Neither King David nor his son,
Prince Henery, were not actually buried here at Conington.
King David I (c1087-1155) was a son
of King Malcolm III and his second wife, St Margaret, Scotland's
only native saint. Malcolm was the one who killed Macbeth in
battle and the latter's short reigned son 'by treachery', taking
the crown of Scotland himself. Do not believe the Shakespearean
nonsense: there will be no witches, mad women, moving woods nor
men 'not born of woman' here! In 1093 King Malcolm and another
of his sons, Edward, were killed during a raid into
Northumberland. None of Malcolm's sons became king at this time,
rather Malcolm's brother, Donald, became king in alliance with
another of Malcolm's sons, Edmund. Donald forced David, who was
about nine at the time, and his brothers into exile.
The English king, William Rufus, opposed
Donald's accessions and sent Duncan, eldest son of Malcolm by
his first wife, to Scotland but he was killed within a year.
Next Rufus sent Edgar, David's brother, into Scotland and Edgar
was crowned in 1097. King Edgar died in 1107 and his, and
David's, brother Alexander than became king of Scotland
After Rufus's death, his brother Henry I
seized the crown of England and the latter married David's
sister, Matilda. Henry arranged the marriage in 1113 of David to
Matilda, Second Countess of Huntingdon, David taking the title
of Earl. They produced a son, Henry.
David became king of Scotland on the
death of Alexander in 1124. However, his two elder brother, both
of whom had been kings, had sons and the principle of
primogeniture was beginning to evolve; these nephews of David
did not have the vital support of King Henry. The Scottish
nobles thus had the choice between accepting David as king or
civil war. And a civil war did break out between Alexander's son
Malcolm and David's supporters who triumphed. David was crowned
king the same year; however the extent of his rule was minimal,
covering only Cumbria and the southern fringes of Scotland
itself.
In 1127 Matilda died and while David was
in England another rebelling of Malcolm occurs which was aided
by powerful nobles. This was put down by David's constable with
aid from King Henry. David continued to expand his control over
Scotland by arms and treaties and by the time King Henry died in
1135 he was master of most of that country.
David supported Henry's daughter, the Empress
Matilda, on the old King's death. However Stephen seized the
throne on 1138 and David invaded England and routed the English
army and the first Treaty of Durham temporarily ended the
hostilities. The Scots army was defeated at the next invasion at
the Battle of the Standard. Stephen was not present being
occupied fighting in the south. There was now a Second Treaty of
Durham negotiated between David and Stephen's wife, yet another
Matilda and another niece of David's. David was allowed to keep
Carlisle and Cumbria while his son Henry was given the Earldom
of Northumbria and restored to the Earldom of
Huntingdonshire.
A stable situation did not last long and
during the 'Anarchy' David strengthen his position in England.
David's only son Henry died in 1152 and
David arranged for Henry's eldest son, Malcolm, to be his heir.
David himself died the following year and was buried in
Dunfermline Abbey, the burial place of several Scottish kings
and their families. However none, including David, of them
have surviving monuments.
The brass at
Dunfermline commemorating Robert Bruce is Victorian, made
following the discovery of his skeleton.
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