The Douglas Book volume 1: Douglas Memoirs
The Douglases were one of the most powerful families in Scotland. They were active on both sides of the border: sometimes as Wardens of the Marches, sometimes leading raids deep into England, sometimes allied with the English against their own monarch.
This first volume of the Douglas Book begins in the late 12th century with the first known of the family, William of Douglas, and finishes near the end of the 15th century with the death of James, the 9th, and last, Earl of Douglas.
One of the most fascinating memoirs is that of "Good Sir James", who was the close friend and companion of Robert the Bruce.
"Side by side with his king, he laboured with unfailing fidelity and devotion amid dangers, privations, desertions, defeats, painful toilings, and hair-breadth escapes, until by a series of successes, to which he largely contributed, his country was redeemed from an alien yoke."
Their stories are inextricably linked even beyond Bruce's death, for Sir James was killed carrying out Bruce's last commission to him: to take his heart to the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem.
The author of this work, Sir William Fraser, was a respected historian who wrote the histories of many of the leading Scottish families.
The Douglas Book, vol. 1: Douglas Memoirs: Amazon US / Amazon UK
