In Part 1 of my stories about the
Two Ladies of Dunbar, I covered the
valiant Marjorie Comyn, countess of Dunbar and March. She married into the ancient Dunbar family,
and yet she held her castle against the king of England in a time of war. Instead of that deed striking a heroic chord
in history, earning her immortality, her fate has been largely, frustratingly
buried. Her defiance is little noted
today. No poems about her, few people
ever recall her life, or her heroic audacity.
Castle Dunbar
Forty decades later, another
woman traveled that same path. Agnes
Randolph married into the Dunbar family—in fact, she married Marjorie’s son
Cospatrick. By the time they wed, he was
using Patrick as his given name. He was
about eleven-years-old when his mother defended Dunbar Castle. Since young men of the nobility became
squires around that age, I might assume he was riding at his father’s side,
with the English king Edward I, and watched as his mother took a stance for the
Scottish side. His young age is why his
name isn’t on the Ragman Roll. Some mistakenly assert he assumed the titles
to the earldoms in 1297, the year after his mother vanished from history. However, correspondence to and from king
Edward during that time remark upon Patrick’s father’s and his loyalty to the
crown, referencing the elder Dunbar as still in possession of the titles and
keeping his oath to the English monarch.
Edward won a crushing battle at Falkirk that autumn—with both Dunbars
riding with him—yet it failed to bring him the control of the country he long
craved. The castle of Dunbar—the name
meaning fort of the point— was built on a huge promontory, which projected out
into the sea. The ancient stronghold of
the earls of March was of key strategic importance, due to its location being
near to the major commercial seaport of Berwick. The fortress overlooked the coastal town of
Dunbar, in East Lothian, and afforded defenders the view of most of southwest
Scotland. Thus, Castle Dunbar was vital
to Edward’s plans to defeating the Scots, once and for all.
Caerlaverock Castle, Dumfries
The center of the Scottish
resistance was Caerlaverock Castle, near Dumfries. The Comyns were still giving
the English soldiery, garrisoned throughout the countryside, hell and
fury. And the supposed highly defensible
Caerlaverock was their base for the struggle.
From there, they could launch surprise attacks, fighting in the Highland
way of guerilla warfare—strike and then vanish into the mists. Their familiarity of the countryside, and the
English troops' lack of it, gave them a distinct advantage. And the tactics proved to be a festering
thorn in Edward’s side. To that aim, he
fixed on denying the Scots this base of operations. Edward and his army advanced through
Annandale—lands of the Bruces—stopping off at the royal Pele Tower of
Lochmaben. The full splendor of
Longshanks' army bore down upon the beautiful moated castle, and with banners
flying high, he laid siege. Once again, riding at his side was Cospatrick of
Dunbar and his son Patrick. You can
read about the siege in the Song of Caerlaverock, an overly flowery poem that
is mostly PR for the English view of what happened. Even so, it is valuable to historians as it
notes the names of the many knights and lords who were there.
There
were many rich caparisons embroidered on silks and satins; many a beautiful
pennon fixed to a lance; and many a banner displayed. And afar off was the
noise heard of the neighing of horses: mountains and valleys were everywhere
covered with sumpter horses and wagons with provisions, and sacks of tents and
pavilions. And the days were long and fine.
Touches,
chevalier of worship, carried gules with yellow martlets. Banner gules, a lion
argent, there the Earl of Lennox flew, and upon a silver border roses
of the field’s same hue; Patrick of Dunbar, his son, bore likewise with a
label blue.
The anonymous poet made the whole
affair sound so gay, and what a valiant effort it was on the English’s part to
invest the castle. In truth, the
fortress was hardly a match for the English forces, so soon both Patrick and
his father were back to their own business.
By December, 1300, Patrick, now in his twenties, was named in an
English Royal Administration paper, indicating he received regular payments for
assisting King Edward in controlling the Scots in East Lothian.
Sometime after that point, he
married his first wife, Ermengarde Soulis.
Little is known of Ermengarde, other than she was a few years younger
than Patrick, and likely a cousin, the daughter of Sir William de Soulis (one
of the claimants to the throne of Scotland in 1296) and Ermengarde de
Duward. She gave birth to a son
Patrick—yes, yet another Patrick—sometime around 1304, for it was recorded that
she received a shipment of a cask of wine from Edward Longshanks, and it was
noted she was pregnant at the time. There was another son, John, born less than
two years later. After that, nothing
else is heard about her. No reference to
her death. No place of burial, though one
would assume at Dunbar Castle, which is now in ruins. One might infer she died in childbirth, or
shortly thereafter, as the date would indicate that.
In 1305, Patrick petitioned King
Edward for his father's lands at Polwarth, Berwickshire to be settled upon him,
but this was declined. Against the
backdrop of February 1306, Robert Bruce called for a meeting with John “Red”
Comyn. Both had been Guardians of
Scotland. Both held no love loss for the
other. And both wanted to be king of the
Scots. Instead of coming to an
agreement, Bruce killed Comyn, and a month later then declared himself
king. Early 1307, Edward was making
plans, once more, to invade Scotland. He
commanded, Patrick, along with his aging father (now sixty-five), were to
preserve the peace in Scotland and to obey the earl of Richmond in this
aim. The denial of his petition in 1305
had little consequences or impact to Patrick.
Edward I died in July of 1307.
Less than a year later saw Cospatrick die, so his heir Patrick assumed
the earldoms of Dunbar and March.
Bruce's killing of Red Comyn
In 1313, Patrick was sent to
England with a petition for the new king—Edward II. The communication was from people of
Scotland, laying out their suffering at the hands of Edward Bruce. Robert’s younger brother had a bone to pick
with the Comyns and Dunbars and seemed to take great pleasure in the
confiscating coin, crops and horses from his enemy. Patrick’s own lands
and those of his vassals were vulnerable to raids of both Bruces, as well as by
attacks by the English garrisons at Berwick and Roxburgh. I surmise, in order to protect his honours,
Patrick did his best to keep both sides in reasonable humor with him. When the Battle of Bannockburn in 1313 was a
route for the Scots, Patrick provided shelter and assistance to the fleeing
English king.
Edward II
No sooner than Edward II was
safely across the English border, Patrick switched sides, aligning himself with
Robert the Bruce in spectacular fashion.
He took part in the Scottish siege at Berwick, as one of Bruce’s commanders.
He helped Bruce gain control of the town on the 28th of Mar
1318, and the castle by the 20th July of the same year. Bruce must have been pleased with Patrick’s
tireless efforts for he received a grant of lands from King Robert covering the
ones Patrick had been forced to forfeit in England due to the war.
He also received a new wife. And no miss to fade into the annals of history. His second wife was Agnes, daughter of Bruce’s nephew, Thomas Randolph, 1st earl of Moray. Their royal lineage goes back to Gospatrick of Dunbar, Somerland, King Duncan I, and the Pictish kings, and through his mother's side he was 8th great-grandson of Henry I, king of France. Though doubt has been cast by some historians about her father being Robert the Bruce's nephew it is easily proven. Bruce's older half-sister, Isabel du Kilconquhar was the mother of Thomas Randolph. Documents from the reign of David II of Scotland (Bruce's son) makes hundreds of references to John Randolph being his Cognatus/consanguineus (kinsman/male cousin)-- a cousin of the first or second degree.
If Dunbar had been vital to the English’s ability to strike into the heart of Scotland, it was doubly as important in the Bruce’s mind. He was fighting to subdue Clan Comyn—which meant the largest part of Scotland—and preparing should Edward II invade yet again. The marriage between Patrick and Agnes had all the markings of a political union. Bruce got a strong ally against his old foes the Comyns—Patrick’s relatives—and Patrick checkmated Bruce’s generals Randolph and James Douglas from raiding his lands every time they needed supplies. The advantageous marriage seemed to seal the pact. They were married in England, due to Scotland being under interdict. In 1317, Pope John XXII issued the interdict because Bruce and Douglas kept raiding in England. The papal decree prevented Scotland’s churches from celebrating all sacred rites and ceremonies, save death—which meant no marriages could be performed there.
Agnes, who was Randolph’s first born, brought to the marriage her sizable inheritance—including the lordship of Annandale (the honour belonging to Bruce’s father, but after his death had been bestowed by Bruce on his nephew Randolph). However there were a few bumps to the marriage. Dispensation had to be sought, and was granted for them to wed on the 18th August 1320, the need arising because they were related closer than the fourth degree of consanguinity. Patrick and the Bruce shared the same great grandfather—Robert de Brus, 4th lord of Annandale, which meant Agnes and Patrick were second cousins. Later, a second dispensation was needed from the Pope dated the 16th of January 1323, when it was found their family connections complicated things further. Agnes’ sister Isabella had married Patrick Dunbar—yes, another one!—this time Patrick Dunbar of Cockburn, Stranith and Bele, the nephew to Patrick through his brother Alexander, knight of Wester Spott. And her sister Geilis Isobel (history keeps merging with her older sister—by ten years—who was also named Isobel—hello! they are NOT the same person!!) married John de Dunbar of Derchester & Birkynside, Earl of Fife— another Dunbar male—Patrick’s younger brother. It seems these Randolph sisters had a thing for the men of Dunbar. The second decree was needed to validate any children as legitimate. Agnes and Patrick were already married by that time, so they were permitted to remain husband and wife. While there might be a question if Patrick was in love with his lady wife, there is no doubt he truly wanted their marriage and was willing to go to extremes to see no man put their vows asunder. In 1328, he is named as a surety on a promise to pay Edward III of England a sum of 20,000 pounds—an ungodly amount for the times—and to submit to the jurisdiction of the papal court on the matter. He wanted it clear any issues of the marriage would be considered by the church and king as true heirs to their vast joint holdings.
Agnes’ amazing father died in
1332 at the Battle of Musselburg. He didn't die in battle, but fell ill and died a short time later. Randolph was on his way to repeal yet another attack by the
English. This time, it was Edward III
backing the exiled Edward Balliol in his attempt to claim the Scottish
crown. The latter was the son of John
Balliol—the man Edward’s grandfather made king of the Scots in 1292. Both of them were pressing the assertion that
Robert the Bruce had no true claim to the crown, that John was the last king of
Scotland, and thus Edward Balliol, his son, was the real monarch.
During these years, Agnes held
the important castle of Dunbar. She was
the eldest child of Randolph’s children by his wife Isabel Stuart of Bonkyll. Agnes was a strong, opinionated female, and
clearly had learned a lot from her resourceful father. She inherited her dark looks from her
handsome sire. Often called "Black Annis" (a Scottish witch) or “Black
Agnes”, historians immediately assume she was dark-complected, calling her
“swarthy”. However, in Scottish Clans
you will often see “black branch” and “red branch”, meaning the black line is
the elder son, while the red branch is the younger son, so I question if the
Scots calling her Black Agnes had more to do with the fact she was the eldest
of Randolph’s children.
It must have chafed a
strong-willed Agnes that upon the death of her father, the title of earl of
Moray went to first her younger brother, instead of her. Thomas held the title for barely a year
before dying at the Battle of Daupin.
Then, it was handed to her second brother, John. Later on, after his demise, the title
reverted to the crown, but Agnes refused to accept that and added the Countess Moray
to her status. None dared challenge her
on this. Patrick began using the title as well. Her brother had married well to
Euphemia Ross; later, after his death she remarried to King Robert II of
Scotland. After Agnes’ death, Robert II
conferred the title officially to her nephew, George Dunbar (Isabella’s son)
since Agnes had no legitimate heirs. (This has been questioned and disputed by
historians, even to some listing George as their son).
Patrick was a good match in
ambition for Agnes. Sometime after 1331,
the Bishop of Durham complained to the Regency in Scotland
that the village of Upsettlington, on the Scottish side of the River
Tweed west of Norham, belonged to the See of Durham and “not the earl
of Dunbar, who had seized it”. Patrick
was not only a good fighter, but proved a savvy politician. Patrick was named as the Guardian of
Scotland, and upon his father-in-law’s death, replaced Randolph as regent for
Bruce’s young son, King David II.
Accounts differ about whether
Agnes and Patrick had and were survived by any children. That they didn’t seem to be confirmed since
their titles and inheritances passed to the children of the marriage between
Patrick's nephew and Agnes' sister. There is a claim (which doesn't square with
the way the earldom of Moray actually passed to the next generation),
suggesting that she did have a daughter, also called Agnes of Dunbar. In the years following, the other Agnes
became the mistress of David II, and preparations undertaken showed
she was his intended wife when he died in 1371.
Since Patrick was away so much, Agnes could have had a child by another
man, or possibly she was fostering the daughter of her sister, in Scottish
tradition. (One assertion is that Agnes
was Patrick’s daughter by his first wife—but even a small amount of research
invalidates that claim as the birth of this Agnes was after Patrick married
Randolph’s daughter).
Edward III of England
If Edward III had given up on his
schemes to place Edward Balliol on the throne of Scotland, Agnes Randolph’s
name would likely have faded from history, just as her mother-in-law’s
did. Only, Longshanks’ grandson had a
bee in his bonnet and was unwilling to give up on the crackedbrain plan. Patrick opposed Balliol in several battles
and skirmishes, following the Battle of Dupplin Moor. Thus, it appeared that his marriage to Agnes
kept him firmly anchored to the Scots’ side.
In January of 1333, he was appointed governor of Berwick Castle. His tenure in that position was short lived,
as the English forces compelled his surrender of the castle following the
Battle of Halidon Hill in July.
To escape prison, Patrick bent
knee to the two Edwards, and was back on the English side. His presence is noted at the Scottish
parliament Edward Balliol held, in the role of the new king. No mention of Agnes being with her husband
was noted, so we may assume she was still at Dunbar and in charge of the
fortress. Balliol gave over the castles
Berwick, Dunbar, Roxburgh, and Edinburgh to Edward III as payment for his
help. Likely a furious Agnes was forced
to watch her husband destroy much of Dunbar Castle’s fortifications as part of
the agreement, rendering it useless to the Scottish forces. No sooner than the dismantling was
accomplished, Edward III contrarily changed his mind and demand Patrick rebuild
and refit Dunbar—and pay for all the refortifications out of his own
pocket. The castle wouldn’t be battle
ready again until late 1337. A change
in decision, which would soon come to haunt Edward III.
Edward Balliol, King Edward of Scotland (for a time)
At this stage, I am losing track
of the ping pong game of Patrick’s changing alliances. I’m sure Agnes was, too. He had given oath to the two Edwards, in
spite, he was still working for the Scottish crown. In 1335, when the King and Baliol made an
attack upon the Scots, the Earl Patrick cut off a body of English archers on
their return southward. Afterwards, he
assisted John Randolph, 3rd earl of Moray (his wife’s younger brother) and
Sir Alexander Ramsay in defeating the Count Namur at
the Battle of Boroughmuir. After
Namur’s surrender, John guaranteed the man’s safety and escorted him back to
the English—after all, the count was the cousin of the Queen of England. On the way, John fell into an ambush and was
taken prisoner. Patrick and Ramsay
barely escaped with their lives.
On 13th January 1338,
when Patrick Dunbar was away, the English, under William Montague, 1st earl of
Salisbury, laid siege to Dunbar Castle.
They made the mistake of assuming it would be an easy task since Lady
Dunbar was in residence with only her servants and a few guards. However, Agnes
was determined not to surrender the fortress, even though facing the English’s
vastly superior force of 20,000 men. Salisbury
must have been flabbergasted as Agnes tossed down her firm No! from the rampart
and answered the demand:
Coat of Arms for Earl Salisbury
"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."
Don’t you think Agnes was just a
tad upset? They had just finished
rebuilding the castle on Edward III’s command, and he turned around and decided
to lay siege to it? Clearly, Agnes was
not about to hand it over to Edward’s lackey, just to appease the king’s
current whim. Enough was enough! It appears she was caught unawares by the
attack. The castle guard had been
thinned, the Dunbar men off fighting with her husband, and since it was
midwinter, supplies were running low.
Agnes was not prepared to withstand a long siege, but withstand she
did.
When she refused to surrender the
castle, and the opening attacks were repelled, the Earl Salisbury called forth
siege engines, mangonels. He attempted to take the fortress by
catapulting huge boulders and lead shot against the ramparts. Agnes met their efforts with disdain. When the English would finally break from
hurling stones for the day, she’d parade her ladies-in-waiting along the
ramparts and they would “dust” the castle wall with white kerchiefs. After a
couple weeks of this nonsense, the earl built a movable siege tower, called a
sow, meant to allow men to use a battering ram under a shelter, protecting them
from archers raining arrows down on them, or the defenders pouring boiling
pitch or oil on them. Unflappable, Agnes
called out that Salisbury better take care of his sow or she would soon be
catching “little English pigs” in her bailey.
When the earl didn’t hesitate in
launching the machine, Agnes had boulders—the very ones the English had been
flinging into the castle—dropped over the ramparts from a crane and onto the
sow, crushing it. She, naturally,
shouted thanks to Salisbury for the ammunition he had supplied Dunbar. As the survivors scurried back to the English
line, Agnes launched another taunt with her indelicate wit:
“…behold the litter
of English pigs scurrying!”
a Sow
Her joyful
defiance seemed to infect the meager number of guards. One Dunbar archer drew down on Salisbury, but
deliberately hit the man next to him, and then yelled:
"There comes one of my lady's tire pins;
Agnes' love shafts go straight to the heart."
Obviously, all the work Patrick
had done over the past three years to refortify Dunbar was well worth the coin
it cost. It was impossible for the
English to invest the castle. Unable to
make any progress with the attacks, Salisbury switched to guile. He bribed a Scotsman, who guarded the
portcullis at the front of the castle.
Salisbury extracted a promise to leave the gate unsecure, so his troops
could descend upon the mighty gate and force their way inside the bailey before
alarm could be raised. The earl must
have smirked when the man accepted the bribe, and a short time later the
portcullis creaked open. In true
careless fashion, the English troops charged the gate, with Salisbury in the
lead. One of his eager soldiery dashed
past him and through the entry first.
Shock filled them when the portcullis came crashing down, trapping the
eager Englishman on the Scottish side.
Salisbury just missed being captured by Agnes! The gatekeep had accepted the bribe, but had
run straight to Agnes with the tale of what Salisbury wanted him to do. She had turned the tables and laid a trap for
the haughty earl. Sadly, she missed
taking him prisoner, but she couldn’t resist another of her stinging barbs:
"Farewell, Montague, I intended that you
should have supped with us, and assist us in defending the Castle against the
English."
Weeks dragged by, then months, and with Agnes getting the best of him at every turn, Salisbury’s patience was wearing thin. He had John Randolph, earl of Moray (Agnes’ youngest brother, and prisoner to the English since his capture) dragged before the castle walls, with a rope around his neck. Anges and John corresponded regularly during his imprisonment in a series of places--Bamburgh Castle, thence by York and Nottingham to Windsor, and from there was removed to Winchester, and finally to the Tower in irons. Thus Salisbury assumed she would give into a threat to his life. The earl called out that unless she surrendered he would hang John before her very eyes. If he thought to crush Agnes’ spirit, he little understood Randolph’s daughter. She merely laughed and told him to go ahead and hang John, that he would be making her the new countess of Moray—a title that should have been hers in the first place. (Evidentially, the threat to kill John was nothing more than a bribe to get her to surrender. John wasn’t harmed, and later was released, only to die in six years at in the Battle of Neville Cross. (**In a side note, an odd quirk of fate saw John being exchanged for Salisbury in a prisoner trade. In 1341 Salisbury had been taken prisoner by the French, and they agreed to trade the earl for John Randolph. After the exchange the French released Moray, and he came straight back to Scotland to raise more hell.)
Winter passed, then spring, and summer was
upon them. Salisbury knew the castle had
to be rationing food and water. So, he
turned his attention to the longer means of winning a siege—a blockade to
starve the castle out. He cut off all
roads, paid Genoese galleys to block the defenders from receiving support from
the sea, and stopping any communication with the outside world. Only Sir Alexander of Dalhousie (my 26th great-grandfather)—who had earned a reputation for being a constant thorn in
the English king's side—got wind of Agnes’ predicament. He left Edinburgh, and with forty men, moved
swiftly up the coast. Ramsay and his
small company approached the castle in the cover of night, and entered through
the postern gate from the sea. He
brought fresh troops, ready and eager to fight, and food for the people of
Dunbar. Salisbury, expecting a weakened
guard, launched another frontal assault on the castle. However, Ramsay rushed out with his hardened
troops, and pushed the startled Englishmen back all the way to their
encampment.
Agnes had held Dunbar for nearly
five months. With Salisbury becoming a
laughing stock and no closer to forcing her surrender, on the 10th of June
1338, he threw up his hands and lifted the siege. The triumph of Agnes over the earl and 20,000
English men lives on in a poem by Sir Walter Scott, which put a rhyme in the
earl’s mouth…
She
kept a stir in tower and trench
That brawling, boisterous Scottish wench;
Came I early, came I late,
I found Agnes at the gate
The failed siege of Dunbar had
cost the English crown nearly 6,000 British pounds and gained nothing from it
but mockery. It seemed Edward III was no
more successful in subduing Scotland than his father and grandfather had
been. But Agnes, the heroine of the
Scots, had earned immortality in history with her valiant defiance.
Agnes died in 1368 and was
buried at Mordington, at a church established and patronized by the
family. Patrick died a few months later
in Crete, on route to the Holy Land.
Perhaps he did love his Agnes and was making the pilgrimage after losing
her. Before leaving Scotland he had
arranged the security of the vast Moray and Dunbar estates. As his sons by his
first marriage preceded him in death, Agnes nephew (Patrick’s grandnephew),
George Dunbar, received Dunbar & March, Man and Annandale. John, the younger brother, was eventually
confirmed earl of Moray.
Mordington Church
In a time of war, when Scotland was fighting for its life, Agnes gave the Scots
hope. She kept over 20,000 soldiers and siege
engines tied up for over five months.
She saved her husband and her family from having to face that massive
army. No telling how many lives she
saved, and quite possible saved the country from having to yield to English
rule.
George Dunbar must have inherited
the traits of the Randolph family, because he rose to become one of the most
powerful men in Scotland. But no one
wrote sagas and poems about him. They
even wrote a song about her.
