 Robert III granted Bur an annuity of £ 20 for the period of the bishop 's lifetime , and the Pope provided income from the Scottish Church during the following decade . In 1400 , Bur wrote to the Abbot of <unk> complaining that the abbot 's prebendary churches in the Moray diocese had not paid their <unk> towards the cathedral restoration . In the same year Bur wrote to the rector of <unk> church , telling him that he now owed three years ' <unk> of the subsidy that had been imposed on non @-@ prebendary churches in <unk> . Again , on 3 July 1402 , the burgh and cathedral precinct were attacked , this time by Alexander of Lochaber , brother of <unk> of Islay , Lord of the Isles ; he spared the cathedral but burned the manses . For this act , Lochaber and his captains were excommunicated , prompting Lochaber 's return in September to give reparation and gain <unk> . In <unk> , the money saved during an <unk> vacancy was diverted to the rebuilding process and in <unk> a grant from the customs of Inverness was provided . Increasingly , the appropriation of the parish church revenues led in many cases to churches becoming dilapidated and unable to attract educated priests . By the later Middle Ages , the standard of pastoral care outside the main <unk> had significantly declined . 
