CULLEN, Alexander Rector of Oyne parish, Master ¹

   User ID: X365.

  General Notes:

"A document of 1519 records a chaplainry of £8 founded by the late Mr Alexander Cullen, rector of Oyne, at the altar of St
Nicholas of Aberdeen, and outwith the common distribution of the choir of the cathedral. Cullen died c.1514." (page 29)

"A second chantry of St Nicholas, founded by Mr Alexander Cullen, the rector of Oyne, was in the gift of the bishop by 1519." (page 298)

all from Medieval Burgh Kirk ¹

  Research Notes:

"MR ALEXANDER CULLEN"

Two men are referred to as "Mr Alexander Cullen" in Aberdeen, in the first half of the 16th century, who have been confused. One was the "Rector of Oyne", who died in 1514. The other, without that designation, was alive much later, at about 1539-1540.

PARENTAGE AND FAMILY

This Alexander Cullen is place here speculatively. The relationship to the Cullens who were patrons of the Cullen alter suggests he was a member of this family and his dates suggest this sort of placing.

CHANTRY

"A Chantry, also known as a chantry chapel, is a memorial or even a complete building dedicated to the memory of a person or family. In the medieval period it was common for wealthy patrons of a church to give a grant of money to pay for a priest to say prayers for themselves and their family."

from Church History website

RECTOR

A 'rector' is a person who has complete control of a parish under ecclesiastical law. It can be interchangeable with 'parson. In contrast, a 'vicar' is a priest of a parish, authorised to serve his congregation by the bishop, who receives a salary or stipend, but not tithes. In modern times, these terms may blur into one another. In medieval times, however, there were serious distinctions. This was due to the control of the land and the produce of the land. The local landlord might have built or endowed a church and claimed rights over it: who would serve in it; what would be spent on it; how much land might be needed to sustain the church and its priest. The priest who performed the religious services, that is the vicar, may have been paid only a tiny amount of the benefits that accrued to the parish as endowed by the landlord. So, someone else could enjoy the largest part of the income generated to the parish and its church, the rector, while the vicar, the priest, led the worship for considerably less.

CHAPLAIN

In medieval time, a chaplain was in charge of a chapel.

OYNE

Oyne is a parish in the district of Garioch in Aberdeenshire. It was a prebend of Aberdeen in the medieval period, meaning that the source of the stipend attached to it came from the revenues of the Cathedral at Aberdeen. The rector of the parish received his income from the revenues accruing to the Cathedral. ^{2 3 4 5 6 7}