Medio de prueba

Anon.,Handy Book of St Andrews, 2ndedition, Cupar and St Andrews, 1865

Capriccio view of the ruins of St Andrews, unknown artist (possibly John Oliphant?), mid 18thcentury, oil on canvas

Museum Collections, University of St Andrews, HC502

Plate 12

Photograph of the St Salvator's College site, about 1845

The old college hall (centre) and north building (right) were demolished shortly after this early photograph was taken.

Courtesy of the University Library, University of St Andrews / Hay Fleming Trustees, ALB66-4

Blackstone, 15thcentury The ‘Parliament chair’

Museum Collections, HC825 The chair is said to have been used by the Presiding Officer

when the Scottish Parliament met in St Andrews 1645-46.

Chapter II

The silver and furnishings of the University of St Andrews, 15thto 18thcenturies

In its first years, although it had a definite, though developing, structure and regulations, the University of St Andrews had no official buildings of its own. In this, it was not atypical of medieval university foundations, for universities were in essence conceived as societies of students and teachers dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge, not institutions attached to particular architectural sites. In St Andrews, congregations and faculty meetings were held in the Priory and other ecclesiastical buildings, with lectures also taking place there or in the private pedagogies of the masters, while the masters and students lodged wherever they could obtain rooms.1 In 1419 the first academic buildings were established with the foundation of the College and Chapel of St John the Evangelist. This was followed by the creation of a Pedagogy for the use of the Faculty of Arts, in 1430. The College of St John was not a college in the conventional university sense, but rather a form of chantry. It does, however, seem to have provided accommodation for lectures and meetings, while the Pedagogy was employed for lectures and residence.2 Although neither institution provided a definite focus for University life, and both were to prove short-lived, it is clear that from the date of their establishment, the University must have required certain functional items: at the very least forms on which masters and students could sit and the rudiments of furnishings for sleeping quarters. With the foundation of the more formal college structures of St Salvator’s (1450), St Leonard’s (1512) and St Mary’s (1538), this need would have intensified. In the early years the three colleges were monastic in character, and inventories show that their furnishings were sparse, if not uncomfortable: in St Leonard’s College in 1599 there was:

1

Ronald Gordon Cant,The University of St Andrews: A Short History, St Andrews, 1992, pp.16-17

In every chamber ane Board & ane furme plain and thereto [Lee and Herkless and Hannay have 'pertainand thereto], wtglassen windows, and the maist part of all the chambers cieller'd above, & the floors beneath laid wtbuirdis.3

Kitchen equipment would have been a necessity, and plates and vessels to eat and drink from, as well as the accoutrements of worship for the college churches. It is, however, clear that over time, the three later colleges, at least, the Pedagogy and the Faculties of Arts, Theology and Canon Law acquired certain items which were not merely functional or related to the fundamental business of teaching, learning and worship, but had some special import, or aesthetic or monetary value. These included pieces of metalwork (particularly silver), textiles, woodwork and, perhaps, furniture, used in the domestic and religious contexts. It is these items which I will consider in this chapter.

Gold and silver have certain attributes which have caused them to be regarded as particularly appropriate materials for sacramental vessels and other components of the rituals of religious practice, and for secular ceremonial pieces. Both are of high value and relatively rare (gold being the rarest, and therefore costliest of the two, which is why silver was frequently gilded - covered with a thin layer of the more expensive metal – to give it the appearance of gold). Only the wealthiest in Western European societies were able to afford to possess gold and silver in any great quantities, and they have thus become associated with status and honour, making them fit for divine usage, as well as for

dignified secular purposes and those in which the conspicuous display of valuable goods is 3_{This information is given in ‘The Rental of St Leonard’s College within St Androis Given Up by Mr}

Robert Wilkie, Rector’, 1599. The ‘rental’ details are followed by a ‘Compt of Insight’ and ‘Compt of Vessel’, which provide information on the furnishings and silver of the College respectively. I have been unable to locate the original document within the University of St Andrews Library, but (slightly variant) transcriptions are provided by Francis Pringle, Professor of Philosophy (1699-1702) and Professor of Greek (1702-1747) at St Leonard’s College, in the volume of transcripts of papers relating to the land, privileges and titles of the University, in particular St Leonard’s College, known as ‘Pringle’s Book’ (SAUL UYSL156, p.93) and by Robert Howie, Principal of St Mary’s College (1607-47) in a similar volume entitled ‘Records University’ (SAUL UYUY152/2, pp.169-171). The information is published in Reverend William Lee (ed.)Lectures on the History of the Church of Scotland From the Reformation to the Revolution Settlement by the Late Very Reverend John Lee, D.D., LL.D., Principal of the University of Edinburgh,Vol. II, 1860, p.352, and in John Herkless and Robert Kerr Hannay,The College of St Leonard, Edinburgh 1905, pp.218-219, the latter citing the former as the source, which implies that the authors of this detailed history of the college were also unable to locate the original. There are variations of spelling between all four

considered important. Both metals are regarded as a symbol of purity, because of the rigorous assaying to which they are subjected, due to their associations with the coinage. (Silver is also pure in the sense of being sterile and anti-bacterial, a property which was appreciated, if not scientifically understood, in the medieval period, hence its use in drinking vessels and medical equipment.)4 Both retain their value and can be melted down and refashioned into new forms, and so have historically functioned as reserves of cash. Gold and silver objects have a distinct beauty and aesthetic appeal. In a dimly lit church, they would have reflected and gleamed in the candlelight and therefore been visible to the congregation at a distance during the celebration of the mass and other ceremonies. Borne in solemn procession, or arranged on a buffet, they would have been equally conspicuous. The symbolic connection of the purity, beauty and value of silver and gold to the divine is expressed in Psalms 12:6:

the words of the Lord are unalloyed; silver refined in a crucible, gold purified seven times over.5

Costly items of gold and silver have been employed in ecclesiastical and ceremonial roles in the University almost from its foundation, as church vessels and, as most prominently exemplified by the maces, as emblems of its authority and status.

Ostensibly functional domestic objects could also have a symbolic role. Decorative and even plain items, handled in a manner which set them apart from mere utilitarian pieces, could encourage a sense of collegiality. The college mazers, passed from hand to hand and lip to lip at high occasions, fostered a feeling of community and conviviality, heightened no doubt by the libations they contained. The annual Silver Arrow archery competition, organised by the Faculty of Arts for the students of St Salvator’s and St

sources, and for the sake of consistency, in all references to this material I have followed the version given by Pringle.

4_{Philippa Glanville (ed.),Silver, London, 1996, pp.7-9. Glanville notes, p.8: ‘The Knights of St John of}

Jerusalem equipped each bed in their grand hospital in Valetta with a silver bowl, cup and spoon and well- equipped nurseries had silver papboats, ‘sucking bottles’ and spoons for feeding infants. In the colonnade of the Amber Palace in Jaipur stands a pair of massive four-handled silver water pots which travelled with the Maharajah to ensure a supply of pure water for ritual and hygienic purposes’.

Leonard’s colleges, was perhaps intended to play a similar role, by encouraging friendly inter-collegiate rivalry. The setting, however, was public rather than domestic, the parade to the archery butts, in which the medals of previous victors were borne on the silver arrows, providing an opportunity to display to admiring bystanders these highly decorative tokens, redolent of glory, victory, and in their craftsmanship and armorial designs,

costliness and noble prowess, just as the competition itself allowed the students to display their skill with the bow. Patrons sought to support, and associate themselves more closely with, the colleges, faculties and University through the presentation of particular pieces, for example the cup given to the Faculty of Theology by Dr William Guild in 1628; the Communion cup presented to St Leonard’s Church by ‘a devout widow’, Anne Murray, Lady Halkett, in 1681; and the ‘Silver Cup with a Cover, both guilded’ given by ‘John Earl of Sutherland’ (presumably John Gordon, 14thEarl of Sutherland, 1609-1679) to St Salvator’s College in 1630, the year John Gordon left the University. The assignation of particular meaning to objects, in terms perhaps of their relationship to the history of an institution and its traditions or their connection to prominent alumni or benefactors, could be instrumental in establishing the particular identity of the college or faculty body which possessed them, within the University as a whole, while the use or display of the

significant objects could promote or reinforce, in individual members, pride in and association with the corporate body.

The pre-Reformation holdings of the University of St Andrews

Losses to the records of the various constituent bodies of the University of St Andrews are a considerable hindrance to any attempt to ascertain the artefact holdings of the University in the pre-Reformation period. The three extant inventories of the furnishings of St Salvator’s Church dating from c. 1500 to 1552 provide crucial information on its contents, including the sacramental vessels and the vestments of the ministers. However, no

parallel sources exist for the pre-Reformation contents of the Chapel of St John, the Church of St Leonard and the Collegiate Church or Chapel of St Mary, and any sense of their furnishings must be deduced from the merest fragmentary references. An account of

the business and concerns of the Faculty of Arts from the early years of the University until after the Reformation is provided by the 'Acta Facultatis Artium', the records of the meetings of the General Congregation of the Faculty.6 Comparative records do not survive for the Faculties of Canon Law and Theology, and consequently far less is known about the activities of these higher faculties, and with this loss information that would illuminate the context of the development of the University as a whole has disappeared.7

This paucity of records means that it can be difficult to correctly identity and attribute surviving artefacts, much less non-extant ones known from inventories and other sources, which tend to denote the existence of pieces in minimal terms. In both the pre- and post- Reformation periods, accounts of artefacts were usually kept for routine administrative purposes, such as to register the entrusting of items to various custodians and their return, or to record the benefaction of a patron, rather than to give a detailed description of individual objects for posterity. They are therefore often little more than lists which would enable someone reasonably familiar with the pieces to recognise and check off each when they were set before them. Problems of identification extend to, and are best

illustrated by, the items which have from their creation onwards (with the possible

exception of the relics in St Salvator’s Church) been regarded as the most significant of all the University’s artefact holdings, because they represent the honour, dignity and authority of its constituent bodies: the medieval maces.

6

SAUL, UYUY411/1. The volume contains the Minutes of the Faculty of Arts from 1413 to 2 November 1588 (fols 1-211r.) and other material, including the record of the election of the Deans of the Faculty from 1615-1728 (fols 211r.-224r.). The first part of the volume (fols 1-211r.) has been published by the University of St Andrews, under the editorship of, and with an authoritative introduction by, Dr Dunlop. See Annie I. Dunlop (ed.),Acta Facultatis Artium Universitatis Sanctiandree 1413-1588, Edinburgh, 1964. It is Dunlop's publication, her transcription of the Latin text of the 'Acta' and her English synopsis of it, pp.clxxv-ccxli, that I have consulted. In the footnotes below, the 'Acta' are referred to by date rather than folio or page numbers, so that they might easily be located in either source.

7_{The Bull of Foundation granted the University the right to teach Theology, Canon Law, Civil Law,}

Medicine and Arts, and other 'lawful subjects'. However, it is doubtful whether formally organised faculties came into being for all these, though practitioners of Civil Law were found in St Andrews in much of the pre-Reformation period, and Medicine was occasionally taught. See Cant,University of St Andrews, p.13; Dunlop,Acta, clvii.

The maces

The provenance of the mace of St Salvator’s College (plate 18) is well-attested, for it is recorded on the mace itself. A circular band, inserted just above the base terminal of the shaft, is inscribed:

Johne Maiel govldsm[it]he and verlete off chamer til ye Lord ye Dalfyne hes made this masse in ye toune of Paris ye yer of our lorde mcccclxi

A pendant, once attached to the mace by a chain but now displayed beside it, bears Kennedy’s motto ‘avisses a la fin’ [avise la fin – consider the end] and the legend:

Jacobus / kanedi illustris / san[c]ti andree antistes / ac fu[n]dator Collegii S[anc]ti Saluatoris cui me dona/-bit me fecit fieri Pari-/[s]iis an[n]o d[omi]ni M / cccc lxi

[James Kennedy, the illustrious Bishop of St Andrews and founder of the College of St Salvator, to which he donated me, had me made in Paris in the year of our Lord 1461]. There is no reason to doubt the information contained in these inscriptions, or that they are contemporaneous with the dates to which they refer. However, the maces of the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Canon Law (see plates 16 and 17) bear no such identifying texts, and there is considerable doubt and debate as to which rod pertains to which faculty.

There are various references to the mace of the Faculty of Arts in the 'Acta Facultatis Artium'. These have been summarised by Michael Michael in his article ‘The First Maces of St Andrews University’.8 Brook discusses aspects of the references in some depth in ‘An Account of the Maces of the Universities of St Andrews ... &c ’, as does Dunlop in her introduction to the 'Acta'.9 The 'Acta' record that on 17 January 1415/16, the Faculty

8_{Michael Michael, ‘The First Maces of St Andrews University’ inBritish Archaeological Association}

Conference Transactions for the Year 1986, XIV, Leeds, 1994, pp.185-196, plates xxx-xxxi

9_{Alexander J.S. Brook, ‘An Account of the Maces of the Universities of St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen,}

and Edinburgh, the College of Justice, the City of Edinburgh, &c’ inProceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, XXVI, 1891-92, pp.440-514; Dunlop,Acta, pp.xv-xvi, xix n.1, xx-xxii, xxvi, lxi, lxiii, lxxxii n.3, cxxxv, cxlvi-cxlvii.

assigned £5 for the purchase of books from Paris and £5 for procuring a mace. On 21 May 1416 the £5 previously allocated for books was diverted to the mace fund. On 6 October 1416 it was decided that Laurence of Lindores, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, would deliver 10 marks to a goldsmith for the making of the head of the mace, ‘quod statim fecit’

[‘which he immediately did’]. This was on the advice of the Bishop of St Andrews, Henry Wardlaw, founder and Chancellor of the University, who seems to have had some

acquaintance with the goldsmith, for it is recorded that he said that he would answer for him and for his trustworthiness. Though the phrase is not quite clear, it also seems to have been agreed that the goldsmith would receive 10 nobles for making the mace and for his labour. The next mention of the mace is at the important meeting on 9 August 1418, when the Faculty of Arts took the decision to transfer obedience to the Roman Pope Martin V, from the Avignon Pope Benedict XIII, who had issued the Papal Bulls founding the

University of St Andrews just five years earlier, in August 1413. An envoy was dispatched to inform the Governor and Council of Scotland of this resolution. It was also decided to send a dependable and distinguished person to the goldsmith, if necessary at the expense of the Faculty, to persuade him to bring the mace to St Andrews and finish it in the city, or if he was unwilling to do so, to send the mace with the envoy after he had been given something as security for his labours. This seems to have been in anticipation of the meeting of the General Council, which took place in Perth on 2 and 3 October 1418, at which the allegiance of Scotland to Benedict XIII was debated and revoked: the mace was presumably desired so that it might be borne in attendance on the University Rector, as a symbol of the University’s authority.10 Unfortunately, there is no record of whether the mace was actually present on this occasion.11 It is, however, somewhat ironic that the

10_{The Great Schism in the Papacy of 1378 had divided the countries of Europe into two factions: France,}

Scotland and the Spanish kingdoms, who supported the Avignon Popes, and Italy, Germany, England and the kingdoms of eastern and north-eastern Europe, who supported the Roman line. France withdrew support from the Avignon papacy in 1408. The Great Schism hindered Scots from studying in England and in continental centres, particularly Paris, as previously, and was a major influencing factor in the decision to establish a university in St Andrews. By 1418, Scotland was almost alone in continuing to support the Avignon line. See Cant,University of St Andrews, pp.4-5, 25-26; Dunlop,Acta, pp.xv, cxlvii, clxxvii; and R. Swanson, ‘The University of St Andrews and the Great Schism, 1410-1419’ inJournal of Ecclesiastical