Person Page - 298

George Douglas 1st Earl of Angus¹

• Father: Sir William Douglas of Ninthdale^2,3 b. c 1370, d. May 1394
• Mother: Margaret Stewart Countess of Angus^4,3 b. c 1350, d. b 23 Mar 1417

• Relationships: 11th great-grandfather of Dougald MacFarlane, 11th great-grandfather of Margaret MacDonell, 16th great-grandfather of Donald James MacFarlane
• Charts: Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#1), Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#2)

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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• Birth*: George Douglas 1st Earl of Angus was born before 1378 in Tantallon Castle, East Lothian, Scotland.^1,3
• Marriage Contract*: A contract for the marriage of George Douglas 1st Earl of Angus and Lady Mary Stewart was signed on 24 May 1397 in Scotland.⁵
• Death*: George Douglas 1st Earl of Angus died after September 1402 in England; from bubonic plague.⁴
• Biography*: George Douglas, 1st Earl of Angus was born before 1378 illegitimately. He was the son of William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas and Margaret Stewart, Countess of Angus. A contract for the marriage of George Douglas, 1st Earl of Angus and Lady Mary Stewart was signed on 24 May 1397. He died after September 1402 at England from the Bubonic Plague.
  
  He was created 1st Earl of Angus [Scotland] on 9 April 1389. He fought in the Battle of Homildon Hill on 14 September 1402, where he was captured by the English. He has an extensive biographical entry in the Dictionary of National Biography.
  
  From Wikipedia
  George Douglas, 1st Earl of Angus (1380–1403) was a mediaeval Scottish nobleman.
  
  Life
  He was born at Tantallon Castle, East Lothian, Scotland. The bastard son of William, 1st Earl of Douglas and Margaret Stewart, Dowager Countess of Mar & Countess of Angus and Lady Abernethy in her own right.
  
  He was seen as the product of incest as his mother was the widow of Earl William's wife's brother, Thomas, 13th Earl of Mar.
  
  Earl William's legitimate wife Margaret of Mar had already produced an heir for her Lord in 1358, James, 2nd Earl of Douglas and Mar inherited upon his father's death in 1384.
  
  In 1389, Margaret of Angus relinquished her title in favour of her son, but he did not assume it until his betrothal in 1397 to the princess Mary, daughter of King Robert III. Margaret of Angus' influence must have been considerable - in addition to obtaining a royal bride for her illegitimate son, she persuaded King Robert to confirm him in his style of Earl of Angus, and also to bestow upon him the lordships of Abernethy, (Perthshire) and Bonkill, (Berwickshire); and "to endow him and his spouse with the justiciary fees of the County of Forfar, to ratify all gifts, entails, and leases made or to be made by Isabel, Countess of Mar, to the said Jorge her brothir" -(Maxwell).
  
  James 2nd Earl of Douglas, was killed without issue in 1388, at the Battle of Otterburn, and the Earldom of Mar, and all non-entailed Douglas possessions passed to his sister Isabel. The earldom of Douglas passed to a cousin, a bastard son of The Good Sir James Douglas, the aptly named Archibald the Grim.
  
  The descendants of Archibald formed the famed Black line, and those of George the equally famed and longer lived Red Line.
  
  Angus does not appear to have taken much interest in Public life, although his name appears on various minor charters. In 1402 however, he was dispatched under orders of the Duke of Albany, Regent of Scotland to accompany Murdoch, Earl of Fife and the Earl of Moray to assist the Earl of Douglas during his invasion of Northumberland. That incursion ended at the disastrous field of Homildon Hill, where the Scots were routed and all of the above taken prisoner. Both Moray and Angus died of the Plague whilst captive.^4,3