The Black Douglas. The very name evokes images of dread. He is said to have had thick black hair and a thick, black beard, but to the English, the name referred strictly to his deeds. Starting immediately after Bannockburn, when Edward II refused to grant recognition to the Scots as an independent nation, James Douglas embarked on a […]
John Balliol is a name largely unknown to Americans, but he had the fortune–good or bad–to be briefly king of Scotland. John Balliol’s kingship came via several avenues. The first was the luck of the draw: he just so happened to be born a great-great-great grandson of David I of Scotland. I’m guessing most of us […]
One of the difficulties of researching medieval times is that of repetitive names, and people with a multitude of names. In medieval Scotland, there are an abundance of Williams, Alexanders, and Roberts. Even adding last names doesn’t always help. Take the name John Comyn. In the time of Robert Bruce, alone, there are several of […]
February 10 is the day Robert Bruce killed John Comyn in front of the altar of Greyfriars Kirk in Dumfries, in 1306. The two families, Bruces and Comyns, had long been at odds over the throne of Scotland, and in the days after John Baliol’s failed kingship, the rivalry renewed. Bruce and John Comyn agreed to meet at […]
Urquhart Castle, one of Scotland’s largest medieval castles, standing on the shore of Loch Ness, was one of two main inspirations for Niall’s home, Castle Glenmirril. (Castle Tioram was the other.) It sits on a promontory jutting out into the loch, at the north end of the Great Glen. Urquhart dates from medieval days, or earlier. Adomnan’s […]