DOUGLAS, or. .1 family of great prominence in the history of Scotland. 'Ilte Iegeml of the sixteenth or seventeenth century. at t•ibuting its to the bravery of Sholto Douglas in 770, is impossilde Irmo the details of the legend itself. Nor can any connection he traced. as Chalmers supposed there could lie, helWeell the Donglases and the Plotting Th•obald, who held the lands on 1)ouglas water from 1147 to 1104.
WILLIANt OF DOUGLAS appears as a witness of charters in 1175 and 12E1. lie was doubt so called from the vale of Douglas. in Lan ark, which he held. Ili: son Bruce was made Bishop of Murray- in 1203. in AttettutAa.n ur Eln:Exttuat of who appears in charters between 1191) and 12:12, was the first of the flintily to attain the rank of knighthood. Besides the family inheritance. he held land under the monks of Dunfermline and the Earl of Fife, and in Clydesdale through his wife, one of the heir esses of Sir .lulu Crawford. His son. Sin \VII. LL‘M, figures in charters from 1240 to 127:1. and appears in 1255 as a Scottish partisan of Henry 111. of England in the baronial wars. and was granted the manor of Fender in Northumber land by the future Edward 1. Ilis son, Slit died in 12S7, and was succeeded hy his brother, TtlE HARDY, as Ile is called in family traditions, a daring and restless intim Ile was the first man of influence to join Wallace in his rising against the English. hilt stain deserted him. sithinit ling to his old patron. King Edward L. to whom he hail again and again sworn fealty. lie was sent prisoner to the Tower of London, where he died in it appears that he possessed lands in one English and in seven Seol t ish count ies—Nort humberla nil. Ber wick. Edinburgh. Fife. Lanark, Ayr, Dumfries, and 11 igton.
The history of his soil, the Coon Sin ;IA IIFS 1)01•1:11,.%S, is familiar to every one as Bruce's greatest captain in the long \Van of the Success sion. The hero of seventy lights, he is said to have Well them all hot thirteen, leaving the name of the Thick Douglas'—so he was ealled from his swarthy complexion—as a word of fear by which English mothers stilled their children. lie was slain in Andalusia, in 1:130, on his way to the Holy Land with the heart of his royal master, and was succeeded by his sou, WILLIANI. Lotto or Dore I .‘Sl, who Was slain at Ilalidon in 1333. Sin L. (1290-13331. a yontigur brotimr of the Com] Sir .lames, was a prominent Scottish leader during the minority of David II. lit 1332 he surprised and defeated Ed ward ill' the rival claimant of the throne. was mode Regent of Scotland in 13:13, and in the same year invaded England. lint was defeated and slain at Ihilidiaa. In 1357 Sin OF Ihwi.t. is, sou of the Vegeta of Soolland, who hail fought at Poitiers and distinguished himself in other fields, was made Earl of Douglas, and after by marriage, became Earl of :Ilan In 1371 he even disputed the succession of the Scot tish crown with Robert II., the first of the :Stuarts, which he claimed as a descendant of the Ratio], and Comyns. His pretensions were abandoned only on condition that his son should marry the King's daughter. He died in 1384. His son. JAmEs. second Earl of Douglas and Mar, the conqueror of Hotspur (q.v.), fell at
Otterburn iu 1388; and, as he left no legitimate issue, the direct male line of William the Hardy and the Good Sir James now came to an end.
The earldom of Douglas, meanwhile, was be stowed an an illegitimate son of the Good Sir ;lames—ARCHIBALD, Lord of Galloway, surnamed the Grim. By his marriage with the heiress of Bothwell he added that barony to the Douglas domains; and, having married his only (laughter to the heir apparent of the Scottish crown, and his eldest son to the eldest (laughter of the Scot tish King, he died in 1400 or 1401. Il is son and successor, Anclun. LD. fourth Earl of Douglas, was, from his many misfortunes in battle, sur named 'the Tyneman'—i.e. the loser. Ile was taken prisoner at Homildon (1402), and at Shrewsbury in the following year. Repairing to France, he was there made Duke of Touraine, and fell at Verneuil in 1424. He was succeeded by his son ARCHIBALD, who distinguished himself in the French wars, and, dying in 1439, was buried in the Church of Douglas, where his tomb still re mains. His son and successor, a boy of sixteen, by the splendor of his court aroused the fear of the Scottish King, and was treacher ously beheaded in Edinburgh Castle in 1440. His French duchy and county died with him; his Scottish earldom was bestowed our his grand uncle (the second son of Archibald the Grim), JAMES, surnamed the Gross, who in 1437 had Been made Earl of Avondale. He died in 1413, being succeeded by his son WILLIAM, who, by marriage with his kinswoman (tire only daughter of Archibald, fifth Earl of and second Duke of Touraine), again added the lordship of Galloway to the Douglas possessions. He was for a time all-powerful with King .Tames II., who made him lieutenant-general of the realm; but afterwards losing the royal favor, he seems to hare entered into a confederacy against the King, by whom he was killed in Stirling Castle in 1452. Leaving no child, he was succeeded by his brother JAMES, who in 1454 made open war against King James II. as the murderer of his brother and kinsman (the sixth and eighth Earls of Douglas). The issue seemed doubtful for a time; but the Hamiltons and others being gained over to the King's side, Douglas tied to England. The struggle was still maintained by his brothers— Archibald, who by marriage hail become Earl of Murray, and Hugh. who. in 1445, had been made Earl of Ormond. They were defeated at Arkin holm in May, 1455, Murray being slain on the field and Ormond taken prisoner and after wards beheaded. Abercorn, Douglas, Strathaven, Thrieve, and other castles of the were dismantled. and the earldom of came to an end by forfeiture, after an existence of ninety-eight years, during which it had been held by no fewer than nine lords. The last Earl lived many years in England, where he had a pension from the Crown and was made a Knight of the Garter. In 1454 he leagued himself with the exiled Duke of Albany to invade Scotland. lie was defeated at Lochniahen, but dames Ill. spared his life on condition of his taking the cowl. lie died in the Abbey of Lindores in April, 148S; and so ended the elder illegitimate line of the Douglases.