William Wallace, Robert the Bruce, Sir James Douglas, these fighters for Scottish independence roll
off the tongue don't they, but have you heard about Black Agnes? All too often history seems
to be stories about big men, doing important things, and I like to remind folk of the heroic
women in Scottish history, so when Harry Anderson dropped me an email at requests@scotlandhistorytours.
tours.co.uk to say, why don't you tell the story of Black Agnes I thought that is a belting
idea. If you're interested in the people, places and events in Scottish history, then click the
subscribe button at the bottom right hand side of the screen. In the meantime, let me tell you a story.
It's 1338. The hard-won independence achieved by Robert the Bruce had only lasted four years before
we faced new invasions from the south, throwing the nation once again into turmoil. Now I made a
series of three videos giving an overview of the Second War of Scottish Independence, so as not to
repeat myself and go over the same old ground, I'll leave a link to those videos at the end,
but seven years into the second independence struggle, Scotland was partly occupied by Edward
the Third of England. At the time we had two Kings; Edward the third had installed Edward Balliol as England's
puppet king, but the Scots patriots were still fighting for David the Second, and to regain our freedom
obviously. One of the men that had been at the forefront of the fight back was Thomas Randolph,
Earl of Moray. He'd been a close friend of Robert the Bruce, and a valiant warrior at his side, in
fact, Bruce had rewarded him with the title Earl of Moray. After Bruce's death in 1328,
Randolph had led the fight for Bruce's son, David the Second during this Second War of Independence,
but in 1332, Randolph himself had died. Now his daughter had been married to the powerful border
magnate, Patrick, Ninth Earl of Dunbar, and she was thus ensconced here at Dunbar Castle. Now with Patrick
off fighting against Edward the Third's forces in the north, Edward's close confidant, William Montague,
the First Earl of Salisbury, must have thought that an undefended castle would be an easy trophy.
Montague was about to find out that the daughter of Thomas Randolph was a chip off the old block.
Montague and his troops arrived to lay siege to the castle and its skeleton staff on the 13th of
January 1338. Now it's just a kind of ... well it's a ruin isn't it right, but in its day this waterfront
castle, with two grand courtyards on either side of an arched waterway would have looked absolutely
magnificent, but with nothing to defend it but the dusky, dark-haired Agnes Randolph and her staff.
When Mortimer demanded that this feeble lady turn over the castle, she surprised him by sending him a
message saying, "Of Scotland's King I haud my hoose (house), I pay him meat and fee, and I will keep my guid (good)
auld (old) hoose, while my house will keep me". That was Scot's rhyme for 'no', and so Montague got out his
siege catapult. If you'd been here standing as one of the occupants of the castle back in those days,
you would have seen massive rocks, hurtling towards you, from these medieval artillery pieces.
People would have been running about here, hither and thither, running in all directions looking for
any safe corner, but when the bombardment was over, Agnes got her maids to dress up in their
Sunday best, go up to the ramparts and dust the battlements with a handkerchief, as if to say,
"Did you hear something Maisie?". "No, but the dust on these ramparts is a disgrace!
When was the last time that they were cleaned?" Okay so the shelling of stones was met with stoicism,
what next? Montague brought up another piece of siege equipment called a sow.
This was a huge battering ram, but it was more than a battling ram, it had a wooden roof to protect the
attackers from arrows, as they battered down the front door. They would have had it covered with
wet hides, so they wouldn't catch fire if fire was thrown down on it. They had thought of everything,
apart from the fact that their earlier bombardment had provided the defenders with huge boulders to
drop on the sow from above, which smashed it to pieces, and sent the attackers running for cover,
as Agnes mocked from the ramparts. That bit they'd overlooked! Take three.
Okay, if the direct approach didn't work, it would have to be subterfuge. Now the main gate
must have been down here somewhere, so Montague bribed the gatekeeper to leave the gate unlocked,
so that the English could break in. The gatekeeper agreed and pocketed the cash. At the appointed
time, when the English approached the castle, they found the portcullis open. As soon as
they crossed the threshold, the portcullis dropped shut like a trap, capturing the first man through,
fortunately for Montague, who had been in the lead, an enthusiastic follower had jumped ahead of him
just as they reached the gate, and as the hapless soldier was captured,
Montague and the rest of his men, fled up here as Agnes stood in the ramparts shouting,
"Farewell Montague, I had intended that you would have supped with us". In other words, yah fanny.
Take four.
Now the gloves were off. Sometime before, in a completely separate event,
Agnes' brother, the third and the current Earl of Moray, had been captured in an ambush, so Montague
had him brought here to Dunbar, paraded in full view of the castle, a noose put around
his neck, and told Agnes, that if she didn't surrender the castle, he would hang her brother.
This was dirty. From the battlements, Agnes cried out, that her brother was
childless, so if Montague hung him, then she would inherit the title, so hang away. D'oh! Take five.
So Agnes' gamble had worked, and they didn't hang her brother. Montague decided to starve them out.
A cordon was put all around the landward points of entry, so that no supplies could enter the castle.
Now it was just a case of waiting, but in Edinburgh shortly after that, Sir Alexander
Ramsay of Dalhousie had got wind of what was going on, so he got a small group of men,
went to the coast, got hold of some boats, and he brought supplies and provisions to the castle
via a hidden door on the seaward side. Not only did this small force burst through the front
door of the castle, to surprise and scatter the English advance guard, but having done so, Agnes
organised with great fanfare and procession, that her servants should go out and deliver to Montague,
a batch of fresh baked bread and some fine wine. Agnes had foiled every attempt made by Montague,
on top of which, for five months, on a daily basis, she'd stood on the battlements shouting yah fanny,
or some such thing insult her English besiegers. But the 10th of June, Montague had had enough.
He finally realised, that the space between his legs was meant
for a tail, and he headed home, leaving the dusky, dark-haired, Black Agnes the victor.
For more on the Second Scottish Wars of Independence, click this video here. In the meantime,
tha mi an dochas gum bith lath math leibh. Tiorridh an drasda.