Arbroath

Who holds it

Title

Abbot of Arbroath

Since

Not pinned

Confidence

low

The name of the abbot on 1 January 1200 was not pinned in the sources consulted.

What it holds

• The land of Aberbrothoc (Arbroath) and the market there
• The right to build a harbour (date of the grant not pinned)
• The revenues of 24 parish churches and property in every royal burgh

How it was acquired

Founded and endowed by William the Lion in 1178.

How things stand that morning

The king's favoured foundation; William intends it as his burial church.

Wealth

Church revenues of 24 parishes; burgh properties; market and port.

Advocates and rivals

The king, founder and patron; Kelso, its mother house.

Places of note

• Arbroath Abbey: William the Lion's abbey of St Thomas

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The foundation and endowment are clear; the abbey's lordship over the town in 1200 rests on its market and harbour rights, whose dates are not pinned. Included because the campaign asked; Kelso and Melrose were left out (great estates, but no territorial lordship pinned for 1200).

On the map: Drawn as the town and its land only.

Primary sources for Scotland

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Chronicle of Holyrood, Anonymous (canons of Holyrood, Edinburgh) (about 1150 to 1170, with later additions). Gives nothing for 1200: its original text ends in 1163 and the few additions stop before William the Lion's last decades. Read online
• Chronicle of Melrose, Anonymous (monks of Melrose abbey) (about 1173 to 1270, in many hands; the 1200 entries are near contemporary). The main Scottish annal for the year, kept at a Cistercian house on the Tweed. Read online
• Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
• Chronicle of the Kings of Mann and the Isles, Anonymous (monks of Rushen abbey, Mann) (about 1257, with continuations to 1316). The only native record of the kingdom of Mann and the Hebrides. Read online
• History of English Affairs, William of Newburgh (about 1196 to 1198). Ends in 1198, so it gives no 1200 entries of its own; the Stanley continuation has only a line or two for 1200. Read online
• Saga of the Earls of Orkney, Anonymous (Icelandic) (about 1200 to 1230; surviving text mainly from Flateyjarbok, about 1390). The saga's last chapters are about Earl Harald Maddadsson, who in 1200 held Orkney under King Sverre of Norway and Caithness under William the Lion: his long rule, his quarrel with the Scottish king that cost him Caithness in 1196 to 1197, his recovery of it, and the maiming of Bishop John of Caithness and the king's revenge in 1201 to 1202. Read online
• The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
• The Great Life of Saint Hugh of Lincoln, Adam of Eynsham (about 1210 to 1215). The last book is a day by day account of Hugh's final year by the chaplain who was with him: his dealings with John at the start of the reign, his journey to France and the Grande Chartreuse in 1200, his illness in London, his death at the Old Temple on 16 November 1200 and the funeral at Lincoln on 23 November attended by King John, William the Lion of Scotland, three archbishops and a crowd of bishops and earls. Read online

2 more in the sources library for The British Isles.