Robertoun is a small village in Lanarkshire beside the River Clyde. It takes its name from Robert Asa, a Fleming who was granted land around 1150. The Knights Templar are said to have held land there in the 1200s.
Taking the name de Robertoun, Asa’s descendants swore fealty to King Edward I of England during the wars of independence and forfeited the land when Robert the Bruce defeated the English in 1314. Robertoun then came into the control of the powerful Douglas family, and was likely held by Sir William Douglas, Knight of Liddesdale, known as the ‘Flower of Chivalry’.
Mary of Stirling held the lands and barony in the 1340s And is said to have built the stone fortifications overlooking the Clyde. The Knight of Liddesdale was killed by his cousin William, Lord of Douglas, during a power struggle, after which several dignities including Robertoun were passed to James, Liddesdale’s nephew, who married the daughter of King Robert III. Their grandson, James, received the title Earl of Morton from King James I after marrying Joanna, the king’s daughter. Their son John, 2nd Earl of Morton, was killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513.
The family lands and titles eventually passed to James Douglas, who became the 4th Earl of Morton upon marrying Elizabeth, daughter of the 3rd Earl. He was taken prisoner in during the Rough Wooing, a period of warfare with the English. In 1567, Morton became Lord Chancellor and was part of a conspiracy to murder Mary Queen of Scots’ private secretary, David Rizzio. He was pardoned for his actions and returned to Scotland. Morton was one of many nobles who disapproved of Mary’s marriage to the Earl of Bothwell and was victorious at the Battle of Langside. In 1572, he was made Regent to the young King James VI and aided in ending the civil war. The Douglas family remained prominent during the politics and warfare of the 1600s.
Archibald Douglas was created 1st Duke of Douglas in 1703. In the Jacobite uprising of 1715, he took the Hanoverian side. However, the duke died childless, and the bitter dispute between the rival claimants to succeed him continued for years after his death in 1761, and was not settled until 1769. Although the dukedom went extinct upon the duke’s death, the Marquessate of Douglas remained extant and passed through the male line to the Duke of Hamilton, while the estates were granted to Archibald, son of the late Duke’s sister.
