The Earls continued successively to be bountiful benefactors of the convent. One of them, Malise, in 1258, presented it with certain of his slaves (_nativi_)--namely, Gilmory, Gillendes, and John Starnes, the son of Thomas and grandson of Thore. Absolute serfdom was then a Scottish institution, comprising part of the labouring class, who were bought and sold with the land to which they were attached; and gifts of nativi by their masters to the religious establishments of those times are frequently recorded. After the ancient line of Strathearn had failed in the direct male descent, and when Maurice de Moray, created Earl by David II., had met his death at Durham in 1346, leaving no issue, the King bestowed the Earldom upon his nephew, Robert, the High Steward, afterwards Robert II., who on his accession to the throne (1370) relinquished the Earldom in favour of his son David. Seventy years later the title and estates fell vacant and were merged in the Crown, the bishopric and temporalities being henceforth held in free barony of the Sovereign. The intimate association of Inchaffray Abbey with the national and religious fortunes of Scotland receives further guarantee in 1513. Whether as chaplain or as common soldier, and under what designation, no available narrative declares. But certain it is that the stubborn fight which evoked Scotland's most waefu' dirge, no less than that which occasioned her immortal paean of victory, was graced by an abbot of this monastery. The respective fates of these two divines, however, were widely different. Not even monks, clad though they be in all the panoply of the Church, are safe from sword or arrow. He of Flodden never saw his northern charge again. Unknown, yet not unwept, he fell beneath the spoiler's weapon with the "flowers of the forest." It is noteworthy that Abbots of Inchaffray, _ex-officio_ prelates of Parliament, took little to do with public affairs. They do not seem to have shared at all extensively in the transactions which so often brought together the leaders of the various religious houses. The subjoined list is fragmentary, but authoritative so far as it goes:-- MALIS--The Hermit--was present and acted as the head of the establishment at the beginning. Earl Gilbert must have considered him a person of trust, since he committed to him the important duty of selecting the necessary canons. INNOCENT--The first Abbot--officiated during the lordship of Robert, 1223-1231. ALAN--1258-1271. HUGH--1284. THOMAS--1296. MAURICE--The Bannockburn celebrity--was promoted to the See of his own Diocese of Dunblane. Early in his Episcopate a dispute which arose concerning the lands of Airthrey was submitted to arbiters, one of whom was his successor in the Abbacy of Inchaffray, viz.: CHRISTIAN.