History of Dunfermline

Dunfermline (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Phàrlain) is a former burgh and current town in Fife, Scotland. The town grew under the influence of Queen Margaret to be an important ecclesiastical burgh (a town with special privileges). Until the 17th century, the town was the royal capital of Scotland. The union of the Scottish and English crowns in 1603 saw the end of the town's special status, which led to decline.

Pictish and Gaelic names in the Dunfermline area are multiple. For example, the "bal" (a dwelling) found in Balmule and Balclune; the prefix "caer" (a castle) found in Carnock (caer-knock), Cairneyhill and Keirsbeath and Pittencrieff and Pitreative from "pit". Dunfermline is derived from "Dun" (fortified hill), "fiaram" (bent or crooked) and "lin" (a cascade or pool). A reference of the city's name is found in the tower hill around which the rivulet crooks and drops over a 15-foot cascade of the Ferm burn.

One of the earliest records of the city was known for being used as a centre of the Culdees in 570 AD, based on a site near or on the grounds of the present Abbey. Written history of Dunfermline begins with King Malcolm III in the mid-11th century who would play a pivotal role transferring power from Forteviot in Perthshire to Dunfermline becoming the seat of power and capital of Scotland.

King Malcolm III accepted marriage to Queen Margaret in 1069 as his second wife after she met him in his royal residence which would become the site of Dunfermline Palace. According to St Dunleum, there is a belief that they may have met previously. Margaret's Benedictine education - for which she brought as and became a devout catholic - encouraged him to convert the small Culdee church into a Benedictine priory to bring her faith to Scotland to replace the basic needs of the Culdees. The new church was inaugurated around 1072 with Lanfranc, then-Archbishop of Canterbury sending Benedictine monks on the insistence of Margaret who not only dedicated the priory to the holy trinity. Another dedication to the priory was also made to the "crucifix of the holy saviour" made of ebony, gold and silver and covered in gems from her own homeland. King Malcolm III was killed at the battle of Alnwick, Queen Margaret died in Edinburgh Castle on 10 November 1093. The body of the Queen was taken to Dunfermline for her burial on a site near the Rwde Awtre (the Altar of the Holy Cross or Rood) via the Queen's Ferry but this was journey was made with great difficulty particularly when the castle was under siege by Donald Bane with the only exit in the form of a secret door in the abbey church.

The Benedictine priory was raised to the rank of an abbey in 1128 by David II, with Prior Geoffrey in place as the first abbot. During the course of several decades, the abbey gained power and wealth in Dunfermline with the dedication of 26 altars being gifted by the individuals and guilds and the bishop of Dunfermline controlled a large piece of land from Moray to Berwickshire close to the English border which included four burghs and three courts of regality. The abbey was also given permission to dig the lands of Pittencrieff in 1291 for the extraction of coal for personal usage on a lease - the oldest record of not only coal mining but also Fife industry benefiting many people who would eventually depend on this livelihood as their source of work in West Fife. There were five individual developments to the abbey all occurring between 1128 and 1450 with the construction of a nave around 1140; the expansion of the choir of the mastried church complete with a shrine in 1240 which was followed by major restoration work of the receptory partially assisted by Robert the Bruce - who died shortly after and was buried in the graveyard - in 1329 and then later with a new West Gave by Bishop Richard de Bothwell in 1450. Further work centered on the north-west tower of the nave between 1594 and 1599 by William Shaw.

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