By the middle of the fifteenth century the descendants of
Sir
James Douglas, the companion-in-arms of Robert Bruce, had become the
dominant military and political force on the Scottish borders. While war
with England might bring the crown some rewards, it was far more likely to
increase the power and prestige of the Douglases, as the victory at the
Battle of Sark in 1448
had shown. James II, who assumed full control of affairs in the early
1450s, was confronted by an even more worrying problem when
William, 8th Earl of Douglas formed an alliance with two powerful
northern noblemen-John MacDonald, Lord of the Isles and the Earl of
Crawford. Under safe conduct Douglas was invited to meet the king at
Stirling
Castle to discuss the matter, and when he refused to break the bond he
was murdered in a fit of royal passion.
This was the beginning of a drama that was to last for three years.
William's brother, James, now the
9th Earl of Douglas, initially took up arms against the crown, though
the two sides finally concluded an uneasy peace. Too unstable to last for
long, it broke down completely in 1455, when the Douglases were defeated
at the Battle of
Arkinholm in May 1455. Prior to this the earl crossed the border,
ready to hand over
Threave Castle, his last remaining stronghold in Galloway, to Henry VI
in return for English aid. Although the English government was later to
conclude an agreement with Douglas, promising to assist him in recovering
the lands taken from him by the "one who calls himself King of Scots", it
was able to do little in the short term; for on 22 May 1455 the First
Battle of St Albans signalled the beginning of an intermittent dynastic
struggle, to be known in time as the Wars of the Roses.
In the years that followed, James, now an outlaw and a rebel, continued
to make his case to any willing to listen. Depending on the political
situation in England, and relations with Scotland, the 'Douglas card' was
played from time to time as the situation demanded. Angered by Scottish
support for the House of Lancaster, Edward IV, the first Yorkist king of
England, used Douglas to make contact with the Lord of the Isles, his old
ally. A treaty was concluded at Westminster in early 1462 which envisaged
the conquest and partition of Scotland. Nothing came of this grand scheme,
which was little more than a gambit in a game of dipolomatic poker. That
same year Edward reached an understanding with the Scottish government.
Douglas was ordered south, and in the words of one contemporary account;
Earl Douglas is commanded to come hence, and as a sorrowful and sore
rebuked man lieth in the abbey of St Albans; and by the said appointment
shall not be reputed nor taken but as an Englishman, and if he comes in
the danger of the Scots, they do slay him.
With depressing inevitability Anglo-Scottish relations, up at one
moment, were invariably down at the next. The following year the 'sore
rebuked man' was back on the border, armed with letters of assurance and
plenty of money for any Scots who were prepared to join him. Soon he had
managed to buy over "a great number of wicked people who did much damage."
Basing himself in the hills of Galloway from March 1463 he soon enjoyed
some notable successes, continually attacking his enemies, capturing the
earl of Crawford, Lord Maxwell, and other notable prisoners in an
encounter where many were slain. His depredations continued throughout the
summer until September, when he was finally intercepted and defeated on
the west march by a group of border gentry. His brother John, Lord Balveny,
was taken prisoner and brought to Edinburgh for execution along with other
captives.
Over the next few years Douglas was to act as a measure of relations
between the two kingdoms, appearing when things were bad only to slip out
of sight as matters improved. He was joined in exile by another great
rebel, Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, the brother of James III. When
Richard III came to the throne of England he initially planned an invasion
of Scotland, and called on the aid of Douglas nad Albany. By the summer of
1484, however, his attentions were increasingly drawn to the possible
invasion of England by his main Lancastrian rival, Henry Tudor, Earl of
Richmond. All he was now prepared to do was to give the two rebels
permission to raise their own forces, with the intention of crossing the
border and inciting rebellion against James.
With some 500 horsemen the exiles crossed the west march on 22 July
1484, advancing towards Lochmaben, where the annual fair was underway.
This was once Douglas territory, and the earl clearly hoped that he would
be able to count on the old loyalties towards his family; but he had been
away too long, and his influence in the area had long since died away.
When he and Albany entered the town people took to arms, believing this to
be just another English raid. Soon a bloody battle was raging through the
streets and the adjacent countryside, which continued from the middle of
the day to dusk. News of the fight spread and the townspeople were
reinforced by the local gentry, headed by Robert Crichton, Cuthbert Murray
and John Johnstone. Unable to withstand the mounting pressure the English
force broke and scattered. Albany owed his own escape to the swiftness of
his horse, returning to his French exile, where he was accidentally killed
the following year. Douglas was taken prisoner by Alexander Kirkpatrick,
who was suitably rewarded by the grateful king.
Towards Douglas, now an elderly man, James behaved with remarkable
compassion, overlooking his many treasons. He was sent to the abbey of
Lindores in Fife, where he lived what was left of his life in peace, dying
in April 1488, the last earl of Douglas.
Note:
• This article bares a similarity to that on the
Battle of Kirtle (q.v.)
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