THE REFORMED ORDERS & KING DAVID I
The Reformed Orders & King David I
The impact of David’s monastic revolution was felt mainly in the south of Scotland. His successors - Malcolm the Maiden, William the Lion, and Alexander II developed his work slowly, bringing Gaelic Scotland, north of Fife, into the fold. Scotland had been transformed, but not beyond recognition. As the revolution settled into everyday Scottish life, what emerged was a hybrid of Gaelic and Norman cultural influences on church and kingdom - yet a nation which was recognisably part of mainstream European Christian culture.
Within that framework the Church went on to become a recognisably Scottish institution. From David I onwards, the Scottish kings promoted its independence: petitioning the Pope for recognition of the primacy of St. Andrews over the Scottish Church against the claims from York and Canterbury in England. In 1189 the campaign succeeded when the Scottish Church was recognised as ‘Rome’s special daughter’, its bishops answerable to the Pope alone.
A distinctive Scottish identity was promoted through the cults of Scottish saints, like Andrew, Columba and David I’s mother, Margaret (canonised in 1249). From the late 13th century monastic chroniclers began to write histories of Scotland. Built on the work of Adomnán and other anonymous monastic annalists, the chronicling tradition culminated in the mid-15th century with Abbot Walter Bower’s masterpiece, The Scotichronicon.
However, Scottish identity didn’t simply arise through the work of a few monastic chroniclers, but more through the role the Church played in society. In early 12th century charters, David I was entitled Rex Scotorum (King of Scots), who ruled over a diverse kingdom of Gaels, Angles, Normans and Gallowegians. Over the next century, the Church was one of the principle unifying factors in bringing this diverse mix of peoples together. With promotion by the Scottish kings, it brought a sense of shared identity and loyalty throughout the kingdoms, with a practical notion of society, order and mutual obligation. By the 13th century something new was being born: the Scottish nation.
|
