Castle Dangerous by Sir Walter Scott, Fiction, Historical, Literary, Classics

Castle Dangerous (Tales of My Landlord #4 part 2) by Walter Scott
The story is set in Ayrshire and Lanarkshire around 1306, shortly after the death of William Wallace during the Wars of Scottish Independence. From Scott's introduction: "The incidents on which the ensuing Novel mainly turns, are derived from the ancient Metrical Chronicle of The Bruce, by Archdeacon Barbour, and from the History of the Houses of Douglas and Angus, by David Hume of Godscroft; and are sustained by the immemorial tradition of the western parts of Scotland. They are so much in consonance with the spirit and manners of the troubled age to which they are referred, that I can see no reason for doubting their being founded in fact; the names, indeed, of numberless localities in the vicinity of Douglas Castle, appear to attest, beyond suspicion, many even of the smallest circumstances embraced in the story of Godscroft."

The term "Castle Dangerous" was applied to the feudal home of the Scotch Douglases, because of the many fierce fights for its possession which raged between the English and the Scotch lords, during the struggle of Kobert Bruce against King Edward I.

Sir James Douglas, popularly called the Black Douglas, chief supporter of Bruce, has sworn that Douglas Castle shall not remain in the hands of the English. More than one English lord has attempted to hold it against attack or trickery, but in every case has come to a violent end. At last Lady Augusta de Berkely promises her hand and large estates to Sir John de Walton on condition that he hold the "Dangerous Castle" for a year and a day. He accepts the task and is made governor of the stronghold; but as the months slowly go by, Lady Augusta is overcome by misgivings and resolves to go to the castle and shorten the probation. Disguising herself as a youth, she goes in company of her father's minstrel Bertram as his son. They meet the deputy governor, De Valence, who agrees that the supposed boy shall be left at the convent of St. Bride's, near by, until formal permission to enter the castle has been secured, while the minstrel obtains entrance upon pretext of examining ancient songs ...

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