James Douglas, 1st Earl of Angus

“ Before the return of Arran the marriage of the Earl of Angus [see Douglas, Archibald, sixth earl (1489?–1557) ] to the queen-dowager, Margaret Tudor, stimulated the rivalry between the Douglases and Hamiltons. Angus had the support of Henry VIII. Arran was countenanced by France, with which Scotland was in close alliance. He supported the regency of Albany, brother of James III, only so far as it held in check the pretensions of Angus, but the prolonged visits of Albany to France rendered his regency almost nominal. ”

“ One of the most illustrious of the family was the Good Sir James, distinguished specially as the "Black" Douglas, the pink of knighthood and the associate of Bruce, who carried the Bruce's heart in a casket to bury it in Palestine, but died fighting in Spain, 1330.
Douglas, Gawin or Gavin, a Scottish poet and bishop of Dunkeld, third son of Archibald, Earl of Angus, surnamed "Bell-the-Cat"; political troubles obliged him to leave the country and take refuge at the Court of Henry VII., where he was held in high regard; died here of the plague, and was buried by his own wish in the Savoy ”

“ The Scottish regiments of Coutts, Mackay, Angus, Grahame, and Leven, were cut to pieces, and the English Guards nearly shared the same fate. James Earl of Angus, a brave youth in his twenty-first year, was shot dead at the head of his Cameronians, William Stuart Viscount of Montjoy, Sir Robert Douglas, Lieutenant-General James Douglas, Sir John Lanier, Colonel Lauder, and many other brave Scottish gentlemen were slain, while the Prince de Conté bore all before him. ”

“ At the same time the Earl of Angus and Sir George Douglas, who had been many years resident in England, having been banished from Scotland as rebels, returned thither pledged to promote the same object. But the Scottish parliament, while agreeing to the marriage, refused to allow their queen to be brought up in England. By the skill of Sir George Douglas a compromise was effected, and treaties were actually drawn up on 1 July 1543 for the peace and marriage on terms ostensibly much more favourable to the Scots. ”

“ In 1524 affairs in Scotland took a turn which for a time deprived Lyndsay of his office. On 20th May in that year the Regent Albany finally retired to France, and the reins of government were assumed by Queen Margaret, who, to strengthen her position against her divorced husband, the powerful Earl of Angus, withdrew the young prince from his tutors, and placed the sceptre nominally in his hand. Angus, however, prevailed, and getting possession of the person of James, ruled Scotland in the Douglas interest for four years. ”

“ Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus (died 1514) , merited the sobriquet of Bell [247] the Cat for having put to death the upstart favourites of James III., and so prevented the creation of nobles out of architects and masons whom the king particularly patronized. At a meeting convened in the Church of Lauder by the Scottish nobles for the purpose of taking measures to obtain the removal of these persons, Lord Gray had put the question, “But who will bell the cat?” “That will I!” ”

“ When a' the world's a dream to us, we'll go to sea no more,
No more—we'll go to sea no more!"—Scottish Song.
Lord Drummond lived to see one of his daughters become a countess, and the other in a fair way to wear a coronet; for little Lady Beatrix grew a beautiful woman, and in after years became the Countess of James Earl of Arran, commander of the Scots in the French and Danish wars; while Elizabeth was wedded to the war-like Master of Angus, who fell at Flodden, with two hundred knights and gentlemen, all of the great and gallant Douglas' name ”

“ After the council she removed to Stirling, taking with her the young king, and there, in April 1514, she gave birth to a posthumous son by James IV, Alexander, duke of Ross. Her rash marriage in August to Archibald Douglas, sixth earl of Angus, lost her the regency. Albany landed in Scotland on 18 May 1515, and at a parliament in Edinburgh on 12 July was proclaimed protector and governor of Scotland till James attained his eighteenth year. Eight lords were chosen, from whom Albany selected four, who went to Edinburgh, or more probably Stirling, with an offer that the queen might reject one. ”

“ Mary, who had four husbands: first in 1397, George Douglas, earl of Angus, second, 1409, Sir James Kennedy of Dunmore, third, William, lord of Graham, and in 1425 Sir William Edmonston of Duntreath; Elizabeth, who married Sir James Douglas of Dalkeith; Egidia, who was not married. ”

“ It is granted. Safe conduct to England? It is granted. The privilege of remaining in Doune? It is granted. But do not ask me to rescind banishment against Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, for that I shall not concede. The Douglas ambition, and not the Scottish king, has wrecked the Douglas family, both Black and Red. ”

“ In February 1585 they came to London, and cleared themselves of the accusation of plotting against James’s life; a plan was prepared for their restoration and for the overthrow of James Stewart, earl of Arran. In October they invaded Scotland and gained an easy victory over Arran, captured Stirling Castle with the king in November, and secured from James the restoration of their estates and the control of the government. In 1586 Angus was appointed warden of the marches and lieutenant-general on the border, and performed good services in restoring order ”

“ He now with his followers engrossed all the power, succeeded in gaining over some of his antagonists, including Arran and the Hamiltons, and filled the public offices with Douglases, he himself becoming chancellor. “None that time durst strive against a Douglas nor Douglas’s man.” [1] The young king James, now fourteen, was far from content under the tutelage of Angus, but he was closely guarded, and several attempts to effect his liberation were prevented, Angus completely defeating Lennox, who had advanced towards Edinburgh with 10,000 men in August, and subsequently taking Stirling. ”

“ While the nobles were in the church considering grievances, Robert Cochrane, recently created earl of Mar, one of the king’s favourites, whose “removal” was at the very moment under discussion, demanded admittance. Archibald Douglas, earl of Angus, opened the door and seized Mar, who was forthwith dragged to Lauder Bridge and there, along with six other obnoxious favourites, hanged in sight of his royal master. It was in connexion with this exploit that Angus acquired the nickname of “Bell-the-cat.” The public buildings include a town-hall and a library. ”

“ Huntly and Erroll were subdued by James himself in the north, and Angus failed in an attempt upon Edinburgh in concert with the earl of Bothwell. Subsequently in 1597 they all renounced their religion, declared themselves Presbyterians, and were restored to their estates and honours. Angus was again included in the privy council, and in June 1598 was appointed the king’s lieutenant in southern Scotland, in which capacity he showed great zeal and conducted the “Raid of Dumfries,” as the campaign against the Johnstones was called. ”

“ One of his agents in London—the wretched accomplice in his father’s murder, Archibald Douglas—was consenting to her execution. James himself thought that strict imprisonment was the best course; but the Presbyterian Angus declared that Mary “could not be blamed if she had caused the Queen of England’s throat to be cut for detaining her so unjustly imprisoned.” The natural man within us entirely agrees with Angus! ”

“ Angus remained in England till 1542, joining in the attacks upon his countrymen on the border, while James refused all demands from Henry VIII. for his restoration, and kept firm to his policy of suppressing and extirpating the Douglas faction. On James V.’s death in 1542 Angus returned to Scotland, with instructions from Henry to accomplish the marriage between Mary and Edward. His forfeiture was rescinded, his estates restored, and he was made a privy councillor and lieutenant-general. ”

“ V, 244; in another version, to have gone into battle without his helmet, III, 300; challenges Percy to single combat in The Hunting of the Cheviot, III, 308; dreams that a dead man wins a fight and thinks that man is he, III, 300, IV, 501. Douglas, Jamie, ballad, IV, 90 ff. Douglas, Lady, of Lochleven, tries to protect the Earl of Northumberland from the treachery of William Douglas, III, 411-3; shows his chamberlain his English enemies waiting for him 150 miles off through the hollow of her ring, 412. Douglas, William, Earl of Angus, his encounter with the English at Piperden, III, 305. ”

“ He met her once more at Berwick in June 1517, when Margaret returned to Scotland on Albany’s departure in vain hopes of regaining the regency. Meanwhile, during Margaret’s absence, Angus had formed a connexion with a daughter of the laird of Traquair. Margaret avenged his neglect of her by refusing to support his claims for power and by secretly trying through Albany to get a divorce. In Edinburgh Angus held his own against the attempts of James Hamilton, 1st earl of Arran, to dislodge him. ”

“ The English chronicle puts John of Douglas with the Earl of Murray, and the Earl of Buchan with King David.
The ballad, therefore, that calls Angus ‘Anguish’ (11.1) and puts him on the side of the Scots, as well as Neville (17.1) , and apparently confuses the two Douglases (14 and 21) , is not more at variance with history than is to be expected, and in the present case is but little more vague than the historical records themselves.
‘Vaughan’ (13.1) may be Baughan or Buchan, though it is doubtful whether there was an Earl of Buchan in 1346. ”

“ The battle of Bannockburn, so glorious to the Scots, put an end to the pretensions of the English King to the crown of Scotland. Instead of being able to send more armies into Scotland, England was, in its turn, invaded by the Scots; and Bruce sent his two great commanders, the Good Lord James Douglas, and Thomas Randolph, Earl of Murray, to lay waste the counties of Northumberland and Durham, and distress the English as much as they could.
Their soldiers were about twenty thousand men in number, all lightly armed, and mounted on horses that were but small in height, but excessively active. ”

“ The Archbishop of St Andrew's, James Beton, was devoted to France; Angus was true to England; while in spite of a superficial reconciliation, a blood- feud, deep and ineffaceable, divided the Douglases and the Hamiltons. For centuries the law in Scotland had been too weak to reach the heads of powerful clans or families. The great nobles avenged their own injuries by their own swords; and, where justice could only be executed by crime, each act of violence provoked fresh retaliation. A plot was laid by the Earl of Arran, supported by Beton, to seize Angus in Edinburgh. ”

“ The Earl was handsome and young, one of the finest cavaliers of the Court, and probably was kind to the infant who could not contradict or cross him, and whose favour it was so expedient to secure. It costs a young man little to make himself adored by a boy to whom he seems the incarnation of manly strength and splendour. And there is every appearance that James accepted Angus's rule at first with pleasure, no doubt looking up to him as a guide in the manly exercises which could be pursued in his following with more spirit and zeal than in the Queen's surroundings. ”

“ Every man wore a sword and dagger; so jesting was perilous work at all times.
"You speak somewhat loftily, Master Wood," said Angus, with a haughty frown on his dark and commanding face.
"I am Andrew Wood, knight, my Lord Earl of Angus," he replied, firmly; "I received that title from a king's hand on my own deck, abaft the mizen-mast—a deck drenched with foreign blood! From my father, who was an honest and hard-working merchant-mariner of this good port of Leith, I inherited nothing but a bold heart, and my sturdy legs and arms. ”

“ It was a time when none could prevail against a Douglas. But Margaret obtained from Rome a divorce from Angus and married Henry Stewart, who was afterwards created Lord Methven; and her son, after repeated efforts had been made for his liberation, escaped to Stirling Castle in June, 1528. In a few months Angus and his brother Sir George Douglas were driven to take refuge in England, where, to James' great grief, they were well received by Henry. ”

“ No sooner was this revolution known in England, than the queen sent Sir Henry Gary and Sir Robert Bowes to James in order to congratulate him on his deliverance from the pernicious counsels of Lenox and Arran; to exhort him not to resent the seeming violence committed on him by the confederated lords; and to procure from him permission for the return of the earl of Angus, who ever since Morton’s fall had lived in England. They easily prevailed in procuring the recall of Angus ”

“ What cause to associate yourself with traitors and mansworn you may have, we do not know and we do not care."
At his son's first words James the Gross rose with a sudden surprising access of dignity remarkable in one of his figure.
"I bid you remember," he said, speaking southland English, as he was wont to do in moments of excitement, "I bid you remember, sirrah, that I am the Earl of Douglas and Avondale, Justicer of Scotland—and your father."
William Douglas bowed, respectful but unmoved.
"My lord," he said, "I forget nothing. I do not judge you. You are in authority over our house. ”