Greyfriars was a religious house in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, in the later Middle Ages. The house was Franciscan (hence "grey friars"), of the Observant (as opposed to Conventual) kind). [1]
Founded by Bishop James Kennedy somewhere between 1463 and 1466, it received additional endowments from Kennedy's successor Patrick Graham. [2] The foundation may not have been completed by Kennedy's death in May 1465, but was certainly initiated by him. [3] These grants were confirmed by King James III 21 December 1479. [3]
At its foundation, there was provision for 24 friars, though by the Reformation there is only evidence of six. [3] In July 1547, the friary was burned by the army of Norman Leslie. [3] It was resigned to the burgh magistrates in May 1559, and around 14 June 1559 it was destroyed, either by the Reformers or the magistrates. [3]
The Abbot and then Commendator of Melrose was the head of the monastic community of Melrose Abbey, in Melrose in the Borders region of Scotland. The abbots of the earlier Northumbrian foundation from Lindisfarne are not included here. The second abbey was founded in 1136 on the patronage of David I, King of Scots, by Cistercian monks from Rievaulx Abbey, Yorkshire. Control of the abbey was secularized in the 16th century and after the accession of James Stewart, the abbey was held by commendators. The last commendator, James Douglas of Lochleven, resigned the abbacy to William Douglas, 6th Earl of Morton in December 1606, and the abbey itself to the king in 1608. The abbey was then erected into a secular lordship for viscount Haddington, John Ramsay, who in 1609 was created "Lord Melrose". Lochleven however resumed the title of commendator in 1613 until his death in 1620.
The Abbot of Kelso was the head of the Tironensian monastic community at Kelso Abbey in the Scottish Borders. Originally, he was the Abbot of Selkirk, because from its foundation in 1113 by David, Prince of the Cumbrians (1113–1124) until it was moved to Kelso by David and John, bishop of Glasgow in 1127. The abbot was the first in Scotland to be granted the mitre in 1165. In the 16th century the monastery increasingly came under secular control, and finally in 1607 it was granted as a secular lordship (Holydean) to its last commendator, Robert Ker of Cesford, later earl of Roxburghe. The following is a list of abbots and commendators:
The Abbot of Balmerino was the head of the Cistercian monastic community and lands of Balmerino Abbey, Fife, founded in 1227 x 1229 by monks from Melrose Abbey with the patronage of Ermengarde de Beaumont and King Alexander II of Scotland. The following are a list of abbots and commendators.
The Abbot of Glenluce was the head of the monastic community of Glenluce Abbey, Galloway. The monastery was founded in 1192 by monks from Dundrennan Abbey with the patronage of Lochlann (Roland), Lord of Galloway. In the 16th century the monastery increasingly came under the control of secular warlords. In 1560 the monastery was occupied by James Gordon of Lochinvar, and the monks were expelled. However, soon after, Thomas Hay, a follower of the earl of Cassillis, was installed in the monastery as commendator and the monks were allowed to return. However, monastic life seems to have disappeared by the end of the century. In 1602 parliament granted the lands of the monastery to Lawrence Gordon as a secular lordship. The abbey was finally given to the bishop of Galloway in 1619. The following is a list of abbots and abbot-commendators:
The Abbot of Holyrood was the head of the Augustinian monastic community of Holyrood Abbey, now in Edinburgh. The long history of the abbey came to a formal end in July 1606 when the parliament of Scotland turned the abbey into a secular lordship for the last commendator, John Bothwell. The following is a list of abbots and commendators:
The Prior of Lesmahagow was the head of the medieval Tironensian monastic community of Lesmahagow Priory, located in modern South Lanarkshire. The following is a list of priors and commendators:
The Prior of May then Prior of Pittenweem was the religious superior of the Benedictine monks of Isle of May Priory, which later moved to the mainland became called Pittenweem Priory. The priory was originally based on the Isle of May, but was moved by 1318 to its nearby mainland site of Pittenweem, Fife, passing from the overlordship of Reading Abbey (Benedictine) to St Andrews Cathedral Priory (Augustinian). The following is a list of priors and commendators:
Clement was a 13th-century Dominican friar who was the first member of the Dominican Order in Britain and Ireland to become a bishop. In 1233, he was selected to lead the ailing diocese of Dunblane in Scotland, and faced a struggle to bring the bishopric of Dunblane to financial viability. This involved many negotiations with the powerful religious institutions and secular authorities which had acquired control of the revenue that would normally have been the entitlement of Clement's bishopric. The negotiations proved difficult, forcing Clement to visit the papal court in Rome. While not achieving all of his aims, Clement succeeded in saving the bishopric from relocation to Inchaffray Abbey. He also regained enough revenue to begin work on the new Dunblane Cathedral.
The Prior of Ardchattan was the head of the Valliscaulian, and then Cistercian, monastic community of Ardchattan Priory, Argyll. It was founded in 1230 by Duncan MacDougal, Lord of Argyll. In April 1510 it was incorporated as a cell of Beauly Priory. It was annexed to the bishopric of the Isles in 1615. The following are a list of abbots and commendators:
Thomas Hay was a 15th-century Scottish prelate. A canon of the diocese and cathedral of Aberdeen, on the translation of William Elphinstone from Bishop of Ross to Bishop of Aberdeen, Hay was provided as Elphinstone's successor in Ross, this occurring on 16 May 1483. He was probably the Thomas Hay who held the Aberdeen prebend of Turriff.
The Church of the Friars Preachers of Blessed Virgin and Saint Dominic at Perth, commonly called "Blackfriars", was a mendicant friary of the Dominican Order founded in the 13th century at Perth, Scotland. The Dominicans were said by Walter Bower to have been brought to Scotland in 1230 by King Alexander II of Scotland, while John Spottiswood held that they were brought to Scotland by William de Malveisin, Bishop of St Andrews. Later tradition held that the Perth Dominican friary was founded by King Alexander II.
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.
The Church of the Friars Preachers of St Laurence, Stirling, commonly called Blackfriars, was a mendicant friary of the Dominican Order founded in the 13th century at Stirling, Scotland.
Perth Charterhouse or Perth Priory, known in Latin as Domus Vallis Virtutis, was a monastic house of Carthusian monks based at Perth, Scotland. It was the only Carthusian house ever to be established in the Kingdom of Scotland, and one of the last non-mendicant houses to be founded in the kingdom. The traditional founding date of the house is 1429. Formal suppression of the house came in 1569, though this was not actualised until 1602.
The Prior of Perth was the head of Perth Charterhouse, the Carthusian monastic house located near Perth. It was founded in 1429, and finally suppressed in 1602. The following is a list of priors and prior-commendators:
Trinity College Kirk was a royal collegiate church in Edinburgh, Scotland. The kirk and its adjacent almshouse, Trinity Hospital, were founded in 1460 by Mary of Gueldres in memory of her husband, King James II who had been killed at the siege of Roxburgh Castle that year. Queen Mary was interred in the church, until her coffin was moved to Holyrood Abbey in 1848.
The Church of St Mary on the Rock or St Mary's Collegiate Church, was a secular college of priests based on the seaward side of St Andrews Cathedral, St Andrews, just beyond the precinct walls. It is known by a variety of other names, such as St Mary of the Culdees, Kirkheugh and Church of St Mary of Kilrymont.
Blackfriars is the modern name for the Dominican friary of St Mary which existed in St Andrews, Scotland, in the later Middle Ages. The name is also used for the modern ruins.
St. Mary's Priory, North Berwick, was a monastery of nuns in medieval East Lothian, Scotland. Founded by Donnchad I, Earl of Fife around 1150, the priory lasted for more than four centuries, declining and disappearing after the Scottish Reformation. It had been endowed by the Earls of Carrick as well as the Earls of Fife, but over time lost its dependence on these and came to be controlled by the more locally based Home family, who eventually acquired the priory's lands as a free barony.
Hospitals in medieval Scotland can be dated back to the 12th century. From c. 1144 to about 1650 many hospitals, bedehouses and maisons Dieu were built in Scotland.