popular subject of early Renaissance painting in Italy, in which several versions update the classical aulos with contemporary bagpipes.50 Thus, although our image of the pigs piping and dancing is a common medieval theme of pleasurable abandonment and lust, frequently found in churches throughout Europe, the addition of the inscription raises it altogether into a higher intellectual context. The neologism of an ‘orgy’ would only have been understood by people educated in Greek mythology, and was clearly not understood by the carver who spaced the letters incorrectly. The inscription reinforces a French origin for the entire composition. The identification of a sophisticated French-educated audience leads us to the possible context for the panels’ commission. The comparisons shown above would all be compatible with their creation by about 1510. By the 1540s French Renaissance style had clearly arrived in Scotland, as can be seen on the heads in roundels carved for Stirling Castle, and the pulpit made for Bishop Stewart in King’s Chapel, Aberdeen.51 The Fetteresso panels, still resolutely medieval, are perhaps from the first quarter of the 16th century. We can assume from the antiquarian sources that the panels were in Fetteresso church after the Reformation, in a dismembered state which allowed them to be reused in the 18th-century pulpit. How did they get to this relatively obscure rural parish church? the patron Of course, the panels might have been made specifically for rural Fetteresso Church, but nearby is another chapel with more cosmopolitan connections, where the sophistication and wit of the carvings might have been more readily appreciated. Cowie Chapel, dedicated to Saints Mary and Nathalan, lies within the parish of Fetteresso (Map, Frontispiece). A condition of its dedication by Bishop William Wishart of St Andrews in 1276 was that it was to remain subordinate to the parish church.52 When Cowie was abandoned after the Reformation, locals plundered its assets. Kerr-Peterson mentions the stripping of its roof by William Rait of Redcloak, a house just west of Stonehaven on the Slug Road, not far from Fetteresso Church.53 The panels are not mentioned at this date, but it is quite possible they were removed to the mother kirk of Fetteresso. Cowie Chapel is located on the coast, close to the principal route to Aberdeen, beside the small royal Burgh of Cowie (Kerr-Peterson, Fig. 2, 102). This chapel was frequently visited by King James IV, a resting place on his many pilgrimages to Tain. Close by on the cliff are the scant ruins of Cowie Castle, probably the royal residence but more like a small lodge.54 The attitude of James towards his pilgrimages shows the typical medieval moral polarity displayed in the panels.55 On the one hand, he was performing penance for his involvement in the death of his father, reputedly wearing a heavy iron chain next to his skin, and praying for the health of his wife and 175

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newborn son. On the other hand, the accounts of the Lord High Treasurer show the pageant and roistering which these travels involved. James made frequent pious payments to the priests, the poor and the chapel at Cowie between 1496 and 1507, but in 1507 12s. was paid ‘to the kingis belcheir quhair he dynit and drank at Cowie’. That would have been a memorable display of hospitality. Associated with the east coast travels, royal accounts show payments to the ‘common piper of the town’ at Aberdeen, the ‘broken backed fiddler’ from Montrose; they mention a portable organ and harpist at Inverness, along with the singing girls at Forres and even a rope dancer.56 James was sometimes accompanied by his mistress Janet Kennedy, known as ‘Janet bare ars’ who conveniently lived at Darnaway Castle, en route to Tain.57 Such aristocratic revels are vividly portrayed on the mid-16th-century panels, perhaps from a bed, from Threave Castle, Galloway (Fig. 17).58 Among the diversions shown are archery, swordsmanship, playing the bagpipes and fiddle and roisterous dancing (not illustrated). At the same

Fig. 17. Panels from Threave Castle, Galloway # National Museums of Scotland. Photo: Author

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time, James was calling upon Saints Sebastian and George to save his soul. In 1496, immediately after he made a payment to Cowie, the priests of St Nicholas, Aberdeen were paid 20s. to say thirty masses of St Sebastian for the king.59 In 1503, the king confirmed a charter of Alexander Menzies for a perpetual chaplain of the altar of St Sebastian, at St Nicholas Kirk, to pray for the souls of King James III and IV.60 In 1497 he paid a further 20s. to thirty masses of St George, at an unspecified location.61 Several factors thus make King James IV a potential patron of the panels: he knew Cowie well and apparently enjoyed staying there several times; he gave generous donations to the chapel; and was a paid-up devotee of Saints Sebastian and George. He was also well acquainted with the woodcarving of John Fendour, employing him directly at Falkland Palace and witnessing his work at King’s College Chapel, Aberdeen.62 But Cowie was not the king’s chapel, and another patron had even more of a vested interest in the place. At this period one rector of Fetteresso stands out as a likely patron. Patrick Panter (c. 1470–1519) was born in Montrose and was educated at the Colle`ge de Montaigu in Paris and the University of Louvain. In 1505 he became tutor to the two illegitimate sons of James IV, and was personal secretary to the king. By 1507 he was rector of Fetteresso, and preceptor of the Hospital of St Mary at Montrose, and by 1515 was abbot of Cambuskenneth. By 1517 he was ambassador in Paris and died there in 1519. In spite of all his ecclesiastical preferment and responsibilities, he never became a priest. He fathered two children, one of whom, David, became bishop of Ross.63 Here then was a man who had received the highest form of Renaissance education in France and the Low Countries, who also lived a life split between the joys of the flesh with his mistress Margaret Crichton, and his role as rector and abbot. Like his monarch and friend, a personal devotion to Saints George and Sebastian would even have been appropriate under his circumstances. Patrick Panter was also a substantial patron of art. Eighteen carved panels and a door were discovered during the 19th century in Montrose, identified by Panter’s coat of arms.64 Their original location is not known but Patrick had numerous connections with the town, being born at Newmanswells (near present Borrowfield, north of Montrose) and refounding the hospital at Montrose in 1517.65 The Montrose panels could have come from either of these locations or even from the parish church where oral history records they were rescued between 1780 and 1790 when the church was being demolished.66 On these panels, one sees striking examples of Patrick Panter’s taste for ornamental floral work together with satirical scenes of foxy friars, and lastly the two affronted pigs (Fig. 18).67 In this context, where the prancing pigs are either side of an oak tree, the composition is similar to the Bestiary image of hedgehogs harvesting grapes for their young, while the meaning is attached to the Labour of the Month, generally October or November, when pigs rootle in the forest for acorns.68 Although their earliest recorded use is in a pulpit, the subject matter of the Fetteresso panels does not suggest this was their initial location. The only medieval pulpit to survive in Scotland, made for Bishop William Stewart in St Machar’s Cathedral in the 1530s, includes foliage and secular heads in roundels, but their demeanour is appropriately serious and formal.69 The mixture of bawdy and sacred themes, suggests that another type of furniture such as an aumbry would have been more suitable. Such an aumbry, with panels showing a mixture of figures, animals and foliage is built into a niche at Kinnairdy Castle, Banffshire, from around 1500, and the free-standing cupboard from Pittenweem has already been mentioned (Fig. 2). At Fyvie Castle, from 177

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Fig. 18.

The Panter Panels, from Montrose, in the National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh

Image: from Reid, as n. 64. I am grateful to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland for permission to reproduce this image

Fig. 19.

The Panter Panels, from Montrose, detail

# National Museums of Scotland. Photo: Author

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perhaps later in the 16th century, there are carved scenes now made into wall panelling which include a Virgin and Child, and a jubilantly brazen bare-breasted woman.70 The visits and bequests of King James IV bestowed royal largesse on Cowie between 1501 and 1507. This coincided with Patrick Panter becoming rector of its mother-kirk Fetteresso by 1507. We see that both the king and Patrick shared a taste for the earthly joys of life, including clearly a sense of humour, while both served as representatives of Christian virtue. It may be no coincidence that the chosen saints George and Sebastian were especially efficacious in procuring a safe passage to heaven for those who left repentance to their last breath. Both James and Patrick spoke French fluently and would have been able to appreciate the alorgis inscription. An appropriate period for the construction of the panels would therefore have been between 1507 and Panter’s death in 1519. While the panels could have been designed for Fetteresso itself, their prominent display, perhaps as a cupboard, at Cowie, would have attracted more attention from discerning viewers like the king, complementing his evenings of ‘belcheir’.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Malcolm Jones for his considerable help in finding comparisons in the works of Pigouchet and Kerver. John Coyne generously helped with the photography. Richard Emerson, Fern Insh, Margaret Jubb and Glynn Hesketh also provided valuable assistance.

NOTES 1. The New Statistical Account of Scotland, 15 vols (Edinburgh 1834–45), II, Kincardineshire 265. 2. J. B. Burnett, The Kirks of Cowie and Fetteresso (Stonehaven 1933), 37–38. 3. Geraldine Simpson, Obituary, Herald Scotland, 15 February 2010, http://www.heraldscotland.com/ comment/obituaries/geraldine-simpson-last-pringle-dynasty-member-and-castle-chatelaine-1.1006729 [accessed 26 June 2015]. 4. Burnett, Kirks (as n. 2) 20; Sir John Sinclair ed., The Statistical Account of Scotland 1791–1799, 20 vols (Wakefield 1973–83), XII, 595. The Statistical Account mentions that there were pools of water on the floor in the 1790s, which might explain some variable staining on the saints’ panels. 5. Each door is 61 cm6165 cm; foliage panels 43 cm627 cm; Pigs and Mermaid panels 43 cm649 cm; St George and St Sebastian 43 cm653 cm. 6. Edinburgh, National Museum of Scotland, HKL16. This cupboard has three panels containing heads in roundels on each door leaf, while down the side, covering the same height, are four plain panels. Above the doors are further panels of different sizes. 7. S. Simpson, ‘The Choir Stalls and Canopies’, in King’s College Chapel, Aberdeen, 1500–2000, ed. J. Geddes, rev. 2nd edn, (Leeds 2014), 74–94, at figs 6.4, 6.13. 8. J. J. Reid, ‘Notice of a carved door and eighteen panels, from an old house in Montrose’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 14 (1881–82), 61–68; D. McRoberts and S. M. Holmes, Lost Interiors: the Furnishings of Scottish Churches in the Later Middle Ages (Edinburgh 2012), 77. 9. Simpson, ‘Choir Stalls’ (as n. 7), 74, 88. 10. Ibid., 90. 11. D. H. Caldwell, ‘The Beaton Panels — Scottish Carvings of the 1520s or 1530s’, in Medieval Art and Architecture in the Diocese of St Andrews, ed. J. Higgitt, BAA Trans., xiv (1994), 174–84, pl. XXVIII A. 12. London, British Museum, BM, E,1.27, http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/ collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?assetId=45746001&objectId=1356163&partId=1 [accessed 17 February 2016]. 13. All references to misericords are illustrated on the website; Elaine C. Block, Database of Misericords: http://ica.princeton.edu/misericordia/index.php [accessed 27 July 2014], hereafter Block Database. Monasterio de San Jero´nimo, Yuste: E. Block, Corpus of Medieval Misericords: Iberia (Turnhout 2004), 16–17. 14. S. Riches, St George, Hero, Martyr and Myth (Stroud 2005), with numerous illustrations of the theme.

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jane geddes 15. London, British Museum, 1854, 0812.44, http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/ collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?assetId=906222001&objectId=3312612&partId=1 [accessed 17 February 2016]. 16. Riches, St George (as n. 14), pl. 5.7; Pere Nissart and Raphael Moger, St George and the Dragon, Diocesan Museum, Majorca. 17. British Museum, 1872, 0608.316. German style woodcut, 1440–50, http://www.britishmuseum.org/ research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?assetId= 43726001&objectId=1348379&partId=1 [accessed 17 February 2016]. 18. British Museum, Daniel Hopfer etching. 1845,0809.1329. German, 1505–36, http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/ collection_image_gallery.aspx?assetId=1325072001&objectId=1445823&partId=1 and http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=120691 [accessed 17 February 2016]; F. W. H. Hollstein, German engravings, etchings and woodcuts c.1400–1700 (Amsterdam 1954), 50.1. 19. H. Farmer, Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Oxford 1978), 156, 166–67, 352–63. 20. See Ditchburn, this volume, 9. 21. The Survey of Dedications to Saints in Medieval Scotland, http://www.shca.ed.ac.uk/Research/saints/ provides a full list of documents, locations and references relating to these saints. J. Cooper ed., Cartularium Ecclesiae Sancti Nicolai Aberdonensis, 2 vols, New Spalding Club (Aberdeen 1888–92), II, 2, 31, 67–68; C. Innes ed., Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis, 2 vols, Spalding Club 13 and 14 (Edinburgh 1845), I, 347–48. 22. J. Stuart ed., Extracts from the Council Registers of the Burgh of Aberdeen, 1398–1570, Spalding Club 12 (Aberdeen 1854), 451. 23. Oxford, Bodleian Library, 8o H 6 Th.BS., Sig.Y.viiiv & Sig Z.ir. Philippe Pigouchet, Hore presentes ad usum Sarum (Paris 1502). STC 15897, image 10. Early English Books Online. http://gateway.proquest.com/ openurl?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2003&res_id=xri:eebo&rft_id=xri:eebo:image:21444:10 [accessed 17 February 2016]. 24. Book of Hours printed in Paris by Thielman Kerver, 1503, 18: http://purl.pt/24630/1/index.html#/ 18/html [accessed 17 February 2016]. 25. C. Gro¨ssinger, The World Upside-Down (London 1997), 69; M. D. Anderson, History and Imagery in British Churches (Edinburgh 1971), 215, 216; G. L. Remnant, A Catalogue of Misericords in Great Britain (Oxford 1969), 46, http://ica.princeton.edu/misericordia/display.php?country=Great Britain&site=263&view =site&page=1&image=7230 [accessed 7 August 2015]. 26. http://ica.princeton.edu/misericordia/display.php?country=Spain&site=55&view=site&page= 1&image=3064 [accessed 24 June 2015]. 27. http://ica.princeton.edu/misericordia/display.php?country=Switzerland&site=62&view=site&page= 1&image=3449 [accessed 24 June 2015]. 28. Pers. comm. 29. H. Cheape, Bagpipes, a national collection of a national instrument (Edinburgh 2008), 26. 30. F. Bond, Wood Carvings in English Churches, 2 vols (Oxford 1910), I, Misericords 175. 31. Cheape, Bagpipes (as n. 29), 26–27. 32. Ibid., 30. 33. As featured on http://ica.princeton.edu/misericordia/main.php [accessed 21 April 2015]. 34. M. Jones, ‘The Secular Badges’ in Heilig en Profaan 1: 1000 Laatmiddeleeuwse insignes uit de collectie H.J.E. van Beuningen, ed. H. J. E. Beuningen, Rotterdam Papers, VIII (1993), 102, 268; M. Jones, ‘The Sexual and Secular Badges’, in Heilig en Profaan 2: 1200 Laatmiddeleeuwse insignes uit openbare en particuliere collecties, ed. H. J. E. Beuningen, Rotterdam Papers, XII (2001), 196–206. 35. London, British Library, MS Sloane 748, fol. 82v. 14th-century English. Aristotle, De celo et mundo. Scribe signed: Malcolmj Ramzay. http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID= 1283&CollID=9&NStart=748 [accessed 19 January 2016]. M. Jones, The Secret Middle Ages (Stroud 2002), 109, 153–54. 36. Bodleian Library, STC 15909. Gough Missals 87, Sig. Bi v and Biir, Thielman Keruer, Hore beatissime virginis Marie ad usum Sariesburiensis ecclesie, 1510, p. 159. British Library, STC 15887, Philippe Pigouchet, Hore presents ad usum Sarum, 1498, http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2003&res_id= xri:eebo&rft_id=xri:eebo:image:5847:5 [accessed 7 August 2015]. 37. Ripon Minster, 1489–94; Durham Castle, Bishop Tunstall’s Chapel, originally made for Auckland Palace in the time of Bishop Ruthall, 1508–09; Beverley Minster, 1520; Richmond, Yorks, after 1520. From Remnant, Catalogue (as n. 25) 182, 42, 174, 181. 38. D. and H. Kraus, The Gothic Choirstalls of Spain (London 1986), 75.

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Piping Pigs and Mermaid Groping 39. M. Jones, ‘Metal-cut border ornaments in Parisian Books of Hours as design sources for sixteenthcentury English works of art’ in Publishing the Fine and Applied Arts 1500–2000, ed. R. Myers et al. (London 2012), 17–33, fig. 1. (STC 15896, sig.b.iii verso). http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?ctx_ver=Z39.882003&res_id=xri:eebo&rft_id=xri:eebo:image:173271:11 [accessed 17 February 2016].. 40. Jones, ‘Metal-cut border ornaments’ (as n. 39), 21, 31. 41. John Rastell, A new co[m]modye in englysh. STC 20721, reel position, 1286:08. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2003&res_id=xri:eebo&rft_id=xri:eebo:image: 19968:15 [accessed 17 February 2016]. 42. Simpson, ‘Choir Stalls’ (as n. 7), 74–131. 43. Ibid., 91. 44. Caldwell, ‘Beaton Panels’ (as n. 11), 179–81, pl. XXIX b–c. 45. John Higgitt, ‘The Foundation Inscription’, in King’s College Chapel, Aberdeen, 1500–2000, ed. J. Geddes, rev. 2nd edn (Leeds 2014), 66–73, at 68. 46. Higgitt, ‘Inscription’ (as n. 45), 67–68. There is a further discussion of this lettering in the context of James IV in A. Harrison, ‘A small Scottish chest’, Regional Furniture, 26 (2012), 13–20. 47. In the frontispiece to his Use of Sarum 1502, the letters of Pigouchet’s name have the little knobs but not the ‘bites’ (as n. 23), frontispiece, Image 1, reel position: STC 88:04. http://gateway.proquest.com/ openurl?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2003&res_id=xri:eebo&rft_id=xri:eebo:image:21444. The frontispiece to Kerver’s 1497 Use of Sarum shows his name in capitals, with both the knobs and notches. http://gateway.proquest.com/ openurl?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2003&res_id=xri:eebo&rft_id=xri:eebo:image:5844 [accessed 17 February 2016]. 48. Pers. comm. 49. http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/orgie [accessed 24 June 2015]. From Tre´sor de la Langue Franc¸aise, «feˆtes solennelles en l’honneur de Bacchus» (Regnaud Le Queux, Doleance de Me´ge`re das Le Jardin de Plaisance, 1469 [e´d. 1501], e´d. E. Droz et A. Piaget, t.1, foc V roa). 50. E. Winternitz, Musical Instruments and their Symbolism in Western Art (London 1967), 150–56. Pl. 70a illustrates a painting of the contest by Michelangelo Anselmi from 1540, from Samuel H. Kress collection, National Gallery, Washington D.C., in which the classical aulos has been rendered as contemporary 15th-century bagpipes. Pallas Athene looks at her face in a lake, distorted and made ugly by blowing pipes. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M_Anselmi_Apolo_y_Marsyas_1540_National_Gallery_Washington_Samuel_H_Kress_col.jpg. Pl. 70b shows an engraving by Benedetto Montagna, 1515–20, Contest between Apollo and Marsyas, also with bagpipes. http://www.iconos.it/le-metamorfosi-di-ovidio/libro-vi/apollo-emarsia/immagini/35-apollo-e-marsia/ [accessed 24 June 2015]. 51. Stirling Heads, Edinburgh, National Museum of Scotland, H 1993–80, and at Stirling Castle. Bishop Stewart’s pulpit from St Machar’s Cathedral, now in King’s Chapel, Aberdeen. R. Emerson, ‘Bishop Stewart’s Pulpit’, in King’s College Chapel, Aberdeen (as n. 45), 171–79, at fig. 11.1. 52. Burnett, Kirks (as n. 2), 8: ‘with no prejudice to the mother church of Fetteresso’. 53. Kerr-Peterson, this volume, 101, and his note 20. 54. RCAHMS Canmore, NO88NE 21. http://canmore.org.uk/site/36900/cowie-castle [accessed 25 August 2015]. 55. P. Yeoman, Pilgrimage in Medieval Scotland (Edinburgh 1999), 101–09. 56. T. Dickson et al. ed., Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, 1473–96, 13 vols (Edinburgh 1877), I, 324; Sir J. Balfour Paul ed., Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland AD 1500–1504 (Edinburgh, 1900), II, xxii, p. 75, 25 October 1501, 9s. to Our Lady Kirk at Cowie; 3 December, £3 to priests at Cowie; p. 255, 1503, 20s. to priests at Cowie; p. 265, 1504, £3 to priest at Cowie; p. 124, 1501, 5s. to the pur folk at Cowee; p. 465, 1504, 3s. to poor folks at Cowie. Sir J. Balfour Paul ed., Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, 1505–1507 (Edinburgh 1901), III, p. 67, 1505, £3 alms to the priest at Cowie; p. 294, 1507, 14s. to priests at Cowie; p. 415, 1507, buying a horse at Cowie; p. 415, 1507, ‘to the kingis belcheir quhair he dynit and drank at Cowy’. 57. Yeoman, Pilgrimage (as n. 55), 105. 58. Edinburgh, National Museum of Scotland, H Kl 131. 59. Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer (as n. 55), I, 324. 60. Cartularium Ecclesiae (as n. 21), 67–68. 61. Accounts of Lord High Treasurer (as n. 56), I, 330. 62. Simpson ‘Choir Stalls’ (as n. 7), 91. 63. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/21234 [accessed 7 July 2014]. 64. J. J. Reid, ‘Notice of a carved oak door and eighteen panels, from an old house in Montrose’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 16 (1881–82), 61–68. 65. Dictionary of National Biography (as n. 63).

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jane geddes 66. Reid, ‘Notice’ (as n. 64), 68. 67. The thistle panel on top left is not carved in the same way as the Fetteresso thistles, resembling neither the stem nor the head. 68. The Aberdeen Bestiary, Aberdeen University Library, MS 24, fol. 24r. https://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/ jpeg/com_det/h_hogs.jpg [accessed 24 June 2015]. Calendar scene for November, for instance, Tre`s Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, Chantilly, Muse´e Conde´, MS 65. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ a5/Les_Tr%C3%A8s_Riches_Heures_du_duc_de_Berry_novembre.jpg [accessed 22 April 2015]. 69. Emerson, ‘Pulpit’ (as n. 51), 171–80. 70. J. S. Richardson, ‘Unrecorded Scottish Woodcarvings’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 60 (1925–26), 384–408, at 400–01. Fyvie panels: Canmore, http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/ 19091/digital_images/fyvie+castle/?&sort_typ=archnum&sort_ord=asc&show=all [accessed 24 June 2015]. The panels do not necessarily originate from Fyvie Castle because its 19th-century owner Alexander ForbesLeith collected antiquities from all over Scotland.

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The Arbuthnott Manuscripts: The Patronage and Production of Illuminated Books in Late Medieval Scotland JULIAN LUXFORD

Three illuminated manuscripts survive from Arbuthnott, a village in the Mearns (now in Aberdeenshire, but historically in Kincardineshire). Together they make a unique little clutch: a psalter, book of hours and rather grand missal, all written at Arbuthnott between c. 1480 and 1492 by one scribe for the same patrons. Although now in the Paisley Museum, they were until 1897 in the hands of the family for which they were originally made. Their illumination, a mixture of border-work, historiated initials and full-page miniatures, was not done at Arbuthnott, but there are good reasons for thinking it Scottish. Unlike the script of the books it is in several hands, suggesting that it was produced in a workshop. The uncertainty about it is symptomatic of a broader ambiguity concerning the illumination of medieval books made for Scottish use. Although this overarching problem cannot be tackled directly here, what is said of the Arbuthnott manuscripts is intended to contribute to how it is understood. As well as constituting a remarkable group, the three manuscripts contain many interesting features, not least in regard to St Ternan, the patron saint of Arbuthnott church. Several of these features are discussed in this essay. keywords: Arbuthnott, Scottish manuscripts, illumination, missal, psalter, books of hours, St Ternan Arbuthnott is a sequestered village in the Mearns, the belt of rich, undulating country that runs south and west of Aberdeen between the foothills of the Grampians and the North Sea (Fig. 1). It may have been a site of an early Celtic monastery: today, the buildings of historical interest are a largely medieval church dedicated to St Ternan, a supposed evangelizer of the Picts in the 6th century, and the largely Georgian seat of the lairds of Arbuthnott, who were seized of the surrounding country by 1200 but always local in their pretensions.1 In the late Middle Ages, the inhabitants of these two institutions, church and house, operated as a sort of cultural unit, each benefiting from the patronage and reputation of the other, identifying with Ternan as a benefactor to rank with Christ and the Virgin Mary, and engaging in ambitious campaigns of building and spiritual embellishment with materials and objects drawn from common sources. To the modern visitor, the sense of geographical remoteness makes the survival of three religious manuscripts, along with a printed Golden Legend, from this place seem both extraordinary and at the same time intelligible as a reason why it would have been possible for such objects to survive a Protestant climate in which ‘no book [was] spared, wher any reid letter wes to seene’.2 As a fact of bibliographical # British Archaeological Association 2016

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Fig. 1.

Aerial view of Arbuthnott and its surrounds, looking north-north-east and centred on Arbuthnott house and parish church Reproduced with permission of RCAHMS Enterprises

history, the extraordinariness is certainly real enough, for it is hard to think of any other place or institution in medieval Britain (let alone Scotland) still represented by an illuminated missal, psalter and book of hours made for local use, and indeed there can be few parishes in Europe which boast such a trinity. But, for all that, Arbuthnott was not as isolated by medieval standards as one might think, and the decoration of the manuscripts is one witness to the fact. In an essay of this length, one has to pick one’s battles. Accordingly, I will not discuss the textual content of the books, but concentrate instead on their commission and manufacture, under the headings ‘scribal work and patronage’ and ‘illumination’. These topics inevitably raise the broader question of the opportunities that existed for commissioning illumination in late medieval Scotland, a subject never extensively examined in print, but as usefully approached through the Arbuthnott manuscripts as any other surviving objects.3 The manuscripts’ heuristic value thus transcends the focus of the current volume, and, with this in mind, I hope the following remarks will be understood, along with Marlene Hennessy’s accompanying essay, as a contribution to an important historical problem. To begin with, it should be noted that these books are not new to scholarship. A learned edition of the missal’s text was printed in 1864 which included a brief 184

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description of all three of them, the Historical Manuscripts Commission noticed them again in 1881, and a descriptive article emerged a decade later.4 Since then, however, they have received little detailed notice from anyone except Neil Ker, although scholars are certainly aware of them and they feature in a selection of exhibition catalogues and other general works.5 Despite their hospitableness to the nation-conscious research agendas of Scottish universities and heritage institutions, their liturgical familiarity, standard of illumination and current location have evidently combined to check scholarly enthusiasm. The texts of the missal and hours follow the Use of Sarum, the normal liturgical use of later medieval Scotland. While indigenous saints have colonized the calendar and litany of each book, Ternan alone receives special emphasis, and this is more obviously due to local partiality than what has been called ‘liturgical patriotism’.6 There are offices of Scottish saints in the missal, but these, as the manuscript’s editor pointed out, are regional differentiae of a sort that might also be expected in an English book of the type.7 For its part, the illumination is of a technical and aesthetic character to which art historians have tended to stoop with condescension, if at all. And the manuscripts are now located in a regional museum at Paisley, to the west of Glasgow, to which they were given after their sale by the Arbuthnott family in 1897.8 In this location they are perfectly accessible, and their current curators would like them to receive more attention. But the simple fact that Paisley is beyond the normal scholarly orbit has played a part in discouraging research. scribal work and patronage All three manuscripts were written out by the same scribe, a man named James Sibbald, who appears to have been parish priest at Arbuthnott from 1471 until his death in 1507.9 Sibbald was also a notary public, and served as chaplain and probably factotum to Robert, the twelfth laird of Arbuthnott and second of that name (d. 1506: henceforth ‘Robert II’). For reasons that will appear, their illumination is in each case likely to have been done in Scotland, although some of it may be the work of expatriate foreigners: this intractable issue will not be settled here, and it is unlikely that it could ever be resolved on the basis of existing evidence. While they have generally been categorized as ‘liturgical’, only one — the missal — really fits this description. The other two are large devotional books for personal use, although the psalter, at least, ended up in the keeping of the church fairly soon after it was made, and may originally have been conceived as a ‘gift psalter’ which would serve to commemorate its donor.10 The missal’s association with the mass, its larger size and the greater pains that have been taken over its appearance, all convey its superior prestige. However, the psalter was made before it and the book of hours also seems to be earlier, and it is thus convenient to think in terms of a sequence beginning with the psalter and book of hours and progressing to the missal. Knowledge of these manuscripts’ origins is greatly enhanced by inscriptions contained within them, which include direct references to commission, manufacture and donation. Even without this explicit testimony, a local provenance would be sealed for all three by the inclusion of the dedication of Arbuthnott church (3 August) in the hand of the text in their calendars (psalter, fol. 8r; hours, fol. 4v; missal, fol. 9v), as well as the general prominence of Ternan in both text and image. In theory, Ternan might have received such attention elsewhere: his relics, for example, were kept at Banchory, some seventeen miles in a straight line to the north-west. But the Ternan-Arbuthnott association is variously expressed in these books, most prominently in the missal, where an invocation of the saint which mentions the church is 185

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placed immediately before the petitions to God in the canon of the mass (fol. 98r), and the running heading ‘Liber sancti [sometimes ‘‘beati’’] terrenani’ (on the versos) and ‘Ecclesie de Arbuthnot’ (on the rectos) is visible at any given opening of the manuscript. The direct references mentioned above are in several hands and all in Latin. Where, as in most cases, the Latin has been printed elsewhere, I will restrict myself to translations.11 The psalter has a colophon in the text hand (fol. 142r): That honourable man Robert Arbuthnott of the ilk, son of the former David Arbuthnott of the ilk, of blessed memory and devoted to God, caused this book to be written and completed on the fourth day of March in the year of our Lord 1482 [modern 1483], in the first indiction, by the hand of James Sybbalde, chaplain. On whose souls may Jesus Christ have mercy, Amen.

At the beginning (fol. iii verso), in a later hand, is the declaration that ‘This book of the psalms of David pertains to the holy chapel of the glorious Virgin, and was freely entrusted [traditus] to the same by Robert Arbuthnott, founder of the same [chapel] in the year of our Lord 1506’. The references here are to Robert II, who died, as noted, in 1506; so the psalter was almost certainly a bequest, and as such a utensil of the chantry he founded in the Lady Chapel in 1505 with his second wife, Mariota Scrymgeour (d. 1518).12 A third inscription, which has a fable-esque ring and is written in a somewhat later hand (fol. 142v), reads ‘May this book survive [stet] until an ant shall drink the waters of the sea, and a tortoise shall walk around the whole earth. Robertus de Arbuthnot’. If the style of the hand is a reliable guide then this refers to Robert III, laird from 1521 to 1579, in which case the inscription can be taken as an aspiration either that the psalter remain in the Lady Chapel forever or else that it survive the great destruction of religious books that went on in Scotland from c. 1560. Which of these alternatives is correct obviously depends on when it was written: one is inclined to date it late and think it unrelated to the chapel, because although it is in a large, formal hand, and thus meant to be noticed, its location and eccentric wording are not those of an ex libris or anathema against theft. The religious books must, moreover, have been taken out of the church at the Reformation (that is, in 1559–60). As an oblique comment on the contemporary fate of such books it would be highly interesting. There is no such explicit documentation in the book of hours, but the missal includes a declaration of Robert’s patronage, inserted in the text hand immediately before the canon of the mass (fol. 98r): ‘Robert Arbuthnott, son of David, a man to be commemorated, and James Sybbald, once a vicar of Arbuthnott, devout men, have presented this missal to the high altar of the gracious bishop Ternan’.13 This is part of a compound paragraph, in convoluted prose, which also includes a prayer to St Ternan for the patrons, their families and all his supplicants (that is, the people of the parish), plus an anathema commanding that the book remain in Arbuthnott Church. At the end of the column, in a space left for the purpose, it is recorded that the book was finished at Arbuthnott on the feast of St Peter’s Chair (22 February) in 1491 (modern 1492): this is in the same hand but different ink. Then, at the end of the manuscript (fol. 247r), there is a more conventionally worded colophon which does not name Robert II but repeats the information that Sibbald finished writing the missal in his own hand at Arbuthnott church on the date mentioned, and states that the book was completed on that date.14 The manuscript was illuminated after being written out, but if Sibbald added the colophon and the note about completion on fol. 98r after receiving the decorated and bound missal back from wherever this work was done, then this claim about the book’s consummation, which is after all rather insistent, can be taken literally. Here, in the colophon, Sibbald styled himself ‘vicarius’ rather than ‘quondam vicarius’, so the 186

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‘quondam’ in the inscription before the canon is prospective, written with an eye to a long posterity, and does not indicate some temporary lapse of his tenure. The fact that the writing out (if not the illumination) of the psalter and missal was completed in March and February respectively means that these books were begun in what by modern reckoning were the previous calendar years (so, 1482 and 1491). Indeed, given its length and the quality and ornamental character of its script, the missal may have been the work of several years, particularly if Sibbald was pressed during the period with priestly and notarial business. It must anyway have been difficult for him to get a clear run at such tasks. A contemporary parallel for such protraction would be the time taken by one of the beadles of the University of St Andrews (probably John Boswell of the Faculty of Arts) to write out a ‘great breviary’ for King James IV. This work was in progress in 1502 and completed in 1506.15 Irregular royal funding is unlikely to have been the cause of this — James was always commissioning books and buying others off the peg — but rather the painstaking nature of the work, which must have been of high quality, coupled with the various and considerable demands upon the beadle’s time. This does not exhaust the information about patronage, dating and functional context contained in the manuscripts. The book of hours, which is clearly in Sibbald’s hand (though this is nowhere stated), has a rubric before the Adoro te which calls Sixtus IV ‘papa modernus’, that is, ‘the current pope’ (fol. 65v).16 As Sixtus reigned from 1471 to 1484, this has been cited in the past as evidence that the manuscript was written during this period, a reasonable assumption as long as one allows that it could simply have been carried over from the exemplar (a qualm which presumably occurred to Neil Ker, who, while he recognized the hand as Sibbald’s, would only commit himself to the date ‘s. xv/xvi’).17 Against the idea of unwitting transcription is Sibbald’s legal-mindedness, which is apparent in the tone and wording of some of the inscriptions. Legal-mindedness tends to fastidiousness about dates; and, as a notary, Sibbald was in no doubt about which pope was the current one. In fact, he included the pontifical year (8 Innocent VIII) in the colophon at the end of the missal, and also, as in the psalter, the year of indiction. After Sibbald died, someone recorded his obit date (22 August 1507) and a little biographical information about him in the missal’s calendar.18 He was, it says, a public scribe ‘satis correcti’: this is reiterated in an obit added to the book of hours in the mid-16th century (fol. 81v).19 This enthusiasm was apparently induced by the attractiveness of Sibbald’s hand over and above his accuracy and probity as a writer of muniments, for the note’s writer offers the missals in the church of Arbuthnott as evidence of his quality: ‘testantibus missalibus huius ecclesie’. Use of the plural here begs a question about the compass of Sibbald’s scribal activity, specifically, whether or not this missal was the zenith of a larger effort of book making at Arbuthnott that went beyond the three surviving manuscripts. In fact, as well as the ‘missals of this church’, the obit in the book of hours refers its readers to the ‘many other volumes written by him’.20 ‘Many’ (multis) may be an exaggeration of ‘two’, but one is inclined to think otherwise, particularly as it is coupled with ‘missals’. Sibbald is said to have been vicar at Arbuthnott for over thirty-five years, and was probably a notary for longer than he was a priest (Scottish notaries were not supposed to hold benefices, and Sibbald may have already been one when instituted).21 Given this, his production of more books is a chronological possibility, and his vocation can only have inclined him towards the task, as well as recommending him for it to the patron or patrons who commissioned him and supplied the raw materials. Sibbald was uncommonly well suited to such work. Beside his utilitarian, notarial hand (some impression 187

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of which can be had from the secretary script in which the first two leaves of the missal are written), he wrote the handsome textura which makes the dominant aesthetic impression in the surviving books.22 He was also a mature rubricator by 1482–83, as shown by the variation of formal types and grades of script in the calendar of the psalter. Such technical self-assurance makes the notion that this volume represents his first attempt to make such an object very difficult to accept. Here and elsewhere, his work abounds in the ad hoc elaborations characteristic of commercially written books. Thus, to give one example from each manuscript, the dominical letter (‘a’) is playfully accommodated in its own enclave within in the large red ‘K’ (of ‘Kalendas’) on fol. 1r of the psalter; a hole in the parchment in the tail margin of a leaf in the hours is wittily associated with a mouth by drawing a little face over it and incorporating this face into the words ‘est os’ (‘it is a mouth’, and ‘it is a face’: fol. 13r) (Fig. 2); and the ‘A’ of ‘Arbuthnot’ has been elongated in one of the running headings in the missal to include a quizzical face that suggests a pope in his tiara (fol. 177v).23 Coupled with the quality of the hand and general lack of mistakes in the organization of the books, these marks of savoir-faire indicate professional acumen rather than casual book production, making it appear likely that Sibbald wrote other religious manuscripts, including at least one further missal for local use.

Fig. 2. Arbuthnott hours, fol. 13r: detail showing humorous accommodation of a hole in the parchment Reproduced by permission of Paisley Museum

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Taken together, the various pieces of evidence highlight the benefits of coincidence between a motivated, solvent patron and a highly capable craftsman who also happened to be a priest. Undoubtedly, the Arbuthnott manuscripts owe their existence to what in rural Scotland was a highly unusual alignment. The missal in particular indicates this. Few if any rural parish churches in Scotland can have acquired a missal of such ambition and quality during this period (Fig. 3). Among surviving manuscript missals made for or given to English parishes in the late Middle Ages, only the Lapworth missal is obviously more impressive by art historical standards.24 Indeed, as in England, the trend at the end of the 15th century was towards purchase of printed books, and in other circumstances, St Ternan’s might have ended up with a mass-produced, paper missal like those surviving from Dundee (1494: now only a fragment) and St Nicholas’s church at Aberdeen (1506), or for that matter the ‘thre mes bukis prentit’ purchased for the king in 1502.25 It would have been the poorer for this, not least in aesthetic terms; and such a missal would not have afforded Ternan the extraordinary prominence he has in the existing manuscript (a matter discussed below). Some impression of the difference can be had by comparing the Arbuthnott missal to the printed Golden Legend given to the church by one of its rectors around 1485 (Fig. 4).26 For all its historical interest, the incunabulum looks lifeless next to the manuscript, and must always have done so. It conveyed information about sanctity but gave no impression of embodying it. Any balanced consideration of why such a grand missal was provided should range beyond the generic reasons of devotion and desire for commemoration to consider Robert II’s patronage more broadly. This patronage was exercised strategically, in an attempt to solidify and augment his family’s local and regional status. He was an effective acquirer of lands and privileges for his lordship, and he extensively fortified and improved his early-15th-century residence, converting it into a small castle with embattled enceinte and gatehouse. This building work answered a request of James IV in 1490 (‘kepe zour howsys and strenthis to zour behuf and owrs’), a catalyst which may have acted to improve his reputation.27 Shortly afterwards he commissioned the apsidal Lady Chapel which overshadows the church on the south side (Fig. 5). This was equipped with an over-chamber and embellished externally with monumental sculpture: the images have gone, but the richly worked tabernacles are evidence of a concern for delight as well as commodity. A perpetual chaplaincy was endowed and a house built for its priest. Robert II also gave two bells to the parish church.28 This activity amounted to an assertion of family prerogatives signified by visual dominance. The provision of bells and a missal to the parish, which were ritually necessary and ostentatious objects, represent a voluntary extension of Robert II’s influence to an institution he lived cheek-by-jowl with but had neither formal obligations nor legal rights to. (St Ternan’s, with its vicarage, was annexed to the collegiate church of St Mary on the Rock in St Andrews.)29 This is not to politicize the manuscripts unduly: Robert II’s fundamental motive for seeking this influence will have been the old one of obtaining intercession for himself and the ancestors to whom he owed his status. With somewhat different emphasis, Sibbald’s gift of labour, which is presumably what his role in the patronage of the missal amounted to, cemented his loyalty to both his secular patron and the parish he served, whose vicars had their own, institutional lineage, recorded in the martyrology and whatever tombs they left in and around the church. Finally, in positing a role for the Arbuthnott manuscripts in a narrative of strategic patronage, it is important to consider the agency of Mariota Scrymgeour alongside that of her husband. Mariota features more largely in Marlene Hennessy’s essay, where the book of hours is more squarely the focus, but it is worth noting here the routine fact 189

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Fig. 3.

Arbuthnott missal, fol. 12r: opening page of the temporal, with texts for Advent Reproduced by permission of Paisley Museum

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Fig. 4. Dunedin Public Library, RBC Jac 1476, fol. 1r. Legenda aurea sanctorum, sive Lombardica historia (Cologne, Conrad Winters: 1476). The Arbuthnott ex libris is at the top of the page Reproduced with permission of Dunedin Public Library

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Fig. 5.

Arbuthnott, parish church of St Ternan: the apsidal Lady Chapel, from the south-east Photo: Reproduced with permission of RCAHMS Enterprises

that husband and wife exercised spiritual patronage jointly. Both are documented as founders of the chantry in the Lady Chapel, and both sought, and were accepted into confraternity with, the Knights of St John of Jerusalem and the Observant Franciscans during the period in which the manuscripts were made.30 Given the broader evidence for female use of decorated prayer books, a phenomenon which fed the gender stereotyping of the Scots poet William Dunbar in the years around 1500 (as, more famously, 192

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it had fed that of Eustache Deschamps in Paris a century earlier), it seems perfectly possible that Mariota was as much responsible for commissioning the book of hours as Robert II.31 On the evidence of the other two manuscripts, Robert II liked to flag his patronage through inscriptions, whereas there is no such inscription here. And the manuscript was certainly made with a woman in mind, for, as others have noted, the prayers Obsecro te and O intemerata incorporate feminine endings (fols 75v, 76r). While in theory this only narrows the field down to a woman of the Arbuthnott family, Mariota is the obvious candidate.32 The book of hours also seems to have had some association with the Lady Chapel which Mariota founded jointly with Robert II. Evidence for this exists in a collection of obits added to pages originally left blank at the back of the manuscript, which begin with the 5th laird, Duncan II (d. 1314), and end with Robert Arbuthnott of Banff (d. 1551), a son of Robert II and Mariota. These obits seem to have been transcribed all at once from a martyrology kept in the Lady Chapel (and itself apparently dependent on that of the church), because some of them assume that the reader/hearer is standing in that building. Robert is called ‘founder of this aisle’, while Mariota was, with her husband, ‘founder of this aisle in the church of Arbuthnott’.33 The final obit also refers to Robert Arbuthnott of Banff’s parents as ‘founders of this chapel’.34 And Sibbald’s obit, mentioned above, follows in the same hand, evoking the closeness of his relationship to the chapel’s patrons and indicating by its location that Robert of Banff was the last Arbuthnott entered on the original list. It is difficult to know why an older list should have been transcribed into the book of hours in or after 1551. Possibly, the manuscript was not given for use in the chapel until then. But the emphasis on Mariota as well as Robert and the entries for a number of their children underline her status as the most likely original owner, and just as the laird gave his psalter to the chapel, so it is reasonable to think that his lady did the same with her prayer book. What is lacking — and it is, remarkably, lacking in all three Arbuthnott manuscripts — is any heraldic evidence, despite the fact that both Robert II and the Scrymgeours of Dudhope, to whom Mariota belonged, were armigerous.35 illumination While the patron-scribe nexus at Arbuthnott was remarkable enough, it was not entirely self-sufficient. For a start, it is highly unlikely that Sibbald had anything to do with making the late medieval covers of blind-stamped leather over boards which remain on all three books. These covers can receive very little attention here — I have done no detailed research on them — but it should be acknowledged that if they could be localized or even a distribution pattern established for the use of their stamps, then the contacts Robert II, Mariota and Sibbald had with commercial book-makers beyond Arbuthnott might be better understood.36 The question of the patrons’ access to such professional services is of course central to understanding the manuscripts’ illumination. In turning to examine this subject, it is important to recognize the superficiality with which Scottish illumination in general is understood. Too few illuminated books of Scottish use and too few records of production survive to enable the sort of knowledge of workshops and patronage that is possible for England at the time, let alone northern France or the Low Countries. There are numerous references to professional ‘painters’ from pre-Reformation Scotland, but most relate to the embellishment of buildings, ships, monuments or banners, very often with heraldry.37 Were it not for the royal treasury accounts (and these only survive from 1473), then it is unlikely that any certain instance of commercial book illumination involving imagery or foliage could be 193

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named. Even here, one has usually to rely on the inference that things like the great breviary and gospel book illuminated for James IV by Thomas Galbraith at Stirling and the ‘twa bukis to the Kingis chapell’ bound and illuminated by a monk of Culross would have contained such decoration because it was suitable to the magnificence of their patron.38 In general, documents mentioning ‘illumination’ have to be interpreted cautiously: R. J. Lyall pointed to a late-15th-century example from St Andrews in which the term applies only to rubrication.39 Non-commercial figure work in pen and ink, sometimes coloured, is another matter. There are various examples of this from late medieval Scotland which go beyond minor calligraphic embellishments in terms of size and ambition. But such work was almost never thought appropriate for liturgical and devotional books, and it can hardly have occurred to anyone that Sibbald might embellish his manuscripts with scribal drawings of the sort found in the Inchcolm Scotichronicon (1440s) or the academic compilations of Magnus Makculloch (dated 1477) and Malcolm Ramsay (dated 1487: Geddes, Fig. 15, 172).40 Certainly, Scottish patrons purchased and used books which had been illuminated abroad, mainly, on surviving evidence, in Normandy and Flanders. There is no need to dwell on this subject here, or to start citing examples. The salient point is that, in the absence of a strong indigenous tradition, such imported illumination readily exerted an influence on Scottish work, with the inevitable result that it can be difficult or impossible to know on which side of the sea some examples were made.41 As a case in point, it is only because documents show that monks of Cistercian Culross in Fife were commercially producing ‘illuminated’ religious books in the years around 1500, and to a standard fit for the king, that the border work and historiated initials in surviving manuscripts from the same abbey may be confidently thought Scottish. The Culross psalter, which has a figure of David at Psalm 1 and eight pages with decorative borders, is the main example to cite here.42 The possibility that the monks sent abroad for the modicum of painting it contains when they were producing other books right down to the bindings is remote. Yet the borders look like mainstream Flemish work of the period immediately before illusionistic ‘scattered’ compositions became popular: there is the same congested arrangement of tendrils, leaves, flowers and birds against a white parchment background, and the same hard bar frames of black and gold enclose the script. Naturally, it is possible that this and similar work was done by Continental artists living in Scotland, although such individuals cannot have been responsible for everything that survives. James I (d. 1437) ‘brocht oute of Ingland and Flanderis ingenious men of sindry craftis to instruct his pepill in vertewis occupacioun’, and the influx of people no doubt continued, just as it did in the other direction.43 In the context of this inexact science, economy of hypothesis has an important place. Specifically, it is reasonable to doubt that a patron would have bothered to turn to the Continent for small quantities of run-of-the-mill illumination, given the delays, expenses and potential for communication breakdown that this entailed, when such work could be procured in Scotland. Wealthy patrons might order a whole manuscript from a foreign atelier (most famously, the Hours of James IV and Margaret Tudor, now Vienna, ¨ sterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Codex Vindobonensis 1897, for which Thomas O Galbraith’s talents were insufficient), or buy a complete foreign book off the peg (e.g. Edinburgh, University Library, MS 42), but this is something different. All of these considerations have a bearing on the Arbuthnott manuscripts, whose borders and miniatures consistently exhibit Franco-Flemish influence, if not necessarily FrancoFlemish hands. 194

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The number of hands at work in the Arbuthnott manuscripts has never been estimated. It is certain on stylistic grounds that different artists did the figure work in the book of hours (six full-page miniatures) and the missal (one full-page miniature and seven historiated initials). The artist responsible for the single figure initial in the psalter, a four-line ‘B’ containing King David on fol. 13r, was evidently the same individual who painted the initials in the missal: the faces and limbs of the male figures in the larger manuscript are defined and modelled in a very similar way, and the hair of the heads and beards, which bristles outwards in long, individual strands, is identical and distinctive. A particularly good comparison can be made between the psalter’s David and the figures of Joseph at the Nativity and God the Father at Trinity Sunday in the missal (fols 23v, 126r) (Figs 6, 7). In fact, certain differences of treatment within single compositions might be interpreted as evidence that the missal’s initials are by

Fig. 6. Arbuthnott psalter, fol. 13r: detail of initial ‘B’ containing King David Reproduced by permission of Paisley Museum

Fig. 7. Arbuthnott missal, fol. 126r: detail of initial ‘B’ containing the Trinitarian pieta` Reproduced by permission of Paisley Museum

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Fig. 8. Arbuthnott missal, fol. 98v: full-page miniature of St Ternan, facing the canon page Reproduced by permission of Paisley Museum

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two artists rather than one. These differences are most notable in the miniature for the feast of the Ascension, where Mary and John have thinner, more angular faces, defined with sharper, darker lines, than those of the apostles facing them (fol. 116r). But there is no noticeable variation in other respects, and in the Scottish milieu to which this work almost certainly belongs it is more reasonable to envisage a single artist who varied his work in order to enliven it. There is, besides, no obvious reason why more than one artist would have worked on such small images. The full-page miniature in the missal, showing a standing, blessing St Ternan in an architectural setting (fol. 98v), is also by one illuminator, although it is handled differently due to its greater size (e.g. the face is modelled in tones rather than defined by lines), and is conceivably by another artist (Fig. 8). It is candidly Flemish in style: the elongated, large-eyed face combines the quiet gravity, piety and psychological distance (it does not meet the viewer’s gaze) common in later 15th-century panel painting from Ghent and Bruges. It looks rather like a qualitatively reduced version of a figure by Gerard David, and the jewelled mitre and transparent handle of its cross reinforce the impression. Its illusionistic setting of a polygonal apse with tiled pavement, angled, round-headed windows, cloth of honour, and elaborate wooden canopy, the whole space framed by narrow piers with polygonal bases, is more generically Franco-Flemish. One sees this in many manuscripts of the period, including some that were owned by Scots.44 But its quality is insufficient to make the idea that it was made abroad seem possible. Its maker was a trained professional, but, although he had mastered the problem of how to show receding tiles, he was not a very talented draftsman in other respects. The articulation of the body and relationship of the arms to it are rudimentary: perhaps this was not thought to matter very much as long as the mitred head and face were sufficiently appealing. With this in mind, it is safer to think that it was executed in Scotland, together with the manuscript’s initials and the David in the psalter. The fact that the leaf it is on is integral to a quire of ten, with writing on the recto, rather than a singleton which would have been easier to order independently of the rest of the manuscript, supports this conclusion. If this is true of the figure work, then it is also true of the borders, and by extension the large painted initials without figures which occur in all three manuscripts.45 Although the decorative idiom is the same and the vocabulary of floral and foliate motifs largely shared, it seems that a different artist was responsible for the borders of each book.46 Those of the book of hours and missal are similar in their use of black feathery tendrils arranged in interlocking ovals around text and miniatures and supporting a mixture of flowers, fruit, leaves and gold balls (the hours sometimes contrasts green tendrils with black) (Figs 3, 9). However, the missal’s borders are more competently drawn, both as compositions and in the individual motifs; the colour modelling is subtler and they incorporate skilfully painted hybrids not found in the book of hours.47 Its decorative initials are also finer than those of the other two manuscripts. In the psalter, the borders are more densely packed, the combination of motifs and the colour balance are different, and there are often the acanthus corner-pieces which crop up elsewhere in Scottish or Scottish-owned illumination but not in the other Arbuthnott manuscripts.48 Some of these corner-pieces are very well drawn (e.g. fol. 42r), and in terms of quality alone, the borders are close to those of the missal (Fig. 10). Again, there is nothing in these borders to recommend the idea that they were executed overseas, although their arrangement and style are obviously derived from Franco-Flemish illumination.49 The only room for reasonable doubt about commercial involvement in the illumination relates to the book of hours. Its six large miniatures are by a less skilful hand 197

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Fig. 9. Arbuthnott hours, fol. 7v: miniature of St Ternan, on a leaf by itself before the hours of the Virgin Reproduced by permission of Paisley Museum

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Fig. 10.

Arbuthnott psalter, fol. 42r

Reproduced by permission of Paisley Museum

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than those of the other manuscripts, and could as easily be the work of an ambitious amateur as a professional (e.g. Fig. 9).50 They have been attributed to Sibbald, and on the surface of it there is no compelling reason for disqualifying him as a candidate for the work, although one might expect more precise drawing from such a good calligrapher.51 However, there are guide inscriptions for the illuminator in four cases (two others must have been trimmed off), and these show that the leaves were sent elsewhere to be painted. These inscriptions have not been discussed or even noticed for what they are in the past, but they offer an unparalleled insight into a process of book painting in pre-Reformation Scotland. Obviously, such instructions were not needed by the people who commissioned the manuscript, and they are too roughly written and abbreviated to have served for captions: they were meant to be hidden under the stitched tops of the silk curtains which, until relatively recently, covered each miniature.52 Sibbald probably wrote them (there are catchwords in the same hand on fols 8v and 28v). Above the image of St Ternan on fol. 7v, the guide inscription is ‘ymago s[anc]ti t[er]nanj archiepi[scopi] cu[m] cruce i[n] man[u]’, which is interesting in its concern that the patron saint be accorded his proper dignity rather than that of a common prelate with a crosier (Fig. 11). The others are ‘Salutacio b[ea]ti v[ir]g[in]is’ over the Annunciation on fol. 8v, ‘ymago b[ea]te uirgine cu[m] filio suo in brachiis’ on fol. 28v (relating to the Maria in sole on fol. 29v, which was not drawn where originally intended due to a hole in the parchment), and ‘ymago Crucifixi’ over that image on fol. 56v. It seems that the artist was free to interpret whatever the inscriptions did not specify, for the Maria in sole enclosed in a rosary is not the most obvious accompaniment to the opening of the penitential psalms it faces, or for that matter the preceding Marian prayers on fols 27r–28r.53 Although this conclusion about artistic initiative may appear to be compromised by the fact that fol. 29 is a singleton with a blank recto inserted to compensate for the defective fol. 28, this is not really the case. It would only be so if this single leaf had been illuminated in isolation, where the artist could not see the guide inscription. In reality, he is likely to have had all of the quires at his disposal, for the whole book was evidently sent away for illumination, and perhaps binding, by the same workshop.54 Thus, the intriguing miniature on fol. 29v was based on the generic instruction to insert ‘the image of the blessed Virgin with her son in her arms’. In any case, it was obviously the artist’s decision not to use the defective fol. 28v: if it had been Sibbald’s or the patron’s decision, then the guide inscription would not have been written where it was in the first place. The fact that the book was written before the illumination was done, and that the illuminator had control of the whole volume, is clearly shown by fols 37v and 56v, where the final lines of the preceding texts (the litany and the commendation of souls respectively) have been written at the tops of the pages and have had to be accommodated within the miniatures (Fig. 12). The sequence of production arising from this evidence is as follows. Having obtained his parchment, which, as a notary, he knew how to cut to size, Sibbald ruled up the text-blocks, assembled the quires and wrote out the texts.55 He also ruled up the frames for the images, at least in the book of hours, as the redundant example on fol. 28v shows. The loose quires were then sent to an illuminator’s workshop for painting and binding. The similarity of the figure work in the psalter and missal suggests what anyway makes sense, that the patron and his scribe had a relationship with a particular establishment to which they routinely sent books. If this is so, then it was a shop that supported more than one artist. It may have had several people working in it if some or all of the borders were executed by specialists. Alternatively, the books may have passed through another shop to receive their borders, although none of the work is 200

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Fig. 11. Arbuthnott hours, details (from top to bottom) of fols 7v, 8v, 28v, 56v, showing the guide inscriptions written for the illuminator, presumably by James Sibbald Reproduced by permission of Paisley Museum

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Fig. 12.

Arbuthnott hours, fol. 37v: full-page miniature of a burial service, with soul assumed into heaven Reproduced by permission of Paisley Museum

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sufficiently skilful to make this likely in an environment where illuminators were presumably scarce. It is possible that the book of hours was sent elsewhere for its figure painting. The miniature on fol. 37v facing the opening of the office of the dead suggests ignorance of the fact that a hearse and candles or graveside burial was usually inserted at this point (Fig. 12). It shows a corpse on its deathbed asperged by one of four attendant figures while the soul is carried up to God by angels in a swag, imagery better suited to the commendation of souls than the office of the dead.56 Something similar is shown at the head of the mortuary roll made around 1230 to commemorate Lucy, first prioress of Hedingham (Essex); but this was obviously not the source.57 Rather, the semblance of ritual depicted here makes it look as if the artist followed the instructions of the burial service of the Sarum rite, where the priest, cantor, officiant and bystanders are all mentioned, and where the antiphon In paradisum deducant te angeli (‘May angels bear thee away to paradise’) was sung twice after the corpse had been asperged.58 This is indeed a more likely scenario than that the patron stipulated an unusual image for some personal reason. As noted, the Maria in sole with rosary also seems a curious choice, and conceivably indicates a limited availability of models. In other regards, however, the models were conventional enough: the Ternan (Fig. 9) and Mass of St Gregory (fol. 66v) are set in simpler versions of the apsidal interior described above for the missal, and the architecture, space and various details of the Annunciation resemble those in the same scene in Rouenaisse manuscripts of c. 1500, some of them made for Scottish clients.59 In the Crucifixion which introduces the psalms of the passion, the Via Dolorosa is shown in unusual breadth, but the iconography is otherwise unremarkable (fol. 56v).60 On balance, then, and assuming that the patrons had little choice when commissioning their work, it is reasonable to think that these miniatures are from the same workshop but by a different artist. A darker matter, and one which I will not speculate on at any length here, is that of where the Arbuthnott manuscripts were illuminated. All that can be said on current evidence is that places like Aberdeen and Dundee (where gold for illuminating was available) were large enough to have offered opportunities for such artists, and also for binders, while Edinburgh certainly was.61 The possibility of a smaller centre of production like Culross abbey (if not Culross itself) cannot be completely discounted, although the variety of involvement across the three manuscripts tends to work against it. This discussion has come at the expense of a detailed review of the manuscripts’ iconography and border repertoire. As noted, the book of hours gets further attention elsewhere in these Transactions, and there is little to say of the psalter’s one historiated initial other than that it is conventional and that the kneeling, praying figure of King David it contains may have had a personal resonance for Robert II, who had his father of the same name commemorated in the inscription on fol. 98r in the missal (Fig. 6). However, the imagery of the missal itself does require a little more attention here, first and foremost for a conceit which emphasizes the local importance of St Ternan as emphatically as anything well could. This is simply that the full-page miniature of the saint on fol. 98v, facing the canon page with its Te igitur incipit, replaces the image of the Crucifixion which is found at this point in other illuminated missals (Fig. 8). The point deserves stress, as the substitution of a saint for Christ here is possibly unique. Occasionally, saints would be given full page miniatures to themselves in late medieval missals,62 but this example is remarkable for its location and incorporation of a cross in the tail margin, inserted for the priest to kiss immediately before he began to recite the canon. The presence of this kissing cross is proof that the miniature was intended as a 203

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substitute for a Crucifixion rather than an adjunct to a lost image.63 Normally, kissing crosses take the form of the consecration crosses found on altars or church walls. But here the motif is more elaborately represented as an azure shield charged with a wooden cross and instruments of the passion (lance, sponge on reed, ladder, crown of thorns, coins). Christ is thus present heraldically, if not in effigy, and positioned at the foot of the page, his cross functions like an abbreviated, self-referential catchword for the Te igitur incipit on the facing page (‘Thee, therefore, most merciful father, through Jesus Christ thy son, our Lord’ etc.).64 It was not necessary to have a Crucifixion at this point, and many missals without illumination lack one. A kissing cross was all that was needed. The cross on the shield thus performed the double task of supplying a ritual requirement and evoking an ineluctable parallel between Christ and the saint, who blesses after the manner of Christ and holds a cross of his own over one shoulder. The point is not, of course, that Ternan was intended to usurp Christ at the very point of the liturgy where Christ became physically present on the altar, but rather that the saint was accorded the maximum possible honour through direct association with Christ at this critical juncture. One could hardly want stronger evidence of the value of Ternan to Robert II and Sibbald, and the isolated, textually unconnected miniature of the saint at the beginning of the book of hours (fol. 7v) shows that his significance was understood in terms of private devotion as well as liturgy and parochial identity. This point is worth making in view of the lack of a suffrage to Ternan in the hours, something that in theory would have been simple to insert.65 This radical departure from iconographic convention is not paralleled elsewhere in the missal. Notably, the painted initial ‘D’ that introduces the office of St Ternan on fol. 172v lacks figure painting.66 It is only distinguished by its size, which at six lines high is the same as the larger historiated initials. Altogether, there are sixteen painted initials without figure work, each between four and six lines high and coupled with illuminated borders or sprays as part of a complex mise en page (e.g. Fig. 3).67 While the floral motifs involved are usually gross and asymmetrical, the modelling and other aspects of execution are skilful enough. The work is noticeably more fluid than the large painted initials of the book of hours, and more lavish than those of the psalter, which are also skilfully done but incorporate archaic foliage forms and were evidently based on different exemplars. The seven historiated initials, each five or six lines high, represent the Nativity, Resurrection and Ascension of Christ (fols 23v, 102v, 116r respectively), Pentecost (fol. 119v), the Holy Trinity (fol. 126r), St Andrew (154v: at the beginning of the sanctoral) and the Assumption of the Virgin (fol. 190r). These are standard subjects in Sarum missals, and not numerically ambitious as a group: some late-14th- and early-15th-century missals have as many as twenty historiated initials.68 But their execution is clearly the work of a mature commercial illuminator. If the figure drawing is not especially distinguished — and figure drawing in painted historiated initials of the period rarely is — then the compositions are nevertheless spatially logical and entertaining. The Pentecost, couched in architecture and competently worked around the duct of the letter ‘S’ (‘Spiritus domini replevit’, etc.), represents the miniaturist’s best work (Fig. 13). There is an appreciable sense of depth, and the relationship of the larger, central figure of the Virgin to the apostles and Holy Spirit is managed in a way that compels the eye to return to and dwell on her as a paragon of devotion. As with the borders, the initials are stylistically Continental in a way that must relate to the origin of their artist or his training and the models he had to work with. Perhaps the most frankly Netherlandish feature is an iconographic one, the Trinitarian pieta` used 204

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Fig. 13. Arbuthnott missal, fol. 119v: detail of initial ‘S’ containing miniature of the Pentecost Reproduced by permission of Paisley Museum

to introduce the texts for Trinity Sunday (Fig. 7). This motif, popularized earlier in the 15th century by the Master of Fle´malle, was also used on the high altarpiece of the collegiate church of the same dedication in Edinburgh, made by Hugo van der Goes in the mid-1470s.69 If this miniature was painted in Edinburgh, which is perfectly possible, then it may have been informed at some level by knowledge of this earlier, prestigious object. Lastly, a humorous relationship exists between some of the populated initials and hybrids positioned near them in the borders which demonstrates a concern for subtle integration of the page components. This deserves notice for what it suggests about the process of illumination — namely, that the artists who executed the missal were responsive to one another’s work rather than narrowly concerned with their individual tasks — and also patronal taste and the pleasures of viewing. Thus, an archer looses an arrow at Christ as he steps, resurrected, from his tomb (‘O death, where is thy sting?’: I Corinthians 15:55) (Fig. 14). A grotesque dragon listens to the voice that comes from a head growing from its tail while the Virgin and apostles heed the heavenly sound of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1–3). In the margin near the initial containing St Andrew, who casts a net from a boat, there is a hybrid figure which was originally shown urinating, thus establishing a comical pun between ‘pissing’ — the word existed in both older Scottish and Flemish — and the saint’s status as piscator (Matthew 4:19; Fig. 15). Vaguer relationships may have been intended and/or noticed between a snail-hybrid who turns from the Nativity raising an offended claw, a dragon who is attentive, like the apostles, to the Ascension of Christ, and the farcical hat worn by a bird-like hybrid, which contrasts with God the Father’s crown. The only example of deliberate damage to the imagery in any of the three manuscripts occurs in this context: the urinating hybrid on fol. 154v has been partially erased in line with some fastidious scruple. The Resurrection miniature on fol. 102v has been largely obliterated by kissing or licking, but the cause of this was devotional, and Sibbald himself or one of his successors almost certainly responsible for it. This pious damage exemplifies that, and how, individuals identified with specific aspects of illuminated books, occasionally to the point of 205

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Fig. 14. Arbuthnott missal, fol. 102v: detail of initial ‘R’ containing miniature of Christ’s Resurrection Reproduced by permission of Paisley Museum

Fig. 15. Arbuthnott missal, fol. 154v: opening of the sanctoral, with its miniature of St Andrew and a pissing hybrid in the margin Reproduced by permission of Paisley Museum

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obsession. The attraction in this case is clear enough, for looking at the miniature and reading the associated text must have induced various anxieties about personal death and resurrection, and also the hope that Christ would raise the infatuated supplicant up into eternal life. conclusion The prominence given St Ternan in the book of hours and especially the missal tempt one to regard the Arbuthnott manuscripts as products of an industrious piety dominated by a figure native to the Mearns. In this light, the books seem to agree with the currents of ‘liturgical nationalism’ and ‘devotional nationalism’ detected by David McRoberts in the century before the Reformation, which supposedly crystallized in the publication of the Aberdeen breviary of 1510, a volume containing ‘by far our greatest collection of Scottish hagiography’.70 Nationalism and religion, however, are not so easily synchronized, and recent scholarship has pointed out that any reawakening of interest in figures like Ternan needs to be understood in the context of a pervasive and eclectic enthusiasm for novel as well as traditional objects of devotion.71 In fact, it is this position that the Arbuthnott manuscripts really endorse, and to which the interest of their patrons in the Observant Franciscans, mentioned earlier, bears additional witness. (The early addition of St Clare, with the note ‘primiceria pauperum dominarum ordinis sancti francisci’ — that is, founder of the Poor Clares — to the calendar of the psalter (fol. 8r) is another mark of this Franciscan enthusiasm.) If Ternan stands in for the Crucifixion at the canon of the mass, and precedes the Virgin between calendar and Marian offices in the book of hours, he does so in the presence of texts and images which were current and broadly rooted in international piety. It only remains to say that, with respect to patronage and manufacture, the three Arbuthnott manuscripts are the most important clutch of books to survive from late medieval Scotland. As a group, they are always likely to have been unusual, although their ambition must have been paralleled in some of the collegiate churches and lordly residences which studded the lowlands in the period leading up to the Reformation. As things stand, they constitute an obvious basis on which to develop a more comprehensive picture of the under-researched class to which they belong. Current studies of medieval illumination which play up the status of manuscripts as components of integrated cultural environments offer better models for such work than conservative analysis predicated on style and iconography, for such analysis, even if softened to accommodate work of every quality (as it would need to be), could never yield a very coherent picture of book painting in medieval Scotland. The surviving objects favour an approach that embeds them as deeply as possible in the original climate of their making and use. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am particularly grateful to Marlene Hennessy for the benefits of our collaboration on the study of the Arbuthnott manuscripts, and also to David Weir and Douglas Breinghan of the Paisley Museum for their practical and good humoured help, time and encouragement. Stephen Mark Holmes, Kate Rudy have also given me significant help, Julian Smith of Dunedin Public Libraries supplied photos of the Arbuthnott Golden Legend, and Jane Geddes has been a patient, encouraging editor. I owe much of my enthusiasm for medieval Scotland to Richard Fawcett and Richard Oram, who have advised, entertained and poked fun at me more times than I care to recall.

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julian luxford This paper is dedicated to the memory of John Higgitt, whose overarching contribution to the history of Scottish illuminated manuscripts was never realized, but whose wisdom and scholarship remain an inspiration.

NOTES 1. I. B. Cowan and D. E. Easson, Medieval Religious Houses, Scotland, 2nd edn (London 1976), 54; http://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/corpusofscottishchurches/site.php?id=158386 [accessed 26 May 2015]; H. G. Slade, ‘Arbuthnott House, Kincardineshire’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 110 (1978–80), 432–74. On St Ternan in general, see A. P. Forbes ed., Liber ecclesie Beati Terrenani de Arbuthnott: Missale secundum usum ecclesie Sancti Andreae in Scotia (Burntisland 1864), lxxiii–lxxxiv. 2. For the quotation, regarding the fate of books in Aberdeen at the Reformation (1560), see J. Higgitt ed., Scottish Libraries, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues 12 (London 2006), 1. For speculation on how the Arbuthnott manuscripts survived see C. Bing, The Lairds of Arbuthnott (Edzell 1999), 55–56. 3. Before his death in 2006, John Higgitt intended a survey of Scottish illuminated manuscripts. For his lectures on the subject, see Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland (hereafter NLS), Accession no. 12798, folders 82–85. However, he does not appear to have done any primary research on the Arbuthnott manuscripts. 4. Liber . . . Terrenani (as n. 1), lxix–lxx, lxxii, lxxxiv–vi; Eighth Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts: Report and Appendix (Part I) (London 1881), 299–300; W. MacGillivray, ‘Notices of the Arbuthnott Missal, Psalter and Office of the Blessed Virgin’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 26 (1891–92), 89–104. 5. N. R. Ker et al., Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, 5 vols (Oxford 1969–2002), IV, 2–6. W. M. Metcalfe, The Arbuthnot Manuscripts (Paisley n.d., but c. 1898: an eight-page pamphlet) and G. A. Henderson, The Kirk of St. Ternan, Arbuthnott (Edinburgh 1962), 84–89, add nothing important to MacGillivray’s article. The same is true of J. M. Shewan, ‘The Arbuthnott Manuscripts: The Missal, Prayer Book and Psalter’, The Deeside Field, 19 (1987), 159–63, and A. C. Baird, ‘The Arbuthnott Missal and Its Home’, in The North-East: the Land and its People, ed. J. A.Thomson et al. (Aberdeen 1930), 77–85. The main catalogue entries are Scottish Exhibition of National History, Art and Industry, Glasgow, 2 vols (Glasgow 1911), II, 1059–60; Tre´sors des Bibliothe`ques d’E´cosse (Brussels 1963), 20, 21; Renaissance Decorative Arts in Scotland 1480–1650 (Edinburgh 1959), 11–12; Angels, Nobles and Unicorns: Art and Patronage in Medieval Scotland (Edinburgh 1982), 78–79; and, with a textual rather than material focus, D. McRoberts, ‘Catalogue of Scottish Medieval Liturgical Books and Fragments’, Innes Review, 3 (1952), 49–63, 131–35, at 55; S. M. Holmes, ‘Catalogue of Liturgical Books and Fragments in Scotland before 1560’, Innes Review, 62 (2011), 127–212, at 163–64. 6. D. McRoberts, ‘The Scottish Church and Nationalism in the Fifteenth Century’, Innes Review, 19 (1968), 3–14, at 6. 7. Liber . . . Terrenani (as n. 1), lxv. 8. Mercifully, they were sold as one lot. The sale catalogue is Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of the Valuable Scottish MSS. known as the Arbuthnot Missal, Horae and Psalter [. . .] Friday, the 10th of December 1897 (London 1897). 9. For Sibbald’s tenure, see Henderson, Kirk (as n. 5), 320 (with, however, a wrong obit date). 10. J. McKinnon, ‘The Late Medieval Psalter: Liturgical or Gift Book?’, Musica Disciplina, 38 (1984), 133–57. The approximate dimensions of the manuscripts are as follows: psalter, 2106145 mm; book of hours, 2756190 mm; missal, 3956280 mm. 11. Ker et al., Manuscripts (as n. 5), IV, 2 (Latin inscriptions in the psalter); Liber . . . Terrenani (as n. 1), xciv, 158, 477 (Latin inscriptions in the missal). Translations in this essay are silently expanded. 12. For the chantry, see . J. B. Paul and J. M. Thomson ed., Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, 2nd edn, 3 vols (Edinburgh 1882–83), II, 609. Scrymgeour modernizes as Scrimshaw. 13. Given the inscription’s situation, ‘vir recolendus’ is clearly a means of reminding the celebrant to include Robert II’s name at the appropriate point in his recitation of the canon; thus the implication of the term ‘a memorable man’ here is ‘a man you should commemorate in this part of the mass’. 14. However, that the book was written and completed ‘apud ecclesiam de Arbuthnot’ (as it states) seems most unlikely: the actual setting of the work was presumably some domestic chamber with a fireplace in it. 15. Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, ed. T. Dickson et al., 13 vols (Edinburgh 1877–1978), II, 39; III, 180. John Durkan identified the scribe as Boswell in a book review in English Historical Review, 81 (1966), 112.

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The Arbuthnott Manuscripts 16. For this pope’s association with the Adoro te see, e.g., B. J. Blackburn, ‘The Virgin in the Sun: Music and Image for a Prayer Attributed to Sixtus IV’, Journal of the Royal Musical Association, 124 (1999), 155–95. 17. Liber . . . Terrenani (as n. 1), lxxxvi; MacGillivray, ‘Notices’ (as n. 4), 92; Ker et al., Manuscripts (as n. 5), IV, 4. The terminus post quem is further discussed by Hennessy (see below, 215). 18. Fol. 9v. The inscription is given in Liber . . . Terrenani (as n. 1), lxxxvi. 19. He is also styled ‘notario publico’ in the chantry document of 1505 (above, n. 12). 20. The whole entry reads: ‘Obitus bone memorie Domini Jacobi sibbaulde vicarij de Arbuthnot scribe publicj correctissimi testantibus missalibus huius ecclesie beate terenanij multisque aliis voluminibus per eum scriptis. Qui obit anno domini millesimo quingentesimo septimo, ix kal. Sept’. 21. J. Durkan, ‘The Early Scottish Notary’, in The Renaissance and Reformation in Scotland, ed. I. B. Cowan and D. Shaw (Edinburgh 1983), 22–40, at 34. 22. Sibbald certainly wrote these opening leaves, because they are signed off ‘Quod Jacobus sybbalde. Orate pro eo.’ in the same hand on fol. 2v. 23. Psalm 62:12, in the hours of the Virgin. 24. Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 394 (1398: also dated by colophon, on fol. 257r): see R. M. Thomson, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Medieval Manuscripts of Corpus Christi College, Oxford (Woodbridge 2011), 155–56 and frontispiece. 25. Holmes, ‘Catalogue’ (as n. 5), 165, 174; Treasury Accounts (as n. 15), II, 68. 26. Dunedin Public Library, RBC Jac 1476: printed in Cologne by Conrad Winters in 1476. At the top of fol. 1r is the inscription ‘Liber sancti trenani ecclesie de Arbuthnot de dono dauid lutherdale rectoris eiusdem. Orate pro eo &c.’ (Fig. 4). Lutherdale was rector between 1474 and 1476. For discussion, see C. de Hamel, ‘Medieval Books in New Zealand’, in Association Internationale de Bibliophilie: Thirteenth Congress, Edinburgh, 23–29 September 1983 [no editor] (Edinburgh 1983), 29–36, at 29–31. Another incunabulum identifying Lutherdale as ‘rectoris de Arbuthnot’ (fol. 1v) is Aberdeen University Library, Inc. 181–83 (W. S. Mitchell, Catalogue of Incunabula in Aberdeen University Library (Edinburgh 1968), 68–69); but this may never have belonged to the church. Both books contain manuscript fragments which may be Scottish and require more study. 27. A. Nisbet, A System of Heraldry, Speculative and Practical, 2nd edn, 2 vols (Edinburgh 1816), II, appendix, 83 (quotation). 28. Ibid., 83–84; Eighth Report (as n. 4), 298; The Scots Peerage, ed. J. B. Paul, 9 vols (Edinburgh 1904–14), I, 282–84; Bing, Lairds (as n. 2), 36–41; R. Fawcett, The Architecture of the Scottish Medieval Church, 1100–1560 (New Haven and London 2011), 389–91. 29. http://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/corpusofscottishchurches/site.php?id=158386 [accessed 26 May 2015]. The chapel’s construction dates are not fixed, but seem unlikely to have preceded the mortmain licence of 1505 by long. 30. Eighth Report (as n. 4), 301 (letters of confraternity printed). 31. For Dunbar’s stereotyping, see P. Bawcutt, ‘‘‘My bright buke’’: Women and their Books in Medieval and Renaissance Scotland’, in Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts in Late Medieval Britain, ed. J. WoganBrowne et al. (Turnhout 2000), 17–34, at 17–18. 32. J. Higgitt, ‘Imageis Maid with Mennis Hand’: Saints, Images, Belief and Identity in Later Medieval Scotland, Whithorn Lectures 9 (Stranraer 2003), 12, would commit himself only to ‘a female member of the family’. 33. ‘Obitus magne discretionis ac deo deuoti viri Robertj arbuthnot de eodem fundatoris huius insule’ and ‘Obitus bone memorie Mariote scrimgeour sponse quondam discreti viri Robertj arbuthnot de eodem [. . .] fundatoris erant huius insole [sic] apud eclesiam de arbuthnot’ (fol. 81r). Bing, Lairds (as n. 2), 41, states that Robert’s obit calls him (improbably) ‘founder of the missal’ (presumably misreading ‘insule’ for ‘mis[s]ale’). 34. Fol. 81v: ‘huius sacellj fundatorum’. 35. See H. Chesshyre et al., Dictionary of British Arms, Medieval Ordinary, 3 vols (London 1992–2009), I, 199 (arms of Mariota’s father); III, 83 (Robert II’s arms, from an impression of his seal). 36. For a short description see Ker et al., Manuscripts (as n. 5), IV, 2, 4, 6. The lozenges with fleurs-de-lis on the covers of the hours and missal are common in Scotland for their period: compare W. S. Mitchell, A History of Scottish Bookbinding 1432 to 1650 (Edinburgh 1955), 25. In the late 19th century, the book of hours still had its linen chemise (e.g. MacGillivray, ‘Notices’ (as n. 4), 92), now lost. 37. M. R. Apted and S. Hannabuss, Painters in Scotland 1301–1700: A Biographical Dictionary, Scottish Record Society, ns 7 (Edinburgh 1978), 21, 24–25, 32–34, 36, 37–38, 40–41, 45, 49, 53–54, 57, 60, 68–69, 70–72, 75–77, 78–80, 94, 96, 98–99, 102, 104, 114–16. 38. Treasury Accounts (as n. 15), IV, 340, 358, 379, 409; Scottish Libraries (as n. 2), 390. A document Galbraith illuminated in 1502 (Treasury Accounts (as n. 15), II, 350) survives as Kew, The National Archives, E/39/81, and has a floral border and heraldry: see Angels, Nobles (as n. 5), 79–80.

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julian luxford 39. R. J. Lyall, ‘Books and Book-Owners in Fifteenth-Century Scotland’, in Book Production and Publishing in Britain 1375–1475, ed. J. Griffiths and D. Pearsall (Cambridge 1989), 239–56, at 245. 40. Respectively Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 171; Edinburgh, University Library (hereafter EUL), MS 205; London, British Library, MS Sloane 748. The 14th-century Herdmanston breviary (NLS, MS Advocates 18.2.13A) has minor marginal drawings, but these are later additions. 41. Compare the comments of D. McRoberts, ‘Dean Brown’s Book of Hours’, Innes Review, 19 (1968), 144–67, at 164. 42. NLS, MS Advocates 18.8.11, fols 7r, 26v, 42r, 56v, 71v, 90v, 109r, 129r (fols 56v and 169r also have painting). See in general W. K. Dickson, ‘The Culross Psalter in the Advocates’ Library’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 51 (1916–17), 208–13. By analogy with the decoration and ownership inscription in the Culross psalter, Boulogne, Bibliothe`que municipale, MS 92 (Holmes, ‘Catalogue’ (as n. 5), 162), another small psalter, is also from Culross. For Culross and book-making see Scottish Libraries (as n. 2), xl, l–li, 220, 386, 390; Treasury Accounts (as n. 15), IV, 409. 43. L. Campbell, ‘Scottish Patrons and Netherlandish Painters in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries’, Scotland and the Low Countries 1124–1994, ed. G. G. Simpson (East Linton 1996), 89–103, at 89 (quotation); D. McRoberts, ‘Notes on Scoto-Flemish Artistic Contacts’, Innes Review, 10 (1959), 91–96; Apted and Hannabuss, Painters (as n. 37), 10–11, 68–69, 70–72, 77. 44. E.g. E. S. Dewick, ‘On a Ms. Book of Hours written in France for the use of a Scottish Lady’, Transactions of the St Paul’s Ecclesiological Society, 7 (1915), 109–20 (pls 1, 2); Angels, Nobles (as n. 5), 85. 45. There are borders, all three-sided (i.e. head, fore edge and tail margins), as follows: psalter, fols 30v, 42r, 52v, 62v, 75r, 86v, 98v; book of hours, fols 7v, 8v, 9r, 29v, 30r, 37v, 38r, 56v, 66v; missal, fols 12r, 23v, 29r, 96v, 98v, 99r, 102v, 116r, 119v, 126r, 127r, 152v, 154v, 155v, 162r, 172v, 190r, 195v, 206r, 211r, 212r (fols 179r and 240r also have painted initials and foliage). 46. By isolating two of the missal’s borders (those of fols 96v and 98v) and associating them with an artist who worked on an English book of hours, now Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, MS 56, Kathleen Scott seems to imply the presence of more than one border-artist in the manuscript: K. L. Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts 1390–1490, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles 6, 2 vols (London 1996), II, 331. However her distinctions and comparison with Fitzwilliam MS 56 are not clear to me. Dr Scott’s reference to the missal’s borders is apparently the only citation of them by an expert in British illumination. 47. There are hybrids on fols 12r, 23v, 102v, 116r (non-hybrid dragon), 119v, 126r, 154v, 190r. 48. E.g. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Arch. Selden B.24 (see S. Mapstone, Scots and their Books in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (Oxford 1996), 12, 13, 16); NLS, MS 652, fols 7r, 36r, 116r, 159r; EUL, Inc. 51, fol. 3r. 49. See, e.g., O. Pa¨cht, The Master of Mary of Burgundy (London 1948); and on the individual motifs, A. M. W. As-Vijvers, Re-making the Margin: The Master of the David Scenes and Flemish Manuscript Painting around 1500 (Turnhout 2013), 17, 160–69. 50. The subjects are: St Ternan (fol. 7v); the Annunciation (fol. 8v); the Virgin and Child (fol. 29v); funeral rites, with a soul assumed into heaven (fol. 37v); the Crucifixion (fol. 56v); the Mass of St Gregory (fol. 66v). 51. For attribution to Sibbald, which is variously made, see, e.g., D. McRoberts, ‘The Rosary in Scotland’, Innes Review, 23 (1972), 81–86, at 82; McRoberts, ‘Catalogue’ (as n. 5), 55. 52. MacGillivray, ‘Notices’ (as n. 4), 92 (curtains). For the single surviving curtain (at fol. 29v) see Hennessy (below, 216). I visibly expand the abbreviations here to indicate the utilitarian nature of the guide inscriptions. 53. Though of course a basic Maria in sole is a familiar accompaniment to Marian prayers, and this one can anyway be understood in relation to the preceding prayers. 54. It is possible they were sent elsewhere for binding. 55. Durkan, ‘Notary’ (as n. 21), 27. 56. P. Sheingorn, ‘ ‘‘And Flights of Angels Sing Thee to Thy Rest’’: The Soul’s Conveyance to the Afterlife in the Middle Ages’, in Art into Life: Collected Papers from the Kresge Art Museum Medieval Symposia, ed. C. G. Fisher and K. L. Scott (East Lansing, MI 1995), 155–82, esp. 160–61, 177; Scott, Gothic Manuscripts (as n. 46), II, 383. 57. Illustrated in P. Tudor-Craig, ‘Effigies with Attitude’, in Signs and Symbols: Proceedings of the 2006 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. J. Cherry and A. Payne, Harlaxton Medieval Studies 18 (Donington 2009), 133–42, at pl. 1. For the manuscript, see N. J. Morgan, Early Gothic Manuscripts: 1190–1285, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles 4, 2 vols (London 1982–88), I, 103. 58. For a local, contemporary copy of these instructions see D. MacGregor ed. and trans., The Rathen Manual (Aberdeen 1905), 11–12. 59. R. Watson, The Playfair Hours: A Late Fifteenth-Century Illuminated Manuscript from Rouen (London 1984), 64, 67, 93.

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The Arbuthnott Manuscripts 60. There are various parallels for a broad, pale Via Dolorosa: see, e.g., P. Lorentz, ‘De l’usage de la copie au XVe sie`cle: une Mise en croix d’apre`s le Maıˆtre de la Passion de Karlsruhe (Hans Hirtz?) pour Anna Schott, dominicaine au convent de Sainte-Marguerite et Sainte-Agne`s de Strasbourg’, in Pierre, lumie`re, couleur: ˚ ge en l’honneur d’Anne Prache, ed. F. Joubert and D. Sandron (Paris e´tudes d’histoire de l’art du Moyen A 1999), 425–39, at 428. 61. In 1503, a royal servant was sent to Dundee ‘to seik gold for paynting’: Treasury Accounts (as n. 15), II, 383. But perhaps this is simply where such material was landed. According to E. G. Duff, ‘There must have been plenty of [book]binders in Edinburgh at this time’ (i.e. c. 1500): ‘Some Early Scottish Bookbinders and Collectors’, Scottish Historical Review, 4 (1907), 430–42, at 434. 62. E.g. Dublin, Trinity College, MS 81, fol. 10v (made c. 1460 in Delft: images of Saints Augustine and Lucy; Crucifixion at 159v, Te igitur at 160r); ’s-Heerenberg, Kasteel ten Huisberg, MS 16, fol. 201v (made 1475–76 in Bruges: St Mary Magdalene in an apsidal setting like that of the Ternan miniature). I owe these examples to Kate Rudy. 63. Ker et al., Manuscripts (as n. 5), IV, 4, thought a lost Crucifixion likely, but was silent on the ‘kissing’ cross below the Ternan miniature. Additionally, no leaf appears to have been removed here, and the missal is not otherwise mutilated apart from a trivial erasure (to be noted) and some minor, probably modern parchment robbing in the margins. 64. The formal and iconographic relationship between the ‘T’ of this incipit and Christ’s cross had been noted for centuries: see L. Kendrick, Animating the Letter: The Figurative Embodiment of Writing from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance (Columbus, OH 1999), 85. 65. He is, however, in the litany, at the head of the Scottish confessors on fol. 36r. 66. Ternan’s office is printed at Liber . . . Terrenani (as n. 1), 310–11. 67. On fols 12r, 29r, 96v (two), 99r, 127r, 152v, 155v, 162r, 172v, 179r, 195v, 206r, 211r, 212r, 240r. For the borders see above, n. 45. 68. See the table of missal subjects in Scott, Gothic Manuscripts (as n. 46), II, 380–81. 69. B. Fransen, Rogier van der Weyden and Stone Sculpture in Brussels (London 2013), 115–28 (Trinitarian pieta`); C. Thompson and L. Campbell, Hugo van der Goes and the Trinity Panels in Edinburgh (London 1974), 13, 46–47, 75–86. 70. McRoberts, ‘Scottish Church’ (as n. 6); A. Macquarrie, ‘Scottish Saints’ Legends in the Aberdeen Breviary’, in The Cult of Saints and the Virgin Mary in Medieval Scotland, ed. S. Boardman and E. Williamson (Woodbridge 2010), 143–57 (quotation at 143). 71. See particularly D. Ditchburn, ‘The ‘‘McRoberts Thesis’’ and Patterns of Sanctity in Late Medieval Scotland’, in Cult of Saints (as n. 70), 177–94.

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The Arbuthnott Book of Hours: Book Production and Religious Culture in Late Medieval Scotland MARLENE VILLALOBOS HENNESSY

While the bulk of late medieval manuscripts written and decorated for Scottish patrons and book-owners did not outlast the Reformation, there are a number of survivals that merit more attention than they have hitherto received. The Arbuthnott book of hours, now housed at the Paisley Museum and Art Gallery, is part of a uniquely interesting group of manuscripts that was copied by a named scribe between 1482 and 1492 for the Arbuthnott family, who lived in a small, rural village about 26 miles south of Aberdeen. Members of this family were notable patrons of art, architecture and the Franciscan order, and the manuscripts they commissioned illuminate key aspects of indigenous book production in late medieval Scotland. This essay will focus on several illustrations and texts in the book of hours that reveal the liturgical preferences, reading habits, and religious sympathies of its earliest owner, Mariota Arbuthnott. My chief aim is to show how this book of hours reflects very early evidence of the dissemination of Maria in sole (Virgin in the Sun) iconography and of devotion to the Rosary. Hence I hope to show that this manuscript, which reflects both national and regional Scottish concerns as well as certain Continental aesthetic influences, provides important information about book production and religious culture in the far North. keywords: Arbuthnott, Scottish manuscripts, illumination, Maria in sole, Rosary, books of hours, women book-owners, religion in late medieval Scotland It is well known that the Reformation in Scotland had a profound and devastating impact on the survival of medieval liturgical books, religious manuscripts and ecclesiastical libraries. In the 15th century, Jedburgh Abbey owned sixty-nine works by Augustine alone, and in 1517 Arbroath Abbey had over 200 volumes.1 Although the holdings of Scottish medieval monastic libraries were roughly comparable to those in England, much of the evidence is now fragmentary, dispersed or has simply disappeared. John Higgitt’s volume on Scottish libraries for the Corpus of Medieval Library Catalogues notes that, sadly, ‘No Scottish library is represented by more than a handful of extant manuscripts or printed books’.2 Moreover, social and political conditions in Scotland in the 16th and 17th centuries neither aided the preservation of manuscripts nor encouraged private collection.3 The vast scale of bibliographical destruction makes all the more extraordinary the survival of a late-15th-century missal, a psalter and a book of hours from north-east Scotland, known collectively as the Arbuthnott manuscripts. Now housed at the Paisley Museum and Art Gallery, this unique group of manuscripts was copied between 1482 and 1492 for use in the parish church of 212

# British Archaeological Association 2016

The Arbuthnott Book of Hours

St Ternan in Arbuthnott, a small, rural village in Kincardineshire, about 26 miles south of Aberdeen.4 These manuscripts were produced for Robert, the 12th laird of Arbuthnott (1470–1506) and his wife Mariota, who were notable local patrons of art, architecture, and the Franciscan order.5 Textual evidence in these books allows us to date and localize them as well as to attribute them to a named scribe. A unified cluster of manuscripts with specific details concerning the people who made and owned them is exceedingly rare, especially for late medieval Scotland. And it is perhaps even more striking that these books can be connected to their original liturgical and devotional setting in a known, still active parish church. The surviving Arbuthnott manuscripts reflect both national and regional Scottish concerns as well as certain Continental aesthetic influences in book decoration and iconography. Moreover, these rare, idiosyncratic survivals highlight key aspects of the history of Scottish manuscript illumination. This essay focuses on the book of hours (hereafter the ‘Hours’) made c. 1482 for Robert’s wife, Mariota. The visual imagery and the texts in this manuscript tell a complex story about Scottish book production and religious culture in the far North. I will argue that the Hours was not only written but also illustrated in Scotland and thus provides unique evidence of indigenous book arts. The Hours contains fine border-work as well as six full-page illustrations: St Ternan (fol. 7v); the Annunciation (fol. 8v); the Virgin and Child or Maria in sole (fol. 29v); a funeral scene, with a soul assumed into heaven (fol. 37v); the Crucifixion (fol. 56v); and the Mass of St Gregory (fol. 66v). A comprehensive assessment of all the miniatures in the Hours exceeds the scope of this essay; instead I will concentrate on several elements of customization and personalization that can be attributed to the tastes of the book’s owner, Mariota Arbuthnott, including several illustrations and texts that provide tangible evidence of dynamic, overlapping networks of national and international influence. One key aim of this essay is to show how the Hours reflects fresh currents of late medieval devotion, because this manuscript provides very early evidence of the dissemination of Maria in sole (Virgin in the Sun) imagery and of devotion to the Rosary in late medieval Scotland.6 Although the Hours was made for a woman book-owner in Kincardineshire at some remove from an urban hub such as London or Edinburgh, the manuscript reveals itself not as marginal or on the cultural fringes, but indeed as at the centre of some forceful transformations of religious imagery, devotional practices, and doctrinal beliefs. The Hours is, moreover, a remarkable witness to the dynamic and enduring ties between Scotland and the Continent, especially Rome. Books of hours appealed to women in particular, and this is also true for the bookowning population in late medieval Scotland.7 Priscilla Bawcutt notes that although the evidence of women and their books during the period is often fragmentary or scattered, ‘more survives than is often realized’.8 One marker that helps to identify Scottish women book-owners is the inclusion of Latin prayers that use feminine forms. Several decades ago N. R. Ker noted that two of the Latin prayers in the Hours are gendered feminine in the prayers ‘Obsecro te’ and ‘O intemerata’ (fols 74v–76r; 76r–77r).9 This textual evidence reasonably suggests the book was made for Robert’s second wife, Mariota (1443–1518), whom he married in 1475. The marriage produced five sons and seven daughters.10 Mariota was from a well-established noble family of local and national prestige, the Scrymgeours. Her father was Sir James Scrymgeour of Dudhope, Constable of Dundee, and members of her family were armigerous hereditary royal standard bearers who served in historic battles under William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, as well as during later, disastrous ones such as Flodden in 1513.11 Although little 213

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is known about Mariota, the Hours is important evidence of her devotional preferences as well as her social aspirations. Her manuscript shares several iconographic and liturgical features common to other prayer-books owned by Scots during the period, including several laywomen, as well as other upper gentry, aristocratic, and clerical book-owners, but is distinctive in several ways, not least of which because it was copied by a named scribe. The scribe of all three Arbuthnott manuscripts was James Sibbald, parish priest of the church of St Ternan. The Missal (fol. 10v) records Sibbald’s death date in the margins of the calendar, in a mid- to late-16th-century hand, as 1507, and describes him as ‘a notary public, and a very correct writer, as testified by the Missals of the Church of Arbuthnott’.12 The Hours contains a similar note at the end of the volume (fols 81r–v) that suggests he was not only a careful scribe, but also a prolific one, writing many other volumes, ‘multisque aliis voluminibus per eum scriptis’.13 This statement, written within sixty or seventy years of his death, suggests the surviving Arbuthnott manuscripts were part of a much larger, well-known corpus of books made by this scribe, who was still considered an important local figure. Sibbald was probably a member of the upper gentry family of the Sibbalds of Kair, an estate to the west of the Arbuthnott lands.14 Apparently he copied manuscripts for the family whom he served as personal chaplain, and probably for many others as well, in addition to his diverse pastoral duties. He may also have been incorporated into the Arbuthnott household in other ways, as tutor to the children.15 Yet the other books copied by Sibbald, like the bulk of late medieval manuscripts written and decorated for Scottish patrons, did not outlast the Reformation. This fact makes the Arbuthnott manuscripts all the more unusual, emblematic survivals. The note conveys that the family continued to value this manuscript and to esteem its scribe at a moment when the Reformation in Scotland was catching fire, c. 1559–67. This may suggest that the family held more traditional views on religion and were less sympathetic to some of the reformers’ goals.16 Lutheran doctrines had been ‘current’ in Aberdeen as early as 1525, and liturgical books were destroyed or defaced in disturbingly large numbers during the second half of the 16th century, but the Arbuthnott manuscripts remained untouched by these sweeping mid-century changes.17 During the height of Scottish iconoclasm, the illustrated manuscripts copied by Sibbald were clearly considered precious, enduring patrimony by members of the family. Sibbald’s career as a notary public is an important detail within the overall picture of manuscript production in late medieval Scotland. Although technically prohibited from the profession, parish priests were not infrequently court clerks and notaries, and many were capable scribes.18 The scholar John Durkan carefully documented how Scotland in the 14th and especially the 15th century saw a ‘growth in scribal profession’, with the emergence of highly skilled notaries public, ‘who came to enjoy a much greater significance in the legal and economic life of Scotland than was ever enjoyed by their English counterparts’.19 The prominence of notaries was also connected to the renewed interest in law and legal education in Scotland during the 15th century, as well as of the new university foundations at St Andrews (1411), Glasgow (1451), and Aberdeen (1495).20 Members of religious orders did not regularly serve as notaries, but at least five Scottish monasteries had named notaries who were also monks during the period.21 Notaries, typically licensed by the bishop, often provided vital contacts between Scotland and the Continent, especially because they had frequent traffic with Rome and the papal court. Notaries were thus in an uncommonly good position to be affected by the larger networks of influence created by education, law and ecclesiastical business in the late 214

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Middle Ages, and Sibbald can be reasonably located within this literate, clerical nexus, even if further information about him remains obscure. As notary and as priest, he was likely to have been deeply involved in the legal and personal affairs of the Arbuthnott family and in local life in general. Of the three surviving manuscripts Sibbald copied, the Hours appears to be the earliest in date, written c. 1482.22 Many of its texts are fairly typical of the textual contents that one sees in Sarum books of hours. There are added prayers that one would expect, especially numbered ones including the Five Joys of Mary (fol. 27); the Fifteen Oes of St Bridget (fols 60–65); The Seven Oes of St Gregory (fol. 67v); and Bede on Christ’s Last Seven Words from the Cross (fols 71v–72v); as well as the prayer on the Holy Name usually attributed to St Bernard (fols 69v–70v), which begins ‘O bone ihesu, O dulcissime ihesu’. All of these prayers were widely popular in Scotland, England, and on the Continent and squarely connect the manuscript to mainstream European religious culture, with its Christocentric, Passion-oriented focus.23

maria in sole The longest text in the volume is the Hours of the Virgin (fols 9–27), with the Hours of the Cross worked in, followed by several short Marian prayers (fols 27–28).24 Just following these is the brightly coloured Maria in sole, or Virgin in the Sun (fol. 29v, Fig. 1). The Maria in sole derives from the woman clothed in the sun, the moon beneath her feet, stars around her head in the Apocalypse (12:1–6), and became a widespread visual representation on the Continent and in Scotland in the late 15th and throughout the 16th century.25 In the Hours the crowned Virgin holds the Christ child while standing on a pink crescent moon. Her figure is surrounded by a golden sunburst with five red stars, and the image is further encircled by a five-decade rosary of red beads with gauds of pink roses, in the shape of a mandorla, against a brilliant blue background ringed by delicately scalloped cloudbursts. The Maria in sole with rosary in the Hours is significant for several reasons. First, it is perhaps the earliest of its kind in Scottish art to incorporate an image of the rosary as an integral part of the miniature. Second, the fact that Maria in sole is not a subject taken up by English illuminators in the 15th or even early 16th century underlines some of the differences between developments in English and Scottish manuscript art during the period, which evolved along quite different lines.26 Third, the Maria in sole was an indulgenced image, with typically generous values attached to it. It can be connected to the two other indulgenced prayers in the Hours, which together provide an index of some aspects of the manuscript’s reception and use as an intercessory aid.27 Moreover, praying the Rosary is encouraged by the illustration and was a devotional activity thought to accumulate further indulgences. The Hours attributes one of these indulgenced prayers to Pope Sixtus IV (1471–84), a Franciscan with a special devotion to Mary (fol. 65v).28 As Luxford discusses elsewhere in this volume,29 Sixtus is designated ‘modernus’, a distinction not made in either of the two other papal indulgences in the volume (fols 68v–69r; 69r). This allows us to date the manuscript to his reign. Among his many other activities, in 1476 he officially introduced an Office for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, one of the most important Marian feasts in the liturgical calendar.30 For much of his career he actively promoted the controversial theological doctrine of the Immaculate Conception: the idea that Mary was herself conceived without original sin. In 1478 he also approved recitation of the Rosary, the Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and granted it a 215

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Fig. 1. Arbuthnott hours, fol. 29v: Maria in sole (Virgin in the Sun) with rosary Reproduced by permission of Paisley Museum

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generous indulgence value. This pope is especially associated with Maria in sole imagery as he is credited with granting an extraordinary indulgence of 11,000 years for those who recite the ‘Ave sanctissima’ prayer before this image.31 Several late medieval manuscripts include his portrait in tandem with Maria in sole imagery and the ‘Ave sanctissima’ prayer with which he is associated.32 The Arbuthnotts left written evidence of their observance of this Feast (8 December), which is marked in the Missal at fol. 11v and in the Hours at fol. 6v. The inclusion of a Maria in sole and rosary illustration in the early 1480s within just a few years of papal endorsement shows how quickly liturgy and iconography made their way to Scotland.33 Although geographically far removed from Rome, where the sometimes heated controversy over the Immaculate Conception raged, the presence of this imagery in the Hours suggests how dynamic ties to Rome were during the period and how Scottish book art was meaningfully engaged in these debates. Other late-15th-century and early-16th-century manuscripts made for Scottish owners suggest that Maria in sole quickly became a favoured pictorial theme. In the deluxe ¨ sterreichische illustrated prayer book of James IV produced c. 1503 (Vienna, O Nationalbibliothek, MS lat. 1897), Queen Margaret Tudor is shown kneeling in prayer before the image, a spiritual vision that floats above her.34 Another contemporaneous manuscript made in Scotland, possibly in Aberdeenshire, known as Andrew Lundy’s Primer (Aberdeen, Aberdeen University Library, MS CB/57/5) also contains a fine miniature of the image executed in a Flemish style (Fig. 2, fol. 17r), surrounded by a two-bar border of violets and carnations.35 On the basis of several Latin prayers in the manuscript, Ker notes that the manuscript was ‘perhaps for female use’.36 A book of hours made in Rouen for an unknown Scottish owner (Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Library, MS 43) contains another notable illustration of the subject and depicts the Virgin as Queen of Heaven crowned by two angels (Fig. 3, fol. 25v); Mary holds an apple in her right hand to symbolize that she is the redemptive counterpart to Eve, with the Christ child on her left.37 In another manuscript owned by a Scotswoman, known as the Rossdhu Book of Hours (Auckland, City Library, Sir George Grey Special Collection, MS G.146, fol. 51v), there is a historiated initial ‘S’ with a small Maria in sole image. This manuscript was made in the Southern Netherlands c. 1475–1500 for Elizabeth Dunbar, who was married to Sir John Colquhoun, Great Chamberlain of Scotland under James II and III.38 The prayerbook of Robert Blackadder (Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland MS 10271), the first archbishop of Glasgow (1483–1508), includes a historiated initial ‘A’ with yet another Maria in sole illumination (Fig. 4, fol. 27v).39 This manuscript was produced in Northern France (possibly in the diocese of Cambrai) or in the Netherlands in the last quarter of the 15th century, and Blackadder must have commissioned it on one of his many trips to the Continent.40 Thus Maria in sole illustrations appear in manuscripts owned by Scottish royalty, the upper gentry, and elite clerics. Although there is some variation in how the image is depicted, the rosary does not appear, a fact that underlines the importance and singularity of the illustration in the Hours. Maria in sole imagery was also employed in other contexts in late medieval Scotland and can also be seen in art, sculpture, church furnishings, and the decorative arts as well as in three-dimensional carved wood panels such as those at Edzell Castle and the sumptuous Beaton panels made between 1523–26, in which a Maria in sole with child rises out of a Tree of Jesse (Fig. 5).41 The latter panels were commissioned by David Beaton, commendator of Arbroath (1524), and depict Mary as ‘genetrix, of Jesse germynat’, as the contemporaneous Scottish poem ‘Ros Mary’ puts it.42 A similar 217

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Fig. 2. Andrew Lundy’s Primer, Aberdeen, Aberdeen University Library, MS CB/57/5, fol. 17r: Maria in sole Reproduced by permission of the Scottish Catholic Archives and Aberdeen University Library

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Fig. 3. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Library, MS 43, fol. 25v: Maria in sole crowned by two angels Reproduced by permission of Edinburgh University Library

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Fig. 4. The Prayer-book of Robert Blackadder, Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, MS 10271, fol. 27v: historiated initial with Maria in sole Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland

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Fig. 5. Beaton panels: Maria in sole with Tree of Jesse Reproduced by permission of the National Museums of Scotland

image of Mary rising atop a tree of Jesse (although not in sole) also appears on the stamped leather centerpieces of the original binding of the Missal of St Nicholas Aberdeen.43 A Maria in sole statue at Strathisla from the early 16th century was erected by Abbot Thomas Crystall, and another one, known as the Holyrood statue, was produced in the same period and is now in Edinburgh at the Jesuit church of the Sacred Heart.44 A 15th-century brass chandelier composed of twelve branches contains the Maria in sole image at its apex, at St John’s Kirk, Perth (Fig. 6); one of dozens imported from Flanders, it was probably hung at the skinner’s altar now in north transept or in the Lady Chapel at the east end of the choir.45 The iconic image of the Virgin in the sun typically towered above parishioners, as a statue perched atop a column or hung elevated from the ceiling; likewise, in the Perth chandelier, Mary is an imposing vision appearing in the heavens.46 The bright glister of the candle flames refracted in the sunlight would have intensified her majestic position in sole. The range of Maria in sole imagery in late medieval Scotland mirrors a general upsurge in artistic representations of the subject on the Continent, where it can be seen in many celebrated panel paintings made for aristocratic patrons.47 In the late 15th century, precisely the period when the Hours was made, inexpensive blockprints, engravings and woodcuts begin being manufactured for a wider audience.48 The well-known Scottish manuscript, London, British Library, MS Arundel 285, produced in the first half of the 16th century, includes a text known as ‘The Three Rose Garlandis’, which is 221

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Fig. 6. St John’s Kirk, Perth: a 15th-century brass chandelier with Maria in sole Reproduced by permission of Perth Museum and Art Gallery

illustrated with a hand-coloured woodcut of the Maria in sole within a rosary (fol. 198v, Fig. 7).49 The crowned Virgin wears a red robe, while sun, moon and haloes of mother and child are painted golden yellow; the rosary has decades of pink beads with golden gauds. This woodcut, long thought to have been Scottish, was produced in France c. 1498, and appears to have been cut out in the shape of a circle before it was pasted in the manuscript decades later, trimming an elaborate border with inscribed scrolls seen in other extant woodcuts of the same design, such as one pasted onto a wooden box now at the Newberry library in Chicago.50 Although the woodcut in BL Arundel 285 was produced about a decade after the Hours, the basic visual design matches its Maria in sole illustration. Woodcuts with images of the rosary were produced en masse in the early to mid-16th century.51 The overall design of the Maria in sole in the Hours may well have derived from a similar woodcut produced on the Continent, but the iconography circulated in a broad range of visual contexts that may also have influenced the artist who made the rosary an important secondary theme of his illustration. 222

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Fig. 7. London, British Library, MS Arundel 285, fol. 198v: a hand-coloured woodcut of Maria in sole within a rosary Reproduced by permission of the British Library

Devotion to the rosary, like the iconic image of the Virgin in the Sun, was imported from the Continent, especially the Low Countries, but quickly and tenaciously took root in Scotland in the late 15th and throughout the 16th century.52 There are several extant examples of late-15th- and early-16th-century tomb art in Scotland that show the recumbent effigy holding rosary beads.53 Throughout the period, Scottish clerics, elites and royals owned rosaries, often made of solid gold or coral. By the 16th century, rosary beads were in widespread use in Scotland, in bede houses, hospitals, and in monasteries, and among laypeople; they would have been used publicly and privately to recite the Rosary, the Pater Noster, Ave Maria, other daily devotions, and at the hour of death. The Rosary quickly became enmeshed in the larger pattern of Marian devotion in pre-Reformation Scotland. During roughly the same period as the production of the Arbuthnott manuscripts, Blackadder founded an altar at Glasgow Cathedral dedicated to St Mary of Pity, whose stone base was decorated with a border of Marian roses, which accented ceiling bosses he also commissioned containing roses and other Marian imagery.54 A few decades later (c. 1525) a baptismal font now in St John’s Church, 223

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Fig. 8.

Fetternear Banner, National Museum of Scotland

Reproduced by permission of the National Museums of Scotland

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Aberdeen (formerly at St Michaels’ Church, Kinkell) is adorned with a crowned ‘M’ for Maria along with roses and other symbols of the Passion such as the Five Wounds.55 There was a steady influx of Marian devotions imported from the Continent, many of them originating at the Roman curia, including Our Lady of the Snows at the new parish church of Old Aberdeen in 1497, which was brought by William Elphinstone. During roughly the same period, Our Lady of Consolation was brought to Glasgow by Blackadder.56 The trend continued in the 16th century with the Loreto devotion at Perth in 1528 and Musselburgh in 1533.57 Clerical impetus was often responsible, as it must have been at least initially for devotion to the Rosary. Mary frequently appears as a rose in late medieval Scottish devotional literature.58 For example, the poem ‘Ros Mary: Ane Ballat of Oure Lady’ from the early-16thcentury Asloan Manuscript (Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, MS 16500) describes Mary as ‘rialest rosyne’, most royal rose.59 The comparison of Mary to a rose was traditional, often drawing on Canticles 1:1–2 or Ecclesiasticus 24:18, in which she is figured as the rosa sine spina or ‘the rose without thorn’; Mary was also sometimes depicted holding a rosebush in her hands.60 Arundel 285, whose Maria in sole woodcut was mentioned earlier, has two texts on the Rosary, ‘The Thre Rose Garlandis’ and the ‘Laing Rosair’.61 Walter Kennedy’s poem on Mary, ‘Closter of crist riche Recent flour delyss’, states that the rosary helps overcome sin, gives protection, and provides intercession.62 Much of the manuscript art in the Hours can be connected to wider trends in devotional literature and the visual arts across Europe. In this context the Fetternear Banner (Fig. 8) offers a good comparison to the Maria in sole image in the Arbuthnott Hours. It provides a unique synthesis of devotion to the Rosary and the cult of the Holy Blood (a Continental import from Bruges) and other Passion imagery, including the Arma Christi. Thought to have been commissioned a few decades later around c. 1520 by the confraternity of the Holy Blood in Edinburgh, this banner would have been used for processions and other paraliturgical events, but was unfinished, and this may explain why it survived.63 This banner is a good example of patronage as well as customization, as it was quite literally tailor-made for use. The image of Maria in sole in the Hours can likewise be considered a significant example of customization, as most books of hours had specific prayers and images that were ordered by the patron. Although lesser in artistic accomplishment than illuminations in other Scottish-owned manuscripts, this image of the Virgin must have carried great weight and prestige in this manuscript: it was a way for the owner to actively reflect her own devotional identity and can be connected to other patterns of patronage by her and her husband. st ternan The other most obvious element of customization in the Hours is the special focus on St Ternan. Like the Arbuthnott Missal (discussed by Luxford, this volume, 196), the Hours has a full-page portrait of St Ternan (Fig. 9, fol. 7v), to whom the parish church was dedicated from an early date.64 Ternan was a saint of regional importance in the Mearns, known as bishop of the Picts, and was credited with bringing Christianity to the area. He was buried on an island in a loch near Banchory, a ‘notable Celtic monastic centre’, and some of his relics were kept in the local church there or housed at other locations nearby.65 For example, his bell (ronnecht) or ‘songster’ possibly still survives and is on display in the East Church at Banchory.66 Legend relates that the bell, a gift from Pope Gregory in Rome, followed him back to Scotland in a miraculous 225

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Fig. 9. Arbuthnott hours, fol. 7v: miniature of St Ternan, on a leaf by itself before the hours of the Virgin Reproduced by permission of Paisley Museum

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manner. Another known relic was his gospel book (Matthew), which was enshrined in a metal case (cumdach) or book-shrine with a cover ornamented in gold and silver, presumably something akin to the Cathach of St Columba.67 Although survivals are rare, bells and saints’ books were common forms of secondary relics in late medieval Scotland.68 Ternan’s book-relic was reportedly held at Banchory-Ternan on Deeside until the early 16th century, together with his head and part of his embalmed skull, which were described by the compiler of the Aberdeen Martyrology at the end of the 15th century, but these relics did not outlast the Reformation.69 Many such relics were passed down by individual hereditary custodians or dewars, who would bring them to the church on feast days or for other special occasions. Since Ternan had several other dedications in Kincardineshire and in the north-east of Scotland, including churches, chapels, springs and holy wells, it is likely he had an active cult in the region.70 A monstrance that once contained his relics was also described in the treasury of the church of Aberdeen in the 16th century and was listed among the gifts of Bishop Gavin Dunbar (1518–32), but is now lost.71 Ternan’s feast day (12 June) would have been liturgically commemorated annually and would have held special significance at Arbuthnott. Not only was the saint closely identified with the locality, but in the Missal — proudly branded ‘Liber sancti terrenani’ at almost every opening of the manuscript — his feast was given the highest possible liturgical grading.72 The feast also appears in the Aberdeen Breviary, Scotland’s first printed book, which was edited and printed under the direction of Bishop William Elphinstone (1483–1514), founder of Aberdeen University.73 It was an attempt to create a variation on the Sarum liturgy that was distinctly Scottish and included the full complement of Scottish saints in the calendar and suffrages: ‘efter the use of our realme, with additiouns and legendis of Scottis sanctis now gaderit’.74 It was printed in 1510, just a few decades after the Arbuthnott Hours, and is an almost exact match liturgically. The Hours includes numerous Scottish saints in the calendar (fols 1r–6v) and litany (fols 35r–37v), most notably Saints Ninian, Andrew, Kentigern, Fillan, Monan, Baldred, Duthac, and Kessog, as well as other less well-known national, indigenous saints such as Palladius and Blaise.75 All of these saints likewise appear in the calendar of the Aberdeen Breviary, as well as in another key Scottish liturgical text, the Missal of St Nicholas’ Church in Aberdeen, printed at Rouen in 1506 and adapted for use in one of the largest parish churches in Scotland.76 The full-page illustration of Ternan in the Hours (Fig. 9, fol. 7v) shows the slightly bearded saint as bishop, wearing a blue mitre with gold trim and bejeweled headband; a pink, jewel-studded cope; and a blue chasuble over a white alb with embroidered sleeves. He stands on a brown tiled-floor in a chapel with two windows on either side of him. The walls behind him are painted green with shaded flower and leaf motifs. The basic features of this iconography can also be seen in finer, more costly books of hours produced on the Continent for Scottish women book-owners, such as the portrait of St Andrew in London, British Library Add. MS 39761, fol. 75v (Fig. 10).77 The illustration of Ternan in the Hours contains other, less conventional features. The bishop stands holding his crozier, topped by a cross pate´e with a ring just below it, in his right hand, while making the sign of blessing with his left. Such a position is atypical. The artist of the Arbuthnott Missal, while employing similar visual elements, has corrected this error and shows the bishop blessing with his right hand (see Luxford, this volume, Fig. 8, 196). The artist of the Hours seems aware of pictorial conventions in Continental manuscript art and patterns his illustrations after them — albeit with less technical proficiency — but seems to be working independently in his own visual idiom. 227

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Fig. 10. London, British Library Add. MS 39761, fol. 75v: St Andrew Reproduced by permission of the British Library

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These idiosyncrasies are the first clues that indicate a semi-professional or amateur artist produced the miniatures in the Hours in Scotland. The guide inscriptions or notes to the illuminator, detailed by Luxford in this volume,78 likewise suggest that the books were sent to be limned after the text had been copied — but where? book production in scotland The Arbuthnott manuscripts were almost certainly illustrated in Scotland. Several questions arise: were the manuscripts decorated by a foreign artist, by a Scotsman who trained abroad, or by a Scotsman who trained locally? Is this the work of a Scottish artist copying a foreign and Continental style? Are these manuscripts examples of more local production, perhaps at Aberdeen, St Andrews, Edinburgh, or Dundee? Although we cannot answer these questions with any certainty, these manuscripts have several unique features that do not conform to contemporaneous manuscripts produced for Scots on the Continent. The illumination in the Hours, for example, is not of the same quality as that seen in Continental books of hours, which were often mass-produced. The illustrations are of such idiosyncratic and utilitarian quality that they do not resemble anything found among the least expensive books of hours produced in the Low Countries or France. If the manuscript was sent abroad for illumination, the quality of draftsmanship would have been higher, more technically proficient. In addition, the border work in the Hours does not resemble that typically found in either English or Continental manuscripts, is of a higher standard of professionalism than the miniatures, and seems to have been executed by a different artist. These pieces of evidence and unanswered questions, when taken together, lead to the conclusion that the miniatures and borders in the Arbuthnott manuscripts were executed by craftsmen who were employed together in a worksite in Scotland. Historians of Scottish art and architecture have often remarked that late-medieval Scotland’s aesthetic is more Franco-Flemish than English.79 Margaret Lane Ford makes an important observation about why English and Scottish book arts diverged so much in the 15th and 16th centuries: ‘They were separate countries, had different foreign alliances, different trade routes and looked to different intellectual centres’.80 The Wars of Independence led to a great deal of anti-English feeling. Moreover, the church in England and the church in Scotland were on different sides during the Great Schism.81 For a range of reasons it makes sense that Scots used Continental and not English models for their book arts. Scots had been collecting manuscripts and importing them from the Continent throughout the period.82 Scottish elites did not tend to look south to London for high-status goods, but often preferred Continental cultural products, especially books of hours and illuminated manuscripts.83 Moreover, the Low Countries had the most efficient, organized book trade, with some of the finest and most attractive products, operating as what has been aptly described as ‘the bookshop of the world’.84 Trade with the Low Countries was historically integral to the Scottish economy, especially via the thriving Flemish woollen cloth industry.85 Alexander Stevenson has pointed out that the crossing by sea from the port of Edinburgh (Leith) to the port of Bruges (Sluis) (385 miles) is shorter than the distance from Leith to London (415 miles).86 Bruges was the Scottish staple port in mainland Europe for most of the 15th century. Books and other luxury goods would often come to Scotland on merchant ships that had exported wool, hides, and fish to the Low Countries.87 The Ledger of Andrew Halyburton (d. 1507), Conservator of the Privileges of the Scots in the Netherlands, 229

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‘a post akin to a commercial ambassadorship’, records that whole cases of books were shipped from the Low Countries to Scotland.88 One entry documents Archbishop Schevez’s entrusting 500 gold crowns to Halyburton to purchase books for him; another records ‘25 breviaris’ shipped at once.89 Elsewhere the Ledger names one of his contacts as ‘Garad the buk sellar of Handwarp’ and notes payment to a ‘buk byndar of Brugis’ (99).90 Halyburton helped Scots to procure not only illuminated manuscripts, but also images, tombs, sculptures, altarpieces, brasses, and other artistic commissions from the Continent — even artists.91 For example, he sent James IV a man named ‘Piers the painter’ who worked at the Scottish court from 1505–08, but he was really just continuing a tradition that went back at least to the reign of James I, who had also imported foreign artists.92 Halyburton was son-in-law to the great artist Sanders Bening and brother-in-law to the celebrated painter Simon Bening, and he was also related by marriage to Hugo van der Goes. He and his family were at the epicentre of the art world of his day. He was thus in an exceptionally good position to procure foreign talent. Throughout the period, there is documentation that foreign artists and craftsmen worked on St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh; on the Perth charterhouse; and at Falkland, Holyrood, and Linlithgow. As David McRoberts pointed out many decades ago, ‘Any large important building enterprise in the Middle Ages attracted international craftsmanship’.93 We do have, however, other kinds of evidence that finely illustrated manuscripts were made in Scotland during the late medieval period. For Glasgow 1468 there are records of parchment sellers such as Robert Barbour and for Edinburgh those of the bookbinder Patrick Lowes.94 Smaller towns such as Perth also had craftsmen who made books. The Dundee Burgh and Head Court Book records that in 1486 the Bakers of Dundee purchased from Thomy Tournour of Perth [St Johnstoun] a Mass Book ‘new writin & bundin’, for St Cuthbert’s altar in St Mary’s parish kirk.95 As a major port Dundee regularly imported mercantile wares of every variety, and in light of this it is even more significant that the Bakers eschewed a foreign import and sought out a native artist for their mass book. Halyburton’s Ledger, mentioned earlier, also records the purchase of painting materials in Antwerp for an Edinburgh merchant, Thomas Cant, in June 1497.96 These included gold and silver leaf, vermilion, red and white lead — items that would have been used for manuscript design, decoration and illustration. Other records are for imports of Flanders skins (or parchments), in addition to the reams of paper that were imported.97 There is a range of evidence for monastic book production in late medieval Scotland. The scriptorium at Culross produced a lovely psalter in the second half of the 15th century, which was made for the abbot, Richard Marshall (d. 1470).98 Culross had a reputation for handsomely produced books and fine bindings made by practised scribes and artists.99 The monastery may even have produced books commercially.100 Between 1502 and 1504 King James IV commissioned over £60 worth of books from Culross for the Franciscan Greyfriars of Stirling.101 Culross also produced ‘de luxe volumes’ for the abbot of Kinloss.102 Yet ordering manuscripts from elsewhere did not preclude a monastery from producing books of its own. For example, at Kinloss a monk named David Eliot in the 1470s–80s was said to have ‘purchased or transcribed various volumes of ritual’.103 One of their abbots, William Culross, also copied books for the house.104 The Perth Carthusians produced copies of Barbour’s Bruce and Blind Harry’s Wallace as well as an abridged Scotichronicon, and probably other works that did not survive.105 The ‘Black Book of Paisley’, Bower’s revision and continuation of John 230

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Fordoun’s Scotichronicon, was written at the Cluniac abbey of Paisley between 1447 and 1455.106 The monastery at Kilwinning was involved in bookbinding, and it is likely that other book arts were practised there.107 In addition, monks copied manuscripts at Newbattle, Dunfermline, Pittenweem, Cambuskenneth, and Incholm.108 Hence there were skilled craftsmen in monasteries across Scotland that could have illustrated the Arbuthnott manuscripts. In the late 15th century, precisely during the period when the Arbuthnott manuscripts were produced, manuscripts were being produced both within the monasteries as well as by professional craftspeople within the mercantile infrastructure of the burgh. After the advent of printing in Scotland (1507), under the aegis of Chapman and Myllar’s press in Edinburgh, the book-trade was located within the burghs of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.109 These burghs had merchants and craftsmen organized into self-governed guilds. There is good reason to believe that a certain degree of continuity can be inferred in the transition from manuscript to print production; in other words, book production was probably somewhat deregulated within the burgh. With a population of around 400,000 people and a predominantly rural economy, Scotland seems never to have had a localized centre of book production as London or Oxford had, but operated on a smaller scale. All of this evidence suggests that a detailed, systematic history of Scottish manuscript production remains a desideratum. conclusion Robert Arbuthnott and his wife Mariota were robust patrons of art and architecture, and the missal, psalter and book of hours were made during a time of active church construction and expansion. Some devotional interests in the Hours are mirrored in building projects at the Arbuthnott parish church. The devotion of Mariota to the Rosary and to Mary in the Hours was also given concrete expression in the Lady Chapel, the aisle on the south side of the church sometimes called ‘The Arbuthnott Aisle’, which was built during the precise period when these manuscripts were produced. This aspect of the family’s enthusiasm for Mary mirrors other devotional patterns seen across the Scottish countryside. As Tom Turpie notes: ‘In the smaller towns and rural parishes the overwhelming proportion of altars and chaplaincies from the late 14th to the mid-16th century were founded in her honour’.110 The Hours of the Virgin (fols 9–27) were read and the Rosary recited in a chapel explicitly dedicated to Mary. The Arbuthnott Psalter (at fol. iii verso) also singles out this chapel as a place where the manuscripts were meant to be used. Like many late medieval people, the Arbuthnotts were concerned with the fates of their souls in the afterlife. The erection of the chapel and added chantry-chapel, as well as the more obvious burial crypt, like the indulgenced prayers in these manuscripts, were all intended to alleviate their own purgatorial suffering and that of their family. In 1505, one year before he died, Robert founded and endowed a chantry-chapel in this aisle, a further expression of his overall investment in the church’s Marian capital and testament to his own impending need for intercessory prayer. He is credited with creating a family burial place for the lairds and viscounts of Arbuthnott in the lower part of the crypt of the Aisle.111 His own burial in the crypt in the Aisle that he founded would have been a way for him to amplify his own remission of sin. The Arbuthnott parish church also contains a surviving shield of the Five Wounds of Christ with the three nails and ladder of the Crucifixion on the corbel on the south-east buttress of the aisle (Fig. 11). This iconography is widely attested in Scottish, English 231

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Fig. 11. Arbuthnott, parish church of St Ternan: corbel with the Five Wounds of Christ on the south-east buttress of the aisle Photo: Richard Fawcett

and Continental sculpture, carvings, corbels, ceiling bosses, tomb recesses, and stained glass, and itself derived from the liturgy, in particular, from the Mass of the Five Wounds, a Mass that also appears in the Arbuthnott Missal.112 Books of hours commonly featured illustrated prayers and devotions to the Five Wounds, and several examples can be cited in books of hours owned by Scots during the period.113 William Elphinstone and his associate and Master of Works, Alexander Galloway, Prebendary of Kinkell and Rector of the University, both promoted the cult of the Five Wounds at King’s College Chapel and St Machar’s Cathedral.114 In the diocese of Aberdeen there were altars dedicated to the Five Wounds in the cathedral and the burgh church of St Nicholas, and the votive mass to the Five Wounds would have been celebrated regularly. From this one may conclude that the imagery on the corbel, like the Maria in sole illustration in the Hours, had prestige in the region.115 Hence the ambitious building programme in the parish church reinforced the liturgical and religious interests expressed in the manuscripts that the Arbuthnotts commissioned. The Arbuthnott manuscripts are a potent reminder that books often had a complex social life, reflecting a vast network of human relationships: between scribe and artist; 232

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scribe, artist, and patron; patron and family; husband and wife; as well more complex regional, national and international ties. Mariota Arbuthnott’s book of hours, like the family’s building projects, was also an intercessory aid — aimed at mediating her salvation between this world and the next. The devotional tastes of this liturgically engaged woman, moreover, were markedly cosmopolitan. Far from being insular and having little contact with the outside world, Scotland consciously looked not to England but to Continental Europe.116 In a small, rural village in the north-east of Scotland, what the Arbuthnotts created was a parish church that was also a kind of library, a place that communicated and expressed, through mutually strengthening word, image, and liturgy, the fresh currents of devotion most embraced by the family in their daily lives.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This paper has greatly profited from the expertise of my collaborator, Julian Luxford, and from perceptive comments by Kathleen Scott and the editor of this volume, Jane Geddes. I warmly thank them for help on many important points. In addition, I am indebted to Tom Turpie and Mark Hall for graciously providing key references. Finally, the research for this essay would have been impossible without the kind assistance of the staff of the Paisley Museum and Art Gallery and the Dundee City Archives.

NOTES 1. M. Dilworth, Scottish Monasteries in the Late Middle Ages (Edinburgh 1995), 65. For a broad overview, see D. McRoberts, ‘Material Destruction Caused by the Scottish Reformation’, in Essays on the Scottish Reformation, 1513–1625, ed. D. McRoberts (Glasgow 1962), 415–62. 2. J. Higgitt ed., Scottish Libraries, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues 12 (London 2006), xxxii. See also R. J. Lyall, ‘Books and book owners in fifteenth-century Scotland’, in Book Production and Publishing in Britain 1375–1475, ed. J. Griffiths and D. Pearsall (Cambridge 1989), 239–56, at 239. 3. K. Hughes, ‘Where are the writings of early Scotland?’ in Celtic Britain in the Early Middle Ages: Studies in Scottish and Welsh Sources, ed. D. Dumville (Woodbridge 1980), 17. 4. The manuscripts, which do not have numbered shelf marks, are described in W. MacGillivray, ‘Notices of the Arbuthnott Missal, Psalter, and Office of the Blessed Virgin’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 26 (1891–92), 89–104; N. R. Ker et al., Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, 5 vols (Oxford 1969–2002), IV, 2–6. The missal has been edited in A. P. Forbes ed., Liber ecclesie Beati Terrenani de Arbuthnott: Missale secundum usum ecclesie Sancti Andreae in Scotia (Burntisland 1864). On the borders and border-artist in the missal, see K. L. Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts 1390–1490, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles 6, 2 vols (London 1996), II, 331. Other references appear below or can be found in J. M. Luxford’s essay in this volume, esp. 208, at n. 4–5. 5. The joint patronage activities of Robert and Mariota Arbuthnott are discussed by Luxford in this volume, 186 and in C. Bing, The Lairds of Arbuthnott (London 1993), 36–41. The family paid for indulgences from the Order of the Observantines, a branch of the Franciscan order in 1482 and became members of the Fraternity of the Order of the Friars Minors of Observance in 1487. They were later made members of the Fraternity of St John of Jerusalem. 6. For an overview of the history and significance of this iconography, see S. Ringbom, ‘Maria in Sole and the Virgin of the Rosary’, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 25 (1962), 326–30. For Scotland, see D. McRoberts, ‘The Rosary in Scotland’, Innes Review, 23 (1972), 81–86. 7. S. Penketh, ‘Women and Books of Hours’, in Women and the Book: Assessing the Visual Evidence, ed. L. J. Smith and J. H. M. Taylor (London and Toronto 1997), 266–81. 8. P. Bawcutt, ‘‘‘My bright buke’’: Women and their Books in Medieval and Renaissance Scotland’, in Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts in Late Medieval Britain, ed. J. Wogan-Browne et al. (Turnhout 2000), 17–34, at 19. We have much more abundant manuscript evidence for late medieval England, with fine, recent

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marlene villalobos hennessy studies of women and their books, including D. N. Bell, What Nuns Read: Books and Libraries in Medieval English Nunneries (Kalamazoo 1995); M. C. Erler, Women, Reading, and Piety in Late Medieval England (Cambridge 2006); and K. A. Smith, Art, Identity and Devotion in Fourteenth-Century England: Three Women and their Books of Hours, The British Library Studies in Medieval Culture (London and Toronto 2003), among others. For Scotland, on the other hand, Bawcutt’s essay stands out like a lone wolf. 9. Ker et al., Manuscripts (as n. 4), IV, 6. 10. Bing, Lairds (as n. 5), 37. 11. In the calendar of the psalter the battle of Flodden is noted in a later hand as 9 September (fol. 9r). For the Scrymgeour arms, see H. Chesshyre et al., Dictionary of British Arms, Medieval Ordinary, 3 vols (London 1992–2009), I, 199; Robert’s arms appear at III, 83. 12. Missal, fol. 9v. The translation is from MacGillivray, ‘Notices’ (as n. 4), 90. 13. The passage is quoted in full in Luxford, above, 209, at n. 20. 14. MacGillivray, ‘Notices’ (as n. 4), 92. 15. See I. B. Cowan, The Medieval Church in Scotland, ed. J. Kirk (Edinburgh 1995), 173. 16. See J. Higgitt, ‘Manuscripts and Libraries in the Diocese of Glasgow before the Reformation’, in Medieval Art and Architecture in the Diocese of Glasgow, ed. R. Fawcett, BAA Trans., xxiii (Leeds 1998), 102–10, at 102. 17. Cowan, Medieval Church (as n. 15), 127. See also C. H. Haws, ‘The Diocese of Aberdeen and the Reformation’, Innes Review, 22.2 (1971), 72–84. 18. See Cowan, Medieval Church (as n. 15), 188. 19. See J. Durkan, ‘The Early Scottish Notary’, in The Renaissance and Reformation in Scotland, ed. I. B. Cowan and D. Shaw (Edinburgh 1983), 22–40 at 24. Quotation from Lyall, ‘Books and book owners’ (as n. 2), 242. 20. The foundation of Scottish universities did not preclude education on the Continent. See R. J. Lyall, ‘Scottish Students and Masters at the Universities of Cologne and Louvain in the 15th Century’, Innes Review, 36 (1985), 55–73. 21. Dilworth, Scottish Monasteries (as n. 1), 64, and Durkan, ‘Notary’ (as n. 19), 34. 22. Although the Hours nowhere names Sibbald as the scribe, it is clearly his scribal hand. The date derives from the ascription of Pope Sixtus IV (1471–84) as ‘modernus’, or the current pope, also discussed in Luxford above, 187. 23. The most comprehensive overview is A. A. MacDonald, ‘Passion Devotion in Late Medieval Scotland,’ in The Broken Body. Passion Devotion in Late-Medieval Culture, ed. A. A. MacDonald et al. (Groningen 1998), 109–31. 24. The Marian texts are ‘Gaude virgo mater Christi’ (fol. 27), on The Five Joys of Mary; ‘Salve regina’ (fol. 27v); and ‘Salutacio deuota ad beatam uirginem Mariam’ (fol. 28). As Luxford observes (above, 200), a note to the illuminator suggests the Maria in sole illustration was supposed to be on fol. 28v, which had a large hole in the parchment and is now blank. 25. See Ringbom, ‘Maria in Sole’ (as n. 6), 326–30. 26. The only exceptions I am aware of contain different iconography without the in sole motif: 1) there is a Maria lactans inside a very large red rose encircled by rosary beads in an East Anglian manuscript produced c. 1490 (Malibu, Getty MS 101, fol. 78v) and 2) a historiated initial with a Maria lactans inside a rosary in an English book of hours with later additions in a Flemish idiom, including this initial (Cambridge, Fitzwilliam MS 57, fol. 91r). 27. Indulgences appear at fols 65v; fols 68v–69r; and fol. 69r. 28. Sixtus IV was the patron of the Sistine Chapel, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and founder of the Vatican archives. For other aspects of his biography, see E. Duffy, Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes, 4th edn (New Haven and London 1997), 184–92. 29. See Luxford, above, 187. 30. For his various decrees, see H. J. D. Denzinger, The Sources of Catholic Dogma, trans. by R. J. Deferrari from the 30th edition of Henry Denzinger’s Enchiridion Symbolorum (St Louis and London 1957), 236–37 (nos 734 and 735). 31. Ringbom, ‘Maria in sole’ (as n. 6), 329. 32. The ‘Ave sanctissima Maria’ prayer on the Immaculate Conception is often attributed to Sixtus IV, though it was written by the apostolic proto-notary Leonardo Nogarolo. The prayer first appears in the 1470s and was later set to music on the Continent. See B. J. Blackburn, ‘The Virgin in the Sun: Music and Image for a Prayer Attributed to Sixtus IV’, Journal of the Royal Musical Association, 124 (1999), 157–95, at 158. 33. On the swiftness with which liturgical developments reached Scotland from Rome, see D. McRoberts, ‘The Medieval Scottish Liturgy Illustrated by Surviving Documents’, Transactions of the Scottish

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The Arbuthnott Book of Hours Ecclesiological Society, 15 (1957), 24–40, at 36, and I. Woods, ‘‘‘Our Awin Scottis use’’: Chant Usage in Medieval Scotland’, Journal of the Royal Musical Association, 112 (1987), 21–37, at 23–24. 34. Ringbom, ‘Maria in sole’ (as n. 6), 328 notes Mary in this illumination is a ‘spiritual image’ and not a corporeal one. On this manuscript, see also L. J. Macfarlane, ‘The Book of Hours of James IV and Margaret Tudor’, Innes Review, 11 (1960), 3–21. 35. The manuscript is described in Ker et al., Manuscripts (as n. 4), I, 122–24 and in W. J. Anderson, ‘Andrew Lundy’s Primer’, Innes Review, 11 (1960), 39–51. Formerly at Aberdeen, Blairs College and later at Edinburgh, Scottish Catholic Archives, the manuscript is now held at Aberdeen University Library. On the adoption of foreign styles of illumination as seen in this manuscript, see J. J. G. Alexander, ‘Foreign illuminators and illuminated manuscripts’, in The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain, 1400–1557, ed. L. Hellinga and J. B. Trapp, 6 vols (Cambridge 1999), III, 47–64, at 62–63. 36. Ker et al., Manuscripts (as n. 4), I, 124. 37. Books of hours in this style were produced in large numbers on the Continent and sold on the open market in standardized formats that were sometimes customized. See C. R. Borland, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Western Mediaeval Manuscripts in Edinburgh University Library (Edinburgh 1916), 73–78. For other manuscripts made by this artist, see F. Avril and N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits a` peintures en France 1440–1520 (Paris 1993), 169–72 and J. Plummer, The Last Flowering, French Painting in Manuscripts 1420–1530 (Oxford 1982), 66–67, nos 87 and 88. 38. Although Mary appears without a crescent moon, the image appears below a Maria in sole indulgence. The full manuscript can be viewed online at: http://georgegrey.org.nz/TheCollection/CollectionItem/id/67/ title/rossdhu-book-of-hours.aspx [accessed 12 June 2015]. See G. Hay and D. McRoberts, ‘Rossdhu Church and its Book of Hours’, Innes Review, 16 (1965), 3–17. 39. I am following the modern pencil foliation, which is irregular. 40. This prayer-book also contains other interesting illustrations of Mary; in one she is shown rising atop a flower-tree of Jesse; in another she appears with the Christ child who is using a baby-walker. 41. See D. McRoberts and S. M. Holmes, Lost Interiors: The Furnishings of Scottish Churches in the Later Middle Ages (Edinburgh 2012), 73–77, and D. H. Caldwell, ‘The Beaton panels — Scottish carvings of the 1520s or 1530s’, in Medieval Art and Architecture in the Diocese of St Andrews, ed. J. Higgitt, BAA Trans., xiv (Leeds 1994), 174–84. 42. Quoted in A. B. Fitch, ‘Mothers and their Sons: Mary and Jesus in Scotland, 1450–1560’, in The Cult of Saints and the Virgin Mary in Medieval Scotland, ed. S. Boardman and E. Williamson (Woodbridge 2010), 159–76, at 176. 43. F. C. Eeles, ‘Notes on a Missal Formerly Used in S. Nicholas, Aberdeen’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries in Scotland, 33 (1889), 440–60, at 442. 44. See McRoberts and Holmes, Lost Interiors (as n. 41), 127, in which McRoberts rightly notes of Maria in sole, ‘This representation of the Madonna is to be found everywhere’. 45. See D. H. Caldwell, Angels, Nobles and Unicorns: Art and Patronage in Medieval Scotland (Edinburgh 1982), 116; McRoberts and Holmes, Lost Interiors (as n. 41), 22–24. The most comprehensive discussion of this chandelier is M. Hall, ‘Wo/men only? Marian devotion in medieval Perth’, in Cult of Saints (as n. 42), 105–24, at 115–16, with references. 46. Maria in sole images were sometimes placed atop city gates. See L. Silver, ‘Full of Grace: Mariolatry in Post-Reformation Germany’, in The Idol in the Age of Art: Objects, Devotions, and the Early Modern World, ed. M. Cole and R. Zorach (Aldershot 2009), 289–315, at 296–97. 47. See, for example, B. Ridderbos, ‘The Rotterdam-Edinburgh Diptych: ‘‘Maria in sole’’ and the Devotion of the Rosary’, in The Art of Devotion in the Late Middle Ages in Europe 1300–1500, ed. H. van Os (Princeton 1994), 151–56. 48. Silver, ‘Mariolatry’ (as n. 46), 296–97 cites other early Maria in sole woodcuts produced on the Continent. 49. The text is printed in Devotional Pieces in Verse and Prose From MS. Arundel 285 and MS. Harleian 6919, ed. J. A. W. Bennett (Edinburgh and London 1955), 299–321. BL Arundel 285 has numerous woodcuts pasted into the book, with another Maria in sole woodcut pasted into a historiated initial ‘O’ at fol. 178v, which was then hand-coloured; available online at: http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=5215 [accessed 21 June 2015]. 50. As far as I am aware no one has identified the woodcut in BL Arundel 285 as French, or noticed that it matches that in Chicago, Newberry Library, Vault Inc. 52.5; online at: http://publications.newberry.org/ digitalexhibitions/exhibits/show/frenchrenaissance/books/item/153 [accessed 21 June 2015]. 51. See, for example, P. Parshall and R. Schoch, Origins of European Printmaking: 15th-Century Woodcuts and their Public (Washington, D.C., New Haven, and London 2005), 274–77, no. 85 (The Virgin and Child with Rosary). One of the most famous images of the rosary circulating in Scotland is a well-known woodcut of

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marlene villalobos hennessy 1541 reproduced in A. B. Fitch, The Search for Salvation. Lay Faith in Scotland, 1480–1560 (Edinburgh 2009), frontispiece. 52. A. Winston-Allen, Stories of the Rose: The Making of the Rosary in the Middle Ages (University Park 1997); McRoberts, ‘Rosary’ (as n. 6), 81 describes the ‘the vogue of the Rosary in 15th and 16th century Scotland’. 53. See McRoberts, ‘Rosary’ (as n. 6), 81–82, and Fitch, Search for Salvation (as n. 51), 148. 54. Blackadder included five roses next to his shield on his coat of arms, linking his name to Mary’s. Fitch, Search for Salvation (as n. 51), 143. 55. C. Carter, ‘The Arma Christi in Scotland’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries in Scotland, 90 (1956–57), 116–29, at 123; Fitch, ‘Mothers’ (as n. 42), 171. 56. D. McRoberts, ‘Notes on Glasgow Cathedral, Our Lady of Consolation’, Innes Review, 17 (1966), 40–47, at 42–45. 57. See A. B. Fitch, ‘Marian Devotion in Scotland and the Shrine of Loreto’, in The History of Everyday Life in Medieval Scotland, 1000–1600, ed. E. J. Cowan and L. Henderson (Edinburgh 2011), 274–88, and Hall, ‘Wo/men only?’ (as n. 45), 105–24. 58. Fitch, Search for Salvation (as n. 51), 113–50. 59. This poem was formerly attributed to Dunbar and is edited in The Poems of William Dunbar, ed. W. M. Mackenzie (Edinburgh 1932), 175–77, line 8. 60. M. D. Anderson, History and Imagery in British Churches (London 1971), fig. 48. See also R. Woolf, The English Religious Lyric in the Middle Ages (Oxford 1968), 287–89. 61. Bennett, Devotional Pieces (as n. 49), 299–321 and 322–34. 62. As cited in Fitch, ‘Mothers’ (as n. 42), 171. 63. See D. McRoberts, ‘The Fetternear Banner’, Innes Review, 7 (1956), 69–86, and R. Oddy, ‘The Fetternear Banner’, From the Stone Age to the ‘Forty-Five’: Studies Presented to R. B. K. Stevenson, ed. A. O’Connor and D. Clarke (Edinburgh 1983), 416–26. 64. The missal is dedicated to St Ternan and includes a special prayer for his protection and an anathema about removing the missal from the church at fol. 98r, discussed by Luxford (above, 186). See MacGillivray, ‘Notices’ (as n. 4), 97. 65. W. D. Simpson, The Province of Mar, being the Rhind lectures in archaeology, 1941 (Aberdeen 1943), 86. 66. The bell was discovered while digging up the railway. See K. Forsyth, ‘The Stones of Deer’, in Studies on the Book of Deer, ed. K. Forsyth (Dublin 2008), 398–438, at 429. 67. A. P. Forbes, Kalendars of Scottish Saints (Edinburgh 1872), 450–51. For the Cathac, see P. Yeoman, Pilgrimage in Medieval Scotland (London 1999), 87–89, pl. 67. 68. Yeoman, Pilgrimage (as n. 67), 88, and on extant bells and bell-shrines see 87–90, 106. 69. The Martyrology of Aberdeen survives in a single manuscript, Edinburgh University Library, MS 50 (formerly MS D.b.1.8) and is edited in Forbes, Kalendars (as n. 67), 127–37, with descriptions of Ternan’s book and relics at 131. 70. See T. Clancy, ‘Deer and the Early Church in North-Eastern Scotland’, in Book of Deer, (as n. 66), 363–97 at 387. 71. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis, ed. C. Innes, 2 vols, Spalding and Maitland Clubs (Edinburgh 1845), 179–99, at 185. 72. In the missal, Ternan’s feast, a principal with nine lessons, appears at fol. 8v. In the Hours, the feast appears at fol. 3r. 73. W. J. Blew ed., Breviarium Aberdonense, facsimile edition, 2 vols, Bannatyne, Maitland and Spalding Clubs (London 1854). For the publication history, see L. J. Macfarlane, William Elphinstone and the Kingdom of Scotland 1431–1514 (Aberdeen 1985), 231–46. 74. Quotation from the printing license of 1507. See Woods, ‘Scottis Use’ (as n. 32), 22–23, and McRoberts, ‘Liturgy’ (as n. 38), 34–37, where it is noted that the work was also an attempt on the part of James IV to create an embargo on the importation of Sarum books from abroad. 75. Tom Turpie, Kind Neighbours: Scottish Saints and Society in the Later Middle Ages (Leiden 2015), 45–52. I would like to thank him for allowing me to read a draft before publication. 76. Aberdeen, Aberdeen University Special Collections Centre, BCL.S132. See Eeles, ‘Notes’ (as n. 43), 445. 77. The manuscript belonged to Elizabeth Danielstoun, Lady Clerkington in 1577, but was originally made for a Scottish woman named Mary, who probably acquired it in Bourges in the second half of the 15th century while she was living abroad; the manuscript may also have been purchased on the open market before or after it was imported to Scotland. See E. S. Dewick, ‘On a MS. Book of Hours written in France for the Use of a Scottish Lady’, Transactions of the St. Paul’s Ecclesiological Society, 7 (1911–15), 109–20, at 110, where the similarity of iconography is also noted. British Museum Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts 1916–1920

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The Arbuthnott Book of Hours (London, 1933), 179–80. The manuscript is discussed in Bawcutt, ‘Women’ (as n. 8), 24, and J. Higgitt, The Murthly Hours: Devotion, Literacy and Luxury in Paris, England, and the Gaelic West (London, Toronto and Buffalo 2000), 280. 78. Luxford, see above, 200. 79. V. Glenn, ‘Court Patronage in Scotland 1240–1340’, in BAA Glasgow (as n. 16), 111–21. 80. M. L. Ford, ‘Importation of printed books into England and Scotland’, in Cambridge History (as n. 35), 179–204, at 181. 81. McRoberts, ‘Liturgy’ (as n. 33), 30–31. 82. Cf. Higgitt, ‘Manuscripts’ in BAA Glasgow (as n. 16), 105. 83. See, for example, Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, MS 10270, described in D. McRoberts, ‘Dean Brown’s Book of Hours’, Innes Review, 19 (1968), 144–67. 84. L. Hellinga ed., The Bookshop of the World: The Role of the Low Countries in the Book Trade 1473–1941 (Leiden 2001). On Flemish manuscripts made for the English market, see N. Rogers, ‘Patrons and Purchasers: Evidence for the Original Owners of Books of Hours Produced in the Low Countries for the English Market’, in ‘Als Ich Can’: Liber Amicorum in Memory of Professor Dr. Maurits Smeyers, ed. B. Cardon et al. (Leuven 2002), 1165–81. 85. See also above, Ditchburn, 5–6, 8. 86. A. Stevenson, ‘The Flemish Dimension of the Auld Alliance’, in Scotland and the Low Countries 1124–1994, ed. G. G. Simpson (East Linton 1996), 28–42. 87. See A. J. Mann, The Scottish Book Trade 1500–1720 (East Linton 2000), 68–71. 88. Quotation from Mann, Scottish Book (as n. 87), 71. A. Halyburton, The Ledger of Andrew Halyburton. Conservator of the Privileges of the Scotch Nation in the Netherlands 1492–1503, together with the book of customs and valuation of merchandises in Scotland 1612 (Edinburgh 1867), 6–7, 100–02, 254, 273. See also A. Stevenson, ‘Medieval Scottish Associations with Bruges’, in Freedom and Authority: Scotland c.1050– c.1650, ed. T. Brotherstone and D. Ditchburn (East Linton 2000), 93–107, at 106 n. 95. 89. Halyburton, Ledger (as n. 88), 6, 101. 90. Halyburton, Ledger (as n. 88), 103, 99. 91. Halyburton, Ledger (as n. 88) 9, 189, 254. 92. On foreign artists in general, see Alexander, ‘Foreign illuminators’ (as n. 35), 47–64. Not all of the imported artists were from the Continent. The English painter ‘Mynours’ (John Maynard or de Mayne) was at James IV’s court in 1502. See A. A. MacDonald, ‘Princely Culture in Scotland under James III and James IV’, in Princes and Princely Culture 1450–1650, ed. M. Gosman et al., 2 vols (Leiden 2003), II, 147–73, at 165–66. Influence also ran in the other direction: in 1468 two known Scotsmen are recorded as painters in Bruges for the marriage festivities of Charles the Bold and Margaret of York. See L. Campbell, ‘Scottish Patrons and Netherlandish Painters in the 15th and 16th centuries’, in Scotland and the Low Countries (as n. 86), 89–103, at 96. 93. McRoberts and Holmes, Lost Interiors (as n. 41), 197–98. 94. See J. Durkan, ‘The Cultural Background in 16th Century Scotland’, in Essays on the Scottish Reformation, 1513–1625, ed. D. McRoberts (Glasgow 1962), 274–331, at 274–78, and Ford, ‘Importation’ (as n. 80), 198. 95. Dundee, Dundee City Archives, MS Dundee Burgh and Head Court Book, vol. 1, ‘The Book of the Church’, fol. 162v. I thank Mark A. Hall for kindly alerting me to this evidence. 96. Halyburton, Ledger (as n. 88), 117. 97. Halyburton, Ledger (as n. 88), 270 (‘skins’); 10, 180, 271 (‘paper’). 98. This psalter, Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland Adv. MS 18.8.11, was made for him before he was deposed. 99. Cowan, Medieval Church (as n. 15), 174. Higgitt ‘Manuscripts’, in BAA Glasgow (as n. 16), 105; W. K. Dickson, ‘Notes on the Culross Psalter in the Advocates’ Library’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 51 (1916–17), 208–13. 100. Dilworth, Scottish Monasteries (as n. 1), 64; A. Ross, ‘Some Notes on the Religious Orders in PreReformation Scotland’, in Essays (as n. 94), 185–244, at 215–16, 225; Durkan, ‘Cultural Background’ (as n. 94), 274–75; and J. Stuart ed., Records of the Monastery of Kinloss (Edinburgh 1872), 16–63. 101. Ross, ‘Notes’ (as n. 100), 215–16. The Stirling Greyfriars may have also produced books, but presumably of a more utilitarian quality, as they acquired 48 Flanders skins in 1503. 102. Ross, ‘Notes’ (as n. 100), 215. 103. Records (as n. 100), xlii, and see also xlvi–xlvii on the library there in the early 16th century. 104. Records (as n. 100), xliii. 105. W. N. M. Beckett, ‘The Perth Charterhouse before 1500’, Analecta Cartusiana, 128 (1988), 1–74, at 37, 52–53, 57, 61. Also discussed in Durkan, ‘Cultural Background’ (as n. 94), 274–75.

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marlene villalobos hennessy 106. The manuscript is London, British Library, Royal MS 13 E.X, on which see Higgitt, ‘Manuscripts’ in BAA Glasgow (as n. 16), 107. 107. Dilworth, Scottish Monasteries (as n. 1), 67 with references. Cf. Ross, ‘Notes’ (as n. 100), 224. 108. Dilworth, Scottish Monasteries (as n. 1), 64. For Cambuskenneth and Incholm, see J. Higgitt, ‘Bower’s working text: Corpus MS. Decoration and Illustration’, in Scotichronicon, ed. D. E. R. Watt, 9 vols (Edinburgh 1998), IX, 157–85. 109. Mann, Scottish Book (as n. 87), 12. 110. Turpie, Kind Neighbours (as n. 75), 73. 111. Bing, Lairds (as n. 5), 38. 112. Missal, fol. 5v. A corbel on the buttress of the Seton Collegiate church also contains an image of the Five Wounds. P. Dransart, ‘Arma Christi in the Tower Households of North-Eastern Scotland’, in A House that Thieves might knock at: Proceedings of the 2010 Stirling and 2011 Dundee Conferences (Tower Studies), ed. R. Oram (Donington 2015), 154–73. See also Carter, ‘Arma Christi’ (as n. 55), 118. 113. Two fine examples are Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, MS 16499, fols 118v–122r and Edinburgh University Library MS 303, fols 89v–91r. 114. Carter, ‘Arma Christi’ (as n. 55), 118. 115. Macfarlane, Elphinstone (as n. 73), 232. 116. A similar idea is expressed in D. Ditchburn, ‘The ‘‘McRoberts Thesis’’ and Patterns of Sanctity in Late Medieval Scotland’, in Cult of Saints (as n. 42), 177–94.

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North-Eastern Saints in the Aberdeen Breviary and the Historia Gentis Scotorum of Hector Boece: Liturgy, History and Religious Practice in Late Medieval Scotland TOM TURPIE

The later Middle Ages, the period between the Black Death and the reform movements of the 16th century, was the golden age of the cult of the saints in medieval Europe. This article focuses on two attempts to manipulate and direct this devotion from the North-East of Scotland; the inclusion in the calendar of the Aberdeen Breviary (1510) of the feast days of eighty-one saints believed to be of Scottish origin, and a reference to four of these saints, Machar, Devenick, Comgan and Drostan, in the Historia Gentis Scotorum of Hector Boece (1527). Using these two examples from the late medieval diocese of Aberdeen, this article explores the role played by the saints in defining national and local history in the later Middle Ages. They also demonstrate how the liturgy and the literary genre of the chronicle were utilized by local and national clergy in the 16th century in order to direct religious fervour and lay patronage toward particular institutions and their saints. keywords: saints, liturgy, history, chronicles, Aberdeen, Scotland, Later Middle Ages A little over 500 years ago in the city of Aberdeen, a team of clerics was engaged on a major collaborative research project. Under the direction of the lead researcher, the formidable bishop of Aberdeen, William Elphinstone (1483–1514), the clerics were working to create a new liturgical book to serve the Scottish kingdom. Breviaries, as these liturgical books were often known, were in essence service books which guided the clergy as to the relevant psalms, hymns, scriptural readings, legends of the saints and prayers that made up the daily cycle of public worship in medieval churches. This daily system of worship, known as the Liturgy of the Hours or the Divine Office, included the feast days of the saints, and the five major cycles of Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter and Pentecost, and combined with the four seasons of the agricultural year to structure the lives of medieval Scots. Two authorized systems of worship, known as the Roman and Sarum ‘Rites’ or ‘Uses’, were most commonly found in late-medieval Scotland.1 Sarum and Roman liturgical books provided a framework by including a calendar listing the feasts of authorized saints, a calendar which could be adapted by religious institutions or individuals to reflect changing fashions and local needs. The purpose of Elphinstone’s great project was to update and simplify this complex and cumbersome system by introducing a uniform Scottish ‘Use’. This would be realized through a comprehensive # British Archaeological Association 2016

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liturgical document published in Edinburgh in 1510 and known, appropriately enough, as the Aberdeen Breviary.2 In creating this new national breviary Elphinstone was anticipating something of a northern European trend, with a similar project undertaken in Norway in 1519 by the archbishop of Nidaros.3 In this aim the bishop had the full support of his sovereign lord, James IV (1488–1513). Mass books, including legends of ‘Scottis sanctis’, were among the items that the king expected to be prioritized by Scotland’s first licensed printers, Walter Chepman and Andrew Myllar.4 The most notable and remarked upon element of the Aberdeen Breviary was the inclusion in its calendar of the feasts of a huge number of saints that Elphinstone and his team identified as Scottish.5 A quarter of the feasts in the new breviary would be set aside for these local holy men, numbering eighty-one in total. In order to accommodate these saints Elphinstone and his team removed, or downgraded the importance, of the feasts of a number of English saints. Naturally, saints with a connection to Aberdeen and the North-East played a prominent role in the breviary, making up the largest regional grouping amongst the ‘Scottish saints’. These north-eastern saints ranged from the reasonably well known Machar (12 November), the patron of Aberdeen Cathedral, to the more exotically named Talorcan (20 October) and Nathalan (8 January).6 This article will focus on four of these saints, Machar, Devenick, Comgan and Drostan, who also featured prominently in the Historia Gentis Scotorum (History of the Scottish People) of Hector Boece, first published in 1527.7 It will explore how sponsorship of these saints by Aberdeen clergy corresponded to wider trends in the use of liturgy and history to inform local religious practices in late medieval Scotland and Latin Christendom. the aberdeen breviary The systematic inclusion of so many saints with a connection to Scotland in the Aberdeen Breviary has been seen as the culmination of a wider trend in the Scottish liturgy.8 This claim is borne out, to some extent, by surviving evidence. The earliest liturgical calendars to have survived from Scotland, dating from the 12th to 14th centuries, featured only a very limited range of feasts in honour of local saints. These, often beautifully illustrated books like the Murthly Hours (c. 1300) and Iona Psalter (c. 1200), had been produced in England or France and adapted for local use in Scotland.9 They had Sarum or Roman calendars to which a handful of distinctive feasts were added. The Iona Psalter, for example, marked the feasts of two former abbots, Columba and Adomnan; the Coldingham Breviary (c. 1290) included local holy woman Aebb, while the Blantyre Psalter (c. 1200) from East Lothian marked the feast of a local saint, Baldred of Tyninghame.10 This situation began to change in the 15th century, a period from which a broader sample of such liturgical books, belonging to both religious houses and individual Scots, has survived. These psalters, books of hours, breviaries and ordinals marked a greater number and range of locally specific feasts in their calendars than the books from the earlier period. As Marlene Hennessy has explored elsewhere in this volume, one such book of hours was made for Mariota, the second wife Robert, lord of Arbuthnott in the Mearns in around 1482.11 The calendar of this book marked the feasts of eighteen Scottish saints, including the local patron, Ternan. As Leslie Macfarlane commented, calendars like the one from Arbuthnott show signs of the gradual, and ad hoc, development of a distinctive ‘Scottish Use’.12 While on average these late medieval books marked the feasts of ten to twelve local saints, some like the Martyrology of Aberdeen (c. 1500), St Nicholas Missal (1506), and 240

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two private books of hours belonging to Scottish clerics John Crawford (1496) and James Brown (1498), featured in excess of thirty in their calendars.13 In this they have been seen to anticipate the wholesale inclusion of Scottish saints in the Aberdeen Breviary.14 Whether or not this was actually the case, it is clear that Elphinstone and James IV were attempting to direct the apparently growing interest in local cults, evident from the surviving 15th- and early-16th-century calendars, toward a range of saints that they identified as Scottish.15 This exploitation of a form of religious patriotism suited both the political programme of the king, and the reform agenda of the bishop. It is clear from the prologue, and to some extent from the structure of the new book, that Elphinstone never envisaged Scottish churches marking the feasts of every obscure local saint that he and his team had shoe-horned into the breviary. It was noted, for example, that the feast of St Machar, who we will come to shortly, was only expected to be treated as a major festival in the diocese of Aberdeen.16 By gathering into one convenient edition the legends of local saints that were otherwise scattered in diffuse sources, Elphinstone probably intended the new breviary to function as a handy resource for local churches and clerics.17 The materials found in the breviary could be used to encourage their congregations to take an interest in their local saints, and what Elphinstone and James IV considered to be the most important national patrons. hector boece and the scottish chronicle tradition Four of the north-eastern saints whose legends featured in the new breviary also appear in a historical work produced by an Aberdeen cleric in 1527. Hector Boece had been born and educated in Dundee before travelling to study at the University of Paris, where by 1497 he had become a Professor of Philosophy. He was tempted back to Scotland to help Elphinstone set up a new university in Aberdeen, becoming a canon of the cathedral and the first principal of King’s College in 1500. Having taught at the new university for twenty years, and penned a volume on the history of the bishops of Aberdeen, Boece published his Latin Historia Gentis Scotorum in 1527. The popularity of this new, and incredibly thorough, history of the Scottish kingdom prompted its translation into Scots by John Bellenden in 1531. Those familiar with Boece’s epic history will know that much of its interest lies in his long, and almost entirely imaginary, descriptions of the lives of the Scotland’s early kings. In one of these long sections, on the reigns of various 8th-century monarchs, Boece paused to draw the attention of his audience to the careers of four Aberdeenshire saints. Boece considered ‘Macharius, Bischop of Aberdeen [. . .] Divinicus, Archidene, Congane and Donstane’, to be holy men of ‘singulair erudicion and lyfe’, each of whom he felt had made a major contribution to the religious life of the North-East.18 By drawing attention to the careers of saints in his chronicle, Boece was continuing a tradition with a long pedigree in Scotland and western Europe. The chronicle writing tradition had flourished in Scotland since the 13th century, given oxygen by the need to justify the political independence of the Scottish kingdom in the face of physical and literary aggression from their powerful southern neighbour. This tradition included John of Fordun’s compilation and gloss of 13th- and 14th-century chronicles known as the Chronica Gentis Scotorum (1370–80s), Andrew of Wyntoun’s Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland (1408–24), Walter Bower’s Scotichronicon (1440s) and John Maior’s Historia Maioris Britanniae (1521).19 To support the central theme of Scotland’s longstanding political sovereignty, these chronicles developed a parallel narrative strand in which they explored the history of Christianity in Scotland.20 Like the political 241

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narrative, the purpose of this strand was to prove the long-standing independence, and to some extent superiority, of Scotland’s church structures over those of their English rival. It used the careers of saints who were deemed to have played a role in either bringing Christianity to the Scots, or in developing its ecclesiastical institutions, to demonstrate the longevity and vibrancy of the kingdom’s Christian past. Within this chronicle tradition, the faith was shown to have been brought to Scotland by missionaries in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th centuries, the most notable of which was Regulus, who arrived in Fife with the relics of St Andrew.21 The next stage saw the arrival of St Palladius, sent to Scotland from Rome in c. ad 435 as first bishop of the kingdom, with his disciples Saints Serf and Ternan. Further important missionary work was carried out during the 6th century by Columba in western and central Scotland, Kentigern in Strathclyde and Boniface in the North. The 9th century was marked by the final conversion of the Picts through the medium of the relics of St Andrew, and by missionary groups who spread the gospel to peripheral areas. The modern era of church organization, with the introduction of reformed monasticism and episcopal structures, was then introduced by the marriage between Margaret and Malcolm III (1058–93) in the 11th century. Boece’s only serious digression from this master narrative was his identification of St Ninian as Scotland’s earliest missionary, a figure who had been provided with only a minor role in earlier chronicles.22 Beyond this basic chronological framework, each of the Scottish chroniclers then advertised the merits of various saints to which they had some form of local or institutional connection. Wyntoun and Bower made much of the careers of Saints Serf and Columba, while Maior included a long aside on his local saint, Baldred.23 With his diversion to discuss the virtues of four Aberdeenshire saints, Boece was following this trend. four aberdeenshire saints and the history of a diocese So what prompted Boece to focus on Machar, Devenick, Comgan and Drostan rather than the numerous other local holy men and women with a connection to Aberdeen or the North-East? Machar, to whom Aberdeen Cathedral was dedicated, is probably the best known of this quartet.24 He is on record as the patron of the northern diocese as early as the mid-12th century, although there is little evidence to suggest that his medieval cult had spread much beyond the North-East.25 In common with many early saints, his background is shadowy, and he was referred to variously as Machar, Mo Chumma and Maurice in the offices of the Aberdeen Breviary. In these legends, and in another life of the saint from the mid-14th century, Machar was identified as an Irishman of royal stock who had been a companion or disciple of St Columba.26 Following a life as a missionary under the tutelage of the great missionary saint of Iona, Machar was then said to have travelled, via Rome, to Tours in France. He was eventually laid to rest in the church of St Martin in Tours, where his tomb subsequently developed a reputation for healing that attracted pilgrims. The lessons in the Aberdeen Breviary summarized his career in these lines; Ireland gave birth to the saint, Alba reared him; The church of Tours holds his body in reverence.27

The use of three names in the Aberdeen Breviary, Mo Chumma for his time in Ireland, Machar when he was on Deeside and Maurice when he was on the Continent, suggests that the late medieval image of the saint was a conflation of the legends of several different holy men.28 The connections made in the Aberdeen Breviary between 242

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Machar and Columba and, through the link to Tours and St Martin, to Ninian are also significant. This, what O’ Baoill terms ‘continentalizing’ of Machar, linked the saint to both the Gaelic and western European Church, the two conduits by which late medieval Scots believed their kingdom had received the Christian message.29 Boece’s decision to include Machar in his book was therefore straightforward. Machar was the patron of the cathedral of which Boece was a canon. Although Aberdeen was the fourth most important diocese in Scottish church hierarchy, symbolically after St Andrews, Glasgow and Dunkeld, it was the only one of the major cathedral churches not to possess the relics of an internationally renowned saint. St Andrews had the relics of the apostle, Glasgow had Kentigern and Dunkeld had Columba, while even the relatively minor dioceses of Galloway and Orkney possessed the bodies of Ninian and Magnus. In the 14th and 15th centuries there is evidence of efforts by the cathedral chapter at Aberdeen to boost the cult of their patron. They had commissioned a new life of the saint in the mid-14th century, and in 1379 were granted by Clement VII (1378–94) the right to offer an indulgence to those visiting the cathedral on the feast of St Machar.30 In the 15th century a series of local clerics donated money and objects such as statues of St Machar to edify the high altar of the cathedral.31 With his subtle promotion of the saint, Boece was continuing this local tradition. Devenick is a more obscure figure. His cult was based in Banchory, five miles to the south-west of Aberdeen, where he is remembered in the parish name BanchoryDevenick. He is also remembered in the 15th hole of the golf course at Haughton in Aberdeen. There is little evidence that his cult was anything other than intensely local.32 The only surviving legends of the saint are those found in the Aberdeen Breviary, within which Devenick was heavily associated with St Machar. His feast day is 13 November, just a day after that of the patron of Aberdeen, and he was described in the Aberdeen Breviary as a local holy man, possibly originally from Caithness, who was to become a disciple of Machar when that saint arrived in the North-East.33 What prompted Boece to mention the saint may well have been an altar dedicated to Devenick jointly with the Five Wounds of Christ in Aberdeen Cathedral. The altar was founded in 1507 by Alexander Campbell, a canon of the cathedral whose prebendary church was none other than that of St Devenick in Banchory.34 That parish church had been appropriated to the cathedral in 1157, and was formed into a prebend by 1256.35 Through this double dedication, Campbell was able to both honour the patron of the church that supported him financially, and display his devotion to a fashionable Passion cult. For Boece, then, Devenick was a saint with a local cult, connected liturgically to Machar, whose church was appropriated to the cathedral and who was commemorated by an altar in Aberdeen. The cult of the third saint mentioned by Boece had a slightly broader geographical range than either Machar or Devenick, both of whom were practically unknown outside of the North-East. The North-West was the main focus for the cult of St Comgan (often spelt Congan in Middle Scots), with the legends found in the Aberdeen Breviary locating his main activities in and around Lochalsh, where the parish church was dedicated to the saint.36 In the Aberdeen Breviary he is described as an 8th-century Irish abbot, as usual of royal stock, who was part of a family of saints that also included Fillan (9 January) and Kentigerna (7 January), saints who had connections to the Central and West Highlands.37 Dedications to Comgan could also be found further east, in the Beauly and Moray firths. His main connection to the North-East came through his supposed foundation of the church of Turriff, some 30 miles north of 243

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Aberdeen, where an annual fair was held on his 13 October feast day.38 Like BanchoryDevenick, the church of Turriff was a prebend of Aberdeen Cathedral, appropriated in 1412.39 An altar jointly dedicated to the saint alongside Katherine of Alexandria, Martha, Barbara and Margaret of Antioch could also be found in the cathedral from 1491. It was founded by a canon of the cathedral Alexander Vaus, whose prebendary church was, unsurprisingly, that of St Comgan in Turriff.40 So, like Devenick, Comgan was a saint with a local connection, whose church was appropriated to the cathedral and who was commemorated by an altar in Aberdeen. The death of Drostan, the final saint of the quartet, in the town of Ardbreccan, now in County Meath, was recorded in the Annals of Ulster in ad 719. 41 He is best known as the founder of the Abbey of Deer in Buchan, 30 miles north of Aberdeen. Despite his Pictish name, the foundation legend of Deer and the Aberdeen Breviary noted that Drostan was from the west of Scotland, arriving in the North-East in the company of Columba.42 In addition to Deer, Drostan was connected to the parish church of Aberdour, a prebendary church of Aberdeen located on the Moray coast near Fraserburgh. Although there were no dedications to the saint in Aberdeen, the church of Aberdour did have something of a special status in the diocese by the early 16th century. In the Aberdeen Breviary, and in the Martyrology of Aberdeen, it was noted that there were reports that a stone tomb found at the church was performing healing miracles. The tomb, which was believed to hold some of the relics of Drostan, and a nearby holy well, were attracting pilgrims.43 Like the other saints mentioned by Boece, Drostan was a holy man with a local connection, whose church was appropriated to the cathedral. That church also possessed what appears to have been the most popular shrine in the diocese of Aberdeen in the early 16th century. In the Aberdeen Breviary the legends surrounding these four saints, and others believed to be connected to the North-East, were dusted down and synchronized. They were linked to each other through a common connection to Columba or the diocesan patron Machar. Through these saints the long and glorious history of Christianity in the diocese of Aberdeen could be mapped, and the cult of the otherwise obscure patron of the diocese was given a boost. The connection made between Machar and Tours, and therefore Martin, Ninian and Rome, was particularly significant in a late medieval context. It allowed the Aberdeen churchmen to make the important and necessary argument that, like Scotland as a whole, their region had received Christianity both from Gaelic and Western European sources.44 Boece, a generation later, used his history of Scotland to draw attention to four particular saints with strong institutional connections to Aberdeen Cathedral, to whose chapter he belonged. These four were the patron of Aberdeen and three saints who were associated with churches appropriated to the cathedral. Two of these saints had altars in the cathedral, while the third, Drostan, was the subject of a thriving pilgrimage centre in the diocese. local saints in the later middle ages So what, the reader may justifiably ask, has been the purpose of exploring this seemingly minor reference to a group of saints in a historical work from 16th-century Aberdeen? The geographical focus of this case study was dictated by the decision to hold the 2014 British Archaeological Association Conference in Aberdeen. However, had the conference taken place elsewhere in Scotland, or in Wales, Cornwall or Yorkshire, or in pretty much any other part of the British Isles, it would have been possible to identify a similar case study from the late 15th or 16th centuries. Efforts to promote 244

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saints and pilgrimage centres by local clergy through the use of the liturgy, hagiography and other forms of writing, and by granting indulgences and providing facilities for pilgrims, could be seen across the British Isles in that period. These local clerics, often with the support of secular leaders, were attempting to tap into a flourishing of devotion to the saints that characterized the period between the first outbreak of the Black Death in the 1340s and the reform movements of the early 16th century.45 This thriving devotion stemmed in part from the ecological and man-made crises that swept 14th-century Europe. This situation bred a particular form of piety characterized by a growing demand for posthumous commemoration and other liturgical services, much of which could only be served by local parishes and their churches.46 From the 1450 to the 1530s in particular, many of these parish churches received significant lay investment, allowing them to undertake lavish rebuilding programmes and to fill the churches with richly decorated rood screens, wall-paintings and statuary.47 In late medieval Scotland, this trend towards major lay investment in local churches is most apparent in the parish churches of the major burghs. These civic religious institutions were, alongside the collegiate churches founded by the nobility and crown, the areas of greatest religious vitality in Scotland in the 15th and 16th centuries. Many of the structures built in this period continue to dominate the sky line of modern day Scottish towns, such as the beautiful churches of St Michael and the Holy Rood in Linlithgow and Stirling respectively. The core of these buildings, and those now lost or incomplete structures that once dominated Haddington, Dundee and Perth, result from construction work carried out between the 1370s and the 1550s.48 Both the colleges and burgh churches existed, in part, to service the growing demand for the mass and posthumous commemoration. It was this demand, and civic pride, that filled these churches with altars, chapels and burial places, shaping their distinctive architectural design.49 The case study from Aberdeen is just one example of local clergy attempting to direct this religious fervour and lay patronage toward particular institutions and their saints. The national impact of Boece’s effort to promote the quartet of Deeside saints connected to Aberdeen Cathedral was negligible. In the short period that passed between the publication of his history and the proscription of the cult of the saints after 1560, there is no evidence to suggest that these saints achieved a greater notoriety outside the diocese of Aberdeen. The wider impact of the Aberdeen Breviary is easier to measure. On the whole it was a failure, with the breviary never coming into widespread use. The imposition of so many Scottish saints meant that it was too cluttered to be of practical use and the deaths in 1513 and 1514 of the royal patron and project leader put an end to the possibility of a revised second edition.50 Competition also played a role, as Scottish merchants continued to import Roman and Sarum books, in direct contravention of the patent issued to the printers Chepman and Miller in 1507. The final blow was the successful reform of the Roman calendar, culminating in the introduction of the Quinones Breviary in 1533 which addressed many of the liturgical issues that had prompted the Aberdeen Breviary project.51 The national breviary may also have failed because in its production Elphinstone and his team were reflecting local Aberdonian, rather than widespread liturgical trends. As we have seen it was only in four of the thirty or so calendars from this period that we see anything like the systematic approach to the inclusion of local saints taken by the Aberdeen Breviary. Three out of these four, the Martyrology of Aberdeen, St Nicholas Missal and Dean Brown’s Book of Hours, were from Aberdeen. Typically, church and private calendars from other parts of Scotland in the 15th century, like the Arbuthnott 245

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hours and those from Fowlis Easter (c. 1450), Ferne (c. 1471), and the Farmor (c. 1480) and Playfair hours (c. 1500), included the feasts of some very local holy men, like Ternan, and a small selection of saints like Ninian and Duthac who had cults on a national scale.52 A nationalist trend in devotion was perhaps then, as David Ditchburn has suggested, an ‘Aberdonian idiosyncrasy’, rather than a reflection of wider fashions in religious devotion in Scotland.53 The ultimate failure of the Aberdeen project reminds us once again of the difficulties of the ecclesiastical authorities in identifying, and then harnessing, popular trends in religious practice.

NOTES 1. D. McRoberts, ‘The medieval Scottish Liturgy, illustrated by surviving documents’, Transactions of the Scottish Ecclesiological Society, 15 (1957), 24–40. 2. A breviary is a book containing all the daily psalms, hymns, prayers, lessons, etc., necessary for reciting the office. The Aberdeen Breviary was edited and published in full in 1854, W. Blew ed., Brevarium Aberdonese (Edinburgh 1854); the legends of the Scottish saints in the breviary have been edited more recently in A. Macquarrie ed., Legends of Scottish Saints. Readings, hymns and prayers for the commemorations of Scottish saints in the Aberdeen Breviary (Dublin 2012). 3. L. Macfarlane, William Elphinstone and the Kingdom of Scotland — 1431–1514. The Struggle for Order (Aberdeen 1995), 243–44. 4. M. Livingstone et al. ed., Registrum Secreti Sigilli Regum Scotorum, 8 vols (Edinburgh 1908–82), I, no. 1546. 5. Macfarlane, Elphinstone (as n. 3), 237–38. The category ‘Scottis Sanctis’ was for Elphinstone and his team an inclusive one which incorporated a number of Irish (Patrick), Northumbrian (Cuthbert and Colman) and Continental European saints (Rumbald, Fursus, Fiacre), into the Scottish fold. 6. Macquarrie, Legends (as n. 2), 140–43, 418–20, 254–57, 416–17, 20–23 and 401–02. 7. H. Boece, The Chronicles of Scotland compiled by Hector Boece, translated into Scots by John Bellenden, ed. R. W. Chambers, 2 vols (Edinburgh 1938–41) [Chron. Boece]. 8. D. McRoberts, ‘The Scottish Church and Nationalism in the Fifteenth Century’, Innes Review, 9 (1968), 4–8; Macfarlane, Elphinstone (as n. 3), 234. 9. Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, Iona Psalter, MS 10000; J. Higgitt, The Murthly Hours. Devotion, Liturgy and Luxury in Paris, England and the Gaelic West (London 2000). 10. London, British Library, Harley MS 4664, fols 126–31; A. Boyle, ‘A Scottish Augustinian Psalter’, Innes Review, 8 (1957), 75–78. 11. Hennessy, this volume, 212–38. 12. Macfarlane, Elphinstone (as n. 3), 234. 13. A. P. Forbes ed., Kalenders of Scottish Saints (Edinburgh 1872), 125–37; F. C. Eeles, ‘Notes on a missal formerly used in S. Nicholas, Aberdeen’, Proceedings of Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 33 (1899), 440–60; Edinburgh, University Library, Crawford Breviary, MS Inc. 223 (Dd. 1. 24); D. McRoberts, ‘Dean Brown’s Book of Hours’, Innes Review, 19 (1968), 144–67. 14. McRoberts, ‘Scottish Church’ (as n. 8), 4–8; Macfarlane, Elphinstone (as n. 3), 234. 15. Macfarlane, McRoberts and Galbraith emphasize the patriotic, and to some extent Anglophobic, nature of the project, Macfarlane, Elphinstone (as n. 3), 234, McRoberts, ‘Scottish Church’ (as n. 8), 4–8; J. Galbraith, ‘The Middle Ages’, in Studies in the history of worship in Scotland, ed. D. B. Forrester and D. M. Murray (Edinburgh 1996), 24–26. 16. Macquarrie, Legends (as n. 2), xxvii. 17. Macfarlane describes it as a ‘cheap, portable national breviary with easily manageable diocesan variants’. Macfarlane, Elphinstone (as n. 3), 245. 18. Chron. Boece (as n. 7), I, 419. 19. Johannis de Fordun, Chronica Gentis Scotorum, ed. W. F. Skene (Edinburgh 1871–72); A. Wyntoun, The Original Chronicle, ed. F. J. Amours (Edinburgh 1903–14); W. Bower, Scotichronicon, ed. D. E. R. Watt (Aberdeen 1987–99); J. Maior, A History of Greater Britain, as well England as Scotland, ed. A. Constable (Edinburgh 1892). 20. S. Boardman, ‘A People Divided? Language, History and Anglo-Scottish Conflict in the Work of Andrew of Wyntoun’, in Ireland and the English world in the late middle ages, ed. B. Smith (London 2011), 114.

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North-Eastern Saints 21. For all that follows, see T. Turpie, Kind Neighbours. Scottish Saints and Society in the Later Middle Ages (Leiden, 2015), Chapter 2. 22. Chron. Boece (as n. 7), I, 271, 412. 23. Turpie, Kind Neighbours (as n. 21). 24. He is recorded as the patron of the cathedral from the mid-12th century, C. Innes ed., Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis, 2 vols, Spalding Club 13 and 14 (Aberdeen 1845), I, 84–86. 25. Machar’s feast day only rarely featured in calendars from outside of Aberdeenshire and there is no surviving evidence of dedications to the saint in Scottish churches from outside of the diocese. 26. Macquarrie, Legends (as n. 2), 268–81. 27. Ibid., 279. 28. This is what O’ Baoill concludes from an analysis of the linguistic evidence, Colm O’ Baoill, ‘St MacharSome Linguistic Light?’, Innes Review, 44 (1993), 1–13. 29. The Continental influences on Scotland also came from Palladius and later missionaries like Boniface and Adrian. 30. W. M. Metcalfe ed., Legends of the Saints, 3 vols, Scottish Text Society (Edinburgh 1896), II, 1–46; Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 24), I, 132–33. 31. Ibid., II, 127–53, 179–99. 32. The feast day only features in one Scottish calendar aside from the Aberdeen Breviary, Dean Brown’s; McRoberts, ‘Dean Brown’s Book of Hours’ (as n. 13), 144–67. 33. Macquarrie, Legends (as n. 2), 284–87. 34. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 24), I, 153. 35. I. B. Cowan, Parishes of Medieval Scotland (Edinburgh 1967), 14. 36. Macquarrie, Legends (as n. 2), 244–47 and 345–46. 37. Fillan was associated with Glendochart in West Perthshire, Kentigerna with Inchcailloch near Loch Lomond. Ibid., 22–27, 360, 18–21 and 374. 38. Ibid., 345–46. 39. Cowan, Parishes of Medieval Scotland (as n. 35), 202. 40. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (as n. 24), I, 337, 348. 41. Macquarrie, Legends (as n. 2), 353–54. 42. Ibid., 4–7, 353–54. 43. Ibid., 4–7, Forbes, Kalenders (as n. 13), 137. 44. O’Baoill, ‘St Machar-Some Linguistic Light?’ (as n. 28), 12–13. 45. E. Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars (London 1992), 156. 46. E. Duffy, ‘The dynamics of pilgrimage in late medieval England’, in Pilgrimage the English Experience from Becket to Bunyan, ed. C. Morris and P. Roberts (Cambridge 2002), 164 and 176–77; R. N. Swanson, Religion and Devotion in Europe, c.1215–c.1515 (Cambridge 1995), 96–99. 47. C. Burgess, ‘Time and Place: The Late Medieval English Parish in Perspective’, in The Parish in Late Medieval England, ed. C. Burgess and E. Duffy (Donington 2006), 1–28; Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars (as n. 45), 155–57. 48. R. Fawcett, The Architecture of the Scottish medieval church, 1100–1560 (New Haven 2011), 207–344. For an in-depth entry on each of these churches see the Corpus of Scottish Medieval Parish Churches, http: //arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/~cmas/team.php [accessed 4 August 2015]. 49. R. Fawcett, ‘The Architectural framework for the cult of saints: some Scottish examples’, in Images of Medieval Sanctity, essays in honour of Gary Dickson, ed. D. H. Strickland (Leiden 2007), 71–94. 50. McRoberts blamed Flodden and the death of Elphinstone in 1514 for the failure of the project; McRoberts, ‘The medieval Scottish Liturgy’ (as n. 1), 36–38. Macfarlane and Galbraith added the unworkable nature of the new breviary and a waning of enthusiasm amongst the church hierarchy under James V for the lack of a new and better edition; Macfarlane, Elphinstone (as n. 3), 245–46; Galbraith, ‘The Middle Ages’ (as n. 15), 28. 51. Macfarlane, Elphinstone (as n. 3), 245–46. 52. W. D. Macray ed., Brevarium Bothanum, sive portiforium secundum usum ecclesiae cujusdam in Scotia (London 1900), 299–310; R. J. Adam ed., The Calendar of Ferne. Texts and Additions, 1471–1667 (Edinburgh 1991), 51–56; A. P. Forbes ed., Liber ecclesie Beati Terrenani de Arbuthnott: Missale secundum usum Ecclesiae Sancti Andreae in Scotia (Burntisland 1864), ciii–cxiv; R. F. Dell, ‘Some fragments of medieval mss in Glasgow City Archives’, Innes Review, 18 (1967), 112; R. Watson, The Playfair Hours. A Late fifteenth century illustrated manuscript from Rouen (London 1984), 43. 53. D. Ditchburn, ‘The ‘‘McRoberts Thesis’’ and patterns of Sanctity in Late Medieval Scotland’, in The Cult of Saints and the Virgin Mary in Medieval Scotland, ed. S. Boardman and E. Williamson (Woodbridge 2010), 177–94, at 177.

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INDEX Page references in italics refer to illustrations

Aberdeen, 1, 10, 167, 173, 174, 176, 203, 214, 239, 240 Bishop’s Palace, 60, 61, 64, 66, 70, 71, 77 Carmelite Friary, 23, 26–28 castle, 5 Castle Hill, 70 cloth trade, 5, 6 Cromwell Tower, 70 diseases, 9 Dominican Friary, 8, 23, 27, 28, 106; library, 27 Dunbar Hall of Residence, 71 fish trade, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11 Franciscan Friary, 8 Gallowgate, 8 King’s College, 70, 241; Chapel, 28, 140, 173, 174, 177, 232; choir stall panels, 160, 161, 163, 164, 165, 173, 175 leather industry, 5, 8 Marischal College, 28, 99, 101 Observantine Franciscans, 26, 28 overseas trade, 4, 5, 9, 11 Provost Skene’s House, Lumsden ceiling, 140, 151, 152, 154, 152–54, 156 regional trade, 9–11 St John’s Church, 223 St Machar’s Cathedral, 28, 168, 173, 232; ceiling, 1, 11, 12, 28, 140, 141, 142, 143, 150, 156; indulgence, 7; library, 3, 28; manuscripts, 2; pulpit, 177; saints, 4; steeple, 160 St Mary’s almshouse, 22 St Nicholas’ Church, 18, 168, 173, 232; 2006 East Kirk excavations, 82–98, 83–90, 92–94; ceiling, 160; chaplains, 24, 177; choir stalls, 24, 160; collegiate status, 25; dedication, 95–97; Missal, 189, 221, 227, 245; pilgrim burial, 2, 87, 91; St Mary’s Undercroft, 160, 161, 162; St Sebastian altar, 177 St Peter’s almshouse, 22 Ship Row, 2 Tillydrone, 66 Trinitarians, 23 University, 6, 26, 28 Upperkirkgate, 2

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wool trade, 5, 6, 8 Aberdeen, diocese of, origins, 17 Aberdeen Breviary (1510), 26, 64, 73, 77, 207, 227, 239-45 Aberdour, 244 Aberdour, Elizabeth, 151 Aboyne, 30 n42 Adam, bp. of Caithness, 36 Adamson, John, 27 Adornes, John, 7 Adrian IV, pope, 17, 67, 96 Alexander II, king of Scotland, 20, 22, 23, 30 n42, 37, 39, 62, 72 Alexander VI, pope, 26 Alexander Comyn, earl of Buchan, 22 Alloa, 74 Andrew Lundy’s Primer, 217, 218 Arbroath Abbey, 20, 212 Arbuthnott, 183, 184, 186, 187, 213, 227; Lady Chapel, 192, 192, 193, 231, 232 Arbuthnott Book of Hours, 188, 193, 195, 197, 198, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 207, 212–38, 216, 226, 231, 245 Arbuthnott Missal, 189, 190, 195, 195, 196, 197, 200, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 214, 217, 225, 227, 231, 232 Arbuthnott Psalter, 193, 195, 195, 197, 199, 200, 203, 204, 207, 231 Arbuthnott, Robert II, 185, 186, 189, 193, 203, 204, 213, 231 Arbuthnott, Robert III, 186 Archibald, bp. of Moray, 73 Ardchatten Abbey, 37 Ardersier, 18 Arran, regent of Scotland, 27 Asloan MS, 225 Auchreddie, 111 Audet, Nicholas, vicar-general of the Carmelite order, 26 Auvergne, Gui d’, archbp. of Lyon, 51 Balvenie Castle, 60, 62–64, 63, 77 Banchory, 185, 225, 243 Banderoles, Master of the, 149, 149, 150

Index Banff, 5, 9, 10; Carmelite Friary, 23, 27, 28; Ogilvy Aisle, 104 Barbour, Robert, 230 Barclay, Helen, 151 Barnwell, Thomas, 6 Beaton, David, cardinal, 174 Beaton panels, 161, 165, 217, 221 Beauly Priory, 36–38, 38, 39 Bellenden, John, 241 Beltmaker, Alan, 4 Benham, Hugh de, bp. of Aberdeen, 67, 68 Benholm, 100, 101, 106, 107, 108, 114 Bervie, 101 Berwick-upon-Tweed, 10 Beverley Minster, 171 Birnie, 59, 72, 73, 78; Castle Hill, 60, 72; Thomshill–Castle Hill, 60, 72 Birnie, William, 104 Birse: Easter Clune Castle, 60, 62; Forest of Birse Castle, 60, 62 Bisset, John, 21, 37 Bisset, Walter, 21, 30 n42 Blackadder, Robert, bp. of Glasgow, 31 n94, 223, 225; Prayerbook, 217, 220 Boece, Hector, 17, 61, 64, 67, 70; Historia Gentis Scotorum (1527), 240–45 Boswell, John, 187 Bothwell, James Hepburn, 4th earl of, 77 Bouchet Abbey, France, 51 Boxgrove, Sussex, 173 Brechin, 9, 168 Brice Douglas, bp. of Moray, 18 Bridge of Dee, 10 Bridge of Spey, St Nicholas’ Hospital, 23 Bristol Cathedral, 169 Bruce, G., 112 Bullock, John, bp. of Ross, 47 Bur, Alexander, bp. of Moray, 2, 73 Burnett, Sir Alexander, of Leys, 143, 148 Burntisland, 112 Calco, Iacopo, 26 Cambridge, King’s College Chapel, 133 Cambuskenneth Abbey, 40, 177 Campbell, Alexander, 243 Cant, Thomas, 230 Ce´li De´, 20, 21, 63, 64 chaplainries, 24, 100, 101, 122, 124–27, 129, 189, 231 Charles V, emperor, 140 Chen, Henry le, bp. of Aberdeen, 20, 68 Chepman, Walter, 240, 245 Cheyne, Reginald le, 20 Ciudad Rodrigo Cathedral, 169 Clatt, Knockespock House, 60, 62 Clement VII, pope, 243 Cluny, 23 Colckman, Jacob, 26 Coldingham Priory, 84

Comgan, St., 240, 243 Cowie, 101, 102, 102, 116, 175–77, 179 Crathes Castle, ceilings, 140, 143, 144–46, 146–51, 156 Crichton, Margaret, 177 Crystall, Thomas, abbot of Kinloss, 25–27, 221 Cullen, St Mary’s collegiate church, 25, 121–38, 122–24, 128, 131, 132; monuments, 53, 55, 127, 130, 132, 133, 135, sacrament house, 131, 132, 135; St Anne’s Aisle, 126–31, 127, 128, 131, 135; Seafield Loft, 123, 124, 135, 136 Culross Abbey, 194, 203, 230 Culross Psalter, 194, 230 Culross, William, abbot of Kinloss, 230 Dairsie, 112 David I, king of Scotland, 19–21, 65, 83, 96 David II, king of Scotland, 22 Davidson, Robert, provost of Aberdeen, 4 De Passagio ad Terram Sanctam, 2 Deer (Old and New), 100, 101, 106, 108, 108, 111, 112, 116 Deer Abbey, 20, 25, 63, 100, 106, 244 Deskford, 125, 131, 132 Devenick, St., 240, 243 Deyn, William de, bp. of Aberdeen, 70 Dick, Alexander, archdeacon of Glasgow, 25, 130 Donald of the Isles, 4 Dornoch Cathedral, 36–38, 37 Douglas, Sir James, of Dalkeith, 50 Drostan, St., 240, 244 Duff, John, of Muldavit, 25, 127–30, 127, 128 Duffus, 100, 101 Dunbar, Columba, bp. of Moray, 2, 3, 22 Dunbar, Elizabeth, 217 Dunbar, Gavin, bp. of Aberdeen, 22, 65, 70, 77, 227; Epistolare, 64, 65; and St Machar’s cathedral ceiling, 140, 142 Dunbar, George, earl of March, 2 Dunbar, William, 192 Dundee, 9, 10, 168, 189, 203, 230 Dunfermline Abbey, 19, 25, 84 Dunnet, 100, 101 Dunnottar, 100, 101, 104, 112; Burial aisle, 104–06, 108, 116, 105 Dunrossness, 137 n20 Du¨rer, Albrecht, 152, 155 Durward, Thomas, 23 Edinburgh, 10, 203, 205, 230; Sacred Heart Church, Holyrood statue, 221 Edward, bp. of Aberdeen, 17 Edward I, king of England, 64, 67 Edward III, king of England, 5, 11, 70 Edzell Castle, 160, 217 Elgin, 2, 9, 10, 72 Bishop’s Palace, 60, 76

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index Elgin (continued) Cathedral, 33, 34, 35, 36, 36, 38–40, 49; bar tracery, 40, 42, 43; buttresses, 45, 47, 51; Chapter house, 12, 42, 43, 45; established 1224, 18, 76; glass, 74; library, 4; monuments, 51, 52, 52, 53, 133; plan, 34; St Thomas of Canterbury chapel, 24; tierceron vaulting, 40, 41, 47 Dominican Friary, 23, 27, 28; library, 27 fishing rights, 6 Franciscan Friary, 23 Maison Dieu, 22, 27 Observantine Franciscans, 26–28 overseas trade, 4–6, 9 Eliot, David, 230 Elizabeth de Burgh, 125, 126 Elphinstone, Adam, archdeacon of Aberdeen, 3 Elphinstone, John, 3 Elphinstone, William, bp. of Aberdeen, 2, 3, 8, 10, 11, 26, 27, 77, 225, 227, 232, 239–41, 245 Ely Cathedral, 40 ES, Master, 164 Euphemia, countess of Ross, 46 Falkland Palace, 177 Fendour, John, 160, 161, 164, 165, 173, 177 Ferrerio, 25 Fetterangus, 100, 101, 104, 109, 111, 116 Fetteresso, 100–02, 103, 104, 112, 116; carved panels, 158–82, 159, 162, 164, 166, 168, 170, 171 Fetternear: Banner, 224, 225; Bishop’s Palace, 60, 61, 64, 67, 68, 68, 69, 77, 81 n105 Findhorn, 4, 9 First Book of Discipline (1561), 104 Fle´malle, Master of, 205 Floter, John, abbot of Kinloss, 25 Footdee, 8, 96; St Anne’s Hospital, 22 Fordyce, 25, 125; monuments, 52, 53, 54, 133 Forman, Andrew, bp. of Moray, 11 Forres, 4, 9, 176; fishing rights, 6 Fortrose Cathedral, 46, 47, 47, 48, 50, 52, 55 Foveran, 100, 101 Francis I, king of France, 140 Fraser, Andrew, of Muchall, 114–16 Fyvie: Castle, 177; Priory, 20 Gaignie`res, Roger de, 51 Galbraith, Thomas, 194 Galloway, Alexander, 22, 140, 232 Garioch, 24 Garvock, 108 Geneva Bible, 143 Gerardine, St., 73 Gibbs, James, 82 Gille-Chriosd, earl of Mar, 21 Glasgow, 74, 230; Cathedral, 40, 223 Glen Tanar, 23 Goes, Hugo van der, 205, 230

250

Golden Legend (1476), 189, 191 Goltzius, Hendrick, 149, 152, 153 Gordon, Alexander, bp. of Aberdeen, 70 Gordon, Elizabeth, monument 132, 132, 135 Gordon, Katherine, 148 Gordon, William, bp. of Aberdeen, 24, 76, 77 Grandtully Chapel, 105 Guild, William, 112 Halyburton, Andrew, 229, 230 Hay, Elene, 127–30, 128 Hay, John, 127–29, 127 Henry VIII, king of England, 140 Hepburn, Patrick, bp. of Moray, 75–77 Hirsel, the, 84 Hopfer, Daniel, 166, 167, 169 Hours of James IV and Margaret Tudor, 194, 217 Humbie, 111 Hume, 96 Innes, Alexander, 130 Innes, John de, bp. of Moray, 2 Innocent III, pope, 21, 73 Innocent IV, pope, 18 Invernairn, 4 Inverness, 176; Dominican Friary, 23, 28 James I, king of Scotland, 51, 194, 230 James IV, king of Scotland, 11, 140, 164, 173–75, 177, 179, 187, 189, 194, 217, 230, 240, 241 James V, king of Scotland, 26, 140 Jedburgh Abbey, 212 John, bp. of Aberdeen, 20 Julius II, pope, 26 Kalkar, Germany, 172 Keith, A., 62 Keith, Andrew, 107 Keith, John, 101 Keith, Lord, 114 Keith, Mary, monument, 106, 107 Keith, Robert, 100, 103 Keith, William, 109, 110 Keith, Sir William de, 104 Keith, Sir William, of Ludquharn, 110, 114–16 Keith Marischal, 100, 101, 111, 116 Kennedy, Janet, 176 Kerver, Thielman, 169, 172, 172, 174 Kildrummy Castle, 74 Kincardine, 116; Chapel of St Catherine of Siena, 102 Kincardine O’Neil: Castle Maud, 60, 62; St Mary’s Hospital, 23 King Edward, 100, 101, 103, 112 Kingussie, Carmelite Friary, 24 Kininmund, Alexander, bp. of Aberdeen, 23, 64, 68, 70, 71 Kinloss Abbey, 20, 25–7, 230 Kinnairdy Castle, 177

Index Kinneddar, 18, 59, 72, 73; Bishop’s Palace, 60, 73, 74, 77, 78 Lapworth Missal, 189 Largs, Montgomery Aisle, 105 Lausanne Cathedral, 169 Leo X, pope, 140, 142 Leslie, Sir Walter, 47 Lichton, Henry de, bp. of Moray and Aberdeen, 2, 3 Lincluden, 133 Lincoln Cathedral, 40 Lincoln, Richard of, bp. of Moray, 18, 73 Lindsay, Ingram, bp. of Aberdeen, 3, 24 Lismore, 64 Lochalsh, 243 Loch-an-Eilein Castle, 60, 72 Loch Goul/Bishop’s Loch, 60, 66, 66, 67, 77 Longley, 100, 101, 108–10, 116 Longside, 101, 110, 112, 113–15, 116 Lonmay, 109 Lowes, Patrick, 230 Lumphanan, 23 Lumsden, Alexander, 151 Lumsden, Matthew, 151 Lumsden, William, 151 Macdonald, Alexander, 34 Machar, St., 240–43 Mackenzie, Sir Kenneth, of Kintail, 56 n14 Mackintosh, Shaw, bp. of Moray, 72 Malcolm II, king of Scotland, 17, 63 Malcolm IV, king of Scotland, 83 Malcolmson, John, 27 Malvoisin, William, bp. of St Andrews, 21, 37 manuscripts Aberdeen, University Library, MS CB/57/5 Andrew Lundy’s Primer, 217, 218 Auckland, City Library, Sir George Grey Special Collection, MS G.146 Rossdhu Book of Hours, 217 Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland MS 10271 Prayerbook of Robert Blackadder, 217, 220 MS 16500, Asloan MS, 225 Edinburgh, University Library, MS 43, 217, 219 London, British Library Add MS 39761, 227, 228 MS Arundel 285, 221, 222, 223, 225 Sloane MS 748, 172, 180 n35 Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 394, Lapworth Missal, 189 Paisley Museum and Art Gallery Arbuthnott Book of Hours, 188, 193, 195, 197, 198, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 207, 212–38, 216, 226, 231, 245 Arbuthnott Missal, 189, 190, 195, 195, 196, 197, 200, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 214, 217, 225, 227, 231, 232

Arbuthnott Psalter, 193, 195, 195, 197, 199, 200, 203, 204, 207, 231 ¨ sterreichische Nationalbibliothek, MS Vienna, O lat. 1897, Hours of James IV and Margaret Tudor, 194, 217 Margaret, princess, monument, 133 Margaret, St., queen of Scotland, 140, 142 Maria in sole, 200, 203, 213, 215, 216, 217, 218–23, 221–23, 225 Marischal, George Keith, 4th earl, 99–101, 104, 106, 107, 112 Marischal, William Keith, 3rd earl, 99, 100 Marischal, William Keith, 5th earl, 111 Marshall, Richard, abbot of Culross, 230 Martin, Alexander, 112 Mary, queen of Scots, 125 Maryculter, Templar house, 2, 21 Matthew, bp. of Aberdeen, 22 May, Isle of, 87 Medici, bankers, 3 Melrose Abbey, 20, 171 Melville, Andrew, 105 Menzies, Patrick, 6 Midmar, 23 Milne, John, 160 Moger, Raphael, 165 Moir, Robert, 126, 128 Moluag, St., 59 Montrose, 9, 168, 176, 177, 178; Hospital of St Mary, 177 Monymusk Priory, 20, 21, 63 Moravia/Murray, Andrew de, bp. of Moray, 18, 20, 22, 36, 72, 73 Moravia, Gilbert de, 36 Moray, David de, bp. of Moray, 2 Moray, diocese of, origins, 18 Mortlach, 17, 18, 59, 64, 77; Balvenie Castle, 60, 62–64, 63, 77; Bishop’s Palace, 60 Moy, Isle of, 60, 72 Murray, William, of Boharm, 23 Myllar, Andrew, 240, 245 Nechtan, bp. of Aberdeen, 17, 64 Newburgh, 22 Nicholas V, pope, 25 Nissart, Pe`re, 165 North Leigh, Oxfordshire, 51 Ogilvy, Sir Alexander, of Findlater, 25; monument, 53, 54, 55, 131–34, 132, 133 Ogilvy, Sir James, 52; monument, 52, 54, 133 Ogilvy, Sir Patrick, 24 Oldhamstocks, Hepburn Aisle, 104 Orem, William, 70 Oviedo Cathedral, 173 Panter, Patrick, 160, 177, 178, 179 Passe, Crispijn the Elder, 149 Pazzi, bankers, 3

251

index Pershore Abbey, 39 Perth, 230; St John’s Kirk chandelier, 221, 222 Peterculter, Murtle, Old House of Binghill, 60, 62 Peterhead, 100, 101, 110–12, 116; Burial Aisle, 108, 114 Pigouchet, Philippe, 169, 170, 172–74 Pilmuir, John de, bp. of Moray, 2, 7, 73 Pinkie House, 151 Pittenweem, 160, 161, 177 Pluscarden Priory, 20, 25, 37, 39, 40, 43, 45, 45, 46 Pollock, Muriel of, 23 Potton, Richard de, bp. of Aberdeen, 7 Prat, Thomas, 2

Spyny, William de, bp. of Moray, 2 Stephenson, Alexander, 9 Steward, Alexander, earl of Buchan, 22, 34, 46 Steward, Andrew, bp. of Moray, 2, 12, 42 Stewart, David, bp. of Moray, 75; monument, 52, 53 Stewart, William, bp. of Aberdeen, 175, 177 Stirling: Castle, 175; Greyfriars, 230 Stob, William, 26 Strathbrock, 100, 101 Strathisla, 221 Strozzi, bankers, 3 Sweetheart Abbey, 40

Ralph, bp. of Aberdeen, 30 n42 Ramsay, Malcolm, 172, 194 Ramsay, Peter, bp. of Aberdeen, 2, 4, 7, 18 Randolph, Thomas, 1st earl of Moray, 24 Rastell, John, 173 Rathven, St Peter’s leper hospital, 21, 22 Rayne, Bishop of Aberdeen’s House, 60, 62, 64, 67, 71, 77 Reid, Robert, abbot of Kinloss, 25, 26 Reims Cathedral, 43 Robert I (the Bruce), king of Scotland, 21, 24, 125 Robertson, David, 108, 110 Rossdhu Book of Hours, 217

Tain, 10, 175, 176; Collegiate church, 50, 50, 126, 137 n20 Tarras, Adam, abbot of Kinloss, 25 Ternan, St., 183, 185, 186, 189, 196, 197, 198, 200, 203, 204, 207, 213, 225, 226, 227, 246 Thomsoun, William and Alexander, 104 Threave, 74; Castle, 176, 176 Toeni, Simon de, bp. of Moray, 18, 73 Tournour, Thomy, 230 Tulloch, William, bp. of Moray, 75 Tullynessle, 7 Tunnock, Nicholas, 4 Turriff, 243, 244; St Mary and St Congan’s Hospital, 22 Tynninghame, Adam de, bp. of Aberdeen, 71

St Andrews, St Mary on the Rock, 189 Salisbury Cathedral, 43 Schevez, William, archbp. of St Andrews, 230 Scrimgeour, James, 3 Scrymgeour, Mariota, 186, 189, 193, 213, 214, 231, 233 Seton, Alexander, 151 Sibbald, Abraham, 110–12 Sibbald, James, 185–89, 193, 194, 200, 201, 204, 205, 214, 215 Simpson, Archibald, 83, 95 Sixtus IV, pope, 187, 215 Solis, Virgil, 149 Southwell Minster, 39 Spens, Thomas, bp. of Aberdeen, 2, 3, 7, 70 Spinelli, bankers, 3 Spynie, 4, 6, 18, 72, 73; Davy’s Tower, 74, 75; Palace, 60, 61, 73–78, 75, 76

252

Urquhart, Benedictine cell, 19, 20, 25 Vaus, Alexander, 244 Villani, Dominic, 5 Westminster Abbey, 43 Wilcote, Sir William, 51 William I (the Lion), king of Scotland, 20, 83 William, earl of Ross, 23 William Comyn, earl of Buchan, 20, 63 Winchester, John, bp. of Moray, 3, 7; monument, 51, 52, 52, 54, 55, 133 Wishart, William, bp. of St Andrews, 175 Yuste, Spain, 164, 172

Previous Volumes in the Series Medieval Art and Architecture at Worcester Cathedral (1978), ed. G. Popper Medieval Art and Architecture at Ely Cathedral (1979), ed. N. Coldstream and P. Draper Medieval Art and Architecture at Durham Cathedral (1980), ed. N. Coldstream and P. Draper Medieval Art and Architecture at Wells and Glastonbury (1981), ed. N. Coldstream and P. Draper V. Medieval Art and Architecture at Canterbury before 1220 (1982), ed. N. Coldstream and P. Draper VI. Medieval Art and Architecture at Winchester Cathedral (1983), ed. T. A. Heslop and V. Sekules VII. Medieval Art and Architecture at Gloucester and Tewkesbury (1985), ed. T. A. Heslop and V. Sekules VIII. Medieval Art and Architecture at Lincoln Cathedral (1986), ed. T. A. Heslop and V. Sekules IX. Medieval Art and Architecture in the East Riding of Yorkshire (1989), ed. C. Wilson X. Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology in London (1990), ed. L. Grant XI. Medieval Art and Architecture at Exeter Cathedral (1991), ed. F. Kelly XII. Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology at Rouen (1993), ed. J. Stratford XIII. Medieval Art and Architecture at Lichfield (1993), ed. J. Maddison XIV. Medieval Art and Architecture in the Diocese of St Andrews (1994), ed. J. Higgitt XV. Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology at Hereford (1995), ed. D. Whitehead XVI. Yorkshire Monasticism: Archaeology, Art and Architecture (1995), ed. L. R. Hoey XVII. Medieval Art and Architecture at Salisbury Cathedral (1996), ed. L. Keen and T. Cocke XVIII. Utrecht, Britain and the Continent: Archaeology, Art and Architecture (1996), ed. E. de Bie`vre XIX. ‘Almost the Richest City’: Bristol in the Middle Ages (1997), ed. L. Keen XX. Medieval Art, Architecture, Archaeology and Economy at Bury St Edmunds (1998), ed. A. Gransden XXI. Southwell and Nottinghamshire: Medieval Art, Architecture, and Industry (1998), ed. J. S. Alexander XXII. Medieval Archaeology, Art and Architecture at Chester (2000), ed. A. Thacker XXIII. Medieval Art and Architecture in the Diocese of Glasgow (1999), ed. R. Fawcett XXIV. Alban and St Albans: Roman and Medieval Architecture, Art and Archaeology (2001), ed. M. Henig and P. Lindley XXV. Windsor: Medieval Archaeology, Art and Architecture of the Thames Valley (2002), ed. L. Keen and E. Scarff XXVI. Anjou: Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology (2003), ed. J. McNeill and D. Prigent XXVII. Carlisle and Cumbria: Roman and Medieval Architecture, Art and Archaeology (2004), ed. M. McCarthy and D. Weston XXVIII. Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology at Rochester (2006), ed. T. Ayers and T. Tatton-Brown XXIX. Cardiff: Architecture and Archaeology in the Medieval Diocese of Llandaff (2006), ed. J. R. Kenyon and D. M. Williams XXX. Mainz and the Middle Rhine Valley: Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology (2007), ed. U. Engel and A. Gajewski XXXI. King’s Lynn and the Fens: Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology (2008), ed. J. McNeill XXXII. Prague and Bohemia: Medieval Art, Architecture and Cultural Exchange in Central Europe (2009), ed. Z. Opacic XXXIII. Coventry: Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology in the City and its Vicinity (2011), ed. L. Monckton and R. K. Morris XXXIV. Limerick and South-West Ireland: Medieval Art and Architecture (2011), ed. R. Stalley XXXV. Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology at Canterbury (2013), ed. A. Bovey XXXVI. Newcastle and Northumberland: Roman and Medieval Architecture and Art (2013), ed. J. Ashbee and J. Luxford XXXVII. Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology in Cracow and Lesser Poland (2014), ed. A. Roz˙nowska-Sadraei and T. We˛cławowicz XXXVIII. Norwich: Medieval and Early Modern Art, Architecture and Archaeology (2015), ed. T. A. Heslop and H. E. Lunnon XXXIX. Westminster: The Art, Architecture and Archaeology of the Royal Abbey and Palace (2015), ed. W. Rodwell and T. Tatton-Brown

I. II. III. IV.