GLASGOW. (HISTORY.) 



453 



barton, i. e. Dun Briton, the capital or principal fort 

 of the Britons of Strathclyde ;* St Coluinha, the 

 apostle of the northern Picts, and St Ninian, the apostle 

 of the southern ones, were also natives of the same 

 little kingdom. At what period Strathclyde lost its 

 independence cannot be exactly ascertained. In 756, 

 the capital, Alcluyd, was taken by the united attack 

 of the Pictish Ungus and the Saxon Eadbert ; yet it 

 is probable, that the Strathclyde Britons did not 

 entirely cease to exist as a separate people until 

 A. D. 843, when Kenneth, the son of Alpin, by his 

 address and valour, formed one kingdom in Scotland 

 out of the conflicting elements of several heterogene-' 

 ous tribes. 



We have no historical information regarding Glas- 

 gow during the Strathclyde dynasty, beyond this, that 

 the religious establishment founded there by Kentigern 

 was amply endowed by one of the Strathclyde 

 princes with lands, which alternately fell a prey to 

 the Picts, Scots, Saxons, and Danes, until they were 

 partially restored by David I., then prince of Cum- 

 berland, who refounded the see A. D. 1115, and in 

 1129 appointed his chaplain, John, commonly called 

 Achaius, to be bishop. Whether Glasgow before the 

 latter period rose to the importance of a town, it is 

 impossible to determine. The sanctity of its religious 

 establishment would doubtless attract many to the 

 place, and there "savage clans and roving barbarians" 

 would " receive the benefits of knowledge and the 

 blessings of religion ;" but amid the miserable con- 

 flicts of the times, it could scarcely be supposed to 

 extend itself much beyond its then rude church, and 

 the still ruder residences of its ecclesiastics and their 

 dependents. 



After prince David succeeded his brother Alex- 

 ander I. to the crown of Scotland in 1124, he 

 bestowed many donations on the see of Glasgow, and 

 appointed its bishop, Achaius, to be chancellor of the 

 kingdom. This prelate rebuilt part of the cathedral 

 church of stone, which, previous to his time, was but 

 a mean building, constructed chiefly of timber. The 

 church, thus improved, was solemnly consecrated on 

 the 9th Feb. 1133, in presence of the king, who 

 endowed it with the lands of Perdyc, now called Par- 

 tick. Achaius also divided the diocese into the two 

 archdeaconries of Glasgow and Teviotdale, and 

 established the offices or dean, subdean, chancellor, 

 treasurer, sacrist, chantor, and succensor, and settled 

 a prebendary upon each of them. The diocese of 

 Glasgow extended from the English limits on the 

 south, to the northern extremity of Loch-Lomond and 

 the river Forth on the north. It comprehended the 

 whole of Dumfries-shire, the eastern part of Galloway, 

 lying between the Nith and Urr, all Roxburghshire, 

 except a small part on the north of the Tweed, the 

 whole of Selkirkshire, all Peebles-shire, Lanarkshire, 

 Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, Dumbartonshire, and more 

 than half of Stirlingshire. This most extensive 

 diocese comprehended 240 parishes ; and as Glasgow 

 was the residence of the second church dignitary in 

 Scotland, and a numerous retinue of clergy, it must at 

 this early period, and for some centuries later, have 

 been a place of prominent importance. -J- In modern 

 days it has often been made a subject of wonderment 

 how Glasgow should have so far exceeded other towns 

 on the Clyde, equally well or even better situated than 

 it is for manufactures and commerce ; but the cause is 

 perhaps to be found in the fact of its original ecclesias- 



Mr Moore, we observe, in his "History of Ireland,'" 

 makes St Patrick a native of Boulogne, in France. This is 

 in opposition to all previous accounts and all tradition. 



t By a bull of pope Alexander III. in 1175, all who reside 

 within the diocese are commanded to visit the cathedral 

 church annually. This order, which doubtless wouUl receive 

 implicit obedience, would of itself necessarily occasion a 

 great influx of strangers into the town. 



tical importance, which rendered it at an early period 

 the centre of communication in the west, and thus 

 established for it a sort of metropolitan character, 

 which it continued to maintain amid the revolutions 

 and changes of after times. 



Bishop Achaius died in 1147, and was succeeded 

 by five-and-twenty bishops before the diocese was 

 erected, under bishop Blackadder, into an archbish- 

 opric, which took place about the period of the refor- 

 mation. Many of these bishops were also chancellors 

 of the kingdom, and men of political as well as religious 

 distinction. Bishop Joceline, who held the see from 

 1174 to 1199, built an addition to the cathedral, which 

 had been commenced by Achaius. The church, thus 

 extended, was consecrated on the 9th July, 1197. 

 Previous to this, Joceline procured a charter from 

 William the Lion, erecting the town into a royal 

 burgh, and likewise a charter to hold a fair for eight 

 days annually. William de Boddington, bishop from 

 1233 to 1260, made several reparations and additions 

 to the cathedral church. To William Rae, bishop from 

 1335 to 1368, the town owes the erection of the ori- 

 ginal stone bridge over the Clyde, which still stands, 

 though now greatly widened and modernized. Lady 

 Lochow, at her own expense, built one of the arches. 

 Previous to this the river was crossed by means 

 of a wooden bridge. William Lander, bishop from 

 1408 to 1426, laid the foundation of the vestry of the 

 cathedral church, and built the great tower of stone 

 as far as the first battlement, which was carried on 

 and completed by bishop Cameron from 1426 to 

 1446. William Turnbull, bishop from 1447 to 1455, 

 obtained from king James II. a charter, erecting the 

 town and the patrimony of the bishops into a regality 

 in 1450. The bishop had then the nomination of the 

 civil authorities. James II. also bestowed twenty 

 acres of ground for the behoof of the community, 

 which now forms a part of the low green, and was the 

 commencement of that beautiful park. Soon after, 

 bishop Turnbull procured a bull, from pope Nicolas 

 the fifth, for erecting a university within the city of 

 Glasgow, and he endowed the same, bestowing many 

 privileges on it. At first the college was on the north 

 side of the Rottenrow, and remained there till 1459, 

 when it was removed to the north side of Blackfriars' 

 church, James Lord Hamilton having bequeathed a 

 tenement and four acres of land for that purpose, on 

 condition that the regent and students should pray 

 twice a day for the souls of him, his ancestors, and 

 successors. Robert Blackadder, bishop from 1484 

 to 1508, procured from pope Alexander VI., a bull, 

 erecting the see of Glasgow into an archbishopric, 

 notwithstanding a violent opposition from the arch- 

 bishop of St Andrews and other interested ecclesi- 

 astics. He also founded, and built to its present 

 height, the great south aisle of the cathedral, upon 

 which, in several places, his arms are still to be seen. 

 James Beaton, nephew to the primate of Scotland, 

 was the last who held the diocese of Glasgow under 

 the catholic sway. During his incumbency the refor- 

 mation broke out, and to ensure safety to himself, he 

 withdrew into France, in the year 1560, carrying with 

 him all the writs and archives of the see of Glasgow, 

 as well as everything valuable of a portable nature 

 belonging to the cathedral, such as gold and silver 

 crucifixes, relics, &c. He died at Paris, in 1603, 

 leaving all his property to the Scots college there, 

 and to the monastery of the Carthusians, to be given 

 back to Glasgow so soon as its inhabitants returned 

 to the mother church a period very unlikely ever 

 to arrive. 



From the time when king David refounded the see 

 of Glasgow, in 1115, to the reformation, we have 

 little light to throw on the civil history of the town. 

 From an old deed still extant, Glasgow, in 1268, ap- 



