Agnes Comyn

Agnes Comyn, Countess of Strathearn (also Lady Agnes Comyn or Agnes, Countess of Strathearn ) († after August 1320) was a Scottish nobleman and conspirator.

Origin, marriage and children

Agnes Comyn came from the Scottish Comyn family . She was probably the second daughter of Alexander Comyn, 6th Earl of Buchan and his wife Elizabeth de Quincy . According to older information, her name is also given as Emma or Marjory . She was married to the Scottish magnate Malise, 6th Earl of Strathearn before 1280 . She had at least four children with him:

Malise, 7th Earl of Strathearn (between 1275 and 1280 - between 1327 and 1330)
Gilbert († after 1297)
Robert († after 1297)
Matilda († 1348) ⚭ Robert de Thony

Role in the Scottish War of Independence

In the politically troubled time after the death of King Alexander III. In 1286, the reign of King John Balliol and the following Scottish War of Independence , her husband initially supported the Scottish patriots against the English. In view of the military superiority of the English king, he finally submitted in 1303 to Edward I , who claimed supremacy over Scotland. When Robert Bruce declared himself King of the Scots in March 1306 and openly rebelled against English supremacy, Strathearn only supported him under duress. On the one hand, he did not want to break his oath of loyalty to Edward I, but above all he probably distrusted Bruce, who in February had murdered John Comyn, Lord of Badenoch , a relative of Agnes. Nevertheless, Strathearn was arrested in November 1306 and taken to southern England. Agnes and her son Malise protested his innocence and asked for his release. Edward I distrusted Strathearn but did not condemn him as a traitor. After the death of Edward I, the new King Edward II had Strathearn brought to York Castle in November 1307 . There he was allowed to live in mild detention with Agnes and some servants before he was released in 1308. After 1310 he and Agnes lived in the border town of Berwick , where the English king paid them a pension. By 1312 at the latest, Strathearn served in the English garrison of Perth , where he was captured in early 1313. Robert Bruce did not dispossess him, but forced him to give up his lands and title in favor of his son Malise. The old earl died no later than 1317.

Participation in the Soules conspiracy

In the summer of 1320 a conspiracy was uncovered in Scotland , led by Baron William Soulis and Agnes Comyn, Countess of Strathearn. The conspirators wanted to overthrow Robert Bruce and put Edward Balliol , the eldest son of John Balliol, who was deposed in 1296, on the throne. Agnes supported her nephew William Soulis as she was bitter about Bruce, who not only murdered her relative John Comyn of Badenoch, but also robbed her brother John Comyn, 7th Earl of Buchan of his land in 1308 and humiliated her husband in 1313. In August 1320, the Countess confessed to a parliament meeting in Scone that she had participated in the conspiracy and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Perhaps Agnes had betrayed the planned conspiracy herself, because according to the chroniclers, the conspirators were betrayed by an unnamed woman. According to legend, Agnes was allowed to spend her imprisonment in Tom-na-Chaisteal , a castle of her son located between Crieff and Comrie . But then the castle was destroyed by a fire in which Agnes was killed. The castle was probably destroyed by fire in the 16th or 17th century. soul

Web links

Agnes Comyn on thepeerage.com

Individual evidence

↑ Cynthia J. Neville: The earls of Strathearn from the twelfth to the mid-fourteenth century, with an edition of their written acts . Dissertation, University of Aberdeen, 1983, p. 135.
^ Cynthia J. Neville: The political allegiance of the earls of Strathearn during the war of independence . In: The Scottish Historical Review , 65 (1986), p. 143.
↑ Cynthia J. Neville: The earls of Strathearn from the twelfth to the mid-fourteenth century, with an edition of their written acts . Dissertation, University of Aberdeen, 1983, p. 130.
↑ Michael Penman: Robert the Bruce. King of the Scots . Yale University Press, New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-14872-5 , p. 221.
↑ Michael Brown: The wars of Scotland, 1214-1371 . Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2004, ISBN 0-7486-1237-8 , p. 219.
↑ Cynthia J. Neville: The earls of Strathearn from the twelfth to the mid-fourteenth century, with an edition of their written acts . Dissertation, University of Aberdeen, 1983, p. 136.

personal data
SURNAME	Comyn, Agnes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Comyn, Agnes, Countess of Strathearn; Comyn, Lady Agnes; Agnes, Countess of Strathearn
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Scottish noblewoman and conspiratorial woman
DATE OF BIRTH	13th Century
DATE OF DEATH	after August 1320

[1] Cynthia J. Neville: The earls of Strathearn from the twelfth to the mid-fourteenth century, with an edition of their written acts . Dissertation, University of Aberdeen, 1983, p. 135.

[2] Cynthia J. Neville: The political allegiance of the earls of Strathearn during the war of independence . In: The Scottish Historical Review , 65 (1986), p. 143.

[3] Cynthia J. Neville: The earls of Strathearn from the twelfth to the mid-fourteenth century, with an edition of their written acts . Dissertation, University of Aberdeen, 1983, p. 130.

[4] Michael Penman: Robert the Bruce. King of the Scots . Yale University Press, New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-14872-5 , p. 221.

[5] Michael Brown: The wars of Scotland, 1214-1371 . Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2004, ISBN 0-7486-1237-8 , p. 219.

[6] Cynthia J. Neville: The earls of Strathearn from the twelfth to the mid-fourteenth century, with an edition of their written acts . Dissertation, University of Aberdeen, 1983, p. 136.