SIR WILLIAM OF DOUGLAS (d. I298), called "le harai," Archi bald's grandson, first formally assumed the title of lord of Doug las. He gave a grudging allegiance to John de Paliol, and swore fealty to Edward I. in 1291; but when the Scottish barons induced Baliol to break his bond with Edward I. he commanded at Berwick Castle, which he surrendered after the sack of the town by the English in 1296. After a short imprisonment Douglas was restored to his Scottish estates on renewing his homage to Edward I., but his English possessions were forfeited. He joined Wallace's rising in 1297, and died in 1298, a prisoner in the Tower of London.
His son, SIR JAMES OF DOUGLAS (I 286-1330), lord of Douglas, called the "Good," was educated in Paris. On his return he found an Englishman, Robert de Clifford, in possession of his estates. His offer of allegiance to Edward I. being refused, he cast in his lot with Robert Bruce, whom he joined before his coronation at Scone in 1306. From the battle of Methven he escaped with Bruce and the remnant of his followers, and accom panied him in his wanderings in the Highlands. In the next year they returned to the south of Scotland. He twice outwitted the English garrison of Douglas and destroyed the castle. One of these exploits, carried out on Palm Sunday, March 19, 1307, with bar barities excessive even in those days, is known as the "Douglas Larder." Douglas routed Sir John de Mowbray at Ederf ord Bridge, near Kilmarnock, and was entrusted with the conduct of tire war in the south, while Bruce turned to the Highlands. He made many successful raids on the English border, which won for him the dreaded name of the "Black Douglas" in English house holds. Through the capture of Roxburgh Castle in 1314 by strata gem, the assailants being disguised as black oxen, he secured Teviotdale; and at Bannockburn, where he was knighted on the battlefield, he commanded the left wing with Walter the Steward. During the 13 years of intermittent warfare that followed he repeatedly raided England. He slew Sir Robert de Nevill, the "Peacock of the North," in single combat in 1316, and in 1319 he invaded Yorkshire, in company with Randolph, defeating an army assembled by William de Melton, archbishop of York, at Mitton-on-Swale (Sept. 2o), in a fight known as "The Chapter of Myton." In 1322 he captured the pass of Byland in Yorkshire, and forced the English army to retreat. He was rewarded by the "Emerald Charter," granted by Bruce, which gave him criminal jurisdiction over the family estates, and released the lords of Douglas from various feudal obligations. In a daring night attack on the English camp in Weardale in 1327 Douglas came near cap turing Edward III. himself. After laying waste the northern coun ties heretreated, without giving battle to the English. Before his death in 1329 Bruce desired Douglas to carry his heart to Pales tine in redemption of his unfulfilled vow to go on crusade. Douglas set out in 133o, bearing with him a silver casket contain ing the embalmed heart of Bruce, but he fell fighting with the Moors in Spain on Aug. 25 of that year, and was buried in St. Bride's church, Douglas. Since his day the Douglases have borne a human heart in their coat of arms. Sir James was said to have fought in 7o battles and to have conquered in 57. His exploits, as told in Froissart's Chronicles and in John Barbour's Bruce, are familiar from Scott's Tales of a Grandfather and Castle Danger ous. His half-brother, Sir Archibald, defeated Edward Baliol at Annan in 1332, and had just been appointed regent of Scotland for David TI. when he risked a pitched battle at Halidon Hill, where he was defeated and killed (1333), with his nephew William, lord of Douglas. The inheritance fell to his brother, a churchman, Hugh the "Dull" (b. 1294), who surrendered his lands to David II, ; and a re-grant was made to William Douglas, next referred to.