Randolph

The Randolphs took their surname from Randulf or Ranulf, whose son served as Chamberlain of Scotland. Thomas Randolph (c. 1285-1332) was Robert the Bruce's nephew and comrade-in-arms. Captured early in the independence war, he rejoined Bruce, took Edinburgh Castle in a night escalade in 1314, and fought at Bannockburn that year.

Bruce made him first Earl of Moray. He signed the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320 and ruled as regent for the child David II from 1329 until his death in 1332. His heir and son Thomas was killed at Dupplin Moor, and his second son John fell in 1346 without a male heir, so the earldom reverted to the crown.

Thomas Randolph's daughter Black Agnes held Dunbar Castle against an English siege for five months in 1338. In 1372 Robert II recreated the earldom for Thomas's grandson John Dunbar, through his daughter Isabel.