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Leo X and the Scottish Dominican Province
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 October 2024
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In the history of the Friars Preachers at the beginning of the 16th century, Dominican Scotland is of very special interest. While the other provinces of the Order were struggling, by the setting up of special congregations, to bring about a rebirth of stricter religious life, Scotland was able to effect, by and in herself, her own reform. Such an achievement was due to the activity of a religious, father John Adamson, whom Dominican chroniclers and Scottish historians have been pleased to describe as a Friar Preacher of great holiness and uncommon learning. It is, therefore, all the more regrettable that the work of fr. John Adamson has been somewhat eclipsed. The religious persecutions which the Scottish Dominicans had to undergo as a result of the introduction of the Reformation into the kingdom of the Stuarts, have led to the loss of many documents. Four briefs of Pope Leo X, preserved in the collection in the Vatican Archives known as Brevi Lateranensi, allow us to supplement the information supplied by various collections of documents in Scotland.
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References
(1) “Fr. Iohannes Adae, similiter magister et provinoialis Scotus, vir prudentia et religionis observantia Celebris, quern a Scotia in Urbem et peditem venisse et cibaria ordinis non mutasse multi commendabant.” (Sebastian d'Olmeda, Chronica ord. Praedicatorum, ed. M. Canal Gomez, Eome, 1936, p. 196). Sebastian d'Olmeda names Fr. Adamson among those who, in 1518, were considered as possible heads of the Order.
(2) “Ioannes Adam aetate nostra vir et pietate et eruditione insignis, qui primus aberdoniae theologiae lauream nobiscum accepit, in pristinum eos (sc.: Prae‐dicatores) vitae statum relictis vitiis redesrit.” (Hector Boece, Scotorum his‐toriae a. prima gentis origine… libri XIX, Paris, 1574, f. 284).
(3) Even before 1559 a certain part of our archives was destroyed. Thus we learn from a document of Mary, Queen of Scotland (4 Oct. 1543) that the archives of the convent of St. Andrews, which had been placed “in camera cuisdam capellani infra dictam civitatem pro secura custodia,” were stolen and des. troyed on the night of Sept. 3, 1543. (Beg. Great Seal, A.D. 1513–1546: No. 2964). But various documents concerning the houses in Glasgow, Ayr, Perth, have come down to us, and were edited in the course of last century. (Cf. P. J. Anderson, Aberdeen Friars Aberdeen, 1909, p. 121‐5).
(4) On this section of the Vatican Archives see K. A. Finke, Zu den Brevia Lateranensia des Vatikanischen Archivs: Quellen u. Forschungen aus italien. Arch. u. Bibliothek, t. 32, 1942, p. 260–266; K. A. Finke, Das Vatikanische Archiv, Eome, 1943, p. 63.
(5) Dempster, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Scotorum, lib. I, n. 54, Bologna, 1627, p. 37.
(6) The first document in which Fr. Adamson appears as Prior of Aberdeen is dated April 29, 1502. (Anderson, p. 61).
(7) A. De Meyer, Begistrum litterarum Fr. Thomae de Vio Caetani… (Monu‐menta ord. Praed. historica 17), Bome, 1935, p. 318, The news reached Scotland before May 12, 1511, for on that date Fr. Adarason appears in a document, not as Prior of Aberdeen but as Provincial of Scotland. (Anderson, p. 70).
(8) Prior of Aberdeen since 1494, David Anderson was made Provincial of Scotland between April 4, 1499, and June 18th of the same year. (Anderson p. 54–58).
(9) De Meyer, Eeg. p. 318.
(10) On the state of the clergy in Scotland at the beginning of the 16th century, see J. B. Coissac, Les universités d' Ecosse depuis la fondation de l'Université' de St Andrews jusqu au triomphe de la réforme (1410–1560), Paris (1915), p. 157–162.
(11) De Meyer, Eeg., p. 317.
(12) See the declaration of the Provincial Chapter of 1519, inserted in an act of Jan. 23, 1520. (Eeg. G‐r. Seal, n. 196).
(13) See note 1.
(14) Leo X mentions, in his two briefs of June, 1518, religious who had not accepted the reform. Such a state of things is confirmed by a decision of the Prov. Chapter of 1519. (Eeg. Gr. Seal, n. 196).
(15) Edinburgh's convent of Dominican nuns was of recent foundation. It had been erected near the church of St. John the Baptist, on land belonging to John Craufurd. The first Prioress was Josina Henrison;' cf. a document of April 17, 1517, inserted in an act of May 25 following (Beg. Gr. Seal, n. 170), and Leo X's Bull of Jan. 29, 1518 (Bullarium ord. Praedicatorum, t. 4, Borne, 1733, p. 352–353) confirming the foundation.
(16) On stational indulgences, see F. Beringer and A. Steinen, Les indulgences, leur nature et leur usage (traduction Ph. Mazoyer), Paris (1925), p. 526–528.
(17) “Approbamus reformationem in provincia Scocie a reverendo eius provincial! factam et volumus earn ab omnibus illius fratribus observari”. (Monumenta ord. Praed., t. 9, p. 173).
(18) On the indulgences, attached to the visit to the “seven churches”, see Beringer and Steinen, op. cit., p. 528–530.
(19) On this library and its dispersal by Fr. Michaelis, see M.‐H. Laurent, La bibliothéque de Saint‐Maximin. Quelques notes sur une période de son his‐toire (1299–1621), Archivum fr. Praed., t. 1 (1932), p. 361–363.
(20) On Hector Boece, see D.N.B.; Cath. Bney; B. Fueter, Geschichte der neueren Historiographie, Munich‐Berlin, 1936, p. 171‐2.; Diet, d'hist. et de géogr. ecclésiastiques, t. 9, Paris, 1937, col. 383‐4.
(21) On John Major, see in addition to articles in D.N.B., Cath. Ency., and A. J. G. Mackay's introduction to the English translation of “De historia gentis Scotorum” (Scottish Hist. Soc., A History of Greater Britain,…Edinburgh, 1892), the works of C. Prantl, Geschichte der Logik; t. 4, Leipzig, 1927., p. 247‐51; C. M. Macdonald, John Mair and humanism: The Sept. Hist. Rev., 1916, p. 149‐58; Coissac, Les institutions, p. 185–204; P. Let una, Maior y Vitoria ante la conquista de América: Estudios ecclesiasticos, t. 11, 1933, p. 46–58; E. G. Villoslada, La universitad de Paris durante los estudios de Francisco de Vitoria.O.P. (1507–1522), Eome, 1938, p. 127‐64.
(22) During one of his stays in England Erasmus may possibly have visited Scotland. We know with what biting irony he described the life of the Perth Carthusians in his “Colloquia” (Coll. senile, Op. omnia t. 1., Leyde, 1703, p. 736–737). An account of the revenues of this Charterhouse in 1559 (Keith, The history of the affairs of church and state in Scotland, Edin., 1743, p. 183, appendix) shows that his criticism was not unfounded. It is certain that both in England and France the great humanist had frequent occasion to meet Scots; for example, he was a fellow‐student at the college of Montaigu, of Major and of Boece, to whom he dedicated a small collection of poems printed at Paris in 1496; the two letters of Erasmus to Boece are also to be noted (ed. Allen, n. 47, 2283).
(23) Cf. note 2.
(24) Aberdeen University was founded in 1495 on the initiative of Bishop Elphin‐stone. (S. D'Irsay, Histoire des universitéa francaises et étrangères des origines á nos jours, t. 1, Paris, 1933, p. 218‐19, and the bibliography);
(25) On the intellectual movement in 15th‐16th century Scotland, see Coissac, Lies institutions scolaires, passim.
(26) Moir Bryce, W., The Black Friars and the Scottish Universities: Scot. Hist. Eev., vol. 9, 1912, p.8. Google Scholar
(27) On the St. Andrews house, see Henry, D., The Dominican friars at St. Andrews: Aber. Ecclesiological Soc., Trans. II, 7, 189093, p.18–26;Google Scholar D. Henry, St. Dominic and his friars in St. Andrews, St. Andrews, 1912.
(28) St. Andrews University was founded in 1418. For bibliography see J. H. Baxter, Collections towards a bibliography of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, 1926, n. 667–984.
(29) Henry Wardlaw, Bishop of St. Andrews from Sept. 10, 1403 to 9 (?) April, 1440. (J. Dowden and J. M. Thomson, The Bishops of Scotland, Glasgow, 1912, p. 30–31).
(30) William Wischard, Bishop of St. Andrews from May 15, 1273—May 28, 1279. (Dowden, op. cit. p. 18–19).
(31) Bull of Sixtus IV, Mar. 18, 1477. (Bull. ord. Praed., t. 3, p. 547‐8).
(32) Eeg. episc. Aberd… vol. 2. Edin., 1845, p. 310‐13.
(33) On Elphinstone, see Dowden, op. cit. p. 129‐35.
(34) Elphinstone is known to have been buried in the Dominican Priory, Edin‐burgn. The community was bound to celebrate a Low Mass daily for him, and a High Mass each year on his anniversary. (Beg. epis. Aber., vol. 2, p. 810–811).Google Scholar
(35) The site of the house in Cupar‐Fife is described in Beg. Gr. Seal, n. 196. It was founded at the request of Duncan, Earl of Fife and brother‐in‐law of James I: cf. the supplication addressed to Clement “VI; Arch. Vat., Supp. 18, f. 52 (Cal. Papal Beg., Petitions to the Pope, 1342–1419, vol. 1, p. 144) and the corresponding Bull of Nov. 21, 1348. (C. P. B…. Letters, 1342‐62, vol. 3, p. 304).
(36) Beg. Gr. Seal, n. 196.
(37) From 1520, certainly, the decision of the Provincial Chapter was effective. A document of Feb. 12, 1520, (D. H. Fleming, The Eeformation in Scotland, Lond., 1910, p. 601‐2) shows Fr. John Grierson, Prior of St. Andrews, demanding that sums due from certain tenants to the Cupar‐Fife house, for property at RathilJet, should be “brought to his priory.
(38) The Church of St. Monans of Inverey had been founded by David II in 1362; the patronage had been transmitted to the nuns of North Berwick. Building, which had been entrusted to David Dishington of Ardross, lasted from 1362–1370, to judge from payments by the royal treasury recorded in the ifixchequer Bolls. In 1477 the Dominicans were permitted by Sixtus IV to raise this house to the status of a formal priory. (Bull. ord. Praed., t. 3, p. 547‐8). When the church was annexed to the priory at St. Andrews in 1519, it was not suppressed; two religious still stayed there and received its revenues, with the exception of an annual rent of 20 marks, granted at an earlier date by Eobert, Duke of Albany and Earl of Fife, which was henceforth set aside for the students of the St. Andrews priory. (Keg. Gr. Seal, n. 196).
(39) At the same time, thanks to a gift of Patrick Panter, Abbot of Cambusken‐neth and secretary to James V (D.N.B.), dated Mar. 9, 1516, the Dominicans acquired a new building in Montrose. (Acts of Parl, of Scotland, vol. 2, (Edin.) 1814, p. 389‐92). Panter's gift was approved by the General Chapter of 1518 (Mon. ord. Praed. t. 9, p. 173).Google Scholar Nevertheless, in 1537, the religious left the new foundation and returned to their old priory. (Reg. Gr. Seal, n. 1725).
(40) Various particulars about the income of the Dundee house are to be found in Moir Bryce, W. (The Scottish Grey Friars, vol. 2,Google Scholar Edin.‐Lond., (s.d.), p. 147, 337, 340, 343, 347‐8, 353, 364, 371).
(41) Cf. J. Maxwell, Old Dundee prior to the Eeformation. Edin.; 1891, p. 393‐5. (48) The fragment about the Dundee house has been edited in Analecta ord. Praed., (t. 2, 1895‐6, p. 484, note 1). In it the Scottish provincial is wrongly oalled “Petals Proccloin (vel Groccloin)”.
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