Myton." In 1322 he captured the pass of
Byland in Yorkshire, and forced the English army to retreat. He was
rewarded by the "Emerald Charter," granted by Bruce, which gave him
criminal jurisdiction over the family estates, and released the lords of
Douglas from various feudal obligations. The emerald ring which Bruce
gave Douglas in ratification of the charter is lost, but another of the
king's gifts, a large two-handed sword (bearing, however, a later
inscription), exists at Douglas Castle. In a daring night attack on the
English camp in Weardale in 1327 Douglas came near capturing Edward III.
himself. After laying waste the northern counties he retreated, without
giving battle to the English. Before his death in 1329 Bruce desired
Douglas to carry his heart to Palestine in redemption of his unfulfilled
vow to go on crusade. Accordingly Sir James set out in 1330, bearing
with him a silver casket containing the embalmed heart of Bruce. He fell
fighting with the Moors in Spain on the 25th of August of that year, and
was buried in St Bride's Church, Douglas. Since his day the Douglases
have borne a human heart in their coat of arms. Sir James was said to
have fought in seventy battles and to have conquered in fifty-seven. His
exploits, as told in Froissart's _Chronicles_ and in John Barbour's
_Bruce_, are familiar from Scott's _Tales of a Grandfather_ and _Castle
Dangerous_. His half-brother, Sir Archibald, defeated Edward Baliol at
Annan in 1332, and had just been appointed regent of Scotland for David
II. when he risked a pitched battle at Halidon Hill, where he was
defeated and killed (1333), with his nephew William, lord of Douglas.
The inheritance fell to his brother, a churchman, Hugh the "Dull" (b.
1294), who surrendered his lands to David II.; and a re-grant was made
to William Douglas, next referred to.

WILLIAM DOUGLAS, 1ST EARL OF DOUGLAS (c. 1327-1384), had been educated
in France, and returned to Scotland in 1348. In 1353 he killed in
Ettrick Forest his kinsman, William,[1] the knight of Liddesdale (c.
1300-1353), known as the "Flower of Chivalry," who had been warden of
the western marches during David II.'s minority, and had taken a heroic
share in driving the English from southern Scotland. Liddesdale had in
1342 lost the king's favour by the murder of Sir Alexander Ramsay of
Dalhousie, whom David had made constable of the castle of Roxburgh and
sheriff of Teviotdale in his place; he was taken prisoner a