354 Theory as to the Origin of the Crosses 



It appears most reasonable, then, to conclude that the earliest 

 form (1331) of whose spelling we can be at all sure, Ryvel (unless, 

 with Chalmers, we assume Bagimond's Roll (1275) to have had 

 Rieval) , is the lineal ancestor of the modern spoken Rivvel, and that 

 all other forms represent either variations in the quality of the 

 stressed vowel, or perversions due to a false etymology. If such 

 is the case, it seems most natural to assume a connection between 

 the name Ryvel (Ryvale) in Scotland and the name Ry(e)vall (Rie- 

 valle, Rivall, Revall), representing the Yorkshire Rievaulx ; and such 

 an assumption we have seen to be plausible, in the light of the in- 

 fluence which that famous abbey had in Scotland, and of the con- 

 nection maintained between Yorkshire and Annandale through the 

 family of Bruce. 



5. THE POSSIBLE INFLUENCE OF FLEURY (ST. BENOIT-SUR- 

 LOIRE) 



According to Keith- Spottiswoode,^ three monasteries in Scotland 

 were related to Fleury. These were Coldingham, Dunfermline, and 

 Urquhart ^ ; but I can find no confirmation of this statement. 



Indications of a relation between the Ruthwell Cross and the abbey 

 church of St. Benoit may perhaps be found in the similarities between 

 the sculptured Flight into Egypt and Visitation of the former and 

 those of the latter.^ 



An influence of the sculptures of St. Benoit upon English work 

 might be conjectured from the relations of that monastery with 

 England in the 10th century .* At the reform of EngUsh monasticism 

 by Dunstan and iEthelwold, it became important to insist upon the 

 stricter Benedictine rule, as it was held and practised by its authentic 

 representatives ; and what monastery more fit to lay down the pure 

 law than that where the bones of the founder reposed, after they 

 had been brought northward from Monte Cassino ? Thus Odo, 

 Archbishop of Canterbury, sent his nephew, Oswald, to the abbey 

 where he himself had passed some time. After Oswald's return, 

 he set out for Rome with Oskytel, Archbishop of York, but ' was 

 unable to pass by the walls of Fleury,' where he lingered. Thence 

 he was recalled by the urgent solicitations of Oskytel (ca. 961), to 

 aid in the introduction of a stricter form of discipline into the northern 



■' Hist. Cat. of the Scottish Bishops, pp. 401 ff. 



2 Priory of Dunfermline, ca. 1130 (Lawrie, Early Scottish Charters, p. 350). 



^ See above, pp. 49, 52. 



* Cf. above, p. 130, note 6 from preceding page. 



(142) 



