Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas
Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas, Duke of Touraine, was a Scottish nobleman and warlord. He is sometimes given the epithet "Tyneman", but this may be a reference to his great-uncle Sir Archibald Douglas.
Master of Douglas
The eldest legitimate son of Archibald Douglas, 3rd Earl of Douglas and Joanna de Moravia of Bothwell, he was born probably born at Bothwell Castle c. 1369 and was known as the Master of Douglas until his accession. By 1390 he had married the Princess Margaret of Carrick, a daughter of King Robert III of Scotland. Around this time, his father bestowed upon him the regalities of the Ettrick Forest, Lauderdale and Romannobridge, Peeblesshire.On 4 June 1400, King Robert appointed him Keeper of Edinburgh Castle for life, on a pension of 200 merks a year.
Rites of Passage
Renewal of the Percy/Douglas feud
At Candlemas 1400 George I, Earl of March and Henry 'Hotspur' Percy had entered Scotland and laid waste as far as Papple in East Lothian. The villages of Traprain, Markle and Hailes were burnt and two unsuccessful attempts were made to invest Hailes Castle. The Master of Douglas, who held the office of Lord Warden of the Marches, surprised them by night at their camp near East Linton and defeated the English Force. The Douglases chased the enemy away as far as Berwick upon Tweed, slaughtering many stragglers in the woods near Cockburnspath.Siege of Edinburgh
Later that summer Douglas was second in command to David Stewart, Duke of Rothesay, the lieutenant of the Kingdom, during the siege of Edinburgh Castle by Henry IV. Henry was unsuccessful in his endeavours and with Owain Glyndŵr's rebellion gathering apace in Wales, he became the last English monarch to ever invade Scotland in person.Inheritance
Archibald, the 3rd Earl died at Christmas 1400, and the new 4th Earl became the largest and most powerful magnate in the realm. His father's vast lordships stretched from Galloway Douglasdale, Moray, Clydesdale to the shires of Stirling and Selkirk. These were augmented by the forfeited lands of the Earl of Dunbar in Lothian and the Merse.Death of Rothesay
In 1402 Douglas' brother-in-law, the heir to the throne, David Stewart, Duke of Rothesay was held in close arrest, first at the Bishop's Palace at St Andrews, then at the Royal Palace of Falkland. At Falkland, Duke David died on 27 March, under mysterious circumstances. The Duke was 24 years old and in good health prior to his arrest, and rumours abounded that he had been starved to death in Falkland's pit prison by the Duke of Albany.Prince David had been arrested under a warrant issued in the name of his father, the decrepit Robert III, by his uncle, Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany and Douglas. Both Albany and Douglas were rumoured to have been the authors of any foul play suspected.
This can be shown by the fact that both men were summoned to appear before Parliament. However, on 16 March, both men were acquitted when Parliament passed an act stating that the Prince had: "departed this life through Divine Providence, and not otherwise", clearing both of High Treason, and any other crime, and strictly forbidding any of the King's subjects to make the slightest imputation on their fame.
This can be considered a whitewash, as the Kingdom of Scots could not afford to lose its two most powerful men due to renewed English hostility. Douglas and Albany were considered to be the only fit antidote to the traitorous Earl of March and his English allies.
Homildon Hill
On 22 June the same year, a small Scots force was beaten by George Dunbar, the Earl of March's son, at the Battle of Nesbit Moor. Douglas led a punitive raid with Murdoch of Fife, Albany's son, as far as Newcastle to avenge the battle. At the head of 10,000 men he laid waste to the whole of Northumberland. March persuaded Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, and his son Harry "Hotspur" Percy to lie in wait for the returning Scots at Wooler. Once Douglas' men had made camp at Millfield, relatively low ground, the English army rushed to attack. The Scots did, however, have keen sentries and the army was able to retreat to the higher ground of Homildon Hill and organise into traditional schiltron formations. Douglas had not learnt the lessons that had defeated his great-uncle at the Battle of Halidon Hill seventy years previously, and the schiltrons presented a large target for the English Longbowmen, and the formations started to break. A hundred men, under Sir John Swinton of the Swintons of that Ilk, chose to charge the enemy saying: "Better to die in the mellay than be shot down like deer". All perished. It has been suggested that Douglas hesitated to signal the advance of his main force, and when he did, it was too little too late. Douglas' mauled army met the as-yet unbloodied English men at arms and was routed. Many of Douglas' leading captains were captured, including his kinsman George Douglas, 1st Earl of Angus, Thomas Dunbar, 5th Earl of Moray and Murdoch of Fife. Douglas himself was captured, having been wounded five times, including the loss of an eye, despite the fact that allegedly Douglas' armour had taken three years in its construction.Captivity
With the Lords of the North
If the Percys and the other English knights thought they had gained great immediate riches from ransoms, they were to be disappointed. They received a message from King Henry congratulating them on their victory but forbidding the release of any of their prisoners.By 1403, Hotspur was in open rebellion against his King, joining with his kinsman Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester, whilst Owain Glyndŵr was undertaking a campaign against English rule in Wales. Hotspur set free his Scots captives and Douglas with his co-prisoners decided to fight alongside their former captors. In the chivalric spirit of the time, Douglas marched with his former enemy Hotspur and his forces to the meet with King Henry IV at the Battle of Shrewsbury. Fighting on the English king's side was George de Dunbar, 10th Earl of March, then in exile from Scotland. The result of the battle was a decisive Royalist victory, Hotspur being killed by an arrow through the mouth. Douglas was once again captured, and suffered the loss of a testicle after having fought gallantly on the field and personally killing Edmund Stafford, 5th Earl of Stafford and Sir Walter Blount. Douglas had again tasted heavy defeat.