General Notes

One of the most powerful Scottish kings (reigned from 1124). He admittedinto Scotland an Anglo-French (Norman) aristocracy that played a majorpart in the later history of the kingdom. He also reorganized ScottishChristianity to conform with continental European and English usages andfounded many religious communities, mostly for Cistercian monks andAugustinian canons. The youngest of the six sons of the Scottish kingMalcolm III Canmore and Queen Margaret (afterward St. Margaret), Davidspent much of his early life at the court of his brother-in-law KingHenry I of England. Through David's marriage (1113) to a daughter ofWaltheof, earl of Northumbria, he acquired the English earldom ofHuntingdon and obtained much land in that county and in Northamptonshire.With Anglo-Norman help, David secured from his brother Alexander I, kingof Scots from 1107, the right to rule Cumbria, Strathclyde, and part ofLothian. In April 1124, on the death of Alexander, David became king ofScots.

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 againstKing Stephen (crowned as Henry's successor in December 1135), hopingthereby to gain Northumberland for himself. A brief peace made withStephen in 1136 resulted in the cession of Cumberland to David and thetransfer of Huntingdon to his son Earl Henry. David, however, continuedto switch sides. While fighting for Matilda again, he was defeated in theBattle of the Standard, near Northallerton, Yorkshire (Aug. 22, 1138). Hethen made peace once more with Stephen, who in 1139 grantedNorthumberland (as an English fief) to Earl Henry. In 1141 Davidreentered the war on Matilda's behalf, and in 1149 he knighted her sonHenry Plantagenet (afterward King Henry II of England), who acknowledgedDavid's right to Northumberland.

In Scotland, David created a rudimentary central administration, issuedthe first Scottish royal coinage, and built or rebuilt the castles aroundwhich grew the first Scottish burghs: Edinburgh, Stirling, Berwick,Roxburgh, and perhaps Perth. As ruler of Cumbria he had takenAnglo-Normans into his service, and during his kingship many otherssettled in Scotland, founding important families and intermarrying withthe older Scottish aristocracy. Bruce, Stewart, Comyn, and Oliphant areamong the noted names whose bearers went from northern France to Englandduring the Norman Conquest in 1066 and then to Scotland in the reign ofDavid I. To these and other French-speaking immigrants, David grantedland in return for specified military service or contributions of money,as had been done in England from the time of the Conquest.