Dryburgh Abbey, near Dryburgh on the banks of the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders, was nominally founded on 10 November (Martinmas) 1150 in an agreement between Hugh de Morville, Constable of Scotland, and the Premonstratensian canons regular from Alnwick Abbey in Northumberland. The canons, along with their first abbot, Roger, arrived on 13 December 1152.
It was burned by English troops in 1322, after which it was restored only to be burned again by Richard II in 1385, but it flourished in the fifteenth century. It was finally destroyed in 1544, briefly surviving until the Scottish Reformation, when it was given to the Earl of Mar by James VI of Scotland. It is now a designated scheduled monument, and the surrounding landscape is included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland.
David Erskine, 11th Earl of Buchan bought the land in 1786. Sir Walter Scott and Douglas Haig are buried in its grounds. Their respective tomb and headstone, along with other memorials, are collectively designated a Category A listed building.
The Premonstratensian order
The Premonstratensian order was founded by St Norbert of Xanten, who was first a canon at Xanten Cathedral. Unhappy with the way of life of his fellow canons, he left the Rhine lands for the diocese of Laon, in northern France, where the reforming Bishop Bartholomew was transforming his see into one that was more apostolic. Bartholomew persuaded Norbert to form a canonical order at Prémontré, in Aisne in 1120 and while the order was Augustinian in form, the canons wore the white habit and not the black. They followed an austere monastic life but had a duty to preach and to teach those outside of the monastery walls. The order spread rapidly across Europe with the Abbot of Prémontré becoming Abbot-General for all the daughter-houses. Even before the first Abbot-General, Hugh of Fosse, died, one hundred and twenty abbots attended the annual general chapter. The Premonstratensians adopted many of the methods of the Cistercians, including land management and the use of lay-brothers to undertake the labour-intensive work of the communes.
Abbey endowments
Unlike the situation at nearby Melrose Abbey with its royal patronage, Hugh de Morville, although a very wealthy noble, could not endow Dryburgh on the same scale as that of a monarch. However, it seems that King David I of Scotland was not unsympathetic to the monastery; it is recorded in a charter that as well as confirming various donations from de Morville's wife, Beatrice de Beauchamp, the king allowed the abbey to take freely, timber from his forests for the building work. Hugh gave the lands of Dryburgh containing the forests, grasslands and accompanying waters; the fishings from Berwick; the churches with their lands at Mertoun and Channelkirk in his lordship of Lauderdale and Asby in Westmorland; and the earnings from the mills of Saltoun and Lauder. Beatrice gave the income from the church at Bozeat, Northamptonshire to the abbey as well as lands at Roxburgh that she bought solely for subsequent donation.
Hugh, in around 1162, like some other magnates of the period, turned his back on worldly affairs and entered the abbey-church, adopting the habit of the canons. He gave his elder son, Richard, his large Scottish estates, while his younger son, Hugh, received those in England. Hugh, the senior, died at Dryburgh Abbey that same year. In 1164, Dryburgh yielded Colmslie and adjacent woodland between the Leader and Gala Waters to Melrose Abbey.
Following Hugh's death, his son Richard continued as patron to the abbey. However, in c. 1170 he founded the hospital of St Leonard near his castle at Lauder and then, sometime between 1169 and 1187, the abbey of Kilwinning in the lordship of Cunningham. Although Kilwinning Abbey was built on a grand scale, it was inadequately provided for and so Richard ensured that some of the expense of its construction and upkeep was met from his holdings in Lauderdale; indeed a long-running argument broke out between Kilwinning and Dryburgh over the former's share of the tithes from the church of Lauder. Richard de Morville's establishment of this second monastery ensured that both establishments would remain in a state of relative poverty.
Daughter houses
Despite underfunding, Dryburgh Abbey attracted a continuous flow of novices to bolster the number of canons, so much so that by the closing years of the 12th century the abbey was overcrowded, necessitating the establishment of colonies. John de Courcy, the earl of Ulster installed a colony at Carrickfergus. A second at Drumcross, but neither flourished. This is attributed more to the constant political convulsions throughout 13th-century Ulster rather than any problems at the motherhouse.
Mounting debt
At the beginning of the 13th century, like its near neighbour Melrose Abbey, the abbey of Dryburgh began a rebuilding programme on a grander scale. However, building in stone and having an insecure income guaranteed that the construction work would be protracted. Also at this time, the monastery became embroiled in a series of legal proceedings concerning land ownership and tithe revenues. This resulted, in April 1221, in the Pope's legate spending much time at Dryburgh in adjudication. The construction effort was protracted and endured into the 1240s and with debts continuing to mount to the point that David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews gave Abbott John permission on 21 April 1242 to appoint his canons as vicars to the supporting churches stating
… since they have been burdened by grinding debts both on account of construction of the monastery and also on account of other and various necessities.
Pope Innocent IV granted the abbey in 1246, on the anniversary of its consecration, an indulgence lasting forty days intended to attract visitors who would hopefully be generous with their alms-giving. Additionally, he provided a suspension of the requirements to create pensions and benefices that might deplete the abbey's revenues; this safeguarded the monastery, its property and the canons themselves against legal redress.
Abbott John was blamed for ineffectual financial management and was required to resign and, on 13 January 1255 Pope Alexander IV wrote to the Bishop of St Andrews (position vacant at the time) and to Nicholas de Prenderlathe, abbot of Jedburgh demanding that most of the abbey's income be diverted to paying off debts while only a basic level of income was to be retained for day to day expenses. Slow improvement in the abbey's finances took place over the next forty or so years in a period of relative stability. However, this improvement was only relative; Dryburgh's neighbouring monasteries, with their much more extensive grazing lands, provided the main source of a much higher income.
Changing patronage
Hugh de Morville's line had died out in 1196 on the death of his grandson, William, and the estates passed to William's sister, Helen, whose husband was Lochlann, Lord of Galloway. The semi-independent Lords of Galloway were much wealthier than the de Morvilles but even they could not lavish large amounts on all their dependencies. Lochlann was already benefactor to four religious houses in Galloway that included his own Cistercian establishment of Glenluce Abbey as well as being associated with Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh and the Cumbrian abbey of Holmcultram and the priory of St Bees.
Dryburgh being one of many establishments who sought the generosity of the Galloway lords got a further setback in 1234 when Alan, the last of the line of Galloway lords, died. His property was to be split between three daughters and their husbands. The lands previously held by the de Morvilles were divided again and in the 1250s were held by Helen of Galloway with her husband, Roger de Quincy, the Earl of Winchester, and Dervorguilla of Galloway with her husband, John I de Balliol, Lord of Barnard Castle and Gainford. These new owners in Lauderdale diluted the available patronage yet again as they themselves had pre-existing commitments however the de Quincys did provide a fishing in Mertoun Loch, a burgage at Haddington and lands at Gledswood near Bemerside. Devorguilla's main concern however was her own foundation at Sweetheart Abbey, but she was at Dryburgh in 1281 to settle her lands in England on her son, John Balliol, the future king. Balliol came to the throne of Scotland on St Andrews Day, 1292 but his reign was short and he abdicated in July 1296 following the defeats of the Scots at Berwick and Dunbar at the hands of King Edward I of England. This heralded the end of a long period of stability in the borderlands.
Wars of Scottish Independence
The abbots of Dryburgh, Jedburgh, Melrose and Kelso all submitted to Edward I on 28 August 1296 at an event later to be described as the Ragman Rolls, and so on 2 September, Edward ordered that lands belonging to Dryburgh be restored. From this point up to the year 1316, very few records of the abbey exist; however, it is known that Sir Henry de Percy, one of the senior members of the English occupying force, placed himself and his cortege at Dryburgh in 1310. Despite the abbey's affiliation with the Balliol family, who remained resolutely at odds with the Bruce monarchy, the abbot and canons, before 21 October 1316, expelled two of their rank for refusing to acknowledge Robert as their king; a grateful King Edward II of England rewarded them by providing them with the rent and fishery of the abbey at Berwick.
Evidence is lacking on Robert's participation as a patron of Dryburgh. He certainly used the abbey as a base in July 1316 while conducting raiding expeditions into Northumberland. In retaliation for Bruce's raids in July 1322, Edward II of England took his army north in August y getting as far as Edinburgh. The English army retreated through Lauderdale and looted and burned both the abbeys of Melrose and Dryburgh. Melrose Abbey's reconstruction was generously provided for by Robert while Dryburgh's needs seem to have been ignored. It is unclear why Bruce chose to be so ungenerous towards the canons of Dryburgh, who only received the confirmation of a pre-existing rent of 20 shillings per annum
Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland, Bruce's son-in-law, was not unsympathetic towards the abbey, transferring to it his entitlements from Maxton church and its lands and providing 4 acres (16,000 m2) of land. In 1326, Bishop John de Lindsay of Glasgow endorsed the abbey's possession of the church and allowed the canons to use its considerable income to help fund the rebuilding process. Bruce's brother-in-law, Sir Andrew Murray a Guardian of Scotland during the exile of King David II may also have given holdings in his Smailholm lands Added to these were gifts from lesser donors; people like Patrick de Dunbar, earl of Marsh who gave a handful of possessions while Sir William Abernethy gave lands in Saltoun and various other minor nobles added further packets of land. Robert the Bruce died in June 1329 and in August 1332 Edward Balliol, son of the ousted king John, returned to Scotland with an army provided by the disinherited Scottish landowners and defeated the Scottish army at the Battle of Dupplin Moor, near Perth and had himself crowned King of Scots at Scone. In December, Balliol was attacked at his castle at Annan in Galloway by John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray and Sir Archibald Douglas and was forced to flee into England. With the support of King Edward III of England, Balliol was restored to the Scottish crown but at the price of having to make Edward his overlord and ceding to him the sheriffdoms of Berwick, Dumfries, Edinburgh, Peebles and Selkirk, including the forests of Ettrick and Jedburgh Dryburgh found itself once again under English domination. However, this did not adversely affect the abbey; Sir William de Felton, the new Sheriff of Roxburgh and Keeper of Roxburgh Castle, bought and granted to the abbey a significant burgage in Roxburgh.