Archibald the regent, and consequently nephew of the ‘Good’ Sir James and of his brother Hugh, whom he succeeded. The Lord of Douglas is also said to have been named after the Knight of Liddesdale. He was engaged in active hostilities against the English in the south of Scotland when the Knight of Liddesdale returned from his captivity. In August 1353 they met during a hunt in Ettrick Forest, and the Knight of Liddesdale was slain by his kinsman, the Lord of Douglas. The place where he fell was named Galswood, afterwards William's Hope, and a cross called William's Cross long stood on the spot. His body was conveyed to Lindean Church, near Selkirk, and thence to Melrose Abbey, where it was buried in front of the altar of St. Bridget, and the Lord of Douglas himself afterwards granted a mortification to the church for the saying of masses for the repose of the slain knight's soul. What occasioned the slaughter has never been clearly ascertained. One theory, for which Hume of Godscroft seems mainly responsible, is that expressed in the old ballad which he cites, speaking of an intrigue between the Knight of Liddesdale and the ‘Countess of Douglas.’ There was, however, no Earl of Douglas until 1358, and consequently there was no countess. A much earlier, and probably contemporary historian, John of Fordun, says it was in revenge for the murder of Sir Alexander Ramsay, and also of Sir David Barclay, who is said to have been killed at the instigation of the Knight of Liddesdale while in England after the battle of Durham. It may, however, have been due to the resentment of the Lord of Douglas at his kinsman's agreement with the English king. It has also been suggested that the Lord of Douglas may have been provoked by his kinsman giving away to the English king lands which he claimed as his own. The Lord of Douglas afterwards claimed and obtained the lordship of Liddesdale. The Knight of Liddesdale was also called the ‘Flower of Chivalry.’
[Fordun's Chronicon, with Bower's Continuation; Liber de Melros; Reg. Honor. de Morton; Hume of Godscroft's Houses of Douglas and Angus; Fraser's Douglas Book.]
DOUGLAS, WILLIAM, first Earl of Douglas (1327?–1384), was younger son of Sir Archibald Douglas, regent of Scotland [q. v.], who was mortally wounded at Halidon Hill in 1333. Sir Archibald was youngest brother of the ‘Good’ Sir James Douglas, the comrade of Bruce. William, styled Dominus de Douglas (Exchequer Records, i. 396) in 1331, probably the son of ‘Good’ Sir James, who also lost his life at Halidon Hill, had succeeded his father in the Douglas estates, but, holding them a very short time, was succeeded by his uncle Hugh, lord of Douglas. Hugh, a canon of Glasgow, resigned the estates personally to David II at Aberdeen on 20 May 1342, by whom they were regranted under an entail, on 29 May following, in favour of William, son and heir of the late Sir Archibald, and his heirs male, whom failing to Sir William Douglas (knight of Liddesdale) and his heirs male, whom failing to Archibald a (natural) son of ‘Good’ Sir James and his heirs male.
The existence of William Dominus de Douglas, the legitimate son of Sir James, has been doubted, and is not mentioned by Hume of Godscroft in his history of the family, but appears proved by the entry in the Exchequer Records, which can hardly be a mistake as to the name, and by the reference to him in Knighton, and the ‘Scala Chronica’ of Gray, English contemporary historians. It is, however, singular that Hugh, lord of Douglas, is described in the ‘Charter of Resignation’ by David II as brother and heir of the late Sir James, omitting all reference to his nephew William; but this may be accounted for by the supposition that William, who survived his father only three years, never made up a title to the estates. Sir William of Douglas, the subject of the present notice, returned to Scotland from France, where he had been trained in arms, about 1348, and the Douglas estates being then in the hands of the English, he proceeded to recover them. He expelled the English from Douglasdale, and, aided by his maternal uncle, Sir David Lindsay of Crawford, took Roxburgh Castle from Sir John Copland, its English governor, thereby restoring the forest of Ettrick to the Scottish allegiance. In 1351 he was one of the commissioners who treated for the release of David II, and three years later took part in the treaty of Newcastle, by which the king's ransom was finally arranged. In the previous year he had reduced Galloway, and forced Duncan Macdonell and its other chiefs to take the oath of allegiance to the guardians of Scotland. In August 1353, probably on his return from Galloway, he slew his godfather and kinsman, the Knight of Liddesdale, at Galswood (now William's Hope) in Ettrick Forest. The Knight of Liddesdale had intrigued with the English king, Edward III, and this, combined perhaps with some family feud, but not the favour (sung of in the famous ballad) shown by the countess for the knight (for Sir William was not yet an earl), was the probable cause of the encounter. The charter, 12 Feb. 1354, soon after granted by David II
