William Boyd, 1st Earl of Arran

## William Boyd

1st Earl of Arran

(Later moved to Westminister Abbey in 1608)

Lady Elizabeth Boyd

**William Boyd** (C. 1108? - 1174) was the eldest son of Sir John Boyd and Anne Pole. As a man and the eldest son, he was set to inherit his fathers wealth and lands, the Boyd family was not a wealthy one, and William was only set to inherit 800 Scottish pounds, and the Boyd Manor. But things changed when William Boyd became closer to the King of Scotland, and was created Earl of Arran which was a powerful position and vast land holdings, When William 40, he was betrothed to the 5 year old Scottish Princess, Mary. They were both wed when she was 17, and he was 47. But when Mary's brother became King of Scotland, the 2 hatched a plot against the King and his wife, and were later caught by the king for attempted murder, William Boyd was beheaded in Edinburgh Castle, Court, and his wife was beheaded a year after him after giving birth to Lady Elizabeth Boyd, who William never met.

## Early Life

Sir William Boyd was possibly born in 1108, in Brodick Castle, to Sir John Boyd, and his wife Lady Anne Pole. His father though a successful general was very poor, and in debt, and John Boyd often had to beg for money, William had 12 brothers and 7 sisters which William was close to, as the eldest, it was a family tradition for the eldest son of a member of the Boyd family, to become a general, and the other brothers to become priests or cardinals, when he was 15, his father sent him to a royal military camp, which he saved a lot of money to pay for. William was handsome and stood out from the other trainees. William was often visited by his mother Anne Pole, who sent him bread and apples each week.

## Military Camp

William represented the Boyd family by wearing the coat of arms, William made friends, but was often teased by sons of richer nobles/kings for being poor. Nevertheless William became successful though made only 10 pounds a month. He became a commanding general in the kings army by age 24, he was handsome and attracted many woman. William's father was proud, and showed his son off to the King of Scotland.

## Lord Boyd

William Boyd's father John died on crusade, and William became Lord Boyd, and inherited everything, his mother died not long after off a stroke, William Boyd now the father of the family, expanded the house-hold so it was not so crowded, his siblings relied on him which often stressed him out. He felt the urge to go on crusade so took his 4 younger brothers, James, Richard, Henry, and Adam on campain to Jerusalem, While William was in Acre with his 4 brothers, an arrow shot by Sir John Hamptley accidently hit William's 20 year old brother James who died while on his horse, the shot was suppose to hit the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, but the arrow wen't straight for James's head. William carried James's body back to Scotland and never let any of his brothers but Richard, Henry, and Adam go on crusade. William left the second crusade when he was 27.

## Old Age concerns

When William was 32, he was still unmarried, he already married his brothers and sisters for forgien nobles, but some of his brothers questioned why William was unmarried. The truth was William had no time as a general to think about marriage which was seen as concerning. A Scottish noblemen offered his daughter, Lady Joan Wells as a bride, but William was less then impressed with Joan. William wanted to adopt one of his nieces instead of marrying and having children because he did not wan't a wife, to get in the way of his military duties. He tried going to the brides market after pressure from his brother Adam, but he found none of the woman to be attractive. He wrote this exact letter to his brother to Adam,

> *Dear Brother,*
>
>

> *It has come to my attention that I indeed wen't to the brides market, but I was scammed, not out of money, but perhaps out of time and hope. The woman, though not the most unfortunate looking, are not as attractive as Lord Walter had promised. Maybe if I do marry, I would chose some-one like Lady Anne Tinly. I suppose I may try my luck next time?!*
>
>

> *Your brother,*
>
>

> *Lord Boyd.*
>
>

As William continued to grow old, his brothers began growing concerned.

## Earl of Arran

The King of Scotland became quite fond of William's military skills, William also became a more popular general in Scotland, the King interested offered William the title Earldom of Arran along with a lot of money to join court, William at first thought it was a joke, but the royal guards came to inform William it was a real offer, William headed to Edinburgh, Scotland to be knighted and given the title Earl of Arran, William Boyd joined the royal court and set up a new Castle in Arran for his siblings and there children, William was also now one of the richest peers in Scotland, and he provided a home, money, and food for his siblings.

## Betrothal

When William was at last 47, he was betrothed to the eldest daughter of Alexander I of Scotland, and Margaret of England. His betrothed was Mary Stewart of Scotland, was only 12, but the 2 got along quite goodly, Mary and William's younger sister Lady Anne Boyd also got along and became friends. He found Mary very attractive, and even more attractive then Lady Anne Tinly, who was the woman he planned to marry.

## Marriage

When Mary was 14, he married her in a public ceremony in Relante House, Arran. Mary gave birth to 2 children in there early marriage, Lady Margaret Boyd, and a son the future 2nd Earl of Arran and 7th Lord Boyd. When Mary turned 16, she and her husband began working on a plot to kill Mary's brother, the now David I of Scotland to make William King, the 3rd other Boyd brothers joined the plot, and so did some other Scottish noblemen. There plan was the poison the ruling King and Mary's other brothers, claim the throne and become King and Queen of Scotland. Mary started by killing her younger brother the Earl of Moray and blamed it on another nobleman. William set up a secret room behind a bookshelf where the nobles plotted the murder. David I of Scotland was confused about the traffic to Arran, and sent a spy to figure out the high traffic in Arran, David invited William and his wife Mary over to Edinburgh for tea.

## Arrest and Imprisonment

The Spy found the book-shelf and investigated it, he found the plots written on paper scattered all over the room, he reported back to David about the plots, David had everyone accused to be in the plot and imprisoned them in Edinburgh, David was so furious he almost killed an innocent noble trying to help him. William got his wife pregnant while imprisoned to attempt to save her, William thought if he got Mary pregnant David would feel pitty for the baby and only kill him. That following month, a 74 year old William Boyd was sent to trial, he bid a tearful farewell, as he walked out with help of a guard, he walked with his brothers Adam and Henry who were 69 and 73 and a couple more of his men.

## Trial

David believed the process of "Innocent until proven guilty." David even prayed that his sister and brother-in-law were innocent as he did not wan't to kill them as he hated blood-shed. William and his men walked out with there lawyers and tried to avoid being executed, but David ministers showed the evidence of the planned murder. David refused to believe William was guilty for 5 months and even remarked, "My Brother-in-law could not, and would not do such evil, I am quite sure you have made a mistake in the evidence!" But David was soon forced to accept the fact William was guilty and sentenced him to death. William and his men cried together on there last days. His men were aged from only 15 years old to 73. the men who were said to have been his men where:

1. Sir Henry Boyd (Aged 69)
2. Sir Adam Boyd (Aged 72)
3. Sir Richard Tiny (Aged 19)
4. Sir John Ford (Aged 33)
5. Sir Henry Ford (Aged 22)
6. Sir Alexander Ford (Aged 30)
7. Sir Richard Ford (Aged 27)
8. Sir Donald Ford (Aged 36)
9. Sir William Ford (Aged 20)
10. Sir Malcom Well (Aged 58)
11. Sir Henry Well (Aged 54)
12. Sir John Well (Aged 63)
13. Sir William Well (Aged 65)
14. Sir Alexander Well (Aged 59)
15. Sir Jacob Cummings (Aged 15)
16. Sir Henry Cummings (Aged 15)

William had more but these are the most notable.

## Execution

In the morning, William and his men got dressed and were offered a priest, they were told they would be executed by beheading in the late afternoon. The men comferted William as he cried, when it hit the early afternoon, William met his 2 children for the last time, he told his 7 year old son "You will inherit everything from me, be prepared by child." And told his daughter "Don't make my mistakes my dear, be good, be smart." When the mid afternoon hit, William was given beer along with his men. When the late afternoon hit, his men and William headed for Edinburgh Palace court were they were ready to be beheaded in front of an entire court, William's men wen't first, and after 3 hours, William was next, he tripped on the carpet and 4 guards needed to help him up, William laid his head on the block as the swordsmen asked him if he had any last words, William said "Scarpy Scarp Scarp" which no one knew the meaning behind it, a blindfold was placed on his head, and his head was swifly cut off an presented to the king and put on a stick and the heads of William and his men were presented to the Scots to cheered. His wife was executed a year after there child Lady Elizabeth was born. William was buried in Holyrood Abbey, but in 1608 William and his wife were reburied in Westminister Abbey.