Black Agnes

Agnes Dunbar
Black Agnes, as depicted in a children's history book from 1906
Spouse(s)	Patrick, Earl of March
Father	Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray
Mother	Isabel Stewart of Bonkyll
Born	c.1312
Died	1369 (Aged about 57)
Buried	Mordington, Berwickshire

Agnes, Countess of Dunbar and March (née Randolph; c. 1312–1369), known as Black Agnes for her dark hair and eyes, and sallow complexion, was the wife of Patrick, 9th Earl of Dunbar and March. She is buried in the vault near Mordington House.

She was the daughter of Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, nephew and companion-in-arms of Robert the Bruce, and Moray's wife, Isabel Stewart, herself a daughter of John Stewart of Bonkyll. Agnes became renowned for her heroic defence of Dunbar Castle in East Lothian against an English siege led by William Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury, which began on 13 January 1338 and ended on 10 June the same year.

In 1338, when Patrick Dunbar was away, the English laid siege to Dunbar Castle, where Lady Agnes was in residence with her servants and a few guards. However, she was determined not to surrender the fortress, and is said to have declared:

"Of Scotland's King I haud my house, I pay him meat and fee, And I will keep my gude auld house, while my house will keep me."

Women were known to take charge of castle or manor business while the husband was away in the Middle Ages, but the stand of Lady Agnes is one of the best remembered instances. Salisbury’s first attempt at taking the castle centered on catapulting huge rocks and lead shot against the ramparts, but this was met with disdain by Lady Agnes, who had one of her ladies-in-waiting dust off the ramparts with her kerchief.

The English were employing an enormous siege tower called a sow in an attempt to storm the castle, but the countess simply advised Salisbury that he should “take good care of his sow, for she would soon cast her pigs, meaning his men, within the fortress.” She then ordered that a boulder, which had been heaved on them earlier, be thrown down from the battlements and crushed Salisbury’s sow to pieces.

When one of the Scottish archers struck an English soldier standing next to Salisbury, the earl cried out, “There comes one of my lady’s tire pins; Agnes’s love shafts go straight to the heart.”

Unable to make progress through arms, Salisbury turned to craft. He bribed the Scotsman who guarded the principal entrance, advising him to leave the gate unlocked or to leave it in such a manner that the English could easily break in. However, the Scotsman, though he took the Englishman’s money, reported the stratagem to Agnes, so she was ready for the English when they made entry. Though Salisbury was in the lead, one of his men pushed past him just at the moment when Agnes’s men lowered the portcullis, separating him from the others. Agnes, of course, had meant to trap Salisbury, but she moved from stratagem to taunt, hollering at the earl, " Farewell, Montague, I intended that you should have supped with us, and assist us in defending the Castle against the English."