James Douglas (the Black)

James was sent to France for safety in the early days of the Wars of Independence, and was educated in Paris. He returned in 1306 , only to find that his estates had been confiscated by an Englishman, Robert Clifford. He joined the cause of Robert The Bruce , who knighted James at Bannockburn. He became known as the 'Black' Douglas, a name which carried on through one branch of his family.

Before he died in 1329 , Robert the Bruce 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 Sluis 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 seems to have been tempted, by the desire of fighting against the 'infidels', to direct his course into Spain, with the intention, from there, to combat the Saracens in his progress to Jerusalem. Accordingly, they sailed to Seville , where they were received by Alfonso XI with great distinction.

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 . The Moorish king had ordered a body of three thousand cavalry to make a feigned attack on the Spaniards, while, with the great body of his army, he made a circuitous route, unexpectedly, to fall upon the rear of Alfonso's camp. Alfonso, however, having received intelligence, kept the main force of his army in the rear, while he resisted the assault made on the front division of his army.

While the battle was brought to a successful conclusion in one quarter of the field, Douglas, and his brave companions, who fought in the van, proved themselves no less fortunate. The Moors, not long able to withstand the furious encounter of their assailants, fled. Douglas, unacquainted with their mode of warfare, followed them until, finding himself almost deserted by his followers, he turned his horse, with the intention of rejoining the main body. Just then, however, he observed a knight of his own company surrounded by a body of Moors who had suddenly rallied. With the few knights who attended him, Douglas turned hastily to attempt rescue. He soon found himself hard pressed by the numbers who thronged upon him. Taking from his neck the silver casket which contained the heart of Bruce, he threw it before him among the enemy, saying, "Now pass thou onward before us, as thou wert wont, and I will follow thee or die." Douglas, and almost all of the men who fought by his side, were here slain. His body and the casket containing the embalmed heart of Bruce were found together upon the field. They were conveyed back to Scotland by his surviving companions. The remains of Douglas were deposited in the family vault at St Bride’s chapel, and the heart of Bruce solemnly interred by Moray, the regent, under the high altar of Melrose Abbey .

His illegitimate son was Archibald Douglas, 3rd Earl Of Douglas .

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James Douglas (the Black)