History of the burgh of Canongate - 1879 Author:John Mackay Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV. THE SUPERIORS OF THE BURGH. j|HE Abbots of Holyrood while allowing the community of their Burgh of Canongate to elect their own Magistrate... more »s and Council, reserved right to the feu-duties and other sums payable to them as Superiors, and also right to nominate an Heritable Bailie, or as was latterly termed a Baron- Bailie, for the Regality, as well as for the Barony of Broughton and other possessions held by them, and which was done until the time of the Reformation. At the Reformation, and when the Act abolishing Monastic Institutions was passed, its operations was specially declared not to extend to the Revenues or Superiorities of the Abbey of Holyrood. A short sketch of the Superiors of the Burgh and Regality of the Canongate will now be given. In 1566 Sir Robert Stuart of Strathdon, a natural son of King James the Fifth, obtained a grant of the Superiorities of the Abbey of Holyrood from Queen Mary; but'in 1569 he exchanged with Adam Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney, these superiorities and other incomes derivable therefrom, for those of Orkney and Isles adjacent. The Bishop of Orkney's life and character, associated as ' he was with the leaders of both of the contending parties of Queen Mary and the Reformers, form an interesting portion of the history of that period, and in which he played an important part. At first the Bishop was a close adherent and attendant at the Court of Queen Mary, and a supporter of Bothwell in his ambitious schemes. As Bishop and Clergyman of the Chapel of Holyrood he celebrated within that Abbey the marriage between the Queen and Bothwell. Queen Mary's star being on the decline, the Bishop then joined the party of the Lords of the Congregation, by whom he was employed to crown the infant King James, then under the guardianship...« less