Sir William Douglas of Nithsdale
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Sir William Douglas of Nithsdale (c.1370-c.1392) was a Scottish Knight.
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[edit] Early Life
William Douglas was a bastard son of Archibald the Grim, 3rd Earl of Douglas and an unknown mother.
A man of apparently dashing bearing he was with the Franco-Scots army when it unsuccessfully besieged Carlisle Castle in 1385. There he performed feats of valour and slew many Englishmen. According to Andrew of Wyntoun:
- "A yhowng joly bachelere
- Prysyd gretly wes off were,
- For he wes evyr traveland
- Qwhille be se and qwhille be land
- To skathe his fays rycht besy
- Swa that thai dred him grettumly" (Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland ix, c.21)
[edit] Marriage
Douglas certainly had gained his spurs by 1387 when he married the Egidia (or Gelis) Stewart, princess of Scotland, a daughter of King Robert II. According to the Liber Pluscarden, Egidia Stewart's beauty was well renowned. Charles V of France had "sent a certain most subtle painter to do her portrait and portray her charms, intending to take her to wife." But the King of France and all other of Egidia's admirers had lost out to the chivalric charms of Douglas. As part of her marriage portion went the lands of Nithsdale in south-western Scotland, Herbertshire in the county of Stirling and an annuity of £300.
[edit] Ireland
Within his first year of marriage the young Nithsdale led a punitive raid against Irish raiders who had been troubling the tenantry of his father's Fiefdom of Galloway. In early summer 1388, with a party of 500 well prepared veteran men-at-arms he sailed into Carlingford Lough, landed outside the town and summoned their leaders. The chief of the townsfolk offered a sum for a temporary truce, to which Nithsdale agreed. Secretly the townsfolk sent off to Dundalk for reinforcements, with which they were obliged. 800 spearmen from Dundalk surprised the Scots camp by night, and were supported by a sortie from Carlingford town. The Scots, veterans of years of brutal Border warfare, beat the Irishmen off, captured the town and burnt it, seized the Castle and captured 15 ships in the harbour. Nithsdale and his expeditionary force sailed back into Loch Ryan with enough time to participate in the raiding of Northern England that was to culminate in the Battle of Otterburn on the 19th of August, in which he fought with distinction.
[edit] Feuding, Crusading and Death
The year after Otterburn a truce was called between Scotland and England. Nithsdale on a knightly quest for glory decided to join the Teutonic Knights, who were fighting the Ottomans and Lithuanians on the continent. Nithsdale had previously quarrelled with Lord Clifford whose forebear had claimed Douglasdale under Edward I of England's oppression. Circa.1392 while both abroad, it is alleged that Clifford called Nithsdale out for single combat. Douglas went to France to obtain special armour for the fight. Clifford thought or pretended to think that Nithsdale was afraid to meet him. When Nithsdale kept their tryst, Clifford did not think much of his chances against Nithsdale's new harness and stayed away. To hide his dishonour, Clifford hired assassins to kill Nithsdale. The Scottish knight was set upon on the bridge at Danzig and murdered by unknown assailants.
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
[edit] Sources
Maxwell, Herbert. A History of the House of Douglas Vol.I. Freemantle. London, 1902
