The years of the minority of King Alexander III (1249–1262) featured an embittered struggle for the control of affairs between two rival parties, the one led by the nationalistic Walter Comyn, Earl of Menteith, the other by pro-English Alan Durward, Justiciar of Scotia.
Later both parties called a Meeting of the great Magnates of the Realm to establish a regency until Alexander came of age.
This can be explained by the fact that although most of his territories lay in Douglasdale, through his wife, Constance, he had obtained the rich Manor of Fawdon in Northumberland and it would do well to keep English royal favour.
[3] David Hume of Godscroft, the arch-panegyricist of the House of Douglas, states that Longleg married Marjorie, Countess of Carrick, and had by her two sons and a daughter, the daughter inheriting the Earldom of Carrick.
William Longleg married Constance Battail of Fawdon, and had two sons and a daughter:[4] This biography of a Scottish peer or noble is a stub.