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Clan Douglas Conflicts in Scotland
After James II destroyed the "Black Douglases" in 1455, the Douglas family split into branches including the Red Douglases (the Earls of Angus line).…
Timeline
- 1461–1463Scottish Lowlands · ScotlandIn 1455 the 8th Earl of Douglas, William, was attainted and killed in battle, and Black Douglas power collapsed. In the early 1460s power was reorganized in southwest Scotland and the Borders; the royal house attempted to control former Douglas lands, while the various branches competed over inheritance and fiefs.
- 1463–1468Angus · AngusIn 1463 Archibald Douglas succeeded as Earl of Angus, leading the Red Douglases to become the foremost power in the Lowlands. He maintained independent influence during the Boyd regime, and together with other great nobles formed a potential check on royal power.
- 1469–1470Edinburgh · LothianWhen James III moved against the Boyds in 1469, Douglas magnates such as Angus participated in or acquiesced in the coup. After the Boyds' fall the balance of power was reshuffled again; the alliance between the crown and powerful magnates such as the Douglases was briefly consolidated, but undercurrents of competition over border warfare and control of fiefs persisted.
Sources
- Douglas, Scottish noble family https://www.britannica.com/topic/Douglas-family
- The Black Douglases: War and Lordship in Late Medieval Scotland, 1300-1455 — Michael Brown (1998)