Series 3 > Charters of the Abbey of Inchcolm

INTRODUCTION
xliii
1538.1 It is subscribed by the Abbot, subprior and seven
canons. Another of 1541 2 bears the names of the Abbot,
subprior and thirteen canons.3 The names of the remain¬
ing canons, who figure, along with the Commendator, as
the convent, gradually disappear from records until, in
1578, the two canons whose signatures occur—John
Brounhill and Andrew Anguss—were probably the last
survivors of the community.
Miscellaneous Matters
To the liturgiologist, the charters of Inchcolm offer two
points of some interest. The mention of Bishop Geoffrey’s
donation of twenty shillings from the church of Cramond
1 for censing the host in the elevation ’ is an extremely
early reference to this usage.4 So also the reference to
Trinity Sunday, in 1263, indicates an early observance of
that feast in Scotland.5
No events of outstanding importance in the secular or
ecclesiastical history of Scotland are associated with
Inchcolm. But it served as a prison for the Countess of
Ross, mother of Alexander, the rebel Lord of the Isles, for
a year and two months before her liberation in 1432 ; 6
and, for three years, until the fear of an English fleet
1 Charters, No. lviii. 2 Ibid., No. lix.
3 That no definite deduction, however, as to the normal number of
religious in the monastery can be made from these figures is evident by
some comparisons : A Scone charter of 1544 is signed by the Commendator,
prior and fourteen canons (Scon., 230). A Balmerino charter of 1511 is
subscribed by the Abbot and eight monks and another of 1537 by the
Abbot and fourteen monks (Campbell, Balmerino, p. 247). Inchaffray
charters show that in 1491/92, the Abbot and eleven canons subscribe
and also in 1521 ; in 1544/45, the Commendator, subprior and nine canons ;
in 1555, the Commendator, prior and nine canons ; in 1564, the Com¬
mendator, prior and six canons (Inchaffray Charters, pp. xcvii-c). A
Holyrood charter of 1552 is signed by the Commendator, prior and eight
canons (Lib. S. Crucis, 131).
4 Charters, No. xxn. and note. 6 Ibid., No. xxiv. and note.
6 Scotichr., xvi., capp. xvi., xx.