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The first record of the name is William de Dufglas who witnessed a charter by the Bishop of Glasgow to the monks of Kelso between 1175 and 1199. In 1263 two sons of Sir William de Douglas, believed to be the third head of the family, fought in the Battle of Largs.
William Douglas 'The Hardy' was governor of Berwick when the town was besieged by the forces of Edward I of England. Douglas was captured and was released only after he had agreed to accept the claim of the English king to be overlord of Scotland. He subsequently joined William Wallace in fighting for Scottish independence, but was captured and taken to England, where he died in 1302. The Clan Douglas fought at the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333.
Douglas's son, James Douglas, 'The Good Sir James', was the founder of the Black Douglases. Robert the Bruce had requested that Douglas, his oldest and most esteemed companion in arms, should carry his heart to the Holy Land. Douglas and his knights had joined the forces of Alfonso XI of Castile against the Moors in 1330. Douglas was killed as he led a cavalry charge against the enemy while outnumbered and cut off from the main Christian force. The casket containing the heart of the Bruce was recovered and returned to Scotland, to be interred at Melrose Abbey.
The Battle of Otterburn 1388, The prestige of the family was greatly increased when James Douglas's great nephew, James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Douglas married a Stuart princess. In 1388 at the Battle of Otterburn he was instrumental to the Scots' victory, but was killed during the fighting. Leaving no legitimate heir, his titles passed to the illegitimate son of his great uncle.
Defense of Edinburgh Castle 1400, Archibald Douglas, 3rd Earl of Douglas did much to consolidate the family's power and influence. He successfully defended Edinburgh Castle against Henry IV of England in 1400 but died the following year. His son, also Archibald, married the sister of James I of Scotland, In 1437, with the death of the king, Douglas became one of the council of regents, and later Lieutenant General of the kingdom. Douglas and his son were both killed in fighting in France.
The Battle of Sark 1448. George Douglas the Earl of Ormond held command along with John Wallace of Clan Wallace where he led a Scottish force to victory which included the Clan Douglas against an English army at the Battle of Sark in 1448.
Battle with Clan Gordon, The king gave the Earl of Atholl’s confiscated lands of Strathbogie to Clan Gordon. The castle there became known as Huntly, a reminder of the Gordons’ Berwickshire lands. Sir Alexander Gordon was created Earl of Huntly in 1449. At this time the king was at enmity with the powerful Clan Douglas. The Gordons stood on the king’s side, and with their men involved in the south of the country. The Earl of Moray was a relation and ally of the Douglases. He and the Clan Douglas took the opportunity to sack the Gordon lands, setting Huntly Castle ablaze. However the Gordons returned and quickly destroyed their enemies. Although the castle was burned to the ground, a grander castle was built in its place.
Feud with Clan Colville. Clan Douglas had a long feud with Clan Colville. Sir Richard Colville had killed the Laird of Auchinleck who was an allie of the Douglases. To avenge this murder the Clan Douglas attacked the Colvilles in their castle. Many were killed on both sides. The Douglases levelled the Colville's castle and put their men to the sword. The Douglas Chief himself executed Richard Colville. However the Douglas Chief himself was later stabbed to death by King James II of Scotland in Stirling Castle.
Despite this setback, the Douglases became so powerful that by the early fifteenth century they were seen as a threat to the stability of the nation. In 1440 the young Earl of Douglas and his brother were invited to dine with the ten year-old James II. The dinner was organised by Sir William Crichton of Clan Crichton. Known as the Black Dinner', a black bull's head, the symbol of death, was brought in. After the dinner the Douglases were dragged out to Castle Hill, given a mock trial and beheaded. The Clan Douglas then laid siege to Edinburgh Castle. Crichton perceiving the danger surrended the castle to the King and was raised to the title of Lord Crichton. It is still unclear exactly who else was ultimately responsible, though it is thought Crichton, Livingstone and Buchan as likely candidates. The young king was horrifed, but when he invited the 8th Earl to Stirling Castle in 1452 under the promise of safe conduct, it was the king himself who struck the first blow in his murder.
The ninth Earl of Douglas spent much of his adult life in England returning in 1484 with a small army in an attempt to recover his possessions. He was captured and held at Lindores Abbey, where he died in 1491, the last of the line of 'Black Douglases'. At this time, however, a new Douglas line was created, the 'Red Douglases'. Another of Sir James's great nephews, George, first Earl of Angus married a Stuart princess, and the red Douglases soon rose to the prominence that the Black Douglases had held. This prominence was largely accredited to Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus, known as 'Bell the Cat'. He became Lord Chancellor of Scotland in 1493.
Dual with Robert Charteris of Clan Charteris 1530, A dispute occurred in 1530, when Sir Robert Charteris, the eighth Laird, fought a duel with Sir James Douglas of Drumlanrig from Clan Douglas in what was said to have been one of the last great chivalric contests. It was fought with all the observance of a medieval tournament with heralds and the king himself watching from the castle walls. The joust was apparently fought with such fury that Charteris’ sword was broken and the king had to send his men-at-arms to part the combatants.
His grandson, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, similarly held the post of Lord Chancellor and became guardian of James V by marrying his widowed mother, Margaret Tudor with whom he had a daughter, Margaret Douglas who was the mother of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, nephew of the 6th Earl of Angus was a bitter enemy of Mary, Queen of Scots. He was one of the murderers of the queen's secretary David Rizzio and was heavily implicated in the murder of her second husband Lord Darnley. As regent, he was brutal in crushing factions still loyal to Mary, however, he was accused of complicity in the murder of Darnley and was executed in 1581.
During the English Civil War, William Douglas, 11th Earl of Angus, a Catholic was a supporter of Charles I of England. In 1633 he was created Marquess of Douglas. Following the Battle of Kilsyth in 1645 he joined James Graham the 1st Marquess of Montrose and was present when Royalist forces fought Covenanter cavalry at the Battle of Philiphaugh where he barely escaped with his life. Following Cromwell's victory, he was able to make peace and was fined £1,000.
In 1660, William Douglas, the brother of the second Marquess of Douglas became, through marriage, the Duke of Hamilton. Eventually the titles of Marquess of Douglas, Earl of Angus, and several others devolved to the Dukes of Hamilton and the heir of that house is always styled 'Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale'. The Douglas and Hamilton lines became Douglas-Hamilton and under Scots law, are barred from inheriting the title of chief of Clan Douglas due to the hyphenated surname. This similarly applies to the Douglas-Home family who joined their surnames in the eighteenth century.
In 1689 many members of the Clan Douglas made up the Angus Regiment who although greatly outnumbered managed to defeat a larger Jacobite force at the Battle of Dunkeld.
Later in the 18th century during the Jacobite Uprisings the Clan Douglas supported the British government.
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