Probably the original church of Malcolm stood where the new choir was afterwards erected, and David I. added the Norman nave to it. The nature of the site seems to favour this view, as the ground to the west slopes rapidly away, and scarcely allows room for the west end of the nave; while the conventual buildings, for want of suitable space, have had to be carried with an archway over a public street.
It is believed that Alexander I. contemplated the erection of the church into an abbey, and had possibly made arrangements for the introduction of monks. At any rate, in the year of the accession of his successor, David I. (1124), canons of the Order of St. Augustine were brought from Canterbury and established at Dunfermline.
It was, no doubt, soon after that event that David I. carried out extensive works at the new monastery, and probably added the Norman nave to the then existing church of his parents, Margaret and Malcolm. The monastery continued to flourish, and was largely endowed. The early church was soon found to be too small, and it was resolved to rebuild it, so as to form a new choir and transept worthy of the dignity and importance of the convent. This was accordingly carried out between 1216 and 1226, when the choir, with its aisles, the transept, and the presbytery were erected. Abbot Patrick, who had formerly been Dean
[Illustration: FIG. 198.--Dunfermline Abbey. Plan.]
and Prior of Canterbury, presided at Dunfermline during the whole of the above time. After him came Abbot William (II.), whom we find appealing to Pope Honorius III. for certain patronages and presentations on account of the great expense incurred during the last ten years in carrying on the extended fabric, whereby the monastery had been greatly impoverished. Again, in 1231, a similar appeal was made to Pope Gregory IX., both on account of the expenses of the church,
[Illustration: 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.