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 Bothwell is a conservation village in the South Lanarkshire council area of Scotland. It lies on the north bank of the River Clyde, adjacent to Uddingston and Hamilton, east-south-east of Glasgow city centre. Description and history An ancien ...

, 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 {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 Duke of Touraine was a title in the Peerage of France, relating to Touraine. It was first created in 1360 for Philip the Bold, youngest son of King John II of France. He returned the duchy to the Crown in 1363 ...

Count of Longueville Count of Longueville is a French noble title, whose holder had the fiefdom of the County of Longueville. The County was erected into a Duchy in 1505. Origins The Lordship of Longueville was a fief that belonged to the Giffard family. Willi ...

, and Lord of

Dun-le-roi Dun-sur-Auron (, literally ''Dun on Auron'') is a commune in the Cher department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. Geography A farming area comprising a small town and a couple of hamlets situated by the banks of both the Auron an ...

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 of ...

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 Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. ...

. The so-called ' Black Dinner' 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 unc ...

(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 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's ''

A Song of Ice and Fire ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' is a series of epic fantasy novels by the American novelist and screenwriter George R. R. Martin. He began the first volume of the series, '' A Game of Thrones'', in 1991, and it was published in 1996. Martin, who i ...

''.

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