Editing Alexander I of Scotland

{{Short description|King of Alba from 1107 to 1124}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Alexander I
| image        = Alexander I (Alba) ii.JPG
| caption      = The reverse of Alexander's [[Seal (emblem)|seal]], enhanced as a 19th century steel engraving
| succession   = [[King of Alba (Scotland)]]
| reign        = 8 January 1107 – 23 April 1124
| coronation   = 
| predecessor  = [[Edgar, King of Scotland|Edgar]]
| successor    = [[David I of Scotland|David I]]
| spouse       = [[Sybilla of Normandy]]
| issue        = [[Máel Coluim mac Alaxandair|Malcolm]] (illegitimate)
| house        = [[House of Dunkeld|Dunkeld]]
| father       = [[Malcolm III of Scotland]]
| mother       = [[Margaret of Wessex]]
| birth_date   = {{circa|1078}}
| birth_place  = [[Dunfermline]]
| death_date   = 23 April 1124 (aged 45)
| death_place  = [[Stirling]]
| burial_place = [[Dunfermline Abbey]]
}}

'''Alexander I''' ([[Middle Irish|medieval Gaelic]]: ''Alaxandair mac Maíl Coluim''; [[Scottish Gaelic|modern Gaelic]]: ''Alasdair mac Mhaol Chaluim''; c. 1078 – 23 April 1124), posthumously nicknamed '''The Fierce''',<ref>This nickname, however, is not attested for another three centuries, in the work of [[Andrew of Wyntoun]].</ref> was the [[List of Scottish monarchs|King of Alba]] ([[Scotland]]) from 1107 to his death. He was the fifth son of [[Malcolm III of Scotland|Malcolm III]] and his second wife, Margaret, sister of Edward Ætheling, a prince of the pre-conquest English royal house.   

He succeeded his brother, King [[Edgar, King of Scotland|Edgar]], and his successor was his brother [[David I of Scotland|David]]. He was married to [[Sybilla of Normandy]], an illegitimate daughter of [[Henry I of England]].

== Life ==
Alexander was the fifth (some sources say fourth) son of [[Malcolm III of Scotland|Malcolm III]] and his wife [[Saint Margaret of Scotland|Margaret of Wessex]], grandniece of [[Edward the Confessor]]. Alexander was named after [[Pope Alexander II]].

He was the younger brother of King [[Edgar, King of Scotland|Edgar]], who was unmarried, and his brother's [[heir presumptive]] by 1104 (and perhaps earlier). In that year, he was the senior layman present at the examination of the remains of [[Cuthbert|Saint Cuthbert]] at [[Durham, England|Durham]] prior to their re-interment. He held lands in Scotland north of the [[River Forth|Forth]] and in [[Lothian]].<ref name = "ystlxt">Barrow, p. 154.</ref>

On the death of Edgar in 1107, Alexander succeeded to the Scottish crown but, in accordance with Edgar's instructions, their brother [[David I of Scotland|David]] was granted an [[appanage]] in southern [[Scotland]]. Edgar's will granted David the lands of the former [[kingdom of Strathclyde]] or [[Cumbria]] and this was apparently agreed in advance by Edgar, Alexander, David and their brother-in-law [[Henry I of England]]. In 1113, perhaps at Henry's instigation, and with the support of his [[Anglo-Normans|Anglo-Norman allies]], David demanded and received, additional lands in [[Lothian]] along the Upper [[River Tweed|Tweed]] and [[River Teviot|Teviot]]. David did not receive the title of king, but of "[[List of kings of Strathclyde|prince of the Cumbrians]]", and his lands remained under Alexander's final authority.<ref>Oram, pp. 60–63.</ref>

The dispute over [[Tweeddale]] and [[Roxburghshire|Teviotdale]] does not appear to have damaged relations between Alexander and David, although it was unpopular in some quarters. A Gaelic poem laments:

<blockquote>It's bad what Malcolm's son has done,<br>dividing us from Alexander;<br>he causes, like each king's son before,<br>the plunder of stable Alba.<ref>Oram, p. 66 citing [[Thomas Owen Clancy|Clancy]], ''The Triumph Tree''.</ref></blockquote>

The dispute over the eastern marches does not appear to have caused lasting trouble between Alexander and Henry of England. In 1114, he joined Henry on campaign in [[Wales]] against [[Gruffudd ap Cynan]] of [[Kingdom of Gwynedd|Gwynedd]].<ref>Oram, p. 65.</ref> Alexander's marriage with Henry's illegitimate daughter [[Sybilla of Normandy]] may have occurred as early as 1107, or as late as 1114.<ref>Oram, p. 65; a date around 1114 would place the marriage at about the same time as that of David and [[Maud, Countess of Huntingdon|Maud of Huntingdon]].</ref>

[[William of Malmesbury]]'s account attacks Sybilla, but the evidence argues that Alexander and Sybilla were a devoted but childless couple and Sybilla was of noteworthy piety.<ref>Duncan, p. 65; Oram, p. 71.</ref> Sybilla died in unrecorded circumstances at ''Eilean nam Ban'' ([[Kenmore, Perth and Kinross|Kenmore]] on [[Loch Tay]]) in July 1122 and was buried at [[Dunfermline Abbey]]. Alexander did not remarry and [[Walter Bower]] wrote that he planned an [[Augustinians|Augustinian]] [[Priory]] at the ''Eilean nam Ban'' dedicated to Sybilla's memory, and he may have taken steps to have her [[Veneration|venerated]].<ref>Oram, p. 71.</ref>

Alexander had at least one illegitimate child, [[Máel Coluim mac Alaxandair]], who was later involved in a revolt against [[David I of Scotland|David I]] in the 1130s. He was imprisoned at [[Roxburgh]] for many years afterwards, perhaps until his death sometime after 1157.<ref>Oram, p. 77. The identity of this person may be still in question, see [[MacWilliam pretenders|Meic Uilleim]] and [[MacHeths]].</ref>

Alexander was, like his brothers Edgar and David, a notably pious king. He was responsible for foundations at [[Scone, Perthshire|Scone]] and [[Inchcolm]], the latter founded in thanks for his survival of a tempest at sea nearby. He had the two towers built which flanked the great western entrance of [[Dunfermline Abbey]], where his mother was buried.<ref>[https://dunfermlineabbey.com/wwp/?page_id=16696 "History", Dunfermline Abbey]</ref>

His mother's chaplain and [[hagiography|hagiographer]] [[Turgot of Durham|Thurgot]] was named [[Bishop of Saint Andrews]] (or ''Cell Rígmonaid'') in 1107, presumably by Alexander's order.<ref name="ystlxt"/> The case of Thurgot's would-be successor [[Eadmer]] shows that Alexander's wishes were not always accepted by the religious community, perhaps because Eadmer had the backing of the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], [[Ralph d'Escures]], rather than [[Thurstan]] of [[Archbishop of York|York]].  Alexander also [[Patron saint|patronised]] [[Saint Andrews]], granting lands intended for an [[Augustinians|Augustinian Priory]], which may have been the same as that intended to honour his wife.<ref>Barrow, p. 156.</ref>

For all his religiosity, Alexander was not remembered as a man of peace. [[John of Fordun]] says of him:
{{Blockquote|Now the king was a lettered and godly man; very humble and amiable towards the clerics and regulars, but terrible beyond measure to the rest of his subjects; a man of large heart, exerting himself in all things beyond his strength.<ref>Fordun, V, xxviii ([[William Forbes Skene|Skene's]] edition).</ref>}}

He manifested the terrible aspect of his character in his reprisals in the [[Province of Moray]]. [[Andrew of Wyntoun]]'s ''Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland'' says that Alexander was holding court at [[Invergowrie]] when he was attacked by "men of the Isles".<ref>Wyntoun, cxxvii.</ref> Walter Bower says the attackers were from Moray and Mearns. Alexander pursued them north, to "Stockford" in [[Ross, Scotland|Ross]] (near [[Beauly]]) where he defeated them. This, says Wyntoun, is why he was named the "Fierce". The dating of this is uncertain, as are his enemies' identities. However, in 1116 the [[Annals of Ulster]] report: "Ladhmann son of Domnall, grandson of the king of Scotland, was killed by the men of Moray." The king referred to is Alexander's father, Malcolm III, and Domnall was Alexander's half brother. The Province or Kingdom of Moray was ruled by the family of [[Macbeth of Scotland|Macbeth]] (Mac Bethad mac Findláich) and [[Lulach of Scotland|Lulach]] (Lulach mac Gille Coemgáin): not overmighty subjects, but a family who had ruled Alba within little more than a lifetime. Who the Mormaer or King was at this time is not known; it may have been [[Óengus of Moray]] or his father, whose name is not known. As for the Mearns, the only known [[Mormaer of Mearns]], [[Máel Petair of Mearns|Máel Petair]], had murdered Alexander's half-brother [[Duncan II of Scotland|Duncan II]] (Donnchad mac Maíl Coluim) in 1094.<ref>MacDonald, pp. 23–24, deals with this affair.</ref>

Alexander died in April 1124 at his court at [[Stirling]]; his brother David, probably the acknowledged heir since the death of Sybilla, succeeded him.<ref>Oram, pp. 71–72.</ref>

== Fictional portrayals ==
Alexander was depicted in a fantasy novel,<ref name="Saint Andrews">Saint Andrews, Brodrick (2010), p. 99–104</ref> ''Pater Nostras Canis Dirus: The Garrison Effect'' (2010). Alexander is depicted as troubled by his lack of direct heirs, having no child with his wife [[Sybilla of Normandy]]. He points out that his father-in-law [[Henry I of England]] is asking them for a grandson.<ref name="Saint Andrews"/>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Sources ==
* {{cite book |last=Barrow |first=Geoffrey |author-link=Geoffrey Barrow |title=The Kingdom of the Scots: Government, Church and Society from the Eleventh to the Fourteenth Century |year=2003 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-1803-3}}
* {{cite book |author=Archibald Alexander McBeth Duncan |title=The kingship of the Scots, 842-1292: succession and independence |year=2002 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-1626-8}}
* {{cite book |last1=Oram |first1= Richard D. |author-link=Richard Oram |title=David I: the king who made Scotland |year=2004 |publisher=Tempus Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-0-7524-2825-3}}
* {{cite book |author=Russell Andrew McDonald |title=Outlaws of medieval Scotland: challenges to the Canmore kings, 1058-1266 |year=2003 |publisher=Tuckwell Press, Ltd. |isbn=978-1-86232-236-3}}
* {{cite book |last1=Saint Andrews |first1=Sawyer |last2=Brodrick |first2=John F. |title=Pater Nostras Canis Dirus: The Garrison Effect |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kanr-ORzWc4C |year=2010 |publisher=AuthorHouse |isbn=978-1-4520-9356-7}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Eminent Scotsmen|Alexander I.|1|46–47}}
* [https://www.royal.uk/alexander-i-r1107-1124 Alexander I] at the official website of the [[British monarchy]]

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{{s-hou | [[House of Dunkeld]] ||c. 1078 ||23 April 1124}}
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{{s-bef|before=[[Edgar, King of Scotland|Edgar]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of Scottish monarchs|King of Alba]]|years=1107–1124}}
{{s-aft|after=[[David I of Scotland|David I]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Pictish and Scottish monarchs}}
{{English, Scottish and British monarchs}}
{{David I}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander 01 Of Scotland}}

[[Category:1070s births]]
[[Category:1124 deaths]]
[[Category:House of Dunkeld]]
[[Category:12th-century Scottish monarchs]]
[[Category:People from Dunfermline]]
[[Category:Burials at Dunfermline Abbey]]
[[Category:11th-century Scottish people]]
[[Category:Gaelic monarchs in Scotland]]