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 Paisley part 3






When Walter Fitz Alan settled in Scotland, the condition of the country was very different from what it had been during the lifetime of St. Mirin. Five centuries had passed, and, notwithstanding their periods of anarchy, they had been on the whole centuries of progress. The political aspect of the country was entirely changed. Tribal and racial conflicts had practically ceased, the feudal system had been introduced into the Lowlands, and all political power was centred in the hands of a single ruler. Great changes had also been wrought in the Church. The forms and institutions of the old Celtic faith the faith of Saints Columba and Mirin had passed away. 

The country had been divided into sees and parishes; the old communities had been suppressed, and in place of monasteries after the type of Bangor and lona, monasteries similar to those which were then rapidly covering the face of western Europe, were springing up. David the First's activity in this direction is well known, and his successor, Malcolm IV., though by no means a " sair sanct for the Scottis croun," followed in his footsteps, and built the monastery of Cupar Angus for the Cistercians, a Cistercian nunnery at Manuel, and a hospital at Soutra(more on this, another day).

 It was during the second half of the twelfth century and the early part of the following, a period for the most part coincident with Walter's lifetime, that most of the great ecclesiastical monuments of the country were built..

Not long after he received his charter of confirmation from Malcolm IV., Walter resolved to build a monastery upon the lands of Paisley, in order to complete the settlement of his Renfrewshire estates. As soon as his intention was known, he was importuned by the Cistercians, who were then in the zenith of their fame, to build the monastery in connection with their Order. But in the selection of an Order he was guided by family considerations, and at Fotheringay, while on a visit there with the King, shortly before the year 1163, he entered into an agreement with Humbald, prior of the Cluniac House at Wenlock, in Shropshire, by which the foundations of his monastery were virtually laid. According to this agreement, Walter was to build on his lands of Paisley a house of religion " according to the order of the brethren of Wenlock, that is, according to the order of the monks of Clugny. " . The priory of Wenlock was to supply Walter with thirteen monks for the purpose of starting his monastery, and for his trouble in the matter Humbald was to receive for his priory a full measure of land in the burgh of Renfrew and certain fishing rights on the Clyde. 

While these matters were being arranged, an event happened which threw Renfrew and Paisley into a state of consternation. Somerled, chief of Argyll, who, after fighting against the Crown for a number of years, had recently made peace with Malcolm, suddenly broke out in rebellion again, and with his whole force, strengthened by a body of auxiliaries from Ireland, sailed up the Clyde, in 1164, and landed at Renfrew. According to one account, he had hardly landed at Renfrew when he and his son Gillecolm were treacherously slain ; but according to another the account which appears to be more generally received he marched south towards Paisley, and was met at the Knock, a slight elevation about half-way between the two places, " by a number of countrymen," who were doubtless the Steward's men. In the battle which followed, Somerled and his son were slain, and their troops being defeated dispersed and fled to their ships. As late as the year 1772, a mound in a field near the Knock was pointed out  as the place where Somerled and his son were buried.



part 1 - Scotland Historical

part 2 - Scotland Historical



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