MELROSE
171
MELZI
Cruciform in shape, built in English Perpendicular,
Decorated, and Flamljoyant styles, two hundred and
fifty feet in length, Melrose was distinguished for the
fairy-like lightness of its carvings and window-trac-
ery, finished with exquisite care. Not only the royal
founder, but succeeding sovereigns, and countless
benefactors, nobles an(l commoners, so richly en-
dowed Melrose with lands and possessions that its an-
nual revenue is computed at one hundred thousand
pounds of present money value. One example of the
application of such revenues is told in twelfth century
records. During a time of famine four thousand
starving people were fed by the monastery for three
months. Many of the abbots were men of distinction:
Abbot Waltheof (114S), stepson of David I, and hon-
oured as a saint; Abbot Joscelin, afterwards Bishop of
Glasgow (1175), took a prominent part in the erection
of the fine cathedral of that city, as a shrine for the
is founded solely upon the Cotton ian Manuscript,
Faustina B. ix, in tlie British .Museum, the only
ancient copy preserved. .^^U others are transcripts
from this one original. The names of its authors are
unknown, but some expressions used by them prove
this chronicle to have been written in the abbey,
whilst evidence from writing shows it to have been
the work of monks who were inmates of Melrose in
successive periods. The first portion, namely from
the commencement to about the year 1140, is a com-
pilation from the .\nglo-Saxon Chronicle and other ex-
isting histories by Simeon of Durham and Hoveden.
This portion should, therefore, be used with caution.
The second portion, namely from about the year 1140
to the abrupt termination of the Chronicle in 1270, is
considered by historians to be possessed of the highest
credibility. The information is then quite original
and the numerous and progressive variations in the
body of St. Mungo; Abbot Robert (1268) had been
formerly Chancellor of Scotland; Abbot Andrew
(1449) became Lord High Treasurer; many others were
raised to the episcopate. The English troops of Henry
VIII burned Melro.se in 1544. Although the monks
once numbered two hundred, and there were one
hundred and thirty as late as twenty years before the
Reformation, eleven only received pensions at the dis-
solution, so quickly must they have been dispersed.
After many vicissitudes, the possessions of the abbey
came finally to the Buceleuch family. The ruins were
further devastated by a fanatical mob in 1569, when
statues and carvings were ruthlessly destroyed; but
more wanton still was the subsequent carting away of
the sacred stones in great numbers to serve as building
materials. The result is seen in the carved religious em-
blems still appearing upon surrounding houses. The
ruins of the once noble abbey form a strikingly beau-
tiful picture from the North British Railway, about
thirty-seven miles south of Edinburgh.
Liber (U Metros, ed. Innes (2 vols., Bannatvne Club. 1837); Morton, Monastic Annals ofTevioldale (1832); Scottish Cister- cian Houses in Dublin Review (April, 1902).
Michael Barrett.
Melrose, Chronicle of (Chronica de Mailros). — It opens with the year 735, ends abruptly in 1270, and
handwriting show that it is generally, if not always,
contemporaneous. The Manuscript, now in the
British .Museum, was probably carried off from Melrose
at the time of the Reformation. It was edited in
1835 by J. Stevenson, S.J., for the Bannatyne Club.
The Oxford edition issued in l(iS4 by I'^ulman is by no
means satisfactory, as the editor had no opportunity
of collating the (Jxford transcript with the original.
Besides its chronicle, Melro.se has handed down
hundreds of charters and royal writs, dating from the
reign of David I to that of Bruce, and forming a most
valuable collection, rich in illustrations of the social
life and economy of the period. They were edited
by Cosmo Innes.
Stevenson. Chronica de Mailros (Edinburgh, 1835); Innes, Liber de S. Marie de Metros (Edinburgh, 1837); Douglas, His- tory of Roxburghshire.
W. Forbes-Leith.
Meizi, Francesco, b. at Milan, about 1490; d. 1508. He was a mysterious personage. He was a friend of Leonardo da Vinci, and Vasari tells us that he was a Milanese nobleman, an exceedingly handsome young man, and that he possessed the principal part of the anatomical drawings of Leonardo. He inherited Leonardo's manuscripts, instruments, books, and drawings; he furnished both Vasari and Lomazzo with
