The Church of the Friars Preachers of Blessed Virgin and Saint Dominic at Perth, commonly called "Blackfriars", was a

mendicant A mendicant (from la, mendicans, "begging") is one who practices mendicancy, relying chiefly or exclusively on alms to survive. In principle, mendicant religious orders own little property, either individually or collectively, and in many inst ...

friary of the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

of the Catholic Church founded in the 13th century at

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The Dominicans ("Black friars") were said by

Walter Bower Walter Bower (or Bowmaker; 24 December 1449) was a Scottish canon regular and abbot of Inchcolm Abbey in the Firth of Forth, who is noted as a chronicler of his era. He was born about 1385 at Haddington, East Lothian, in the Kingdom of Scotlan ...

to have been brought to Scotland in 1230 by King

Alexander II of Scotland Alexander II (Medieval Gaelic: '; Modern Gaelic: '; 24 August 1198 – 6 July 1249) was King of Scotland from 1214 until his death. He concluded the Treaty of York (1237) which defined the boundary between England and Scotland, virtually unch ...

, while

John Spottiswood John Spottiswoode (Spottiswood, Spotiswood, Spotiswoode or Spotswood) (1565 – 26 November 1639) was an Archbishop of St Andrews, Primate of All Scotland, Lord Chancellor, and historian of Scotland. Life He was born in 1565 at Greenbank in ...

held that they were brought to Scotland by

William de Malveisin Guillaume or William de Malveisin (also, modern forms ''Malvoisin'' or ''Mauvoisin'') was Chancellor of Scotland, Bishop of Glasgow (1199/1200–1202) and then Bishop of St. Andrews (1202–1238). William Malveisin was probably born in France. ...

Bishop of St Andrews The Bishop of St. Andrews ( gd, Easbaig Chill Rìmhinn, sco, Beeshop o Saunt Andras) was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of St Andrews in the Catholic Church and then, from 14 August 1472, as Archbishop of St Andrews ( gd, Àrd-easbaig ...

. Later tradition held that the Perth Dominican friary was founded by King Alexander II.Cowan & Easson, ''Medieval Religious Houses'', p. 119. The ''Pontifical Offices of St Andrews'' listed the friary as having been dedicated on 13 May 1240. The earliest surviving grant to the church dates to 31 October 1241. Perth was perhaps the most important royal centre in the

Kingdom of Scotland The Kingdom of Scotland (; , ) was a sovereign state in northwest Europe traditionally said to have been founded in 843. Its territories expanded and shrank, but it came to occupy the northern third of the island of Great Britain, sharing a la ...

until the reign of King

James III of Scotland James III (10 July 1451/May 1452 – 11 June 1488) was King of Scots from 1460 until his death at the Battle of Sauchieburn in 1488. He inherited the throne as a child following the death of his father, King James II, at the siege of Roxburgh ...

, and the Dominican friary was frequently used for national church councils and as a residence for the King of the Scots. It was at Blackfriars church that King

James I of Scotland James I (late July 139421 February 1437) was King of Scots from 1406 until his assassination in 1437. The youngest of three sons, he was born in Dunfermline Abbey to King Robert III and Annabella Drummond. His older brother David, Duke of Ro ...

was murdered on the night of 20 February 1437, by followers of the

Earl of Atholl The Mormaer or Earl of Atholl was the title of the holder of a medieval comital lordship straddling the highland province of Atholl (''Ath Fodhla''), now in northern Perthshire. Atholl is a special Mormaerdom, because a King of Atholl is repor ...

. With the growth of

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

in Scotland, friaries were targeted by reformers more than any other church institutions, partly because their vitality posed the biggest threat. A Perth mob attacked the church on 14 May 1543, and on 11 May 1559, it and the other religious houses of the city were attacked, looted and put out of order. King

James VI of Scotland James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...

granted all the property of the church to the burgh of Perth on 9 August 1569, nine years after the Reformation Parliament of 1560. The monastery's southern wall was found to also be the northern wall of the

Fair Maid's House Fair Maid's House is an historic building in the centre of Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Located in North Port, it is a Category B listed building, partly dating from 1475 but mostly from 1629. It is two storeys, built of rubble, with a s ...

in 2006.Perth, 21, 23 North Port, Fair Maid's House
– Canmore

Notes

References

* Anderson, Alan Orr, ''Early Sources of Scottish History'', 2 vols, (Edinburgh, 1922) * Brown, M. H., "James I (1394–1437)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 10 November 2007
* Cowan, Ian B. & Easson, David E., ''Medieval Religious Houses: Scotland With an Appendix on the Houses in the Isle of Man'', Second Edition, (London, 1976) * Watt, D. E. R., ''Medieval Church Councils in Scotland'', (Edinburgh, 2000) * Wormald, Jenny, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland 1470-1625'', (Edinburgh, 1981)

External links

https://web.archive.org/web/20080208235424/http://scotland.op.org/history/priory_pages/perth_blackfriars.html
{{Scottish Dominican friaries 1240 establishments in Scotland 1569 disestablishments in Scotland Dominican houses in Scotland History of Perth, Scotland Religious buildings and structures in Perth, Scotland Religion in Perth and Kinross Scottish parliamentary locations and buildings Demolished buildings and structures in Scotland Former Christian monasteries in Scotland

See also

Notes

References

External links