Document 2/42/7 (Moray Reg., no. 93)
- Description
- The statutes of the bishop and chapter of Moray approved by the brethren constituted in chapter in the cathedral church at Elgin, July AD 1242. First, in accordance with what obtains in the church of Lincoln, the bishop should have the free gift of all prebends whenever they should fall vacant, and full authority to bestow them to whom he should wish, being suitable, save those excepted in any other instrument. No one may be raised to the deanery unless by canonical election of the chapter, unless by chance the gift of the deanery should be transferred to the diocesan bishop or superior. The bishop of Moray should be a canon of the chapter and have the prebend of Fotheray, as the head of the institution; the dignity of the chancery to which that prebend is attached is transferred from that to the prebend of Inveravon, from which prebend a canon of the church of Moray shall be chancellor. The bishop of Moray, by reason of his prebend of Fotheray, shall make an oath of faith to the church and chapter of Moray, as all other canons do immediately after their installation. No bishop shall have to have another vicar in the cathedral church than him who at the time shall be canon of Croy. The dean and chapter, or the chapter in the absence of the dean, shall receive sasine of the said prebend when it shall be vacant and all other vacant prebends, except the prebends established by Andrew, bishop of Moray, of which sasine shall pertain to the bishop, as often as they shall be vacant, or to the chapter in the absence of a bishop. The sub-dean should always be in the cathedral church, and he shall have for his maintenance the prebend of the church of Dallas (MOR) (‘Dolays Michael’), saving to the bishop half a davoch of land at Dallas which is from the bishop’s manse, and saving the episcopal dues of the same church; he shall have also all the altarage of the church of Auldearn (NAI) with toft and croft assigned to the sub-deaconry, saving to the deaconry all the garbal teinds within the parish of the church with the chapel of Invernairn (NAI), the altarage and everything pertaining to the chapel, and saving to the same deaconry all the lands pertaining to the church of Auldearn (NAI) except a half davoch of land at Rait (NAI) which belongs to the bishop of Moray and pertains to his manse. The succentor should be in the cathedral church at all times and have for his sustenance as a prebend the church of Fotheray (Ardclach, NAI) and the church of Rafford (MOR), saving to the precentor 4 marks annually, with the toft and croft which Andrew, bishop of Moray assigned to the same church. This shall be paid by the monks of Kinloss (MOR) from the predial teinds of Burgie (MOR), and whoever shall become succentor shall provide an oath of faith to the precentor; and the succentor should be a priest and should have with him another priest vicar; the succentor should be resident in the cathedral church and must not be absent without good cause, and permission from the dean, or his deputy. For the divine offices, the singing of psalms, the reading, the singing, and anything else pertaining to the service, the order known to be instituted in the church of Salisbury is to be observed. Any canon, except a canon who celebrates [mass] for the departed, on the day of his installation should have to give to the cathedral church one silk cope worth less than 2 marks; any canon to be installed into a prebend worth 30 marks or more shall have to give a silk cope to the value of a tenth of the marks at which his prebend is valued in rents. None of the brothers may be entrusted to grant a public document, bearing the perpetual seal of the chapter, unless that instrument be subscribed by his own hand or by a procurator, neither may he obtain any other instrument, unless he have the subscriptions of all the brothers or of the greater part of the chapter. Any canon or holder of a benefice who dies or becomes a religious, should have his full annuity, to wit, he shall fully receive the annual rents, that is, it is received in his name until a full year from the time of his death or conversion, to be turned towards pious uses or whatever he shall have decided; except that a seventh of that same annuity shall be put towards the fabric of the cathedral church or its ornaments. A canon who has not had a vicar in the cathedral church for some time, if it should be on account of frailty, stipends which are owed for such a time to a vicar, having been calculated pro rata for the whole year, should be handed over to the vicars of the cathedral church; but if be because of open fault or malice, the same amount, by the same calculation, along with the stipends owed to the vicar for such a time, shall be paid, as a penalty, towards the fabric of the church.
- Firm date
- July 1242
- Dating Notes
- Month of July, 1242
- Place date (modern)
- Elgin Cathedral
- Place date (document)
- ecclesia cathedrali apud Elgyn
- Related Place
- Elgin Cathedral
- Source for Data Entry
- Moray Registrum, no. 93
- Trad. ID
- Moray Reg., no. 93
- Calendar number
- 2/42/7
- Charter type
- Notification
- Language
- Latin