Clan Douglas · 1329–1330
The heart of Bruce
On his deathbed Robert the Bruce asked that his heart be carried on crusade. Sir James Douglas took up the charge.
Draft entry · awaiting review
Bruce had vowed to take the cross to the Holy Land but the Wars of Independence kept him from it. Dying at Cardross in 1329, he asked that his heart be embalmed and carried on crusade in his place.
Sir James Douglas — 'Good Sir James', the king's closest companion — took the charge. In the spring of 1330 he set out for the Mediterranean with the heart in a silver casket worn on a chain around his neck.
Detained in Spain by Alfonso XI of Castile, then at war with the Moors of Granada, Douglas joined the campaign. At Teba in Andalucía in August 1330 he was killed in a charge against superior numbers — by tradition flinging the casket forward into the enemy with the cry: 'Forward, brave heart, as thou wert wont — Douglas will follow thee or die.'
The heart was recovered and brought home. It lies at Melrose Abbey. The Douglas arms have borne a crowned and winged heart ever since.