country of fife

FIFE, a maritime county of the east side of Scotland, lying nearly in the middle of the lowland region, which is bounded by the Lammermoors on the south, and the Grampians on the north. It is a peninsula, enclosed by the frith of Tay on the north, the German ocean on the east, and the frith of Forth on the south; and it marches on the west with Perthshire, Kinross-shire, and Clackmannanshire ...The southern coast is, for the most part, indented by small rocky bays with corresponding projecting headlands; but along the banks of the Tay, the grounds slope gently toward the beach, and are generally cultivated to the river's edge. Along the north-eastern shore, towards St Andrews, it presents one large plain, terminating in a flat beach of sand."
from the Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland, edited by John Marius Wilson, 1868.

This article is about the area in Scotland. For other uses, see Fife (disambiguation).
Fife (Gaelic: Fìobh) is a council area of Scotland, situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire. It was originally one of the Pictish kingdoms, known as Fib, and is still commonly known as the Kingdom of Fife within Scotland.
It is a lieutenancy area, and was a county of Scotland until 1975. It was very occasionally known by the anglification Fifeshire in old documents and maps compiled by English cartographers and authors. A person from Fife is known as a Fifer.
From 1975 to 1996 Fife was a local government region divided into three districts — Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and North-East Fife. Since 1996 the functions of the district councils have been exercised by the unitary Fife Council.
Fife is Scotland's 3rd largest local authority area with a resident population of just under 360,000. Almost a third of the population live in the three principal towns of Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes.
The historical town of St Andrews is located on the east coast of Fife. It is well known for one of the most ancient universities in Europe, and as the home of golf

Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. This branch also includes the Irish and Manx languages. It is distinct from the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages, which includes Welsh, Cornish, and Breton. Scottish, Manx and Irish Gaelic are all descended from Old Irish. The language is often described as Scottish Gaelic, Scots Gaelic, or Gàidhlig to avoid confusion with the other two Goidelic languages. Outside Scotland, it is occasionally also called Scottish, a usage dating back over 1,500 years; for example Old English Scottas. Scottish Gaelic should not be confused with Scots, because since the 16th century the word Scots has by-and-large been used to describe the Lowland Anglic language, which developed from the northern form of early Middle English. In Scottish English, Gaelic is pronounced [ˈgaːlɪk]; outside Scotland, it is usually pronounced /ˈgeɪlɪk/.
The Picts were a confederation of tribes in what later was to become central and northern Scotland from Roman times until the 10th century. They lived to the north of the Forth and Clyde. They are often assumed to have been the descendants of the Caledonii and other tribes named by Roman historians or found on the world map of Ptolemy, though the evidence for this connection is circumstantial and the issue of "Pict" origins remains controversial among historians. Pictland, also known as Pictavia, became the Kingdom of Alba during the 10th century and the Picts became the Fir Alban, the men of Scotland.
Archaeology gives some impression of the society of the Picts. Although very little in the way of Pictish writing has survived, Pictish history since late 6th century is known from a variety of sources, including saints' lives, such as that of Columba by Adomnán, and various Irish annals. Although the popular impression of the Picts may be one of an obscure, mysterious people, this is far from being the case. When compared with the generality of Northern, Central and Eastern Europe in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, Pictish history and society are well attested.[1]
The Picts were a confederation of tribes in what later was to become central and northern Scotland from Roman times until the 10th century. They lived to the north of the Forth and Clyde. They are often assumed to have been the descendants of the Caledonii and other tribes named by Roman historians or found on the world map of Ptolemy, though the evidence for this connection is circumstantial and the issue of "Pict" origins remains controversial among historians. Pictland, also known as Pictavia, became the Kingdom of Alba during the 10th century and the Picts became the Fir Alban, the men of Scotland.
Archaeology gives some impression of the society of the Picts. Although very little in the way of Pictish writing has survived, Pictish history since late 6th century is known from a variety of sources, including saints' lives, such as that of Columba by Adomnán, and various Irish annals. Although the popular impression of the Picts may be one of an obscure, mysterious people, this is far from being the case. When compared with the generality of Northern, Central and Eastern Europe in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, Pictish history and society are well attested.
he Picts were a confederation of tribes in what later was to become central and northern Scotland from Roman times until the 10th century. They lived to the north of the Forth and Clyde. They are often assumed to have been the descendants of the Caledonii and other tribes named by Roman historians or found on the world map of Ptolemy, though the evidence for this connection is circumstantial and the issue of "Pict" origins remains controversial among historians. Pictland, also known as Pictavia, became the Kingdom of Alba during the 10th century and the Picts became the Fir Alban, the men of Scotland.

Archaeology gives some impression of the society of the Picts. Although very little in the way of Pictish writing has survived, Pictish history since late 6th century is known from a variety of sources, including saints' lives, such as that of Columba by Adomnán, and various Irish annals. Although the popular impression of the Picts may be one of an obscure, mysterious people, this is far from being the case. When compared with the generality of Northern, Central and Eastern Europe in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, Pictish history and society are well attested.
The name by which the Picts called themselves is unknown. The Greek word Πικτοί (Latin Picti) first appears in a panegyric written by Eumenius in AD 297 and is taken to mean "painted or tattooed people" (Latin pingere "paint"). The Gaels of Ireland and the Scottish kingdom of Dál Riata called the Picts Cruithne, (Old Irish cru(i)then-túath), presumably from Proto-Celtic *kwriteno-toutā. There were also people referred to as Cruithne in Ulster, in particular the kings of Dál nAraidi.[2] The Britons (later the Welsh and Cornish) in the south knew them, in the P-Celtic form of "Cruithne", as Prydyn; the terms "Britain" and "Briton" come from the same root.[3] Their Old English name gave the modern Scots form Pecht
The means by which the Pictish confederation formed in Late Antiquity from a number of tribes are as obscure as the processes which created the Franks, the Alamanni and similar confederations in Germany. The presence of the Roman Empire, unfamiliar in size, culture, political systems and ways of making war, should be noted. Nor can we ignore the wealth and prestige that control of trade with Rome offered.
Pictland had previously been described as the home of the Caledonii.[6] Other tribes said to have lived in the area included the Verturiones, Taexali and Venicones.[7] Except for the Caledonians, the names may be second- or third-hand: perhaps as reported to the Romans by speakers of Brythonic or Gaulish languages.[8]

Pictish recorded history begins in the Dark Ages. It appears that they were not the dominant power in Northern Britain for the entire period. Firstly the Gaels of Dál Riata dominated the region, but suffered a series of defeats in the first third of the 7th century.[9] The Angles of Bernicia overwhelmed the adjacent British kingdoms, and the neighbouring Anglian kingdom of Deira (Bernicia and Deira later being called Northumbria), was to become the most powerful kingdom in Britain.[10] The Picts were probably tributary to Northumbria until the reign of Bridei map Beli, when the Anglians suffered a defeat at the battle of Dunnichen which halted their expansion northwards. The Northumbrians continued to dominate southern Scotland for the remainder of the Pictish period.
The Picts are often said to have tattooed themselves, but evidence for this is limited. Naturalistic depictions of Pictish nobles, hunters and warriors, male and female, without obvious tattoos, are found on monumental stones. These stones include inscriptions in Latin and Ogham script, not all of which have been deciphered. The well known Pictish symbols found on stones, and elsewhere, are obscure in meaning. A variety of esoteric explanations have been offered, but the simplest conclusion may be that these symbols represent the names of those who had raised, or are commemorated on, the stones. Pictish art can be classed as Celtic, and later as Insular.Irish poets portrayed their Pictish counterparts as very much like themselves.