General Notes

Name Suffix:<NSFX> Of Moray
Ancestral File Number:<AFN> 9RND-80
Black Agnes was one of the most remarkable women in Scotlan
d's history. Sir Walter Scott said of her 'From the recor
d of Scottish heroes, none can presume to erase her.' Mor
e recently, Black Agnes was voted as one of the Top 100 Wom
en of the Millennium at women.com.
In the dark days after the death of Robert the Bruce, whe
n Scotland risked losing her independence once more, Blac
k Agnes defended the castle of Dunbar against a force of En
glish invaders commanded by the Earl of Salisbury, who wa
s considered to be one of the ablest soldiers of his day.
Although Black Agnes herself did not have royal blood, sh
e was related to the Bruce and Stewart dynasties through bo
th her parents and married a direct descendent of the ancie
nt celtic royal house. By her marriage in 1320 she became C
ountess of Dunbar and March, while in 1346 she inherited fr
om her brother the Earldom of Moray and the Lordships of An
nandale and the Isle of Man. Her father was Sir Thomas Rand
olph, first Earl of Moray, one of the heroes of the wars o
f independence and Regent after the death of Robert the Bru
ce. Thomas Randolph was the nephew of King Robert through t
he first marriage of the king's mother, Christian, Countes
s of Carrick. Agnes' mother was Isabel Stewart, a cousin o
f Walter, the High Steward of Scotland, who married Marjori
e Bruce and whose son became Robert II, the first of the St
ewart monarchs.