7th Lord of Douglas Hugh Douglas

Male 1298 - 1342  (44 years)


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  • Name Hugh Douglas  [1
    Title 7th Lord of Douglas 
    Birth 1298  Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Gender Male 
    Name Hugh the Dull 
    Death 1342 
    Notes 
    • Hugh the Dull, Lord of Douglas
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      Hugh the Dull (1294 - d. after 1342 but before 1346) was Lord of Douglas, a Scottish Nobleman and Cleric.

      The second son of William the Hardy, Lord of Douglas, William Wallace's companion in arms and Eleanor Ferrers. Hugh's elder brother was Sir James Douglas hero of the Wars of Independence, and his younger was Sir Archibald Douglas, Guardian of the realm, and Scots commander at the Battle of Halidon Hill.
      Contents
      [hide]

      * 1 Early life
      * 2 Titular Lord of Douglas
      * 3 The Knight of Liddesdale
      * 4 Legacy and death
      * 5 References

      [edit] Early life

      Hugh of Douglas is first heard of in 1296. Following the forfeiture of his father's English possessions, the two year old Hugh was taken into custody at Stebbing in Essex, one of his father's manors.

      Nothing further is heard of him until 1325 when he appeared by proxy as a Canon of Glasgow Cathedral during a meeting of Chapter. He appears to have been at this time Parish Priest of Roxburgh.

      [edit] Titular Lord of Douglas

      The death of his nephew William, Lord of Douglas, and brother Sir Archibald at Halidon Hill left the succession of the patrimony of Douglas to Hugh. However, Scotland at this time was going through the paroxysms of the Second War of Independence, and Edward III and Edward Balliol controlled much of the south of the country. Balliol, having paid homage for his Kingdom to Edward had also ceded to the Crown of England in perpetuity, the Forests of Selkirk, Ettrick and Jedburgh, and the shires of Roxburgh, Peebles, Dumfries, Linlithgow, Edinburgh and Haddington. In essence, all the territories in which the Lord of Douglas held property. Edward had re-appointed Douglasdale to Robert de Clifford, 3rd Baron de Clifford, grandson of Robert de Clifford, 1st Baron de Clifford, who had been granted it by Edward I of England following his dissolution of the Kingdom of Scots in 1296. Clifford never got to enjoy his new properties, by way of stout resistance from the men of Douglas led by William Douglas of Lothian.

      Hugh the Dull had probably escaped to France to the court of David II at Château-Gaillard in 1337. Here it was that his young nephews William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas and Archibald Douglas, 3rd Earl of Douglas had sought refuge. Certainly by that date, Edward III had appointed Andrew de Ormiston as prebend of Hugh's parish of Roxburgh.

      [edit] The Knight of Liddesdale

      By 1337, William Douglas of Lothian, using the same guerilla tactics employed by Hugh's brother Sir James had carved out a power base in the Borders and had styled himself Lord of Liddesdale. It is assumed that the Lord of Douglas, no warrior, had given executive control of the Douglas territories in the south to him. In 1342, Liddesdale hankering after formal power co-erced the Lord of Douglas into resigning the majority of the rest of the Douglas territories over to him with all administrative powers pertaining. Hugh of Douglas resigned his Lordship in favour of his nephew William, still in France, making him Ward of Liddesdale.

      [edit] Legacy and death

      Douglas dedicated a church to St John the Baptist at Crookboat, three miles south of Lanark, where the Douglas Water meets the Clyde. Amongst other endowments to this establishment he granted the priest the right to the best cheese in every house on Douglas Moor. Hugh of Douglas retired back to his Parish duties at Roxburgh. Hugh of Douglas died in relative obscurity at some point before 1346, when following the Battle of Durham Edward III controlled southern Scotland once more, his parish was given to one William de Emeldon.

      Hugh, Lord of Douglas was a singular figure in the warlike tribe to which he belonged. His perhaps unfair epithet has probably more to do with his profession which had him live a more retiring life than the rest of his family. Certainly there were no clerics amongst the immediate families of the Chief of Douglas until the 1440s.

      [edit]
    Person ID I5403  MontyHistNotes_II
    Last Modified 16 Mar 2024 

    Father 4th Lord of Douglas William Douglas,   b. 1240, Douglas, Lanarkshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1298, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 58 years) 
    Relationship natural 
    Mother Ailanore Eleanor de Louvain,   b. 1244, Little Easton, Essex, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1326, Dunmow, Essex, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 82 years) 
    Relationship natural 
    Marriage Aft 1288  Douglas, Lanarkshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F2590  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Sources 
    1. [S323] thePeerage.com, Listing of British Peerage.