The Vale of Virtue

The Vale of Virtue

Here stood in medieval times the Carthusian or Charterhouse monastery complex, reaching as far as where the bus station is today. It was founded by King James I in 1429. The 12 monks lived like hermits in small houses with gardens and the complex would have a church. In the grounds, King James I was buried at the grand and ornate church’s high altar in 1437 after his brutal murder in Perth. There is nothing left of the buildings to see after the people of Perth ransacked the place during the Scottish Reformation, which broke out in Perth in 1559 after a sermon of John Knox in St John’s Kirk. It is said that James I’s grave is still there, but it hasn’t been found yet. The grounds of Perth’s Charterhouse, called the “Vale of Virtue”, lie on the land in front of you where today the King James VI Hospital stands (founded in 1569 by royal charter), and reached as far back as today’s Bus Station in St Leonard’s Street. The high rise tenements are called the Pomarium Flats, whose name harks back to the monastery’s apple orchards. Walk down the steps and you enter Paradise Place, and the actual location of the monastery. Perth’s Charterhouse is the only Carthusian monastery in Scotland. Their main income was, just like the other monasteries around Perth (Franciscans – the Greyfriars to the south east, Carmelites – the Whitefriars in the West, Dominicans – the Blackfriars in the North) from land and tenants in the city. They prayed for the soul of King James I, and if you were a wealthy, important or influential citizen, or a royal, you secured a burial place as close to the altar as your status and financial means allowed you to also benefit from their spiritual work. The closer you were, the better the prayers would protect you and help you to get into Heaven after you died.

reconsites

eulac3d

Site

11

19/03/2021

cm x cm x cm

current,56.394845002469665,-3.434938788414002;

The Vale of Virtue

TEXT

https://medievalperth.org/wiki/index.php/The_Vale_of_Virtue

Building

29

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