Hugh Douglas, Earl of Ormonde
Hugh Douglas, Earl of Ormonde (d. 1455) was a Scottish Soldier
and nobleman, a member of the powerful Black Douglases.
He
was the fourth son of James the
Gross, 7th Earl of Douglas and his wife Beatrice,
daughter of Henry II Sinclair, Earl of Orkney. He was a younger
brother of William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas, James Douglas, 9th
Earl of Douglas, Archibald Douglas, Earl of Moray and older to
John Douglas, Lord of Balvenie.
He was created Earl of Ormonde before 1445 when he attended a
meeting of the Parliament of Scotland, under that title. He received
from his brother the 8th Earl, the lands of Rattray, Aberdour, and
Crimond in Aberdeenshire, that of Dunsyre, Lanarkshire, and those of
Ardmanach (Modern Redcastle, between Tore and Muir of Ord) and
Ormonde, (modern day Avoch) in Invernesshire.
He led the
Scots to victory at the Battle of
Sark, against a scion of the old Douglas enemy , Henry Percy,
3rd Earl of Northumberland. Ormonde was left in control of the vast
Douglas estates when his brother went on pilgrimage to Rome in 1450.
Following the assassination of his eldest brother by the hand of the
King, James II, Ormonde along with his brothers renounced their
allegiance to the King and went into open rebellion.
The
brothers, excepting the new 9th Earl, faced the Royal forces at the
Battle of Arkinholm. The royal
army led by a kinsman George
Douglas, 4th Earl of Angus, defeated the Black Douglas brethren.
Moray dying of his wounds, Balveny escaped, Ormonde , however was
captured, tried and executed, his estates forfeit.
Ormonde
had by an unknown wife, one child:
Hugh Douglas, who became Dean of Brechin Cathedral. He
entered into an indenture at Edinburgh, on the 24th January
1496, with his kinsman
Archibald, fifth
Earl of Angus, then Chancellor of Scotland, and best known as " Bell the
Cat." Amongst other matters agreed on between the two kinsmen, the dean
became bound, immediately after entering to the lands of Glenquholm,
Pettinane, Gledstanes, or any other lands belonging to the Earls of
Douglas, or Earl James, Lord Avondale, or the dean's father, the Earl of
Ormond, in the shires of Lanark, or Peebles, or elsewhere in Scotland,
to resign into the hands of the king the fee of such lands in favour of
the Earl of Angus and his heirs, reserving to the dean only the liferent
of the lands resigned till he obtained promotion to a dignity or
benefice by the help of the chancellor.
See also:
•
Earl
of Ormond
