The Church of St Mary on the Rock or St Mary's Collegiate Church, was a secular college

Collegiate church

In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons; a non-monastic, or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a dean or provost...

 of priests based on the seaward side of St Andrews Cathedral

St Andrew's Cathedral, St Andrews

The Cathedral of St Andrew is a historical church in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, which was the seat of the Bishops of St Andrews from its foundation in 1158 until it fell into disuse after the Reformation. It is currently a ruined monument in the custody of Historic Scotland...

, St Andrews

St Andrews

St Andrews is a university town and former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland. The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle.St Andrews has a population of 16,680, making this the fifth largest settlement in Fife....

, just beyond the precinct walls . It is known by a variety of other names, such as St Mary of the Culdees, Kirkheugh and Church of St Mary of Kilrymont.

Although not founded as a collegiate church until the 1240s, Scotland's first, it represented a corporate continuation of the association of clergy known as the Culdees or Céli Dé, "vassals of God". The church lasted for several centuries, but did not long outlast the Scottish Reformation

Scottish Reformation

The Scottish Reformation was Scotland's formal break with the Papacy in 1560, and the events surrounding this. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation; and in Scotland's case culminated ecclesiastically in the re-establishment of the church along Reformed lines, and politically in...

, and today little of the original structure has survived.

Céli Dé of Cennrighmonaidh

St Mary's Collegiate Church has its origins in Kilrymont monastery and its group of canons called "Culdees" or Céli Dé ("Vassals of God"). These priests served a side altar in the Cathedral throughout the twelfth-century and into the thirteenth-century. The Céli Dé were headed by an abbot. The only abbot whose name is recorded is Gille Críst, the "abbot of the Céli Dé" recorded 1172 x 1178 feuing out lands to the steward

Steward (office)

A steward is an official who is appointed by the legal ruling monarch to represent him or her in a country, and may have a mandate to govern it in his or her name; in the latter case, it roughly corresponds with the position of governor or deputy...

 of the Bishop of St Andrews, though an unnamed abbot is recorded again in the 1180s.

Until the foundation of the Augustinian priory in 1140, the Céli Dé and the seven clerics known as the personae (parsons) are the only known clerics of the cathedral. The new Augustinian monastic canons were intended to become the main clergymen of the cathedral, serving its main altar, and Pope Eugenius III in 1147 confirmed the rights of the Augustinian canons and their prior to elect the Bishop of St Andrews.

It is likely on a number of grounds that Bishop Robert

Robert of Scone

Robert of Scone was a 12th century bishop of Cell Rígmonaid . Robert's exact origins are unclear. He was an Augustinian canon at the Priory of St. Oswalds, at Nostell...

, an Augustinian himself from Nostell

Nostell Priory

Nostell Priory is a Palladian house located in Nostell, near Crofton close to Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, approached by the Doncaster road from Wakefield...

, intended that the Céli Dé would become Augustinians, bringing their property into the new Cathedral Priory

St Andrews Cathedral Priory

St Andrews Cathedral Priory was a priory of Augustinian canons in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. Plans were made for its foundation in the reign of Alaxandair mac Maíl Choluim , who set aside some land for that purpose. It was finally established by King David I and his son in 1140 with canons from...

. This is not what happened, and although another papal bull of 1147 ordered that upon the death of each Céle Dé an Augustinian should take his place, they were still there in 1199 when the priory recognised their holdings to be permanent.

Second cathedral chapter

Professor G. W. S. Barrow

G. W. S. Barrow

Geoffrey Wallis Steuart Barrow DLitt FBA FRSE is a British historian and academic. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Edinburgh, and arguably the most prominent Scottish medievalist of the last century....

 argued that from the episcopates of Roger de Beaumont

Roger de Beaumont (bishop)

Roger de Beaumont was Bishop of St Andrews .-Life:He was the son of Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester. Roger's position as a younger son of the Earl of Leicester meant that Roger had to seek a fortune elsewhere, and did so withiin the church...

 and William de Malveisin

William de Malveisin

Guillaume or William de Malveisin was Chancellor of Scotland, Bishop of Glasgow and then Bishop of St. Andrews .William Malveisin was probably born in France...

 the bishops of St Andrews were promoting the Céli Dé as a second cathedral chapter. Barrow compared this with the attempts of two archbishops of Canterbury, Baldwin

Baldwin of Exeter

Baldwin of Forde was Archbishop of Canterbury between 1185 and 1190. Son of a clergyman, he studied both canon law and theology at Bologna and was tutor to Pope Eugene III's nephew before returning to England to serve successive bishops of Exeter...

 and Hubert Walter

Hubert Walter

Hubert Walter was an influential royal adviser in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries in the positions of Chief Justiciar of England, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord Chancellor. As chancellor, Walter began the keeping of the Charter Roll, a record of all charters issued by the...

, to establish a secular college dedicated to St Thomas which would act as a counter the power of the monks and prior; but Barrow thought a more apt parallel was to be founded in the archbishopric of Dublin.

In 1163, Archbishop Lorcán Ua Tuathail

Lorcán Ua Tuathail

Lorcán Ua Tuathail, also known as St Laurence O'Toole, was born at Castledermot, Kildare, Ireland, in 1128, and died at Eu, Normandy, France, on 14 November 1180; he was canonized in 1225 by Pope Honorius III.-Early life:...

 had converted his diocesan canons into the Augustinian Cathedral of the Holy Trinity

Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin

Christ Church Cathedral is the cathedral of the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the cathedral of the Ecclesiastical province of the United Provinces of Dublin and Cashel in the Church of Ireland...

. John Comyn

John Comyn (archbishop)

John Comyn , born in England, was Archbishop of Dublin, Ireland.-Life:He was chaplain to King Henry II of England and on his "urgent" recommendation was elected Archbishop of Dublin following the death of St...

, the first Anglo-Norman

Anglo-Norman

The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the Norman conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066. A small number of Normans were already settled in England prior to the conquest...

 Archbishop of Dublin

Archbishop of Dublin (Roman Catholic)

The Archbishop of Dublin is the title of the senior cleric who presides over the Archdiocese of Dublin. The Church of Ireland has a similar role, heading the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough. In both cases, the Archbishop is also Primate of Ireland...

, created a new collegiate church at St Patricks parish church

Parish church

A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....

, a collegiate church his successor Henry de Loundres

Henry de Loundres

Henry de Loundres was an Anglo-Norman churchman who was Archbishop of Dublin, from 1213 to 1228. He was an influential figure in the reign of John of England, an administrator and loyalist to the king, and is mentioned in the text of the Magna Carta, the terms of which he helped to negotiate.He...

 turned into a second cathedral. In both the Dublin and Canterbury examples, the bishop had to deal with a pre-established monastic cathedral chapter under a prior, and in both cases the bishop sought to subvert the prior and chapter's power in his own interest.

The Céli Dé are found in close association with, in fact allied to, the bishop, from Beaumont's episcopate onwards, and the two frequently occur together in disputes with the prior of St Andrews

Prior of St Andrews

The Prior of St Andrews was the head of the property and community of Augustinian canons of St Andrews Cathedral Priory, St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. It was established by King David I in 1140 with canons from Nostell Priory, West Yorkshire...

. For instance, sometime between 1202 and 1216, Bishop William de Malveisin absolved the sentence of excommunication

Excommunication

Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...

 which had been imposed by the prior (obviously as part of a dispute), and again in 1220 the papal legate

Papal legate

A papal legate – from the Latin, authentic Roman title Legatus – is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic Church. He is empowered on matters of Catholic Faith and for the settlement of ecclesiastical matters....

 "Master James" was commissioned by the Pope Honorius III

Pope Honorius III

Pope Honorius III , previously known as Cencio Savelli, was Pope from 1216 to 1227.-Early work:He was born in Rome as son of Aimerico...

 to resolve a dispute between the Augustinians and their prior with Bishop William and "certain clergy of St Andrews commonly called Céli Dé" (quosdam clericos de S. Andrea, qui Keledei vugariter appellantur).

The Céli Dé were claiming the right to participate in episcopal elections from 1239 onwards, when they participated (at the king's insistence) in the election of David de Bernham

David de Bernham

David de Bernham was Chamberlain of King Alexander II of Scotland and subsequently, Bishop of St. Andrews. He was elected to the see in June 1239, and finally consecrated, after some difficulties, in January, 1240. He died in 1253, and was buried at Nenthorn, near Kelso.-References:*Dowden, John,...

. In 1253, following the death of Bishop David and after the Augustinian chapter had already elected Robert de Stuteville

Robert de Stuteville

Robert de Stuteville was Bishop-elect of St Andrews and Bishop of Dunkeld. Robert was dean of Dunkeld as early as 1253, when he was elected to the bishopric of St Andrews on 28 June that year. Unfortunately for Robert, his election was opposed by the king, at the time, Alexander III, and by the...

 as the new bishop, the Céli Dé and the Archeacon Abel de Gullane protested to the papacy that the election was invalid, owing to the exclusion of the Céli Dé from the process. Gullane was a papal chaplain, and Pope Innocent IV

Pope Innocent IV

Pope Innocent IV , born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was pope from June 25, 1243 until his death in 1254.-Early life:...

 quashed the election of Robert de Stuteville, appointing Gullane as the new legal bishop. No judgment, however, appears to have been offered on the right of the Céli Dé to voted in capitular elections.

Collegiate Church

For some of the above reasons, it was G. W. S. Barrow's contention that the Gaelic-speaking Céli Dé were gradually replaced by the clerks and personal dependents of the early thirteenth-century bishops, most of whom came from France or England. By 1250, these French or English-speaking Céli Dé had moved to the church of St Mary, and had been granted the status and rights of a secular college, that is, a collegiate church

Collegiate church

In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons; a non-monastic, or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a dean or provost...

. This had probably happened in either 1248 or 1249, when the Church of St Mary's as a separate institution from the cathedral is mentioned for the first time. This transformation gave St Mary's the honour of being the first collegiate church in the Kingdom of Scotland and the only secular college in the kingdom before the fourteenth-century.

The first known provost of the church was Master Adam de Malkarviston, attested on November 7, 1250. There were in addition to the provost, six canons. The new status does not appear to have affected use of the name Céli Dé immediately, as the church is still called "St Marys of the Céli Dé" in 1344. The Church of St Mary became an official royal chapel as early as 1286 x 1296, and remained as such until the erection of the Chapel Royal at Stirling in 1501. It is likely that the deanery of the Chapel Royal from 1429 until 1501 formed a prebend within the Church of St Mary.

A papal privilege dated January 26, 1386, admitted the Provost of St Mary's to the chapter of St Andrews; he became one of the three secular dignitaries of the chapter, along with the diocese's two archeadecons:

Ad perpetuam rei memoriam. At the petition of king Robert, the pope hereby constitutes as a secular dignity with cure of the cathedral of St Andrews, that dignity of the Chapel Royal of St Andrews, immediately subject to the Apostolic See, which is commonly known as the provostship of St Andrews, assigning to the provost and his successors a stall in the choir and a place in the chapter, with a voice in the election of the bishop, or of any other office, and in all capitular acts and negotiations, and the said provost nevertheless remaining subject to the bishop, who has the power to correct him, and if necessary even deprive him of office. Although in the cathedral there are no dignities, there are two archdeaconries which are reckoned as dignities, and the seculars holding them have stalls in the choir and places in the chapter, with a voice in all capitular matters. Avignon, 9 Kal. Feb., anno 9.

In the 1440s, the Chancellor of the Church of St Mary was added to the chapter of the cathedral (1447 x 1449), but this lasted less than two decades, being dissolved between 1461 and 1462.

Endowments

The exact number of the church's prebends through the course of history is unclear, but in the time of Bishop Henry Wardlaw

Henry Wardlaw

Henry Wardlaw was a Scottish church leader, Bishop of St Andrews and founder of the University of St Andrews.He was a son of II Laird of Wilton Henry Wardlaw who was b. 1318, and a nephew of Walter Wardlaw Henry Wardlaw (died 6 April 1440) was a Scottish church leader, Bishop of St Andrews and...

 there were eight prebends. These were probably "Cairns and Cameron", "Kinglassie

Kinglassie

Kinglassie is a small village in central Fife, Scotland.It is located 0.5 miles to the southwest of Glenrothes...

 and Kingask", Lambieletham, "Durie and Rumgally", Kinkell, Kinaldy, Fetteresso, and Strathbrock. The Céli Dé held Lambieletham since the twelfth-century when they obtained it in exchange for Strathkinness

Strathkinness

Strathkinness is a small village located 3 miles to the west of the tourist town St Andrews in North East Fife.A key characteristic of the village is the open agricultural field in the centre, however, from 2008 the field is being replaced by houses, although none were built as of January...

; according to the sixteenth-century Book of Assumptions the Provost of St Mary's held the lands of Kinkell, lands under the control of the Céli Dé in the 1170s.

Most of the others too were probably ancient Céli Dé, though Fetteresso and Strathbrock were not, being endowed to the college by Bishop Henry Wardlaw in 1425 and 1435 x 1436 respectively. Arbuthnott

Arbuthnott

Arbuthnott is a small village in northeast Scotland, 26 miles south of Aberdeen. It is located on the B967 east of Fordoun and north-west of Inverbervie in Aberdeenshire. The nearest train station is Stonehaven....

 (before 1447), Ballingry

Ballingry

Ballingry is a small town, in Fife, close to the border with Perth and Kinross, north of Lochgelly. It has an estimated population of 5,740 . The once separate villages of Ballingry, Lochore, Crosshill, and Glencraig are now somewhat joined together as the part of the Benarty area...

 (before 1461), Benholm (before 1477) and Dysart

Dysart

Dysart is a former town and royal burgh located on the south-east coast between Kirkcaldy and West Wemyss in Fife. The town is now considered to be a suburb of Kirkcaldy. Dysart was once part of a wider estate owned by the St Clair or Sinclair family...

 (1477) were added later in the fifteenth-century, and Idvies (before 1547) was added in the sixteenth. Another may have been created during the time of Archbishop Andrew Forman

Andrew Forman

Andrew Forman was a Scottish diplomat and prelate who became Bishop of Moray in 1501, Archbishop of Bourges in France, in 1513, Archbishop of St Andrews in 1514 as well as the headship of several monasteries....

 (abp 1514–1521). There were allegedly thirteen prebends at the time of the Reformation.

Location and building

The church is located at Kirkheugh or Kirkhill. This location, where the modern North Street and South Street converge, may have been the original location of the religious site before the construction of a new cathedral building slightly to the west (the remains of which constitute St Rule's Tower) by Robert, Bishop of St Andrews. There are burials in the vicinity of Kirkheugh that pre-date the alleged eighth-century century foundation of the monastery, and point to a small religious community from the sixth-century. There were also a number of tenth-century cross-slabs found in the grounds. The church was said by John Lesley

John Lesley

John Lesley was a Scottish Roman Catholic bishop and historian. His father was Gavin Lesley, rector of Kingussie, Badenoch.-Early career:...

 to have been pulled down by reforming Protestants in June 1559.

The extant foundations of the church show that it was cross-shaped, and possessed no aisle

Aisle

An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of seats on both sides or with rows of seats on one side and a wall on the other...

. The length of the transept

Transept

For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...

s cannot be determined, but the choir

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

 was longer than the nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

. The nave seems to represent the earliest of the three detectable building phases. The altar

Altar

An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...

 lay at the eastern end of the choir. The sedilia

Sedilia

Sedilia , in ecclesiastical architecture, is the term used to describe stone seats, usually to be found on the south side of an altar, often in the chancel, for the use of the officiating priests...

 on the southern wall is lost, as are the sacristy

Sacristy

A sacristy is a room for keeping vestments and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records.The sacristy is usually located inside the church, but in some cases it is an annex or separate building...

 and the accommodation for the canon

Canon (priest)

A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....

s and the provost

Provost (religion)

A provost is a senior official in a number of Christian churches.-Historical Development:The word praepositus was originally applied to any ecclesiastical ruler or dignitary...

.

List of known provosts

• Adam de Makerstoun, x 1250-1280 x 1287
• William Comyn, 1287-1329
  • John Benstede, 1298
  • William de Rasen, 1309
• John de Roxburgh, 1329 x 1342-1342 x 1363
• Gilbert Armstrong, 1362 x 1363-1373 x 1376
• William de Dalgarnoch, 1376-1376 x 1377
• Duncan Petit, 1376 x 1381-1397 x 1398
• Robert de Lany, 1397 x 1405-1432 x 1437
• Hugh Kennedy, 1437–1454
• John Kennedy, 1454 x 1456-1472 x 1477
• William Scherar, 1472 x 1477-1477 x 1480
• James Allardice, 1477 x 1480-1506 x 1507
• James Kincragy, 1506 x 1508-1539 x 1540
• James Lermont, 1540–1578
  • Patrick Bellenden, 1554
• Thomas Buchanan, 1578–1599
• Robert Buchanan, 1599–1618
• Possession of the Archbishop of St Andrews
  Archbishop of St Andrews
  The Bishop of St. Andrews was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of St Andrews and then, as Archbishop of St Andrews , the Archdiocese of St Andrews.The name St Andrews is not the town or church's original name...
  
  in 1625