Who was The Black Douglas?
By Alison Campsie; Published: 23 November 2018, The Scotsman
To the Scots, he was known as Good Sir James Douglas. To the English,
the staunch ally of Robert the Bruce was known more sinisterly as The
Black Douglas given the ferocity of the battle-hardened knight. This
skilled fighter has been overshadowed in time by his heroic leader but
the deeds of Douglas offer a powerful thread in the story of 14th
Century Scotland and the unbridled violence of the Wars of Independence.
Born in 1286 into a family loyal to the Scottish Crown, his grandfather
was killed alongside William Wallace and his father murdered in an
English jail for his support of the hero.
The next year on Palm Sunday, Douglas attacked the English garrison at
his family seat of Douglas Castle in Dumfries and Galloway. Most of the
English soldiers had left the castle to attend mass when the Scots
attacked, entering the church to the war-cry ‘Douglas!’ ‘Douglas!’. The
massacre later became known as ‘the Douglas Larder’ given the English
soldiers who survived the attack were taken to the castle’s cellar where
they were beheaded. Their heads were mounted on a stack of broken wine
casks and set aflame, according to accounts. The castle itself was set
on fire. Douglas’ ability to pounce and trounce a larger army earned him
a feared reputation with the English troops.
In February 1314, Black Douglas moved to capture Roxburgh Castle in the
Borders with his men ordered to cloak themselves in cow hide and crawl
on their hands and knees towards the castle after dark. The guards fell
for the rouse and the Scots used hooks and rope ladders to scale the
walls. After fighting alongside Bruce at Bannockburn, Douglas was given
free reign to fight under his own flag and cut a bloody swathe across
the English border – burning crops and villages, and terrorising the
local population. Folk songs were recited by mothers to reassure there
young they were safe from everything - and that not even the wicked
Black Douglas could harm them. Hush ye, hush ye, little pet ye, Hush ye,
hush ye, do not fret ye, The Black Douglas shall not get ye.
The death of Robert the Bruce in June 1329 led to a powerful pilgrimage
of Douglas and a handpicked group of high-status followers to Jerusalem
to take their leader’s heart on a crusade to the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Douglas carried the embalmed heart of Bruce in a
cask around his neck as the men set sail on the mission with a promise
that it would be returned to Melrose Abbey to its final resting place.
The men, who were joined by more supporters in Flanders, incorporated a
stop in Spain after hearing of a crusade by Alfonso XI of Castile
against Muslims of Granada. Douglas and his men joined Alfonso’s army
after arriving in Seville and were to soon come into contact with the
Moors near Teba, a castle on the frontier of Andalucia. The battle came
to a swift, satisfactory conclusion for Alfonso but, not being fully
aware of the mode of warfare, Douglas found himself deserted by his men.
His end clearly upon him, the story as recounted by Sir Walter Scott
goes that Douglas removed the cask from around his neck, declared aloud
“Pass first in fight…as thou wert wont to do, and Douglas will follow
thee, or die”, then charged the enemy one last time.
When the surviving Scots searched the field, they found Douglas dead,
hewed with “five deep wounds” but with the cask unharmed. Douglas’ flesh
was boiled from his bones as per the usual custom for long-distance
transport of noble remains and his heart was removed, now a companion to
that of Bruce. His skeleton was interred in St Bride Kirk in his home
village of Douglas.
See also:
• The Good Sir James
• The Wars of
Scottish Independence
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