Chronicles of Strathearn Part 14

Having given this retrospect of the civil history of Auchterarder, we shall now advert to a few prominent facts in its ecclesiastical annals.

The first notice we have of the Church of Auchterarder is in the foundation charter by Gilbert, Earl of Strathearn, dated in 1198, in favour of the Abbey of Inchaffray. By that charter he granted the Church of St. Meckessock of Eochterardeour, and the four other Churches of Aberuthven, Madderty, Strageath, and Kinkell. This grant was subsequently confirmed, and the additional churches added thereto of Dunning, Monzievaird, Fowlis, and Kilbryde.[11]

As already stated, King Alexander II. granted the teind of his duties of Auchterarder, and, by a subsequent charter, amongst other grants he confirmed the grant of these churches to Inchaffray.

William the Lion executed a similar confirmation of the grant of the Churches of Madderty, Kinkell, and Auchterarder.

In virtue of these grants the teinds of the Church of Auchterarder were drawn by the Abbey of Inchaffray, but, as a condition, the Abbey had to provide divine ordinances in the Parish Church, and the cure accordingly was served by a vicar. The church and parish were within the Diocese of Dunblane. The old parish church is situated about half a mile to the north of the town, and, though roofless, is standing nearly entire. It is a long, narrow building with no architectural beauty. The foundation cross--a long slab with a Latin cross thereon--was, a number of years ago, exhumed, and now stands within the walls; while the baptismal font, which until lately stood at the western entrance, was recently removed for safe custody to the new parish church within the town. The old bell is also there. Although small, it gives forth a very sweet and clear sound, and bears the impress of antiquity.

The Church of Auchterarder was dedicated to St. Mackessog, who was also the patron saint of Luss and Comrie. He flourished in the sixth century, and his day was the tenth of March. His legend and office are given under that date in the Breviary of Aberdeen. Southward from the church a few hundred yards there is a perennial spring still bearing the name of Mackessog's Well, and which until recent times was resorted to for the healing virtue of its waters. After the Reformation the Saint's day was kept on the 10th of March, O.S., as one of the princ.i.p.al fairs of the town, and so continued until a recent period.

The old church appears to have been used as a place of worship until about the time of Charles I. The tradition is that the roof fell in on a Sunday after the congregation had left and were returning on the Brae of Powhillock to Auchterarder. While the old church continued to be the church of the parish, there was at an early period, and anterior to the Reformation, a chapel in the town of Auchterarder where the present parish church stands. The croft at the back is still named the Chapel Croft. The northern part of the present parish church and the steeple were erected about the middle of the seventeenth century, the steeple being built of stones taken from the old Castle of Kincardine, dismantled after the siege in 1646. The southern portion of the church was added in 1784.

There is incorporated with the parish of Auchterarder the eastern portion of the parish of Aberuthven. Aberuthven was one of the earliest ecclesiastical foundations in Scotland. It was dedicated to St. Cathan, Bishop and Confessor, who flourished in the sixth century.

His festival was held on the 17th of May. The Churches of Kilchattan, in Bute, and Fortingall, in Perthshire, were also dedicated to him.

Aberuthven was one of the churches appropriated to the Abbey of Inchaffray by the foundation charter of Gilbert, Earl of Strathearn, before referred to. The cure was served by a vicar appointed by that house. In the charter it is named "_Ecclesia Sancti Kattani de Abbyrrothueuen_." This charter was confirmed, and other churches granted by a subsequent charter of the Earl Gilbert. Alexander II.

confirmed this last charter. Earl Malise confirmed by charter the gifts of his grandfather, Gilbert, and the confirmation of his father, Robert, Earl of Strathearn, and granted four merks of the rents of his lands of Aberuthven, which the Canons of Inchaffray were accustomed to receive previous to the year 1247.

Aberuthven continued a separate parish from Auchterarder until some time after the Reformation. It was united to Auchterarder prior to 21st February, 1618, and the minister for some time thereafter occupied the manse and glebe of Aberuthven. The parish of Aberuthven included the Brae of Foswell, south of the Ruthven, now partly situated in the parish of Auchterarder and partly in Blackford. Kincardine Castle, the seat of the Earls of Montrose, was within the bounds. Aberuthven was the parish church where that family worshipped and where their remains were interred. The walls of the Church of Aberuthven--a long, narrow building like that of Auchterarder--are still standing. On the south side, and partly within the area, a four-square building named "the Aisle" has been erected as a mausoleum for the ducal family of Montrose. The last received within its walls was James, Duke of Montrose, who died in 1836. This aisle was designed by Adam, the eminent architect. At the east end of the church, on the gospel side of the site of the high altar, there is a recess in the wall, forming an ambry of elegant form. It is evident there has been a door upon it, from the iron sockets which still remain. This was probably used for holding the church utensils. Worship was continued in Aberuthven Church until the end of the seventeenth century, as the funeral sermon of the Marchioness of Montrose was preached in it on 23rd January, 1673, by the Rev. Arthur Ross, the then parson of Glasgow, afterwards Archbishop of St. Andrews. His daughter, Anna, Lady Balmerino, was the mother of the gallant Lord Balmerino who was beheaded on Tower Hill in 1746.

Sir David Cardney was vicar of the Parish Church of Auchterarder in 1527.

After the Reformation it was proposed by the General a.s.sembly, in 1581, that the Presbytery should be erected as the Presbytery of Crieff. The a.s.sembly, on 8th April, 1593, "ordaines the Presbyterie of Dumblane to be transport.i.t to Ochtirardour, and ordainis the Presbyteries of Stirling and Perth to establishe the said Presbyterie in Auchtirardour upon Thursday come xv. days," being 19th April, 1593. It was changed to Muthill prior to 18th January, 1633, but Auchterarder was resumed before 1638.

At the Reformation the parish of Auchterarder was supplied by David Murye, reader, in 1567. The first Protestant minister in Auchterarder was John Hamyll. He was previously vicar of Dunning, having succeeded there to his uncle, Sir John Hamyll, who from his t.i.tle was likely vicar of Dunning in the old church and conformed to the new opinions.

John Hamyll was presented by King James VI. to the Vicarage of Auchterarder on 28th June, 1568, and to the Vicarage of Aberuthven on 1st March, 1582. He had also charge of Kinkell and Dunning.

John Graham was minister of Auchterarder in 1636. He was a member of the General a.s.sembly at Glasgow, in 1638, at which the famous James, Marquis of Montrose, was representative elder from the Presbytery of Auchterarder, he being then on the Covenanting side. Mr Graham was deposed by the Commission of the a.s.sembly on 27th November, 1644, for speaking once to the Marquis of Montrose.[12] The sentence was taken off by the a.s.sembly, 8th February, 1645; but he was again deposed by the a.s.sembly, 6th July, 1649. His prelatic predilections were attributed to his wife being a descendant of John Hamilton, the last Catholic Archbishop of St. Andrews.

James Drummond, son of the Rev. James Drummond, minister of Fowlis, and a near relative of the Earl of Perth, was successively inc.u.mbent of Auchterarder and of Muthill. He was consecrated Bishop of Brechin on Christmas Day, 1684, in the Chapel Royal of Holyrood. He is reported to have been a man of strict Protestant principles, and a decided opponent of King James' interference with the Church, though he, like most of his brethren, was a keen supporter of hereditary monarchy, and took a decided part with King James when the most of his courtiers deserted him. Bishop Drummond was deprived of his bishopric at the Revolution, having preached at Brechin for the last time on Sunday, 18th April, 1688.[13]

David Freebairn was minister of Auchterarder from 1680 to 1686, when he became minister of Dunning. He was deprived by the Privy Council, 4th September, 1689. He went to Edinburgh, and was consecrated a bishop of the Scottish Episcopal Church, 7th October, 1722, and died Primus and the oldest Presbyter in Scotland, 24th December, 1739, in his eighty-seventh year and sixty-fourth of his ministry. "He was of blameless conversation and sweet temper, while he was a vigilant preacher and a successful physician." His son Robert was a bookseller and printer in Edinburgh, and a staunch adherent of the Stuart family.

Andrew Duncan, D.D., was minister of Auchterarder from 1781 to 1802, when he was translated to Ratho. He was Princ.i.p.al Clerk to the General a.s.sembly, and Moderator of the a.s.sembly in 1824.

Robert Young was presented to the church by the Earl of Kinnoull, 14th September, 1834. Objections were taken to him under the Veto Act, and his settlement was delayed till 1843. He died 15th September, 1865.

He was an excellent scholar, an able preacher, and a faithful pastor.

In conclusion, let us express a hope that Auchterarder may long flourish and increase in prosperity, and that the sentiment contained in its motto may continue to be verified--_Non potest civitas abscondi supra montem posita_.

[1] M.S. in the Imperial Library at Paris. Fonds Lat., 6049, folio 30 b.

[2] Buchanani Hist.

[3] Knox's _History of the Reformation_.

[4] _Calendar of Doc.u.ments relating to Scotland_. Vol. II.; 1689.

[5] _Calendar of Doc.u.ments relating to Scotland_. Vol II.; 1646.

[6] _Calendar ut supra_; 1691.

[7] _Calendar_; 1858.

[8] _History of the House of Drummond_. By Viscount Strathallan.

[9] _Rotuli Camerarii Scotiae_.

[10] _Register of the Privy Council of Scotland_. Vol. I., p. 348.

[11] _Liber Insule Missarum_.

[12] _Guthrie's Memoirs_.

[13] _History of Brechin_. By David D. Black (pp. 97-98.)

AT THE GATE OF THE HIGHLANDS

By Rev. JOHN HUNTER, M.A., Crieff

The t.i.tle describes admirably the position of the town of Crieff, planted as it is on the Knock, at the base of which the main road from Stirling and the South splits into two portions--the one running by way of Monzievaird and Comrie, the other by Monzie and the Sma' Glen, into the Western and Northern Highlands.

Crieff has had a long history. The most probable meaning of the name is "Tree-town," from _Craobh_--Gaelic for "tree"--a fact that carries us back into a remote age. Fifty or sixty years ago, the Breadalbane Highlanders spoke of Crieff as the "town of the tree." In early historical times the fame of Crieff was overshadowed by that of Foulis, near by which was the Castletown--the princ.i.p.al residence of the Earls Palatine of Strathearn--not the Celtic Earls whose home was at Tom-a-chastel, but the Stewarts, and afterwards the Grahams, who rose into place and power in Strathearn upon the ruins of the ancient line, which seems to have had no family name.

Treasonable practices against the life of Robert the Bruce brought about the downfall of the Celtic Earls. The Black Parliament, which sat at Scone in August, 1320, condemned Joanna, daughter of Malise, the last Earl, to perpetual imprisonment. She had married Warrenne, Earl of Surrey--appointed Guardian of Scotland by Edward I. in 1296--and in 1334 her father resigned his Earldom of Strathearn to his son-in-law.

For the doing of this he was forfeited and attainted, in 1345, "as an enemy to the King and Kingdom of Scotland." The fief reverted to the Crown. Next year was fought the Battle of Durham, and David II. was carried captive to London, where he remained for eleven years. While in England he bestowed the forfeited Earldom of Strathearn upon his nephew, Robert, the High Steward of Scotland, afterwards King Robert II. On his accession to the throne, in 1370, Robert II. transferred the Earldom to David, the eldest son of his second marriage to Euphemia Ross, the widow of Randolph, Earl of Moray. Earl David took the t.i.tle, Earl Palatine, in 1375, and his only daughter, Euphemia, who succeeded him in 1389, styled herself "_Senescalli Comitissa Palatina de Strathearn_." She married Patrick Graham, who was killed at Ferntower, in 1413, by Sir John Drummond of Concraig, Steward of Strathearn, and kinsman of James I., whose mother was Annabella Drummond. The only son of Patrick Graham and his wife, Euphemia, was Malise Graham, who, as Earl of Strathearn, became security along with twenty-seven others for the payment of the ransom of James I. He was detained as a hostage in England for thirty years, and meantime his estates and t.i.tle were resumed by the King, on the ground that they did not descend to the heir-female. To compensate him for this, he was created Earl of Menteith. The annual rental of his estates as Earl of Strathearn was set down in the Durham Schedule at 500 merks. The schedule was drawn up in the year 1424.

Even in the time of the old Earls, Crieff held an important position in public affairs. It will hardly do to say that it was the capital of Strathearn. As a Royal Burgh of the foundation of Malcolm Canmore, perhaps Auchterarder was ent.i.tled to claim the premier rank. But it would seem that the business of the ancient Earldom was transacted here. So early as 1218, Earl Gilbert, the founder of the religious house of Inchaffray, granted a charter of "six marcis of Abercarnich, dated apud Crefe die Santi Ambrosii." Fifty years later, Earl Malise, who was the first of his race to show fondness for English ways--sending his sons, Gilbert and Robert, to be educated in the English Court--granted, to the Convent of Inchaffray, permission to quarry stones within his lands at Nether Gask. The permission was dated at Crieff, 1266. Later traces are a narration by Robert, the Steward of Scotland and Earl of Strathearn, of the proceedings of his Court, held at Crieff on May 8th, 1358; and the fact that on May 7th, 1491, William, Lord Ruthven, moved King James IV. and his Council for a return of the record of "ane justiceayr holden at the Skait of Creif on the penult day of July, 1443."

The Steward's Court of Strathearn was held in the open air. The site was included within the park of Broich. It was a circular mound, twelve yards across, and was recognisable up to the year 1860. A "fail" d.y.k.e surrounded the spot, and two aged larch trees threw their shadows upon it. A certain reverential feeling, due to a site from which had gone forth the issues of life and death, kept the place intact. But in that year vandalism scored a regrettable triumph. The site was trenched and levelled. Two cists were discovered of the rudest construction. Human remains were found within one of them, bearing traces of fire action; also an urn, which measured 5 inches in height and 5 inches across. Here, then, was the stayt, or skait, or skeat of Crieff. The Court continued in the full vigour of its energy for more than a hundred years, dispensing justice both in civil and criminal cases. Originating in the claim of Earl David in 1375 to be Earl Palatine, its jurisdiction continued in unimpaired strength and scope down to the year 1483--well on into the reign of James III., and exactly thirty years before the disastrous Battle of Flodden. This latter date is interesting to us, seeing that it marks the turning point in the fortunes of Crieff. With the decay of the power of the Court of the Earl Palatine of Strathearn Crieff also decayed, and sank into the position of an ordinary kirk-town. The period of decaying prosperity lasted for 200 years--on to 1683, when a forward impulse was given by George Drummond of Milnab, who in that year became Lord Provost of Edinburgh. By giving off pieces of his lands, in feu, he offered an inducement to settle in Crieff, which was taken advantage of to some small extent. Others have taken up the lead of the enterprising Laird of Milnab, and Crieff is now a town of feuars, holding mainly of the Perth Estate, Dollerie, and Broich. But this is modern history, and we have not yet done with the old. I have still to relate as briefly as may be how it came about that the Court of the Earls Palatine lost power and influence.

The result was due in great measure to the jealousies and dissensions of the rival families of the Murrays and the Drummonds. The people of Crieff, in the period of its decadence, may well have antic.i.p.ated Shakespeare's "A plague on both your houses," as applied to the Capulets and the Montagues. The hereditary office of Steward of Strathearn was a prime bone of contention. In the days of the Celtic Earls the office was usually held by a younger son, or other near relation. The last of these Seneschals of the old line was Malise, who had married Murialla, the widow of Fergus, son of Gilbert, Earl of Strathearn, the benefactor of Inchaffray. He got with her the lands of Tullibardine in dower. A son, Henry, and a daughter, Ada, were born to them. The daughter married Sir William Murray, who got the lands of Tullibardine conveyed to him, in 1284, by his mother-in-law, and confirmed, for his greater security, by his brother-in-law, Henry.

This Sir William Murray was one of those who were summoned to Berwick by Edward I. in 1292 to hear the advocacy of the claims of Bruce and Balliol. Henry, the brother-in-law, became Steward of Strathearn on the death of his father, Malise. His only daughter married Sir Maurice Drummond of Concraig, and carried with her the office and lands held by her father. Sir Maurice was the first Drummond who was Steward of Strathearn. Both he and his wife were buried within the choir of the Church of Muthill. It is not to libel human nature to say that the Tullibardine Murrays looked with disfavour upon the pa.s.sing of the Stewardship to the Drummonds of Concraig. The latter, however, were legally in possession, and the Murrays had to bide their time. The opportunity was not long in coming. King Robert II. died in 1390. He is described by Froissart as a man "not valiant, with red, bleared eyes, who would rather lie still than ride." His reign was prosperous but at his death "every man did what seemed right in his own eyes."

His third son, nicknamed the Wolf of Badenoch, quarrelled with the Bishop of Moray and burned his Cathedral of Elgin. The Duke of Rothesay, heir to the throne on the death of his father, Robert III., was starved to death in Falkland Palace by his uncle, the Duke of Albany in 1401. In these wild days Strathearn had its own troubles.

In or about the year 1391 the Stewardship was held by Sir John Drummond of Concraig the grandson of Sir Maurice, who lies buried in the choir of Muthill Church. Sir John married Matilda Graham, the sister of Sir Patrick Graham who subsequently became Earl of Strathearn in right of his wife Euphemia, the daughter of Earl David, first Earl Palatine. It was his duty, as Steward of Strathearn, to try Sir Alexander Murray of Ogilvy for the murder of William de Spalding. This was specially unfortunate, seeing that Sir Alexander Murray's father had got the Barony of Ogilvy in compensation for the loss of the Earldom of Strathearn, when it was a.s.sumed by Robert Stewart, afterwards King Robert II. He was at the bar of a Court over which he doubtless thought he had a right to preside. The Court sat at Foulis. Upon the bench were Sir John and Maurice Drummond, deputies of the High Justiciar, the Lord of Brechin. The accused pled the privilege of one who was within the ninth degree of kin and "bluid" to Macduff, some time Earl of Fife, stating that he had gone to the Cross of Macduff, near Newburgh, and "given nine kye and ane colpindach (young cow), and was therefore free of the slaucher committed by him." His counsel were Sir Bernardo de Hawden, Knight of Gleneagles, and Sir John de Logy of Logiealmond. The judges referred the matter to the High Justiciar, who decided that Sir Alexander should make his defence before the Court at Foulis. He submitted, and got off easily, "not with such severities and rigours of law as might have been shown."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Gateway, Foulis Church.]

This affair made matters worse between the Murrays and the Drummonds.

Sir Alexander and his friends set about trying to emanc.i.p.ate themselves from the jurisdiction of the Stewards of Strathearn. They found an aider and abettor in Sir Patrick Graham, who had a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of Earl of Strathearn in right of his wife. Sir John Drummond of Concraig, the Steward, was his brother-in-law, but disposed to stand stiffly upon his position as hereditary Steward. He declined to resign his office into the hands of the Earl of Strathearn as superior. Upon this there ensued a bitter personal quarrel between the Earl and the Steward. The Murray party saw their advantage and took it. The wife of the Laird of Ogilvy was grand-niece to the second wife of the Earl of Strathearn, and through this connection or otherwise he was induced to give a pledge that he should either have power to dispose of the Steward's office or not be Earl of Strathearn. He set out from Methven Castle with the intention of breaking up the Steward's Court at the Stayt of Crieff. Sir John and his friends encountered him in the park of Ferntower at a place still marked by a large standing-stone. The Earl was killed, and Sir John and his friends fled to Ireland. Fordun states that none of them were brought to justice, except William and Walter Oliphant. These were probably sons or grandsons of Sir Walter Oliphant of Gask, who married Elizabeth, the youngest daughter of Robert the Bruce, on 11th Jan., 1364. This fatal encounter in the park of Ferntower took place in 1413, during the regency of Albany, who succeeded to power in 1406, after the death of his brother, King Robert III. Sir John had secured the succession to his lands and offices in favour of his son, Malcolm, so that the outlawry decreed against him affected himself only. He died in Ireland. But misfortune dogged his House. Even in the time of his grandson, the family historian states "that ever since the killing of the Earl of Strathearn the family had no settled peace, but were forced to keep house to so many friends and servants for their security that it brought a consumption upon their fortune, ingadged it in burdens, and made him pairt with many of his lands to relieve his debts." In 1474 the laird of the time, Maurice Keir Drummond, sold lands and his office of Steward to his chief, John Drummond of Cargill, afterwards Lord Drummond.

Thus the Murrays had gained their object, so far. The family of Concraig was ruined. But they were foiled in their attempt upon the Stewardship. They had tried for that many ways. In 1441, Sir David Murray of Tullibardine had attempted "to wind himself once in possession of the Stewartrie" by proposing a marriage alliance between his daughter, Isabella, and Malcolm Drummond, son of Sir John. The scheme fell through somehow. Meantime, King James I. had put new life into the central governing body. Parliament was now waking up to a sense of its rights and duties. The actual reign of James I. only lasted for thirteen years (1424-1437), but he held no fewer than thirteen Parliaments during these years. It was his object to break the power of the n.o.bles and local dignitaries. The unique position of the Earldom of Strathearn and the hereditary Stewardships which had grown up alongside of it attracted his attention. The Earldom was the only Palatinate within the bounds of Scotland; the only Earldom possessing Royal privileges. King James I. was a reformer of the "hot-haste" school. The execution of a plan of action followed hard upon the heels of the conception of it. An Act of his first Parliament directed an inquest to be made by the Sheriff--"what lands pertain to the King, or has pertained during the reign of the last three kings, and in whose hands they now are." In terms of this statute, King James I. resumed the Earldom of Strathearn on the ground that it was a male fee, and did not pa.s.s to the wife of Patrick Graham, the heir-female.

This happened in 1436, and it cost the King his life the following year at the hands of Robert Graham, uncle and tutor of the young heir, Malise, who was still detained as a hostage in England in security for the payment of the King's ransom. But the impulse had been given; though dead, the reformer King still spoke to the nation, and in 1442 James II, and his Parliament declared that the Earldom had fallen to the Crown. In 1455 it was enacted that all regalities in the King's hands should be annexed to the royalty, and subject to the King's Court. This action in Scotland had the support of the Murray faction.

They had come to see the futility of any attempt upon the Stewardship.