William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas, 2nd Earl of Avondale (1425 – 22 February 1452) was a late Medieval

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

nobleman,

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 ...

, and Lord of the Regality of

Lauderdale Lauderdale is the valley of the Leader Water (a tributary of the River Tweed, 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 road, A68 trunk road, which run ...

, and the most powerful

magnate The term magnate, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

in Southern Scotland. He was killed by

James II of Scotland James II (16 October 1430 – 3 August 1460) was King of Scots from 1437 until his death in 1460. The eldest surviving son of James I of Scotland, he succeeded to the Scottish throne at the age of six, following the assassination of his fathe ...

Life

Douglas was the eldest son of

James Douglas, 7th Earl of Douglas James Douglas, 7th Earl of Douglas, 1st Earl of Avondale (1371 – 24 March 1443), latterly known as James the Gross, and prior to his ennoblement as James of Balvenie, was a late mediaeval Scottish magnate. He was the second son of Archibald Do ...

, and Beatrice Sinclair, the daughter of Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney. His father, having been a part of the conspiracy that led to the " Black Dinner" and execution of the 6th Earl and his brother, on his death only three years later left the title and lands to his eldest son William, who may have taken part in the conspiracy. William gained the lordships of

Galloway Galloway ( ; ; ) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the counties of Scotland, historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council areas of Scotland, council area of Dumfries and Gallow ...

and

Bothwell Bothwell () is a Protected area, conservation village in the South Lanarkshire council area of Scotland and part of the Greater Glasgow area. It lies on the north bank of the River Clyde, adjacent to Uddingston and Hamilton, Scotland, Hamilton, ...

by marriage (by

papal dispensation In the jurisprudence of the canon law of the Catholic Church, a dispensation is the exemption from the immediate obligation of the law in certain cases.The Law of Christ Vol. I, pg. 284 Its object is to modify the hardship often caused by rigor ...

) to his cousin, Margaret Douglas, Fair Maid of Galloway (daughter of the 5th Earl), thus becoming even more powerful and a danger to the throne. The Earl and his party were issued with a

safe conduct Safe conduct, safe passage, or letters of transit, is the situation in time of international conflict or war where one state, a party to such conflict, issues to a person (usually, an enemy state's subject) a pass or document to allow the enemy ...

for three years, "to pass through England, to the Marches of Calais and elsewhere in the King of England's dominions" dated 9 November 1450. Douglas was planning to attend the

Jubilee A jubilee is often used to refer to the celebration of a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term comes from the Hebrew Bible (see, "Old Testament"), initially concerning ...

in Rome and would travel via

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. A further safe conduct, this time expressly stating that the Earl could take a party of 100 and naming many of them, was issued (presumably while they were still travelling) on 23 April 1451. The Earl had returned to Scotland by 14 August 1451 as he was the leading Scottish Conservator of the 3-year truce with England, concluded at

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

. At this time he owned Glendevon Castle in what is now south

Perthshire Perthshire (Scottish English, locally: ; ), officially the County of Perth, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross, Strathmore ...

. During Douglas's absence in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, James II had attacked the lands of the Douglas because of Douglas offences against neighbouring lords. After Douglas's return, although there was an outward truce, relations continued to be strained between the king's party and that of the earl. In early February 452 Sir William Lauder of Haltoun, a close friend and relative (his mother Helen was a daughter of Archibald, 3rd Earl of Douglas, "The Grim") of Douglas, brought a summons to the Earl to attend the King at Stirling. There was abundant precedent for suspicion in a mandate of this nature, but, as if to allay it, Lauder brought safe conduct for Douglas given under the King's hand in council.Maxwell, 1902, vol.1, p. 171. Once there, King James demanded the dissolution of a league into which Douglas had entered with Alexander Lindsay, the "Tiger" Earl of Crawford, and John of Islay. Upon Douglas's refusal, the king stabbed him as did the several men with the king, and Sir Patrick Gray, according to the Auchinleck Chronicle, "struck out his brains with a pole ax", and his body was thrown out of a window. Since Douglas died without issue, his titles passed to his brother James.

Douglas in fiction

Douglas is the central character in ''Black Douglas'', a novel by Nigel Tranter, which is speculative about a few issues e.g. claiming that he had a dysfunctional marriage. William Douglas is portrayed in ''James II: Day of the Innocents'' which is part of "The James Plays" trilogy penned by

Rona Munro Rona Munro (born 7 September 1959) is a Scottish writer. She has written plays for theatre, radio, and television. Her film work includes Ken Loach's '' Ladybird, Ladybird'' (1994), '' Oranges and Sunshine'' (2010) for Jim Loach and '' Aimée ...

. This massive theatre production portrays a fictional account (heavily based on what is accepted as facts) of the lives of three generations of Scottish kings (James I, II and III). The stabbing of Douglas by James II is in the play.

References

Sources

* Fraser, Sir William, ''The Douglas Book'' (4 Vols), Edinburgh 188

*
thepeerage.com
* John Prebble, ''The Lion in the North'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, William Douglas, 08th Earl Of 1425 births 1452 deaths Nobility from South Lanarkshire Medieval murder victims 1452 in Scotland William Douglas, 08th Earl of Douglas 108 William Douglas, 08th Earl of Douglas Deaths by stabbing in Scotland People executed by defenestration Scottish murder victims People murdered in Scotland