Douglas, William Douglas, 8th earl of

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Douglas, William Douglas, 8th earl of [S] (c.1425–52). Eldest son of James ‘the Gross’, 7th earl of Douglas. Knighted while still an infant (1430), together with the royal child who would eventually kill him, he grew up to become by far the most powerful magnate in Scotland. Lieutenant-general for the young James II from 1444, and married to the Galloway heiress Margaret, Douglas and his brothers James (who succeeded him), Archibald ( earl of Moray), Hugh ( earl of Ormond), and John, Lord Balvenie, defeated all opposition and dominated Scottish politics between 1444 and 1452.

During William's absence abroad, cutting a fine figure in Rome during Jubilee Year 1450, the adult James II plundered the Douglas lands of Wigtown and Selkirk. A hollow reconciliation between king and earl followed in 1451, but the following year a bond between Douglas, Crawford, and Ross provided the excuse for the earl's murder, by James II in person, at Stirling castle.

Norman Macdougall

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