George Douglas, Master of Angus
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George Douglas, Master of Angus (1469 – 9 September 1513) was a Scottish
Nobleman. The son of Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus
and Elizabeth Boyd, daughter of Robert Boyd, 1st Lord Boyd
, he was born at Tantallon Castle
and died at the Battle of Flodden.
, Douglasdale
, Liddesdale
, Ewesdale, Eskdale
, Selkirk, and Jedburgh Forest
to the crown. James III
then granted a new charter in favour of the Master.
During the stand off between James III and the party backing his son James, then Duke of Rothesay
, the Master attended the last parliament of the king before his death the Battle of Sauchieburn
. It is not recorded to which faction the younger Angus adhered to. He attended parliament again under the newly crowned James IV in 1490.
The Master did not take an active part in Public affairs
until 1499 when he took formal control over his lordships of Eskdale and Ewesdale. These lordships had become renowned for lawlessness and banditry, and the Master was appointed by the King as warden of Eskdale. In his capacity of Warden he met with his English counterpart Lord Dacre at Canonbie
to hear grievances and fix punishments.
The Younger Angus was not a particularly effective at restoring law and order. His undue leniency to his own tenantry caused the King to deprive him of office in 1506, granting it instead to Alexander Home, 3rd Lord Home
. George did however, gain the Barony of Crawford-Lindsay
in 1510, and his father made over his estates of Kirriemuir
, Abernethy, and Horsehopcleugh in the same year.
, they joined with the largest and most modern army that Scotland had ever fielded. The army proceeded under King James into England where it eventually met with the army of the Earl of Surrey
at Flodden Edge.
A petulant Earl of Angus having had his advice snubbed by King James left the field and returned to Scotland, leaving the Master and his brother in charge of the Douglas contingent.
Nothing more is recorded of the Master of Angus except an anecdote recorded by David Hume of Godscroft
recording the last moments of King James. When Sir Edward Stanley had broken the Scottish left under the Earl of Lennox
and Earl of Argyll
. King James in the centre dismounted and prepared to make his stand amongst his spearmen. On noticing the Master of Angus still on horseback, he cried to him, "asking if it had been in the manner of his race to remain mounted while their sovereign fought on foot". To which the Master replied asking whether "it was the fashion of the King of Scots to wear his mail and armorial bearings while fighting on foot". The master hit a raw nerve in James chivalric mind and he replied "I dare fight upon my feet as well as you or any subject I have, and that without coat-armour or royal cognisance."
The English Billmen now closed on the Scottish centre and King James was found within a spear length of Surrey. Whether Godscroft's anecdote is true or not, that the Master of Angus taunts drove him to his death, the Master was equal to the King in reckless gallantry. The Master's corpse was found amongst the twelve Scottish Earls and seventeen Lords which lost their lives. According to Godscroft over 200 men of the name of Douglas died also.
. The marriage ran afoul of the strictures of a small feudal society such as Scotland: it was found out some years after the marriage that it was within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity
. The Master of Angus applied for and successfully obtained Papal dispensation
in 1495.
Kingdom of Scotland
The Kingdom of Scotland was a Sovereign state in North-West Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England...
Nobleman. The son of Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus
Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus
Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus , was a late medieval Scottish magnate. He became known as "Bell the Cat"...
and Elizabeth Boyd, daughter of Robert Boyd, 1st Lord Boyd
Robert Boyd, 1st Lord Boyd
Robert Boyd, 1st Lord Boyd Lord Boyd, was a Scottish statesman.-Biography:Robert Boyd was knighted, and was created a Peer of Parliament by James II of Scotland at some date between 1451 and 18 July 1454 . In 1460 he was one of the Regents during the minority of James III...
, he was born at Tantallon Castle
Tantallon Castle
Tantallon Castle is a mid-14th-century fortress, located east of North Berwick, in East Lothian, Scotland. It sits atop a promontory opposite the Bass Rock, looking out onto the Firth of Forth...
and died at the Battle of Flodden.
Overview
In 1489 the 5th Earl of Angus, George's father resigned his lordships of TantallonTantallon Castle
Tantallon Castle is a mid-14th-century fortress, located east of North Berwick, in East Lothian, Scotland. It sits atop a promontory opposite the Bass Rock, looking out onto the Firth of Forth...
, Douglasdale
Douglasdale
Douglasdale can refer to:*Douglasdale, Gauteng, a residential suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa*Douglasdale/Douglasglen, Calgary, a neighbourhood of Calgary, Alberta, Canada...
, Liddesdale
Liddesdale
Liddesdale, the valley of the Liddel Water, in the County of Roxburgh, southern Scotland, extends in a south-westerly direction from the vicinity of Peel Fell to the River Esk, a distance of...
, Ewesdale, Eskdale
Eskdale
-United Kingdom:*Eskdale, Cumbria, England*Eskdale, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland*Eskdale, North Yorkshire, England*Eskdale , Cumberland, England, former constituency-United States:...
, Selkirk, and Jedburgh Forest
Jedburgh
Jedburgh is a town and former royal burgh in the Scottish Borders and historically in Roxburghshire.-Location:Jedburgh lies on the Jed Water, a tributary of the River Teviot, it is only ten miles from the border with England and is dominated by the substantial ruins of Jedburgh Abbey...
to the crown. James III
James III of Scotland
James III was King of Scots from 1460 to 1488. James was an unpopular and ineffective monarch owing to an unwillingness to administer justice fairly, a policy of pursuing alliance with the Kingdom of England, and a disastrous relationship with nearly all his extended family.His reputation as the...
then granted a new charter in favour of the Master.
During the stand off between James III and the party backing his son James, then Duke of Rothesay
Duke of Rothesay
Duke of Rothesay was a title of the heir apparent to the throne of the Kingdom of Scotland before 1707, of the Kingdom of Great Britain from 1707 to 1801, and now of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland....
, the Master attended the last parliament of the king before his death the Battle of Sauchieburn
Battle of Sauchieburn
The Battle of Sauchieburn was fought on June 11, 1488, at the side of Sauchie Burn, a stream about two miles south of Stirling, Scotland. The battle was fought between as many as 30,000 troops of King James III of Scotland and some 18,000 troops raised by a group of dissident Scottish nobles...
. It is not recorded to which faction the younger Angus adhered to. He attended parliament again under the newly crowned James IV in 1490.
The Master did not take an active part in Public affairs
Public administration
Public Administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal.....
until 1499 when he took formal control over his lordships of Eskdale and Ewesdale. These lordships had become renowned for lawlessness and banditry, and the Master was appointed by the King as warden of Eskdale. In his capacity of Warden he met with his English counterpart Lord Dacre at Canonbie
Canonbie
Canonbie is a small village in Dumfries and Galloway in south west Scotland, six miles south of Langholm and two miles north of the Anglo-Scottish border. It is on the A7 road from Carlisle to Edinburgh, and the River Esk flows through it...
to hear grievances and fix punishments.
The Younger Angus was not a particularly effective at restoring law and order. His undue leniency to his own tenantry caused the King to deprive him of office in 1506, granting it instead to Alexander Home, 3rd Lord Home
Alexander Home, 3rd Lord Home
Alexander Home, 3rd Lord Home His mother was Nicholace Ker, a daughter of George Ker of Samuelston, his father the 2nd Lord Home. Alexander Home was found guilty of treason in 1516 and executed....
. George did however, gain the Barony of Crawford-Lindsay
Crawford Castle
Crawford Castle, substantially in ruins, is located on the north bank of the River Clyde, around half a mile north of Crawford, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The ruins stand on an earlier motte and bailey earthwork. The castle was formerly known as Lindsay Tower, after its former owners, the Lindsay...
in 1510, and his father made over his estates of Kirriemuir
Kirriemuir
Kirriemuir, sometimes called Kirrie, is a burgh in Angus, Scotland.-History:The history of Kirriemuir extends to the early historical period and it appears to have been a centre of some ecclesiastical importance...
, Abernethy, and Horsehopcleugh in the same year.
Death at Flodden Field
In late August of 1513 the Master of Angus rode out with his father the Earl, and his younger brother Sir William Douglas of Glenbervie at the head of a large Douglas contingent and their adherents. On reaching the mustering point at the Ellemford, north of DunsDuns
Duns is the county town of the historic county of Berwickshire, within the Scottish Borders.-Early history:Duns law, the original site of the town of Duns, has the remains of an Iron Age hillfort at its summit...
, they joined with the largest and most modern army that Scotland had ever fielded. The army proceeded under King James into England where it eventually met with the army of the Earl of Surrey
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal , styled Earl of Surrey from 1483 to 1514, was the only son of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk by his first wife, Katherine Moleyns...
at Flodden Edge.
A petulant Earl of Angus having had his advice snubbed by King James left the field and returned to Scotland, leaving the Master and his brother in charge of the Douglas contingent.
Nothing more is recorded of the Master of Angus except an anecdote recorded by David Hume of Godscroft
David Hume of Godscroft
David Hume was a Scottish historian and political theorist, poet and controversialist, a major intellectual figure in Jacobean Scotland. He also spent a decade as pastor of a Protestant congregation in France.-Life:...
recording the last moments of King James. When Sir Edward Stanley had broken the Scottish left under the Earl of Lennox
Matthew Stewart, 2nd Earl of Lennox
Matthew Stewart, 2nd Earl of Lennox was a prominent Scottish nobleman. Stewart was the son of John Stewart, 1st Earl of Lennox, and Margaret Montgomerie, daughter of Alexander, Master of Montgomerie....
and Earl of Argyll
Archibald Campbell, 2nd Earl of Argyll
Gillespie Archibald Campbell, 2nd Earl of Argyll was a Scottish nobleman and politician.-Biography:Archibald was the eldest son of Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll and Isabel Stewart, daughter of John Stewart, 2nd Lord Lorn. He was made Master of the Royal Household of James IV of Scotland on 24...
. King James in the centre dismounted and prepared to make his stand amongst his spearmen. On noticing the Master of Angus still on horseback, he cried to him, "asking if it had been in the manner of his race to remain mounted while their sovereign fought on foot". To which the Master replied asking whether "it was the fashion of the King of Scots to wear his mail and armorial bearings while fighting on foot". The master hit a raw nerve in James chivalric mind and he replied "I dare fight upon my feet as well as you or any subject I have, and that without coat-armour or royal cognisance."
The English Billmen now closed on the Scottish centre and King James was found within a spear length of Surrey. Whether Godscroft's anecdote is true or not, that the Master of Angus taunts drove him to his death, the Master was equal to the King in reckless gallantry. The Master's corpse was found amongst the twelve Scottish Earls and seventeen Lords which lost their lives. According to Godscroft over 200 men of the name of Douglas died also.
Marriage
In 1485 the Master of Angus was contracted in marriage to Margaret, daughter of Laurence Oliphant, 1st Lord Oliphant. It appears that this contract was not fulfilled as George was wed in 1488 to Elizabeth Drummond, daughter of John Drummond, 1st Lord DrummondJohn Drummond, 1st Lord Drummond
John Drummond, first Lord Drummond , was a Scottish statesman.Drummond, ninth successive knight of his family, was the eldest son of Sir Malcolm Drummond of Cargill and Stobhall, Perthshire, by his marriage with Mariota, eldest daughter of Sir David Murray of Tullibardine in the same county. He sat...
. The marriage ran afoul of the strictures of a small feudal society such as Scotland: it was found out some years after the marriage that it was within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity
Consanguinity
Consanguinity refers to the property of being from the same kinship as another person. In that respect, consanguinity is the quality of being descended from the same ancestor as another person...
. The Master of Angus applied for and successfully obtained Papal dispensation
Papal dispensation
Papal dispensation is a reserved right of the Pope that allows for individuals to be exempted from a specific Canon Law. Dispensations are divided into two categories: general, and matrimonial. Matrimonial dispensations can be either to allow a marriage in the first place, or to dissolve one...
in 1495.
Issue
By Elizabeth Drummond, George Master of Angus had three sons and four daughters:- Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of AngusArchibald Douglas, 6th Earl of AngusArchibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus was a Scottish nobleman active during the reigns of James V and Mary, Queen of Scots...
- Sir George Douglas of PittendreichGeorge Douglas of PittendreichGeorge Douglas of Pittendreich was a member of the powerful Douglas family who struggled for control of the young James V of Scotland in 1528. His second son became James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton and Regent of Scotland. Initially, George Douglas promoted the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots and...
- William Douglas, Prior of ColdinghamColdingham PrioryColdingham Priory was a house of Benedictine monks. It lies on the south-east coast of Scotland, in the village of Coldingham, Berwickshire. Coldingham Priory was founded in the reign of David I of Scotland, although his older brother and predecessor King Edgar of Scotland had granted the land of...
and Abbot of HolyroodAbbot of HolyroodThe Abbot of Holyrood was the head of the Augustinian monastic community of Holyrood Abbey, now in Edinburgh. The long history of the abbey came to a formal end in July 1606 when the parliament of Scotland turned the abbey into a secular lordship for the last commendator, John Bothwell... - Elizabeth Douglas, married John Hay, 3rd Lord Yester
- Alison Douglas, married David Home of Wedderburn
- Janet DouglasJanet, Lady GlamisJanet Douglas, Lady Glamis was the daughter of George Douglas, Master of Angus and Elizabeth Drummond, daughter of John Drummond, 1st Lord Drummond...
, married John Lyon, 6th Lord Glamis - Margaret Douglas, married James Douglas of DrumlanrigJames Douglas, 7th Baron Drumlanrig-Life:He was the son of Sir William Douglas, 6th Baron Drumlanrig and Elizabeth Gordon of Lochinvar....
Sources
- Maxwell, Sir Herbert. A History of the House of Douglas. Freemantle, London. 1902
- Barr, Niall. Flodden. Tempus, Stroud. 2003
- Brown, MichaelMichael Brown (historian)Michael Brown MA, PhD , is a Scottish medievalist lecturing at the University of St Andrews. In 1991 he was the recipient of the Royal Historical Society's David Berry Prize. His full volume on the reign of King James I of Scotland led to the award of the Agnes Mure prize for Scottish history...
. The Black Douglases. Tuckwell Press, East Linton. 1998