The Heraldry of the Douglases
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4^i (B*ljan>ej; Jofytt^tott • •• Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from National Library of Scotland http://www.archive.org/details/heraldryofdouglaOOjohn THE Ukraldry of tbc Douglases NOTE. 150 Copies of this Work have been printed, of which only 125 will be offered to the Public. 100 of these will form the Ordinary Edition, and 25 will be in Special Binding. PLATE 1. X THE thcraldry of the Douglases WjITH NOTES ON ALL THE MALES OF THE FAMILY DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ARMS, PLATES AND PEDIGREES BY G. HARVEY JOHNSTON AUTHOR OF "SCOTTISH HERALDRY MADE EASY," ETC. ^JJSSMS^/j W. & A. K. JOHNSTON, LIMITED EDINBURGH AND LONDON MCM VII WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. i. "THE RUDDIMANS" {for private circulation). 2. "Scottish Heraldry Made Easy." 3. "The Heraldry of the Johnstons" {out 0/ print). 4. "The Heraldry of the Stewarts" {only a few copies remain). Preface. THE orthodox beginning to a history of the family of Douglas is to quote the " words of David Hume of Godscroft : We do not know them in the Foun- tain, in the not in the Root, but in the Stock and Stem ; for we but Stream ; know not who was the first mean Man that did by his Virtue raise himself above the Vulgar." These words were written in 1625 and are true to-day, and will probably remain so for all time. Hume's work was the first family history printed, its compilation was finished in 1625, he obtained a licence to print it in 163 1, and the first edition was printed about 1633, only one copy of which is known to exist. It was reprinted in 1644, 1648, an undated edition, 1657, 1743, 1748 and 1820. Hume's History deals with the Earls of Douglas and the House of Angus. The magnificent Douglas Book by Sir Wm. Fraser, printed 1885, also only treats of the Earls of Douglas and Angus and the Douglases of Glenbervie. Sir Herbert Maxwell's History of the Hotise of Douglas, published 1902, deals with the Earls of Douglas and the main lines of the Houses of Queensberry, Angus and Morton. Of other works referring to the Douglas family may be mentioned Pineda's A Synopsis of the Genealogy of the Noble Family of Brigantes or Douglas, published 1754, a History of Douglas of Tilwhilly or Tilquhillie, The Genealogy of the Families of Douglas of Mulderg, published 1895, and the Registrum Honoris de Morton. In this work I have endeavoured to trace the descent in the male line of all branches of the Douglas family, and as the lines of Drumlanrig, Cavers, Bonjedward and Morton, and cadets of all the branches, have been practically ignored by all former writers, it will be realised that my task has been a heavy one. I am quite conscious that my work is very far from perfect, but I hope it will prove useful to future historians better equipped than I am. This great and warlike family remained loyal to the crown, until one of lesser power, a Stewart, succeeded through the marriage of his father to the throne of Scotland, and from that time perpetual war raged between the two families. The deaths of the sixth and eighth Earls of Douglas will always be a blot on the Stewarts' fame. The Stewarts triumphed in the end and crushed the Earls of Douglas, but the Angus line rose out of the ruin and flourishes to-day. — vi PREFACE As regards the Armorial Bearings I have to thank Sir James Balfour Paul, Lyon-King-of-Arms, for allowing me to consult his Register, Mr F. J. Grant, Lyon- Clerk, for much kindly help, and Mr W. Rae Macdonald for allowing me to use his valuable book on Scottish Seals. Owing to the fact that " So many, so good, as of the Douglases have been, " Of one sirname were ne'er in Scotland seen " I have had to omit all such titles as His Grace," "The Most Noble," "The Right Honourable," " Lord," " Lady " and " Honourable," and trust that as the Douglases themselves are the cause they will excuse the omission. G. H. J. Edinburgh, December igo6. Introduction. ARMORIAL BEARINGS. DOUGLAS ARMS.—The Seal of Sir William Moray, 1296, shows three stars as the charge (Laing). In the Armorial de Gelre (fourteenth century), these Arms appear as azure, three stars argent. The Seal of Sir William Douglas of 1296 shows on a chief three stars, and in the Armorial de Gelre these Arms appear as argent, on a chief azure three stars of the field (with heart in addition). From the similarity of the Arms it is supposed that the Murrays and Douglases had a common origin. The Douglases then branched into two lines—the senior retained the azure chief with three stars ; the junior, that of Morton, changed the chief to gules and reduced the stars to two. The senior line with the blue chief added a red heart to the field in commemoration of the fact that the Good Sir James carried Robert Bruce's heart at least part of the way to the Holy Land. The first Marquis of Douglas added a crown to the heart to show that it was that of a king. The junior line with the red chief also branched out, and the younger branch, that of Lochleven, made the chief dancetty, and the three teeth were later lengthened into piles. Earls OF Douglas.—As shown in the text and plates the Earls added the heart to the paternal Arms, they then quartered the Arms of Mar on succeeding to that Earldom, and dropped these Arms when they could no longer claim them. They then added at different times the Arms of Galloway, Bothwell, Annandale, Touraine and Lauderdale on acquiring these lordships. In the fourth quarter of the Arms of the ninth Earl appear six piles sable, which are referred to more fully below under Angus. The Earl of Moray quartered the Arms of that Earldom with his paternal coat, and the Earl of Ormond was content with the paternal Arms, merely changing the field to ermine. Douglases of Drumlanrig, Kelhead and Queensberry descended from a natural son of the second Earl of Douglas and Mar, kept the quartered Arms of Douglas and Mar and added a red bordure, afterwards changed to gold, on which was the red royal tressure. DOUGLASES OF Cavers, also descended from a natural son of the second Earl of Douglas and Mar, kept the Arms of Douglas only, but added a blue bordure, and their cadets of Friarshaw further differenced by making the bordure nebuly. DOUGLASES OF Angus are descended from a natural son of the first Earl of Douglas and Mar. By reference to the text and plates it will be seen that the — viii INTRODUCTION second Earl quartered the Arms of Douglas with the white lion of his Earldom Angus. The third Earl introduced the Arms of Stewart of Bonkyl and Abernethy, derived from the Stewarts, the former Earls of Angus. The fourth and fifth Earls added the Arms of Liddesdale (the old Arms of the Soulis family). The sixth Earl of Angus introduced the Piles in place of Liddesdale, and these, their number and colour, have given cause for much heraldic and historical dispute. At one time they were given as the Arms of Wishart of Brechin, and later as representing Ettrick Forest. I shall deal first with the number. On the Garter Plate of the ninth Earl of Douglas six piles are the sixth eighth Earl of Angus five ; the first shown ; and have Marquis of Douglas has four, and the second Marquis three. As regards colour, the Garter Plate (1461) of the ninth Earl of Douglas shows the piles sable, and as the red heart in his Arms still appears in its proper colour, it is not likely that the piles have changed. Sir David Lindsay, 1542, shows the Arms of " Brechane of Auld " as Or, three piles gules, but the second Marquis of Douglas had not reduced the piles on his Arms to three till about 1669. George Burnett, Lyon-King-of-Arms, asserts that the family of Wishart of Brechin never existed, so I think we may safely assume that the piles in the Angus Arms represent neither Wishart nor Brechin. The ninth Earl of Douglas certainly owned Ettrick Forest, and might have adopted the piles to represent stakes surrounding that domain, the sable used to colour them must have been employed with his sanction, and was probably derived from the weathered or tarred wood, or from the bark left on the stakes. The green piles, which appear in some comparatively modern lists of Arms, seem to me to have no historical value. Why then were these piles afterwards coloured gules ? When James, Marquis of Douglas, recorded Arms, 1672-77, the third quarter granted was Argent, three piles gu'les " for Wishart." It was then apparently that the number and colour were decided, and I suggest that both were derived from the Arms of Douglas of Lochleven, either through ignorance of what or who the piles represented, or to show a connection with the apparently better born House of Morton. The Arms of Stewart of Bonkyl, granted to several members of this family, show the bend sable, but both Lindsay and Nisbet make it gules. The eighth Earl of Angus substituted the Arms of Galloway for those of Abernethy, but in the grant to the second Marquis of Douglas, 1672-77, they take the place of Angus. The Douglases of Glenbervie and their cadets have taken as their difference the embattled cross of Auchinleck.