David of Scotland

David of Scotland (c.1085–1153), king. The sixth and youngest son of King Malcolm III of Scotland and his wife Margaret, he was educated for some years at the Anglo-Norman court, became prince of Cumbria (including Lothian) on the accession of his brother Alexander in 1107, and married Matilda, daughter of Waldef, the Anglo-Saxon patriot earl of Northampton and Huntingdon. He thus became himself an English earl and had a strong claim to the earldom of Northumberland. He became king of Scotland in 1124. With his ancestry, upbringing, and social position he was inevitably involved with English politics and furthered his claim to Northumbria by every means at his disposal. In 1127, like other English barons, he bound himself to recognize Henry I's daughter Matilda (his own niece) as successor to the English throne. In 1135, when Stephen became king instead, David captured nearly all the border castles: the price of peace was for his son Henry to be granted Carlisle, Doncaster, and the honour of Huntingdon. In 1136 David also claimed Northumberland and invaded the north of England in 1138, helped by miscellaneous allies from Norway, Denmark, Germany, and especially the Picts of Galloway, whose barbarism and atrocities (which included the murder and enslavement of women) were long remembered with horror. Even though the army of the English North, aided by Thurstan, archbishop of York, and carrying a consecrated host in a pyx as well as banners of the Northern saints, defeated David's army at the battle of the Standard (near Northallerton), David obtained favourable terms: Northumberland and Cumberland were ceded, and David held court at Carlisle, but he took little further part in the civil war.

Instead he devoted himself to the improvement of Scotland. He instituted a feudal system of land tenure which replaced the Celtic tribal one; he introduced Norman colonists and an Anglo-Norman judicial system and encouraged the development of towns such as Edinburgh, Berwick, and Perth with trade practised by merchants of many races. Above all, he reorganized the Church in Scotland. Contact with Rome was close and more effective, both through visits from papal legates and the issue of numerous decretals, but he opposed Canterbury's primatial claims. He founded the bishoprics of Brechin, Dunblane, Caithness, Ross, and Aberdeen and numerous churches and monasteries. These included houses for Austin Canons at Holyrood, for Cistercians at Melrose, Kinloss, Newbottle, and Dundrennan, and the increase of endowments for the Benedictines of Dunfermline. Ailred of Rievaulx, who had been steward (dispensator) at David's court when a young man and the close friend of the king's son Henry, gave a eulogistic portrait of David in his panegyric. This tells of his reluctance to become king, his justice in administration, his accessibility to all and his conversation about gardens, orchards, and buildings. His one fault was his failure to control his soldiers when they invaded England, which was punished by the loss of his son and the defeat of his armies. His chastity in marriage and widowerhood were exemplary, he said the divine office, confessed and communicated weekly, and gave abundant alms, often in person, like his mother. His death also was worthy of her: after viaticum he said numerous psalms; when asked to rest, he replied: ‘Allow me rather to think about the things of God, so that my soul may be strengthened…when I stand before God's judgment-seat, none of you shall answer for me, none of you protect me or deliver me from his hand.’ He died on 24 May and was buried at Dunfermline where his cult continued until the Reformation. Later it was revived when Archbishop Laud inserted his name in the calendar of the Prayer-book for Scotland. His name also appears in medieval Scottish calendars and he is the titular of several churches. His historical importance is that he founded the Scotland which defied Edward I; it has also been claimed that at no period of its history has Scotland stood so high in its national reputation. Feast: 24 May.

Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.

• Ailred of Rievaulx, De Bello Standardii and Genealogia regum Anglorum in P.L., 195, 701–38: Richard of Hexham, Chronicles of Stephen, Henry II and Richard I (ed. R. Howlett, R.S., 1886) iii. 151–78; A. L. Poole, Domesday Book to Magna Carta (1964), pp. 269–75; M. Morgan, ‘The Organization of the Scottish Church’, T.R.H.S. (4th ser.), xxix (1947), 135–49: G. W. S. Barrow, ‘Scottish Rulers and the Religious Orders 1070–1153’, T.R.H.S. (5th ser.), iii (1953), 77–100 and David of Scotland: The Balance of New and Old (Stenton lecture, 1984); M.O., pp. 239–49