General Notes

Earl William was one of the most powerful barons of his time in Scotland. He was one of those who were removed from the Government of Scotland by Henry III. of England, in September, 1255, while his opponent, Alan Durward, was one of those who replaced him. Mar was, however, recalled to the king’s councils in the beginning of the year 1257. In November, 1258, he appears, along with Alan Durward, as one of those whom Henry III. undertook to support in the government of the kingdom. He was named among the barons of Scotland to whom Henry III. bound himself to deliver up the child that his daughter Margaret, queen of Alexander III., was about to give birth in England. He held the office of Great Chamberlain of Scotland in 1252, and again from 1263 to 1266. In 1270 he was sent to England, accompanied by the Abbot of Dunfermline, on a mission for the recovery of the Earldom of Huntingdon. By a charter dated at Falkland on the 23rd of January, 1268, witnessed by his sons, Donald and Duncan, he confirmed to the canons of St Andrews the grants made to them by his grandfather, Morgund, Earl of Mar, of the church of Tarland, and by his grandmother, Countess of Mar, of the church of Migvie; and, further, granted an acre of land, lying between the church and the castle of Migvie, for a manse to the vicar serving the cure. One clause in his charters touches on the questions which had been raised as to the legitimacy of Earl Morgund. Earl William died in 1273, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Donald, seventh Earl of Mar.