grant (Nos. LXXIII., LXXIV.) show that the authors of Origines Parochiales were correct in their conjecture that Morich is, in more correct form, Murdoch or Muredoch.1

The grant of this church was made by Gilchrist, son of Malcolm Macnacthan, in the time of Bishop Clement, and while he was administering the diocese of Argyll (No. LXXIV.). This fact helps to determine (approximately) the date of the charter. The see of Argyll was void for at least seven years after the decease of Bishop William, who was drowned at sea in 1241;2 and it was almost certainly during this vacancy that Bishop Clement of Dunblane had charge of the diocese. The grant of this church was (as is usual in such cases) to take effect after the death of the clerk who then held the benefice.

This church continued to be the property of the monastery till the Reformation. In 1618 we find James, Lord of Madertie, Commendator of Inchaiffray,' setting to Alexander M‘Naichtane of Dundaraw the teind schavis and uther teindis' of the 'peroche kirk and perochin of Kilmorithe, personage and vicairage thairof, lyand within the diocie of Argyll, sa far as the fruitis of the said kirk ar ane pairt and pertinent of the abbacie of Inchaiffray. The common seal of the abbey is appended to the deed in place of the consent of the convent thairof, thay being all departit this lyif.'3

The year 1257 is marked by the gift of two churches to the abbey. Another son of Malcolm Macnauchtan, Athe by name, with the assent of his brother, Sir Gilbert, knight, gave to the abbot and canons of Inchaffray the church of St. Findoc of Inchealt, in the diocese of Argyll, with all tithes, etc., pertaining to the said church. This is the church of Inishail, a parish which included the island of that name in Lochawe,

1 He is perhaps the 'St. Moroch, bishop and confessor,' who appears in the Breviary of Aberdeen at 8th November. The Breviary notes after his name 'in the diocese of Dunblane.' See Forbes's Kalendars of Scottish Saints. 2 See Theiner, Monumenta, No. 139.

3 Lib. Ins. Miss., p. 137.

several smaller islands, and land on both sides of the loch. The parish church was in the island. The church remained the possession of the abbey till the Reformation.2

A few months later Earl Malise gives (A.D. 1257) to the abbey the advowson of the church of Cortachy in the diocese of Brechin (No. LXXXVI.). Whether this grant ever became practically effective we are unable from lack of evidence to say. But certainly the right of the patronage of Cortachy was early in the fifteenth century in the hands of Walter, earl palatine of Strathern. The advowson was granted to him by the Duke of Albany, governor of the kingdom, in 1409; and in 1429 Walter grants the jus patronatus to the dean and chapter of the cathedral of Brechin. A few days later the Bishop of Brechin unites the church to the dean and chapter in usus proprios.3

At some time in the episcopate of Robert de Prebenda, Bishop of Dunblane (who died 1283 or early in 1284), and after the death (about 1270) of Earl Malise II. (the first Malise of our charters), Malise, son of the late earl, granted to the abbey the advowson of the church of Struy (Strowan). Although the records before us do not show that the church was afterwards granted by the bishop to the abbot and convent in proprios usus, there can be no reasonable doubt that such was the case, as its teinds are dealt with in the taxt roll of the lordship of Inchaffray in 1630.5

In 1303 the jus patronatus of another parish church was granted to the abbey by Sir Thomas de Cromennane, knight. This was the church of Buthbrene (Balfron), in the county of Stirling, and diocese of Glasgow. The Bishop of Glas

1 Scotichron., ii. 10.

* See Origines Parochiales, vol. ii. part i. pp. 129-132.

Regist. Episcopat. Brechin, i. 25, 46, 53.

* In Boyamund's accounts, 1275 and 1276, the tithe of the church (not of the vicarage) is given, for the first year 40 shillings, for the second 50 shillings. (Theiner, pp. 112, 115). This falls in with this grant to Inchaffray being made after 1276. 5 See Lib. Ins. Miss., p. 113.

gow, Robert Wischard, the patriot bishop, on October 3, 1303, having compassion, as he says, on the misery, poverty, and straitened circumstances of the abbot and convent of Inchaffray, due to the plunderings, burnings, and unnumbered afflictions of war, grants the church to the abbey in proprios usus on the death or resignation of the rector, and allows the church to be served by a chaplain, or one of the canons of the abbey.1 Balfron continued to belong to the abbey, and is described, in 1607, when the parsonage and vicarage teinds were set, as ane of the proper kirkis of the said abbacie."2

The next grant of a church to Inchaffray is of greater interest, both because of the eminence of the granter and because of its results in the erection of a daughter house.

On February 26, 1317-18, King Robert 1., then at Clackmannan, made a grant to the abbot and convent of Inchaffray of the jus patronatus of the church of Killin in Glendochart, on the condition that the abbot and convent would provide a canon to officiate in the church of Strathfillan. This grant was made under the privy seal.

On April 12 following this grant was made anew at Berwick-on-Tweed under the great seal, but without any mention of the condition stated above. The condition, however, was obviously understood as binding, for in October of the same year the Bishop of Dunkeld, William St. Clair (the warrior prelate, whom Bruce used to call my bishop'), with the consent and assent of his chapter, granted to the prior and canons of Inchaffray, who should be appointed by the abbot to serve in the chapel of St. Fillan in Glendochart, the church of Killin, with all its lands, fruits, and revenues in proprios

1 No. CXIX.

2 This setting of the teinds was with the consent and advice of 'Dene Alexander Murray, ane of the conventis of the said abbacy now onlie on lyfe' (Lib. Ins. Miss., 136). It is interesting to find legal forms observed with such care at so late a date. Murray, the last canon of Inchaffray, must have been an old man in 1607, for he was a member of the community of Inchaffray April 8, 1557 (Id., p. 120).

usus, saving always the dues of the bishop and archdeacon of Dunkeld. The prior of St. Fillan's chapel on the occurrence of a vacancy was to be presented by the abbot and convent and instituted by the bishop. The vicarage of Killin was to be served by a canon, or, if more agreeable to the monastery of Inchaffray, by a secular chaplain, who was to receive ten pounds sterling a year, out of which he was to pay the dues of the bishop and archdeacon.1

It will be seen that the king's original design was much enlarged. At first the proposal was that one canon should serve at St. Fillan's chapel, but soon after it was arranged that a priory should be established at the place.

So far as the records in this volume are concerned, the last information relating to King Robert's grant of the patronage of the church of Killin is a confirmation of the grant by Pope Clement vi., dated at Avignon, November 13, 1348 (No. cxxxI.). In this bull nothing is said of the new priory, whose subsequent history is obscure. It seems to have been always small

and poor.

James Iv. (October 2, 1498), for singular favour towards Dene John Murray, prior of Strathfillan, confirms a charter of King Robert Bruce to the monastery or chapel of Strathfillan and the prior of the same, granting the five-pound lands of Wochtirtiry, of old extent, in the barony of Glendochart and shire of Perth, and incorporates them into the barony of Wochtirtiry.3 King Robert 1., we thus learn, had contributed to the endowment of the house in Strathfillan.

And in 1329, the year of King Robert's death, the Exchequer Rolls (i. 214) reveal a payment made through Sir Robert de

See Nos. CXXIII,, CXXIV., CXXVI., CXXVII.

It is not improbable that gratitude to St. Fillan, whose arm-bone (if we may believe Boece) was venerated by Bruce on the night before the battle of Bannockburn, and whose aid he had invoked, may have suggested this grant. While the memory of the part played by Maurice, Abbot of Inchaffray, on the same occasion, may have directed his thoughts to that house.

Bruys, the king's natural son, of xxlb., ad fabricam ecclesie Sancti Felani, presumably the priory church.

At a later date we find the chapel of St. Fillan spoken of as a 'chapel royal.'

On February 28, 1542-3, Dene John Gray, canon regular, prior of the monastery or chapel royal of Strathfillan, granted the lands mentioned above in feu to James Campbell of Lawers.1

The name of another prior is recorded. Sir Hugh Curry (or Corrie), prior of Strathfillan, was one of the executors of Gavin Dunbar, Archbishop of Glasgow. Curry appears again in February 1549-50.3

The priory in Strathfillan was evidently an unimportant place at the Reformation. The Collector-General's Account for 1573 contains a list of benefices quhilks wes not rentaillit nor chargit abefoir, bot ar new found owt be the comptare': among these (fol. 43, verso) is the entry-the haill priourie of Straphillane the zeir comptit extendis to xl.f.'4

The petition to Pope Clement VII. (No. CXL.)-the transcript of which the Scottish History Society owes to the courtesy of Dr. Maitland Thomson-reveals the fact that, at some time. unknown, the monastery of Inchaffray had parted with its church of Strogeith to the Bishop of Dunblane. It was again restored and united to Inchaffray by Bishop Walter de Coven

1 This grant was confirmed under the Great Seal, February 14, 1543-4.—Reg. Mag. Sig.

Acta Dom. Concil. et Sess., MS. xxv. 23. This and the next two references are due to Dr. Maitland Thomson.

3 Acts and Decreets, MS. iii. 328. It has been suggested that this Sir Hugh Curry is to be identified with the Sir Hugh Curry who captured Walter Myln, the old priest who was burned alive at St. Andrews in 1558. But the identification is somewhat hazardous. Pitscottie (ii. 130, Æ. J. G. Mackay's edition) indeed gives the name of the captor of Myln as 'Schir Hew Currie'; but in Foxe's account of the execution the name is 'Sir Hew Turry,' and elsewhere 'Sir Hew Terrye.' Spottiswoode (i. 188) spells the name 'Torry.' He is described as a priest of the Archbishop of St. Andrews, and nothing is said of his being, or having been, the prior of Strathfillan.

4 Manuscript in the General Register House, Edinburgh.