Series 3 > Charters of the Abbey of Inchcolm

170 CHARTERS OF THE ABBEY OF INCHCOLM
The church of Dalgety appears among the possessions of Inchcolm
in the hull of 1178. It was customary for an Augustinian house to serve
its vicarages by its own canons, as this was not outwith the rule of the
Order. Inchcolm likewise served the church of Aberdour, in the fifteenth
century, by a vicar who was also a regular—John Scot, canon of Inchcolm,
was vicar in 1474 {Reg. Hon. de Morton, ii. 231). The motive was obviously
to save the employment of a secular vicar and thus to ensure that the
whole fruits of the parish accrued to the monastery. Doubtless it was
a mark of the Bishop’s disapproval of the practice that he had instituted
a secular priest in John de Bullok and that he now refused to receive the
papal mandate which the monastery had obtained to secure its ends.
(At a later date, Dalgety had a secular vicar, who was a perpetual and
not a pensionary vicar, i.e. he was entitled to the lesser teinds with fixity
of tenure, instead of a yearly allowance, so long as he was employed,
from the monastery. Thus, John Murray, vicar in 1548, is called perpetual
vicar in 1559 (No. lxvi. infra and note).) The controversy is characteristic
of the attitude respectively of monasteries and of bishops towards appro¬
priated parish churches. See Introduction, p. xxiv. seq.
Magister Johannes Bowmaker Rector parochialis ecclesie de Monyabroch.
Master John Bowmaker or Bower was evidently a relative of Abbot
Walter Bower. Monyabroch is Kilsyth. Bowmaker is called Bachelor
of Decrees in 1422 {Supplications, p. 307) and Bachelor of both {i.e.
Canon and Civil) Laws, 1435 {GPR., viii. p. 551). On 13 Jan. 1419, the
Pope granted his petition for provision to the vicarage of Falkirk (Varia
Capella) {Supplications, p. 20) ; but as Falkirk was a vicarage of Holyrood
and was served by John de Edinburgh, a canon of that monastery, Bow¬
maker was involved in litigation which lasted till 1422 {Supplies., pp. 81,
112, 137, 209, 280), in which year his petition to be dispensed to hold
Falkirk or some other incompatible benefice along with Monyabro was
granted on 16 Feb. {ibid., p. 307). In 1419, he is called chaplain to the
Governor of Scotland {ibid., p. 137). On 23 May, he obliged himself for
the annates of a canonry and prebend and the archdeaconry of Teviotdale,
void by the death of James Watson or by the constitution execrabilis on
the part of William Croisar {Scottish Benefices, p. 94). But although, on
16 July 1427, the Pope, with reference to his petition, orders mandatories
to induct Bowmaker to the archdeaconry and to remove Croyser, who is
detaining it {GPR., vii. p. 103), on 16 Nov. 1428, the Pope, with reference
to a petition of Croyser which declared that Bowmaker’s contention was
false and that the papal auditor had found Bowmaker’s proceedings null,
orders mandatories to make satisfaction to Croyser {GPR., viii. p. 72).
On 10 June 1428 Bowmaker obliged himself on behalf of William Visart
for the annates of the church of Edzell {Benefices, p. 96). He was collated
by the Pope, 18 Jan. 1431, to the vicarage of Haddington, notwithstanding
he held Monyabro and Falkirk {GPR., viii. pp. 199-200) and obliged himself
for annates, 14 Feb. 1431 {Benefices, p. 103). But, on 8 June 1433, Falkirk
is alleged to be void without Bowmaker’s having obtained possession