The Black Dinner

Two Douglas Murders, 1440

The so-called Black Dinner was a bloody event arising out of the rivalry between the families of Crichton, and Douglas. The incident occurred on 24 (some accounts say 28) November 1440 in Edinburgh Castle. William Douglas, 6^th Earl of Douglas, and his only brother, David, were invited by the wicked Sir William Crichton, Chancellor of Scotland, to dine in Edinburgh with the 10-year-old king, James II. At the end of the meal the head of a black bull was placed on the table, upon which pre-arranged signal the two hapless Douglases were seized and, after a token trial conducted by the Chancellor in presence of the boy king, were summarily condemned, removed and beheaded in the castle courtyard. They had been guilty of no crime but were obstacles to the increasing power of the Chancellor and, supposedly, of the royal house of Stewart. In all this sorry mess James II may be supposed to have been entirely guiltless, but the event must have left a mark upon his memory and his character, as some of his later actions show; twelve years later he was to stab with his own hand the 8^th Earl of Douglas at another fateful dinner, this time in Stirling Castle.

William, the 6^th earl of Douglas, was born c.1425 succeeded his father on 26 June 1439 at the age of fourteen. He was thus only 15 years old at the time of his death at the Black Dinner and David, his brother, was some 2 years younger. Their only sister, Margaret, known as 'the Fair Maid of Galloway', who was not present at the fatal dinner, afterwards married successively the 8^th and 9^th earls of Douglas, who were her near kinsmen, in an effort by the family to consolidate their claims and their power.

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