Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 2

DOUGLAS CASTLE
so that, as has been remarked by an old historian, it
became a saying that ' nae man was safe in the country,
unless he were either a Douglas or a Douglas man. ' The
Earl went abroad with a train of 2000 men, kept a sort
of court, and even created knights. In 1424, Archibald,
the fourth Earl, became possessed of the dukedom of
Touraine, for services rendered to Charles VII. of France.
William, the sixth Earl, a stripling not yet 15, succeeded
to the famfy power at a stage when it had attained a
most formidable height. Their estates in Galloway —
where they possessed the stronghold of Threave — and
those of Annandale and Douglas, comprised two-thirds
of Scotland to the S of Edinburgh ; the people viewed
them as the champions of Scotland, especially after the
victory of Otterburn, and since single-handed they had
won back the border lands ceded to England by Edward
Baliol ; lastly, through the marriage of the Good Sir
James's brother and heir with Dornagilla, the Red
Comyn's sister and Baliol's niece, the Douglases could
found a most plausible claim to the Scottish throne, and,
but for Baliol's unpopularity, might have contested the
accession of Robert II. It was at this time, however,
the policy of Crichton — one of the ablest of those who
had the direction of affairs during the minority of James
II. — to humble the overgrown power of the nobles ; and
accordingly Earl William, having been decoyed into the
castle of Edinburgh, was subjected to a mock trial for
treason, and beheaded 24 Nov. 1440. ' This noble
youth and his brother and a few other principal friends,'
says Hume of Godscroft, ' on their arrival in Edinburgh,
went directly to the castle, being led as it were and
drawn by a fatal destiny, and so came in the power of
their deadly enemies and feigned friends. At the very
instant comes the Governor, as was before appointed
betwixt them, to play his part of the tragedj', and both
he and the chancellor might be alike embarked in the
action, and bear the envy of so ugly a fact, that the
weight thereof might not be on one alone. Yet to play
out their treacherous parts, they welcome him most
courteously, set him to dinner with the king at the
same table, feast him royally, entertain him cheerfully,
and that for a long time. At last, about the end of
dinner, they compass him about with armed men, and
cause present a bull's head before him on the board.
The bull's head was in those days a token of death, say
our histories ; but how it hath come in use to be taken
and signify, neither do they nor any else tell us ; neither
is it to be found, that I remember, anywhere in history,
save in this one place ; neither can we conjecture what
affinity it can have therewith, unless to exprobrate gross-
ness, according to the French and our own reproaching
dull and gross wits, by calling him calfs-head (tctc
de vcau) but not bull's head. The young nobleman,
either understanding the sign as an ordinary thing, or
astonished with it as an uncouth thing, upon the sight
of the bull's head, offering to rise, was laid hold of by
their armed men, in the king's presence, at the king's
table, wdiich should have been a sanctuary to him. And
so without regard of king, or any duty, and without any
further process, without order, assize, or jury, without
law, no crime objected, he not being convicted at all, a
young man of that age, that was not liable to the law in
regard of his youth, a nobleman of that place, a worthy
young gentleman of such expectation, a guest of that
acceptation, one who had reposed upon their credit, who
had committed himself to them, a friend in mind, who
looked for friendship, to whom all friendship was pro-
mised, against duty, law, friendship, faith, honesty,
humanity, hospitality, against nature, against human
society, against God's law, against man's law, and the
law of nature, is cruelly executed and put to death.
David Douglas, his younger brother, was also put to
death with him, and Malcolm Fleming of Cumbernauld ;
they were all three beheaded in the back court of the
castle that lieth to the west.'
* When Earl Douglas to the Castle came
The courts they were fu' grim to see ;
And he liked na the feast as they sat at dine,
The tables were served sae silentlie.
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DOUGLAS CASTLE
' And full twenty feet fro the table he sprang
When the gristy bull's head met his e'e,
But the Crichtouns a' cam' troupin in,
An' he coudna fight an' wadna flie.
( O, when the news to Hermitage came,
The Douglasses were brim and w r ud ;
They swore to set Embro' in a bleeze,
An' slochen't wi' auld Crichtoun's blood.'
The dukedom of Touraine reverted to the French king ;
but, after three years of depressed fortune, the Douglases
rose to a greater degree of power than ever in the
person of William, the eighth Earl, who, professing to
be in favour with the young king, James II., appointed
himself Lieutenant-General of the kingdom. Having
fallen, however, into partial disgrace, he went abroad
(1450), and his castle of Douglas was demolished during
his absence by order of the king, on account of his
vassals' insolence. On the return of the Earl, he made
submission to the king, a submission never meant to be
sincere. He sought to assassinate Crichton the chancel-
lor, hanged Hemes of Terregles in despite of the king's
mandate to the contrary, and in obedience to a royal
warrant delivered up the Tutor of Bombie — headless.
By leaguing, moreover, with the Earls of Crawford and
Ross, he united against his sovereign almost one-half of
the kingdom. But his credulity led him into the selfsame
snare that had proved fatal to the former Earl. Relying
on the promise of the king, who had now attained to the
years of manhood, and having obtained a safe-conduct
under the great seal, he ventured to meet him in Stirling
Castle, 13 Jan. 1452. James urged him to dissolve the
Bands, the Earl refused. 'If you will not,' said the en-
raged monarch, drawing his dagger, ' then this shall ! '
and stabbed him to the heart. The Earl's four brothers
and vassals ran to arms with the utmost fury ; and,
dragging the safe-conduct, which the king had granted
and violated, at a horse's tail, they marched to Stirling,
burned the town, and threatened to besiege the castle.
An accommodation ensued, on what terms is not known ;
but the king's jealousy, and the new Earl's power and
resentment, prevented its long continuance. Both
took the field, and met near Abercorn (1454), at
the head of their armies. That of the Earl, composed
chiefly of Borderers, was far superior to the king's,
in both numbers and valour ; and a single battle must
in all probability have decided whether the house of
Stewart or the house of Douglas was henceforth to sit
upon the throne of Scotland. But while his troops im-
patiently expected the signal to engage, the Earl ordered
them to retire to their camp ; and Sir James Hamilton
of Cadzow, in whom he placed the greatest confidence,
convinced of his lack of genius to improve an oppor-
tunity, or of his want of courage to seize a crown,
deserted him that very night. This example was fol-
lowed by many ; and the Earl, despised or forsaken by
all, was soon driven out of the kingdom, and obliged to
depend for his subsistence on the King of England.
The overgrown strength of this family was destroyed in
1455 ; and the Earl, after enduring many vicissitudes,
retired in his old age to Lindores Abbey in Fife, and
died there in 1488.
The title of Earl of Douglas, of this the first branch
of the family, existed for 98 years, giving an average of
11 years to each possessor. The lands of the family
reverted to the Crown, but shortly afterwards were
bestowed on the Earl of Angus, the head of a younger
branch of the old family, descended from George Dou-
glas, the only son of William, first Earl of Douglas, by
his third wife, Margaret, Countess of Angus, who in
13S9, on his mother's resignation of her right, received
her title. This family assisted in the destruction of the
parent-house ; and it became a saying, in allusion to
the complexion of the two races, that the red Douglas
had put down the Hack. Among its members were
several who figured prominently in Scottish story,
such as Archibald, fifth Earl, known by the soubriquet
of ' Bell-the-Cat ; ' and Archibald, sixth Earl, who, marry-
ing Margaret of England, widow of James IV., was
grandfather of the unfortunate Henry Lord Darnley,
the husband of Queen Mary and father of James VI.