For more than 40 years, Scotland had been at war. In 1391, Edward I of England had been asked to arbitrate the selection of a new king of Scotland, but he instead saw an opportunity to take Scotland for himself. Through manipulation and coercion, kidnapping and violence, Edward I laid claim to the kingdom. Scotland resisted and through years of bloody conflict won back its independence through Robert the Bruce, who became King Robert I of Scotland.

This is the world that Agnes Randolph was born into. We don’t know exactly when or even where Agnes was born, but we do know that her father, Thomas Randolph, was the nephew of King Robert. His heroism and skill fighting on behalf of Robert had cost him his lands and title, but in a grand display of gratitude Robert gave him the ancient land of Moray, north of the Cairngorns in a place that had escaped a good part of the ravages of the last 100 years. If it wasn’t in Moray that Agnes was born, it is at least likely she  grew up there with the great mountains looming above her as she played.

But as the daughter of one of the most powerful men in Scotland, Agnes probably had to grow up quickly. Not only was war ever-present, but alliances had to be made to protect the realm. We don’t know how old Agnes was, but she was certainly younger than the man her father arranged for her to marry. Patrick, Earl of Dunbar, owned land in what is now East Lothian, the eastern gateway from England into Scotland. He was also a widower and the father of two sons. So young Agnes was married to Patrick, Earl of Dunbar, and moved from her father’s lands to take residence in Patrick’s Castle Dunbar on the coast of Scotland as Countess of Dunbar.

Castle Dunbar already had a long and storied history. The castle defenses extended from the shore to span a series of rocky islets, and it dominated both the local harbour and the sea route to the Firth of Fife and Edinburgh itself. This would be Agnes’s home for the next several years, and she would see it torn down and rebuilt. It would also be where she left her most famous mark on history.

Once again war wracked Scotland. When King Robert died, he left his five year old son as his heir. Agnes’s father was made regent, but England saw weakness and orchestrated invasions. Patrick left Agnes in the safety of their castle and headed off to join the Scottish army. The next several years were tumultuous to say the least. But in 1338, Edward III of England sent his best friend and veteran warrior, William Montagu, Earl of Salisbury, with several thousand men into East Lothian as part of a multi-pronged invasion of Scotland. Hearing that Patrick had taken his soldiers with him to join the Scottish army, Montagu headed straight for Castle Dunbar.

When Montagu arrived on the 13th of January, 1338, he ordered Agnes to surrender the castle. He knew that Agnes had no army to hold the place–only a few guards and a number of servants. Legend has it that Agnes responded in verse:

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.

So the siege began. Montagu had brought trebuchets and proceeded to hurl great stones at the walls of Castle Dunbar. When the bombardment halted, the English soldiers saw Agnes and her servants appear on the parapets. With casual mockery, they produced white clothes and began to casually dust the debris from her sturdy walls. Apparently his trebuchets were not having much impact, but they were only Montagu’s opening act. Montagu, Earl of Salisbury, launched his siege tower, called a sow, to take the castle walls.

A siege tower presented a threat to Agnes’s castle on multiple levels. It could provide cover for filling in moats or undermining the walls. Smaller siege weapons could be placed on the tower to fire directly at the people inside the castle, and most siege towers provided a bridge from tower to castle wall so attacking soldiers could rush across. If the tower were to successfully attach to Dunbar’s walls, Montagu would win the day. However, as the tower was wheeled close, Agnes and those within Castle Dunbar made use of one of the rocks flung by Montagu’s catapult and levered it off the wall. It crashed through the sow, ruining it and Montagu’s hopes of a quick end to the siege.

Again and again, the Earl of Salisbury tried to take Castle Dunbar from Countess Agnes, and again and again he was foiled. Resorting to subterfuge, he contacted one of Agnes’s guards and offered him a generous bribe to open Castle Dunbar’s gate. Montagu and several of his select knights were waiting nearby when the great doors swung open, and he and his men raced to be the first inside the castle. One of his comrades burst ahead of Montagu and charged through the opening, but in that moment the portcullis slammed down behind him, trapping Montagu’s knight in the gatehouse. According to the story, Agnes appeared on the walls and shook her head in disappointment at the sight of Montagu outside the gates. “We had hoped to have you for dinner and then to help us fight the English,” she called. Her guard had taken Montagu’s money and reported his plan to Agnes, and together they had set a trap for the English commander.

As the siege dragged on, war continued elsewhere in the country. Agnes’s brother John was captured, and the desperate Earl of Salisbury had another idea of how he might get into Castle Dunbar. Montagu brought John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray, to the siege camp and marched him out in front of Agnes and the crew of castle defenders. Montagu then called out that he would execute her last living brother before her eyes if she didn’t surrender the castle. Agnes replied that if her only brother were to die, she would be the one to inherit all her father’s land and become one of the richest women in Scotland. She admonished Montagu to do what he had to do. Foiled again, Montague relented, and John was spared.

Agnes held Dunbar Castle for five months of siege. Local people rowed supplies in secret to Castle Dunbar via its water gate. Eventually, she was reinforced by a Sir Alexander Ramsay of Dalhousie, and the siege was broken. Supposedly as the English army left, they were heard singing:

‘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.’

Agnes had held her castle, and it had held her.

In Psalm 46:1 the sons of Korah compare God to a mighty fortress, a place of refuge and security in times of trouble so fierce that the mountains shake. The idea of God as refuge and fortress is a recurrent one throughout the Psalms and beyond. In addition to the sons of Korah, David, Isaiah, and Nahum all compare God to a mighty castle that shields and shelters when earthly castles fail.

And I will keep my gude auld house,

While my house will keep me.

Perhaps you also have felt the trembling of this world, the roar and rage of nations, the rising tide of chaos and despair that seeps into our friend groups and families. The odds seem stacked against those who hunger for peace and justice, kindness and compassion. But like Agnes, we can say that we will hold our House as long as our House holds us. This is no earthly house or castle. Nor is it a social network or a political party or even a church or a creed; the prophets and poets remind us that our refuge is the God of the universe. We ought to take our cue from Agnes and hold onto this Divine Fortress above all else. Other castles fall, but this One does not.

But how do we hold onto our God when evil appears ascendant, when hate itself wears a guise of piety and devotion? Again, I find Agnes helpful. Here is a woman in a time of great national distress and grim opposition who resisted with such flair that we are still talking about it nearly a millennia later! I find no shortage of inspiration in her story, but there are three principles that really stand out to me.

First of all, Agnes did not cower passively within her castle refuge. I am certain that she felt fear as the stones hurled by Montagu’s army thundered against her walls and shook the plaster from her ceilings. But when the vicious bombardment had passed, she stepped out into the light and didn’t just dust herself off but her castle, too. While she did not leave her castle, she did actively and publicly engage with those bent on her surrender. And when she engaged with them, she did so with humor, intelligence, art, and even grace. When we stand securely in the embrace of the God of Peace and remember our sense of humor, when we think before we speak, when we use the art that we have been given to actively represent our loving and redemptive God, we too can find strength in action, instead of being mired down with fear and inaction.

The second thing that stands out to me is that Agnes was not afraid to open her gates to her enemy. She did this with careful forethought and planning, recognizing her limitations, but she did it. I’m tempted to write an entire essay on how the church seems to have become an institution that defines itself more on those it locks out than those it welcomes in, but for brevity’s sake, I believe it is worth noting that Agnes’s plan to capture and convert Montagu was not foolish or ignorant. Many captured nobles in the Scottish Wars of Independence changed sides or at least swore oaths of non-resistance before being released. Christ’s commands to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44) and to make disciples of all people (28:19) ought to be considered in tandem by the believer who wishes to hold on to Him.

The third cue I take from Agnes is that she resisted in community. She was not alone on the ramparts or in the gatehouse. While her group within the castle was small, they were loyal. Her relationship with the people around her was such that they were loyal even under great duress, risking their lives to stand by her and support her. Even the offer of escape and wealth couldn’t break that connection. How are you and I building our relationships with our community? Are we lending our strength to the people in our sphere? Are we leaning into the courage and resilience of those around us? Are we taking time to stand side-by-side and encourage each other? And let us not forget that Agnes could not have withstood the five month siege without friends outside her castle walls.  To my embarrassment, I have at times been astonished by the friends God has brought me in times of upheaval. We must not let pride or narrow vision deprive us of the sustenance and help our greater community offers! Jesus admonished his disciples that he had “other sheep not from this fold,” (John 10:16) but it still took a vision for Peter (Acts 10) to begin to embrace the idea that God sees the human family on a different scale.

When I look at these principles, I must confess that I am no spiritual Agnes of Dunbar. I have a long way to grow. But as I reach for these ways of resisting the darkness that looms from without and within, I am reminded that even when I fall short, our Fortress is mighty in grace. Paul offers in 2 Timothy 2:13 that even when we are faithless, God is still faithful because faithfulness is the very nature of the Divine. So as I fumble along and learn to better hold my castle, I can know that my Castle will always hold me.

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Sources:

http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/Black-Agnes/

http://www.rejectedprincesses.com/princesses/black-agnes

Uncovering East Lothian – Dunbar Castle | Dig It! TV

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Dunbar,_Agnes

https://www.johngraycentre.org/people/heroes/black-agnes-agnes-randolph-countess-dunbar-c1310-1361

https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/dunbar/dunbarcastle/index.html