The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
The ancient Kingdom of Fife
Dunfermline’s new city status is something Fifers near and far have reason to cheer.
Among them is Ryan David Campbell, originally from Rosyth but teaching English in Shanghai, China, for the past 18 months.
To mark the former royal burgh’s historic accolade, he has put together an account of the history of Fife all the way from the kingdom’s first settlements in the Neolithic era to its contribution to our modern world.
Ryan begins: “The Kingdom of Fife is a place steeped in meaningful history. Long ago, extinct volcanoes at Lomond and Largo Law carved out the land as the North Sea battered its eastern coast into formation.
“Once forged, generations of people settled in Fife’s area. The ancient Picts used Fife as one of their seven kingdoms, mythologising the land with ritualistic stone circles and path-altering battles.
“Since then, the kingdom has been immortalised as the resting place of worldfamous royalty including the 14th Century Scottish king, Robert the Bruce.
“Boasting more castles than Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Dundee combined, Fife’s former inhabitants have enshrined its legacy forever. Fife’s architectural artefacts are beacons of grandeur, from the holy Dunfermline Abbey to St Andrew’s, one of the world’s first-ever universities.
“As Dunfermline reclaims its rightful title, Fife’s only city is put back on the map. Though the profundity of Scotland’s former capital was never in doubt, its contribution to the Kingdom of Fife and the Kingdom of Alba, should never be forgotten.”
Reflecting on Fife’s origins, Ryan flags up the significance of a battle long thought to have taken place near Dunnichen in Angus.
He says: “The Picts’ exact origins have
yet to be traced but we do know that they were one of the first settlements of people in Scotland to be outwardly observed as having a distinguishable culture. The Picts valiantly held their ground against a multitude of pillaging hordes at a time when colonisation was normal. From sea-hardy Vikings to the Roman Empire’s imperial might, the spearthrowing Picts defended their territory.
“It was not just foreign invaders that
wanted to overthrow the seven Pictish Kingdoms. The Germanic Angles who had successfully quelled large parts of Southern Britannia also wanted a slice for their growing nation of Northumbria.
“Further consecrating the Picts as legendary warriors, the Angles were defeated in 685AD at the Battle of Dun Nechtain, sending them home from a decades-long siege of Scotland, then divided by the Picts, Gaels and Britons.
“After the Battle of Dun Nechtain, they were freed of their oppression. Not only did this give the various peoples of Scotland back their sovereignty, it also allowed the Picts to move back to the Firth of Forth, the most southernly point in the ancient Kingdom of Fib, later the Kingdom of Fife.”