Cong-hiörnet (Kinghorn) the King's cape; Coupar the market town; and we find A. D. 1538 the district round Brunt - island was divided into Conungr -land King's land, and Gref-land Earl's land, which indicates that part was royal demesne, & part the property of the earls of Fife. It was, indeed, from the Norse, & not from the Saxon, that the broad Scottish dialect originated.
In the x. age the southern coast of Fife was called Fiord-riki, or the kingdom on the bay, & it seems the have been possessed by feudatory Princes. Two of them, probably the thanes of Fife and Strathern, dreading a visit from Olave king of Norway, put themselves under the protection of Canute the Great, as Snorro tells us. ”Til hans como tveir Kongar, nordan af Skotlandi, of Fifi; oc gaf hann þeim up reida sina, oc laund þau aull er þeir haufdo ádr, oc þar med storar vingiafir; Þa quaþ Sigvatr. Literally; To bim (Canute) came two Kings from Scotland in the north, from Fife; and he gave them up his wrath, and all that land which they had before, and therewith store of winning-gifts. This quoth Sigvat.
