46 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. IHolyrood
these ecclesiastical foundations :-The Priory of St.
Mary?s Isle, in Galloway, gifted by Fergus, Lord of
Galloway, who died a monk of Holyrood in 1161 ;
the Priory of Blantyre, secluded on a rock above
the Clyde ; Kowadill, in Hemes, gifted by Mac-
Leod of Herries ; Oransay and Colonsay-in the
former still stands their priory, built by a Lord of
the Isles, one of the finest relics of religious antiquity
in the Hebrides; the church of Melgynch,
granted to them by Matthew, Abbot of Dunkeld,
in 1289; the church of Dalgarnock, granted to
them by John, Bishop of Glasgow, in 1322 j and
the church and vicarage of Kirkcudbright, by
of Haddington, mm ferra de Clerkynton, per rectas
divisas. In 1177 the monastery was still in the
Castle of Edinburgh. In 1180 Alexius, a subdeacon,
held a council of the Holy Cross near
Edinburgh, with reference to the long-disputed
consecration of John Scott, Bishop of St. Andrews,
when a double election had taken place.
VI. WILLIAM II., abbot in 1206. During his
time, John Bishop of Candida Casa resigned his
mitre, became a canon .of Holyrood, and was
buried in the chapter-house, where a stone long
marked his grave.
VII. WALTER, Prior of Inchcolm, abbot in
111. WILLIAM I. succeeded in 1152. He witnessed
several charters of Malcolm IV. and
William the Lion; and when he became aged and
infirm, he vowed to God that he would say his
Psalter every day. He enclosed the abbey with a
strong wall.
IV. ROBERT is said to have been abbot about
the time of William the Lion. ? He granted to
the inhabitants of the newly-projected burgh of the
Canongate various privileges, which were confirmed,
with additional benefactions, by David II., Robert
III., and James 111. These kings granted to the
bailies and community the annuities payable by the
burgh, and also the common muir between the ?
lands of Broughton on the west and the lands of
Pilrig on the east, on the north side of the road
from Edinburgh to Leith.?
V. JOHN, abbot in 1173, witnessed a charter of
Richard Bishop of St. Andrews (chaplain to
Malcolm IV.), granting to his canons the church
the chapel of St Mary.
XI, HENRY, the next abbot, was named Bishop
of Galloway in 1253; consecrated in 1255 by the
Archbishop of York,
XII. RADULPH, abbot, is mentioned in a gift of
lands at Pittendreich to the monks of St. Marie de
Newbattle.
XIII. ADAM, a traitor, and adherent of England,
who did homage to Edward I. in 1292, and for
whom he examined the records in the Castle of
Edinburgh. He is called Alexander by Dempster.
XIV. ELIAS 11. is mentioned as abbot at the
time of the Scots Templar Trials in 1309, and in a
deed of William Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews,
in 1316. In his time, Holyrood, like Melrose and
Dryburgh, was ravaged by the baffled army of
Edward 11. in 1322.
XV. SYMON OF WEDALE, abbot at the vigil of
St. Barnabas, 1326, when Robert I. held a Parliament
in Holyrood, at which was ratified a concord
Holyrood.] SUCCESSION. OF ABBOTS. 47
between Randolph the famous? Earl of Moray and
Sir William Oliphant, in connection with the forfeited
estate of William of Monte Alto. Another
species of Parliament was held at Holyrood on
the 10th of February, in the year 1333-4, when
Edward 111. received the enforced homage of his
creature Baliol.
XVI. JOHN II., abbot, appears as a witness to
three charters in 1338, granted to William of
Livingston, William of Creighton, and Henry of
Brade (Braid?).
XVII. BARTHOLOMEW, abbot in 1342.
XVIII. THOMAS, abbot, witnessed a charter to
William Douglas of that ilk, Sir James of Sandilands,
and the Lady Elenora Bruce, relict of Alexander
Earl of Carrick, nephew of Robert I., of the
lands of the West Calder. On the 8th of May,
1366, a council was held at Holyrood, at which the
Scottish nobles treated with ridicule and contempt
the pretensions of the kings of England, and sanctioned
an assessment for the ransom of David II.,
taken prisoner at the battle of Durham. That
monarch was buried before the high altar in 1371,
and Edward 111. granted a safe conduct to certain
persons proceeding to Flanders to provide for the
tomb in which he was placed.
XIX. JOHN III., abbot on the 11th of January,
~372. During his term of office, John of Gaunt
Duke of Lancaster, fourth son of Edward III., was
hospitably entertained at Holyrood, when compelled
to take flight from his enemies in England.
XX. DAVID, abbot on the 18th of January, in
the thirteenth year of Robert 11. The abbey was
burned by the armyof Richard 11. whose army
encamped at Restalrig; but it was soon after
repaired. David is mentioned in a charter dated
at Perth, 1384-5.
XXI. JOHN (formerly Dean of Leith) was abbot
on the 8th of May, 1386. His name occurs in
several charters and other documents, and for the
last time in the indenture or lease of the Canonmills
to the city of Edinburgh, 12th September,
1423. In his time Henry IV. spared the monastery
in gratitude for the kindness of the monks to
his exiled father John of Gaunt.
XXII. PATRICK, abbot 5th September, 1435.
In his term of office James II., who had been born
in the abbey, was crowned there in his sixth year,
on the 25th March, 1436-7; and anothet high
ceremony was performed in the same church when
Mary of Gueldres was crowned -as Queen Consort
in July, 1449. In the preceding year, John Bishop
of Galloway elect became an inmate of the abbey,
and was buried in the cloisters.
XXIII. JAMES, abbot 26th April, 14~0.
XXIV. ARCHIBALD CRAWFORD, abbot in 1457.
He was son of Sir William? Crawford of Haining,
and had previously been Prior of Holytood. In
1450 he was one of the commissioners who treated
with the English at Coventry concerning a truce ;
and again in 1474, concerning a marriage between
James Duke of Rothesay and the Princess Cecile,
second daughter of Edward IV. of England. He
was Lord High Treasurer of Scotland in 1480.
He died in 1483. On the abbey church (according
to Crawford) his arms were carved niore than
thirty times. ?He added the buttresses on the
walls of the north and south aisles, and probably
built the rich doorway which opens into the north
aisle.? Many finely executed coats armorial are
found over the niches, among them Abbot Crawford?s
frequently- fesse ermine, with a star of five
points, in chief, surmounted by an abbot?s mitre
resting on a pastoral staff.
XXV. ROBERT BELLENDEN, abbot in 1486,
when commissioner concerning a truce with
England. He was still abbot in 1498, and his
virtues are celebrated by his namesake, the archdean
of Moray, canon of ROSS, and translator of
Boece, who says ?? he left the abbey, and died ane
Chartour-monk.? In 1507 the Papal legate presented
James IV., in the name of Pope Julius II.,
in the church, amid a brilliant crowd of nobles,
with a purple crown adorned by golden lilies, and
a sword of state studded with gems, which is still
preserved in the Castle of Edinburgh. He also
brought a bull, bestowing upon James the title of
Defender of the Faith. Abbot Bellenden, in 1493,
founded a chapel in North Leith, dedicated to St.
Ninian, latterly degraded into a victual granary
The causes moving the abbot to build this chapei,
independent of the spiritual wants of the people,
were manifold, as set forth in the charter of
erection. The bridge connecting North and South
Leith, over which he levied toll, was erected at the
same time.
XXVI. GEORGE CRICHTOUN, abbot in 1515,
and Lord Privy Seal, was promoted to the see of
Uunkeld in 1528. As we have recorded elsewhere,
he was the founder of the Hospital of St. Thomas,
near the Water Gate. An interesting relic of his
abbacy exists at present in England.
About the year 1750, when a grave was being
dug in the chancel of St Stephen?s church, St.
Albans, in Hertfordshire, there was found buried
in the soil an ancient lectern bearing his name, and
which is supposed to have been concealed there at
some time during the Civil Wars. It is of cast
brass, and handsonie in design, consisting of an eagle
with expanded wings, supported by a shaft deco-
The piers still remain.
