William, 6th Earl of Douglas (c. 1424 – 24 November 1440) was a Scottish nobleman. In addition to his Earldom of Douglas, he was

Earl of Wigtown The title of Earl of Wigtown (or Wigton or Wigtoun) was created twice in the Peerage of Scotland. The first creation was in 1341 for Malcolm Fleming, and was surrendered in 1372, when the second Earl sold the Earldom and territory to Archibal ...

Lord of Galloway The lords of Galloway consisted of a dynasty of heirs who were lords (or kings) and ladies who ruled over Galloway in southwest Scotland, mainly during the High Middle Ages. Many regions of Scotland, including Galloway and Moray, periodically h ...

, Lord of Bothwell, Selkirk and

Ettrick Forest Selkirkshire or the County of Selkirk ( gd, Siorrachd Shalcraig) is a historic county and registration county of Scotland. It borders Peeblesshire to the west, Midlothian to the north, Roxburghshire to the east, and Dumfriesshire to the south. ...

, Eskdale,

Lauderdale Lauderdale is the valley of the Leader Water (a tributary of the Tweed) in the Scottish Borders. It contains the town of Lauder, as well as Earlston. The valley is traversed from end to end by the A68 trunk road, which runs from Darlington to ...

, and Annandale in Scotland, and ''de jure'' Duke of Touraine, Count of Longueville, and Lord of Dun-le-roi in France. He was the eldest son of

Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Douglas Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Douglas (c. 1391 – 26 June 1439) was a Scottish nobleman and general during the Hundred Years' War. Life Douglas was the son of Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas and Margaret Stewart, eldest daughter o ...

and Lady Eupheme Graham. He married Lady Janet Lindsay, daughter of David, Earl of Crawford, and succeeded to the earldom on the death of his father, who had served as regent of James II. Following Archibald Douglas's death, Sir William Crichton, Sir

Alexander Livingston of Callendar Sir Alexander Livingston of Callendar (died 1451) was a significant figure in the early part of the reign of King James II of Scotland. Life Alexander Livingston was the son of Sir John Livingston of Callendar and his wife Marjorie, a daughter ...

, and James Douglas, Earl of Avondale (William Douglas's great-uncle) shared power. Together they conspired to break the power of the late Archibald Douglas's family, and summoned William and his younger brother David to Edinburgh Castle. The so-called '

Black Dinner Clan Douglas is an ancient clan or noble house from the Scottish Lowlands. Taking their name from Douglas in Lanarkshire, their leaders gained vast territories throughout the Borders, Angus, Lothian, Moray, and also in France and Sweden. The f ...

' which followed saw the two boys summarily beheaded on trumped-up charges, over the protests of the young King James II. The lordships of Annandale and Bothwell fell to the crown; Galloway to

Margaret Douglas Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox (8 October 1515 – 7 March 1578), was the daughter of the Scottish queen dowager Margaret Tudor and her second husband Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus. In her youth she was high in the favour of her un ...

(William Douglas's sister), and the Douglas lands and earldom passed to William's great-uncle James Douglas, the Earl of Avondale, who was accordingly seen later as the main perpetrator.

In popular culture

S. R. Crockett Samuel Rutherford Crockett (24 September 1859 – 16 April 1914), who published under the name "S. R. Crockett", was a Scottish novelist. Life and work He was born at Little Duchrae, Balmaghie, Kirkcudbrightshire, Galloway on 24 September 18 ...

based his book, ''The Black Douglas'' on the death of William. * His death at the "Black Dinner" served as one of the inspirations for "

The Red Wedding ''A Storm of Swords'' is the third of seven planned novels in ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a fantasy series by American author George R. R. Martin. It was first published on August 8, 2000, in the United Kingdom, with a United States edition foll ...

" in

George R. R. Martin George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948), also known as GRRM, is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer. He is the author of the series of epic fantasy novels ''A Song ...

's '' A Song of Ice and Fire''.

References

*
thepeerage.com
1424 births 1440 deaths William Douglas, 06th Earl of Douglas Earls of Douglas Dukes of Touraine Counts of Longueville Executed Scottish people People executed by Stuart Scotland People executed by the Kingdom of Scotland by decapitation {{Scotland-earl-stub