"Heritage History — Putting the "Story" back into History" James "the Good" Douglas. James Douglas was born about 1280-1286 in Scotland. He was the son of William "the Hardy" Douglas, Lord of Douglas and Elizabeth Stewart. James's father, William, was Constable of Berwick Castle in 1297 and was present in Berwick in 1296, when it was sacked by Edward I of England. Most of the civilian population of Berwick was killed in a three day period following Edward I's capture of the city in a complete slaughter. The carnage only ceased when Edward I saw a woman giving birth being hacked to death by his men.
Most of the Scot's garrison was allowed to flee. It was after this, in 1297 that William Douglas was the first Lord to join with William Wallace in an attempt to overthrow the English in Scotland. After Douglas joined Wallace, Robert the Bruce, who had been Edward I's lackey during the reign of John Balliol, his rival for the throne of Scotland, had been ordered to storm the Douglas castle in Lanarkshire.
At Bruce's side was James, an intrepid spirit and resourceful. Douglas. 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. His heart was placed in a silver and enameled casket which Douglas placed around his neck. Early in 1330, James Douglas set sail from Scotland with six other knights and twenty six squires and gentlemen.
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. Douglas and his company, having joined themselves to Alfonso's army, came in view of the Saracens near to Teba, a castle on the frontiers of Andalucia. While the battle was brought to a successful conclusion in one quarter of the field, Douglas and his companions, who fought in the van, proved themselves no less fortunate. James Douglas, Lord of Douglas. Arms of The Good Sir James Sir James Douglas (also known as Good Sir James and the Black Douglas), (c. 1286 – 1330), was a Scottish warlord, landowner, and guerilla fighter.
Douglas was one of the chief commanders of the Wars of Scottish Independence. Early life[edit] He was the eldest son of Sir William Douglas, known as "le Hardi" or "the bold", who had been the first noble supporter of William Wallace (the elder Douglas died circa 1298, a prisoner in the Tower of London).[1] His mother was Elizabeth Stewart, the daughter of Alexander Stewart, 4th High Steward of Scotland, who died circa 1287 or early 1288. Douglas was sent to France for safety in the early days of the Wars of Independence, and was educated in Paris. Alliance with Bruce[edit] For Douglas, 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.
The Douglas Larder[edit] Douglas - the clan and the family, a genealogy record.