Series 3 > Charters of the Abbey of Inchcolm

INTRODUCTION
The island of Inchcolm is situated in the Firth of Forth,
five-eighths of a mile from the shore of Fife and approxi¬
mately one-and-a-half miles south of Aberdour. The
ruins of the Abbey lie on the northern side of the isle and
can be distinguished at a considerable distance. They
have been restored and are carefully preserved by H.M.
Office of Works. A detailed account of the remaining
buildings of the Abbey is given in the Eleventh Report of
the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monu¬
ments of Scotland {Fife, Kinross and Clackmannan), (1933),
No. 14.
The Foundation of the Monastery
The foundation-charter of the monastery has not been
preserved, and the earliest complete record of its endow¬
ments is the bull of Pope Alexander in. of the year 1178.1
Its foundation, however, is unanimously ascribed by
medieval writers to King Alexander i. (1106/07-1124),2
and the date of its foundation is given in the Scotichronicon
as c. 1123.3 The story of its foundation, told in the
1 The year in which the bull was issued is given in this form throughout,
as corresponding with the date which appears in the bull.
2 Scotichr., v., cap. xxxvii. ; Extracta, pp. 66-67 I Bisset, Raiment of
Courtis, ii., pp. 115-1x6 ; Lesley, History (tr. Dalrymple), Pt. 1., p. 324.
Purves [Revenue of the Scottish Crown (1681), p. 105) ascribes its foundation
to Murdoch, Earl of Fife; but from the fact that he describes the com¬
munity as ‘ Ordinis Cisterciensis,’ it is probable that he confused Inchcolm
with Culross.
3 Scotichr., v., cap. xxxvii. The reading MXXXIIII. of the Coupar and
Perth MSS. is an obvious error. Extracta, p. 66, says c. 1024, a scribal error
for 1124, but it quotes the rhyme (which is given in the Scotichronicon) in
which the foundation is assigned to the year 1123 [ibid., p. 67).
xlii