[1] The real sounds are an octave lower.
[2] _The Double Bass_ (Novello, _Music Primers_, No. 32), p. 6.
[3] See Kathleen Schlesinger, _The Instruments of the Orchestra_,
Part II. "The Precursors of the Violin Family" (1908-1909).
[4] See Laurent Grillet, _Les Ancetres du violon et du violoncelle_
(Paris, 1901), tome ii. p. 159; Willebald Leo von Lustgendorff, _Die
Geigen und Lautenmacher vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart_ (Frankfurt
a. M., 1904), p. 50; A. C. White, _The Double Bass_, p. 8.
[5] M. Praetorius, _Syntagma music_. (Wolfenbuttel, 1618 and 1620),
pp. 54-55 and pl. v. (1).
[6] Ib. pl. vi. No. 4.
DOUBLEDAY, ABNER (1819-1893), American soldier, was born at Ballston
Spa, New York, on the 26th of June 1819, and graduated from West Point
in 1842. He served in the U.S. artillery during the Mexican War, being
present at the battles of Monterey and Buena Vista. He was second in
command at Fort Sumter, Charleston, South Carolina, when it was
bombarded and taken by the Confederates in 1861, and later in the
campaign of that year he served in the Shenandoah valley as a field
officer. In February 1862 he was made a brigadier-general of volunteers
and employed in the lines of Washington. He commanded a division in the
Army of the Potomac in the second Bull Run campaign and at Antietam,
becoming major-general U.S.V. in November 1862. He continued to command
his division in the Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville campaigns, and
on the first day of the battle of Gettysburg he led the I. corps, and
for a time all the Union forces on the field, after the death of General
Reynolds. In the latter part of the war he was employed in various
administrative and military posts; in July 1863 he was breveted colonel,
and in March 1865 brigadier-general and major-general U.S.A. General
Doubleday continued in the army after the war, becoming colonel U.S.A.
in 1867; he retired in 1873. He published two important works on the
Civil War, _Reminiscences of Forts Sumter and Moultrie_ (1876) and
_Chancellorsville and Gettysburg_ (1882), the latter being a volume of
the series "Campaigns of the Civil War." He died at Mendham, New Jersey,
on the 26th of January 1893.
His younger brother, ULYSSES DOUBLEDAY (1824-1893), fought through the
Civil War as an officer of volunteers, was breveted brigadier-general
U.S.V. in March 1865, and commanded a brigade at the battle of Five
Forks (1st April).
DOUBLEDAY, THOMAS (1790-1870), English politician and author, was born
at Newcastle-on-Tyne in February 1790. In early life he adopted the
views of William Cobbett, and was active in promoting the agitation
which resulted in the passing of the Reform Bill of 1832. As secretary
of the Northern Political Union of Whigs and Radicals he took a
prominent part in forwarding the interests of Earl Grey and the
reforming party. In 1858-1859 he was a member of the council of the
Northern Reform Union; and to the last he was a keen observer of
political events. He succeeded his father, George Doubleday, as partner
in a firm of soap manufacturers at Newcastle, but devoted his attention
rather to literature than to mercantile affairs. On the failure of the
firm he obtained the office of registrar of St Andrew's parish,
Newcastle, a post which he held until appointed secretary to the coal
trade. He died at Bulman's Village, Newcastle-on-Tyne, on the 18th of
December 1870. In 1832 Doubleday published an _Essay on Mundane Moral
Government_, and in 1842 he attacked some of the principles of Malthus
in his _True Law of Population_. He also wrote _A Political Life of Sir
Robert Peel_ (London, 1856); _A Financial, Statistical and Monetary
History of England from 1688_ (London, 1847); _Matter for Materialists_
(London, 1870); _The Eve of St Mark, a Romance of Venice_; and three
dramas, _The Statue Wife_, _Diocletian_ and _Caius Marius_, in addition
to some fishing songs, and many contributions to various newspapers and
periodicals.
DOUBLET (a Fr. word, diminutive of _double_, folded or of two
thicknesses), a close-fitting garment, with or without sleeves,
extending from the neck to a little below the waist, worn by men of all
ranks and ages from the 14th century to the time of Charles II., when
it began to be superseded by coat and waistcoat. The doublet was
introduced into England from France, and was originally padded for
defence or warmth. "Doublet" is also used of a pair or couple--a thing
that is the facsimile of another; as in philology, one of two words
differing in form, but represented by an identical root, as "alarm" or
"alarum"; in optics, of a pair of lenses, combined, for example, to
correct aberration. In the work of the lapidary a doublet is a
counterfeit gem, made by cementing two pieces of plain glass or crystal
on each side of a layer of glass (coloured to represent the stone
counterfeited); a thin portion of a genuine stone may be cemented upon
an inferior one, as a layer of diamond upon a topaz, or ruby on a
garnet.
DOUBS, a river of eastern France, rising in the Jura at the foot of the
Noirmont ridge at a height of 3074 ft. and flowing into the Saone. Its
course is 269 m. in length, though the distance from its source to its
mouth is only 56 m. in direct line; its basin has an area of 3020 sq. m.
Flowing N.E. the river traverses the lake of St Point and passes
Pontarlier; thenceforth its course lies chiefly through wooded gorges of
great grandeur. After skirting the town of Morteau, below which it
expands into the picturesque lake of Chaillexon and descends over the
Falls of the Doubs (88 ft. in height), the river for about 28 m. forms
the frontier between France and Switzerland. Flowing into the latter
country for a short distance, it turns abruptly west, then north, and
finally at Voujeaucourt, south-west. Just below that town the river is
joined by the canal from the Rhone to the Rhine, to accommodate which
its course has been canalized as far as Dole. Till it reaches Besancon
which lies on a peninsula formed by the river, the Doubs passes no town
of importance except Pontarlier. Some distance below Besancon it enters
the department of Jura, passes Dole, and leaving the region of hill and
mountain, issues into a wide plain. Traversing this, it receives the
waters of the Loue, its chief affluent, and broadening out to a width of
260 ft., at length reaches the Saone at Verdun. Below Dole the river is
navigable only for some 8 m. above its mouth.
DOUBS, a frontier department of eastern France, formed in 1790 of the
ancient principality of Montbeliard and of part of the province of
Franche-Comte. It is bounded E. and S.E. by Switzerland, N. by the
territory of Belfort and by Haute Saone, and W. and S.W. by Jura. Pop.
(1906) 298,438. Area, 2030 sq. m. The department takes its name from the
river Doubs, by which it is traversed. Between the Ognon, which forms
the north-western limit of the department, and the Doubs, runs a range
of low hills known as "the plain." The rest of Doubs is mountainous,
four parallel chains of the Jura crossing it from N.E. to S.W. The
Lomont range, the lowest of these chains, dominates the left bank of the
Doubs. The central region is occupied by hilly plateaux covered with
pasturage and forests, while the rest of the department is traversed by
the remaining three mountain ranges, the highest and most easterly of
which contains the Mont d'Or (4800 ft.), the culminating point of Doubs.
Besides the Doubs the chief rivers are its tributaries, the Dessoubre,
watering the east of the department, and the Loue, which traverses its
south-western portion. The climate is in general cold and rainy, and the
winters are severe. The soil is stony and loamy, and at the higher
levels there are numerous peat-bogs. Approximately a fifth of the total
area is planted with cereals; more than a third is occupied by pasture.
In its agricultural aspect the department may be divided into three
regions. The highest, on which the snow usually lies from six to eight
months in the year, is in part barren, but on its less exposed slopes is
occupied by forests of fir trees, and affords good pasturage for cattle.
In the second or lower region the oak, beech, walnut and sycamore
flourish; and the valleys are susceptible of cultivation. The region of
the plain is the most fertile, and produces all kinds of cereals as well
as hemp, vegetables, vines and fruit. Cattle-rearing and dairy-farming
receive much attention; large quantities of cheese, of the nature of
Gruyere, are produced, mainly by the co-operative cheese-factories or
_fruitieres_. The rivers of the department abound in gorges and falls of
great beauty. The most important manufactures are watches, made chiefly
at Besancon and Morteau, hardware (Herimoncourt and Valentigney), and
machinery. Large iron foundries are found at Audincourt (pop. 5317) and
other towns. The distillation of brandy and absinthe, and the
manufacture of cotton and woollen goods, automobiles and paper, are also
carried on. Exports include watches, live-stock, wine, vegetables, iron
and hardware; cattle, hides, timber, coal, wine and machinery are
imported. Large quantities of goods, in transit between France and
Switzerland, pass through the department. Among its mineral products are
building stone and lime, and there are peat workings. Doubs is served by
the Paris-Lyon railway, the line from Dole to Switzerland passing, via
Pontarlier, through the south of the department. The canal from the
Rhone to the Rhine traverses it for 84 miles.
The department is divided into the arrondissements of Besancon,
Baume-les-Dames, Montbeliard and Pontarlier, with 27 cantons and 637
communes. It belongs to the _academie_ (educational circumscription) and
the diocese of Besancon, which is the capital, the seat of an archbishop
and of a court of appeal, and headquarters of the VII. army corps.
Besides Besancon the chief towns are Montbeliard and Pontarlier (qq.v.).
Ornans, a town on the Loue, has a church of the 16th century and ruins
of a feudal castle, which are of antiquarian interest. Montbenoit on the
Doubs near Pontarlier has the remains of an Augustine abbey (13th to
16th centuries). The cloisters are of the 15th century, and the church
contains, among other works of art, some fine stalls executed in the
16th century. Lower down the Doubs is the town of Morteau, with the
Maison Pertuisier, a house of the Renaissance period, and a church which
still preserves remains of a previous structure of the 13th century.
Baume-les-Dames owes the affix of its name to a Benedictine convent
founded in 763, to which only noble ladies were admitted. Numerous
antiquities have been found at Mandeure (near Montbeliard), which stands
on the site of the Roman town of _Epomanduodurum_.
DOUCE, FRANCIS (1757-1834), English antiquary, was born in London in
1757. His father was a clerk in Chancery. After completing his education
he entered his father's office, but soon quitted it to devote himself to
the study of antiquities. He became a prominent member of the Society of
Antiquaries, and for a time held the post of keeper of manuscripts in
the British Museum, but was compelled to resign it owing to a quarrel
with one of the trustees. In 1807 he published his _Illustrations of
Shakespeare and Ancient Manners_ (2 vols. 8vo), which contained some
curious information, along with a great deal of trifling criticism and
mistaken interpretation. An unfavourable notice of the work in _The
Edinburgh Review_ greatly irritated the author, and made him unwilling
to venture any further publications. He contributed, however, a
considerable number of papers to the _Archaeologia_ and _The Gentleman's
Magazine_. In 1833 he published a _Dissertation on the various Designs
of the Dance of Death_, the substance of which had appeared forty years
before. He died on the 30th of March 1834. By his will he left his
printed books, illuminated manuscripts, coins, &c., to the Bodleian
library; his own manuscript works to the British Museum, with directions
that the chest containing them should not be opened until the 1st of
January 1900; and his paintings, carvings and miscellaneous antiquities
to Sir Samuel Meyrick, who published an account of them, entitled _The
Doucean Museum_.
DOUGLAS, the name of a Scottish noble family, now represented by the
dukes of Hamilton (Douglas-Hamilton, heirs-male), the earls of Home
(Douglas-Home) who also bear the title of Baron Douglas of Douglas, the
dukes of Buccleuch and Queensberry (Montagu-Douglas-Scott), the earls of
Morton (Douglas), the earls of Wemyss (Wemyss-Charteris-Douglas), and
the baronets Douglas of Carr, of Springwood, of Glenbervie, &c. The
marquessate of Douglas and the earldom of Angus, the historic dignities
held by the two chief branches of the family, the Black and the Red
Douglas, are merged in the Hamilton peerage. The name represented the
Gaelic _dubh glas_, dark water, and Douglasdale, the home of the family
in Lanarkshire, is still in the possession of the earls of Home. The
first member of the family to emerge with any distinctness was William
de Douglas, or Dufglas, whose name frequently appears on charters from
1175 to 1213. He is said to have been brother, or brother-in-law, of
Freskin of Murray, the founder of the house of Murray. His second son,
Brice (d. 1222), became bishop of Moray, while the estate fell to the
eldest, Sir Archibald (d. c. 1240).
SIR WILLIAM OF DOUGLAS (d. 1298), called "_le hardi_," Archibald's
grandson, was the first formally to assume the title of lord of Douglas.
After the death of his first wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander the
Steward, he abducted from the manor of the La Zouches at Tranent an
heiress, Eleanor of Lovain, widow of William de Ferrers, lord of Groby
in Leicestershire, who in 1291 appeared by proxy in the court of the
English king, Edward I., to answer for the offence of marrying without
his permission. He gave a grudging allegiance to John de Baliol, and
swore fealty to Edward I. in 1291; but when the Scottish barons induced
Baliol to break his bond with Edward I. he commanded at Berwick Castle,
which he surrendered after the sack of the town by the English in 1296.
After a short imprisonment Douglas was restored to his Scottish estates
on renewing his homage to Edward I., but his English possessions were
forfeited. He joined Wallace's rising in 1297, and died in 1298, a
prisoner in the Tower of London.
His son, SIR JAMES OF DOUGLAS (1286-1330), lord of Douglas, called the
"Good," whose exploits are among the most romantic in Scottish history,
was educated in Paris. On his return he found an Englishman, Robert de
Clifford, in possession of his estates. His offer of allegiance to
Edward I. being refused, he cast in his lot with Robert Bruce, whom he
joined before his coronation at Scone in 1306. From the battle of
Methven he escaped with Bruce and the remnant of his followers, and
accompanied him in his wanderings in the Highlands. In the next year
they returned to the south of Scotland. He twice outwitted the English
garrison of Douglas and destroyed the castle. One of these exploits,
carried out on Palm Sunday, the 19th of March 1307, with barbarities
excessive even in those days, is known as the "Douglas Larder." Douglas
routed Sir John de Mowbray at Ederford Bridge, near Kilmarnock, and was
entrusted with the conduct of the war in the south, while Bruce turned
to the Highlands. In 1308 he captured Thomas Randolph (afterwards earl
of Moray), soon to become one of Bruce's firm supporters, and a friendly
rival of Douglas, whose exploits he shared. He made many successful
raids on the English border, which won for him the dreaded name of the
"Black Douglas" in English households. Through the capture of Roxburgh
Castle in 1314 by stratagem, the assailants being disguised as black
oxen, he secured Teviotdale; and at Bannockburn, where he was knighted
on the battlefield, he commanded the left wing with Walter the Steward.
During the thirteen years of intermittent warfare that followed he
repeatedly raided England. He slew Sir Robert de Nevill, the "Peacock of
the North," in single combat in 1316, and in 1319 he invaded Yorkshire,
in company with Randolph, defeating an army assembled by William de
Melton, archbishop of York, at Mitton-on-Swale (September 20), in a
fight known as "The Chapter of Myton." In 1322 he captured the pass of
Byland in Yorkshire, and forced the English army to retreat. He was
rewarded by the "Emerald Charter," granted by Bruce, which gave him
criminal jurisdiction over the family estates, and released the lords of
Douglas from various feudal obligations. The emerald ring which Bruce
gave Douglas in ratification of the charter is lost, but another of the
king's gifts, a large two-handed sword (bearing, however, a later
inscription), exists at Douglas Castle. In a daring night attack on the
English camp in Weardale in 1327 Douglas came near capturing Edward III.
himself. After laying waste the northern counties he retreated, without
giving battle to the English. Before his death in 1329 Bruce desired
Douglas to carry his heart to Palestine in redemption of his unfulfilled
vow to go on crusade. Accordingly Sir James set out in 1330, bearing
with him a silver casket containing the embalmed heart of Bruce. He fell
fighting with the Moors in Spain on the 25th of August of that year, and
was buried in St Bride's Church, Douglas. Since his day the Douglases
have borne a human heart in their coat of arms. Sir James was said to
have fought in seventy battles and to have conquered in fifty-seven. His
exploits, as told in Froissart's _Chronicles_ and in John Barbour's
_Bruce_, are familiar from Scott's _Tales of a Grandfather_ and _Castle
Dangerous_. His half-brother, Sir Archibald, defeated Edward Baliol at
Annan in 1332, and had just been appointed regent of Scotland for David
II. when he risked a pitched battle at Halidon Hill, where he was
defeated and killed (1333), with his nephew William, lord of Douglas.
The inheritance fell to his brother, a churchman, Hugh the "Dull" (b.
1294), who surrendered his lands to David II.; and a re-grant was made
to William Douglas, next referred to.
WILLIAM DOUGLAS, 1ST EARL OF DOUGLAS (c. 1327-1384), had been educated
in France, and returned to Scotland in 1348. In 1353 he killed in
Ettrick Forest his kinsman, William,[1] the knight of Liddesdale (c.
1300-1353), known as the "Flower of Chivalry," who had been warden of
the western marches during David II.'s minority, and had taken a heroic
share in driving the English from southern Scotland. Liddesdale had in
1342 lost the king's favour by the murder of Sir Alexander Ramsay of
Dalhousie, whom David had made constable of the castle of Roxburgh and
sheriff of Teviotdale in his place; he was taken prisoner at Nevill's
Cross in 1346, and only released on becoming liegeman of Edward III. for
the lands of Liddesdale and the castle of the Hermitage; Liddesdale[2]
was also accused of contriving the murder of Sir David Barclay in 1350.
Some of his lands fell to his kinsman and murderer, who was created earl
of Douglas in 1358. In 1357 his marriage with Margaret, sister and
heiress of Thomas, 13th earl of Mar, eventually brought him the estates
and the earldom of Mar. During a short truce with the warden of the
English marches he had served in France, being wounded at Poitiers in
1356. He was one of the securities for the payment of David II.'s
ransom, and in consequence of the royal misappropriation of some moneys
raised for this purpose Douglas was for a short time in rebellion in
1363. In 1364 he joined David II. in seeking a treaty with England which
should deprive Robert the Steward, formerly an ally of Douglas, of the
succession by putting an English prince on the Scottish throne. The
independence of Scotland was to be guaranteed, and a special clause
provided for the restoration of the English estates of the Douglas
family. On the accession of Robert II. he was nevertheless reconciled,
becoming justiciar of southern Scotland, and the last years of his life
were spent in making and repelling border raids. He died at Douglas in
May 1384, and was succeeded by his son James. By his wife's
sister-in-law, Margaret Stewart, countess of Angus in her own right, and
widow of the 13th earl of Mar, he had a son George, afterwards 1st earl
of Angus.
JAMES, 2ND EARL OF DOUGLAS AND MAR (c. 1358-1388), married Lady Isabel
Stewart, daughter of Robert II. In 1385 he made war on the English with
the assistance of a French contingent under John de Vienne. He allowed
the English to advance to Edinburgh, wisely refusing battle, and
contented himself with a destructive counter-raid on Carlisle. Disputes
soon arose between the allies, and the French returned home at the end
of the year. In 1388 Douglas captured Hotspur Percy's pennon in a
skirmish near Newcastle. Percy sought revenge in the battle of Otterburn
(August 1388), which ended in a victory for the Scots and the capture of
Hotspur and his brother, though Douglas fell in the fight. The struggle,
narrated by Froissart, is celebrated in the English and Scottish ballads
called "Chevy Chase" and "The Battle of Otterburn." Sir Philip Sidney
"never heard the olde song of Percy and Douglas that I found not my
heart mooved more than with a trumpet" (_Apologie for Poetrie_). The 2nd
earl left no legitimate male issue. His natural sons William and
Archibald became the ancestors of the families of Douglas of Drumlanrig
(see QUEENSBERRY) and Douglas of Cavers. His sister Isabel became
countess of Mar, inheriting the lands of Mar and his unentailed estates.
The earldom and entailed estates of Douglas reverted by the patent of
1358 to ARCHIBALD DOUGLAS, 3RD EARL OF DOUGLAS, called "The Grim" (c.
1328-c. 1400), a natural son of the "good" Sir James. With his cousin,
the 1st earl of Douglas, he had fought at Poitiers, where he was taken
prisoner, but was released through ignorance of his real rank. On his
return to Scotland he became constable and sheriff of Edinburgh, and,
later, warden of the western marches, where his position was
strengthened by his becoming lord of Galloway in 1369 and by his
purchase of the earldom of Wigtown in 1372. He further increased his
estates by his marriage with Joanna Moray, heiress of Bothwell. During
the intervals of war with the English he imposed feudal law on the
border chieftains, drawing up a special code for the marches. He was
twice sent on missions to the French court. The power of the Black
Douglas overshadowed the crown under the weak rule of Robert III., and
in 1399 he arranged a marriage between David, duke of Rothesay, the
king's son and heir, and his own daughter, Marjory Douglas. Rothesay was
already contracted to marry Elizabeth Dunbar, daughter of the earl of
March, who had paid a large sum for the honour. March, alienated from
his allegiance by this breach of faith on the king's part, now joined
the English forces. A natural son of Archibald, Sir William of Douglas,
lord of Nithisdale (d. 1392), married Egidia, daughter of Robert III.
Archibald the Grim was succeeded by his eldest son, ARCHIBALD, 4TH EARL
OF DOUGLAS, 1st duke of Touraine, lord of Galloway and Annandale
(1372-1424), who married in 1390 Lady Margaret Stewart, eldest daughter
of John, earl of Carrick, afterwards King Robert III. In 1400 March and
Hotspur Percy had laid waste eastern Scotland as far as Lothian when
they were defeated by Douglas (then master of Douglas) near Preston.
With the regent, Robert, duke of Albany, he was suspected of complicity
in the murder (March 1402) of David, duke of Rothesay, who was in their
custody at Falkland Castle, but both were officially declared guiltless
by the parliament. In that year Douglas raided England and was taken
prisoner at Homildon Hill by the Percys. He fought on the side of his
captors at Shrewsbury (1403), and was taken prisoner by the English king
Henry IV. He became reconciled during his captivity with the earl of
March, whose lands had been conferred on Douglas, but were now, with the
exception of Annandale, restored. He returned to Scotland in 1409, but
was in constant communication with the English court for the release of
the captive king James I. In 1412 he had visited Paris, when he entered
into a personal alliance with John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy, and
in 1423 he commanded a contingent of 10,000 Scots sent to the help of
Charles VII. against the English. He was made lieutenant-general in the
French army, and received the peerage-duchy of Touraine with remainder
to his heirs-male. The new duke was defeated and slain at Verneuil
(1424) with his second son, James; his persistent ill-luck earned him
the title of the Tyneman (the loser).
ARCHIBALD, 5TH EARL OF DOUGLAS (c. 1391-1439), succeeded to his father's
English and Scottish honours, though he never touched the revenues of
Touraine. He fought at Bauge in 1421, and was made count of Longueville
in Normandy.
His two sons, WILLIAM, 6TH EARL (1423?-1440), and David, were little
more than boys at the time of their father's death in 1439. They can
hardly have been guilty of any real offence when, on the 24th of
November 1440, they were summoned to court by Sir William Crichton, lord
chancellor of Scotland, and, after a mock trial in the young king's
presence, were beheaded forthwith in the courtyard of Edinburgh Castle.
This murder broke up the dangerous power wielded by the Douglases. The
lordships of Annandale and Bothwell fell to the crown; Galloway to the
earl's sister Margaret, the "Fair Maid of Galloway"; while the Douglas
lands passed to his great-uncle JAMES DOUGLAS, 7TH EARL OF DOUGLAS,
called the "Gross," of Balvany (1371-1444), lord of Abercorn and
Aberdour, earl of Avondale (cr. 1437), younger son of the 3rd earl.
The latter's sons, WILLIAM (c. 1425-1452) and James (1426-1488), became
8th and 9th earls respectively; Archibald became earl of Moray by
marriage with Elizabeth Dunbar, daughter and co-heiress of James, earl
of Moray; Hugh was created earl of Ormond in 1445; John was lord of
Balvany; Henry became bishop of Dunkeld.
The power of the Black Douglases was restored by the 8th earl, who
recovered Wigtown, Galloway and Bothwell by marriage (by papal
dispensation) with his cousin, the Fair Maid of Galloway. He was soon
high in favour with James II., and procured the disgrace of Crichton,
his kinsmen's murderer, by an alliance with his rival, Sir Alexander
Livingstone. In 1450 James raided the earl's lands during his absence on
a pilgrimage to Rome; but their relations seemed outwardly friendly
until in 1452 the king invited Douglas to Stirling Castle under a
safe-conduct, in itself, however, a proof of strained relations. There
James demanded the dissolution of a league into which Douglas had
entered with Alexander Lindsay, the "Tiger" earl (4th) of Crawford. On
Douglas's refusal the king murdered him (February 22) with his own
hands, the courtiers helping to despatch him. The tales of the hanging
of Sir Herbert Herries of Terregles and the murder of McLellan of Bombie
by Douglas rest on no sure evidence.
JAMES DOUGLAS, 9TH EARL (and last), denounced his brother's murderers
and took up arms, but was obliged by the desertion of his allies to
submit. He obtained a papal dispensation to marry his brother's widow,
in order to keep the family estates together. He intrigued with the
English court, and in 1455 rebelled once more. Meanwhile another branch
of the Douglas family, known as the Red Douglas, had risen into
importance (see ANGUS, EARLS OF), and George Douglas, 4th earl of Angus
(d. 1463), great-grandson of the 1st earl of Douglas, took sides with
the king against his kinsmen. James Douglas, again deserted by his chief
allies, fled to England, and his three brothers, Ormond, Moray and
Balvany, were defeated by Angus at Arkinholm on the Esk. Moray was
killed, Ormond taken prisoner and executed, while Balvany escaped to
England. Their last stronghold, the Thrieve in Galloway, fell, and the
lands of the Douglases were declared forfeit, and were divided among
their rivals, the lordship of Douglas falling to the Red Douglas, 4th
earl of Angus. In England the earl of Douglas intrigued against his
native land; he was employed by Edward IV. in 1461 to negotiate a league
with the western highlanders against the Scottish kingdom. In 1484 he
was taken prisoner while raiding southern Scotland, and was relegated to
the abbey of Lindores, where he died in 1488.
The title of Douglas was restored in 1633 when WILLIAM, 11th earl of
Angus (1589-1660), was created 1ST MARQUESS OF DOUGLAS by Charles I. In
1645 he joined Montrose at Philiphaugh, and was imprisoned in 1646 at
Edinburgh Castle, only obtaining his release by signing the Covenant.
His eldest son, Archibald, created earl of Ormond, Lord Bothwell and
Hartside, in 1651, predeceased his father; Lord James Douglas (c.
1617-1645) and his half-brother, Lord George Douglas (c. 1636-1692),
created earl of Dumbarton in 1675, successively commanded a Scots
regiment[3] in the French service. William (1635-1694), created earl of
Selkirk in 1646, became 3rd duke of Hamilton after his marriage (1656)
with Anne, duchess of Hamilton in her own right. By the failure of heirs
in the elder branches of the family the dukes of Hamilton (q.v.) became
heirs-male of the house of Douglas.
JAMES DOUGLAS, 2ND MARQUESS OF DOUGLAS (1646-1700), succeeded his
grandfather in 1660. His eldest son, John, by courtesy earl of Angus,
raised a regiment of 1200 men, first known as the Angus regiment, later
as the Cameronians (26th Foot). He was killed at its head at Steinkirk
in 1692. The younger son, ARCHIBALD, 3RD MARQUESS (1694-1761), was
created duke of Douglas in 1703, but the dukedom became extinct on his
death, without heirs, in 1761. He was a consistent supporter of the
Hanoverian cause, and fought at Sheriffmuir. The heir-presumptive to the
Douglas estates was his sister, Lady Jane Douglas (1698-1753), who in
1746 secretly married Colonel, afterwards Sir, John Steuart of
Grandtully, by whom she had twin sons, born in Paris in 1748. These
children were alleged to be spurious, and when Lady Jane and the younger
of the two boys died in 1753, the duke refused to acknowledge the
survivor as his nephew; but in 1760 he was induced, under the influence
of his wife, to revoke a will devising the estates to the Hamiltons in
favour of Lady Jane's son, Archibald James Edward Steuart (1748-1827),
1st baron Douglas of Douglas (cr. 1790) in the British peerage. The
inheritance of the estates was disputed by the Hamiltons, representing
the male line, but the House of Lords decided in favour of Douglas in
1769. Three of his sons succeeded Archibald Douglas as Baron Douglas,
but as they left no male issue the title passed to the earls of Home,
Cospatrick Alexander, 11th earl of Home, having married a granddaughter
of Archibald, 1st Baron Douglas. Their descendants, the earls of Home,
represent the main line of Douglas on the female side.
AUTHORITIES.--David Hume of Godscroft (1560?-1630), who was secretary
to Archibald Douglas, 8th earl of Angus, wrote a _History of the House
and Race of Douglas and Angus_, printed under his daughter's
superintendence (Edinburgh, 1644). He was a partial historian, and his
account can only be accepted with caution. Modern authorities are Sir
William Fraser, _The Douglas Book_ (4 vols., Edinburgh, 1885), and Sir
H. Maxwell, _History of the House of Douglas_ (2 vols., 1902). See
also G. E. C.[okayne]'s _Peerage_, and Douglas's _Scots Peerage_;
_Calendar of State Papers_, _Scottish Series_, _The Hamilton Papers_,
&c.