rother, the Earl of Buchan,
popularly known as the "Wolf of Badenoch," had descended from the hills
with a band of wild Scots, and burned a considerable part of the town of
Elgin, St. Giles Church, the Maison Dieu, the manses of the clergy, and
the cathedral itself. The bishop appealed for aid and reparation, and
the "Wolf of Badenoch" was compelled to yield, but, on condition that he
should make satisfaction to the bishop and church of Moray and obtain
absolution from the Pope, he was absolved by the Bishop of St. Andrews
in the Blackfriars Church at Perth. Notwithstanding his age and
feebleness, Bishop Bur energetically pressed on the restoration of the
cathedral, and it was continued by Bishops Spynie (1397-1406) and Innes
(1406-1421), and even then it was not completed. It thus occupied many
years, even though it was promoted by grants of the royal favour, by a
third part of the whole revenues of the see being devoted to it for a
time, and by yearly subsidies being levied on every benefice in a
diocese stretching "from the Ness to the Deveron, from the sea to the
passes of Lochaber and the central mountains that divide Badenoch and
Athol."[130] Early in the sixteenth century the central tower showed
signs of weakness, and had to be rebuilt in 1538. It fell in 1711,
destroying the nave and transepts.[131]

The Cathedral of Elgin was complete in all arrangements, and had a large
nave with double aisles, an extended choir and presbytery, north and
south transepts, a lady chapel, and a detached octagonal chapter-house.
It had a great tower and spire over the crossing, two beautiful turrets
at the east end, and two noble towers at the west end. Most of the
existing portions are pronounced to belong to the period when Scottish
architecture was at its best.[132] The existing ruins testify to the
former splendour of the completed structure, which was said to be a
building of Gothic architecture inferior to few in Europe. "Elgin
alone," says Dr. Joseph Robertson, "among the Scottish cathedrals of the
thirteenth century, had two western towers. They are now shorn of their
just height, but still they may be seen from far, lifting their bulk
above the pleasant plain of Murray, and suggesting what the pile must
have been when the amiable and learned Florence Wilson loved to look
upon its magnificence as he meditated his _De Animi Tranquillitate_ on
the banks of the Lossie, and when the great central spire soared to
twice the alt