Douglas, Sir James De, Lord Of Douglas

Related Category: British and Irish History: Biographies

1286?–1330, Scottish nobleman, called the Black Douglas and Douglas the Good; eldest son of William de Douglas, lord of Douglas. In the war of independence against England he joined Robert I and made himself the terror of the border, even burning his own castle of Douglas twice to rid it of English garrisons. He led a force at Bannockburn (1314), and was knighted there. In 1327, Douglas almost captured the young Edward III and succeeding in ending the English campaign. After Robert I died, Douglas started with his king's heart in a casket for Palestine, but he was killed fighting the Moors in Spain.

See biography by I. M. Davis (1974).