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Song History
Black Douglas
A simple brief
thought on Scottish
Independance.

Were the outdated
union not of some very
high value to England and
the English, why would
they fight so to try to
keep it?

There are only so many
slices to a pie, for one to
have more, another must
have less.

Lastly - to those Scottish
"Loyalists" - to whom are
you loyal?
Scots royalty died in the
1700's so it can be no
Scots crown - And
certainly not it appears to
those who came before,
that bled for Scotland
and her freedom !  
In the words
Sir James Douglas (also known as Guid Sir James and the
Black Douglas), (1286 – August 25, 1330), was a Scottish
soldier and knight who fought in the Scottish Wars of
Independence. He was a son of Sir William Douglas the
Hardy, who had been a supporter of William Wallace (the
elder Douglas died in 1298, a prisoner in the Tower of
London). His mother was Elizabeth Stewart, the daughter of
Alexander Stewart, 4th High Steward of Scotland. The poet
and chronicler John Barbour provides us with a pen portrait
of the Black Douglas, among the first of its kind in Scottish
history;

But he was not so fair that we
Should praise his looks in high degree.
In visage he was rather grey;
His hair was black, so I heard say,
His limbs were finely made and long,
His bones were large, his shoulders strong,
His body was well-knit and slim
And those say that set eyes on him,
When happy, loveable was he,
And meek and sweet in company,
But those with him in battle saw
Another countenance he wore!

James was sent to Italy for safety in the early days of the
Wars of Independence, and was educated in Rome. There
he met William Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews, who
took him as a squire. He returned to Scotland with
Lamberton in 1306 to find that his estates had been
confiscated by Edward I and awarded to Robert Clifford.
Lamberton presented him at court to petition for the return
of his land, but when Edward heard whose son he was he
grew angry and James had to leave.

For James, who now faced life as a landless outcast on the
fringes of feudal society, the return of his ancestral estates
was to become an overriding consideration, inevitably
impacting on his political allegiances. There is no reason to
assume that he would not have made his peace with
Edward if he had been more receptive, the death of his
father in an English jail notwithstanding. But the English
king's dogmatic refusal to entertain such a prospect led
Douglas to a different path. In John Barbour's rhyming
chronicle, The Bruce, as much a paean to the young knight
as the hero king, Douglas makes his feelings plain to
Lamberton;

Sir, you see
How the English tyrant forcibly
Has dispossessed me of my land;
And you are made to understand
That the earl of Carrick claims to be
The rightful king of this country.
The English, since he slew that man,
Are keen to catch him if they can;
And they would seize his lands as well
And yet with him I faith would dwell!
Now, therefore, if it be your will,
With him will I take good or ill.
Through him I hope my land to win
Despite the Clifford and his kin.












This was a particularly dramatic moment in Scottish
history: Robert Bruce, earl of Carrick had recently slain
John Comyn, a leading Scottish rival, and immediately
claimed the crown of Scotland, in defiance of the English
king. It was while he was on his way to Scone, the
traditional site of Scottish coronations, that he was met by
Douglas, riding on a horse borrowed from the bishop.
Douglas explained his circumstances and immediately
offered his services;

And thus began their friendship true
That no mischance could e'er undo
Nor lessen while they were alive.

Their friendship more and more would thrive.
Douglas was set to share in Bruce's early misfortunes,
being present at the defeats at Methven and Dalry. But for
both men these setbacks were to provide a valuable lesson
in tactics: limitations in both resources and equipment
meant that the Scots would always be at a disadvantage in
conventional Medieval warfare. By the time the war was
renewed in the spring of 1307 they had learnt the value of
guerilla warfare – known at the time as 'secret war' – using
fast moving, lightly equipped and agile forces to maximum
effect against an enemy often locked in to static defensive
positions.

The Douglas Larder
While Bruce was campaigning in the north against his
domestic enemies, Douglas used the cover of Selkirk
Forest to mount highly effective mobile attacks against the
enemy. He also showed himself to be utterly ruthless,
particularly in his relentless attacks on the English garrison
in his own Douglas Castle, the most famous of which
quickly passed into popular history. Barbour dates this
incident to Palm Sunday 1307, which fell on 19 March.
[citation needed] This would seem to be far too early, as
Bruce and his small army were not yet properly established
in south-west Scotland, suggesting Palm Sunday 1308 – 17
April – as a more accurate date.

With the help of local farmer Thomas Dickson, a former
vassal of his father, Douglas and his small troop were
hidden until the morning of Palm Sunday, when the
garrison left the battlements to attend the local church.
Gathering local support he entered the church and the war-
cry 'Douglas!' 'Douglas!' went up for the first time. Some of
the English soldiers were killed and others taken prisoner.
The prisoners were taken to the castle, now largely empty.
All the stores were piled together in the cellar; the wine
casks burst open and the wood used for fuel. The prisoners
were then beheaded and placed on top of the pile, which
was set alight. Before departing the wells were poisoned
with salt and the carcases of dead horses. The local people
soon gave the whole gruesome episode the name of the
'Douglas Larder.' As an example of frightfulness in war it
was meant to leave a lasting impression, not least upon the
men who came to replace their dead colleagues. Further
attacks followed by a man now known to the English as
'The blak Dowglas', a sinister and murderous force "mair
fell than wes ony devill in hell." It would seem in this that
Douglas was an early practitioner of psychological warfare
– as well as guerilla warfare – in his knowledge that fear
alone could do much of the work of a successful
commander.

In August 1308 Douglas met up with the king for a joint
attack on the Macdougalls of Lorn, kinsmen of the Comyns,
the climax to Bruce's campaign in the north. Two years
before the Macdougalls had intercepted and mauled the
royal army at the Battle of Dalry. Now they awaited the
arrival of their opponents in the narrow Pass of Brander,
between Ben Cruachan and Loch Awe in Argyllshire. While
Bruce pinned down the enemy in a frontal advance through
the pass, Douglas, completely unobserved, led a party of
loyal Highlanders further up the mountain, launching a
surprise attack from the rear. Soon the Battle of Pass of
Brander turned into a rout. Returning south soon after,
Douglas joined with Edward Bruce, the king's brother, in a
successful assault on the castle of Rutherglen near
Glasgow, going on to a further campaign in Galloway









In the years that followed Douglas was given time to
perfect his skills as a soldier. Edward II came north with an
army in 1310 in fruitless pursuit of an enemy that simply
refused to be pinned down. The frustrations this obviously
caused are detailed in the Vita Edwardi Secundi, a
contemporary English chronicle;

The king entered Scotland with his army but not a rebel
was to be found...At that time Robert Bruce, who lurked
continually in hiding, did them all the injury he could. One
day, when some English and Welsh, always ready for
plunder, had gone out on a raid, accompanied by many
horsemen from the army, Robert Bruce's men, who had
been concealed in caves and woodland, made a serious
attack on our men...From such ambushes our men suffered
heavy losses. For Robert Bruce, knowing himself unequal
to the king of England in strength or fortune, decided it
would be better to resist our king by secret warfare rather
than dispute his right in open battle.

Edward was even moved to write to the Pope in impotent
fury, complaining that "Robert Bruce and his accomplices,
when lately we went into parts of Scotland to repress their
rebellion, concealed themselves in secret places after the
manner of foxes."

The greatest challenge for Bruce came that same year as
Edward invaded Scotland with a large army, nominally
aimed at the relief of Stirling Castle, but with the real
intention of pinning down the foxes. The Scots army –
roughly a quarter the size of the enemy force – was poised
to the south of Stirling, ready to make a quick withdrawal
into the wild country to the west. However, their position,
just north of the Bannock Burn, had strong natural
advantages, and the king made ready to suspend for a time
the guerilla tactics pursued hitherto. On the morning of the
24 June, the day of the main battle, Douglas was made a
knight, which seems curiously late in his career. The
suggestion that Douglas was 'made a baaneret' (a senior
knight with command responsibilities) is a modern
invention.

Once the English army was defeated Bruce ordered
Douglas off in pursuit of the fleeing Edward and his party of
knights, a task carried out with such relentless vigour that
the fugitives, according to Barbour, "had not even leisure to
make water." In the end Edward managed to evade Douglas
by taking refuge in Dunbar Castle.

Bannockburn effectively ended the English presence in
Scotland, with all strongpoints – outwith Berwick – now in
Bruce's hands. It did not, however, end the war. Edward
had been soundly defeated but he still refused to abandon
his claim to Scotland. For Douglas one struggle had ended
and another was about to begin.

In April 1318 Douglas was instrumental in capturing Berwick
from the English, the first time the castle and town had
been in Scottish hands since 1296. For Edward, seemingly
blind to the sufferings of his northern subjects, this was
one humiliation too many. A new army was assembled, the
largest since 1314, with the intention of recapturing what
had become a symbol of English prestige and their last
tangible asset in Scotland. Edward arrived at the gates of
the town in the summer of 1319, Queen Isabella
accompanying him as far as York, where she took up
residence. Not willing to risk a direct attack on the enemy
Bruce ordered Douglas and Moray on a large diversionary
raid into Yorkshire.

It would appear that the Scottish commanders had news of
the Queen's whereabouts, for the rumour spread that one
of the aims of the raid was to take her prisoner. As the
Scots approached York she was hurriedly removed from
the city, eventually taking refuge in Nottingham. With no
troops in the area, William Melton, Archbishop of York, set
about organising a home guard, which of necessity
included a great number of priests and other minor clerics.
The two sides met up at Myton-on-Swale, with inevitable
consequences. So many priests, friars and clerics were
killed in the Battle of Myton that it became widely known as
the 'Chapter of Myton.' It was hardly a passage of any great
glory for Douglas but as a strategy the whole Yorkshire raid
produced the result intended: there was such dissension
among Edward's army that the attempt on Berwick was
abandoned. It was to remain in Scottish hands.

In 1327 Douglas with 300 men assaulted and defeated a
force of over 40,000 led by England's new king, Edward III at
the Battle of Stanhope Park.

Before he died in 1329, King Robert made it his last request
that Sir James, as his oldest and most esteemed
companion in arms, should carry his heart to the holy land,
and deposit it in the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem.

They stopped over first in Sluys in Flanders, where more
men joined them. There they received news of a crusade
by Alfonso XI of Castile against the Muslims of the kingdom
of Granada. Accordingly, they sailed to Seville, where they
were received by Alfonso with great distinction.

Douglas, and almost all of the men who fought by his side,
were here slain here including Sir William St. Clair of
Rosslyn and Sir Robert Logan of Restalrig. His body and the
casket containing the embalmed heart of Bruce
were found together upon the field, and when
he realized whom it was, Muhammad had
the bodies of Douglas and his escort sent
to Alfonso's army with a guard of honor.