Inchaffray Abbey was situated by the village of Madderty, midway between Perth and Crieff in Strathearn, Scotland. The only traces now visible are an earth mound and some walls on rising ground which once (before drainage) formed an island where the abbey once stood (the surrounding marshes known for eels).
Folk etymology has the name Inchaffray taken from the Gaelic innis abh reidh (island of the smooth water), but the earliest attested form of the name is the Latin Insula missarum (island of the masses), [1] mass in Gaelic being oifrend and Welsh offeren, thus island of the offerings. A charter of Jonathan, Bishop of Dunblane, refers to the place "qui uocatur lingua Scottica Inche Affren" [2] (="which is called in the Gaelic language Inche Affren") and comparative usage shows that Insula Missarum was taken as a translation, e.g. "Sancti Johannis evangeliste de Inchefrren" [3] and "sancto Johanni apostolo de Insula Misserum". [4]
A priory was created on the site of an existing ecclesiastical establishment of a group of clerics known as "the brethren of St John of Strathearn". Gilbert, Earl of Strathearn and his first known wife Maud d'Aubigny, daughter of William d'Aubigny (Brito) erected the priory in 1200 in memory of their first-born son Gilchrist, was buried there in 1198. The old religious community was absorbed by the new foundation. [1]
Dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and John the Evangelist, the abbey was granted to the Augustinians of Scone Abbey. The charter survives, granting the churches of Saint Cathan of Abruthven, Saint Ethernan of Madderty, Saint Patrick of Strogeith, Saint Makkessog of Auchterarder, and Saint Beanus of Kinkell. [5] The details of the earlier establishments are not certain, but a church dedicated to John the Evangelist is attested in about 1190. The priory became an abbey in 1221.
Inchaffray was patronised both by the Earls of Strathearn and by the Scottish kings. In 1275 a tithe of real income was assessed on all religious houses to fund a crusade, at which time Inchaffray had an income of 246 pounds per annum, fourth among Augustinian houses, exceeded only by St Andrews, Scone and Holyrood. In time the abbey's lands and dependent churches stretched across Scotland, as far away as Uist in the west and Balfron in the south. The abbey ordered the digging of the Pow of Inchaffray, a nine-mile drainage ditch, to improve nearby marshland. [7]
Abbot Maurice of Inchaffray carried the relics of Saint Fillan to bless the Scots army before the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Commendatory abbot Laurence Oliphant, who came from a notable Strathearn family, was killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1514.
By 1561 Inchaffrey's fortunes had declined, its income being assessed at £667, third lowest of the Augustinian abbeys in Scotland included in the levy. With the Scottish Reformation under way, Inchaffray had been turned into a secular lordship for a member of the Drummond family in 1556. James VI visited James Drummond at Inchaffray on 5 October 1601. [8] The property later passed to the Earls of Kinnoull. Much of what remained of the abbey was destroyed in 1816 when a road was driven across the site.
Today a single gable-end wall stands in private property, although it is visible from the road. The ruins are designated a scheduled monument. [9]
Scone Palace is a Category A-listed historic house near the village of Scone and the city of Perth, Scotland. Built in red sandstone with a castellated roof, it is an example of the Gothic Revival style in Scotland.
Saint Fillan, Filan, Phillan, Fáelán or Faolán is the name of an eighth century monk from Munster, who having studied at Taghmon Abbey, traveled to Scotland and settled at Strath Fillan.
Gille Brigte of Strathearn (1150–1223), sometimes also called Gilbert, was the 3rd Earl or Mormaer of Strathearn.
Máel Ísu or Malise II is the fifth known mormaer, or earl, of the Scottish region of Strathearn. He was the son of Robert, 4th Earl of Strathearn.
Scone Abbey was a house of Augustinian canons located in Scone, Perthshire (Gowrie), Scotland. Dates given for the establishment of Scone Priory have ranged from 1114 A.D. to 1122 A.D. However, historians have long believed that Scone was before that time the center of the early medieval Christian cult of the Culdees. Very little is known about the Culdees but it is thought that they may have been worshiping at Scone from as early as 700 A.D. Archaeological surveys taken in 2007 suggest that Scone was a site of real significance even prior to 841 A.D., when Kenneth MacAlpin brought the Stone of Destiny, Scotland's most prized relic and coronation stone, to Scone.
The Abbot of Inchaffray, before 1221 Prior of Inchaffray, and then by the end of the 15th century, the Commendator of Inchaffray, was the head of the community of Augustinian canons of Inchaffray Abbey and their lands. Inchaffray is in Strathearn, in southern Perthshire, Scotland. The house was founded by Gille Brigte (Gilbert), mormaer of Strathearn in 1200 as a priory and was elevated to an abbey in 1221. By the late 15th century the monastery was becoming secularized. and after the resignation of Abbot George Mureff (Murray) in 1495, Laurence, Lord Oliphant, took over as commendator and thereafter it was held by commendators. It was turned into a secular lordship for Commendator James Drummond, Lord Maddertie, but the final formalization of the lordship did not come until 1669, when it was given to William Drummond.
The Abbot of Scone, before 1163 x 4, Prior of Scone, and then by the beginning of the 16th century, the Commendator of Scone, was the head of the community of Augustinian canons of Scone Abbey and their lands. The priory was established by King Alaxandair mac Maíl Choluim sometime between 1114 and 1120, and was elevated to the status of an abbey in 1163 or 1164. The abbey was turned into a secular lordship for William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie in 1581, but was forfeited when the earl was executed in 1584, given to William Foularton in the same year, but restored to the earl's son, James Ruthven, 2nd Earl of Gowrie. An independent secular lordship was established for David Murray in 1608.
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.
Abraham was an early 13th-century Scottish cleric who held the position of Bishop of Dunblane. He was a chaplain to the Mormaer of Strathearn, Gille Brígte.
Maurice was a 14th-century Scottish cleric who became Prior of Inchmahome, Abbot of Inchaffray and then Bishop of Dunblane. He was Prior of Inchmahome Priory in Menteith after 1297. He became abbot of Inchaffray Abbey in Strathearn between March 1304 and October 1305. As Abbot of Inchaffray, he held a canonry in the diocese of Dunblane, that is, the precentorship of Dunblane Cathedral. After the death of Nicholas de Balmyle, he was elected to the bishopric of Dunblane. He was consecrated to the see before 23 March 1322, after litigation at the Papal court. King Edward II of England had nominated one Richard de Pontefract to the see, while Roger de Ballinbreich had also been elected by the chapter; both of these men were overlooked by the Pope in Maurice's favour.
Roger was a churchman based in the 14th century Kingdom of Scotland, and active as Bishop of Ross from 1325 until 1350. Before attaining this position, Roger was a canon of Abernethy; it is possible that Roger was an Augustinian, because it is often thought that Abernethy did not become a collegiate church until some time after 1328, after the marriage of the Abernethy heiress to the Earl of Angus; this however is not certain, as the exact details of Abernethy's transition from being an Céli Dé abbey to an Augustinian priory to a secular college are only vaguely understood.
Albin was a 13th-century prelate of the Kingdom of Scotland. A university graduate, Albin is known for his ecclesiastical career in the diocese of Brechin, centred on Angus in east-central Scotland.
Simon is the third known 12th century Bishop of Dunblane. Nothing is known of Simon's background as there are numerous Simons in Scotland in this period, both native and foreign. There is a Symon de Liberatione who witnessed a charter of King William the Lion and whom Watt and Murray suggested may have been the later Bishop of Dunblane, while there was in the same decade a local landholder and ecclesiastical patron in the diocese of Dunblane called Simón son of Mac Bethad.
Gowrie is a region in central Scotland and one of the original provinces of the Kingdom of Alba. It covered the eastern part of what became Perthshire. It was located to the immediate east of Atholl, and originally included the area around Perth, though that was later detached as Perthia.
Nicholas de Balmyle, also called Nicholas of St Andrews, was a Scottish administrator and prelate in the late 13th century and early 14th century. A graduate of an unknown university, he served his earliest years as a clergyman at St Andrews, moving on to hold churches in Lothian as well as deputising to two archdeacons of Lothian.
William O. Tiron. was a late 13th-century Tironensian abbot and bishop in the Kingdom of Scotland. He appears in the extant sources for the first time on 25 April 1276; he is Abbot of Arbroath. According to the Scotichronicon, the work of the 15th-century historian Walter Bower, William's predecessor Adam de Inverlunan had died in 1275, so William probably became abbot in either that year or in 1276.
Jonathan was a churchman and prelate active in late twelfth- and early thirteenth century Strathearn, in the Kingdom of Scotland. He was the Bishop of Dunblane during the time of Gille Brigte of Strathearn, and it was during Jonathan's episcopate that Gille Brigte founded an Augustinian priory at Inchaffray.
Walter de Coventre was a 14th-century Scottish ecclesiastic. There is no direct evidence of his birthdate, his family, or his family's origin, although he may have come from the region around Abernethy, where a family with the name de Coventre is known to have lived. Walter appeared in the records for the first time in the 1330s, as a student at the University of Paris. From there he went on to the University of Orléans, initially as a student before becoming a lecturer there. He studied the arts, civil law and canon law, and was awarded many university degrees, including two doctorates. His studies were paid for, at least partially, by his benefices in Scotland. Despite holding perhaps more than five benefices at one stage, he did not return to Scotland until the late 1350s.
Scone is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The medieval town of Scone, which grew up around the monastery and royal residence, was abandoned in the early 19th century when the residents were removed and a new palace was built on the site by the Earl of Mansfield. Hence the modern village of Scone, and the medieval village of Old Scone, can often be distinguished.