• General Notes

  Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus
  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
  Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus (1449 - November 19, 1513), the famous "Bell the Cat," was born about 1449 and succeeded his father, George the 4th earl, in 1462 or 1463.
  
  In 1481 he was made warden of the east marches, but the next year he joined the league against James III and his favourite Robert Cochrane at Lauder, where he earned his nickname by offering to bell the cat, i.e. to deal with the latter, beginning the attack upon him by pulling his gold chain off his neck and causing him with others of the king's favourites to be hanged.
  
  Subsequently he joined Alexander Stewart, 1st Duke of Albany, in league with Edward IV of England on the 11 February 1483, signing the convention at Westminster which acknowledged the overlordship of the English king. In March however they returned, outwardly at least, to their allegiance, and received pardons for their treason.
  
  Later Angus was one of the leaders in the rebellion against James in 1487 and 1488, which ended in the latter's death.
  
  He was made one of the guardians of the young king James IV. but soon lost influence, being superseded by the Homes and Hepburns, and the wardenship of the marches was given to Alexander Home. Though outwardly on good terms with James, he treacherously made a treaty with Henry VII. about 1489 or 1491, by which he undertook to govern his relations with James according to instructions from England, and to hand over Hermitage Castle, commanding the pass through Liddesdale into Scotland, on the condition of receiving English estates in compensation.
  
  In October 1491 he fortified his castle of Tantallon against James, but was obliged to submit and exchange his Liddesdale estate and Hermitage Castle for the lordship of Bothwell.
  
  In 1493 he was again in favour, received various grants of lands, and was made chancellor, which office he retained till 1498. In 1501 he was once more in disgrace and confined to Dumbarton Castle. After the disaster at Flodden Fields in 1513, at which he was not present, but at which he lost his two eldest sons, Angus was appointed one of the counsellors of the queen regent. He died at the close of this year, or in 1514.
  
  Marriages and children
  He was married three times, firstly on 4 March 1467 to Elizabeth Boyd, daughter of the first Lord Boyd. Secondly, about 1498 he married Janet Kennedy, daughter of the second Lord Kennedy. And thirdly in 1500, he married Katherine Stirling.
  
  Children by first marriage
  Name Birth Death Notes
  George Douglas, Master of Angus 1469 September 9, 1513 married in March1488, Lady Elizabeth Drummond; had issue
  Lady Mariot Douglas of Angus 1470 married, Cuthbert Cunningham, 2nd Earl of Glencairn; had issue
  Gawin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld 1472
  Lady Elizabeth Douglas of Angus 1474
  Sir Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie 1475
  Lady Janet Douglas of Angus 1476
  William Douglas, Viscount Angus 1478 married, Lady Elizabeth Auchinleck of Glenbervie; had issue
  -----------------------------------------------------------
  
  5th Earl of Angus; Lord of Liddesdale thru 1491
  "... fifth Earl of Angus, became the most powerful nobleman inthe kingdom, and was commonly called the Great Earl. He was only fourteen years of age when he succeeded his father. On attaining the maturity the young Earl did not prove more loyal than his kinsmen of the elder branch. When the Duke of Albany quarrelled with his brother, King James III, and fled into England, Angus became a party to the treasonable treaty which Albany concluded with the English King for the acknowledgement of his sovereignty, and ceding to him Eskdale, Annandale, and Liddesdale, on condition of being made King of Scotland. The young Earl (in his twenty-eighth year) was the leader of the discontented nobles who were indignant at the preference which the King showed for architects, musicians, and painters, and determined to seize the person of their sovereign and to wreak their vengeance on his favourites. The muster of their feud alarray for the purpose of invading England, in retaliation for the ravages which an English army had made in Scotland, afforded them a favourable opportunity for carrying their nefarious schemes into effect. On their march to the Border the army halted for the first night at Lauder, and next morning the principal conspirators held a secret council in the church to arrange for the immediate execution of their designs. They were all agreed as to what should be done, and they hesitated as to the best mode of proceeding. Lord Gray, as Godscroft relates the occurrence, 'craved audience, and told them the apologue of the mice, who consulting in a public meeting how to be sure from the cat's surprising them, found out a very good way,which was to hang a bell about her neck, that would ring as she stepped, and so give them warning of her approach, that they might save themselves by flight. But when it came to be questioned who would undertake to tie the bell around the cat's neck, there was never a mouse durst cheep to undertake it.' Angus started up when Gray had done speaking, and exclaimed , 'Iwill bell the cat,' a saying which procured for him the cognomenof 'Archibald Bell-the-Cat,' by which he was ever afterwards familiarly designated. Cochrane and the other royal favourites were immediately seized, and in the most brutal manner hanged over the bridge at Lauder. After these cruel and foul murders, the conspirators returned to the capital, carrying with them their unfortunate sovereign, and committed him a close prisoner to the Castle of Edinburgh.
  "A temporary reconciliation followed between the King and his brother, on whom offices and grants were liberally bestowed; but this did not prevent Albany from renewing his treasonable intrigues with the English king. The Earl of Angus and other two of his accomplices, Lord Gray and Sir James Liddal, were despatched to England to negotiate a secret treaty with the Commissioners of Edward IV, in which it was stipulated that on certain specified conditions he should assist Albany in the conquest of the Crown of Scotland 'to his proper use.' Angus and his associates promised that in the event of Albany dying without heirs, they would maintain their castles against James, now King of Scots, and 'live under the sole allegiance of the good and gracious prince the King of England.'
  
  "As soon as this infamous transaction transpired, the great body of the barons, who had hitherto been unfriendly to the King, rallied round the throne, and enabled James to defeat the plots of the conspirators against the independence of the kingdom. Angus was compelled to resign his office of Lord Justiciar onthe south side of the Forth, his Stewardry of Kirkcudbright, his Sheriffdom of Lanark, and his command of the strong castle of Thrieve. His principal accomplices were at the same time deprived of their dignities and offices. In no long time, the conspiracy against the royal authority was renewed, and the Earl of Angus and Lord Gray were the principal instigators of the new rebellion, which led to the overthrow and death of the unfortunate sovereign. Angus was one of the commanders of the insurgent forces at the battle of Saunchieburn, in which the royal army was defeated, and James was murdered in his flight from the field.
  
  "King James IV, at that time a youth of sixteen years of age, had been induced to take part in the rebellion against his father, but as he grew older he felt deep remorse for having allowed himself to be made the tool of a selfish and unprincipled faction, and gradually withdrew his countenance from its leaders. It was probably the coldness with which he was now treated that induced Angus, the old intriguer and traitor to his country, to enter into a plot with Henry VII of England against his youthful sovereign, and ultimately to withdraw for a season in England. Some knowledge of his treason had probably reached the King, for on the return of the Earl to Scotland he was committed a prisoner in his own castle of Tantallon, and, as the price of his pardon, was compelled to exchange the lordship of Liddesdale and the strong fortress of Hermitage, in the first instance, for the lordship of Kilmarnock; but a few months later, Liddesdale and its stronghold were bestowed in fee and heritage on the Earl of Bothwell, and Bothwell Castle, resigned by that nobleman, was given to Angus in exchange for Kilmarnock. This transference was a considerable diminution of the greatness and power of the Douglas family.
  
  "The displeasure of the King was increased by the slaughter of Spens of Kilspindie, a favourite courtier, who about this time was killed in a casual encounter with Angus. The incident, which is thus related by Godscroft, illustrates both the character of the fierce and stalwart noble and of the stormy and violent times: --
  
  "The King on a time was discoursing at table of the personages of men, and by all men's confession the prerogative was adjudgeed to the Earl of Angus. A courtier that was by, one Spens of Kilspindie, ... cast in a word of doubting and disparaging: 'It is true,' said he, 'if all be good that is up-come,' meaning, if his action and valour were answerable to his personage. This spoken openly, and coming to the Earl's ears, offended him highly. It fell out after this, as the Earl was riding from Douglas to Tantallon, that he sent all his company the nearest way, and he himself was the only of his servants, having each of them a hawk on his fist , in hope of better sport, took the way of Borthwick towards Fala, where lighting at the brook at the west end of the town, they bathed their hawks. In the meantime this Spens happened to come that way, whom the Earl espying said 'Is not this such a one, that made question of my manhood? I will go to him and give him atrial of it, that we may know which of us is the better man.''No, my lord,' said his servant, 'it is a disparagement for you to meddle with him.' ... 'I see,' said the Earl, 'he hath one with him; it shall be thy part to grapple with him, whilst I deal with his master.' So fastening their hawks they rode after him. 'What reason had you,' said the Earl to him, 'to speak contemptously of me at such a time?' When the other would have excused the matter, he told him that he would not serve the turn. 'Thou art a big fellow and so am I; one of us must pay for it.' The other answered, 'If it may be, no matter; there is never an earl in Scotland but I will defend myself from him as well as I can.' . .. So, alighting from their horses, they fought a certain space; but at last the Earl of Angus cu tSpens' thighbone asunder, so that he fell to the ground and died soon after.
  
  "Advancing years seem to have moderated the fiery and fierce temper of Bell-the-Cat, and from this time onward he appears to have acted the part of a dutiful and peaceful subject. James ,with whom he now stood in high favour, conferred on him the office of Chancellor in 1493, which he held for five years. He accompanied the King to his unjustifiable and disastrous invasion of England in 1513, and earnestly remonstrated against the rash and imprudent resolution of James to wait the attack of the English at Flodden. The King was so enraged at the remonstrance of the old warrior that he scornfully replied, 'Angus,if you are afraid you may go home.' The Earl burst into tears at this insult and hastened to depart, saying mournfully, 'If my past life does not free me from any suspicion of cowardice, I do not know what can ; as long as my body was capable of exertion, I never spared it in defence of my country or my sovereign's honour. But now, since my age renders my body of no use in battle, and my counsel is despised, I leave my two sons and the vassals of Douglas in the field; may Angus's forebodings be unfounded.' The earl quitted the camp that night; but his two sons, George, Master of Angus, and Sir William Douglas of Glenbervie, with two hundred gentlemen of the name of Douglas, remained, and fell in battle.
  
  "Earl Archibald, broken-hearted by the calamities of his house and his country, retired into the Abbey of St. Mains in Galloway, where he died twelve months after the battle of Flodden, in the sixty-first year of his age. The historian of the family bestows the most glowing eulogiums on the 'Great Earl,' as a man every way accomplished both for mind and body.'He was of stature tall, and strong made,' he says; 'his countenance was full of majesty; wise and eloquent of speech; upright and square in his actions; sober and moderate in his desires; valiant and courageous; a man of action and understanding; liberal also, loving and kind to his friends,which made him to be beloved, reverenced, and respected of all men.' Master David , however, is obliged to admit that 'Onefault he had, that he was too much given to women; otherwisethere was little or nothing amiss.'
  
  The Great Historic Families of Scotland, James Taylor

Details of Archibald's family with Elizabeth Boyd