THE FRANCISCAN FRIARY OF JEDBURGH 83 



kind ; even the right to the yi-ound on wliicli tlieir ccjnvents 

 stood was considered to be vested in the Apostolic See. 

 These Observantines went barefoot and shirtless, wealing a 

 grey woollen gown, with a cowl ; and, like the illustrious 

 founder of their order, they girt themselves round the waist 

 with a I'ope. Having taken vows to live in rigorous poverty, 

 they depended on voluntary contributions for the necessaries 

 of life ; and carrying a wallet on their shoulders, certain of 

 their number went begging on behalf of the brethren — whence 

 the name Mendicants or Begging Friars, by which they were 

 more generally known. 



►Such was the order of friars which the citizens of Jetlburgh, 

 ])robably dissatisfied with the more luxurious life of the Black 

 Canons dwelling hai'd by in the wealthy abbey, invited to take 

 up their abode in the town about the begimiing of the 

 sixteenth century. In his Scotia Sacra (p. 554 of MS. in the 

 Advocates Library) Father Hay states tliat the Friary was 

 founded there in the year 1513, and in this statement he 

 is folloAved by Spottiswood and all writers without exception 

 Avho haAe treated of this convent. But the date thus given 

 is falsified by the fact that on 27th March, 1505, the Lord 

 High Treasurer of Scotland paid the suju of 24,s. "for tua 

 barrellis beir to the Gray Freris of Gedburgh."' Although 

 thus fortunate in finding informaticm to disju-ove the erroneous 

 date, I have not been able to discover the exact year of the 

 founding of this religious house. The site given the friars 

 for their convent was undoubtedly in that piece of ground 

 between the Skiprunning Burn (covered over at this point) 

 and the Friars on the East aiid West, and between Maisondieu 

 and Boston Manse on the North and South. In Wood's Plan 

 of Jedburgh (1823) that "land is termed Friars Gardens. No 

 tiuce of the conventual edifice now i-emains, but when woi"k- 

 men were digging in the vicinity of Friars Grove some time 

 ago, they came upon evidences of massive foundations. 



In 1524 the superior of the convent was a scion of the 

 powerful family of Home, and was aj)parently a brother of 

 Lord Home, who had been executed eight years before l)y 



' Aces, of Lord High Treas., iii., p. 58. 



