Dunfermline Abbey

Dunfermline Abbey is a

The Benedictine Abbey of the

In the decades after its foundation the abbey was the recipient of considerable endowments, as seen from the dedication of 26 altars donated by individual benefactors and guilds and it was an important destination of pilgrims because it hosted the reliquary shrine and cult of Saint Margaret, from whom the abbey later claimed foundation and for which an earlier foundation charter was fabricated.^[3] The foundations of the earliest church, namely the Church of the Holy Trinity, are under the superb Romanesque nave built in the 12th century.

During the winter of 1303 the court of Edward I of England was held in the abbey, and on his departure the following year most of the buildings were burned.^[3]

Later history

During the

The nave served as the parish church till the 19th century, and now forms the vestibule of a new church. This edifice, in the Perpendicular style, opened for public worship in 1821, occupies the site of the ancient chancel and transepts, though differing in style and proportions from the original structure. Also of the monastery there still remains the south wall of the refectory, with a fine window. Next to the abbey is the ruin of Dunfermline Palace, also part of the original abbey complex and connected to it via the gatehouse.

Dunfermline Abbey, one of

The current building on the site of the choir of the old abbey church is a parish church of the Church of Scotland, still with the name Dunfermline Abbey. The minister (since 2012^[update]) is the Reverend MaryAnn R. Rennie.

Architecture

The old building was a fine example of simple and massive Romanesque, as the nave testifies, and has a beautiful doorway in its west front. Alexander I had the two towers built which flanked the great western entrance.^[6]

Another rich Romanesque doorway was exposed in the south wall in 1903, when masons were cutting a site for the memorial to the soldiers who had fallen in the Second Boer War. A new site was found for this monument in order that the ancient and beautiful entrance might be preserved. The venerable structure is maintained publicly, and private munificence has provided several stained-glass windows. The architecture of the Afghan Church in Mumbai in India (dedicated to St John the Baptist) references the door and the right side of the church of Dunfermline Abbey.

Notable ceremonies and burials

• Saint Margaret of Scotland was buried here in 1093; on 19 June 1250 following her canonization her remains were disinterred and placed in a reliquary at the high altar. Her husband Malcolm III's remains were also disinterred, and buried next to Margaret.
• Duncan II of Scotland 1094
• Edgar of Scotland
  was buried here in 1107
• Both
  Sybilla de Normandy
  1122, were buried here
• David I of Scotland was buried here (1153) along with his queen Maud, Countess of Huntingdon (1130)
• Malcolm IV of Scotland was buried here in 1165
• Gille Brigte, Earl of Angus (buried here)
• Adam, Earl of Angus (buried here)
• Gille Críst, Earl of Angus (buried here)
• Donnchadh, Earl of Angus (buried here)
• Alexander III of Scotland (1286), was buried here, with his first wife Margaret of England (1275) and their sons David of Scotland (1281) and Alexander of Scotland (1284)
• Robert I of Scotland
  , was buried here in 1327

• Melrose, but his bones lie in Dunfermline Abbey, where (after the discovery of the skeleton in 1818) they were reinterred with fitting pomp below the pulpit of the New church. In 1891, the pulpit was moved back and a monumental brass
  inserted in the floor to indicate the royal vault.
• Matilda of Scotland, daughter of
  Robert I of Scotland
  , was buried here in 1353
• Anabella Drummond, wife of Robert III and mother of James I was buried here in 1401
• Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany was buried here in 1420
• Bishop James Bruce, buried in 1447
• George Durie (d,1577) memorial in north aisle
• Robert Pitcairn (commendator) (d.1584) memorial in north aisle
• Birthplace, in 1600, of Charles I, the last British monarch born in Scotland.
• William Schaw, Master of Work to the Crown of Scotland, was buried here in 1602: his tomb can still be seen.
• David Lindsay, 1st Lord Balcarres, son of John Lindsay of Balcarres, Lord Menmuir and father of Alexander Lindsay, 1st Earl of Balcarres, was married here in 1611

Other burials

• Charles Bruce, 5th Earl of Elgin
• Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell

See also

• Abbot of Dunfermline
• Abbeys and priories in Scotland
• List of Church of Scotland parishes
• List of places in Fife
• Robert Henryson

References

Sources

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Dunfermline". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• Blair, David Oswald Hunter (1909). "Abbey of Dunfermline" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dunfermline Abbey.

• Dunfermline Abbey (Church of Scotland congregation)
• Engraving of Dunfermline Abbey by James Fittler in the digitised copy of Scotia Depicta, or the antiquities, castles, public buildings, noblemen and gentlemen's seats, cities, towns and picturesque scenery of Scotland, 1804 at National Library of Scotland
• Engraving of Dunfermline Abbey in 1693 by John Slezer at National Library of Scotland