Edinburgh Bookshelf

Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III

Search

Holyrood. I KING DAVID?S CHARTER. 43 sake of trade ; and if it happen that they do no come, I grant the aforesaid church from my ren of Edinburgh forty shillings, from Stirling twentj shillings, and from Perth forty shillings ; and ont toft in Stirling, and the draught of one net foi tishing ; and one toft in my Burgh of Edinburgh free and quit of all custom and exaction ; and ont toft in Berwick, and the draught of two nets ir Scypwell ; one toft in Renfrew of five perches, tht ?draught of one net for salmon, and to fish thert for herrings freely ; and I forbid any one to exact from you or your men any customs therefor. ?? I moreover grant to the aforesaid canons from my exchequer yearly ten pounds for the lights o the church, for the works of that church, anc repairing these works for ever. I charge, more over, all my servants and foresters of Stirlingshirt and Clackmannan, that the abbot and convent havt free power in all my woods and forests, of taking as much timber as they please for the building 01 their church and of their houses, and for any purpost of theirs; and I enjoin that their men who take timber for their use in the said woods have my firm peace, and so that ye do not permit them tc be disturbed in any way ; and the swine, the property of the aforesaid church, I grant in all my woods to be quit of pannage [food]. ?? I grant, moreover, to the aforesaid canons the half of the fat, tallow, and hides of the slaughter 01 Edinburgh ; and a tithe of all the whales and seabeasts which fall to me from Avon to Coldbrandspath; and a tithe of all my pleas and gains from Avon to Coldbrandspath ; and the half of my tithe of cane, and of my pleas and gains of Cantyre and Argyll ; and all the skins of rams, ewes, and lambs of the castle and of Linlithgow which die of my flock ; and eight chalders of malt and eight of meal, with thirty *cart-loads of bush from Liberton ; and one of my mills of Dean; and a tithe of the mill of Liberton, and of Dean, and of the new mill of *Edinburgh, and of Craggenemarf, as much as I .have for the same in my domain, and as much as JVuieth the White gave them of alms of the same Crag. I ? ?? I grant likewise to them leave to establish a burgh between that church and my burgh.* And . I grant that the burgesses have common right of selling their wares and of buying in my market, ?freely and quit of claim and custom, in like manner .as my own burgesses ; and I forbid that any one take in this burgh, bread, ale, or cloth, or any ware -by force, or without consent of the burgesses. I grant, moreover, that the canons be quit of toll . Here them is no mention of the town of Hcr6Crgrrs, alleged to haw occupied the site of the Canongate. and of all custom in all my burghs and throughout all my land: to wit, all things that they buy and sell. ?And I forbid any one to take pledge on the land of the Holy Rood, unless the abbot of that place shall have refused to do right and justice. I will, moreover, that they hold all that is above written as freely and quietly as I hold my own lands ; and I will that the abbot hold his court as freely, fully, and honourably as the Bishop of St. Andrews and the Abbots of Dunfermline and Kelso hold their courts. ?Witnesses tRobert Bishop of St. Andrews, John Bishop of Glasgow, Henry my son, William my grandson, Edward the Chancellor, Ilerbert the Chamberlain, Gillemichael the Earl, Gospatrick the brother of Dolphin, Robert of Montague, Robert of Burneville, Peter of Brus, Norman the Sheriff, Oggu, Leising, Gillise, William of Grahani, Turston of Crechtune, Blein the Archdeacon, Aelfric the Chaplain, Walerain the Chaplain.? l- This document is interesting from its simplicity, and curious as mentioning mzny places still known under the same names. 1 The canons regular of the order of St. Augustine were brought there from St. Andrews in Fifeshire. The order was first established in Scotlayd by Alexander I. in 1114, and ere long possessed twenty-eight monasteries or foundations in tqe So, in process of time, ?? in the hollow betweqn two hills ? where King David was saved from the white hart, there rose the great abbey house, with its stately cruciform church, having three :ewers, of which but a fragment now remainsT i melancholy ruin. Till its completion the canods Mere housed in the Castle, where they resided till rbout 1176, occupying an edifice which had preiliously been a nunnery. The southern aisle of the nave is the only part if the church on which a roof remains, and of the whole range of beautifully clustered pillars on the iorth side but two fragments alone survive. The mtire ruin retains numerous traces of the original vork of the twelfth century, though enriched by he additions of subsequent ages. With reference o the view of it in the old print which has been :opied in these pages,$ it has been observed hat therein ?the abbey church appears with a econd square tower, uniform with the one still tanding at the north of the great doorway. The ransepts are about the usual proportions, but the :hoir is much shorter than it is proved from other kingdom. I - t ?Charters relatiagta Cityof E&bwgh,?&u xr43-x5+ao. 4ta. 1871. f see ante, vol. i, p. 5.
Volume 3 Page 42
  Shrink Shrink   Print Print