Archibald Douglas (died 1333)

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Archibald Douglas
Bornbefore 1298
Died19 July 1333
OccupationScottish military leader during the Wars of Scottish Independence
SpouseBeatrice de Lindsay
Children3, including William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas
Parent(s)William the Hardy, Lord of Douglas
Eleanor de Lovaine
FamilyClan Douglas

Sir Archibald Douglas (before 1298 – 19 July 1333) was a Scottish nobleman,

Old Scots: Loser), but this may be a reference to his great-nephew Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas. He fought and died at the Battle of Halidon Hill
.

Early life

The younger son of

King Robert the Bruce
's deputy.

The earliest mention of Douglas is in 1320 when he received a charter of land at

Cavers in Roxburghshire, Drumlanrig and Terregles in Dumfriesshire, and the lands of West Calder in Midlothian. By the time of his death, he was also in possession of Liddesdale.[1]

History then keeps quiet about Douglas except whilst serving under his older brother, James, in the 1327 campaign in Weardale, where his foragers "auoint curry apoi tot levesche de Doresme"- overran nearly all the Bishopric of Durham. (Scalacronica)

Second War of Independence

Following the death of King Robert I and his half brother's crusade with the dead king's heart, Douglas once again becomes of note. He was made guardian of the kingdom since he was "the principal adviser in...the confounding of the king" as much as he was heir to his brothers influence after Murray's capture.

During the

Patrick V, Earl of Dunbar leader of the second army that aimed to crush the smaller Balliol force. Following the rout of the Earl of Mar's force Dunbar did not engage the disinherited but retreated allowing Edward Balliol to be crowned at Scone, thus probably avoiding another crushing defeat. As a sweetener to the English, Edward Baliol agreed to cede the county, town and castle of Berwick to England in perpetuity. However Douglas led the Bruce loyalist defeat on Balliol at the Battle of Annan
, forcing him to flee back to England.

Battle of Halidon Hill

Edward III came north to personally command his army, thus making the violation of the peace treaty official, and

. The English won the field with little loss of life, however by the close of the fight, countless Scots common soldiery, five Scots Earls, and the Guardian Douglas lay dead. The following day Berwick capitulated.

Archibald was succeeded by his son, William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas.

Marriage and issue

Sir Archibald Douglas married Beatrice de Lindsay, daughter of Sir Alexander de Lindsay of Barnweill, an ancestor of the Earls of Crawford. They had three children:[2]

  1. Alexander, Earl of Carrick, natural son of Edward Bruce, King of Ireland (k. 1333, Battle of Halidon Hill
    )
  2. Sir James de Sandilands, ancestor of the Lords of Torphichen (d.b. 1358)
  3. Sir William Tours of
    Dalry
    (d.b. 1368)
  4. Sir Duncan Wallace of Sundrum (d.b. 1376)
  5. Sir Patrick Hepburn of Hailes, ancestor of the Earls of Bothwell

Notes

  1. ^ Scots Peerage Vol. IV p. 141
  2. ^ Maxwell, p. 75

References

  • Balfour Paul, Sir James. The Scots Peerage IX vols. Edinburgh. 1907
  • Maxwell, Sir Herbert
    . A History of the House of Douglas Vol. I. Fremantle, London. 1902
  • Brown Michael. The Black Douglases, War & Lordship in Late Medieval Scotland. Tuckwell Press, East Linton. 1998