EARLS OF A a CI'S. This line was begun with CEORGE, the illegitimate son of William, first Earl of Douglas. and Alargarct Stewart, Countess of Angus and Alar. Ile received a grant of his mother's earldom of Angus in 13S9, married in; 1397 the youngest daughter of King Robert 11., was taken prisoner at Domildon in 1402. and died of the plague in England in the following year. Ile was succeeded by his son WILLIAm. who, dying in lt37, was si-co-dot by his son JAMES. Iyho died without issue, when the title reverted to his uncle. GEoia,E, fourth Earl of Angus, took part with the King against the Donglases in 1454; his loyalty was rewarded by a grant of their old inheritance of Douglas-dale; and so, in the phrase of the time, "the Red Doug las"—such was the complexion of Angus—"put down the Black." He died in 1462, being succeed ed by iris son ARCHIBALD, surnamed Bell-the-Cat, and sometimes also called the Great Earl. After filling the highest offices in tire State, and adding largely to the family possessions, lie retired to the Priory of Canons Regular at Whithorn, in Galloway. where lie (lied about 1514. Ile was suc ceeded by his grandson ARCII IBALD, who. in 1514, married the Queen Dowager of Scotland, Mar garet, sister of Henry VIII. of England and widow of James IV. of Scotland. The fruit of this marriage was a daughter, Margaret, who, marrying the Earl of Lennox, became the mother of Henry, Lord Darnley, the husband of Queen Mary and father of King James VI. The Earl of Angus had for a time supreme power in Scot land; but in 1528 the young King James V. escaped from his hands, and sentence of forfeiture was passed against Angus and his kinsmen. The King swore that while he lived the Douglases should have no place in his kingdom; and he kept his vow. On his death, in 1542, Angus re turned to Scotland, and was restored to his honors and possessions. 1Ie died at Tantallon in 1556. His nephew, who succeeded him, died two years afterwards. leaving an only son. ARCHIBALD, eighth Earl of Angus. This Good Earl, as lie was called, died in 1588, when his title devolved on his kinsman WILLIAM, the grandson of Sir William Douglas of Glenbervie, second son of Archibald Bell-the-Cat. Dying in 1591, he was succeeded by his son who next year obtained from the Crown a special recognition of Iris high privileges as Earl of Angus. lie turned Roman Catholic, and died in Paris in loll.
MAttQuisEs A ND DUKES Or DOUGLA S, AND LORDS DOUGLAS. WILLIAM, eleventh Earl of Angus, was created Marquis of Douglas in 1633, and, dying in 1660, was succeeded by his grand son JAMES, who died in 1700, leaving issue one son and one daughter. The son, Anc T1111.11,1). third Marquis of was created Duke of Douglas in 1703, and died childless in 1701, when his duke dom became extinct and his marquisate devolved on the Duke of ITamilton. The descendants of his sister, Lady Jane Douglas. were British peers, under the title "Baron Douglas of Castle, from 1791) till 1857. The claims of the rivals to
the earldom of Angus in 1762 were never decided, and the title is still in abeyance. The right at ta. nil to it of bearing the crown of Scotland was debated before the Pri‘y Council in 1823. when it was ruled that Lord Douglas's claim to that luator, being it claim of heritable right. fell for
to a court of la•. The Motto of the Douglas arm:. •larnais arri• rc ('Never behind') probably alludes to the peculiar precedence in herent in their earldom of Angus. The bloody heart commemorates Billets's dying bequest to the Good Sir James: the three stars which the Doug las•s bear in cuuunon with the Alurrays seem to denote the descent cif both film,
Ema.s or 101CTON. SIR ANDREW or DOUCLAS, who appears in record in 1248, was apparently a younger son of Sir Archibald. I in Erkenbald. of Douglas. the second chief of the house. His son, WILLIANI OF DOFCLAS, swore fealty to King Ed ward 1, for his lands in West Lothian in 1290. and was probably the father of Sir dames of Douglas—surnamed the Lothian, to distinguish him from his kinsman of Clydesdale--who. in 1315, had a grant from Bruce of the lands of Kincavil and Calder-clere. He died about 1320, being succeeded by his son, Sin WILLIAM OF DOUGLAS. of LiddeSdale, who greatly enlarged the family possessions in life and elsewhere. The 'Knight of Liddesdale'—as he was called by his contemporaries, who regarded him as 'the flower of chival•y'—was assassinated in 1353 by his kinsman. William, first Earl of Douglas, to revenge his wife's dishonor. Ile was succeeded by his nephew. Sin JA.u•s OF Dotaa.As. of Dal a man of literary tastes, who entertained Froissart at his hoard and possessed a valuable library for the day. Ile was of great power and and contracted princely alliances. first wife was a daughter of 'Black Agnes.' the heroic Countess of Dunbar; his second was a sister of Robert 11.; and he matched his eldest son. Sir .lames of Douglas, of Dalkeith, with a daughter of King Robert Ill. Their grandson married a daughter of King .fames L. and in 1458 was created Earl of :Mor ton. llis grandson, the third Earl, dying without issue in 1353, the earldom devolved on his daughter's husband, the Regent Morton, JAMES Dota;LAs, great-grandson of Archibald Bell-the Cat. After his fall the title went to eighth Earl of Angus; and when he died childless, in 1388, it passed to Stu WILLIAM Dort.L.ts. of Lochlevem who thus became seventh Earl of Mor ton. ills losses in the great Civil War compelled him, in 1042, to sell Dalkeith to the Earl of Bucelenehg and his Tweeddale and Eskdale lands to others; but Aberdour and other old domains of the family still remain with his deseendant. the Earl of :Morton, who descends legitimately in the male line from William of Douglas, the progenitor of the race in the twelfth century.