Montgomery manuscripts

The Montgomery Manuscripts.
441
retained it. 3 Allsoe on a like occasion, as y° Duglasses : A Farmer goeing at plow (founder of A ° Christi 942
y 9 2^ vcarc of
y° house of y e Earle of Enroll), with his two sonns ; seeing his countrymen (y e Highland Scotts), King Kenneth
flying from y e Danes, he stopt them at a Pass, with y e yoke of y 6 Plow oxen, & gathering many, he y ° ^\T s
brought them about an hill & through a by way, Ledd them upon y e Danes rifeling their Camp : ten.
& with Great Slaughter defeated their Army. The Scottish King bountifully rewardes him, and
called him Hay, y 4 being y e word of Encouragement, which y° farmer and his sonns often cryed out
aloud ; when he stopt and Rallyed the flyers aforesaid.*
translated into the Irish language, for the use of the Irish
population, these Translations were circulated among the
people of the Highlands of Scotland, whose language was
even then almost identical. — Chambers's Domestic An-
nals of Scotland, vol. iii. , p. 39. See also Anderson's
historical Sketches of the Native Irish,
3 Have retained it. — Hector Boece is accountable for this
fabulous account of the origin of the surname of Douglas,
and of those of several other distinguished Scottish families.
This traditional account of the origin of the great house of
Douglas is supposed to have existed since the close of the
eighth century, when Solvathius, the son of Eugenius,
was king of Scotland. The tradition sometimes speaks
of the Danes as the invaders of Scotland in that reign, and
sometimes of the Islesmen, under their leader or king,
Donnell Bane. The brave Dhu O'/as, who retrieved
his country's cause, is supposed to have left two sons,
the elder of whom became the founder of the family
in Scotland, and the younger the ancestor of the Scoti
Duglassi in Italy. Godscroft, who wrote the History
of Douglas upwards of two centuries ago, appears to have
rejected this account as improbable. " We do not know
them," says he, " in the fountain, but in the stream ; not
in the root, but in the stem ; for we know not the first
mean man that did raise himself above the vulgar."
Wynton's Chronicle (Book VIII., cap. vii.), written
about the year 1425, states, that of the origin of the houses
of Murray and Douglas, clivers men speak in divers ways,
so that he could affirm nothing for certain ; nevertheless,
as both bear in their arms the same stars set in the same
manner, it seems likely to many that they have come of
the same kin, either by lineal descent, or by collateral
branch. It is generally agreed, however, that the origi-
nal founder of the Douglas lamily received, at a very early
date, and for some cogent reason, large grants of land from
the crown, in Lanark ; and it is more than probable that
the race derived its surname from these lands. ' ' The
Douglas water, springing from the foot of Cairntable (a
hill on the borders of Kyle, 1,650 feet above the level of
the sea), flows westward for about eleven miles through
the pastoral dale and parish to which it gives name, and
about a mile beyond falls into the Clyde. " In Wishaw's
Description of Lanark, p. 65, the writer describes the
parish of Douglas as " a pleasant strath, plentifull in grasse
and corne and coall," but this refers to the portions im-
mediately adjoining the Douglas Water, in the centre of
the parish, the other parts stretching away into rude
moors, or rising into heathy hills. The first well-recog-
nised owner of the manor of Douglas, which is coexlensive
with the parish, was William of Dnfglas, whose name ap-
pears as witnessing several charters between the years 1 175
and 1213. He had six sons, of whom four were in holy
orders. His eldest son and heir, Archibald or Erkenbald
of Duneglas, held the family estate between the years 12 13
and 2232. He was succeeded by his son, sir William of
Duneglas, who was one of the most active partisans in
Scotland of Henry III., in the year 1255. In 1267, he
had possession of the manor of Fawdon, in Northumber-
land, held from Gilbert Umfraville, lord of Redesdale, and
conferred on Douglas by prince Edward, son of the English
king. He died in 1276, leaving two sons, Hugh and
William. The former, who married Margery, sister of sir
Hugh Abernethy, died without issue in the year 1287, and
was succeeded by his younger brother, William. In 1289,
the latter, at the head of an armed band, carried off his
future wife Alianora of Lovaine, from the manor of her
kinsfolk, the Zouches, at Tranent, in Lothian. In 1296,
he swore fealty to Edward I., in return receiving letters
for the restoration of his lands in the shires of Fife, Edin-
burgh, Berwick, Dumfries, and Wigton. This William
Douglas died a prisoner in England, about the year 1302,
and was succeded by his son, who was known as the good
sir James Douglas, whose personal history is so intimately
associated with that of king Robert Bruce, and from whose
time the succession and the fortunes of the lords of Douglas-
dale are to be read in the common annals of their country.
Of their old castle, which witnessed many startling family
vicissitudes, only one ruined tower now. remains, sur-
rounded by large ash trees, apparently as venerable in
years as itself. — Abridged from Origines Parochiales Scotia-,
vol. i., pp. 152-160.
4 The flyers aforesaid. — The memorable battle of Long-
carten, or Longcarty, in the parish of Redgorten, and
county of Perth, must have occurred at a much later date
than that mentioned by the author in his marginal note.
The reign of Kenneth III. did not commence until about
the year 970, and the battle here referred to is generally
supposed to have taken place in 980. On that occasion,
the Scots are said to have been surprised and outnumbered
by the Danes. After a desperate resistance, in which Ken-
neth courageously led, the Scots broke from him in panic,
rushing along a narrow defile, where they were met and
driven back on the enemy, by a countryman and his two
sons, who had indignantly witnessed their flight.
After the battle, Hay and his sons were introduced to the
king, who ordered them to be conducted in triumph to
Perth, granting them the lands of Erroll and others ad-
joining. It is said hegave them their choice to accept as much
as would be included either in a hound's chase, or a hawk's
flight, and that they accepted the latter. Hay was created
thane of Erroll and received an armorial bearing, viz.,
three escutcheons, gules, the supporters countrymen, armed
with yokes and bows : the crest a falcon with expanded
wings ; the motto Serva Jugnm. The Hays of Erroll
continued in possession of these lands from the date of the
ongmai grant in 980, until the year 1650. The repre-