St Kilda Kilts & Scottish Gifts

The Douglas crest is a green salamander on fire, sat atop of chapeau (a type of prestigious medieval hat).

Far from an act of animal cruelty, the Roman author Pliny wrote that the Salamander was fire resistant and could even extinguish fire (please don’t try this though). Many legends grew up around salamanders and fire, but the core thing they came to represent was someone who could not only resist hardship, but calm it. King Francis I of France used a salamander as his personal emblem with the motto ‘Nutrisco et extinguo’ meaning I nourish and extinguish, which conveys this idea. The Auld Alliance between Scotland and France perhaps was a vector for this motif to be adopted by the Douglases.

There is an older crest for the Douglases: Archibald Earl of Douglas had a seal in 1373 featuring the crest of a peacock’s head issuing from a tower. However, by the time of the Workman manuscript of 1565-6 has the familiar salamander in flames with motto ‘Jamais arriere’ (R.R. Stoddart, Scottish Arms being a Collection of Armorial Bearings 1370-1678, pp. 28, 97). Nisbet’s 1722 System of Heraldry tells us that the salamander was adopted by George Douglas, Earl of Angus, who was made Marquiss of Douglass in 1633, and from whom the current chiefs descend.

The full coat of Arms of the Douglas chief from Kearsley's Complete Peerage of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1794

The Douglas motto ‘Jamais arriere’ means ‘never behind’, representing on the one hand Douglas courage (i.e. being at the front of battle), but also in being one of the foremost and senior lines of the Scottish nobility. The cap in the crest also denotes the high status of the Douglases. 

Our older Carrick range of Clan Crests version of Douglas.

MKP 1 September 2023