Frequent contests between the Culdees of Kilrimont and the Prior and Canons of St. Andrews can be traced in the Register of that Priory. The Culdees seem to have been connected with the Comyns and their adherents, and to have profited by the preponderance of the national party during the stormy minority of Alexander the Third; for not only was a Papal Bull issued in favour of the married clergy of Scotland, representing that they were unjustly debarred from their rights,[372] but the Prior and Culdees were about this time converted, by the authority of a similar document, into the Provost and Chapter of St. Mary’s; though a proviso was introduced into the latter Bull to secure the privileges of the Canons of St. Andrews.[373] For a short time the Provost and Chapter of St. Mary’s appear to have been placed on a similar footing with the Culdee Chapters of Brechin and Dunblane, and to have re-established a claim to share in the election of the Bishop of St. Andrews; but they were once more reduced to their former subordination after the state of Scotland became more settled, and when the national party came to terms with the opposite faction, to which the Canons of St. Andrews appear to have adhered.[374] At the close of the century the Culdees again make their appearance, when they elected their provost, William Comyn, to the bishopric of St. Andrews, and as they still followed the fortunes of the party which now supported Balliol, their appeal to Rome, in support of this election, was backed by the whole interest of Edward of England.[375] The pope, however, decided against the Culdees, and as they were now connected with the losing side, they shared in the downfall of the Balliols, and were finally subjected to the jurisdiction of the bishop of St. Andrews.[376] From this time nothing more is heard of the Culdees, though their monastery still existed in dependance on their former rivals; and as in the sister island the Reformation found a prior and twelve Culdees amongst the recognized clergy at Armagh, so at the same era in Scotland, a prior and twelve prebendaries still remained in the little monastery of Kirkheugh, humble representatives of the once powerful and high-born Culdees of Kilrimont. CHAPTER XI. MALCOLM THE FOURTH--A.D. 1153–1165. [Sidenote: A. D. 1153.]