ALEXANDER I. (c. 1078-1124), king of Scotland, was the fourth
son of Malcolm Canmore by his wife (St) Margaret, grand-niece
of Edward the Confessor. On the death of his brother Edgar
in 1107 he succeeded to the Scottish crown; but, in accordance
with Edgar's instructions, he inherited only a part of its
possessions. By a partition, the motive of which is not
quite certain, the districts south of the Forth and Clyde
were erected into an earldom for Alexander's younger brother,
David. Alexander, dissatisfied, sought to obtain the whole,
but without success. A curious combination of the fierce
warrior and the pious churchman, he manifested the one
aspect of his character in his ruthless suppression of an
insurrection in his northern dominion (thus gaining for himself
the title of "the Fierce"), the other in his munificent
foundation of bishoprics and abbeys. Among the latter were
those of Scone and Inchcolm. His strong championship of the
independence of the Scottish church involved him in struggles
with both the English metropolitan sees. He died on the 27th
of April 1124, and was succeeded by his brother, David I.
This article is from the 1911 edition of an
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