Agnes Campbell

Lady Agnes Campbell (1526–1601) was the daughter of The 3rd Earl of Argyll and his wife, Lady Jean Gordon, daughter of The 3rd Earl of Huntly.[1] She was likely born at Inveraray Castle.[1] Her sister, Elizabeth, married The 1st Earl of Moray, an illegitimate son of King James IV of Scotland.

For the Scottish businesswoman, see Agnes Campbell (printer).

Campbell married James MacDonald, the 6th Chief of Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg and the Glens of Antrim in 1545, forming an alliance with the MacDonalds.[1] Women in early modern Scotland did not use their husband's surnames after marriage.[2][3] They had six sons and one daughter, Finola O'Donnell, more famously known as Iníon Dubh.[4] She married Sir Hugh O'Donnell.

In June 1563 Agnes Campbell gave Mary, Queen of Scots a "marvellous fair" Highland costume to wear on a progress to Argyll.[5]

Campbell's husband James died in 1565 while he was being held prisoner by the Irish chieftain Shane O'Neill.[1] At that time O'Neill had been supporting the English.

In 1569, she moved to Ireland to marry Turlough Lynagh O'Neill, who had replaced Shane O'Neill as the Chief of the Name of the Clan O'Neill of Tyrone.[6] She took with her a dowry of 1,200 Highland troops, and Gaelic tradition allowed her to lead the troops.[1] She personally led them against occupying English forces and proved herself a formidable leader. She also helped mobilise Scottish support for the Irish.[1] Agnes Campbell was fluent in English and Latin, which greatly impressed the English.[4]

In May 1580 she came to Scotland with her son Agnus O'Neill to visit her nephew, Colin Campbell, 6th Earl of Argyll, and the Scottish royal court to discuss issues over her Scottish property and her husband's affairs.[7]

References
  1. "Lady Agnes Campbell: Biography on Undiscovered Scotland". Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  2. Jenny Wormald, Court, Kirk, and Community (London, 1981), p. 30.
  3. History Workshop, What's in a Surname? Rebecca Mason
  4. Hill, J. Michael. THE RIFT WITHIN CLAN IAN MORE: THE ANTRIM AND DUNYVEG MACDONNELLS, 1590-1603 (1 January 1993), Sixteenth Century Journal; ASIN: B007M36E1C.
  5. John Guy, The Life of Mary Queen of Scots (Fourth Estate, 2009), p. 180: Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), p. 13 no. 13.
  6. Alison Cathcart, 'Family, Kinship and Clan Policy in Sixteenth-Century Scottish Gaeldom', Elizabeth Ewen & Janay Nugent, Finding the Family in Medieval and Early Modern Scotland (Ashgate, 2008), p. 135.
  7. William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 1574-1581, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1907), pp. 379 no. 454, 421 no. 489.
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