Perth Charterhouse or Perth Priory, known in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

as ''Domus Vallis Virtutis'' ("House of the Valley of Virtue"),''Official Guide to Perth and Its Neighbourhood by the Tramway Car Routes'' – Perth Town Council (1907), p. 12 was a monastic house of

Carthusian The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians ( la, Ordo Cartusiensis), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has i ...

monks based 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 ...

. It was the only Carthusian house ever to be established 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 l ...

, and one of the last non-mendicant houses to be founded in the kingdom. The traditional founding date of the house is 1429. Formal suppression of the house came in 1569, though this was not actualised until 1602. King James VI Hospital now occupies the Priory's former location.

Carthusian Order

The Carthusian Order has its origin in the 11th century at La

Grande Chartreuse Grande Chartreuse () is the head monastery of the Carthusian religious order. It is located in the Chartreuse Mountains, north of the city of Grenoble, in the commune of Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse (Isère), France. History Originally, the ...

in the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

; Carthusian houses are small, and limited in number. Carrying the motto "Never reformed because never deformed", the Carthusians are the most ascetic and austere of all the European monastic orders, and the Order is regarded as the pinnacle of religious devotion to which monks from other orders are attracted when they were in need of greater spiritual challenges.Bartlett, ''England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings'', pp. 432-4. In the first half of the 15th century, the Order experienced a renewal of secular patronage, including an attempted foundation by

Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas, Duke of Touraine (c. 1369 – 17 August 1424), was a Scottish nobleman and warlord. He is sometimes given the epithet "Tyneman" ( Old Scots: Loser), but this may be a reference to his great-uncle Sir A ...

, in 1419.

Foundation

The traditional founding date of the house is 1429. However, it was three years earlier, on 19 August 1426, that the Prior of La Grande Chartreuse, having received the consent of the General Chapter of the Carthusian Order, authorised the foundation of a house at Perth.Cowan & Easson, ''Medieval Religious Houses'', p. 86. King James used much of his own revenue as well as part of the ransom payment owed to the English crown, to begin work on the new house, as well as pressurising others to make grants; the

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint B ...

monk John of Bute was given responsibility for overseeing the construction of the priory. The priory may have been intended as a royal mausoleum, and 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 ...

(reigned 1424-1437), his queen Joan Beaufort (c.1404-1445) and queen

Margaret Tudor Margaret Tudor (28 November 1489 – 18 October 1541) was Queen of Scotland from 1503 until 1513 by marriage to King James IV. She then served as regent of Scotland during her son's minority, and successfully fought to extend her regency. Ma ...

(1489-1541), widow of

James IV James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513) was King of Scotland from 11 June 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. He inherited the throne at the age of fifteen on the death of his father, James III, at the Battle of Sauch ...

, were buried there. The first Prior of Perth, Oswald de Corda, was in office by 31 March 1429. Oswald was a Bavarian who served as vicar of the Grande Chartreuse; while there, he wrote a treatise on textual emendation.

Property

The monastery was founded at the instigation of King James, who on 31 March 1429, granted the proposed house a series of privileges.

Coupar Angus Abbey Coupar Angus Abbey was a Cistercian monastery near Coupar Angus, in central Scotland, on the boundary between Angus and Gowrie. It was founded on the old royal manor of Coupar in 1161 x 1162 with the patronage of Máel Coluim IV ("Malcolm IV" ...

and William Hay of Errol gave, "through fear" it was said by his grandson, the church of Errol in Gowrie; Coupar Angus had been the former rector and Hay the patron of the church of Errol, and both the abbey and the Hays of Errol tried to recover their rights after James I's death.Brown, ''James I'', p. 124. There were also grants from Perth burgesses, perhaps under the same pressure. By 1434, the priory had control of the

Hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emergen ...

of St Mary Magdalene and the house of

Augustinian canonesses Canoness is a member of a religious community of women living a simple life. Many communities observe the monastic Rule of St. Augustine. The name corresponds to the male equivalent, a canon. The origin and Rule are common to both. As with the ...

St Leonard Leonard of Noblac (also Leonard of Limoges or Leonard of Noblet; also known as Lienard, Linhart, Leonhard, Léonard, Leonardo, Annard; died 559), is a Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, in Haut ...

, near Perth, which was suppressed in 1438 and its revenues transferred to the Charterhouse. The king also had plans to take Glen Dochart from the Earl of Atholl and give it to the house.

Development

The model house of the Carthusian Order was one

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be low ...

and twelve brothers, following the example of

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

and his

twelve apostles In Christian theology and ecclesiology, the apostles, particularly the Twelve Apostles (also known as the Twelve Disciples or simply the Twelve), were the primary disciples of Jesus according to the New Testament. During the life and minist ...

. It is likely therefore that the community of Perth Charterhouse usually consisted of this; however, a document from 1478 shows that at that time it consisted of a

, fourteen choir-monks, two lay brothers and one

novice A novice is a person who has entered a religious order and is under probation, before taking vows. A ''novice'' can also refer to a person (or animal e.g. racehorse) who is entering a profession with no prior experience. Religion Buddhism ...

. This was probably an aberration, and by 1529 the house was back down to the standard size. By 1558 there were only ten brothers.Cowan & Easson, ''Medieval Religious Houses'', p. 87. As the house was the only Carthusian establishment in Scotland, Perth's place in the international Carthusian system was awkward. It was part of the Carthusian province of

Picardy Picardy (; Picard and french: Picardie, , ) is a historical territory and a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Hauts-de-France. It is located in the northern part of France. Hist ...

; between 1456 and 1460 it was part of the English province, but it was placed in the province of

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

thereafter.

Reformation and dissolution

On 11 May 1559, the Charterhouse and the other religious houses of Perth were attacked and destroyed by

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

"reformers"; one of the brothers was killed, four others fled abroad, while six monks chose to remain; two of those, the prior Adam Forman and a brother, fled in to foreign Carthusian houses in 1567.Cowan & Easson, ''Medieval Religious Houses'', p. 87; Watt & Shead, ''Heads of Religious Houses'', p. 176. Of the four who remained in 1567, one was Adam Stewart, illegitimate son of King

James V of Scotland James V (10 April 1512 – 14 December 1542) was King of Scotland from 9 September 1513 until his death in 1542. He was crowned on 21 September 1513 at the age of seventeen months. James was the son of King James IV and Margaret Tudor, and du ...

, who for some time styled himself "Prior". 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 ...

granted the buildings and the gardens of the house to the

burgh A burgh is an autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland and Northern England, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Bur ...

of Perth on 9 August 1569, though the house remained in notional operation, being held by commendators until 1602. The final suppression of the monastery in that year probably relates to the reissuing of King James VI's 1569 charter in 1600. Of the Priory buildings, said to be 'of wondrous cost and greatness', nothing survives above ground. Excavations have failed to identify the exact location. The name Pomarium Street, for modern housing near the site of the medieval buildings, recalls the site of the house's orchard, which seems to have survived into the 18th century.

Perth bus station Perth bus station is located on Leonard Street in Perth, Scotland. It is owned by Perth and Kinross Council and is situated approximately 800 metres from the city centre, and 100 metres from Perth railway station. The station is mostly used for o ...

now occupies part of Pomarium Street.

Burials

(1394–1437) * Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scots (c.1404–1445) * Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots (1489–1541) The stone slab which covered the tomb of James and his queen can be seen in

St John's Kirk St John's Kirk is a church in the Scottish city of Perth, Perth and Kinross. Of Church of Scotland denomination, it is located in St John's Place, just southeast of the city centre. It stands on the former site of a church dating to 1126. Tod ...

.''Official Guide to Perth and Its Neighbourhood by the Tramway Car Routes'' – Perth Town Council (1907), p. 13

Notes

{{Reflist

References

* Bartlett, Robert, ''England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings, 1075-1225'', (Oxford, 2000) * Brown, Michael, ''James I'', (East Linton, 1994) * 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) * Lawson, John Parker, ''The Book of Perth: An Illustration of the Moral and Ecclesiastical State of Scotland before and after the Reformation, with Introduction, Observations, and Notes'', (Edinburgh, 1847) * Stevenson, Joseph, (ed.) & Elphinstone, William, ''The Life and Death of King James the First of Scotland'', (Edinburgh, 1837) * Watt, D. E. R., & Shead, N. F. (eds.), ''The Heads of Religious Houses in Scotland from the 12th to the 16th Centuries'', The Scottish Records Society, New Series, Volume 24, (Edinburgh, 2001) * Oswaldi de Corda Opus pacis (Turnhout : Brepols, 2001) 1429 establishments in Scotland 1569 establishments in Scotland Religious organizations established in the 1420s Christian monasteries established in the 15th century Carthusian monasteries in the United Kingdom History of Perth, Scotland Religious buildings and structures in Perth, Scotland Religion in Perth and Kinross Former Christian monasteries in Scotland