"The Kingdom of Fife"

[Anon.]

What justification does Fifeshire have for calling itself a Kingdom?

[Plette]

[s]Anon. wrote on 15:55, 3rd Nov 2003:
What justification does Fifeshire have for calling itself a Kingdom?


I don't know, so I really have nothing constructive to add to this thread other than stating that I've also wondered where old Fife picked up its delusions of kingdomly grandeur.

[hr]
Sola lingua bona est lingua morta.

[Manson]

It used to be a separate kingdom from the rest of Scotland back in the day, ask a Scottish historian

[hr]"Brunelleschi is magic"
http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~sauras

[Ashley]

My GCSE English Literature knowledge isn't quite what it used to be, but isn't there a mention of it in Macbeth?

[hr]Nobody ever mentions the weather can make or break your day

[tintin]

Anon. - It is something to do with the Pictish inhabitants, although it is generally understood that the original meaning has been lost "in the mists of time". I remember reading in the encyclopaedias in the ground floor of the Library the exact meaning, although like much of what I study, I forget very quickly!

Hope you enjoyed your meal last night!

[Pussycat]

History tells that Fife was a kingdom of one of the tribes of the Picts, and of course Fife houses the old royal capital of Scotland, Dunfermline. During the middle ages the Earls of Fife were top dogs among the nobility of Scotland and as such had the hereditary right to crown the monarch at their coronation and to lead the royal army into battle. And little old place St Andrews was home to the arch-bishop.

Then of course there is Falkland Palace which was a favourite of monarchs for a long time. It also has one of the only real old tennis courts in the country.

Incidentally 'Fife' is from an old Danish word that means 'Wooded Country'. I didn't know that.

[Pussycat]

Speaking of Falkland Palace, does anyone know more about it's history? I used to but my memory is beyond rubbish.

[Guest]

Technically we are still ay war with Germany (from WW2). When the peace thingy was signed after WW2 the words were the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland' and the words Kingdom of Fife were left out - hence we are still at war!

Also, there is a vacancy for King of Fife. The Queen of England is 'holding Queen' until such times as a Queen or King for the Kingdom of Fife is found - basically anyone can challenge her position to be the King of Fife! Crazy but true!

[Stuart]

As I understand it, Fife was one of a number of Pictish kingdoms on the east coast. By the 7th century there was a united Pictland - Kingdom of the Picts.

The King of Scots, Kenneth I MacAlpin managed to be crowned King of Picts in 843 and thus the two kingdoms were united in a new kingdom called Alba, which evolved into Scotland.

Or at least that's what they taught us at school in Fife.

[Stuart]

As I understand it, Fife was one of a number of Pictish kingdoms on the east coast. By the 7th century there was a united Pictland - Kingdom of the Picts.

The King of Scots, Kenneth I MacAlpin managed to be crowned King of Picts in 843 and thus the two kingdoms were united in a new kingdom called Alba, which evolved into Scotland.

Or at least that's what they taught us at school in Fife.

[Stuart]

As I understand it, Fife was one of a number of Pictish kingdoms on the east coast. By the 7th century there was a united Pictland - Kingdom of the Picts.

The King of Scots, Kenneth I MacAlpin managed to be crowned King of Picts in 843 and thus the two kingdoms were united in a new kingdom called Alba, which evolved into Scotland.

Or at least that's what they taught us at school in Fife.

[hoopy froodette]

[s]Ashley wrote on 16:07, 3rd Nov 2003:[i]
My GCSE English Literature knowledge isn't quite what it used to be, but isn't there a mention of it in Macbeth?

Yes, you're right, Macbeth became the thane of Fife.


[hr]
Can you imagine a world without hypothetical situations?

[Gatty Scumbelina]

Lots of places used to be kingdoms a long time ago, to take as a random example Yorkshire was (roughly) the kingdom of Deira. But you don't find it referred to as that anymore. So why can't Fife let go of the 'Kingdom' bit?

[hr]Death: Mostly they aren't too keen to see me. They fear the sunless lands but they enter your realm each night without fear.

Dream: And I am far more terrible than you, my sister.

[Eliot Wilson]

[s]Unregisted User wrote on 16:33, 3rd Nov 2003:
Technically we are still ay war with Germany (from WW2). When the peace thingy was signed after WW2 the words were the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland' and the words Kingdom of Fife were left out - hence we are still at war!

Also, there is a vacancy for King of Fife. The Queen of England is 'holding Queen' until such times as a Queen or King for the Kingdom of Fife is found - basically anyone can challenge her position to be the King of Fife! Crazy but true!


Or, as you should more properly have said, crazy but in no way true.

[immunodiffusion]

[s]hoopy froodette wrote on 18:50, 3rd Nov 2003:
Yes, you're right, Macbeth became the thane of Fife.

No, Macbeth is Thane of Glamis, then Thane of Cawdor, and subsequently King of Scotland. The Thane of Fife is MacDuff, not Macbeth.

[Al]

Just to add a bit to what Pussycat wrote - the earls of Fife were descended from a cadet branch of the royal house, and they ruled Fife as a regality i.e. the king's law did not operate there.

[hr]Life is too important to be taken seriously.

[Al]

Oh and it's not "Fifeshire". It is Fife.

[hr]Life is too important to be taken seriously.

[Barry Joss]

What a lot of twaddle there is on this thread...

Fife has no claim to be a kingdom except in the same quaint cutesy sense that other parts do. Inasmuch as it was ever a kingdom, it was part of the larger Pictish kingdom of Fortriu. Though, in the period of which we speak there is little justification for the use of the word 'kigdom' at all.

As to the regality issue - yes, true. But equally true of hundreds of other places up and down the British Isles at one stage or another. Equally, to assert Dunfermline as a capital of Scotland is misleading - we had the same peripatetic monarch as other countries, capitals were wherever the King happened to be.

Macbeth, contrary to what Shakespear tells us was Thane of neither Cawdor nor Glamis. Neither was Macduff Thane of Fife. Macbeth was the Mormaer of Moray, and subsequently (albeit briefly) King of Scots. Though, there is some evidence (by which I mean it is fact) that his wife Gruoch (also Gruach and several other spellings) was a lady of some note in the approximately Fife area, chiefly from land grants such as those around Leven made by her to the church.

So there you go.

[Stuart]

[s]Barry Joss wrote on 20:00, 3rd Nov 2003:
chiefly from land grants such as those around Leven made by her to the church.


Wooo! Hometown mentioned on the Sinner! Must be a first.

Interestingly, there is a MacDuff castle near Leven.

[iohannes]

I would presume (assume?) that it's the Kingdom of Fife because it once was a kingdom. In other words it isn't the county of Fife because it had a king instead of a count. I have no historical evidence to back this up, nor do I know what the Scots did about counties, etc.

Likewise, I would think, Lancashire and Yorkshire and Cornwall, etc. aren't counties but duchies (or dukedoms). Again, no concrete historical evidence for this, just etymology. Still makes more sense then all this nonsense about ancient rights, like that crap about the Queen.