Series 2 > Rentale Dunkeldense

xviii RENTALE DUNKELDENSE
bishop. To the fact that Fentoun was the trusted ad¬
ministrator is probably due the entire absence of any
accounts made by him and his almost continual appear¬
ance as chief auditor. The only chamberlain account,
and that incomplete, is subsequent to Bishop George
Brown’s death and after Fentoun had demitted office ;
but, as has been already noted, the loss of his returns—
which deprives us of information about the letting of the
episcopal lands—has its partial compensation in the sur¬
vival of those made by subordinate officers in the various
districts into which the diocese was divided.
The four rural deaneries which were established by
Bishop Brown probably date from April 22, 1505, since
the accounts begin simultaneously from that day. The
substitution of these deans in place of the single rural
dean who had been appointed hitherto was something of
a reversion, probably unconscious, to a mode of organisa¬
tion which preceded the creation of the chapter.1 It will
be noted that the deans do not seem to confine themselves
to transactions relating to their special function. Myln
himself, for instance, records business which he has done
on behalf of the chamberlain in connection with the
episcopal lands ; and evidently a dean might be authorised
to make direct payment out of the money in hand for things
which were strictly outside his sphere. This feature, which
gives an unsystematic aspect to the accounting, is common
in the period, and may have been due simply to the
convenience of the moment. There are no accounts,
unfortunately, from the deanery of Lothian, which were
perhaps audited south of the Forth. In 1514 we find that
two of the deaneries are under the care of the same man,2
an arrangement which was permitted also in the diocese
1 Dr. Maitland Thomson has found some indication of rural deans in early
charters. 2 P. n.