322 Theory as to the Origin of the Crosses 



the south. Strath Clyde and the Lothians were admirably adapted to 

 his purpose, for all the land appears to have been in direct dependence 

 on the crown ; he could stud it at will with his favourite Anglo-Norman 

 chivalry. 1 



Never was Scotland at any period of her history more powerful 

 relatively to her southern neighbor, than during the last ten years of 

 David's reign. ^ 



Of all the reigns of Scottish kings that of David is undoubtedly the 

 most memorable in every aspect of the Ufe of a people. . . . The trans- 

 formation wrought by David placed the country in new relations to 

 the other countries of Christendom. But besides remoulding the church, 

 he recast the social condition of the people in such degree as makes 

 his reign an epoch in the national development. At no period of its 

 history has Scotland ever stood relatively so high in the scale of nations. 

 By a fortunate combination of circumstances, the country profited beyond 

 its neighbors in the great awakening of Christendom throughout the 11th 

 century. It was the age of St. Bernard, whose name is associated with 

 three of the great movements that absorbed the heart and mind of the 

 time.^ 



Bej^ond all David's achievements it was what he did for the church 

 that gave him his great name among the kings of Scotland. In the 

 words of Wyntoun : 



He illumynyd in his dayis 

 His landys wyth kyrkys and wyth abbayis. 

 In this work also he was no initiator ; but by the extent of the changes 

 he wrought, he definitively made the Church of Rome the national Church 

 of Scotland. . . . More palpable memorials of David's munificence are 

 the great abbeys he founded for the various orders who came to divide 

 the country among them— Kelso, Dry burgh, Melrose, Newbattle, 

 Dundrennan, Kinloss, Cambuskenneth, Holyrood, and Jedburgh.* 



David was, if any man was, the maker of Scotland. The bishoprics 

 erected by him, and his many Lowland abbeys, Holyrood, Melrose, 

 Dryburgh, Kelso, Jedburgh and others, confirmed the freedom of the 

 Scottish church from the claims of the see of York, encouraged the 

 improvement of agriculture, and endowed the country Avith beautiful 

 examples of architecture. . . . From the time of David to the death of 

 Alexander III, Scotland was relatively peaceful, prosperous, and, izi 

 the south, Anglicized, and was now in the general movement of western 

 civiHzation.^ 



1 Robertson 1. 233. ^ ^^^ i 224-5. ^ Brown 1. 74. 



* Ihid. 1. 94. 5 Andrew Lang, in Encijc. Brit., 11th ed., 24. 433. 



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