Knight of Liddesdale, The [Child 160]

DESCRIPTION: Only one stanza extant: "The Countesse of Douglas out of her boure she came, And loudly there did she call: 'It is for the Lord of Liddesdale That I let all these tears downe fall.'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: (1833, assuming it existed [see NOTES])
KEYWORDS: death mourning nobility
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1353 - Assassination of William Douglas, "The Knight of Liddesdale," by his relative Lord William Douglas
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Child 160, "The Knight of Liddesdale" (0 texts!)
Roud #3999
NOTES [1228 words]: Child apparently included this ballad in his collection "on speculation"; Scott's "Minstrelsy" claimed there were "fragments" still current in his time. Child, however, had only one stanza, and nothing more has been recovered since.
Child has extensive notes on the Knight of Liddesdale, who is the probable subject of this ballad. William Douglas, who was known as the Knight of Liddesdale, was active during the reign of David Bruce, the son of Robert Bruce (for some details on the complicated Scottish succession of this period, see the notes to "The Lord of Lorn and the False Steward" [Child 271]).
David Bruce had come to the Scottish throne as a child of five, and soon after, the English were invading; the English King Edward III (reigned 1327-1377) was promoting Edward Balliol as King of Scotland. This was, in a way, proper, since Edward Balliol was the son of John Balliol, who was the rightful heir of Scotland's King Alexander III. But the Balliol claim had been abdicated, and Edward III was promoting Edward Balliol solely to gain control of Scotland).
According to Brown, p. 36, "William Douglas of Lothian was a third cousin of the Lords of Douglas [i.e. the great Lord James Douglas who had fought at Robert Bruce's side and carried the king's heart after Bruce's death]. He had none of their lands and status, holding only scattered manors in Lothian. He was, though, a man with the ambition and ability to see in the war a chance to emulate the rise of his kinsman. In a career characterized by war and murder and ending in his own violent death, William Douglas, known as 'the knight of Liddesdale', would contribute to both the later strengths and weaknesses of the Douglas family."
In this period, there was much conflict between the Balliol adherents and the loyalists who supported David Bruce's claim. This conflict did not really end until Edward III started the Hundred Years' War with France and started sending his troops to France rather than Scotland. The Balliol forces were then pushed out of Scotland. Naturally there was much opportunity for various people to pick up lands at the expense of their neighbors. The Knight of Liddesdale was one of the staunchest defenders of the Bruce legacy (Fry/Fry, p. 85).
Brown, p. 36: "Before 1334 [the year after his distant cousin Archibald 'the Tyneman' was defeated at Halidon Hill, throwing Scotland into chaos], William Douglas of Lothian had been a minor figure in Scottish politics.... By 1341, though, he was among the most powerful magnates in the kingdom."
He had been captured at Halidon Hill but by 1334 was back in action, joining the resistance forces led by John Randolph, Earl of Moray. When Randolph was captured, Douglas started operating on his own, and was one of the leading loyalist guerilla fighters, his career culminating in a the capture of Edinburgh in 1341 (Brown, pp. 36-37). Two of his brothers were killed in the course of his battles (Brown, p. 38).
Some of William's rise was due to royal grants, but not much (Brown, p. 39). His dealings in this period were, according to Boardman, p. 162, "somewhat dubious." He initially gained his property by capturing territory from the English, or by convincing owners who could not defend their property to give him control over it. Starting from 1339, however, he started to receive the property of pro-English owners who were pushed aside. It was out of this that he picked up the title Lord of Liddesdale, trading it for his nominal earldom of Atholl that was too far from his base (Brown, p. 40).
He didn't always fight on behalf of King David II; when the King appointed a strong sheriff of Teviotdale, threatening William's authority, he overthrew the sheriff and allied himself with Robert the Steward against the King, forcing David to condone his rebellion (Brown, pp. 42-43). Having made his peace with the king, he joined the army that was heavily defeated at Neville's Cross in 1346; like David II, he was captured (Brown, p. 43).
Making things even more complicated was the slaughter of the Douglases. James Lord Douglas was killed in 1330, and his son William in 1333, leaving only his illegitimate son Archibald "the Grim" to carry on that line. James's brother Archibald "the Tyneman" left only one son. A third brother, Hugh "the Dull," was still alive, but not very active, and apparently Liddesdale worked hard to keep him from marrying and leaving heirs (Brown, p. 41). So there were a lot of Douglas properties with uncertain owners. With Liddesdale in English custody, the opportunity arose for the other William Douglas, the son of Archibald "the Tyneman," to put in a claim (Brown, p. 43). Ironically, Liddesdale was the other William's guardian and godfather, but he hardly exercised the duties of that role! The two William Douglases fought for influence, with Liddesdale periodically getting furloughs from custody to keep up the fight. Finally Liddesdale transferred his allegiance to the English in return for his freedom (Brown, pp. 44-45); his goal, of course was to regain his influence at the borders.
He probably should have stayed in custody. The two William Douglases continued to negotiate -- but in August 1353, Liddesdale was ambushed and assassinated in Ettrick Forest. It can't be proved that the other William was responsible, but it seems clear that either he or one of his allies arranged it (Brown, p. 46). The surviving William became "the" Douglas, claiming most of the family inheritance including the lordship of Liddesdale. In 1354, even though William had killed King David's vassal Liddesdale, David made him Lord of Liddesdale. In 1358, David went even further and created him the first Earl of Douglas (Brown, op. 49). He lived until 1384; his son the Second Earl would be the Douglas of the Battle of Otterburn (for which see "The Hunting of the Cheviot" [Child 162]).
Liddesdale did leave a daughter, Mary, who lived until 1367 (Brown, p. 32) though she died without issue. (Being an heiress might have made it harder to negotiate a proper marriage for her.) But Liddesdale's main legacy was probably the creation of the border fiefdom which his murderer in effect inherited. In addition, Liddesdale has made Archibald Douglas, "Archibald the Grim," the illegitimate son of "Good Sir James" Douglas (Robert Bruce's Douglas), into a significant man. After the death of James, the second earl of Douglas, at Otterburn, Archibald -- although only the first cousin once removed of of the second earl, and illegitimate to boot -- was made the Third Earl; the line of the "Black Douglases" were descended from him (Brown, p. 53. The "Red Douglases," the Earls of Angus, descended from George, the illegitimate half-brother of James the second earl; the Douglases of Dalkeith from Liddesdale's nephew James lord of Dalkeith.
We can't say much about this song, but since it seems to refer to Liddesdale's death, the possibility cannot be ruled out that the song at least mentions the complicated question of his successor (which Child does not elaborate) -- or of Douglas's dealings to obtain his fief in 1342.
When Earl Douglas died at Otterburn in 1388, it caused yet another squabble over the inheritance (since there was a major factional struggle in Scotland at the time); eventually much of the the property went to Douglas of Dalkeith, Liddesdale's nephew. - RBW
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