User:Billreid/Elgin Cathedral



Elgin Cathedral sometimes referred to as ‘The Lantern of the North’ is an historic ruin in Elgin in Moray, north-east Scotland. It was established in 1224 but only reached completion near the end of the 13th century. The cathedral's chapter house — a unique feature in Scottish secular cathedrals but not uncommon in England — is still mostly intact. The vaulted tombs of some of the Bishops of Moray containing their effigies can still be seen. Glimpses of its former splendour can yet be discerned. In 1390 it was burned by Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, known as the Wolf of Badenoch. It was once again attacked in 1402 by the Lord of the Isles’ followers and yet again repaired in the 15th and 16th centuries only to fall into disuse and ruination due to neglect following the Reformation.

Early cathedral churches of Moray
It is possible that the mormaers of Moray may have appointed bishops as early as the 11th century. After the suppression of Máel Coluim mac Áeda (sometimes known as Malcolm MacHeth) and Óengus of Moray by King David I in 1130, the presence of bishops in Moray was viewed as a fundamental part of the keeping the rebellious inhabitants pacified.

The post-Óengus bishops of Moray did not have a settled location for their cathedral and sited it at different times at Birnie, Kinneddar and Spynie. It was during the episcopate of Bricius de Douglas when a papal consent of 7 April 1206 authorised the church of the Holy Trinity to be set at Spynie. Authorisation to establish a chapter of eight canons for the day-to-day running of the cathedral was also granted. In common with all other secular cathedrals, the most significant and high ranking canons were the dean, the chanter, the treasurer and the chancellor. At Elgin, the archdeacon was also included in this group and held responsibility for overseeing the provincial priests. The chapter based its constitution on that of Lincoln Cathedral and may have been influenced by the fact that Bricius’ predecessor was Bishop Richard de Lincoln.

Cathedral church at Elgin
The burgh of Elgin had become the lay centre of the province under David I. In very uncertain times, the royal castle in Elgin may have been seen as offering more protection to the bishop and chapter and so papal permission to move the see to Elgin was perhaps sought by Bishop Bricius when he attended the Fourth Lateran Council in Rome in 1215 and in a follow up letter to the Pope dated before July 1216. Certainly, the Pope referred to the “wicked folk who persecute the church of Christ in these parts”. Bricius died before this in 1222, and the see was transferred on 10 April 1224 during the episcopate of Bishop Andreas de Moravia. The Pope had authorised his legates Gilbert de Moravia, Bishop of Caithness and Robert, Abbot of Kinloss to facilitate the moving of the Seat of the Bishop to Elgin. King Alexander II also issued a mandate on 10 July 1224 agreeing to the transference and referred to the site as having already been given by him for the building of a new cathedral. Since the land had been granted for the purpose of a new cathedral before the Papal Mandate, it is possible that the building was already well underway by the time of the official ceremony on 19 July 1224. Completion was after 1242 but in 1270, the Scotichronicon records that the cathedral church and the canons’ houses had burned down but gave no reason. The cathedral was to be rebuilt but in a much grander scale and 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 Scottish and English combatants and even during the assault on Moray in 1336 by King Edward III of England. In 1323 Bishop David de Moravia (1299 - 1326), a passionate benefactor of religious learning, gave the lands of Grisy-Suisnes, just outside Paris which formed the initial endowment to the future Collège des Écossais (Scots College of Paris).

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. Bur began payments to Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, also called the Wolf of Badenoch and brother to King Robert III, in August 1370 for the protection of his lands and men. However, the two men had many disputes culminating in February 1390 with the excommunication of Stewart and the bishop turning to Thomas Dunbar, son of the Earl of Moray, to provide the protection service. This infuriated Stewart and in May, in an act of revenge, he descended from his castle on an island in Lochindorb and burned the town of Forres. He followed this up in June by burning a large part of Elgin including the monastery of the Greyfriars, St Giles Church, the Hospital of Maison Dieu (Domus Dei in the Registrium Episcacopatus Moravienses) and the cathedral. It is also thought he burned Pluscarden Priory which was officially under the Bishop's protection. Bur wrote to the king seeking reparation in an impassioned letter stating"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 eventually granted an annuity to Bur of £20 for the period up to the bishop’s death and the pope granted the income from the unfilled vacancies in the chapter of the diocese of St. Andrews. Again, the cathedral precinct was attacked, this time by Alexander of Lochaber, brother of Domhnall of Islay, Lord of the Isles in 3 July 1402 but he seems to have spared the cathedral itself burning only the manses. Financial support for these repairs came from Alexander, himself, and his lieutenants by providing gold. Relying on the collections from the faithful in these occasions could not be relied on. Among the ordinary people there was an increasing feeling of disenchantment with the higher church establishment and this was further exacerbated by an increasing inclination for them to support the smaller parish churches where the bulk of the people worshipped. In 1408, the money saved during a vacancy was diverted to the rebuilding and in 1413 a grant from the customs of Inverness was provided.

Bishop John Innes (1407 — 14) contributed greatly to the rebuilding process evidenced by his tomb with the inscription praising his efforts. The major alterations to the west front was completed before 1435 and contains 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).

Chapter and deanery
Bishop Bricius set the cathedral rites by adopting those of Lincoln Cathedral for his chapter at Spynie. His successor, Bishop Andreas greatly expanded the chapter by creating more hierarchical posts and adding many more prebendary canons and just before his death, changed the rites to follow those of Salisbury Cathedral. Under the Lincoln constitution, the bishop sat in the chapter as an ordinary canon with no special rights but held the mensal churches of Daviot, Dyke, Elgin, Gartly, Grantown, Keith, Kintarlity, Ogston, Rothiemay, Rothiemurchas, and St Andrews near Lhanbryde. On succeeding Bricius, Bishop Andreas created two prebends; the church at Moy and the joint churches of Kinnoir and Dambannan. With the upcoming move of the Bishop’s Seat to Elgin, a large number of new prebends were created to cater for the very much enlarged establishment. Around 1224, Wilelm Freskyn de Moravia gave Duffus as a prebend and Walter de Moravia de Petty gave the churches of Petty and Brackla paired as a single prebend as was the churches at Aberlour and Boharm. In 1226, Bishop Andreas created two prebends out of the churches of Kingussie and Insh, and Croy and Lunyn.

At the time of the transfer of the cathedral from Spynie to Elgin in 1226, new creations in the hierarchy were established; those of succentor and subdean. The subdean received the church of Dallas as his prebend along with the altarage of Auldearn from the dean. The succenter, for his prebends, got Rafford from the precentor and Ardclach from the chancellor. To compensate the chancellor, he gets the single probend from the churches of Inveravon and Urquart.

In the Registry of Moray, it is noted that the four prebends of Rhynie, Inverketheney, Elchies with Botory and Advie with Cromdale had also been founded. Around this time, Duthil was given by Gille Brigte, Earl of Strathearn and made a prebend. Part of the vicarage of St Giles was added between 1222 and 1242 and its remainder between 1299 and 1325. The result of all this was that a total of 23 prebends had been created. Two further prebends added a short time before the Reformation bringing the total number of canons to 25.

Lay employees of the chapter were sometimes given prebends as instanced by Bishop Richard de Lincoln when he provided his clerk, William with the income from the church of Gartly.

* '''Malcolm, Earl of Fife gave the church at Inveravon with a davoch of land to Bricius. '''

The Diocese of Moray had four deaneries that provided the mensal and prependal income for the cathedral and other religious houses. These deaneries were Elgin, Inverness, Strathbogie and Strathspey.

Chanonry
The chanonry, referred to in the Registrium Episcacopatus Moravienses as the college of the chanonry or simply as the college, was the collection of manses that surrounded the cathedral. . Each canon or dignitary was responsible for providing his own manse which was built to reflect his status within the chapter. The residences were situated around the cathedral and enclosed by a susbstantial wall, four metres high and two meters thick, 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. The wall had four doors, one of which, the Pans Port, still survives and shows that these gateways had portcullis installed. In 1242 there were 23 canons with a further two being added just before the Reformation so space was limited. Along with the manse of Rhynie, the houses of 17 vicars and the many chaplains were also situated outside the west wall. The manse of the precenter, erroneously called the Bishop’s House can still be seen and is dated to 1557. The scale of this building demonstrates the standing that the higher clergy held. Two manses survived into the 19th century on each side of the road at the north end of King Street and were probably those of the canons of Duffus and Unthank before being demolished. 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.

Other religious establishments
The hospital of Maison Dieu, dedicated to St Mary, was situated close to the cathedral and was established by Andreas, Bishop of Moray before 1237 for the aid of the poor. It suffered twice by burning in 1390 and again in 1445. Bishop James Hepburn granted it to the Blackfriars of Elgin in 1520. 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. In 1624, an almshouse to replace the original hospital was constructed. There were two monasteries, the Blackfriars in the west of the burgh, and the Greyfriars in the east; also a preceptory of the Knights Templar, a commandery of the Knights Hospitallers of St John and a house of the Brethren of St Lazuras who tended the needs of lepers.

Cathedral routine
The medieval bishop’s status within the 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 with proper devotional ceremony and respect for Church traditions, the correct number of clergy were needed to carry out the total of the cathedral functions. At Elgin, in 1242, it was decided that the Rites of Salisbury Cathedral would be followed. Bishop Andreas formed a new constitution with twenty three canons; only Glasgow and Aberdeen held larger chapters than this. The main income to support the canons were from appropriations from the parish churches. Eventually, around forty churches were designated to support individual canons and about six others were held in common for all of the canons. Further to this, the income from fifteen other parishes was used directly for the upkeep of the bishop. Additionally, 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 augmented to twenty five. The vicars’ stipendiary ranged from five to twelve marks by 1489. Despite these numbers, all of the clergy were not present at the services. Indeed persistent 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. However, in 1240, Elgin decided to penalise absentee canons by removing one seventh of their income. The bulk of the workload fell on the shoulders of 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 a book written by St Benedict was read and thus providing the origin of the name. A growing trend in the cathedral was the introduction of chaplains or Mass priests to serve the increasing number of foundation altars. King Alexander II founded a chaplaincy for the soul of King Duncan who was killed in battle with MacBeth near Elgin. The chapel most frequently referred to was that of St Thomas the Martyr (Becket) in the north transept; it had five chaplains. Other chaplaincies referred to are those of the Holy Rood, St Catherine, St Duthac, St Lawrence, St Mary Magdalene, St Mary the Virgin and St Michael. It is likely that many more chaplaincies would have existed along the outer chapel aisles of the nave.

An unknown number of lawyers and clerks were also employed to assist in the cathedral functions. For the upkeep of the cathedral church and manses, there were masons, carpenters, glaziers and plumbers continuously employed. In addition, gardeners, agricultural workers and domestic servants were utilised mainly at the manses.

Post Reformation
In August 1560, parliament rejected the jurisdiction of the pope over the Scottish Church and the Mass, as the fundamental way of worship, was abolished. However, the office of bishop was not ended until 1689. The evolving church was generally insensitive 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 most of the trappings of Roman Catholicism swiftly removed. The burgh of Elgin had the parish church of St Giles and meant that the cathedral was surplus to requirements. 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 in 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. Services within the cathedral didn't stop entirely and the authorities had to forbid its use over Christmas 1614. Shaw, the historian of Moray, asserted that Catholic services were still being carried out as late as 1640.

Decay
In 1615, Taylor, the ‘Water Poet’ wrote: "a faire and beautifull 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. 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.

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. The council ordered, however, that the stones from the cathedral should not be used for this purpose. Although the building was becoming increasingly decayed, some parts of it continued to be utilised with the chapter house being used for the meetings of the Incorporated Trades from 1671 to 1676 and then again from 1701 to around 1731. No attempt at stabilising the decay was carried out and on Easter Sunday 1711 the central tower buckled and fell demoilishing the nave and heralding 'quarrying' of stone work for local works. Many artists came to Elgin to sketch the ruins and it is from these that the slow but continuing ruination can be observed. By the closing years of the 18th century, travellers 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: "a paper was put into our hands, which deduced from sufficient authorities the history of this venerable ruin."

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. The Lord Provost of Elgin petitioned the Kings 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 building in Scotland and achieved the setting up of the SOW in 1827. It was during Reid’s tenure at the head of the SOW that supporting buttresses to the choir and trancept 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. Shanks was appointed Keeper and Watchman, possibly by Reid, at a salary of £5 per annum in 1826. Certainly his work was highly valued at the time and brought the cathedral back into public focus but the 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. On his death in 1841, the Inverness Courier printed:  ''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. 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. Further repairs and restoration occurred during the 1930’s including partly dismantling some of the 19th century buttressing and the rebuilding the lower parts of the nave piers with fragments that had been found earlier. The vault of the south choir was roofed in 1939. 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.

Ruins
The ruins consist of three main areas. These are the western towers, the eastern limb with the adjoining chapterhouse and the south transcept. 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. 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 trancepts, however it is likely that the integration of the nave and towers was carried out while the 13th century construction was still evolving. 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. 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).  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.  Elgin Cathedral is unique in Scotland for having double aisles along each side of the nave and only Chichester, in England has a similar design.  Nothing of the elevated structure of the nave remains but its appearance can be deduced from the markings to be seen where it attached to the eastern walls of the towers.  Almost nothing of the crossing now remains. This was the area where the central tower collapsed in 1711 and destroying everything below. The eastern limb comprising the quire and presbytery appears to have been doubled in length following the fire of 1270 and at the same time a wide aisle on each side was built. These aisles run the length of the quire and passed the first bay of the presbytery. No other Scottish cathedral has a chapterhouse that has the form of an octagon. It attaches to the quire 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. The fact that it took until Bishop Andrew's episcapy to carry out these repairs demonstrates how extensively damaged the 1390 attack had been

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