Chapter XI: Accession of the Stewarts, 1329-1370
For twenty-three years after this Scotland endured all the miseries and hardships of war. In almost every battle the name of the young Stewart appears as taking a gallant part. For a considerable time during the captivity of King David de Brus in England he acted as Regent of the kingdom, and notwithstanding the national calamities, he supported the cause of his absent sovereign, and maintained a show of civil government in Scotland. [15] During this period there is not much to record in the annals of the Abbey. In 1346, the 17th year of King David's reign, the newly acquired mitre descended to James, who was then elected Abbot. In 1361, amid his many engagements, the Stewart found time to show his good will towards the Abbey. He gave no gifts after the manner of his ancestors,—the time for new endowments had passed,—but he fully confirmed those already given. The lands are all mentioned by name as lying within the Baronies of Kyle and Renfrew, but we miss from the catalogue several goodly portions which had probably been lost during the national troubles. [16] He did, however, what he could for his friends, and there is ample proof that though burdened by the care of State, he did not neglect to put forth his power for their protection whenever an opportunity was presented. [17] They needed all the friends they could get. In 1351 they became involved in a controversy with David Martin, Bishop of Argyle, who had succeeded Brother Andrew, the prelate who had been so kind to them in their necessity. They carried on the dispute with great vigour, and even our own day, so rife in ecclesiastical bickerings, could not furnish an instance of a more persistent fight. The highland Bishop, under the pretext that the churches of St. Queran, St. Finan, and St. Colmaneli, in his diocese, needed repair, seized upon the revenue which Bishop Andrew, his predecessor, had made over to the Convent for the supply of their table, and to help them in their necessity. Probably enough the Convent had not been so careful of the interests of these distant parishes as they should have been, but they were not willing to part with their property, and appealed piteously to certain conservators of the privileges of the Clunaic Monks whom the Pope had appointed to watch over the rights of the Order. [18] These were ecclesiastics residing in the east of Scotland, [19] who felt it was a hardship to bring the accused Bishop so far from his diocese, since the distance and “dangers of the way” were so great, and who wished to spare parties all the expenses they could. They therefore delegated their powers to four Canons of Glasgow, who were to adjudicate upon the matters in dispute. [20] The Canons, acting on these powers, cited all parties before them. The Bishop, however, paid no attention whatever to their summons. It was “a far cry to Lochawe,” and the citation of four Glasgow Canons was likely to give him as little uneasiness in his Argyleshire castle of Lismore, as the scream of the seagulls of that island fastness. On one occasion on which he was cited to appear in the Glasgow Cathedral he happened to be residing in the city, [21] and treated the command with contempt, and went back to Argyleshire perfectly indifferent as to what they might say or do. This at last roused the ire of the Canons, and they determined to bring the highland prelate to book. He might not have been able to come to them from Argyleshire, for the dangers of the way were great, but to be under the shadow of the Cathedral and to pay no attention to their summons was an open defiance of their authority which they could not and would not submit to. They accordingly took high ground—as in their persons representing the full authority of the Apostolic See—and issued a manifesto to all abbots, priors, deans, archdeacons, officials, rural deans, rectors, vicars, and chaplains, whether holding cures or not, throughout the whole diocese and townships of Argyle and Sodor, and also to the learned Sir Richard Daurog, Walter Rewl, and Thomas de Arthurly, rectors and vicars of Kirkmichael, Herskyn, and Dayel. They stated that they had cited the venerable father in Christ, Lord Martin, by the grace of God, Bishop of Argyle, at the instance and petition of the Abbot and Convent of Paisley, to appear before them on the 30th May, that he had not appeared though he was in the City of Glasgow on that day, and for many days previous, but had contumaciously absented himself, on account of which they adjudged him contumacious, and suspended him altogether from pontificals. [22] They commanded each of the aforesaid clergy, under pain of the greater excommunication, if they refused, within three days after they received the mandate, to take witnesses with them, to go personally into the presence of the said Lord Bishop of Argyle, and announce publicly that the prelate was suspended by the apostolic authority they possessed, from all pontificals on account of his contumacy. They were nevertheless to cite him to appear before them in the Cathedral Church of Glasgow, according to the form and tenor of the first citation, on the fourteenth day of the month of June, to answer to the Abbot and Convent of Paisley, or their procurators, for the loss and injury which was mentioned in the first summons.
[15] Balfour's Annals, Vol. II., p. 21.—Fordun, XIV., 6.
[16] Reg. de Pas., pp. 6, 7.—There is no mention of Prestwick and several other lands.
[17] Reg. de Pas., p. 31.
[18] Reg. de Pas., p. 143.
[19] The Abbots of Cupar, Dunfermlyn, and Newbattle.
[20] They were—John Penney, sub-dean, Neil Carrotherys, Malcolm Kenedy, and Henry de Mundavilla.
[21] Reg. de Pas., p. 145.
[22] Reg. de Pas., p. 145.