Douglas
Douglas names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Douglas a family distinguished in the annals of Scotland
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a family distinguished in the annals of Scotland. Their origin is unknown. They were already territorial magnates at the time when Bruce and Baliol were competitors for the crown. As their estates lay on the borders they early became guardians of the kingdom against the encroachments of the English. The most distinguished members of the famil are: JAMES, son of the William Douglas who had been a companion of Wallace, and is commonly known as the Good Sir James, early joined Bruce, and was one of his chief supporters throughout his career, and one of the most distinguished leaders at the battle of Bannockburn. He fell in battle with the Moors while on his way to the Holy Land with the heart of his master, in 1331. ARCHIBALD, youngest brother of Sir James, succeeded to the regency of Scotland in the infancy of David. He was defeated and killed at Halidon Hill by Edward III. in 1333. WILLIAM, son of the preceding, was created first earl in 1357. He recovered Douglasdale from the English, and was frequently engaged in wars with them. He died in 1384. JAMES, the second earl, who, like his ancestor, was constantly engaged in border warfare, was killed at the battle of Otterburn in 1388. After his death the earldom passed to an illegitimate son of the Good Sir James, Archibald the Grim, Lord of Galloway. ARCHIBALD, son of Archibald the Grim and fourth earl, was the Douglas who was defeated and taken prisoner by Percy (Hotspur) at Homildon, Sept. 14, 1402. He was also taken prisoner at Shrewsbury, July 23, 1403, and did not recover his liberty till 1407. He was killed at the battle of Verneuil, in Normandy, in 1427. Charles VII. created him Duke of Touraine, which title descended to his successors. WILLIAM, sixth earl, born 1422, together with his only brother David was assassinated by Crichton and Livingstone at a banquet to which he had been invited in the name of the king, in Edinburgh Castle, on Nov. 24, 1440. WILLIAM, the eighth earl, a descendant of the third earl, restored the power of the Douglases by a marriage with his cousin, heiress of another branch of the family; was appointed lord-lieutenant of the kingdom, and defeated the English at Sark. Latterly having entered into a treasonous league, he was invited by James II. to Stirling and there murdered by the king's own hand, Feb. 22, 1452. JAMES, the ninth and last earl, brother of the preceding, took up arms with his allies to avenge his death, but was finally driven to England, where he continued an exile for nearly 30 years. Having entered Scotland on a raid in 1484 he was taken prisoner and confined in the abbey of Lindores, where he died in 1488. His estates, which had been forfeited in 1455, were bestowed on the fourth Earl of Angus, the "Red Douglas," the representative of a younger branch of the Douglas family, which continued long after to flourish. The fifth Earl of Angus, Archibald Douglas, was the celebrated "Bell-the-Cat," one of whose sons was Gawin Douglas the poet. He died in a monastery in 1514. Archibald, the sixth earl, married Queen Margaret, widow of James IV., attained the dignity of regent of the kingdom, and after various vicissitudes of fortune, having at one time been attainted and forced to flee from the kingdom, died about 1560. He left no son, and the title of Earl of Angus passed to his nephew, David. James Douglas, brother of David, married the heiress of the Earl of Morton, which title he received on the death of his father-in-law. His nephew Archibald, eighth Earl of Angus and Earl of Morton, died childless, and the earldom of Angus then passed to Sir William Douglas of Glenbervie, his cousin, whose son William was raised to the rank of Marquis of Douglas. Archibald, the great-grandson of William, was raised in 1703 to the dignity of Duke of Douglas, but died unmarried in 1761, when the ducal title became extinct, and the marquisate passed to the Duke of Hamilton, the descendant of a younger son of the first marquis. The line of Angus or the Red Douglas is now represented by the houses of Hamilton and Home, who both claim the title of Earl of Angus.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
dug'las, a famous family of soldiers and landowners--one of the oldest and most powerful families in Scotland. A countryside proverb still runs: So many, so good as of the Douglases have been, Of one surname in Scotland never yet were seen. The name means dark water. There were two branches of the family. The older branch styled themselves the Black Douglases; the younger the Red Douglases. For centuries border mothers hushed their children to sleep with this lullaby: Hush ye, hush ye, little pet ye, The Black Douglas shall not get ye. Of the many Douglases, Sir James the Good fought seventy skirmishes in behalf of Robert Bruce. He was slain by the Saracens while on his way to the Holy Land bearing the heart of Bruce to bury it in the sacred soil of Palestine. In this way the Douglas family added a bloody heart to the family coat-of-arms. Another notable Douglas was Archibald, Bell-the-Cat, fifth Earl of Angus. His nickname came in an odd way. A number of noblemen were planning measures to get rid of one of the king's favorites whom they all feared and hated. Several methods were proposed, but no one seemed anxious to sacrifice himself to carry out a plan. One of those present said the situation reminded him of the fabled convention of mice. All agreed that a bell should be hung on the cat's neck to give notice of her coming, but no one seemed willing to hang the bell. "I will bell the cat," thundered Archibald, and he did. He slew the wretch in the king's own presence in Stirling Castle. After old Archibald became unfitted for war, his two sons fell in the battle of Flodden and he died broken-hearted.
Douglas STEPHEN ARNOLD, an American politician
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
STEPHEN ARNOLD, an American politician; born in Brandon, Vt., April 23, 1813. In 1834 he began the practice of law at Jacksonville, Ill.; was elected attorney-general of the State in the same year, member of the Legislature in 1835, Secretary of State in 1840, and Judge of the Supreme Court in 1841. He was elected to Congress in STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS 1843, 1844, and 1846, and to the United States Senate in 1847, 1852, and 1858. In the Lower House he advocated the annexation of Texas and of Oregon up to 54° 40′ N. lat., and favored the war with Mexico, and in the Senate he opposed the ratification of the Clayton- Bulwer Treaty, and declared himself in favor of the acquisition of Cuba. On the question of slavery he maintained that the people of each territory should decide whether it should be a free State or a slave State. In 1860 he received the regular Democratic nomination for the presidency, the seceding delegates nominating John C. Breckinridge. Douglas obtained 12 electoral and 1,375,157 popular votes, as against 180 electoral and 1,866,352 popular votes cast for Lincoln, to whom, in the early days of the Civil War, he gave an unfaltering support. He died June 3, 1861, in Chicago.
Douglas a city of Arizona
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city of Arizona, in Cochise co. It is on the El Paso and Southwestern railroad, and the terminus of the Nacozari railroad of Mexico. There are large copper smelters, and gypsum, cement, and plaster works. Pop. (1910) 6,437; (1920) 9,916.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The medieval narrative Collier's set out in 1921 still stands: the Good Sir James, Otterburn, the Black Dinner of 1440, the killing of the eighth earl by James II at Stirling in 1452. Two things have moved since. In 1921 a conical lead casket was dug up at Melrose Abbey, thought to hold the heart Sir James carried toward the Holy Land; it was reburied, rediscovered in 1996 and reinterred at Melrose in 1998 under a marker recording Bruce's heart. And the Douglas name reached Downing Street: Alec Douglas-Home, of the Home line Collier's names as co-claimant to the earldom of Angus, disclaimed his peerage under the 1963 Peerage Act to become prime minister, the Marquessate of Douglas remaining with the Dukes of Hamilton.
Written for this edition, 2026.