44 REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1903 



The following is its earliest charter of foundation: — "David, 

 King of Scots, to the Bishops, Abbots, Knights, Barons, 

 representatives, and to all his faithful in his whole kingdom, 

 greeting. Be it known unto you that I have given and 

 made this grant for ever to God and Holy Mary, and to the 

 monks of Newbattle. In witness whereof, Ruchal; Alwinus, 

 Abbot of Edinburgh; Gilbert, Prior; Edward, Chancellor; 

 Duncan, Knight ; Hugo de Morewyll ; and Macbeth of Liberton. 

 Given at Edinburgh." The Cistercian Order, for which it was 

 founded, originated at Citeaux, near Dijoo, in Burgundy, in 

 1098. Its greatest Saint was Bernard of Clairvaux, the great 

 medieval hymn-writer, who really put the Order into shape, 

 and founded the Abbey of Clairvaux (that is "bright valley"), 

 in what had once been "the vale of wormwood." As 

 early as 1250 a.d. the Cistercians possessed eight thousand 

 monasteries and convents. As Citeaux colonized Clairvaux, 

 so Clairvaux colonised Furness, Fountains, and Rievaulx ; 

 from Eievaulx, Dundrennan in Galloway, Glenluce, Cupar, 

 Kinloss, Culross, Deir, Balmerino, Melrose, and Newbattle. 

 All Cistercian monasteries were dedicated to St. Mary, and were 

 generally built in a wooded valley on the shore of a river ; 

 and their motto, as reflecting their founder's ideas, usually 

 took this form: — "It is good for us to be here, where 

 man lives more purely, falls more rarely, rises more quickly, 

 treads more cautiously, rests more securely, dies more happily, 

 is absolved more easily, and rewarded more plenteously." 

 The Abbey Church follows the usual Cistercian plan, having 

 a short choir and long nave, transepts, and a central tower, 

 which was required to be low, and often terminated in a 

 pyramidal roof, as may be seen in the present parish church. 

 The nave contained nine bays, and is about 167 feet 4 inches 

 in length, and about 57 feet in width. The transepts are 

 about 28 feet wide, and the total length of the interior of the 

 building was 239 feet 3 inches. The Church was consecrated 

 by the Bishop of Moray, 16th March 1233; was burned by 

 Eichard II. 1389; was the residence of Edward I. 1296, and 

 of Princess Margaret of England 1503 ; and was finally burned 

 down by the Earl of Hertford, 15th May 1544. Mark Ker, 

 son of Sir Andrew Cessford, was Abbot at the Reformation 

 of 1560, and, becoming a Reformer, at the dissolution of the 



