David I (Modern Gaelic: Daibhidh I mac [Mhaoil] Chaluim; c. 1084 – 24 May 1153) was King of Scotland from 1124 to 1153. He was previously Prince of the Cumbrians from 1113 to 1124. The youngest son of King Malcolm III and Queen Margaret, David spent most of his childhood in Scotland but was exiled to England temporarily in 1093. Perhaps after 1100, he became a dependent at the court of Henry I of England, by whom he was influenced.
When David's brother Alexander I died in 1124, David chose, with the backing of Henry I, to take the Kingdom of Alba (Scotland) for himself. He was forced to engage in warfare against his rival and nephew, Máel Coluim mac Alaxandair. Subduing the latter seems to have taken David ten years, a struggle that involved the destruction of Óengus, Mormaer of Moray. David's victory allowed the expansion of control over more distant regions, theoretically part of his kingdom. After the death of his former patron Henry I, David supported the claims of Henry's daughter and his own niece, Empress Matilda, to the throne of England. In the process, he came into conflict with King Stephen and was able to expand his power in Northern England, despite his defeat at the Battle of the Standard in 1138. David I is a saint of the Catholic Church, with his feast day celebrated on 24 May.
The term "Davidian Revolution" is used by many scholars to summarise the changes that took place in Scotland during his reign. These included his foundation of burghs and regional markets, implementation of the ideals of Gregorian Reform, foundation of monasteries, Normanisation of the Scottish government, and the introduction of feudalism through immigrant Anglo-Norman and Norman knights, as well as Flemish settlers.
David was born on a date unknown in 1084 in Scotland. He was probably the eighth son of King Malcolm III, and certainly the sixth and youngest born by Malcolm's second wife, Margaret of Wessex. He was the grandson of King Duncan I.
In 1093, King Malcolm and David's brother Edward were killed at the Battle of Alnwick during an invasion of Northumberland. David and his two brothers Alexander and Edgar were probably present when their mother died shortly afterwards. According to later medieval tradition, the three brothers were in Edinburgh when they were besieged by their paternal uncle Donald III, who made himself king. It is not certain what happened next, but an insertion in the Chronicle of Melrose states that Donald forced his three nephews into exile, although he was allied with another of his nephews, Edmund. John of Fordun wrote, centuries later, that an escort into England was arranged for them by their maternal uncle Edgar Ætheling.
King William Rufus of England opposed Donald's accession to the northerly kingdom. He sent the eldest son of Malcolm, David's half-brother Duncan, into Scotland with an army. Duncan was killed within the year, and so in 1097 William sent Duncan's half-brother Edgar into Scotland. The latter was more successful and was crowned by the end of 1097.
During the power struggle of 1093–1097, David was in England. In 1093, he may have been about nine years old. From 1093 until 1103, David's presence cannot be accounted for in detail, but he appears to have been in Scotland for the remainder of the 1090s. When William Rufus was killed, his brother Henry Beauclerc seized power and married David's sister, Matilda. The marriage made David the brother-in-law of the ruler of England. From that point onwards, David was probably an important figure at the English court. Despite his Gaelic background, by the end of his stay in England, David had become a fully Normanised prince. William of Malmesbury wrote that it was in this period that David "rubbed off all tarnish of Scottish barbarity through being polished by intercourse and friendship with us".
David's brother King Edgar had visited William Rufus in May 1099 and bequeathed to David extensive territory to the south of the river Forth. On 8 January 1107, Edgar died. His younger brother Alexander took the throne. It has been assumed that David took control of his inheritance – the southern lands bequeathed by Edgar – soon after the latter's death. However, it cannot be shown that he possessed his inheritance until his foundation of Selkirk Abbey late in 1113. According to Richard Oram, it was only in 1113, when Henry returned to England from Normandy, that David was at last in a position to claim his inheritance in southern Scotland.
King Henry's backing seems to have been enough to force King Alexander to recognise his younger brother's claims. This probably occurred without bloodshed but through the threat of force nonetheless. David's aggression seems to have inspired resentment amongst some native Scots. A Middle Gaelic quatrain from this period complains that:
If "divided from" is anything to go by, this quatrain may have been written in David's new territories in southern Scotland. The lands in question consisted of the Shires of Scotland of Roxburghshire, Selkirkshire, Berwickshire, Peeblesshire and Lanarkshire. David, moreover, gained the title princeps Cumbrensis, "Prince of the Cumbrians", as attested in David's charters from this era. Although this was a large slice of Scotland south of the river Forth, the region of Galloway-proper was entirely outside David's control. David may perhaps have had varying degrees of overlordship in parts of Dumfriesshire, Ayrshire, Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire. In the lands between Galloway and the Principality of Cumbria, David eventually set up large-scale marcher lordships, such as Annandale for Robert de Brus, Cunningham for Hugh de Morville, and possibly Strathgryfe for Walter Fitzalan.
In the later part of 1113, King Henry gave David the hand of Matilda of Huntingdon, daughter and heiress of Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria. The marriage brought with it the Honour of Huntingdon, a lordship scattered through the shires of Northampton, Huntingdon, and Bedford. Within a few years, Matilda bore him two sons: Malcolm, who died young, and Henry, whom David named after his patron.
The new territories which David controlled were a valuable supplement to his income and manpower, increasing his status as one of the most powerful magnates in the Kingdom of the English. Moreover, Matilda's father Waltheof had been Earl of Northumbria, a lordship which had covered the far north of England and included Cumberland and Westmorland, Northumberland-proper, as well as overlordship of the bishopric of Durham. After King Henry's death, David revived the claim to this earldom for his son, Henry.
David's activities and whereabouts after 1114 are not always easy to trace. He spent much of his time outside his principality, in England and Normandy. Despite the death of his sister on 1 May 1118, David still possessed the favour of King Henry when his brother Alexander died in 1124, leaving Scotland without a king.
Political and military events in Scotland during David's kingship
Although David spent his childhood in Scotland, Michael Lynch and Richard Oram portray him as having little initial connection with the culture and society of the Scots; but both likewise argue that David became increasingly re-Gaelicised in the later stages of his reign. Whatever the case, David's claim to be heir to the Scottish kingdom was doubtful. He was the youngest of eight sons of the fifth from last king. Two more recent kings had produced sons, William fitz Duncan, son of King Duncan II, and Máel Coluim, son of the last King Alexander, but since Scots had never adopted the rules of primogeniture that was not a barrier to his kingship, and unlike David, neither William nor Máel Coluim had the support of Henry. So when Alexander died in 1124, the aristocracy of Scotland could either accept David as king or face war with both David and Henry.
Coronation and struggle for the kingdom
Alexander's son, Máel Coluim, chose war. Orderic Vitalis reported that Máel Coluim mac Alaxandair "affected to snatch the kingdom from [David], and fought against him two sufficiently fierce battles; but David, who was loftier in understanding and in power and wealth, conquered him and his followers". Máel Coluim escaped unharmed into areas of Scotland not yet under David's control, and in those areas gained shelter and aid.