Editing David I of Scotland (section)

=== Medieval reputation ===
The earliest English assessments of David portray him as a pious king, a reformer and a civilising agent in a barbarian nation. For [[William of Newburgh]], David was a "King not barbarous of a barbarous nation", who "wisely tempered the fierceness of his barbarous nation". William praises David for his piety, noting that, among other saintly activities, "he was frequent in washing the feet of the poor" (this can be read literally: his mother, who is now patron saint of Scotland, was widely known and lauded for the same practice).<ref>A. O. Anderson, ''Early Sources'', p. 231.</ref> Another of David's eulogists, his former courtier [[Aelred of Rievaulx]], echoes Newburgh's assertions and praises David for his justice as well as his piety, commenting that David's rule of the Scots meant that "the whole barbarity of that nation was softened ... as if forgetting their natural fierceness they submitted their necks to the laws which the royal gentleness dictated".<ref>A. O. Anderson, ''Early Sources'', pp. 232–233</ref>

Although avoiding stress on 12th-century Scottish "barbarity", the Lowland Scottish historians of the [[Late Middle Ages]] tend to repeat the accounts of earlier chronicle tradition. Much that was written was either directly transcribed from the earlier medieval chronicles themselves or was modelled closely upon them, even in the significant works of [[John of Fordun]], [[Andrew Wyntoun]] and [[Walter Bower]].<ref>Felix J. H. Skene & William Forbes Skene (ed.), ''John of Fordun's Chronicle of the Scottish Nation'', (Edinburgh, 1872), p. 200ff; Donaldson, ''The Sources of Scottish History'', p. 34: "... at what point its information about Scotland should receive credence is far from clear". Though Wyntoun, Fordun and Bower may have had access to documents which are no longer extant, much of their information is either duplicated in other records or cannot be corroborated; for a survey of David's historical reputation, see Oram, ''David'', pp. 203–225.</ref> For example, Bower includes in his text the eulogy written for David by Aelred of Rievaulx. This quotation extends to over twenty pages in the modern edition and exerted a great deal of influence over what became the traditional view of David in later works about Scottish history.<ref>John MacQueen, Winnifred MacQueen and D. E. R. Watt (eds.), ''Scotichronicon by Walter Bower'', vol. 3, (Aberdeen, 1995), p. 139ff.</ref> Historical treatment of David developed in the writings of later Scottish historians, and the writings of men like [[John Major (philosopher)|John Mair]], [[George Buchanan]], [[Hector Boece]], and Bishop [[John Lesley|John Leslie]] ensured that by the 18th century, a picture of David as a pious, justice-loving state-builder and vigorous maintainer of Scottish independence had emerged.<ref>Oram, ''David'', pp. 213–217.</ref>

Moreover, Bower stated in his eulogy that David always had the ambition to join a [[crusade]], which was prevented eventually by his death.{{sfn|Macquarrie|1997|p=81}} In addition, Aelred of Rievaulx hinted that David expressed his desire to be part of the [[Second Crusade]] himself, but he was dissuaded by his subjects.{{sfn|Cowan|Mackay|Macquarrie|1983|p=18}} However, David had already met [[Hugues de Payens]], the [[List of grand masters of the Knights Templar|first Grand Master]] of the [[Knights Templar]], in 1128 in Scotland.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.eyeofthepsychic.com/rosslyn_excursions/ |title=The Stone Puzzle of Rosslyn Chapel |website=eyeofthepsychic.com |access-date=9 May 2018}}</ref> In the meantime, the [[Knights Templar in Scotland|Order]] established a seat at [[Balantrodoch]], now [[Temple, Midlothian]] on the South Esk ([[River Esk, Lothian]]).<ref>Ferduson, ''The Knights Templar and Scotland'', pp. 46–47.</ref>