Chapter VI: Scottish Monasticism (2)

In the dispute of 1249 regarding the consecration of the new choir, Pope Honorious IV. decided that a new consecration was not necessary, as the consecrated walls of the oldest part (the nave) continued in use. In that year Queen Margaret was canonised, and in 1250 her body was transferred from the old church to the new lady chapel in presence of all the chief men of the kingdom. "The translation of the saintly foundress," says Professor Innes, "was probably arranged to give solemnity to the opening of the new church."[336] This is known in history as the "Translation of S. Margaret," and the "grate companie" of king, nobles, bishops, abbots, and dignitaries in procession kept time "to the sound of the organ and the melodious notes of the choir singing in parts." Soon after this, describing what it had become towards the close of the thirteenth century, Matthew of Westminster wrote: "Its boundaries were so ample, containing within its precincts three carrucates of land, and having so many princely buildings, that three potent sovereigns, with their retinues, might have been accommodated with lodgings here at the same time without incommoding one another." In 1244 it had become a mitred abbey, Pope Innocent IV. having, at the request of Alexander II., empowered and authorised the abbot to assume the mitre, the ring, and other pontifical ornaments; and in the same year, in consideration of the excessive coldness of the climate, he granted to the monks the privilege of wearing caps suitable to their order; but they were, notwithstanding, enjoined to show proper reverence at the Elevation of the Host and other ceremonies.[337]

"This sumptuous pile," says Professor Innes, "was destroyed and levelled with the ground by the soldiers of Edward in 1303, excepting only the church and a few dwellings for the monks[338]--Edward I. of England having occupied it from 6th November 1303 to 10th February 1304. It was restored, probably in much less than its former magnificence, after Bruce was settled on the Scottish throne, and it evidently remained in that condition until 28th March 1560, when the choir, transepts, and belfry were, with the monastic buildings, "cast down.""

It was a very wealthy abbey, and the greater part of the lands in the western, southern, and eastern districts of Fife, as well as in other counties, belonged to it. The abbey also possessed many rights, and the abbot was Superior of lands--the property of others--and received the resignation of his vassals sitting on their bended knees, and testifying all due humility. The abbot and convent were invested with the power of enforcing their rights by excommunication, and they exercised it on several occasions. The abbey possessed the right of a free regality, with civil jurisdiction equivalent to that of a sheriff over the occupiers of the lands belonging to it, and with a criminal jurisdiction equivalent to that of the Crown, wielding the power of life and death. A bailie of regality, appointed by the abbot, and officiating in his name, resided in an edifice called the Bailie House, near the Queen's House, and presided in the regality courts.

The abbey church succeeded Iona as a place of royal sepulture, and kings, queens, and princes were buried within it. Gordon gives the list of eight kings, five queens, seven princes, and two princesses, besides other notable persons,[339] so that it may well be called the "Scottish Westminster."

The abbey church, when complete, was cruciform, and comprised a
seven-bayed nave, with side aisles, a transept, a choir with a lady
chapel, and three towers, two western ones terminating the aisles
and flanking the gable of the nave, and the great central tower
rising from the crossing. The monastic buildings were also on a
magnificent scale, but of the church and monastic structures there
only now remain the Norman nave, the base of the Lady Chapel, and
part of the refectory and kitchen.

The nave is well preserved and the piers are circular. The plan of
these with that of the wall responds shows that the original
intention was to groin the aisles. The two eastern bays between the
eastern pillars are built up with solid masonry, and only a portion
of the arches is visible. The two western bays and the triforium
arches above them have also been filled up with solid building to
strengthen the western towers.[340] "The pillars which support the
west towers are of greater size than the others, and are of a
different section. One of the pillars and the corresponding arch of
the north arcade are of late Gothic work, and may be part of the
repairs ordered by the Privy Council in 1563, or of the work done in
1594 under the direction of William Schaw, Master of Works, who at
that time built the north-west tower and steeple, as well as the
porch on the north side of the nave. At the same time, also, certain
great buttresses were built against the outer walls, which are now
conspicuous features of the structure."[341]

The great western doorway, a good example of Norman work, remains
unaltered, and consists of five orders, having alternately round and
octagonal shafts, chiefly with cushion caps, but some are ornamented
with scrolls. The abacus is heavy, and is carved with sunk diapers.
The orders are continued round the arches, and contain chevron
ornaments (much decayed), rosettes, and diapers.[342] The outer
order contains large heads and geometric figures in the alternate
voussoirs--an arrangement similar to that of Whithorn and Dalmeny,
where the geometric figures also resemble those adopted here.[343]
The _original_ north doorway, partly concealed by Schaw's porch, is
similar in design, with the addition of an arcade above the arch,
resembling but still plainer than that over the doorway of Dalmeny
Church. The south doorway of the church is of late work, and there
appears to have been another south doorway at the east end of the
nave, but it is now built up.[344] The whole of the aisle walls are
arcaded in the interior up to the height of the window sills, but
the arcade has been partly cut away for monuments. The general
design of the nave recalls that of Durham Cathedral, and Dr. Joseph
Robertson remarks, "Though not of great size, the sombre masses of
the (nave) interior are impressive. The English visitor will remark
more than one point of resemblance to Durham and Lindisfarne; and
there is no violence in the conjecture that the same head may have
planned, or the same hands have hewn, part of all the three. We know
that when the foundations of Durham were laid in 1093 by the
confessor and biographer of St. Margaret, her husband Malcolm was
present; and when the new church received the relics of St.
Cuthbert in 1104, her son Alexander witnessed the rites."[345] Both
at Durham and Dunfermline there are the same circular piers with
zig-zag ornaments, and massive cushion caps and clustered piers
occur in each. The small circular bases, resting on great square
plinths, are also common to both. The triforium and clerestory are
simple in design, and the aisles are vaulted and groined. The
windows of the aisles are single round-headed lights, having plain
sconsions, with one recessed shaft on each side, and the arch
enriched with chevron mouldings.[346] Internally and externally they
are of similar design.

From the existence of the large west end pillars, it was evidently
intended from the first to have two western towers. The northern
one, along with the upper part of the adjoining gable, was destroyed
to a considerable extent at the Reformation, and in its present
state it was designed and built up by William Schaw. The bold
corbelling at the top recalls the similar treatment of the towers of
St. Machar's, Aberdeen, and other examples derived from domestic
architecture.[347] The south-west tower seems to have remained
intact, although in a ruinous condition, till 1807, when it fell,
having been struck with lightning. Three years later the present top
was put on the old walls.[348] The Lady Chapel at the east end was
built to receive Queen Margaret's shrine, and is now reduced to a
small fragment, consisting of part of the south and east walls,
which remain to the height of about 2 or 3 feet. "It has been a
small structure of about 26 feet 9 inches by 22 feet, of delicate
and refined pointed work, as is apparent from the bases of the wall
arcading and the edge of the surrounding seat, enriched with
nail-head ornaments, which still exist. The Lady Chapel appears from
an old view to have been a low structure, reaching only to the sill
of the great east window of the choir, and it was evidently vaulted
in two compartments."[349]

No stones now remain of the thirteenth century choir, as they were
all removed to make room for the modern church, begun in 1818;
before this, however, considerable remains of the choir and the
whole of the foundations were standing.[350] The choir was a
prolongation of the present nave, having transepts and a great aisle
on the north side. There was a lofty central tower of two stories,
with three windows in each storey facing the four sides, and it was
this part of the structure which suffered on the 28th March 1560,
when "the wholl lordis and barnis that were on thys syde of Forth
passed to Stirling, and be the way kest doun the Abbey of
Dunfermling."[351] The nave was used as a parish church till 1821,
when the new choir was opened. In the south transept of it are three
much-admired white marble monuments: General Bruce's by Foley
(1868), the Hon. Dashwood Preston Bruce's by Noble (1870), and Lady
Augusta Stanley's by Miss Grant of Kilgraston (1876). The remains of
King Robert the Bruce were discovered in 1818 at the digging for the
foundation of the new parish church. They were found wrapped in a
pall of cloth of gold, thrown apparently over two coverings of sheet
lead, in which the body was encased, all being enclosed in a stone
coffin. "There was strong internal evidence of the remains being
those of Robert Bruce, and after a cast of the skull had been taken,
they were replaced in the coffin, immersed in melted pitch, and
reinterred under mason work in front of the _pulpit_ of the new
parish church. An inlaid monumental brass was in 1889 inserted in
the floor over his tomb." Near the east end of the church is a
square tower, with terminals showing an open hewn stone-work, in
place of a Gothic balustrade, having in capitals on the four sides
of the tower's summit the words "King Robert the Bruce," and at each
corner of the tower there is a lofty pinnacle.

The church occupies a commanding situation, from which the ground
falls away on the west and south sides. The monastic buildings were
on the south side of the nave, but on a lower level. Of these
structures considerable remains still exist. "The ground between the
dark walls and the church has, in recent years, been levelled up,
the outer portions of the monastic buildings serving as retaining
walls. With the exception of these outer walls, the site of the
monastery is thus buried."[352]

The refectory stood on the south side of the cloister, and the whole
length and height of its south and west walls still exist. The south
wall was divided into seven bays, and in six of them there are lofty
two-light windows. The eastern bay has a reading desk, from which
one of the monks read aloud during meals. It is lighted from the
outside by two windows. On the side next the hall there are two
lofty openings.[353]

Adjoining the refectory on the south-west is a large tower, beneath
which runs St. Catherine's Wynd, through a "pend" or archway, whence
it is called the "Pend Tower." "The outside of the refectory and
'Pend Tower' is very imposing, with a simple row of lofty buttresses
and windows along the top. The west gable wall of the refectory is
still entire, and has a large window of seven lights. The tracery of
this window is in good preservation, and is one of the most
favourable examples of a kind of tracery developed in Scotland
during the fifteenth century. At the north-west corner of the
refectory is the staircase tower, which leads down to the offices
below, and upwards to the refectory roof, over which access was
obtained to the upper story of the 'Pend Tower.' In the north wall
of the refectory, near the west end, are the remains of a flue,
which may have belonged to a fire-place. The 'Pend Tower' is still
entire, wanting only the cape house and roof. It served as a
connecting passage between the abbey buildings and the royal palace
beyond. A door led from the refectory by a passage into a groined
chamber, and from thence into a room in the palace situated over the
kitchen. The kitchen is a lofty room, now roofless, having remains
of large fire-places and some curious recesses. Below the kitchen,
but entering from another part of the palace, there is a large
vaulted apartment with central pillars. These pillars were continued
up through the kitchen, and probably to the room, now gone, which
stood over the kitchen. Another arched passage led from this
apartment through below St. Catherine's Wynd and up to the
monastery. The building known as the palace was doubtless intimately
connected with the monastery, and the kitchen may have been used in
connection with both."[354] Within the "Pend Tower" on the first
floor is a five-sided room with a fire-place, and it appears to have
been a sort of guard room. It is vaulted and has irregularly placed
ribs. Over this, and entering from the circular stair adjoining, is
another groin-vaulted room, which had a fire-place of good design.

The passage and staircase are additions made at the time when the
tower was built, and the arches were thrown between the already
existing buttresses of the refectory, and in the second bay the arch
is at a low level to permit of the descending stair, while the
builders have just managed to save a very beautiful doorway
belonging to the earlier building, and now hardly seen in the shadow
of the overhanging addition.[355] To the east of the refectory is a
narrow chamber with the remains of a two-light window in the south
wall, and projecting southwards from this is the lower part of the
wall of the fratery, reaching as high as the floor of the refectory.
On the east side of the fratery extends the south wall of a building
called the Baillery Prison.[356] These fragmentary structures
exhaust the remains of the monastic buildings. The chapter-house was
on the east side of the cloister garth. The monastery was burned by
Edward I. in 1303-4, but Tytler says the church escaped.[357]
Froissart states that in 1385 Richard II. burned the abbey and town,
and it is doubted if any of the existing monastic buildings belong
to an earlier date than that last mentioned.[358] "William Schaw,
Master of Works, besides the buildings already referred to,[359]
erected in 1594 certain of the immense buttresses which form such
conspicuous features in all the views of the abbey. He likewise
built, and doubtless designed, the Queen's House and the Bailie and
Constabulary House. In connection with the latter houses there are
considerable remains of buildings still existing to the north-west
of the abbey, and there seems every probability that they formed
part of the structures of the abbey and of the Queen's House. They
are extremely picturesque as seen from the low ground to the west.
The lofty house on the right hand dates probably from the end of the
seventeenth century, and is a fine example of the period. The
adjoining buildings are considerably earlier, and in the lower
parts, where they are buttressed, they are probably of
pre-Reformation times. The upper portions are somewhat later, and
are very likely part of the work of Schaw. The porch to the latter
buildings is on the other side, and is quaint and well known from
being seen from the church. William Schaw died in 1602, and was
buried in the nave, when the monument to his memory was erected by
order of Queen Anne."[360]

_Paisley Abbey (Renfrewshire)._--In his history of this great abbey, the Very Rev. Dr. Cameron Lees thus describes its situation:--

"In the heart of the busy town of Paisley stands the Abbey, its
venerable appearance contrasting most strangely with its
surroundings. Many chimneys--so many that it seems impossible to
count them--pour forth their smoke on every side of it; crowds of
operatives jostle past it; heavily laden carts cause its old walls
to tremble; the whirr of machinery and the whistle of the railway
engine break in upon its repose; while within a stone's throw of it
flows the River Cart, the manifold defilements of which have passed
into a proverb. But it is not difficult, even without being
imaginative, to see how beautiful for situation was once the spot
where the Abbey rose in all its unimpaired and stately grace. It
stood on a fertile and perfectly level piece of ground, close by the
Cart, then a pure mountain stream, which, after falling over some
bold and picturesque rocks in the middle of its channel, moved
quietly by the Abbey walls on its course to the Clyde. Divided from
the Abbey by this stream, rose wooded slopes, undulating like waves
of the sea till they reached the lofty ridge called the Braes of
Gleniffer, from the summit of which the lay brother, as he herded
his cattle or swine, could get views of the Argyleshire hills, the
sharp peaks of Arran, and the huge form of Ben Lomond. To the north,
on the other side of the Clyde, were the fertile glades of
Kilpatrick, and beyond, the Campsie range. Gardens and deer parks
girdled the Abbey round; few houses were near except the little
village of dependants on the other side of the stream; and no sound
beyond the precincts broke the solitude, save the wind as it roared
through the beech forest, the bell of a distant chapel, or, on a
calm evening, the chimes of the Cathedral of Saint Mungo, seven
miles away. It was a well-chosen spot, answering in every way the
requirements of the Benedictines, who, we are told, "preferred to
build in an open position at the back of a wooded chain of
hills.""[361]

Paisley illustrates what was said by Dr. Cosmo Innes regarding the country as a whole.

"Scotland of the twelfth century had no cause to regret the
endowment of a church.... Repose was the one thing most wanted, and
people found it under the protection of the crozier."[362]

The Church became the great factor in the development of civilisation throughout the district. Had not the monastic system been good, it would not have lasted so long; had it not had within it the elements of weakness, it would not have come to such an untimely end. And even while we criticise it is well to recall the words of Newman: "Not a man in Europe who talks bravely against the Church, but owes it to the Church that he can talk at all."[363]

The great abbey of Paisley was much to its neighbourhood, and its history is the history of its district. It is a memorial of the coming to Scotland of the great family of Stewart, which has left such a deep impress on Scottish history. Walter, son of Alan of Shropshire, joined David I. at the siege of Winchester, and the king showed to him great favour, taking him into his household, and conferring on him the title of Lord High Steward of Scotland. King Malcolm was even more generous, ratified the title to Walter and his heirs, and bestowed on him a wide territory, chiefly in Renfrewshire.[364] The Steward soon colonised after the fashion of the time, built a castle for himself in the neighbourhood of Renfrew, and gave holdings to his followers throughout the wide territory of Strathgyff, as his Renfrewshire property was called. But in those days no colonisation was complete without a monastery, and this the Lord High Steward proceeded to found, entering into an agreement with Humbold, Prior of Wenlock Abbey in the native county of his family, to establish at "Passelay" a house of the Cluniac Order of Benedictines, being the same order as the house at Wenlock. Humbold in 1169 brought thirteen monks from the parent house, and, having settled them at Renfrewshire in an island of the Clyde called the King's Inch, returned to Wenlock. There was at this time in Paisley an early church, dedicated to St. Mirinus, an Irish saint of the sixth century, and a disciple of the great school of St. Congal at Bangor. St. Mirin was a contemporary of St. Columba, and must have been a friend of the great apostle of Scotland. He was probably the founder of the early Celtic church at Paisley, and seems to have been an itinerant preacher round the district, regarding Paisley as his centre, where at last, "full of miracles and holiness, he slept in the Lord." It matters little whether these legends regarding miracles are historically correct, for the value lies in the moral of them. "The falsehood would not have been invented unless it had started in a truth, and in all these legends there is set forth the victory of a good and beneficent man over evil, whether it be of matter or of spirit."[365]

When the monks had founded their church at Paisley they dedicated it to the Virgin Mary, to St. James, St. Milburga, and St. Mirinus. St. James was the patron saint of the Stewarts, and to him the church on the Inch of Renfrew, where the monks first took up their abode, was dedicated. St. Milburga was the patron saint of Wenlock, and it was natural that the Shropshire monks should place their new home at Paisley under the patronage of a saint whom they held in reverence, and who was a link between Paisley and the scene of former days. St. Mirinus was the Celtic saint of the neighbourhood, and by calling the new monastery after his name they reconciled the sympathies of the people to themselves, and connected their church with the old historic church of Scotland. The monastery was at first in the second rank of religious houses, and was ruled by a prior. The abbey of Clugny was very jealous of raising any of its subordinate houses to the rank of an abbey, but it was very inconvenient for the monastery of Paisley to be in subjection to one so far away as the French abbot, and commissioners appointed by a papal bull in 1219 decreed that the monks of Paisley might proceed to the canonical election of an abbot, the patron of Paisley, the Lord High Stewart, also giving his permission. Twenty-six years later, the abbot of Clugny surrendered his rights, which had been reserved by the papal bull,--the monks, through the Bishop of Glasgow, promising prompt payment of the two marks for the future, and undertaking that the abbot of Paisley should personally or by proxy visit Clugny every seven years to make obeisance and render an account to his superior.[366]

William was probably the first abbot of Paisley, and he presided from 1225 to 1248. He established and consolidated the prosperity of the convent, and obtained from the Popes several bulls conferring privileges on the monastery.[367]

The following picture, drawn by a master-hand, has been applied by Dr. Lees to the monastic life at Paisley during the prosperous reigns of Alexander II. and III.

"In black tunics, the mementoes of death, and in leathern girdles,
the emblems of chastity, might then be seen carters silently yoking
their bullocks to the team, and driving them in silence to the
field, or shepherds interchanging some inevitable whispers while
they watched their flocks; or wheelwrights, carpenters, and masons
plying their trades like the inmates of some dumb asylum, and all
pausing from their labours as the convent bell, sounding the hours
of prime, nones, or vespers, summoned them to join in spirit where
they could not repair in person, to those sacred offices. Around the
monastic buildings might be seen the belt of cultivated land
continually encroaching on the adjoining forest, and the passer-by
might trace to the toil of these mute workmen the opening of roads,
the draining of marshes, the herds grazing, and the harvests waving
in security under the shelter of ecclesiastical privileges which
even the Estergoth and Vandal regarded with respect. If we exchange
for the 'Estergoth and Vandal' the marauding baron and Highland
chief, the picture is a true one of the surroundings of Paisley
Abbey in those peaceful years."[368]

"During the prosperous reigns of Kings Alexander II. and III. the
church was erected, but of the work of that period (the thirteenth
century) there remain only a portion of the west front and part of
the south wall of the nave, including the south-east doorway to the
cloister and three windows. The structure appears to have suffered
severely during the War of Independence. It stood in the vicinity of
Elderslie, the land of Sir William Wallace, and doubtless met with a
similar savage treatment to that allotted to the patriot leader. It
is stated to have been burnt by the English in 1307, and the burning
would appear to have led to a very complete destruction of the
edifice, as the portions of the original work which survive are very
small."[369]

The abbey church was a parish church, within the territory of which the house of Elderslie was situated, and the connection of the family of Elderslie with the monks of Paisley would naturally be very close. Wallace himself was probably educated at the school of the Paisley Clunaics,[370] and the influence of the abbey may have helped to mould within him the character which Fordun thus describes:--

"He (Wallace) venerated the church and respected the clergy; his
greatest abhorrence was for falsehood and lying; his uttermost
loathing for treason, and therefore the Lord was with him, through
whom he was a man whose every work prospered in his hand."[371]

The monks of Paisley during the times of Wallace and Bruce were on the patriotic side. After Bruce had murdered the Red Comyn before the altar of the Franciscan friars at Dumfries, the deed lay heavy on his conscience, and the Steward used his influence with the Pope to procure absolution. A commission was issued to the abbot of Paisley by Berengarius, the penitentiary of the Pope, to absolve the Bruce and appoint him proper penance for his crime.

"How the duty committed to him was discharged by the Abbot or what
penance he enjoined, we do not know. It may have been to fulfil the
penance imposed at Paisley that Bruce desired so ardently to visit
the Holy Sepulchre. He was excommunicated again soon afterwards, and
years elapsed before he was finally restored to the favour of the
Church; but his absolution at Paisley was a gleam of sunshine in the
midst of his stormy life, and one of the most interesting pictures
in the history of our abbey is that of the monarch kneeling before
its altar and amidst its fire-stained walls."[372]

James, the Steward, died on 16th July 1309, and, like the earlier Stewarts, was probably buried in the ruined abbey. He was succeeded by his son Walter, who married Marjory, the daughter of Robert the Bruce. Their married life was short, and the untimely death of Marjory took place within a year. Walter died at Bathgate in 1326, and, like his wife, was buried in the abbey.

"When long time their dule had made
The corps to Paslay have they had,
And there with great solemnity
And with great dule eirded was he."

Robert, the son of Walter and Marjory, was but a boy of ten or eleven years of age at his father's death, but he was a boy with great expectations. Failing the death of the king's son without heirs, the Scottish Parliament had solemnly ratified his succession to the Scottish throne. King Robert the Bruce died in 1329, and his only son, David II., succeeded him. By neither of his marriages had he any issue, and he was succeeded by his sister's son, Robert II., who became the founder of the Stewart dynasty.

"The abbey was now under royal patronage, and Walter, the son of
Alan, its founder--the Shropshire colonist--the progenitor of a race
of kings."[373]

Under royal favour and patronage the abbey entered on a course of prosperity, unbroken till the time of the Reformation. Robert II. died in 1390, and was buried at Scone.

"If this be true, he was the first of the Stewarts who were laid
elsewhere than in the precincts of the abbey, and the circumstance
is all the more strange because Elizabeth More, the much-loved wife
of his youth, and Euphan Ross, his queen, are buried there."[374]

Robert III. had two sons, the elder of whom was David, Duke of Rothesay (1378-1402). He was under the guardianship of Albany, who after a short time starved him to death at Falkland. Robert, anxious for the safety of his younger son, James, resolved to send him to France, but on his way thither he was captured by an English vessel, and thereafter imprisoned in the Tower of London. There is good reason for believing that Albany and the Douglases had to do with the imprisonment of the Prince, and they did everything to prevent his release. When the news was brought to the king in the castle of Rothesay, he succumbed to paroxysms of grief, and died 4th April 1406.

"Touched by grief," says Fordun, "his bodily strength vanished, his
countenance paled, and, borne down by sorrow, he refused all food,
until at last he breathed forth his spirit to his Creator."

He was buried in the abbey of Paisley before the high altar, and was the last of the Stewarts who was laid there.[375]

After the destruction of the abbey, caused by the wars with England, the edifice seems to have remained for long in a dismantled condition, but gifts having been received from the Bishops of Argyle and Glasgow to aid the restoration of the building, the work was begun. Besides, the abbey was from 1388 to 1408 under the ban of excommunication, and this must have powerfully added to the delay in the building operations. Part of this work was carried out under Abbot Lithgow (1384-1433), who was buried by his own desire in the north porch, where his memory is still preserved. The chief part of the rebuilding of the abbey church was carried out under Abbot Thomas de Tervas (1445-1459). The _Chronicle of Auchinleck_ says of this abbot:--

"The quhilk wes ane richt gud man, and helplyk to the place of ony
that ever wes, for he did mony notabil thingis, and held ane nobil
hous, and wes ay wele purvait. He fand the place al out of gud
reule, and destitute of leving, and al the kirkis in lordis handis,
and the kirk unbiggit. The bodie of the kirk fra the bucht stair up
he biggit, and put on the ruf, and theekit it with sclats and riggit
it with stane, and biggit ane great porcioun of the steple, and ane
staitlie yet-hous: and brocht hame mony gude jowellis, and clathis
of gold, silver, and silk, and mony gud bukis, and made statelie
stallis, and glassynnit mekle of al the kirk, and brocht hame the
staitliest tabernakle that wes in al Skotland, and the maist
costlie: and schortlie he brocht al the place to fredome and fra
nocht till ane michty place, and left it out of al kind of det, and
al fredome, till dispone as them lykit, and left ane of the best
myteris that wes in Skotland, and chandillaris of silver, and ane
lettren of brass, with mony uther gud jowellis."[376]

Abbot Thomas is said to have obtained the privilege of having a tavern and selling wine within the gates of the monastery, and is believed to have raised money thereby for the reconstruction of his church.[377] The quaint language of the ancient _Chronicle of Auchinleck_, translated into ordinary English, means that besides journeying to Rome and procuring the articles mentioned, he carried up the triforium and clerestory, finished the roof, erected a great part of the steeple, and built a stately gate-house.

At the death of Abbot Tervas, Pope Pius II. decreed that the disposition of the office and of the whole revenues of the monastery should fall to the Pope, and he appointed Henry Crichton, a monk of Dunfermline, to be commendator of the abbey, and assigned a pension of 300 florins out of the revenues to Pietro Barlo, Cardinal of St. Mark's in Venice, to be paid to him by Henry and his successors at the Feast of St. John the Baptist, under pain of excommunication, in case of his failing to make payment within thirty days after the appointed term, and total deprivation if he persisted in his opposition six months after his excommunication. When he got himself fairly installed as abbot he declined to pay the stipulated pension to the Cardinal of St. Mark's, and made some legal quibble the ground of his neglect. Trouble followed, and since this, the appointment of its first commendator, the rights of the abbey began to be invaded. Abbot George Shaw (1472-1498) endeavoured to guard the monastery against encroachments; he built a refectory and other structures, reared a lofty tower over the principal gate, enclosed the church, the precincts of the convent, the gardens, and a little park for deer within a wall about a mile in circuit.[378] Of this once magnificent wall, with its four-sided beautiful stones and lofty statues, very few fragments now remain, but there are still two tablets that belonged to it. The central shield bears the royal arms, the shields to the right and left of it the Stewart arms and the abbot's own; and there is an inscription by the pious builder himself, which is as follows:--

Ye call it ye Abbot Georg of Schawe
About yis Abbey gart make yis waw
A thousande four hundereth zheyr
Auchty ande fywe the date but veir
[Pray for his saulis salvacioun]
That made thys nobil fundacioun.

It has been thought that this inscription was designed by John Morow, whose name appears on a tablet in Melrose Abbey.[379]

"The character of the lettering in design and workmanship is the
same as at Melrose. The references to the building operations, the
poetical form of the composition, the manner in which the names are
introduced, 'Callit was I,' and 'Ye callit,' and the devout
expressions with which they close, make it clear that the
inscriptions are the work of the same author."

The fifth line is chiselled away, and was possibly deleted because it did not harmonise with the theology of the Reformed Church.

Abbot George Shaw was succeeded by his nephew, Robert Shaw, vicar of Munkton, and a son of the Governor of Stirling. He was canonically elected, and his election was approved by the Crown,--the Pope also gave his consent on condition that Robert Shaw should take the monastic habit within six months, and decreed that the old abbot should enjoy as his pension a third part of the fruits of the monastery, and might return to his former position when he thought proper. Robert Shaw took office in 1498, and his uncle lived for some years after, "the pensioner of the abbey" as he is called in charters. George Shaw died probably in 1505, and Dr. Lees says of him:--

"He filled his place well, and the visitor to Paisley who sees his
shield of three covered cups with the pastoral crook behind them
upon the wall of one of the outhouses, which has been ruthlessly
transformed by modern iconoclasts, or reads the defaced inscription
which tells of the 'nobil fundacioun' he reared, will do well to
remember that they are the memorials of a good man, one of the best
of his time, to whose wisdom and benevolence the town of Paisley
owes its existence."[380]

This refers to the creation of Paisley as a burgh by Abbot Shaw, who obtained in 1488 a charter creating the village of Paisley into a free burgh of barony, and thereby raising the status of the people both socially and politically. The burgher was no longer in the condition of a serf or slave, who could be transferred from one master to another, and he escaped from all the severities and exactions of the feudal system. The burghs had power of self-government, and were able to develop commercial and industrial operations. The burgh of Paisley was endowed with the usual privileges, and a right to hold a market every Monday, and two yearly fairs--one on the day of St. Mirren, and the other on the day of St. Marnock. In 1490 the abbot and chapter granted to the magistrates of the burgh in feu-farm the ground on which the old town stands and certain other privileges.

After an examination of the Rental Book, Dr. Lees regards it as "corroborating all that historians tell us regarding the lands of those ecclesiastics being the best cultivated and the best managed in Scotland.... The neighbourhood of a convent was always recognisable by the well-cultivated land and the happy tenantry which surrounded it, and those of the Abbey of Paisley were no exception to the general rule prevailing throughout the rest of Scotland.[381]

"The monks were kind masters. No cases of eviction or deprivation
are recorded. The same lands descended without rise of rent from
father to son. Children are held bound to maintain their parents in
their old age, and widows are specially cared for, and are
occasionally provided with another husband!"[382]

During the fifteenth century many altars were erected and endowed by the burgesses, and the Chapel of St. Mirin, which occupies part of the site of the south transept, was erected in 1499, and endowed by James Crawford of Kylwynet, a burgess of Paisley, and his wife.

Abbot Robert (1498-1525) was received on 19th October 1525 as Bishop of Moray in the cathedral of his northern diocese, and the next abbot was John Hamilton, a natural son of the Earl of Arran, who had entered the church as a monk of Kilwinning, and whom Magnus speaks of with contempt as a "yonge thing." The earl was high in favour with the queen, who had at the time the disposal of the church benefices, and he wished the bishopric for his son. The queen, however, appointed Abbot Robert to the see of Moray, and Hamilton to the abbey of Paisley. It was one of the deeds of shame enacted in the Scottish Church which ultimately brought its severe judgment.

Abbot John Hamilton (1525-1547) rebuilt at immense cost the first tower that appears to have had insecure foundation, and fell. It seems to have had an untimely end, falling, according to one account, with its own weight, and with it the choir of the church, or, according to an another account, being struck with lightning. In 1559, with Kilwinning and Dunfermline, the abbey of Paisley was suppressed, and what that meant can best be expressed in the words of Sir Walter Scott:--

"They fumigated the church with burnt wool and feathers instead of
incense, put foul water into the holy-water basins; they sung
ludicrous and indecent parodies to the tunes of church hymns; they
violated whatever vestments belonging to the abbey they could lay
their hands upon; and playing every freak which the whim of the
moment could suggest to their wild caprice. At length they fell to
more lasting deeds of demolition, pulled down and destroyed carved
woodwork, dashed out the painted windows, and in their vigorous
search after sculpture dedicated to idolatry, began to destroy what
ornaments yet remained entire upon the tombs and around the cornices
of the pillars."

Although the monks were expelled, the people of Paisley still continued firm in adhering to the old faith, and the doors of the abbey were "steyked" against the reformed preachers. The abbot and his friends were accused as

"in the toun of Paslay, Kirkyard and Abbey place thereof, openlie,
publicklie, and plainlie taking auricular confession in the said
kirk, toun, kirkyaird, chalmeris, barns, middens, and killogies
thereof, and thus makand an alteration and innovation in the state
of religion, which our Soverane Lady found publicklie standing and
professit within this realm, ministrand, and alswa irreverently and
indecentlie the Sacramentis of Holy Kirk, namely, the Sacramentis of
the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ."

It was a serious charge, and if proven was punishable by death. Hamilton had a powerful friend in Queen Mary, who interfered in his behalf, and he and his companions were committed to ward.

Besides retaining the office of abbot at Paisley, Hamilton was appointed Bishop of Dunkeld in 1543-44 by his brother, acting for the Queen, and after the murder of Cardinal Beaton, on 29th May 1546, was raised to the position of Archbishop of St. Andrews and Primate of Scotland. Probably he never returned to Paisley until, in the adversities of his later years, and the monastery being sacked and burnt by the Reformers, he was forced to take refuge at Dumbarton Castle, where he was made prisoner, and afterwards executed at Stirling. The Master of Sempill had been appointed bailie of the monastery, and, at the dissolution, the whole of the church property was handed over to Lord Sempill. The property finally came into the possession of Lord Claud Hamilton, nephew of the archbishop, and the monastic buildings were converted into the "Place of Paisley," the residence of the Abercorn family.

After the archbishop's execution his body was quartered, and afterwards buried, probably in Paisley. Dr. Lees says:--

"There is in the church a tablet, which looks as if it had marked
his grave. It has upon it the archbishop's coat of arms, the letters
J. H., the initials of his name, and the motto he assumed, and which
contrasts strangely with his troubled life and tragic
end--'Misericordia et Pax.'"[383]

Amid all that is said against the last archbishop of the old Church of Scotland, and the last abbot of Paisley, it is well to recall that the "Catechisme," which usually passes under his name, from having been printed at his expense at St. Andrews in 1552, exhibits a solitary instance of an attempt on the part of the old Roman Catholic clergy to convey spiritual instruction to the people, and is creditable to Archbishop Hamilton's memory.[384]

Referring to the disposal of the abbey property, Dr. Lees says:--

"The manner in which the Church property was gifted away forms a
scandalous episode in the history of Scotland. Men like Claud
Hamilton, who never had done anything for their country, became
enriched and ennobled through the spoliation. It is vain to picture
regretfully what might have been; but any one can see how much
better it would have been for Scotland if the whole community,
instead of a few unworthy individuals, had got the benefit of the
Church's wealth. Those who did get it have in too many instances
made a very miserable use of their ill-gotten gain."[385]

Prior to the Reformation the monastery consisted of a church, the cloister and conventual buildings. The church comprised a long aisleless choir, a nave with aisles, a north transept, a south transept, with St. Mirin's Chapel attached to the south of it, and a tower and spire over the crossing.[386]

The choir walls, containing an elegant sedilia and piscina, remain
standing to the height of 9 feet, and it is questioned whether the
choir was ever finished during the restoration. There is a
string-course all round; the building is of fifteenth century work,
and occupies the place of an earlier choir, which has been
demolished. The wall at the east end of the nave, which separates it
from the transept, may have been erected during the restoration of
the fifteenth century, with the intention of rendering the nave a
complete church until the transept and choir were restored. This
seems to have been in progress when the Reformation interrupted the
work. The design of the sedilia resembles that at St. Monans, Fife,
and adjoining the sedilia is the piscina, the aperture of which is
still visible.

The north transept is in ruins, but the north wall, with the remains
of a fine traceried window, still exists, as well as a traceried
window in the west wall. The south transept is also in ruins, while
the tower and spire have disappeared. St. Mirin's Chapel is well
preserved, but the openings connecting it with the south transept
are built up.

The nave survives as a whole, and contains six bays, divided by
massive piers, and surmounted by a triforium and clerestory. There
is a north porch, and two doorways from the cloister on the south
side.

The oldest portion of the building is pronounced to be the eastern
part of the south wall of the south aisle of the nave, where it
adjoins the transept. This portion of the wall consists of three
bays, containing the S.E. doorway from the cloister to the nave, and
three pointed windows in the upper part. The doorway is of the
transition style, and the windows above are simple in style, and are
early pointed work--this part of the building probably dating from
the first half of the thirteenth century.[387] The western portion
of the south aisle of the nave and the whole of the south clerestory
are evidently portions of the restored church of the fifteenth
century.[388] The south aisle wall contains the S.W. and S.E. doors
from the nave to the cloister.

The west end of the nave is in part amongst the ancient portions of
the structure, and the western entrance doorway is thirteenth
century work.[389] The aisle windows of the west front belong to the
first pointed period. The upper portion of the west front above the
two large windows is of considerably later date.[390] "The design of
the west front, which contains above the door-piece two large
windows, with pointed niches and small circles inserted between the
arch-heads, is probably original, but the upper portion and gable,
including the large traceried window, are doubtless part of the
restoration of the fifteenth century. The tracery of the two central
windows is peculiar, and may possibly be of the fourteenth century,
but that of the large upper window is later, probably of the same
period as the restoration of the interior of the nave. The tracery
of the large upper window is a specimen of the late kind of design
employed in Scotland in the fifteenth century."[391]

The interior of the west end of the nave exhibits the change of
style caused by the restoration of the fifteenth century. The first
or western bay of the main arcade is original, including the first
arches (one on each side), the first pillars, and the arches between
them, and the aisle responds. "These pillars and arches are of large
dimensions and first pointed section, and appear to have been
designed to carry western towers, but a part of their thickness has
been cut off next the choir. A portion of the triforium wall, a
piece of the string-course over the main arcade, and the corbelled
vaulting shaft in the angle as high as the top of the triforium, are
also parts of the original structure. The later work has been joined
to the above old parts in a very awkward manner."[392] The cap of
the west pier on the north side belongs to the first pointed work,
while the corresponding cap on the south side and all the other caps
belong to the fifteenth century restoration.[393] Except the west
piers, the piers of the nave are of the clustered form, common in
late Scottish work, and might be about the same date as the
restoration of St. Giles, Edinburgh (which they resemble), in the
early part of the fifteenth century.[394]

The triforium design consists of large segmental arches, the same
width as the main arches, springing from short clustered piers
introduced between them. It somewhat resembles the triforium of the
nave at Dunkeld Cathedral. The clerestory is probably designed in
imitation of that of Glasgow Cathedral, and is divided into two
pointed arches in each bay. They spring from a series of clustered
shafts with round moulded caps that are late imitations of early
work.[395] The earlier part of the nave restoration, including the
main piers and arches, and perhaps the tracery of the two lower
windows of the west front, were possibly executed by Bishop Lithgow,
who built the north porch, and the completion of the nave (the upper
portions) was carried out in the time of Abbot Tervas--the middle of
the fifteenth century. A peculiarity of the nave interior is a
series of large corbels, which project from the spandrils of the
triforium arcade, and the object of which was to enable a passage to
be carried round the solid piers introduced between the windows.
Each of the large corbels springs at its lowest point from the
sculptured grotesque figure of a man or animal. They were mostly the
work of Thomas Hector, a sculptor, who lived at Crossflat,[396] and
whom the abbot retained for his skill in the art.[397] The
employment of such grotesque figures was very much affected by the
monks of Clugny, and was the occasion of a rebuke from St. Bernard.
"What business had these devils and monstrosities in Christian
churches, taking off the attention of the monks from their prayers."
One of these figures near the west gable represents a man in a kilt,
and Dr. Lees thinks that many worshippers in the Abbey in more
modern times have in the midst of long sermons found relief in the
contemplation of those curious carvings which the saint thus
vigorously denounced.[398]

St. Mirin's Aisle was erected in 1499, and there is a large pointed
window in the east end, having jambs with single shafts. It is
divided into four lights, and the arch-head is filled with good
simple tracery. Beneath the eastern window is a frieze of one foot
eight inches deep between two cornices of eight inches deep, which
were intended for sculpture. Three compartments, measuring four
feet, at the north or right side, and seven compartments, measuring
ten feet, at the south or left side, are carved and filled with
sculpture. Dr. Lees says the reference of them to Mirin is clear
beyond all doubt: "In the one on the extreme left we see Mirin's
mother bringing him to St. Congal. In the next St. Congal putting
the religious habit on Mirin. In the next Mirin taking oversight of
the monastery of Banchor. There is after this a blank, and then we
have certain sculptures relating to Mirin's encounter with the Irish
king, who wears a crown on his head. In the first we have the
servant of the King driving Mirin away from the door of the palace.
In the next the King roaring with pain and held by his servants. In
the next the Queen lying in bed with a picture of the Virgin on the
wall, it being the custom to hang such before women during
confinement. Then we have the King on his knees before Mirin, and
afterwards Mirin received by him with joy. The next two sculptures
represent the last two acts of the Saint--the brother looking
through the keyhole and seeing Mirin illuminated by a celestial
light, and the Saint restoring to life the dead man in the Valley of
Colpdasch.... As they are evidently earlier than the date of the
erection of the chapel, they have probably been transferred with the
relics of the Saint from an older shrine. They look like
twelfth-century work, but it is possible they may be even
earlier."[399] The ceiling of the chapel is beautifully groined, and
the east end, where the altar stood, is raised four steps above the
western part. The west wall contains an outer doorway from the
cloister court, and there is a traceried window above it. A large
ambry adjoins the door in the outer wall. The chapel was connected
with the south transept by two wide archways, now built up, and near
the east end is a piscina, with three-sided head, like that in the
choir.

There is a dormitory above the chapel, arched by stone, and the
entrance is by a doorway in the middle of the south side of the
arch. The apartment is lighted by two windows--one in the east
gable, and the other in the west. In the west gable there is a
private stair leading from the dormitory to the chapel, and the
priest, who was bound by the charter to live at the chapel,
doubtless occupied the sleeping-place above it.[400] The chapel at
the Reformation was converted into a family burying-place by Claud
Hamilton, the commendator, and various members of the Abercorn
family lie buried in the vault below, the chapel belonging to the
present Duke, and being under his control.