Scottish Cathedrals and Abbeys Part 9

"How the duty committed to him was discharged by the Abbot or what penance he enjoined, we do not know. It may have been to fulfil the penance imposed at Paisley that Bruce desired so ardently to visit the Holy Sepulchre. He was excommunicated again soon afterwards, and years elapsed before he was finally restored to the favour of the Church; but his absolution at Paisley was a gleam of sunshine in the midst of his stormy life, and one of the most interesting pictures in the history of our abbey is that of the monarch kneeling before its altar and amidst its fire-stained walls."[372]

James, the Steward, died on 16th July 1309, and, like the earlier Stewarts, was probably buried in the ruined abbey. He was succeeded by his son Walter, who married Marjory, the daughter of Robert the Bruce.

Their married life was short, and the untimely death of Marjory took place within a year. Walter died at Bathgate in 1326, and, like his wife, was buried in the abbey.

"When long time their dule had made The corps to Paslay have they had, And there with great solemnity And with great dule eirded was he."

Robert, the son of Walter and Marjory, was but a boy of ten or eleven years of age at his father's death, but he was a boy with great expectations. Failing the death of the king's son without heirs, the Scottish Parliament had solemnly ratified his succession to the Scottish throne. King Robert the Bruce died in 1329, and his only son, David II., succeeded him. By neither of his marriages had he any issue, and he was succeeded by his sister's son, Robert II., who became the founder of the Stewart dynasty.

"The abbey was now under royal patronage, and Walter, the son of Alan, its founder--the Shropshire colonist--the progenitor of a race of kings."[373]

Under royal favour and patronage the abbey entered on a course of prosperity, unbroken till the time of the Reformation. Robert II. died in 1390, and was buried at Scone.

"If this be true, he was the first of the Stewarts who were laid elsewhere than in the precincts of the abbey, and the circ.u.mstance is all the more strange because Elizabeth More, the much-loved wife of his youth, and Euphan Ross, his queen, are buried there."[374]

Robert III. had two sons, the elder of whom was David, Duke of Rothesay (1378-1402). He was under the guardianship of Albany, who after a short time starved him to death at Falkland. Robert, anxious for the safety of his younger son, James, resolved to send him to France, but on his way thither he was captured by an English vessel, and thereafter imprisoned in the Tower of London. There is good reason for believing that Albany and the Douglases had to do with the imprisonment of the Prince, and they did everything to prevent his release. When the news was brought to the king in the castle of Rothesay, he succ.u.mbed to paroxysms of grief, and died 4th April 1406.

"Touched by grief," says Fordun, "his bodily strength vanished, his countenance paled, and, borne down by sorrow, he refused all food, until at last he breathed forth his spirit to his Creator."

He was buried in the abbey of Paisley before the high altar, and was the last of the Stewarts who was laid there.[375]

After the destruction of the abbey, caused by the wars with England, the edifice seems to have remained for long in a dismantled condition, but gifts having been received from the Bishops of Argyle and Glasgow to aid the restoration of the building, the work was begun. Besides, the abbey was from 1388 to 1408 under the ban of excommunication, and this must have powerfully added to the delay in the building operations. Part of this work was carried out under Abbot Lithgow (1384-1433), who was buried by his own desire in the north porch, where his memory is still preserved. The chief part of the rebuilding of the abbey church was carried out under Abbot Thomas de Tervas (1445-1459). The _Chronicle of Auchinleck_ says of this abbot:--

"The quhilk wes ane richt gud man, and helplyk to the place of ony that ever wes, for he did mony notabil thingis, and held ane n.o.bil hous, and wes ay wele purvait. He fand the place al out of gud reule, and dest.i.tute of leving, and al the kirkis in lordis handis, and the kirk unbiggit. The bodie of the kirk fra the bucht stair up he biggit, and put on the ruf, and theekit it with sclats and riggit it with stane, and biggit ane great porcioun of the steple, and ane staitlie yet-hous: and brocht hame mony gude jowellis, and clathis of gold, silver, and silk, and mony gud bukis, and made statelie stallis, and gla.s.synnit mekle of al the kirk, and brocht hame the staitliest tabernakle that wes in al Skotland, and the maist costlie: and schortlie he brocht al the place to fredome and fra nocht till ane michty place, and left it out of al kind of det, and al fredome, till dispone as them lykit, and left ane of the best myteris that wes in Skotland, and chandillaris of silver, and ane lettren of bra.s.s, with mony uther gud jowellis."[376]

Abbot Thomas is said to have obtained the privilege of having a tavern and selling wine within the gates of the monastery, and is believed to have raised money thereby for the reconstruction of his church.[377] The quaint language of the ancient _Chronicle of Auchinleck_, translated into ordinary English, means that besides journeying to Rome and procuring the articles mentioned, he carried up the triforium and clerestory, finished the roof, erected a great part of the steeple, and built a stately gate-house.

At the death of Abbot Tervas, Pope Pius II. decreed that the disposition of the office and of the whole revenues of the monastery should fall to the Pope, and he appointed Henry Crichton, a monk of Dunfermline, to be commendator of the abbey, and a.s.signed a pension of 300 florins out of the revenues to Pietro Barlo, Cardinal of St. Mark's in Venice, to be paid to him by Henry and his successors at the Feast of St. John the Baptist, under pain of excommunication, in case of his failing to make payment within thirty days after the appointed term, and total deprivation if he persisted in his opposition six months after his excommunication. When he got himself fairly installed as abbot he declined to pay the stipulated pension to the Cardinal of St. Mark's, and made some legal quibble the ground of his neglect. Trouble followed, and since this, the appointment of its first commendator, the rights of the abbey began to be invaded. Abbot George Shaw (1472-1498) endeavoured to guard the monastery against encroachments; he built a refectory and other structures, reared a lofty tower over the princ.i.p.al gate, enclosed the church, the precincts of the convent, the gardens, and a little park for deer within a wall about a mile in circuit.[378] Of this once magnificent wall, with its four-sided beautiful stones and lofty statues, very few fragments now remain, but there are still two tablets that belonged to it. The central shield bears the royal arms, the shields to the right and left of it the Stewart arms and the abbot's own; and there is an inscription by the pious builder himself, which is as follows:--

Ye call it ye Abbot Georg of Schawe About yis Abbey gart make yis waw A thousande four hundereth zheyr Auchty ande fywe the date but veir [Pray for his saulis salvacioun]

That made thys n.o.bil fundacioun.

It has been thought that this inscription was designed by John Morow, whose name appears on a tablet in Melrose Abbey.[379]

"The character of the lettering in design and workmanship is the same as at Melrose. The references to the building operations, the poetical form of the composition, the manner in which the names are introduced, 'Callit was I,' and 'Ye callit,' and the devout expressions with which they close, make it clear that the inscriptions are the work of the same author."

The fifth line is chiselled away, and was possibly deleted because it did not harmonise with the theology of the Reformed Church.

Abbot George Shaw was succeeded by his nephew, Robert Shaw, vicar of Munkton, and a son of the Governor of Stirling. He was canonically elected, and his election was approved by the Crown,--the Pope also gave his consent on condition that Robert Shaw should take the monastic habit within six months, and decreed that the old abbot should enjoy as his pension a third part of the fruits of the monastery, and might return to his former position when he thought proper. Robert Shaw took office in 1498, and his uncle lived for some years after, "the pensioner of the abbey" as he is called in charters. George Shaw died probably in 1505, and Dr. Lees says of him:--

"He filled his place well, and the visitor to Paisley who sees his shield of three covered cups with the pastoral crook behind them upon the wall of one of the outhouses, which has been ruthlessly transformed by modern iconoclasts, or reads the defaced inscription which tells of the 'n.o.bil fundacioun' he reared, will do well to remember that they are the memorials of a good man, one of the best of his time, to whose wisdom and benevolence the town of Paisley owes its existence."[380]

This refers to the creation of Paisley as a burgh by Abbot Shaw, who obtained in 1488 a charter creating the village of Paisley into a free burgh of barony, and thereby raising the status of the people both socially and politically. The burgher was no longer in the condition of a serf or slave, who could be transferred from one master to another, and he escaped from all the severities and exactions of the feudal system. The burghs had power of self-government, and were able to develop commercial and industrial operations. The burgh of Paisley was endowed with the usual privileges, and a right to hold a market every Monday, and two yearly fairs--one on the day of St. Mirren, and the other on the day of St. Marnock. In 1490 the abbot and chapter granted to the magistrates of the burgh in feu-farm the ground on which the old town stands and certain other privileges.

After an examination of the Rental Book, Dr. Lees regards it as "corroborating all that historians tell us regarding the lands of those ecclesiastics being the best cultivated and the best managed in Scotland.... The neighbourhood of a convent was always recognisable by the well-cultivated land and the happy tenantry which surrounded it, and those of the Abbey of Paisley were no exception to the general rule prevailing throughout the rest of Scotland.[381]

"The monks were kind masters. No cases of eviction or deprivation are recorded. The same lands descended without rise of rent from father to son. Children are held bound to maintain their parents in their old age, and widows are specially cared for, and are occasionally provided with another husband!"[382]

During the fifteenth century many altars were erected and endowed by the burgesses, and the Chapel of St. Mirin, which occupies part of the site of the south transept, was erected in 1499, and endowed by James Crawford of Kylwynet, a burgess of Paisley, and his wife.

Abbot Robert (1498-1525) was received on 19th October 1525 as Bishop of Moray in the cathedral of his northern diocese, and the next abbot was John Hamilton, a natural son of the Earl of Arran, who had entered the church as a monk of Kilwinning, and whom Magnus speaks of with contempt as a "yonge thing." The earl was high in favour with the queen, who had at the time the disposal of the church benefices, and he wished the bishopric for his son. The queen, however, appointed Abbot Robert to the see of Moray, and Hamilton to the abbey of Paisley. It was one of the deeds of shame enacted in the Scottish Church which ultimately brought its severe judgment.

Abbot John Hamilton (1525-1547) rebuilt at immense cost the first tower that appears to have had insecure foundation, and fell. It seems to have had an untimely end, falling, according to one account, with its own weight, and with it the choir of the church, or, according to an another account, being struck with lightning. In 1559, with Kilwinning and Dunfermline, the abbey of Paisley was suppressed, and what that meant can best be expressed in the words of Sir Walter Scott:--

"They fumigated the church with burnt wool and feathers instead of incense, put foul water into the holy-water basins; they sung ludicrous and indecent parodies to the tunes of church hymns; they violated whatever vestments belonging to the abbey they could lay their hands upon; and playing every freak which the whim of the moment could suggest to their wild caprice. At length they fell to more lasting deeds of demolition, pulled down and destroyed carved woodwork, dashed out the painted windows, and in their vigorous search after sculpture dedicated to idolatry, began to destroy what ornaments yet remained entire upon the tombs and around the cornices of the pillars."

Although the monks were expelled, the people of Paisley still continued firm in adhering to the old faith, and the doors of the abbey were "steyked" against the reformed preachers. The abbot and his friends were accused as

"in the toun of Paslay, Kirkyard and Abbey place thereof, openlie, publicklie, and plainlie taking auricular confession in the said kirk, toun, kirkyaird, chalmeris, barns, middens, and killogies thereof, and thus makand an alteration and innovation in the state of religion, which our Soverane Lady found publicklie standing and professit within this realm, ministrand, and alswa irreverently and indecentlie the Sacramentis of Holy Kirk, namely, the Sacramentis of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ."

It was a serious charge, and if proven was punishable by death. Hamilton had a powerful friend in Queen Mary, who interfered in his behalf, and he and his companions were committed to ward.

Besides retaining the office of abbot at Paisley, Hamilton was appointed Bishop of Dunkeld in 1543-44 by his brother, acting for the Queen, and after the murder of Cardinal Beaton, on 29th May 1546, was raised to the position of Archbishop of St. Andrews and Primate of Scotland. Probably he never returned to Paisley until, in the adversities of his later years, and the monastery being sacked and burnt by the Reformers, he was forced to take refuge at Dumbarton Castle, where he was made prisoner, and afterwards executed at Stirling. The Master of Sempill had been appointed bailie of the monastery, and, at the dissolution, the whole of the church property was handed over to Lord Sempill. The property finally came into the possession of Lord Claud Hamilton, nephew of the archbishop, and the monastic buildings were converted into the "Place of Paisley," the residence of the Abercorn family.

After the archbishop's execution his body was quartered, and afterwards buried, probably in Paisley. Dr. Lees says:--

"There is in the church a tablet, which looks as if it had marked his grave. It has upon it the archbishop's coat of arms, the letters J. H., the initials of his name, and the motto he a.s.sumed, and which contrasts strangely with his troubled life and tragic end--'Misericordia et Pax.'"[383]

Amid all that is said against the last archbishop of the old Church of Scotland, and the last abbot of Paisley, it is well to recall that the "Catechisme," which usually pa.s.ses under his name, from having been printed at his expense at St. Andrews in 1552, exhibits a solitary instance of an attempt on the part of the old Roman Catholic clergy to convey spiritual instruction to the people, and is creditable to Archbishop Hamilton's memory.[384]

Referring to the disposal of the abbey property, Dr. Lees says:--

"The manner in which the Church property was gifted away forms a scandalous episode in the history of Scotland. Men like Claud Hamilton, who never had done anything for their country, became enriched and enn.o.bled through the spoliation. It is vain to picture regretfully what might have been; but any one can see how much better it would have been for Scotland if the whole community, instead of a few unworthy individuals, had got the benefit of the Church's wealth. Those who did get it have in too many instances made a very miserable use of their ill-gotten gain."[385]

Prior to the Reformation the monastery consisted of a church, the cloister and conventual buildings. The church comprised a long aisleless choir, a nave with aisles, a north transept, a south transept, with St.

Mirin's Chapel attached to the south of it, and a tower and spire over the crossing.[386]

The choir walls, containing an elegant sedilia and piscina, remain standing to the height of 9 feet, and it is questioned whether the choir was ever finished during the restoration. There is a string-course all round; the building is of fifteenth century work, and occupies the place of an earlier choir, which has been demolished. The wall at the east end of the nave, which separates it from the transept, may have been erected during the restoration of the fifteenth century, with the intention of rendering the nave a complete church until the transept and choir were restored. This seems to have been in progress when the Reformation interrupted the work. The design of the sedilia resembles that at St. Monans, Fife, and adjoining the sedilia is the piscina, the aperture of which is still visible.

The north transept is in ruins, but the north wall, with the remains of a fine traceried window, still exists, as well as a traceried window in the west wall. The south transept is also in ruins, while the tower and spire have disappeared. St. Mirin's Chapel is well preserved, but the openings connecting it with the south transept are built up.

The nave survives as a whole, and contains six bays, divided by ma.s.sive piers, and surmounted by a triforium and clerestory. There is a north porch, and two doorways from the cloister on the south side.

The oldest portion of the building is p.r.o.nounced to be the eastern part of the south wall of the south aisle of the nave, where it adjoins the transept. This portion of the wall consists of three bays, containing the S.E. doorway from the cloister to the nave, and three pointed windows in the upper part. The doorway is of the transition style, and the windows above are simple in style, and are early pointed work--this part of the building probably dating from the first half of the thirteenth century.[387] The western portion of the south aisle of the nave and the whole of the south clerestory are evidently portions of the restored church of the fifteenth century.[388] The south aisle wall contains the S.W. and S.E. doors from the nave to the cloister.

The west end of the nave is in part amongst the ancient portions of the structure, and the western entrance doorway is thirteenth century work.[389] The aisle windows of the west front belong to the first pointed period. The upper portion of the west front above the two large windows is of considerably later date.[390] "The design of the west front, which contains above the door-piece two large windows, with pointed niches and small circles inserted between the arch-heads, is probably original, but the upper portion and gable, including the large traceried window, are doubtless part of the restoration of the fifteenth century. The tracery of the two central windows is peculiar, and may possibly be of the fourteenth century, but that of the large upper window is later, probably of the same period as the restoration of the interior of the nave. The tracery of the large upper window is a specimen of the late kind of design employed in Scotland in the fifteenth century."[391]

The interior of the west end of the nave exhibits the change of style caused by the restoration of the fifteenth century. The first or western bay of the main arcade is original, including the first arches (one on each side), the first pillars, and the arches between them, and the aisle responds. "These pillars and arches are of large dimensions and first pointed section, and appear to have been designed to carry western towers, but a part of their thickness has been cut off next the choir. A portion of the triforium wall, a piece of the string-course over the main arcade, and the corbelled vaulting shaft in the angle as high as the top of the triforium, are also parts of the original structure. The later work has been joined to the above old parts in a very awkward manner."[392] The cap of the west pier on the north side belongs to the first pointed work, while the corresponding cap on the south side and all the other caps belong to the fifteenth century restoration.[393] Except the west piers, the piers of the nave are of the cl.u.s.tered form, common in late Scottish work, and might be about the same date as the restoration of St. Giles, Edinburgh (which they resemble), in the early part of the fifteenth century.[394]

The triforium design consists of large segmental arches, the same width as the main arches, springing from short cl.u.s.tered piers introduced between them. It somewhat resembles the triforium of the nave at Dunkeld Cathedral. The clerestory is probably designed in imitation of that of Glasgow Cathedral, and is divided into two pointed arches in each bay. They spring from a series of cl.u.s.tered shafts with round moulded caps that are late imitations of early work.[395] The earlier part of the nave restoration, including the main piers and arches, and perhaps the tracery of the two lower windows of the west front, were possibly executed by Bishop Lithgow, who built the north porch, and the completion of the nave (the upper portions) was carried out in the time of Abbot Tervas--the middle of the fifteenth century. A peculiarity of the nave interior is a series of large corbels, which project from the spandrils of the triforium arcade, and the object of which was to enable a pa.s.sage to be carried round the solid piers introduced between the windows.

Each of the large corbels springs at its lowest point from the sculptured grotesque figure of a man or animal. They were mostly the work of Thomas Hector, a sculptor, who lived at Crossflat,[396] and whom the abbot retained for his skill in the art.[397] The employment of such grotesque figures was very much affected by the monks of Clugny, and was the occasion of a rebuke from St. Bernard.

"What business had these devils and monstrosities in Christian churches, taking off the attention of the monks from their prayers."

One of these figures near the west gable represents a man in a kilt, and Dr. Lees thinks that many worshippers in the Abbey in more modern times have in the midst of long sermons found relief in the contemplation of those curious carvings which the saint thus vigorously denounced.[398]

St. Mirin's Aisle was erected in 1499, and there is a large pointed window in the east end, having jambs with single shafts. It is divided into four lights, and the arch-head is filled with good simple tracery. Beneath the eastern window is a frieze of one foot eight inches deep between two cornices of eight inches deep, which were intended for sculpture. Three compartments, measuring four feet, at the north or right side, and seven compartments, measuring ten feet, at the south or left side, are carved and filled with sculpture. Dr. Lees says the reference of them to Mirin is clear beyond all doubt: "In the one on the extreme left we see Mirin's mother bringing him to St. Congal. In the next St. Congal putting the religious habit on Mirin. In the next Mirin taking oversight of the monastery of Banchor. There is after this a blank, and then we have certain sculptures relating to Mirin's encounter with the Irish king, who wears a crown on his head. In the first we have the servant of the King driving Mirin away from the door of the palace.

In the next the King roaring with pain and held by his servants. In the next the Queen lying in bed with a picture of the Virgin on the wall, it being the custom to hang such before women during confinement. Then we have the King on his knees before Mirin, and afterwards Mirin received by him with joy. The next two sculptures represent the last two acts of the Saint--the brother looking through the keyhole and seeing Mirin illuminated by a celestial light, and the Saint restoring to life the dead man in the Valley of Colpdasch.... As they are evidently earlier than the date of the erection of the chapel, they have probably been transferred with the relics of the Saint from an older shrine. They look like twelfth-century work, but it is possible they may be even earlier."[399] The ceiling of the chapel is beautifully groined, and the east end, where the altar stood, is raised four steps above the western part. The west wall contains an outer doorway from the cloister court, and there is a traceried window above it. A large ambry adjoins the door in the outer wall. The chapel was connected with the south transept by two wide archways, now built up, and near the east end is a piscina, with three-sided head, like that in the choir.

There is a dormitory above the chapel, arched by stone, and the entrance is by a doorway in the middle of the south side of the arch. The apartment is lighted by two windows--one in the east gable, and the other in the west. In the west gable there is a private stair leading from the dormitory to the chapel, and the priest, who was bound by the charter to live at the chapel, doubtless occupied the sleeping-place above it.[400] The chapel at the Reformation was converted into a family burying-place by Claud Hamilton, the commendator, and various members of the Abercorn family lie buried in the vault below, the chapel belonging to the present Duke, and being under his control.

On the floor of this chapel there now stands an ornamental altar tomb, which was found lying in fragments near the Abbey by the Rev.