Battle of Teba - Scottish Knights Errant

Scottish Knights Errant

In 1329, as Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, lay dying he made one last request of his friend and lieutenant, Sir James Douglas. The King charged that, after his death, Sir James should take his embalmed heart and bear it with him on crusade, thus fulfilling the pledge that Bruce had been unable to honour in his lifetime. The projected campaign in Spain offered Sir James the ideal opportunity. In the spring of 1330, armed with a safe conduct from Edward III of England and a letter of recommendation to King Alfonso XI of Castile, Douglas set off from Berwick and sailed first to Sluys in Flanders.

Here, according to the contemporary Walloon chronicler Jean Le Bel, Douglas' company consisted of one knight banneret, six ordinary knights and twenty esquires. It is not clear whether the knight banneret was Sir James himself. Other knights named by the Scottish poet John Barbour included Sir William de Keith, Sir William de St. Clair of Rosslyn and the brothers Sir Robert Logan of Restalrig and Sir Walter Logan. Others alleged at one time or another to have accompanied Douglas are John de St. Clair, younger brother of Sir William, Sir Simon Lockhart of Lee, Sir Kenneth Moir, Sir William Borthwick, Sir Alan Cathcart and Sir Robert de Glen but evidence is lacking. There appears to be no historical basis for claims that any of these men were connected with the Order of the Knights Templar, dissolved by Pope Clement V in 1312, eighteen years previously.

Le Bel relates that the Scots party remained at Sluys for twelve days, with Douglas holding court on board ship as if the late king were present. It may be he was awaiting news of the planned crusade and on learning that, despite the withdrawal of his allies, King Alfonso still intended to go to war, he finally set sail for Spain. After a stormy passage, the party arrived at the mouth of the Guadalquivir, probably sometime in late June, and disembarked upstream at Seville.