dc.description.abstract | One of the most fundamental aspects of the twelfth century reformation
of the Scottish Church was the establishment of a network of local
parishes. The creation of parishes provided the revenues which,
through appropriation, supported the reformed bishoprics and monastic
houses which were the principal elements in the new ecclesiastical
hierarchy. More significantly, however, parishes provided enduring
local communities with an identity which has only been dislocated in
recent times. The nature of parishes has not been fully appreciated,
however, and their territorial and community aspects have received
little attention from historians who have concentrated on parishes as
ecclesiastical units. The institution of the parish was introduced to
Scotland in the twelfth century, a late date by comparison with England
and much of Continental Europe, and the provision of a full network of
parishes was achieved in a remarkably short period of time. The
formation of parishes has traditionally been attributed to Anglo-Norman
influence and, in particular, to the settlement of incoming
Anglo-Norman lords who built churches for parochial purposes on their
new estates. The evidence for Perthshire, however, challenges this
view and demonstrates that the principal persons involved in parochial
establishment were the kings of Scots and the native earls who held
much of the land there and who had organised their territories into
parishes largely in advance of the settlement of Anglo-Norman lords.
Furthermore, the forms taken by parishes were determined to a very
great extent by the pre-existing patterns of settlement and secular
territorial organisation. Similarly, churches which became parochial
had, in many cases, a long history as local estate churches before the
twelfth century. The parish units and communities of twelfth century
Perthshire were largely the already established local units and
communities in a new ecclesiastical guise. | en |