Sir James Douglas (also known as Good Sir James and The Black Douglas; c. 1286 – 25 August 1330) was a Scottish knight and feudal lord. He was one of the chief commanders during the Wars of Scottish Independence.
He was the eldest son of Sir William Douglas, known as "le Hardi" or "the bold", who had been the first noble supporter of William Wallace (the elder Douglas died circa 1298, a prisoner in the Tower of London). His mother was Elizabeth Stewart, the daughter of Alexander Stewart, 4th High Steward of Scotland, who died circa 1287 or early 1288. His father remarried in late 1288 so Douglas' birth had to be prior to that; however, the destruction of records in Scotland makes an exact date or even year impossible to pinpoint.
Douglas was sent to France for safety in the early days of the Wars of Independence, and was educated in Paris. There he met William Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews, who took him as a squire. He returned to Scotland with Lamberton. His lands had been seized and awarded to Robert Clifford. Lamberton presented him at the occupying English court to petition for the return of his land shortly after the capture of Stirling Castle in 1304, but when Edward I of England heard whose son he was he grew angry and Douglas was forced to depart.
Douglas's actions for most of 1307 and early 1308, although confined for the most part to his native Douglasdale, were essential to keeping the enemy in the South and freeing Bruce to campaign in the north. He soon created a formidable reputation for himself as a soldier and a tactician. While Bruce was campaigning in the north against his domestic enemies, Douglas used the cover of Selkirk Forest to mount highly effective mobile attacks against the enemy. He also showed himself to be utterly ruthless, particularly in his relentless attacks on the English garrison in his own Douglas Castle, the most famous of which quickly passed into popular history. Barbour dates this incident to Palm Sunday 1307, which fell on 19 March. Some question whether this date is too early as Bruce and his small army were not yet established in south-west Scotland, suggesting Palm Sunday 1308 – 17 April – as a more accurate date. However, as Barbour states that at the time of the Douglas Larder the Scots were not yet established in south-west Scotland and indeed that Douglas was the only one of Bruce's men anywhere in the area, there is reason to think that Barbour's date is probably correct. Barbour says that the Larder was the first act toward becoming established in that part of Scotland.
With the help of his kinsman Thomas Dickson, son of Earl Richard Keith and Castellan of Douglas Castle, Douglas and his small troop were hidden until the morning of Palm Sunday, when the garrison left the battlements to attend the local church. Gathering local support, he entered the church and the war-cry "Douglas! Douglas!" went up for the first time. Some of the English soldiers were killed and others taken prisoner. The prisoners were taken to the castle, now largely empty. All the stores were piled together in the cellar, the wine casks burst open and the wood used for fuel. The prisoners were then beheaded and placed on top of the pile, which was set alight. Before departing, the wells were poisoned with salt and the carcasses of dead horses. The local people soon gave the whole gruesome episode the name "the Douglas Larder." As an example of frightfulness in war, it was meant to leave a lasting impression, not least upon the men who came to replace their dead colleagues. Further attacks followed by the man now known to the English, according to the poet John Barbour, as "The blak Dowglas", a sinister and murderous force "mair fell than wes ony devill in hell."
In August 1308, Douglas met the king for a joint attack on the MacDougalls of Lorn, kinsmen of the Comyns, the climax to Bruce's campaign in the north. Two years before, the Macdougalls had intercepted and mauled the royal army at the Battle of Dalrigh. Now they awaited the arrival of their opponents in the narrow Pass of Brander, between Ben Cruachan and Loch Awe in Argyllshire. While Bruce pinned down the enemy in a frontal advance through the pass, Douglas, completely unobserved, led a party of loyal Highlanders further up the mountain, launching a surprise attack from the rear. Soon the Battle of Pass of Brander turned into a rout. Returning south soon after, Douglas joined with Edward Bruce, the king's brother, in a successful assault on Rutherglen castle near Glasgow, going on to a further campaign in Galloway.
In the years that followed, Douglas was given time to enhance his skills as a soldier. Edward II came north with an army in 1310 in fruitless pursuit of an enemy that simply refused to be pinned down. The frustrations this obviously caused are detailed in the Vita Edwardi Secundi, a contemporary English chronicle;
The king entered Scotland with his army but not a rebel was to be found...At that time Robert Bruce, who lurked continually in hiding, did them all the injury he could. One day, when some English and Welsh, always ready for plunder, had gone out on a raid, accompanied by many horsemen from the army, Robert Bruce's men, who had been concealed in caves and woodland, made a serious attack on our men...From such ambushes our men suffered heavy losses. For Robert Bruce, knowing himself unequal to the king of England in strength or fortune, decided it would be better to resist our king by secret warfare rather than dispute his right in open battle.
Edward was even moved to write to the Pope in impotent fury, complaining that "Robert Bruce and his accomplices, when lately we went into parts of Scotland to repress their rebellion, concealed themselves in secret places after the manner of foxes."
In the years before 1314, the English presence in Scotland was reduced to a few significant strongholds. There were both strengths and weaknesses in this. The Scots had no heavy equipment or the means of attacking castles by conventional means. However, this inevitably produced a degree of complacency in garrisons provisioned enough to withstand a blockade. In dealing with this problem the Scots responded in the manner of foxes; and among the more cunning of their exploits was Douglas' capture of the powerful fortress at Roxburgh. His tactic, though simple, was brilliantly effective. On the night of 19/20 February 1314 – Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday – several dark shapes were seen beneath the battlements and mistakenly assumed to be cattle. Douglas had ordered his men to cover themselves with their cloaks and crawl towards the castle on their hands and knees. With most of the garrison celebrating just prior to the fast of Lent, scaling hooks with rope ladders attached were thrown up the walls. Taken by complete surprise, the defenders were overwhelmed in a short space of time. Roxburgh Castle, among the best in the land, was slighted or destroyed in accordance with Bruce's policy of denying strongpoints to the enemy.
The greatest challenge for Bruce came that same year as Edward invaded Scotland with a large army, nominally aimed at the relief of Stirling Castle, but with the real intention of drawing out Bruce and his men. The Scots army, roughly a quarter the size of the enemy force, was poised to the south of Stirling and prepared to make a quick withdrawal into the wild country to the west. However, their position just north of the Bannock Burn had strong natural advantages, and the king gave orders to suspend for a time the guerrilla tactics pursued hitherto. On the morning of 24 June and prior to battle, Barbour states it was then that Douglas was made a knight. Many now believe that Douglas was made a knight banneret.
The knight banneret was established under Edward I. A knight banneret held no command responsibilities so much as greater honours . A knight banneret fought under his own banner unlike a knight bachelor who was limited to a pennon. In his The Brus, John Barbour writes in Book XV that Douglas fought under his own banner, hence Douglas had to be a knight banneret. Barbour does state Douglas and others were knighted on the field of the Battle of Bannockburn, "each in their own degree" which would suggest not all were knights bachelor. Others believe that he was knighted late in his career. There is disagreement on the point.