page_title: David, Prince of the Cumbrians
section_title: Introduction — David and Henry I
hierarchical_section_title: David, Prince of the Cumbrians / Introduction — David and Henry I
caption_attribution_description: Miniature from illuminated Chronicle of Matthew Paris (1236-1259), from BL MS Cotton Claudius D. vi, f.9, showing Henry I of England enthroned. Held and digitised by the British Library.
context_page_description: Before David I of Scotland became King of Scotland in 1124, he was David, Prince of the Cumbrians and earl of a great territory in the middle of England acquired by marriage. This period marks the beginning of his life as a great territorial lord. Circa 1113, the year in which Henry I of England arranged his marriage to an English heiress and the year in which for the first time David can be found in possession of "Scottish" territory, marks the beginning of his rise to Scottish Noble leadership.
context_section_description: No historian is likely to deny that David's early career was largely manufactured for him by King Henry I of England. David was one of Henry's "new men", and his "greatest protégé"; Henry's influence had brought David his English marriage and lands, and Henry's military power had allowed David to take up his Scottish lands. David's early career can be understood as part of Henry's frontier policy, which included marriage of two daughters to the kings of Scotland and Galloway, consolidation of royal control in the north-west coast of England and the quelling of the Montgomeries, marcher lords on the Welsh borders who had been allied to Muirchertach Ua Briain, High King of Ireland (1101–19). The world of peace which David had enjoyed in England ended after the death of Henry I, just as it did for most other English magnates.
  When Henry I first became king of England, he did so in circumstances that were very irregular. William II, it was said, had been killed in a hunting accident in the New Forest. Henry tentatively assumed power while his elder brother Robert, duke of Normandy and the rightful heir, was on crusade. Thus, as a usurper within his own dynasty, he cast  about for a claim to legitimacy. He found it in a marriage to David's sister Edith, often called Matilda in Norman fashion, who had accompanied David in his exile. She was a descendant of the near-extinct dynasty of Wessex through her mother, and thereby provided a crude but effective means to create a legal basis for his rule. As an added benefit, from Henry's viewpoint, she might also provide some protection against further Scottish incursions like those that had plagued the northern English provinces with regularity under Malcolm III. This is not to argue that Henry I and David could not have appreciated each other's company and built their friendship on that basis, of course, but the fact that David was now styled as "the brother of the queen" when he witnessed documents does suggest at least one clear ulterior motive for their friendship and, on Henry's part, points to a familiar and quintessentially feudal logic that underpinned his nurturing of David.
  Indeed, it was at Henry's bidding that David gained experience as a judge in the royal courts; it was Henry who organized his aforementioned marriage to Maud de Senlis (Matilda) in 1113, thereby installing David as one of the seven earls of the English realm; and it was Henry who ensured that the will of king Edgar was fulfilled, giving military aid to David when he was installed in his appanage.
  Furthermore, this organization of power based upon personal relationships peculiar to the feudal system ensured that, after he became king of Scotland in 1124, the only thing that kept David from pursuing a policy of vigorous expansion was his friendship with Henry. To be sure, it should not be surprising to learn that David harboured territorial ambitions – such desires were cultivated by the prevailing culture of the Normans, the greatest warriors of the age, and applauded if they ended in conquest – nor should it be any surprise that he soon sought to express them upon Henry's death. That he should seek to place those ambitions upon a solid basis of propriety would have been even less remarkable, had a suitable excuse to attack not been conveniently at hand.
  When Henry I died in 1135, David had already sat upon the throne of Scotland for nearly eleven years. He had also, in his capacity as a great English nobleman, been the first to swear obedience to Henry's daughter, his own niece, the former Empress of Germany, Matilda, supporting her succession in lieu of any legitimate male heirs – Henry's son having predeceased him, drowning in the famous disaster of the White Ship in 1120.
caption: King Henry I of England. Henry's policy in northern Britain and the Irish Sea region essentially made David's political life.
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