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Charter of the Abbot and Convent of
Cupar,
1 2 20
WHILE my friend, Mr. William Brown, secretary of the
Surtees Society, was working on the Citeaux deeds in
the archives of the Cote d'Or preserved at
Dijon,
he copied a
charter of the abbot and convent of Cupar, which he most kindly
sent to me with the intimation that, if I found it of value as a
Scottish document, I should submit it to the editor of the Scottish
Historical Review. Though the seal is appearance
lost, the skin has every
of being the original
charter. But the whole structure
of the composition and some verbal peculiarities of language
seem to indicate that it is an abridged transcript of early date.
There can be no doubt, however, that the writing as we now
have it contains a faithful report of a genuine transaction. As
the charter without doubt possesses several features of interest,
and as it appears, so far as I can learn, to be new to Scottish
history, it is here printed.
Here we have Alexander, abbot of Cupar, and his convent
entering into an obligation in January, 1219-1220, with the mother
house of Citeaux for the yearly payment at Troyes of thirty
marks, which King Alexander II., for the good of his soul, had
given to the monks of Citeaux as a procuration for the abbots in
attendance there on the fourth day of the General Chapter of the
Order. In other words, the monks of Cupar, by their own desire,
undertook to act as the King's agents
for the
yearly render of
the benefaction, either by reason of a
special grant for that purpose
or in consideration of manifold gifts already bestowed by that
King on their house.
As the floruit of Abbot Alexander is
fairly well authenticated,
and as several charters or abstracts of charters of King Alexander II.
to that abbey are extant, 1 the historical relation of our text to
these matters may be passed over. The interest of the deed, as
1
Register of Cupar Abbey (Grampian Club), i. 8-n, 325-9, ii. 282.