William II de Soules

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Hermitage Castle (in 1814), caput of the small provincial lordship of Liddesdale.

William de Soulis (d. 1320 x 1321), Lord of Liddesdale and Butler of Scotland, was a Scottish Border noble during the Wars of Scottish Independence. William was the elder son of Nicholas II de Soules, Lord of Liddesdale and Butler of Scotland, and a daughter of Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan. He was the nephew of John de Soules, Guardian of Scotland.

While still a young man, he was received into the peace of King Edward I of England in 1304. He remained in English service in the following decade, and received reward in 1312 with a knighthood and the lands of Sir Robert Keith. After the victory of the Bruce cause at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, he appears to have switched to the Scottish side. By 1320 he was Butler of Scotland, the same year in which he appeared as a signatory to the Declaration of Arbroath with this designation.

In 1320 he was involved in a conspiracy against King Robert along with Sir David de Brechin. The probable aim was to place Edward Balliol on the Scottish throne rather than to restore English rule. Soules had gathered hundreds of followers when he was arrested at Berwick, and brought before parliament. There he confessed his treason, and was placed in Dumbarton Castle. He was dead by April 20, 1321, in mysterious circumstances..

[edit] References

• Barrow, G. W. S., The Kingdom of the Scots, (Edinburgh, 2003)
• Barrow, G. W. S., Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland, 3rd ed. (Edinburgh, 1988)
• Duncan, A. A. M., "Soulis, Sir John (d. before 1310)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 , accessed 21 May 2007
• McMichael, Thomas, "The Feudal Family of de Soulis", in Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History & Antiquarian Society: Transactions and Journal of Proceedings, 3rd series, vol. 26, 1947-48, pp. 163-93