King Edward III – History… the interesting bits!

Black Agnes

29/11/202529/11/2025Sharon Bennett ConnollyLeave a comment

History ... the Interesting Bits — *Agnes of Dunbar (from a children’s book)*

You may have noticed that I love the stories of women from medieval times who do the remarkable, who will defy a tyrant or hold a castle while under siege. Women like Nicholaa de la Haye. And yet, Nicholaa was not the only medieval woman to hold tenaciously to a castle under siege. It was more common than one might think. Matilda de Braose (or Briouze), the Lady of Hay, was another such, who held her castle against the besieging Welsh; as was Agnes of Dunbar, known to history as Black Agnes and a woman who was a blight on English forces in Scotland. Agnes was a bold lady whose acts of defiance against the English would surely have impressed Nicholaa, nationalities aside, of course.

Agnes was the eldest daughter of Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray, and his wife Isabel, a daughter of Sir John Stewart of Bunkle. Thomas Randolph was a favoured nephew of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, and one of his most stalwart supporters. Randolph was rewarded with the earldom of Moray and the appointment as guardian during the minority of King Robert’s son and successor, David II, in 1329.

There is very little known of the early life of Agnes, until about 1320, when she was married to Patrick, Earl of Dunbar. We can imagine that Agnes envisioned a life as a typical laird’s lady, raising children, looking after the land and tenants while her husband was away fighting. Unfortunately, Agnes and Patrick would remain childless, so the countess was not preoccupied with raising children. Agnes’s younger sister, Isabel, was married to Sir Patrick Dunbar, Earl Patrick’s cousin, and it would be their son, George, who would be made heir to Earl Patrick and Agnes.

From the timing of the marriage, we can surmise that Agnes was probably born just after the turn of the century, into a country struggling to gain independence from its aggressive neighbour, England. It would, therefore, not be unreasonable to assume that she saw little of her father during her early years as he was frequently away fighting; even after the Scottish victory at Bannockburn in 1314, Randolph continued in active service for the Scottish crown, fighting with Robert the Bruce in Ireland in 1317, and in the borders with England in 1318 and 1319.

Scotland’s troubles continued long into the reign of David II, with the English backing David’s rival, Edward Balliol, son of Scotland’s former king, John Balliol. This despite David II being married to Edward III’s sister, Joan of the Tower. The throne would pass back and forth between the two claimants for several years. When Agnes’s father died in 1332, he was succeeded by her brother Thomas, who was killed just weeks later, at the Battle of Dupplin Moor, fighting those who had been disinherited during the Wars of Independence. Thomas, in turn, was succeeded by another brother, John, who was killed fighting the English at the Battle of Neville’s Cross in 1346.

On John’s death, the earldom of Moray would pass to Agnes’s husband in right of his wife. Agnes and Patrick were cousins within the prohibited degree of consanguinity and a dispensation had been needed for them to marry. According to the chronicler, Pitscottie, she gained her name of Black Agnes ‘be ressone she was blak skynnit’, suggesting Agnes had a dark complexion; her black hair, dark eyes and olive skin more common among Mediterranean countries than the northern fastness of Scotland.¹ The English attributed a different reason to her name, to them, Black Agnes was the most evil Scotswoman who ever lived. Pitscottie went on to say of Agnes that she was ‘of greater spirit than it became a woman to be’, which, given her actions in the face of the enemy, is a fair appraisal of an incredible woman.²

Agnes was not the only woman to become heavily involved in the Scottish Wars of Independence, which had been a different kind of war from the very beginning. Robert the Bruce’s wife, daughter and sisters had been imprisoned for eight years by Edward I; his sister Christian would herself become involved in the fighting during her nephew David’s reign, defending the castle of Kildrummy against the supporters of Edward Balliol, in 1335.

Most of Agnes Randolph’s life is shrouded in mystery; there is very little mention of her existence until the English army appeared before her castle of Dunbar in January 1338. With the resumption of hostilities between England and Scotland in the 1330s, the castle of Dunbar became strategically important for both sides.

The stronghold had been rebuilt, at the expense of Edward III, in 1333, but by 1337 it was standing against England’s king. English affairs in the north lay in the hands of Richard (II) FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel, and William Montague, Earl of Salisbury, and it was these two experienced military leaders who decided to launch an English offensive by attacking Dunbar. An impressive stronghold, the castle was all but impregnable; it was built at the mouth of the Dunbar harbour, on separate rocks, with interlinking bridges and corridors.

Strategically, the castle’s position made it impossible for the English to march past it and leave it behind them, intact, able to harry the invaders and cut their lines of communication with England. Earl Patrick was away from home at the time, however, Scottish writer Nigel Tranter suggests that Agnes deliberately allowed herself to be besieged to give the Scottish forces time to rally and organise a resistance to the English invasion. Even so, it must have been a terrifying sight for the countess to look out from the battlements and see an army approaching; and the English earls must surely have been confident that they could beat the countess and her reduced garrison.

In January 1338, the English laid siege to Dunbar, surrounding it as best they could. The army had brought a legion of engineers with it, thus ensuring that a vast number of siege engines could be constructed and the castle’s inhabitants would face an almost constant barrage from missiles. When Salisbury demanded that Agnes surrender, she is said to have responded,

Of Scotland’s King I haud my House,
He pays me meat and fee,
And I will keep my gude and house,
While my house will keep me.³

The siege didn’t go exactly as the English planned. Agnes mocked them at every opportunity, appearing on the battlements even during bombardments. She is said to have had her maids dusting the battlements where they had been struck by missiles. When a siege engine known as a sow (a battering ram) was brought to face the castle, Agnes is said to have taunted the English by shouting ‘Beware, Montagow, for fallow shall they sow.’ The Scots would use the displaced rocks, caused by the barrages, and the missiles that had been fired at them, and rain them back down on their enemies. As the sow was destroyed and the English took cover, Agnes is said to have shouted ‘Behold the litter of English pigs.’⁴ Attack after attack was repulsed by Agnes and her men; a ballad, said to have been written by Salisbury himself, demonstrates Agnes’ steadfast attitude:

She makes a stir in tower and trench,
That brawling, boisterous, Scottish wench;
Came I early, came I late,
I found Agnes at the gate!⁵

The English even tried subterfuge to win the castle, bribing one of the castle’s guards to raise the gate and allow entry to the English attackers. However, the guard, having taken the money, went straight to Agnes:

Believing that they were going to be entering the castle, the Earl and his soldiers arrived at the gate. The guards, thinking Salisbury would be first to enter, dropped the gate after the first soldier stepped into the castle. Fortunately for Salisbury, one of his men had passed him on the approach. The thwarted earl retreated back to his camp with Agnes yelling at him from the castle walls: ‘Fare thee well Montague, I meant that you should have supped with us and support us in upholding the castle from the English!’⁵

At one point, the English used Agnes’s brother John Randolph in an attempt to persuade her to submit. One of the regents of Scotland during David II’s minority, John had been ambushed and captured in 1335. He was brought before Dunbar Castle, where Salisbury threatened to hang him in full view of his sister. Unperturbed, Agnes responded that John’s death could only be to her own benefit; although she could not inherit John’s titles, she was, alongside her sister, co-heir to his lands. John was given a reprieve and sent to imprisonment in England. Ironically, he would be freed in 1341 as part of a prisoner exchange; for the earl of Salisbury, of all people!

The problem for the English lay in the fact that they could not entirely surround the castle. Although they could besiege it from the land, the castle was still accessible by sea. An English fleet was guarding the harbour, but Sir Alexander Ramsay of Dalhousie managed to replenish the castle’s dwindling supplies by using a fleet of fishing boats, approaching in the early dawn from the cover of the Bass Rock. He managed to sneak through the enemy lines, making a dash for the harbour before the larger English vessels could get underway. Ramsay managed to land vital supplies and reinforcements for the garrison through a partially submerged entrance.

Agnes even sent the Earl of Salisbury some fresh-baked food when she knew the English supplies were running low, taunting the poor earl. Eventually, Agnes’s resistance proved too much for the English army, and, after nineteen weeks, on 10 June 1338, they lifted the siege, claiming their men and resources were needed for the king’s campaigns overseas. It had cost over £6,000, prompting one English chronicler to record that the siege had been ‘wasteful, and neither honourable nor secure, but useful and advantageous to the Scots’.⁶

The struggle against the English continued for several more years, but David II and his queen, Joan of the Tower, the daughter of Edward II and sister of Edward III, returned to Scotland amid great rejoicing in 1341; only for David to become a captive of Edward III following the Battle of Neville’s Cross in 1346. Scotland’s king spent eleven years in English captivity, while Scotland was ruled by his nephew and heir, Robert the Steward.

David returned in 1357, the same year that Patrick, Earl of Dunbar, participated in the raid that saw Berwick returned to Scottish sovereignty, for a short time at least. Earl Patrick continued to witness royal charters until July 1368 and remained active in Scottish affairs until his death in 1369. When Agnes also died in 1369, aged about 57, her father’s earldom and that of her husband passed to her nephew, George Dunbar.

Agnes of Dunbar was a women of status, raised to command households, if not men, who stepped up to the mark when the occasion demanded it. Although she was not educated in military techniques and tactics, she had lived within a world that was constantly on a war footing and when faced with a fight, she rose to the challenge. With her death, Black Agnes passed into legend, her tenacity and stalwart defence of Dunbar Castle a shining example of what a mere woman can be capable of achieving.

Images:

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Notes:

1. The historie and cronicles of Scotland … by Robert Lindesay of Pitscottie, ed. A. J. G. Mackay, 3 vols, Scottish Text Society, 42–3, 60 (1899–1911); 2. ibid; 3. Kyra Cornelius Kramer, Black Agnes and Psychological Warfare, kyrackramer.com; 4. Nigel Tranter, The Story of Scotland; 5. Kramer, Black Agnes and Psychological Warfare; 6. Historia Anglicana

Sources:

The historie and cronicles of Scotland … by Robert Lindesay of Pitscottie, ed. A. J. G. Mackay, 3 vols, Scottish Text Society, 42–3, 60 (1899–1911); Kyra Cornelius Kramer, Black Agnes and Psychological Warfare, kyrackramer.com; Nigel Tranter, The Story of Scotland; oxforddnb.com; Brewer’s British Royalty by David Williamson; Kings & Queens of Britain by Joyce Marlow; Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens by Mike Ashley; Oxford Companion to British History Edited by John Cannon; Britain’s Royal Families by Alison Weir; educationscotland.gov.uk/scotlandhistory; englishmonarchs.co.uk; The Perfect King by Ian Mortimer; Scotland, History of a Nation by David Ross; The Life & Times of Edward III by Paul Johnson; The Reign of Edward III by W.M. Ormrod

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Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how Empress Matilda and Matilda of Boulogne, unable to wield a sword themselves, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It shows how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other. Available from Bookshop.org, Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon.

Defenders of the Norman Crown: The Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey tells the fascinating story of the Warenne dynasty, from its origins in Normandy, through the Conquest, Magna Carta, the wars and marriages that led to its ultimate demise in the reign of Edward III. Available from Pen & Sword Books, Amazon in the UK and US, and Bookshop.org. Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England looks into the relationships of the various noble families of the 13th century, and how they were affected by the Barons’ Wars, Magna Carta and its aftermath; the bonds that were formed and those that were broken. It is now available in paperback and hardback from Pen & Sword, Amazon, and Bookshop.org. Heroines of the Medieval World tells the stories of some of the most remarkable women from Medieval history, from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Julian of Norwich. Available now from Amberley Publishing and Amazon, and Bookshop.org. Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest traces the fortunes of the women who had a significant role to play in the momentous events of 1066. Available now from Amazon, Amberley Publishing, and Bookshop.org.

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Women in Love: Katherine Swynford and Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scots

06/11/202120/02/2025Sharon Bennett Connolly2 Comments

*The coat of arms of Katherine Swynford*

Sometimes the similarities in the stories of medieval women are intriguing. Especially among families. Katherine Swynford’s story is one of the endurance of love and is unique in that she eventually married her prince. Katherine’s granddaughter, Joan Beaufort, is one half of, arguably, the greatest love story of the middle ages. I say arguably, of course, because many would say that Katherine’s was the greatest.

You may not consider a mistress as a heroine, seeing her as ‘the other woman’ and not worthy of consideration. However, women in the medieval era had little control over their own lives; if a lord wanted them, who were they to refuse? And even if they were in love, differences in social position could mean marriage was impossible – at least for a time.

Katherine was born around 1350; she was the younger daughter of Sir Payn Roelt, a Hainault knight in the service of Edward III’s queen, Philippa of Hainault, who eventually rose to be Guyenne King of Arms. Her mother’s identity is unknown, but Katherine and her older sister, Philippa, appear to have been spent their early years in Queen Philippa’s household. By 1365 Katherine was serving Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster, the first wife of John of Gaunt and Katherine was married to Sir Hugh Swynford of Coleby and Kettlethorpe, Lincolnshire, shortly after. The couple had three children, Thomas, Margaret, who became a nun, and Blanche, who was named after the duchess. John of Gaunt stood as little Blanche’s godfather and she was raised alongside his own daughters by Duchess Blanche.

Following Blanche’s death in 1368, Katherine was appointed governess to the duchess’s daughters. In September 1371 John of Gaunt was remarried, to Constance of Castile; Constance had a claim to the throne of Castile and John was soon being addressed as King of Castile. In the same year, Katherine’s husband, Sir Hugh Swynford, died whilst serving overseas and it seems that within months of his death, probably in the winter of 1371/72 Katherine became John’s mistress. Their first child, John Beaufort, was born towards the end of 1372. Over the next few years, three further children – two sons and a daughter – followed. John’s wife Constance also had children during this time – she gave birth to a daughter, Catherine, (Catalina) in 1373 and a short-lived son, John, in 1374.

We can only guess at what the two women thought of each other, but it can’t have been an easy time for either. In 1381, following the unrest of the Peasants’ Revolt and the hefty criticism aimed particularly at John and his relationship with Katherine, John renounced Katherine. Giving up her position as governess, Katherine left court and returned to Lincoln. Her relationship with John of Gaunt and, indeed, his family, remained cordial and the duke still visited her, although discreetly. In 1388 Katherine was made a Lady of the Garter – a high honour indeed. And in 1394 Constance died.

In January 1396, John and Katherine were finally married in Lincoln Cathedral; they had to obtain a dispensation from the church as John was godfather to Katherine’s daughter. With the marriage, Katherine had gone from being a vilified mistress to Duchess of Lancaster. Her children by John were legitimised by the pope in September 1396 and by Richard II’s royal patent in the following February, although they were later excluded from the succession by Henry IV.

Sadly, Katherine’s marital happiness with John of Gaunt was short-lived; John of Gaunt died in February 1399 and Katherine retired to live in Lincoln, close to the cathedral of which her second son by John, Henry, was bishop. Katherine herself died at Lincoln on 10 May 1403 and was buried in the cathedral in which she had married her prince. Her tomb can still be seen today and lies close to the high altar, beside that of her youngest child Joan Beaufort, countess of Westmorland, who died in 1440.

Although it seems easy to criticise Katherine’s position as ‘the other woman’, her life cannot have been an easy one. The insecurity and uncertainty of her position, due to the lack of a wedding ring, must have caused her much unease. However, that she eventually married her prince, where so many other medieval mistresses simply fell by the wayside and were forgotten, makes her story unique. What makes her even more unique is that Katherine’s own granddaughter was part of one of the greatest love stories of the middle ages.

Joan Beaufort was the only daughter of Katherine’s eldest son by John of Gaunt, also named John. The story of King James I of Scotland and his queen, Joan Beaufort, is probably the greatest love story of the medieval era. He was a king in captivity and she a beautiful young lady of the court of her Lancastrian cousin, Henry V. The son of Robert III of Scotland, James had been on his way to France, sent there for safety and to continue his education, when his ship was captured by pirates in April 1406. Aged only eleven, he had been handed over to the English king, Henry IV, and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Within a couple of months of his capture, James’s father had died, and he was proclaimed King of Scots, but the English would not release their valuable prisoner. James was closely guarded and regularly moved around, but he was also well-educated while in the custody of the English king and became an accomplished musician and poet.

Probably born in the early 1400s, Lady Joan was the daughter of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset. She was at court by the early 1420s, when James first set eyes on her. The Scottish king wrote of his love for Joan in his famous poem, The Kingis Quair. According to Nigel Tranter, James was with the court at Windsor, when he saw Joan for the first time; she was walking her little lapdog in the garden, below his window. The narrow window afforded him only a limited view, but the Lady Joan walked the same route every morning and James wrote of her;

Beauty, fair enough to make the world to dote,

Are ye a worldy creature?

Or heavenly thing in likeness of nature?

Or are ye Cupid’s own priestess, come here,

To loose me out of bonds

One morning James is said to have dropped a plucked rose down to Lady Joan, which he saw her wearing the following evening at dinner. Nigel Tranter suggests Lady Joan grieved over James’s imprisonment and even pleaded for his release. Written in the winter of 1423/24, the autobiographical poem, The Kingis Quair, gives expression to James’ feelings for Joan;

I declare the kind of my loving

Truly and good, without variance

I love that flower above all other things

James’s imprisonment lasted for eighteen years. His uncle Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany and Guardian of Scotland in James’s absence, refused to ransom him, in the hope of gaining the throne himself. He never quite garnered enough support, but managed to keep the Scottish nobles in check. However, when he died in 1420, control passed to his son Murdoch, and Scotland fell into a state of virtual anarchy. With Henry V’s death in 1422, it fell to his brother John, Duke of Bedford, as regent for the infant Henry VI, to arrange James’ release. The Scots king was charged 60,000 marks in ransom – ironically, it was claimed that it was to cover the costs for his upkeep and education for eighteen years. The agreement included a promise for the Scots to keep out of England’s wars with France, and for James to marry an English noble woman – not an onerous clause, given his love for Lady Joan Beaufort.

James and Joan were married at the Church of St Mary Overie in Southwark (now Southwark Cathedral) on 2 February 1424, with the wedding feast taking place in the adjoining hall, the official residence of Joan’s uncle Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester. Finally united – and free – the young couple made their way north soon afterwards and were crowned together at Scone Abbey on 21 May 1424. James and Joan had eight children, seven of whom survived childhood. Their six daughters helped to strengthen alliances across Europe. The royal couple finally had twin sons on 16 October 1430; and although Alexander died within a year of his birth, his younger twin, James, thrived and was created Duke of Rothesay and heir to the throne. He would eventually succeed his father as James II.

On his return to Scotland, James immediately set about getting his revenge on the Duke of Albany’s family and adherents; executing some, including Murdoch, Albany’s son and heir. Two other claimants to James’s throne were sent to England, as hostages for the payment of his ransom. James and Joan ruled Scotland for thirteen years; James even allowed Joan to take some part in the business of government. Although the Scots were wary of her being English, Queen Joan became a figurehead for patronage and pageantry. The English hope that Joan’s marriage to James would also steer the Scots away from their Auld Alliance with France, was short-lived, however, and the 1436 marriage of their eldest daughter, Margaret, to the French dauphin formed part of the renewal of the Auld Alliance.

James’ political reforms, combined with his desire for a firm but just government, made enemies of some nobles, including his own chamberlain Sir Robert Stewart, grandson of Walter, Earl of Atholl, who had been James’s heir until the birth of his sons. Sir Robert and his grandfather hatched a plot to kill the king and queen. In February 1437, the royal couple was staying at the Blackfriars in Perth when the king’s chamberlain dismissed the guard and the assassins were let into the priory. The king is said to have hidden in an underground vault as the plotters were heard approaching. There is a legend that the vault had originally been an underground passage, however, the king had ordered the far end to be sealed, when his tennis balls kept getting lost down there. Unfortunately, that also meant James had blocked off his own escape route. The assassins dragged the king from his hiding place and stabbed him to death; Joan herself was wounded in the scuffle.

And one of the greatest love affairs of the era ended in violence and death. The plotters, far from seizing control of the country, were arrested and executed as the Scottish nobles rallied around the new king, six-year-old James II. Joan’s life would continue to be filled with political intrigue, but her love story had been viciously cut short, without the happy ending her grandmother had achieved. Joan would marry again, to Sir James Stewart, the Black Knight of Lorne. They would go on to have 3 sons together before Joan died during a siege at Dunbar Castle on 15 July, 1445; although whether her death was caused by illness or the violence of the siege has not been determined. She was buried in the Carthusian priory in Perth alongside her first husband, King James I.

Katherine and Joan led very different lives, although the similarities are there if you look for them; they both lived their lives around the glittering court and married for love. Joan’s happy marriage only achieved because her grandmother finally got her prince; if Katherine had not married John of Gaunt, the Beauforts would have remained illegitimate and their future prospects seriously restricted by the taint of bastardy.

Images courtesy of Wikipedia.