John Stewart, 1st Earl of Angus

Who was John Stewart, 1st Earl of Angus?

Sir John Stewart, 1st Earl of Angus & suo jure uxoris Lord of Abernethy was a medieval Scottish nobleman.

Stewart was the son of Sir Alexander Stewart of Bonkyll, grandson of Alexander Stewart, 4th High Steward of Scotland and an unknown mother. Sir Alexander died c. 1319, and Stewart inherited his father's estates in Berwickshire, centred upon the barony of Bonkyll and Preston.

In 1328 he married Margaret de Abernethy, heiress to the Lordship of Abernethy. Her father Sir Alexander de Abernethy was the last of the Gaelic lords of Abernethy, descendants of Gille Míchéil, Earl of Fife. Stewart assumed his wife's titles, and was further ennobled by Robert I of Scotland in 1329, being created Earl of Angus. The Earldom of Angus had been forfeited by the previous holder, Robert de Umfreville, before 1314, for choosing the losing side during the Wars of Scottish Independence, although he continued to style himself Earl until his death in 1325.

It is through John Stewart's granddaughter, Margaret's illicit relationship with William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas, that the Earldom of Angus, Lordship of Abernethy, and the comitatus associated with it passed on to the Douglases in the person of George Douglas. This close connection of the Douglas Earls of Angus with the House of Stewart, was to have large implications for the latter's future struggles with the Black Douglases.