Battle of the Pass of Brander

The Battle of the Pass of Brander forms a small part of the wider struggle known as the Wars of Scottish Independence, and a large part of the civil war between the Bruce and Balliol factions, a parallel and overlaping conflict. It was a victory for King Robert Bruce over the MacDougalls of Argyll, kinsmen of John Comyn, also known as the Red Comyn, who had been murdered by Bruce and his adherents at Dumfries 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. The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between Scotland and England in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. ... Robert I, King of Scots, usually known as Robert the Bruce (July 11, 1274 – June 7, 1329, reigned 1306 – 1329), was, according to a modern biographer (Geoffrey Barrow), a great hero who lived in a minor country. ... Argyll, archaically Argyle (Airthir-Ghaidheal in Gaelic, translated as [the] East Gael, or [the] East Irish), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a traditional county of Scotland. ... John Comyn, Lord of Badenoch, nicknamed the Red Comyn, (died 10 February 1306) was a Scottish patriot and royal Competitor. ... The Buccleuch St Bridge Devorgilla Bridge (at Low water) Overlooking Dumfries The Old Bridge House Dumfries (pronounced dum-freece, not dum-fries) (Dùn Phris in Scottish Gaelic) is a Royal Burgh and town of about 35,000 people on the River Nith in Dumfries and Galloway in the south...

A Scottish Civil War

The murder of John Comyn was one of the most decisive acts 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, 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, Lochaber, Atholl, Ross, Buchan, and Badenoch and Strathspey. Much of Argyllshire 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 John 'Bacach'-'the Lame'-at the Battle of Dalry near Tyndrum. Bruce, who narrowly escaped capture, took to hiding. Edward I; illustration from Cassells History of England circa 1902. ... Galloway (Scottish Gaelic, Gall-ghaidhealaibh or Gallobha, Lowland Scots Gallowa) today refers to the former counties of Wigtownshire and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright in southwest Scotland, but has fluctuated greatly in size over history. ... Lochaber (Scottish Gaelic, Loch Abar) refers to a large area of the central and western Scottish Highlands. ... The Highlands district of Atholl or Athole in the north of Perthshire in Scotland lies between Braemar, Badenoch, Breadalbane and Lochaber. ... Ross (Ros in Scottish Gaelic) is a region of Scotland and a former mormaerdom, earldom and county. ... Buchan comprises a traditional area and earldom of north-eastern Scotland. ... Badenoch, a district of south-east Inverness-shire in Scotland, bounded on the north by the Monadhliath mountains, on the east by the Cairngorms and Braemar, on the south by Atholl and the Grampians, and on the west by Lochaber. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Combatants Scotland England Commanders Robert I of Scotland Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke Strength 4,500 soldiers 3,000 soldiers Casualties 3,500+  ? The Battle of Methven took place at Methven in Scotland in 1306, during the Wars of Scottish Independence. ... Tyndrum is a small village in in Scotland. ...

Although the king made a remarkable recovery from these disasters, descending on Ayrshire in the spring of 1307 to begin a guerilla 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, 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 thorougness. Ayrshire (Siorrachd Inbhir Àir in Scottish Gaelic) was a county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. ... This article is about the fourteenth century king of England. ...

Harrowing the North

The first attack came in September 1307 in Galloway, the hereditary home of the Balliols, against the Macdoualls and Macanns. Here the fighting was so fierce that the local peasantry took refuge over the border in Cumberland. 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. Cumberland is one of the 39 traditional counties of England. ...

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 galleys sailing up Loch Linnhe. John Bacach, acting for his elderly father, asked for a truce, unable to fave 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, Earl of Buchan. 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. In the Peerage of Scotland the Kings of Scots have thrice created the title Earl of Buchan. ...

The Pass of Brander

Alexander Macdougall, too old and sick to take part in the fighting, lay in his castle at Dunstaffnage. John Bacach was left with the task of dealing with the expected onslaught. In the summer of 1308-possibly late August-his army took up position in the norrow Pass of Brander, where Ben Cruachan tumbles down towards Loch Awe. John, who 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 Dalry they were to be disappointed; for Bruce had now learnt enough of guerilla warfare to sidestep so simple a trap. A party of loyal Highlanders, commanded by Sir James Douglas, climbed even higher up the mountain 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. The men of Argyll wavered and then broke. Thet 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 Robert Bruce; but the following year he joined his son in exile, dying in 1310 in the service of Edward II. Dunstaffnage Castle. ... Ben Cruachan is a 1126 m mountain in Scotland giving its name to a pumped-storage hydroelectric power station. ... Loch Awe is a large body of water in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. ... James Douglas, 4th Duke of Hamilton (1658-1712), eldest son of William Douglas, Duke of Hamilton and of Duchess Anne, succeeded his mother, who resigned the dukedom to him in 1698, and at the accession of Queen Anne he was regarded as leader of the Scottish national party. ...

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. Neverthless, a legacy of bitterness remained, eventually to return to Scotland in 1332, under immesurably 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. 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 simple glance at the map will show that there could never have been a 'battle of Ben Cruachan.' Loch Etive looking NE from Sron nam Feannag. ...

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.