said William caused the whole of the facts above stated to be laid before the Pope. The Pope thereupon declares the election and subsequent acts to be null and void, as being contrary to the reservation and decree aforesaid; he desires to provide with all speed for the good estate of the monastery, none other being able on this occasion to intermeddle with the matter; but having no certain knowledge of the merits, sufficiency, and fitness of the said William he, by this letter, commits to the bishop of Dunkeld, in whom he has full confidence in this and other matters, to inform himself very carefully as to the merits, fitness, and sufficiency of the said William, and if he is satisfied, to provide him, or, if not, some other person of the same or another monastery of that order [Canons Regular of St. Augustine], and appoint him abbot by committing to him the full care and administration of the said monastery both in spirituals and temporals, and causing due obedience and reverence to be rendered to him by those subject to him. Opponents are to be brought to submission by the censures of the Church, any appeal being deferred.

Moreover the bishop of Dunkeld was to cause the said William, or the other person [in the event of William being judged not qualified], to receive benediction from any bishop in communion with the Apostolic See, or the bishop of Dunkeld was himself to give benediction.

The bishop of Dunkeld, or the other bishop, was, after the benediction, to receive, in the name of the Pope and of the Church of Rome, the customary oath of fealty, in the form under the papal seal (bulla), which was enclosed. Further, the said William, or the other person, was to cause the form of the oath which he took to be transcribed, word for word, in letters patent, sealed with the seal of the bishop of Dunkeld, and to despatch these letters as speedily as possible, by his own messenger, to the Pope.

The Pope declares that he does not by these commands desire to create any prejudice in future to the rights of the bishop of Dunblane to whom the monastery is recognised as subject.

Given at Avignon, 14 Kal. August: Ninth year [19 July 1387].1

1 This commission was originally addressed, 'To our beloved son Walter, cardinal priest of the holy Roman Church, sometime bishop of Glasgow, legate of the Apostolic See.' See what is said on William de Culros in the Appendix on the Priors and Abbots of Inchaffray, p. 253, and the Notes on No. CXLI.

CXLII

[Confirmation, by Godfrey of Ile, of the chapel of the Holy Trinity in (North) Uist and of certain lands.]

Godfrey of the Isles, lord of Uist, makes known that he has given, granted, and confirmed for the weal of his soul, etc., and in honour of the Holy Trinity and St. Mary glorious Virgin, to Inchaffray, in pure and perpetual alms, the chapel of the Holy Trinity in Uist, and the whole land of Karynche, and four pennylands in Ylara between Hussaboste and Kanusorrarath, as freely as Christina, daughter of Alan, of good memory, true heiress, and Reginald, called M'Rodry, true lord and patron, conferred the said chapel with the lands aforesaid on the monastery and convent. He ratifies and confirms the above, with the addition, that his beloved Thomas, canon of Inchaffray, should fully and peaceably possess the chapels and lands. His seal, at his castle of Elane Tyrym, 7 July 1389.

CXLIII

[Confirmation by Donald, Lord of the Isles.]

Donald of Yle, lord of the Isles, makes known that he ratifies and confirms the gift of Christina, daughter of Alan, heiress and lady of Uist, namely the chapel of the Holy Trinity in Uist, with lands and pertinents, made to Inchaffray in pure alms as the grant was made by the said lady and her successors, Reginald, son of Roderick, formerly lord of Uist, and Godfrey of Yle, our brother, hereditary lord of the same lands, as in their letters and charters appears; yet so that the abbot and convent of Inchaffray shall do and observe, in things spiritual and temporal, for us and our heirs, what they were bound to do and observe by the donors as in the original letters on the subject is more fully contained.' Seal of grantor. At our castle of Dun Aros in Mull, 6 December A.D. 1410.'

CXLIV

[Obligation by Paton Young to warrant the abbot and convent against claims by Meg Makky upon a rood of land in Perth, 22 July 1439. In Scots.]

CXLV

[Grant of Land at Mekven.]

Robert of Mekven, lord of that ilk, makes known that he has given to Inchaffray, in pure and perpetual alms, his brewland of the vill of Mekven, with the tofts of the same, and eight acres of land circumjacent, in the lordship of Mekven, within the county of Perth. To be held, with their pertinents, by the abbot and convent, from him and his heirs, of the lord of Methven in fee and heritage, together with pasture for twenty kine, sixty sheep, and two horses, and with all the liberties and easements which do, or could in the future, pertain to the said brewland, tofts, and eight acres, as freely as he or his predecessors held them. Reddendo to the lord of Methven a silver penny yearly, if asked. Warrandice. Seal of grantor: and for greater evidence the seals of David Flemyng and John of Haddington, burgesses of Perth, At Perth, 9 March 1443-4.

CXLVI

[Creation, by King James II., of the barony of Cardenay out of the lands of the monastery.]

James, by the grace of God, king of Scots, makes known that among the cares and anxieties which beset him, he especially sought that the churches of his realm, erected to the praise, worship, and honour of our Lord Jesus Christ, should be wisely ruled, that what in them was out of order (deformia) should be reformed, and that in his time their revenues might be increased. He had learned how his ancestors, kings of Scotland, the earls of Strathern, and others of the nobles and of the faithful had dowered the monastery of Inchaffray with divers possessions, and fortified it with many privileges. Wherefore, after being ripely advised by his council, he gave, granted, and confirmed to John, abbot of Inchaffray and the convent, and their successors, all the lands of the lordship of Cardenay and Dalhorochquhi, and the wood of Cardenay with its pertinents, the lands of Madderty with its wood, namely, Williamstown (also called Balfour), Soutartown, Dubottis, Ardbany, the bordland of the monastery,' the land of Crag with its pertinents, Balmacgillon, Rath, the mill of Dunfally on the river Ern, with four acres annexed, and pasture of eight

'soums' [see Notes] in Dunfally, Mukrath, Rahalath, Kincladi, Inchenath, with five acres adjacent in Abircarny, Hangandside, Dunnedufe, with the brewland of Petlandi, and certain adjacent acres, the land called Brewland on the north of the monastery, the land which Tristram of Gorty formerly gave to the monastery which lies between Gorty and the mill of Miltown, the land of the monastery which lies in the lordship of Cluchy beg, the church-land of Gask Crist (Trinity Gask), the church-land of Kilbride, the church-land of Madderty, and the church-land of Kinkel, with their pertinents,-all which lands John the abbot, in the name of the convent, freely and simply resigned by staff and baton, into the king's hands. To be held by the abbot and convent that now is, and their successors, which lands we incorporate, annex, and create into a free and perfect barony, which barony shall be called in all time future the barony of Cardenay,' of the king and his successors, in pure and perpetual alms, in fee and heritage for ever, with all profits and easements, by its right and ancient meiths and marches, in moors, woods, etc., with courts and their issues, escheats and heriots, bludwites, and marriage-tax (merchetis mulierum), with gallows and pit, sok and sak, thol and theme, infangandthefe, outfandgandthefe, and all other liberties, easements, etc., as well unnamed as named, as well under as above the land, etc., as freely as the abbot and convent held them in the past. Reddendo, service of the king used and wont, such as other prelates render the king, and as they themselves rendered in times past. The abbot and convent were to hold direct of the king, and under no possibility were they to hold of any other. The king had inspected a charter of Gilbert, earl of Strathern [No. xxv. is then transcribed], and he confirms it in all points. Great Seal. Witnesses

Stirling, 27 January 1444-5.

CXLVII

At

[Confirmation by King James 11. of the brewland of Mekven.] James, king of Scots, makes known that he has given to the abbot and convent of Inchaffray the lands of Brewland of Mekven, in the county of Perth, which lands belonged by inheritance to Andrew Toische, and were by him resigned into the king's hands, by staff and baton, at the monastery of Vallis Virtutis,' of the Carthusian order, near the burgh of Perth. To be held, with their pertinents, by the abbot and convent and their successors, in

mortmain, in fee and heritage, by their right, meiths, and marches; as freely as the said Andrew or his predecessors had held them before the resignation, reserving to us and our successors the suffrages of the devout prayers of the religious.' Great Seal. Witnesses, William, bishop of Glasgow, John, bishop of Dunkeld, the chancellor Creichton, Andrew, abbot of Melrose, our confessor and treasurer,' and others [named]. At Perth, 8 August

1450.

CXLVIII

[Leave to fish for eels in Polpefery.]

6

Robert Mersar of Innerpefery, with the consent of his heir, Alexander Mersar, and of his uncle, Andrew Mersar of Inchebreky, to whom the lands of Inchebreky are pledged, for the weal of his soul and of the souls of Janet his spouse, and Alexander his heir, and of all his successors, gives to the abbot and convent leave, for ever, to fish with 'arcae,' nets, and other instruments necessary for taking eels and other fish, in the place commonly called Polpefery in his demesne of Dullory, and of placing upon Polpefery one or more of these instruments, and of making piles of stones and timber and mounds of earth, and of getting these materials from his lands of Dullory, and of maintaining them, for the purpose of catching the fish. If he or his heirs ever revoke the above leave, he or they shall be obliged to pay one hundred pounds of the usual money of Scotland. If he or his heirs place any of these fishing instruments in Polpefery the abbot and convent may take and appropriate them, without any right on the part of him or his heirs to seek restitution. His seal, and the seal of his uncle, Andrew Mersar. Witnesses

24 June

1454.

CXLIX

[Alexander Mersar, son and heir of Robert Mersar of Innerpefery, ratifies the grant of his father (No. CXLVIII.) on the following day, 25 June 1454.]

CL

[Sentence of Robert, bishop of Dunblane, as to a certain

mortuary.]

Public Instrument by John Scot, presbyter of the diocese of Dunblane, notary public, 26 January 1461-62. In the consistorial