Elgin Cathedral

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Elgin Cathedral

Cathedral Information
Dedicated to	The Holy Trinity
Cathedral church established	fl. x1114–1127x1131 1224 (in present location)
Authorising papal bull	Honorius III in 1224
Diocese	Diocese of Moray (Moravienses)
Diocese established	x1114–1127x1131
Deanery	Elgin Inverness Strathbogie Strathspey
Prebendary canons	25
Significant events	Cathedral and chanonry damaged by fire–1270, 1390 and 1402
People
Significant bishop(s)	Bricius de Douglas Andreas de Moravia Alexander Bur Patrick Hepburn
Important associated figures	King Alexander II Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan John Shanks
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Elgin Cathedral ( 57°39′04″N, 03°18′17″W) sometimes referred to as The Lantern of the North is an historic ruin in Elgin, Moray, north-east Scotland. For over eighty years the seat of the early bishops of Moray alternated amongst the churches of Birnie, Kineddar and Spynie where in 1206, the cathedral was initially fixed. In 1224 the seat was translated to its final location in Elgin with the cathedral reaching completion near the end of the 13th century. The cathedral's octagonal chapter house—a unique feature in Scottish secular cathedrals though not uncommon in England—is still mostly intact. The recessed tombs of some of the bishops containing their effigies can still be seen. In 1390 the cathedral, the canons' manses and the Royal Burgh of Elgin were burned by Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, also known as the Wolf of Badenoch. The cathedral manses were attacked and burned again in 1402 by the Lord of the Isles’ followers. Substantial repairs to the cathedral were carried out in the 15th and 16th centuries only for it to fall into disuse and ruination following the Scottish Reformation. Preservation of the building began slowly in the 19th century, gradually taking pace during the 20th century and is now fully stabilised.

Contents 1 Early cathedral churches of Moray 2 Cathedral church at Elgin 2.1 Chapter and deanery 2.2 Chanonry 2.3 Hospital of Maison Dieu 3 Cathedral routine 4 Post Reformation 5 Decay and ruination 6 Stabilisation 7 Notes 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links

[edit] Early cathedral churches of Moray

It is possible that the mormaers of Moray appointed bishops as early as the 11th century. ^[1] The first recorded bishop was Gregoir of Moray who was a signatory to the foundation charter of Scone Priory, issued by King Alexander I (Alaxandair mac Maíl Choluim) between December 1123 and April 1124,^[2] and again in a charter defining the legal rights of the monastery.^[3] Gregoir is recorded for the last time when he witnessed a charter by King David I (Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim) to Dunfermline Abbey in c.1128.^[4] After the suppression of Óengus of Moray's rebellion in 1130—he had aided the claimant to the Scottish throne—King David regarded the continued presence of bishops in Moray as essential to the well-being of the province. ^{[5] [6]}

The post-Óengus bishops of Moray did not have a settled location for their cathedral and sited it successively at Birnie, Kinneddar and Spynie.^[7] Pope Innocent III issued a bull on 7 April 1206 that allowed bishop Bricius de Douglas to fix his cathedral church at Spynie—its inauguration took place between spring 1207 and summer 1208.^[8] A chapter of eight canons for the day-to-day running of the cathedral was authorised and based its constitution on that of Lincoln Cathedral.^[9] Elgin became the lay centre of the province under King David who probably established the first castle in the town.^{[10] [11]} It may have been this castle with its prospect of better security that caused Bricius before July 1216, to petition the pope to move the seat from Spynie.^[12]

[edit] Cathedral church at Elgin

Despite Bricius' appeal, the seat was not transferred to Elgin until 10 April 1224 during Bishop Andreas de Moravia's episcopate.^{[7] [13]} Pope Honorius III authorised his legates Gilbert de Moravia, bishop of Caithness and Robert, abbot of Kinloss to perform the translation ceremony which took place on 19 July 1224. Before that, on 10 July, King Alexander II (Alaxandair mac Uilliam) agreed to the transference in an edict that referred to his having given the land previously for this purpose.^[14] Given that the land-grant predated the Papal mandate, there is evidence that the building had started in around 1215 .^[15] Completion was after 1242 but in 1270, according to the chronicler Fordun, the cathedral church and the canons’ houses had burned down but no reason was given. The cathedral was rebuilt in a grander style to form the greater part of the structure which is now visible in its ruined state. ^[16] It is supposed to have been completed by the outbreak of the Wars of Independence in 1296. The sanctity of the cathedral was respected by both the Scots and English during these wars as it was also by King Edward III of England during his assault on Moray in 1336.^[6]

In 1323 Bishop David de Moravia (1299–1326), a benefactor to religious learning, gave the lands of Grisy-Suisnes, outside Paris—this formed the founding endowment to the future Collège des Écossais in Paris.^[17] Soon after his election to the see in 1362–3, Bishop Alexander Bur requested funds from Pope Urban V for repairs to the cathedral citing neglect and hostile attacks.^[6] In August 1370 Bur began protection payments to Alexander Stewart, the de facto lord of Badenoch and son of Robert the Steward who was soon to become King Robert II.^[18] Stewart, Earl of Buchan from 1382, and Bur had many disputes that culminated in Stewart's excommunication in February 1390 and the bishop turning to Thomas Dunbar, son of the Earl of Moray, to provide the protection service.^[19][20] These acts by the bishop taken together with Buchan's increased desperation at the strictures placed upon him by his brother, Robert Stewart, Earl of Fife and guardian of Scotland, caused him to react defiantly—in May, he descended from his castle on an island in Lochindorb and burned the town of Forres and followed this up in June by burning Elgin and the cathedral.^{[21] [22]} It is believed that he also burned Pluscarden Priory at this time which was officially under the Bishop's protection.^[23] Bur wrote to the king seeking reparation in a letter stating:^[6]

My church was the particular ornament of the fatherland, the glory of the kingdom, the joy of strangers and incoming guests, the object of praise and exaltation in other kingdoms because of its decoration, by which it is believed that God was properly worshipped; not to mention its high bell towers, its venerable furnishings and uncountable jewels.

King Robert granted Bur an annuity of £20 for the period of the bishop’s lifetime while the pope provided income from the Scottish church during the following decade.^[21] In 1400, Bur wrote to the abbot of Arbroath complaining that the abbot's prebendary churches in the Moray diocese had not paid their dues towards the cathedral restoration.^[24]. Again, on 3 July 1402, the burgh and cathedral precinct were attacked, this time by Alexander of Lochaber, brother of Domhnall of Islay, Lord of the Isles—they spared the cathedral but burned the manses—for this act he and his captains were excommunicated but they returned in September to give reparation.^[25] In 1408, the money saved during a vacancy was diverted to the rebuilding process and in 1413 a grant from the customs of Inverness was provided.^[26]Relying on the collections from the faithful could not be relied upon. Among the ordinary people there was a growing feeling of disenchantment with the higher church establishment and this was further exacerbated by an increasing inclination for them to support the smaller churches where the bulk of the people worshipped.^[27] Increasingly, the appropriation of the parish church revenues led in many cases to churches becoming dilapidated and unable to attract educated priests—by the later Middle Ages, the standard of pastoral care outside of the main burghs was totally inadequate.^[28]

Bishop John Innes (1407–14) contributed greatly to the rebuilding of the cathedral evidenced by the inscription on his tomb praising his efforts. The major alterations to the west front were completed before 1435 and contain the arms of Bishop Columba de Dunbar (1422–35). It is presumed that the choir aisles were finished before 1460 as it contains the tomb of John de Winchester (1435–60). Probably one of the last important rebuilding feature was the reshaping of the chapter house which contains the arms of Bishop Andrew Stewart (1482–1501).^[29]

[edit] Chapter and deanery

Main article: Bishop of Moray

Main article: Dean of Moray

Bishop Bricius set the cathedral rites by adopting those of Lincoln Cathedral for his chapter at Spynie with five dignataries and three canons—under the Lincoln constitution, the bishop sat in the chapter as an ordinary canon. ^[30] His successor, Bishop Andreas de Moravia greatly expanded the chapter by creating two additional hierarchical posts (succenter and subdean) and added fifteen more canons.^[26][31] A large number of new prebends were created to cater for the very much enlarged establishment.^[32][33] The subdean received the church of Dallas as his prebend along with the altarage of Auldearn from the dean while the succenter, for his prebends, got Rafford from the precentor and Ardclach from the chancellor. To compensate the chancellor, he received the single prebend from the combined churches of Inveravon and Urquhart.^[32][33] A total of 23 prebends had been created by the time of Andreas' death^[33] and a further two added a just before the Reformation (see table below for full details). Bishop Andreas changed the constitution to follow those of Salisbury Cathedral shortly before he died.^[26]

The four deaneries—Elgin, Inverness, Strathbogie and Strathspey—^[34] provided the mensal and prependal income not only for for the cathedral chapter but also for other religious houses within and outwith the diocese. Arbroath Abbey in the diocese of St Andrews received the income from the church of Inverness, Beauly Priory had that of Abertarf and Conveth while Pluscarden Priory had Daviot and Dores.

Chapter of Bishop Andreas de Moravia—1224

Chapter	Prebends
Bishop	Dyke, Birnie, Dundurkas, Dalarossie, Wardlaw, Rothiemurchus, Innerallian, Rothymay, Gartly, Keith
Dean	Auldearn; chapel of Nairn.
Precentor	Lhanbryde; Alves; Rafford; (Rafford removed in 1226).
Chancellor	Inveravon; Urquhart (south of Inverness); lands of Ardclach.
Treasurer	Kineddar; Essle.
Subdean	Dallas; altarage of Auldearn.
Succentor	Rafford; Ardclach.
Archdeacon	Forres; Edinkillie.
Canons	Advie and Cromdale; Aberlour and Boharm; Botarry and Elchies; Croy; Dipple and Ruthven; Duffus; Duthil; Elgin; Innerkethney; Kingussie and Insh; Kynnoir and Dumbannan; Moy; Rhynie; Petty and Brackla; Spynie.

Deanery of Diocese of Moray

Deanery	Parishes
Elgin	Altyre, Alves, Ardclach, Auldearn, Birnie, Dallas, Dipple, Drainie, Duffus, Dundurkas, Dyke, Edinkillie, Elgin, Essil, Forres, Kineddar, Lhanbryde, Moy, Ogstoun, Rafford, Rothes, Spynie, St Andrews, Urquhart
Inverness	Abertarf, Abriachan, Barevan, Boleskine, Brackla, Conveth, Croy, Dalarossie, Daviot, Dores, Ferneway, Inverness, Kintallirgy, Lunan, Lundichty, Petty, Wardlaw
Strathbogie	Aberchirder, Aberlour, Ardintullie, Bellie, Botary, Botriphnie, Drumdelgie, Essie, Gartly, Glass, Huntly, Inverkethney, Keith, Kilreny, Kynnor, Rothymay
Strathspey	Abernethy, Advie, Alvie, Cromdale, Duthil, Elchies, Inch, Innerallian, Inveravon, Kincardine, Kingussie, Kirkmichael, Knockando, Laggan, Rothiemurchas

[edit] Chanonry

The chanonry, referred to in the cathedral's chartulary as the college of the chanonry or simply as the college, was the collection of manses that surrounded the cathedral.^[35] Each canon or dignitary was responsible for providing his own manse which was built to reflect his status within the chapter.^[35]

A substantial wall, four metres high and two meters thick, surrounded the cathedral and manses, which not only delineated the sacred grounds from the secular, but was intended as a means of defence—only the manse of Rhynie lay outside the west wall.^[36] The wall had four doors, one of which, the Pans Port, still survives and shows that the gateways contained portcullis'. In 1242 there were 23 canons with a further two being added just before the Reformation so space was limited. As well as the manse of Rhynie, the houses of 17 vicars and the many chaplains were also situated outside the west wall.^[32] The manse of the precenter, erroneously called the Bishop’s House can still be seen and is dated to 1557 while vestiges of two other manses are now part of modern dwellings—those of the North College (the dean's manse) and South College (the archdeacon's manse).^[37] King Edward I of England stayed at the manse of Duffus on 10 and 11 September 1303 as the castle was no longer in a fit state and King James II also stayed there in 1455.^[38]

[edit] Hospital of Maison Dieu

The hospital of Maison Dieu, dedicated to St Mary, was situated close to the cathedral and was established by Bishop Andreas before 1237 for the aid of the poor.^[39] It suffered twice by burning in 1390 and again in 1445. Bishop James Hepburn granted it to the Blackfriars of Elgin in 1520.^[40] The property was taken into the ownership of the Crown following the reformation and was granted to the burgh by James VI in 1595 for educational purposes and for helping the poor.^[39]

[edit] Cathedral routine

The medieval bishop’s status within the national Church hierarchy was reflected in the buildings and fabric of his cathedral and by the daily rituals carried out within its walls—so that these services could be fulfilled appropriately it was important that the cathedral was suitably staffed.^[7]

The income to support the canons was from appropriations from parish churches. Around forty churches were allocated to support designated canons and about six others were held in common for all of the canons while the income from fifteen other parishes used directly for the upkeep of the bishop.^[41] Andreas also allowed for the canons to be aided by seventeen vicars made up of seven priests, five deacons and five sub-deacons—later these vicars’ numbers were increased to twenty five and by 1489 were paid a stipendiary ranging from five to twelve marks.^[26] The vicars were of two kinds but there was overlap among them—these were vicars-choral and the chantry chaplains.^[42] The vicars-choral worked mainly in the choir and took the main services of the cathedral while the chantry chaplains' main function was to perform services at the individual lesser foundation altars.^[43] King Alexander II founded a chaplaincy for the soul of King Duncan I who was killed by Macbeth near Elgin while the chapel most frequently referred to in records was that of St Thomas the Martyr in the north transept—it had five chaplains.^[44] Other chaplaincies mentioned are those of the Holy Rood, St Catherine, St Duthac, St Lawrence, St Mary Magdalene, St Mary the Virgin and St Michael.^[45] By the time of Bishop Bur's episcopate, the cathedral had 15 canons (excluding dignitories), 22 vicars-choral and about the same amount of chaplains. ^[46]

Despite these numbers, all of the clergy were not present at the services—absence was an enduring fact of life in all cathedrals in a period when those seeking career advancement would accept prebends from more than one cathedral.^[26] The bulk of the workload fell to the vicars and a small number of canons who were responsible for celebrating high mass and for leading and arranging sermons and feast day processions. A total of seven services were held daily some of which were solely for the clergy and those took place behind the rood screen; this separated the high alter and choir from lay worshipers. Each morning, the canons held a meeting in the chapter house where a chapter from the canonical rule book of St Benedict was read.^[47]

An unknown number of lay lawyers and clerks as well as masons, carpenters, glaziers, plumbers and gardeners were employed—Master Gregory the mason and Master Richard the glazier are mentioned in the chartulary of the cathedral.^[48]

[edit] Post Reformation

In August 1560, parliament rejected the authority of the pope over the Scottish Church and the Mass, as the fundamental act of worship, was abolished.^[45] However, the office of bishop was not ended until 1689. The evolving church was generally unsympathetic to most of the previous episcopal practices and to cathedrals as centres of worship. The cathedrals that survived did so because they also doubled as parish churches however they had the trappings of Roman Catholicism swiftly removed; Elgin had the parish church of St Giles which meant that the cathedral was surplus to requirements.^[49] It is evident that the use of the cathedral must have ceased fairly soon after the Reformation parliament's decisions. An Act of parliament passed on 14 February 1567 authorising Regent Lord James Stewart's Privy Council to order the removal of the lead from the roofs of both Elgin and Aberdeen cathedrals and to be sold for the upkeep of his army—the ship that was destined to take the cargo to Holland was so overladen that it sunk in Aberdeen harbour.^[50]

[edit] Decay and ruination

In 1615, John Taylor, the ‘Water Poet’ wrote:^[51]

a faire and beautiful church with three steeples, the walls of it and the steeples all yet standing; but the roofes, windowes and many marble monuments and tombes of honourable and worthie personages all broken and defaced.

Decay was setting in and on 4 December 1637, the roof of the eastern limb collapsed during a gale.^[52] Even by this time not all of the fixtures of the old religion had been removed, the most prominent of which was the rood screen. Determined to remedy this, the minister of St Giles kirk, Mr Gilbert Ross along with the lairds of Innes and Brodie pulled it down and chopped it up for firewood.^[53] At some point the cathedral grounds had become the burial ground for Elgin and because of this the Town Council arranged for the boundary wall to be repaired in 1685—significantly the council ordered that the stones from the cathedral should not be used for this purpose.^[54] Although the building was becoming increasingly unstable, some parts of it continued to be utilised with the chapterhouse used for the meetings of the Incorporated Trades from 1671 to 1676 and then again from 1701 to around 1731.^[55] No attempt at stabilising the decay was carried out and on Easter Sunday 1711 the central tower gave way demolishing the nave and heralding 'quarrying' of stone work for local projects.^[56] Many artists came to Elgin to sketch the ruins and it is from these that the slow but continuing ruination can be observed.^[57] By the closing years of the 18th century, travelers stopping in Elgin would visit the ruin. Pamphlets giving the history of the cathedral were prepared for the early tourist and in 1773 Samuel Johnson recorded:^[58]

a paper was put into our hands, which deduced from sufficient authorities the history of this venerable ruin

The ruins consist of three main areas. These are the western towers, the eastern limb with the adjoining chapterhouse and the south transept. The west front has the two buttressed towers standing to a height of 27.4m but originally topped by wooden spires covered in protective lead and date from the 13th century.^[59] It is thought that the towers were not part of the original design as is evidenced by the differing base course construction to that of the transepts—it is likely that the integration of the nave and towers was carried out while the 13th century construction was still evolving.^[60] The great west door is centred between the towers and capped with three gablets. The internal division of the entrance was inserted in the late 14th or early 15th century and has intricate carvings of branches, vines, acorns and oak leaves.^[59] Above the door is a large pointed arch opening in the gable that contained a large sequence of windows, the uppermost of which was a circular or rose window. This window was rebuilt between 1422 and 1436 and just above it can be seen three coats of arms—on the right is that of the bishopric of Moray, in the middle are the Royal Arms of Scotland and on the left is the armorial shield of Bishop Columba Dunbar.^[59]

The nave whose walls are now very low or even foundation level excepting one small section in the south wall which is near its original height. This section has windows that appear to date from the 15th century to replace the 13th century openings and may have been carried out following the 1390 attack.^[61] Nothing of the elevated structure of the nave remains but its appearance can be deduced from the markings seen where it attached to the eastern walls of the towers—nothing of the crossing now remains following its destruction when the central tower collapsed in 1711.^[62]

The eastern extension comprising the choir and presbytery appears to have been nearly doubled in length following the fire of 1270 with simultaneous wide aisles built on each side.^[63] These aisles run the length of the choir and passed the first bay of the presbytery. Elgin Cathedral is unique in Scotland for having an English style octagonal chapterhouse and French influenced double aisles along each side of the nave—only Chichester Cathedral, in England have similar aisles.^{[64] [65]} The chapterhouse attaches to the choir through a short vaulted vestry and is 10.3m high at its apex and 11.3m from wall to opposite wall. A single pillar gives support to the vaulted roof. It was re-built by Bishop Andrew Stewart (1482–1501) whose coat of arms is placed in the central pillar.^[66] The fact that it took until Bishop Andrew's episcapy to carry out these repairs demonstrates how extensively damaged the 1390 attack had been^[67]

Only one buttress of the north transept still remains, but the south transept's south wall is nearly intact providing an idea of what the north transept would have looked like. These buildings are original to the first construction dating to the early 13th Century. The south transept was built in a plain, simplistic style although the strongest architectural emphasis was given to the front of the transept.^[68] Both transepts were used as chapels and had recessed tombs.^[69]

[edit] Stabilisation

Since the abolition of bishops within the Scottish church in 1689, ownership of the abandoned cathedral fell to the crown, but no attempt to halt the decline of the building took place. It was Elgin Town Council that showed the first signs of recognising the need to stabilise the structure firstly by rebuilding the surrounding wall in 1809 and in around 1815 the debris around the remaining walls were cleared.^[70]

The Lord Provost of Elgin petitioned the King's Remembrencer for assistance for a new roof for the chapter house and in 1824 £121 was provided to Robert Reid, the future Head of the Scottish Office of Works (SOW), for its construction—Reid was significant in the development of conservation policy for historical buildings in Scotland and achieved the setting up of the SOW in 1827.^[71] It was during Reid’s tenure at the head of the SOW that supporting buttresses to the choir and transept walls were built. In 1824 John Shanks, an Elgin shoemaker and probably the most important figure in the conservation of the cathedral, started his work. Sponsored by local gentleman, Isaac Forsyth, Shanks was to clear the grounds of centuries of rubbish dumping and rubble.^[72]

Shanks was officially appointed Keeper and Watchman in 1826 and though his work was highly valued at the time and brought the cathedral back into public focus, his clearance work had not been carried out scientifically so there is no way of knowing if any valuable evidence of the cathedral’s history had been lost.^[57] On his death in 1841, the Inverness Courier printed:^[73]

April 28.—John Shanks, the beadle or cicerone of Elgin Cathedral, died on the 14th inst. in the eighty-third year of his age. His unwearied enthusiasm in clearing away the rubbish which encumbered the area of the Cathedral and obscured its architectural beauties, may be gathered from the fact that he removed, with his pick-axe and shovel, 2866 barrowfuls of earth, besides disclosing a flight of steps that led to the grand gateway of the edifice. Tombs and figures, which had long lain hid in obscurity, were unearthed and every monumental fragment of saints and holy men was carefully preserved, and placed in some appropriate situation..... So faithfully did he discharge his duty as keeper of the ruins, that little now remains but to preserve what he accomplished.

In 1847–48 some of the old houses associated with the cathedral on the west side were demolished and a series of relatively minor changes to the boundary wall were completed. Major consolidation of the structure and some reconstruction work began in the early 20th century. This included restoration of the east gable rose window in 1904 and also the replacement of the missing form pieces and mullions and decorative ribs in the window in the north-east wall of the chapter house.^[74] By 1913 work to re-point the walls and additional waterproofing of the wall tops were completed. Lowering of the ground level and the repositioning of the tomb of the Earl of Huntly which had been a 17th century construction took place in 1924.^[75] Further repairs and restoration occurred during the 1930’s including partly dismantling some of the 19th century buttressing, rebuilding sections of the nave piers using recovered pieces and the roofing of the vault in the south choir in 1939.^[76] During the last forty years of the 20th century there was unremitting replacement of crumbling stonework. Between 1976 and 1988, the chapter house window tracery was gradually replaced and its re-roofing completed the process. Floors, glazing and a new roof were added to the south-west tower between 1988 and 1998 and the same procedure was applied to the north-west tower in 1998 to 2000.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Clark, W, A series of Views of the Ruins of Elgin Cathedral, Elgin 1826
• Crook, J. Mordant & Port, MH, The History of the King’s Works, London, 1973
• Sellar, W. D. H., Ed., Moray: Province and People, Edinburgh, 1993 ISBN 0950599476
• Simpson, A T & Stevenson, S, Historic Elgin, the archaeological implications of development, Glasgow : University of Glasgow,Dept. of Archaeology, 1982.

[edit] External links

• Elgin Cathedral - site information from Historic Scotland
• Photos of Elgin Cathedral
• Firth's Celtic Scotland

v • d • e Bishops of Moray Pre-Reformation Bishops of Moray Gregoir · William · Felix · Simon de Tosny · Richard de Lincoln · Bricius de Douglas · Andreas de Moravia · Simon de Gunby · Radulf · Archibald · David de Moravia · John de Pilmuir · Alexander Bur · William de Spynie · John de Innes · Henry de Lichton · Columba de Dunbar · John de Winchester · James Stewart · David Stewart · William de Tulloch · Andrew Stewart · Andrew Forman · James Hepburn · Robert Shaw · Alexander Douglas I · Alexander Stewart · Patrick Hepburn · Italics indicate non consecrated, titular or doubtful bishops or unsuccessful coadjutors Post-Reformation Bishops of Moray George Douglas · Alexander Douglas II · John Guthrie · Murdoch MacKenzie · James Aitken · Colin Falconer · Alexander Rose · William Hay

v • d • e Former Cathedrals in Scotland Abercorn · Abernethy · Birnie · Birsay · Dunfermline · Egilsay · Elgin · Fortrose · Halkirk · Kingarth · Kinneddar · Kilrimont · Mortlach · Rosemarkie · St Andrews · Skeabost · Spynie · Whithorn (Priory, Candida Casa)