| Duncan (MacDuff) MacDuff IVth Mormaer of Fife signed the Declaration of Arbroath. Join: Scotland Project Discuss: Scotland |
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Duncan MacDuff was born in 1289 to Duncan MacDuff, third Mormaer of Fife and Joan Clare, daughter of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester.[1][2] Born in the same year as his father's murder by Sir Patrick Abernethy and Sir Walter Percy, Duncan IV inherited the rank of Mormaer of Fife, with the hereditary rights to ordain Scottish monarchs and lead the charge in battle (Privilege of MacDuff).[3][2][4][5] However, given Duncan's youth on 17 November 1292, the crowning of John Balliol was delegated to Sir John St. John, a member of Parliament and trusted diplomat of Edward I of England,[3][6] while Duncan remained under the watchful guardianship of the Bishop of St. Andrews.[3] Fourteen years later, Duncan again missed a coronation, this for Robert the Bruce on 25 March 1306, as he was being held in England as ward of Edward I. Instead, Robert called upon Duncan's sister, Isabella MacDuff, Countess of Buchan, to officiate in his absence, which instigated another colorful chapter in the annals of Scottish history.[7][8][9]
The papal dispensation for the marriage of Duncan to Mary DeMonthermer, daughter of Ralph Monthermer and Joan of Acre, second daughter of King Edward I was dated 12 October 1306.[10][1][11] As Ralph Monthermer and Joan of Acre were married in 1297,[10] Mary would have been no more than nine years old when she married 17-year-old Duncan, both of whom were held in England at this time.[12] However, prior to an agreement between Robert I and Duncan signed in Crichton in Lothian on 23 August 1315 that addressed the transfer of rights of the mormaerdom of Fife should Duncan die without an heir, Duncan had been released and allowed to return to Scotland, with Mary granted safe conduct by Edward II to join her husband in a charter dated 28 January 1320.[13][1] Circa 1321, daughter Elizabeth was born and as Duncan's marriage to Mary produced no male heirs, he was succeeded by his daughter who became Countess of Fife, married and widowed four times.[1][14]
In 1289, when Duncan became Mormaer of Fife, he also became the last Gaelic earl from the male line of his ancestor Donnchad MacDuff (1113 - 1154).[15][16] What is disputed among historians, however, is Duncan's place within the MacDuff mormaerdom, where Sir Robert Sibbald deemed Duncan the 13th Mormaer of Fife,[17] while some refer to him as the seventh[18] and others, as the 10th[19] and 12th Mormaer.[20] More recently, medieval historian Andrew McDonald stated that Duncan was the ninth Mormaer of Fife, as is shown in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.[5] Given this uncertainty, Duncan's place in the line of MacDuff mormaers is not stated in this biography.
Of far greater significance, however, than Duncan's place in his pedigree, is the Declaration of Arbroath, where he and seven other earls, as well as 31 barons, attached their seals to the document, written in response to the Wars of Scottish Independence, which began with Edward I's invasion of Scotland in 1296.[21][20] Although Duncan's youthful allegiance had vacillated between England and Scotland, by adulthood he was a Scottish loyalist, who is distinguished as having been the first to place his seal on the Declaration of Arbroath, dated 6 April 1320.[19][22][23]
Monument to the Battle on Halidon Hill |
Four years later, Duncan, an ardent Bruce/David II supporter, fought in the disastrous Battle of Dupplin Moor where, upon being captured by the rebels supporting Balliol, was forced to crown Edward Balliol King of Scots at Scone on 24 September 1332.[24][18][25] Following the defeat of the Bruce loyalists at Dupplin Moor, the unpopular Edward Balliol was ambushed several months later by David II supporters and was forced to flee to England. After pleading for support from Edward III, Balliol was officially recognized as King of Scotland and Edward III made preparations for war, arriving at Berwick Castle in May of 1333.[26] Edward's cruel siege began, while the beleaguered Scottish troop's anticipated relief forces were blocked and overcome by Edward's three dismounted divisions and archers. Culminating on 19 July 1333, Duncan fought in the rear guard of the Scottish army at the Battle of Halidon Hill,[27] a short distance from Berwick Castle, in this major engagement in the Scottish struggle for independence and one of the greatest military defeats in the history of the Scottish army. Battle ended, the governor of Berwick Castle acquiesced and surrendered the castle the following day.[28][29][30][31] Surviving the horrors of the English archers, where thousands of Scottish soldiers perished, it is likely, but uncertain, that Duncan was captured and held for ransom only to return to battle once again and later suffer the indignities of capture anew.
Battle of Neville's Cross |
In the years following the Battle of Halidon Hill, conflict continued between the Scots and the English, as well as Scot versus Scot, where in all likelihood Duncan remained actively engaged in the battles and numerous skirmishes that continued across the English-Scottish border.[32] This ongoing conflict climaxed on 17 October 1346 at the Battle of Neville's Cross, where the Scots once again suffered a resounding defeat. Following this failed insurrection by King David II, the king was captured and supporters John Graham, Earl of Menteith, and Duncan, Mormaer of Fife, were arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London at the order of Edward III for breach of sworn allegiance to Balliol and taking arms against England. Deemed traitors, both John Graham and Duncan MacDuff were sentenced to death, to be attainted, drawn, hanged, beheaded, their bodies quartered and their heads placed on London Bridge. Fortunately for Duncan, he was spared because of his kinship to the King and was allowed to return to Scotland in 1350 to raise funds for his ransom. Sir Graham was not so fortunate.[33][34][18]
Following the Battle of Neville's Cross, a more challenging and costly battle loomed in the form of the Black Death that crossed Scottish borders in 1350, killing approximately 20 percent of the Scottish population of one-million by 1352.[35] While Duncan IV, Mormaer of Fife and sometime Guardian of Scotland, may or may not have survived the plague, he continued to rule Fife until his death in 1353 of unknown causes. Although daughter Elizabeth succeeded as Countess of Fife, she resigned the mormaerdom to her brother-in-law Robert Stewart, Earl of Menteith and Duke of Albany 30 March 1371, the year of her mother Mary (DeMonthermer) MacDuff's death, thus bringing to a close the powerful, but battleworn rule of the Gaelic Mormaers of Fife.[1][14]
While the Wikipedia article, Donnchadh IV, Earl of Fife, indicates that Duncan was present at the negotiations which led to the Treaty of Edinburgh in March 1328, which advanced the long-sought acknowledgment of Scotland's independence,[36] no additional sources have been located to corroborate this claim.
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M > MacDuff | M > MacDuff IVth Mormaer of Fife > Duncan (MacDuff) MacDuff IVth Mormaer of Fife
Categories: Declaration of Arbroath, MacDuff Family Worklist | Earls of Fife | Declaration of Arbroath | Clan MacDuff | Scotland Project Managed Arbroath Profiles | Battle of Halidon Hill | Battle of Neville's Cross
Joan de Clare, married (1st) Duncan Of Fife, son of Colban of Fife, by Anne, daughter of Alan Durward. He was born about 1262. The had one son, Duncan [10th Earl of Fife]. Joan married (2nd) after 1 Nov. 1299 Gervase Avenel, Knt, of Scotland.
a. Duncan Of Fife, Knt., 10th Earl of Fife (in Scotland), married 3 Nov. 1307 Mary De Monthermer, daughter of Ralph de Monthermer, by Joan daughter of King Edward I of England. She was born about 1298. They had one daughter, Isabel (or Elizabeth) [Countess of Fife].
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