156 COMPLETE PEERAGE angus lands of that family. He was accounted the head of the party known as the " Old Lords " during the minority (1460) of James III. When Henry VI was a fugitive in Scotland in 1461, he engaged to give the Earl lands of the yearly value of 2000 marks, and to erect them into a Dukedom. Early in 1462 he obtained a victory over the English at Alnwick. He m., probably before 1446, Isabel, only da. of Sir John Sibbald, of Balgony, CO. Fife. He J. 14 Nov. 1462, or, according to his son's retour, 12 Mar. 1462/3, and was bur. at Abernethy. His widow w., 2ndly, in or before 1477, John Carmichael, of Balmedie. She »;., 3rdly, after 1479, as his 2nd wife, Sir Robert Douglas, of Lochleven, who was slain at Flodden, 9 Sep. 1 5 13. She ^. between 1500 and Feb. 1502/3. XXII. 1462. 5. Archibald (Douglas), Earl of Angus [S.], popu- larly called " Bell the Cat, " (") and " The Great Earl, " s. and h. He was but 9 years old at his father's death. He was Warden of the East Marches, 1 1 Apr. 148 1, and was continued in that office by James IV, with whom he was in great favour. He was P.C., and was High Chancellor [S.] 1493-98. His advice to the King against the fatal engagement at Flodden being insultingly received, he quitted the field shortly before the fight, bidding his two sons remain, both of whom were there slain, with their King. He m., istly, C") 4 Mar. 1467/8, Elizabeth, only da. of Robert (Boyd), ist Lord Boyd [S.], by Mariot, da. of Sir Robert Maxwell, of Calderwood. She d. before 21 Feb. 1497. He m., 2ndly, about 1498, Janet, 2nd wife, or possibly mistress, of Sir Alexander Gordon (who was slain at Flodden, 9 Sep. 15 13), da. of John (Kennedy), 2nd Lord Kennedy [S.], by his 2nd wife, Elizabeth, Dowager Countess of Erroll [S.]. There are charters by him, dat. 20 July and 25 Sep. 1498, of lands granted to her for life, " with rem. to the heirs male procreated or to be procreated betwixt them. " She, however, must soon have deserted him, for on i June 1 501, she obtained a charter (under the nameof" Janet Kennedy, Lady Bothwell") from Jam.es IV (by which King she was mother of James Stuart, cr. (as an infant) Earl of Moray [S.] in 1501), on condition of her remaining " absque marito seu alio viro, cum Rege, ^c. " In 1 53 1, Janet Kennedy founded a prebend in the collegiate church of C) This name was thus acquired. The nobles having, in 1483, resolved to check the favouritism of James III, there was quoted in their conclave the " FahU of the Mice, " wherein it is suggested that, to warn them of the approach of the Cat, some one should place a bell round her neck ; but the proposition fell to the ground, as none had the courage to do so. On this Angus exclaimed " I will bell the Cat, " and forthwith organised measures which resulted, not only in the execution of the favourites, but in the murder of the King himself, in 1488. G.E.C. The too partial family historian, Hume of Godscroft, writes of him thus : — " Upright and square in his actions, sober and moderate in his desires. . . . one fault he had, that he was too much given to women, otherwise there was little or nothing that was amiss. " Sir Herbert Maxwell (1902) more truly pronounces his career to have been " in most of its features deplorable, and in none of them glorious. " V.G. ("') On 30 Sep. 1 46 1, when a child, he was contracted to m. Catherine, 4th and yst da. of Alexander, ist Earl of Huntley, but the marriage never took place.
