stly--nay, would love and everywhere honour
them as his most especial friends, and would add to the possessions of
their house whatsoever he might by the counsel of his friends. He
particularly confirmed to them the Churches at Gask and Strogeath."

The year 1240 witnessed Inchaffray narrowly becoming Chapter of the
Diocese. "Clement, Bishop of Dunblane, went to Rome, and represented to
Pope Gregory IX. how of old time his bishopric had been vacant upwards of
a hundred years, during which period almost all the revenues had been
seized by the seculars; and although in process of time there had been
several bishops instituted, yet, by their simplicity or negligence, the
former dilapidations were not recovered, but, on the contrary, the
remainder were almost quite alienated; so that for ten years a proper
person could not be found to accept of the charge; that the case having
been laid before the Pope, he had committed the trust of supplying that
vacancy to the Bishops of St. Andrews, Dunkeld, and Brechin, who made
choice of this Clement; but he found his church so desolate that he had
not where to lay his head in his cathedral. There was no college there,
only a rural chaplain performed divine service in the church that had its
roof uncovered; and the revenues of the See were so small that they could
hardly afford him maintenance for one half of the year. To remedy these
evils the Pope appointed William and Geoffrey, the Bishops of Glasgow and
Dunkeld, to visit the Church of Dunblane, and if they should find these
things to be as represented, he authorised them to cause the fourth part
of the tithes of all the parish churches within that diocy to be assigned
to the bishop thereof, who, after reserving out of these tithes so much
as should be proper for his own sustenance, was by the advice of these
two bishops and other expert persons to assign the rest to a dean and
canons whom the Pope enjoined to be settled there, if these matters could
be brought about without great offence; or, if otherwise, he ordered that
the fourth of the tithes of all such churches of the diocy as were in the
hands of seculars should be assigned to the bishop, and that the bishop's
seat should be translated to St. John's Monastery of Canons-regular,
(_i.e._, Inchaffray), within that diocy, and appointed that these canons
should have the election of the bishop when a vacancy should happen
thereafter." Either "these things were found to be not s