Duncan, 3rd Earl of Fife

Duncan, 3rd Earl of Fife (also Duncan Macduff, Earl of Fife , Duncan (I), Earl of Fife or Donnchadh, Earl of Fife ) († 1154 ) was a Scottish magnate .

Origin and heritage

Duncan came from the Scottish MacDuff clan . Although various claims have been made that he was a son of Gille Micheil, 2nd Earl of Fife , this is unproven. It is more likely that he was a son of Earl Constantine and, according to the Tanistry system, succeeded the late Gille Micheil as Earl of Fife around 1136 .

Role as leading Scottish magnate

Unlike his predecessors, Duncan accepted Fife as a fiefdom from the Scottish Crown. In return, he swore to serve King David I as a vassal . This made him the first Gaelic Mormaer to accept the feudal system adopted by the Anglo- Norman . The exact scope of his vassal duties is unknown, but there is no doubt that the king sought Duncan's military assistance in particular. He was a loyal supporter of the Canmore dynasty kings , and it was under him that the primacy of the Earls of Fife among Scottish magnates also became evident. Like his predecessor, he testified to numerous documents from King David I, and like his predecessor, he also played a leading role among the witnesses to the documents. After the death of Earl Henry , King David's eldest son, the king wanted to secure the heir to the throne of Henry's eldest son Malcolm in 1152 . As the leading Scottish magnate, Duncan played a crucial role. The king gave the twelve-year-old Malcolm to Duncan, who then went with him at the head of a large contingent through Scotland and everywhere proclaimed Malcolm heir to the throne. This assignment should also possibly indicate that Duncan would serve as the unofficial guardian for the underage king after the king's death .

Ruin of the Earl Duncan sponsored Cistercian convent in North Berwick

Succession

Duncan made donations to the Cistercian Convent in North Berwick between 1136 and 1150 . He probably founded the hospitals of Adross and North Berwick at the two ferry terminals across the Firth of Forth . This promotion of reform orders instead of the traditional Celtic church promoted the balance in the time of the transition of Scottish society from Celtic to feudal law. After Duncan's death in 1154, an adult member of the family was not the new Earl of Fife according to the Tanistry system, but according to feudal law, his eldest son Duncan (II) († 1204) inherited the title, even if he was a minor when his father died . A daughter of Duncan is said to have married Harald Maddadson , Earl of Orkney.

Web links

Andrew McDonald: Duncan (I) Macduff third earl of Fife (d. 1154). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004
Duncan MacDuff, 2nd Earl of Fife on thepeerage.com

Individual evidence

^ Archibald AM Duncan: Scotland. The Making of the Kingdom (The Edinburgh History of Scotland; Vol. I ). Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1975. ISBN 0-05-00203-7-4 , p. 138.
^ GWS Barrow: The Earls of Fife in the 12th Century . In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland , 87 (1952-53), p. 55.
^ GWS Barrow: The Earls of Fife in the 12th Century . In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland , 87 (1952-53), p. 54.
^ Archibald AM Duncan: Scotland. The Making of the Kingdom (The Edinburgh History of Scotland; Vol. I ). Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1975. ISBN 0-05-00203-7-4 , p. 192.

predecessor	Office	successor
Gille Micheil	Earl of Fife around 1136-1154	Duncan

personal data
SURNAME	Duncan, 3rd Earl of Fife
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Duncan Macduff, Earl of Fife; Duncan Macduff; Duncan I Macduff; Donnchadh, Earl of Fife; Donnchadh I, Earl of Fife
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Scottish magnate
DATE OF BIRTH	11th century or 12th century
DATE OF DEATH	1154

[1] Archibald AM Duncan: Scotland. The Making of the Kingdom (The Edinburgh History of Scotland; Vol. I ). Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1975. ISBN 0-05-00203-7-4 , p. 138.

[2] GWS Barrow: The Earls of Fife in the 12th Century . In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland , 87 (1952-53), p. 55.

[3] GWS Barrow: The Earls of Fife in the 12th Century . In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland , 87 (1952-53), p. 54.

[4] Archibald AM Duncan: Scotland. The Making of the Kingdom (The Edinburgh History of Scotland; Vol. I ). Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1975. ISBN 0-05-00203-7-4 , p. 192.