Saturday, July 1, 2017

Famous Medieval Knights

From War History Online:
James Douglas was only a child when his father died fighting alongside William Wallace against the English invasion of Scotland. Sent to Paris for his own safety, it was there that he learned the ways of knighthood. On his return to Britain, he found King Edward I unwilling to restore his family’s lands, and so joined Robert the Bruce in the successful first Scottish war of Independence.

A leading fighter in the Scottish guerrilla war, Sir James captured Douglas and Roxburgh Castles (1307 and 1314) and fought in the famous Scottish victory at Bannockburn (1314). He became one of Bruce’s closest companions, and was known by the English as the Black Douglas. When Bruce – now King Robert I – died in 1329 he asked Sir James to take his heart to Jerusalem. Diverted to a crusade against the Saracens in Spain, Douglas saw a fellow knight become surrounded at the Battle of Teba. Throwing Bruce’s heart ahead of him, he charged into the thick of the fighting and died a warrior to the last. (Read more.)
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