The subject to be discussed in the following pages is
in nature so comprehensive that some definition of the scope and
content of this essay is required.
The term 'secular service' has been viewed in its
widest sense as covering all the various duties owing to a secular
superior, whether Crown or subject. The exact significance of
the well -known term 'forinsecum servitium' and the relation of
ecclesiastical fiefs to this burden, especially in its military
aspect, have been discussed at some length, for they seemed to be
questions fundamental to the whole inquiry.
The method followed was to draw up a list of all the
different burdens, important and insignificant alike, and to work
through all accessible charters for illustrations of their relation
to Church tenure. For this part of the work, which was naturally
protracted the printed Chartularies of the various Scottish
bishoprics and religious houses were by far the most important
sources, though such miscellaneous documents as are contained in
the Register House Transcripts, the Fraser family -books, and the
Historical MSS. Commission Reports were not ignored. Any conclusions which may have been tentatively reached below are based
solely upon charter evidence. The chief secondary authorities
were consulted, but their reading of the facts was not always
accepted, if it seemed that a different interpretation was more
probable on the strength of primary evidence. Indeed, the whole
purpose of this investigation would have been defeated, if the
opinion of previous workers in the field had everywhere been
deferred to.
It has been thought advisable to supplement this
general review of the Chartularies from the angle of the individual services by an analysis of the conditions attaching to the
charters of donation in one or two of the Registers. For this
purpose, Melrose, Dunfermline, Glasgow, and Arbroath have been
selected, geographical location determining the choice. The
same degree of detail was not considered necessary for each, and
so the analysis of the Melrose grants is more exhaustive than that
of the other three.
In any examination of early land grants, a knowledge
of local topography is a desideratum. In supplying this need,
the two publications by the Scottish History Society of the
chartularies of Inchaffray and Lindores are of much greater help
to the student than the Registers issued by the various Clubs,
valuable though the latter certainly are. There is a need for
a re- editing of the majority of these Club publications on the
lines adopted by Lawrie in his 'Early Scottish Charters', or by
Dowden in his volumes for the Scottish History Society. Their
discarding of the abbreviations of the old clerical scribes and
their topographical notes to each charter are steps in the right
direction.
Finally, though no claim is advanced to anything like
infallibility of judgment, it may be stated that the following
pages represent an honest and conscientious attempt to throw some
light upon a subject which has never before been comprehensively
treated. It is hoped that what is written here will not be
without its interest or utility to students of later Church
history, for whom this essay may be said to represent a quarrying
amongst the foundations.
