Chapter XII

Education, Music, and Art of the Period.

IT was indicated in preceding pages that there were schools at an early period attached to the monasteries, and in some of the royal burghs. In the fourteenth century there were different classes of schools; the grammar schools in some of the royal burghs were partly under the patronage of the magistrates, but most of the schools were under the control of the Church. Robert I. sometimes gave assistance to persons carrying on their studies at the schools, and in 1364 David II. gave four pounds for the maintenance and clothing of a poor scholar, “consanguinei domini regis.” By a mandate of Robert II. four pounds was given to assist a poor scholar studying at the school of the burgh of Haddington in 1384; and in 1382 five pounds six shillings and eightpence were paid from the Exchequer for the expenses of two scholars of Bute. It appears that the rectors and masters of the schools of the period were frequently employed to discharge duties connected with the customs and the revenue. Master William Tranent, rector of the schools of Haddington, also acted as clerk of the cocket of Haddington and North Berwick; and the master of the school of Cupar sometimes acted as a collector of custom. Gilbert of Hay, son of Thomas of Hay, who was studying at the schools of St. Andrews in 1384, by mandate of Robert II., received twenty-six shillings to assist him, and two years after he received thirty-two shillings for dress; the King’s natural son, James, at the same time was studying at the schools of St. Andrews.¹ The grammar schools of Glasgow were founded before the middle of the fifteenth century, and were under the control of the Chancellor of the diocese. Of course Latin was taught in the grammar schools of the chief burghs of the kingdom, and in the schools connected with the monasteries; but whether the scholars were instructed in the current Scotch language at any of these schools during this period, has not been clearly ascertained. From the numerous writings and documents of various kinds produced in the vernacular in the fifteenth century, it would seem probable that the Scotch language was taught in some of the schools of the period.

¹ Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, Volumes I., II., III.

The first Educational Act was passed by Parliament in 1496. This statute enjoined that the barons and freeholders of the kingdom should send their eldest sons and heirs to the schools till they were well instructed in Latin; and thereafter to attend the universities for a term of three years to study arts and law; in order that justice might reign throughout the kingdom, that the sheriffs and other judges acting under the authority of the King might know how to administer equal justice to all the people; so that “the poor people might have no need to apply to the King for every small injury.” Those who failed to comply with the provisions of the Act were to be fined twenty pounds to the King.¹

¹ Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, Volume II. page 238.

The first Scotch university was a very simple institution. It was originated by a few men, who had some knowledge of literature and philosophy, and formed an association in St. Andrews under the patronage of Bishop Wardlaw, with the laudable aim of imparting instruction to all those who desired to attend their lectures. They commenced to deliver public lectures in 1410; and the Pope’s Bull, which sanctioned the establishment of the University, arrived on the 3rd of February, 1413. The following morning the clergy assembled in the refectory of the monastery, where the Bull was presented to Bishop Wardlaw, as Chancellor of the Institution, and read aloud; and they then proceeded to the high altar singing the Te Deum. After this the learned clerks and church dignitaries spent the day in celebrating the event with a festivity and rejoicing worthy of its significance. On the 6th of February a grand procession was held, which at once commemorated the arrival of St. Andrew’s bones and the inauguration of the privileges of the new University. The teaching staff consisted of four lecturers on the canon law, and three teachers of philosophy and logic.

Chiefly through the efforts of Bishop Turnbull, the University of Glasgow was founded in 1451 on the model of that of Bologna, under the authority and sanction of the Pope. In 1453 James II. extended his protection to all the members of the University​—the rector, the deans of faculties, the procurators of nations, the regents, the masters, and the students; and also the writers, the stationers, parchment makers, and the sacrists; and he exempted them from all tribute, service, taxes, watching or warding, and all dues imposed or hereafter to be imposed in the kingdom of Scotland.¹ The University was poorly endowed. In 1459 Lord Hamilton granted to the University a house in the city and four acres of land on the Dovehill. In November 1475, John Laing, Bishop of Glasgow, gave to the University two books for the use of the regents, one of which contained the text of the Physics, and other treatises of Aristotle. Shortly after, Duncan Bunch, a former regent, gave seven volumes to the University, which contained treatises of Aristotle and his commentators, and also “una Biblia in pergamino in parvo volumine litera optima complete scripta.” In 1483 John Brown, also formerly a regent, presented to the University thirteen volumes, embracing treatises of a similar character to the preceding volumes; but none of these early manuscript donations to the University have been preserved.² This University had to struggle long with adverse circumstances and lack of funds.

¹ Origines Parochiales Scotiæ, Volume I., page 9.

² Glasgow University Library, by William P. Dickson, LL.D.

William Elphinston had received all the advantages of education which home and foreign universities could give him, and he made an excellent use of it. He was appointed Bishop of Aberdeen in 1483. He had discharged the duties of Chancellor and Privy Seal of Scotland, and was entrusted with several important embassies. He erected the central tower of his cathedral; and he built at his own cost a stone bridge across the river Dee. In 1494 at Elphinston’s earnest solicitation, James IV. obtained from the Pope a bull for the institution of the University of Aberdeen, and the King conferred on all its members the same privileges as those granted by James II. to the University of Glasgow, and by James I. to St. Andrews. The branches taught in the newly instituted University were civil and canon law, theology, and medicine.

The Scottish Universities were instituted as a branch of the system of Catholic education which had its head and centre in Rome, and they were incorporated members of one great educational scheme which embraced Europe in its folds. Thus they were closely associated with the Universities of the Continent. In fact, the constitution of the Scotch Universities were formed on the models of those of Paris, Bologna, and Louvain.

Some knowledge of Latin was a qualification required from all the entrants to the Universities, but Greek was not taught in Scotland before the sixteenth century. It appears that Arts was the first faculty constituted, which seems to have been the fundamental faculty in the Universities of the Middle Ages. In the latter half of the fifteenth century Scotsmen had become well known as able and ready teachers in the Universities of the Continent. Scotland then sent from her native Universities to those of France and other countries, as teachers of philosophy, Thomas Otterburne, Henry Leighton, Robert Fleming, Thomas Mushet, Umfrid Hume, and James Martin. The license to teach and a ready command of Latin, were the passports of the Scottish scholars through the Universities of Europe.

The early Scottish music seems to have been interwoven with the national songs and dances; but a people might have many songs and yet have little music. So far as has been ascertained, it appears that the earliest Scotch melodies were very simple, and consisted of one measure; and these simple tunes no doubt originated at a remote period. But in Scotland, as in other Catholic countries, the ancient vocal music was overlaid by that of the Church. “From the very earliest periods of descant, ecclesiastical musicians had been in the habit of taking the popular melodies of the time and working them into the services of the sanctuary.”¹ The Gregorian chant was taught in the Scotch cathedrals and in the early schools; and organs began to be introduced into the churches of Scotland in the reign of James I.

¹ Hullah’s History of Modern Music, pages 33‒35, 77, et seq.

As already indicated, singing and dancing were popular in Scotland during this period. There were professional singers, both male and female, and harpers, luters, and fiddlers. James IV. often gave small sums of money to singers, fiddlers, harpers, and dancers; and some notable characters occasionally performed before the King, such as the broken-backed fiddler in St. Andrews, who received nine shillings from the King, and the crooked vicar of Dumfries, who sang to the King at Lochmaben. In 1487 there were three public pipers in Edinburgh, who were supported in the following manner:​—“For the honour of the city, the provost and council enacted that the common pipers of the burgh should be fed, and that they should go and get their food in turn from all persons of means; or if the pipers took wages, then they should live thereon for that day; and all those who did not give them food, should pay to them ninepence on their day, that is, to each piper threepence at the least.” There were similar officials in the other burghs of the kingdom, and they were sometimes called minstrels; but their functions were well understood, and consisted in playing favourite pieces of music in their progresses through the town every morning and evening; and on high occasions they attended the magistrates in their official character.¹

¹ Burgh Records of Edinburgh, Volume I., page 52; Accounts of the Lord Treasurer, Volume I.

Although the human voice is the first and the best of all instruments, still the development and improvement of musical art greatly depended on instruments. The performance of a varied piece of music required many instruments, and skill in making these was an essential condition of success. To harmonise the sounds of a number of wind and stringed instruments is an extremely difficult matter; and the tuning of instruments to play together was long of reaching such a state of perfection as in any degree satisfied the musical perceptions and sensibilities of the human mind. The noblest keyed instrument, the organ, was brought to considerable perfection in the fourteenth century, and by the end of the succeeding century it might be said to have been almost perfected. But the Scots at this period were far behind several other European nations in the art of making musical instruments. Many musical instruments, however, were then in use amongst the Scots; and in a rhyme written in the fifteenth century, upwards of twenty musical instruments were mentioned; while the harp, the lute, the pipes, and some kind of a fiddle, were quite common. The principle of the stringed instrument was known from a very early period, but the fiddle or violin has undergone many modifications. In the Middle Ages there were instruments somewhat resembling the violin, but the art of making and perfecting this fine instrument has been the work of comparatively modern times.

Religion, dramatic representations or plays, and dancing, were all associated with music. Dramatic exhibitions founded on mystical passages of the Scriptures, and hence called mysteries, were sometimes performed in the churches as acts of devotion in the Middle Ages. These were succeeded by moral plays, which approached somewhat nearer to the form of the drama, still presenting, however, a curious and grotesque jumble of characters. While at this period it is sometimes difficult to distinguish a dramatic actor from the bands of rope-dancers, buffoons, jesters, fools, singers, and fiddlers, who amused the kings and the nobles, as several of these callings were at times exercised by the same person. James IV. retained two or three fools, and frequent payments to them occur in the accounts.

In the department of painting there is little to record. The names of painters occur in the records during the reigns of David II. and Robert II., but there is no evidence that they were artists. Andrew, called the painter, was engaged in connection with the mint; and John, the painter, of Aberdeen, was employed to paint the armorial banners of David II. James I. had a painter called Matthew, who was engaged at the work in connection with the erection of the Palace of Linlithgow; and a payment for materials to John, the King’s painter, also occurs in the records. Payments to painters were made in the reigns of James II. and James III. James IV. gave his painter, David Pratt, an annual fee of ten pounds, besides payment for the work which he executed. In 1497 he was engaged in painting the altar in the new chapel at Stirling. He died in 1503. At the same period John Pratt, the painter, painted and gilded the vanes of the King’s tents, and emblazoned the King’s coat armour.¹ As indicated above, however, these men were not artists.

¹ Exchequer Rolls; Accounts of the Lord Treasurer.

In one of the minor arts, seal engraving on metal, some good work was executed in Scotland. The seals of the preceding period were briefly described, and the art of seal-making maintained its excellency in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The Great and the Privy Seals of the Scottish Kings present good specimens of this branch of art. The Privy Seal showed the royal arms only. The Great Seal of Robert I. is a very fine piece of work; and the Privy Seal of David II. is exceedingly beautiful both in design and execution. The Great Seal of Robert II. exhibited a change of costume in the equestrian figure of the King corresponding with the change in the style of armour, and the lettering is finely executed. The goldsmith was paid twenty marks for making the matrix of this seal. Some of the seals of the first Earl of Douglas are very beautiful. On the seal of the Countess of Mar of date 1405, the figure of a lady holding a shield in each hand was represented. Figures of the peacock and the swan were depicted on several of the seals of the period.

About the beginning of the fifteenth century the design of the Episcopal seals underwent a change. Instead of the simple figure of the bishop in pontifical vestments, which had formerly been the usual form, either a representation of the Trinity, the Virgin, or the patron saint, within a niche or beneath a canopy, became the prevailing style. The rich architectural designs of a number of the seals present very fine illustrations of that art; and a pretty accurate idea of the characteristics of the church architecture of the period might be formed from an examination of them.¹

¹ Laing’s Ancient Scottish Seals.

In conclusion, the volume opened with an explanation of the aim and scope of the work. A description of the geographical and physical features of the country, and the influence of climate, soil, and food, on the organisation of early society, were presented. The method of historic interpretation in connection with the early stages of the human race was then touched on; the interpretation and the sequent arrangement of the prehistoric phenomena of Scotland, and the discrimination of historic evidence followed. The ethnological problem came next, and after a brief statement touching the cradle and the language of the Aryans, the ethnology of Scotland was concisely treated. The Stone and the Bronze periods were treated at length, and a summary of the conclusions reached, touching the social condition, the religion, and the culture of the prehistoric people, was presented. The Roman Invasion, new historic conditions, the conflicts of the different races and tribes, which issued in the foundation of the Monarchy, were treated. An account of the introduction of Christianity was given, and its influence on the people pointed out. The narrative of the progressive extension of the kingdom was then resumed and continued to the close of the eleventh century; and it was observed that nothing had occurred to arrest the onward movement and civilisation of the people. The state of society from the seventh century to the end of the eleventh was treated at length, the clan organisation, the relation of the people to the land, and social customs were explained. Early architecture and the sculptured stones were handled at some length, in their historic relation to the people; the chief characteristics of Celtic art were briefly considered, and the Introduction closed with a notice of the fragments of early and traditional literature.

A critical estimate of the Anglo-Norman colonisation, and the result of the introduction of Norman Feudalism on the Civilisation of Scotland was presented. The narrative of the conflict of the nation was resumed and continued to the death of the Maid of Norway. A very full account of the social state and the progress of the people in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was given, and the organisation and characteristics of Norman Feudalism explicated. The lamentable position of the nation arising from the disputed succession to the throne, the claims and proceedings of Edward I., and the candidates for the Crown, was narrated. Edward’s invasion of Scotland, the submission of the nobles, the deposition of Baliol, and the nation under the heel of the invader, were explained. The appearance of Wallace upon the scene, the rising led by him, his heroic struggles against the invaders, his capture and cruel execution, and the influence of his example upon the nation, were narrated at length. At last the nation seemed completely subdued, and Edward I. prepared a scheme for the government of Scotland; but a worthy successor of Wallace immediately appeared and mounted the throne of Scotland, and commenced to retake the kingdom from the enemy. Bruce’s followers were few in number, and he had to contend against fearful odds; but after a desperate and long struggle his heroic efforts culminated in the decisive and glorious Battle of Bannockburn; and the subsequent acknowledgment of the independence of the kingdom. The narrative of the external and internal conflicts of the nation was continued to the Battle of Flodden. An exhaustive account of the social condition of the nation in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was presented, in which many subjects of the highest historic interest and national importance were treated and explained. After giving an account of the literature of the period, the volume concluded with a concise review of education, music, and art. Finally, this volume gives a continuous view of the people from the earliest traces of their occupation of the country onward, and of their condition, culture, and civilisation.