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David I and the Founding of Kelso Abbey

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David I and the Founding of Kelso Abbey David I and The Founding of Kelso Abbey King David I ruler of Scotland from 1124 to 1153 founded Kelso Abbey. But who was David? And why did he found an Abbey here? David I was the youngest of the six sons of King Malcolm III [Malcolm Canmore] and his deeply religious queen, St Margaret. Margaret was an English princess who had taken refuge in Scotland after the Norman invasion of 1066. It must have seemed unlikely that David would ever become King of Scotland, especially after his father’s death in battle in 1094. St Margaret died just weeks after her husband, and Scotland was thrown into a power struggle between Malcolm III’s brother Donald Bane, Malcolm’s son by an earlier marriage, and the elder surviving sons of Malcolm and Margaret. The younger members of the family fl ed to England; David was only eight or nine years old at the time. At the Anglo-Norman court of William II and Henry I David grew to manhood. His sister Matilda married King Henry I and David as “brother of the Queen of the English” became a leading member of Henry’s court. David married the heiress Maud, daughter of Earl Waltheof of Northumbria, and became the Earl of Northampton and Lord of the lands of Huntingdon - one of the greatest barons in England. Meanwhile in Scotland, Edgar the fourth son of Malcolm and Margaret, overthrew King Donald Bane in 1097 with help from England and became King in his place. However, he died unmarried in 1107 and was succeeded by his brother Alexander. It was about this time that David returned to Scotland, becoming ruler of Southern Scotland for his older brother, with the title of Earl. As well as Tweeddale and Teviotdale, his rule extended to the south west and he is also referred to as Prince of Cumbria. In 1124 King Alexander also died leaving no legitimate heir and so David became King of Scotland. He had a long and successful reign, and before his death in 1153 he had played a major part in shaping the medieval kingdom of Scotland. In 1113, while he was still Earl, David invited a group of monks from Tiron in France to Scotland and settled them at Selkirk. At this time there was a major religious revival taking place in Europe, marked by the reforming of monastic life and the creation of new monastic orders. One of those was founded by St. Bernard de Abbeville, who had broken away from his monastery to become a hermit. He was soon joined by others of a like mind and by the time of his death in 1116, his settlement at Tiron had been organised as a new monastic group committed to austerity and hard work. David had no doubt heard much about St Bernard, during his time at the court of Henry I. Henry was Duke of Normandy in France as well as King of England and David must often have travelled with him to France. Like his mother St Margaret, David was deeply interested in the reform of the church, hence his decision to bring the Tironensian monks to Scotland. When David became King in 1124, he decided to move the monks from Selkirk to Kelso and in 1128 the new abbey was started. Why did he do this? Throughout his reign David spent much of his time at his Royal Castle of Roxburgh less than a mile away across the river Tweed. Here he, or in his absence his sheriff, dispensed royal justice. Next to it he set up the Royal Burgh of Roxburgh as the centre for the increasingly valuable trade in wool from Teviotdale and Tweeddale. With its royal mint, markets, fi ve churches, merchants, craftsmen and its great annual fair - St James’ Fair, Roxburgh at this time was so important that it could arguably be described as the capital of Scotland. Naturally, David wanted to have his monks nearby, so he gave them the church of St Mary at Kelso as the foundation for their new abbey. With the many grants of lands and rents given by the Scottish Kings and other landowners to the Abbey, it soon became the largest and richest in the Borders if not all Scotland. It might seem surprising to modern eyes that Kelso Abbey and the Royal Burgh of Roxburgh were set up just fi ve or six miles from the border with England. But in 1128 the border line had not been fi xed, and for much of his reign King David’s rule extended a long way south - at one time as far as the River Tees. Through his wife he had a good claim to Northumberland while Cumbria had been part of a British kingdom which had come under the rule of the Scottish kings. It was not until 1237 that the frontier was settled more or less on its present line and we became “The Borders.” In David’s day Kelso and Roxburgh were at the heart of his kingdom, not on the edge. When his son Prince Henry died in 1152, David chose to have him buried before the altar of Kelso Abbey. Background image: Kelso Abbey Engraving by W H Lizars 1831.
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