Margaret Douglas, Fair Maid of Galloway

Margaret Douglas, Countess of Douglas (c. 1427-c. 1474), known as the Fair Maid of Galloway, was a Scottish noblewoman, and a member of the Black Douglas family towards the end of the family's position as a major power in Scotland.

Margaret Douglas
Born	1427
Died	1474
Noble family	Black Douglas
Spouse(s)	William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas, James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas, John Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl
Father	Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Douglas
Mother	Eupheme Graham

Born c. 1427, she was the daughter of Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Douglas, and Eupheme Graham, daughter of Patrick Graham, Earl of Strathearn and Euphemia Stewart, Countess of Strathearn.^[1]

She acquired Galloway when her two brothers (one of whom was William Douglas, 6th Earl of Douglas) were murdered at the Black Dinner at Edinburgh Castle in 1440.^[2]

Marriages

Margaret married her cousin William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas.^[3] He was assassinated by King James II and his entourage. Margaret obtained a papal dispensation^[4] to marry his brother and successor, James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas, with the marriage intended to retain the Douglas estates.^[5]

In 1455, her second husband rebelled against King James II, was exiled and attained. Margaret separated from him^[6] and petitioned the King to end her marriage.^[4] She had no children by the Earls of Douglas.

She then married John Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl,^[7] who was half-brother to the King as the son of Joan Beaufort and her second husband James Stewart, the Black Knight of Lorne.^[8] They had two daughters:^[9]

• Janet, wife of Alexander Gordon, 3rd Earl of Huntly.^[10]
• Elizabeth, wife of Andrew Gray, 2nd Lord Gray.^{[citation needed]}

Both had issue.^{[citation needed]}

Margaret Douglas in fiction

She is a significant character in Black Douglas by Nigel Tranter, which is rather speculative about her relationship with the 8th and 9th Earls of Douglas.

She is the protagonist and fictional author of Maid Margaret, a 1905 novel by Samuel Rutherford Crockett and also appears as an important character in his earlier novel The Black Douglas (1899).

References

1. Commire, Anne, ed. (2002). "Douglas, Margaret (b. around 1427)". Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. Waterford, Connecticut: Yorkin Publications. p. 740. ISBN 0-7876-4074-3.
2. Crofton, Ian (5 November 2012). A Dictionary of Scottish Phrase and Fable. Birlinn. ISBN 978-0-85790-637-3.
3. Tytler, Patrick Fraser (1872). The History of Scotland from the Accession of Alexander III. to the Union. William P. Nimmo.
4. Carre, Walter Riddell (1876). Border Memories, Or, Sketches of Prominent Men and Women of the Border. J. Thin.
5. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Douglas s.v. James Douglas, 9th Earl". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 444.
6. The County Histories of Scotland. W. Blackwood and Sons. 1896.
7. Burke, John (1846). A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerages of England, Ireland, and Scotland, extinct, dormant, and in abeyance ... England. Henry Colburn.
8. Weir, Alison (18 April 2011). Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy. Random House. ISBN 978-1-4464-4911-0.
9. "Catherine Stewart". geni_family_tree. 26 April 2022. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
10. Pollard, Robert (1793). "The" Peerage Of Great Britain and Ireland Including the Extinet, With a Genealogical and Historical Account of Each Noble Family. Embellished with A Series of Historical Prints Representing the Illustrious Actions Of the Nobility of These Kingdoms ... Arranged Upon a New Plan to the Present Time. Selected from Public Records Ancient Historians and Other Approved Authorities. Pollard.