Taking their name from Douglas in Lanarkshire, their leaders gained vast territories throughout the Borders, Angus, Lothian, Moray, and also in France and Sweden. The family is one of the most ennobled in the United Kingdom and has held numerous titles.
The Douglases were one of Scotland's most powerful families,[4] and certainly the most prominent family in lowland Scotland during the Late Middle Ages, often holding the real power behind the throne of the Stewart kings.[citation needed] The heads of the House of Douglas held the titles of the Earl of Douglas (Black Douglas) and later the Earl of Angus (Red Douglas).[5] The clan does not currently have a chief recognised by the Lord Lyon. The principal Douglas today is the Duke of Hamilton, but as his surname is "Douglas-Hamilton" rather than simply "Douglas" the laws of the Lyon Court prevent him from assuming the chiefship of the name.
The Swedish branch is descended from Field Marshal Robert Douglas, Count of Skenninge, and has been one of Sweden's most prominent noble families since the 17th century.[7][8]
History
Origins
In modern texts, the family's surname is thought to derive from the village of Douglas, the name of which comes from the Gaelic elements dubh, meaning "dark, black"; and glas, meaning "stream" (in turn from Old Gaelicdub and glais).[9] However, according to the 17th century historian Frederic van Bossen, the Douglas name means "gray hairs in the old language", and it was first given to a Lord Shulton, who lived in the 8th century. Frederic van Bossen states Lord Shulton was a descendant of Adrolena of Shaultow who was a descendant of the Princes of Caledonia.[10][11][12]
In 1179 William Douglas was Lord of Douglas; he is the first certain record of the name Douglas and undoubtedly the ancestor of the family. He witnessed a charter between 1175 and 1199 by the Bishop of Glasgow to the monks of Kelso.[4] His grandson, also Sir William de Douglas had two sons who fought at the Battle of Largs in 1263 against the Norsemen.[4]
One old tradition is that the first chief of Douglas was Sholto Douglas who helped the king of Scotland win a battle in the year 767. This is not substantiated and likely to be pseudohistory.[5][13]
The true progenitor of Clan Douglas may have been "Theobaldus Flammatius" (Theobald the Fleming), who in 1147 received the lands near Douglas Water in Lanarkshire in return for services for the Abbot of Kelso, who held the barony and lordship of Holydean.[5][13] The Douglas family names consisted of Arkenbald and Freskin, and were believed to be related to the Clan Murray, believed to be descended from a Flemish knight called Freskin.[14] It seems likely that he was the father of the first William Douglas.[5][13]
However the Flemish origin of the Douglases is disputed; it is claimed by some that the lands which were granted to Theobald the Fleming were not the lands from which the Douglas family later emerged.[13][15]
William Le Hardi's son, James Douglas, "The Good Sir James" (c. 1286–1330), was the first to acquire the epithet "the Black". He shared in the early misfortunes of Robert the Bruce and in the defeats at Methven and Dalrigh in 1306. But for both men these setbacks provided a valuable lesson in tactics: limitations in both resources and equipment meant that the Scots would always be at a disadvantage in conventional medieval warfare.
By the time the fighting flared up again in the spring of 1307 they had learned the value of guerrilla warfare – known at the time as "secret war" – using fast-moving, lightly equipped and agile forces to maximum effect against an enemy often dependent on static defensive positions.[6] Sir James Douglas recaptured Roxburgh Castle from the English in 1313. He was made a knight banneret, a high honor, and fought at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.[5][6][13]
John Barbour recounts that the English called Sir James "The Black Douglas"[16][17] for what they considered his dark deeds. According to Sir Walter Scott, he became the bogeyman of a Northern English lullaby "Hush ye, hush ye, little pet ye. Hush ye, hush ye, do not fret ye. The Black Douglas shall not get ye."[18] Unsubstantiated theories point to his colouring and complexion, this is tenuous. Douglas appears only in English records as "The Black" – Scots chronicles almost always referred to him as "The Guid" or "The Good". Later Douglas lords took the by-name of their revered forebear in the same way that they attached the image of Bruce's heart to their coat of arms: to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies and to exhibit the prowess of their race.[5][6]
Crusader
Bothwell Castle, a seat of the Black Douglases from 1362 to 1455
King Robert the Bruce had requested that Douglas, latterly his most esteemed companion in arms, should carry his heart to the Holy Land, as atonement for the murder of John III Comyn.[4] In 1330 Douglas, en route to the East with a company of Scots men-at-arms, joined the forces of Alfonso XI of Castile, Edward III of England's cousin by his mother Queen Isabella[citation needed], to fight against the Moors of Granada at the siege of Teba.[4] Here Sir James was killed. Accounts vary of how he died but he is generally depicted either outnumbered or alone, fighting against overwhelming odds. The casket containing the heart of the Bruce was recovered and returned to Scotland, to be interred at Melrose Abbey.[4] Douglas' bones were boiled and returned to Scotland. Tradition claimed that his embalmed heart was lodged in the Douglas vaults at the Kirk of St Bride. Meanwhile, his bones are not in the stone vault lying under his effigy and they have yet to be located.[5][13] By 1333 King Robert's 'bloody heart' was incorporated in the arms of Sir James' son, William, Lord of Douglas. It subsequently appeared, sometimes with a royal crown, in every branch of the Douglas family.
The Scottish army that fought and lost the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333 was led by James' youngest brother who had been elected Regent of Scotland in late March 1333. Sir Archibald Douglas has been badly treated by some historians; frequently misidentifying this Douglas warrior as the Tyneman or loser when the moniker was intended for a later less fortunate but equally warlike Archibald. He was mentioned in Barbour's The Brus for his great victory during the Weardale campaign; leading the Scottish army further south into County Durham he devastated the lands and took much booty from Darlington and other nearby towns and villages.[6][13]
The prestige of the family was greatly increased when James Douglas's great nephew, James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Douglas married Isabel, a daughter of King Robert II of Scotland. In 1388 at the Battle of Otterburn he was instrumental to the Scots' victory but was killed during the fighting.[4] Leaving no legitimate heir, his titles passed to the illegitimate son of his great-uncle.[5][13]
In 1406, with the death of the king, the 4th Earl of Douglas became one of the council of regents to rule Scotland during the childhood of James I of Scotland. In 1412, the 4th Earl had visited Paris, when he entered into a personal alliance with John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, and in 1423, he commanded a contingent of 10,000 Scots sent to the aid of Charles VII of France against the English. He was made lieutenant-general in Joan of Arc's French army, and received the title Duke of Touraine,[5][13] with remainder to his heirs-male, on 19 April 1424. The newly created French duke was defeated and slain at Battle of Verneuil on 17 August 1424, along with his second son, James, and son-in-law John Stewart, Earl of Buchan.[4][5][6]
Black Dinner
In 1440, the 16-year-old William Douglas, 6th Earl of Douglas, and his younger brother were invited to dine with the ten-year-old King James II of Scotland.[4] Later called the Black Dinner, the occasion was organised by the Lord Chancellor, Sir William Crichton, and James Douglas, 7th Earl of Douglas who inherited the young earl's wealth and titles.[19] While they ate, a black bull's head, a symbol of death, was brought in and placed before the Earl.[4] Over the protests of the young King James II, the two brothers were then dragged out to Castle Hill, given a mock trial and beheaded.[4] Clan Douglas then laid siege to Edinburgh Castle.[20] Perceiving the danger, Crichton surrendered the castle to the king and was rewarded with the title Lord Crichton.[20] It is still unclear exactly who else was ultimately responsible, though it is thought Livingston and Buchan were likely candidates.[5][6][13] However, it was James Douglas and his son who profited.
Sir Alexander Gordon was created Earl of Huntly in 1449. At this time the king was at enmity with the Black Douglases. The Gordons stood on the king's side, and with their men involved in the south of the country, Archibald Douglas, Earl of Moray took the opportunity to sack the Gordon lands, setting Huntly Castle ablaze. However, the Gordons returned and quickly destroyed their enemies. Although the castle was burned to the ground, a grander castle was built in its place.[13]
The Douglases had a long feud with Clan Colville. Sir Richard Colville had killed the Laird of Auchinleck who was an ally of the Douglases. To avenge this murder the Douglases attacked the Colvilles in their castle, where many were killed. The Douglases levelled the Colvilles' castle and put their men to the sword. William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas personally executed Richard Colville.[13]
After fruitless feuding with the Douglases, the King invited William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas to Stirling Castle in 1452 under the promise of safe conduct, but then the King accused the Earl of conspiracy in his dealings with the Yorkists in England and through a pact made between Douglas, the Earl of Crawford and the Lord of the Isles.[4] Upon Douglas' refusal to repudiate the pact and reaffirm his loyalty to James II, the King drew his dagger and stabbed Douglas in the throat. The story goes that the King's Captain of the Guard then finished off the Earl with a pole axe. The body was thrown from the window into a garden below, where it was later given burial. A stained glass window bearing the Douglas Arms now overlooks "Douglas Garden", the spot where the Earl is said to have fallen.[5][13]
A dispute occurred in 1530, when Sir Robert Charteris, the 8th Laird and chief of Clan Charteris fought a duel with Sir James Douglas of Drumlanrig in what was said to have been one of the last great chivalric contests. It was fought with all the observance of a medieval tournament with heralds and the king himself watching from the castle walls. The joust was apparently fought with such fury that Charteris' sword was broken and the king had to send his men-at-arms to part the combatants.[13]
James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, nephew of the 6th Earl of Angus, was a bitter enemy of Mary, Queen of Scots.[4] He was one of the murderers of the queen's secretary David Rizzio and was heavily implicated in the murder of her second husband Lord Darnley.[4] In 1572 he was elected regent for the still minor King James VI. In many respects Morton was an energetic and capable ruler, but he was brutal in crushing factions still loyal to Queen Mary. Regent Morton was finally forced to resign in March 1578, but retained much of his power. Ultimately, he was accused of complicity in the murder of Darnley and was executed in 1581.[4][5][6][13]
In 1660, William Douglas, the brother of the second Marquess of Douglas became, through marriage, the Duke of Hamilton.[4] Eventually, the titles of Marquess of Douglas, Earl of Angus, and several others devolved to the Dukes of Hamilton and the heir of that house is always styled Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale.[4] The Douglas and Hamilton lines became Douglas-Hamilton and, under Scots law, are barred from inheriting the title of chief of Clan Douglas due to the hyphenated surname.[4] This similarly applies to the Douglas-Home family who joined their surnames in the nineteenth century.[13]
During the Jacobite risings of the 18th century the Douglases continued their support for the British Government. Archibald Douglas, 1st Duke of Douglas led the volunteer horse at Battle of Sheriffmuir during the Jacobite rising of 1715. Also at that fight was the Duke's young cousin, Archibald Douglas, 2nd Earl of Forfar, colonel of the 3rd Regiment of foot, and who died of wounds taken there shortly afterward. Douglas Castle was burnt by the Highland armies of Bonnie Prince Charlie in the Jacobite rising of 1745. Douglas Castle was again burnt down in 1755, and the Duke commenced work on a new edifice designed by Robert Adam. Building work ceased on the Duke's death in 1761, and with it his Dukedom became extinct. The Marquisate of Douglas and Earldom of Angus devolved to James Hamilton, 7th Duke of Hamilton, the senior male-line descendant of William Douglas, 1st Marquess of Douglas, his great-great-great grandfather, by the way of his son, Lord William Douglas, 1st Earl of Selkirk, whom upon his marriage to Anne Hamilton, 3rd Duchess of Hamilton, became William Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton, the adoption of the surname Hamilton being one of the conditions to inheriting the Dukedom. His descendants would later add Douglas back to the surname and become the Douglas-Hamilton branch.
Dalkeith Palace, the former Dalkeith Castle was owned by the clan since 1341 and extended by Regent Morton from 1574
Coat of arms of the Swedish comital Douglas family; the escutcheon is the Scottish Douglas arms
The lineage of the Swedish branch of the Douglas of Dalkeith line begins with James Douglas, documented in 1353, died in 1420. His descendant Sir William Douglas of Whittingehame (which had come from the Earls of March by marriage to James Douglas of Dalkeith in 1372) became English ambassador to the royal Danish court at Copenhagen in 1603. His grandson, the Scottish-born Robert Douglas (1611–1662), transplanted this branch of the Scottish clan to Sweden when in 1627 he became an officer in the Thirty Years' War; In 1657 he became field marshal. He received the Swedish title of Baron in 1651 and the title of Count (the highest title awarded to non-royalty in Sweden) in 1654. He was enfeoffed with the county of Skänninge and introduced in 1654 to the class of counts of the Swedish nobility under No. 19. From 1655 he built Stjärnorp Castle in Östergötland, which is still an ancestral seat of the Swedish branch today, besides Ekensholm Castle and Rydboholm Castle. The escutcheon of the Swedish Douglas family's arms is the Scottish Douglas arms.[8]
Robert Douglas' descendants, the Swedish counts Douglas (the title is not primogenitary, but is held by all members of the line), are one of Sweden's most prominent noble families since the mid 17th century and has included numerous prominent individuals, such as Foreign Minister Ludvig Douglas.[25] Count Gustaf Douglas is an important entrepreneur. His sisters are Rosita Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, and Princess Elisabeth, Duchess in Bavaria, the wife of Prince Max, Duke in Bavaria. Walburga Habsburg, Countess Douglas, the daughter of Austria-Hungary's last crown prince, is a member of this family by her marriage to Count Archibald Douglas.[26][27][8]
Through a marriage in 1848 to Countess Louise von Langenstein und Gondelsheim, an illegitimate daughter of Louis I, Grand Duke of Baden, the Swedish Count Carl Israel Wilhelm Douglas (1824–1898) came into possession of Langenstein Castle in Baden, near Lake Constance. Their children achieved important political offices in both Sweden and Germany: their son count Wilhelm Douglas was a member of the German Reichstag, his brother count Ludvig Douglas (1849–1916) was the Swedish foreign minister, and their grandson count Archibald Douglas (1883–1960) was chief of staff of the Swedish army. In 1906, the grandson Karl Robert took up his main residence at Langenstein Castle, which his descendants still live in today.
Douglas Tartan (modern). The Douglas tartan was worn by the former British Army Regiment, The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) and is still worn by the Royal Gurkha Rifles. In its grey form, it is worn by the officers of all Scottish squadrons of the RAuxAF as part of their mess uniform.
Douglas tartan, as published in 1842 in the Vestiarium Scoticum. Whether the Douglasses wore tartan in the sixteenth century, as the Vestiarium asserts, can be questioned.[28]
Eminent members of the Douglas family
Douglases have excelled in many fields, from politics to sports, science to the military, and more. Biographies held on Wikipedia can be found in the lists: 'Douglas (surname) and Douglass (surname)'.
Sir Alec Douglas-Home (1903–1995), 14th Earl of Home, 4th Baron Douglas (disclaimed); Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary; married Elizabeth Douglas-Home (1909–1990)
^Translated: Never backwards, in a sense that the Douglas clan is always marching forwards, never going backwards in battle; the often used translation "Never behind" is misleading, in French this would be translated as Jamais derrière.
[1]
^Alexia Grosjean, "A century of Scottish Governorship in the Swedish Empire, 1574–1700", in A. Mackillop and Steve Murdoch, Military Governors and Imperial Frontiers, 1600–1800: A Study of Scotland and Empires (Brill, Leiden, 2003), pp. 53–78.
^ abc"Grevliga ätten Douglas, No 19", in Sveriges ridderskaps och adels kalender 2013, Riddarhuset, 2013
^"The Border Reivers". Langholm Online. Archived from the original on 23 May 2009. Retrieved 20 February 2007.((cite web)): CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^Bower, John. (1827). Description of the Abbeys of Melrose and Old Melrose with their Traditions (3rd ed.). pp. 87–90.
^Inglis, Alexander. (1911). The Monros of Auchinbowie and Cognate Families. Edinburgh: T. & A. Constable.
^Gustaf Elgenstierna, "Douglas", in Den introducerade svenska adelns ättartavlor. 1925–1936.
^Jan Raneke (1990). Svensk adelsheraldik. Malmö: Corona. ISBN91-564-0966-4. p. 326
Coventry, Martin (2001). The Castles of Scotland (3rd ed.). Musselburgh: Goblinshead.
Coventry, Martin (2008). Castles of the Clans: The Strongholds and Seats of 750 Scottish Families and Clans. Musselburgh: Goblinshead. ISBN978-1-899874-36-1.
Stewart, Donald; Thompson, J Charles (1980). Scotland's Forged Tartans, An analytical study of the Vestiarium Scoticum. Edinburgh: Paul Harris Publishing. ISBN0-904505-67-7.
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