Series 3 > Charters of the Abbey of Inchcolm

xxxii CHARTERS OF THE ARBEY OF INCHCOLM
Abbey staked out its claim, in the first instance, by obtain¬
ing a lease of the monastery’s extensive barony of Beath,
in or before 1543.1
There remains to be mentioned the relations of the re¬
ligious with the laity as parishioners of their appropriated
churches. In the record of 1419, which appears to describe
an attempt at the recovery of bad debts, consequent,
perhaps, on the accession of Walter Bower as abbot, it is
indicated that the tenants of Kilrie (then in the parish of
Aberdour) had not paid their teinds for the last twenty
years.2 From an outside source, we find that in 1484 the
monastery claimed arrears, amounting to 80Z. of the teinds
of Leslie, from the Earl of Rothes, and litigation for the
recovery of further arrears took place in 1489.3 It is per¬
haps significant that one of the first steps taken, after the
appointment of James Stewart as Commendator, was the
issue of a monition commanding the payment to him of
teinds from the Abbey’s appropriated parish kirks.4
The Monastery’s Secular Fortunes ; Attacks
by the English
According to the Historical Monuments Commission's
Report, the thirteenth century saw a substantial recon¬
struction and a great expansion of the Abbey buildings, a
development consonant with the steady increase of its
revenues until the time of the War of Independence. What
were the fortunes of the Abbey during the ensuing years
of war it is impossible to say, as no documentary evidence
survives. But the present charters testify to damage
suffered by the monastery, if not during the War of
Independence, at least in the troubled times that followed
the death of King Robert i. A charter of c. 1347-55 refers
to the manifold destruction suffered by the canons, both
1 RMS., iii., 2915.
3 Acta Auditorum, pp. 147, 128-129.
2 Charters, No. xlii.
4 Charters, No. lxiv.