Born: Unknown (circa 1312), United Kingdom
Died: 1369
Country most active: United Kingdom
Also known as: Black Agnes, Agnes of March, Agnes of Dunbar, Lady Agnes Randolph
The following is excerpted from the Dictionary of National Biography, originally published between 1885 and 1900, by Smith, Elder & Co. It was written by Alsager Richard Vian.
DUNBAR, AGNES, Countess of Dunbar and March (1312?–1369), known from her swarthy complexion as Black Agnes, is celebrated for her spirited defence of Dunbar Castle in January 1337–8. The countess was the daughter of Randolph, earl of Moray, and Isabel, the only daughter of Sir John Stewart of Bonkyl, and, through her father, grandniece to Robert Bruce.
She married Patrick Dunbar, tenth earl of Dunbar and second earl of March (1285–1369), who was prominent as an adherent of the English. After Bannockburn (1314) he received Edward II into his castle of Dunbar, whence the king was conveyed to England. But shortly afterwards he came to terms with his cousin Robert I, and in the following year he was one of the parliament at Ayr which settled the succession to the Scotch crown. For the next fifteen years Patrick continued to actively support Robert and David II. He helped to capture Berwick, signed the letter to the pope asserting the independence of Scotland, commanded one of David’s armies at Dupplin, and as governor of Berwick Castle directed its defence when besieged by Edward III. But after Halidon Hill (1333) he put himself under Edward’s protection, engaged to garrison Dunbar Castle with English troops, and attended Edward Baliol at the parliament at Edinburgh in 1334. At the end of that year, however, he renounced his allegiance to Edward III, and for the rest of his life remained a supporter of the national cause. He was engaged in a campaign against the English invaders in 1337, when his wife defended their castle, and at the battle of Durham he held part command of the left wing of the royal army. After that defeat and the capture of the Scottish king he was especially active in his endeavours to obtain David’s release, and when that event took place became one of his sureties. He was rewarded by David with a grant of castlewards of all his lands and a pension of 40l. per annum, and Dunbar was made a free burgh in his favour. In 1363 the earl, for a reason no longer known, rebelled against David, but was quickly and effectually suppressed.
Dunbar Castle was one of the few important Scotch fortresses which had not been taken by the English in January 1337–8; and since its position, overlooking a convenient port, rendered its acquisition desirable, siege was laid to it by the Earls of Salisbury and Arundel with a large force. In the absence of her husband the defence was undertaken with remarkable courage by Agnes. Not content with merely directing measures of resistance, she would mount the battlements to jeer at the assailants, and among other words put into her mouth as uttered on these occasions is the well-known taunt addressed to the Earl of Salisbury with reference to the fate awaiting his battering-ram:
Beware Montagow,
For farrow shalt thy sow.
As further evidence of her contempt for the English armament, she is said to have sent out maids, gorgeously attired, to wipe off with clean handkerchiefs the marks made on the towers by stone and leaden balls. Twice the castle came near to falling: once through the treachery of a porter who had been bribed, and later through scarcity of provisions, the harbour being blocked up. In this last difficulty relief was brought by Sir Alexander Ramsay, who successfully ran the blockade. After six months of fruitless operations the English gave up the attack as hopeless, and the siege was raised.
On the death without issue of her brothers, Thomas and John, who perished, the one at Dupplin in 1332 and the other at Durham in 1346, the Countess of Dunbar and her husband kept possession of the earldom of Moray, which was afterwards transferred to their younger son. They also obtained the Isle of Man, the lordship of Annandale, the baronies of Morton and Tibber in Nithsdale, of Mordington, Longformacus, and Dunse in Berwickshire, of Mochrum in Galloway, Cumnock in Ayrshire, and Blantyre in Clydesdale. In 1368 the earl resigned his earldom to their eldest son, George, who succeeded him, and in the same year their eldest daughter, Agnes, became the mistress of David II, whose affection for her was the chief reason of his divorce from Margaret Logie; she afterwards married Sir James Douglas of Dalkeith. Another daughter, Elizabeth, married Sir John Maitland of Lethington, and from her was descended the Duke of Lauderdale, who took as second title the marquisate of March. The Earl of Dunbar, then plain Sir Patrick de Dunbar, died in 1369, at the age of eighty-four, and his wife is said to have died about the same time.
The following is excerpted from “Female Warriors: Memorials of Female Valour and Heroism, from the Mythological Ages to the Present Era,” by Ellen C. Clayton (Mrs. Needham), published in 1879 and shared online by Project Gutenberg.
In the year 1333, King Edward III., espousing the cause of Edward Baliol, invaded Scotland. The battle of Hallidon Hill, July 29th, in which the Regent Douglas was defeated, placed Baliol on the throne; and Edward, carried away by his ambitious designs upon the French throne, left his army in charge of the Earls of Arundel and Salisbury, and returned to England. Montague, Earl of Salisbury, laid siege to the castle of Dunbar, a place of great importance, esteemed as the key of Scotland, on the south-east border. It had been fortified very recently; and in the absence of the Earl of March, was defended by the countess, who, from the dark colour of her complexion, was popularly styled “Black Agnes.” She was the daughter of Randolph, Earl of Moray, and inherited from her father a fierce, intrepid spirit. During the five months’ siege she performed all the duties of a bold and skilful commander, and the garrison had the utmost confidence in her abilities. Constantly on the ramparts, she derided the English with biting sarcasms. When the battering-engines hurled stones against the walls, she scornfully told one of her female attendants to wipe off the dust with her handkerchief.
The Earl of Salisbury knew well the kind of foe he had to deal with. One day he was superintending the siege operations, when an arrow from the castle whizzed past and struck a knight who stood by, piercing through his chain-mail haubergeon, and killing him on the spot.
“There comes one of my lady’s tire-pins,” exclaimed the Earl. “Agnes’s love-shafts go straight to the heart!”
A monster called the “sow,” a huge engine covered with hides, somewhat resembling the testudo of the Romans, was at last rolled to the foot of the walls. When the countess saw this ponderous machine coming, she cried in a loud, mocking voice:—
“Montague, beware! your sow shall soon cast her pigs!”
She quickly verified her words by hurling an immense piece of rock upon the “sow,” crushing both it and its occupants to pieces.
Salisbury finding he could not succeed by fair means, bribed the gate-keeper to leave the gates open on the following night. The porter disclosed this to the countess, who directed him to keep to his bargain and say nothing about it. The Earl, who commanded the party that were to seize the castle, rode through the darkness at the head of his soldiers, found the gates open according to agreement, and was about to enter, when one of his men, John Copeland, passed in front of him. The portcullis was suddenly dropped; Copeland, mistaken for his master, remained a prisoner. The Earl was saved by his men, who dragged him back just in time. Agnes, from a high turret, saw that the general had escaped.
“Farewell, Montague!” she cried. “I intended that you should have supped with us to-night, and assisted in defending the fortress against the English.”
Salisbury, despairing of being able to take the place, either by treachery or by storm, turned the siege into a blockade, closely investing the castle by sea and land, and tried to starve the garrison out into a surrender. Alexander Ramsay, hearing of the extremities to which Black Agnes was reduced, embarked with a party of forty resolute men, eluded the vigilance of the English, and entered the castle, under cover of night, by a postern next the sea. Sallying out again, they attacked and dispersed the advanced guard of the besiegers. Salisbury, disheartened by so many reverses, withdrew his forces, after having remained before Dunbar for nineteen weeks.