Chapter VI: The Priory 1164—1248
The Stewarts held their land from the Crown on condition of their furnishing the service of a certain number of knights, and among the benefactors of the monastery we come on the names of many of these with their Norman and Seignorial titles. The names of De Croc, Radulph de Insula, Philip de Perthec, Alanus de Montgomery, Henricus de Nes, and others, occur frequently; while among them are occasionally seen those of their Saxon followers, such as Thor, Grymketel, Ulfus, and Swene. There are no names, or almost none, of the Celtic inhabitants, the natives of Strathgryfe, who appear to have sunk into entire serfdom, and became the hewers of wood and drawers of water to the Norman lords. [24] They were a Gaelic people who scarcely knew the name of charters ; and, living on their lands without them, they had no valid title to what they possessed in the opinion of English lawyers. The country was Celtic, governed by Celtic customs, and animated by Celtic principles. [25] We hear nothing of any rising of the people in opposition to the intruding Normans and their customs. [26] Those of them who came, with the lands they inhabited, into the guardianship of the convent must have profited by the change. “For ages they had enjoyed no settled government ; crushed by oppression, without security of life or property ; knowing nothing of law but its heavy grip ; alternately plundering and plundered ; neglecting agriculture, and suffering the penalty of famine and disease. They were transferred to kinder masters, who ruled them with a gentler hand, employing them in tilling the soil, and imparting to them a certain amount of culture and education.” [27] It was part of the Benedictine rule, not only to cultivate learning in the cloister, but to impart it to the children of those beyond their walls, and from the very beginning of the Benedictine Order there were in their houses two kinds of schools—a greater or less, according to the size of their house—the greater open to all students, who were free to attend them. [28] The very existence of the Convent must have exercised a certain civilising influence on all classes, Normans and natives, throughout Strathgryfe. The skill and accuracy, and even literary power, with which the early deeds are drawn up show that men of culture had made the priory their home. Architects and masons, and skilled labourers of various kinds, must have been employed for years before the buildings of the Monastery appeared above the surrounding forests, and the mention which we have of mills, roads, carriages, measurements of land, and even gardens, in the early charters tells how agriculture must have made progress under the monastic rule. That rule, however beneficent and liberal in some respects, was very strict in others, and in nothing more than the manner in which it guarded the rights and privileges of the convent. A striking instance of this is given in the deeds of the house during the time of the Priory. [29] Two followers of the Stewart—Robert Croc and Henry de Nes—“special friends” of the house, “inspired by divine love,” came to Roger the Prior and his chapter, asking leave to have churches in their castles, [30] where religious service might be celebrated for themselves, [31] their families, and their guests. The first of these knights who had founded an hospital for the sick, was particularly desirous that religious offices should be performed by a duly qualified person in the hospital for their benefit. Their requests were at once granted, but only on condition that the chaplains should belong to the Monastery, that they should swear fidelity to the Convent, and bring all the offerings made at their chapels to the Mother Church. No parishioners were allowed to hear mass in the chapels, and when any of the brethren at the hospital, or their servants should die, their bodies were to be brought at once to Paisley without celebration of mass at the chapel. The Monastery would allow no interference with its privileges, and Robert Croc and Henry de Nes had to swear that it would suffer no damage from their pious intentions.
[24] On May 12, 1348, a jury was empanelled in the church yard of Kettle, to try a question regarding the ownership of three serfs. The claimants were Alexander, Abbot of Dunfermline, and Duncan, Earl of Fife. The disputed property, consisting of a father and two sons, was found to belong to the Lord Abbot.
[25] David I., in the early part of his reign, granted to the Episcopal Church of Glasgow the tenth of his can in swine and other beasts from his county of Strathgrive (Chart. Glam. 17). Can was a Celtic duty payable to the king or the superior by the occupiers of the land.
[26] Chalmers' Caledonia, vol. 3, p. 778.
[27] Sketches of Early Scottish History, by C. Innes, p. 114.
[28] Historical Sketches by Newman, p. 156.
[29] Reg. de Pas., p. 77.
[30] His castle was at the place called after him, Crocston. Part of this castle, built in the twelfth century, is still standing. See “The Tree of Crocston,” by David Semple, F.S.A., pp. 13 and 21.
[31] The ruins of the Tower of Rais (Roes) can still be seen.