Scottish King: David I

KING DAVID I

Alexander I & David I

David I or Dauíd mac Maíl Choluim (Modern: Daibhidh I mac [Mhaoil] Chaluim; c.?1084 – 24 May 1153) was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians (1113–1124) and later King of the Scots (1124–1153).

The youngest son of Máel Coluim III (Malcolm III) and Margaret of Wessex, 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 King Henry I. There he was influenced by the Norman and Anglo-French culture of the court.

When David's brother Alexander I of Scotland died in 1124, David chose, with the backing of Henry I, to take the Kingdom of Scotland (Alba) 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 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, the former Empress-consort, 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.

The term "Davidian Revolution" is used by many scholars to summarise the changes which 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 French and Anglo-French knights.

Empress Matilda

William Rufus, King of England, opposed Domnall's accession to the northerly kingdom. He sent the eldest son of Máel Coluim, David's half-brother Donnchad, into Scotland with an army. Donnchad was killed within the year, and so in 1097 William sent Donnchad's half-brother Edgar into Scotland. The latter was more successful, and was crowned King by the end of 1097.

During the power struggle of 1093–97, 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 full-fledged Normanised prince.

Scottish atrocities depicted in the 14th century Luttrell Psalter.

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".

While fighting King Stephen and attempting to dominate northern England in the years following 1136, David was continuing his drive for control of the far north of Scotland.

In 1139, his cousin, the five-year-old Harald Maddadsson, was given the title of "Earl" and half the lands of the earldom of Orkney, in addition to Scottish Caithness.

Throughout the 1140s Caithness and Sutherland were brought back under the Scottish zone of control.

Sometime before 1146 David appointed a native Scot called Aindréas to be the first Bishop of Caithness, a bishopric which was based at Halkirk, near Thurso, in an area which was ethnically Scandinavian.

In 1150, it looked like Caithness and the whole earldom of Orkney were going to come under permanent Scottish control. However, David's plans for the north soon began to encounter problems.

In 1151, King Eystein II of Norway put a spanner in the works by sailing through the waterways of Orkney with a large fleet and catching the young Harald unaware in his residence at Thurso.

Eystein forced Harald to pay fealty as a condition of his release.

Later in the year David hastily responded by supporting the claims to the Orkney earldom of Harald's rival Erlend Haraldsson, granting him half of Caithness in opposition to Harald.

King Eystein responded in turn by making a similar grant to this same Erlend, cancelling the effect of David's grant.

David's weakness in Orkney was that the Norwegian kings were not prepared to stand back and let him reduce their power.

Perhaps the greatest blow to David's plans came on 12 July 1152 when Henry, Earl of Northumberland, David's only son and successor, died.

He had probably been suffering from some kind of illness for a long time.

David had under a year to live, and he may have known that he was not going to be alive much longer.

David quickly arranged for his grandson Máel Coluim IV to be made his successor, and for his younger grandson William to be made Earl of Northumberland.

Donnchad I, Mormaer of Fife, the senior magnate in Scotland-proper, was appointed as rector, or regent, and took the 11 year-old Máel Coluim around Scotland-proper on a tour to meet and gain the homage of his future Gaelic subjects.

David's health began to fail seriously in the Spring of 1153, and on 24 May 1153, David died.

In his obituary in the Annals of Tigernach, he is called Dabíd mac Mail Colaim, rí Alban & Saxan, "David, son of Máel Coluim, King of Scotland and England", a title which acknowledged the importance of the new English part of David's realm.

When the winter of 1136–37 was over, David prepared again to invade England.

The King of the Scots massed an army on the Northumberland's border, to which the English responded by gathering an army at Newcastle.

Once more pitched battle was avoided, and instead a truce was agreed until December.

David I

 When December fell, David demanded that Stephen hand over the whole of the old earldom of Northumberland.

Stephen's refusal led to David's third invasion, this time in January 1138.

The army which invaded England in January and February 1138 shocked the English chroniclers.

Richard of Hexham called it "an execrable army, savager than any race of heathen yielding honour to neither God nor man" and that it "harried the whole province and slaughtered everywhere folk of either sex, of every age and condition, destroying, pillaging and burning the vills, churches and houses".

Several doubtful stories of cannibalism were recorded by chroniclers, and these same chroniclers paint a picture of routine enslavings, as well as killings of churchmen, women and infants.

By February King Stephen marched north to deal with David. The two armies avoided each other, and Stephen was soon on the road south. In the summer David split his army into two forces, sending William fitz Duncan to march into Lancashire, where he harried Furness and Craven. On 10 June, William fitz Duncan met a force of knights and men-at-arms. A pitched battle took place, the battle of Clitheroe, and the English army was routed.

Scottish King: Edgar

EDGAR OF SCOTLAND
Edgar or Étgar mac Maíl Choluim (Modern Gaelic: Eagar mac Mhaoil Chaluim), nicknamed Probus, "the Valiant" (c. 1074 – 8 January 1107), was king of Scotland from 1097 to 1107. He was the fourth son of Malcolm III (Máel Coluim mac Donnchada) and Margaret of Wessex (later Saint Margaret) but the first to be considered eligible for the throne after the death of his father.

King Edgar's Seal

Edgar claimed the kingship in early 1095, following the murder of his half-brother Duncan II (Donnchad mac Maíl Coluim) in late 1094 by Máel Petair of Mearns, a supporter of Edgar's uncle Donald III (Domnall Bán mac Donnchada). His older brother Edmund sided with Donald, presumably in return for an appanage and acknowledgement as the heir of the ageing and son-less Donald.

Edgar received limited support from William II (William Rufus) as Duncan had before him; however, the English king was occupied with a revolt led by Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumbria, who appears to have had the support of Donald and Edmund.

Rufus campaigned in northern England for much of 1095, and during this time Edgar gained control only of Lothian. A charter issued at Durham at this time names him "... son of Máel Coluim King of Scots ... possessing the whole land of Lothian and the kingship of the Scots by the gift of my lord William, king of the English, and by paternal heritage."

Alexander I seal

Edgar's claims had the support of his brothers Alexander and David — Ethelred was Abbot of Dunkeld, and Edmund was divided from his siblings by his support of Donald — and his uncle Edgar Ætheling as these witnessed the charter at Durham. William Rufus spent 1096 in Normandy which he bought from his brother Robert Curthose, and it was not until 1097 that Edgar received the further support which led to the defeat of Donald and Edmund in a hard-fought campaign led by Edgar Ætheling.

Although Geoffrey Gaimar claimed that Edgar owed feudal service to William Rufus, it is clear from Rufus's agreement to pay Edgar 40 or 60 shillings a day maintenance when in attendance at the English court that this was less than accurate. In any event, he did attend the court on occasion. On 29 May 1099, for example, Edgar served as sword-bearer at the great feast to inaugurate Westminster Hall. After William Rufus's death, however, Edgar ceased to appear at the English court. He was not present at the coronation of Henry I.

Henry I coin

Edgar was certainly not heir by primogeniture, as later kings would be, since Duncan II had a legitimate son and heir in the person of William fitz Duncan. With Donald and Edmund removed, however, Edgar was uncontested king of Scots, and his reign incurred no major crisis. Compared with his rise to power, Edgar's reign is obscure. One notable act was his gift of a camel (or perhaps an elephant), presumably a 'souvenir' of the First Crusade, to his fellow Gael Muircheartach Ua Briain, High King of Ireland.

In 1098, Edgar signed a treaty with Magnus Barefoot, King of Norway, setting the boundary between Scots and Norwegian claims in the west.

Magnus Barefoot

 By ceding claims to the Hebrides and Kintyre to Magnus, Edgar acknowledged the practical realities of the existing situation.

Edgar's religious foundations included a priory at Coldingham in 1098, associated with the Convent of Durham. At Dunfermline Abbey he sought support from Anselm of Canterbury with his mother's foundation from which the monks of Canterbury may have been expelled by Domnall Bán.

Edgar died in Edinburgh on 8 January 1107 and was buried at Dunfermline Abbey. Unmarried and childless, he acknowledged his brother Alexander as his successor.

Edgar's will also granted David an appanage in "Cumbria" (the lands of the former Kingdom of Strathclyde), and perhaps also in southern parts of Lothian. David would later be known as Prince of the Cumbrians

Scottish Negroid King & Queen: Alexander I, Sybilla of Normandy

ALEXANDER I
Alexander I (medieval Gaelic: Alaxandair mac Maíl Coluim; modern Gaelic: Alasdair mac Mhaol Chaluim; c. 1078 – 23 April 1124), posthumously nicknamed The Fierce, was the King of Scotland from 1107 to his death.

Alexander I coin

Alexander was the fifth son of Malcolm III by his wife Margaret of Wessex, grandniece of Edward the Confessor. Alexander was named after Pope Alexander II. He was the younger brother of King Edgar, who was unmarried, and his brother's heir presumptive by 1104 (and perhaps earlier). In that year he was the senior layman present at the examination of the remains of Saint Cuthbert at Durham prior to their re-interment. He held lands in Scotland north of the Forth and in Lothian.

On the death of Edgar in 1107 he succeeded to the Scottish crown; but, in accordance with Edgar's instructions, their brother David was granted an appanage in southern Scotland.

Sybilla Elizabeth of Normandy

 Edgar's will granted David the lands of the former kingdom of Strathclyde or Cumbria, and this was apparently agreed in advance by Edgar, Alexander, David and their brother-in-law Henry I of England.

In 1113, perhaps at Henry's instigation, and with the support of his Anglo-Norman allies, David demanded, and received, additional lands in Lothian along the Upper Tweed and Teviot.

David did not receive the title of king, but of "prince of the Cumbrians", and his lands remained under Alexander's final authority.

The dispute over the eastern marches does not appear to have caused lasting trouble between Alexander and Henry of England.

In 1114 he joined Henry on campaign in Wales against Gruffudd ap Cynan of Gwynedd. Alexander's marriage with Henry's illegitimate daughter Sybilla of Normandy may have occurred as early as 1107, or as at late as 1114. Sybilla Elizabeth of Normandy, Queen consort of Scotland. Lithuanian: Sibile iš Normandijos, Škotijos Karaliene
Also Known As: "Sibyl", "Sibylla", "/abba/", "Queen Consort of Scotland"

Gruffudd ap Cynan of Gwynedd

Birthdate: July 12, 1092
Birthplace: Domfront, Orne, Basse-Normandie, France
Death: Died July 12, 1122 in Island of the Woman Loch Tay, Perthshire, , Scotland
Place of Burial: Dunfermline Abbey, Fife, Scotland
Immediate Family:   Daughter of Henry I "Beauclerc", King of England
Wife of Alexander I, King of Scots
Mother of Malcolm Dunkeld (Dunkeld) MacEth and Canmore De Ross
Sister of William FitzRoy
Half sister of Euphemia (name & sex unconfirmed) Child of Henry I & Mathilda; Empress Matilda; William Atheling, duke of Normandy; Adelaide de Angers (Possibly Empress Mathilda); Robert de Caen, 1st Earl of Gloucester and 19 others

William of Malmesbury's account attacks Sybilla, but the evidence argues that Alexander and Sybilla were a devoted but childless couple and Sybilla was of noteworthy piety. Sybilla died in unrecorded circumstances at Eilean nam Ban (Kenmore on Loch Tay) in July 1122 and was buried at Dunfermline Abbey.

William of Malmesbury

Alexander did not remarry and Walter Bower wrote that he planned an Augustinian Priory at the Eilean nam Ban dedicated to Sybilla's memory, and he may have taken steps to have her venerated. Alexander had at least one illegitimate child, Máel Coluim mac Alaxandair, who was later to be involved in a revolt against David I in the 1130s. He was imprisoned at Roxburgh for many years afterwards, perhaps until his death some time after 1157.

Alexander was, like his brothers Edgar and David, a notably pious king. He was responsible for foundations at Scone and Inchcolm. His mother's chaplain and hagiographer Thurgot was named Bishop of Saint Andrews (or Cell Rígmonaid) in 1107, presumably by Alexander's order.

The case of Thurgot's would-be successor Eadmer shows that Alexander's wishes were not always accepted by the religious community, perhaps because Eadmer had the backing of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Ralph d'Escures, rather than Thurstan of York. Alexander also patronised Saint Andrews, granting lands intended for an Augustinian Priory, which may have been the same as that intended to honour his wife.

For all his religiosity, Alexander was not remembered as a man of peace. John of Fordun says of him:
Now the king was a lettered and godly man; very humble and amiable towards the clerics and regulars, but terrible beyond measure to the rest of his subjects; a man of large heart, exerting himself in all things beyond his strength. He manifested the terrible aspect of his character in his reprisals in the Mormaerdom of Moray. Andrew of Wyntoun's Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland says that Alexander was holding court at Invergowrie when he was attacked by "men of the Isles". Walter Bower says the attackers were from Moray and Mearns.

David I coin

Alexander pursued them north, to "Stockford" in Ross (near Beauly) where he defeated them. This, says Wyntoun, is why he was named the "Fierce". The dating of this is uncertain, as are his enemies' identity.

However, in 1116 the Annals of Ulster report: "Ladhmann son of Domnall, grandson of the king of Scotland, was killed by the men of Moray."

The king referred to is Alexander's father, Malcolm III, and Domnall was Alexander's half brother. The Mormaerdom or Kingdom of Moray was ruled by the family of Macbeth (Mac Bethad mac Findláich) and Lulach (Lulach mac Gille Coemgáin): not overmighty subjects, but a family who had ruled Alba within little more than a lifetime.

Who the Mormaer or King was at this time is not known; it may have been Óengus of Moray or his father, whose name is not known. As for the Mearns, the only known Mormaer of Mearns, Máel Petair, had murdered Alexander's half-brother Duncan II (Donnchad mac Maíl Coluim) in 1094.

Alexander died in April 1124 at his court at Stirling; his brother David, probably the acknowledged heir since the death of Sybilla, succeeded him.

Scottish King: Donald III

DONALD III
Donald III (Medieval Gaelic: Domnall mac Donnchada; Modern Gaelic: Dòmhnall mac Dhonnchaidh), and nicknamed "Donald the Fair" or "Donald the White" (Medieval Gaelic:"

Donald III

Domnall Bán", anglicised as Donald Bane/Bain or Donalbane/Donalbain), (1039–1099) was King of Scots from 1093–1094 and 1094–1097.

Donald was born in 1033, during the reign of his great-grandfather King Malcolm II. He was the second known son of the King's grandson, Duncan. Malcolm died when Donald was a baby, at age 80, and Donald's father became king. King Duncan I however, perished in 1040 when Donald was still a boy, killed by Thane Macbeth, yet another grandson of King Malcolm II, who usurped his place as king.

Following his father's death, Donald went into hiding in Ireland for 17 years, for fear that he would be killed by Macbeth. His elder brother, Malcolm, went to England. It was during this time that Malcolm's grandfather, Crinan of Dunkeld, who was married to Malcolm II's daughter, was killed fighting Macbeth. When Malcolm grew to manhood, he overthrew Macbeth and became the new king. Donald was 24 years old at that time.

Donald's activities during the reign of his elder brother Malcolm III (Máel Coluim mac Donnchada) are not recorded. It appears that he was not his brother's chosen heir, contrary to earlier custom, but that Malcolm had designated Edward, his eldest son by Margaret of Wessex, as the king to come. If this was Malcolm's intent, his death and that of Edward on campaign in Northumbria in November 1093 (see Battle of Alnwick (1093)) confounded his plans. These deaths were followed very soon afterwards by that of Queen Margaret.

Queen Margaret

John of Fordun reports that Donald invaded the kingdom after Margaret's death "at the head of a numerous band", and laid siege to Edinburgh with Malcolm's sons by Margaret inside.

Fordun has Edgar Ætheling, concerned for his nephews' well-being, take the sons of Malcolm and Margaret to England. Andrew of Wyntoun's much simpler account has Donald become king and banish his nephews. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records only that Donald was chosen as king and expelled the English from the court.

In May 1094, Donald's nephew Duncan (Donnchad mac Maíl Coluim), son of Malcolm and his first wife Ingibiorg Finnsdottir, invaded at the head of an army of Anglo-Normans and Northumbrians, aided by his half-brother Edmund and his father-in-law Gospatric, Earl of Northumbria.

This invasion succeeded in placing Duncan on the throne as Duncan II, but an uprising defeated his allies and he was compelled to send away his foreign troops. Duncan was then killed on 12 November 1094 by Máel Petair, Mormaer of Mearns. The Annals of Ulster say that Duncan was killed on the orders of Donald (incorrectly called his brother) and Edmund.

Donald resumed power, probably with Edmund as his designated heir. Donald was an elderly man by the standards of the day, approaching sixty years old, and without any known sons, so that an heir was clearly required. William of Malmesbury says that Edmund bargained "for half the kingdom", suggesting that Donald granted his nephew an appanage to rule.

Edgar Ætheling

Edgar, eldest surviving son of Malcolm and Margaret, obtained the support of William Rufus, although other matters delayed Edgar's return on the coat-tails of an English army led by his uncle Edgar Ætheling.

Donald's fate is not entirely clear. William of Malmesbury tells us that he was "slain by the craftiness of David [the later David I] ... and by the strength of William [Rufus]". The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says of Donald that he was expelled, while the Annals of Tigernach have him blinded by his brother.

John of Fordun, following the king-lists, writes that Donald was "blinded, and doomed to eternal imprisonment" by Edgar. The place of his imprisonment was said to be Rescobie, by Forfar, in Angus. The sources differ as to whether Donald was first buried at Dunfermline Abbey or Dunkeld Cathedral, but agree that his remains were later moved to Iona.

Donald left one daughter but no sons. His daughter Bethoc married Uctred (or Hadrian) de Tyndale, Lord of Tyndale. Bethoc's daughter, Hextilda, married Richard Comyn, Justiciar of Lothian. The claims of John II Comyn, Lord of Badenoch to the crown in the Great Cause came from Donald through Bethóc and Hextilda. Ladhmann son of Domnall, "grandson of the King of Scots" who died in 1116, might have been a son of Donald. He may equally have been a son of Domnall, son of Máel Coluim who died in 1085, who may in turn have been a son of Malcolm III or of Máel Coluim mac Maíl Brigti, Mormaer of Moray.