Series 3 > Scottish correspondence of Mary of Lorraine

X CORRESPONDENCE OF MARY OF LORRAINE
enjoyed the fruits for a season. The noble families looked
upon the Church as an endowment for their sons. Alexander
Gordon, for one, was perfectly frank in acknowledging
that he sought ecclesiastical preferment for the sake of a
‘ suir lyffyng.’ [No. CLXIL]
The sons of Lord Erskine were less buffeted about than
the brother of Huntly in the pursuit of emoluments. The
case of Thomas and John, successive commendators of
Dryburgh, illustrates the tendency for Church lands to
become hereditary in the possession of territorial mag¬
nates. It was only putting the seal upon established fact
when the estates were erected into a temporal barony
after the Reformation. [No. CLV.] In much the same
way the Stewarts of Death secured the monastic lands of
Inchcolm. [No. CLIL] The destitution of the Church
was here the opportunity of the magnate. This was one
more result of the English devastations, which had also
deprived the commendator of Coldingham of all ‘ proffett
of my benefice in Scotland sen the begynnyng of the
weiris.’ [No. CCXXXIIL]
But, quite apart from the scourging of fire and sword,
the ecclesiastical fabric was in decay. In 1558 the Bishop
of Aberdeen, on the ground that his own living was ‘ under
grite pensione,’ sought to hold the priory of Monymusk
‘ quhilk is ane sobir benefice, the place and religion therof
distroyit, for releif of my benefice.’ [No. CCLXXVL]
When the organic body of the Church had become thus
effete, it is little wonder that it had lost its spiritual hold
upon men. Ecclesiastical censures, for example, had
notoriously become a commercial commodity, devoid of
all efficacy. The Governor was able to raise ‘ ane cursing ’
on Huntly, his political opponent, ‘ bot my lord wes in-
formyt that syk lettres wes to cum and hes gottin ane
absolucione fra my lord cardinall in aventuyr of the samyn.’
[No. XVII.]