338 Theory as to the Origin of the Crosses 



About this time Bernard, abbot of Quince [Quin9ay]i retired from 

 Poitiers, because he had refused to subject his monastery, which had 

 been independent to that time, to the abbey of Cluni. ... At last, 

 after much journeying, he visited the venerable bishop Ives,^ who graci- 

 ously received him, and settled him and his monks on the territory of 

 the church of Chartres,^ where he built a monastery dedicated to 8t. 

 Saviour* in a woody district called Tiron. A multitude of the faithful 

 of both orders flocked to him, and father Bernard received in his loving 

 embraces all who were ready to make their profession, enjoining them 

 to practise in his new monastery the occupations which each of them had 

 learnt. In consequence there readily assembled about him workmen, 

 both smiths and carpenters, sculptors and goldsmiths, ])ainters and 

 masons, vine-dressers and ploughmen, with skilled artificers in various 

 branches of labor. They diUgently employed themselves in the tasks 

 assigned them by the abbot, and turned their gains to the common ad- 

 vantage. Thus where lately robbers sheltered themselves in a fright- 

 ful forest, and cut the throats of unwary travelers, on whom they rushed 

 unawares, a stately abbey was, by God's help, quickly reared.^ 



The craftsmen from Tiron displayed their skill in the building of 

 Kelso Abbey, begun in 1128,^ four years after David's accession, 



^ Bernard was Abbot of St. Cyprian at Poitiers in 1100 and for at least 

 four or five years thereafter. He was born near Abbeville about 1046, and 

 died in April, 1116 (so the Necrology of Chartres, p. 161, published by the 

 Soc. Arch. d'Eure-et-Loir, Un Manuscrit Ghartrain du XI^ Siccle, Chartres, 

 1893 ; but Chevalier, Bio-Bibliographie, says 1117). Beatrix, mother of 

 Rotrou, Count of La Perche, gave him lands in the forest of Tiron in 1107. 

 and the monastery was ready to be inhabited by 1109. On account of 

 claims made by the Cluniac monks of Nogent, he obtained a small estate 

 from the Bishop and canons of Chartres (Hist. Litt. de la France 10. 213 ff.). 

 The 12th century life of him is published by the BoUandists under April 25, 

 and is also to be found in Migne, Pair. Lot. 172. 1367-1446. 



2 Ivo of Chartres (ca. 1040-1116), a warm friend of Bernard's, had been 

 the first prior of the abbey of St. Quentin at Beauvais (see p. 131, below). 



^ The deed bears date of Feb. 3, 1113. Bernard had asked for a carucate 

 (carrucatam) of land from the territory belonging to the cathedral of Chartres 

 que est super rivulum qui dicitur Tiro, infra Gardiensem parrochiam, ad edifi- 

 candum monasterium et claustrum {Gartulaire de Noire Dame de Chartres 

 1. 117-8 : Soc. Arch. d'Eure-et-Loir, Chartres, 1865). 



Thiron (such is the modern name) is about eleven miles northeast of 

 Chartres, in the arrondissement of Nogent-le-Rotrou. Gardais is a hamlet 

 belonging to the commune of Thiron. The abbey of Thiron was Benedictine. 



•* Chevalier (Topo-Bibliographie) says the Holy Trinity. 



5 Ordericus Vitalis, Bk. 8, chap. 27 (Bohn 3. 50-51). 



® He had, partly at the instance of Bishop John of Glasgow (Ridpath, 

 Border History of England and Scotland, p. 76), himself a monk from Tiron, 

 removed them to Roxburgh soon after his accession in 1124. 



(126) 



