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 a...
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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;
James was sent to France for safety in the early days of the Wars of Independence, and was educated in Paris. There he met William Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews, who took him as a squire. He returned to Scotland with Lamberton. His lands had been seized and awarded to Robert Clifford. Lamberton presented him at court to petition for the return of his land shortly after the capture of Stirling Castle in 1304, but...
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