A charter-based reconstruction of native Douglas origins in Strathclyde (1147–1176)
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: A charter-based reconstruction of native Douglas origins in Strathclyde (1147–1176) Abstract This study presents a primary-source reassessment of the Douglas family’s emergence in twelfth-century Scotland. Through analysis of the Liber S. Marie de Calchou (Kelso), Registrum Episcopatus Glasguensis, and Registrum Monasterii de Passelet, it reconstructs the transition from pre-feudal Strathclyde networks to early Douglas tenure within Lesmahagow and Douglasdale. The findings reveal that the earliest Douglas associations arose from native Strathclyde-Gaelic foundations, not continental importation. Between 1147 and 1176, bishops Herbert, Enguerrand, and Jocelin of Glasgow appear alongside local witness networks — Roberton, Crawford, Biggar — into which William de Douglas (fl. 1174) enters as inheritor rather than outsider. Linguistic, territorial, and prosopographical patterns confirm an indigenous Strathclyde base later organized under Norman-Flemish administration. The Douglas line thus represents a fusion of native polity and feudal form, but fundamentally native in ancestry, geography, and continuity. Subjects Scottish history; genealogy; medieval studies; Strathclyde; documentary analysis; native origins Recommended Citation (APA 7th) Douglas, S. (2025). A charter-based reconstruction of native Douglas origins in Strathclyde (1147–1176). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17364207 Funding Self-funded independent research under the Douglas–Clyde–Arthur Historical Project (2023–present). No institutional or external grants were received.
Author: Douglas, Sean
Language: English
Subfield: Classics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7092186826
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