sentences:  Few of its early abbots are known and its history is more generally covered by a cloud of obscurity.One notable abbot (1504-1509) was the Italian alchemist John Damian, ( in Italian "Giovanni Damiano de Falcucci"), was an who, if a satirical account in two poems by William Dunbar is based in fact, may have made an attempt at human-powered flight from the walls of Stirling Castle.The fabric and discipline of the abbey had degenerated by the early sixteenth century.