=5. His Death.=--King Robert owed his crown to the people and to the clergy; of the nobles but few were with him. His reign made a great change in the baronage, for with the forfeited estates of his opponents he laid the foundation of other families, the _Douglases_ for instance, who in after-times proved the dangerous rivals of his own descendants. This was partly owing to his mistaken policy in granting royalties or royal powers within their own domains to certain of his own kindred and supporters. This practice, though at the time it strengthened his own hands, in the end weakened the power of the Crown. He died at _Cardross_ in 1329, leaving one son. He was greatly mourned by the people, for he had won their sympathy by the struggles of his early career, and had become their pride by his final victories. They were justly proud of having a king who was no mere puppet in the hands of others, fit only to wear a crown and to spend money, but a brave, wise man, who had shown himself as able to suffer want and to fight against ill-fortune as the best and bravest among themselves. After King Robert's death, Douglas, to fulfil his last wish, set out with his heart for Spain with a gallant following of the best gentlemen in Scotland. In a skirmish with the Moors, he was surrounded by the enemy, while hastening to the help of a brother knight. When he saw his danger, he took from his neck the silken cord from which hung the Bruce's heart, cast it on before him into the thickest of the fight, crying out, "Pass first in fight as thou art wont to do, and Douglas will follow thee or die." True to his word, he fell fighting valiantly, and his body was found near the casket, which held the heart of the friend and leader whom in life he had loved so well. Douglas was tall and strong, and his dark skin and black hair won him the nickname of the "_Black Douglas_." The English hated and feared him, but his own people loved him well and remembered him long after his death.