Douglas book > Angus memoirs

A JUROR AT THE TRIAL OF ALBANY, 1425. 27
the descendants of the Regent Albany, whom he unjustly deemed the author
of his protracted captivity in England, are well-known facts of history.
Scarcely a year had elapsed since he had been placed on the throne of his
fathers, when, in the session of his second Parliament at Perth, in March
1425, King James suddenly arrested Murdach, Duke of Albany, his son Sir
Alexander Stewart, and other nobles, including the Earl of Angus. He had
determined on the destruction of the family of Albany, and he resolved, by
intimidating the rest of the nobles, to make them privy to his actions.
Parliament was then adjourned to meet at Stirling two months later, and of
the imprisoned lords, eight at least appear to have obtained their liberty on
promising compliance with the king's wishes. These eight, of whom
William, Earl of Angus, was one, sat on the jury of twenty-one who, on 24th
May, at a meeting of Parliament at Stirling, presided over judicially by the
king in person, condemned to death Walter Stewart, eldest son of Murdach,
Duke of Albany. His execution was at once carried into effect, and on the
following day the Duke himself, his son Alexander, and the aged Earl of
Lennox, were, with the same precipitation, condemned and beheaded. The
Duchess of Albany, a daughter of the Earl of Lennox, was imprisoned for
some time in the Earl of Angus's castle of Tantallon. 1
While at Stirling, William, Earl of Angus, made a grant which must
have been somewhat opposed to the wishes of his grandmother, Margaret,
Countess of Angus, formerly adverted to. 2 She had bestowed an annuity of
£5 from the lands of Kirktoun in Earl-Stradichty, upon Patrick Lindsay, but
the Earl granted away these lands to Thomas Clerk of Dundee, 3 and in
1 Fordun, a Goodall, vol. ii. pp. 483, 4S4. 2 Page 16, anlea.
The Earl of Angus was at Dundee ou 20th 3 He was infeft therein on a precept from
December 1424, and granted a charter there the Earl on 14th April 1425. [Historical
to William of Blair. Vol. iii. of this work, Manuscripts Commissioners' Report, vol. v.
p. 59. p. 612.]