=7. The House of Douglas.=--_Archibald, Earl of Douglas_, was at this time the most powerful baron in Scotland. Besides holding _Galloway_, _Annandale_, and other great estates in Scotland, he had inherited the _Duchy of Touraine_, which had been conferred on his father by the King of France for good service done against the English, and in his foreign duchy he possessed wealth and splendour beyond anything that the Scottish king could boast. The family still had a hold on the popular favour won for them by the Good Lord James. They had also some pretensions to the crown of Scotland, for _Archibald_, brother and heir of the Good Lord James, had married a sister of the _Red Comyn_, who was slain by Bruce. The Douglases therefore represented the claim of the _Comyns_, which, as we have seen, was better than that of _Bruce_. They were also descendants of _Robert the Second_, through _Euphemia_, one of the children of his second marriage, to whom those who looked on his first family as illegitimate held that the crown ought to have gone. _Douglas_ had been chosen _Lieutenant-Governor_ of the kingdom, and had ample power to quiet the rival parties had he chosen to exercise it. But he did not, and his nominal government was ended by his death in 1439. _William_, his son, who at seventeen succeeded to all this pride and power, kept up a state and retinue almost royal, and much violence and oppression were laid to his charge. Crichton and Livingstone agreed to compass his downfall, and for this end they invited him and his brother _David_ to visit the King at Edinburgh. They came, were seized, and, after the form of a trial, were beheaded in the Castle-yard. The power of their house was thus broken for a time. The estates were divided; part went with the title to their grand-uncle _James_, the male heir, while _Galloway_ went to their sister _Margaret_. But on the death of James they were re-united, for his son _William_ married _Margaret of Galloway_, his cousin. He then went to court, to do his duty, as he said, to his sovereign, pretended that the King had chosen him _Lieutenant-General_ of the kingdom, and got most of the power into his own hands. He and Livingstone joined, and tried to make Crichton give up the seals by besieging him in Edinburgh Castle; but he held out so well that they were forced to make terms with him. Douglas grew more proud and powerful every year. He was already lord of nearly all the southern country, and he joined in a bond with the great chiefs of the north,--the _Lord of the Isles_, who was now _Earl of Ross_, and _Alexander, Earl of Crawford_, the head of the house of _Lindsay_ and representative of the fallen _Earls of March_. He held meetings of his vassals, to which he summoned all those who either were or, as he thought, ought to be his dependants. Nor did he scruple to put to death any who opposed him, in direct defiance of the King's commands. But as the Earl's retainers numbered