Geoffrey, bishop of Dunkeld, gives notice that on the Wednesday after the Sunday on which 'Quasimodo geniti' is sung (i.e., the Sunday after Easter), 1245, John, prior of St Andrews, and Peter of Linlithgow, canon of St Andrews, representatives of St Andrews Priory, on one side, and William Comyn, who was claiming to be the rector of the church of Dull (PER), on the other side, appeared in the chapter of the Friars Preachers before him, and his brethren, Adam the Dean, Master William the Archdeacon, Robert the Treasurer, and other canons of the cathedral church of Dunkeld. After many and various disputes, William Comyn, led by free will and the Spirit of God, resigned the cure of souls of the church of Dull, and the whole right which he had in it, both in the spiritualities and in the temporalities, into the hands of Bishop Geoffrey. After he had inspected the legal documents, both of the Earl of Atholl, and the confirmation of Alexander, King of Scotland, as well as of Bishop Hugh (Bishop Geoffrey's predecessor) and his chapter of Dunkeld in respect of the bestowal and confirmation of the church of Dull, granted to the church of St Andrews and the canons there, to possess then and in the future; with the advice of Clement, bishop of Dunblane, and his own canons of Dunkeld cathedral, he has found that the canons of St Andrews have the full and clearest right in the church of Dull, and that they are in possession of the church by a yearly payment of 3 marks which they had been accustomed to receive from the hands of William Comyn; wherefore Bishop Geoffrey, keeping to the path of his predecessors, and desiring to make every security as far as he can for the canons of St Andrews, has introduced them into the corporal possession of the church of Dull; and by the authority granted to him by God, and with the agreement and approval of his chapter, he has granted and confirmed the same church to the canons, present and future, and has assigned the fullest security he can by the possession of documents, so that they should be able, freely and without objection from anyone at all, to turn the fruits, both greater and smaller, of the said church to their own perpetual use for the future, without any objection; saving only to the chapter of Dunkeld for the future the chapel of Glenlyon (PER), which had been granted and bestowed to the same chapter of old for the sake of peace, according to what is more fully set out in the foregoing documents, and saving 15 marks for the work of the vicar who shall minister to the church of Dull, and 15 marks for the work of the chaplain who shall minister to the chapel of Foss (PER), and saving episcopal dues; and the aforesaid vicar shall be answerable in respect of the procurations of the Dean and Archdeacon.
Firm date
Wednesday 26 April 1245
Dating Notes
Wednesday next after the Sunday on which is sung 'Quasimodo geniti' [i.e. the Wednesday after Low Sunday] in the year 1245.