the temporalities of the abbey on 6 October 1526 until his death 1539. Pope Paul III received King James V’s recommendation of Thomas Erskine as the next commendator in November 1539 but was not confirmed until April 1541 due to a contesting provision. In 1541, hostilities between Scotland and England resumed but Dryburgh remained untouched until 7 November 1544 when Edward Seymour, earl of Hertford, burned the town of Dryburgh and its abbey. He returned in 1545 and again set fire to the abbey. Erskine was captured at Dover when the Scottish warship he was aboard foundered while en route to France prompting Marie de Guise, widow of James V, to call for his release. Erskine was ransomed for £500 and Dryburgh would have been expected to provide amply to the settlement and it may have been the need to obtain funds that, in July 1548, he resigned his commendatorship to his brother John. Like most of his commendatory forebears, John Erskine took very little interest in the spiritual side of the abbey but was an important personage in the politics of Scotland during the reigns of James V, Mary, Queen of Scots, and James VI. John was commendator until 1556 when he stepped down in favour of his nephew, David Erskine. David Erskine received the bulls confirming his office in July 1556 and set about quickly alienating the possessions of the abbey by granting lands to important local families. Erskine took part in the kidnapping of James VI known as the Raid of Ruthven but when the king escaped from his imprisonment in Ruthven castle, he and his accomplices fled to England. Erskine was deprived of his lands and the commendatorship of Dryburgh Abbey was given to William Stewart. William Stewart held the commendatorship for just over a year when in 1585 David Erskine found favour once more with James VI and all of his possessions and appellations were reinstated. In June 1600, Erskine wrote to a relative saying that all the canons had now died and marked the ending of the monastery. In 1604, the remaining possessions of the abbey were integrated into the Lordship of Cardross of John Erskine, the then Earl of Mar. Henry Erskine, Mar’s son received the titular title of commendator of Dryburgh Abbey. Routine of the canons The daily routine of the canons was made up of religious services, agricultural duties, household functions,