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1305 - 2005 Dunfermline 1305 - 2005 DUNFERMLINE SIR WILLIAM WALLACE Portrait of Wallace mounted by the Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum To commemorate the 700th Anniversary of the Death of Wallace 23rd August 2005. By Sheila Pitcairn DUNFERMLINE ABBEY Annals of Dunfermline by E. Henderson An artist’s impression of the Great Abbey of Dunfermline in the time of Alexander III. 1250 – THE MAGNIFICENT DUNFERMLINE ABBEY In the year 1250 the new choir of the Abbey had been completed, Fordun says, “The King (Alexander III being about eight years old) and the Queen his mother along with Bishops and Abbots, and other nobles of the kingdom, met at Dunfermline, this was for the translation of Margaret Queen of Malcolm III. After 1250 the Abbey it is called The Church of “The Holy Trinity and St Margaret,” this is found in the Register of Dunfermline and other old writings. St Margaret, at the same time, became the Tutelar Saint of Dunfermline. St. Margaret’s Black Cross or Rood, which had been given by her to the Church or Abbey of Dunfermline, was well known throughout Catholic Scotland, and was held in the highest veneration. 1263 - THE BATTLE OF LARGS An old tradition continues to inform us that “On the eve of the battle of Largs, it was believed by the Scots that the Royal Tombs at Dunfermline gave up their dead, and that there passed through its northern porch to war against the might of Norway a lofty and blooming matron in royal attire, leading in her right hand a noble knight refulgent in arms and a crown on his head, and followed by three heroic warriors, like armed, and like crowned; these were Margaret, Malcolm and three sons, the founders of the medieval Church of Scotland.” 1281 – “THE KING SITS IN DUNFERMLINE TOUNE, DRYNKING THE BLUID-RED WYNE OH, WHERE WILL I GET A SAYLOR BOLD TO SAYL THIS SCHIPE OF MINE?” These often-quoted lines are to be found in the old ballad of Sir Patrick Spens, composed to commemorate a sad disaster that occurred. Alexander III had lost his two sons David and Alexander, both buried in Dunfermline Abbey. Margaret his granddaughter was the “Maid of Norway” also called “The Damsel of Scotland” his only surviving heir. This Margaret was also the only child and heir of Eric II. Magnusson, King of Norway, by his first wife Margaret, only daughter of King Alexander III. Margaret, Queen of Scot reigned a mere four years. She died in Orkney, (Norwegian territory at that time) in September 1290 en route to marry Edward of England’s son, the first Prince of Wales. Alexander III King of Scots 1286 - DEATH OF ALEXANDER III - KING OF SCOTS In obedience to the prophecy of Thomas the Rymer, in Dunbar Castle, uttered to Patrick, seventh Earl of Dunbar the very day preceding the tragic event when in the dusk of the evening, 16th March riding between Burntisland and Kinghorn when the horse stumbled and they went over a high rocky cliff, and were killed. Alexander III King of Scots The King was embalmed, and according to Hay’s Sacra Scotia, his heart was extracted and buried in the Church of St John the Baptist at Perth. John Fordun, 14th centaury historian, in his account of the violent end of Alexander says, “And he was buried in the Abbey of Dunfermline as became a King.” The Chronicon de Lanercost notes that he was buried in the “middle part near the Presbytery.” In 1286, the Presbytery was situated near the east end of the new Choir, or a little to the south of the site of the pulpit of the present modern church. The sudden death of Alexander III would have had a profound effect upon the whole of Scotland at every level of society. The Abbey Schools would close for a period of mourning. The whole Church, including all the religious houses such as the Benedictines and Augustinians would be involved in the preparations for the burial of Alexander III King of Scotland. 1291 - THIRTEEN CLAIMANTS A convention to settle the heirship was held by Edward I (Longshanks, eldest son of the late King Henry III of England) with the bishops, nobles, and people of the kingdoms of Scotland and England at Norham 10th May 1291, where the thirteen claimants or competitors presented their claims personally or by proxy. John Balliol was selected by Edward I from among the Competitors to be King, 17th November 1292 at Berwick Castle. During the Interregnum a very beautiful seal had been made and used, by appointment, “for the Government of the realm.” On the one side we observe a figure of St. Andrew, the Patron of the Realm, with nimbus and tunic, fastened on the cross saltire, with which he is ever associated. The background here also is formed by a regular series of slipped trefoils or shamrocks, used before the adoption of the thistle. The reverse side is very interesting designed with exquisite skill and true heraldic feeling. The well designed lion rampant, the principal charge, with the tail incurved or bent inwards towards the neck of the animal – a detail which belongs rightly to the Scottish lion, and is found constantly recurrent from the day of the making of this seal until the present time. Great Seal appointed for the Government other side of the Great Seal appointed for Of the Realm the Government of the Realm After the death of King Alexander III After the death of King Alexander III 1291 - EDWARD I KING OF ENGLAND ARRIVED IN DUNFERMLINE DUNFERMLINE ABBEY FRATERY/MONASTERY DUNFERMLINE (Order of St. Benedictine) 17th July 1291 – This was Edward I King of England’s first visit on route from Berwick to Perth where the Earls, Barons Bishops Abbots, Burgesses &c were to sign his roll of homage as his vassals - “The Ragman Rolls” gives the following account of Edward’s visit – “In the year of the Lord 1291 17th July there came to the said Lord King at Dunfermline, Randulph, Abbot, of the same place, and noble men, Sirs Andrew Fraser, William of Haye, Andrew of Moray, and Constantine de Loghor, Sheriffs of Fife, and to the said Lord King of England, as over and immediate lord of the kingdom of Scotland made fidelity, and swore, some of them, upon the High Altar of the said Abbey, and some in the Chapter, in the presence of the venerable fathers in Christ, Sir Antony of Durham, and Alan, Bishop of Caithness, along with noble men, Sirs John of St. John, Patrick of Graham, and Galfrid of Moubray, knights and many other nobles, clergymen and lay men.” 1292 - JOHN BALLIOL - KING OF SCOTLAND 1295 – KING JOHN IN DUNFERMLINE John Balliol King of Scots At Dunfermline relative to his Son and Heir’s Marriage – There is a treaty still extant regarding this affair, between John Balliol, King of Scotland, and Philip IV, King of France, for Philip to give his niece, the eldest daughter of Charles Count of Anjou in marriage to Edward, the son and heir of Balliol, which was ratified by John Balliol, at Dunfermline on the 23rd February 1295, where it received the assent of the clergy, nobility, and burghs. This treaty was registered at Paris 23rd October, same year. King John, rebelled against Edward’s overlordship in 1296 and after the battle of Dunbar, he resigned the kingdom and retired eventually to his French estates. On his abdication, the King of England took the reins of government into his own hands and treated Scotland as a conquered country, marching from Montrose against the unorganised Scottish party, through Aberdeen, Banff, and Cullen, to Elgin and Rothes, - the tide of war swaying, now this way, now that. 1296 - PILGRIMAGE TO DUNFERMLINE - TO THE SHRINE OF SAINT MARGARET - THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY AND SEPULTURE William Wallace, born about 1270 second son of Sir Malcolm Wallace Laird of Elderslie in Renfrewshire, his Mother Margaret de Craufuird daughter of Sir Hugh Craufuird. His Father and brother were slaughtered 1290 on Loudoun-hill. His uncle, who was with the church of Dunipace, saw to his education, which included sharing the family’s patriotism and installing the love of freedom in the breast of his nephew. Wallace returned to St Mary’s Dundee accompanied by his mother, travelling the safe “maternal” route, and with his reputation having gone before him. After his “education” in Dundee came to a dramatic end, with the killing of young Selby, son of the Governor of the castle at Dundee, this was the immediate cause of his outlawry and flight from the Governor and his English Troops. Even though the killing was in self-defence, penance would have to be done, hence a Pilgrimage. Wallace made his way with his mother in Pilgrim’s weed, disguised with a sword hidden under his clothes. The Pilgrimage route was by Kilspindie, the Abbey of Lindores, then due south to the Abbey of Dunfermline a distance of about 43 miles to the shrine of Saint Margaret. It appears that Wallace and his mother stayed one night in Dunfermline, setting out on the following day to Linlithgow. The English and Flemish soldiers were now actively seeking William Wallace in 1296. It is possible that he had received his cloak and became a monk when the call came to plead the national rising against Edward of England. The warrior monk was not unknown in the Middle Ages in all of Europe and the Middle East. William Wallace and his mother more than likely made numerous Pilgrimages. Pilgrims in Medieval Scotland could move about with impunity guaranteed by the Church and State.
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