General Notes

William was one of the magnates who, at Scone in February, 1283/84, swore to maintain the claim of the Maid of Norway to the Scottish crown; and in March 1289/90 was a member of the assembly of prelates and magnates at Brigham, who urged upon Edward I the marriage of the Maid to his son. 

In 1292, William was one of the auditors named by Balliol as Competitor, and witnessed his fealty to Edward at Norham in November.  In 1294 he was among the Scots summoned by Edward (as overlord) for service in Gascony.  He took part in the Scottish raid into England, which, in 1296, laid siege to Carlisle and burnt Hesham priory; in April he was among the prisoners taken in Dunbar Castle, and sent to the Tower of London. 

In 1305 he was P.C. to the Lieutenant of the English king, and Warden beyond Spey; in 1306, keeper of the see of Caithness.  In 1306 he violated the sanctuary of St. Duthac at Tain, to seize the Scottish Queen and her daughter marjory, whom he sent as prisoners to Edward I.  He was amongst the Scottish magnates whom, in May 1308, Edward II thanked for their good service, in a letter which must have crossed, on the road, a plead for help, saying that he and his son Hugh had been obliged to make a truce till Whitsuntide with Brus, who had threatened a descent upon Ross, Sutherland and Caithness.  Help from England did not arrive, and in October the Earl did fealty to Brus at Auldearn in Moray.  Thereafter he appears to have been loyal to that oath, witnessing an agreement between Scotland and Norway in 1312, and joining in the letter of the Scottish magnates to the Pope, which asserted the independence of Scotland in 1320.