ment securer than a fortress. Thence he made raids, and numerous stories are told of his extraordinary prowess and ready inventiveness of stratagems. On one occasion, with but fifty men-at-arms and a body of archers, he attacked and routed a force of ten thousand English soldiers, under the Earl of Arundel and Sir Thomas Richmond. They had come provided with axes to cut down Jedburgh Forest, which they supposed afforded too much cover to Douglas. Douglas resolved to attack Richmond at a narrow pass on his route. The place is described as bearing resemblance to a shield, broad at one end but gradually drawing to a point at the other. At this point Douglas plaited together young birch trees, placing his archers in ambush on one side and his men-at-arms in concealment on the other. The English on their approach were greeted with a shower of arrows from one side, and before they could recover from their surprise, the men-at-arms rushed upon them from the other. Richmond and Douglas instinctively sought each other, but the English knight fell before the Scottish leader, who seized as a trophy of his victory the furred cap worn by Richmond on his helmet, and, cutting his way through the English ranks, disappeared with his followers into the forest. Another detachment of three hundred English soldiers, which had been guided by a priest to Lintalee, was afterwards destroyed. Shortly after this two other English knights, Edmund de Carland and Sir Robert Neville, were similarly defeated.
In 1317 the Scots recaptured Berwick, but after two years it was invested by an English army. As the besieged garrison was somewhat straitened, Douglas and Randolph, to create a diversion, made a most destructive raid into Yorkshire, in the course of which they burned and destroyed in that county alone between eighty and ninety towns and villages. An attempt was made to resist the invasion by the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Ely. They assembled a motley army of about twenty thousand men, including many ecclesiastics, and barred the path of the Scots at the small town of Mitton on the Swale, about twelve miles north of York. But these raw levies were no match for the disciplined ranks of the Scots, and the slaughter among them which followed is known in history as ‘The Chapter of Mitton,’ in allusion to the vast number of ecclesiastics slain. The army investing Berwick was then withdrawn and marched southwards to meet the Scots on their return. But Douglas anticipated their action, and by taking a new route reached Scotland unmolested.
Another expedition under Edward II, nearly equal in numbers and splendour of equipment to that of 1314, entered Scotland in 1322. The country was laid waste, and retreat was enforced by starvation. As warden of the marches Douglas did what he could to accelerate the departure, and Bruce, entering England on the west, laid siege to Norham. When the English army crossed the border Douglas joined Bruce, and with united forces they pursued the English host through Northumberland and Durham into Yorkshire, where they found it resting at Biland Abbey, between Thirsk and Malton, and protected by a narrow pass. Douglas volunteered to take the pass, and did so successfully, whereupon the English army retreated.
When Edward III again threatened hostilities, the Scots at once led an army into England. Douglas was in command, ably assisted by Randolph, now earl of Moray, and Donald, earl of Mar. Through Northumberland, Weardale, and Westmoreland the track of the Scots was plainly traceable by their devastation; but the English army, commanded by Edward III, could not so much as obtain a glimpse of the enemy. He endeavoured to intercept the Scots by taking a post at Heyden Bridge, on the Tyne. An English knight, Sir Thomas de Rokeby, was taken prisoner by the Scottish outposts while scouting, and sent back with the news that the Scots were equally ignorant of the English position and awaited them upon a hill in Weardale. As the English had fifty thousand, to twenty thousand Scots, Douglas refused to attack, in spite of Randolph's importunities, while his own position was too strong for an assault. After some successful skirmishes Douglas moved to another strong position in Stanhope Park. The English followed, and Douglas, in a night attack with five hundred horsemen, surprised the camp and nearly seized Edward in his tent. Douglas at last retreated, deceiving the English by leaving camp-fires burning, and crossing a dangerous morass by strewing it with branches. Pursuit was hopeless. Edward dismissed his army, and peace soon followed.
One of the conditions of this peace was the restoration to Douglas of all the lands in England which had belonged to his father. These were duly returned to him. His king had from time to time bestowed on him extensive estates and baronies in the south of Scotland. He also received what is known as the ‘Emerald charter,’ which was not a gift of lands, but a grant of the criminal jurisdiction of all his lands, with immunity to himself and tenants from existing feudal
