These stalls contain on one of the misereres the arms of the Chisholm family, surmounted by a mitre. Three bishops of this name presided in succession at Dunblane. First, James, eldest son of Edmund Chisholm of Cromlix, who was advanced to this see in 1486. In 1527, by reason of his age, he resigned the bishopric in favour of his half-brother, William Chisholm (second), who was consecrated the same year, and was bishop [Illustration: FIG. 526.--Dunblane Cathedral. Stalls.] till his death in 1564. Third, William Chisholm, nephew to the preceding, who was first coadjutor to his uncle, and then his successor. He was forfeited for non-compliance with the new measures both in Church and [Illustration: FIG. 527.--Dunblane Cathedral. Details of Stalls.] State, sometime before the 3rd July 1573, and retired to France, where he died in his old age a Carthusian at Grenoble. The first of these bishops, James, receives very favourable notice from Bishop Spottiswoode in his _History of the Church_ (Vol. I. p. 215, Spottiswoode Society edition). “A severe censor he was of the corrupted manners of the clergy, and recovered many lands and possessions which were sacrilegiously taken from the Church before his time;” and otherwise he speaks highly of him. The same authority condemns his successor, Bishop William, as “a wicked, vicious man, who, for the hatred he bore to the true religion, made away all the lands of the bishopric, and utterly spoiled the benefice.” Bishop Keith bears the same testimony, saying that “he alienated the Episcopal patrimony of this church to a very singular degree.” The extent to which this alienation went will be best understood from the remark of Bishop Keith regarding the second Bishop William, that he “dilapidated any remains of his bishopric,” clearly implying, as his more detailed account shows, that there was little left to squander. [Illustration: FIG. 528.--Dunblane Cathedral. Wood Carving.] In these circumstances it is not at all probable that either of the Bishops William would spend money in the adornment of their cathedral. There is therefore no difficulty in concluding that the stalls were provided by Bishop James Chisholm, and that they date between the years 1486 and 1534, the year of his death. Although he resigned in 1527, he retained to himself the administration of “the fruits of the bishopric of Dunblane.”[43] The carving is very spirited, and full of grotesque figures (see details in Fig. 527). It corresponds in style with the date of Bishop James Chisholm, and has probably been brought from Flanders, where so much [Illustration: FIG. 529.--Dunblane Cathedral. Misereres of Stalls.] [Illustration: FIG. 530.--Dunblane Cathedral. Monument in Choir.] [Illustration: FIG. 531.--Dunblane Cathedral. Monument in East Bay of Nave.] [Illustration: FIG. 532.--Dunblane Cathedral. Monument in North Aisle of Nave.]