PRIMITIVE ECCLESIOLOGY.
With the introduction of Christianity into Britain an entirely new era
of art begins, derivable here, as elsewhere, from the central heart of
ancient Christendom, as in the celebrated example of the Candida Casa,
built at Whithern, in Galloway, in the Roman style.
[Illustration]
We have the authority of Bede for the fact already referred to,--that
the first churches of the Britons were constructed of timber. The
cathedral of St. Asaph, founded by St. Kentigern in the sixth century,
was a wooden church, after the manner of the Britons, and so also
we may believe was the first cathedral of Glasgow, the work of the
same founder. The first cathedral of the Isles seems not even to have
aspired to the dignity of a wooden church, but to have been only a
wattled inclosure, not unsuited to the simplicity of the primitive
apostle of the Picts. Similar erections were probably employed at
a much later period, for the temporary accommodation of the first
phalanx of the newly founded monastery. A very curious seal, attached
to one of the older charters of Holyrood Abbey, represents a structure
so entirely differing from all the usual devices of the earliest
ecclesiastical seals, that I am strongly inclined to look upon it
as an attempt to represent the original wooden church, reared by the
brethren of the Holyrood Abbey, on their first clearance in the forest
of Drumselch. It manifestly represents a timber structure. The round
tower is also curiously consistent with the older Scottish style,
which the Romanesque was then remodelling or superseding, but bears
no analogy to that of the Abbey of St. David. The contemporary seal
of St. Andrews, which has for its device the venerable metropolitan
church of St. Rule, proves that such portraiture was actually attempted
and successfully practised at the period.[613] Viewed in this light
the old Holyrood seal is one of the most interesting ecclesiological
relics we possess, figuring, it may be, the primitive structure first
reared on the site which is now associated with so many of the most
momentous occurrences both in the ecclesiastical and civil history of
Scotland. The earliest charter to which it has yet been found attached
is a notification by Alwyn, Abbot of Holyrood, A.D. 1141; but both
the style of workmanship and the curiously mixed lettering manifestly
belong to an earlier period, when the _mos Scotorum_ was still in
use, and perhaps point to the existence of a _familia_, or Christian
community established in the glades of Drumselch Forest, long before
the royal foundation of the Holyrood. Amid such primitive structures,
the Candida Casa of St. Ninian must have stood forth as a majestic
example of Italian art, and have furnished a model which succeeding
builders would strive to imitate. Yet as each country of Christian
Europe has its own peculiar variations from the theoretical standard,
or its provincialisms, as they may be fitly enough called, so Scotland
and Ireland, occupying originally a more isolated position than the
other kingdoms of Christendom, modified these to a remarkable extent,
and produced a style differing so greatly from the Italian model as to
confound the speculations of modern ecclesiologists. The masterly essay
of Dr. Petrie on "The Round Towers of Ireland," has at length freed
this inquiry from the cumbrous theories of older antiquaries, and given
consistency to the archæological records of native art.
While England has her Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical remains, exhibiting
more or less of the transition by which the debased Roman passed into
the pure Romanesque, or Norman style, Scotland, along with Ireland,
possesses examples of an early native style belonging to the same
period, anterior to the Norman invasion, and distinguished by more
marked and clearly defined characteristics. The peculiarities of the
early masonry have generally been selected by judicious ecclesiologists
as one of the most unerring guides to genuine Saxon remains, including
such constructive features as the varieties of _long and short work_,
whether introduced plainly in the angles of the buildings, or in the
form of pilaster-strips, panels, arcades, and other decorations on
the surface of the walls, as in the celebrated Earl's Barton Tower,
Northamptonshire, and in Stanton Lacy Church, Shropshire. The latter
are only modifications of the simpler long and short work, and are
obviously introduced for the same purpose, namely, to supply the want
of a sufficiency of good building materials, and to bind together the
unsubstantial ruble-work between, much in the same way as beams and
brick-work are united in a timber-framed house. This difficulty of
obtaining a sufficient supply of stone accounts for the introduction
of herring-bone work, consisting of courses of bricks or tiles of
Roman shape, and not unfrequently the spoils of older Roman buildings,
disposed in alternate chevron rows. Such evidence is not of course in
itself sufficient to fix a building as undoubtedly belonging to the
Anglo-Saxon period, but as it generally occurs along with features more
or less markedly distinct from the earliest Romanesque buildings to
which an authentic date is assigned, it is a mere disputing about terms
to question the existence of many well known examples in England of a
style of ecclesiastical building popularly known as Saxon architecture.
In addition to these constructive features there are not wanting
peculiarities of detail, such as the belfry windows, divided with a
rude baluster, or a slender cylindrical shaft carrying a long impost
without any capital, and small apertures both in doors and windows,
formed by two or more stones laid so as to form a straight slope, and
producing a class of pointed openings coeval with the earliest circular
arch in our ecclesiastical architecture. Sculptured decoration is rare,
and generally extremely rude. The imposts of arches most frequently
present imperfect imitations of Roman mouldings, where they are not
simple square blocks, though in some instances a modification of the
long and short work, consisting of rag-stone regularly disposed in
imitation of carved mouldings, serves as an economical substitute for
more laboured decorations.
Most of these characteristics of Anglo-Saxon architecture are, in the
true sense of the word, provincialisms, not indeed necessarily confined
to England, but pertaining to the earliest buildings of districts
where good stone is scarce, and not easily procured. They form
interesting examples of the legitimate origin of architectural details
from the necessities of the locality in which they are found. On this
very account, however, they are such as we should not expect to find,
either in Scotland or Ireland, where substantial building materials
abound. Examples, indeed, of analogous workmanship are not wanting in
either country, and some of those of Scotland will be referred to.
The celebrated ruin of St. Anthony's Chapel, near Edinburgh, though
certainly not earlier than the fourteenth, and more probably belonging
to the fifteenth century, affords a curious instance of the adaptation
of the rude materials of its immediate site, where others of the best
quality were of easy access. This, however, is a solitary example, and
no indication of a prevalent custom. Any evidence of such an exotic
style as that usually called Saxon in the south of England transplanted
to these localities, like the Scoto-Roman masonry already described,
would clearly point to a foreign origin, and to builders unfamiliar
with the facilities of a stone country.
The peculiar characteristics of the later ecclesiastical revolutions
of Scotland, which almost entirely eradicated all veneration for the
historical memorials of the ancient Scottish Church, have largely
contributed to obliterate the evidences of our primitive Christian
architecture. Some few examples of singular value, however, exist to
attest the correspondence of the earliest sacred structures with other
contemporary works of art. Scotland, as well as Ireland, has still
her round towers, among the earliest and most interesting relics of
native ecclesiastical architecture. Into the endless controversy of
which these have formed the subject it is happily no longer needful
to enter. Dr. Petrie's admirable work has sufficed to sweep away the
learned dust and cobwebs laboriously accumulated about the inquiry into
their origin, and exhibits the value of patient investigation and the
logical deductions of a thoroughly informed mind, in contrast to the
vague and visionary speculations of the fireside student. The field
which the Scottish antiquary has to investigate is narrow indeed when
compared with that which Ireland offers; but is on that very account
freed from some of the difficulties which beset the explorer into the
corresponding Irish examples of the architectural taste and skill of
a remote and long unknown period. It is even possible that a closer
investigation of the history of the round towers of Scotland may throw
some additional light on those of the sister isle.
It is with extreme hesitation that I venture to hint a doubt in
regard to any of the conclusions arrived at in the "Ecclesiastical
Architecture of Ireland anterior to the Anglo-Norman Invasion,"
regarding it, as I do, as a nearly perfect model of critical
analysis and research. Yet even Dr. Petrie occasionally seems not
to have entirely escaped the influence of that temptation to assign
the remotest conceivable antiquity to these national monuments,
which proved so effectual a stumblingblock to his predecessors.
Notwithstanding the evidence adduced for the date assigned to the
erection of the Round Tower of Kildare, it is impossible to overlook
the fact, that the doorways both of that and of the tower at Timahoe
are decorated with ornaments and mouldings, which, though not without
their own peculiar details, essentially correspond to those found
throughout Europe on works of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. If
the record of erection at a particular date, with the absence of any
notice of rebuilding, were to be accepted in proof of the date of
styles, there is probably no single phase of medieval ecclesiastical
architecture which might not be proved on such evidence to be coeval
with the earliest. The silence of all authorities as to the re-erection
of churches once built is a species of negative proof of the smallest
possible value. In the ruined nave of Holyrood Abbey at Edinburgh,
the experienced eye may detect work of nearly every period from the
twelfth to the seventeenth century; yet in some places the mouldings
of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are so ingeniously engrafted
on the original Romanesque work, that it is hardly possible precisely
to define the amount of change. The ingenuity with which the old
masons have thus remodelled churches to bring them into correspondence
with the progressive developments of pointed architecture, completely
baffles the attempt to fix from single examples, such as the remarkable
doorway of Timahoe, the work of a precise date. The form of arch, the
chevron mouldings, decorated capitals, the sculptures on the imposts,
are all such as the experienced eye would assign to the era of the
Romanesque or Anglo-Norman style; and this idea is rather strengthened
than weakened by the finely-jointed character of the ashlar-work, as
such well-finished masonry is rarely met with in any English edifice
prior to the twelfth century. The well-known details common to the
Romanesque style are undoubtedly accompanied, as might be expected,
by others peculiar to Ireland; but these examples referred to do not
differ more from any twelfth century building in England or Scotland
than does the beautiful stone-roofed Church of Cormac, on the Rock of
Cashel, to which Dr. Petrie assigns, on indisputable evidence, the date
of 1134. I am induced to direct attention to these points--otherwise
foreign to the subject in hand--because the few marked characteristics
which can be referred to on the round towers of Scotland correspond
with those in Ireland which, according to all received ecclesiological
analogies, seem to indicate an earlier date than the towers of Timahoe
or Kildare, or the presumed contemporary monastery of Rathairn, and
can hardly be supposed to be works of a later period. On this point I
find it difficult to follow Dr. Petrie, who assigns to these specimens
of ecclesiastical architecture, marked by details corresponding with
works of the eleventh and twelfth centuries in England and Scotland, a
date not later than the close of the eighth century, while the tower of
Donaghmore, which bears considerable resemblance to the Scottish round
tower at Brechin--though greatly inferior in the amount or richness of
ornament--is ascribed to the early part of the tenth century, or fully
a century prior to the date of the corresponding Scottish building.
Yet there are also points of resemblance of a sufficiently marked
character, both in the peculiar masonry and details of the Timahoe
and Brechin Towers. The pellet and bead moulding on the soffit of the
former also very closely corresponds with the finish of the architrave
in the Scottish doorway, though their decorations otherwise greatly
differ.
[Illustration: Doorway, Round Tower, Donaghmore.]
The well-known round towers of Scotland are those of Abernethy and
Brechin; but in addition to these we have the ancient church and tower
of St. Magnus, Egilshay, in Orkney, which, though hitherto generally
overlooked from its remote and inaccessible position, is no less
interesting and worthy of note. The little church of St. Magnus, on
the island of Egilshay, still remains in tolerably perfect condition
though roofless, consisting of a chancel, nave, and round tower at its
west end, which appears, when perfect, to have been between fifty and
sixty feet high. It was roofed with an irregular dome-shaped capping,
and both the nave and chancel were also protected, at no very distant
period, with a roofing of stone. Dr. Hibbert, in his "Description of
the Shetland Isles," refers to this little Orkney edifice as a specimen
of the ancient Scandinavian Church, corresponding, as he conceives,
to others which formerly existed in Shetland. After describing Burra,
St. Ronan's, and other localities in the Bay of Scalloway, he goes on
to remark,--"On an adjacent promontory, named Ireland, once stood a
church which was adorned with a lofty steeple. But of three buildings
of this kind situated in Ireland, Burra, and Tingwall, that were said
to have been erected by Norwegian sisters, it is unfortunate that not
one should now remain."[614] It is in illustration of the presumed
appearance of these that the church of Egilshay is referred to as "a
small religious edifice in Orkney, which these kirks of Shetland are
said to have much resembled."
The date of these churches, which tradition thus assigns to Norwegian
builders, is not known. If, however, we were to take the dedication
of the one still remaining on the island of Egilshay as a clue to the
whole, we should be compelled to assign them to a comparatively recent
period, and one later by more than a century than the most modern of
the round towers of the mainland.
According to well-known Scandinavian records, the introduction of
Christianity into the Orkney Islands was effected by the Norwegian
king Olaf Trigvason, better known to us as St. Olaf, on his return
from an expedition to Ireland in the year 998, having himself received
baptism not long before in the Scilly isles. This important change,
however, which the warrior missionary characteristically effected
at the edge of the sword, there is good reason for believing only
affected the Norwegian jarls. Christianity, as has been already shewn,
had long preceded the conquest of these islands by the Northmen.
The missionaries of Iona had not been so effectually scared by the
intrusion of these fierce invaders as to abandon the numerous scenes
of their early labours; and it is entirely consistent, both with
the history of the northern islands and the characteristics of the
primitive little edifice referred to, to believe that the church which
still stands, though in ruin, on the island of Egilshay was the scene
of Christian rites, amid "the storm-swept Orcades," when the rude Norse
king landed his strange missionary crew on the neighbouring isle.
It can hardly admit of doubt that the simple little church and tower
of St. Magnus, Egilshay, were built from Irish models. Even if its
origin were satisfactorily traced to Norwegian founders, the frequent
expeditions of the Northmen to Ireland would suffice to account for
this. St. Olaf visited Ireland before his memorable visit to the
Orkneys, on his way to Norway, bent on introducing the new faith into
his own country. Sigurd, the Jarl whom he converted by the summary
alternative of embracing Christianity or forfeiting his dominions,
fell in the great battle of Clontarf, in Ireland, A.D. 1014, in which
Danes and Northmen of Northumberland, the Orkneys, Hebrides, and Man,
fought along with other foreign auxiliaries, on behalf of the Danish
colonists of Ireland, against the famous Irish monarch, Brian Boru,
while among his allies were the Scottish Maormors of Lennox and Marr.
Gray's celebrated ode of "The Fatal Sisters" is a paraphrase of an
ancient poem in the Icelandic Saga, on the battle in which the Northmen
suffered so terrible a defeat. In this contemporary poem, Hilda,
the Scandinavian goddess of war and victory, is introduced with her
weird-sisters, the Valkyries, who attended on the field of slaughter
to convey the spirits of the dying heroes to the hall of Odin, and
otherwise received in the Scandinavian mythology nearly the same
attributes as the _Parcæ_ of the Greeks. These Scandinavian Fates are
represented as having been seen at Caithness, in Scotland, by a man
named Darraudar, on the very day of the battle of Clontarf. They were
on horseback, riding swiftly towards a hill, into which they entered,
and on looking through an opening of the rock he saw twelve gigantic
females weaving a web at a strange loom. Their shuttles were weapons
of war, their warp was weighted with human heads, and they wove with
human entrails the ghastly texture of "the loom of hell." As they plied
their shuttles they sang a dreadful incantation, on finishing which
they tore the web into twelve pieces, and each taking her portion they
mounted their black steeds and rode off, six to the north and six to
the south. That same day they appeared on the field of Clontarf busied
amid the heaps of the slain. Such was the creed of the Norse Jarls
sixteen years after the conversion of Sigurd of Orkney by St. Olaf,
and the sole fruit of their last visit to Ireland. It is not to them,
therefore, that we must look for the introduction of the models of the
first Christian churches of Orkney. It is much more probable that the
earlier missionaries of St. Columba were themselves the architects of
the humble little fane which remains on the island of Egilshay, as well
as of many others that once adorned the neighbouring isles. It closely
corresponds in general characteristics with Dr. Hibbert's account of
the ancient churches of Shetland, of which traces still exist. "All the
ecclesiastical buildings," he remarks, "appear to have been devoid of
the least show and ornament, the ingenuity of the architect extending
little farther than in constructing a round vaulted roof. The pointed
arch, the pinnacled buttresses, or rich stone canopy, never dignified
the chapels of humble Hialtland. The number of them, however, was
remarkably great. The parish of Yell, for instance, boasted twenty
chapels, where only two or three are used at the present day."[615]
The venerable little Church of Egilshay has fallen into like decay,
and the inhabitants are now compelled to seek a place of worship on a
neighbouring island.
[Illustration: St. Magnus's Church, Egilshay.]
Like other Orkney buildings of very different dates, this primitive
church is constructed almost entirely of the unhewn clay-slate of the
district. The tower is unsymmetrical, tapering somewhat irregularly
towards the top, and bulging considerably on the side attached to the
church. It differs from other examples in having no external doorway.
It has evidently been built contemporaneously with the church, and is
entered from the nave by means of a door through the west wall. The
accompanying view from the south-east will help to convey some idea of
its external appearance. Since the view engraved in Dr. Hibbert's Plate
of Antiquities was drawn, the stone roofs both of the church and tower
have disappeared, along with a portion of the walls of the latter,
which was taken down from the apprehended danger of its falling. The
following are the proportions of the church and tower. The greatest
circumference of the tower is forty-eight feet, and its present height
about forty-five feet. There is no appearance of any stair having been
constructed in it, but two beams of oak near the top, and two lower
down, still indicate the arrangement of the floors by which it has at
one time been subdivided. Directly above the door on the eastern side,
connecting it with the nave, are the only two windows in the tower, one
above the other, arched with unhewn stone. The doorway is only four
feet in height from the present floor, and two feet four inches broad.
The walls of the nave are about three feet thick, and it measures
thirty feet long by sixteen feet wide within the walls. It is entered
both on the north and south sides by doorways constructed "_more
Romano_," with a plain semicircular arch of unhewn stone. On the north
side there is but one small arched window, three feet three inches in
height, and only nine inches wide; while on the south side, in addition
to a corresponding window of similar size, there are two other plain
square-headed windows, measuring respectively two feet eleven inches
by one foot two inches, and one foot nine inches by one foot one inch.
The chancel is still covered in with a plain semicircular arch, above
which has been a chamber, constructed between it and the outer covering
of stone, and accessible only by an entrance over the chancel arch,
where in all probability was kept the muniment chest of the officiating
priest. Such an arrangement is traceable in early Irish churches, as in
the original work of the beautiful church at Rathain, in King's county,
which Dr. Petrie assigns as the work of St. Fidhairle Ua Suanaigh, who
died in 763.[616] The chancel measures within the walls eleven feet
by nine feet seven inches, and is lighted only by a small window in
the north and south walls, measuring each twenty by eleven inches. But
perhaps the most singular feature of this interesting structure is
the chancel arch, which, directly contrary to those of corresponding
edifices in Ireland, has its sides inclined inward towards the base, so
as to present a complete horse-shoe arch. It is scarcely possible to
examine the details of this most interesting relic of early Christian
art, without recognising its manifest correspondence with the primitive
Irish churches of the sixth and seventh centuries, which Dr. Petrie's
researches have rendered so familiar to us.
That the little Church of Egilshay existed long prior to the era
of St. Magnus cannot, I conceive, admit of doubt. A comparison of
it with the stately cathedral of Kirkwall, founded little more than
thirty years after the death of the sainted Earl, is alone sufficient
to prove its erection at a period essentially differing from the
era of the fully developed Romanesque. Its later dedication to that
favourite northern saint is abundantly accounted for by the remarkable
historical fact that in its immediate neighbourhood, if not indeed, as
the Aberdeen Breviary states, within this venerable fane, the gentle
Magnus Erlendson was hewn down by his fierce cousin Hacon, A.D. 1106.
It affords additional confirmation of the source of the Christianity
of the Northern Isles, that we are told in the same venerable
Scottish ecclesiastical authority, that Magnus commended his soul to
the Redeemer, to St. Mary, and to the old northern apostles, _St.
Palladius_ and _St. Serf_. The fame of the sanctity of the martyred
Earl of Orkney was speedily attested, according to the faith of the
period, by numerous miracles wrought at his tomb. Pilgrimages were
made to his shrine, and saintly honours accorded to him, not in Orkney
only, but throughout Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and the Scottish
mainland. Within twenty years after his death the legendary incidents
of his life had been woven into an Icelandic Saga, strangely differing
from that of Hilda and her attendant Valkyries. Ronald, the nephew of
the martyred Earl, obtained a grant from the King of Norway of the
possessions which were his by right of succession to his uncle, and on
successfully establishing his claims the cathedral of St. Magnus at
Kirkwall was begun in or about the year 1138, in fulfilment of a vow he
had made while fortune still hung doubtful in the scale.
The reputation of the sainted Earl has outlived that of any other
Scottish saint, if we except the good St. Margaret. His name is still
spoken with reverence throughout Orkney and Shetland, independently
of all idea of saintship or martyrdom, to which indeed his claims
are greatly more doubtful than his just title to the character of an
upright ruler in a barbarous age. He died in a private quarrel with his
own cousin, in which no other questions than those of mutual interest
appear to have been involved. But the Church availed itself of the
reverence which his virtues had inspired; and to this it is no doubt
mainly owing that, notwithstanding the extreme veneration in which his
name was held, little trustworthy information is to be found regarding
him, even in the authorized records of hagiology. The Aberdeen
Breviary styles him "the Apostle of Orkney and the Hebrides." Other old
authorities refer to him as a bishop or missionary to the Pagans of the
north; and a writer in the first Statistical Accounts[617] winds up a
sufficiently amusing attempt at tracing his history, by shewing the
great probability that he was a knight templar!
The characteristics of the majestic cathedral of the Northern Isles
furnish valuable elements of comparison with other examples of early
ecclesiastical architecture in Scotland; while they completely confirm
the great antiquity of the simple edifice which was deserted as the see
of the Orkney bishops for the stately edifice at Kirkwall dedicated to
the sainted Earl of the Orkneys. If we except the one common feature
of the rounded arch, no elements of comparison exist. The cathedral
is a well-defined example of the late Romanesque style, bearing no
traces of the rudeness or imperfection which might be looked for in the
transition from an humble and homely fane to one of such pretensions,
but distinctly marked as belonging to a later period than Dunfermline,
Kelso, and other of the older Scottish abbeys in the same style.
Returning to the consideration of the round towers of the Scottish
mainland, the reader will probably be prepared by the previous
evidences of the close affinity traceable between the early Irish and
Scottish arts to assume that these erections, which find a parallel
only in Ireland, are either the work of the Irish Scots or the result
of the intimate intercourse with Ireland which was maintained at a
well-ascertained period of our history. When we consider the close
resemblance between the round towers of Brechin and Abernethy, and
many of those of Ireland, amounting to a complete identity of style,
it seems strange that Scottish antiquaries should have hesitated in
ascribing to the former a Christian origin, after the obscure annals
of the Dalriadic Scots had been cleared up. From these, as we have
already seen, the Irish Scoti had no footing beyond their little
territory in Argyleshire till the middle of the ninth century; and we
have unquestionable evidence that the Romanesque or Anglo-Norman style
had obtained general acceptance in Scotland in the very beginning
of the twelfth century. Between these two periods, therefore, must
the precise date of erection of both the round towers of Brechin and
Abernethy be sought. But this interval is further greatly limited
by the establishment of the third Norwegian kingdom by Thorfinn in
1034. It embraced nearly the whole of the north of Scotland, and
was successfully maintained for thirty years, so that we are almost
unavoidably compelled to assume their date as prior to this earlier
period. The triumph of Thorfinn involved the extinction of the house of
Kenneth MacAlpin, and the extermination of the most powerful chiefs of
the Scottish race. By this we are limited to a period somewhat short
of two centuries, within which it may be assumed that the Scottish
round towers were erected; and with this such historical evidence as
we possess in some degree accords. Neither of them, however, are the
primitive structures reared on these long sacred sites. The tower of
Abernethy, which stands solitary and unroofed, with all the ancient
ecclesiastical adjuncts of a collegiate foundation utterly effaced,
may be very briefly dismissed. Gordon[618] gives its dimensions as
follows: Its elevation is seventy-five feet, wanting the conical roof
which we may assume to have originally crowned its summit, adding ten
or twelve feet to the height. The doorway which faces the north, and
is, as usual, elevated several feet from the ground, is eight and a
half feet high, by two and a half feet wide, and consists of a plain
semicircular-headed opening. The tower now occupies an angle of the
inclosed churchyard, and serves both as a belfry and clock-tower for
the plain modern church; in addition to which the obsolete iron jougs
still attached to it shew that it was also enlisted in older times in
the execution of ecclesiastical discipline.
The Pictish Chronicle records the founding of a church at Abernethy, by
Necton, King of the Picts, who reigned about the year 455. He dedicated
the royal foundation to God and to St. Brigid, and endowed it with
lands, _usque ad diem judicii_, the boundaries of which are minutely
specified, "from the stone at Apurfeirt to the stone near Cairfuill,"
&c.,--an interesting example of the Hoare Stones or landmarks of the
fifth century. This is further confirmed by Fordun,[619] who quotes
an ancient chronicle of Abernethy in corroboration of the earlier
record. Of the precise character of this _ecclesia collegiata de
Abernethy_ of the fifth century, it is now vain to speculate, but
most probably, even for some centuries later, it was only a wooden
church after the manner of the Britons, and so remained until about
A.D. 711, when we learn from Bede of a second Naiton or Necton, King
of the Picts, who sent messengers to the venerable Ceolfrid, abbot of
the historian's own monastery of Jarrow, at the mouth of the Wear,
inquiring concerning sundry disputed questions, and praying him to
send architects who, according to the manner of the Romans, should
make a church of stone among his people. The Pictish monarch qualifies
a promise of future obedience to the holy Roman and Apostolic Church
thus naively: "In quantum dumtaxat tam longe a Romanorum loquela et
natione consegregati hunc ediscere potuissent."[620] At what time the
royal foundation of Abernethy was remodelled, according to the fashion
indicated by its ancient tower, is not recorded in any authority that
I know of, but it may not improbably be found noted by some of the
Irish annalists from whom Dr. Petrie has already recovered so large an
amount of well-authenticated history. The interest in it has naturally
been greatly diminished by the annihilation of every vestige of the
collegiate buildings except the tower. Its masonry, however, closely
corresponds to that of Brechin, while the character of its upper
windows is suggestive of even a more recent period, and it is probable
that they are additions of a later date than the original structure.
The ecclesiastical foundation of Brechin, so far as we know, is fully
four centuries later than that of Abernethy, and belongs to the era of
the kings of the Scottish race. The ancient Pictish Chronicle concludes
in the reign of Kenneth, the son of Malcolm, 967-991, and is supposed
to have been written at that early period. It sums up the brief record
of his reign in these words: "This is he who gave the great city of
Brechin to the Lord." It does not perhaps necessarily follow that no
earlier church existed at Brechin; but to this period we may assign, on
the authority of the ancient Chronicle, the first royal foundation; and
in the absence of other evidence, I should have felt little hesitation
in fixing it as the period when the present round tower was built.
Dr. Petrie, however, assigns a date about thirty years later, and
promises more precise information derived from the Irish annalists,
from whence we may hope for other valuable additions to the _Annales
Scotorum_. Meanwhile, we have obtained an approximation to the desired
date, concerning which the indefatigable investigator of the history of
these peculiar structures only remarks, "The round tower of Brechin in
Scotland there is every reason to believe was erected about the year
1020, and by Irish ecclesiastics."[621] In dimensions this ancient
structure somewhat exceeds that of Abernethy, measuring eighty-five
feet to the cornice,[622] above which a roof or spire of later date has
been added when the cathedral church was re-erected in the thirteenth
century. In every other respect it offers superior attractions to that
of Abernethy, surrounded as it is with the more recent yet venerable
and characteristic memorials of ancient ecclesiastical art, and adorned
with sculptures of a singular and very remarkable character. The
masonry of the tower, as will be seen from the drawing of the doorway,
is of that kind which has been traced as gradually arising out of the
cyclopean work of ancient Greece. The stones are polygonal, carefully
hewn, and fitted to each other with the utmost neatness and art; the
courses of masonry being mostly horizontal, though with more or less
irregularity, and the joints not uniformly vertical. It is the same
style of work which characterizes the walls of the ancient cities of
Etruria, and is also found in Ireland to have succeeded to the ruder
primitive cyclopean masonry. But the peculiar feature of the Brechin
Tower is its sculptured doorway. Its dimensions are as follows: The
breadth at the spring of the arch is one foot seven and a half inches,
and at the base one foot eleven inches. The height of the entrance to
the centre of the arch is six feet one and a half inch, and the entire
height of the doorway from the base of the external ornament to the
summit of the crucifix which surmounts the centre of the arch, is eight
feet eleven and a half inches.[623]
[Illustration: Doorway, Round Tower of Brechin.]
The sculptured figures cut in relief on the imposts and at the base
of the doorway, are unhappily too much defaced to admit of a very
distinct idea being now formed of their original appearance. Mr. Gough,
who examined and made drawings of them eighty years since, when they
may be presumed to have been somewhat more perfect, thus describes
this ancient doorway: "On the west front are two arches, one within
the other, in relief; on the point of the outermost is a crucifix,
and between both, towards the middle, are figures of the Virgin Mary
and St. John, the latter holding a cup with a lamb."[624] But it was
unhappily too much the fashion with antiquaries of the last century,
to see what they desired, and to make their drawings accordingly,
so that little value can be attached to this precise description.
One of the figures holds a pastoral staff, and the other may perhaps
have borne a mitre. They were, not improbably, originally designed
to represent St. Serf, St. Columba, or some other of the favourite
primitive Scottish saints. The larger of the two measures one foot
eleven inches in height, including the pedestal or block of stone on
which it stands. The nondescript animals below no less effectually
baffle any attempts at description. "If one of them," says Gough,
"by his proboscis had not the appearance of an elephant, I should
suppose them the supporters of the Scotch arms!" Pennant, undeterred
by the _proboscis_,--which, indeed, even now looks more like a fish
in the animal's mouth,--conceives them more probably to be the
Caledonian bear and boar. The lapse of eighty years has not added to
their distinctness, and little good can be hoped for from such random
guessings. But the two upper blocks supply curious and unmistakable
evidence of the fact, that the original design of the old sculptor has
been abruptly brought to a close. Additional figures--not improbably
ministering angels--have manifestly been intended to be introduced on
either side of the crucified Redeemer, but from some cause--possibly
yet ascertainable from the Irish annalists--the work of decoration has
been arrested, and the unshapen blocks have been left to be fashioned
by the tooth of time.
To these few examples of ecclesiastical buildings belonging to a
period prior to the development of the architecture of Medieval
Europe, I have little doubt that further research, particularly in
the Hebrides and the neighbouring coasts of the mainland, may still
supply some interesting additions. This volume has been delayed in
the hope of being able to accomplish a tour sketched out for that
purpose, but the plan must be executed at a future time, and most
probably by other investigators, who possess all the requisites for its
efficient accomplishment. It is exceedingly likely that some of the
primitive oratories of the first centuries of Scottish Christianity
still exist on the remote sites frequently chosen by the ascetic
missionaries of the faith. Martin, for example, after describing the
Eird Houses or Weems of the Western Isles, adds,--"There are several
little stone-houses built above ground, capable only of one person,
and round in form; one of them is to be seen in Portry, another at
Linero, and at Culunock. They are called _Tey-nin-druinich_, _i.e._,
Druid's House."[625] Again, the Old Account of the Parish of Orphir, in
Orkney, furnishes the following description:--"In the churchyard are
the remains of an ancient building, called the Girth House, to which
great antiquity is ascribed. It is a rotundo eighteen feet in diameter,
and twenty feet high, open at top; and on the east side is a vaulted
concavity, where probably the altar stood, with a slit in the wall to
admit the light; two-thirds of it have been taken down to repair the
parish church. The walls are thick, and consist of stones, strongly
cemented with lime. From its resemblance to the Pantheon, some have
ascribed this building to the Romans; but in all probability it has
been a chapel, dedicated by the piety of its founder to some favourite
saint."[626] These seem, like the more celebrated Arthur's Oon, to
answer in description to the small circular structures familiar to
Irish antiquaries as bee-hive houses, and which are believed to have
been the abodes of ancient ecclesiastics. Even on Arthur Seat, exposed
to the restless populace of the neighbouring city, some remains of
the simple cell of the Hermit of St. Anthony are still visible, and
on the Island of Inchcolm, in the Frith of Forth, a rudely arched
little vault, of uncertain age and sufficiently primitive construction,
adjoining the ruined monastery over which the historian, Abbot Bowar,
presided, is shewn as the cell of the good Hermit of St. Columba, where
he entertained King Alexander I. for three days, when driven on the
island by a tempest. The adjacent monastic buildings still include
remains of various early dates, some of which will come under review
in the following chapter; but an interesting memorial of the original
monastery has been preserved on the chapter seal, which--like some of
those of the metropolitan see figured with the primitive Cathedral
of St. Rule--is engraved with a view of the ancient Abbey Church of
Inchcolm. In style of art the seal bears considerable resemblance to
those of St. Andrews. The church is represented consisting of nave
and choir, with a central tower surmounted by a spire, and with plain
round-headed windows in the choir. The only impressions yet discovered
are very imperfect; but little doubt can be entertained that in these
we have a representation of the original structure of the twelfth
century, fully as accurate and trustworthy as we are enabled to
ascertain the ancient seals of St. Andrews to have been. Thus does wax
and parchment outlive the graven brass and the masonry which seemed to
bid defiance to time.
FOOTNOTES:
[613] Laing's Ancient Scottish Seals, Nos. 1103, 1105, 1106.
[614] Hibbert's Shetland, p. 457.
[615] Hibbert's Shetland, p. 530.
[616] Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland, 8vo, pp. 242, 245.
[617] Sinclair's Statistical Account, vol. xix. p. 44.
[618] Itinerar. Septent., p. 164.
[619] Fordun, vol. iv. p. 12.
[620] Beda, L. 5, c. 21.
[621] Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland, &c., 8vo, p. 410.
[622] Itiner. Septent., p. 165. Pennant says, height from ground to
roof eighty feet, and, including the spire, one hundred and three
feet.--Tour, vol. iii. p. 162.
[623] The drawing of the Brechin doorway is carefully made to scale,
and the measurements have been taken for me by an experienced practical
builder, so that they may be relied upon for accuracy.
[624] Archæologia, vol. ii. p. 85, Plate v.
[625] Martin's Western Isles, p. 154.
[626] Sinclair's Stat. Acc. vol. xix. p. 417.