Thus, notwithstanding the freedom from mormaer and toisech conferred in the grants, the lands of the clerics would still be liable for their proportion of a tax for the public or national support"those inevitable charges" from which, according to Kemble, “no land was ever relieved" (see p. xcii.); and the clause of the grant which restricts their liability to the amount leviable from four davochs, would lead us to conclude that some scheme for the allocation of such public burdens, dependent on the extent of the land, was in operation at this early period.1 Clogher we learn from Dr. Reeves that the nucleus of this ecclesiastical settlement was an earthen fort in the episcopal demesne, which was the seat of the Kings of Airghialla, and when St. Maccarthen founded the see of Clogher at this place it was in compliance with the instructions of St. Patrick: "Vade in pace fili et monasterium ibi construe in platea antea regalem sedem Urgallensium." Hence it was that this church, being grafted on the lordship, acquired precedency in the dominions of Airghialla, so that in after ages Episcopus Ergallia became a common designation of the Bishops of Clogher."-(Reeves' Adamnan, p. 112, note.) 1 The term "old extent," as applied to land, was known in the time of King Alexander III. For traces of some early general valuation or extent of all the lands in the kingdom subject to aids, see an Historical Inquiry regarding the Imposition of Taxes upon Land in Scotland, by Thomas Thomson, Esq., pp. 14, 15. Edinburgh, 1816. Mr. Thomson there remarks that very early indications of such extents may be traced in the local denominations of carrucata terræ, bovata terræ (ploughgates and oxgangs), to be found in writings of the eleventh century; and the more precise and intelligible description of merk-land and pound-land (mercata terræ, librata terræ), and others of the same sort, give clear demonstration of the existence of a general extent of lands."-(Idem, p. 14.) Traces of something similar occur in the description of the lands granted to St. Kieran by the chief of Hy Many, which concludes with "a quarter in Kiltuma, and the portion proportionable to five ungaes or ounces of silver in Carnagh, that is, a quarter and a half in Cluain Acha Leaga, —viz. in Acha Obhair, and the Creagga, and in Killiarainn and town - lands of Ruan.”- -(Tribes and Customs of Hy Many, p. 15, note.) V. The Early Scottish Church. THE PICTISH CHURCH: ITS PECULIARITIES-ABIDING REVERENCE FOR CHURCH FOUNDERS LAY USURPATIONS-WARRIOR ABBOTS -CHANGES INAUGURATED BY ST. MARGARET-CHARACTER OF THE CULDEES, AT ST. ANDREWS, MONYMUSK, BRECHIN, DUNBLANE, ABERNETHY, ST. SERF'S INCH-CHANGE OF ABBATIAL INTO EPISCOPAL JURISDICTION. THE Church of St. Columba, which he founded in Alba, inherited with its Irish origin, the monastic system and ecclesiastical usages which prevailed in that country. In the beginning of the eighth century, under the influence of Nectan, King of the Picts, some of these usages were exchanged for those of the Church of Rome; and after this conformity, in the language of Venerable Bede, the nation rejoiced as being placed under the new discipleship of St. Peter, and safe under his protection.1 If the system of the Pictish Church was at this time brought into harmony with that of other branches of the Western Church, it is certain that, in the course of the three centuries and a half which followed, she had again become estranged from that influence, and, in the end of the eleventh century, presented to the 1 "Et quasi novo se discipulatui beatissimi apostolorum principis Petri subditam ejusque tutandam patrocinio gens correcta gaudebat." (Hist. Eccles. v. 21.) view of the Saxon princess Margaret, the queen of Malcolm Canmore, a picture of corruption and stagnation. About the middle of the following century, St. Bernard bewailed the corrupt state of the Irish Church, which in many respects corresponded with that of her sister in Scotland. In both countries the ecclesiastical arrangements were grafted on the patriarchal system of society, in which nearness of blood to the founder of the clan, secured privileges and rights which were denied to those whose connection with him was more remote.1 1 We can detect similar results flowing from relationship of a different description to great church saints, like St. Cuthbert. Thus the monks who were the bearers of his body, when it finally reposed at Durham, came to enjoy portions of his patrimony, and transmitted them to their descendants. Of four of these bearers, we gather from Reginald the nicknames or surnames. One of them, who was guilty of hiding a cheese from his brethren, was believed to have been for a time changed into a fox, whence his descendants were named "Tod quod vulpeculam sonat." At that time, says the same lively writer, "cætus Clericorum qui usus in canendo monachorum eotenus tantummodo retinuerat, in eadem ecclesia, sub Episcopo, dominii privilegium obtinebat." He goes on to add that the bearers of the saint's body were of the same kind and training. They possessed prebends of the church "de more Canonicorum, qui nunc dicuntur Secularium, et exercitia monastica in officiis ecclesiasticis persolvebant." From thence it happened, says Reginald, of him who was called Tod, "jam tunc temporis, tali religionis scemate, Ecclesiam de Bethligtune cum pertinentiis suis jure canonicali in sua progenie possidebat."—(Reginaldi Monach. Dunelm. Libellus, cap. xvi. p. 29-Surt. Soc.) The descendants of another of the bearers of St. Cuthbert's body acquired hereditary rights over the church of Hexham.-(See Mr. Longstaffe's valuable paper, entitled The Hereditary Sacerdotage of Hexham, Arch. Ælian. (new series), vol. iv. pp. 11-28.) The "family" of St. Cuthbert soon degenerated in discipline, not merely through the decay of their first fervour, but from the distractions of the time, and the want of ecclesiastical oversight. Symeon thus describes them:-"Seculariter itaque omnino viventes, carni et sanguini inserviebant, filios et filias generantes: quorum posteri per successionem in ecclesia Dunelmensi fuerunt, nimis remisse viventes, nec ullam nisi carnalem vitam quam ducebant scientes, nec scire volentes. Clerici vocabantur, sed In the same way, the memory of those saints who founded monasteries was so esteemed in later times, that the abbots who succeeded them derived much of their importance from being regarded as "heirs" or successors1 of the founder, not merely in office, but as of the same blood.2 There was in both a gradually-increasing tendency to render every office, from the most important to the most trivial, hereditary in certain tribe-families.3 nec habitu nec conversatione clericatum prætendebant. (De Dunelmensi Ecclesia, Prefatio Symeonis, ap. Twysden, Decem Scriptores.) Another mode by which a church became hereditary, was when the founder entailed it on a priest and his issue, of which Kemble gives an example, where a lady grants a church hereditarily to "Wæulfmr preost and his bearnteam, as long as he shall have any in orders.— (Codex Diplomat. vol. iv. p. 282.) In Scotland, so late as the latter part of the twelfth century, Pope Urban III., while he pronounced against the hereditary succession of a son to his father's benefice, yet permitted its recognition in certain cases.— (Registr. Episcopat. Glasguen. vol. i. p. 59.) 1 The word comarba or successor, applied by the Irish Annalists to the succeeding abbots, was restricted in its application. It did not mean that the one abbot was successor of his predecessor, but of the founder of the monastery: Hinc apud nostrates vocari cœpit illius successor comhorbanus; non tamen cujuscumque cui sic succedebat, sed solius primi fundatoris illius loci vocabatur comhorbanus.—(Colgan. Trias. Th. p. 630, col. 1, in Reeves' Eccles. Ant. of Down, Connor, and Dromore, p. 145, note.) 2 The spirit of jealousy, which prevailed between rival clans, and led to incessant conflicts and bloodshed, was equally powerful among the monastic bodies, whose battles with each other fill a prominent page in the Celtic Annals. A very ample list of ecclesiastical battles, drawn from these sources, is given by Dr. Reeves in Primate Colton's Visitation, Appendix B, pp. 93-97. Of the warrior abbots of Scotland, the same Annals preserve notices. Duncan, Abbot of Dunkeld, was slain in battle, A.D. 965. Crinan, Abbot of Dunkeld, was married to Bethoc, the only daughter of Malcolm II., and he fell in supporting the claims of his grandson, Malcolm, against Macbeth, A.D. 1045.— (Annals of Ulster, in Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, pp. 364, 369.) Thus the abbatial succession came to be confined to members of the clan of the founder; and although originally the abbots were elected from the "founder's kin," and were distinct from those of the clan who possessed the abbatial lands, yet in process of time the ecclesiastical line was merged in the secular, and both were united in one lay official, like the successors of St. Patrick at Armagh, who were the objects of St. Bernard's denunciations.1 In the Scotch monasteries of the twelfth century we find that the evils complained of by St. Bernard, in the case of Armagh, had been reproduced. This may probably be said of most of them,and certainly of the more important institutions of which we have the history. The abbots had come to be ecclesiastics in nothing but the name; they themselves were not ordained; and their poets (called bards), and harpers, each of whom have lands assigned them, and each of these possessions in every territory form distinct families; as the Breahans of one lineage and name, the historians of another, and so of the rest, who each bring up their children or relations in their respective arts, and are always succeeded by them." (Britannia, by Gough, vol. iv. p. 467.) 1" Verum mos pessimus inoleverat quorumdam diabolica ambitione potentum sedem sanctam obtentum iri hereditaria successione. Nec enim patiebantur episcopari nisi qui essent de tribu et familia sua. Nec parum processerat execranda successio decursis jam in hac malitia quasi generationibus quindecim. Et eousque firmaverat sibi jus pravum imo omni morte puniendam injuriam, generatio mala et adultera, ut etsi interdum defecissent clerici de sanguine illo, sed episcopi nunquam. Denique jam octo extiterant ante Celsum viri uxorati, et absque ordinibus, litterati tamen."-(Vita S. Malachiæ, S. Bernardi Opera, ed. Migne, tom. i. col. 1086.) See an instructive paper, by Dr. Reeves, on the Early System of Abbatial Succession in the Irish Monasteries, in Proc. R. I. Acad. vol. vi. p. 447; and his Adamnan's Life of St. Columba, p. 342. 2 The usurpation of spiritual benefices by laymen was so inveterate in Scotland, that even in the commencement of the thirteenth century it was necessary for the Scotch Church to enact that rectors of churches should be ordained "Item irrefragabili constitutione sancimus, ut rectores ecclesiarum ad primos ordines veniant ordinandi ita quod quam cito fieri |