The Synod of St Giles

Above: The west end of the old Parish Church of St Giles in Elgin
from Rhind's Elgin.

On Tuesday, 5th May, 1226, Bishop Andrew de Moravia held a synod of the clergy then serving in his diocese of Moray.

This Synod was held not long after his consecration as bishop, which took place either during, or soon after, a visit he made to the Holy See, and just after the cathedral of Moray had been moved from Spynie to Elgin.¹

It would seem that, as yet, not enough of the cathedral building had been completed to allow the Synod to be held within it. (Incidentally, this is an argument in favour of the cathedral being a 'new build'; or, that any building that had pre-existed it had either been removed or was too small for the bishop's purposes.) Consequently, Andrew convened the Synod within the parish church of St Egidii, abbot, (St Giles), in Elgin.

This Synod was to come to mark one of the most important 'mile-posts' in Bishop Andrew's great master plan to establish his cathedral on a par with those fabulous examples that he had seen in England and Europe. There is no written record of an agenda but we get some indication of the business at hand from certain charter evidence in the Moray 'Registrum'.² It becomes obvious that one of the main agenda items was the approval of Bishop Andrew's plans to expand the cathedral's Chapter.

Firstly, the bishop confirms the eight prebends which had been created by Bishop Bricius,³ his predecessor. Since Bricius died in 1222, these prebends must have come into existence before that date. He then states that the prebend of Strathouen (Stratha'an) and Urchard (Glenurquhart), formerly a simple canonry, has been assigned to the Chancellor of the diocese, and that of Fothervais, which had been the Chancellor's, is to be pro tempore assigned to the bishop himself. This latter was an important move since it allowed the bishop to sit, albeit as a simple canon, in Chapter.

At the Synod, Andrew started to bring his expansionist plans to fruition. He began by confirming six additional prebends from his own resources.⁴ He also declared that, thanks to the generosity of Walter de Moravia, two more prebends⁵ were to be created bringing the total up to sixteen,⁷ which was on a par with many other European cathedrals. The Synod also ratified that the constitution of the cathedral at Elgin would mirror that of the cathedral at Lincoln and that the prebendaries would have the same 'rights' as those of Lincoln.

Apart from creating these new simple prebends, Andrew appears to have taken note of the arrangements in other cathedrals that he had visited and we find that at the Synod it was agreed, no doubt at the bishop's suggestion, that the Dean should have an assistant - a Sub-Dean, as also the Precentor - a Succentor, bringing the total number of prebends up to eighteen. Having made a careful note of the Dean's and the Precentor's current prebends, it was agreed that the new 'officials' should be awarded prebends comprised mostly of parts sliced off from their seniors' income. The Sub-Dean received from the Dean's prebend the altarage revenues of Auldearn with the toft and croft there (saving a sum to provide for the vicar serving the cure), and the corn teinds of the chaplainry of Inverairn; to which was added the parsonage revenues of the church of Dolays Mychel (Dallas), saving the bishop's ½-dabhach (of his mensa) and the episcopalibus.⁸ The Succentor was given the church of Rafford from the Precentor's prebend (saving 4 marks p.a. payable to the Precentor); to which was added the church of Fothervais (from the bishop? The Chancellor had held the lands of Fothervais, not the church, which, I suspect, had always been held by the bishop as part of his barony of Ardclach). The Succentor also received a toft and croft assigned by the bishop (presumably just outside the Chanonry walls); and the tithes known as the predialium de Burgyn which he received from the abbot and monks of Kinloss (Burgyn = Burgie {NGR: NJ 09_595} ).^8a We are also told that the Succentor is to act as 'superior' of the vicars who are in sub-deacon's orders.⁹

On the same day that the Synod was held, Bishop Andrew also enacted a charter¹⁰ gifting certain lands at Abernethy to James, son of Morgundi (earl of Mar). The witness list, for obvious reasons, includes a number of the individuals who signed the bishop's charter summing up the transactions of the Synod.

This list of the signatories who witness the two charters is of considerable interest. It includes most of the important cathedral officials - with the exception of the Dean, Precentor and Chancellor.

At first glance, the Chapter seems to be under-represented both in terms of quantity and quality. Only the Treasurer and two canons (and the two new office-holders of Sub-Dean and Succetor) are present - assuming that all present would have signed. Apart from the bishop's own chaplain, there are no other chaplains who are signatories. Others may have been present at the Synod but not required to sign as witnesses - perhaps they were not considered important enough to sign a charter of such significance?

It can be argued, with good cause, that Bishop Andrew was fulfilling the dreams of his predecessor, Bishop Bricius. But this is to belittle the achievements and the aspirations of Andrew. During his episcopate Elgin became a serious rival to Glasgow and St Andrews cathedrals and the remaining Scottish diocese started to look tawdry by comparison. Andrew and Bricius had set their sights high by taking the magnificent Lincoln cathedral as their model. The Synod of St Giles marked a giant leap forwards for the diocese.