Patrick Dunbar, 9th Earl of Dunbar

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Patrick Randolph, 9th Earl of Dunbar (1285-1369) was a Scottish noble prominent during the reigns of the Bruce kings, Robert I and David II, and was the 9th Earl of Dunbar and 2nd Earl of March. His father, the 8th Earl of Dunbar and 1st Earl of March, was Edward I of England's lieutenant in Scotland, but also had a claim to the crown of Scotland, made in 1291, by his wife, Marjory, daughter of Alexander Comyn, earl of Buchan.

The name 'Dunbar', was derived from the family estate, and became an hereditary surname with its adoption as a name by the 4th Earl.

After the Battle of Bannockburn, Patrick Dunbar gave sanctuary and quarter to the English King Edward II at the fortress of Dunbar Castle, north of Berwick, now in England, and managed to effect the king's escape by means of a fishing boat whereby the wayward monarch was transported back to England, against all that might be considered sacrosanct by the suffering Scots. His intentions remain unclear. In 1333, frustrated by English interests in his inheritance of the great castle, Dunbar had the original castle leveled to the ground. Later, the English king Edward III compelled him to rebuild the fortress at his own expense, and, with a total disregard to the circumstance of his imposition upon the royal house of Scotland, not an unusual imposition by that tradition of English royalty, used it to barrack English troops. After four years, in 1338, the castle was returned to Patrick Randolph's possession to command. Patrick Dunbar, governor of Berwick Castle (title bestowed by Robert the Bruce) commanded the Scottish army at the fateful Battle of Durham in October 1346. "He escaped with considerable losses."

Patrick Dunbar is best remembered from this point through his countess, whom he had married when she came of age in 1320. Lady Agnes Randolph, known as 'Black Agnes', the 'Tartan Terror' daughter of Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray (named as Regent after the death of Robert Bruce, his uncle by the Countess of Carrick) and Isabel Stewart, grandniece of Robert Bruce, became renowned for her heroic defense of the Castle Dunbar against an English attack by William Montague which began on January 13, 1338.

Patrick Dunbar was, it is claimed, was far away, fighting for the Scottish army when his home, the great castle of Dunbar was subject to a siege by English forces. His wife the Lady Agnes was left alone with but a retinue of servants and a few gaurds to meet English aggression but refused to surrender the fortress claiming: "Of Scotland's King I haud my house, He pays me meat and fee, And I will keep my gude auld house, while my house will keep me."

Considered one of the ablest commanders of his day Montague, then the earl of Salisbury was forced to abandon the attempt after a curious siege that lasted for a little under four months.

Salisbury began his engagement with a bombardment by catapults, with which sent huge rocks and lead shot against the castle ramparts. Lady Agnes responded by having her maids dress in their Sunday best. She led them to the outer walls and instructed them to dust the battle damage away. This nonchalance was intended to insult the English. Upon the next assault by Montague with his battering ram, she dropped over the walls of her house a huge boulder captured from an earlier English attack, so that the assault machinery of the earl was smashed to pieces. On June 10, 1338, William Montague ordered his army to withdraw, leaving the Lady Agnes in sole possession of her castle.

Scottish Heroine 'Black Agness'

Lady Agnes died in 1369, having firstt succeeded to the estates and titles of John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray, her brother. Agnes Randolph Countess of Dunbar bore the earl of March three sons:

George, tenth Earl of Dunbar and March, and John, Earl of Moray.

Agnes Randolph Countess of Dunbar also bore the 2nd earl of March two daughters, the elder of whom, named Agnes, after becoming the mistress of the Scot King David II, married Sir James Douglas, lord of Dalkeith, from whom were descended the first 3 earls of Morton.

Her sister, Elizabeth, married John Maitland of Lethington, ancestor of the duke of Lauderdale, whose second title was marquees of March.

Patrick Dunbar died just a few months after his wife.