Recent from talks
Falkland Palace
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Falkland Palace
Falkland Palace, in Falkland, Fife, Scotland, is a royal palace of the Scottish kings. It was one of the favourite places of Mary, Queen of Scots, who took refuge there from political and religious turmoil of her times.
Today it is under the stewardship of Ninian Stuart, who delegates most of his duties to the National Trust for Scotland. The Chapel Royal in the Palace is dedicated to Thomas the Apostle. It is open to the public and reserved for Catholic worship.
In the late 12th century, a royal hunting lodge was located on this site. The lodge was expanded in the 13th century to operate as a castle, owned by the Earls of Fife of the noted Clan MacDuff. The castle was built here because the site is on a slight hill that could be defended. The surrounding land eventually were developed as the Palace gardens.
To the north, between the royal stable and the River Eden, was a great oak wood. Its many groves merged into the surrounding parkland. Timber was occasionally cut in the forest for royal ships of war.
The castle would have been surrounded by meadows, fields, orchards, glades and Falkland Park, which was a managed forest surrounded by a pale, a ditch with a fence on top of it. The pale would have been used to keep game inside the park reserved for hunting by the royal family and its courtiers. A park keeper maintained the Pale. In 1469 the keeper Bannatyne was docked wages for failing to keep it repaired.
In 1371 Isabella MacDuff, Countess of Fife acknowledged Robert Stewart, Earl of Menteith, son of Robert II, as her heir. She made him keeper of the castle and forest of Falkland. In 1402 Stewart, by then Duke of Albany, imprisoned his nephew and rival David Stewart, Duke of Rothesay, at Falkland; he was the eldest son of Robert III. The incarcerated Duke eventually died from neglect and starvation. According to a chronicle, the starving Duke of Rothesay had eaten his own hands.
Albany was exonerated from blame by the Parliament of Scotland, but suspicions of foul play persisted. These suspicions were carried against Rothesay's younger brother, the future King James I. These events eventually led to the downfall of the Albany Stewarts.
After ordering the execution of Albany's son Murdoch in 1424, James I took possession of Falkland for the crown. Falkland became a popular retreat with all the Stewart monarchs and queens consort. They practised falconry there and used the vast surrounding forests for hawking. Red deer and fallow deer were kept in the park for hunting, some brought from the Torwood Forest near Stirling.
Hub AI
Falkland Palace AI simulator
(@Falkland Palace_simulator)
Falkland Palace
Falkland Palace, in Falkland, Fife, Scotland, is a royal palace of the Scottish kings. It was one of the favourite places of Mary, Queen of Scots, who took refuge there from political and religious turmoil of her times.
Today it is under the stewardship of Ninian Stuart, who delegates most of his duties to the National Trust for Scotland. The Chapel Royal in the Palace is dedicated to Thomas the Apostle. It is open to the public and reserved for Catholic worship.
In the late 12th century, a royal hunting lodge was located on this site. The lodge was expanded in the 13th century to operate as a castle, owned by the Earls of Fife of the noted Clan MacDuff. The castle was built here because the site is on a slight hill that could be defended. The surrounding land eventually were developed as the Palace gardens.
To the north, between the royal stable and the River Eden, was a great oak wood. Its many groves merged into the surrounding parkland. Timber was occasionally cut in the forest for royal ships of war.
The castle would have been surrounded by meadows, fields, orchards, glades and Falkland Park, which was a managed forest surrounded by a pale, a ditch with a fence on top of it. The pale would have been used to keep game inside the park reserved for hunting by the royal family and its courtiers. A park keeper maintained the Pale. In 1469 the keeper Bannatyne was docked wages for failing to keep it repaired.
In 1371 Isabella MacDuff, Countess of Fife acknowledged Robert Stewart, Earl of Menteith, son of Robert II, as her heir. She made him keeper of the castle and forest of Falkland. In 1402 Stewart, by then Duke of Albany, imprisoned his nephew and rival David Stewart, Duke of Rothesay, at Falkland; he was the eldest son of Robert III. The incarcerated Duke eventually died from neglect and starvation. According to a chronicle, the starving Duke of Rothesay had eaten his own hands.
Albany was exonerated from blame by the Parliament of Scotland, but suspicions of foul play persisted. These suspicions were carried against Rothesay's younger brother, the future King James I. These events eventually led to the downfall of the Albany Stewarts.
After ordering the execution of Albany's son Murdoch in 1424, James I took possession of Falkland for the crown. Falkland became a popular retreat with all the Stewart monarchs and queens consort. They practised falconry there and used the vast surrounding forests for hawking. Red deer and fallow deer were kept in the park for hunting, some brought from the Torwood Forest near Stirling.
Recent media