Genealogical account of the family of Edmonstone of Duntreath

3 o GENEALOGICAL ACCOUNT OF
were apprehended and put into prison, might be set at liberty, but that
was declined, as appears by a letter from King Henry to King James,
dated January 25, 1452. Probably, too, they were to act as spies on the
Earl of Douglas, who was at this time in England. Shortly after this, the
Earl, on his return, was assassinated. This mission is not mentioned either
by Pinkerton or Tytler ; but the former historian mentions another, the
following year, in which the Abbot of Melrose was employed for negotiat-
ing an extension of the truce with England, which had nearly expired. 1
It has been stated in the preliminary notice, that in a charter of 1445
Sir William Edmonstone is styled of Culloden. He had the honour to
contract a royal marriage like his kinsman Sir John, in the person of the
Lady Mary, second daughter to King Robert the Third, by Annabella,
daughter of Sir John Drummond of Stobhall, ancestor of the Earls of
Perth.
This lady had been three times previously married. First, in 1397,
to George, son of William First Earl of Douglas, by Margaret Stewart,
Countess of Angus, his third wife. This George inherited the earldom of
Angus from his mother, who died in 1402 ; the same year, however, he
was taken prisoner at the battle of Homildon, and died not long after-
wards of an epidemic in England. Two sons, William and George, second
and fourth Earls of Angus, and Mary, married first to Lord Forbes,
and secondly to Sir David Hay of Yester, were born from this marriage.
The Lady Mary married secondly, the year following, 1405, Sir James
Kennedy, son and heir of Sir Gilbert Kennedy of Dunure, ancestor of the
present Marquis of Ailsa. Sir James lost his life in a quarrel with his
disinherited elder brother Gilbert, before their father's death, having had
three sons, John, Gilbert, and James. The Countess of Angus married,
thirdly, Sir William Graham of Kincardine, but the Montrose family are
descended from a previous marriage. Five sons were the issue of this
marriage, from one of whom the Grahams of Garvock and Balgowan
descended, and from another the Grahams of Claverhouse, the well-known
Viscount of Dundee. Sir William Graham died in 1424, and the Countess,
who never allowed much time to widowhood, married the following year
to her fourth husband, Sir William Edmonstone of Culloden. She must
1 Pinkerton, History of Scotland, vol. i. p. 221.