The Battle of the Pass of Brander in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
forms a small part of the wider struggle known as the
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 ...
, and a large part of the civil war between the Bruce and Balliol factions, a parallel and overlapping conflict. It was a victory for King
Robert the 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 eventual ...
over the MacDougalls of
Argyll
Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland.
Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...
, kinsmen of
John Comyn
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 ...
, also known as the Red Comyn, who had been killed by Bruce and his adherents at
Dumfries
Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...
in 1306. The sources do not allow us to determine the date of the battle with any degree of precision: various dates between 1308 and 1309 have been suggested, though the late summer of 1308 would seem to be the most likely. Traquair dates it to August 1308.
[Traquair, Peter ''Freedom's Sword'' p. 155]
A Scottish Civil War
The slaying of John Comyn was a decisive act in Scottish political history. Soon after this Bruce had been crowned with the full support of the Scottish Church, which effectively set aside a papal interdict, although he still faced some formidable obstacles. The balance of power in Scotland shifted firmly in favour of the English. The chief weakness of the campaigns of
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 vassa ...
, virtually from the outset, was that he was unable to build a lasting alliance with the Scottish nobility, a traditional power base on which his rule depended: friends at one moment were liable to be enemies at the next. With the murder of John Comyn, his extensive network of family and kinsmen, long in the forefront of the national struggle, were guaranteed to fight on the side of the English against Robert Bruce, whom they now considered to be the greater evil.
Bruce's Scottish enemies controlled large and strategically important lands throughout the realm, 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 i ...
,
Lochaber
Lochaber ( ; gd, Loch Abar) is a name applied to a part of the Scottish Highlands. Historically, it was a provincial lordship consisting of the parishes of Kilmallie and Kilmonivaig, as they were before being reduced in extent by the creation ...
,
Atholl
Atholl or Athole ( gd, Athall; Old Gaelic ''Athfhotla'') is a large historical division in the Scottish Highlands, bordering (in anti-clockwise order, from Northeast) Marr, Badenoch, Lochaber, Breadalbane, Strathearn, Perth, and Gowrie. H ...
,
Ross Ross or ROSS may refer to:
People
* Clan Ross, a Highland Scottish clan
* Ross (name), including a list of people with the surname or given name Ross, as well as the meaning
* Earl of Ross, a peerage of Scotland
Places
* RoSS, the Republic of Sou ...
,
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 th ...
, and
Badenoch
Badenoch (from gd, Bàideanach, meaning "drowned land") is a traditional district which today forms part of Badenoch and Strathspey, an area of Highland Council, in Scotland, bounded on the north by the Monadhliath Mountains, on the east by t ...
and
Strathspey Strathspey may refer to one of the following:
* Strathspey, Scotland, an area in the Highlands of Scotland
* Strathspey Camanachd
Strathspey Camanachd is a shinty club based in Grantown-on-Spey, Strathspey, Scotland, currently competing in the ...
. Much of Argyll was under the control of
Alexander MacDougall, the Lord of Lorne, who had been related to John Comyn by marriage. Soon after Bruce was defeated by the English at the
Battle of Methven, what was left of his army was mauled by Alexander's son, John of Lorne, also known as Iain 'Bacach'-'the Lame'-at the
Battle of Dalrigh
The Battle of Dalrigh, also known as the Battle of Dail Righ, Battle of Dalry or Battle of Strathfillan, was fought in 1306 between the army of King Robert the Bruce against Clan MacDougall of Argyll, who were allies of Clan Comyn and the Englis ...
near
Tyndrum
Tyndrum (; gd, Taigh an Droma) is a small village in Scotland. Its Gaelic name translates as "the house on the ridge". It lies in Strathfillan, at the southern edge of Rannoch Moor.
Location and facilities
Tyndrum is a popular tourist village, ...
. Bruce, who narrowly escaped capture, took to hiding.
Although the king made a remarkable recovery from these disasters, descending on
Ayrshire
Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...
in the spring of 1307 to begin a guerrilla war, it was by no means certain in these early days that he would be able to prevail against the combination of English military power and internal resistance. Soon after his Ayrshire campaign began he was favoured by a major stroke of good fortune: Edward I, on his way north with an army, died just short of the Scottish border in July 1307. His son, the far less capable
Edward II
Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to t ...
, turned his attention towards English domestic politics, leaving his Scottish allies to manage as best they could. Bruce, who was convinced that the English were bound to return in the summer of 1308, decided to act with speed and thoroughness.
Harrowing the North
The first attack came in September 1307 in Galloway, the hereditary home of the Balliols, against the MacDougalls and Macanns. Here the fighting was so fierce that the local peasantry took refuge over the border in
Cumberland
Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...
. The chief men in Galloway appealed in vain to Edward for help and were then forced to pay tribute to Bruce in return for a truce.
With this out of the way the king turned his attention to the north, breaking through the English-held Lowlands and heading for the Red Comyn's old stronghold in Lochaber. His march into the Highlands was supported by a fleet of
galley
A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard (clearance between sea and gunwale). Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be used ...
s sailing up
Loch Linnhe.
John Bacach, acting for his elderly father, asked for a truce, unable to face the full force of this combined onslaught. Bruce then wheeled to the north-east to settle manners with his principal enemy, the Red Comyn's cousin and namesake,
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 ...
. This campaign lasted through the winter season, climaxing at the
Battle of Inverurie in May 1308. Bruce was now at liberty to turn his full attention back to unfinished business in the west.
The Pass of Brander
Alexander MacDougall, too old and sick to take part in the fighting, lay in his castle at
Dunstaffnage so throughout the period his eldest son, John Bacach, was the main war leader of the MacDougalls. In the summer of 1308, possibly late August, his army took up position in the narrow Pass of Brander, where the River Awe slices through the southern slope of
Ben Cruachan
Ben Cruachan ( gd, Cruachan Beann) is a mountain that rises to , the highest in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It gives its name to the Cruachan Dam, a pumped-storage hydroelectric
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH), or pumped hydroelectric ...
on its way down from
Loch Awe
Loch Awe (Scottish Gaelic: ''Loch Obha'') is a large body of freshwater in Argyll and Bute, Scottish Highlands. It has also given its name to a village on its banks, variously known as Loch Awe or Lochawe. There are islands within the loch such ...
.
[ However, only Barbour's poem "The Brus" (late 14th century) places the battle; it does not mention the pass by name but the description fits.] The large number of cairn
A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ).
Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...
s around the Bridge of Awe may give some support to the location.
John Bacach, who gave as an excuse in a letter to King Edward that he was recovering from an illness, observed his dispositions from a galley on Loch Awe. His men were hidden in the hillside, overlooking the narrow path through the pass. If they looked for a repetition of the Battle of Dalrigh
The Battle of Dalrigh, also known as the Battle of Dail Righ, Battle of Dalry or Battle of Strathfillan, was fought in 1306 between the army of King Robert the Bruce against Clan MacDougall of Argyll, who were allies of Clan Comyn and the Englis ...
they were to be disappointed, for Bruce had now learned enough of guerrilla warfare and had enough men to sidestep such a trap. A party of loyal Scottish archers commanded by Sir James Douglas James Douglas may refer to:
Scottish noblemen
Lords of Angus
* James Douglas, 3rd Earl of Angus (1426–1446), Scottish nobleman
* James Douglas, Earl of Angus (1671–1692), son of the 2nd Marquess of Douglas
Lords of Douglas
* James Douglas, ...
climbed even higher up Ben Cruachan and – completely unobserved – positioned themselves in the enemy's rear. As the MacDougalls attacked, they were caught in a vice, with King Robert coming from below and the Black Douglas from above.[ Prebble, John ''The Lion in the North''] The men of Argyll wavered and then broke. They were chased westwards across the River Awe all the way back to Dunstaffnage, while John escaped down the Loch in his galley, eventually taking refuge in England, like the Earl of Buchan. The Lord of Argyll surrendered and did homage to Bruce, but the following year he joined his son in exile, dying in 1310 in the service of Edward II.[
The campaign of 1307 and 1308 ended the internal threat to the Scottish king. All of his Comyn enemies had been destroyed or exiled and their lands lost. The survivors no longer had a power base in Scotland, and were only able to continue the fight as volunteers in the English army. Nevertheless, a legacy of bitterness remained, eventually to return to Scotland in 1332, under very different circumstances.
]
The Battle of Ben Cruachan?
Like the date there continues to be some uncertainty over the exact location of the Brander battle. R. A. MacDonald in his 1997 book, ''The Kingdom of the Isles'', argued that the traditional site of the battle is wrong, and that it took place further north on the shores of Loch Etive
Loch Etive (Scottish Gaelic, ''Loch Eite'') is a 30 km sea loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It reaches the sea at Connel, 5 km north of Oban. It measures 31.6 km (19 miles) long and from 1.2 km ( mile) to wide. Its ...
. From this he concludes that the fight should be more correctly known as the Battle of Ben Cruachan. However, a fight by Loch Etive could only have taken place if Bruce, coming from the east, had first cleared the Pass of Brander, although this was the obvious place for an ambush. An advance along the difficult shores of Loch Etive north of Ben Cruachan in the full view of the enemy galleys would have been military suicide. The author further contends that John's escape after the battle would have been possible only on Loch Etive, a sea loch, and not on Loch Awe, an inland loch, which, in any case was controlled by the Campbells, allies of Bruce. As for Loch Awe being "a Campbell lake" the author ignores his earlier point that the Campbells had been eclipsed at this time by the MacDougalls. Even on an inland loch a galley would offer the best mode of escape from slow moving land forces. A glance at the map will show that there could never have been a "Battle of Ben Cruachan".
References
Primary
* Barbour, John, ''The Bruce'', trans. A. A. H. Douglas, 1964.
* Fordun, John of, ''Chronicles of the Scottish Nation'', ed. W. F. Skene, 1872.
* Gray, Thomas, ''Scalicronica'', ed and trans. H. Maxwell, 1913.
Secondary
* Barrow, G. W. S., ''Robert Bruce and the Commumnity of the Realm of Scotland'', 1976.
* Barron, E. M., The Scottish War of Independence, 1934.
* Hailes, Lord (David Dalrymple), ''The Annals of Scotland'', 1776.
* MacDonald, C. M. ''The History of Argyll'', 1950.
* MacDonald, R. A., ''The Kingdom of the Isles: Scotland's Western Seaboard, 1100-c1336'', 1997.
External links
Video footage of 'Bruce's Seat' at Dalmally in Glenorchy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brander, Battle of the Pass of
1308 in Scotland
Battles of the Wars of Scottish Independence
History of the Scottish Highlands
Clan MacDougall
Conflicts in 1308
14th-century Scottish clan battles