Scone Priory

Scone Abbey (originally Scone Priory) was a house of Augustinian canons located in Scone, Perthshire (Gowrie), Scotland. Dates given for the establishment of Scone Priory have ranged from 1114 A.D. to 1122 A.D. However, historians have long believed that Scone was before that time the center of the early medieval Christian cult of the Culdees (Céli Dé in medieval Irish meaning "Companions of God"). Very little is known about the Culdees but it is thought that a cult may have been worshiping at Scone from as early as 700 A.D. Archaeological surveys taken in 2007 suggest that Scone was a site of real significance even prior to 841 A.D., when Kenneth MacAlpin brought the Stone of Destiny, Scotland's most prized relic and coronation stone, to Scone.

The priory was established by six canons from Nostell Priory in West Yorkshire under the leadership of Prior Robert, who was the first prior of Scone (later Bishop of St Andrews). The foundation charter, dated 1120, was once thought to be a fake version of the original, but it is now regarded as a copy made in the late 12th century . Perhaps the copy was needed after a fire which occurred there sometime before 1163 A.D. and presumably damaged or destroyed the original. Scone Priory suffered a similar destruction of records during the Wars of Scottish Independence.

In either 1163 A.D. or 1164 A.D., during the reign of King Máel Coluim IV, Scone Priory's status was raised and it became an abbey. Scone Abbey had important royal functions, since it was located next to the coronation site of Scottish kings and housed the Stone of Destiny until its theft by King Edward I of England. Scone Abbey was, according to King Máel Coluim IV, "in principali sede regni nostri" (RRS, no. 243; trs. "in the principal seat of our kingdom"). As such, Scone Abbey was one of the chief residences of the Scottish kings, who were hosted by the abbot during their stay at Scone. Most likely the king stayed in the abbot's own rooms within the abbot's palace. It is very likely that the abbey buildings (now gone) overlapped with the modern palace. The abbey also had relics of a now obscure saint by the name of St Fergus (also Fergustian), which made it a popular place of pilgrimage. Although the abbey long remained famous for its music since Robert Carver produced there some of Europe's best late medieval choral music into the late 16th century, its status declined over time.

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