6. Diocese of Brechin
The two bishoprics of Brechin and Dunblane were formed from the old Pictish bishopric of Abernethy, in so far as its churches were not yet absorbed by the growing bishopric of St. Andrews, which immediately succeeded it.[136] Abernethy was the last of the bishoprics which existed while the kingdom ruled over by the Scottish dynasty was called the kingdom of the Picts; St. Andrews was associated with that of the Scots.[137] Abernethy was from the earliest days dedicated to St. Bride, and Panbride in the diocese of Brechin, and Kilbride in that of Dunblane, indicate, in Dr. Skene's view, that the veneration of the patroness of Abernethy had extended to other churches included in these dioceses.[138] From this old Pictish diocese the bishopric of Brechin was formed, towards the end of King David's reign, about 1150.[139] The Church of Brechin has no claim to represent an old Columban monastery:[140] its origin as a church is clearly recorded in the Pictish Chronicle, which states that King Kenneth, son of Malcolm, who reigned from 971 to 995, gave "the great city of Brechin to the Lord," founding a church to the Holy Trinity, a monastery apparently after the Irish model, combined with a Culdee college. We hear of it next in two charters of David I. to the Church of Deer, and in the second of these the "abbot" of the first appears as "Bishop of Brechin" (about 1150). The abbacy passed to lay hereditary bishops, and the Culdees were first conjoined with, next distinguished from, and at last superseded by, the cathedral chapter.[141]
The early Church of Brechin emanated from the Irish Church, and was assimilated in its character to the Irish monastery. Of the early connection, there still survives at Brechin the famous Round Tower, which now occupies the place of a spire at the south-west angle of the present church. This, with the older one at Abernethy, and the ruined one at Egilshay in Orkney, are the only surviving types in Scotland. There were said to have been four others, which are no longer existing, viz. Deerness in Orkney; West Burray, Tingwall, and Ireland Head, in Shetland.[142] Dr. Skene gives the date of the Abernethy one as about 870, or between that year and the close of the century, and asserts that the date of the Brechin tower can be placed with some degree of certainty late in the succeeding century.[143] Probably it was erected in the reign of Kenneth (971-995), or about 1012, when Brechin was destroyed by the Danes.[144] Egilshay probably dates about 1098.[145] The Brechin tower is capped by a conical stone roof. Dr. Joseph Anderson shows that those round towers are outliers of a group of which Ireland is the home;[146] and they were erected during the time when the Celtic Church was much perplexed by the pillaging attacks of the Danes, that the ecclesiastics might protect their valuable illuminated manuscripts, and other costly possessions. The Brechin one corresponds with the Irish ones, and is built in sixty irregular courses, of blocks of reddish-grey sandstone, dressed to the curve, but squared at neither top nor bottom; within, string-courses divide it into seven storeys, the topmost lighted by four largish apertures facing the cardinal points. A western doorway, 62/3 feet from the ground, has inclined jambs and a semicircular head, all three hewn from single blocks, and the arch being rudely sculptured with a crucifix, each jamb with a bishop bearing a pastoral staff, and each corner of the sill with a nondescript crouching animal.[147] The sculpture on the graceful Tower of Brechin was, there as elsewhere, the repetition in stone of the illuminated page of the Celtic scribe, who in turn repeated many of the graceful and varied designs of the pre-Christian worker in bronze and gold,[148] adding to them Christian symbols. Dr. Joseph Anderson finds in the figures of the crouching beast and winged griffin at Brechin a close affinity to the figures of nondescript creatures carved on the early sculptured memorial stones.[149]
The cathedral, founded about 1150, and added to at various periods, was originally a cruciform structure, consisting of a five-bayed nave with two aisles, late First Pointed mixed with Second Pointed; a transept formed by an extension of these aisles to the north and south; an aisleless choir (with lancet windows), the ruins of which are a fine example of First Pointed work,[150] and which when complete must have been a very pure and beautiful piece of architecture. The north-west tower was being constructed in the time of Bishop Patrick (1351-1373), but must have been a long time in erection. The western doorway presents the oldest feature of the existing building,[151] and is simple and massive. The tower and spire are pronounced to be the completest and best remaining example of their kind in Scotland.[152]
By the alteration of 1806 the choir was reduced, the transepts demolished, new and wider aisles built on each side of the nave, while the outer walls of the aisles were carried to such a height that the whole nave could be covered with a roof of one span, "thus totally eclipsing the beautiful windows in the nave, and covering up the handsome carved cornice of the nail-head quatrefoil description which ran under the eaves of the nave."[153] The cathedral was thus sadly deformed, but plans of restoration have been recently adopted, funds are being raised, and the noble minster will before long be restored to its former grandeur.
The diocese contained thirty parishes, and the bishop sat in the chapter as Rector of Brechin, that being his prebend.[154]
The Maison Dieu formed part of a hospital, and is an interesting part of First Pointed work. The rector of the Grammar School is still "Praeceptor Domus Dei."
7. Diocese of Dunblane
Dunblane was an early ecclesiastical centre. Its first church dates back to the seventh century, and seems to have been an offshoot of the Church of Kingarth in Bute, the founder of which was St. Blane, whose name is perpetuated in that of the cathedral town.[155] St. Blane was of the race of the Irish Picts, and "bishop" of the Church of Kingarth which Cathan his uncle had founded. The church at Dunblane seems to have had a chequered history, for the ancient town was burned (844-860) by the Britons of Strathclyde, and in 912 was again ravished by Danish pirates. Bishop Keith thinks there was a college of Culdees at Dunblane,[156] but we do not hear anything about it in history, and the important college was at Muthill, where the Dean of Dunblane afterwards had his seat. Centres of the Celtic Church were also at the neighbouring Blackford, Strageath, and Dunning, and they all served their day, until the new order, inaugurated by Queen Margaret and continued by her successors on the Scottish throne, was established in the district. About 1150, King David I. established the bishopric of Dunblane, and about 1198 Earl Gilbert and his countess introduced canons-regular by the foundation of the Priory of Inchaffray. Under the growing importance of these centres, the possession of the Keledei fell into lay hands, and after 1214 the prior and Keledei of Muthill disappear from the records.[157]