Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Douglas

Infobox Monarch
name =Archibald Douglas
title =Earl of Douglas


caption =
reign =
coronation =
othertitles =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
Seigneur de Dun-le-Roi
predecessor =Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas
successor =William Douglas, 6th Earl of Douglas
married =Eumphemia Graham
issue =William Douglas, 6th Earl of Douglas
Margaret Douglas
David Douglas
royal house =
dynasty =Douglas
royal anthem =
father =Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas
mother =Princess Margaret of Scotland
date of birth =1390
place of birth =Scotland
date of death =1439
place of death =Restalrig, Midlothian
date of burial =1439
place of burial =St Bride's Kirk Douglas, South Lanarkshire|

Archibald Douglas (1390–26 June 1439), was a Scottish nobleman, son of Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas and Joan Moray. 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 Seigneur of Dun-le-roi in France.

He fought with the French at Baugé in 1421, and was made count of Longueville in Normandy. He succeeded to his father's English and Scottish titles in 1424, though he never drew on his father's French estates of the Duchy of Touraine. Douglas served as ambassador to England in 1424, during the ransoming of James I. He held the office of Regent of the Kingdom, during the minority of James II from 1437 to 1439. Douglas died from a fever in Restalrig, Midlothian, and was buried at Douglas.

Marriage and issue

Between 1423 and 1425 he married Eupheme Graham (before 1413–1468), daughter of Patrick Graham, "de jure" Earl of Strathearn. They had three children.

*William Douglas (c.1424–24 November 1440), who briefly succeeded as 6th Earl
*Margaret Douglas (before 1435–1475) the 'Fair Maid of Galloway', who married first William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas, second James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas, third John Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl
*David Douglas (before 1439–24 November 1440)

Both sons were summarily beheaded at Edinburgh Castle on trumped up charges, in the presence of the young King James II. The so-called 'Black Dinner' thus broke the power of the 'Black' Douglases. The lordships of Annandale and Bothwell fell to the crown, Galloway to Margaret Douglas, and the Douglas lands and earldom passed to William's great-uncle James Douglas, Earl of Avondale, who was himself implicated, with Sir William Crichton, in the murder of the young earl.

References

*1911
* [http://www.thepeerage.com/p10810.htm#i108096 thepeerage.com]