Document 3/12/34 (Abdn. Reg., 30-4)
- Description
- Alexander Comyn, earl of Buchan, by the counsel of H[ugh], bishop of Aberdeen, has constructed an almshouse at Turriff in Buchan (ABD) for the welfare of the soul of Sir Alexander, king of the Scots, and has given, granted and by this his present charter established, to Blessed Mary and St Congan of Turriff, that is, to the said house and master, chaplains and paupers there, the whole land of ‘Cnookikuby’ (ABD), by stated bounds, in free, pure and perpetual alms, saving to the earl and his heirs in perpetuity the right of presentation of the master (of the house) to the bishop of Aberdeen as often as presentation is necessary; and if it happens that any chaplain be ordained or instituted because he has died, been expelled or removed, it shall be lawful for the said master of the house, by assent of the earl and his heirs, to elect and admit a replacement. The earl wills, grants and establishes that the said master of the chaplains and paupers serving in the said house is free and quit from all secular service, exaction, custom, demand, forinsec service of the lord king or aid pertaining to himself and his successors, and from all other things pertaining to the said land, from the said master, chaplains, paupers and their men on their said land and possessions forever. The earl and his successors will acquit and perform the forinsec service of the lord king and the aid which are owed in the army. They shall also be free in perpetuity from all custom, toll, serjeanty (frithelagio) or carriage. And he wills and grants that if any man of the said master, chaplains and paupers staying within their said land offends, and is delinquent of life and limb according to the law, it should be admitted that the person is delinquent in the land of the earl and his heirs, and should be judged and escheated of all their goods that are adjudged delinquent, but that the person, whether the master, chaplains or paupers, may stay and be kept (at the house), saving to the said master, chaplains and paupers in perpetuity the fine for bloodshed (tractu sanguinis), ‘mercets’ and all other simple plaints and forfeitures, unless it be that the master, chaplain, paupers or their men within the said alms publicly and manifestly continue evil-doing, then he wills that the public malefactor should endure justice in his land of Buchan according to the law of the realm. He also gives and grants and establishes by this charter, in honour of God Almighty and his most holy mother, and the memory of St Congan and all the saints, to the great welfare of the soul of the said king and his successors, as well as himself and his successors, to the master, chaplains and paupers of the said house, with the counsel and consent of H[ugh], bishop of Aberdeen, whatever right he had in the church of Turriff, for their support, for their own uses. He also ordains, with the counsel of the bishop, that there may be one master who will be presented by himself and his successors to the bishop and his successors, and will be admitted by the bishop, to the full and free administration of the said house of Turriff, with all pertinents, rights and liberties in perpetuity. The earl also ordains with the consent of the bishop that the said master will sustain and have six chaplains in the said house, serving God and celebrating divine service there. He also ordains that the said master will sustain in the same house 13 paupers who will be presented from the poor husbandmen of Buchan. And if it happens that one or many of the said paupers should die, the earl will present others to the said master. If the earl is out of the country at the time when some of the chaplains or paupers die, or if the current earl is in wardship, he will that the master of the said house, who will be in danger of his soul for a time, another fit person, whether chaplain or pauper, shall be chosen and admitted. Moreover, it is preordained by the counsel of the aforesaid bishop that the said master and chaplains shall have the habit of secular canons, who may take advantage of the said church at the same time, and that all goods of the same house will be held communally and they will eat and drink together, and sleep in a dormitory, unless they are ill. And the earl gives and grants to the said house of Turriff for the teinds of his castle of ‘Kennedor’ (Castle of King Edward, at Castleton, ABD), two chalders of meal and three chalders of malt, from his constabulary of the same castle, receiving half on Pentecost and half on Martinmas.
- Firm date
- 5 February 1273
- Dating Notes
- Sunday after the Purification of B.V.M., 1272. Not 6 Feb., as in MRHS.
- Place date (modern)
- Kelly (?)
- Place date (document)
- Kolli
- Source for Data Entry
- Aberdeen Registrum, i, 30-4
- Trad. ID
- Abdn. Reg., 30-4
- Calendar number
- 3/12/34
- Charter type
- Charter
- Language
- Latin
- Notes
- The place ‘Cnookikuby’ is evidently now lost, but was clearly in the vicinity of Turriff. The perambulation mentions an adjacent place called ‘Kinarmy’, which was probably the modern Kinnermit (ABD). From there, the boundary followed the burns of ‘Parcok’ and ‘Putachi’ to the River Deveron, which the boundaries followed to the north until ‘the burn between ‘Achinfoight’ and ‘Cnocky’, perhaps somewhere near Knockiemill. Mention is made of the royal road from Turriff to King Edward.
For the place-date: Almost certainly Kelly in Buchan, but just possibly Cowie in KCD.