Heritors, Patrons and Ministers: the Patronage Dispute of Rayne, Aberdeenshire, 1743–4. Issue 1 (April 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mutch, Alistair
• Is Part Of: Scottish church history. Volume 50:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 28
• Page End: 46
• Publication Date: 2021-04
• Subjects: patronage -- presbytery -- heritors -- Garioch -- Aberdeenshire; Christianity -- Scotland -- Periodicals; Christianity -- Scotland -- History -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Church history -- Periodicals; 274.11005
• DOI: 10.3366/sch.2021.0042
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2516-6301

Abstract

Abstract : The contested settlement at Rayne, Aberdeenshire in 1743–4 is set in the context of a number of intersecting factors. While intra-elite disputes are an important part of the contest, account needs to be taken of the history of patronage disputes in the presbytery of Garioch in the years following 1712. An important consideration was the challenge of episcopalianism, with the presbytery seeing itself as a bulwark against the manipulation of patronage by episcopalian or Jacobite gentry. Disputes at Oyne in 1728 and Culsalmond in 1734 show how the tensions between presbytery and heritors could rouse popular involvement. However, they also indicate how such involvement was constrained by threats of elite coercion. The contest at Rayne resulted in the success of a candidate who added to the more 'polite' wing of the presbytery and in turn shaped the response to patronage. Presbytery turned from contesting presentations to acting to facilitate them.