Ipse vero vix cum paucis
evasit. Veruntamen post haec illum regnare permiserunt, ea ratione,
ut amplius in Scotiam nec Anglos nec Normannos introduceret,
sibique militare permitteret."-_Rolls Series edn._, vol. ii, p.
222.
It was not till the reign of Alexander I (1107-1124) that the new
influences made any serious modification of ancient custom. The peaceful
Edgar had surrounded himself with English favourites, and had granted
Saxon charters to Saxon landholders in the Lothians. His brother,
Alexander, made the first efforts to abolish the old Celtic tenure. In
1114, he gave a charter to the monastery of Scone, and not only did the
charter contemplate the direct holding of land from the king, but the
signatories or witnesses described themselves as Earls, not as Mormaers.
The monastery was founded to commemorate the suppression of a revolt of
the Celts of Moray, and the earls who witnessed the charter bore Celtic
names. This policy of taking advantage of rebellions to introduce
English civilization became a characteristic method of the kings of
Scotland. Alexander's successor, David I, set himself definitely to
carry on the work which his brother had begun. He found his opportunity
in the rising of Malcolm MacHeth, Earl of Moray. To this rising we have
already referred in the Introduction. It was the greatest effort made
against the innovations of the anti-national sons of Malcolm Canmore,
and its leader, Malcolm MacHeth, was the representative of a rival line
of kings.
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