Old Dundee, ecclesiastical, burghal and social, prior to the Reformation

Preface

. At the time of the publication of my " History of Old Dundee " — which deals almost entirely with matters subsequent to the Reforma tion — my intention was to have followed it with another volume bringing the subject down to a later period. Having, however, made an examination of the Burgh Court Records — which begin at a much earlier date than the Council Register, on which my " History " is mainly founded — I discovered that the earliest of them are of so much interest and importance as illustrations of pre-reformation times, that I resolved to delay the execution of this intention, and devote myself to the production of a separate work in elucidation of a period for which there is such ample and valuable material. This does not lead to repetitions ; for, at the few points where the dates of the " History" and this work overlap, the subjects are usually different.

The first volume of the Records is the one already de scribed as " The Book of the Church," originally intended to contain the inventories of the altar ornaments in St. Mary's Church, but which, after having been only in small part used for that purpose, was filled up with the Records of the Burgh Court from 28th November, 1520, to 13th October, 1523, with an additional entry the following August This is the oldest historical volume in the city archives, and its preservation from the destruction which befell the others in 1548, is probably due, as before noticed, to its having been carried abroad, VI

PREFACE.

. where, as his autograph shows, it had been for some time in the possession of Cardinal Toilet. The next volume begins 28th September, 1550, and the others follow regularly, although with occasional breaks. These Records, which have not hitherto been explored or, in any part, made public, were courteously placed at my service by Mr William Hay, the town clerk, and they received my closest attention. I found the volumes to be in a good state of preservation, and the writing in general well executed — some of it, indeed, being very beautiful — although parts are in a rather cramped hand which, where the ink has faded, is somewhat difficult to decipher. I may, however, say that in hardly any instance did the exercise of patience and care fail in recovering what appeared to be the writer's meaning.

The first volume is of such extreme value that I transcribed it wholly. The following eight — which record the proceedings of the Court from 1550 to 1568 — I read through carefully, and copied out those entries that might serve the purpose of this work by throwing light upon the history of the past ; and have used all the transcriptions that seemed to be either important or interesting. Besides these Records, I have obtained the use of other valuable unpublished documents, which help to elucidate them and the local history of the period — firstly, those in the city archives ; secondly, those discovered in the Edinburgh Register House, among the earliest records of the Court of Session, by my friend the Rev. Walter Macleod ; and thirdly, additional letters written by the leaders of the English invasion at Dundee to Protector Somerset, transcribed from the originals in the London Record Office.

These writings have been supplemented from contemporary annalists and other historic authorities. In using the materials thus collected, I judged it best to adopt the same system as in my former work, and, instead of printing the various entries separately as they occur, Avithout either coherence or

PREFACE.

. VII connection, leave out the merely formal matter, and combine together those relating to the same subject, or of a cognate nature, without regard to strict chronological order ; but giving the dates of the principal entries in the margin. This method not only favours the arrangement of the somewhat ungainly material into a more concise, simple, and consecutive narrative form, but also makes the meaning and relative bearing of the various details so much clearer, that, I think, the additional cost of labour it has required may fairly be justified. As in my previous work, I have considerably modernised the old spellings — these being often so archaic, contracted, and irregular as to present needless difficulties to the general reader — except in the case of words of philological or antiquarian interest, which I have printed as they are written, offering explanations of them in notes, where such seemed desirable ; and have endeavoured to preserve the language in all its forcible quaintness.

The period over which these domestic annals extend, although short, was both eventful and troublous. Seven years before the earliest of them, a hasty and ill-judged invasion of England, resulted in the disastrous Battle of Flodden, in which the rash King himself and many of his valiant followers were slain ; and, in the course of their three years' chronicle of social life, the minority of James V. and the Regency of Albany did not provide favourable conditions for either national prosperity or burghal development. Three years before the continuous Records commence, and during the infancy of Mary, " our auld enemies of England " in their turn invaded Scotland; and, having gained a victory at Pinkie, established themselves for some time in several places along the eastern coast, from whence they were able to ravage the surrounding country, and, in especial, to do irreparable injury to Dundee. During the peaceful season that followed, these annals have much to tell of the efforts made by the

PREFACE.

. burghers to restore the town out of its ruins ; although the weak government of another Regency, and the factious contentions of unworthy public men did not favour the success of this heavy task. The particulars which I have found regarding the great Church of St. Mary — its many altars and numerous ecclesiastics — of the lesser churches, and the several convents at the time of their utmost splendour, have enabled me to show how important were the various religious houses, and how magnificent the services which were held within their walls. The English invaders ruthlessly destroyed all the buildings, and the burghers were only able to partially restore the principal Church and to re-erect some of its altars, at which worship continued to be conducted with meaner service for the few years that the old ritual was maintained.

A Protestant congregation — the first in Scotland — was soon formed in the burgh, to which both rulers and people quietly attached themselves, and then took measures for getting rid of all memorials of the ancient faith. We will see that some of the churchmen became secularised, and settled down into reputable and worthy citizens — that the priests' vestments were turned into gowns to serve the members of the Kirk Session — that the stones of the convents and lesser churches were sold for building purposes, and the lands appropriated for burghal use — and that, in the indecent scramble for ecclesiastical property, some landward churches were despoiled of their bells, and — perhaps the most reckless and foolish act of them all — that the timber-work of the venerable Abbey of Lindores, was torn down and carried off to roof the tolbooth of Dundee.

From the many incidents and allusions illustrative of burghal and social life, with which my search among the old writings has been rewarded, I have endeavoured to present a picture of the burgh and its people, as they were before the Reformation had affected either the aspect of one or the habits of the other. In this my aim has

PREFACE.

. IX been to show the situation and distinctive features of the old town — its streets and gardens, its wells and water courses ; and to exhibit the people in their ordinary life and social relations — their food supply, their houses and furniture, their dress and ornaments, their offensive and defensive arms, the rights and property of children, the position occupied by women, and the economy of the household ; and further, to sketch the main pillars of the commonweal — its enterprising Guild of merchants, its industrious communities of craftsmen, the valued privileges of its burgesses, the paternal government of its Council, and the firm discretion of its magistrates, who, although sometimes inflicting punishment with grotesque severity, were usually directed by a sound and natural sense of justice.

Finally, from these data, which are found in contemporary annals, as it were by lifting the corner of a veil that hides the dim and distant past, I have endeavoured to obtain, and place before my readers, an estimate of the condition and manner of life of the men and women of the old burgh at a great epoch in the national history, with the hope that it may be found somewhat interesting and, perhaps, instructive. Among noted men of the period that present themselves to our attention, I find Hector Boece, the early Scottish historian, pleading for a client in the Burgh Court ; and have noticed his connection with the town — George Wishart, the Martyr, in his benevolent missionary labours ; and have endeavoured — I trust not unsuccessfully — to clear his memory from the charge of conspiring against the life of Cardinal Beaton — the brothers Wedderburn, famous as men of letters, in active burghal life ; and have considered the association of their writings with Dundee — and John Knox, the stalwart reformer, sitting in council with the first congregation ; and have glanced at the important part he took in forwarding a great national work. CONTENTS. I. THE CHURCH IN ITS TIME OF CHANGE.

Chapter I

st mart's church. Its traditional foundation by the Earl of Huntingdon — Its early connection with Lindores Abbey — The Abbot and Convent are empowered to present its Vicars and plant Schools in the Burgh — Dispute concerning the Vicar's stipend — The Church is burned by the English — It is restored and the tower erected in the fifteenth century — The Abbey is relieved from repairing the choir — Contract with a mason for working at the Church — The erection of a clock in the tower, ...... Page 3

Chapter II

st. mart's church (continued). The High altar is dedicated to the Virgin — The Chantry is formed by the chaplains of St. George's, St. Leonard's, and All Saints' altars — The altars of St. Salvator, St. Michael, St. Margaret and St. Thomas, St. Stephen, The Holy Cross, The Haly Blude, St. Severus, St. Duthac, St. Cuthbert, St. Mark, St. Katherine, St. James, St. Monan, St. Columba, The Three Kings of Cologne, St. John, and St. Andrew — Other altars, 13

Chapter III

st. mart's church (continued). The Vicars — The choristers — Decorous order in the Church — The reconciliation of enemies there — Collections made for charitable uses — Kirk burial — Magnificent ritual — The character of Churchmen — A transaction in altar services — The poor denied entrance into the Church ou holidays, CONTENTS.

Chapter IV. The Lesser Churches And Chapels

St. Clement's Church— St. Blaise's Chapel— St. Nicholas' Chapel— St. Paul's Church— St. Anthony's Chapel— Our Lady Chapel— St. Roque's Chapel— The Rood Chapel— Mains Church— Little Gourdie Chapel, - Page 17

Chapter V. Convents

The Gray Friars' Monastery— The Black Friars' Monastery — The Red Friars' Monastery, the Almshouse, and the Leper house — 'she Gray Sisters' Nunnery — The connection of neighbouring Abbeys with the Burgh, 57

Chapter VI. Early Reformers

Persecution of heretics in Scotland — A number of persons in Dundee are banished for heresy — A Dundee martyr — Friars denounce the errors of the Church — The dissemination of controversial books — An old printer, - 71

Chapter VII. George Wishart

His early life — In Bristol — In Cambridge — He visits Dundee — His preaching incites to the spoiling of Monasteries — He is ordered to leave the town — Returns on the visitation of the plague— His benevolent mission — He is seized by Cardinal Beaton's emissaries — Is burned at St. Andrews — Has been charged with complicity in a plot for assassinating Beaton — Opinions of historians on this — The charge is not applicable to him but to another — - Evidence of this — Vindication of the Martyr's memory, SI

Chapter VIII. The English Invasion Of

1547. Alleged to be a missionary enterprise — Broughty Castle is traitorously surrendered to the English — They bombard Dundee — Offer conditions of " assurance " to the town — Unpatriotic Scotsmen — Proposals are made for surrendering Perth — Thc valley of the Tay is laid waste — Fortification of Dundee — The town is spoiled and burned — French aud German allies of the Scots — Broughty Castle is taken, and the English are expelled, 97

Chapter IX. The Restoration Of The Town

Jame3 Haliburton is elected Provost — Absent burgesses are ordered to return — A Freuch garrison is left in the Fort — Troubles with Frenchmen — Rebuilding ruined houses — Reduction of annual-rents — Raising money for "Mother Kirk " — Restoration of the choir — Re-erection of altars — Recovery of church plate — Roofing the tower — Providing a new clock and bells, CONTENTS. XIII

Chapter X. The Wedderburns And Their Writings

Their father a Dundee merchant — Mercantile training of James, the eldest Page son — His plays — The succession to his property — John, the second son, enters the Church — He writes Spiritual Songs — Robert, the youngest son, is also trained for the Church — He forms a youthful attachment — His rash disposition and escapades — He writes "Ballates" along with John — "The Complaynt of Scotland " — Evidence that he is its author — Association of the work with Dundee — He is placed in the Vicarage of St. Mary's Church — His sons, ........ 132

Chapter XI. The Reformation

After the English invasion a charge of heresy is reckoned odious — A change takes place in public opinion — The master of the Grammar school favours the Reformed doctrines — Legal contention with Lindores Abbey — Difficulty in collecting altar rents — Minors are placed into Church offices — The preachers of the Reformation— Landward churches dispoiled — A Congregation established in Dundee — Struggle between the Queen Regent and the Reformers — The crafts and their altar mortifications— Reformed priests, 150

Chapter XII. The Appropriation Of Ecclesiastical Property

The priest's vestments and altar ornaments — St. Mary's churchyard — St. Clement's Church and yard — St. Blaise's Chapel — The Rood Chapel and yard — The Gray Friars' Monastery — The Black Friars' Monastery — The Gray Sisters' Nunnery — The timber-work of Lindores Abbey. 171 II. BURGHAL AND SOCIAL LIFE.

Chapter I. The Old Burgh

Its situation and surroundings — Division into wards — Population— Its streets and houses — Obstructions to traffic — Cleansing and drainage — The supply of water — The burn maintained in purity — Herb and flower gardens — Cornfields — The junction of rural and urban life — Domestic animals. CONTENTS. PAGE 202- 218- 233 248 260

Chapter II. Burghal Government And Administration Of Justice

The privileges of burgesses — The Town Council — The commons or crafts — Disputes with the Scrymgeours regarding their Constable rights — The Burgh Court — Honour shown to magistrates — Juries — Arbitration — Hector Boece acting as a " forespeaker " in the Court — His connection with Dundee — His position as a historian —Appeals from the Burgh Court to spiritual courts — Cursing and its corporeal effect — Jurisdiction of the magistrates beyond the burgh — The courts of barons, ......

Chapter III. The Supplt Of Food

Forestalling and regrating the markets — The exportation of grain prohibited — Buying agricultural produce — The Castle mill and its water-gangs — Erection of the horse-mill and wind-mill — The millers' multure — Troubles with millers — Fixing the weight of bread — Insubordination of the baxters — Animal food — Value of oxen— The supply of fish — Sales of salmon — The flukers and the Flukergait — Maltmen and brewers,

Chapter IV. Burghers' Houses

The Constable leasing a mansion — John Scrymgeour's lands sequestrated — A house rented for the lady of Dudhope — The town house of a landed man — Securing the "bairn's part" of household goods — Effects of a burgess forfeited for treason — Disputes regarding plenishing —Inventories of furniture and household gear — Customs observed in tenancy — " Fire-houses. " .-....-..

Chapter V. Dress

The durable attire of burgesses — Clothes appointed for servants — Restrictions upon the dress of women — Distraining clothes for rent — A legacy — Difficulty in obtaining clothes of fine quality — Ornaments worn by women — A merchant's wealth sometimes hung about his wife — Jewels laid in pledge — Silver belts and silk purses— Two families contending for the possession of jewels — The widow's gold buttons, ---.-.

Chapter VI. Arms

Erection of butts for archery — An archery contest — Bows and bowstrings — Artillery and the armament of ships — The arms of fencible men — Swords and armour — Preparing for a wapinschaw — A disturbance at the wapinschaw — Inhabitants called to arms— The " waige of a man of weir," CONTENTS. XV

Chapter VII. The Rights And Property Of Children

Appointment of curators — Heritage and " bairn's part " of goods — The protection of minors from fraud — The board of children— Disputes regarding heirship — Families having two children of the same name — Bargaining with a lawyer for the pursuit of heritage — A mother buying her son's goodwill — The succession to the lands of BaUumby, - Page 270

Chapter VIII. The Social Position Of Women

Restrictions upon a woman's choice of a husband — An apprentice prohibited from marrying without consent of his craft — A marriage contract — "Tocher-guid " — Hand-fasting — Enforced marriages — Divorce — A wife's right to property — Prodigal wives — A woman of dissipated habits — Profligate neighbours — Unchastity and immorality, - 2S0

Chapter IX. The Household

Domestic servants making double promises — Their fees and bounties — Deserting their service — Unreasonable mistresses — The terms and conditions of men servants — Simple domestic usages — The common living apartment — A housewife of the period — The household of a leading burgess, 294

Chapter X. Commercial Intercourse By Land And Sea

The Guild of merchants — Their booths — Travelling merchants and fairs — Mercantile confidence — Distraining for debt — Sureties — False coin — Bartering — Adventuring money and goods — Imports — French merchants — Disputed freight — Ships at the port — Damage by stress of weather — A tax is imposed on the Tay ferry boats, ------ 303

Chapter XI. Craftsmen

Burghal rights and privileges of the crafts — Their corporations — The Clothmaking industry : — Spinning, Weaving, Fulling, and Dyeing — Bonnetmakers — Tailors — Skinners or Glovers — Baxters — Masons — Wrights — Slaters — Smiths — " Warkmen of the Shore, " 322

Chapter XII. Offences And Their Punishment

.Evil speech — " Mispersonation " — Slandering — Violence of viragos — The tolbooth beads — The cuck-stule — "Stroublance" — Penance in the Church — The stocks — The Bailies' unlaw — The "leech-craft" — Offences committed CONTENTS. XVI Page 343- 367 391 393 ;96 397 399 401 under night— The tolbooth made "a house of fence" — Wearing swords — Combats— Offenders from landward — "Assythment for blude wite " — Fraud — " Pickery " — Theft — Reset — Banishment — Whipping — Burning on the cheek — Death by drowning, ------

Chapter XIII. The Condition Of The People

The houses of burghers and craftsmen — The value of money in the sixteenth century — Rents, wages, and prices — Necessaries and luxuries — Use of wine and ale — Temperate habits— Clothes — Schools and education— Printed books — The working day and meal times — Observance of holidays — Customs associated with festival days — The Fairs — Processions — The Playfield— Miracle plays — Sports and pastimes — The Meadow — Revels and games of chance prohibited — Conclusion,

Appendix

. Conditions of the English "assurance," - Indictment of burgesses for riot aud treason, The charge of conspiracy made against George Wishart, Decision of the Queen Piegent regarding the Constable's authority, Sir James Croft on the state of Scotland, Indenture between the Council and the Constable defining his rights, OLD DUNDEE, PRIOR TO THE REFORMATION. I. THE CHURCH, IN ITS TIME OF CHANGE. Quhairfoir ye Clerkis grittest of Constance, Fullest of science and of knowledging, To us be mirrouris in your governance, And in our darkness be lampis in schining ; Or than in frustar is your lang leirning : Gif to your sawis your deidis contrair be, Your maist accusar salbe your awin cunning — A perilous seikness is vaine prosperitie. William Dunbar. Had not your self begun the weiris Your stepillis had been standing yet, It was the flattering of your Freiris That ever gart Sanct Francis flit. Weddurburn's "Gude and Godlie Ballates." DUNDEE, AS IT IS BELIEVED TO HAVE STOOD UNTIL

Chapter I

st. mary's church. Its traditional foundation by the Earl of Huntingdon — Its early connection with Lindores Abbey — The Abbot and Convent empowered to present its Vicars and plant Schools in the Burgh — Dispute concerning the Vicar's stipend — The Church burned by the English — Is restored and the Tower erected in the Fifteenth Century — The Abbey relieved from repairing the Choir — Contract with a mason for working at the Church — The erection of a Clock in the Tower. Dundee occupies so favourable a site upon the sheltered bank of a noble navigable river, and is so well provided with a natural and con venient haven, that we may almost conclude that from remote times it has been a centre of population and of some commercial activity. We do not, however, have any special records of this. It was long until it became developed into a place of much importance, and its early history is in great measure obscure.

In the twelfth century, when we first obtain a certain glimpse of it, the houses only extended along the river frontage from the Castle rock eastward to the Wallace burn, and formed a few streets, the principal of which, the Seagate, had the West Port at its one end and the East Port near the other. At the time when the history of the burgh itself is merely shadowy we begin to obtain some knowledge of the churches. In the Seagate there had been St. Paul's and St. Anthony's, and in what is now Sugar House Wynd, Our Lady Chapel. Westward, beyond what was then the town proper, upon the river bank there stood "the very old" Church of St. Clement, and farther along upon a rocky islet, St. Nicholas' Chapel, while higher up in " the wheat field " the first great church dedicated to the Virgin was about to be erected.

We cannot attach entire credit to the traditional accounts which have been transmitted to us regarding the foundation of this Church by the Earl of Huntingdon, but there is no reason to doubt their substantial accuracy. Hector Boece, whose narrative of the circumstances has been followed by later historians, although he accepted of mere legends as historical data with the simple credulity which was characteristic of his age, had presumably been familiar with current accepted traditions, and even with written records regarding the erection of the Church. In Bellenden's valued translation of the Chronicles into the vernacular tongue, printed some ten years after the original Latin edition, he says that the Earl on his return from the Holy Land, toward the end of the twelfth century, "was driven be un merciful tempest nocht far frae Norroway with incredible danger.

Finally, when he had made ane voit to big ane kirk to the honour of the Virgin Mary gif he war fortunate to escape the danger of seas, he arrivit in Tay beside Dunde not far frae Sanct Nicholas' Chapel, but ony rudder or tackle, and gave thanks to God and the blessit Virgin for delivering of him frae sic extreme peril. The place quhair he arrivit was callit Alectum; but, ester his dimming, it changit name, and was callid [Deidonum], quhilk signifies in our langage, the Gift of God." It is singular that Bellenden has omitted the passage which follows describing the foundation of the Church. He was himself a dignitary — Archdeacon of Moray — and we can only surmise that the omission is due to jealousy at the honour conferred upon Dundee by the royal founder. The literal translation of this passage is, "As he had been rescued from imminent death by the divine mercy and brought in safety to that place.

Without any delay he built a church consecrated to the holy Virgin, in the field which was called the wheat field, and made it a parish Church. From that time Dundee was considered to be under her protection, except that the greater part of the town's people resorted most to the very old Church of St. Clement, where they worshipped the Saint with. holy prayers. The town, when it had the name of Alectum, was under his protection." Thereafter, Bellenden continues, "Ane con vention was made at Dunde in the whilk licence was given to Earl David to big an abbey in what place he pleasit of Scotland, and dot it with lands and rents at his pleasure. King William gave mony privileges to Dunde whilks endures to thir days. David, nocht re- FOUNDATION. 5 fusing the benevolence of his brother, biggit ane Abbey callit Lundores ester the order of Sanct Benedict."1 Stewart, a contemporary of Boece, who made the metrical translation of the Chronicles in 1535, before Bellenden's was printed, notices the foundation of the Church, but does not have the passage relating to St. Clement.

He says that Earl David " Fouudit ane kirk in ane field at that cost, Quhilk at that tyme wes callit the Quhit Cross,2 In to the honour of the Virgin pure, Eternallie in that place till enduir." And further on he paraphrases the passage describing the King's gifts — " This village dotit then hes he, Quhilk he foundit that callit wes Dundie; And mony uther privilege thame gaif, That neidfull wes to ony town to haif. Into this time remains yit to se, That nobill town of greit auctoritie. Sone ester this now that ye heir me sa, Of Lundoris the nobill riche Abba This Erie David fouudit on Tay."3 On the whole we may reasonably accept Boece's account of the erection of St. Mary's Church, and the adoption of the Virgin as the tutelar saint of the burgh. We certainly know that the Church was held by the Earl apparently in virtue of his right as founder ; for, before the end of the century, he gifted it, along with considerable endowments granted by the King, to the Abbey which he then established at Lindores on the bank of the Tay.

The chartulary of Lindores Abbey gives the earliest authentic particulars which we have regarding the history of St. Mary's Church. By the charter of foundation the Earl, amongst other endowments, granted to the Abbey the Church of Dundee with its Chapels, lands, 1 Book XIII., chap. vii. nal Latin. The reading should probably be— 2 The last words of these two lines, ap parantly through an easily accounted for error in transcribing the MS., neither rhyme nor give the meaning of the origi- " Foundit ane kirk in ane field at that toft, Quhilk at that tyme wes callit the quhit croft." 3 Vol. III., 53-54. and teinds; and Pope Innocent III., by a Bull issued in 1198, con firmed these endowments, which are generally described as "the Church of Dundee and the land belonging thereto ; and a toft in the burgh of Dundee free from all exaction and service." 1 About the year 1224 Gregory, Bishop of Brechin, in whose diocese Dundee lay, " lest the pious gifts of the faithful should be disturbed," ratified the donation which his predecessors had also "made to the Abbot and monks of Lindores of the Church of Dundee, with the chapels and lands belonging thereto; conferring upon them also the full and free administration of all the revenues of the said Church, and that they, on the demise of the Vicar thereof, may lawfully present whomsoever they may think worthy of the cure of souls, assigning to him ten pounds sterling of yearly stipend, that he may minister com petently and fitly in the Church ; he being answerable with regard to episcopal matters both to the Bishop and his officials.

Granting to the said Abbot and Convent liberty to plant schools wherever they please in the said town " — a licence which, no doubt, the monks used in founding the Grammar School which afterwards became famous. These grants by the Bishop were confirmed by Pope Gregory IX. in 1239.2 In 1252, the Abbot and Convent having presented William Mydford to the Vicarage of the Church of Dundee, Albin, Bishop of Brechin, admitted him under reservation to himself of the taxation of the Vicarage. " And, the revenues of the Church having been diligently considered by upright men," he ordained " that the Vicar should receive the whole altarage in name of Vicarage, rendering therefrom ten merks yearly at Easter to the Abbot and Convent." This alloca tion did not, however, satisfy the Vicar, and, in 1256, he complained against it to Pope Alexander IV., affirming that the Bishop had wron°- ously " taxed the perpetual Vicarage of the Church of St. Mary of Dundee."

The Pope, however, found that he had not appealed "within the legal term," and " that what was done by the Bishop was pru dently done ;" and therefore confirmed tho taxation After this decision " Master William failed to pay, though frequently warned and required thereto by the Abbot and Convent alleging that he could not bo 1 Trans. in Laing's Lindores Abbey, 46S. 2 Ibid., 470. RE-ERECTION. suitably supported on the stipend alloted to him." But when there had been much delay and legal contention, " at Perth, before the Bishop of Dunblane, he amicably gave assent for the sake of peace to the payment of ten merks from the altarage yearly ; and for the payment of the arrears he bound himself by oath." As for " the expenses incurred by the Abbot and Convent in the litigation," the Bishop of Brechin ordained him to pay them "fifty merks sterling as full satisfaction."