David I , King of Scotland
b. c. 1082; d. May 24, 1153, Carlisle, Cumberland, Eng.
One of the most powerful Scottish kings (reigned from 1124). He admitted into Scotland an Anglo-French (Norman) aristocracy that played a major part in the later history of the kingdom. He also reorganized Scottish Christianity to conform with continental European and English usages and founded many religious communities, mostly for Cistercian monks and Augustinian canons.
The youngest of the six sons of the Scottish king Malcolm III Canmore and Queen Margaret (afterward St. Margaret), David spent much of his early life at the court of his brother-in-law King Henry I of England. Through David's marriage (1113) to a daughter of Waltheof, earl of Northumbria, he acquired the English earldom of Huntingdon and obtained much land in that county and in Northamptonshire. With Anglo-Norman help, David secured from his brother Alexander I, king of Scots from 1107, the right to rule Cumbria, Strathclyde, and part of Lothian. In April 1124, on the death of Alexander, David became king of Scots.
David recognized his niece, the Holy Roman empress Matilda (died 1167), as heir to Henry I in England, and from 1136 he fought for her against King Stephen (crowned as Henry's successor in December 1135), hoping thereby to gain Northumberland for himself. A brief peace made with Stephen in 1136 resulted in the cession of Cumberland to David and the transfer of Huntingdon to his son Earl Henry. David, however, continued to switch sides. While fighting for Matilda again, he was defeated in the Battle of the Standard, near Northallerton, Yorkshire (Aug. 22, 1138). He then made peace once more with Stephen, who in 1139 granted Northumberland (as an English fief) to Earl Henry. In 1141 David reentered the war on Matilda's behalf, and in 1149 he knighted her son Henry Plantagenet (afterward King Henry II of England), who acknowledged David's right to Northumberland.
In Scotland, David created a rudimentary central administration, issued the first Scottish royal coinage, and built or rebuilt the castles around which grew the first Scottish burghs: Edinburgh, Stirling, Berwick, Roxburgh, and perhaps Perth. As ruler of Cumbria he had taken Anglo-Normans into his service, and during his kingship many others settled in Scotland, founding important families and intermarrying with the older Scottish aristocracy. Bruce, Stewart, Comyn, and Oliphant are among the noted names whose bearers went from northern France to England during the Norman Conquest in 1066 and then to Scotland in the reign of David I. To these and other French-speaking immigrants, David granted land in return for specified military service or contributions of money, as had been done in England from the time of the Conquest.



193- King David I (1084-1153)
The last of the four sons of Malcolm Canmore and Queen (later Saint) Margaret to become King of Scotland, David was sent (together with his sister) to the Norman English court of William II at the age of nine and spent over 30 years there. In 1100, his sister (Maud in Scotland but Matilda in England) married William II's son Henry, who became king in the same year.

When David's brother Edgar died in 1107, David became king of Southern Scotland (below the line of the Forth and Clyde). His brother Alexander I was unhappy at this arrangement but David had more knights than Alexander with which to defend his inheritance. After all, King Henry I had given David the "Honour of Huntingdon" (country manors in eleven counties), made him prince of Cumbria and married him to a widowed heiress of Northumberland.

When Alexander I died in 1124, David set off for Scotland, accompanied by many knights and courtiers from Norman England - many of whom became the future aristocrats and even kings of Scotland - including Bruce, Balliol and FitzAlan (who later became the Stewart kings).

David established a feudal system in Scotland and introduced many novel ideas such as silver coinage, promoting education and giving audiences to rich and poor alike. Stirling, Perth and Dunfermline were made royal burghs which meant that they could engage in foreign trade. David also founded 15 religious houses, including the abbeys at Jedburgh, Kelso and Melrose.

His was a long and largely peaceful reign though he did have to deal with rebellions by the Earl of Moray in 1130 and the Bishop of the Isles in 1140. He also decided to take advantage of the death of Henry I and attempted to push the Scottish border further south. In 1138, at the Battle of the Standard near Northallerton, he did not follow up an attack by the Scottish knights and decided to leave the field of battle. While it was by no means a rout, the English army had clearly won the day. However, in 1139, under the Treaty of Durham, King Stephen of England not only recognised Scotland as an independent kingdom, but also ceded Northumbria.

King David died peacefully on 24 May 1153, in Carlisle at the age of 69. He had ended his days gardening and tending orchards below Edinburgh Castle and in Haddington. His only son Henry had died in 1152, so he was succeeded by his 12-year-old grandson, Malcolm IV.

The ilustration above is of King David (on the left) and his grandson Malcolm IV. It is from a decorated charter of 1165, granted to Kelso Abbey. The charter is now in the possession of the Duke of Roxburghe (though this photo is of a copy on display at Jedburgh Abbey).