thumb|right|200px|Arms of Archibald Douglas up until 1491.svg
Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus ( – October 1513) was a Scottish nobleman, peer, politician, and magnate. Tradition has accorded him the nickname Archibald 'Bell-the-Cat' due to his association with the 1482 rebellion against James III of Scotland. He became one of the most powerful noblemen in Scotland through his influential position on the Scottish Marches, and a willingness to be involved in multiple rebellions in the reigns of James III and James IV of Scotland.
Parents and succession
Archibald Douglas, eldest son of George Douglas, 4th Earl of Angus, head of the Red Douglas line, was born at Tantallon Castle, East Lothian, around 1449. His mother was Isabella Sibbald, daughter of the Master of the Household of James II of Scotland.
During the turbulent 1450s, when Archibald was growing up, his father came out in support of James II, thereby pitching himself against many of his own clan, and the Black Douglas line in particular, who were in rebellion against the king. He was also at the siege of Roxburgh in 1460. After the accidental death of the king during the siege, it was the earl, Archibald's father, who is said to have placed the crown on the new child king's head, reputedly declaring as he did so: "There! Now that I have set it upon your Grace's head, let me see who will be so bold as to move it."
Archibald succeeded his father as fifth Earl of Angus about two years later, in 1462 or 1463, aged fourteen.
Actions against James III
In 1481, during a time of gathering war with England, Angus was appointed Warden of the East March by James III, but the following year took part in the surprise action against the king carried out by a league of Scottish nobles at Lauder on 22 July 1482. This was at a moment when English forces had just invaded Scotland and the secretly disaffected nobles were ostensibly part of the army that James had mustered to repel the invasion. According to David Hume of Godscroft, writing in a later age, it was here that Archibald earned his nickname by offering to "bell the cat", initiating the action against the king's favourite, Thomas (or Robert) Cochrane, as a prelude to the arrest of the king.
Angus is said to have begun the attack by seizing the gold chain from Cochrane's neck, then ordering him and others of the king's favourites to be hung from Lauder Bridge (Lauder Brig in Scots), located today in the grounds of Thirlestane Castle. The phrase "to bell the cat" comes from the fable "The Mice in Council", misattributed to Aesop, and refers to a dangerous task undertaken for the benefit of all.
Angus subsequently joined the party of the king's disaffected younger brother, Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, who was part of the English invasion. Albany had entered into a treaty with Edward IV which gifted suzerainty over Scotland to the English king in return for the right to rule Scotland in place of his brother. While James was in captivity in Edinburgh, Albany did indeed make a short-lived attempt to rule under the name of "Alexander IV". Eventually, however, by March 1483, both Albany and Angus returned to their allegiance to James who, despite the treasonous alliance with Edward, granted them pardons. In 1501, in disgrace once more, he was confined to Dumbarton Castle.
Final weeks
Angus's two eldest sons were killed at the Battle of Flodden in early September 1513. He himself had not been present at the battle. As the Scottish nation was coming to terms with the disastrous defeat, Angus won appointment as one of the councilors of the Queen Regent, Margaret Tudor. Shortly afterwards, by the end of October, he too was dead. His successor to the Earldom of Angus was his grandson, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus.
Marriages and children
Angus married twice:||married in March 1488, Lady Elizabeth Drummond; had issue, killed at the Battle of Flodden
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|Lady Mariot Douglas||1470|| ||married Cuthbert Cunningham, 3rd Earl of Glencairn; had issue
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|Sir William Douglas||1471||9 September 1513 ||married Lady Elizabeth Auchinleck; had issue, killed at the Battle of Flodden
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|Gavin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld||