The Black Douglases: War and Lordship in Medieval Scotland, 1300 - 1455

by Michael Brown

During the century and a half of their power, the Black Douglases earned fame as Scotland's champions in the front line of the war against England. On their shields they bore the bloody heart of Robert the Bruce, the symbol of their claim to be the protectors of the hero-king's legacy. But others saw the power of these lords and earls of Douglas differently. To their critics, the clan was lawless, arrogant, and violent, their power resting on coercion and defiance--the Douglases spelled disorder in the kingdom. The Black Douglases examines aristocratic power and its place in Scottish political society through the greatest and most notorious magnate dynasty of late medieval Scotland. Emphasizing the link between warfare and political power, author Michael Brown analyzes the rise and fall of the family as the dominant magnates of the south, from the deeds of the Good Sir James Douglas in the service of Bruce to the violent destruction of the Douglas earls in the 1450's.

Genres: Scotland, History, Nonfiction, Medieval

358 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Michael Brown (born 1965) is Professor of Scottish History at the University of St. Andrews. His main research interests centre on the political society of Scotland c.1250 - c.1500 and on the relationships between the various communities of the British Isles during the same period. He has published studies of the practice and ideology of royal and aristocratic lordship in Scotland. His books include James I (1994), The Black Douglases (1998), The Wars of Scotland, 1214 - 1371 (2004) and Disunited Kingdoms: Peoples and Politics in the British Isles, 1280 - 1460 (2013).

Reviews

[Sarah W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am going to confess that I only have a limited knowledge of Scotland in this period and I do not feel The Black Douglases is a very good introductory text. I found the politics, shifting alliances, and on-again, off-again conflicts very confusing to follow. Clearly this is a very interesting and exceptional family in Scottish history, but I wish I had read a more accessible text.

[Kevin O'Connell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't people have editors?

You'd get more enjoyment reading the "begats" in Deuteronomy.

Large steaming piles of things that happened. Much of it repeated several times. Points out that the Douglases were major allies of the Bruce kings, about four hundred times in the first chapter alone.

The author really needed to sit down and think about what he wanted to write, but instead, mush.

[Doris Raines · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LIKE THIS BOOK.

[Dukeallen · Rating 2 out of 5]

A dry read, very hard to follow and occasionally contradictory. I got the feeling the author disliked the subject.