It is the most reasonable conjecture that the parish church, dedicated in honour of St. AEgidius or St. Giles, and which has ever since retained the name of that patron saint, was erected during the reign of Alexander I. (1107-1124), the founder also of the Abbey of Scone and other religious houses.[246] Some fragments of this church remained till the end of last century, the richly ornamented Norman porch, which had formed the entrance to the nave on the north side of the church, being removed about 1797.[247] Dr. Lees thinks that possibly some of the pillars of the choir, and also the door at the entry to the royal pew, belonged to the first church of St. Giles.[248] The edifice appears to have been rebuilt about the time of David II.[249]

In the frequent wars with England, Edinburgh suffered much, notably so in 1322 and 1335. This latter raid, having occurred in February, was afterwards known as the "burnt Candlemas." A reconstruction of the church was probably required after these repeated conflagrations, and this appears to have been carried out during the fourteenth century. But shortly afterwards a devastation of the town and its buildings was occasioned by Richard II. in 1385, when, during his occupation of five days, he left the town and parish church in ashes. The citizens, with the help of the Crown, made a great effort to repair the disaster to their church, and from this period the history of the present structure may be said to date.

"It is said that during the restoration, which took place in 1870-80, traces of fire were observed on the pillars of the choir, and it is inferred that these pillars must have existed before the burning caused by Richard II. This view is confirmed by the fact that, after 1387, when, doubtless, the town authorities were doing all they could to complete the restoration of St. Giles', they entered into a contract with certain masons to erect five chapels along the south side of the nave, having pillars and vaulted roofs, covered with dressed stone slabs. These chapels still exist, and the wall rib of the vaulting is yet visible on the south side of the arcade, next the south aisle; but the vault and stone roof have been removed, and a plaster ceiling of imitation vaulting substituted. The above contract indicates that the walls of the nave then existed. We must, therefore, assume that the church had been rebuilt previous to the destruction of 1385, and that the above contract was an addition to the building connected with its restoration two years after the fire. Although, doubtless, much injured by the conflagration, the walls and pillars of the church seem to have escaped total destruction. The style of the architecture would lead to the same view; the octagonal pillars of the choir, with their moulded caps, being most probably of the fourteenth century."[250]

The church, as restored and added to after 1387, is regarded as consisting of a choir of four bays, with side aisles; a nave of five bays, also with side aisles; a central crossing, north and south transepts, and the five chapels just added south of the nave.[251] An open porch, to the south of these chapels, was also erected along with them, with a finely groined vault in the roof, and over it a small chamber, lighted by a picturesque oriel window, supported on a corbel, carved with an angel displaying the city arms.[252] The whole of the main divisions of the structure were vaulted, and the massive octagonal piers of the crossing were probably raised about this period.[253] The vaulting of the crossing, with its central opening, was executed about 1400.[254] The ancient Norman porch, forming the north entrance to the nave, was the only part of the twelfth century structure then preserved. The restoration seems to have continued from 1385 to 1416.

Shortly after the erection of the five south chapels, another chapel, called the Albany Aisle, was built on the north side of the nave to the west of the old doorway. It opens from the nave with two arches, resting on a central pillar, and the roof is covered with groined vaulting in two bays.[255] On the pillar are sculptured the arms of the Duke of Albany and also those of the Earl of Douglas. Their names are often ominously found together in the history of the times, and both were accused of the murder of the Duke of Rothesay, heir to the throne. They were justly accused, and, although acquitted of the deed, the stain continues to rest on their memory. The chapels were either built to expiate their crime, or more probably to get a reputation for piety and obtain the favour of the Church.[256]

Two other chapels were probably added to the north side of the nave about the same period; they were on the east side of the Norman doorway, and between it and the transept. One of them has disappeared, and the eastern one was dedicated to St. Eloi. The vaulting of the north aisle of the nave was necessarily rebuilt at the time when the north chapels were erected.[257]

About fifty years later, great extensions and improvements were carried out under the auspices of Queen Mary of Gueldres, by whom Trinity College Church was also founded in 1462. The Town Council and merchants of Edinburgh also endowed it. The extensions of St. Giles consisted of (1) the lengthening of the choir by one bay; (2) the heightening of the central aisle of the choir and vaulting it anew, together with the introduction of a new clerestory; and (3) the lengthening of the transepts.[258] The church is thus the work of many generations, and is the outcome of public and private contributions. That the choir was enlarged at this period is chiefly made evident by the heraldic devices and armorial bearings still existing. While the pillars nearest to the centre are plain octagons, with arches corresponding in simplicity, those at the east end have decorated capitals, supporting moulded arches. The King's pillar, as it is called, is the first from the window on the north side, and is near the spot where stood the High Altar. On the foliated capital are four coats of arms, and the first has the lion within the double tressure, and the armorial bearings are usually supposed to be those of King James II. (1436-1460); the second, impaled, of his Queen, Mary of Gueldres (1449-1463); the third has also the lion within the double tressure and a label of three points, which is held to denote a prince or heir, if not a younger son. The fourth shield has three fleurs-de-lys for France.[259] These shields clearly connect the pillar with Mary of Gueldres, and her husband, James II., and their son, James III., who was born in 1453. The work was probably executed between 1453 and 1463.[260] On the opposite pillar, on the south side of the high altar, are also four coats of arms, viz. those of the town of Edinburgh and of the families of Kennedy, Otterburn, and Preston. To commemorate other benefactors, on the demi-pillar, on the north side of the eastern window, we have the arms (three cranes gorged) of Thomas Cranstoun, chief magistrate of Edinburgh in 1439 and 1454; on the south side, those of Napier of Merchiston, Provost of Edinburgh in 1457—a saltier engrailed, cantoned with four rosettes.[261] (2) The heightening of the choir and the introduction of a new clerestory were also carried out shortly after the middle of the fifteenth century, the height of the former choir being shown by the vault of the crossing, which it doubtless resembled, and which was not altered at that time. The outline of the old roof may also be observed against the east and west walls of the tower—the raglet and a stepped string-course above it being yet preserved, and being specially visible on the east side next the choir. The beauty of the vaulting of the central choir aisle is noticeable when contrasted with that of the side aisles.[262] The central crossing, with its vault, was left unaltered, and still remains in the same position, with its vaulting at the level it was raised to about 1400. It forms a break between the nave and the choir, in both of which the vault has been raised.[263] (3) The transepts were extended, their original length being marked by breaks in the roof, where the vaulting terminates.

In a charter dated 11th January 1454-1455,[264] it is narrated that William Preston of Gourtoun, after much trouble and expense abroad, and aided by "a high and mighty prince, the King of France, and many other Lords of France," had succeeded in obtaining an arm bone of the patron saint, which he generously bequeathed to the church. The Town Council were so gratified with the gift that they resolved to add an aisle to the choir in commemoration of the event, and to place therein a tablet of brass recording the bounty of the donor. This aisle was to be built within six or seven years "furth frae our Lady isle, quhair the said William lyis." It thus appears that the south aisle of the nave was known as the lady chapel, and that Sir William was buried there. The resolution was carried into effect, and a new aisle called the Preston Aisle was constructed, south of the lady chapel. The Preston Aisle was afterwards known as the Assembly Aisle. In carrying out the work the south wall opposite the three westmost bays of the choir was removed, and three arches carried on two piers substituted. These piers and arches correspond with the work of the same period at the east end of the choir. One of the caps contains a shield bearing the three unicorns' heads of the Prestons. The structure extends into the choir the great width of the four aisles of the church previously formed in the nave, and adds greatly both to spaciousness and grandeur. The church was now complete in all its parts, as, internally, it still remains, with a few exceptions, to the present day.[265]

Several additional chapels were afterwards thrown out. In 1513 an aisle of two arches was formed by Alexander Lauder of Blyth, Provost of the city; in 1518 the altar of the Holy Blood was erected in this aisle, which lay on the south of the nave, and to the east of the south porch, immediately adjoining the south transept. It opened into the south chapels of the nave with two arches, and had two windows to the south. There was within it a handsome monument containing a recumbent statue, or forming, as some suppose, part of the altar canopy. The monument is still preserved, but one half of the chapel was obliterated in 1829.

In 1466 the parish church of St. Giles was erected by charter of James III. into a collegiate establishment, but it is not called collegiate till 1475. The chapter consisted of a provost or dean, sixteen prebendaries, a master of the choir, four choristers, a sacristan, and a beadle with chaplains. The revenues of the altars and chaplainries in the church were appropriated for the support of the several officers in the new establishment. The King reserved the nomination of the dean or provost, who enjoyed the tithes and other revenues of St. Giles' Church, with the adjacent manse; the provost had the right of choosing a curate, who had a yearly allowance of 25 marks with a house adjoining.[266] In subsequent charters the church is called the College Kirk of St. Geill of Edinburgh.

About this period a few additions were made. A small chapel, called the Chapman Aisle, was thrown out from the Preston Aisle close to the south transept. It was dedicated to St. John the Evangelist by Walter Chapman, called the Scottish Caxton, from his having introduced into Scotland in 1507 the art of printing. The chapel was dedicated within a month of King James' death at Flodden. The south transept seems to have been extended southward during the erection. The chapel to the east of the north transept contained several storeys and a staircase. It is said to have been erected after the Reformation. Used as the Town Clerk's office, and later as a vestry, it has been recently set apart to contain the monument of Dr. William Chambers, by whose liberality the cathedral has been recently restored.

In 1829 the church was entirely renewed as regards the exterior, and two chapels to the south of those built in 1389 and the south porch were removed. The round arched doorway of the south porch was again erected between the north pillars of the crossing as the entrance to the central division of the church. It has now been transferred to the entrance doorway to the royal pew at the east end of the Preston Aisle.[267] The only portions of the exterior which escaped the unfortunate renewal of 1829 were the tower and steeple. Fortunately the well-known crown of St. Giles was not interfered with. It was probably erected about 1500.[268]

"This crown," say the same authorities, "seems to have been a favourite feature with Scottish architects. The crown of the tower of King's College, Aberdeen, was built after 1505, and similar crowns formerly existed on the towers of Linlithgow and Haddington churches. The crown of St. Nicholas' Church, Newcastle, which is probably the only other steeple of this kind in Great Britain, is also of a late date. There is a crown of the same description on the tower of the Town Hall at Oudenarde, in Belgium, which is also of late Gothic work.... Some of the above crown steeples have an arch thrown from each angle to a central pinnacle, an arrangement which renders them rather thin and empty looking; but that of St. Giles' has, in addition to the arches from the angles, another arch cast from the centre of each side to the centre pinnacle. This produces an octagonal appearance, which, together with the numerous crocketed pinnacles with which the arches are ornamented, gives a richness and fulness of effect which is wanting in some of the other steeples of this description. The steeple of St. Giles' was partly rebuilt in 1648."[269]

In the tower was placed the great bell of St. Giles, which must have been heard far and near on special occasions, as when, after the news of the disastrous field of Flodden, the inhabitants were ordered at the tolling of the common bell to assemble in military array for the defence of the city. The bell was cast in Flanders.[270] About 1500 several of the guilds had chapels assigned to them, and for these they contributed to the church funds. Many famous Scotsmen were buried within St. Giles, and amongst them were the Napiers of Merchiston, although it is doubtful whether Baron Napier rests there or not.[271] The Regent Murray, assassinated at Linlithgow in 1569, was buried in the south aisle; his monument was destroyed, but the brass plate, with the inscription written in his honour by George Buchanan, was rescued, and is inserted in a new monument erected in the Murray Aisle. The scattered members of the body of the great Montrose were collected and buried in the Chapman Aisle, in the south part of St. Giles, in 1661, but all trace of his remains has now been lost, and no monument until recently indicated his grave.

The last day on which mass was said in St. Giles was probably the 31st of March 1560;[272] the disturbances connected with the Reformation broke out in Edinburgh at an early date, and St. Giles' Church was one of the first to suffer.

All things have their end. Churches and cities, which have diseases like to men, Must have like death that we have.

The images were stolen from the church; that of St. Giles was carried off by the mob, drowned in the North Loch, and then burned; his arm bone, so precious before, is supposed to have been thrown into the adjacent churchyard; the church was pillaged and the altars and images cast down; the valuables were taken by the authorities and sold, while the proceeds were spent in the repairs of the church.

"Irreverence," writes Dr. Lees, "had long been common. It was not to be expected that with the change of religion would come any additional reverence for the things and places which the old religion had proclaimed sacred. We read without much surprise, therefore, of weavers being allowed to set up their looms and exercise their craft 'in ane volt prepared for them in the rufe of Sanct Gellis Kirk,' of the vestry of the church being turned into an office for the town clerk.... It is almost inconceivable that old associations should so thoroughly and quickly have died out."[273]

The church suffered from the over-zeal of the early reformers and also from the effects of civil contention when Sir William Kirkaldy of Grange and Queen Mary's adherents retained possession of the castle. Kirkaldy took forcible possession of St. Giles' Church, and placed some of his men in the steeple to keep the citizens in awe.

They made "holes in the vaute of the Great Kirk of Edinburgh, which they made like a riddell, to shoot thorough at suche as they pleased within the kirk, or at such as would prease to breake down the pillars."[274]

In 1560 St. Giles' again became the parish church, with John Knox for its minister. It was afterwards considered too large for Protestant worship, and in Knox's time the Magistrates began to cut it up into sections and formed several churches. Other alterations were made at different times, so that besides the High Church in the choir and the Tolbooth Church in the nave there were under the same roof a grammar school, courts of justice, the Town Clerk's office, a weaver's workshop, and a place for the Maiden, or instruments of public executions! In 1633, on the introduction of Laud's form of worship, the church became the seat of a bishop, and the choir was used as a cathedral. Between 1637 and 1661 it was again Presbyterian; from 1661 to 1690 it was once more Episcopalian; at the Revolution the Presbyterian worship was again restored, and the cathedral was divided with walls and filled with galleries. The Tolbooth Church occupied the south-west angle, and Haddow's Hole Church the north-west angle. The Old Church comprised the south transept and portions adjoining; the Preston Aisle was used as a place of meeting for the General Assembly and other purposes. The dark portions under the crossing and north transept were occupied as the police office. The alterations and rebuilding of 1829 left the cathedral still divided into three separate churches, and "the ancient architecture of the exterior of St. Giles was entirely obliterated by the reconstruction."[275] As to this "restoration," Dr. Lees writes, "What ensued was deplorable, and can scarcely be conceived by those who have not themselves seen what was done."[276] On the other hand, advantage was obtained by the removal of the small houses and booths that had been built against the structure and between the buttresses. All must at least be grateful that the steeple "was left alone."

The position of affairs remained thus until Dr. William Chambers, the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, conceived the idea of removing the partitions and opening up the whole building. By his exertions, and largely by his own personal munificence, the restoration was effected between 1870 and 1883.

"The Cathedral," says Dr. Cameron Lees, "restored from end to end, was opened with a public service on the 23rd May 1883. Her Majesty the Queen was represented by a Scottish nobleman (the Earl of Aberdeen), and representatives of all the chief corporations in Scotland attended. The ceremonial was fitting the occasion, and three thousand persons filled the immense building. The whole scene recalled the brilliant pageants of an earlier day. But there was sadness in the hearts of all present, for three days previous to the ceremonial Dr. William Chambers had passed away. The words of the preacher[277] received, and still receive a response from many. 'So long as these stones remain one upon another, will men remember the deed which William Chambers hath done, and tell of it to their children.' Two days after the reopening of the church, the funeral service of the restorer was conducted within the building his patriotism had beautified and adorned, and amid a vast and solemn crowd his body was borne forth from the place he loved so well, and for which he had done so much, to his burial."[278] "What a strange story its old gray crown, as it towers high above the city, tells out day by day to all who have ears to hear. It is the story of Scotland's poetry, romance, religion—the story of her progress through cloud and sunshine, the story of her advance from barbarism to the culture and civilisation of the present day."[279]

St. Andrews—St. Mary's, or Kirkheugh.—A very old chapel, known as St. Mary's on the Rock, is said to have stood on the Lady's Craig, but no trace of it now remains. Another chapel, also dedicated to St. Mary, stood on the Kirk Heugh, and was known as the Chapel of the King of Scotland on the Hill. All traces of it were for a long time lost, but in 1860 the foundations were discovered, and they show it to have been a cruciform structure. It is between the cathedral wall on the north-east and the sea. It had a provost and ten prebendaries.[280]

St. Salvator's, St. Andrews.—The College of St. Salvator was founded and endowed by Bishop Kennedy in 1456 for a provost and prebendaries. This bishop was distinguished for his liberality to the Church. The Church of St. Salvator is the only portion of the college buildings which still survives. It is now attached to the united colleges of St. Leonard's and St. Salvator, which form the existing University of St. Andrews, and the other buildings of which are modern.

The church bears the mark of the period when it was erected, the latter half of the fifteenth century.[281] It consists of a single oblong chamber, with a three-sided apse at the east end, a tower, with octagonal spire, at the south-west angle of the church. In the interior of the north wall, close to the apse, there is the splendid monument erected to Bishop Kennedy, the founder of the college. The south wall is divided by buttresses into seven bays.



CHAPTER V

PARISH CHURCHES ILLUSTRATING THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE NORMAN PERIOD

Dalmeny Church (Linlithgowshire).—"Two nearly perfect churches of the Romanesque age," says Dr. Joseph Robertson, "survive at Dalmeny and Leuchars—the former apparently in the twelfth century a manor of the Anglo-Norman house of Avenel, the latter a Scottish fief of one of the Magna Charter barons, Saier de Quincy, Earl of Winchester. Neither building need fear comparison with the common standard of English examples. Both are late in style: Leuchars is the richer, Dalmeny the more entire of the two. Both have semicircular apses—a feature found also in the parish churches of St. Kentigern at Borthwick, and St. Andrew at Gulane, and in the chapel bearing the name of St. Margaret within the walls of Edinburgh Castle."[282]

Dalmeny Church is the most complete of Scottish Norman churches, and consists of a chancel with eastern apse, and a nave separated from the chancel by an elaborate chancel arch. The arch has three orders, decorated with elaborate chevron ornaments, enclosed with a hood moulding carved with an enrichment somewhat resembling the dog-tooth. The soffit contains a similar faceted enrichment. The arch is carried on three attached shafts on each side, built in ashlar, and provided with subdivided cushion caps and plain bases. The chancel has one small window on the south side, and is vaulted with bold diagonal groin-ribs, enriched with chevron ornaments and springing from grotesque corbels. The apse is semicircular, and is entered from the chancel by an enriched arch with shafts and caps similar to those of the chancel arch. It is lighted by three plain window openings, the central one being enlarged. In the exterior a string-course runs round the building immediately below the windows, of which it forms the sills, and is enriched with a carved floral pattern. The chief feature is the main entrance door in a porch, projecting to the south, the archway of which is supported on two plain pillars with Norman capitals. There are over this door the remains of a line, concentric with the arch, of sculptured figures and animals, very similar to those found on the ancient sculptured monuments of Scotland. Associated with the Agnus Dei, Leo, Sagittarius, serpents, birds, dragons, and human figures, we have one perhaps bearing a pastoral staff. From the rough nature of the masonry at the west end of the nave it is probable that a tower was intended to be built there.[283] On the north side projecting wings have been added to the church, but the south front and east end are almost untouched and show twelfth century work, uninjured save by weather and natural decay. The church is believed to have been dedicated to St. Adamnan, and this is rendered very probable by the fact that the neighbouring church of Cramond was dedicated to St. Columba.

Leuchars Church, Fifeshire.—We hear of a church here in 1187, and it was given to the canons of St. Andrews (1171-1199). The church now consists of a choir with a circular apse; there are traces of an arch at the west end of the choir which opened into the nave, that has been rebuilt. In the seventeenth century a turret was built, which is incongruous and out of place; and to support the belfry a plain arch has been introduced in the interior amongst the Norman work of the apse. The exterior of the semicircular apse shows an arcade of two storeys,

"the shafts of the upper tier resting on the arches of the lower one, and all the shafts bearing cushion caps. Those of the lower story are double shafts, and those of the upper story are double shafts, with a broad fillet between them. All the arches are enriched with chevron and billet mouldings, and the upper tier has an extra order of elaborate billet-work. The string-course between the two arcades is carved with zigzags. The cornice is supported on a series of boldly-carved grotesque heads, all varying in design.... The design of the exterior of the choir is similar to that of the apse, there being two arcades, one above the other, surmounted by a cornice, with corbels carved as grotesque heads. The lower arcade, however, has interlacing arches, which indicate a late period of the style. The two arcades are separated by a string-course, enriched with scroll floral ornament. In the interior ... the chancel arch (which has elaborate carving) is carried on a central attached shaft and two plain nook shafts, built in courses, with simple cushion caps and plain bases. The chancel is vaulted with heavy moulded groins, springing from the cushion caps of short single shafts resting on grotesque heads. A small window is introduced in each of the divisions formed by the shafts, and each window has a pair of nook shafts in the interior and enriched arch above. The lower part of the apse is plain, and is separated from the upper part by a string-course, enriched with faceted ornaments."[284]

PARISH CHURCHES ILLUSTRATING MIDDLE POINTED OR DECORATED PERIOD

St. Michael's Parish Church, Linlithgow, was the scene of the apparition that is said to have warned King James IV. against the battle of Flodden, and is one of the largest parish churches in Scotland. A church dedicated to St. Michael existed here as early as the time of David I. A new church is said to have been erected in 1242, and probably some parts of this are incorporated in the present edifice. In 1384 Robert II. contributed to the erection or repair of the church tower, and in 1424 the church was injured and considerably destroyed by the fire that reduced the town to ashes. The reconstruction of the edifice probably progressed, under the Jameses, simultaneously with that of the palace adjoining.

St. Michael's consists of a choir, including two aisles and a three-sided apse at the east end; a nave, including two aisles; two chapels inserted, north and south, in the place usually occupied by the transept; a square tower at the west end, and a south porch giving access to the nave. The nave is the oldest part of the building, and appears to have been erected before the middle of the fifteenth century. The choir is of somewhat later date.[285] A broad stone bench or seat is carried round the nave, and the bases of the triple wall shafts of the vaulting rest upon it. Those of the choir, different in design, rest on the floor. In the nave there are triforium openings in each bay, and clerestory windows above them. The windows throughout the church are of large size, and filled with varied geometric tracery. The windows of the apse are large, and the tracery of two of the windows is perpendicular in character. The transepts (or north and south chapels) and the south porch have crow-stepped gables both on their outer walls and also over the inner or aisle wall which separates them from the church. Each of these contains an apartment over the vault, that over the south porch being probably a place for preserving documents. The buttresses of the nave have a simpler character than those of the apse and north transept. The canopies of the niches are ornamented somewhat similarly to those of Rosslyn. The buttress of the south-west angle of the nave, crowned with the sculptured figure of St. Michael, is a striking feature on approaching the church. The western tower was originally terminated with a crown of open stone-work, similar to that of St. Giles, Edinburgh. About 1821 it was found to be in a dangerous condition, and had to be taken down. The tower is of late design and contains a doorway, continental in style, which may possibly be the work of Thomas French, the King's master-mason, and above which there is a large perpendicular window. The upper part of the tower would contrast well with the crown on the top. The tower opens into the nave with a wide and lofty arch, carried up to the clerestory level, and the groined vault with large window below produces a good effect. In each side wall of the tower is a richly canopied recess, intended for monuments or sculpture. A portion of what seems to have been a carved altar-piece is preserved in the church and represents scenes in our Lord's Passion.[286] The steeple contains three bells with inscriptions.

The south transept contained an altar dedicated to St. Katherine, and was the place where James IV. is reported to have seen the apparition that warned him against the fatal expedition to England—an incident chronicled by Pitscottie, and forming the basis of Sir David Lyndsay's tale in Marmion. The church contained twenty-four altarages, which were removed in 1559 by the Lords of the Congregation in their march from Perth to Edinburgh; and probably still further damage was done by Cromwell's dragoons, who used it as a stable. The church belonged to St. Andrew's priory, and was long served by perpetual vicars. It has been recently restored, and made worthy of its great past.

The west doorway is pronounced to be a pleasing specimen of the half continental manner in which that feature was usually treated in Scotland.[287]

Haddington Parish Church (East Lothian) is one of the ecclesiastical structures belonging to the ancient royal burgh of Haddington. Besides it there were the monasteries of the Franciscans and Dominicans, the Cistercian nunnery, and the chapels of St. Martin, St. Ann, St. Katherine, St. John, and St. Ninian. Of these establishments the only two that now survive are St. Martin's (a very ancient chapel) and the parish church, which deserves the name now applied to it (although originally it seems to have been given to the vanished church of the Franciscan monastery) on account both of its beauty and the distance at which its lights were visible—Lucerna Laudoniae, or Lamp of Lothian. The ancient church of Haddington was founded by David I., dedicated to the Virgin, and by him granted in 1134 to the priory of St. Andrew. The present structure is of later date, and from the style of the architecture, was probably rebuilt in the first half of the fifteenth century.[288] The church is cruciform, having choir and nave, both with side aisles, and north and south transepts without aisles. Over the crossing is the central tower. The choir and transepts are ruinous, and the restored nave is used as the parish church. The tower was originally crowned with a canopy or spire of open work similar to that of St. Giles, Edinburgh, and King's College, Aberdeen; and large picturesque gargoyles still break the line of the cornice on the top. Although the edifice has been so sadly damaged, it does not appear to have suffered at the Reformation. The town was under siege in 1548, when it was held by the English after the battle of Pinkie, and was attacked and taken by the Scots and their French allies. It is not unlikely that the church suffered at that time.

PARISH CHURCHES OF THIRD OR LATE POINTED PERIOD

Parish Church of St. John the Baptist, Perth.—The ancient city of Perth possessed many endowed religious establishments, but the only one that survives is the church of St. John the Baptist, from which the city derived its title of "St. John's Town." This church, divided by walls so as to form three separate places of worship, is still the parish church of the town. The first church of Perth was probably connected with the neighbouring Pictish monastery at Abernethy, and was erected by the monks there during the Celtic period. The register of Dunfermline contains the earliest historical mention of the church under the years 1124-1127, when it was granted by David I., with its property and tithes, to that abbey. The church was consecrated by David de Bernham, Bishop of St. Andrews, in 1242, and it is stated that the heart of Alexander III. was buried in the church of St. John.[289] The abbots of Dunfermline allowed the building to become ruinous, and tried to place upon the citizens of Perth the burden of upholding the fabric. The interest of the citizens seems to have been diverted from the church, and directed, probably at the beginning of the thirteenth century, to the building of the Dominican monastery, and about the middle of the century to the erection of the Carmelite or Whitefriars' monastery. It is probable that in connection with repairs necessary for the church, King Robert the Bruce in 1328 granted that stones might be taken from quarries belonging to the Abbey of Scone, "for the edification of the Church of Perth." Of the twelfth century church of St. John nothing now remains to indicate its architecture, although it may have been both magnificent and extensive. After the death of Robert the Bruce in 1329 the restoration begun by him probably ceased, and during the unrest of the fourteenth century the church probably suffered further damage. In 1335 King Edward III. was in Perth, and slew his brother, John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall, before the high altar of the Church of St. John for his excesses and ravages in the western districts of Scotland. In 1393-1394, after a parliament at Scone, Walter Trail, Bishop of St. Andrews, conducted divine service in St. John's Church. From 1401 till 1553-1556 there is a continuous record of the foundation of altars in the church, and of endowment of already existing ones. The chapel in which St. James' altar was situated stood on the south side of the church, and the foundation charter of the altar of St. John the Evangelist, founded in 1448 by Sir John de Bute, states that the altar was situated "in the new choir of the Parish Church." The church consists of a choir and nave, with north and south aisles, and north and south transepts without aisles. The nave and choir are of almost equal length; there was a chapel on the west side of the north transept that no longer exists, but the wide arch of the opening into it is partly visible in the transept. It was two storeys in height.

It is pronounced[290] as evident from the style of the architecture that the choir and crossing beneath the central tower belong to the period about 1448. The transepts may be later, and both are of the same period. The two eastern bays of the main arcade of the choir are more elaborately moulded than the others, and round the eastmost pillar on the south side there is cut an inscription containing the names of John Fullar and his wife.[291] It has been remarked that the tithes and fees received by the magistrates probably did not suffice for the work laid on them by the monks of Dunfermline, and that John Fullar and his wife volunteered to pay for a part, certainly for the pillar on which their names are inscribed. In the second bay of the choir from the east on the north side there is a round arched doorway, now built up, and it led to the sacristy, afterwards used as a session-house; it was taken down about 1800, and the meetings were held in a building on the south side of the nave near the west end, which has also been removed. The present north and south doorways in the choir are modern, although the south one is in the position of the old doorway. The choir has no triforium, but good plain masonry instead, undivided by wall shafts; the clerestory windows are small and round arched, are divided into two lights by a central mullion, and have plain tracery in the arch-head. The nave is divided, like the choir, into five bays, and has no triforium nor clerestory; there is a deep blank wall above the arcade arches. "This wall is of rough masonry compared to that in the choir, and the whole of this part of the church is of a much coarser and ruder description, betokening a later age. The capitals of the piers are of the very rudest kind, and are a perfect contrast to the delicate work of the choir. In the meagre description of St. John's to be found in the books on Perth, this rudeness is pointed to as a sign of great antiquity, but the reverse is unquestionably the case. This nave is undoubtedly 'the New Kirk of Perth' referred to in the Chronicle, in which 'ane Synodall assemblie' was held in April 1606."[292] Early in the nineteenth century it was contemplated to raise the nave wall and erect a clerestory; two of the windows adjoining the tower on the north side were actually built, and still remain with massive buttresses, surmounted by high finials; the work was never finished, and could not be carried farther west, as there is no proper support for such a massive building. Tradition says that at one time the church extended farther west, and it seems not improbable that a western tower in the centre of the front may have been contemplated, and even begun. "This tower, like those at Stirling, Linlithgow, and Dundee, may have been intended to open towards the church with a wide arch, of which the jambs still remain; but this idea having been abandoned, and any part of the tower which then had been built having been taken down, the present makeshift gable was put up instead to fill up the gap, which, in these circumstances, would be left for the supposed opening into the church."[293] On the north side of the nave there is a large porch called Halkerston's Tower. It was a two-storied building, the upper storey being of great height and vaulted as well as the lower one. The erection of the west end of the church is referable to about 1489,[294] when payments were made "to the kirk werk of Pertht." The central tower was erected after the adjoining part of the nave, and has one window in each face. The parapet and corbelling were renewed about forty years ago.[295] The exterior of the church has been altered at various times, and an open parapet carried along the top of the choir wall over the clerestory windows as well as along the aisle walls and up the sloping gables of the east end. Dormer windows to light the galleries break in on this aisle-wall parapet, as well as on the roof of the nave.

It was in the Church of St. John, Perth, that John Knox denounced the Mass in 1559, and the multitude afterwards demolished the ornaments, images, and altarpieces as well as the monasteries and religious houses in Perth—an example quickly followed by others throughout the country. In Scott's novel, The Fair Maid of Perth, the church is the scene of the trial by bier-right to discover the slayer of Proudfute.

The East Church (or choir) has been recently restored, and many look forward to the day when, the present partition walls being removed, St. John's Church will once more reveal the full splendour of its striking and grand interior. Perth awaits a generous restorer, and St. John's affords a grand opportunity for patriotism and beneficence.

DUNDEE CHURCH TOWER

About 1198 the church of Dundee was bestowed on Lindores Abbey, and the church then existing is stated to have been erected by David, Earl of Huntingdon, as a thank-offering for his escape from a storm at sea. About 1442 an agreement was formed between the abbot of Lindores and the provost and burgesses of Dundee, by which the latter undertook the construction and maintenance of the choir of Dundee Church. The only part of the ancient church which now remains is the western tower, and it was erected about 1450.[296] Three parish churches in connection with the tower were developed from the original chapel—St. Mary's or the East Church, St. Paul's or the South Church, St. Clement's or the West Church. The church was damaged by the English before the Union, and St. Clement's had to be rebuilt in 1789. The three churches were almost totally destroyed by fire in 1841, and the choir and transepts were thereafter rebuilt. The church tower survived, and has resisted for over four centuries storm and tempest, fire and siege. Its massive strength and height are features that strike the eye from far. It is square, and 165 feet high. The western entrance consists of two round arched doorways, comprised within a larger circular or elliptical arch, which is again enclosed by a square moulding. The arch mouldings are enriched with foliage, while the jambs and central pillar are moulded with alternate rounds and hollows. In the spandril over the centre shaft there is a circular panel with a Virgin and Child; below are the arms of the diocese of Brechin on a shield. Above the doorway is a lofty traceried window, and above this window the tower is vaulted. The height from the floor to the groined ceiling is about 47 feet. At each of the four corners there is a large circular shaft, and each shaft is fitted into its position in a manner different from the others. The sedilia or stone seats still remain entire, and extend along the north, south, and west walls. The tower is divided into two principal stages by an enriched parapet and outside passage. The parapet is pierced with quatrefoils and ornamented with crocketed pinnacles. The roof is of the saddle-back kind, with gables towards the east and west. It was evidently meant to have an open crown termination, and the preparations exist for the springing of the angle arches.[297]

The tower was restored by the eminent Sir Gilbert Scott in 1871-1873.

Stirling Parish Church.—Two churches in Stirling are spoken of in the reign of David I. One of them was the chapel royal, which was dedicated by Alexander I.; and the "vicar" of the "Kirk of Stirling" is mentioned in 1315 and in the time of David II. There are also notices of it in the reigns of Robert II. and Robert III., when it is designated as the Church of the Holy Cross of Stirling. Of this earlier church, which was burnt, nothing now remains. The present edifice consists of two divisions, the nave and the choir, which were built at two different periods. The nave, which is the oldest part, is referred to in the Chamberlain's Accounts from July 1413 to June 1414, and the date of the choir is known to be between 1507 and 1520.

The church contains a central nave with north and south aisles (the aisles being vaulted in stone), an eastern apse, and a western tower. The nave has five bays, the choir three bays, and they are separated by a wide bay which may be termed the crossing. The crossing now serves as an entrance hall to the two churches, into which the building is now divided. Walls are built across each side of the crossing, so as to enclose the choir as one church and the nave as the other. The west tower, which is vaulted, opens into the nave through a lofty pointed arch, springing from moulded responds. The original entrance to the church was through the western tower, but the western doorway was destroyed in 1818, and part of a window now occupies its place. The tower is pronounced to be one of the best specimens of the Scottish architecture of the sixteenth century, as applied to ecclesiastical structures,[298] and the situation of the church on the Castle Hill gives it an imposing and picturesque effect.

The piers of the nave (with the exception of two) are round and massive cylinders, and the east and west responds are semi-cylinders. The general appearance of these pillars has been taken to illustrate what is so often found in Scotland (both in ecclesiastic and domestic work) during the fifteenth century and onwards—viz. a tendency to imitate Norman and Early Pointed details.

"This tendency is also seen in the nave piers of Dunkeld Cathedral, in the piers and arches of the naves of Aberdour Church and Dysart Church, in the imitation of First Pointed work in the late cloisters of Melrose, and many other examples which might be cited. But the later counterfeit is never perfect, there being always some touch of contemporary design which reveals the imitation.[299]"

Over the crossing was an upper room, known as the King's room, from which the service could be seen, but it was destroyed about the middle of this century. At the north-west corner of the church was a chapel (now removed) with a wide opening into the church. It was called Queen Margaret's, and is supposed to have been built by James IV. in honour of his queen. Another chapel was dedicated to St. Andrew at the north-east end of the nave, and is still entire. It was erected by Duncan Forrester of Garden, Knight, who was a liberal benefactor of the church.

The church is associated with many historical events. It was here that the Regent Arran publicly renounced Protestantism in 1543, and here in the following year also the Convention met that appointed Mary of Guise regent. The church, although "purged" in 1559, was not injured, and was used in 1567 for the coronation of James VI., then but thirteen months old. When General Monk in 1651 was besieging the castle, the church tower was one of the points of vantage seized by his soldiers, and the little bullet pits all over it indicate how hot must have been the fire directed against them. It was held by the Highlanders in 1746, and its bells pealed in honour of the victory at Falkirk. John Knox has preached within its venerable walls.

It was divided into two buildings in 1656, and comprises still the east and west parish churches, the east being renovated in 1869. Since then a large number of stained-glass windows have been introduced.

Church of St. Leonard's College, St. Andrews.—The Hospitium or Guest Hall of St. Leonard's was founded by Prior John White in the middle of the thirteenth century for the reception of pilgrims and visitors to St. Andrews. Some remains of the guest hall have been excavated, from which it seems to have been a hall with central nave and two side aisles. The building was afterwards used as a nunnery, and in 1512 was appropriated as a college. It was then founded by Prior John Hepburn in conjunction with Archbishop Alexander Stewart. As a college, it was under the superintendence of the prior and chapter, and was for the education of twenty-four poor students. It became famous, however, and was attended by sons of noblemen. George Buchanan was at one time principal, and the college helped to spread a knowledge of sacred music throughout the country. A long range of buildings on the south side of the church was used as the students' residence. The church was long used for public worship, but after the college of St. Leonard's was united to that of St. Salvator in 1747, St. Leonard's was abandoned in 1759. Within recent times several alterations have been made on it, the steeple being taken down and the west end "set back" to give more room for access to a private house.

The chapel is an oblong, and is without division between nave and chancel. The church appears to have been extended 24 feet at the east end, when it was converted into a college.[300] The design of windows and buttresses (perpendicular) is pronounced to accord well with the date of erection in the sixteenth century, and is similar to that of English colleges. On the north side is a room with a round barrel vault, probably the sacristy.[301] There is a piscina in the east window sill.

Church of The Holy Trinity, St. Andrews.—This church, usually named the Town Church, is of ancient foundation, but was almost entirely rebuilt at the end of the eighteenth century. An early church is said to have been built here in 1112 by Bishop Turgot, and subsequently dedicated by Bishop de Bernham to the Holy Trinity. It had in its palmy days thirty altarages, each with a separate priest and fifteen choristers, and it was from the pulpit here that John Knox preached his famous sermon on the purifying of the temple. The church demolished at the close of last century is believed to have been erected in 1412.[302] The north-west tower is the only part of the old structure which survives.[303]

"Like the north-west tower at Cupar, it rises from the north and west walls of the north aisle, without buttresses to mark its outline or break the upright form of the walls. The square outline, however, is partly relieved by a square projection at north-west angle, which contains the staircase. The east and south walls are carried by arches, which formerly allowed the lower story of the tower to be included within the church, and the round pier at the south-east angle is made of extra thickness, so as to bear the weight of the tower."[304]

The parapet is plain and rests on simple corbels. Above it rises a short and stunted octagonal spire with lucarnes, like most of the late Scottish examples. There is over the staircase a small turret with pointed roof. It is carried up within the parapet, and groups picturesquely with the main spire. The tower resembles the one at Wester Crail, and both are of fifteenth century date. It is of this tower or steeple[305] that we hear in John Knox's History of the Reformation in Scotland. When a captive on a French galley lying between Dundee and St. Andrews the second time that the ship returned to Scotland (probably June 1548),

"The said Johne (Knox), being so extreamlye seak that few hoped his lyeff, the said Maister James (Balfour) willed him to look to the land, and asked if he knew it? Who answered, "Yes, I know it weall: for I see the stepill of that place whare God first in publict opened my mouth to His glorie, and I am fullie persuaded, how weak that ever I now appear, that I shall nott departe this lyif till that my toung shall glorifie his godlie name in the same place."[306] His hope, as we have just seen, was not disappointed."



CHAPTER VI

SCOTTISH MONASTICISM

The old Celtic monastic system, with Iona as its centre, was superseded by the monastic system of the Roman Church in the eleventh century, and the old Culdee monks were either driven from their ancient settlements or compelled to become Augustinian canons or Benedictine monks. The life of Queen Margaret marks the period of transition in Scotland from the old system to that of the Church of Rome both in building and in every other department, and what Queen Margaret began, her sons, Edgar, Alexander and David completed. St. Margaret had a monk of Durham for her chaplain; Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, was her chosen counsellor. She introduced Benedictines from Canterbury into her foundation at Dunfermline. Edgar and Alexander took for their adviser St. Anselm—Lanfranc's successor, preferred English priests, and peopled the monasteries with English monks. David was even more earnest in the pursuit of this policy, and the kings who followed him found little to "Anglicise." Saxon refugees were followed into Scotland by Norman knights; these were received by David and presented with lands, and the extent of their possessions is apparent in the names of the proprietors settled in every part of the country. The policy is apparent: their settlement helped to keep the country in order, and defend it from the attacks of the unsubdued tribes in the north and west. It also helped to facilitate the spread of the Roman Catholic system throughout the country. "The new colonists," says Dr. Cosmo Innes, "were of the 'upper classes' of Anglican families long settled in Northumbria, and Normans of the highest blood and name. They were men of the sword, above all service and mechanical employment. They were fit for the society of court, and many became the chosen companions of our princes. The old native people gave way before them, or took service under the strong-handed strangers, who held lands by the written gift of the sovereign."[307] ... "The new settlers were of the progressive party, friends of civilisation and the Church. They had found churches on their manors, or if not already there, had founded them. To each of these manorial churches the lord of the manor now made a grant of the tithes of his estate; his right to do so does not seem to have been questioned, and forthwith the manor—tithed to its church—became what we now call a parish."[308] Examples of these parish churches have already been considered, and the two-fold movement of a cathedral system with parochial benefices was continued for a time. It was the most effective way of superseding the old Celtic church, and the policy was throughout inspired by the aim of substituting the parochial system with a diocesan episcopacy for the old tribal churches with monastic jurisdiction and functional episcopacy. But this was accompanied by a third movement, which to a very great extent paralysed it, and became a source of weakness to religion. The parochial system was shipwrecked when scarcely formed by the introduction of monasticism, which was then in the ascendant throughout Europe. "The new monks," says Dr. Cosmo Innes, "of the reformed rule of St. Benedict or canons of St. Augustine, pushing aside the poor lapsarian Culdees, won the veneration of the people by their zealous teaching and asceticism.... The church, too, with all its dues and pertinents, was bestowed on the monastery and its patron saint for ever, reserving only a pittance for a poor priest to serve the cure, or sometimes allowing the monks to serve it by one of their own brethren. William the Lion gave thirty-three parishes to the new monastery of Arbroath, dedicated to the latest and most fashionable High Church saint, Thomas a Becket."[309]

The Church thus became territorial instead of tribal; episcopal instead of abbatial, and the new abbeys began to acquire large territory in the country. By the end of the thirteenth century the old line of Celtic kings closed in Alexander, and the movement was complete; the Church had ceased to be Celtic in usage and character, and had become Roman. This stream of tendency came from the south, and cathedrals with abbeys were constituted after English models. "Of the Scottish sees, all," says Dr. Joseph Robertson, "save three or four, were founded or restored by St. David, and their cathedral constitutions were formally copied from English models. Thus the chapter of Glasgow took that of Salisbury for its guide. Dunkeld copied from the same type, venerable in its associations with the name of St. Osmund, whose "Use of Sarum" obtained generally throughout Scotland. Elgin or Moray sent to Lincoln for its pattern, and transmitted it, with certain modifications, to Aberdeen and to Caithness. So it was also with the monasteries. Canterbury was the mother of Dunfermline; Durham, of Coldingham; St. Oswald's at Nosthill, near Pontefract, was the parent of Scone, and through that house, of St. Andrews and Holyrood. Melrose and Dundrennan were daughters of Rievaux, in the North Riding. Dryburgh was the offspring of Alnwick; Paisley, of Wenlock."[310]

Roman monasticism thus became an important factor in Scottish life, and it is true to say that for a very considerable period the history both of piety and civilisation in Scotland was the history of its monasticism. It was a stage in the national development, a movement in religious progress, and it was only abolished when the salt had lost its savour, when monasticism had ceased to be spiritual and had become worldly and corrupt. The system had served its day in helping to educate the nation, and when its purpose was achieved it passed away.

Mediaeval architecture was, too, the outcome of the leisure in the cloister, and the men who designed and built those venerable temples must have been men to whom their work was their religion, and who regarded it as the way of honouring God. One cannot look at their architecture without realising how true are Ruskin's definitions of Art:—"Art has for its business to praise God."[311] "Great Art is the expression of a God-made great man."[312] "Art is the expression of delight in God's work."[313] "All great art is praise." "Art is the exponent of ethical life."[314] One cannot look at their ruins and not recall that by their destruction a beauty has passed away from the earth; one cannot read of the rude forces that destroyed them, and not see that the judgment on things is always on character, and that the last testing principle is, "See—not what manner of stones, but what manner of men." While we deplore the forces that destroyed, we have also to deplore the indefensible lives of the monks which at their last stage stirred such forces to their depths.

There were four principal rules, under which might be classed all the religious orders. (1) That of St. Basil, which prevailed by degrees over all the others in the East, and which is retained by all the Oriental monks; (2) That of St. Augustine, which was adopted by the regular canons, the order of Premontre, the order of the Preaching Brothers or Dominicans, and several military orders. (3) That of St. Benedict, which, adopted successively by all the monks of the West, still remained the common rule of the monastic order, properly so called, up to the thirteenth century; the orders of the Camaldules of Vallombrosa, of the Carthusians, and of Citeaux recognised this rule as the basis of their special constitutions, although the name of monk of St. Benedict or Benedictine monk may still be specially assigned to others. (4) The Rule of St. Francis signalised the advent of the Mendicant orders in the thirteenth century. It is to be noted that the denomination of monks is not generally attributed to the religious who follow the rule of St. Augustine, nor to the Mendicant orders.[315]

The canonical hours at which the monastic bell regularly summoned the monks were seven in number:—(1) Prime, about 6 A.M.; (2) Tierce, about 9 A.M.; (3) Sext, about noon; (4) Nones, from 2 to 3 P.M.; (5) Vespers, about 4 P.M. or later; (6) Compline, 7 P.M.; (7) Matins and Lauds, about midnight.

Scottish monasticism exhibited the expansion of the two main streams—the Augustinian and the Benedictine, and each subsequent order is to be regarded as an endeavour towards reform. Space will only permit us to deal with the Augustinian establishments at St. Andrews, Holyrood, and Jedburgh; with the Premonstratensian abbey of Dryburgh; with the Benedictine abbey of Dunfermline; with the Cluniacensian abbey of Paisley; with the Tyronensian abbeys of Kelso and Arbroath; with the Cistercian abbey of Melrose. The Premonstratensian order was a reform on the Augustinian, and the Cluniacensian, Tyronensian, and Cistercian orders, reforms on the Benedictine order. A study of their history and architecture in representative forms will introduce us to the piety and beauty of former days, as well as to an order of things very different from our own.[316]

St. Andrew's Priory.—The priory or Augustinian monastery was situated to the south of the cathedral (q.v.), and was founded by Bishop Robert in 1144. The structure has now almost disappeared. It comprised about twenty acres, and was enclosed about 1516 by Prior John Hepburn with a magnificent wall, which, starting at the north-east corner of the cathedral, passed round by the harbour and along behind the houses, till it joined the walls of St. Leonard's College on the south-west.

This, about a mile in extent, is all that now remains, but it is thought at one time to have passed back from the college to the cathedral. The wall has thirteen turrets, and each has a canopied niche for an image. The portion towards the shore has a parapet on each side, as if designed for a walk. There were three gateways, the chief of which, on the S.W., is known as the Pends, and of which considerable ruins still remain. Another gateway is near the harbour, and the third was on the S. side. Martine in his Reliquiae Divi Andreae mentions that in his time fourteen buildings were discernible besides the cathedral and St. Rule's Chapel. Among these were the Prior's House or the old inn to the S.E. of the cathedral, of which only a few vaults now remain; the cloisters, W. of this house, and now the garden of a private house, in the quadrangle of which the Senzie Fair used to be held, beginning in the second week of Easter, and continuing for fifteen days; the Senzie House, or house of the sub-prior, subsequently used as an inn, but now pulled down and the site occupied by a private house. The refectory was on the S. side of the cloister, and has now disappeared, as well as the dormitory between the Prior's House and the cloister, and from which Edward I. carried off all the lead to supply his battering machines at the siege of Stirling. The Guests' Hall was within the precincts of St. Leonard's College, S.W. of Pend's Lane; the Teinds' Barn, Abbey Mill, and Granary were all to the S.W. The new inn, the latest of all the buildings, was erected for the reception of Magdalene, the first wife of James V. The young queen, of delicate constitution, was advised by her physicians to reside here; she did not live to occupy the house, as she died on 7th July 1537, six weeks after her arrival in Scotland. It was for a short time the residence of Mary of Guise when she first arrived in Scotland, and after the priory was annexed to the archbishopric in 1635 the building became the residence of the later archbishops. Several of its canons had sympathies with the Scottish Reformation. The prior of St. Andrews had superiority over the priories of Pittenweem, Lochleven, Monymusk, and the Isle of May, and was also a lord of regality. In Parliament he took precedence of all priors, and he, his sub-prior, and canons formed the cathedral chapter. The priory possessed in all thirty-two churches or their great tithes. From 1144 to 1535 there were twenty-five priors; from 1535 to 1586 the lands were in the possession of the Earl of Murray and Robert Stewart, as lay commendators; from 1586 to 1606 they were held by the Crown; from 1606 to 1635 by the Duke of Lennox; from 1635 to 1639 by the Archbishop of St. Andrews; from 1639 to 1661 by the University; from 1661 to 1688 by the archbishop again; from 1688 by the Crown. The part within the abbey wall was sold by the Commissioners of Woods and Forests to the United Colleges.[317]

Holyrood Abbey (Midlothian).—The abbey of Holyrood was founded by King David I. in 1128 for the canons regular of the order of St. Augustine, and was dedicated in honour of the holy cross or rood brought to Scotland by his mother, Queen Margaret. This cross, called the Black Rood of Scotland, fell into the hands of the English at the battle of Neville's Cross in 1346. The abbey was several times burned by the English, and the nave on the last of these occasions, 1547, was repaired with the ruins of the choir and transepts. This was used as the parish church till 1672, when it was converted into the chapel royal. In 1687 it was set apart by King James VII. for the service of the Roman Catholic Church, but was plundered and again burned at the Revolution in the following year. It remained neglected until 1758, when it was repaired and roofed; the new roof, proving too heavy for the walls, fell with a crash in 1768, destroying all the new work. It suffered neglect again till 1816, when it was repaired, and in 1857 it was still further improved.

The abbey early became the occasional abode of the kings of Scotland, and James II. was born, crowned, married, and buried in it. The foundations of a palace apart from the abbey were laid in the time of James IV., Edinburgh having then become the acknowledged capital of the country. Holyrood Palace was henceforth the chief seat of the Scottish sovereigns. In it the nuptials of James IV. were celebrated; here also Mary Queen of Scots took up her abode in 1561 on her return from France, and here James VI. dwelt much before his accession to the throne of England in 1603.

The abbey church was beautiful in its architecture and of great size. It consisted of nave, choir, transepts with aisles, and probably lady chapel to the east, two western towers, and a tower over the crossing; but of all that splendid structure there now only remain the ruins of the nave and one western tower.

The surviving nave is in a ruinous state and consists of eight bays, the main piers of which are complete on the south side, but only represented by two fragments on the north side.[318] The vaulting of the south aisle still survives, but that of the north aisle is gone. The north wall of the aisle still stands, and the east and west ends of the nave are restored. The N.W. tower is still preserved, but the companion tower at the S.W. angle was demolished when the palace was rebuilt in the seventeenth century. Some remains of the cloister are still observable on the S. side of the nave.

The chief part of the architecture is pronounced to be first pointed, but the doorway at the S.E. angle, which led from the cloister into the nave is pronounced to be of genuine though late Norman architecture. There was a nook shaft on either side, the divided cushion caps of which survive. The arch is round and contains two orders, both ornamented with zigzags. These orders are enclosed with a label, containing a double row of square facets and sinkings.

Some alterations have taken place adjoining the doorway, and two of the windows, that over the doorway and that to the west of it, are circular-headed and have a Norman character in their nook shafts and cushion caps. These windows were probably constructed in imitation of Norman windows which existed there originally. It is not improbable that the choir was built before the nave, and was of Norman work, and this supposition is regarded as accounting for the Norman work found at the first bay of the nave, and which may have been erected in connection with the choir and crossing.

The oldest part of the nave after the S.E. doorway is the wall of the north aisle. The windows above the arcade are single lancets, one in each bay. The south wall of the south aisle is similarly designed, but the details are different and of a rather later character. The lower story contains a wall arcade having single pointed arches, with first pointed mouldings. The windows over the arcade correspond generally to those in the north wall, and are all pointed except the two east bays already mentioned. The lower part of the exterior of the south wall, running westward from the Norman doorway, is arcaded with a series of large pointed arches, each enclosing five smaller pointed arches, and with a plain wall space between the large and small arches. The above large arches were the wall arches for a groined roof over the cloister walk, but whether that vault was ever built it is now regarded as impossible to say. The vaulting of both aisles has apparently been similar, but the south aisle alone retains it, which is of a simple character, consisting of transverse and diagonal ribs.

The main arcade of the nave has consisted of eight bays; the triforium is divided into two arches in each bay by a single central shaft, springing from a corbel over the apex of each arch of the main arcade, and running up to the string-course beneath the clerestory. This would suggest the view that the vaulting was sex-partite. Each arch of the triforium is acutely pointed, and contains two smaller pointed arches within it, each of which has an inner trefoiled arch. The tympanum of the large arch is pierced with a quatrefoil or trefoil. To counteract the weakening tendency of the triforium passage, saving arches, as may be seen from the south, have been introduced to carry the chief pressure across from main pier to main pier. A similar strengthening arch exists in the outer wall of the triforium gallery at Amiens. The west end is pronounced to have contained the finest work of the building, and the west door with the two towers must have presented a lovely and imposing front. The S.W. tower was removed to make way for the palace being erected, and even the W. doorway is encroached on by the palace wall. A portion of the S.W. tower is still visible in the interior, and contains a doorway. The upper part of the W. end was reconstructed by Charles I. in 1633, and contains two nondescript windows of seventeenth century Gothic with an inscription between them. The tympanum of the doorway has also been altered at this time, and an oaken lintel introduced containing a shield with the initials of Charles I. The western doorway has been a beautiful specimen of first pointed work, and the W. side of the N.W. tower is ornamented with two tiers of arcades. "The lower arcade contains five pointed arches, with a trefoiled arch within each. These rest on triple shafts, with carved caps and rounded abaci. Over each shaft and between the arches there is a circle containing a boldly carved Norman head. The feature is unique and its effect is fine. The upper arcade consists of three larger arches, each containing two smaller arches, and all resting on shafts with carved and rounded caps. The shields in the larger arches are pierced with bold quatrefoils. Two circles occur in the spandrils over the arches, but they do not now contain heads."[319] The same design is continued round the S. side of the tower, and along the W. wall of the nave as far as the main doorway, but the N. and E. sides of the tower are plain. Above the two arcades the tower contains a large two-light window on the N.E. and W. sides. Each window is divided into two openings by a single central shaft, having a carved cap and broad square abacus, on which rest the two plain pointed arches of the inner openings. The shield above is pierced with a bold quatre-foil. The two western piers of the crossing are still standing, and within the arch there has been erected in modern times a large traceried window. The spaces below the window and across the side aisles have been built up with fragments of the demolished structure, and a window is thus formed at the east end of each aisle.

The church has evidently undergone a thorough repair during the fifteenth century, probably during the period when Crawford was abbot (1460-1483). "The work executed at this time consisted of the addition of seven buttresses on the north side and several buttresses on the south side of the aisles. Those on the north side are large, and may either enclose the old buttresses or have been substituted for them. They have a set-off near the centre, above which each contains an elaborately ornamented and canopied niche. Beneath and above the niche there are carved panels, which have contained angels and shields, with coats of arms. The arms of Abbot Crawford are said to have been carved on the panels, but they are now too much decayed to be distinguishable. Above the upper panels the buttresses are continued with several set-offs, and finished with a small square pinnacle. The pinnacles have been crocheted and terminated with a carved finial, but they are now greatly wasted away. There were, doubtless, flying arches from the above buttresses to the clerestory, but they must have fallen with the roof. A somewhat elaborate north doorway has been introduced, in a style similar to that of the buttresses, in the second bay from the west tower. The arch is semicircular, and has an ogee canopy. There are small niches above the arch on each side which contained statues, now demolished. This doorway was probably constructed by Abbot Crawford at the same date as the buttresses."[320]

"A series of buttresses was also erected about the same time on the south side of the fabric. It is believed, however, that these buttresses are partly old or are on old foundations. In order not to interfere with the cloister walk, which ran along next the south wall, and where it would have been inconvenient to have any projections, the buttresses were carried in the form of flying arches over the top of the cloister roof. At the clerestory level flying arches, similar to those on the north side, rested against the upper portions of buttresses and pinnacles introduced between the windows. On the outside of the cloister walk the flying arch abutted upon oblong masses of masonry, which probably at one time were finished with pinnacles, but these no longer exist."[321]

Robert Bellenden, the twenty-fifth abbot of Holyrood, and successor to Abbot Crawford,[322] presented the abbey with bells, a great brass font, and a chalice of gold. He was also beneficent to the poor, and completed the restoration of the fabric by covering the roof with lead. This happened about 1528, and in 1539 the office of commendator was given to Robert, natural son of James V., while still an infant. The brass font was carried off by Sir Richard Lee, an officer in Hertford's army, in 1544, and was removed to St. Alban's Abbey. It was afterwards sold for old metal. The brass lectern of the abbey was also taken by Sir Richard Lee, and presented to the Parish Church of St. Stephen's at St. Alban's, where it still is. It is in the form of an eagle with outstretched wing, and contains a shield with a lion rampant and a crozier, with the inscription, "Georgius Crichton, Episcopus Dunkeldensis."[323] Before becoming bishop, Crichton was abbot of Holyrood, 1515-22.

Jedburgh Abbey (Roxburghshire).—In 1118 David I., while Prince of Cumbria, founded a priory on the banks of the Jed, and placed it in possession of canons regular from the Abbey of St. Quentin at Beauvais in France. In 1147 the priory was raised to the dignity of an abbey and dedicated to the Virgin Mary, while the smaller buildings of the priory served as a nucleus for the larger buildings of the abbey. Its abbots were sometimes men of distinction, and in 1285, when John Morel was abbot, Alexander III. was married in the abbey with much ceremony to Iolanda, daughter of the Count de Dreux. In the wars between England and Scotland (1297-1300) the abbey suffered so severely that the monks were unable to inhabit it, and were billeted on other religious houses. Jedburgh had to bear the brunt of many English onslaughts, and in 1410, 1416, 1464 it was damaged by repeated attacks of the English. In 1523 both town and abbey fell before the forces of the Earl of Surrey. The abbey was stripped of everything valuable and set on fire. In 1544-1545 the process of destruction was twice repeated under Sir Ralph Eure and the Earl of Hertford respectively. In 1559 the abbey was suppressed, and its resources went to the Crown. For some years it was left a roofless ruin, and a building designed for the parish church was afterwards erected within the nave, roofed over at the level of the triforium, and used as a place of worship till 1875, when a new church built in excambion by the Earl of Lothian was opened for worship, and the abbey ruin can now be viewed "clear of that incubus upon its lovely proportions."

Like most ancient buildings that have been added to from time to time, the abbey shows different styles of architecture, and the choir, which is early Norman, is undoubtedly the oldest part. The church consists of a choir with side aisles extending eastward for two bays, beyond which was an aisleless presbytery, the east end of which is demolished; a nave of nine bays, which had vaulted side aisles; a central crossing with square tower above; a north transept well preserved, and a south transept, of which the south end is destroyed.[324]

It has been suggested that the choir may have terminated with an eastern apse, but of this there is no proof. What survives consists of two bays next the crossing, the lower portions of which are in the Norman style. A unique arrangement is visible here, as far as Scotland is concerned, and resembles a somewhat similar design at Gloucester Cathedral and Romsey Church, Hampshire. The main piers have the peculiarity of being carried up as massive cylindrical columns to the arch over the triforium. The lower story has the round arch and vaulting ribs supported on corbels, projected from the round face of the piers. The triforium arch is round and moulded, and has a well-wrought chevron ornament. "It rests on large caps of the divided cushion pattern. The main arch is formed into two openings by a central round shaft and two half round responds, with massive cushion caps carrying plain arches."[325]

The clerestory is of Transition work, having one lofty stilted and pointed arch, and two smaller pointed arches in each bay. When the Transitional clerestory was erected, the eastern part of the choir is thought to have been built, and the remains of two lofty pointed windows are preserved to the east of the cylindrical piers. The same Norman style of architecture as in the choir is continued in the south and north transepts, and appears to have originally also extended into the nave. "This is apparent from the mode in which the string-course over the triforium runs along on the north side from the choir to the nave, where it is broken off. That the Norman nave has probably extended westwards from the crossing is further evidenced by the existence of the west end wall, with its great doorway and windows, and the south doorway to the cloister, which portions are all of characteristic Norman design." The Norman work must have preceded the Transition work in choir and nave by a considerable portion of time. There is no gradual development visible.

The nave (129 feet in length and 27-1/2 feet in breadth) "is divided into nine bays, each of which comprises a main arch resting on clustered piers, a triforium with one round arch containing two pointed arches, and a clerestory forming a continuous arcade, with four pointed arches in each bay. The main clustered piers contain four principal shafts at the angles, and four intermediate shafts between them. The former are brought to a point on the face, the latter are flatter. The caps are simple and of an ordinary transitional form, each with a square abacus. The bases are also simple, and stand on a massive square plinth, a feature not uncommon in Norman work. The arches of the main arcade are somewhat acutely pointed, and the mouldings are bold, and resemble first pointed work."

The clerestory shafts are of trefoil section; the arches are all pointed, and contain first pointed mouldings. The west end of the nave and doorway are Norman in character, and Sir Gilbert Scott declared the great western doorway and south doorway to be "perfect gems of refined Norman of the highest class and most artistic finish." The doorpiece is surrounded by three gablets, the central one still retaining a trefoiled arch. The west wall has flat buttresses of Norman character, and "the upper portion of the wall has a central round-headed window, flanked on each side by three small pointed arch heads, the caps carrying which rested on long single free shafts, now gone. The central window has deep mouldings, but no enrichments. The west front has been finished with an octagonal turret on each side, as at Kelso Abbey, and the gable contains a central circular window, which has been filled with tracery at a late date. The west end walls of the aisles have each contained a circular-headed window of Norman design, with a chevron ornament in the arch and a nook shaft at each side."

"The lower part of the walls of the choir and the western wall and doorway and south doorway being all of Norman work, it seems probable that the whole building was set out and partially executed in Norman times, and that the work was either stopped for a considerable period and then resumed, or that the structure, after being completed, was destroyed, and had to be restored in the late Transition style. The Transition work is well advanced in style, and may be regarded as being of the date of the end of the twelfth century or beginning of the thirteenth century."

"The Norman north transept is fairly well preserved, but both the north and south transepts have undergone great repairs about the end of the fifteenth century. The crossing appears to have been so greatly damaged by the assaults of the fifteenth century that it was found necessary to rebuild it. The restoration is distinctly visible in the south-east pier of the crossing, the style of which is quite different from that of the Norman work adjoining in the choir and south transept, and the junction of the new work with the old is very apparent. This pier has clearly been rebuilt. It is plain next the crossing, but next the aisle it consists of a series of shafts with a moulded cap of late date. The upper mouldings of the cap form a continuous straight line, while the bells of the caps are broken round the shafts—a style of cap common in Scotland at the end of the fifteenth century."

"This pier and the south aisle of the choir beside it appear to have been restored by Abbot John Hall (appointed 1478), whose name occurs on the pier and on one of the bosses. The south-west pier of the crossing has also been rebuilt. This work was carried out by Abbot Thomas Cranston (appointed 1482). On a shield on this pier are carved the arms and initials of Abbot Cranston—three cranes and two pastoral staves—saltierwise. The same abbot's initials are placed on the north side of the west arch of the crossing, where the chamfer begins, and on the lower part of the north-west pier. The south-west pier, the north-west pier, and the arch between them would thus appear to have been rebuilt by Abbot Cranston. The base inserted by him is different from the old Norman base.