Before the Reformation, the reciprocal relationship between the two was that the laird of Wemyss would provide protection for the nuns during periods of English invasion, and, in return, the priory leased certain of its lands to him.
Cistercians maintained “an establishment of labourers” for agricultural labor, tilling, gardening, tending orchards and fields, and keeping sheep and cattle.
[16] Euphemia Leslie (often presented in documents as Eupheme, Eufeme, or Euphame] is perhaps the most well-known prioress, yet her parentage and family connections have been the subject of much speculation.
[25] Though the prioresses would have come mainly from wealthy families, Curran speculates that some of the nuns were daughters of common folk, noting specifically Katrina Smith, whose surname, she believes, indicates humble origins.
In a document of 1532, the prioress signed as “Eufem priores with our hand,” but the names of the other nine, who were recorded as “siesciens scribere” (not knowing to write), were written down by the notary.
Indeed, on 20 June that year, he signed a deed in which he granted his “firm peace and protection to the Prioress and the religious women with her for their lands, their men, and their whole possessions and goods, moveable and immoveable, ecclesiastical and secular.”[30] Notice of this service was published on 1 July at the market cross of Haddington in East Lothian since some of the property of the priory, the Standards (or Standardlandis), was situated in the constabulary of Haddington.
He apparently was planning to meet up with the king the following day, but during the night, earl William, who had entered into a feud with Raghnall, took advantage of his vassal’s proximity.
In the middle of the night, he broke into the monastery, killed Raghnall and seven of his men, and fled north, others following, so that the king was left short-handed on the eve of his invasion.
[35] After Scotland’s defeat by England’s Henry VIII at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, September 1547, the English tried to establish themselves in the Scottish Lowlands and Border areas, and on 29 December the English commander at Broughty “sent Mr. Wyndham to burn a nunnery within 2 miles of St. Johnstoun [Perth] who brought away all the nuns and many gentlemen’s daughters at school with them.”[36]: 52 [37] Sir John Wemyss, who was charged with their protection, came to their assistance after this attack, giving them money for repairs to the church and other buildings.
[38][36]: 53 A few years later, he lent them 200 merks to relieve debts which were about to place them “under process of cursing,” a form of excommunication which has been described as “legal execution against person and property” and “the preliminary step of a warrant for arrest and imprisonment, and for the impounding and seizure of goods.”[39][40] In such a case, the religious work of the priory would have come to an end.
However, it would appear that they were unable to return to Elcho as it was beyond their means to repair.”[36]: 53 By the end of 1570, Euphemia Leslie had died and the commendatorship of the priory had passed to Andrew Moncrieff, who conveyed the monastery along with its “orchards, precincts, and pertinents” to his brother William, describing them all as “lying waste and without inhabitant.” Though no longer at the monastery, the nuns were probably still in the neighborhood, possibly under Wemyss's protection, as they “appointed him their procurator to pursue the commendator and his father for satisfaction and sustentation of them during their lives.”[41] Euphemia Leslie and two of her servants are known to have resided in a property in Perth from the time they left the priory until her death.
[42] One of them, Helen Stewart, married and, with her husband, acknowledged receiving a yearly pension of 20 merks from the rents of Elcho paid by the then laird of Wemyss.