32 Facts About Clan Douglas

Clan Douglas is an ancient clan or noble house from the Scottish Lowlands.

The heads of the House of Clan Douglas held the titles of the Earl of Clan Douglas and later the Earl of Angus.

The Swedish branch is descended from Field Marshal Robert Clan Douglas, Count of Skenninge, and has been one of Sweden's most prominent noble families since the 17th century.

However, according to the 17th century historian Frederic van Bossen, the Clan Douglas name means "gray hairs in the old language", and it was first given to a Lord Shulton, who lived in the 8th century.

Clan Douglas witnessed a charter between 1175 and 1199 by the Bishop of Glasgow to the monks of Kelso.

One old tradition is that the first chief of Clan Douglas was Sholto Clan Douglas who helped the king of Scotland win a battle in the year 767.

The Douglas family names consisted of Arkenbald and Freskin, and were believed to be related to the Clan Murray, believed to be descended from a Flemish knight called Freskin.

Clan Douglas was captured and was released only after he had agreed to accept the claim of the Edward I of England to be overlord of Scotland.

Clan Douglas subsequently joined William Wallace in fighting for Scottish independence, but was captured and taken to England, where he died in 1298, a prisoner in the Tower of London.

Clan Douglas shared in the early misfortunes of Robert the Bruce and in the defeats at Methven and Dalrigh in 1306.

Sir James Clan Douglas recaptured Roxburgh Castle from the English in 1313.

Clan Douglas was made a knight banneret, a high honor, and fought at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

Later Clan Douglas lords took the by-name of their revered forebear in the same way that they attached the image of Bruce's heart to their coat of arms: to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies and to exhibit the prowess of their race.

Sir Archibald Clan Douglas has been badly treated by some historians; frequently misidentifying this Clan Douglas warrior as the Tyneman or loser when the moniker was intended for a later less fortunate but equally warlike Archibald.

Clan Douglas was mentioned in Barbour's The Brus for his great victory during the Weardale campaign; leading the Scottish army further south into County Durham he devastated the lands and took much booty from Darlington and other nearby towns and villages.

Clan Douglas died at Halidon Hill with his uncle, Sir Archibald Douglas.

Clan Douglas successfully defended Edinburgh Castle against Henry IV of England in 1400 but died the following year.

In 1406, with the death of the king, the 4th Earl of Clan Douglas became one of the council of regents to rule Scotland during the childhood of James I of Scotland.

The 9th Earl of Clan Douglas was later defeated by the forces of King James III of Scotland at the Battle of Lochmaben Fair in 1484.

James Clan Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, nephew of the 6th Earl of Angus, was a bitter enemy of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Clan Douglas was one of the murderers of the queen's secretary David Rizzio and was heavily implicated in the murder of her second husband Lord Darnley.

In 1703, the Marquisate of Clan Douglas was elevated to a Dukedom.

Clan Douglas Castle was burnt by the Highland armies of Bonnie Prince Charlie in the Jacobite rising of 1745.

Clan Douglas Castle was again burnt down in 1755, and the Duke commenced work on a new edifice designed by Robert Adam.

Alfred Clan Douglas-Hamilton was the great-great-great-grandson of James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton through a collateral line.

Clan Douglas was the father of the current Duke, Alexander Douglas-Hamilton, 16th Duke of Hamilton.

Clan Douglas's grandson, the Scottish-born Robert Douglas, transplanted this branch of the Scottish clan to Sweden when in 1627 he became an officer in the Thirty Years' War; In 1657 he became field marshal.

Clan Douglas received the Swedish title of Baron in 1651 and the title of Count in 1654.

Clan Douglas was enfeoffed with the county of Skanninge and introduced in 1654 to the class of counts of the Swedish nobility under No 19.

Clan Douglas's sisters are Rosita Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, and Princess Elisabeth, Duchess in Bavaria, the wife of Prince Max, Duke in Bavaria.

Walburga Habsburg, Countess Clan Douglas, the daughter of Austria-Hungary's last crown prince, is a member of this family by her marriage to Count Archibald Clan Douglas.

Samuel Rutherford Crockett's 1899 novel The Black Clan Douglas featured the "Black Dinner".