{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox historic site | name =MacDuff's Cross | native_name = | image = Macduff's Cross - geograph.org.uk - 605224.jpg | caption = | locmapin = Scotland Fife | map_caption ='''Macduff's Cross''' shown within Fife | coordinates = {{coord|56.3371|-3.2516|region:GB_type:landmark|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | location =Fife, Scotland | area = | built = | architect = | architecture = | governing_body = | designation1 = | designation1_offname = | designation1_date = | designation1_number = }} '''MacDuff's Cross''', also known as the '''Cross of MacDuff''' or '''Ninewells''', is the remains of an ancient white sandstone monument, located on a historic site between Lindores and Newburgh in Fife, Scotland.<ref name="Prestwich2008">{{cite book|author=Michael Prestwich|title=Liberties & Identities in the Medieval British Isles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qLELIqZGBg0C&pg=PA182|accessdate=30 November 2012|date=19 June 2008|publisher=Boydell Press|isbn=978-1-84383-374-1|pages=182–}}</ref> Robert Sibbald suggested the date of its construction to have been 1059 CE, however earlier dates have been considered.<ref name="The Ecclesiologist">{{cite book|title=The Ecclesiologist|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1xUprWbE91wC&pg=PA236|accessdate=30 November 2012|year=1848|pages=236–}}</ref>
==Description==
It is located beside a minor road west of Black Cairn Hill, around {{convert|1|mi}} southwest of Newburgh, where only the pedestal remains of what once was supposedly a cross.<ref>[http://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst62.html Macduff's Cross in the Gazetteer for Scotland]</ref> The stone is {{convert|3.75|ft|m}} high, {{convert|4.55|ft|m}} in length and {{convert|3.75|ft|m}} wide. There are various indents on the monument, suggested to have originally been nine cup and ring marks.<ref name="LeightonStewart1840">{{cite book|author1=John M. Leighton|author2=James Stewart|title=History of the county of Fife: from the earliest period to the present time|url=https://archive.org/details/historycountyfi01stewgoog|accessdate=30 November 2012|year=1840|publisher=J. Swan|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historycountyfi01stewgoog/page/n216 176]–}}</ref> Other crosses exist in Mortlach, Aberdeenshire; Kiels, Inverary; Strathlacplan, Argyll; and on Iona, Islay and Oronsay.<ref name="The Ecclesiologist"/>
==Law of Clan MacDuff==
The cross is supposed to mark the spot where the clan Macduff, in return for its chief's services against Macbeth, was granted rights of sanctuary and composition for murder done in hot blood. This legend suggests a penalty of nine cows and a heifer for such a crime.<ref name="Seymour2003">{{cite book|author=William Woo Seymour|title=The Cross in Tradition, History and Art|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P8Wt5wUSpwsC&pg=PA277|accessdate=30 November 2012|date=1 March 2003|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|isbn=978-0-7661-4527-6|pages=277–}}</ref> Shortly after the death of Macbeth, King of Scotland, Malcolm III of Scotland was also supposed to have bestowed on the Thane of Fife the privilege of ordaining the King, and leading the charge in battle. The cross was originally dedicated to Saint Magider and smashed to pieces by a mob of fanatical followers of John Knox in 1559.<ref name="Seymour2003"/> It was a place where William Ballingall suggested "arch-criminals claimed the protection of the Law of Clan Macduff".<ref name="Ballingall1872">{{cite book|author=William Ballingall|title=The shores of Fife|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dv0HAAAAQAAJ|accessdate=30 November 2012|page=86|year=1872}}</ref>
==Inscription==
MacDuff's cross was said to have been marked with a "metrical inscription, in a strange half-Latin jargon, the varying copies of which, still preserved, have given much occupation to antiquaries".<ref name="LongBritain)1834">{{cite book|author1=George Long|author2=Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (Great Britain)|title=The Penny Cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge: v. 1-27|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jlbfq5hCiUMC&pg=PA541|accessdate=30 November 2012|year=1834|publisher=C. Knight|pages=541–}}</ref> After studying two early translations, Walter Wood suggested that it read ''"An altar for those whom law pursues, a hall for those whom strife pursues, being without a home. Who makest thy way hither, to thee this paction becomes a harbour. But there is hope of peace only when the murder has been committed by those born of my grandson. I set free the accused, a fine of a thousand drachms from his lands. On account of Macgridin and of this offering, take once for all the cleansing of my heirs beneath this stone filled with water."''<ref name="Wood1862">{{cite book|author=Walter Wood|title=The east neuk of Fife: its history and antiquities [&c.].|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_B6UHAAAAQAAJ|accessdate=30 November 2012|year=1862|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_B6UHAAAAQAAJ/page/n24 14]–}}</ref>
==See also== * Macduff's Castle
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=13598 MacDuff's Cross on megalithic.co.uk] *{{cite web |url=http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/30145/details/ninewells+macduff+s+cross/ |title=Ninewells, Macduff's Cross |work=Canmore |publisher=Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland }}
Category:Monuments and memorials in Scotland Category:Archaeological sites in Fife