Clan MacDuff
The Clan MacDuff Crest Tradition says that MacDuff was the patronymic of the Celtic Earls of Fife. This ancient clan played an important part in the affairs of Scotland in the early days. The MacDuffs had the privilege of crowning the King, of leading the Scottish army, and privilege of sanctuary at the cross of MacDuff in Fifeshire.

MacDuff
Clansmen's Crest: A demi-lion rampant, gules, holding in the dexter paw a dagger, proper, hilted and pommelled or.
Motto: Deus juvat (God assists).
Old Motto: Deo juvante (God assisting). Virtute et opera (By virtue and deeds).
Gaelic Name: MacDhuibh
The kings of Fife, chiefs of a race untitled the "Clan MacDuff," claimed decent from Connell Cerr, son of Eochaid Buidhe, King of the Picts. Their provincial kingdom was from about 1100 styled an earldom, which they set forth as held "By the grace of God" and not from the King of Scots. Another account of Clan MacDuff states that the MacDuffs are descended from the most royal stock in Scotland, the Scottish-Pictish royal house. Queen Gruoch, translated by Shakespeare into Lady Macbeth, was the head of that line. Her second husband, King Macbeth, was also said to belong to the house of Duff, but it was Malcolm Canmore who, with English help, won power and whose sons gained the Scottish throne. In A.D. 908 the direct line of the sovereigns of the Britons of Strathclyde became extinct, and Donald, the brother of Constantine, King of Alba, was, under the machinery appropriate when the throne became de jure and de faclo vacant, elevated to fill the vacant throne. This paved the way to the eventual uniting of the kingdoms of Alba and Strathclyde under one monarch. Malcolm MacKenneth (l005~l034) was perhaps the greatest of the lawgivers amongst our Celtic sovereigns, and indeed amongst the earliest of our Scottish legal codes is that intituled " The Laws of King Malcolm MacKenneth." How far the diction preserves or includes the acts of King Malcolm is a matter of dispute, but the early chroniclers all remark upon his juristic achievements, amongst one of which was the crystallising of the law of succession, which became, and still remains, the law and order of common law succession in the law of Scotland. The tribal system of succession in relation to the gilfine, derbhfine, tarfine, and indfine, was so complicated that Irish historians doubt if it can ever have really worked in practice, as it was laid down in theory. It was of such a complicated nature that wrangles about what it meant, and how it was applied, led to bloody family dissensions at almost every succession. Malcolm MacKenneth therefore evolved a simpler and more direct evolution of the derbhfine system, which preserved the principle and continuity of the Celtic structure, whilst eliminating the difficulties and grounds for dispute which had existed in the system introduced from Ireland. For some time naturally the collateral heirs, due under the confusing system of alternate succession between the chiefs of two, or three, derbhfines, raised trouble when the succession devolved upon the direct heir through a son or daughter, but before long the simplicity and wisdom of King Malcolm's law was recognised, the more so, perhaps, because from its analogy to the divine law of succession laid down in Numbers xxvii., it naturally received the full endorsement of the Christian Church. Constantine II., the son of Aedh, and grandson of King Kenneth MacAlpin, occupied the throne of Alba between A.D. 900 and A.D. 943. When Constantine II entered a monastery his cousin Malcolm MacDonald became Malcolm I, king of the Picts and Scots. He annexd Moray to the kingdom for the first time. Malcolm I was slain in 954. Under Malcolm II., (c. 954 - d. November 25, 1034), whose reign lasted thirty years, the kingdom made material progress. The Danes, who had made a raid on the coast of Moray, were so severely defeated that they abandoned all further attempts to effect a settlement in Scotland. Near Cullen a fierce encounter occured in 960, and a sculpture stone at Mortlach is said to commemorate a signal victory gained by King Malcolm II over the Norsemen in 1010. In 1018 Malcolm, along with his tributary, Eugenius the Bald, King of Strathclyde, invaded Nohumbria, and inflicted a crushing defeat on Eaduif Cudel, the Earl of that province, at Carham on the Tweed. The result was the cession to the Scottish king of the rich district of Lodoneia, or Lothian. This included not only the territory comprised by the three Lothians, but Berwickshire and lower Teviotdale, as high as Melrose on the Tweed. It was about this time, too, that the Caledonian kingdom began to be named Scoija by chroniclers. By the Gaelic inhabitants, however, their land was, as it still is, designated Alba. Eugenius, King of the Strathclyde Britons, died in the year the Battle of Carham was fought. With him expired the direct MacAlpin line of the kings of Strathclyde, Duncan, grandson and eventual successor to King Malcolm of Scotland, was selected, evidently by nomination of the Ard-righ, in order to effect the union of the kingdom, to fill the vacant British throne. On the death in 1034 of Malcolm II without male issue, he was succeeded, under the new law, by his grandson, Duncan I., son of his daughter the Princess Bethoc, or Beatrice, and her husband Crinan, Hereditary Abbot of Dunkeld and Dull, who, as stated above, was already King of the Britons of Stratliclyde. Duncan was a young man and had the reputation of being a good king, and his reign lasted until 1040, when, after a defeat at the hands of the Norsen, was slahi near Elgin by Maclietli, Mormaer of Moray. From Duncan I, King of Scots Duncan I - King of Scots was "the gracious Duncan" of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Contrary to the Celtic practice whereby the ablest male of the royal house was held to have the best claim to succession and often asserted it by violence, Duncan succeeded his grandfather Malcolm II who died in 1034 without contest. But his reign became a struggle against rivals. He united Alba with Strathclyde, Cumbria, and Lothian. Thereafter the name Alba began to fade away. In 1039 - 1040, Duncan suffered heavy losses in an unsuccessful siege of Durham and was defeated twice by his cousin Thorfinn, Jarl of Orkney, under whom Norse power in Scotland reached its greatest extent. Thorfinn may have advanced a claim to the throne. Macbeth, Mormaer (subking) of Moray, certainly did. On August 14, 1040, Macbeth killed Duncan at Pitgaveny, near Elgin. Macbeth's deed can be regarded as a natural reaction to a tenure not based on established custom. Malcolm Canmore, King Malcolm III 1031 - Nov 13, 1093 The earliest known individual ancestor of the Weems Family was one Malcolm Canmore whose name was saved from oblivion by records which were found by an inquisitive antiquarian in the little Church of the Markish in the Scottish Lowlands across the Firth of Forth from Edinburgh in Fifeshire. Records from the church show that Malcom was a communicant and that he had a son named Ethelred or Aethelred. Other information indicates that Malcolm rose from the position of petty king of the Picts or Celtic chief to the dignity of Malcolm III, King of Scotland. Through his father, King Malcolm was descended from the first kings of Scotland who in turn descended from the kings of Ireland. King Malcolm was also descended from the royal line of the Picts. The reign of Malcom Ceann-m6r was remarkable for a variety of circumstances, which tended towards the drifting of the monarch from his Gaelic to his Lowland subjects, but which contributed indirectly to the development of the Highland clan system. Malcolm contributed to the organization and development of Scotland as a united and organized kingdom, and, moreover, to the high degree of tribal development in Scotland, which we recognize in the clan system. About 1066 Malcolm selected for his settled capital, Dunfermlme. The Royal house become so attached to picturesque little city in the old Pictish province of Fife, that the cathedral city founded there in this reign that Dunfermlme Abbey became the place of sepulture of many Scottish monarchs in place of Scone. However, Scone, with its historic moot hill, still remained the official center and constitutional seat of the Scottish sovereigns and the spot where their coronations took place. About the very time at which Malcolm settled at Dunfermlme occurred the Norman Conquest of England, as a result of which a number of noble Saxon families fled to Scotland, where they were well received by the king, who assigned them grants of land. What actually happened was, as Professor Rait explains, that the kings "did not interfere with the ownership of land as it existed before these grants; the result of his intervention was ultimately to confirm it. What the king gave his friends consisted rather of rights over land than of land itself." The dominium ulile, as it is called, remained with the Celtic chieftains and their dependents, and by the new tenure they got a legal security for ownership; new lords only got their castle, the demesne, and right of a following, whilst they also got the domirnum diredum, namely, presiding in the new Baron Court as a local Parliament. Among the refugees was Edgar the Atheling, the rightful heir to the English Saxon throne, who was accompanied by his mother and his sister Margaret. While later the Norman barons merely consolidated existing Celtic land usage, Margaret, on the other hand, made social innovations. Princess Margaret, born c 1045 probably in Hungary was the daughter of Edward Altheling and Agatha and the granddaughter of King Edmund Ironside and Ealdgyth. She was of royal Saxon heritage and among her ancestors is the early kings of England, including King Alfred the Great. Her lineage also includes royal lines in Scandinavian and Germany. According to the Icelandic Prose Edda, her royal lines even extended to Asia Minor, to King Priam of Troy. Despite her leanings towards a religious life, King Malcolm espoused the Princess Margaret in 1070 as his second wife, and they lived in the royal palace at Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland and at Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland. Margaret obtained a great influence over her husband, the queen was instrumental in introducing many Saxon innovations at the Scottish Court. Among these was the suppression of Gaelic as the court language by Saxon. Queen Margaret used all her influence to replace the rites of the Celtic Church by those of Rome. She had frequent discussions on the subject with the Scottish clergy whose language was Gaelic. On those occasions, we are told, King Malcolm, who spoke both the Gaelic and Saxon languages, acted as interpreter. These events we have narrated led to the introduction into Scotland of many new names. Indeed, the introduction of surnames into Scotland is attributed to this r eign. The Chronicles of Scotland relate that "He [Malcolm] was a religious and valiant king; he rewarded his nobles with great lands and offices, and commanded that the lands and offices should be called after their names. It is not to be supposed that he did this specifically, but he did bring about a state of progress wherein the chiefs of tribes came to be named from, or gave names to, their du~Au£, and began to use such names. Malcolm Ceann-m6r, after a prosperous reign, was killed at the siege of Alnwick, in Northumberland, in 1093. His queen, Margaret died shortly afterwards, on November 16, 1093 in Edinburgh. The king's family was then all under age, and his brother Donald (known as "Donald Dane") succeeded to the Scottish throne as Donald III. During the short reign of this sovereign he acquired a considerable measure of popularity among his Gaelic subjects by the expulsion from Scotland of many of the Saxon immigrants, who had been settled in the kingdom by his brother and predecessor. Donald Dane thus reigned along with Eadmund, eldest-surviving son of Malcolm and Margaret. This is usually represented as a usurpation, or assertion by Donald of a supposed earlier system of collateral succession. It is overlooked that under one of the old Scot~Celtic laws which long survived, and to which attention is drawn by Skene and Fordun, if the heir, either male or female, was under fourteen, the nearest agnate (heir-male), became chief or king for life. But when the heir attained majority he also reigned jointly with his-if we may so describe it-" trustee for life," and a situation arose in which there was a "joint reign." In primitive days it was no doubt difficult for the heir, on coming of age, completely to dispossess a man who had during the minority taken all the effective threads of power into his own hands. Joint reign was perhaps in those days the expedient least likely to lead to civil war or domestic tragedy. However, in 1097, this joint form of monarchy was brought to an end through intervention of Edgar Atheling (brother-in-law of Malcolm Ceann-m6r), who succeeded in dethroning both Donald Bane and Eadmund and placed Eadgar, next brother of Eadmund, on the throne. His reign was an unfortunate one, for during it the Norwegian king, Magnus, surnamed Barefoot, succeeded in obtaining possession of the Western Isles and Kintyre. Ethelrede or Aethelred - Son of Malcolm Canmore Aethelred, First Earl of Fife Malcolm fathered four sons, Aethelred, or Aedh in the Gaelic, was the oldest and became Abbot of Dunkeld and later Earl of Fife. Upon Malcolm's death Aedh was barred from the throne either because he was an Abbot or too old. At any rate his younger brothers ascended to the throne. Aedh became the First Earl of Fife probably as a result of his marriage to the Princess of Moray, daughter of King Lulach of Albany and sister of Maelsnechtan, the King of Moray, which included the Kingdom of Fife. The King of Moray was also the Chief of the Clan Duff as grandson of Queen Gruoch, herself the heiress of the line of King Duff (killed in 967) which was appanaged in the "Kingdom of Fife." In the "Adm ore Charter" he is styled "Vir veneranda memoria Abbas de dunkelden, et insuper comes de fyfe." Aethelred was the father of several sons also, the oldest of which predeceased Aedh and was known merely as Duff. Not much is known of Duff except that he was named after his mother's clan, probably his ancestor, King Duff, had sons and died before his father. Upon the death of Aethelred, around 1128, several attempts were made by the Moray kinsmen of his surviving sons to put them on the throne as they were the sons of King Malcolm's eldest son who was barred from the throne upon Malcolm's death. This was in keeping with the old laws of the Gaels. The son of the deceased Duff, however, who was a nephew of the contenders, sided with the line of his great uncles rather than his father's younger brothers, who were known as the MacAedh brothers. Constantin, styled third earl, and supposed to have been the first who adopted the title, is mentioned in the supposititious charter of Etheldred (we have been using the spelling Aethelred or Aedh) cited earlier, and is witness to a charter of the monastery of Dunfermline. During his time a curious occurrence took place, which is very illustrative of the state of Scotland during that period of history. Sir Robert Burgoner had violently oppressed the monks of Lochleven. The monks complained to the King, who summoned a meeting of the whole county of Fife and Forteviot, to do justice between them. Earl Constantin, who was great judge of Scotland, collected the strength of the county, and the bishop of St. Andrews sent his retainers to support the civil power. The dispute was referred to three judges; Constantin the earl; Dufgal a judge, venerable for his age and respected for his knowledge; and Meldoineth, also a judge of high character. After hearing evidence, the judges pronounced sentence against the knight, Sir Robert Burgoner. Trial by jury, a Saxon institution, that had not yet been introduced into Celtic portion of Scotland was first seen. Constantin is said to have died in 1129, about five years after the accession of David the First to the throne. Gillemichael Macduff, Fourth Earl of Fife The Clan Macduff, then headed by Constantin’s younger brother Gillemichael, fourth Earl of Fife, became the premier clan among the Gaels of medieval Scotland. The Earl of Fife, "By the Grace of God", bore a coat-of-arms appropriate only to a branch of the royal house of Scotland, senior even to that of the reigning kings themselves. He was treated as almost a sacred personage, being placed first after the king in all gatherings, speaking first in council and Parliament, and leading the van in battle. According to tradition Macduff lost his first wife by the cruelty of Macbeth, but after the restoration he married again and was succeeded by his son Duffayon, Earl of Fife, who in turn was succeeded by Constantine and Gillemichael. Gillemichael was witness to several charters by King David to the Monastery of Dumfermline, including the foundation charter of the Abby of Holyroodhouse in 1128. After sideing with the line of his great uncles rather than his father's younger brothers, Gillemichael Macduff was loyal to Duncan I, grandson of Malcolm II, and it was during this period and under these circumstances that the events occurred which gave rise to Shakespeare's famous play Macbeth. One of the contenders for the throne was one of the younger sons of Aethelred, known as MacAedh or MacHeth, which was sometimes confused with Macbeth. The historic Macduff supported the son of Duncan I, who later became Malcolm III, against Macbeth, and it was this support which gave rise to the legends of the famous Shakespearean play. The historic facts of the play are that Macbeth (MacAedh) or (MacHeth) killed Duncan I in 1040 and usurped the throne. Duncan's son Malcolm fled to England with Macduff where they mustered their clans and returned to Scotland. Macbeth was defeated by Malcolm and Macduff at Duninane and later killed at Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire on August 15, 1057. As written by William Shakespeare in 1606 and published in 1623, which was based on the account in Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles of 1578, Macduff was the slayer of Macbeth, but according to Wyntoun, Macbeth was killed by one of Macduff’s knights. Malcolm then became King Malcolm III and held his first parliament in Forfar, Scotland in 1057. In appreciation of the service given by Macduff, Thane of Fife, in restoring the crown to Malcolm three boons were given Macduff by Malcolm: "First, that when Scotland's King assumes the crown, Macduff's descendant wreathes his brow with it (meaning that he and his successors, lords of Fife, should have the right of placing the kings of Scotland on the throne at their coronation.); Second, when Scotland's King calls forth the host, Macduff's descendant leads the clan in battle (meaning that they should lead the van of the Scottish armies whenever the royal banner was displayed.); and Third, in guardian for the crown restored, red with the blood of the usurping tyrant, the right is granted in succeeding times that if a kinsman of the Thane of Fife commit a slaughter upon a sudden impulse and fly for refuge to the Cross of Macduff at Abernathy, for the Thane's sake he shall find sanctuary" (meaning that if he or any of his kindred committed slaughter of a suddenty, they should have a peculiar sanctuary, girth, or asylum, and obtain remission on payment of an atonement in money. A cross, called MacDuff’s Cross, which stood near the town of Newburgh, but of which only the pedestal remained in 1874, long formed the evidence of this privilege.) Douglas (Peerage, vol. I, p573, Wood’s edition) states that Malcolm also created him earl of Fife. The title earl, of Saxon origin, was not introduced into Scotland till after the settlement in the country of Saxon families, to which Malcolm, who had married a princess of the Saxon line of the kings of England, gave great encouragement. The Celtic title maormor was previously held by the chiefs or governors of the different divisions of the country, and it does not appear that Macduff ever bore the Saxon title of earl. According to the absurd fables of Boece and Fordun, he was the eighth in descent from Fifus Macduff, a potent chieftain who is stated to have lived about the year 834. He is said to have given his name to the district of Fife, which had been conferred on him by Kenneth the Second, king of Scots. In return for the aid afforded him against the Picts, and of which he was appointed hereditary thane; but it is very doughtful if this Fifus Macduff ever lived. In Sibbald’s History of Fife (p. 168) is a copy of a charter in which Etheldred, abbot of Dunkeld, a son of Malcolm Canmore, is styled earl of Fife. However, it has been considered a mistake of the monk who transcribed it, if the charter itself is not a forgery. Some historians believe that this Etheldred had the custody of the earldom of Fife during the minority of the son or grandson of Macduff. The death of Macduff is unknown, but he is recorded upon occasion to have commanded the king’s army against the rebels in Mar. The son of Macduff, Dufagan or Macduff, is styled as second earl of Fife. Again many dought the existence of Dufagan. Douglas however, alleges him to have been witness to many charters of King Alexander the First. Sir James Dalrymple, in his Historical Collections, p 273, shows him to have been an assenter to a charter of that king, confirming the rights of the Trinity church of Scone, but although named, he is not styled earl of Fife in the charter. It would be during this time that the caves under the MacDuff castle were used. Again from Fox’s article on the Wemyss Caves we read: Well Cave is located beneth the ruins of the old Wemyss Castle, locally known as "MacDuff’s Castle." Passageways once connected this family castle with the cave. Well Cave is actually a network of several caves. It was named because it contained an ancient holy healing well, known in Christian times as St. Margaret’s Well. Up until the end of the nineteenth century, local people continued a long-standing New Year’s celebration traditions there. This celebration began with a torchlight procession into the cave. Participants gathered around the sacred well and sang, and then shared cakes and wine. Before leaving, everyone drank of the healing waters of the well. In the past millennium, this celebration took place on Hansel Monday, which, up until 1752, was observed on the first Monday in January. After 1752, as a result of Scottish protest of English changes in the calendar, the date was moved to the first Monday after January 11. Rankin suggests that this New Year’s celebration at Well Cave dated to Pagen times and was "a continuation of the old Celtic New Year Festival of ‘Samhain’ when the fairy piper was said to come to the caves to summon the wicked and when ‘Tir Nan Og’ wiled away the mortals to the land of eternal youth" (page 24). Court Cave and Well Cave are the caves which are most ateeped in legend and folklore. Court Cave was named thus because of its use as a courthouse. According to Rnakin (page 8): "In the Middle Ages, the land owner was responsible for the upkeep of law and order and he presided over the ‘Baron Courts’ which were normally heard in the open air. The owners of the Wemyss Estate were fortunate in having this magnificent cave in which to hold their courts and it is said that the court was summoned by the ringing of a bell which hung from a hole in the roof." There are a variety of markings in Court Cave, including cup marks, Pictish V-rods and discs, and the warrior figure and glyph mentioned previously. A forty foot long snake image was along one of the passage ways. Court Cave once had two underground passages, but these have collapsed. One was connected with lore of MacDuff, the Thane of Fife of the royal house of Duff, from which the Wemyss family descends, as noted by Moncreiffe, Grimble, Weems, and other writers. According to legend, MacDuff escaped from MacBeth through the underground passage that led from this cave to Kennoway, three miles away.

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