=19. Margaret's Reforms.=--The disaster did not end with the death of the king, for the good _Queen Margaret_, who was then at _Edinburgh_, died of grief almost immediately after hearing the sad tidings. This good woman, whose many merits have won for her the title of saint, was the chief worker in the revolution which was being silently wrought in the manners of the court, and of the people, and in the government of the Church and of the State. The influence which her piety and learning gave her over her husband and his people was used to soften their fierceness, and to win them from their own half-savage ways to the customs of more civilized countries. She is said to have introduced silver plate at court, and many other luxuries of which the Scots had hitherto been ignorant; she encouraged literature and commerce, but she chiefly busied herself in reviving the state of religion, which had sunk to a very low ebb. The Church had fallen from its ancient purity and zeal, and had become a prey to many singular abuses. The abbotships were hereditary in the great families, and were often held by laymen, and the religious foundations were in the hands of a body of irregular clergy called _Culdees_, from two Latin words meaning 'servants of God.' Margaret called a council of the clergy and spoke to them herself, her husband acting as her interpreter, and did her best to make them give up their peculiarities and give in to the usages of the rest of Christendom. She rebuilt the church of Iona, which had suffered so terribly at the hands of the Northmen, and founded a new church at _Dunfermline_, in which she and her husband were buried. =20. Disputed Succession. Donald, 1093-1097.=--The death of the King and of his son _Eadward_, who had been recognized as heir-apparent, threw the kingdom into confusion; and the Gaelic party, who had looked on with disgust and jealousy at the changes of the last reign and at the displacement of the Gaelic chiefs by the English immigrants, elected _Donald Bane_, Malcolm's brother, to the vacant throne. Meanwhile _Duncan_, the son of Malcolm and Ingebiorg, his first wife, prayed William of England to aid him in recovering his father's kingdom, which he promised to hold as an English fief. His suit was granted, and with the help of an English and Norman army he drove out his uncle and reigned a few months. But _Donald_, with the help of _Eadmund_, the eldest surviving son of Malcolm and Margaret, once more got the upper hand, murdered _Duncan_, exiled the rest of the family, and kept possession of the throne for three years. At the end of that time Eadgar the Ætheling was sent north with an English army, and placed his nephew Eadgar on the throne on the same terms as those which had been granted to Duncan. Donald Bane was taken, and, after the cruel custom of the time, his eyes were put out before he was cast into prison. Eadmund died a penitent in an English monastery.