Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sutherland, William (d.1370)
SUTHERLAND, WILLIAM, fourth Earl of (d. 1370), was the son of Kenneth, third earl, by Mary, daughter of Donald, tenth earl of Mar [q. v.] He married Margaret, younger daughter of Robert Bruce by his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of Richard de Burgh, earl of Ulster, and on 10 Nov. 1345 David II granted a charter of the earldom of Sutherland to his sister Margaret and her husband. He was one of the commissioners appointed to treat for the ransom of David II from the English. On 13 July 1353–4 he and John, his eldest son, were named hostages for David (Cal. Documents relating to Scotland, iv. No. 1576), and on 15 Oct. 1357 they appended their seals to his ransom (ib. No. 1660). John was named by David II heir to the throne, in preference to the high steward, but while still detained a hostage in England he died of the plague at Lincoln in 1361. The father was also detained a hostage in England until 20 May 1367. He died at Dunrobin in 1370, and was succeeded by his second son,
William, fifth Earl of Sutherland (d. 1398?), who, according to Froissart, was present at the capture of Berwick in 1384, and took part in the invasion of England in 1388. In 1395, during a discussion with the chief of the Mackays and his son about their differences, he suddenly, in his castle of Dingwall, attacked and killed them both with his own hand. Dying towards the close of the century, he left two sons—Robert, sixth earl, and Kenneth.
Robert, sixth Earl of Sutherland (d. 1442), was present at the battle of Homildon in 1402, and on 9 Nov. 1427 was sent into England as hostage for James I. He died in 1442, leaving by his wife Lady Mabilia Dunbar, daughter of John, earl of Moray, and granddaughter of Agnes Randolph, countess of March and Moray, three sons—John, seventh earl, Robert, and Alexander.
[Cal. Documents relating to Scotland, vol. iv.; Froissart's Chronicles; Gordon's Earldom of Sutherland; Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood), ii. 372–3.]