The Diocese of Aberdeen was originally believed to be the direct continuation of an 11th-century bishopric at Mortlach in present-day Moray. However, this early date and the first bishops were based on a misinterpretation and reliance on the early charters found in the cartulary of Aberdeen Cathedral. These charters are now known to be false. The first recorded bishop of the diocese was Nectan, mentioned in the Book of Deer around 1132. The earliest direct written evidence of a bishop in Aberdeen appears in a papal bull addressed to Bishop Edward in 1157. This bull acknowledged the existence of his cathedral, discussed the formation of a chapter, and marked the beginning of the diocesan expansion.
The parochial system in Scotland had been developing since the early Middle Ages and saw significant progress under David I. He clarified the rights of the local church in terms of territory and jurisdiction. His reforms ensured that parishioners could support their priests by providing tiends, while local lords retained their rights to build churches and appoint priests. Over time, the lords’ patronage shifted to cathedrals and monasteries, enriching these institutions at the expense of the parishes. The cathedral, with its expanding number of canonries, used the appropriated income to sustain itself. The beneficiary canons had a duty to ensure an income for the parish vicars although the stipends were generally meagre.
Reconstruction of the cathedral began in the late 14th century and extended into the 16th century.
The likely mythic origins of the diocese are found in the cathedral's chartulary which identified the early bishops—Bean, Denortius, Cormac and Nectan—with Mortlach, in present-day Moray.[1] This tradition rests on a series of early charters that are acknowledged to be false.[2][3][4] These charters allowed Hector Boece to construct a history that had successive Mortlach bishops, culminating with its fourth prelate, Nectan, who would then move his see to Aberdeen. Beyond his appearance in one of these spurious charters, Nectan is only once documented as bishop of Aberdeen—in a small note (c. 1132) found in the Book of Deer.[5] Nevertheless, Mortlach did possess early ecclesiastical significance. A Papal Bull of 1157 by Pope Adrian IV confirmed the existence of a monasterium at Mortlach along with five attendant churches as part of the diocese of Aberdeen.[5] By the 11th century, this type of organisation was characteristic of Culdee (Céli Dé) settlements—the Culdees resembled communities of secular priests ministering to local populations but directed from the central mother church (the monasterium).[6]
Pope Adrian IV's bull of 1157 also confirmed to Bishop Edward the churches of Aberdeen, St Machar and St Nicholas, together with the town of Old Aberdeen and other lands.[7][8] The bull authorised bishop Edward to establish a chapter in his cathedral, giving him the choice of introducing regular or secular canons as his clergy but nothing immediately came of this.[9] The lack of a means of funding a fully functioning unit of clerics may have accounted for this. Reforms in the 12th century were partially driven by local landowners who provided churches and priests leading to a diminished importance of mother churches.[10] The strongest stimulus for change took place under the influence of King David I. He introduced an ordinance that guaranteed the rights of the parochial churches and their priests who were to be sustained by the collection of teinds. Consequentially, and particularly in areas of extensive feudal expansion by Anglo-Norman lords (such as in the diocese of Aberdeen), geographically based and viable parochial entities emerged within the diocese. These local lords—with some regard for the hereafter—granted their right of patronage over parish churches to the cathedral or a monastery of their choosing. This, combined with the establishment of new monasteries, considerably impacted upon the Culdee mother churches and pendicle churches. Some were reduced to ordinary parish churches, such as Mortlach and Cabrach, while others, more rarely, transformed into organisations that more closely resembled their former existence. For instance, Monymusk became a house of Augustinian canons regular.[11]
The mechanism for the generation of income for the diocese was now available. The parish churches with their guaranteed income were soon to be the subject of appropriation by the large ecclesiastical corporations—the monasteries and cathedrals. At Aberdeen, the annexation process may have begun as early as Bishop Edward's tenure and increased in line with the development of the chapter.[12] The enlargement was slow with incremental appointments of dignitaries continuing through to the mid-13th century when in 1249 Pope Innocent IV issued a bull to Bishop Peter Ramsay confirming the diocese constitution and a chapter consisting of five dignitaries and eight ordinary canonries all sustained on prebends.[13]
Appropriation of parish incomes to prebendary canons in the cathedral weakened the parish churches. The cathedral canons, possessing the fruits of both the parsonages and the vicarages, were responsible for appointing vicars to the parishes. Invariably, the vicars were paid meagre pensions and lacked the security of tenure which resulted in inadequately educated clerics to deliver the cure of souls.[14]
By 1488 the cathedral chapter had expanded to 29 canons supported by the income from 54 parish churches and of those, 42 were prebendal, one mensal and 11 held in common. Additionally, 42 other parish churches were appropriated to monasteries and other ecclesiastical foundations, leaving only 4 parishes—Cushnie, Forvie, Tough, and Tyrie—as independent entities. The diocese also included eleven hospitals/almshouses for the poor, aged, or infirm parishioners. The religious Orders were also well represented— a Tironensian priory at Fyvie, a priory for Augustinian canons at Monymusk, and a Cistercian monastery at Deer. Furthermore, the Carmelite, Dominican, Franciscan, and Trinitarian Friars all had houses in Aberdeen itself. [15]
The reconstruction of the cathedral began when Bishop Alexander Kininmund (1355–80), probably nearing the end of his episcopacy, heightened the walls of the west towers and the nave. Bishop Henry Lichton (1422–40) completed what Kininmund had started and established the north transept but left the construction of the central tower incomplete. He was followed by Ingram Lindsay (1441–58) who roofed and paved the nave. Thomas Spens (1457–80) finely furnished the interior and Bishop William Elphinstone completed the central tower begun by Lichton. Elphinstone also commenced the rebuilding of a larger choir. Gavin Dunbar (1518–32) completed the south transept, providing spires for the west towers. Dunbar was also responsible for the armorial-adorned ceiling in the nave, displaying the coat-of-arms of the pontiff, Scottish prelates, and leading European rulers.[16] [nb 1]
The bishop held authority over the cathedral, parish churches, and hospitals. While the monasteries were largely independent of the episcopacy they still required the bishop if any of the brothers needed to be ordained to the priesthood. The monastic houses may occasionally receive patronage from the bishop and chapter.
The development of Aberdeen's chapter was lengthy even though the papal bull of 1157 authorised Bishop Edward to institute a chapter of secular or monastic clerics. The first signs of chapter enlargement became apparent when a cleric designated as a 'canon' witnessed an act by Bishop John (1199–1207). His successor, Bishop Kalder (1207–1228), had many canons acting as members of synodal sittings who confirmed his episcopal edicts with an archdeacon as the senior cleric. Bishop Stirling (1228–1239) continued this system but now this assembly was called a 'chapter' possessing its own seal. A canon was now designated 'treasurer' with the dean still subordinate to the archdeacon. By 1239, Bishop Lamley had been elected at a meeting chaired by the dean although apparently, the archdeacon was still his senior. In c. 1239 a canon had been elevated to the dignity of precentor and then in 1240, a chancellor was now visible. In 1243 at a meeting of the chapter, it was evident that the dean was now the senior canon in the chapter.[18] By 1445, the chapter consisted of 29 canons—the dean, presenter, chancellor, and treasurer were the dignitaries, the archdeacon—no longer a dignatory—and 24 simple canonries made up the remainder.[19] The last canonry to be created was that of the sub-chanter (1527x1534) bringing the total number of canons to 30. Between them, the chapter held 46 appropriated churches in the diocese of Aberdeen and a further 2 in the diocese of Moray.[20]
Under Aberdeen Cathedral's written constitution, the bishop chose the entire chapter with the exception of the dean (decanus). The dean was elected to his position by the chapter after taking the solemn oath of fidelity and to uphold the rights, customs and liberties of the cathedral. He was then installed in the choir and provided with his place in the chapter by the bishop. Canons took an oath of fidelity and obedience to the bishop and the chapter. The authoritative leader of the chapter was the dean and held total control over all who resided in the cathedral environs—this extended not only to the canons but also to the lesser ecclesiastics and servants. Next in importance was the precentor, usually referred to as the chanter (cantor). His responsibilities were to oversee the provision of the music used in the church services, choose the choirboys, see to their education, and employ a suitable song-school tutor. Next in seniority was the chancellor (cancellarius) whose responsibilities included the drafting of the chapter's correspondence and charters, communicating to the chapter the content of incoming letters and instructions that needed attention, and being the custodian of the chapter's library. He also presided over the town's grammar school and selected its teacher. The fourth and last dignity was the treasurer (thesaurarius) whose duties included being the overseer of the church's treasury—items such as gold and silver drinking cups and expensive apparel. He needed to ensure that the church was adequately supplied with everyday needs such as candles, tapers, incense, charcoal, bread and wine for the services, and also mundane things such as mats and bullrushes for floor coverings.[21]
A Deanery, sometimes known as an archdeaconry, is a geographical administrative subdivision within a diocese containing its designated parish churches. The Archdeacon had responsibility for the deaneries administration, its parishes, parish churches, chapels and clergy. He was assisted in this by the appointed dean of Christianity (later called rural dean) who was also one of the parochial clergy. His role was to visit each of his churches annually to inspect the internal and external fabric of the building and the propriety of its cleric.[22][23] In the Aberdeen diocese, there were five deaneries—Aberdeen, Boyne, Buchan, Garioch and Mar.[24]
The expression parochia changed over time from its original meaning in the 12th century of being the territory over which a bishop had authority [nb 2]to its later definition of being a locality that was subject to the ecclesiastic charge of a baptismal church. This shift was complete by the 13th century when parochia and parochia ecclesia became entirely associated with the parish church.[26] The development of the parochial system in Scotland has been attributed to the reforming zeal of King David I and his introduction of Anglo-Norman lords yet it is also true that the process had begun under David's predecessors and the native Scottish aristocracy. Some parochial-type entities that had formed before David's reign remained unaltered under David's reshaping of the ecclesiastical landscape.[27][28] Importantly, David played a significant role in institutionalising the sustainability of the parish unit.[29]The canonical statutes specified the conditions for parish churches. A church built from new had to be made of stone, glazed and erected and funded by the parishioners while the chancel's construction had to be at the rector's expense. The church had to be consecrated although it appears that this was frequently overlooked.[30] Again, at his own expense, the rector had to equip the church with furniture, a silver chalice, necessary books, altar coverings and candles. Failure to supply these items resulted in the benefices being suspended until compliance. These objects were now the property of the church and had to be left in good condition for the succeeding clergy.[31]
Parish churches were a fundamental resource for large ecclesial establishments such as abbeys and cathedrals. This was achieved by the appropriation of the revenues of the churches to the detriment of the resident rectors, also called parsons. The negative impact of these appropriations led to the parsonage largely being confined to the few independent parishes. The bishop always had to sanction appropriations within his diocese and the recipient of the appropriated parish assumed the obligations and revenues of the parsonage. To ensure that the needs of the parishioners were properly met, the beneficiary needed to establish a vicarage perpetual. This vicar held the rights to some of the fruits of the parish. Despite this, it became normal for these vicarage settlements to become formally part of the appropriation process and the cure of souls was then dispensed either by stipendiary pensioner vicars or parochial chaplains. These lowly clergymen were usually poorly paid and often uneducated.[32]
Although many hospitals were dependent on monasteries, those within the Aberdeen diocese operated as secular establishments under the bishop's jurisdiction.[127] The benevolent founders of these hospitals imposed specific conditions on their altruism—recipients of care were obligated to offer prayers for the souls of their patron(s) who believed that as a result, they would receive a diminution of their time spent in purgatory.[128] These hospitals adhered to stringent codes of behaviour and, despite being secular in nature, followed the principles of a monastic rule, often that of St. Augustine.[129]
Within the diocese of Aberdeen, a total of eleven hospitals were established. Among these, five were situated in Aberdeen—three in the ecclesiastical burgh of Old Aberdeen, and two in the royal burgh of New Aberdeen in the harbour area. These hospitals served various purposes, specifically, care of:
The Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 prohibited clerics and infirmerers from practising surgery if it included blood-letting but herbal therapies would have likely been available for the use of inmates. There is very little evidence that doctors attended to the needs of the inmates and the emphasis was more on the welfare of the soul than the body.[130] Most hospitals in Scotland were small in terms of inmates and only in a minority of cases did they house more than 20 residents.[131] The last hospital to be built in the diocese of Aberdeen was the almshouse dedicated to St Mary, and founded by Bishop Gavin Dunbar in 1532 and had room for only 12 old men.
During the late Middle Ages, the bishop was given powers of visitation and correction over the religious houses within his jurisdiction. Despite this, some monastic orders sought and were granted exemption from diocesan audits while others submitted themselves to the bishop's scrutiny. In the Aberdeen diocese, since the Cistercians, Templars, Hospitallers and all of the Friar orders were exempt, the bishop's visitation would have only applied to the houses at Monymusk and Fyvie.[139][140] The bishop also interacted with monasteries in other limited ways. Generally, monks were not clerics but laymen so for a monastic community to function, it needed the bishop to ordain enough of its numbers into holy orders to provide for its liturgical and sacramental needs. Only the bishop could consecrate monastery churches and chapels and bless the altars with the necessary ecclesiastical utensils. Also since many parish churches in the diocese were annexed to monasteries these appropriations had to be confirmed by the bishop who then needed to ensure that the monasteries continued to provide adequate vicarage provision for the cure of souls.[141]
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