lement of Moray, David, in 1150, founded the Abbey of Kinloss. The
Celtic official terms were replaced by English names; the Mormaer had
become the Earl, the Toisech was now the Thane, and Earl and Thane alike
were losing their position as the royal representative, as David
gradually introduced the Anglo-Norman _vice-comes_ or sheriff, who
represented the royal Exchequer and the royal system of justice. David's
police regulations tended still further to strengthen the nascent
Feudalism; like the kings of England, he would have none of the
"lordless man, of whom no law can be got", and commendation was added to
the forces which produced the disintegration of the tribal system. Not
less important was the introduction of written charters. Alexander had
given a written charter to the monastery of Scone; David gave private
charters to individual land-owners, and made the possession of a charter
the test of a freeholder. Finally, it is from David's reign that
Scottish burghs take their origin. He encouraged the rise of towns as
part of the feudal system. The burgesses were tenants-in-chief of the
king, held of him by charter, and stood in the same relation to him as
other tenants-in-chief. So firmly grounded was this idea that, up to
1832, the only Scottish burgesses who attended Parliament were
representatives of the ancient Royal Burghs, and their right depended,
historically, not on any gift of the franchise, but on their position as
tenants-in-chief. That there were strangers among the new burgesses
cannot be doubted; Saxons and Normans mingled with Danes and Flemish
merchants in the humble streets of the villages that were protected by
the royal castle and that grew into Scottish towns; but their numbers
were too few to give us any ground for believing that they were, in any
sense, foreign colonies, or that they seriously modified the ethnic
character of the land. Men from the country would, for reasons of
protection, or from the impulse of commerce, find their way into the
towns; it is certain that the population of the towns did not migrate
into the country. The real importance of the towns lies in the part they
played in the spread of the English tongue. To the influence of Court
and King, of land tenure, of law and police, of parish priest and monk,
and Abbot and Bishop, was added the persuasive force of commercial
interest.

The death of David I, in 1153, was immediately followed by Celtic
revolts against Anglo-Norm