[From Priory of Whitern, 1900]

IT has been long known by the few persons who have been acquainted with the earliest portion of the insular Statutes that at a Court held at Kirk Michael in August 1422, "the Prior of Whithorn in Galloway" was called in, of course as the representative of the Priory, to show by what title he held property in this island, and to do fealty for the same to the Lord proprietor, the second Sir John Stanley; and that, not appearing, he was adjudged to appear within forty days under penalty of the loss of his temporalities. So much our insular "historians" have been able to tell us with authority. But how and when the Priory began to hold property here, of what it consisted and where it was situated, how long the Priory continued to hold it and under what circumstances it ceased to do so, are questions to which no answer can be got from any records in the island, and all assertions of our "historians," however bold, which imply the contrary are of the value only of conjecture and invention.

Were the ancient Register of the Priory accessible we could doubtless learn much about the property relations of the Priory with the Island. But it is not. It had been long missing when Mr. Cosmo Innes published his Lectures on Scotch Legal Antiquities in 1872 (see p. 193), and to the present time it has not been found. There is existent, however, that which for our use is as good as, and more convenient than the Register itself, viz., a certified Transcript of the grants and confirmation-grants of the property the Priory held here, made direct from the Register in 1504, and all being on one skin. The curious and interesting fact of the existence of this roll of extracts came to my knowledge, as also a photograph of the roll into my possession a few years ago, and on this wise

In 1888 there was issued Appendix, Part VII, to the Eleventh Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts. A portion of the Bridgewater MSS., at that time at the Bridgewater Trust Estate Office, were inspected by the Rev. W. D. Macray, and appear calendared in the volume on pp. 126-167. Among the MSS. are a few relating to this island. After briefly describing ten documents found in a parcel endorsed " Isle of Man," Mr. Macray writes, on p. 150, "Separated from this parcel, and included amongst a number of Select Papers, is a parchment roll of extracts made from the Register of the Priory of Whithern ("Candida Casa"), in Wigtownshire, in 1504, which contains the following charters," after briefly defining which, he writes, "These papers came to the Egerton family by intermarriage with the house of Derby."

The Calendar entries sufficed to show that a copy of the roll might be of considerable use in helping to disperse the almost total darkness which obscured two of our parishes for upwards of three centuries, to explain later documents in which those parishes are named, and to rectify already suspected portions of our civil history as given in the insular Chronicle. A correspondence with Mr. Straeban Holme, the Estate Clerk, and Walter Bourke, Esq., Trustee and Superintendent, in which my desire for a copy of the Roll was from the first very kindly entertained, resulted in my being supplied with photographs both on paper and glass, specially taken to meet my wish, which, though small (3½in. square), are clear, and have well served the purpose for which a copy of the roll was sought. Transcribed in 1504 in the contracted Latin of the time, the charters appear in the Appendix to this paper with the words extended, having the titles they bear on the Roll, but arranged for clearer instruction and convenience, not in the order in which they stand in the Transcript and doubtless stood in the Register, viz., first, of all kings, next, of all bishops, and last, of the Pope, but in the order in which they were given. The Transcript was "in dorso" certified before witnesses on March 31, 1504, as "a true copy of extracts of charters from the authentic book or Register" of the Priory of Candida Casa, by Andrew Meligan, who styles himself "notary by apostolic authority"; and there follows as made on the same day and before the same witnesses a like testimony with an attestation of collation by Duncan Murray, who styles himself "notary by imperial authority," the reference being to the authority of the head of "the Holy Roman Empire," who was at that time Maximilian I. of Germany.

The Transcript, though it may be true to the Register, is nevertheless in itself now and then faulty, which it may be well to note here. Words are unintentionally repeated in the MS., as appears in the print of extract 2 ; in extract 12, the repetition is not printed of the words "pronunciamus et declaramus," which however appears in the MS.; or a needed word is omitted in the MS., as in extracts 11 and 12, where such word is in the print supplied in brackets; or a slip in concord is made, as in extract 12, where "cartas et instruments" should have agreed in case with "exhibitis," the same cause probably making translation difficult in two other clauses of the same extract, A blank space is left in the print in two instances where the word is blurred or otherwise uncertain. of pointing there is little more in print than is suggested by the MS.

I.

1 — The place which was anciently called Candida Casa, of which Whithern is the Anglo-Saxon and White House the English rendering, had an ecclesiastical status nearly five centuries before lands and churches in Mann became connected with it. This was not till the early part of the 13th century, when the place was in the way of rising into national fame by being possessed of a Priory in whose church were said to be deposited the miracle-working relics of a "saint," and by becoming for that reason the goal of numerous pilgrims with liberal offerings, of whom some were of royal status and very munificent: whereas the place had been made the seat of a bishop in the early part of the 8th century, when also began to be laid the foundation of the said fame in a marvellous story then written about an alleged bishop Nynia, to whom is ascribed a life-period three centuries earlier than that of the writer of the story.

The name Candida Casa is known as first occurring in the story referred to, which forms part of the Ecclesiastical History of Bede, a monk of Jarrow on the south bank of the Tyne; and is stated in it to have originated in an act he ascribes to the hero of the story. At the time the story was written (its writer died in the year 735), the place was in the province of Northumbria, to which the writer belonged, and under the rule of the Angles; but at the alleged time of the hero of the story — it was in the province of Valentia, and under the rule of the Romans, who, then and for a long time before, occupied Britain up to the vallum or "wall of Antonine," running east and west in the line of the Firths of Forth and Clyde. There is not, however, in Bede's story the faintest allusion to the Roman occupation, and of course, therefore, not to the fact or probability of the place called Candida Casa being at the period of the hero of the story a Roman settlement with its civilization and possible Christianity, altogether independently of him. It has been held, however, by several historians and antiquaries from olden time to the present day that the place meant by the name Candida Casa was "probably," even "certainly a Roman settlement, the Leucophibia of Ptolemy" of the 3rd century; and Sir Herbert Maxwell on mentioning Whithern in his recent "Dumfries and Galloway," p. 7, writes "Within a mile of that town is a well-preserved Roman Camp, the only one now remaining in Wigtownshire." That the Romans had a name for the place, whether Ptolemy's Leucophibia was an intended Greek representation of Candida Casa or not, may be taken as certain; and considering that the two names so far agree that "leucos" and "candidus" bear the same meaning, it is not unreasonable to suppose that both a Latin and Greek name for the place existed contemporaneously which wholly agreed, and that in one way or other corruption crept in.

The story about the said Nynia is given by Bede in Book iii., chapter 4, and appears as uneasily, introduced and as by afterthought into what seems to have been an already finished account of Columba of the island of Hi [Iona], the name Candida Casa being brought into the story as a name commonly given, for a reason which is not over-lucid, to a previously unnamed place. Bede begins his chapter by writing: "In the year of our Lord 565, when Justin the younger, the successor of Justinian, had the government of the Roman Empire, there came from Ireland into Britain a famous priest and abbot, a monk in habit and life, whose name was Columba, with the intention of preaching (predicaturus) the Word of God to the provinces of the Northern Pi&s, that is, to those who are separated from the Southern parts by steep and rugged ranges of mountains"; and then, diverging from Columba, he proceeds

For the Southern Picts who dwell among (inter) those mountains had long before, as they say, forsaken the errors of idolatry and embraced the faith of the truth by the preaching of the Word by Nynia, a most reverend bishop and most holy man of the British nation, who had been regularly instructed at Route in the faith and mysteries of the truth, the seat of whose episcopate dedicated to St. Martin the bishop, and a remarkable (insignem) church where he, with many saints, rests in the body, the nation of the Angles now possesses; which place, pertaining to the province of the Bernicii, is vulgarly called "At the White House," for that there he built a church of stone in a way unusual among the Britons.

Bede then returns to Columba : "Columba came into Britain in the ninth year of the reign over the Picts of Bridius," etc. While giving to Columba and his successors, abbots of Hy, full credit for the religious and monastic life they led, Bede reflects upon them for their assumption of rule over bishops, which, he says, was "contrary to the usual method." And as to the time of observing Easter which marked their practice for 150 years, he excuses them by saying they had "none to bring them the synodal decrees for the observance of Faster by reason of their being so far away from the rest of the world." Nevertheless, in the year 715 they left their error when instructed by the priest Ecgbert, who was an Angle.

Such is the story about Nynia in its setting. It has a controversial aspect. That there is any truth in it, that even a person called Nynia existed is, at a just estimate, somewhat doubtful. On the one hand we have Bede's name for the story; and on the other hand, not to insist on the lateness of the date at which it was written after the alleged date of its hero, and the place it occupies in Bede's work, it is, first, entirely wanting in confirmatory evidence contemporary with the parties and events it refers to. There is no word from any Irish source confirming what is implied about Columba's knowledge on leaving Ireland of the conversion, 150 years before, of the so-called Southern Picts, or what is asserted about his consequent purpose in regard to the so-called Northern Picts; no word from any Pictish source confirming what is alleged about the time and agent of the conversion to the Christian faith of the Southern Picts: no word from any British source indicating that anything was known by his alleged fellow- countrymen of the name and doings of the bishop of the story; no word from any Continental source showing that anything was known of the said Nynia's journey to and from Rome, or about his being there instructed for and consecrated to the episcopal office. Second. Bede's statement in B. i., cc. 12-13, of the bitter and ceaseless hostilities between the Picts, aided by the Scots from Ireland, on the one hand, and the Romans and Britons on the other, for long years before the withdrawal of the Roman troops in the year 409, and for long years after by the Britons without and with occasional help from Rome till 423, renders the alleged conversion of the Picts referred to well-nigh, if not positively, incredible; while the narrative he gives B. v., c. 21, of the communications which passed between "Naiton, king of the Picts," and Ceolfrid, abbot of Jarrow, about the year 710, affords strong evidence that, as regards the questions of the time of keeping Easter, and of the tonsure proper to the clergy, no one who bad been "regularly instructed at Rome" had been the agent of their conversion. Third. Bede gives no specific authority- for any part of his story, and he says plainly to his readers toward the end of his Preface: "I humbly entreat the ruder that if he shall in this writing of mine find anything not delivered according to the truth, he will not impute the same to me, for I, as the true rule of history requires, have laboured sincerely to commit to writing such things as I could gather from common report for the instruction of posterity." Thus, as Bede does not vouch for the truth of this story, declines to be held responsible if it should be found to be false, throws the onus of disproving it, and the probable obloquy of attempting to disprove it on the reader, it seems simply absurd for a writer of our own times, who himself gives credit to a part only of the story, to say of the said Nynia

"That such a person existed we have on the express testimony of Bede"! It seems to me morally certain that there is no more truth in Bede's story about Nynia of the 5th century than there is in his story (B. i., c. 4) about King Lucius of the 2nd century, and that whoever may have been their author or authors, and whether Angle, Saxon, or Briton, they are mere stories of Bede's time and sprang from the same motive, viz., to get extended credence for the proposition, with its logical consequences, that the origin of Christianity in both Southern and Northern Britain was due and traceable to the church and pontiff's of Rome.

2 — Candida Casa is mentioned in a second passage of Bede's work (B. v., c. 23), in which, however, there is no allusion to the contents of the first. It is mentioned as "lately" made the seat of a bishop. Just before closing his work at the year 731, Bede gives an account of "the state of Britain" at the time. Coming last to his own province of Northumbria in which Candida Casa then was, and long had been, he writes:

In the province of the Northumbrians where king Ceoluulf reigns, four bishops now preside: Uilfrid in that of York, Fdiluald in that of Lindisfarne, Acca in that of Hagustald, Pecthelm in that which is called Candida Casa, which, from the increased number of believers, has lately become an additional episcopal see, and has him for its first bishop.

That statement as regards Candida Casa may be taken without reserve as true. It relates to an arrangement made in Bede's own province in his own time, and is amply confirmed. Pecthelmn was no mere mythic character. He was a Saxon from South Britain. Bede appears, B. v., c. 19, to have known him personally, and to have found in him a man of as genuine and large a faith as his own in the supernatural, the two having a common pleasure in reciting wonders. For, referring to the death of Haeddi, bishop of the West Saxons, Bede writes: "The most reverend prelate Pecthelm who was a long time either deacon or monk with his successor Aldhelm, is wont to relate that many miraculous cures have been wrought in the place where be died through the merit of his sanctity, and that men of that province used to carry the dust from thence for the sick, which, when they had put it into water, the drinking or sprinkling thereof restored health to many sick men and beasts"-a story which, from his own stores, Bede could cap with the specific instances of the restoration to health of the traveller's horse and the palsied girl by simply lying on the spot where king Oswald fell in battle (B. iii., c. 9).

To bishop Pecthelm who died in 732, succeeded Acca who died in 741, Frithwold who died in 764, Pechtwine who died in 777, and was succeeded by Ethylbyrbt, during whose episcopate a second stage towards national fame was reached by Candida Casa, though as yet far distant. There exists a letter from Alcuin, who had been master of the schools of York, but who at the invitation of Charlemagne, and with the consent of the York church, had taken up his residence in Gaul in 782 as prime-minister of Charles in matters religious and literary. It appears from the letter referred to that he received there from some of his late disciples at York a poem about miracles performed at Candida Casa by holy father Nynia, of which, it will be observed, the passage above quoted from Bede says nothing, though it states that Nynia's body, with the bodies of many saints, rested in the church he was said to have built there. The letter was drawn from Alcuin by the verses, and was directed to the brethren at Candida Casa, a branch from the school of York having probably been formed there, and which the reader will fairly appreciate when he has put himself (if be can do so) at the same theological and devotional stand-point as its writer. As instructed by Usher, "Primordia," 1639, p, 669, and Sir T. D. Hardy, "Descriptive Catalogue," I. 45, the letter, a venerable and curious relic of antiquity, and the original of which it might seem barbarous to supersede by a translation, was as follows

Venerandae dilectionis fratribus in loco Deo servientibus qui dicitur Candida Casa, Alchine diaconus, salutem. Deprecor vestræ pietatis unanimitatem ut nostri nominis habeatis memoriam, et intercedere pro mea parvitate dignemini in ecclesia sanctissimi patris Niniae episcopi, qui multis claruit virtutibus, sicuti mihi nuper delatum est per carmina metricae artis quae nobis per fideles nostros discipulos Eboracensis ecclesiae scholasticos directa sunt; in quibus et facientis agnovi eruditionem, et ejus perficientis miracula sanctitatem, per ea quae ibi legebam. Quapropter obnixus deprecor ut sanctis orationibus vestris illius me precibus commendare studeatis, quatenus per ejusdem patris vestri piissimas preces et vestræ caritatis assiduas intercessiones peccatorum meorum veniam, Domino Christo miserante, accipere merear, et ad Sanctorum pervenire consortia qui saeculi labores fortiter vicerunt, et ad coronam perpetum laudis pervenerunt.

Direxi ad sancti patris nostri Nyniga corpus suum holosericum, ob memoriam nostri nominis ut illius atque vestram piam merear intercessionem habere semper.

Protegat et regat Christi vos dextera, fratres.

It is unfortunate that the verses have not come down to us which drew forth that pious letter from a man who was reputed to be the most accomplished man of his age. It would have been so interesting to know what the narrated miracles were which induced him to tell the brethren of his discernment of the worker's "sanctity," to urge them to assiduity in their prayers in commending him to the prayers of the most holy Father, and to send them a silk coverlet to be used only for the said Father's relics. Though Alcuin does not venture to call Nynia a saint, his letter might well have been hailed by the brethren as a distinct step towards his becoming so called, and indeed when we next meet with him in his "Life and Miracles" he is so called, thenceforth to be regarded as a saint beyond gainsaying, with September 16 fixed as the day of his obit, to be observed as the day of his commemoration. After the appointment of Badwlf as bishop in 790, and perhaps of a successor to him, Candida Casa disappears from view for more than three centuries.

3 — In the year 1126, when Candida Casa again comes into view, the entire area of the province of Northumbria of the end of the 8th century, then under the rule of the Angles, was in the hands of other masters, the westerly portion, called Galloway, being under a Gaelic lord with the king of Scots as overlord. In that year there was a revival of the see of Candida Casa, seemingly through the action of Thurstan, archbishop of York, who, probably with the consent of David, king of Scots, prompted Pope Honorius to declare the place a see of the province of York, and to order Gilla-Aldin, its first bishop, to seek consecration from and make his submission to Thurstan as his Metropolitan.

In the time of this Gilla-Aldin (1126-1153), Fergus, lord of Galloway. said to have been brought up at the court of Henry I, and to have married the illegitimate daughter of that king, animated by like fervid zeal to that of his contemporary, David I., in favour of the religious orders, founded within his territories five monasteries of which one was Candida Casa, dedicated to St. Ninian, as Bede's Nynia had then come to be called. He placed in it a Prior and Canons of the Premonstratensian order, founded by one Norbert about 1120 in the diocese of Laon in France, at a place since called Premontre, — an order called also the Candidus order because the dress of the order was entirely white. The Prior and Canons were constituted the Dean and Chapter of the Bishop, and their church, dedicated to St. Martin, served as his Cathedral. But an equally important circumstance, connected with the object of this paper, occurred either in Gilla-Aldin's time or in that of his successor, Christian. Seemingly at the request made by one of them to Ailred, abbot of the Cistercian abbey of Rievaulx, to write a Life of St. Ninian, a Life was produced which more than aught else conduced to Candida Casa's national fame. Ailred professed to found his tract on a book of the Life and Miracles of the saint written in a barbarous style, indeed to do little, if any, more than to reproduce it in a style more polished, asserting that its writer never varied from the foundation of the witness, Bede. This alleged work has not come down to us, and as far as evidence goes no one but Ailred ever saw it. It matters little that we cannot for ourselves compare it with Ailred's work. This work can be and has been judged on its merits. Sir T. D. Hardy (Descriptive Catalogue, I. 45) writes: "The author probably knew nothing beyond what Bede has left about Ninian, but his narrative is vastly amplified by alleged Miracles." Dr. Forbes (Historians of Scotland, vol. v., Intro., p. x) writes: "With every disposition to deal fairly with the work of S. Ailred, we must pronounce it almost worthless as a historical tract. . . . Even the miracles lack much of the local colouring which gives so much interest to some of the Irish legends." Dr. Alexander (Ancient British Churches, p. 170), on mentioning Ninian, writes: "There is a Life of him written by Ailred, abbot of Rievaulx in Yorkshire, but it is a production of the twelfth century, and is full of such manifest falsehoods that no use can be made of it with the slightest confidence that any of its details rest on the basis of even traditionary evidence." If I held the existence of the said Ninian to be certain, I should fully concur in this judgment on Ailred's book. It must indeed be painful to any truthful mind that such an Office as that which in the Aberdeen Breviary is appointed to be used on Ninian's Day (September 16), whose nine Lections are mainly abridged portions of Ailred's book, especially of detailed miracles ascribed to the saint and his relics, should ever have had episcopal sanction. And if that Office is a specimen of Offices used on that day for centuries in churches of Scotland and this island, to say nothing of Whithern itself, the 16th century was none too early to bring those Offices and the pilgrimages it helped to induce to a perpetual end.

II.

1 — The year 1143 is given as the year in which Fergus, lord of Galloway, founded the Priory of Candida Casa (Whithern). It was, therefore, founded during the reign of our Olave I. (1114-1154), who inarried Affrica, daughter of Fergus, and who founded in 1134 the Abbey of Rushen. We have no charter evidence that either he or his son Godred (1154-1187), or his grandson Reginald, who in 1188 usurped the sovereignty, gave any land or church to the said Priory, or that such was given till given by his grandson Olave, whom his brother Reginald had displaced. Yet it is probable that by one of them a gift had been made, inasmuch as the grant of Olave II. includes not only the lands of Ballaegniba, but also, as then existing, the church of St. Ninian of Ballaeguiba; and, supposing that a gift had been made, that no charter is quoted for it in the Transcript of Charters of 1504 is sufficiently accounted for on the ground that the grant of Olave included the property given as part of an enlarged grant. There is, however, direct evidence that the first grant we know of was made by Olave II. in a confirmation-grant by Harold (1237-1248), who therein calls the grantor "our father and predecessor"; and Olave must have made the grant at a time when, in the summary of the career of the two brothers given in the insular Chronicle, it is wrongly implied that Reginald was still reigning; for Olave's grant was confirmed by the charter of a bishop Nicholas, and we have no ground for believing that there was in the see a bishop so named before 1193 or after 1215. As is implied in what is above written there is no clause in Olave's charter as it appears in the Transcript of Charters of 1504 which gives its date, nor is there one in which the witnesses are given; the date and witness clauses are also omitted from the charters which confirm it. Of Olave's charter, given in the Appendix, No. 1, the following is a translation

Know all as well present as future that I, Olave, king of the Isles, have given, granted, and by this my present charter have confirmed to God, and Saint Ninian, and the Canons of Candida Casa of the Premonstratensian order there serving and to serve God, for the souls of my father, and of my mother, and of our ancestors, to wit, the hospital of Ballaegniba by its right divisions, of Kirkmaroun by its right divisions, in wood and plain, in pastures and meadows, in mills and fisheries and salt-works, in mountains and fineres, and with all their pertinences ; and the church of saint Ninian of Ballaeguiba, and the church of saint Runan, in chapels, lands, and tithes, and all other their rights named as well as unnamed, To hold as freely and quietly all these alms of me and my heirs for a pure and perpetual alms as alms are better, more freely, and more honourably given and possessed in our whole kingdom. Witnesses etc.

The following is a translation of the grant of Nicholas confirming, as far as concerned him as bishop, the grant of Olave, the possession by the Priory of the church of saint Runan being granted, but not till "after the days of Brice," the parson then in possession

To all the faithful in Christ who shall see or hear these letters, Nicholas, by the grace of God bishop of Sodor, eternal health in the Lord. Know you all that we by the intuition of divine charity have given, and by this our present charter have confirmed to God, saint Ninian, Paul the prior, and the canons of the Premonstratensian order at Candidacasa serving and to serve God, the church of saint Runa in Mann with all tithes, chapels, oblations, and all other ecclesiastical benefits to the same church belonging, To hold and possess of us and our successors after the days of Brice, now parson of the same church, freely, quietly, honourably and in peace for a pure and perpetual alms, saving to us and our successors full episcopal right. And that this our charitable gift may remain stable and sure etc.

Confirmation-grants were also made by Simon, bishop of Sodor, by Harold and Reginald, kings of the Isles, by prince Alexander and his father king Alexander III. of Scotland. Copies of the originals of all are given in the Appendix, numbered from 3 to 7. It is needless to give translations of them, but it may be well to mention a few of their particulars worthy of note. 1. Bishop Simon (1230-1248) confirms the charter of Nicholas, and in doing so calls him"our antecessor," probably because two bishops, Reginald and John, intervened; and having received from Pope Gregory IX. a Bull dated July 30, 1231, granting to him and his successors a third of the tithes of all the churches of the see, he departs from the charter of Nicholas, saying in reference to the church of saint Runa: "Saving to us and our successors a third part of all the tithes of the said church pertaining to our table." 2. King Harold (1237-1248) on mentioning the church of saint Runa, says: "which lord Olave of happy memory, our father and predecessor" gave and "confirmed it by his charter," thus placing beyond question the identity of the Olave who gave the charter we possess. 3. The charter of king Reginald differs in nothing worthy of remark from that of Olave. 4. The island having come fully into the possession of the Crown of Scotland by the treaty of Perth in 1266, the next charter is from prince Alexander as lord proprietor, who in it defines the churches he gives as "the church of saint Ninian which is a chapel, and the church of saint Runan which is the mother church of the said chapel." 5. The charter of king Alexander confirms "that donation which Alexander our first-born son, lord of Mann, made to God and blessed Ninian," etc., the king adding that the prince's charter was "sealed with our seal because being in his minority he himself has not a seal," the two charters seeming to have been given at the same time and place. The king also sent a Mandate to the Bailiff of Mann, the chief official of the Island, directing that neither he nor his servants hindered the Prior and Canons of Candida Casa from removing the produce of their church and lands, and disposing of it to their profit.

Before leaving these eight charters a few more remarks may be fitting. 1. The "hospital" of Ballacguiba which appears in Olave's charter appears also in that of Reginald, but is absent from the others. No tradition of it exists. "Ballacguiba" also, the name of lands on which the said hospital and the church of St. Ninian are represented as being, has long gone out of use, the lands having been long called "The barony of St. Trinion." 2. The "Kirkmaroun" of the charter of Olave appears as Kyrkmaroun in the heading of the charter of Harold, but in the charter itself as Dalmaroun, as also in charters of Reginald and prince Alexander. 3. The word "marinis" in the phrase "in montibus et marinis" in Olave's charter, appears in Reginald's as "uiaeriis," and in prince Alexander's it is separated from "montibus" and protracted into "iuarinis et aquis dulcibus similiter," the word originally used, whatever it was, being in all probability intended to express the idea of meres or marshes, as I have rendered it. 4. The "sanctus Runanus" of Olave's charter appears also in the charters of Reginald and of both prince and king Alexander, but in those of Nicholas, Simon, and Harold, appears as "sanctus Runa," of which latter name the Calendars know nothing. Runan may with confidence be taken as the phonetic respondent of Ronan, under which name are several abbots and bishops in the Martyrology of Donegal. The chief of them is Ronan of Dromiskin in the county of Louth, who died of the Buidhe Conaill or Yellow Plague in 664, whose relics were placed "in a chest (area) of gold and silver" in the year 800, and whose commemoration annually in all churches of the province of Armagh was by archbishop Swayne so late as the 14th century authoritatively enjoined, in common with that of St. Fechin of Fore, and the three patron saints of Ireland, Patric, Brigid, and Columba. His Calendar-day is November 18, and it is a circumstance worthy of note that until recent years a fair had long been held at St. John's on that day, to account for which no more reasonable speculation exists than that it was transferred there from Marown parish, as the fair held there on March 17, St. Patrick's Day, had been transferred there from Patrick parish in the year 1835.

2 — Prince Alexander, lord of Mann, died on January 28, 1284. In the following year his father made the second original grant of church property in this island to the Priory. This was the right of advowson of the church of the Holy Trinity in the Aire. See Appendix, No. 9. The following is a translation of his charter

To all the faithful in Christ who shall see or hear the present letters, Alexander, by the grace of God king of Scots, everlasting health in the Lord. Be it known that we by the intuition of divine charity, and for our salvation and the salvation of our children, of our ancestors and successors, and of all the faithful dead, have given, granted. and by this our present charter confirmed to God and to blessed Ninian, confessor of the church of Candida Casa in Galualia, and to the canons there serving and to serve God, for a pure and perpetual alms. the advowson of the church of the Holy Trinity at Rainswath in Mann with all its liberties and just pertinences, for the siloport of divine service there to the saint aforesaid, and for the table of the same Religious of the said monastery, freely and quietly, fully and honourably in all things-Witnesses: John Cumin of Budran, Richard Kynard, Patric of Barklay, Andrew of Morzania, and David of Dorthorruld, knights. At Glenlus on the twenty-fourth day of May in the year of our reign the thirty-sixth.

That charter was in the following month confirmed by bishop Marc. Appendix, No. 10. A translation of his charter is as follows

To all the sons of holy mother church who shall hear or see the present writing, Marc, by divine mercy, humble minister of the church of Sodor, everlasting health in the Lord. Be it known to you all that we by the intuition of divine charity have granted and by the present charter, by our authority, have confirmed for ourselves and our successors to God, and saint Ninian, and the prior and convent of Candida Casa of the Premonstratensian order there serving and for ever to serve God, the church of the Holy Trinity at Ramsay, To possess for pious and personal uses for ever with all just liberties and usual pertinences at the time of the concession of the present writing, saving to us and our successors the thirds of the said church and all other ordinary powers and rights in the foresaid church. In testimony whereof we have caused the present writing to be strengthened with the defence of our seal. Given at Kirkandrew on Tuesday next after the nativity of saint John Baptist in the year of the Lord 1285.

The king's charter was also confirmed by Pope Nicholas IV. on April 13, 1291. Appendix, No. 11. There is nothing in the bull which calls for special remark. It would be of weight, however, if at any time the title to the advowson were called in question. The following is a translation of it

Nicolaus bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved sons the prior and chapter of the church of Candidacasa of the Prenlonstratensian order, health and apostolical benediction. When that which is dust and honest is asked from us as well the vigor of equity as the order of reason requires that it, by the solicitude of our office, be brought to due effect. In truth, your petition presented to us was to the effect that Alexander, king of Scotland of illustrious memory, giving thought to his own salvation, and desiring by a happy [traffic] to exchange earthly for heavenly and transitory for eternal things, by the intuition of piety, conferred the right of advowson of the church of the Holy Trinity in Ramsay of the Sodor diocese, at that time belonging to him, on you and your church, as in the letters patent thereupon made, fortified with the seal of the said king, is said to be more fully contained. We therefore inclined to your petition, accounting firm and agreeable what in this matter was by the said king piously and prudently done, that by apostolic authority we confirm and strengthen with the protection of the present writing. Let no man, therefore, whosoever he be, infringe this patent of our confirmation, or rashly dare to go against it. If however, anyone should presume to attempt it, be it known to him that he will incur the wrath of the Almighty God and of his blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul. Given at Mary of martyrs on the ides of April in the third year of our Pontificate.

3 — There was yet another church in the island given to the Priory. This was the church of St. Brigid in the Ayre, which was granted by Thomas Randolph, earl of Moray, to whom the island was given by king Robert Bruce in 1313, and who died in possession of it in 1332. His charter, along with others, was confirmed by king Robert in 1325, whose confirmation-grant was itself confirmed by king James II. in 1451. But no evidence appears that the Priory was ever in possession of the church; certainly no mention is made of the church, as we shall see, when the title of the Priory to its property here was the subject of enquiry in the years 1377 and 1504.

III.

In the year 1377, as also in the years 1422 and 1504, the authorities at Candida Casa were challenged to establish their right to property they held here, and on each occasion they passed the ordeal.

1 — John Donegan, appointed archdeacon of Down by Pope Urban V. in 1,167, and shortly afterwards made nuncio and collector of the Apostolic see in Ireland, was appointed bishop of Sodor by Pope Gregory XI. at Avignon in November 1,374, and in the same month was there consecrated to the see, retaining his offices of nuncio and collector and having his own see added to his area of collection. Owing to forcible detention for about two years on his homeward journey he was not installed here till January 25, 1377 He soon after made a visitation of his diocese when a challenge to the Whithern authorities of the tenor above stated was given and met, the reason for the challenge probably being the bishop's desire to levy the Papal tax with certitude and in just proportion on the individual churches of his see.

In a lengthy document printed in the Appendix, extract 12, the bishop himself narrates the course of procedure in the case, and its issue. He informs us that on visiting his diocese as ordinary he caused to be cited before him the rectors of the parish churches of the Holy Trinity near Ramsay and the church of St. Runus to exhibit the titles of the said benefices, the prior and convent of Candida Casa pretending to be the rectors; that appearing at the day and place appointed they affirmed on various grounds, which the bishop records, their rectorial right, and offered themselves to prove by witnesses, letters, instruments and other legitimate documents that the said churches, saving however the thirds which belong of right and custom to the episcopal table, belong of right and custom to them and their monastery; that at the said day and place they exhibited the said evidences before him, sitting as a tribunal, clearly and distinctly, the more fully to establish their contention; that having so done they petitioned and prayed that he would make an official declaration respecting themselves and their right, and graciously confirm the said churches, saving the thirds, to them and their monastery. The bishop proceeds

We, therefore, John, the abovesaid bishop, graciously inclined in this matter to their petition and prayer, charters and instruments of divers kings of Mann, of earls and pious lords of the same, and, moreover,those approving and confirming them of many of our predecessors bishops of Sodor, having been exhibited to prove and declare their contention, and the same having been handled inspected and carefully examined, Deeming that the things contained in their petition or prayer are fully proved, Pronounce and declare by the presents that the prior and convent aforesaid have rightly, lawfully and honourably possessed and in future ought to possess the said churches with all their rights and all pertinences as is premised; and themselves and their monastery aforesaid as to the premises, saving however to us and our successors the thirds and our ordinary rights, we have by our decree discharged; and the presents aforesaid we by our office admit, ratifying and confirming with the consent and assent of our clergy of Mann those churches abovesaid to the prior and convent and monastery abovesaid by the tenor of the presents for ever. For assurance and witness whereof our seal, together with the common seal of our clergy of Mann, is appended to the presents. Given in our general chapter in the church of St. Lupus in Mann of our diocese on the fifth day of the month of February in the year of the Lord M.CCC. seventy-six, the fifteenth indiction, the seventh year of the Pontificate of the most holy father and lord in Christ now Lord Gregory, by divine providence Pope, the XIth, and in the year of our consecration the third.

2-The second time a challenge was given to the Candida Casa authorities was in the year 1422, when the second Sir John Stanley was, as for eight years he had been, Lord of Mann. It appears from the insular " Statutes" (Gill, I. 20) that in that year the bishop of the diocese, the heads of two religious houses within the island and of five external to it, were expected to appear before Sir John to show their titles to property they held here, and, if admitted to do so, to do fealty to him. The erudite record, abounding in capital letters which show the late date of the version, is as follows

The Court of all the Tennants and Commons of Man holden at Kirk Michaell. upon the Hill of Renenrling, before our doughtfull Lord Sir John Stanley by the Grace of God; King of Mann and Th'isles, the Tuesday next after the Feast of St. Bartholomew in the year of our Lord God 1422.

In which Court the Bishop of Mann was called to come and do his Faith and Fealty unto the Lord as the Law asketh, and to shew by what Claime he houldeth his Lands and Tenements within the Lordship of Mann, the which came and did his Faith and Fealty to the Lord. The Abbott also of Rushen, and Priors of Douglas were called to do their Fealtie, and to show their Claimes of their Houldings, Lands and Tenements within the Lordship of Man, the which came and did their Fealtie to the Lord.

On the contrary:

The Prior of Withorne in Galloway, the Abbott of Furnace, the Abbott of Bangor, the Abbott of Saball, and the Prior of St. Beade in Copeland were called and came not; therefore they were deemed by the Deemsters that they should come in their proper Persons within XL days, and if they came not, then to loose all their Temporalties, to be ceised into the Lords Hands in the same Court

which last four words make the Deemsters' deeming to appear muddled in itself and mocking to the absent, as surely "the Court of all the Tennants and Commons of Man" did not continue for forty days; and Mr. A. W. Moore's alteration, without notice, in his Diocese of Sodor and Man, p. 86, of the words "in the same court" into "by the same court" does not make the deeming appear less mocking and muddled. The Deemsters' reputation is, however, all right, for as the version of the earliest portion of the Statutes in the British Museum shows, and even common-sense suggests, the said four words belong to the next paragraph, which should, when "edited," have been made to read "In the next [same inserted by author in MS] Court it is ordained and proclaimed," etc. — What the issue of that deeming was we are not told in the said Statutes, nor are we told in them anything from which it can be inferred. We know and can infer nothing about it except from other and later sources of information, whether as regards the priory of Whithern or the other four religious houses referred to.

It is here worthy of remark that from a record in the Register of the Privy Seals of Scotland, No. 107, which bears date December 17, 1427, it may be inferred that the number of pilgrims at that time to the tomb of St. Ninian from places beyond the bounds of Scotland was so considerable as to call for regulation from king James I. The record states that "On all and singular of the kingdom of England and the Isle of Man of both sexes wishing to visit as pilgrims the church of Blessed Ninian, confessor, situated within the kingdom of Scotland, the King has conferred a faculty and license of coming as far as and to the church of Candida Casa in Galwidia in honour of the said Saint, and of returning thence to their homes freely, safely and securely and without impediment" etc. But the permission and safe-conduct have attached to them certain conditions. Every one was to return by the same way he went ; all were to comport themselves as pilgrims in both journeys; no one was to remain on Scottish soil more than fifteen days; each was to bear in his dress signs of pilgrimage, one sign in going, another in returning, both to be received from the Prior; no kind of business was to be pursued, and of course no injury was directly or indirectly to be done to the king, his lieges, or his kingdom.

3 — The third and last time of challenge to the Candida Casa authorities as to their rights of property they held here was in the year 1504, the challenge being given by Thomas, first earl of Derby, the probate of whose will, according to Seacome, was dated November of that year. We have indeed, neither on the one side or the other direct evidence of a challenge as we have on the two occasions already considered.. But the fact of the existence among the Derby MSS. of the parchment-roll of extracts from the Priory Register bearing the notarial certificates dated March 31, 1504 (used at large in this paper), implies that the roll was supplied to the earl to meet a demand, and that the demand had a higher object in view than the mere gratification of his curiosity.

Two years after the above challenge another safe-conduct was announced to pilgrims to St. Ninian's tomb, amongst whom were included pilgrims from this island. In his "Caledonia," III. 412, Chalmers, citing Privy Seal Register, V. 85, writes : "On the 14th of December 1506, the Regent Albany granted a general safe-conduct to all persons of England, Ireland, and the Isle of Man, to come by land or water unto Scotland, to the church of Candida Casa in honour of St. Ninian, confessor."

IV.

The abbey of Furnes, of which Edward, earl of Derby, was steward, was dissolved on its surrender to the Commissioners of Henry- VIII. by deed signed by the abbot and monks on April 9, 1537, and its large property went to the Crown. The property included "the personages of Seynt Mahold and Seynt Mighell" in this island which "bin letten to fferme" at the yearly rent of £6 13s. 4d., and are found still let in the year 1610, having been granted in fee-farm at the same rent in 1603 by king James I. (Manx Soc. IX. 36, 86).-The abbey of Rushen, Priory of Douglas, and Friary of Bemaken were dissolved between April 15 and September 29, 1540, Edward, earl of Derby, acting in the matter as the minister of Henry VIII., and employing Robert Calcott as his deputy. The abbot and his six brethren and the prioress and her three sisters vacated their respective houses on St. John Baptist's day ; and the net proceeds of the dissolution, amounting to £157 2s. 7d., together with two parcels of "jocalia," mainly silver articles, valued at £28 14s., were handed over to the earl for him to account for to the Crown. As an Indenture dated March 18, 1543, shows, the largest part by far of the property in lands and tithes was leased for a term of 21 years to Robert Hungate, gentleman, and is found still let in the year 1610, having been leased for a term of 40 years by James I. in 1606 (Manx Soc. IX. 87, and Ministers' Accounts in Public Record Office under years 1540-43).-The English king having made a new grant of the island, with special limitations to William, earl of Derby, in 1609, he also made over to him in 1610, subject to certain annual payments, the property here that had belonged to Furnes abbey and the three insular monastic houses, the total including that of eight churches (Manx Soc. XII. 58-60), all which are found to be on lease, each for its own term of years, in the year 1666.

Dissolution of the religious houses was not in Scotland as it was in England and in this island a part of Reformation-work. Excepting a few that were the objects of popular violence they ceased as such to exist there by gentler processes, mainly those of alienations and spoliations, and their extinction as a whole extended over many years. Five years after the monastic houses of this island were dissolved the priory of Whithern was still holding on its way, though as appears from a document to be presently quoted, with resources crippled in various ways. While the office of prior was vacant and a Commendator was acting, probably awaiting the appointment of a prior by the Pope in Consistory, a tax was levied by the Privy Council which he thought fell unduly heavily on his priory, and of which he complained with a view to relief, and got it to the extent of a third. At a meeting of the Privy Council held on February 9, 1545, presided over by the Queen and Governor the complaint was considered and dealt with, the "Ilaman" receiving due mention. The record in the "Register of the Privy Council," I. 22, begins thus:

Anent the supplications gevin in be Malcoline Commendator of Quhithorne, makand mention that in this last taxt laitlie devisit be the bordes of our Consele for sustentatioun of certain men on the Bordouris, be is taxt to pay als grate ane soume as ever the said abbay payt of bifor, howbeit vexit thir thre yeris bigane because of the cummersum and evil wardill be has gotten na offerand as wes wont to be gotten, quhilk wes ane grete part of the said benefice, and siclic wantis the fruitis of twa kirkes in Ilaman, and the fruitis of the landis Kyntire, quair throw he may nocht pay etc.

Was it the case that he who at the time of that complaint was enjoying "the fruitis of the twa kirkes in Ilaman" was Edward, earl of Derby ? that as all other monastic houses had ceased to hold property here, he considered it unseemly that the White House, a house of a foreign kingdom withal, should still do so ? and that as their eight churches had already been impropriated by the English king he thought he could not do amiss in following so noble an example by impropriating the remaining two, and by doing so without delay? Be all this as it may, Dr. Forbes (Historians of Scotland, vol. V., Intro., p. Ix.) says as to the history of the Priory in the Reformation-period: "Till 1587, when the priory was vested in the king, it was a history of continued spoliation"; and there can be no doubt, though the evidence is only indirect, that in 1577 the two churches referred to were in the hands of Henry, earl of Derby, tithes, lands, etc., belonging to them having been in that year let on lease by him.. In Manx Society, IX. 70, is a record of ten years' later date, which relates to the property which had been then leased. It begins

The condition of this obligation is such that where the Right Honourable Henry, Earl of Derby, Lord Standeleye and Strange, lord of Manne and thisles, and knight of the most honorable order of the garter, by his deed Indented dated the Thirteenth day of Januarye in the Nineteenth yere of the Raigne of our Soveratgne lande the Queues majestye that now is, hath demysed granted, and to farm letten unto Robert Salusburye of Denbich in the county of Denbich, gentleman, all that and those his tyhe and tythes, glebe lands, lands spirituail and temporall whatsoever apperteyninge and belonveing to the churche and churches of Kirkebriste in the ayre and Kirkmarron, lyeing and beinge within the lande of Manne in the Isles,- with all howeses, edificies and commoditves to the same appeyteyninge and belongeing, The patronage, gift, presentation and nomination of the Incumbentes to the severall vicarages of the sayde churches and all glebe lands by these obligations, and other profittes to the vicarages or eyther of them belongeinge excepted and foreprised, To have and to hold etc.

The property of the two churches which had belonged to the Priory of Whithern thus found to have been leased in 1577 by Henry, earl of Derby, was doubtless continuously leased by his successors, and is found on lease when we again meet with the churches in 1666.

V.

In the year 1666, Charles, earl of Derby, being lord of the island, an agreement was made between him on the one side and bishop Barrow and archdeacon Fletcher, in trust for the clergy, on the other, for the sale and purchase of a lease for the term of 10,000 years of the whole impropriate tithes of the ten parish churches to which they had once belonged. The terms were £1,000 down, a fine of £130 every 30 years, and an annual rent of £66 3s. 2d., the earl giving as collateral security in case of disturbance of possession, a manor and farm of the Derby estate in England. The said total rent was made up of separate rents allotted to the several churches, except those of Lezayre and Marown, which had been let and were rented together; and the proportion of the total rent to be paid in successive years was determined by the times at which the leases of the several churches fell in, the first to fall in being that of Kirk Christ Rushen in 1667, and the last that of Kirk Santon in 1723. The rent to be paid for the "rectories of Kirk Christ Layer and Kirk Marown," according to the agreement, was £14 16s. 6d., the lease of which fell in in 1697.

From Vicar-general Walker who, by his own account, had been requested by the clergy in Convocation in 1715 "to set the impropriate tithes to the best advantage and for the raising of the sum of £130 payable to the Lord of this isle every 30 years and due A.D. 1726," there exists a tabular statement written in 1725, two years after the last lease fell in and the total rent began to be paid, from which can be gained a fair notion of the benefit the clergy had derived from the settlement of 1666, and would in future derive from it. It appears from that statement that in 1725 the tithes were set for £83 3s. 6d., and that after the obligatory payments were made of £66 3s. 2d., Annual Rent, of £4, Proxies to the bishop, and of £4 6s. 8d., Stipend to the vicar of Lezayre, and there was laid aside the sum of £12 5s. 4d. to meet the 30 years' fine, there remained £30 for the master of the Castletown School, and "about £64" for distribution among the clergy.

The following is an extract of particulars of receipts and their disposal for the parishes of Lezayre and Marown, premising that the irnpropriate tithes in the former parish were two-thirds of the whole tithes of the parish, and in the latter one-third

The Fine of £130 was for the second time paid by the clergy in 1726. Ten years later the validity of the lease under which they held the tithes came into dispute, with the result that the tithes passed from them into other hands. James, earl of Derby, dying on February 1, 1736, was succeeded in the lordship of Mann by James, Duke of Athol, and the same title which made the Duke lord of the isle made him also owner of the impropriate tithes. In the interval between his landing here on June 15, and his departure hence on August 7, he laid formal claim to the whole of the tithes comprised in the settlement of 1666, holding that the deed of alienation was null and void. The clergy fell on the collateral security. Causes at law aiming at various issues followed. We need not go into them, but there may well be given the condensed summary of the results as stated by Mr. Keble in his Life of Bishop Wilson, Part IL, p. 795

The causes, we may dutifully believe, were more or less intricate, for the High Court of Chancery could not decide them until 1751- In that year, July 12, 13, 15, they were heard before Lord Hardwicke, who confirmed the claim of the heirs-general, and consequently the Duke of Athol's title to the island and to the abbey tithes. So that the lease for 10,000 years was set aside. But the Chancellor also decreed that the collateral security was valid, and the clergy entitled to the benefit of it. The computation of the money value of that benefit was referred to a Master in Chancery, but his report was not forthcoming until July 7, 1757, more than two years after Bishop Wilson's death. In pursuance of that Report a certain sum [£219 17s. 10d. annually] was paid by successive Earls until Easter 1809, when proceedings took place which issued in the Earl commuting the charge on Bispham and Methop for £16,000, to be invested in land for the Manx clergy and schools, who are supposed now to enjoy the benefit of the same : the agreement to this commutation, and the conditions of it, being confirmed by Act of Parliament dated June 20, 1811. See Manx Soc. XII. 164-188.

VI.

A few facts in the further history of the property that had belonged to the Whithern Priory may be noted before closing this paper.

First, as regards the property in the parish of the Holy Trinity in the Ayre. It appears, from a schedule to the Act of Parliament just referred to, that between the time when the impropriate tithes of the parish came into the possession of the Athol family and the time when the agreement was made which was confirmed by that Act, the family had sold tithes of the estimated annual value of £60, and that there remained on lease tithes of the estimated annual value of £62. What portion of these remained for sale to the Crown in 1827, or what sum the Crown paid for the remnant, no documents are accessible to show.

Second, as regards the property of the Priory in the parish of St. Runan. In 1763 John, Duke of Athol, sold the whole property to John Quayle, Esq., of the Creggans, Castletown, at the time Controller and Clerk of the Rolls. The Deed of sale is not at hand, but we have reliable information of a later date about the purchase. Feltham, in his "Tour," 1798, p. 218, after saying that the barony of St. Trinian's consists of five quarterlands, proceeds: "This was purchased by Mr. Quayle, together with the impropriate tythes of Kirk Marown, in 1763, from the present Duke of Athol's father, in virtue of a certain indenture sexpartite of feoffiuent and in conjunction with Duke James, for £500 Manks, and Mr. Quayle holds a court for this barony." A Deed exists under date October 29, 1798, a copy of which is due to the kindness of his Worship the High-bailiff of Douglas, which defines more particularly the property sold. It begins

Whereas by Deed bearing date the thirtieth day of May one thousand seven hundred sixty three, the most noble John, Duke of Athol, by his then name and addition of John Murray of Strewan, Esq., by and with the consent, approbation and concurrence of His Grace James Duke of Atholl deceased testified as therein mentioned, did for the consideration therein also mentioned, grant bargain sell alien release and confirm unto John Quayle of the Creggans, Gent., but now deceased, his heirs and assigns, all those impropriations and Tythes predial personal and mixed as well great as small and of what nature and kind soever belonging to his said Grace in the parish of Marown, Together with all those free rents, quit rents, flee ffarm or other rents issuing and payable out of certain lands called the Barony of Saint Trinions in the said parish and amounting in the whole to three pounds one shilling and ten pence, and also one hundred loads of Turff, twenty carriages, fifteen shearing days and ten hens or thereabouts, subjëct nevertheless to several deductions and outgoings issuing and payable out of the same

During Mr. Quayle's ownership of the above property three incidents occurred of more or less interest. The Duke and Duchess of Athol having in 1765 sold to the Crown the Island Castle Pele and Lordship of Mann, retaining, however, their landed property and their manorial and ecclesiastical rights, a few years afterwards, as appears from a record printed in Manx Society, vol. IX., pp. 169-171, Mr. Quayle as owner of the barony of St. Trinian presented a memorial in which he claimed the privilege of making Fealty to the king of England in respect of the barony, and asking to be admitted to do so at the Tynwald Court. His memorial was submitted for their opinion to the Attorney-General Searle and Deemster Heywood, which they gave under date June 30, 1770, and is printed as noted above. They begin by treating the matter historically. Towards the close they say: "There can be no objection to the title of the memorialist to the Barony, that is to say, to the Rents, Profits, Services and Emoluments belonging to it, which are all that appears to be conveyed. No reservation of Services seems to have been made by the Duke as superior Lord, and the Services conveyed are such as the Baron's Tenants owe to the immediate proprietor of the Barony; and in this case the memorialist has an entire freehold and owes no Fealty to anybody." They say further: "The jurisdiction which the crown now has over this Island can in no sense comprehend feudal services, which appertain solely to the Tenure, and are due from the Tenants and lesser Barons to the chief Lord, and it must be observed that in the vesting Act the Duke reserves all kinds of suits and services as appendages to his Barony." They conclude

We are therefore of Opinion that the Memorialist cannot with any propriety tender his Fealty at the Tynwald Court to the King by virtue of his property in the Barony of St. Trinion's, and that the same, if due, can only be made to the Duke of Athol at his Baron Court. From him the Grant was, and to his Grace alone this kind of service can redound.

The following "Articles of Agreement," a copy of which is due to the kindness of Alexander Spittall, Esq., is perhaps worthy for more than one reason of being printed entire

ARTICLES of AGREEMENT made this twenty-fifth day of August one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven, Between John Quayle Esquire Impropriator of the parish of Marown of the one part and William Killey, proprietor of the Estate of Ballayearnan Beg and Robert Quine proprietor of Ballahommey of the other part

WITNESS that the said John Quayle for and in consideration of the rent of two shillings and eleven pence to be annually paid unto him or his order proctor or Sergeant appointed for that purpose upon Easter or when afterwards demanded, Hath Given, Granted and Assigned unto them the said Will. Killey and Robert Quine and their Heirs and Assigns in equal moieties, all that Pew or Seat situate on the South side of Marown Chancel and next adjoining the Gable with all Liberties Easements and privileges thereunto belonging, To Have and To Hold unto them the said William Killey and Robert Quine their Heirs and Assigns proprietors of the said Estates severally and respectively for Ever without the Lett Stop or hinderance of him the said John Quayle his Heirs or Assigns Impropriators as aforesaid or of any person or persons claiming or to claim by from or under him them or any of them in anywise.

In consideration whereof they the said William Killey and Robert Quine do and each of them doth covenant promise Grant and Agree for themselves their Heirs and Assigns severally and respectively that they shall or will pay or cause to be paid unto the said John Quayle his Heirs and Assigns Impropriators as aforesaid, the said yearly Rent or Acknowledgement of Two shillings and eleven pence yearly upon Easter Monday or at any time afterwards when Demanded by the said John Quayle his Heirs or Assigns or his or their proctor or Serjeant or person authorised in that Behalf. AND for the true performance hereof each party doth bind and oblige himself his Heirs Executors Administrators and Assigns to the other party- who shall perforn this Agreement in and under a penalty of Twentv Pounds.

ÏN WITNESS whereof they have hereunto sett their hands and seals the day and year first above written.

Signed Sealed and Delivered by the said

John Quayle in the presence of W. Mylrea,Thos. Radcliffe.

John Quayle.

The property which descended to the heir of the said John Quayle was not in respect to tithes and lands the same as that purchased by him. For in the said Deed of 1798, following the portion above quoted we read

And whereas the said John Quayle did previous to his decease sell parcels of the said Tythes, Glebe lands and preenes to sundry persons subject to such rent charges as in and by the said grants or sales may more particularly appear

John Quayle was alive in the year 1791, as in that year he gave evidence before the Crown Commissioners as noticed in an Appendix to their Report. George Quayle, Esq., of Castletown, his son and heir, did not retain the property in Marown long after his father's death. He sold as much of it as remained to John, Duke of Athol, son and heir of the Duke who had sold it, as appears by Deed dated October 29, 1798, the Deed indeed from which I have made the two extracts given above, and which proceeds to say

And whereas George Quayle of Castletown Esq eldest son and heir at law of the said John Quayle is now entitled under the Will of the said John Quayle to the said several Tythes and preenes, save and except such parts thereof as have been sold or disposed of as aforesaid, And whereas the said George Quayle hath agreed to sell and dispose of all his right and title to the aforesaid Tythes and premes, with the reserved rent charges aforesaid and the Barony of St. Trinions unto his Grace the most noble John Duke of Athol, Know all men therefore by these presents that I the said George Quayle Impropriator of the said Tythes within the parish of Marown, for and in consideration of the sum of Three hundred and seventy one pounds lawful money Manx Currency to me in hand well and truly paid by the said John Duke of Atholl, the receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge etc have given granted etc and do give grant etc to the said John Duke of Atholl etc all those Impropriations and Tythes predial personal etc in the parish of Marown etc with all those free rents quit rents etc payable out of the said lands called the barony of St Trinions in the parish of Marown,

covenanting that he has not at any time done anything whereby the said Tythes and premises can be impeached, promising to make and execute any further and other lawful and reasonable Act and Deed for the Duke's better security and assurance, and for the true and faithful performance thereof binding himself, heirs, etc., under the penalty of £800 Manx Currency.

In the year 1800 the Duke leased the said Impropriate tithes for a term of six years to John Clague, cabinet-maker, of Douglas, for £20 Manx per annum, which, as we may assume, being continously leased till the year 1823, were in that year again sold to two purchasers conjointly. The Deed of Sale, dated June 3, 1823, runs

KNOW ALL MEN by these presents that his Grace The Most Noble John Duke of Atlioll Inpropriator of the Tithe within the parish of Marown by and with the consent and concurrence of Her Grace the most noble Margery Duchess of Atholl testified by her signing and executing these presents, for and in consideration of the sum of Five Hundred Pounds to him the said John Duke of Atholl secured to be paid by John Spittall of the town of Douglas, Gentleman, and Robert Kelly of the parish of Marown, Farmer, Hath Given Granted Bargained and Sold and by these presents Doth Give Grant Bargain and for ever absolutely Sell unto the said John Spittall and Robert Kelly their heirs and assigns, All and Singular those Inipropriation and tithe predial personal and mixed as well great as small and of what nature and kind soever, situate lying and being coming growing renewing increasing or arriving in within or out of the parish of Marown, To Have and To Hold the said Impropriation and Tithe unto them the said John Spittall and Robert Kelly their Heirs and Assigns from Easter Day last past for ever

the Duke covenanting, etc., that he has not at any time done anything whereby the said tithe are, can, or may be in any wise impeached or encumbered, and for the true and faithful performance thereof binding and obliging himself his heirs executors and administrators in and under the penalty of £l,000 British, to be levied and paid according to Law.

Since this purchase portions of the tithes have been sold to sundry persons, the remainder being in the possession of the heir of one of the purchasers of 1823. The barony of St. Trinian is now and for a long time has been in the possession of the Crown and, as assumed, by purchase from the Duke of Athol about 1827. The total rent derived from the barony is about £6 8s., having apparently been doubled since the purchase from George Quayle by the Duke of Athol in 1798, but by whom the doubling was effected no documents are accessible to show.

NOTE.

Information is not now given for the first time about the property the Priory of Whithern possessed in this island. Sir James Gell having in his "Memoranda as to Tithe Redemption" (1894) included, in common ignorance, the impropriate tithes of Marown and Lezayre in the tithes that had belonged to Rushen Abbey, I, on the contrary, stated in a letter to the "Manx Sun" of Nov. 7, 1894, that "the rectory of St. Runan with the church of St. Ninian and the hospital of Ballacguiba," as also "the church of the Holy Trinity of the Aire," belonged to the Priory of Whithorn. An anonymous writer in the "Ramsey Church Magazine" for March 1899, in a paper headed "St. Trinian's Church, Marown," not content with quietly impropriating that information, as regards "the church of St. Ninian" ignores it, and even does worse. Instead of honestly telling his ignorant readers that the word Trinian is a gross corruption of the word Ninian, he strives throughout his paper to make the name Trinian appear as the real name of the Whithorn saint, and to allow it to be inferred that Ninian is the corrupted name, and even writes as though Ailred of the 12th century in his Life and Miracles of Ninian calls him Trinian ! Here are some of his delusive words for which alone I have space: "Ailred gives a large number of miracles and describes the burial of St. Trinian." Again: "Valentia had received the Gospel before the days of St. Trinian." Again: "St. Trinian, we may well believe, had before him the idea of a school in connection with his church when he reached Valentia." Again : "What was the style or exact form of the church built by St. Trinian at Whithorn there is no evidence to show." All these passages refer to the tract of Ailred professedly founded on the words of Bede. But Ailred, no more than Bede, ever uses the word Trinian from the first sentence of his tract to the last. Ninianus is the one and only name he gives to the Whithorn saint; and the man who resorts to the above low device to impose upon the ignorant may well conceal his name, and we may well ask, What next?

The word Trinian, indeed, is only one of several corruptions of the word Ninian, and one which cannot even boast of antiquity. The following specimens are culled from almost as many writers. (1) In Scotland. "Sanet Ringan of ane rotten stoke." "St. Ringan's well at Arbirlot." "Keilsauctringan in Urquhart." "The croft of sanct Rynnanis chappel" at Stirling.-(2) In N. England. "Some have St. Tronion's fast." "Some used St. Rinian's." "St. Trinyon's fast."-(3) In Isle of Man. "The barony of St. Trillions," Chaloner, Manx Soc., X. 40. "Concerning St. Trinions which some, but corruptly, call St. Tronions. . . .

I conjecture the name of St. Trinions is but a corrupt contraction of the trinity in unity, and therefore it was called St. Trinnian's instead of the holy trinity," Blundell, Manx Soc., XXVIL 164. "That ruin before us is the remnant of a church dedicated to St. Trinian," Welch, Tour, p. 127. "An old church dedicated to St. Trinion or Tranion." "The Buggane of St. Trinion," Train, II. 40, 60. "St. Trinian or Tranion," Cumming, Guide, p. 90.-The word Trinian thus appears to be the tip-top of the corruptions, not yet 100 years old, and now used intentionally to mislead!

Any one who wishes to acquaint himself with the pretenced architectural lore displayed in fixing the date of the erection of the ruined church of St. Ninian, that is some time between 1266 and 1333, may consult Neale, Ecclesiological Notes, pp. 9, 10; Mackenzie, Manx Society, III. 176; Cumming, Guide, p. 50; and A. W. Moore, Diocese of Sodor and Man, pp. 79, 80. And any one who wishes to learn who it is that asserts a tradition that the said church was never completed, could not be roofed, and the reason why, may consult Wood's History, p. 177; Welch, Tour, p. 127; and Train, II. 60: "The Buggane of St. Trillion," imported from Beaulieu Priory (P). But the game is not worth the candle. For the whole pack are condemned by what is now known about the said church. From the charter evidence above given we learn that the church was in existence and in use to a certainty in the first quarter of the 13th century, and probably in the latter half of the 12th, and for all that is known to the contrary was used down to the Reformation.