In 1335 King Edward III. was in Perth and slew his brother, John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall, before the high altar of the Church of St. John, for his excesses and ravages in the western districts of Scotland.
In 1379 the tomb of Robert II. was brought from Leith to Perth, and temporarily deposited in St. John's Church before being taken to the Abbey of Scone and set up in it.[1]
In 1393-4, after the holding of a Parliament at Scone, Walter Trail, Bishop of St. Andrews, performed divine service in St. John's Church.[2]
From 1401 till 1553-6 there is a continuous record[3] of the founding of altars in the parish church, and of endowments to already existing altars. In one of these, founded in 1402, it is stipulated that if the stipend of the chaplain of St. James the Apostle should exceed a certain sum, the excess of the endowment meant for that altar should be applied by the Provost and Town Council "for the maintenance and reparation of the windows and ornaments of the parish church."
The chapel in which St. James's altar was situated stood on the south side of the church, and having fallen into a state of ruin, it had been rebuilt about the year 1400, chiefly with the assistance which the magistrates received from William Whitson, a wealthy burgess of Perth.
By a notarial instrument made in 1410, containing certain obligations and confirmations, Euphame, Countess of Stratherne, "gave her bodily oath on the gospels to observe the same. Done in the Parish Church of the Burgh of Perth on St. Martin's altar."[4]
The foundation charter of the altar of St. John the Evangelist, founded in 1448 by Sir John de Bute, states that the altar was situated "in the new choir of the Parish Church."
The accounts of the Lord High Treasurer contain a payment under the year 1489—"To the Kirk werk of Pertht, xviijs."[5] And again in 1496—"Item, the xij day of March, in Sanct Johnstoun, giffin to the kirk werk on the bred (altar) xjs. vjd."[6] Along with other offerings at this time in St. John's there occurs the following—"Item, that samyn day giffin to Walter Merlioune, masoune, for his fee quhill Witsonday nixt tocum, quhilk is the Mertymes fee bipast, xxlib."
This church has the unenviable notoriety of having been the centre whence issued, in 1559, the unruly mob who in a short time demolished the splendid monasteries and other numerous religious houses of Perth and the neighbourhood, and whose example was only too readily followed by other communities throughout the whole country. Such was the effect of a sermon preached here by John Knox. The fabric of St. John's was
- ↑ Exchequer Rolls, Vol. II. p. cxii.; Vol. III. p. lxxii.
- ↑ Book of Perth, p. xxvi., by John Lawson: Edinburgh, 1847.
- ↑ Perth: Its Annals and Archives, by David Peacock, 1849, p. 589.
- ↑ Historical Manuscripts Commission, 14th Report, Appendix, Part III. p. 26.
- ↑ Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer, Vol. I. p. 121.
- ↑ Ibid. p. 323.
