SCOTLAN 



A* tl^cse barbarian* lu-Kl learning in 



no estimation, the college of Io-i:i, though it 



>t, hi- -,MH to lie-dine, and had its count -M..II with 

 J5rit.iin and Irdiuul iii a great measure cut of}'. J)un- 

 ki'hl alfi-ctcd then lor .some time to be the primate's 

 seat in Scotland, l>ut did not long maintain its claim ; 

 lor about the tnd of tin- ninth or beginning of the 

 tenth century, the legend of St. I -d the ap- 



parition of St. Andrew was invented ; in consequence 

 of which St. Andrews came to be considered as the 

 principal see of Scotland, and St. Andrew to be consi- 

 dered as the tutelar saint, instead of St. Columba. 



" Still, however, the Culdees retained their influence 

 and respect, and often elected the bishops of their 

 bounds. At length, in the twelfth and thirteenth cen- 

 turies, the Romish monks poured into the kingdom, 

 supplanted the Culdees, and by degrees got possession 

 of all their monasteries. The followers of St. Columba 

 did not think it unlawful to marry and to take the 

 charge of families as well as of parishes. The new 

 monks, on the other hand, lived in celibacy, affected 

 greater purity, and had more ceremony and show ; so 

 that the popular tide soon turned in their favour. The 

 Culdees existed no longer in colleges, but for a long 

 time after they continued to teach true Christianity 

 apart." (Life of St. Columba, p. 162, 16'3.) 



It is to the twelfth century that we must attribute the 

 erection of those buildings in lona which yet remain. 

 The original structures appear to have been merely wat- 

 tled huts, as was a general usage in Ireland and Eng- 

 land at this early date; and it is very certain that the 

 present buildings cannot reach higher than the time we 

 have here assigned, because it is on record that the 

 " Irish doctors" of this establishment united to pull 

 down a stone church which had been erected by the 

 Roman Catholic clergy in the twelfth century. The 

 nunnery, which was erected for canonesses of St. Au- 

 gustin, could not be of a higher date, though apparent- 

 ly among the oldest buildings there ; as female estab- 

 lishments formed no part of the practices of the 

 Culdees. 



Great obscurity hangs over the establishment of bi- 

 shops and bishoprics in Scotland. Though St. Columba 

 was only an abbot, his jurisdiction extended over all 

 the Irish churches, and he was, in fact, the primate of 

 Ireland as well as of Scotland. In our own country, his 

 command included Dunkeld, St. Andrews, Abernethy, 

 and indeed all the other monasteries ; and thus he held 

 the sway even over bishops, as is remarked by our 

 ecclesiastical historian Bede. The fact is, in this 

 case, the terms bishop and abbot were frequently con- 

 founded at the beginning ; and as abbeys were long 

 prior to dioceses, the mystery appears easily solved. 

 Abbots were frequently baronial sovereigns ; and, in 

 other cases, the terms were synonymous, or the abbots 

 possessed the rank of the one, and the jurisdiction and 

 office of the other. Nor was it uncommon, in the early 

 ages of the church, to consecrate bishops who had no 

 jurisdiction ; while some bishops resigned their charges 

 to found abbeys. As St Columba is, by some of the 

 early writers, called archbishop and pontifex, the supe- 

 riority of his rank admits of no question, as these ap- 

 pellations were never bestowed on the inferior clergy. 



The bishopric of St. Andrews is said to have been 

 the first diocesan erection in Scotland, and to have been 

 established by Grig. This date is remote, and it is cer- 

 tain that there were no regular dioceses in Scotland till 

 long after. It is from the date of the arrival and esta- 

 blishment of the Romish clergy, that we must fix the 



009 



reguUr *tate of the Scottish church. After the visit of 

 i t papal legate Palladius, the sway of Rome com- 

 menced ; and, in no long time, their victory was corn* FrrlMiarri 

 plete, though, as we jutt remarked, the Culdees were 

 not totally abolished till the fourteenth century. In 

 ' v, abbot of the Culdees of Dunkeld, wa* 



made a bishop ; and this is among the earliest of the 

 regular creation* that can be well ascertained. The 

 authority of the pope now became gradually recog- 

 nised, though the Scottish noble* and clergy long and 

 often rebelled against foreign interference, and claimed 

 the right of judging for themselves. The KorniaJl 

 power was scarcely complete, when it was for erer 

 abolished by the Reformation. 



Of lona itself, as the roost important establishment, 

 we may here finally observe, that, in the time of Edward 

 the First, and from the consequent annexation of the 

 Isle of Man to Kngland, the bishops of lona became 

 bishops of the isles, while those of Man retained the 

 title of the Sudereys and Man; and that, in Iff 1 7, the 

 diocese became confounded by James the Sixth with 

 that of Argyll, its bishops becoming then resident in 

 Lismore. 



It was a part of the policy of the Popish clergy to gain 

 influence by the establishment of monasteries, which 

 should displace and suppress those of the Culdees. 

 Monachism, before it was thus introduced into Scot- 

 land, had been known for several centuries in various 

 nations of Europe. Anthony of Egypt is supposed to 

 have been the author of this system. In 305, he 

 thought it meritorious to forego the charities and sym- 

 pathies of life, and to retire into the depths of the de- 

 sert for the practice of austerity. His example was 

 successively followed at Rome and in Pontus, and St. 

 Martin of Tours, who flourished towards the end of the 

 fourth century, was the first that founded a monastery 

 in western Europe. Popish monasteries were not in- 

 troduced into Scotland till early in the twelfth centi:- 

 ry ; but before the year 1 1 63, owing to the great en- 

 couragement given them by David I. they had become 

 more common than in any country of Europe of equal 

 extent and population. Owing to the blind devotion 

 and munificence of nobles and princes, they continued 

 to increase during the three subsequent centuries; and 

 though Spottiswood states them as amounting only to 

 170, others with more truth have estimated them at 

 nearly double that number. (Life of Knot, i. 348. 

 Dalzell's Fragment, pp. 11, 12.) The number of 

 monks in each establishment varied exceedingly. In 

 1542, there were 200 in Melrose alone ; while in 1559 

 there were only eight in the Greyfriars at Perth. 

 (Dalzell ut Supra. Knox, Historic, 128.) 



It was the policy of the Popish clergy, whose influ- 

 ence and aggrandizement increased as ignorance and 

 error prevailed, to extinguish, as far as possible, the il- 

 lumination of the holy Scriptures, and to substitute 

 the most absurd and impious doctrines, that their impos- 

 tures might command the most implicit belief ; and, to 

 rivet the fetters of superstition, threatening* were de- 

 nounced against those who presumed to disobey their 

 mandates. Superstition and imposture had gained a great 

 ascendency over the rude and ignorant Soots, and thus 

 the clergy attained to au exorbitant degree of opulence 

 and power, which necessarily corrupted their order, and 

 debased the whole system of their religion. 



The Scotti&h kings very soon demonstrated the un- 

 due influence which the clergy had acquired over them, 

 by the vast additions which they made to their immu- 

 nities and riches. The profuse piety of David the 

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