Robert Douglas of Lochleven

Sir Robert Douglas of Lochleven (died 1547) was a Scottish courtier and landowner.

The son of Thomas Douglas, younger of Lochleven, and Elizabeth Boyd, his home was Lochleven Castle set on an island in Loch Leven. Some of his estate papers survive, including his Rental of Kinross, which includes his dairy farm at Fossoway tenanted by Robert Kyd.[1]

Regent Arran sent for three sons of James V, including his step-son Lord James of St Andrews, to come from St Andrews in June 1543 with James Kirkcaldy of Grange. Douglas intercepted them and took away his wife's son. The other children joined Mary, Queen of Scots at Linlithgow Palace and Stirling Castle.[2]

He built a new hall and kitchen in the courtyard at Lochleven castle, and the Glassin Tower, where, it is believed Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned in 1568. He built another home on the shore of the lake, called the "Newhouse", roughly on the site of the present Kinross House, where the castle stables were already located. Douglas hosted his tenants, called "bowmen" who held farms called "bowtouns", at the Newhouse at Beltane in 1546.[3] He was killed at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh.

Marriage and family

In 1527, Robert Douglas married Margaret Erskine, who had a son with James V of Scotland, James Stewart, later Earl of Moray in 1531, after their marriage.[4] James V even contemplated having them divorced and marrying Margaret Erskine.[5]

Robert Douglas and Margaret Erskine's children included:

References

  1. ^ Margaret Sanderson, Mary Stewart's People (Edinburgh, 1987), pp. 64-5 citing National Records of Scotland, RH9/1/2.
  2. ^ Joseph Bain, Hamilton Papers, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1890), p. 541: Robert Kerr Hannay, Acts of the Lords of Council in Public Affairs (Edinburgh, 1932), p. 528.
  3. ^ Margaret Sanderson, Mary Stewart's People (Edinburgh, 1987), pp. 68-69.
  4. ^ Gordon Donaldson, Scotland's History: Approaches and Reflections (Scottish Academic Press, 1995), p. 71.
  5. ^ Margaret Sanderson, Mary Stewart's People (Edinburgh, 1987), p. 55.
  6. ^ William Boyd, Calendar of State Papers Scotland: 1574-1581, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 531.