At Dunfermline, in Fife, a royal palace was born from a monastery: the guest house of the great Benedictine abbey was transformed into a residence of the kings of Scotland. Dear to Queen Anne of Denmark, this palace saw the birth of the future Charles I, at the very hinge of our period.
From an abbey to a palace
Dunfermline was one of the greatest abbeys in Scotland, a royal necropolis since the Middle Ages. Around 1500, James IV transformed the monastic guest house into a royal palace — an exemplary case of the conversion of a monastic space into a Renaissance residence. The palace, backing onto the abbey and dominating the Forth valley, became a leading Stewart residence. It is a fine witness of the way the Scottish monarchy, like the English, recycled the religious heritage for the benefit of the Crown.
Queen Anne and the birth of Charles I
Dunfermline knew its apogee with Anne of Denmark, wife of James VI, who was its great patron. The palace was given to her as a wedding gift in 1589, and she made it one of her favourite residences, titled 'Lady of Dunfermline'. She commissioned there the 'Queen's House', a cruciform wing completed in 1600, which has been compared to the Queen's House at Greenwich; the royal architect William Schaw supervised the works. It was at Dunfermline that two royal children were born: Princess Elizabeth Stuart (1596) and above all the future Charles I (1600). For this birth, a new bed of green velvet and taffeta was built for the queen. To see: the great south wall of the palace dominating the Forth, the surviving kitchens and cellars, the abbey (Romanesque nave) and the gatehouse linking palace and abbey.
Did you know?
The future King Charles I — the very one who would end beheaded in 1649 at the close of the Civil War — was born at Dunfermline in November 1600, in a chamber where a new bed of green velvet and taffeta had been set up for his mother. A sickly child, late to walk, he was the last British sovereign born in Scotland. The palace that saw his birth still dominates the Forth valley, while his tragic destiny would be accomplished, half a century later, in London.
Notes
Dunfermline Palace and Abbey lies at Dunfermline, Fife; a site run by Historic Environment Scotland, open to visits. Seasonal hours to check.
Quiz
- Which future king was born at Dunfermline in 1600?
- Charles I
- James VI
- Henry VIII
- Which queen was its great patron?
- Anne of Denmark
- Mary Stuart
- Elizabeth I
- What did the palace serve as originally?
- It was the guest house of the abbey
- An artillery fort
- A prison