THE SCOTTISH CHAPEL ROYAL AS CULTURAL INTERMEDIARY BETWEEN TOWN AND COURT

THEO VAN HEIJNSBERGEN

In the fifteenth century, the Scottish royal court was unable to pro• vide continuous cultural patronage, and its own sporadic instances of such patronage were frequently outstripped by the efforts of powerful noble families whose names are linked to many of the liter• ary productions of the period. However, at the end of the century, James III (1460-1488) began to gather artists around him at court, and he sent painters and musicians abroad to increase their skills.1 Unfortunately, James's patronage of these men seems to have been controversial; his alienated aristocratic subjects turned first on these royal favourites, many of whom were of a relatively obscure back• ground, and, shortly afterwards, they dispatched their monarch as well (1488).2 It is an apt illustration of James's cultural schemes vis-à-vis his rather less than independent political position that the single main dispute that has been identified as the occasion—though not the cause—of his downfall was his attempt to appropriate church livings that belonged to one of the powerful noble families in order to use them for a specifically royal purpose, the establishment of a Chapel Royal.3 James aspired to be a truly modern sovereign over a nation that had its own cultural identity, an identity that would in its turn reinforce the reputation of the sovereign because it was close• ly tied up with the royal cause, and for that reason he wanted to erect

1 Ch. Rogers, History of the Chapel Royal of Scotland (London 1882) xii-xxii. 2 N. Macdougall, "The Sources: a Reappraisal of the Legend", in: J.M. Brown (ed.), Scottish Society in the Fifteenth Century (London 1977) 10-32, neutralises many of the myths relating to this episode that have become mixed up with histori• cal fact; see also R. Nicholson, The Edinburgh History of Scotland. Vol.11: Scotland— The Later Middle Ages (Edinburgh 1974) 502-505. In spite of these ambiguities, it is clear that James III had alienated himself from his nobility and must have relied to some extent on more obscure characters. 3 N. Macdougall, "Crown vs Nobility: the Struggle for the Priory of Colding- ham, 1472-1488", in: K.J. Stringer (ed.), Essays on the Nobility of Medieval Scotland (Edinburgh 1985) 254-269; idem James III: a Political Study (Edinburgh 1982) 231- 232; idem, "The Struggle for the Priory of Coldingham, 1472-1488", Innes Review 23 (1972) 102-114; Rogers, History (as in n.1) xviii, xxiii, ccxlvi. 300 THEO VAN HEIJNSBERGEN a Chapel Royal, a semi-clerical body that would have both an inter­ nal function, providing entertainment and religious service for the court circle, as well as an external one, embodying the power and glory of the monarch during ceremonies of state, marriages, bap­ tisms, royal entries and visits by foreign ambassadors and princes. This desire ended in a puddle of blood; but his son, the one true Renaissance king of Scotland, had learnt his lesson well. Although James IV (1488-1513) changed a few details of his father's plan, he eventually did manage to erect a financially sound Chapel Royal (1501) in his own castle of Stirling. Stirling, an ancient capital of the kingdom, was the safest royal seat; it served as the formidable stronghold of royal widows and minors who sought refuge against powerful factions of nobles, and, once these minors had started their personal reign, Stirling provided the setting to which they would withdraw when they wished to get away from the world of politics in Edinburgh and enjoy the more unburdened aspects of court life instead. The Chapel Royal was a collegiate church, with a dean, a treasurer, a sacristan, and a chanter or precentor. All in all, it could employ sixteen canons as well as six boy choristers in training and, when in 1504 a papal bull added another ten canons to this number, there was a choir of thirty-two voices that could deal with intricate pieces of music such as the compositions of Robert Carver (c.1485- c.1568). Carver, canon of the Chapel Royal, is at last receiving scholarly attention; works like Ό Bone Iesu', Carver's astounding motet for nineteen voices, put the music of Scotland on a level with that of contemporary Europe and make it sufficiently clear why the Stewart kings made the Chapel Royal of Stirling an important focus of their patronage: it was a 'centre of excellence' that they could put to good private as well as public use.4

4 On the erection of the Chapel Royal, see Rogers, History (as in n.1) passim; J.G. Dalyell, A Brief Analysis of the Abbey ofCambuskenneth, the Chapel Royal of Stirling, the Preceptory of St Anthony of Leith (Edinburgh 1828) 47-58; D. Laing, "Historical Notices of the Provostry of Kirkheugh, St Andrews", Proceedings of the Society of Anti­ quaries of Scotland 4 (1863) 76-86. On Carver, see DJ. Ross, Mustek Fyne. Robert Carver and the Art of Music in Sixteenth Century Scotland (Edinburgh 1993); J. Purser, Scotland's Music (Edinburgh/London 1992) passim; I. Woods, "Towards a Biogra­ phy of Robert Carvor", Music Review 48/49 (1988) 83-101. The Scottish Chapel Royal was modelled on the English Chapel Royal of Edward IV, and what we know of the Scottish Chapel indeed reveals similarities with its English counterpart. One of James Ill's favourites was the Englishman William Rogers, who had been re­ tained at the Scottish court by James III when he had come on an embassy from