Sir James continued to take a prominent part in the struggles of the patriots to expel the English from the country, and was concerned in all the most perilous enterprises of that protracted warfare. He defeated a detachment of the English while marching from Bothwell into Ayrshire, under the command of Sir Philip Mowbray, and he cleared the wooded and mountainous district of Ettrick Forest and Tweeddale of the enemy. It was his skilful strategy that inflicted a crushing defeat on the Lord of Lorn at the Pass of Brander, near Loch Awe, in Argyleshire. On March 13, 1213, he captured the important fortress of Roxburgh and took the garrison prisoners. He commanded the left wing of the Scottish army at the battle of Bannockburn. His chivalrous behaviour towards Randolph, on the evening before that memorable conflict, shows the true nobility of his character. Randolph had failed to notice the movement of a strong body of horse under Sir Robert Clifford, who had been detached from the main army of the English, for the purpose of strengthening the garrison of Stirling Castle, and he being apprised of this movement by Bruce himself, had hastened at the head of an inferior force to arrest their march. Douglas, with great difficulty, induced King Robert to give him permission to go to the assistance of Randolph, whose little band was environed by the enemy and placed in great jeopardy. But on approaching the scene of conflict, he perceived that the English were falling, into disorder, and ordered his followers to halt. ‘These brave men,’ he said, ‘have repulsed the enemy; let us not diminish their glory by claiming a share in it.’ ‘When it is remembered,’ says Sir Walter Scott, ‘that Douglas and Randolph were rivals for fame, this is one of the bright touches which illuminate and adorn the history of those ages of which blood and devastation are the predominant characters.’

After the defeat of his army at Bannockburn, King Edward was closely pursued by Douglas in his flight from the battlefield. He came up with the fugitive monarch at Linlithgow; but as he had only sixty horsemen with him, while the royal escort numbered five hundred men, he could not venture to attack them. He continued the chase so closely, however, as not to give the fugitives a moment’s rest, killing or taking prisoners all who fell an instant behind, and did not cease from the pursuit until Edward found refuge in the Castle of Dunbar, sixty miles from the field of battle.

Douglas continued to take an active part in the measures adopted after Bannockburn to clear the country completely of the English, and during the expedition to Ireland, undertaken by King Robert and his brother, Edward Bruce, the government of the kingdom was intrusted to Sir James, in conjunction with Walter Stewart, Bruce’s son-in-law. Hostilities between the two kingdoms at this period were for the most part confined to occasional Border forays, in which the Scots were almost always successful, mainly through the activity and skill of Douglas. He inflicted a severe defeat on the Earl of Arundel at a place called Linthaughlee, near Jedburgh. The line of march of the invading army lay through an extensive wood, and Douglas having twisted together the young birch-trees on both sides so as to form a kind of abatis impenetrable by cavalry, posted a considerable body of archers in ambush at the narrowest part of the pass. The English advanced in careless security, and on reaching this spot they were assailed by the Scots both in front and on the flanks, and driven back with great slaughter. In the first onset Sir Thomas de Richemont, one of the English leaders, was slain by the hand of Douglas, who took as a trophy of victory a furred hat which Sir Thomas wore above his helmet. The estate of Linthaugh, which King Robert bestowed upon Douglas as a reward for this victory, is still in the possession of the family.

Shortly after the defeat of the English in Jedburgh Forest, a Gascon knight, named Edmund de Cailou, governor of Berwick, made an inroad into Teviotdale, but while returning through the Merse loaded with spoil, he was attacked by Douglas and killed, along with most of his men. A similar fate befell Sir Robert Neville, who at that time resided in Berwick. He boasted of his willingness to encounter this puissant Scottish leader if he would display his banner before that renowned stronghold. On receiving notice of this bravado, Douglas marched to the neighbourhood of Berwick, and sent out a detachment to burn some villages within sight of the garrison. Sir Robert on this issued out at the head of a force more numerous than the Scots. An obstinate engagement ensued, in which the English were defeated with the loss of their leader, who was slain in a hand to hand encounter with Douglas, and Sir Ralph Neville and various other persons of distinction were taken prisoners. In consequence of these and other similar exploits, Sir James excited such dread among the enemies of his country that all along the Borders the English mothers were accustomed to quiet their children by threatening that they ‘would make the Black Douglas take them.’

From this time onward Douglas and Randolph were almost always conjoined in the enterprises which the Scots undertook against the English. They carried out successfully the plan which King Robert arranged for the capture of the important Border fortress of Berwick in 1317. Two years later, while King Edward, at the head of a powerful army, was making a vigorous effort to recover that place, these two noble brothers in arms crossed the Borders with a well-appointed force of fifteen thousand men, and laid waste the northern counties with fire and sword. The Archbishop of York, to resist these ravages, hastily collected a large but ill-assorted and undisciplined force, composed of archers, yeomen, priests, clerks, monks, and friars, and gave battle to the Scots at Mitton. As might have been expected, they were completely defeated after a very brief conflict, and four thousand men are said to have fallen in the battle and the pursuit, among whom were three hundred priests. In allusion to this circumstance and to the clerical leaders of the defeated army, this rout was named by the Scots, in the savage pleasantry of the times, ‘The Chapter of Mitton.’ On the failure of the invasion of Scotland by King Edward in person in 1322, Douglas and Randolph grievously harassed the English in their retreat; and in retaliation for the ravages committed by the invaders, they laid waste the north of England, and, in company with King Robert and his son-in-law, inflicted a severe defeat on Edward at Biland, in Yorkshire, and captured his camp baggage and treasure, the King himself with difficulty escaping to York.

The last and most successful of the invasions of England by these two redoubted warriors took place in 1327, after the accession of Edward III. to the English throne. Crossing the western Border at the head of twenty-three thousand men, they plundered and laid waste the country as far as the Wear, and completely baffled the attempts of the young King, at the head of sixty-two thousand men, to arrest their progress. While the two armies were lying opposite each other, Douglas crossed the river at midnight with a chosen body of four hundred horse and penetrated into the English camp, which appears to have been carelessly guarded. He even forced his way to the royal tent, and would have carried off the young King but for the brave resistance of his chaplain and other members of the household, who lost their lives in their master’s defence, and thus gave him time to escape. Having failed in his attempt on the King’s person, Douglas cut his way through the gathering crowds of his enemies, and with inconsiderable loss returned in safety to the Scottish camp. A few nights later the Scots quitted their encampment unperceived by the English, passing over a morass in their rear, and were several miles on their way homewards before it was known that they had left their position. Pursuit was hopeless, and, unmolested by the enemy, they regained their own country in safety. The successful result of this expedition contributed not a little to bring about the recognition of the independence of Scotland by the English Government, and the conclusion of a treaty of peace between the two kingdoms.

In the year 1329, when King Robert was on his deathbed, after giving some general instructions to his most trusted barons and lords, Froissart says, ‘He called to him the brave and gentle knight Sir James Douglas, and said before the rest of the courtiers: "Sir James, my dear friend, none knows better than you how great labour and suffering I have undergone in my day for the maintenance of the rights of this kingdom, and when I was hardest beset I made a vow which it now grieves me deeply that I have not accomplished. I vowed to God that if I should live to see the end of my wars, and be enabled to govern this realm in peace and security, I would then set out in person and carry on war against the enemies of my Lord and Saviour to the best of my power. Never has my heart ceased to tend to this point, but our Lord has not consented thereto; for I have had my hands full in my days, and now at the last I am seized with this grievous sickness, so that, as you all see, I have nothing to do but to die. And since my body cannot go thither and accomplish that which my heart hath so much desired, I have resolved to send my heart there in place of my body to fulfil my vow; and now, since in all my realm I know not any knight more hardy than yourself, or more thoroughly furnished with all knightly qualities for the accomplishment of the vow in place of myself, therefore I entreat thee, my dear and tried friend, that for the love you have to me you will undertake this voyage and acquit my soul of its debt to my Saviour; for I hold this opinion of your truth and nobleness, that whatever you undertake I am persuaded you will successfully accomplish; and thus I shall die in peace, provided that you do all that I shall tell you. I will, then, that as soon as I am dead you take the heart out of my body and cause it to be embalmed, and take as much out of my treasure as seems to you sufficient for the expenses of your journey both for you and your companions, and that you carry my heart along with you and deposit it in the Holy Sepulchre of our Lord, since this poor body cannot go thither. And it is my command that you do use that royal state and maintenance in your journey, both for yourself and your companions, that into whatever lands or cities you may come all may know that you have in charge to bear beyond seas the heart of King Robert of Scotland."

‘At these words all who stood by began to weep, and when Sir James himself was able to reply, he said, "Ah! most gentle and noble king, a thousand times do I thank you for the great honour you have done me in making me the depositary of so great and precious a treasure. Most faithfully and willingly, to the best of my power, shall I obey your commands; albeit, I would have you believe that I think myself but little worthy to achieve so high an enterprise." "Ah, gentle knight," said the King, "I heartily thank you, provided you promise to do my bidding on the word of a true and loyal knight." "Assuredly, my liege, I do promise so," replied Douglas, "by the faith which I owe to God and to the Order of Knighthood." "Now praise be to God!" said the King, "for I shall die in peace, since I am assured that the best and most valiant knight of my kingdom has promised to achieve for me that which I myself could never accomplish."

Soon after the death of King Robert, Sir James Douglas prepared to execute the last injunctions of his beloved master. He had the heart of Bruce embalmed and enclosed in a silver case, curiously enamelled, and wore it suspended from his neck by a silver chain. Having settled all his affairs and made his will, he set sail from Scotland, attended by a numerous and splendid retinue, and anchored off Sluys, where he lay for twelve days, keeping open table on board his ship, and entertaining his visitors with almost royal magnificence. Froissart says that Sir James had in his train a knight bearing a banner, and seven other noble Scottish knights, and was served at table by twenty-six esquires, all ‘comely young men of good family; and he kept court in a royal manner with the sound of trumpets and cymbals. All the vessels for his table were of gold and silver, and whatever persons of good estate went to pay their respects to him were entertained with two sorts of wine and two kinds of spice.’

While lying off Sluys, Douglas learned that Alphonso, the young King of Leon and Castile, was carrying on hostilities with Osmyn, the Moorish King of Granada. As this was reckoned a holy warfare Douglas resolved, before proceeding to Jerusalem, in fulfilment of his own mission, to assist Alphonso in his contest with the enemies of the Christian faith. He accordingly sailed to Spain, and shortly after his arrival at Seville a battle was fought with the Moors near Theba, on the frontiers of Andalusia. Douglas, to whom the command of the vanguard was assigned, fought with his usual bravery and put the enemy to flight; but he and his companions, pursuing the fugitives too eagerly, were separated from the main body of the Spanish army. The Moors, perceiving the small number of their pursuers, rallied and surrounded them. Douglas, who had only ten men with him, cut his way through the enemy, and might have made good his retreat, had he not turned back to rescue Sir William St Clair of Roslin, whom he saw surrounded by the Moors and in great jeopardy. ‘Yon worthy knight will be slain,’ he exclaimed, ‘unless he have instant help.’ And putting spurs to his horse he galloped back to St. Clair’s. assistance. But, in attempting to save his friend, he was surrounded and overwhelmed by the crowds of the Moors, who were twenty to one. When he found himself inextricably involved, he took from his neck the casket which contained the heart of Bruce, and throwing it before him he exclaimed, ‘Now pass thou onward as thou wert wont, and Douglas will follow thee or die !’ He then rushed forward to the place where it fell, and was there slain, along with Sir William St. Clair and Sir Robert and Sir Walter Logan. On the following day the body of the hero of seventy battles was found on the field beside the casket, and by his few surviving friends sorrowfully conveyed to Scotland and interred in the sepulchre of his ancestors in St. Bride’s Church at Douglas. The heart of Bruce was buried by Randolph, Earl of Moray, in Melrose Abbey.

The portrait of Sir James Douglas has been drawn in very graphic and pleasing terms by the friendly hand of Barbour, from the testimony of persons who were personally acquainted with the hero. He was tall, strong, and well-made, though lean, broad-shouldered and large-boned, and of swarthy complexion, with black hair. He lisped a little in his speech, but, says the metrical historian, ‘that set him right wonder weel.’ He was pleasant and affable in his manners; his countenance had a modest and gentle expression in time of peace, but he had a very different aspect in the day of battle. Notwithstanding the perils to which he had been exposed and the numerous engagements in which he had fought, his face had escaped without a wound. There was a knight of great renown at the court of King Alphonso, whose face was all over marked with the scars of wounds received in battle, and who on meeting with Douglas, expressed his astonishment that a knight so famous for his warlike exploits, and who had seen so much hard service, should have no marks of wounds on his countenance. ‘I thank God,’ Douglas modestly replied, ‘that I had always hands to protect my face.’ He was universally beloved by his contemporaries for his kindness and courtesy, as well as admired for his bravery and chivalrous deeds, and he is affectionately remembered among his countrymen by the name of the ‘Good Sir James.’ Godscroft, who dwells with peculiar complacency on the daring exploits and many virtues of this great ornament of the Douglas family, winds up his eulogium on him in the following characteristic terms: ‘We will not omit here to shut up all the judgment of those times concerning him, in an old rich verse indeed, yet such as beareth witness of his true magnanimity and invincible mind in either fortune, good or bad:-

"Good Sir James Douglas,

who wise, and wight, and worthy was,

Was never over glad for no winning,

Nor yet over sad for no tyneing; [losing]

Good fortune and evil chance

He weighed both in one balance."'

Godscroft states that Sir James was never married, but Dr. Fraser has discovered that he was married, and left a legitimate son, who fell at Halidon. Archibald the Grim, his natural son, became third Earl of Douglas. Sir James was succeeded by his next brother- 

HUGH DOUGLAS. ‘Of this man,’ says Godscroft, ‘whether it was by reason of the dulness of his mind, or infirmity of his body, we have no mention at all in history of any of his actions.’ The true reason was that he was a canon of the Cathedral Church of Glasgow.

Read part three.

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