David, Earl of Huntingdon

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David of Scotland
Earl of Huntingdon
Reign1184–1219
PredecessorSimon III de Senlis
SuccessorJohn of Scotland
Born1152
Huntingdon, England
Died17 June 1219
Jedburgh, Roxburghshire, Scotland
SpouseMatilda of Chester
IssueJohn, Earl of Huntingdon and Chester
Henry of Huntingdon
Robert of Huntingdon
Margaret of Huntingdon
Isobel of Huntingdon
Ada of Huntingdon
Matilda of Huntingdon
illegitimate:
Henry of Stirling
Henry of Brechin
Ada
HouseDunkeld
FatherHenry of Scotland, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon
MotherAda de Warenne

David of Scotland (1152 – 17 June 1219) was a Scottish prince and Earl of Huntingdon. He was the grandson of David I and the younger brother of two Scottish kings, Malcolm the Maiden and William the Lion.

Life[edit]

Born in 1152,[1] David was the youngest surviving son of Henry of Scotland, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon and Ada de Warenne,[2] a daughter of William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey, and Elizabeth of Vermandois. His paternal grandfather was David I of Scotland. Huntingdon was granted to him after his elder brother William I of Scotland ascended the throne. David's son John succeeded him to the earldom.

In 1190 his brother gave him 'superiority' over Dundee and its port. The same year he endowed Lindores Abbey in Fife and a church dedicated to St Mary in Dundee.[3]

In the litigation for succession to the crown of Scotland in 1290–1292, the great-great-grandson Floris V, Count of Holland of David's sister, Ada, claimed that David had renounced his hereditary rights to the throne of Scotland. He therefore declared that his claim to the throne had priority over David's descendants. However, no explanation or firm evidence for the supposed renunciation could be provided.[4]

Marriage and issue[edit]

On 26 August 1190, David married Matilda of Chester (1171 – 6 January 1233), daughter of Hugh de Kevelioc, 3rd Earl of Chester.[5] He was almost twenty years Matilda's senior. The marriage was recorded by Benedict of Peterborough.

David and Matilda had:

Earl David also had three illegitimate children:[6]

After the extinction of the senior line of the Scottish royal house in 1290, when the legitimate line of William the Lion of Scotland ended, David's descendants were the prime candidates for the throne. The two most notable claimants to the throne, Robert Bruce, 5th Lord of Annandale (grandfather of King Robert I of Scotland) and John Balliol were his descendants through David's daughters Isobel and Margaret, respectively.

In popular culture[edit]

Sir Walter Scott's 1825 novel The Talisman features Earl David in his capacity as a prince of Scotland as a crusader on the Third Crusade. For the majority of the novel, Earl David operates under an alias: Sir Kenneth of the Couchant Leopard. Earl David's adventures are highly fictionalized for this novel.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Stringer 1985, p. iii.
  2. ^ Oram 2011, p. iii.
  3. ^ "Early Dundee - David, Earl of Huntingdon". Friends of Dundee City Archives. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  4. ^ Stringer, Keith J. (2004). "David, earl of Huntingdon and lord of Garioch (1152–1219), magnate". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/49365. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 29 December 2021. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  5. ^ a b c d e Gee 2002, p. 171.
  6. ^ Balfour Paul, vol i, p 4

Sources[edit]

  • Gee, Loveday Lewes (2002). Women, Art and Patronage from Henry III to Edward III: 1216-1377. Boydell Press.
  • Oram, Richard (2011). Domination and Lordship: Scotland, 1070-1230. Edinburgh University Press.
  • Stringer, Keith John (1985). Earl David of Huntingdon, 1152-1219: a study in Anglo-Scottish history. Edinburgh University Press.


David, Earl of Huntingdon
Born: c. 1144 Died: 17 June 1219
Peerage of England
Preceded by Earl of Huntingdon
1184–1219
Succeeded by