Blackfriars, Montrose

Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Montrose
Monastery information
Order	Dominican
Established	13th century (1st); 1518 (2nd)
Disestablished	1571
Diocese	Diocese of Brechin
People
Founder(s)	Alan Durward (1st); James V, John Stewart, Duke of Albany, Patrick Panter (2nd)

Last updated March 14, 2019

The Church of the Friars Preachers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Montrose, commonly called Blackfriars, was a mendicant friary of the Dominican Order founded in the 13th century at Montrose, Scotland. The Chronica Extracta claimed that it was founded by Alan Durward. It was however abandoned at some point in the 14th century. In the early 16th century it was alleged that the house had fallen into disuse because it had been burned during a war, perhaps the Wars of Scottish Independence, and neglected thereafter.

A mendicant is one who practices mendicancy (begging) and relies chiefly or exclusively on charitable donations to survive. In principle, mendicant religious orders do not own property, either individually or collectively, and members have taken a vow of poverty, in order that all their time and energy could be expended on practicing or preaching and serving the poor. It is a form of asceticism.

Dominican Order Roman Catholic religious order

The Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominican Order, is a mendicant Catholic religious order founded by the Spanish priest Dominic of Caleruega in France, approved by Pope Honorius III via the Papal bull Religiosam vitam on 22 December 1216. Members of the order, who are referred to as Dominicans, generally carry the letters OP after their names, standing for Ordinis Praedicatorum, meaning of the Order of Preachers. Membership in the order includes friars, nuns, active sisters, and affiliated lay or secular Dominicans.

Montrose, Angus coastal resort town and former royal burgh in Angus, Scotland

Montrose is a town and former royal burgh in Angus, Scotland. It is situated 38 miles north of Dundee between the mouths of the North and South Esk rivers. It is the northernmost coastal town in Angus and developed at a natural harbour that traded in skins, hides and cured salmon in medieval times.

On 14 November 1516, John Stewart, Duke of Albany, acting in the name of King James V of Scotland, authorised Patrick Panter, Abbot of Cambuskenneth, to re-institute the house. On 18 May 1517, Pope Leo X granted Albany's petition to transfer the property of St Mary's Hospital to the friary. The papal bull of erection was issued on 5 June 1518. The house had a prior, a sub-prior, and at least eight ordinary friars. The friars appear to have resided at the hospital as much if not more than they did at their former house.

John Stewart, Duke of Albany was Regent of the Kingdom of Scotland, Duke of Albany in peerage of Scotland and Count of Auvergne and Lauraguais in France.

James V was King of Scotland from 9 September 1513 until his death, which followed the Scottish defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss. His only surviving legitimate child, Mary, Queen of Scots, succeeded him when she was just six days old.

The Abbot of Cambuskenneth or Abbot of Stirling was the head of the Arrouaisian (Augustinian) monastic community of Cambuskenneth Abbey, near Stirling. The long history of the abbey came to a formal end when the abbey was turned into a secular lordship for the last commendator, Alexander Erskine.

The black friars of Montrose, like mendicants everywhere else in Scotland, were targeted during the lead up to the Scottish Reformation. A letter by Francis II of France and Mary, Queen of Scots, dated 22 February 1559, confirmed the decision of the lords of the secret council to eject the friars and restore the hospital. King James VI of Scotland granted the property and remaining revenues of the friars to the burgh of Montrose on 1 January 1571.

The Scottish Reformation was the process by which Scotland broke with the Papacy and developed a predominantly Calvinist national Kirk (church), which was strongly Presbyterian in outlook. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation that took place from the sixteenth century.

Francis II was King of France from 1559 to 1560. He was also King consort of Scotland as a result of his marriage to Mary, Queen of Scots, from 1558 until his death in 1560. Francis was the eleventh king from the House of Valois, the fourth from the Valois-Orléans branch, and the third from the Valois-Orléans-Angoulême branch.

Mary, Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, reigned over Scotland from 14 December 1542 to 24 July 1567.

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Mendicant orders are, primarily, certain Christian religious orders that have adopted a lifestyle of poverty, traveling, and living in urban areas for purposes of preaching, evangelization, and ministry, especially to the poor. At their foundation these orders rejected the previously established monastic model. This foresaw living in one stable, isolated community where members worked at a trade and owned property in common, including land, buildings and other wealth. By contrast, the mendicants avoided owning property, did not work at a trade, and embraced a poor, often itinerant lifestyle. They depended for their survival on the goodwill of the people to whom they preached.

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St. Catherine's Priory, Roskilde, was a priory of Dominican friars located in Roskilde. It was dissolved in the Reformation and a private house built on the site.

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Derby Black Friary, also known as Derby Dominican Priory, or Blackfriars, Derby, was a Dominican priory situated in the town of Derby, England. it was also named in different sources as a Friary, Monastery and Convent, but was officially a Priory as it was headed by a prior. The "Black" came from the colour of the robes worn by the friars of the order.

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References

Cowan, Ian B. & Easson, David E., Medieval Religious Houses: Scotland With an Appendix on the Houses in the Isle of Man, Second Edition, (London, 1976)

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