Agnes Randolph Agnes Randolph , Countess of Dunbar and March ( c . 1312 – 1369 ) , known as Black Agnes for her dark hair and eyes , and sallow complexion , was the wife of Patrick , 9th Earl of Dunbar and March . She is buried in the vault near Mordington House . She was the daughter of Thomas Randolph , 1st Earl of Moray , nephew and companion - in - arms of Robert the Bruce , and Moray ' s wife , Isabel Stewart , herself a daughter of John Stewart of Bonkyll . Agnes became renowned for her heroic defence of Dunbar Castle against an English attack by the William Montagu , 1st Earl of Salisbury , which began on 13 January 1338 and ended on June 10 , 1338 . The Siege of Dunbar . This attack took place during the conflict which arose when Edward Balliol , with English backing , attempted to seize the Scottish crown from David II . Patrick Dunbar was fighting in the far - off Scottish army when English forces besieged his home , the great castle of Dunbar in East Lothian . Patrick ’ s wife , the Lady Agnes , was left alone with only a retinue of servants and a few guards to meet the English siege , but she refused to surrender the fortress , by one account declaring that Women occasionally commanded besieged mediaeval garrisons , for if the lord of a castle were away his wife might be left in charge ; but Agnes ’ s is one of the few sieges which has been widely remembered . Though considered one of the ablest commanders of his day , Salisbury was obliged to lift his fruitless siege of Dunbar castle after nearly five months without success . Salisbury began the siege with a bombardment by catapult s , sending huge rocks and lead shot against the ramparts of Dunbar . Lady Agnes responded by having her maid s dress in their Sunday best ; she then led them to the outer walls , where with their handkerchiefs they nonchalantly and slightingly dusted away the damage from the bombardment . She would also taunt the English from her walls and berate her garrison to make them fight harder . Montague next assaulted the castle with his battering ram . Agnes had a huge boulder , captured from an earlier attack , dropped over the walls which smashed the English assault machinery . According to one story , at one point during the siege , the English captured Agnes ’ s brother John Randolph , 3rd Earl of Moray , and paraded him in front of the castle with a rope round his neck , threatening to hang him if she did not surrender . She told them to go ahead , as she would then inherit the Earldom of Moray . John survived this brinkmanship . However , this story may be a later invention , as she was not heir to the earldom . On June 10 , 1338 , William Montague ordered his army to withdraw , leaving Lady Agnes in sole possession of her castle . She is remembered in a ballad which attributes these words to Montague : Family . Some accounts describe her as Countess of Moray , on the assumption that she inherited the earldom when her brother John was killed at the Battle of Neville ' s Cross . However , the earldom actually reverted to the crown , although it was later granted to her nephew . It seems that there were no surviving children of the marriage between Agnes and the Earl . Their estates were left to children of the marriage between the Earl ' s cousin John de Dunbar of Derchester and Birkynside and his wife , Isobel Randolph , Agnes ' s younger sister . The three nephews were : She also had a ward , Agnes Dunbar , who became mistress of King David II .