Chapter VIII: The Prosperous Times of Alexander III, 1248-1286
The extension of the possessions of the Abbey in the Highlands, which had been fostered by Abbot William, continued steadily for several years after he disappears from view. The Argyleshire chieftains seem to have divided their gifts to the church between Iona and Paisley. Dovenald de Gilchrist, Lord of Tarbert, [14] gave the monks full liberty to cut timber in his woods along Loch Fyne for the building and repair of their monastery. Angus, son of Dovenald, one of the Lords of the Isles, gave them the church of St. Querani in Kentyr. [15] Dugald, the son of Syfyn, [16] in the same district, gave them the church of St. Colmanel, with the chapel of St. Columba, near his castle of Schyphinche, [17] for the welfare of himself and his wives, Juliaine and Johann, and desired that his body, when he died, should be interred at Paisley. These distant possessions appear to have been somewhat difficult to manage. The Abbot on several occasions had recourse to the good offices of the Bishop of Argyle to compel the incumbents of the Highland parishes belonging to the Monastery to render an account of their revenues and pay their dues with regularity, and one of these curates who had bound himself to make the curious annual payment of a “weight of iron commonly called rock (petra)” had to be dealt with very severely, and, in addition to his tribute of iron, was ordained to pay yearly to the monks, at the time of the Glasgow Fair, sixpence, or a pound of wax, an imposition which, even to the Highland pastor of our time, would not appear grievous. [18]
There is a source of revenue, appearing at this time to have been opened up, which is worth noticing, as it indicates the comfortable estate of the Abbey. The monks seem to have largely engaged in money lending, and we constantly find them taking lands and tenements in satisfaction of loans which they had made to people in their necessity. “Adam (called the carpenter), compelled by the necessity of poverty, which knows no law,” makes over to the Abbot and Convent, his lands of Haldingleston, [19] in consideration of a sum of money with which they, in his great need, paid his debts and relieved the poverty of himself and his family. Cecilia, widow of John de Perthec, conveys in like manner her property [20] in Rutherglen, because the Abbot and Convent, “filled with charity,” had given her in her great necessity three chalders of oatmeal. Adam de Burne and Marjory, his wife, being “so borne down by their adversities that they could not rise above them,” sold their lands in Newton of Ayr [21] to the Convent for five merks of silver, which the monks placed in their hands to pay their debts ; and Adam, a burgess of Glasgow, called “of Cardelechan,” [22] transferred his property, lying “in the street of the fishers below the bridge over Clyde,” for a sum of money to enable him to discharge his obligations. Many instances of a similar kind are to be found among the charters of the Abbey, and shew how wealthy a corporation it must have become when it had thus added banking to its other sources of emolument. We form an idea of its wealth at this period from a well-known scheme of taxation of the Church which was drawn up for Scotland in 1275. In that year the Pope sent a certain Boiamund of Vicci to collect the tenth of the benefices of the kingdom for the relief of the Holy Land. The Church resisted the imposition of the subsidy on the ground that it should be imposed, not on the real value (verus valor) of the Church property, but according to an old valuation (taxatio antiqua), and they sent Boiamund back to Rome to state their case. They were not, however, successful in their resistance, and Boiamund returned to Scotland and completed his valuation according to a scheme which was long called “Boiamund or Bagimond's Roll,” and which was the basis of all church taxation until the Reformation [23] In this roll; which is probably correct in the form it has come down to us, the Abbey of Paisley is valued at ₤2666, and that of Crossraguel at ₤533 6s. 4d.
[14] Reg. de Pas., p. 157.
[15] Ibid, p. 127.
[16] Ibid, p. 120.
[17] Now Skipness.
[18] Reg. de Pas., p. 127 et ante.
[19] Reg. de Pas., p. 58.
[20] Ibid, p. 376.
[21] Ibid, p. 71.
[22] Ibid, p. 400.
[23] Burton's Hist., Vol II., p. 38. Statuta Ecciesia Scot., p. 65 et seq.