DOUGLAS - line 2

Douglas Castle Tower Remains later version - 17th century wikipedia

14:05, 23 August 2006 Supergolden    

24
Robert of Cumbernauld Fleming
born - Scotland - 1252
died - - 1314
married -.
Joan DOUGLAS
born - Scotland -
died - Scotland -
Children
1. Patrick FLEMING 1286

RootsWeb's WorldConnect Project: The Mengel Family:
Updated: 2009-10-31 13:35:29 UTC (Sat) Contact: Nicholas
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=mengel&id=I114125
Monday, September 28, 2009



"The Douglas family built the first Douglas Castle, which was constructed of either wood
or stone, sometime before 1288 [1]. In 1307, during the Wars of Scottish Independence
the castle was captured and garrisoned by the English under Lord Clifford. Sir James
Douglas, companion of Robert the Bruce successfully recaptured his family seat by
storming the castle on Palm Sunday, while the garrison were at chapel. he had the
garrison killed and thrown into a cellar, before the structure was burned. The event has
become known as "Douglas' larder".
Robert the Bruce rewarded the loyalty of the Douglases, and Sir James' heirs were
created Earls of Douglas. Douglas Castle was rebuilt as one of their strongholds, but by
the 15th century, the power of the "Black" Douglases had come to threaten the Stewart
monarchy. In 1455 James II led an expedition against the rebellious 9th Earl, defeating his
forces at the battle of Arkinholm. Douglas Castle was sacked and the family's lands and
titles forfeited.

The "Red" Douglases, Earls of Angus, had sided with the king against the senior branch
of their family, and it was they who gained the Douglas lands in Lanarkshire. It is likely that
the castle was rebuilt soon after 1455. In 1703, Archibald Douglas, 3rd Marquess of
Douglas was created Duke of Douglas, with his principal seat at Douglas Castle. The
castle was again rebuilt around this time, as a tower house and an enclosed courtyard
with a corner tower. This castle was destroyed by fire in 1755, with the exception of the
corner tower [2].

From 1757, the Duke began construction of an enormous castellated mansion at
Douglas. The architects of this, the final Douglas Castle, were the Adam Brothers. Had it
been completed the castle would have been the largest in Scotland. As it was the Duke of
Douglas died in 1761, and only around half of the original design was ever completed.
The five storey building had round towers to the front and square towers to the rear facade,
and stood in a very extensive park spanning the valley of the Douglas Water. The Duke's
estate became the subject of a famous and bitter legal dispute, known as the 'Douglas
Cause', between his nephew Archibald Douglas, 1st Baron Douglas and the Duke of
Hamilton. Lord Douglas was eventually victorious, and the castle descended through him
to the Earls of Home. In the 1930s Charles Douglas-Home, 13th Earl of Home allowed the
mining of coal in the park adjacent to the castle, in an attempt to relieve desperate levels of
local unemployment. Sadly, the mining caused dangerous subsidence to the castle and it
had to be demolished in 1938.
Today, only a ruined corner tower of the penultimate castle remains, built in the late 17th
century. Three storeys and 9m in height, the tower once stood at the corner of an
enclosure, estimated at around 40m across. The tower stands on a prominent rise in the
valley, to the south of the river, and was retained as a garden folly when the later mansion
was built. Below is a small cellar block with glazed tiles on the interior walls. Nothing
visible remains of the mansion.

Sir Walter Scott used the location and early history of Castle Douglas as the inspiration for
his novel Castle Dangerous. The castle is still sometimes referred to by this alternative
name"

Douglas Castle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
14:05, 23 August 2006 Supergolden
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Castle
Sunday, December 13, 2009

"Clan Douglas, also referred to as The House of Douglas, is an ancient Scottish clan from
the Scottish Lowlands taking its name from Douglas, South Lanarkshire, and thence
spreading through the Scottish Borderland, Angus, Lothian and beyond. The clan does not
currently have a chief, therefore it is considered an armigerous clan.

The Douglases were once the most powerful family in Scotland. The powerful Douglas
chiefs held the titles of the Earl of Douglas (Black Douglases), Earl of Angus (Red
Douglases) and later, Earl of Morton.[2]

Many Douglases married into Scottish and other European royal and noble houses,
thereby ensuring Douglas power within Scotland, as a result of their accummulated
wealth.

The family's original seat was Douglas Castle in Lanarkshire, but they spread to many
properties throughout Scotland

Origins of the clan

According to tradition the Douglases took their name from the Cumbric or Gaelic
placename "Dubh glas" meaning "black blue/green stream". One old tradition is that the
first chief of Clan Douglas was Sholto Douglas who helped the king of Scotland win a
battle in the year 767. This is unsubstatiated.[2]

The true progenitor of Clan Douglas was almost certainly "Theobaldus Flammatius"
(Theobald the Flemming), who received in 1147 the lands near Douglas Water in
Lanakshire in return for services for the Abbot of Kelso.[2]

Although the Douglases were first recorded in the 1170s, the Douglas family names
consisted of Arkenbald and Freskin, and were undoubtedly related to the Clan Murray, and
to be of Flemish origin. The Clan Murray were descended from a Flemish knight called
Freskin.[4] Though the Flemish origin of the Douglases is not undisputed, it is often
claimed that the Douglases were descended from a Flemish knight who was granted
lands on the Douglas Water by the Abbot of Kelso, who held the barony and lordship of
Holydean. However this is disputed, it has been claimed that the lands which were
granted to this knight were not the lands which the Douglas family came from.[5]

In 1179 William Douglas was Lord of Douglas and it seems likely that he was Theobald
the Flemming's son and the first to take the surname Douglas"

Clan Douglas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Douglas
Sunday, December 13, 2009