Fig. 199.—Dunfermline Abbey. Plan of Nave.
and also because the number of canons had been increased from thirty to fifty.
In 1249 a dispute arose regarding the consecration of the new choir, but Honorius IV. decided that a new consecration was not necessary, as the consecrated walls of the older part (the nave) continued in use. In the same year Queen Margaret was canonised, and in 1250 her body was transferred from the old church to the new Lady Chapel, in presence of all the chief men in the kingdom. “The translation of the saintly foundress was probably arranged,” says Professor Innes, “to give solemnity to the opening of the new church.”[157] Soon after this the abbey is described by Matthew of Westminster, who probably saw it, as of vast extent, and containing such magnificent palaces that three kings, with their trains, might be accommodated within its walls.
“This sumptuous pile was destroyed and levelled with the ground by the soldiers of Edward in 1303, excepting only the church and a few dwellings for the monks.”[158]
The Exchequer Rolls inform us of the great expense sometimes incurred in connection with the tombs of the illustrious persons buried in the abbey.[159]
The monastic buildings were, as we have seen, on a very magnificent scale; but of the church, and all the splendid structures connected with the abbey, there now only remain ([Fig. 198]) the Norman nave, the base of the Lady Chapel, and part of the refectory and kitchen.
