William Douglas, 6th Earl of Douglas

For other people named William Douglas, see William Douglas (disambiguation).
William, Earl of Douglas
Duke of Touraine(de jure)
Earl of Wigtown
Lord of Galloway
Lord of Bothwell, Selkirk and Ettrick Forest, Eskdale, Lauderdale, Liddesdale and Annandale
Count of Longueville (de jure)
Lord of Dun-le-Roi (de jure)

Arms of the 6th Earl of Douglas
Predecessor Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Douglas
Successor James Douglas, 7th Earl of Douglas
Spouse(s) Janet Lindsay
Noble family Douglas
Father Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Douglas
Mother Euphemia Graham
Born 1424
Scotland
Died 1440
murdered at Edinburgh Castle
Buried 1440
St Bride's Kirk Douglas, South Lanarkshire

William, 6th Earl of Douglas (c. 1424 24 November 1440) was a short-lived Scottish nobleman. In addition to his Earldom of Douglas, he was Earl of Wigtown, Lord of Galloway, Lord of Bothwell, Selkirk and Ettrick Forest, Eskdale, Lauderdale, 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 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, 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. The so-called 'Black Dinner' which followed saw the two boys summarily beheaded on trumped up charges, in the presence of the young King James II.

The lordships of Annandale and Bothwell fell to the crown; Galloway to Margaret Douglas (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

References

Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by
Archibald Douglas

Earl of Douglas

14391440
Succeeded by
James Douglas


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