Clan Douglas (Gaelic: Dùbhghlas) is an ancient clan or noble house from the Scottish Lowlands. Taking their name from Douglas in Lanarkshire, their leaders gained vast territories throughout the Borders, Angus, Lothian, Moray, and also in France and Sweden. The family is one of the most ennobled in the United Kingdom and has held numerous titles.
The Douglases were one of Scotland's most powerful families, and certainly the most prominent family in lowland Scotland during the Late Middle Ages, often holding the real power behind the throne of the Stewart kings. The heads of the House of Douglas held the titles of the Earl of Douglas (Black Douglas) and later the Earl of Angus (Red Douglas).
The clan does not have a chief recognised by the Lord Lyon. The principal Douglas is the Duke of Hamilton; as his surname is "Douglas-Hamilton" rather than simply "Douglas", the laws of the Lyon Court prevent him from assuming the chiefship of the name. The original caput of the family was Douglas Castle in Lanarkshire. The Kirk of St Bride at Douglas, along with Melrose Abbey and the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés holds the remains of many of the Earls of Douglas and Angus. The Swedish branch is descended from Field Marshal Robert Douglas, Count of Skenninge, and has been one of Sweden's most prominent noble families since the 17th century.
History
Origins
In modern texts, the family's surname is thought to derive from the village of Douglas, the name of which comes from the Gaelic elements dubh, meaning "dark, black"; and glas, meaning "stream" (in turn from Old Gaelic dub and glais). However, according to the 17th-century historian Frederic van Bossen, the Douglas name means "gray hairs in the old language", and it was first given to a Lord Shulton, who lived in the 8th century. Frederic van Bossen states Lord Shulton was a descendant of Adrolena of Shaultow who was a descendant of the Princes of Caledonia.
In 1179 William Douglas was Lord of Douglas; he is the first certain record of the name Douglas and undoubtedly the ancestor of the family. He witnessed a charter between 1175 and 1199 by the Bishop of Glasgow to the monks of Kelso. His grandson, also Sir William de Douglas had two sons who fought at the Battle of Largs in 1263 against the Norsemen. One old tradition is that the first chief of Douglas was Sholto Douglas who helped the king of Scotland win a battle in the year 767. This is not substantiated and likely to be pseudohistory.
The true progenitor of Clan Douglas may have been "Theobaldus Flammatius" (Theobald the Fleming), who in 1147 received the lands near Douglas Water in Lanarkshire in return for services for the Abbot of Kelso, who held the barony and lordship of Holydean. The Douglas family names consisted of Arkenbald and Freskin, and were believed to be related to the Clan Murray, believed to be descended from a Flemish knight called Freskin. It seems likely that he was the father of the first William Douglas; however the Flemish origin of the Douglases is disputed; it is claimed by some that the lands which were granted to Theobald the Fleming were not the lands from which the Douglas family later emerged.
Wars of Scottish Independence
During the Wars of Scottish Independence, Sir William Douglas "le Hardi," Lord of Douglas (1243 – c. 1298), was governor of Berwick-upon-Tweed when the town and Berwick Castle were besieged by the English. Douglas was captured and was released only after he had agreed to accept the claim of Edward I of England to be overlord of Scotland. He subsequently joined William Wallace in fighting for Scottish independence, but was captured and taken to England, where he died in 1298, a prisoner in the Tower of London.
The "Good" Sir James Douglas or "Black Douglas"
William Le Hardi's son, James Douglas, "The Good Sir James" (c. 1286–1330), was the first to acquire the epithet "the Black". He shared in the early misfortunes of Robert the Bruce and in the defeats at Methven and Dalrigh in 1306. But for both men these setbacks provided a valuable lesson in tactics: limitations in both resources and equipment meant that the Scots would always be at a disadvantage in conventional medieval warfare. By the time the fighting flared up again in the spring of 1307 they had learned the value of guerrilla warfare – known at the time as "secret war" – using fast-moving, lightly equipped and agile forces to maximum effect against an enemy often dependent on static defensive positions. Sir James Douglas recaptured Roxburgh Castle from the English in 1313. He was made a knight banneret, a high honor, and fought at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.
John Barbour recounts that the English called Sir James "The Black Douglas" for what they considered his dark deeds. According to Sir Walter Scott, he became the bogeyman of a Northern English lullaby "Hush ye, hush ye, little pet ye. Hush ye, hush ye, do not fret ye. The Black Douglas shall not get ye." Unsubstantiated theories point to his colouring and complexion, but this is tenuous. Douglas appears only in English records as "The Black" – Scots chronicles almost always referred to him as "The Guid" or "The Good". Later Douglas lords took the by-name of their revered forebear in the same way that they attached the image of Bruce's heart to their coat of arms: to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies and to exhibit the prowess of their race.
Crusader
King Robert the Bruce had requested that Douglas, latterly his most esteemed companion in arms, should carry his heart to the Holy Land, as atonement for the murder of John III Comyn. In 1330 Douglas, en route to the East with a company of Scots men-at-arms, joined the forces of Alfonso XI of Castile, Edward III of England's cousin by his mother Queen Isabella, to fight against the Moors of Granada at the siege of Teba. Here Sir James was killed. Accounts vary of how he died but he is generally depicted either outnumbered or alone, fighting against overwhelming odds. The casket containing the heart of the Bruce was recovered and returned to Scotland, to be interred at Melrose Abbey.
Douglas' bones were boiled and returned to Scotland. Tradition claimed that his embalmed heart was lodged in the Douglas vaults at the Kirk of St Bride. Meanwhile, his bones are not in the stone vault lying under his effigy and they have yet to be located. By 1333, King Robert's "bloody heart" was incorporated in the arms of Sir James' son, William, Lord of Douglas. It subsequently appeared, sometimes with a royal crown, in every branch of the Douglas family.
Sir Archibald Douglas, Guardian of the Realm
The Scottish army that fought and lost the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333 was led by James' youngest brother who had been elected Regent of Scotland in late March 1333. Sir Archibald Douglas has been badly treated by some historians; frequently misidentifying this Douglas warrior as the Tyneman or loser when the moniker was intended for a later less fortunate but equally warlike Archibald. He was mentioned in Barbour's The Brus for his great victory during the Weardale campaign; leading the Scottish army further south into County Durham he devastated the lands and took much booty from Darlington and other nearby towns and villages.
Sir James 'The Good' Douglas' son William succeeded to the title as Lord of Douglas but may not have completed his title to the estates, possibly because he might have been underage. He died at Halidon Hill with his uncle, Sir Archibald Douglas. James' younger brother, Hugh the Dull, Lord of Douglas, a canon serving the See of Glasgow and held a prebendary at Roxburgh became Lord Douglas in 1342; Hugh of Douglas resigned his title to his nephew, the youngest surviving son of the Regent Archibald, William Lord of Douglas who was to become the first Earl. The First Earl's legitimate son James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Douglas succeeded him. His illegitimate son by Margaret Stewart, 3rd Countess of Angus was George Douglas, 1st Earl of Angus, who was the progenitor of the Earls of Angus also known as the "Red Douglases".
The prestige of the family was greatly increased when James Douglas's great nephew, James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Douglas married Isabel, a daughter of King Robert II of Scotland. In 1388 at the Battle of Otterburn he was instrumental to the Scots' victory but was killed during the fighting. Leaving no legitimate heir, his titles passed to the illegitimate son of his great-uncle.
15th century
Wars with England
Archibald Douglas, 3rd Earl of Douglas did much to consolidate the family's power and influence. He successfully defended Edinburgh Castle against Henry IV of England in 1400 but died the following year. His son, Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas, married the daughter of Robert III of Scotland. The fourth Earl fought against King Henry IV of England at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403, where he was taken prisoner.
In 1406, with the death of the king, the 4th Earl of Douglas became one of the council of regents to rule Scotland during the childhood of James I of Scotland. In 1412, the 4th Earl had visited Paris, when he entered into a personal alliance with John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, and in 1423, he commanded a contingent of 10,000 Scots sent to the aid of Charles VII of France against the English. He was made lieutenant-general in Joan of Arc's French army, and received the title Duke of Touraine, with remainder to his heirs-male, on 19 April 1424. The newly created French duke was defeated and slain at Battle of Verneuil on 17 August 1424, along with his second son, James, and son-in-law John Stewart, Earl of Buchan.
Black Dinner
On 24 November 1440, the 16-year-old William Douglas, 6th Earl of Douglas, and his younger brother David were invited to dine with the ten-year-old King James II of Scotland. Later called the Black Dinner, the occasion was organised by Sir William Crichton, Lord Chancellor of Scotland, along with James Douglas, the uncle of William and David's late father; James stood to inherit the young Earl's wealth and titles. While they ate, a black bull's head, a symbol of death, was brought in and placed before the Earl. Over the protests of the young King James II, the two brothers were then dragged out to Castle Hill, given a mock trial and beheaded. Clan Douglas then laid siege to Edinburgh Castle. Perceiving the danger, Crichton surrendered the castle to the king and was rewarded with the title Lord Crichton. It is still unclear exactly who else was ultimately responsible, though it is thought Livingston and Buchan were likely candidates. However, it was James Douglas and his son who profited.
Clan conflicts
In 1448, Hugh Douglas, Earl of Ormond led a Scottish force to victory against an English army at the Battle of Sark. Sir Alexander Gordon created Earl of Huntly in 1449. At this time the king was at enmity with the Black Douglases. The Gordons stood on the king's side, and with their men involved in the south of the country, Archibald Douglas, Earl of Moray took the opportunity to sack the Gordon lands, setting Huntly Castle ablaze. However, the Gordons returned and quickly destroyed their enemies. Although the castle was burned to the ground, a grander castle was built in its place. The Douglases had a long feud with Clan Colville. Sir Richard Colville had killed the Laird of Auchinleck who was an ally of the Douglases. To avenge this murder the Douglases attacked the Colvilles in their castle, where many were killed. The Douglases levelled the Colvilles' castle and put their men to the sword. William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas personally executed Richard Colville.
Murder of the Earl of Douglas by King James II
After fruitless feuding with the Douglases, the King invited William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas to Stirling Castle in 1452 under the promise of safe conduct, but then the King accused the Earl of conspiracy in his dealings with the Yorkists in England and through a pact made between Douglas, the Earl of Crawford and the Lord of the Isles. Upon Douglas' refusal to repudiate the pact and reaffirm his loyalty to James II, the King drew his dagger and stabbed Douglas in the throat. The story goes that the King's Captain of the Guard then finished off the Earl with a pole axe. The body was thrown from the window into a garden below, where it was later given burial. A stained glass window bearing the Douglas Arms now overlooks "Douglas Garden", the spot where the Earl is said to have fallen.
Feud with the Royal Stewarts
In 1455, James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas (the Black Douglas) rebelled against the king but his forces were defeated at the Battle of Arkinholm by the king's forces who were commanded by George Douglas, 4th Earl of Angus (the Red Douglas). This brought an end to the Black Douglases. After the battle an act of parliament gave the Earl of Angus the lordship of Douglas with the original possessions of his ancestors in Douglasdale. The 9th Earl of Douglas was later defeated by the forces of King James III of Scotland at the Battle of Lochmaben Fair in 1484.