Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

328
DOUGLAS.
and Doug-las will follow thee or die !" The Saracens
rallied, however, and the Good Sir James was slain.
His companions found his body upon the field along
with the casket, and mournfully conveyed them to
Scotland. The heart of the Bruce was deposited at
Melrose, although his body was interred in the royal
tomb at Dunfermline. The remains of Sir James
were buried at Douglas, and a monument erected to
him by his brother Archibald. The old poet Bar-
bour, after reciting the circumstances of Sir James'
fall in Spain, tells us —
" Quhen his men lang had mad imirnyn,
Thai debowlyt him, anti syne
Gert scher him swa, that mycht be tane
The tiesch all haly fra the bane,
And the earioune thar in haly place
Erdyt, with rycht gret worsrhip, was.
"The banys have thai with them tane ;
And syne ar to thair schippis gaue ;
Syne towart Scotland held thair way,
And thar ar curomyn in full gret by.
And the banys honorabilly
In till the kirk off Douglas war
Erdyt, with dull and mekill car.
Schyr Archebald has sone gert syn
Off alabastre, baith fair and fyue,
Or save a tumbe sa richly
As it behowyt to swa worthy."
The family was raised to an earldom in 1357 by
David II. ; and during this reign and the two which
succeeded, the house of Douglas rose to a degree of
power scarcely inferior to that of royalty itself; and,
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 2,000 men,
kept a sort of court, and even created knights. In
1424, Archibald, the 5th Earl, became possessed of
the duchy of Touraine in France, for services which
he had rendered to Charles VII. the French king.
William, the 6th Earl, raised the family power to a
most formidable height ; their estates in Galloway
where they possessed the stronghold of Thrieve —
Annandale, and Douglas, afforded them an amount
of revenue and enabled them to raise an army not
inferior to that of their sovereign. 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 be-
headed, Nov. 24, 1440, along with his brother David,
and a faithful follower named Malcolm Fleming.
The duchy of Touraine now reverted to the French
king. After a brief period of depressed fortune, the
family rose to a still greater degree of power than
ever, in the person of William, the 8th Earl. He
was at first a favourite of James II., but having fallen
into partial disgrace he went abroad, and his castle
of Douglas was demolished during his absence by
orders of the king, on account of the insolence of his
dependents. Upon the return of the Earl he came
under obedience to the king, but this was not meant
to be sincere. He attempted to assassinate Crichton
the chancellor, and executed John Herries in despite
of the king's mandate to the contrary. " By forming
a league with the Earl of Crawford and other barons,
he united against his sovereign almost one-half of his
kingdom. But his credulity led him into the same
snare which had been fatal to the former earl. Rely-
ing on the king's promises, who had now attained to
the years of manhood, and having obtained a safe-
conduct under the great seal, lie ventured to meet
him in Stirling castle. James urged him to dissolve
that dangerous confederacy into which he had en-
tered ; the Earl obstinately refused : — ' If you will
not,' said the enraged monarch, drawing his dagger,
'this shall!' and stabbed him to the heart. An ac-
tion so unworthy of a king filled the nation with
astonishment and with horror. The earl's vassals
ran to arms with the utmost fury, and dragging the
safe-conduct, which the king had granted and vio-
lated, at a horse's tail, they marched towards Stir-
ling, burnt the town, and threatened to besiege the
castle. An accommodation, however, ensued ; on
what terms is not known. But the king's jealousy,
and the new earl's power and resentment, prevented
it from being of long continuance. Both took the
field at the head of their armies, and met near Aber-
corn. That of the earl, composed chiefly of bor-
derers, was far superior to the king's both in number
and in valour; and a single battle must in all proba-
bility have decided whether the house of Stewart or
the house of Douglas was henceforth to possess the
throne of Scotland. But while his troops impatiently
expected the signal to engage, the earl ordered them
to retire to their camp; and Sir James Hamilton of
Cadzow, the person in whom he placed the greatest
confidence, convinced of his want of genius to im-
prove an opportunity, or of his want of courage to
seize a crown, deserted him that very night. This
example was followed by many, and the earl, de-
spised or forsaken by all, was soon driven out of the
kingdom, and obliged to depend for his subsistence
on the king of England." [Robertson's History of
Scotland.] — The overgrown strength of this family
was destroyed in the year 1455, and the earl, after
enduring many vicissitudes, retired in his old age to
Lindores abbey in Fife, and died there in I486.
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 they were shortly
afterwards bestowed on the Earl of Angus, the head
of a junior branch of the old family, and descended
from George Douglas, the only son of William 1st
Earl of Douglas by his third wife, Margaret countess
of Angus, who, upon 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 black.
This family produced some men who have occupied
a prominent position in Scottish story, such as Archi-
bald, the 5th Earl, who was known by the soubriquet
of Bell-the-cat; and Archibald, the 6th Earl, who,
marrying Margaret of England, widow of James IV.,
who fell at Flodden, was the grandfather of the un-
fortunate Henry Lord Darnley, the husband of Queen
Mary, and father of James VI. This Archibald, dur-
ing the minority of his step-son James V., had all
the authority of a regent. From the accession oi
the second Douglas line, after the forfeiture of the
first, the possessions of the house were held by the
family in uninterrupted succession till the death of
the Duke of Douglas in 1761. William, the 11th
Earl of Angus, was raised to the marquisate of
Douglas, in 1633, by Charles I. This nobleman
was a Catholic and a royalist, and inclined to hold
out his castle against the covenanters, in favour or
the king; but he was surprised by them, and the
castle taken. He was one of the best of the family,
and kept up to its fullest extent the olden princely
Scottish hospitality. The king constituted him his
lieutenant on the borders, and he joined Montrose
after his victory at Kilsyth, escaped from the rout
at the battle of Philliphaugh, and soon after made
terms with the powers that be. The first Marquis
of Douglas was the father of three peers of different
titles, viz. Archibald, his eldest son, who succeeded
him as second Marquis; William, his eldest son by
a second marriage, who became 3d Duke of Ham-
ilton ; and George, his second son by the same mar-