notwithstanding this mans predecessours and himselfe also as his evidents do witnesse were Barons and Lords yet he thinks it no disparagement to be knighted and did choose rather to be known and designed by that title than the other so as he was commonly called Sir James Douglas rather then Lord Douglas And indeed we have found that even Princes and Kings have taken upon them this order not as any diminution of their place but an addition of honour seeing by it they were received into the number and rank of military men and Warriours their other titles shewing more their dominion and power or place then their valour and courage Wherefore we reade how Edward Prince of Wales was knighted when he was sent against King Bruce So Henry the second being then Prince of England received the honour of Knighthood from David King of Scotland his grand Uncle as from one that was the best and worthiest man in his time Then it was that he tooke his oath that he should never take from the Crowne of Scotland the Counties of Northumberland Westmoreland Cumberland and Huntingdon This cremonie vvas performed vvith great solemnitie and pomp in those dayes as our Writers observe so honourable vvas it then and of late it vvas thought so too for the Earle of Clanrikart chiefe of the Bourks in Ireland having done a piece of notable service to Queene Elisabeth at the siege of Kinsoile and at an encounter betvvene the Lord Deputies Army vvith the Irish Rebels vvas knighted by the Lord Monâ—…joy then Generall Lieutenant for the Queene Neither should any abuse discredit it novv Nor can it diminish the honourablenesse thereof in our Sir James who is able to honour it rather by his worth After the battell he is as diligent as he was both diligent and valorous in it This is a vertue which hath been wanting in great Commanders and hath been marked as a great defect in them It was told Hanniball that great Carthaginian to his face Thou canst obtain but not use a victory nor prosecute it to thy best advantage Sir James did not so but as farre as he was able with such companies as hee could gather together and with as much speed as was possible for him hee followed King Edward to have done him service though his father Edward the first would have none of it and set it at nought But he was gone ere Sir James service came to the best Now hee would gladly have showne what it was worth to his sonne and successour the second Edward in most humble sort though it had been to have pulled off his boots no question but his Majestie had no mind to stay for him who notwithstanding made all the haste he could to have overtaken him and followed him with foure hundred horse more then fourty miles from Bannockburne to Dumbarre Castle into which hee was received and so escaped The next was to wait upon him in his way to Berwicke which he did but the King nothing well pleased with the service hee had done and expecting rather worse then better seeing his importunity and that other wayes he could not be rid of him went by sea to Berwicke in a small fishers boat or two with a very thinne train to attend him not unlike unto Xerxes who a little before was so proud of his huge army is now become the scorne of his contemned and threatned enemies a spectacle of pride and an example of presumptuous confidence unto all ages Wee told before hovv his father had driven King Robert and Sir James to the like shifts and straits but theirs vvas not so shamefull A Christenmasse feast may be quit at Easter sayes our Proverb vvhich they do here verefie by this requitall And this vvas all the service Sir James could do to King Edward at this time but aftervvards vve shall heare vvhat service he shall do if not to himself yet to his sonne Edward the third at Stanhop Parke some few yeares after this In the mean time let us behold our Scots enjoying there renowned and honourable victory which cannot bee denied to have been such nor cannot be by envy it self Their spoil and prey was great and rich their prisoners many and their ransomes proportionable The Queen King Roberts wife was restored by exchange and for her an English Nobleman set free without ransome And as their joy was great and their gaining not small so was both the grief of the English their shame and their losses Their were slain of note in the field 200 Knights together with the Earle of Glocester and Sir Giles of Argentine whose death was lamented by King Robert very much and of prisoners very nere as many of which the chief were the Earle of Hartford who fled to Bothwell and was received by Sir Gilbert Gilbaston captain thereof as the Bruces booke sayes Sir John Segrave John Clattengrave perhaps Cattegrave William Latimer Sir Robert Northbrooke Lord keeper of the broad seal and Sir Ralph Mortimer who had married the Kings sister Mortimer was dimitted ransome-free and obtained the Kings broad Seale at Bruces hands These and many other prisoners of divers nations thus dismissed are as many witnesses of the Scottish valour in the fight and of their mildnesse and humanitie after it who used these their so spightfull enemies no worse who if they had overcome would have used another kinde of cruelty as they had both determined and threatned unto them Amongst other Forreiners there were two Holland Knights who being in King Edwards Army before the battell and hearing the bravery and brags of the English and their spightfull railings against King Robert had wished him good luck These were turned out of the English Camp and sent unto the Scottish bidden in scorne to go and fight with them whom they wished so well with a price set upon their heads to him that should either kill or take them prisoners in the battell Their heads neverthelesse were safe and themselves did partake of the good fortune they had wished and when they came home into their owne Countrey they built a lodging naming it Scotland upon which they set up the Scottish Armes and King Roberts statue in Antwerp as a monument of that notable victorie which remained there many yeares after The Carmelite also changed his note singing their victorie whose overthrow he came to set forth and chaunting their discomfiture whose praises he was hired to proclaime Thus he began his Ditty De planctu cudo metrum cum carmine nudo Risum detrudo dum tali themate ludo In English thus With barren verse this mournfull rime I make And am but laught at while such theme I take Let us here consider the meanes and wayes of both sides we shal finde on the one side confidence of their power and a contempt and slighting of the enemie which seldome falls well because from thence there ariseth commonly sloth negligence disorder and confusion on the other side we may see carefulnesse
it in which Smith the accuser was slain The same booke also saith that in the yeare 1420. or 21. the Earle Douglas entered England and 〈◊〉 the towne of Aewels But here it will not be impertinent for us to step over to France and see what Buchan and Wigton are doing seeing that this imployment gave Wigton occasion to show himself there and did afterward also draw over his father the Earle Douglas thither and the order of time doth also leade us to speake of those things in this place We have told before how John Stuart Earle of Buchan who was second sonne to the former Governour and brother to Murdock present Governour of Scotland and Archbald Douglas Earl of Wigton whose sister Buchan had married were chosen to conduct the forces sent into France to aid the Daulphin against the King of England and Duke of Burgundie The chief Gentlemen of note and qualitie that went along with them were Robert Stuart another sonne of the Governour Alexander Lindsay brother to the Earle of Crawford and John Swinton Knights being arrived in France they were received of the Daulphin with great joy and made heartily welcom who gave them the Towne and Castle of Chastillion in Turrain for their rendezvous and place of retreat and resort being a fertile Countrey and abounding in all things necessary as also for that it lay neare unto the enemy for the Duke of Clarence King Henries brother and Lieutenant was about to have spoyled the Countrey of Angiers or as Hollinshed had spoyled it already and had retired into the towne of Beaufort in the Vallay and was ready to assault a towne called Vielle Bauge old Bauge some two dayes before Pasche The Scots expecting that as the manner then was he would have abstained from all feats of armes and have given himself to the devotion of the time or having as some others say taken and given assurance for eight dayes which is the space of time commonly bestowed upon that solemnitie were somewhat remisse and negligent in their discipline The Duke of Clarence having notice hereof by a Lombard called Andrew Fregosa as some say or by some Scottish prisoner intercepted as the Annals of France do beare who discovered to him the government of their army and the carriage of their Leaders and Captains was very glad of so good occasion as hee deemed it to take them at unawares and defeat them Wherefore he rose presently from dinner and taking with him onely the horsemen leaving the Archers under the conduct of the bastard of Clarence Sir Thomas Beauford whom he had lately Knighted at Angiers together with two Portugall Captains to assist him he made straight toward the enemy saying that he and the Nobles onely would have the honour of that day Hee went with great confidence to have surprized the enemy carrying a faire Coronet of Gold on his head and very magnificently apparrelled as if hee had beene riding in triumph There was a Village called little Bauge through which the Duke was to come where a few Frenchmen of the Daulphins side lay These being terrified with the sudden coming of the English got up into a steeple for safety and sanctuary there while they make a halt and assault the steeple the cry riseth and the noise of their approach was carried to the rest of the Army whe presently ran and took armes While they were arming themselves Buchan and Wigton sent 30. Archers to keep a certain bridge by which it behoved the enemy to passe over a brooke which ran in the way These went as they were commanded and as they were going Hugh Kennedie came out of a Church where he lay with an hundred men but unarmed or halfe armed by reason of the great haste and joyned with them while they defended and made good the bridge and kept off the horsemen with shot of arrowes the Duke with the principall of his company alighted from their horse and made such an onset upon them that they were forced to leave the bridge and passage open for the enemy Being past the bridge while the Duke mounteth again on horseback and the rest of his folks are passing after him Buchan and Wigton came upon him with two hundred horse and enter there into a sharp conflict on both sides both parties being most part Noble men who were desirous of glory and had a minde to give a proof of themselves with equal courage and hatred The Scots were glad to have occasion to show the French what they could doe and to confute their whisperings and surmises wherein they reproached them as fit onely to consume victuals and the English were moved with great indignation that they should bee thus perpetually troubled by the Scots not onely at home but also abrode beyond the sea in a forraine countrey And none among the English fought with a greater courage and resolution then the Duke himselfe but Sir John Swinton espying him being easily knowne by his Coronet shining with pretious stones and his glistering armor ran fiercely at him with a lance and wounded him in the face hee being hereby in a great fury put forward his horse to have charged the enemy but was encountred by the Earle of Buchan who ran him through with a speare and so slew him or as others felled him downe to the ground with a steell hammer The rest seeing him fall some fled and many were slain in their flight being pursued till the night came on This battell was fought on Pasch Eve in the yeare 1420. or as our Writers and the English 1421 There were slain of the English 200. Nobles and Gentlemen The Duke of Clarence The Earle of Tankervill The Lord Rosse Sir Gilbert Wimfravill whom they call Earle of Angus John Lumlay Sir Robert the Earle of Summerset and his brother whose sister James the first did marry afterward Suffolk and Perch the Lord Fitzwater Sir John Barcklay Sir Ralph Nevil Sir Henry Englishes Sir William Lanton Sir Thomas Boroughes were taken prisoners There were but few slain of the Scots and French and those meane and obscure men This is the most common report of the Duke of Clarence his death but the booke of Pustardan saith that he was slain by Alexander Macklellane a Knight in the Lennox who also having taken the Coronet from off his head sold it to John Stuart of Darnelay for 1000. angels This victory being obtained most part by the vallour of the Scots the Daulphin in recompense hereof made Buchan Constable of France and morgaged the Dukedome of Turraine to Wigton the revenue whereof at that time was vallued to 10000. crowns The reversion of this Dutchy he gave afterward to the Earle Douglas his father who was created absolute Duke of Turrain and Lord of Longu-vill and established the same to his heires male as shall be shewed hereafter The French Writers say also that he made Wigton Marshall of France The King of England upon the death of his
Domino de Douglas Filio Heredi Guliclmi de Douglas This good Sir James dying without heire male lawfully gotten of his own body his brother Hugh succeeded to him in the yeare 1342. in which year the same Hugh doth give a Charter of the said lands and Lordship to wit Douglasdale together with the lands of Carmichel Selkrick c. To his Nephew William son to Archbald his brother which VVilliam did succeed to Hugh he having no heires male he was afterward Earle of Douglas Now it is against all reason to think that he that was contracted to Marjory Abernethy 1259. should be the same with this Hugh who gives this Charter 1342. seeing he must be now 106. or 107. years of age which is not probable This VVilliam had to wife Martha sister of Alexander Earle of Carrict who bare to him two sonnes Hugh his eldest and VVilliam the Hardie by their alliance with the house of Carrick besides that he was not a little strengthned they being great men and powerfull it fell out that his posterity became of kindred to King Robert Bruce for Fergus Lord of Galloway had two sonnes the elder Gilbert and Ethred the younger At his death he ordained that the Lordship of Galloway should be divided betwixt them which was done accordingly and the division was ratified and confirmed by King William who did then reigne but the King being afterward taken prisoner at Anwick be the English Gilbert nothing contented with the division having got Ethred his brother into his hands caused put out his eyes and possessed himself of the whole Lordship and kept it till he died which was before the Kings return out of England before which Ethred also was dead These two brothers left each of them a sonne behind him Gilbert left Alexander and Ethred Rowland This Rowland finding his faction the stronger thrust out his cousen Alexander and seized upon the whole estate himself alone and at the Kings return took a new gift thereof of the King who gave also to Alexander Gilberts sonne in recompense and lieu thereof the Earledome of Carrick This Alexander had but one sister named Martha who was married to this Lord William Douglas he went into Syria with Edward Prince of Wales who was brother in law to King Alexander the third sent by the King and State at the Popes request to fight against the Sarasins There went with him the Earle of Athole and many brave Knights and Gentlemen in which expedition he died leaving onely one daughter his heire Martha Countesse of Carrick She was married to Robert Bruce sonne to Robert Bruce who is known by the name of Robert the Noble and to Isabel second daughter to David Earle of Huntington To this Robert the Countesse of Carrick bare Robert Bruce who was afterwards King of Scotland So then we see how Martha Countesse of Carrick and William the Hardie were Cousin germans and her sonne King Robert Bruce and good Sir James Cousins once removed so that not onely the thralled liberties of Scotland and his private losses did oblige Sir James to fide with King Robert and to stick so constantly to him but this tie of bloud and consanguinity also being so near a kinsman We are also to observe here that Martha Countesse of Carrick was also the nearest just and rightfull heire to the Lordship of Galloway being descended of the elder brother Gilbert and therefore to be preferred before Allane who was descended of the younger brother Ethred by Rowland his â—…ather and after her and her heires her fathers sister married to this Lord William was next heire to both the Earledome of Carrict and Lordship of Galloway Whether this title did move the Douglasses to seek the Lordship of Galloway as they did afterward and helped them to obtain it the more easily of the King or of others descended of Allane and of his heires I leave it to be considered How ever that be we may see by the matching with this honourable house of Carrick Galloway and Abernethy the chief Peers in this Realme as then that the house of Douglas was of no small esteem and account long before good Sir James and that they mistake things farre and are but ill versed in Antiquity that thinke he was the first that did raise that name to Nobility or greatnesse this Williams marriage having preceded his time 80. yeares at least Of Sir Hugh the third of that name and sixth Lord of Douglas WIlliam had to his eldest sonne and lawfull successour Sir Hugh Douglas who as we have said was married to Marjorie Abernethie daughter to Alexander and sister to Hugh Lord of Abernethie This house of Abernethie were friends and followers of the Cummins and did assist and party them in all their enterprises as we may see by their joyning with them at Kinrosse when they took King Alexander the third Their credit and favour with their Princes appears by this That Lord William Abernethie got of King William the Abacie of Aberbrothock or as it may be thought rather for the writing was dimme and hard to discern the Collegiate Church lands of Abernethie paying thence yearely twenty pound This Hugh Abernethie obtained also of King Alexander the third a Charter of the lands of Lenrie and a pension of fiftie pound sterling by yeare likewise he got from the same King a confirmation of the lands of Hulkstone and Lilestone In these gifts the Cummins still are witnesses and with them stiled Patrick Earle of Dumbarre We finde also a gift of twenty pound land granted by Isabell Countesse of Stratherne Relict of Walter Cummin and her husband John Russell In the dayes of Balioll this house was so powerfull that thy were able to make their party good against the Earle of Fife whom they slew and were winked at by Balioll with this house did Sir Hugh match as his father had done with Carrict and Galloway which as it was an honourable alliance for him so doth it also argue that the house of Douglas even then was noble and honourable and in the rank amongst the greatest as we have said How long this Sir Hugh Lord Douglas did live after his contract and marriage we cannot finde but it is clear that he had no children that survived and outlived their father because his brother William was his heire and successour Neither can we relate any his particular actions onely fame and tradition have given him a received testimony of activitie watchfulnesse and diligence by terming him good Sir Hugh Douglas whom his foes found never sleeping He with his wife are buried in Saint Brides Church in Douglas Of William the Hardie or Long legge the fourth William and seventh Lord of Douglas TO Hugh did succeed his brother VVilliam who for his valour and courage is distinguished by the addition of VVilliam the hardie he is named also William long legge by reason of his tall and goodly stature having beene a very personable man Hee was twice
that hereupon he used them courteously But when his men were in great security scattered and separated as fearing no hurt or danger and some at their Ships some sent with Robert Stuart of Disdier to spoile the Countrey about which stood out against him and to furnish his ships and the towne so that there remained not with the Lord Niddisdale above 200. men when they set upon him as before we have said and being beaten the Towne was sackt and burnt Then they tooke 60. ships which they found in divers Havens and Creeks and laded 15. of them with such spoile as they had gotten and burnt the rest Then returning homeward they spoiled the Isle of Man which lay in their way He landed at Loch-rien which divides a part of Galloway from Carrict and hearing there of the roade into England he hasted him hither with all diligence But truce being made for certaine yeares with England that he might not languish in idlenesse he passed into Spruce from whence he heard that an Army was to be sent against the Infidels There hee gave such proofe of his vertue and valour that hee was chosen Admirall of the whole Fleet which was very faire and great esteemed to consist of 250. saile and was there created Duke of Spruce and Prince of Danskin But there arose dissention betwixt him and the Lord Clifford an Englishman upon an old emulation and present envie of his new preferment at which Clifford grudged Wherefore being challenged to the field by Clifford he accepted it gladly but the other weighing with himselfe what a hazzard he was like to runne by fighting with such a man of such incomparable valour found meanes before the day of the combat came to make him away by hired Assasines and Brigands who murthered him in the night on the bridge of Danskin The Manuscript seemeth to say that combat was not taken on there and then but long before while they were both at home and that Niddisdale before the day passing to Paris to provide armour fit for him or on whatsoever occasion else Clifford gave it out that he had fled the combat but when he saw that he was returned before the day appointed fearing to match with his well knowne strength and valour would have shifted the fight with many frivolous excuses Now there being assembled and met together at that time brave Knights from all the parts of Christendome Clifford partly for envie of the honour conferred upon his adversary and partly remembring their old debates but chiefly because of this disgrace and infamie of being put to this necessitie of refusing to fight with him hee caused mercenarie cut-throats to lie in wait for him who as he happened to walke through the streets and view the walls of the Towne set upon him and murdered him not without great difficultie by which losse that enterprise against the Infidels was disturbed and dashed We told before how he is stiled Prince of Danskin and Duke of Spruce in the Monuments of the Sinclairs of whom one had married his daughter sure it is by the report of many eye-witnesses that there was a gate in Dansick on which the Coat of the Douglasses was carved and graven in stone which decaying and being of late re-edified this monument of him is perished The common opinion is that Dansick having beene taken by Infidels was regained by Scottishmen and therefore it is that the Scots have such priviledges there and there is a part of the Town which they call little Scotland which is inhabited almost with Scottishmen All which must be referred most apparently to the Lord Niddisdale and to this time and doth testifie in some measure he hath surpassed the quality and condition of a private man or of a stranger in those parts seeing he acquired the title of Prince and Dâ—…ke whereof we can affirme no more then hath beene said This fell out about the yeare 1389. or 1390. about the death of King Robert the second Of Archbald the second called The Grimme the third Earle and twelfth Lord of Douglas and Bothwell UNto James 〈◊〉 at Otterâ—…urn succeeded his brother Archbald whom 〈◊〉 wrongfully calleth his Cousin Hee was married to the daughter of Andrew Murray sisters sonne to K. David Bruce and Governour of Scotland by her he got the Lordship of Bothwell and many other lands and she bare to him two sonnes first William who died a yeare before his father without children and 〈◊〉 who succeeded to his father also a daughter named Marjorie married to David Prince of Scotland Concerning this Archbald the Grim we finde not many particular acts of his recorded besides those which he did in his fathers time and in his brothers of which we have already spoken although certainly hee cannot but have done divers worthy of memorie seeing he hath the name and reputation of a most worthy Captaine being so sterne and austere in carriage and countenance that hee was termed The Grimme Douglas and by our Writers Archbald the Grimme Now that we may the better understand the reasons of the Douglasses proceedings and actions let us as our manner is take a generall view of the estate of the Countrey at this time His succession to the Earledome by the death of his brother was as we have said not long before the death of King Robert the second who died in the Castle of Dundonald in the yeare 1390. April 19. Before his death there was a Truce taken betweene England and France for the space of seven yeares wherein Scotland was also comprehended By reason of this Truce partly and partly for that his sonne John who was afterward called Robert the third was lame both of body and minde and so no wayes fit for warre there is no mention of any exploit done by this man onely it is said of him that when King Robert the third in the year 1396. and the seventh of his reign created divers Dukes and would have made this Archbald one he refused it as a noveltie and an empty title not worthy of the accepting seeing it was neither bestowed for merit nor service done nor had any reall advantage in it save an airy show of appearing honour to please the humour of ambitious minds of which he was none The next yeare following Richard the second of England was deposed and the Duke of Lancaster was made King in his roome who was Henry the fourth In the beginning of Henries reigne the seeds of warre were sowen upon this occasion George Dumbarre Earle of March had betrothed his daughter Elizabeth to David the Kings eldest sonne and had payed a great part of their portion before hand But the Earle Douglas alledging that the Kings private contracting of his sonne without the consent of the State was not according to the custome of the Kingdome nor right and orderly done caused the matter to be propounded by his Majestie to the Parliament as former Kings had done and as reason