William Douglas was an illegitimate son of Archibald the Grim, 3rd Earl
of Douglas and an unknown mother.
- Birth: ABT. 1364
- Death: 1420, possibly whilst on crusade in Prussia
Note: the possibility exists that he was a natural son of Archibald.
Marriage 1
Princess Egidia Stewart
b: ABT. 1368 in of Dundonald, Ayrshire, Scotland, dau of King Robert II
Children
Egidia
(of Nithsdale) Douglas b: ABT. 1391, married Henry (2nd Earl of Orkney)
Sinclair, whose son's third marriage was to Elizabeth, dau of
4th
earl of Douglas, her second marriage and by whom she had two children.
She took with her, as a dowry, the barony
of Herbertshire
William
(Lord of Nithsdale) Douglas b: ABT. 1390
A man of apparently dashing bearing,
Douglas was with the Franco-Scots army when it unsuccessfully besieged Carlisle
Castle in 1385, the defending Governor being Lord Clifford. He is recorded as
there performing feats of valour and killing many Englishmen.
"A yhowng
joly bachelere
Prysyd gretly wes off were,
For he wes evyr traveland
Qwhille be se and qwhille be land
To skathe his fays rycht besy
Swa that
thai dred him grettumly" (Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland ix, c.21)
Douglas certainly had gained his spurs by 1387 when he married the Egidia (or
Gelis) Stewart, princess of Scotland, a daughter of King Robert II. According to
the Liber Pluscarden, Egidia Stewart's beauty was well renowned. Charles V of
France had "sent a certain most subtle painter to do her portrait and portray
her charms, intending to take her to wife." But the King of France and all other
of Egidia's admirers had lost out to the chivalric charms of Douglas. As part of
her marriage portion went the lands of Nithsdale in south-western Scotland,
Herbertshire in the county of Stirling and an annuity of £300.
Within
his first year of marriage the young Nithsdale led a punitive raid against Irish
raiders who had been troubling the tenantry of his father's Fiefdom of Galloway.
In early summer 1388, with a party of 500 well prepared veteran men-at-arms he
sailed into Carlingford Lough, landed outside the town and summoned their
leaders. The chief of the townsfolk offered a sum for a temporary truce, to
which Nithsdale agreed. Secretly the townsfolk sent off to Dundalk for
reinforcements, with which they were obliged. 800 spearmen from Dundalk
surprised the Scots camp by night, and were supported by a sortie from
Carlingford town. The Scots, veterans of years of brutal Border warfare, beat
the Irishmen off, captured the town and burnt it, seized the Castle and captured
15 ships in the harbour. Nithsdale and his expeditionary force sailed back into
Loch Ryan with enough time to participate in the raiding of Northern England
that was to culminate in the Battle of Otterburn
on the 19th of August, in which
he fought with distinction.
The year after Otterburn a truce was called
between Scotland and England. Nithsdale on a knightly quest for glory decided,
about 1389, to join the Teutonic Knights, who were fighting the Ottomans and
Lithuanians in eastern Europe. Nithsdale had previously quarrelled with Lord
Clifford, a former adversary at Carlisle and whose forebear had claimed
Douglasdale under Edward I of England's oppression. While both were abroad, it
is alleged that Clifford challenged Nithsdale to single combat, and that Douglas
even went to France to obtain special armour for the fight. Clifford, however,
died on August 18, 1391, but Nithsdale is said to have kept their 'tryst', and
whilst walking upon on the bridge leading to the main gate at Danzig was "killed
by the English". The burgers of Danzig decided that "upon account of a signal
service which the Douglas family did to this city in relieving it in its utmost
extremities against the Poles, the Scotch were allowed to be free burghers of
the town". Subsequently the stone facia of the Hohe Thor (High Gate) was adorned
with the coat of arms of this nobleman and for centuries it was commonly
referred to as the Douglas Port or Douglas Gate, described as such as late as
1734.
As Nithsdale had drawn most of his rentals from the burgh of
Dumfries in 1392 his death is assumed to have occurred that year or shortly
afterwards - The Dictionary of National Biography (DNB) by Stephen Leslie
1832-1904
DOUGLAS, Sir WILLIAM, Lord of NITHSDALE (d. 1392 ?)
Was the
illegitimate son of Archibald, third earl of Douglas [q.v.], himself the
illegitimate son of the ' Good ' Sir James. For comeliness and bravery he was a
worthy descendant of such ancestors, and the historians of the period describe
him as inheriting several of the personal features of his grandfather, being
large-boned, of great strength, tall and erect, bearing himself with a majestic
mien, yet courteous and affable, and in company even hearty and merry. He
inherited the swarthy complexion of the * Good ' Sir James, and was also called
the Black Douglas. He was an active warrior against the English. In 1385, while
still a youth, he accompanied his father in a raid into Cumberland, and took
part in the siege of Carlisle. Making an incursion on his own account,
accompanied by a few personal followers, he burned the suburbs of the town.
"While standing on a slender plank bridge he was attacked by three knights,
reckoned among the bravest in the citadel ; he killed the foremost, and with his
club felled the other two. He then put the enemy to flight and drew off his men
in safety. On another occasion, in open field, with but eight hundred men, he
overcame an opposing host of three thousand, leaving two hundred of the enemy
dead on the plain, and carrying five hundred off as prisoners.
Robert II
was soRobert II
was so pleased with the knightly bearing of young Douglas that in 1387 he gave
him in marriage his daughter Egidia, a princess whose beauty and wit were so
renowned that the king of France wished to make her his queen, and despatched a
painter to the Scottish court to procure her portrait secretly. But in the
meantime she was bestowed on Douglas, and with her the lordship of Nithsdale. He
also received from his royal father-in-law an annual pension of 300Z (?)., and his
own father gave him the barony of Herbertshire, near Stirling.
In 1388 he
was entrusted with the command of a maritime expedition, which was fitted
out to retaliate certain raids by the Irish upon the coast of Galloway.
Embarking in a small flotilla with five hundred men he sailed for the Irish
coast, and attacked Carlingford. The inhabitants offered a large sum ot money to
obtain immunity. Douglas consented, and a time was fixed for payment. The
townsmen, however, had only wished to gain time, and immediately despatched a
messenger to Dundalk for their English allies.
Unsuspicious of treachery
Douglas had only landed two hundred men, and half of these were now separated
from him in a foraging expedition under his lieutenant. Sir Robert Stewart of
Durrisdeer. He himself remained before the town. At nightfall eight hundred
horsemen left Dundalk, and, meeting with the inhabitants of Carlingford, fell
simultaneously upon the two companies of the Scots, with whom, however, the
victory remained. Douglas thereupon took the town, and gave it to the flames,
beating down the castle; and, lading with his spoils fifteen Irish vessels which
he found harbouring there, set sail and returned to Scotland, On the way home
they attacked and plundered the Isle of Man.
When Douglas reached
Lochryan in Galloway, he learned that his father and the Earl of Fife and
Menteith had just led an expedition over the western marches into England, and
he immediately joined them with all his available forces. In connection with the
same campaign James, second earl of Douglas, had simultaneously entered England
by the eastern marches, and, meeting with Percy on the field of Otterburn
(1388), was slain. The western portion of the Scottish troops at once returned.
Peace with England was shortly afterwards secured, and Douglas went abroad
in search of adventure. He was received with great honour at Spruce or Danzig in
Prussia, where Thomas, duke of Gloucester, was preparing to fight against the
Lithuanians (1391).
A fleet of two hundred and forty ships was fitted
out for an expedition, the command of which Douglas is said to have accepted.
Before leaving Scotland Douglas seems to have received a challenge from Thomas
de Clifford, tenth lord Clilford, to do wager by battle for some
disputed lands.
Clifford obtained a safe-conduct through England for
Douglas, but nothing is known as to the result of the duel, or even whether it
was fought. It is said to have taken place in 1390. From the Scottish Exchequer
Rolls is evident Douglas was alive in 1392, after which there is no further
trace of him.
By Princess Egidia he left a daughter of the same name, who
married Henry, earl of Orkney, and was associated with him in the foundation of
Roslin Chapel near Edinburgh. He also left a son, who succeeded him as Sir
William Douglas of Nithsdale, but who disappears from record after 1408, while
his sister lived at least thirty years later.
Extract from Peerage of Scotland:
William, lord of Nithsdale, prince of Danskin, and duke of Spruce,
who, in many charters of King Robert II is designed Willielmus de
Douglas miles, filius Archibaldi de Douglas domini Galovidiae
consanguinei nostri. He was a man of eminent parts, great strength of
body, and undaunted courage: he was often engaged in battles and rencounters against the English, and with small handfuls of men defeated
great multitudes of the enemies.
He performed likeways many glorious actions in foreign countries, for which he had these high titles of prince, duke, conferred upon him.
King Robert II. on account of his singular probity and merit, bestowed his beautiful daughter Egidia upon him in marriage, and gave him a grant of the lordship of Nithsdale. The charter bears, Dilecto et fideli nostro Willielmo de Douglas, militi, filio Archbaldi de Douglas domini Galovidiae, et Egidiae filiae nostrae carissimae, in matrimonium inter ipsos Willielmum et Egidiam legitime faciendum, &c.
["To our beloved and faithful William of Douglas, knight, son of Archibald Douglas, Lord of Galloway, and to our dearest daughter Egidia, for the lawful marriage to be made between William and Egidia, etc."]
This great man was treacherously assassinated, 'tis said, by the
contrivance of Lord Clifford, leaving only one daughter, married to
Henry Sinclair earl of Orkney.
Research notes:
William was with the Teutoinc knights around Danzig (Gdansk).
Also near that time around Vilnius was Henry Bolinbroke (later Henry IV)
and possibly as part of his entourage maybe Thomas Clifford.
Is it credible that Clifford went all the way to Danzig to settle a
single combat challenge?
I have seen different comments on Williams death, who by and how.
There is I understand a possible record of William being in Dumfries in
1392/1402 collecting rents/taxes.
See also:
•
Map of Nithsdale
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