Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/406

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. vm. NOV. ie, 1901.

dunense ' was written, i.e., about 1090 (Dom Bouquet's * Recueil des Historiens des Gaule et de la France,' tome x. pp. 205-7). Th name would hardly have been appropriate a the time of its foundation, for, according t Mabillon and the authors of 'Gallia Chris tiana,' the site of the monastery had beer occupied by the dens of wild beasts, and th chanting of the monks replaced the howling of wolves.

In 1007 Fulk Nerra, Count of Anjou founded a monastery near Loches in Touraine to which the name of Bellus Locus was given and this was also placed under the Bene dictine rule (Mabillon, * Annales Ordini S. Benedict*,' tome iv. p. 195 ;* ' Table Chrono logique des Diplomes concernant 1'Histoirc de la France,' par MM. de Brequigny e Mouchet, tome i. p. 521).

In the charter of foundation, as printed in ' Gallia Christiana,' first edition, tome iv p. 149, the site of the monastery is callec Bellilocus, and Miss Kate Norgate, in ' Eng land under the Angevin Kings,' vol. i. p. 154 following the authority there cited, states "From its original Latin name Bellilocus now corrupted into Beaulieu, it seems pos sible that the place was set apart for trials by ordeal of battle." Whether Bellilocus is a misreading or a mistranscription of the word given in the charter, or was in fact the original name of the site, seems a matter oi little importance, as the monastery appears to have been known as Bellus Locus at a very early date. Fulk, Count of Anjou, in his 1 Historic Andegavensis Fragmentum,' pub- lished in vol. iii. p. 232 et seq. of DAchery's 'llecueil des Historiens des Gaules,' &c., tome x. p. 203, states of his grandfather Fulk Nerra, "Duas etiam abbatias sedifi- cavit, unam in honore Sancti Nicolai juxta urbem Andegavensem, aliam apud Lochas castrurn, quae vocatur Bellus Locus, in honore Dominici Sepulchri." And in the 'Gesta Con- sulurn Andegavensium,' which will be found in 'Spicilegium,' pp. 234, 252, and in Glaber, lib. ii. c. 4, 'Rer. Gall. Script.,' vol. x. p. 17, in referring to Fulk Nerra's return from Jerusalem it is stated, " Qui regressus Lochis ultra Angerim fluvium, Bello loco scilicet, ecclesiam in honore Sancti Sepulchri, mon- achos cum abbate ibi imponens, construxit." The 'Gesta, 1 being addressed to Henry II., King of England, &c., seems to have been written about 1160. A diploma of Henry II
 * Spicilegium,' and also in Dom Bouquet's

"Sub idem tempus [i.e., 1007] in ipso pago Turonico prope Loccas, oppidutn ad fluvium

Angerem monasterium conditum est a situ

Bellus Locus appellatum."

without date, but attributed to the year

1172, given in 'Table Chronologique des Diplomes,' &c., tome iii. p. 467. is " - datum apud Bellum Locum juxta Locnas "; and a diploma of Pope Alexander III. dated April,

1173, addressed to this community, describes them as "dilectis filiis Giraldo Abbati monas- terii de Bello loco ejusque fratribus" ('Gallia Christiana,' first edition, tome iv. p. 152).

If, then, there was any corruption of the original name which may be doubted it

was not from Belli Locus to Beaulieu, but from Belli Locus to Bellus Locus, and it would seem to show the reputation the latter name had already acquired. The manufacturing town of Beaulieu, on the banks of the Indre, connected with Loches by bridges, now con- tains the ruins of this ancient monastery.

In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and in some instances at an earlier date, various religious houses were founded to which names connected with the nature of the sites were given ; for example : Bonus Locus (Bonlieu), Clarus Locus (Clairlieu), Carus Locus (Charlieu), Bellus Campus (Bel- champ and Beauchamp), Bellus Pratus (Beau- pre), Bella Vallis (Beauval), Bona Vallis (Bonnevalle), Clara Vallis (Clairvaux), Vallis Clausa (Vaucluse), Bellus Mons (Beaumont), Clarus Mons (Clermont), Bonus Fons (Bonne- fontaine), Clarus Fons (Clairefontaine), Bonus Portus (Bonport). See ' Gallia Chris- tiana,' passim, 'Table Chronologique des Diplomes,' &c. But though some of these names may be found connected with two or more monastic foundations, none of them bad the same extensive range as Bellus Locus.

When the Cistercian Order was established n the twelfth century, as an offshoot of the Benedictines, the name of Bellus Locus was lot disregarded by it in its new foundations, .n 1141 an abbey called Bellus Locus was "ounded by the Cistercians in the diocese >f Rodez, in what is now the department of Aveyrpn (' Gallia Christiana,' second edition, ome i. 267) ; and in 1166 the monastery )f Bellus Locus of the Cistercian Order was /stablished near Langres, in the diocese of Vtacon and department of Haute Marne ' Gallia Christiana,' second edition, tome iv. 45).

In 1204 the abbey of Bellus Locus Regis Beaulieu) was founded by King John in he New Forest, Hampshire, and was placed nder the rule of the Cistercians (Dugdale's Monasticon,' vol. v. p. 680).

About 1140 the priory of Bellus Locus Beaulieu) of the Benedictine Order was ounded in Bedfordshire as a cell to the