He was never canonized.

Earl of Huntingdon. United Alba with Strathclyde.
Earl of Northampton. Popularly reputed as a Saint, His feast day is 24th May.
The Complete Peerage vol.V,pp.641-2.


David I, was born in 1080. Shortly after the death of King Malcolm, his brother, Donald Bane, came in possession of the kingdom; and Edgar Atheling caused his sister's children, five sons and two daughters, who were all of immature age, to be brought to him in England. The royal children were carefully educated. Prince David had remained with his sister, Queen Matilda, in England, while his brothers, Edgar and Alexander, successively mounted the Scottish throne. In 1110 he married his cousin Matilda, Countess of Northampton. Her father was "Old Siward's" second son, Waltheof, renowned for his gallant defense of York. Her mother was Judith, niece of William the Conqueror. The Countess brought her husband a son, Henry, in whom the dispositions of both father and mother were early apparent. David on the death of his brother, Alexander I, without children, succeeded to the throne April 27, 1124. By attending the court of so accomplished a Prince as Henry I, he had gained great experience in the art of government. He was immediately called to the difficult task of defending the independence of the Scottish Church against the pretensions of the Archbishop of York, and the prejudice of the Pope. His prudence finally disappointed both. He proved himself an able general in 1130, during the insurrection of Angus, Earl of Moray, who claimed a title to the throne.
        King David, in the contest between Stephen, Count of Boulogne, and the Empress Matilda for the crown of England, warmly took the part of his neice. In the various engagements between his troops and the adherents of Stephen, David was generally successful. He lost the battle of the Standard, fought on the 22d of August, 1138, but the defeat was not decisive, for the Scottish king was almost immediately able to act on the offensive. Buchanan says: "But while all his public measures succeeded according to his desire, he was afflicted with a double distressing family calamity in the early deaths of his wife and only son. Deprived of a consort illustrious by descent, of exquisite beauty and accomplished manners, prematurely cut down in the flower of her age, he cherished such an affectionate remembrance of her when dead, whom he so tenderly loved when alive, that although he survived her upward of twenty years, he remained not only unmarried, but without attaching himself to any other woman. Yet did not the excess of his grief prevent his attending to his public duty either in peace or war. He died, A.D. 1153, on the 24th of May, so dear to all, that his loss appeared to be that of the best of fathers, rather than that of a King. Although his whole life was exemplary beyond anything which history records, yet for a few years before his death, he devoted himself so entirely to preparation for another and a better world, that he gently increased the veneration which his earlier years had inspired. As he equaled the most excellent of the former kings in his warlike achievements, and excelled them in his cultivation of the arts of peace, at last, as if he had ceased to contend with others for pre eminence in virtue, he endeavored to rival himself; and in this he so succeeded that the utmost ingenuity of the most learned who should attempt to delineate the resemblance of a good King could not be able to conceive one so excellent as David, during his whole life, evinced himself." Lord Hailes, after quoting this last sentence, adds: "This is the sentiment of a historian whose principles are esteemed unfavorable to monarchy -- such a sketch by Buchanan is of a greater value than the studied performance of a thousand panegyrists."

When David's brother Alexander I of Scotland died in 1124, David chose, with the backing of Henry I, to take the Kingdom of Scotland (Alba) for himself. He was forced to engage in warfare against his rival and nephew, Máel Coluim mac Alaxandair. Subduing the latter seems to have taken David ten years, a struggle that involved the destruction of Óengus, Mormaer of Moray. David's victory allowed expansion of control over more distant regions theoretically part of his Kingdom. After the death of his former patron Henry I, David supported the claims of Henry's daughter and his own niece, the former Empress-consort, Matilda, to the throne of England. In the process, he came into conflict with King Stephen and was able to expand his power in northern England, despite his defeat at the Battle of the Standard in 1138.
The term "Davidian Revolution" is used by many scholars to summarise the changes which took place in the Kingdom of Scotland during his reign. These included his foundation of burghs, implementation of the ideals of Gregorian Reform, foundation of monasteries, Normanisation of the Scottish government, and the introduction of feudalism through immigrant French and Anglo-French knights.