Editing David I of Scotland (section)

== Davidian Revolution ==
{{main|Davidian Revolution}}
[[File:Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim Coinage.JPG|right|thumb|Silver penny of David I.]]

However, while there may be debate about the importance or extent of the [[historical change]] in David I's era, no historian doubts that it was taking place. The reason is what Barrow and Lynch both call the "Davidian Revolution".<ref>Barrow, "The Balance of New and Old", pp. 9–11; Lynch, ''Scotland: A New History'', p. 80.</ref> David's "revolution" is held to underpin the development of later medieval Scotland, whereby the changes he inaugurated grew into most of the central institutions of the later medieval kingdom.<ref>Barrow, "The Balance of New and Old", p. 13.</ref>

Since [[Robert Bartlett (historian)|Robert Bartlett]]'s pioneering work, ''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 recognising the wider "European revolution" taking place during this period. The central idea is that from the late 10th century onwards the culture and institutions of the old [[Carolingian]] heartlands in northern [[France]] and western [[Germany]] were spreading to outlying areas, creating a more recognisable "[[Europe]]". Scotland was just one of many "outlying" areas.<ref>Bartlett, ''The Making of Europe'', pp. 24–59; Moore, ''The First European Revolution, c. 970–1215'', p. 30ff; see also Barrow, "The Balance of New and Old", ''passim'', esp. 9; this idea of "Europe" seems in practice to mean "Western Europe".</ref>

[[File:Burghs of Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim.JPG|thumb|left|Burghs established in Scotland before the accession of David's successor and grandson, [[Malcolm IV of Scotland|Máel Coluim IV]]; these were Scotland's first towns.{{image reference needed|date=December 2022}}]]

=== Government and feudalism ===
The widespread enfeoffment of foreign knights and the processes by which [[land ownership]] was converted from [[Custom (law)|customary]] [[Land tenure|tenure]]s into [[feudal]], or otherwise legally-defined relationships, would revolutionise the way the Kingdom of Scotland was governed, as did the dispersal and installation of royal agents in the new [[Motte-and-bailey|mottes]] that were proliferating throughout the realm to staff newly created sheriffdoms and judiciaries for the twin purposes of [[law enforcement organization|law enforcement]] and [[taxation]], bringing Scotland further into the "continental" model.<ref>Haidu, ''The Subject Medieval/Modern'', p. 181; Moore, ''The First European Revolution'', p. 57.</ref>

Scotland in this period experienced innovations in governmental practices and the importation of foreign, mostly [[French people|French]], [[knight]]s. It is to David's reign that the beginnings of [[feudalism]] are generally assigned. This is defined as "castle-building, the regular use of professional cavalry, the knight's fee" as well as "homage and fealty".<ref>Barrow, "Balance of New and Old", pp. 9–11.</ref> 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.<ref>"The Beginnings of Military Feudalism"; Oram, "David I and the Conquest of Moray", page 43, note 43; see also, L. Toorians, "Twelfth-century Flemish Settlement in Scotland", pp. 1–14.</ref>

Steps were taken during David's reign to make the government of that part of Scotland he administered more like the government of Anglo-Norman England. New [[sheriffdom]]s enabled the King to effectively administer [[royal demesne]] land. During his reign, royal sheriffs were established in the king's core personal territories; namely, in rough chronological order, at [[Roxburgh]], [[Scone, Scotland|Scone]], [[Berwick-upon-Tweed]], [[Stirling]] and [[Perth, Scotland|Perth]].<ref>McNeill & MacQueen, ''Atlas of Scottish History'' p. 193</ref> The [[Justiciar]]ship too was created in David's reign. 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.<ref>See Barrow, G. W. S., "The ''Judex''", pp. 57–67 and "The Justiciar", pp. 68–111.</ref>

=== Economy ===
The revenue of his English earldom and the proceeds of the silver mines at [[Alston, Cumbria|Alston]] allowed David to produce Scotland's first coinage. These altered the nature of trade and transformed his political image.<ref>Oram, ''David I: The King Who Made Scotland'', pp. 193, 195; Bartlett, ''The Making of Europe'', p. 287: "The minting of coins and the issue of written dispositions changed the political culture of the societies in which the new practices appeared".</ref>

David was a great town builder. As Prince of the Cumbrians, David founded the first two [[burghs]] of "Scotland", at [[Roxburgh]] and Berwick.<ref>Duncan, ''Scotland: The Making of the Kingdom'', p. 465.</ref> Burghs 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]]).<ref>See G. W. S. Barrow, ''Kingship and Unity'', pp. 84–104; see also, Stringer, "The Emergence of a Nation-State", pp. 66–69.</ref> David founded around 15 burghs.<ref>Stringer, "The Emergence of a Nation-State", p. 67. Numbering is uncertain; Perth may date to the reign of Alexander I; Inverness is a case where the foundation may date later, but may date to the period of David I: see for instance the blanket statement that Inverness dates to David I's reign in Derek Hall, ''Burgess, Merchant and Priest'', compare Richard Oram, ''David'', p. 93, where it is acknowledged that this is merely a possibility, to A. A. M. Duncan, ''The Making of the Kingdom'', p. 480, who quotes a charter indicating that the burgh dates to the reign of William the Lion.</ref>

[[File:MelroseAbbey01.jpg|thumb|The ruins of [[Melrose Abbey]]. Founded in 1137, this [[Cistercians|Cistercian monastery]] became one of David's greatest legacies.]]

Perhaps nothing in David's reign compares in importance to burghs. While they could not, at first, have amounted to much more than the nucleus of an [[immigrant]] [[merchant]] class, nothing would do more to reshape the long-term economic and ethnic shape of Scotland than the burgh. These planned towns were or dominated by [[English people|English]] in culture and language; [[William of Newburgh]] wrote in the reign of [[William the Lion]], that "the towns and burghs of the Scottish realm are known to be inhabited by English";<ref>A. O. Anderson, ''[[iarchive:scottishannalsfr00andeuoft/page/256/mode/2up|Scottish Annals]]'', p. 256.</ref> as well as transforming the economy, the dominance of an English influence would in the long term undermine the position of the [[Middle Irish language]], giving birth to the idea of the [[Scottish Lowlands]].<ref>Stringer, "The Emergence of a Nation-State", 1100–1300", p. 67; Michael Lynch, ''Scotland: A New History'', pp. 64–66; Thomas Owen Clancy, "History of Gaelic", [http://www.bord-na-gaidhlig.org.uk/about-gaelic/history.html here] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070911232223/http://www.bord-na-gaidhlig.org.uk/about-gaelic/history.html |date=11 September 2007}}</ref>

=== Monastic patronage ===
David was 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]] for the [[Tironensians]].<ref>Oram, ''David'', p. 62; Duncan, ''Making of a Kingdom'', p. 145.</ref> David founded more than a dozen new monasteries in his reign, patronising various new monastic orders.<ref>Duncan, ''Scotland: The Making of a Kingdom'', pp. 145–150; Duncan, "The Foundation of St Andrews Cathedral Priory", pp. 25, 27–28; Fawcett and Oram, ''Melrose Abbey'', pp. 15–20.</ref>

Not only were such monasteries an expression of David's undoubted piety, they also functioned to transform Scottish society. Monasteries became centres of foreign influence and provided sources of literate men, able to serve the crown's growing administrative needs.<ref>Peter Yeoman, ''Medieval Scotland'', p. 15.</ref> These new monasteries, the [[Cistercian]] ones in particular, introduced new agricultural practices.<ref>Fawcett and Oram, ''Melrose Abbey'', p. 17.</ref> Cistercian labour, for instance, transformed southern Scotland into one of northern Europe's most important sources of sheep wool.<ref>See, for instance, Stringer,  ''The Reformed Church in Medieval Galloway and Cumbria'', pp. 9–11; Fawcett and Oram, ''Melrose Abbey'', p. 17; Duncan, ''The Making of a Kingdom'', p. 148.</ref>