John Douglas, 2nd Earl of Morton

Arms of the first three Earls of Morton[1]

John Douglas, 2nd Earl of Morton died 9 September 1513 at the Battle of Flodden.[2]

Life

He was the son of James Douglas, 1st Earl of Morton and Princess Joan of Scotland, Countess of Morton, daughter of James I of Scotland by his wife Lady Joan Beaufort.[3] He became earl in 1493, upon his father's death. He was succeeded by his son James Douglas, 3rd Earl of Morton.

A very wealthy man but unlike many of his peers, John did not become embroiled in the intrigues and politics of his day.[4] Instead, the shrewd Earl of Morton worked to improve his holdings and was quite the litigator in his time, successfully defending his interests in court.[5] It turned out later that John, as lord of Dalkeith was aware the land had great value both above and below the surface and in fact sat on what was later described as the Great Midlothian Coalfield.[4]

Marriage and Issue

He married Janet Crichton, daughter of Patrick Crichton of Cranston-Riddel[6] and had two sons and two daughters:

References

  1. ↑ The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, Vol. I, Ed. Sir Bernard Burke (London : Harrison, 1884), p. 295
  2. ↑ A general history of Scotland. vol.4. by William Guthrie. p.372
  3. ↑ The Scots Peerage, Founded on Wood's Edition of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, Sir James Balfour Paul, Vol. VI (David Douglas, Edinburgh, 1909), p. 356
  4. 1 2 Herbert Maxwell, A History of the House of Douglas, Vol. I (Freemantle & Co., London, 1902) pp. 242-3
  5. ↑ The Scots Peerage, Founded on Wood's Edition of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, Sir James Balfour Paul, Vol. VI (David Douglas, Edinburgh, 1909), pp. 357-8
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 The Scots Peerage, Founded on Wood's Edition of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, Sir James Balfour Paul, Vol. VI (David Douglas, Edinburgh, 1909), p. 358

Notes

Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by
James Douglas		 Earl of Morton
1493-1513 		Succeeded by
James Douglas


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, February 13, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.