Editing David I of Scotland (section)

== Early rule 1113–1124 ==
{{Main|David I as Prince of the Cumbrians}}

=== Prince of the Cumbrians ===
[[File:DavidianCumbria-en.svg|thumb|left|Map of David's principality of "the Cumbrians"{{image reference needed|date=December 2022}}]]

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]].<ref>Oram, ''David: The King Who Made Scotland'', pp. 59–60.</ref> 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.<ref>Judith Green, "David I and Henry I", p. 3. She cites the gap in knowledge about David's whereabouts as evidence; for a brief outline of David's itinerary, see Barrow, ''The Charters of David I'', pp. 38–41</ref> However, it cannot be shown that he possessed his inheritance until his foundation of [[Selkirk Abbey]] late in 1113.<ref>See Oram, ''David'', pp. 60–62; Duncan, ''The Kingship of the Scots'', pp. 60–64.</ref> 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.<ref>For all this, see Oram, ''David'', pp. 59–63.</ref>

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.<ref>A. O. Anderson, ''Scottish Annals'', (1908), p. 193.</ref> David's aggression seems to have inspired resentment amongst some native Scots. A [[Middle Gaelic]] quatrain from this period complains that:
{{Verse translation |lang=mga
|
1=Olc a ndearna mac Mael Colaim,
ar cosaid re hAlaxandir,
do-ní le gach mac rígh romhaind,
foghail ar faras Albain.
|
2=It's bad what Máel Coluim's son has done;
dividing us from Alexander;
he causes, like each king's son before;
the plunder of stable Alba.<ref>Thomas Owen Clancy, ''The Triumph Tree'', p.184; full treatment of this is given in Clancy, "A Gaelic Polemic Quatrain from the Reign of Alexander I, ca. 1113" in Scottish Gaelic Studies vol.20 (2000), pp. 88–96.</ref>
}}

If "divided from" is anything to go by, this quatrain may have been written in David's new territories in southern Scotland.<ref>Clancy, "A Gaelic Polemic Quatrain", p. 88.</ref> The lands in question consisted of the [[Shires of Scotland]] of [[Roxburghshire]], [[Selkirkshire]], [[Berwickshire]], [[Peeblesshire]] and [[Lanarkshire]]. David, moreover, gained the title {{lang|la|princeps Cumbrensis}}, "[[Prince of the Cumbrians]]", as attested in David's charters from this era.<ref>For all this, see Oram, ''David'', pp. 62–64; for ''Princeps Cumbrensis'', see Archibald Lawrie, ''Early Scottish Charters Prior to A.D. 1153'', (Glasgow, 1905), no. 46.</ref> Although this was a large slice of Scotland south of the river Forth, the region of Galloway-proper was entirely outside David's control.<ref>Richard Oram, ''The Lordship of Galloway'', (Edinburgh, 2000), pp. 54–61; see also following references.</ref> David may perhaps have had varying degrees of overlordship in parts of [[Dumfriesshire]], [[Ayrshire]], [[Dunbartonshire]] and [[Renfrewshire (historic)|Renfrewshire]].<ref>See, for instance, Dauvit Broun, "The Welsh Identity of the Kingdom of Strathclyde", in ''The Innes Review'', Vol. 55, no. 2 (Autumn, 2004), pp. 138–140, n. 117; see also Forte, Oram, & Pedersen, ''The Viking Empires'', (Cambridge, 2005), pp. 96–97.</ref> In the lands between Galloway and the Principality of Cumbria, David eventually set up large-scale marcher lordships, such as [[Annandale, Dumfries and Galloway|Annandale]] for [[Robert de Brus, 1st Lord of Annandale|Robert de Brus]], [[Cunninghame|Cunningham]] for [[Hugh de Morville, Constable of Scotland|Hugh de Morville]], and possibly [[Strathgryfe]] for [[Walter Fitzalan]].<ref>E.g., Oram, ''David'', p. 113, also n. 7.</ref>

=== Earl of Huntingdon ===
[[File:Henry1.jpg|thumb|180px|[[King Henry I of England]], drawn by [[Matthew Paris]]. Henry's policy in [[northern Britain]] and the [[Irish Sea]] region essentially made David's political life.]]

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 of Scotland|Henry]], whom David named after his patron.<ref name=BarrowODNB>G. W. S. Barrow, "David I (c. 1085–1153)".</ref>

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 Northumberland]], a defunct 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, England|Durham]]. After King Henry's death, David revived the claim to this earldom for his son, Henry.<ref>For all this, see Duncan, ''Scotland: The Making of the Kingdom'', pp. 134, 217–218, 223; see also, for Durham and part of the earldom of Northumberland in the eyes of Earl Henry, Paul Dalton, "Scottish Influence on Durham, 1066–1214", in David Rollason, Margaret Harvey & Michael Prestwich (eds.), ''Anglo-Norman Durham, 1093–1193'', pp. 349–351; see also G. W. S. Barrow, "The Kings of Scotland and Durham", in Rollason ''et al.'' (eds.), ''Anglo-Norman Durham'', p. 318.</ref>

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.<ref>Oram, ''David'', pp. 69–72.</ref>