The Battle of Inverurie, also known as the Battle of Barra, was fought in the north-east of
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
and was a victory for the Scottish king
Robert Bruce
Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (Scottish Gaelic: ''Raibeart an Bruis''), was King of Scots from 1306 to his death in 1329. One of the most renowned warriors of his generation, Robert eventuall ...
over his chief domestic enemy,
John Comyn, 3rd Earl of Buchan
John Comyn, 3rd Earl of Buchan (circa 1260 – 1308) was a chief opponent of Robert the Bruce in the civil war that paralleled the War of Scottish Independence. He should not be confused with the better known John III Comyn, Lord of Badenoch ...
. Though part of the wider
Wars of Scottish Independence
The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and early 14th centuries.
The First War (1296–1328) began with the English invasion of ...
, it is more properly viewed as an episode in a brief but bitter civil war. It was followed by the
Harrying of Buchan
The Harrying of Buchan, also known as the ''Herschip'' (hardship) or Rape of Buchan, took place in 1308 during the Wars of Scottish Independence. It saw vast areas of Buchan in northeast Scotland, then ruled by Clan Comyn, burned to the ground b ...
, a violent act of destruction of property long remembered with bitterness in
Buchan
Buchan is an area of north-east Scotland, historically one of the original provinces of the Kingdom of Alba. It is now one of the six committee areas and administrative areas of Aberdeenshire Council, Scotland. These areas were created by ...
. The battle was fought in May 1308 according to Fordun. However, Barbour states clearly that it was fought at Christmas of 1307. Many current historians accept Fordun's date, but Barron and some others believe that Bower misinterpreted Fordun's notes. The battlefield was added to the
Inventory of Historic Battlefields in Scotland
The Inventory of Historic Battlefields is a heritage register listing nationally significant battlefields in Scotland. The inventory was published for consultation in December 2010 by Historic Scotland, an agency of the Scottish Government, and l ...
in 2011.
Background
In February 1306, Robert Bruce and his supporters killed
John III Comyn, Lord of Badenoch
John Comyn III of Badenoch, nicknamed the Red (c. 1274 – 10 February 1306), was a leading Scottish baron and magnate who played an important role in the First War of Scottish Independence. He served as Guardian of Scotland after the forced ab ...
, also known as the Red Comyn. Comyn was a nephew of the former king
John Balliol
John Balliol ( – late 1314), known derisively as ''Toom Tabard'' (meaning "empty coat" – coat of arms), was King of Scots from 1292 to 1296. Little is known of his early life. After the death of Margaret, Maid of Norway, Scotland entered an ...
and had been a leading player in the wars against the English. His death automatically meant that his extensive network of family and associates would regard Bruce as an enemy. Chief among these was Comyn's cousin and namesake, John Comyn, Earl of Buchan.
Edward I of England
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vas ...
died in July 1307. His son,
Edward II, preoccupied with political problems at home, left his Scottish allies unsupported at a critical time. Bruce acted quickly, on the assumption that the English were bound to return in strength for the campaigning season in 1308.
Prelude
One by one King Robert confronted his domestic enemies, beginning with the Balliol party in
Galloway
Galloway ( ; sco, Gallowa; la, Gallovidia) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway.
A native or ...
. From the south of the country he moved through the English-held central lowlands, making his way by the western route through
Argyllshire through the
Great Glen
The Great Glen ( gd, An Gleann Mòr ), also known as Glen Albyn (from the Gaelic "Glen of Scotland" ) or Glen More (from the Gaelic ), is a glen in Scotland running for from Inverness on the edge of Moray Firth, in an approximately straight ...
towards
Inverness and the north-east, towards the territory held by Buchan. He had under his command as many as 3.000 men according to a letter sent by the
Earl of Ross
The Earl or Mormaer of Ross was the ruler of the province of Ross in northern Scotland.
Origins and transfers
In the early Middle Ages, Ross was part of the vast earldom of Moray. It seems to have been made a separate earldom in the mid 12 ...
to King Edward. However, that number may have been an exaggeration in order for the earl to justify his inaction against King Robert. However, King Robert was overtaken by an unknown illness, which kept him out of action for a considerable time, and he had with him no more than about 700 men by the time of the Battle of Inverurie.
Unfortunately the only accounts of the whole campaign in
Aberdeenshire are from sources uniformly hostile to Buchan. Although Buchan made some attempt to take advantage of the situation by an attack by archers on the king's camp at Slioch, which was repulsed.
Edward Bruce
Edward Bruce, Earl of Carrick ( Norman French: ; mga, Edubard a Briuis; Modern Scottish Gaelic: gd, Eideard or ; – 14 October 1318), was a younger brother of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots. He supported his brother in the 1306–1314 st ...
shifted his camp to
Strathbogie, and the king was carried there on a litter.
[ Davidson, John. ''Inverurie and the Earldom of the Garioch'', D. Douglas, Garioch (Scotland), 1878]
/ref>
Battle
During his illness, King Robert was carried from place to place by his supporters. In either December 1307 or May 1308 depending on which account is correct, his army made camp on the far side of Inverurie
Inverurie (Scottish Gaelic: ''Inbhir Uraidh'' or ''Inbhir Uaraidh'', 'mouth of the River Ury') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland at the confluence of the rivers Ury and Don, about north-west of Aberdeen.
Geography
Inverurie is in the va ...
near Oldmeldrum
Oldmeldrum (commonly known as Meldrum) is a village and parish in the Formartine area of Aberdeenshire, not far from Inverurie in North East Scotland. With a population of around 2,187, Oldmeldrum falls within Scotland's top 300 centres of popu ...
. Buchan gathered his forces, ready to attack King Robert the following day. His army made camp at Meldrum, to the north-east of King Robert. At dawn, David, Lord of Brechin made a surprise attack on one of King Robert's outposts, killing many; the rest fled to the main force on the far side of Inverurie.
King Robert, who was still ill, rose from his bed and prepared a counter-attack. As he approached, Buchan hastily drew up his forces astride the road to Inverurie, between Barra Hill and the marshes of the Lochter Burn. His unreliable feudal levies were placed to the rear, with the knights and men-at-arms taking up a position to the front. The levies seem to have been given the assurance that King Robert was too ill to take to the field in person, and their shocked reaction when he came into sight explains in part why Buchan's army collapsed so quickly. John Barbour describes the scene in his rhyming narrative:
''The king came on in fine array''
''With much display his foes stood set''
''Until the ranks were nerly met''.
''But when his foemen saw the king''
''Advancing without lingering,''
''A little on their reins they drew''.
''The king by this time right well knew''
''That in their hearts they were distressed,''
''And with his banners forward pressed.''
''Thus they retreated more and more.''
''And when the small folk with them saw''
''Their leaders all retreating so,''
''They quickly turned their backs to go,''
''And fled and scattered far and wide.''
''Their lords, that still were side by side,''
''When they beheld the small folk flee,''
''And the king advancing steadily,''
''Themselves became disheartened so''
''That they, too, turned their backs to go.''
''A short while stayed they side by side,''
''And then they scattered far and wide.''
Buchan made some attempt to steady the line, but he too soon joined the flight, pursued by the King's men as far as Fyvie
Fyvie is a village in the Formartine area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
Geography
Fyvie lies alongside the River Ythan and is on the A947 road.
Architecture
What in 1990, at least, was a Clydesdale Bank was built in 1866 by James Matthews. The ...
. Later that year, probably after the fall of his castles, the fugitive earl took his flight to England, where he died the same year. The Battle of Inverurie and the Harrying of Buchan ended active resistance to King Robert in Aberdeenshire. He was not, however, prepared to risk leaving a potentially hostile district in his rear, and took drastic action which was to last in living memory for some fifty years beyond the event.
Immediately following the battle, King Robert ordered his men to burn to the ground farms, homes, and strongholds associated with the Comyns in the violent Harrying of Buchan
The Harrying of Buchan, also known as the ''Herschip'' (hardship) or Rape of Buchan, took place in 1308 during the Wars of Scottish Independence. It saw vast areas of Buchan in northeast Scotland, then ruled by Clan Comyn, burned to the ground b ...
.
References
Notes
Primary
*Barbour, John, ''The Bruce'', trans. A. A. Douglas, 1964.
*Bower, Walter, ''Scotichronicon'', ed. D. E. R. Watt, 1987-96.
*Fordun, John of, ''Chronicles of the Scottish Nation,'' ed. W. F. Skene, 1872.
Secondary
* Barrow, G. W. S., ''Robert Bruce and the Communuity of the Realm of Scotland'', 1976.
* Barron, E. M., ''The Scottish War of Independence'', 1934.
* Meldrum, E, ''Bruce's Buchan Campaign,'' in Deeside Field, vol. 5, 1966.
* Marren, P, ''Grampian Battlefields'', 1990.
External links
*
{{Authority control
1308 in Scotland
Inverurie 1308
Inverurie
Inverurie (Scottish Gaelic: ''Inbhir Uraidh'' or ''Inbhir Uaraidh'', 'mouth of the River Ury') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland at the confluence of the rivers Ury and Don, about north-west of Aberdeen.
Geography
Inverurie is in the va ...
Inverurie 1308
History of Aberdeenshire
Arson in the United Kingdom
Inverurie (1308)
Inverurie