6th Earl of Douglas William Douglas b. 1423 Whittinghame, East Lothian, Scotland d. 24 Nov 1440 Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland: MontyHistNotes

1423 - 1440 (17 years)

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Name	William Douglas [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
Title	6th Earl of Douglas
Birth	1423	Whittinghame, East Lothian, Scotland [3, 7]
Gender	Male
Title	Duke of Touraine
Burial	1440	Lanarkshire, Scotland [3]
	St Bride's Kirk, Douglas, South Lanarkshire
Death	24 Nov 1440	Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland [3, 5, 7]
	Executed; Murdered by Uncle James Edinburgh Castle Black Dinner
Notes	William Douglas, 6th Earl of Douglas From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia William Douglas Earl of Douglas Arms of the 6th Earl of Douglas Titles Duke of Touraine(de jure) Earl of Wigtown Lord of Galloway Lord of Bothwell, Selkirk and Ettrick Forest, Eskdale, Lauderdale, Liddesdale and Annandale Count of Longueville (de jure) Seigneur de Dun-le-Roi (de jure) Born 1424 Birthplace Scotland Died 1440 Place of death murdered at Edinburgh Castle Buried St Bride's Kirk Douglas, South Lanarkshire Predecessor Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Douglas Successor James Douglas, 7th Earl of Douglas Dynasty Douglas Father Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Douglas Mother Euphemia Graham William Douglas (c. 1424 - 24 November 1440) was a short-lived Scottish Nobleman. He was Earl of Douglas and Wigtown, Lord of Galloway, Lord of Bothwell, Selkirk and Ettrick Forest, Eskdale, Lauderdale, and Annandale in Scotland, and de jure Duke of Touraine, Count of Longueville, and Sire of Dun-le-roi in France. He was the eldest son of Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Douglas and Eupheme Graham. He married Janet Lindsay, daughter of David Lindsay, 3rd Earl of Crawford, and succeeded to the earldom on the death of his father, who had served as regent of James II. Following Douglas' death, Sir William Crichton, Sir Alexander Livingston of Callendar, and James Douglas, Earl of Avondale shared power. Together they conspired to break the power of the late Earl's family, and summoned William and his younger brother David to Edinburgh. The so-called 'Black Dinner' which followed saw the two boys summarily beheaded on trumped up charges, in the presence of the young King. The lordships of Annandale and Bothwell fell to the crown, Galloway to Margaret Douglas, the 6th Earl's sister, and the Douglas lands and earldom passed to William's great-uncle James Douglas, the Earl of Avondale, who was accordingly seen later as the main perpetrator.
Person ID	I2797	MontyHistNotes_II
Last Modified	6 Sep 2025

Father	2nd Duke of Touraine Archibald Douglas, b. 1390, Douglas, Lanarkshire, Scotland d. 26 Jun 1439, Restalrig, Midlothian, Scotland (Age 49 years)
Relationship	natural
Mother	Euphemia Graham, b. 1408, Perthshire, Scotland d. Oct 1468, Hamilton, Lanarkshire, Scotland (Age 60 years)
Relationship	natural
Marriage	Bef 26 Apr 1425	Perth, Perthshire, Scotland [6]
	Kinnoul Church
Family ID	F1241	Group Sheet \| Family Chart

Family	Janet Lindsay, b. 1433, Crawford, Lanarkshire, Scotland d. 1483, Ardross, Fifeshire, Scotland (Age 50 years)
Marriage	1440
Family ID	F1255	Group Sheet \| Family Chart
Last Modified	6 Sep 2025

Event Map

Death - 24 Nov 1440 - Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland

= Link to Google Earth

Sources

[S405] David Lindsay, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lindsay,_1st_Earl_of_Crawford.
[S406] David Lindsay III, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lindsay,_3rd_Earl_of_Crawford.
[S404] Bio Information William Douglas, (Name: Wikipedia; Location: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Douglas,_6th_Earl_of_Douglas;), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Douglas,_6th_Earl_of_Douglas.
[S323] thePeerage.com, (Name: thePeerage.com;), Lindsay Janet #021670 http://thepeerage.com/p2167.htm#i21670.
[S323] thePeerage.com, (Name: thePeerage.com;), Listing of British Peerage.
[S782] The Douglas Archives, (Name: The Douglas Archives; Location: http://www.douglashistory.co.uk/famgen/index.php;), Douglas Archibald http://www.douglashistory.co.uk/famgen/getperson.php?personID=I266562&tree=tree1.
[S516] Ancestry.com, Dictionary of National Biography, Volumes 1-20, 22, (Name: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors.Original data - Stephen, Sir Leslie, ed. Dictionary of National Biography, 1921–1922. London, England: Oxf;).