The Black Douglas is an 1899 Historical Fiction novel by Samuel Rutherford Crockett (The Raiders). J. R. R. Tolkien was a fan.
It deals with the murder of the sixth Earl of Douglas and the downfall of Gilles de Retz.
Tropes:
- Age Lift: Earl William is aged up from sixteen to eighteen, to make his dalliance with Sybilla more palatable (and her eventually genuine reciprocation more plausible).
- Alliterative Name: Malise MacKim.
- Artistic Licence – History: De Retz was not an ambassador to Scotland and had nothing to do with Douglas' death.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Gilles de Retz commands an army of werewolves... maybe.
- Belated Love Epiphany: Maud for Sholto.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Sholto and Maud. (This is a Crockett trademark.)
- Brave Scot: Unsurprisingly in a Crockett novel, there are plenty of these, particularly the Douglases and MacKims.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Avondale's sons are not happy to discover his betrayal of their cousin the Earl.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: King James. (Historically also true of Earl William.)
- Christianity is Catholic: Justified Trope given the time period, but Crockett semi-subverts it by stressing the elaborate extravagance of French religious practice, so that the simpler Scots look like proto-Protestants by comparison.
- The Clan: Very literally so as it's medieval Scotland. The Douglases fit the trope very well.
- Damsel in Distress: Maud and Margaret after their capture by de Retz.
- Dated History: The medieval Gallovidians universally speak English and Scots, with no indication that any Translation Convention is in play or that their language is different from that spoken in Edinburgh. This is in keeping with Victorian popular views, which assumed that southern Scotland had been anglicised very early, but it is now known that Gaelic would still have been Galloway's main language in this period.
- Defector from Decadence: Sybilla becomes one, repenting of working for de Retz and trying to aid the good guys.
- Did Not Think This Through: Laurence's attempted infiltration of de Retz' household is spontaneous and has no plan behind it, and doesn't go well.
- Distressed Dude: The Douglas brothers in Edinburgh Castle.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Sholto and Maud go through hell. She is kidnapped, spirited away to France, and nearly murdered, along with the child she's responsible for protecting, while he first fails to save the Earl, then nearly loses both Maud and his brother... all while both fear the other doesn't even return their feelings until the final pages.
- Evil Chancellor: Crichton to King James II. He uses his position to eliminate his personal rivals.
- Evil Uncle: Avondale to the Douglas siblings (great-uncle to be precise). He connives at the judicial murder of William and David and the kidnap of Margaret.
- Faux Affably Evil: De Retz.
- Femme Fatale: Sybilla.
- Foregone Conclusion: Anyone remotely acquainted with the period knows that the Earl won't be saved and de Retz will be exposed as a serial killer; the fictional characters provide the suspense.
- Heel–Face Turn: Sybilla.
- Historical Character's Fictional Relative: Sybilla is an invented sister of de Retz' real wife, Catherine de Thouars.
- Historical Domain Character: Almost everyone apart from Maud, Sybilla, and the MacKim family.
- Historical Fantasy: Treads the very edges of this trope through liberal application of Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane.
- Human Sacrifice: De Retz practises this. Maud, Margaret, and Laurence almost become victims.
- In Love with the Mark: Sybilla's feelings for Earl William ultimately become genuine... too late to save him.
- Kangaroo Court: The condemnation of the Douglas brothers is an egregious example. This is Truth in Television.
- Karma Houdini: Avondale, as history sadly dictates.
- He has at least destroyed his own children's regard for him.
- And history also dictates that his family won't long enjoy the fruits of his treachery - though sadly it will be his innocent children and not him who pay the price.
- The Late Middle Ages: It's set in 1439-40.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Crockett leans heavily on this trope. We never get definite confirmation of how Sybilla conjured up a bower in the Galloway hills with no apparent assistance, whether de Retz' scrying is effective, or whether the werewolves are real.
- The Mole: Laurence rashly decides to become this. Sybilla has rather more idea what they're getting themselves into.
- One-Steve Limit: Severely averted by history. Two major characters are called William Douglas.
- Our Werewolves Are Different
- Religion of Evil: De Retz worships the Devil.
- Rescue Arc: After the kidnapping of Maud and Margaret.
- Restricted Rescue Operation: The regency government and the new Earl of Douglas are indebted to de Retz and quite pleased to have Margaret Douglas out of the way as well as her brothers, so the rescue mission has to be undertaken unsupported.
- Right-Hand Cat: De Retz spends a lot of time petting a tame wolf... if that IS all it is.
- Savage Wolves: The heroes are attacked in the Breton forest by a pack of wolves that might actually be something worse.
- Shown Their Work: Despite all the Artistic Licence – History employed, an important plot point is that the Douglases are major landholders in France and have as many jealous rivals there as in Scotland. This is not well known, but absolutely true.
