James Douglas of Douglas

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James Douglas funerary memorial in St Bride's Church in Douglas

Sir James Douglas, Lord of Douglas (also Black Douglas , the good Douglas or Douglas of that Ilk , * before 1289, † August 25, 1330 at Teba ) was a Scottish nobleman and military. He was one of the pre-eminent military leaders of the First Scottish War of Independence .

origin

James Douglas came from the Douglas family . He was the eldest son of Sir William Douglas and his first wife Elizabeth Stewart . His first name was unusual in 13th century Scotland, he was probably named after his uncle James Stewart , who may have been his godfather.

youth

During the First Scottish War of Independence , his father died in English captivity in 1298. The English King Edward I gave the properties of Douglas to Sir Robert Clifford . The landless young James stayed in Paris between 1301 and 1304, possibly as a follower of the Scottish Bishop William Lamberton , who was ambassador to France. When Lamberton returned to Scotland, Douglas served him as a trancheur . After almost all Scottish nobles had submitted to the English king at the beginning of 1304, Lamberton sat down with Edward I in favor of Douglas so that he could get his father's possessions back. The king angrily refused.

James Douglas Family Crest

Formerly a supporter of Robert I.

When Robert Bruce rose as Robert I to the rank of King of Scots in March 1306 and thus rebelled against Edward I, Douglas immediately joined him. He is said to have participated in the battle of Methven on June 19, 1306 , in which Robert I suffered a heavy defeat. Douglas accompanied the king when he fled from the English to the Highlands . But he was probably not one of the few companions with whom Robert I hid between September and December in Kintyre , Rathlin and in the Hebrides . After Robert I returned to south-west Scotland in early 1307 and resumed the fight against the English occupation, Douglas continued to fight the English. While Robert I moved to northern Scotland in April, Douglas initially stayed in southern Scotland. Around May 1, 1307, he captured Douglas Castle , his father's castle. He had the castle destroyed and sent the captured English garrison to Robert Clifford. Shortly afterwards he took part in the Battle of Loudoun Hill . Before the battle he led apparently fruitless negotiations with the English governor Aymer de Valence , before he then fought off the English attack together with Robert I. He then led a successful guerrilla war against the English in the upper Clydedale and Ettrick Forest . When he was pursued by English soldiers at Paisley in September 1307 , he was able to beat his pursuers at Ediford near Fenwick in Ayrshire . When Robert I led a campaign in northeast Scotland from September 1308, Douglas stayed in Ettrick Forest in southern Scotland . On April 7, 1308, he surprised the crew of Clifford's restored Douglas Castle at the Palm Sunday service in the church of Douglas and took them prisoner. He then occupied the undefended castle and took the prisoners to the cellar, where he had them beheaded. He had the corpses filled into empty food sacks and wine barrels from the castle's storage cellar. He had the castle fountain too salty and contaminated with horse carcasses. This conquest became known as the pantry of Douglas ( English Douglas Lardner ). Later that year he joined Robert I when he subjugated John Macdougall, Lord of Argyll . He played a decisive role in the king's victory in the Battle of Brander . Then he returned to Ettrick , where he was able to capture a small force of the English and Scots allied with them. Among these was Thomas Randolph , a nephew of Robert I, whom he brought to the king.

Advancement as a military

In March 1309 Douglas took part as Lord in the first Parliament held by Robert I at St Andrews . In the next few years he made little appearance, possibly because at that time the king himself commanded the military operations and Douglas served under him, so that he was not mentioned by the chroniclers. He is not mentioned in the reports of the attacks on Dundee , Berwick and Perth of 1312 and 1313. On February 27, 1314, however, he achieved a spectacular success when a troop under his leadership captured Roxburgh Castle , one of the most important castles in southern Scotland, in a nightly surprise attack . During the Battle of Bannockburn , according to the account of Barbour , he is said to have commanded one of the four Scottish Schiltrons , but since the other chronicles only tell of the battle of three Scottish Schiltrons, he probably fought under the command of Edward Bruce , the brother of King's. According to other reports, he was nominally subordinate to his cousin, the young Walter Stewart , where he held the actual command. Together with Stewart, he was knighted on the eve of the battle. After the English King Edward II fled the battlefield, Robert I allowed Douglas to pursue him. Although the Scottish cavalry was probably outnumbered by the king's companions, Douglas pursued the king via Winchburgh to Dunbar , from where Edward II escaped to England by ship.

Leading Scottish Military

Guerrilla warfare in Scotland and raids into the north of England

After the victory at Bannockburn, the Scots continued their forays into northern England. Robert I rarely took part in these raids. Instead, Thomas Randolph and Douglas , who had been promoted to Earl of Moray, led the Scottish troops. As early as August 1314, shortly after the Battle of Bannockburn, Douglas led a raid with Edward Bruce as far as Richmondshire . When the Scots invaded County Durham in the summer of 1315 under Robert I , the King sent Douglas to Hartlepool . Douglas sacked the city, took many prisoners, and rejoined the king's forces when he returned to Scotland. That same year Douglas looted Copeland in Cumberland . He stole the chasubles from the Priory of St Bees and then moved to Carlisle , where he aided the king in the unsuccessful siege of the city. During the last attack by the Scots, his men are said to have almost stormed the top of the wall before they were driven back. Douglas is said to have been wounded himself. Then the Scots broke off the siege. On January 13, 1316, Douglas carried out an equally unsuccessful surprise attack on Berwick . After the attack failed, he should only be able to save himself from capture in a small boat. In the course of the year and the next year Douglas defeated English cavalry troops in several skirmishes in the Scottish Marches , Robert Neville of Raby was killed in one skirmish . In April 1318 Douglas was jointly responsible for the conquest of the city in a renewed attack on Berwick . A bribed guard is said to have opened a gate for the Scots at dawn, whereupon the Scots could storm and loot the city. When the King and Moray undertook a campaign to Ireland from autumn 1316 to early 1317 , Douglas stayed with Walter Stewart as Warden of the March in Scotland. However, he was probably not used as a guardian for the king's absence. The Earl of Arundel , the English Warden of the March, wanted to take advantage of Robert I's absence and made an advance to Roxburghshire in March 1317 . Douglas initially withdrew with his 200-man force, whereupon an Englishman named Elias the Clerk occupied his Lintalee base with 30 men . When the English rummaged over the supplies they had left behind, Douglas attacked them surprisingly. He had Elias beheaded and the other prisoners killed as well. Then he attacked with his army the careless advancing English main force, Douglas himself threw the English knight Sir Thomas Richmond from his horse and killed with a dagger.

Leader of major forays into England

Together with Moray, Douglas led a force as far as the vicinity of York in September 1319 , but they defeated a hastily formed English force in the battle of Myton . This advance led to the abandonment of the English siege of Berwick . After a two-year armistice between England and Scotland was in effect from 1320, Douglas was involved in negotiations with the English Earl of Lancaster in early 1322 , who rebelled unsuccessfully against Edward II. In the summer of 1322 Edward II led an unsuccessful campaign as far as Edinburgh . Douglas, while retreating, surprised an English force that sacked Melrose Abbey , causing them heavy losses. Then he united his troops with those of Robert I and Moray. Together they crossed the English border, pursued the English king, who was only accompanied by a small force, and defeated an English force in the battle of Byland , in which Douglas led the Scottish attack. Then they continued to pursue Edward II, who only barely escaped the Scots. In the Battle of Byland Douglas captured three French knights who had fought on the English side. Robert I was able to convince Douglas to leave them to him, and the king then allowed the French to return to France without paying a ransom. Robert I hoped to improve his relationship with the French King Charles IV , and Douglas received 4,400 Merks from Robert I as compensation.

Role in making peace with England

The defeat of Byland resulted in the English signing a long-term truce with Scotland. After the fall of Edward II, the Scots led a new campaign to northern England in the summer of 1327 under Moray and Douglas . As an English army under the new King Edward III. tried to raise the bulkheads, Douglas carried out a surprise night attack on the English camp. The bulkheads cut the lines of the English tents, and in the general confusion they advanced as far as the king's tent, who was in danger of being captured by the Scots. On the night of August 6th to 7th, Douglas is said to have secretly led the Scottish army out of its camp, which enabled it to escape the English with almost no loss. After the war with England was ended by the Peace of Edinburgh and Northampton concluded in 1328 , Douglas and Moray attended the exuberant celebration of the wedding of the Scottish heir to the throne David and the English princess Johanna in Berwick . The wedding should secure the peace between the two kingdoms, but both Robert I and Edward III. stayed away from the celebration.

Leading position in Scotland and a feared enemy in England

In 1315 Robert I, who so far had only one daughter, had appointed the Earl of Moray as Guardian for a possible minor heir in the event of his death . After the death of Edward Bruce in 1318, the king renewed his succession plan, this time Douglas serving as Guardian after a possible death of Moray. This regulation illustrates the trust that the king had in Douglas, but also his prominent position, although he did not have the rank of earl and was not related to the king. Douglas had achieved his position as a brilliant tactician, as a ruthless but successful commander, and through the friendship of the king. His English opponents also recognized him as an outstanding opponent. In the north of England, on the other hand, he was feared as Black Douglas , probably because of his hair color. In Scotland, Robert I. Douglas had richly rewarded with lands. He not only got his father's possessions back, but also Jedburgh Castle , the forest of Jedburgh, the forest of Ettrick , Lauderdale and Bedrule, and the baronies of Staplegordon and Westerkirk in Eskdale . In addition, the king granted him extensive privileges. After the peace with England he received back Fawdon in Northumberland in 1328 , which his grandfather William Douglas had acquired.

Depiction of the Battle of Teba from the 15th century

Death in Spain

On his deathbed, Robert I asked in 1329 that his heart should be brought to the Holy Land as atonement for the murder of John Comyn of Badenoch in a crusade . Then it was to be brought back to Scotland and buried in a heart funeral at Melrose Abbey . On February 1, 1330, the feast of the parish priest St Bride von Douglas , Douglas set out with a small force of Scottish knights. With a safe escort and letters of recommendation from the English king, he reached Spain. There he moved to King Alfonso XI. of Castile , who was at war with the Moors of Granada. The Scots joined the king's campaign, during which there was the battle of Teba against the Muslim emir Muhammad IV of Granada . In the battle, Douglas either made a hasty attack with other Scots or fell victim to a sham retreat of the Moors . He was cut off from the rest of the Christian army along with other Scots and killed by the superior forces along with William Sinclair and Robert and Walter Logan . His body was recovered and boiled . The meat was buried in Spain while William Keith of Galston brought the bones of Douglas and the king's heart back to Scotland. Douglas was buried in Douglas' St Bride's Church , where his son Archibald had a magnificent funerary monument erected several decades later.

Descendants and inheritance

Douglas was married, the name of his wife being unknown. With her he had a son:

He also had an illegitimate son:

Douglas left only one donation that he made in favor of Newbattle Abbey before leaving for the Holy Land . His son William became his heir. After he died childless in 1333, the inheritance fell to Hugh Douglas of Douglas († 1347), a brother of James Douglas. After an inheritance regulation closed in 1342, the inheritance and the title Earl of Douglas, created in the meantime, fell in 1388 to Archibald Douglas, the illegitimate son of James Douglas.

Aftermath

The life of Douglas is described in detail by the poet John Barbour in his work The Bruce , who was probably based on an account of a herald of Douglas. He was probably portrayed too positively as a knightly role model, while the achievements of Moray, with whom he was connected in amicable rivalry, are not taken into account accordingly. According to Barbour's report, Douglas is said to have lost only thirteen battles but won fifty-seven.

literature

  • Michael Brown: The Black Douglases. War and Lordship in Late Medieval Scotland, 1300-1455. Tuckwell Press, East Linton 1998, ISBN 1-86232-036-5 .
  • David Hume of Godscroft: The History of the House of Douglas and Angus (= The Scottish Text Society. Series 4, Vol. 25-26). 2 volumes. Edited by David Reid. The Scottish Text Society, Edinburgh 1996, ISBN 1-89797-612-7 (Vol. 1), ISBN 1-89797-613-5 (Vol. 2).
  • Herbert Maxwell: A History of the House of Douglas. From the earliest times down to the legislative union of England and Scotland. 2 volumes. Freemantle, London 1902, ( digitized volume 1 , digitized volume 2 ).
  • David R. Ross: James the Good. The Black Douglas. Luath Press, Glasgow 2008, ISBN 978-1-906307-34-9 .

Web links

Wikiquote: James Douglas  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 220.
  2. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 220.
  3. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 247.
  4. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 257.
  5. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 265.
  6. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 277.
  7. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, pp. 299-300.
  8. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 330.
  9. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 338.
  10. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 283.
  11. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 340.
  12. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 345.
  13. ↑ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 213.
  14. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, pp. 412-413.
  15. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 278.
  16. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 399.
  17. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, pp. 445-446.
  18. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 220.
  19. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 431.
predecessor Office successor
William Douglas Lord of Douglas
1298-1330 		William Douglas
personal data
SURNAME Douglas of Douglas, James
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Douglas of Douglas, Sir James; Douglas, James, Lord of Douglas; Black Douglas; the good Douglas; Douglas, James
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish nobleman and military
DATE OF BIRTH before 1289
DATE OF DEATH August 25, 1330
Place of death at Teba