The Black Douglases

During the century and a half of their power the Black Douglases earned fame as Scotland's champions in the front line of war against England. This work analyses the rise and fall of the family as the magnates of the south, from the deeds of the Good Sir James Douglas in the service of Bruce to the destruction of the Douglas earls in the 1450s.

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But others saw the power of these lords and earls of Douglas in a different light. To their critics the Douglases were a force for disorder in the kingdom: lawless, arrogant and violent. Michael Brown analyses the rise and fall of the family as the dominant magnates of the south, from the deeds of the Good Sir James Douglas in the service of Bruce to the violent destruction of the Douglas earls in the 1450s. "The Black Douglases" includes a series of thematic examinations of the nature of aristocratic power. These emphasise the link between warfare and political power in southern Scotland during the fourteenth century. For the Black Douglases, war was not just a patriotic duty but the means to power and fame in Scotland and across Europe.