The Probert Encyclopaedia of People

DOUGLAS

Douglas is a family distinguished in the annals of Scotland. Their origin is unknown. They were already territorial magnates at the time when Bruce and Baliol were competitors for the crown. As their estates lay on the borders they early became guardians of the kingdom against the encroachments of the English, and acquired in this way power, habits, and experience which frequently made them formidable to the crown.

We notice in chronological succession the most distinguished members of the family. James Douglas son of the William Douglas who had been a companion of Wallace, and is commonly known as the Good Sir James, early joined Bruce, and was one of his chief supporters throughout his career, and one of the most distinguished leaders at the battle of Bannockburn. He fell in battle with the Moors while on his way to the Holy Land with the heart of his master, in 1331.

Archibald Douglas, youngest brother of Sir James Douglas, succeeded to the regency of Scotland in the infancy of David. He was defeated and killed at Halidon Hill by Edward III. in 1333.

William Douglas, son of Archibald Douglas, was created first earl in 1357. He recovered Douglasdale from the English, and was frequently engaged in wars with them. He fought at the battle of Poitiers. He died in 1384.

James Douglas, the second earl, who, like his ancestors, was constantly engaged in border warfare, was killed at the battle of Otterburn in 1388. After his death the earldom passed to an illegitimate son of the Good Sir James Douglas, Archibald the Grim Lord of Galloway.

Archibald Douglas, son of Archibald the Grim and fourth earl, was the Douglas who was defeated and taken prisoner by Percy (Hotspur) at Homildon the 14th of September, 1402. He was also taken prisoner at Shrewsbury on the 23rd of July 1403, and did not recover his liberty until 1407. He was killed at the battle of Verneuil, in Normandy, in 1427. Charles VII. created him Duke of Touraine, which title descended to his successors.

William Douglas, sixth earl, was born in 1422, together with his only brother David was assassinated by Crichton and Livingstone at a banquet to which he had been invited in the name of the king, in Edinburgh Castle, on the 24th of November, 1440. Jealousy of the great power which the Douglases had acquired from their possessions in Scotland and France was the cause of this deed.

William Douglas, the eighth earl, a descendant of the third earl, restored the power of the Douglases by a marriage with his cousin, heiress of another branch of the family; was appointed lord-lieutenant of the kingdom, and defeated the English at Sark. Latterly having entered into a treasonous league, he was invited by James II to Stirling and there murdered by the king's own hand, on the 22nd of February 1452.

James Douglas, the ninth and last earl, brother of William Douglas, took up arms with his allies to avenge the death of his brother, but was finally driven to England, where he continued an exile for nearly thirty years. Having entered Scotland on a raid in 1484 he was taken prisoner and confined in the abbey of Lindores, where he died in 1488. His estates, which had been forfeited in 1455, were bestowed on the fourth Earl of Angus, the 'Red Douglas,' the representative of a younger branch of the Douglas family, which continued long after to flourish.

The fifth Earl of Angus, Archibald Douglas, was the celebrated ' Bell-the-Cat,' one of whose sons was Gawin Douglas the poet. He died in a monastery in 1514.

Archibald, the sixth earl, married Queen Margaret, widow of James IV, attained the dignity of regent of the kingdom, and after various vicissitudes of fortune, having at one time been attainted and forced to flee from the kingdom, died about 1560. He left no son, and the title of Earl of Angus passed to his nephew David.

James Douglas, brother of David Douglas, married the heiress of the Earl of Morton, which title he received on the death of his father-in-law.

His nephew, Archibald, eighth Earl of Angus and Earl of Morton, died childless, and the earldom of Angus then passed to Sir William Douglas of Glenbervie, his cousin, whose son William was raised to the rank of Marquis of Douglas.

Archibald, the great-grandson of William, was raised in 1703 to the dignity of Duke of Douglas, but died unmarried in 1761, when the ducal title became extinct, and the marquisate passed to the Duke of Hamilton, the descendant of a younger son of the first marquis. The line of Angus or the Red Douglas is now represented by the houses of Hamilton and Home, who both claim the title of Earl of Angus.
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