Strathallan, who had married Amelia, daughter of the Duke of Atholl.
Tullibardine thus became attached to the adjoining estate of Machany,
long possessed by the Drummonds. The Laird of Machany and Viscount
Strathallan were united first in William Drummond of Machany, who
succeeded his cousin as fourth Viscount Strathallan. True to the
traditions of his House and title, the fourth Viscount was a loyal and
devoted Jacobite. He fought in 1715, and again in 1745, when he was
killed at Culloden. After his death the penalty of his ill-fated zeal
descended on his family. His wife Margaret, daughter of Lord Nairne,
was taken prisoner, and kept in Edinburgh Castle from February to
September, 1746; his son James, who had attended his father at
Culloden, suffered attainder, and for many years the title was
withheld. There was more caution in the character of Andrew Drummond,
brother to the fourth Viscount, who founded the Charing Cross Bank in
London. He lent large sums to the Government; but his family connexion
brought him under a suspicion of double dealing, which Sir Robert
Walpole was inclined to believe. Learning, however, that the suspicion
was unfounded, Sir Robert sought to conciliate the Drummond by warmly
offering to shake hands with him when they encountered one day in the
King's drawing-room. But Mr Andrew, proof against blandishment no less
than against suspicion, met the advance by holding his hands behind his
back. The ancestral spirit shone again in Andrew John Drummond, who
should have been seventh Viscount. He died in 1812, a General in the
British Army. The forfeited title was restored in 1824 to his cousin,
James Drummond, Esq.
[1] Blind Harry's _Wallace_. Book iv., l. 309.
For this and other references and much valuable assistance the writer
is indebted to the kindness of A. G. Reid, Esq., Auchterarder.
[2] Ib. Bk. v., l. 293.
[3] Lindsay of Pitscottie's _History of Scotland_. Vol., p. 256.
[4] _Brevarium Aberdonense Pars Hyemalis_. Fol. 164.
[5] _Liber Insule Missarum_, pp. 4, 8, 18, 19.
[6] Nisbet's _Heraldry_. Vol. II., app. 188.
[7] _Chartulary of Cambuskenneth_. Walcot's _Scoto Monasticon_.
[8] _Register of Kirk-Session of S. Andrews_. _Scot. Hist. Society_.
[9] Thomson's _Scots Acts_, IV., 556.
[10] _Liber Insule Missarum_, p. xxxiii.
[11] This and the anecdote about Mr Andrew Drummond are given by the
kindness of Viscountess Strathallan.
THE ABBEY OF INCHAFFRAY
By Rev. JAMES BROWN, M.A., Maderty
To those who appreciate time and labour expended upon historical and
antiquarian research, there can be few--if, indeed, there be any--among
our Scottish counties which present scope for their enthusiasm so
extensive and so varied as that contained within the borders of
Perthshire. Generally speaking, the attractions identify themselves.
The Cathedral at Dunblane, the Round Tower at Abernethy, the Camp at
Ardoch--these preserve still many of their original features and
characteristic lineaments, and need hardly fail to arrest attention. But
what chance traveller by road or by rail would, when midway between
Crieff and Methven, dream that the bare, solitary column he sees in the
valley below could prove other than the gable-end of a disused barn?
Nay, did he approach and pass the remnant itself, he would probably
wonder to learn that the gloomy, forsaken pile alone marks a spot once
the centre of much holy rigour, educational zeal, and industrial
activity; that thence sallied forth, six hundred years ago, the monk
patriot, with whom the Scottish warriors knelt to pray upon the field
before engaging in the memorable conflict whose issue achieved for them
their country's independence. A ragged wall, an arched chamber, several
solid heaps of fallen mason-work are all that remain of Inchaffray Abbey.
Perthshire owes largely to the ancient Earldom of Strathearn. Little is
known concerning the line till Gilbert succeeded in 1171. Unlike his
immediate predecessors, he manifested no hostility to the inroad of
Norman and Saxon customs and usages. He was the first to adopt the wise
precaution of obtaining charters for his lands, and rivalled the most
ardent and obsequious followers of David I. in munificent gifts of these
to the Church. Although it would be hazardous to accept as altogether
faithful the statement of Fordun, the chronicler, that Earl Gilbert
apportioned his whole estates--which extended in length from Newburgh to
the west end of Balquhidder, and from the Ochils to the Grampians in
breadth--equally between the See of Dunblane, the Abbey of Inchaffray,
and himself with his heirs, we have yet sufficient reason to consider
that his liberality to ecclesiastical settlements was handsome. It
certainly reflects upon him high credit that, due to his pious devotion,
the family of Strathearn were the only Scottish subjects (excepting
possibly the Lords of Galloway) who established a bishopric and inherited
its patronage.
About 1189 the King made over to Gilbert the lands of Maderty with all
their feudal rights and privileges. In return, the Earl bound himself to
contribute half a knight's service, and to secure that no part of these
lands should ever be allowed to come again into the hands of their former
owner, Gilliecolm Marischall, or any of his heirs. This
Gilliecolm--elsewhere described as _arch-tyrannus et latronum
princeps_--had incurred his monarch's bitter displeasure by an act of
felony, having betrayed the sovereign Castle of Earn to his Majesty's
most mortal foes, and taken part with them to do him hurt to his power.
Not long after the transference, the Earl sought to signalise his
estimate of the Royal favour by founding a religious house. He chose for
a site the swamp-girt island which lay toward the northwestern corner of
his lately acquired possession. So frequent were the liturgical
celebrations there that the settlement received the name of _Inis
Aifreen_ (Celtic), _Insula Missarum_ (Latin), Inchaffray--signifying
"Island of Masses." He dedicated the monastery to God, St. Mary, and St.
John Evangelist; deputed Malis, the hermit, to select Augustinian Canons
from Scone, and granted his first charter, which bears the signatures of
himself, his wife (Matilda), and his six sons. The edifice must have
been completed by 1198, as Gilchrist, the heir, who died in that year,
was interred within the building. Through this bereavement, the family's
affections became more closely united to the place. "We love it so
much," the parents are recorded to have said, "that we have chosen it as
the place of sepulture for us and our heirs, and have already buried
there our eldest son." Further and more extended benefactions followed.
By the great charter, of date 1200, Inchaffray was endowed with the
Churches of St. Kattanus of Abruthven, St. Ethernanus of Maderty, St.
Patrick of Strogeath, St. Meckessok of Auchterarder, and St. Beanus of
Kinkell; with tithe of the Earl's kain and rents of wheat, meal, malt,
cheese, and all provisions throughout the year in his Court; with tithe
of all fish brought into his kitchen, and of the produce of his hunting;
with tithe of all the profits of his tribunals of justice and all
offerings; with the liberty to its monks of fishing in the Peffer, of
fishing and birding over all the Earl's lands, waters, and lakes; of
taking timber for building and other uses from his woods, and pannage or
mast feeding for pigs, as well as bark and firewood, in whatever places,
and as much as they chose. Some years later an additional charter
granted also the Church of St. Beanus of Foulis, with the dower land of
the church and the common pasturage of the parish, and likewise the
Church of the Holy Trinity of Gask, with the same privileges. To this
document appends a fragment of the donor's knightly seal, which shows on
the obverse side a mounted knight with drawn sword, and on the reverse
side the inscription--"Secretum G. comitis, de Straderne."
Whatever may have been the demands of spiritual functions upon the time
of the monks, they cannot fairly be charged with "agricultural
indolence." Their glebe consisted entirely of marsh and bog when the
Abbacy was created. By 1218--_i.e._, in about twenty years--it had all
been ditch-drained and reclaimed. The beneficial results of their labour
are noticeable to-day. Fields immediately adjoining the ruin exhibit
quite a different appearance in spring and yield quite an appreciable
advantage in autumn compared with those more remote. No stronger
evidence need be required than that the rental of the former doubles that
of an equal area of the latter.
The detail of the great charter includes, as we said, "the tithe of the
fines levied at the Earl's Court." Nowhere else throughout Scotland
could a subject of the King exercise _jura regalia_. Perth was our only
county, and the Earls of Strathearn our only Earls Palatine. When
precisely this independent jurisdiction was bestowed and when revoked and
abolished we have no clear account. But, according to the trustworthy
evidence embodied in the above-mentioned deed of gift, we gather not only
that the privilege existed in the thirteenth century, but that it
operated favourably for the monks.
The source and reference of the name given to the parish has never been
satisfactorily determined. Some have attempted to connect it with the
dedication of Inchaffray. Now, whatever truth there might be in the view
that part of the dedication--"to the Virgin"--was suggested by the name
of the parish (Maderty being the English for the Celtic "mother of God"),
there is certainly nothing whatever to support the opinion that the
district took its style from the Abbey. Maderty was Maderty long before
Inchaffray was Inchaffray.
Earl Gilbert died in 1223. Robert, his successor, maintained the like
generous attitude which his father had borne toward the Church. We may,
no doubt, feel disposed to conjecture some proof of estrangement having
marred the hitherto peaceful relations between patron and clergy. But if
such did arise, it can have been only temporary, for the very record
which excites the suspicion assures us of even more devoted loyalty on
his part. "In the Church of Strogeath, and in the presence of Abraham,
Bishop of Dunblane, and others, Robert, Earl of Strathearn, bound himself
toward the Abbot of Inchaffray that he would never in his life vex the
said abbot or his convent unjustly--nay, would love and everywhere honour
them as his most especial friends, and would add to the possessions of
their house whatsoever he might by the counsel of his friends. He
particularly confirmed to them the Churches at Gask and Strogeath."
The year 1240 witnessed Inchaffray narrowly becoming Chapter of the
Diocese. "Clement, Bishop of Dunblane, went to Rome, and represented to
Pope Gregory IX. how of old time his bishopric had been vacant upwards of
a hundred years, during which period almost all the revenues had been
seized by the seculars; and although in process of time there had been
several bishops instituted, yet, by their simplicity or negligence, the
former dilapidations were not recovered, but, on the contrary, the
remainder were almost quite alienated; so that for ten years a proper
person could not be found to accept of the charge; that the case having
been laid before the Pope, he had committed the trust of supplying that
vacancy to the Bishops of St. Andrews, Dunkeld, and Brechin, who made
choice of this Clement; but he found his church so desolate that he had
not where to lay his head in his cathedral. There was no college there,
only a rural chaplain performed divine service in the church that had its
roof uncovered; and the revenues of the See were so small that they could
hardly afford him maintenance for one half of the year. To remedy these
evils the Pope appointed William and Geoffrey, the Bishops of Glasgow and
Dunkeld, to visit the Church of Dunblane, and if they should find these
things to be as represented, he authorised them to cause the fourth part
of the tithes of all the parish churches within that diocy to be assigned
to the bishop thereof, who, after reserving out of these tithes so much
as should be proper for his own sustenance, was by the advice of these
two bishops and other expert persons to assign the rest to a dean and
canons whom the Pope enjoined to be settled there, if these matters could
be brought about without great offence; or, if otherwise, he ordered that
the fourth of the tithes of all such churches of the diocy as were in the
hands of seculars should be assigned to the bishop, and that the bishop's
seat should be translated to St. John's Monastery of Canons-regular,
(_i.e._, Inchaffray), within that diocy, and appointed that these canons
should have the election of the bishop when a vacancy should happen
thereafter." Either "these things were found to be not so," or else the
former part of the alternative was duly carried out, as the bishop's seat
remained at Dunblane, and Inchaffray was denied its only opportunity of
elevation to cathedral rank.
[Illustration: Inchaffray]
The next event of interest connected with the Abbey is the pilgrimage of
the Abbot Maurice to Bannockburn. Every schoolboy can tell the story,
for no annals of Scotland omit to record his presence and service when
the rival hosts stood face to face for a huge trial of strength and
valour. But probably it is not quite so well understood that much of the
glorious success which crowned the Scottish arms was popularly attributed
to the fact that the monk carried with him the arm of St. Fillan. A
legend is that St. Fillan, when Abbot of Pittenweem, transcribed with his
own hand the Holy Scriptures, and that his left arm became so luminous
that it enabled him to proceed during darkness with his pious work.
Lesly asserts that this wonderful limb afterwards came into the
possession of Robert Bruce, who enclosed it in a silver shrine, which he
commanded should be borne at the head of the army. Previous to the
battle, a story has it, the King's chaplain (Maurice), with the view of
preserving the treasure from all chance of abstraction by the English,
had it removed and deposited in a place of security. While, however, the
King, unaware of what had been done, was addressing his prayers to the
empty casket, it was observed to open and shut suddenly. On inspection,
the Saint was found to have himself returned his luminous member to its
place as an assurance of victory. The writers of the Statistical Account
of Maderty thus express themselves--"This relic might, indeed, have given
some encouragement to the superstitious; but one arm of a brave Scotchman
fighting in earnest for the liberty of his country had more effect in
obtaining that memorable victory than could have been produced by the
innate virtue of all the relics of the dead that could have been
collected." If these critical authors had been less anxious to square
truth with orthodoxy, and not orthodoxy with truth, they would have known
that where the entire force was "superstitious" the influence of the
sacred arm would enormously intensify soldierly enthusiasm, and that it
is impossible to define its comparative share in the result. Robert
Bruce, indeed, appears to have been sensibly impressed by the good
offices of the sacred relic, and attested his gratitude in a substantial
manner. He founded a priory at Strathfillan, on the Dochart, a stream in
the Breadalbane district of Perthshire, and consecrated it to the Saint.
At the dissolution of religious houses this priory with all its revenues
and superiorities passed, by order of the King, to Campbell of Glenorchy,
ancestor of the Lords of Breadalbane. Maurice's conduct on the field
attracted the attention of others besides Bruce. Macleod of Scarinche,
in Lewis, conceived a strong regard for the Abbot, and induced him to
reside for a time at his western home, where he erected a monastery to
St. Kattanus, whose bones lay buried there. Strathfillan, Scarinche, and
Abernethy were cells of Inchaffray.
The Earls continued successively to be bountiful benefactors of the
convent. One of them, Malise, in 1258, presented it with certain of his
slaves (_nativi_)--namely, Gilmory, Gillendes, and John Starnes, the son
of Thomas and grandson of Thore. Absolute serfdom was then a Scottish
institution, comprising part of the labouring class, who were bought and
sold with the land to which they were attached; and gifts of nativi by
their masters to the religious establishments of those times are
frequently recorded.
After the ancient line of Strathearn had failed in the direct male
descent, and when Maurice de Moray, created Earl by David II., had met
his death at Durham in 1346, leaving no issue, the King bestowed the
Earldom upon his nephew, Robert, the High Steward, afterwards Robert II.,
who on his accession to the throne (1370) relinquished the Earldom in
favour of his son David. Seventy years later the title and estates fell
vacant and were merged in the Crown, the bishopric and temporalities
being henceforth held in free barony of the Sovereign.
The intimate association of Inchaffray Abbey with the national and
religious fortunes of Scotland receives further guarantee in 1513.
Whether as chaplain or as common soldier, and under what designation, no
available narrative declares. But certain it is that the stubborn fight
which evoked Scotland's most waefu' dirge, no less than that which
occasioned her immortal paean of victory, was graced by an abbot of this
monastery. The respective fates of these two divines, however, were
widely different. Not even monks, clad though they be in all the panoply
of the Church, are safe from sword or arrow. He of Flodden never saw his
northern charge again. Unknown, yet not unwept, he fell beneath the
spoiler's weapon with the "flowers of the forest."
It is noteworthy that Abbots of Inchaffray, _ex-officio_ prelates of
Parliament, took little to do with public affairs. They do not seem to
have shared at all extensively in the transactions which so often brought
together the leaders of the various religious houses.
The subjoined list is fragmentary, but authoritative so far as it goes:--
MALIS--The Hermit--was present and acted as the head of the establishment
at the beginning. Earl Gilbert must have considered him a person of
trust, since he committed to him the important duty of selecting the
necessary canons.
INNOCENT--The first Abbot--officiated during the lordship of Robert,
1223-1231.
ALAN--1258-1271.
HUGH--1284.
THOMAS--1296.
MAURICE--The Bannockburn celebrity--was promoted to the See of his own
Diocese of Dunblane. Early in his Episcopate a dispute which arose
concerning the lands of Airthrey was submitted to arbiters, one of whom
was his successor in the Abbacy of Inchaffray, viz.:
CHRISTIAN.
WILLIAM appears to have acted for an unusually long term, or had a
successor of the same name. On the Feast of Matthias, 1398, a deed of
Janet Moray, wife of Alexander Moray of Abercairny, was witnessed by
William the Abbot, John the prior, and the whole Convent of Inchaffray.
On 25th January, 1468,
GEORGE obliged himself to make Lawrence, Lord Oliphant, his bailie for
life of the lands of the monastery within twenty days after he should be
admitted to the spirituality by the ordinary and by the King to the
temporality of the said benefice. The family of Oliphant held this
relation during the reign of James V., Mary, and James VI. In 1539,
GAVIN DUNBAR, Archbishop of Glasgow, had the Abbacy _in commendam_. On
15th May of that year he granted Anthony Murray a tack of 4 merk lands of
the "Raith" "for furnishing of our bulls"--probably for the expense of
his confirmation. Before the tack had run out the tenure was made
perpetual by a free charter of the same lands of "Raith" and of the Moor
of Maderty, granted by
ALEXANDER, styled Archbishop of Athens, postulate of the Isles, and
perpetual commendator of the Monastery of Inchaffray, dated at
Inchaffray, December 24th, 1554. This commendator was Alexander Gordon
(brother of George, fourth Earl of Huntly), who was defeated in his hopes
of the Archbishopric of Glasgow on the death of Gavin Dunbar, and
imperfectly consoled by the high-sounding title of Archbishop of Athens
_in partibus fidelium_, the poor See of the Isles, with, on November
26th, 1553, the Abbacy of Inchaffray _in commendam_, which last he held
till 1564. In 1558 he was promoted to the See of Galloway. Nine years
later he was accused before the General Assembly of the Kirk, and
confessed to the indictment that he had not visited for three years part
of the churches within his charge; that he had haunted Court too much;
that he had purchased to be one of the Session and Privy Council, which
cannot agree with the office of a pastor or a bishop; that he had
resigned Inchaffray in favour of a young child, and set diverse lands in
feu in prejudice of the Kirk. The young child was James Drummond of
Innerpeffray, second son of David, second Lord Drummond. The Abbey was
erected into a temporal lordship in his favour, and in 1609 he was
created Lord Maderty. From him is descended the noble family of
Strathallan.
And now the old Abbey fell on troublous times. The Reformation--that
harbinger of good not unmixed with evil--closed the book of the
monastery. It is strange and sad that ecclesiastical changes should
partake so largely in the destruction of buildings and the spoliation of
belongings. Never yet did religious fanaticism satisfy its own desires
without simultaneously and obligingly ministering to the rapacity of the
attendant greedy grabber. And so Inchaffray, experiencing the fate of
other such establishments, had its walls torn down, its vessels strewn
and broken, its canons put to flight or death, its revenues disposed by
rude, regardless hands. The Earl of Kinnoull is the proprietor of the
ruin and the few acres that surround it. These gave him the patronage of
the seven parishes with which, we observed, the convent had been endowed.
Quite a crop of stories are told in connection with the demolition of
Inchaffray. It is said, for instance, that long ago the ploughman-tenant
of the dwelling contiguous to the convent discovered, while digging, the
golden image "of a sow." This relic (for relic it was supposed to be of
the abbey practices) he carefully secreted, but latterly converted into
current coin, and became himself a very wealthy man. But perhaps the
most reliable and authenticated is the following:--A Fowlis widower,
lately bereaved, sought to find a grave-stone to honour his spouse's
memory. Either he was too fastidious or too ungenerous, but he
abstracted from Inchaffray a stone to be utilised for this solemn
purpose. The writer quite lately identified the stone as the lid of the
coffin of Abbot Maurice. There is the figure of a battle-axe engraved
upon the slab.
And now we return to the point from which we started. All that the
passer-by can see of this object is a chimney-crowned gable. Nearer
approach shows an arched chamber. But the whole history of an
interesting past appears to be covered with debris. It is impossible to
fancy the feelings of Abbot or Earl were he to rise from his tomb and
hear to what uses the fabric of his cherished house was being devoted.
Pig-styes, barn-walls, fences--these comprise the objects to which the
"holy stones" are set. _O tempora, O mores_.
If these words should meet the eye of antiquarian enthusiasts, and should
happen to stir within them the desire of research, a welcome and a
courteous lodging will be found at the Manse of Maderty.
A SOUTHERN OUTPOST ON THE EDGE OF THE HIGHLANDS
By Rev. HUGH M. JAMIESON, Monzie
Monzie--a southern outpost on the edge of the Highlands--is said to
derived from the Gaelic _Moeghe_, signifying "a good plain." It is a
long, narrow, irregular parish, extending for nearly twelve miles up
both sides of the River Almond, until it touches, on the north, the
parishes of Dull, Weem, and Kenmore.
The vale of Monzie--the southern boundary of the parish--where stands
the church, the hamlet, and the Castle of Monzie, extends for nearly
three miles in a north-east direction, gradually rising to the height
of several hundred feet. The most striking peculiarity of the
surroundings of Monzie is the combination of wild and mountainous
scenery with cultivation and picturesqueness. One of the finest views
in the whole of Strathearn can be had from the Highland Road, to the
east of the church. In the foreground are the luxuriant woods, the
rich pastures, and the Castle of Monzie, and at a distance of seven or
eight miles is the Aberuchill range, towering in majesty on the
horizon, with the giant Ben Voirlich just visible over their heads. A
little to the left is Turleum--a conical-shaped hill of respectable
altitude; while Benchonzie and other off-shoots of the Grampians bound
the view on the north. The general effect is exceedingly beautiful,
and the mingling, within a short distance, of the sublime and the
picturesque is probably not surpassed anywhere in Scotland.