Dunfermline Abbey - Famous Births, Marriages, & Burials

Famous Births, Marriages, & Burials

• Saint Margaret of Scotland was buried here in 1093; on 19 June 1250 following her Canonization her remains were disinterred and placed in a reliquary at the high altar. Her husband Malcolm's remains were also disinterred, and buried next to Margaret.

• Both Duncan II of Scotland 1094, and his wife Ethelreda, were buried here

• Donald III of Scotland 1099

• Edgar of Scotland was buried here in 1107

• Both Alexander I of Scotland 1124, and his queen Sybilla de Normandy 1122, were buried here

• David I of Scotland was buried here (1153) along with his queen Maud, Countess of Huntingdon (1130)

• Malcolm IV of Scotland was buried here in 1165

• Alexander III of Scotland (1286), was buried here, with his first wife Margaret of England (1275) and their sons David of Scotland (1281) and Alexander of Scotland (1284)

• Elizabeth de Burgh, wife of Robert I of Scotland, was buried here in 1327

• Robert the Bruce was buried, in 1329, in the choir, now the site of the present parish church. Bruce’s heart rests in Melrose, but his bones lie in Dunfermline Abbey, where (after the discovery of the skeleton in 1818) they were reinterred with fitting pomp below the pulpit of the New church. In 1891 the pulpit was moved back and a monumental brass inserted in the floor to indicate the royal vault.

• Matilda of Scotland, daughter of Robert I of Scotland, was buried here in 1353

• Anabella Drummond, wife of Robert III and mother of James I was buried here in 1401

• Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany was buried here in 1420

• Birthplace, in 1600, of Charles I, the last monarch born in Scotland.

• William Schaw, Master of Work to the Crown of Scotland, was buried here in 1602: his tomb can still be seen.

• David Lindsay, 1st Lord Balcarres, son of John Lindsay of Balcarres, Lord Menmuir and father of Alexander Lindsay, 1st Earl of Balcarres, was married here in 1611

• Bishop James Bruce