St Serf's Inch or St Serf's Island is an island in

Loch Leven Loch Leven may refer to: ;Bodies of water in Scotland * Loch Leven (Kinross), a freshwater loch in Perth and Kinross ** Loch Leven Castle, a fortress on the loch ** William Douglas of Lochleven, later the 6th Earl of Morton * Loch Leven (Highlands) ...

, in south-eastern

Perth and Kinross Perth and Kinross ( sco, Pairth an Kinross; gd, Peairt agus Ceann Rois) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland and a Lieutenancy Area. It borders onto the Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Fife, Highland and S ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It was the home of a Culdee and then an Augustinian monastic community, St Serf's Inch Priory.

History

There was a monastic community on the island which was old in the 12th century. The monastery produced a series of Gaelic language charters from the 11th and 12th centuries which were translated into Latin in the late 12th century. It is from these that we know

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

, the

King of Scots The monarch of Scotland was the head of state of the Kingdom of Scotland. According to tradition, the first King of Scots was Kenneth I MacAlpin (), who founded the sovereign state, state in 843. Historically, the Kingdom of Scotland is thoug ...

and his consort Gruoch, made an endowment of land to the priory. One of these charters purports to go back to ''Brude filius Dergard'', that is Bruide mac Dargarto, King of the Picts (d. 706). Other of these charters record grants from Máel Dúin,

Bishop of St Andrews The Bishop of St. Andrews ( gd, Easbaig Chill Rìmhinn, sco, Beeshop o Saunt Andras) was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of St Andrews in the Catholic Church and then, from 14 August 1472, as Archbishop of St Andrews ( gd, Àrd-easbaig ...

(d. 1055), his successor Túathal (d. c. 1060), his successor Fothad mac Maíl Míchéil, King

Máel Coluim III Malcolm III ( mga, Máel Coluim mac Donnchada, label=Medieval Gaelic; gd, Maol Chaluim mac Dhonnchaidh; died 13 November 1093) was King of Scotland from 1058 to 1093. He was later nicknamed "Canmore" ("ceann mòr", Gaelic, literally "big head" ...

(1058–1093) and his wife

Margaret Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular througho ...

, Ethelred,

abbot of Dunkeld The Bishop of Dunkeld is the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Dunkeld, one of the largest and more important of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics, whose first recorded bishop is an early 12th-century cleric named Cormac. However, the first k ...

, and King

Domnall Bán Donald III (Medieval Gaelic: Domnall mac Donnchada; Modern Gaelic: ''Dòmhnall mac Dhonnchaidh''), and nicknamed "Donald the Fair" or "Donald the White" (Medieval Gaelic:"Domnall Bán", anglicised as Donald Bane/Bain or Donalbane/Donalbain) (c. ...

(1093-1097). Also among the collection of these translations is a record of a trial held c. 1128 and presided over by Causantín, Mormaer of Fife and ''magnum judex in Scotia'', assisted by ''Dufgal filium Mocche'' and ''Meildoineneth filium Machedath''; the trial pertained to the behaviour of one Robert "the Burgundian", the earliest recorded French settler north of the Forth, towards the monks of St Serf, and resulted in favour of the monks after Causantín bowed to the "superior knowledge" of the law held by "Dufgal". Prior

Andrew of Wyntoun Andrew Wyntoun, known as Andrew of Wyntoun (), was a Scottish poet, a canon and prior of Loch Leven on St Serf's Inch and, later, a canon of St. Andrews. Andrew Wyntoun is most famous for his completion of an eight-syllabled metre entitled, '' ...

, author of the 15th century historical work called ''Oryginalle Cronykil of Scotland'' included various unflattering stories about his monarch. Macbeth was described as a 'changeling' or 'Devil's child'. Andrew also recorded a number of tales that were referenced in

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's 'Scottish Play', including a prophecy that Macbeth would never be killed by a man born of woman, his recognition by three 'Weird Sisters', and that his demise would only come when the wood of Birnam came to Dunsinane.The Annals of Kinross-shire
Retrieved 20 June 2007.

Footnotes

References

* Barrow, G.W.S., "The ''Judex''", in G.W.S. Barrow (ed.), ''The Kingdom of the Scots'', (Edinburgh, 2003), pp. 57–67 * Lawrie, Sir Archibald, ''Early Scottish Charters Prior to A.D. 1153'', (Glasgow, 1905)

External links

* {{coord, 56.18791, -3.35341, type:landmark_region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(NO161003), display=title Islands of Loch Leven Tourist attractions in Perth and Kinross

History

See also

Footnotes

References

External links