Davidian Revolution
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The Davidian Revolution is a name given by many scholars to the changes which took place in the
Kingdom of Scotland The Kingdom of Scotland (; , ) was a sovereign state in northwest Europe traditionally said to have been founded in 843. Its territories expanded and shrank, but it came to occupy the northern third of the island of Great Britain, sharing a l ...
during the reign of
David I David I may refer to: * David I, Caucasian Albanian Catholicos c. 399 * David I of Armenia, Catholicos of Armenia (728–741) * David I Kuropalates of Georgia (died 881) * David I Anhoghin, king of Lori (ruled 989–1048) * David I of Scotland ...
(1124–1153). These included his foundation of
burgh A burgh is an autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland and Northern England, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Bur ...
s, implementation of the ideals of
Gregorian Reform The Gregorian Reforms were a series of reforms initiated by Pope Gregory VII and the circle he formed in the papal curia, c. 1050–80, which dealt with the moral integrity and independence of the clergy. The reforms are considered to be na ...
, foundation of
monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
, Normanisation of the Scottish government, and the introduction of
feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structu ...
through immigrant Norman and
Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to: *Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066 *Anglo-Norman language **Anglo-Norman literature *Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 1066 ...
knights.


Overview

King David I is still widely regarded as one of the most significant rulers in Scotland's history. The reason is what Barrow and Lynch both call the "Davidian Revolution". David's "revolution" is held to underpin the development of later medieval Scotland, whereby the changes that he inaugurated grew into most of the central non-native institutions of the later medieval kingdom. Barrow summarises the many and varied goals of David I, all of which began and ended with his determination "to surround his fortified royal residence and its mercantile and ecclesiastical satellites with a ring of close friends and supporters, bound to him and his heirs by feudal obligation and capable of rendering him military service of the most up-to-date kind and filling administrative offices at the highest level".


European Revolution: the wider context

Since Robert Bartlett's ''The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change, 950–1350'' (1993), reinforced by Moore's ''The First European Revolution, c.970–1215'' (2000), it has become increasingly apparent that better understanding of David's "revolution" can be achieved by placing it in the context of a wider European "revolution". The central idea is that from the late 10th century onwards the culture and institutions of the old
Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippi ...
heartlands in northern
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and western
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
spread to outlying areas, creating a more recognisable "Europe". In this model, the old Carolingian Empire formed a "core" and the outlying areas a "periphery". The Norman conquest of England in the years after 1066 is considered to have made England more like if not part of this "core". In applying this model to Scotland, it would be considered that, as recently as the reign of David's father
Máel Coluim III Malcolm III ( mga, Máel Coluim mac Donnchada, label=Medieval Gaelic; gd, Maol Chaluim mac Dhonnchaidh; died 13 November 1093) was King of Scotland from 1058 to 1093. He was later nicknamed "Canmore" ("ceann mòr", Gaelic, literally "big head ...
, "peripheral" Scotland had lacked – in relation to the "core" cultural regions of northern France, western Germany and England – respectable Catholic religion, a truly centralised royal government, conventional written documents of any sort, native coins, a single merchant town, as well as the essential castle-building cavalry elite. After David's reign, it had gained all of these. During the reign of king David I, then, comparatively straightforward evidence of "Europeanisation" was produced in Scotland – that adoption of the homogenised political, economic, social and cultural modes of medieval civilisation, suitably modified for the distinctive Scottish milieu, which in tandem with similar adoptions elsewhere led to the creation of "Europe" as an identifiable entity for the first time. This is not to say that the Gaelic matrix into which these additions were disseminated was somehow destroyed or swept away; that was not the way in which the paradigm or "blueprint" of medieval Europe functioned – it was only a guide, one that specialised in amelioration, and not (usually) demolition.


European revolution: the Gaelic context

Yet, David's life as a "reformer" also has a context in the Gaelic-speaking world. This is particularly true in understanding David's enthusiasm for the
Gregorian Reform The Gregorian Reforms were a series of reforms initiated by Pope Gregory VII and the circle he formed in the papal curia, c. 1050–80, which dealt with the moral integrity and independence of the clergy. The reforms are considered to be na ...
. The latter was a revolutionary movement within the western church partly pioneered in the papacy of
Pope Gregory VII Pope Gregory VII ( la, Gregorius VII; 1015 – 25 May 1085), born Hildebrand of Sovana ( it, Ildebrando di Soana), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 April 1073 to his death in 1085. He is venerated as a saint ...
which sought renewed spiritual rigour, ecclesiastical discipline and doctrinal obedience to the
papacy The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
and its sponsored theologians. The Normans who came to England adopted this ideology, and soon began attacking the Scottish and Irish Gaelic world as spiritually backward – a mindset which even underlay the hagiography of David's mother Margaret, written by her confessor
Thurgot Thorgaut or Turgot (c. 1050–1115) (sometimes, Thurgot) was Archdeacon and Prior of Durham, and Bishop of Saint Andrews. Turgot came from the Kingdom of Lindsey in Lincolnshire. After the Norman conquest he was held as a hostage, but escaped ...
at the instigation of the English royal court. Yet up until this period, Gaelic monks (often called ''
Céli Dé The Culdees ( ga, Céilí Dé,  "Spouses of God") were members of ascetic Christian monastic and eremitical communities of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England in the Middle Ages. Appearing first in Ireland and subsequently in Scotland, att ...
'') from Ireland and Scotland had been pioneering their own kind of ascetic reform both in Great Britain and in continental Europe, where they founded many of their own monastic houses. Since the end of the 11th century various Gaelic princes had themselves been attempting to accommodate Gregorian reform, examples being
Muirchertach Ua Briain Muircheartach Ua Briain (old spelling: Muirchertach Ua Briain) (also known as Murtaugh O'Brien) (c. 1050 – c. 10 March 1119), son of Toirdelbach Ua Briain and great-grandson of Brian Boru, was King of Munster and later self-declared High Ki ...
,
Toirdelbach Ua Conchobair Toirdhealbhach Mór Ua Conchobhair (old spelling: Tairrdelbach Mór Ua Conchobair; 1088 – 1156) anglicised Turlough Mór O'Conor, was King of Connacht (1106–1156) and High King of Ireland (ca. 1120–1156). Family background and early life ...
, and
Edgar Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and '' gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval period; it was, however, r ...
and Alexander I of Scotland. Benjamin Hudson stresses the cultural unity of Scotland and Ireland in this period, and uses the example of cooperation between David I, the Scottish reformer, and his Irish counterpart St Malachy, to show at least partly that David's actions can be understood in the Gaelic context as much as the Anglo-Norman one. Indeed, the Gaelic world had never been closed off from its neighbours in England or continental Europe. Gaelic warriors and holy men had been travelling regularly through England and the continent for centuries. David's predecessor
Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...
(King, 1040–57) had employed Norman mercenaries even before the conquest of England, and English exiles after the conquest fled to the courts of both
Máel Coluim III Malcolm III ( mga, Máel Coluim mac Donnchada, label=Medieval Gaelic; gd, Maol Chaluim mac Dhonnchaidh; died 13 November 1093) was King of Scotland from 1058 to 1093. He was later nicknamed "Canmore" ("ceann mòr", Gaelic, literally "big head ...
, King of Scotland, and Toirdelbach Ua Briain,
High King of Ireland High King of Ireland ( ga, Ardrí na hÉireann ) was a royal title in Gaelic Ireland held by those who had, or who are claimed to have had, lordship over all of Ireland. The title was held by historical kings and later sometimes assigned an ...
.


Government and feudalism

The widespread infeftment of foreign knights and the processes by which land ownership was converted from a matter of customary tenure into a matter of feudal or otherwise legally-defined relationships revolutionised the way the Kingdom of Scotland was governed, as did the dispersal and installation of royal agents in the new mottes that were proliferating throughout the realm to staff newly created
sheriffdom A sheriffdom is a judicial district in Scotland, led by a sheriff principal. Since 1 January 1975, there have been six sheriffdoms. Each sheriffdom is divided into a series of sheriff court districts, and each sheriff court is presided over by a r ...
s and judiciaries for the twin purposes of law enforcement and taxation, bringing Scotland further into the "European" model.


Military feudalism

During this period, Scotland experienced innovations in governmental practices and the importation of foreign, generally French, knights. It is to David's reign that the beginnings of Scottish feudalism and seignorialism are generally assigned. Geoffrey Barrow wrote that David's reign witnessed "a revolution in Scots dynastic law" as well as "fundamental innovations in military organization" and "in the composition and dominant characteristics of its ruling class". This is defined as "castle-building, the regular use of professional cavalry, the knight's fee" as well as "homage and fealty". David established large scale feudal lordships in the west of his Cumbrian principality for the leading members of the French military entourage who kept him in power. Additionally, many smaller-scale feudal lordships were created. One example would be
Freskin Freskin (died before 1171) was a Flemish nobleman who settled in Scotland during the reign of King David I, becoming the progenitor of the Murray and Sutherland families, and possibly others. Origins Freskin was said to have come to the Lowlands ...
. The latter's name occurs in a charter by David's grandson King
William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
to Freskin's son, William, granting Strathbrock in
West Lothian West Lothian ( sco, Wast Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Iar) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and was one of its historic counties. The county was called Linlithgowshire until 1925. The historic county was bounded geographically by the A ...
and
Duffus Duffus ( gd, Dubhais) is a village and parish in Moray, Scotland. The Duffus Village Inn, the local shop, Post Office and Duffus Village Hall provide a focal point for the community. Nearby are the remains of Duffus Castle, St. Peters' Kirk, a ...
, Kintrae, and other lands in Moray, "which his father held in the time of King David". The name Freskin is Flemish, and in the words of Geoffrey Barrow "it is virtually certain that Freskin belonged to a large group of Flemish settlers who came to Scotland in the middle decades of the 12th century and were chiefly to be found in West Lothian and the valley of the Clyde". Freskin was responsible for building a castle in the distant territory of Moray, and because Freskin had no kinship ties to the locality, his position was dependent entirely on the king, thus bringing the territory more firmly under royal control. Freskin's land acquisition does not appear to be unique, and may have been part of a royal policy in the aftermath of the defeat of king
Óengus of Moray Óengus of Moray (''Oenghus mac inghine Lulaich, ri Moréb'') was the last king of Moray of the native line, ruling Moray in what is now northeastern Scotland from an unknown date until his death in 1130. Óengus is known to have been the son of ...
.


Anglo-Normanising government

Steps were taken during David's reigns to make the government of Scotland, or that part of Scotland that he administered, more like the government of Anglo-Norman England. New sheriffdoms enabled the King to effectively administer royal demesne land. During David I's reign, royal sheriffs had been established in the king's core personal territories; namely, in rough chronological order, at Roxburgh, Scone,
Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census re ...
,
Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...
and
Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
. The
Justiciar Justiciar is the English form of the medieval Latin term ''justiciarius'' or ''justitiarius'' ("man of justice", i.e. judge). During the Middle Ages in England, the Chief Justiciar (later known simply as the Justiciar) was roughly equivalent ...
ship too was created in David's reign. Two Justiciarships were created, one for Scotland-proper and one for
Lothian Lothian (; sco, Lowden, Loudan, -en, -o(u)n; gd, Lodainn ) is a region of the Scottish Lowlands, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills and the Moorfoot Hills. The principal settlement is the Scott ...
, i.e. for Scotland north of the
river Forth The River Forth is a major river in central Scotland, long, which drains into the North Sea on the east coast of the country. Its drainage basin covers much of Stirlingshire in Scotland's Central Belt. The Gaelic name for the upper reach of t ...
and Scotland south of the Forth and east of
Galloway Galloway ( ; sco, Gallowa; la, Gallovidia) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway. A native or ...
. Although this institution had Anglo-Norman origins, in Scotland north of the Forth at least it represented some form of continuity with an older office. For instance, Mormaer
Causantín of Fife Constantine ( or ; Latin: ''Cōnstantīnus'', Greek: , ''Kōnstantînos'') is a masculine and feminine (in French for example) given name and surname which is derived from the Latin name ''Constantinus'', a hypocoristic of the first names Constans ...
is styled ''judex magnus'' (i.e. great Brehon); the Justiciarship of Scotia hence was just as much a Gaelic office modified by Normanisation as it was an import, illustrating Barrow's "balance of New and Old" argument.


David I and the economy


Alston mines

An important source of David's wealth during his career came from the revenue of his English earldom and the proceeds of the silver mines at Alston. Alston silver allowed David to indulge in the "regalian gratification" of his own coinage, and to continue his project of attempting to link royal power and economic expansion. Building programmes depended to a large degree on disposable income; consumption of foreign and exotic commodities broadened; men of ability and ambition found their way to court and entered the service of the king. What is more, no less than the written word, the coin acted upon the culture and mental categories of people who made use of it. Like a seal displaying the king in majesty, the coin broadcast the image of the ruler to his people and, more fundamentally, altered the simple nature of trade. Though coins were not absent from Scotland before David, these were by definition foreign objects, unseen and unused by most of the population. The arrival of a native coinage – no less than the arrival of towns, laws and charters – marked the penetration of the "Europeanising" concepts of European culture into ever less "non-European" Scotland.


Creation of burghs

David was also a great town builder. In part, he made use of the "English" income secured for him by his marriage to Matilda de Senlis in order to finance the construction of the first true towns in Scotland, and these, in turn, allowed the establishment of several more. As Prince of the Cumbrians, David founded the first two
burghs A burgh is an autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland and Northern England, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Bur ...
of "Scotland", at Roxburgh and Berwick. These were settlements with defined boundaries and guaranteed trading rights, locations where the king could collect and sell the products of his ''cain'' and ''conveth'' (a payment made ''in lieu'' of providing the king
hospitality Hospitality is the relationship between a guest and a host, wherein the host receives the guest with some amount of goodwill, including the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. Louis, chevalier de Jaucourt describes ...
) rendered to him. These burghs were essentially Scotland's first towns. David would found more of these burghs when he became King of Scots. Before 1135, David laid the foundations of four more burghs, this time in the new territory he had acquired as King of Scots; burghs were founded at
Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...
,
Dunfermline Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Acco ...
and
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, three of David's favoured residences. Around 15 burghs have their foundations traced to the reign of David I, although because of the sparsity of some of the evidence, this exact number is uncertain.


Effect of the burghs

Perhaps nothing in David's reign compares in importance to this. No institution would do more to reshape the long-term economic and ethnic shape of Scotland than the burgh. These planned towns were or became English in culture and language; as
William of Newburgh William of Newburgh or Newbury ( la, Guilelmus Neubrigensis, ''Wilhelmus Neubrigensis'', or ''Willelmus de Novoburgo''. 1136 – 1198), also known as William Parvus, was a 12th-century English historian and Augustinian canon of Anglo-Saxon de ...
would write in the reign of King
William the Lion William the Lion, sometimes styled William I and also known by the nickname Garbh, "the Rough"''Uilleam Garbh''; e.g. Annals of Ulster, s.a. 1214.6; Annals of Loch Cé, s.a. 1213.10. ( 1142 – 4 December 1214), reigned as King of Scots from 11 ...
, describing the persecution of English-speakers in Scotland, "the towns and burghs of the Scottish realm are known to be inhabited by English" and the failure of these towns to go native would in the long term undermine the position of the Gaelic language and give birth to the idea of the
Scottish Lowlands The Lowlands ( sco, Lallans or ; gd, a' Ghalldachd, , place of the foreigners, ) is a cultural and historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Lowlands and the Highlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lo ...
. The thesis that the "rise of towns" was indirectly responsible for the medieval flourishing of Europe has been accepted, at least in a circumscribed form, from the time of
Henri Pirenne Henri Pirenne (; 23 December 1862 – 24 October 1935) was a Belgian historian. A medievalist of Walloon descent, he wrote a multivolume history of Belgium in French and became a prominent public intellectual. Pirenne made a lasting contribut ...
, a century ago. Commerce generated by and the economic privileges granted to merchant towns across northern Europe in the eleventh and twelfth centuries paid for, in new revenues, the increasing diversification of society and ensured that further growth would occur. What was of great importance for the future of Scotland was the creation by David of perhaps seven such jurisdictionally licensed communities at ancient royal centres and even at new sites, the latter mainly along his eastern seaboard. While this could not, at first, have amounted to much more than the nucleus of an immigrant merchant class making use of the established marketplace for the purpose of disposing of the purely local harvest, in both crop and chattels, there is a sense of profound expectation inherent in such foundations. Regional trade and international trade never lagged far behind the opening of the royal burgh to the world, and that most such burghs were kept in royal demesne meant that the king reserved the right to an excise on all transactions occurring within their bounds and to charge custom dues on those vessels taking berth in their harbours.


Religious reform

The changes that David was most noted for at the time, however, were his religious changes. The reason for this is that practically all our sources were Reform-minded monks or clerics, grateful to David for his efforts. David's changes, or alleged changes, can be divided into two parts: monastic patronage and ecclesiastical restructuring.


Monastic patronage

David was certainly at least one of medieval Scotland's greatest monastic patrons. In 1113, in perhaps David's first act as Prince of the Cumbrians, he founded
Selkirk Abbey Kelso Abbey is a ruined Scottish abbey in Kelso, Scotland. It was founded in the 12th century by a community of Tironensian monks first brought to Scotland in the reign of Alexander I. It occupies ground overlooking the confluence of the Twee ...
for the
Tironensian Order The Tironensian Order or the Order of Tiron was a medieval monastic order named after the location of the mother abbey (Tiron Abbey, french: Abbaye de la Sainte-Trinité de Tiron, established in 1109) in the woods of Thiron-Gardais (sometimes ''T ...
. Several years later, perhaps in 1116, David visited Tiron itself, probably to acquire more monks; in 1128 he transferred Selkirk Abbey to Kelso, nearer Roxburgh, at this point his chief residence. In 1144, David and Bishop John of Glasgow prompted
Kelso Abbey Kelso Abbey is a ruined Scottish abbey in Kelso, Scotland. It was founded in the 12th century by a community of Tironensian monks first brought to Scotland in the reign of Alexander I. It occupies ground overlooking the confluence of the Twe ...
to found a daughter house,
Lesmahagow Priory Lesmahagow Priory was a medieval Tironensian monastic community located in the small town of Lesmahagow in the modern local authority area of South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It was founded after John, Bishop of Glasgow and King David I of Scotland ...
. David also continued his predecessor Alexander's patronage of the
Augustinians Augustinians are members of Christian religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about 400 AD by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–1 ...
, founding
Holyrood Abbey Holyrood Abbey is a ruined abbey of the Canons Regular in Edinburgh, Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1128 by David I of Scotland. During the 15th century, the abbey guesthouse was developed into a royal residence, and after the Scottish Ref ...
with monks from Merton Priory. David and Bishop John, moreover, established Jedburgh Abbey with canons from
Beauvais Beauvais ( , ; pcd, Bieuvais) is a city and commune in northern France, and prefecture of the Oise département, in the Hauts-de-France region, north of Paris. The commune of Beauvais had a population of 56,020 , making it the most popul ...
in 1138. Other Augustinian foundations included St Andrew's Cathedral Priory, established by David and Bishop Robert of St Andrews in 1140, which in turn founded an establishment at
Loch Leven Loch Leven may refer to: ;Bodies of water in Scotland * Loch Leven (Kinross), a freshwater loch in Perth and Kinross ** Loch Leven Castle, a fortress on the loch ** William Douglas of Lochleven, later the 6th Earl of Morton * Loch Leven (Highlands ...
(1150x1153); an Augustinian abbey, whose canons were taken from Arrouaise in France, was established by the year 1147 at
Cambuskenneth Cambuskenneth ( gd, Camas Choinnich ) is a village in the city of Stirling, Scotland. It has a population of 250 and is the site of the historic Cambuskenneth Abbey. It is situated by the River Forth and the only road access to the village is alo ...
near Stirling, another prominent royal centre. However, by 23 March 1137 David had also turned his patronage towards the
Cistercian Order The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Sain ...
, founding the famous
Melrose Abbey St Mary's Abbey, Melrose is a partly ruined monastery of the Cistercian order in Melrose, Roxburghshire, in the Scottish Borders. It was founded in 1136 by Cistercian monks at the request of King David I of Scotland and was the chief house of th ...
from monks of
Rievaulx Rievaulx ( ) is a small village and civil parish in Rye Dale within the North York Moors National Park near Helmsley in North Yorkshire, England and is located in what was the inner court of Rievaulx Abbey, close to the River Rye. The popula ...
. Melrose would become the greatest medieval monastic establishment in Scotland south of the river Forth. It was from Melrose that David established
Newbattle Abbey Newbattle Abbey ( gd, Abaid a' Bhatail Nuaidh) was a Cistercian monastery near the village of Newbattle in Midlothian, Scotland, which subsequently become a stately home and then an educational institution. Monastery It was founded in 1140 by ...
in
Midlothian Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east- central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinbu ...
, Kinloss Abbey in Moray, and
Holmcultram Abbey Holmcultram Abbey (alternatively Holm Cultram Abbey or Holme Cultram Abbey) was a Cistercian monastery in what is now the village of Abbeytown in Cumbria, United Kingdom. Founded in 1150, the abbey was suppressed in 1538 during the Dissolutio ...
in
Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic counties of England, historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th c ...
. David also, like Alexander, patronised
Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...
s, introducing monks to
Coldingham Coldingham ( sco, Cowjum) is a village and parish in Scottish Borders, on Scotland's southeast coastline, north of Eyemouth. Parish The parish lies in the east of the Lammermuir district. It is the second-largest civil parish by area in Berwi ...
(a non-monastic property of
Durham Priory Durham Priory was a Benedictine priory associated with Durham Cathedral, in Durham in the north-east of England. Its head was the Prior of Durham. It was founded in 1083 as a Roman Catholic monastery, but after Dissolution of the Monasteries i ...
) in 1139 and having made it a priory by 1149. David's activities were paralleled by other "Scottish" magnates. For instance, the
Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...
house of
Dryburgh Abbey Dryburgh Abbey, near Dryburgh on the banks of the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders, was nominally founded on 10 November (Martinmas) 1150 in an agreement between Hugh de Morville, Constable of Scotland, and the Premonstratensian canons regu ...
was founded in 1150 by monks from Alnwick Abbey with the patronage of Hugh de Morville, Lord of Lauderdale. Moreover, six years after the foundation of Melrose Abbey, King Fergus of Galloway likewise founded a Cistercian abbey from Rievaulx, Dundrennan Abbey, which would become a powerful landowner in both Galloway and Ireland and was known to
Francesco Pegolotti Pegolotti Pratica Ricc.2441 specimen half page. Francesco Balducci Pegolotti ( fl. 1290 – 1347), also Francesco di Balduccio, was a Florentine merchant and politician. Life His father, Balduccio Pegolotti, represented Florence in commercial ne ...
as Scotland's richest abbey. Not only were such monasteries an expression of David's undoubted piety, but they also functioned to transform Scottish society. Monasteries became centres of foreign influence, being founded by French or English monks. They provided sources of literate men, able to serve the crown's growing administrative needs. This was particularly the case with the Augustinians. Moreover, these new monasteries, and the Cistercian ones in particular, introduced new agricultural practices. In the words of one historian, the Cistercians were "pioneers or frontiersmen ... cultural revolutionaries, who carried new techniques of land management and new attitudes towards land exploitation".Fawcett & Oram, ''Melrose Abbey'', p. 17. Duncan calls Scotland's new Cistercian establishments "the largest and most significant contribution by David I to the religious life of the kingdom". Cistercians equated spiritual health with economic achievement and environmental exploitation. Cistercian labour transformed southern Scotland into one of northern Europe's main sources of sheep wool.


Bishopric of Glasgow

Almost as soon as he was in charge of the Cumbrian principality, David placed the bishopric of Glasgow under his chaplain,
John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...
, whom David may have met for the first time during his participation in Henry's conquest of Normandy after 1106. John himself was closely associated with the
Tironensian Order The Tironensian Order or the Order of Tiron was a medieval monastic order named after the location of the mother abbey (Tiron Abbey, french: Abbaye de la Sainte-Trinité de Tiron, established in 1109) in the woods of Thiron-Gardais (sometimes ''T ...
, and presumably committed to the new Gregorian ideas regarding episcopal organisation. David carried out an
inquest An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a c ...
, afterwards assigned to the bishopric all the lands of his principality, except those in the east of his principality which were already governed by the Scotland-proper based
bishop of St Andrews The Bishop of St. Andrews ( gd, Easbaig Chill Rìmhinn, sco, Beeshop o Saunt Andras) was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of St Andrews in the Catholic Church and then, from 14 August 1472, as Archbishop of St Andrews ( gd, Àrd-easbaig ...
. David was responsible for assigning to Glasgow enough lands directly to make the bishopric self-sufficient and for ensuring that in the longer term Glasgow would become the second most important bishopric in the Kingdom of Scotland. By the 1120s, work also began on building a proper cathedral for the diocese. David would also try to ensure that his reinvigorated
episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...
would retain independence from other bishoprics, an aspiration which would generate a great deal of tension with the English church, where both the
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...
and the
Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers ...
claimed overlordship.


Church organisation

It was once held that Scotland's episcopal sees and entire parochial system owed their origins to the innovations of David I. Today, scholars have moderated this view. Although David moved the bishopric of Mortlach east to his new burgh of Aberdeen, and arranged the creation of the diocese of Caithness, no other bishoprics can be safely called David's creation. The bishopric of Glasgow was restored rather than resurrected. In the case of the
Bishop of Whithorn The Bishop of Galloway, also called the Bishop of Whithorn, was the eccesiastical head of the Diocese of Galloway, said to have been founded by Saint Ninian in the mid-5th century. The subsequent Anglo-Saxon bishopric was founded in the late 7th ...
, the resurrection of that see was the work of Thurstan,
Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers ...
, with King
Fergus of Galloway Fergus of Galloway (died 12 May 1161) was a twelfth-century Lord of Galloway. Although his familial origins are unknown, it is possible that he was of Norse-Gaelic ancestry. Fergus first appears on record in 1136, when he witnessed a charter ...
and the cleric
Gille Aldan Gille (or Gilla) Aldan (Gaelic: "Servant of Saint Aldwin ), of Whithorn, was a native Galwegian who was the first Bishop of the resurrected Bishopric of Whithorn or Galloway. He was the first to be consecrated by the Archbishop of York, who at ...
. That aside, Ailred of Rievaulx wrote in David's eulogy that when David came to power, "he found three or four bishops in the whole Scottish kingdom
orth of the Forth Orth can refer to: Places * Orth, Minnesota, an unincorporated community in Nore Township, Minnesota, United States * Orth an der Donau, a town in Gänserndorf, Lower Austria, Austria * Orth House, a historic house in Winnetka, Illinois, United S ...
and the others wavering without a pastor to the loss of both morals and property; when he died, he left nine, both of ancient bishoprics which he himself restored, and new ones which he erected". What is very likely is that as well as preventing the long vacancies in bishoprics which had hitherto been common, David was at least partly responsible for forcing semi-monastic "bishoprics" like
Brechin Brechin (; gd, Breichin) is a city and former Royal burgh in Angus, Scotland. Traditionally Brechin was described as a city because of its cathedral and its status as the seat of a pre-Reformation Roman Catholic diocese (which continues today ...
,
Dunkeld Dunkeld (, sco, Dunkell, from gd, Dùn Chailleann, "fort of the Caledonians") is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The location of a historic cathedral, it lies on the north bank of the River Tay, opposite Birnam. Dunkeld lies close to t ...
, Mortlach (Aberdeen) and Dublane to become fully episcopal and firmly integrated into a national diocesan system. As for the development of the parochial system, David's traditional role as its creator can not be sustained. Scotland already had an ancient system of parish churches dating to the
Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...
, and the kind of system introduced by David's Normanising tendencies can more accurately be seen as mild refashioning, rather than creation; he made the Scottish system as a whole more like that of France and England, but he did not create it.Thomas Owen Clancy, "Annat and the Origins of the Parish", in the ''Innes Review'', vol. 46, no. 2 (1995), pp. 91–115.


Notes


References


Primary sources

* Anderson, Alan Orr (ed.), ''Early Sources of Scottish History: AD 500–1286'', 2 Vols, (Edinburgh, 1922) * Anderson, Alan Orr (ed.), ''Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers: AD 500–1286'', (London, 1908), republished,
Marjorie Anderson Marjorie Anderson (7 November 1913 – 14 December 1999) was a British actress and leading BBC radio broadcaster for over thirty years, including on the programme ''Woman's Hour'' from 1958 to 1972. Early life Marjorie Enid Anderson w ...
(ed.) (Stamford, 1991) * Barrow, G. W. S. (ed.), ''The Acts of Malcolm IV King of Scots 1153–1165, Together with Scottish Royal Acts Prior to 1153 not included in Sir Archibald Lawrie's '"Early Scottish Charters' '', in ''Regesta Regum Scottorum'', Volume I, (Edinburgh, 1960), introductory text, pp. 3–128 * Barrow, G. W. S. (ed.), ''The Acts of William I King of Scots 1165–1214'' in ''Regesta Regum Scottorum'', Volume II, (Edinburgh, 1971) * Barrow, G. W. S. (ed.), ''The Charters of King David I: The Written acts of David I King of Scots, 1124–1153 and of His Son Henry Earl of Northumberland, 1139–1152'', (Woodbridge, 1999) * Lawrie, Sir Archibald (ed.), ''Early Scottish Charters Prior to A.D. 1153'', (Glasgow, 1905) * Forbes-Leith, William (ed.), ''Turgot, Life of St Margaret, Queen of Scotland'', (Edinburgh, 1884) * MacQueen, John, MacQueen, Winifred and Watt, D. E. R., (eds.), ''Scotichronicon by Walter Bower'', vol. 3, (Aberdeen, 1995) * Skene, Felix J. H. (tr.) & Skene, William F. (ed.), ''John of Fordun's Chronicle of the Scottish Nation'', (Edinburgh, 1872)


Secondary sources

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, accessed 11 February 2007
* Barrow, G. W. S., "David I of Scotland: The Balance of New and Old", in G. W. S. Barrow (ed.), ''Scotland and Its Neighbours in the Middle Ages'', (London, 1992), pp. 45–65, originally published as the 1984 Stenton Lecture, (Reading, 1985) * Barrow, G.W.S., "The ''Judex''", in G. W. S. Barrow (ed.) ''The Kingdom of the Scots'', (Edinburgh, 2003), pp. 57–67 * Barrow, G.W.S. "The Justiciar", in G. W. S. Barrow (ed.) ''The Kingdom of the Scots'', (Edinburgh, 2003), pp. 68–111 * Barrow, G. W. S., ''Kingship and Unity: Scotland, 1000–1306'', (Edinburgh. 1981) * Barrow, G. W. S., "Malcolm III (d. 1093)", in the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
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* Barrow, G. W. S., "The Royal House and the Religious Orders", in G.W.S. Barrow (ed.), ''The Kingdom of the Scots'', (Edinburgh, 2003), pp. 151–68 * Bartlett, Robert, ''England under the Norman and Angevin Kings, 1075–1225'', (Oxford, 2000) * Bartlett, Robert, ''The Making of Europe, Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change: 950–1350'', (London, 1993) * Bartlett, Robert, "Turgot (c.1050–1115)", in the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
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Davies, Norman Ivor Norman Richard Davies (born 8 June 1939) is a Welsh-Polish historian, known for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland and the United Kingdom. He has a special interest in Central and Eastern Europe and is UNESCO Professo ...
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External links


In Our Time - The Davidian Revolution - BBC Sounds
{{Scotland topics David I of Scotland