Hugh the Dull (1294 – between 1333 and 1346) was

Lord of Douglas This page is concerned with the holders of the forfeit title Earl of Douglas and the preceding feudal barons of Douglas, South Lanarkshire. The title was created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1358 for William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas, son ...

, a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

nobleman and

cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

. The second son of William the Hardy, Lord of Douglas,

William Wallace Sir William Wallace (, ; Norman French: ; 23 August 1305) was a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the First War of Scottish Independence. Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army at the Battle of St ...

's companion in arms, and Eleanor Ferrers. Hugh's elder brother was Sir James Douglas, a hero of the

Wars of Independence Wars of national liberation, also called wars of independence or wars of liberation, are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) ...

, and his younger was Sir Archibald Douglas, Guardian of the realm, and Scots commander at the

Battle of Halidon Hill The Battle of Halidon Hill took place on 19 July 1333 when a Scottish army under Sir Archibald Douglas attacked an English army commanded by King Edward III of England () and was heavily defeated. The year before, Edward Balliol had seized ...

Early life

Hugh of Douglas is first heard of in 1296. Following the forfeiture of his father's English possessions, the two-year-old Hugh was taken into custody at

Stebbing Stebbing is a small village in the Uttlesford district of northern Essex, England. The village is situated north of the ancient Roman roads in Britain, Roman road Stane Street (Colchester), Stane Street. It is from the nearest railway station ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, one of his father's manors. Nothing further is heard of him until 1325 when he appeared by proxy as a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

Glasgow Cathedral Glasgow Cathedral () is a parish church of the Church of Scotland in Glasgow, Scotland. It was the cathedral church of the Archbishop of Glasgow, and the mother church of the Archdiocese of Glasgow and the province of Glasgow, from the 12th ...

during a meeting of

Chapter Chapter or Chapters may refer to: Books * Chapter (books), a main division of a piece of writing or document * Chapter book, a story book intended for intermediate readers, generally age 7–10 * Chapters (bookstore), Canadian big box bookstore ...

. He appears to have been at this time

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

Roxburgh Roxburgh () is a civil parish and formerly a royal burgh, in the historic county of Roxburghshire in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was an important trading burgh in High Medieval to early modern Scotland. In the Middle Ages it had at lea ...

Titular Lord of Douglas

The death of his nephew William, Lord of Douglas, and brother Sir Archibald at

Halidon Hill Halidon Hill is a summit, about west of the centre of Berwick-upon-Tweed, on the border of England and Scotland. It reaches 600 feet (180 m) high. The name of the hill indicates that it once had a fortification on its top. It is bounded by ...

left the succession of the patrimony of Douglas to Hugh. However, Scotland at this time was going through the paroxysms of the Second War of Independence, and

Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after t ...

and

Edward Balliol Edward Balliol or Edward de Balliol (; – January 1364) was a claimant to the Scottish throne during the Second War of Scottish Independence. With English help, he ruled parts of the kingdom from 1332 to 1356. Early life Edward was the el ...

controlled much of the south of the country. Balliol, having paid homage for his kingdom to Edward, had also ceded to the Crown of England, in perpetuity, the Forests of Selkirk, Ettrick and

Jedburgh Jedburgh ( ; ; or ) is a town and former royal burgh in the Scottish Borders and the traditional county town of the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Roxburghshire. History Jedburgh began as ''Jedworð'', the "worth" or enclosed settlem ...

, and the shires of Roxburgh,

Peebles Peebles () is a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was historically a royal burgh and the county town of Peeblesshire. According to the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 census, the population was 8,376 and the estimated population in ...

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

Linlithgow Linlithgow ( ; ; ) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It was historically West Lothian's county town, reflected in the county's historical name of Linlithgowshire. An ancient town, it lies in the Central Belt on a historic route between Edi ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and Haddington - in essence, all the territories in which the Lord of Douglas held property. Edward had re-appointed Douglasdale to

Robert de Clifford, 3rd Baron de Clifford Robert de Clifford, 3rd Baron de Clifford, also 3rd Lord of Skipton (5 November 1305 – 20 May 1344) was a member of The Cliffords, the Clifford family which held the seat of Skipton from 1310 to 1676. He was the second son of Robert de Clifford ...

, grandson of

Robert de Clifford, 1st Baron de Clifford Robert de Clifford, 1st Baron de Clifford (1 April 1274 – 24 June 1314), of Appleby Castle, Westmorland, feudal baron of Appleby and feudal baron of Skipton in Yorkshire, was an English soldier who became 1st Lord Warden of the Marches, ...

, who had been granted it by

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 1254 ...

following his dissolution of the Kingdom of Scots in 1296. Clifford never got to enjoy his new properties, by way of stout resistance from the men of Douglas led by William Douglas of Lothian. Hugh the Dull had probably escaped to France to the court of David II at

Château Gaillard Château Gaillard () is a medieval castle ruin overlooking the River Seine above the commune of Les Andelys, in the French department of Eure, in Normandy. It is located some north-west of Paris and from Rouen. Construction began in 1196 u ...

in 1337. Here it was that his young nephews

William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas (c. 1323 – 1 May 1384) was a Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish nobleman, peer, magnate, and head of the Black Douglas family. Under his leadership, the Black Douglases continued their climb to pre-eminence i ...

and

Archibald Douglas, 3rd Earl of Douglas Archibald Douglas, Earl of Douglas and Wigtown, Lord of Galloway, Douglas and Bothwell (c. 1330 – c. 24 December 1400), called Archibald the Grim or Black Archibald, was a late medieval Scottish nobleman. Archibald was the illegitimate son o ...

had sought refuge. Certainly by that date, Edward III had appointed Andrew de Ormiston as

prebend A prebendary is a member of the Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of the choir ...

of Hugh's parish of Roxburgh.

The Knight of Liddesdale

By 1337, William Douglas of Lothian, using the same guerrilla tactics employed by Hugh's brother James, had carved out a power base in the Borders and had styled himself Lord of

Liddesdale Liddesdale is a district in the Roxburghshire, County of Roxburgh, southern Scotland. It includes the area of the valley of the Liddel Water that extends in a south-westerly direction from the vicinity of Peel Fell to the River Esk, Dumfries and ...

. It is assumed that the Lord of Douglas, no warrior, had given executive control of the Douglas territories in the south to him. In 1342, Liddesdale, hankering after formal power, coerced the Lord of Douglas into resigning the majority of the rest of the Douglas territories over to him with all administrative powers pertaining. Hugh of Douglas resigned his lordship in favour of his nephew William, still in France, making him Ward of Liddesdale.

Legacy and death

Douglas dedicated a church to

St John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

at Crookboat, three miles south of

Lanark Lanark ( ; ; ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a populatio ...

, where the Douglas Water meets the Clyde. Amongst other endowments to this establishment, he granted the priest the right to the best cheese in every house on Douglas Moor. Hugh of Douglas retired to his parish duties at Roxburgh. He died in relative obscurity at an unknown date; following the Battle of Durham that year, Edward III controlled southern Scotland once more, and his parish was given to one William de Emeldon.Cal. Doc. Scot. vol iii, p285 no.1558
/ref> Hugh, Lord of Douglas, was a singular figure in the warlike tribe to which he belonged. His perhaps unfair epithet has probably more to do with the fact that he was a priest, which had him lead a more retiring life than the rest of his family. Certainly, there were no clerics amongst the immediate families of the Chief of Douglas until the 1440s.

References

Notes

Sources

* Brown, Michael. ''The Black Douglases-War and Lordship in Late medieval Scotland''. Tuckwell, East Linton 1998. * Fraser, Sir William. ''The Douglas Book'' IV vols. Edinburgh 1885. * Maxwell, Sir Herbert. ''A History of the House of Douglas'' II vols. London 1902. {{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Hugh the Dull 1294 births 1340s deaths People from Douglas, South Lanarkshire Nobility from South Lanarkshire Hugh the Dull, Lord of Douglas Scoto-Normans People of the Wars of Scottish Independence People from Stebbing 13th-century Scottish nobility 14th-century Scottish nobility