St Serf's Inch or St Serf's Island is an island in Loch Leven, in south-eastern

Perth and Kinross Perth and Kinross (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. It is bordered by Highland (council area), Highland and Aberdeenshire to the north, Angus, Scotland, Angus, Dundee, and F ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It was the home of a

Culdee The Culdees (; ) were members of ascetic Christian monastic and eremitical communities of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England in the Middle Ages. Appearing first in Ireland and then in Scotland, subsequently attached to cathedral or collegiate ...

and then an Augustinian monastic community,

St Serf's Inch Priory The St Serf's Inch Priory (or Portmoak Priory) was a community of Augustinian canons based, initially at least, on St Serf's Inch in Loch Leven, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Origins It is one of the oldest Christian sites in Scotland; a chu ...

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 ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

, the

King of Scots The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with their powers regulated by the British cons ...

and his consort

Gruoch Gruoch ingen Boite () was a Scottish queen, the daughter of Boite mac Cináeda, son of Cináed II. The dates of her life are uncertain. She is most famous for being the wife and queen of MacBethad mac Findlaích (Macbeth), as well as the bas ...

, 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 The list of kings of the Picts is based on the Pictish Chronicle king lists. These are late documents and do not record the dates when the kings reigned. The various surviving lists disagree in places as to the names of kings, and the lengths ...

(d. 706). Other of these charters record grants from Máel Dúin,

Bishop of St Andrews The Bishop of St. Andrews (, ) 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 (), the Archdiocese of St Andrews. The name St Andrews is not the town or ...

(d. 1055), his successor Túathal (d. c. 1060), his successor Fothad mac Maíl Míchéil, King Máel Coluim III (1058–1093) and his wife

Margaret Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Iranian languages, Old Iranian. It has been an English language, English name since the 11th century, and remained popular thro ...

, 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 ...

, and King

Domnall Bán Donald III ( Medieval Gaelic: ''Domnall mac Donnchada''; Modern Gaelic: ''Dòmhnall mac Dhonnchaidh''; –1099) was King of Alba (Scotland) from 1093–1094 and 1094–1097. He was known as ''Domnall Bán'' or "Donald the Fair", anglicized a ...

(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 The Earl of Fife or Mormaer of Fife was the ruler of the province of Fife in medieval Scotland, which encompassed the modern counties of Fife and Kinross. Due to their royal ancestry, the earls of Fife were the highest ranking nobles in the re ...

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 ( 23 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