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DAVID I., a celebrated
Scottish monarch, was the youngest of the six sons of Malcolm III., who
reigned between 1057, and 1093, and who must be familiar to every reader,
as the overthrower of Macbeth, and also the first king of the Scots that
was entitled to be considered as a civilized prince. The mother of king
David was Margaret, the sister of Edgar Atheling, heir to the Saxon line
of English princes, but displaced by William the Conqueror. The year of
David’s birth is not known; but it is conjectured to have been not long
antecedent to the death of his father, as all his elder brothers were then
under age. It is conjectured that he must have received the name of David,
from having been born at a time when his mother had no hope of more
children, in reference to the youngest son of Jesse. Owing to the
usurpations of Donald Bane, and Duncan, he spent his early years at the
English court, under the protection of Henry I., who had married his
sister Matilda or Maud, the celebrated founder of London bridge. There,
according to an English historian, "his manners were polished from the
rust of Scottish barbarity." Here also he took to wife, Matilda, the
daughter of Waltheof, earl of Northumberland, and widow of Simon de St
Liz, earl of Northampton. After the Scottish throne had been occupied
successively by his elder brothers, Edgar and Alexander, he acceded to it
on the 27th of April, 1124, when he must have been in the very prime of
life. Soon before this time, namely, in 1113, he had manifested that zeal
for the church, which distinguished him throughout his reign, by bringing
a colony of Benedictine monks from Tyron, in France, whom he settled at
Selkirk. These he subsequently translated to Roxburgh, and finally, 1128,
to Kelso. In the latter year, besides founding the magnificent monastery
of Kelso, he erected that of Holyrood at Edinburgh, which he endowed in
the most liberal manner.
During the reign of Henry I., David
maintained a good understanding with England, and seems to have spent a
considerable part of his time in the court of his brother-in-law and
sister. The following curious anecdote of one of his visits, is related in
a volume entitled "Remaines concerning Britain," published in 1614. "Queen
Maud was so devoutly religious, that she would go to church barefooted and
always exercised herself in works of charity, insomuch, that when king
David her brother came out of Scotland to visit her, he found her in her
privy chamber with a towell about her middle, washing, wiping, and kissing
poore people’s feete; which he disliking, said, ‘verily, if the king your
husband knew this, you should never kisse his lippes!’ She replied, ‘that
the feete of the king of heaven were to be preferred before the lippes of
a king in earth!’" On the death of Henry, in 1135, his daughter Maud was
displaced by the usurper Stephen, and, to enforce her right, David made a
formidable incursion into England, taking possession of the country as far
as Durham. Not being supported, however, by the barons, who had sworn to
maintain his niece in her right, he was obliged, by the superior force of
Stephen, to give up the country he had acquired, his son Henry, accepting
at the same time, from the usurper, the honour of Huntingdon, with
Doncaster, and the castle of Carlisle, for which he rendered homage. Next
year, David made a new incursion, with better success. He is found in 1138
in full possession of the northern provinces, while Stephen was unable,
from his engagements elsewhere, to present any force against him. The
Scots ravaged the country with much cruelty, and particularly the domains
of the church; nor was their pious monarch able to restrain them. The
local clergy, under these circumstances, employed all their influence,
temporal and spiritual, to collect an army, and they at length succeeded.
On the 22nd of August, 1138, the two parties met on Cutton Moor, near
Northallerton, and to increase the enthusiasm of the English, their
clerical leaders had erected a standard upon a high carriage, mounted on
wheels, exhibiting three consecrated banners, with a little casket at the
top, containing a consecrated host. The ill-assorted army of the Scottish
monarch gave way before the impetuosity of these men, who were literally
defending their altars and hearths. This rencounter is known in history,
as the battle of the Standard. Prince Henry escaped with great difficulty.
Next year, David seems to have renounced all hopes of establishing his
niece. He entered into a solemn treaty with Stephen, in virtue of which,
the earldom of Northumberland was conceded to his son Henry. In 1140, when
Stephen was overpowered by his subjects, and Maud experienced a temporary
triumph, David repaired to London to give her the benefit of his counsel.
But a counter insurrection surprised Maud; and David had great difficulty
in escaping along with his niece. He was only saved by the kindness of a
young Scotsman, named Oliphant, who served as a soldier under Stephen, and
to whom David had been godfather. This person concealed the monarch from a
very strict search, and conveyed him in safety to Scotland. David was so
much offended at the manner in which he had been treated by Maud, that he
never again interfered with her affairs in England, for which he had
already sacrificed so much. He was even struck with remorse, for having
endeavoured, by the use of so barbarous a people as the Scots, to control
the destinies of the civilized English, to whom, it would thus appear, he
bore more affection than he did to his own native subjects. At one time,
he intended to abdicate the crown, and go into perpetual exile in the holy
land, in order to expiate this imaginary guilt; but he afterwards
contented himself with attempting to introduce civilization into his
country. For this purpose, he encouraged many English gentlemen and barons
to settle in Scotland, by giving them grants of land. In like manner, he
brought many different kinds of foreign monks into the country, settling
them in the various abbeys of Melrose, Newbottle, Cambuskenneth, Kinloss,
Dryburgh, and Jedburgh, as well as the priory of Lesmahago, and the
Cistercian convent of Berwick, all of which were founded and endowed by
him. The effects which these comparatively enlightened bodies of men must
have produced upon the country, ought to save David from all modern sneers
as to his apparently extreme piety. Sanctimoniousness does not appear to
have had any concern in the matter: he seems to have been governed alone
by a desire of civilizing his kingdom, the rudeness of which must have
been strikingly apparent to him, in consequence of his education and long
residence in England. The progress made by the country, in the time of
David, was accordingly very great. Public buildings were erected, towns
established, agriculture, manufactures, and commerce promoted. Laws,
moreover, appear to have been now promulgated for the first time. David
was himself a truly just and benevolent man. He used to sit on certain
days at the gate of his palace, to hear and decide the causes of the poor.
When justice required a decision against the poor man, he took pains to
explain the reason, so that he might not go away unsatisfied. Gardening
was one of his amusements, and hunting his chief exercise; but, says a
contemporary historian, I have seen him quit his horse, and dismiss his
hunting equipage, when any, even the meanest of his subjects, required an
audience. He commenced business at day break, and at sunset dismissed his
attendants, and retired to meditate on his duty to God and the people. By
his wife, Matilda, David had a son, Henry; who died before him, leaving
Malcolm and William, who were successively kings of Scotland, David, earl
of Huntingdon, from whom Bruce and Baliol are descended, and several
daughters. David I. is said, by a monkish historian, to have had a son
older than Henry, but who perished in childhood after a remarkable manner.
A person in holy orders had murdered a priest at the altar, and was
protected by ecclesiastical immunity from the punishment due to his
offence. His eyes, however, were put out, and his hands and feet cut off.
He procured crooked irons or hooks to supply the use of hands. Thus
maimed, destitute, and abhorred, he attracted the attention of David, then
residing in England as a private man. From him this outcast of society
obtained food and raiment. David’s eldest child was then two years old;
the ungrateful monster, under pretence of fondling the infant, crushed it
to death in his iron fangs. For this crime, almost exceeding belief, he
was torn to pieces by wild horses. On losing his son Henry in 1152, king
David sent his son Malcolm on a solemn progress through the kingdom, in
order that he might be acknowledged by the people as their future
sovereign. He in like manner recommended his grandson William to the
barons of Northumberland, as his successor in that part of his dominions.
Having ultimately fixed his residence at Carlisle, the pious monarch
breathed his last, May 24th, 1153; being found dead in a posture of
devotion. David I., by the acknowledgment of Buchanan himself, was "a more
perfect exemplar of a good king than is to be found in all the
theories of the learned and ingenious." |
