William (Douglas) Douglas Second Earl of Angus
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William (Douglas) Douglas Second Earl of Angus (abt. 1398 - abt. 1437)

Born about in Scotlandmap
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married 3 Dec 1414 [location unknown]
Descendants descendants
Died about at about age 39 in Scotlandmap
Profile last modified | Created 21 Feb 2011
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Medieval Scotland
William (Douglas) Douglas Second Earl of Angus was an inhabitant of Medieval Scotland.
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Preceded by
George Douglas
2nd Earl of Angus
1402-1437
Succeeded by
James Douglas

Contents

Biography

Notables Project
William (Douglas) Douglas Second Earl of Angus is Notable.
William (Douglas) Douglas Second Earl of Angus is a member of Clan Douglas.

Sir William Douglas, Knt., 2nd Earl of Angus, son of George Douglas, 1st Earl of Angus and Marion Stewart, was born about 1398.[1][2][3][4][5] See the research note below for more about this date.

William succeeded to his title as 2nd Earl of Angus on the death of his father in 1402 and was infeft with his lands in 1409.[6] In 1423 he was one of the magnates who met James I at Durham after the king had been released from captivity and escorted him back to Scotland, and is said to have been knighted at the coronation in May 1424.[2][7] He was Ambassador to England in 1430 and held the office of Warden of the Middle Marches in 1433.[2][8] He fought in the Battle of Piperdean on 10 September 1435, where he defeated the English.[1][2][7]

Marriage and Children

William was betrothed to Margaret Hay, daughter of Sir William Hay of Yester,[9] by contract dated 4 December 1409, [1][10] but they were probably not married until shortly after 6 January 1414/5 when the bishop of Glasgow granted dispensation for their marriage,[11] though this date could be a year late. See the research note below for more about the dating of their marriage. Their children:

  1. James Douglas, 3rd Earl of Angus;[1] died about 1446; no issue.[2]
  2. George Douglas, 4th Earl of Angus;[1] married Isabella Sibbald, say1445; died 12 March 1463; issue.[2]
  3. William Douglas[1] died 1475; no issue.[2]
  4. Hugh Douglas[1] born about 1435; died after 1466; no known issue.[12]
  5. Elene Douglas (or Helen) born before 1438 (father's death); married (1) William Graham, 2nd Lord Graham, before 1460 (2) James Ogilvy, 1st Lord Ogilvy of Airlie, after 1471 (death of first husband);[13] died after 20 November 1486;[14] issue by both husbands.

He had another son who was possibly illegitimate::

Royal Ancestry does not name Helen nor Archibald.[1]

Death

William died about October 1437 per the retour of his son James who gave it as "a quarter of a year" previous to 11 January 1437/8.[1][5][18]

Research Notes

Date of Birth

Without a giving a source Wikipedia gives a precise date of birth of 24 February 1398.

Given that his parents were married in 1397, William could not have been more that four years old when his father died. The Douglas Book notes that a precept dated 27 March 1409 by the Duke of Albany calls him "of lawful age," and there must have been some special dispensation, though that is apparently not recorded.[3]

Date of Marriage

On 4 December 1409, William's mother gave a bond of £100 if William would marry a daughter, "qwha sa hit be," of Sir William Hay.[10] Roughly a year later, 12 December 1410, she gave an acquittance of that amount to Sir William Hay.[9][19] The couple were related in the fourth degree, and the pope mandated a dispensation in a letter to the Bishop of Glasgow, 11 December 1412.[20] A year later, the bishop granted the dispensation, 6 January 1414/5.[11] Secondary accounts give varying dates. Charles II states that Scots Peerage[21] and Complete Peerage[4] both have different dates, both wrong.[5] The Calendar of Writs shows the mandate was dated 11 December 1413, and Royal Ancestry overlooks the final dispensation on 6 January 1414/5.[1]

Sources

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, Kimball G. Everingham, ed. (Salt Lake City: the author, 2013), 1: 653-4 (BRUS 11.v.a).
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 James Balfour Paul, The Scots Peerage: founded on Wood's ed. of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland; containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom 9 vols. (Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1904-1914), 1: 174-5, Internet Archive.
  3. 3.0 3.1 William Fraser, The Douglas Book, 4 vols (Edinburgh: 1885) 2: 24, Internet Archive; 3: 49 #54, Internet Archive.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Cokayne, George Edward, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, 13 volumes in 14, (London: St. Catherine Press, 1910-1940), 1: 155, Internet Archive.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Neil D. Thompson & Charles M. Hanson, The Ancestry of Charles II, King of England: A Medieval Heritage [Twelve Generations] (Saline, Michigan: American Society of Genealogists, 2012) 114, #544.
  6. Fraser, The Douglas Book, 3: 49 #54, Internet Archive.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Herbert Maxwell, A History of the House of Douglas: From the Earliest Times Down to the Legisative Union of England and Scotland 2 vols (London: Freemantle & Co., 1902), 2: 8-12, Internet Archive.
  8. Fraser, The Douglas Book, 3: 65, Internet Archive.
  9. 9.0 9.1 Richard Augustin Hay, Genealogie of the Hayes of Tweeddale (Edinburgh: T. G. Stevenson, 1835), 16, 20, Internet Archive.
  10. 10.0 10.1 Calendar of Writs preserved at Yester House 1166-1625, Charles C. Harvey, ed. (Edinburgh: Scottish Record Society, 1930), 41, #45, Internet Archive.
  11. 11.0 11.1 Calendar of Writs, 42, #50, Internet Archive.
  12. Scots Peerage, 9: 11-12, Internet Archive.
  13. Scots Peerage, 6: 222n, Internet Archive, 9: 7, 11-12, Internet Archive.
  14. Papers of the Earls of Airlie, National Archives of Scotland, GD16/25/1, catalog record.
  15. Scots Peerage, 1: 175n, Internet Archive
  16. George Harvey Johnston, The Heraldry of the Douglases : With notes on all the males of the family, descriptions of the arms, plates and pedigrees, (Edinburgh: W & A K Johnston, 1907), 39, Internet Archive.
  17. Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum: Register of the Great Seal of Scotland (Edinburgh: General Register House, 1882-), 2: 321-322 #1538, Internet Archive.
  18. Fraser, The Douglas Book, 2: 33, Internet Archive 3: 372 Internet Archive.
  19. Calendar of Writs, 42, #46, Internet Archive.
  20. Francis McGurk, Calendar of Papal Letters to Scotland of Benedict XIII of Avignon, 1394-1419, (Edinburgh: Scottish History Sociey, 1976), 264, National Library of Scotland.
  21. Scots Peerage, 9: 165, Internet Archive.

See also:

  • Douglas Richardson. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham, 2nd edition (Salt Lake City: the author, 2011), 3: 575 SCOTLAND 5.v.a, Google Books
  • Adrian Benjamin Burke, "The Livingston Ancestry of the Duncanson Sisters of New Netherland, Part II: Identifyng their maternal great-grandmother Margaret Forrester," The Genealogist 27 (2013): 162-181 at 176.
  • Leslie Stephen, ed. (1888). "Douglas, William (1398?–1437)". Dictionary of National Biography. (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900), Wikisource.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to all who have contributed to this profile. Click the Changes tab to see those previous edits.

Magna Carta Project

This profile was developed 4 November 2023 for the Magna Carta and Scotland Projects by Greg Cooke and reviewed by Jen Hutton.

This profile has been identified by the Magna Carta Project as in a trail from Magna Carta Surety Baron Gilbert de Clare to Margaret and Catherine Duncanson. The trail, which was badged 11 December 2023, is set out in the Magna Carta trails section of Margaret Duncanson's Profile.

See Base Camp for more information about identified Magna Carta trails and their status. See the project's glossary for project-specific terms, such as a "badged trail".




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Comments: 6

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I will be developing this profile to conform to Magna Carta and Scotland Project guidelines. Please advise of any necessary or suggested changes.
posted by Gregory Cooke
William has been identified by research as a descendant of Magna Carta Surety Baron Gilbert de Clare and in a trail to Gateway Ancestors. I therefore propose to add the Magna Carta Project to the profile managers, and a Project member will wish to do some work on the profile.
posted by Michael Cayley
Done. Thanks Michael, this profile can definitely use some work. I'll leave it to you to add the appropriate mcp trail information.
posted by Jen (Stevens) Hutton
Thanks, Jen. I have now added her trail info.
posted by Michael Cayley
I have questions about the birth date listed and the marriage date listed. I am aware that the birth date is given on wikipedia. However, no source is given. The Scots Peerage comes close to implying a birth date around 1398, but nothing so specific as listed here in wikitree. The Complete Peerage gives no information about birth for William. Is there a source for this specific birth date?

The wikitree profile also contains a specific marriage date of Dec 3, 1414. The Scots Peerage is cited as a source, but Scots Peerage at the page cited has no mention of that date. It is also absent from the corrections volume. The Complete Peerage is also silent about this date. Is there a source for this specific marriage date?

If there are sources for these specific dates, the profile should reflect this and I would like to know the sources so as to update the profile in my personal family tree.

posted by Ian Brown