The Scottish Monasteries Of Old (e-book) (used book) | bookbook.eu

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Excerpt from The Scottish Monasteries of Old: A Brief Account of the Houses Which Existed in Scotland, Before the Protestant Reformation, for Monks Following the Rule of St. Benedict

To the ordinary reader the history of the Scottish monasteries of old is far from familiar. It is true that for many years past various antiquarian societies have given to the world the chartularies of some of the old abbeys and priories, but these are not likely to attract any except professed students of antiquity; for apart from the uninteresting nature of their contents, as far as the average reader is concerned, the language in which they are written - Latin of a curious style, often rendered more obscure by recognised abbreviations in vogue at the period in which they were penned - would debar the majority from attempting to master their meaning.

Of some few monasteries, it is true, monographs have been published, but in many instances their writers display a want of understanding of the Religious State (only to be expected in ardent advocates of a faith hostile to that of the inmates of the dwellings whose history they relate), which well nigh counteracts the benefits offered by such treatises in the shape of valuable local traditions.