Chapter XVII: Abbot Robert,
1498-1525
The chapel appears to have been finished before James Crawford drew up his charter of endowment, for in the year following that on which it is dated we find Abbot Robert taking, by notary public, an appeal to the Pope in the chapel of St. Mirin against his namesake Robert, the Archbishop of Glasgow. The Archbishop, like his predecessors, was at war with the Abbot, for the Cathedral and the Abbey were seldom at peace. The prelate had sequestered the fruits of the Abbey churches, he had denied the monks “letters of justice” against detainers of their tithes, he had interfered with them and their monks, notwithstanding their acknowledged exemption from his jurisdiction. He had thus injured them greatly, and had contemned the Apostolic See. Abbot Robert therefore appealed against him to the Pope, though with what measure of success we are not told. The Abbot was in conflict with another neighbouring magnate besides his ordinary. This was Sir John Ross of Halkhead, a well-known knight in his day, and ancestor of a family who have done well by their country. [15] He came into violent collision with the Church. With three of his followers, [16] he “unjustly occupied and laboured the lands of Thornle, lying in the parish of Paisley, and withheld from the Abbey its tiends—sixteen bolls of meal from the lands of Halkhead, and twelve bolls of meal and two of flour from Thornle.” [17] The day was when the thunders of the Church would have been launched at the recusant knight, but these thunders were beginning to be somewhat lightly esteemed—the Abbot therefore applied to the “secular arm,” and raised an action against Sir John, and, as we hear nothing further of the matter, it is probable the knight of Halkhead made peace with his neighbour the Abbot. A few years after his dispute with the Abbot he lay with many another brave man among the heaped up slain on Flodden Field.
The King again made a pilgrimage to Whithorn in 1504, and was entertained by the Abbot on his return. No Scotch King ever travelled more through his dominions. Through the mountains of Perthshire, among the Western Islands, from Berwick-on-Tweed to Tain in Ross-shire he was well-known; and wherever he went he was generously received. He often visited the monasteries, and generally dedicated part of Lent to strict retreat from the world, when constant prayer, fasting, and acts of penance were unsparingly employed to expiate the crime which afflicted his conscience. He was often at the shrine of St. Ninian. He made a pilgrimage to that of St. Duthac in Ross-shire, [18] and with the same object came to that of St. Mirin at Paisley. After the fashion of pilgrims of that time, he mingled a certain amount of dissipation with his devotion. The records of his treasurer are full of payments to “harpers, fithelaris, and lutaris.” At one time, we have nine shillings given to “the brokin-backit fitular of Sanct Androis;” at another payments are made “to the maddins of Forres that dansit to the King.” [19] Abbot Robert was able to offer him some entertainment on his visit to Paisley. Lord Sempill, the Sheriff of the County, was there to meet him, and brought with him John Haislet, [20] his famous minstrel. His performances pleased the King, for he was honoured with a gratuity which is duly recorded in the treasurer's books, “1504. Item the last day of King in Paysley, to Lord Sempille's harper, xiiijs.”
Two years after this, in 1507, the King was back again at the Abbey, this time accompanied by his Queen, Margaret, daughter of Henry VII. She had borne him a son on the 21st February, and being dangerously ill after her delivery, the King, in performance of a vow which he had made during her illness, went on foot to St. Ninian's Church at Whithom. [21] On this occasion he does not appear to have come to Paisley ; but in July of the same year both he and his Queen together made a pilgrimage to the Galloway shrine, to offer thanks for her recovery. [22] On his way going and coming he tarried at Paisley, as we learn from the faithful treasurer's books. Buildings were in progress at the Monastery, and the King inspected them and gave a gratuity to the masons—“1507, Item, IX day of July, to ane man to pass fra Paslay to Dumbartane with ane letter to Andro Bertoun, ijs.—Item, to the masonis in drink-silver, xxiijs.” [23]
[15] The family of the Earls of Glasgow.
[16] William Glenny, John Dunlop, and John Whiteford.
[17] The meal is valued at six shillings and eightpence per boll—the flour at eight shillings. This was in 1503.
[18] This was in 1505.
[19] Chamberlain Accounts.
[20] Second Supplement to Saint Mirin, by David Semple, F.S.A.
[21] Balfour's Annals, Vol. I., p. 228.
[22] Ibid.
[23] Sup. to Saint Mirin, by D. Semple, F.S.A.