The Battle of Harlaw took place near the junction where the waters of the Ury river flow into the much larger River Don, not far from the small village of Harlaw itself, which lies about 20 miles north west of Aberdeen.  It was essentially a confrontation between Islesmen and Highlander on the one side and Lowland Scot on the other, instigated by Donald, Lord of the Isles.  The Mathesons fought with Donald.

     Harlaw was a major battle by even the bloody standards of the time and became known as "Red Harlow."  It marked the end of an incursion from the Highlands into the Lowlands which at times seemed unstoppable, its shock waves threatening the power even of the Scottish monarchy.

    There had been a succession of struggles for supremacy waged between the major families in the land and hovering in the background was England, determined to hang on to and exploit its Continental conquests, with France the major enemy.  Of course, Scotland and France were allies and it was in England's interests to see the Scots weakened by division in order to avoid the prospect of military threat on two fronts simultaneously.  It was a sound strategy, but to exploit it to the fullest meant aiding the powerful families and factions inside Scotland which could, and did, threaten the power of the Scottish monarchy.

     As these struggles swung one way and then the other, the situation was reflected in the far-away Highlands where the authority of the monarch either reigned supreme, or not at all, depending on what was happening elsewhere in the land. That basically explains why there was so much opportunity for lawlessness, feuding, rebellion and the like in the wild and inaccessible North.

     However, that doesn't explain it all, how at the drop of a Lochaber axe, armies of clansmen could appear on the horizon seemingly overnight.  Feudalism was the answer, which during this time had been gaining more and more of a grip throughout the land.  It was a system which underlined the personal power of the land owner over his tenant at the expense of the tenant's relationship with the monarch.

     In the Highlands, where the monarch's power was often at its weakest, feudalism found its greatest expression. The clan chief became ever more powerful under the system and at the same time, with the relationship between king and subject often non-existent, the clansman's personal allegiance to his chief only increased.  All of this simply served to reinforce what had been developing for generations already - clan identity, derived from and fuelled by a sense of family - here used in its widest sense - and all underpinned by a unique line of descent.

      Harlaw was sparked by a dispute over lands belonging to the Earldom of Ross.  The male line died out and the lands and title were passed on to Euphemia Ross, who married Sir Walter Lesley. They had two children, Alexander, who became Earl of Ross, and Margaret, who later married the Lord of the Isles.  Alexander married a daughter of the Duke of Albany and they had one child, Euphemia, who in her turn became Countess of Ross.  That's when the problems began, for Euphemia suddenly decided to become a nun and handed the earldom over to her uncle John Stewart, the Earl of Buchan.  Apparently, the rather dubious idea had come from the Duke of Albany, who was also governor of Scotland.

     When Donald, Lord of the Isles, protested, suggesting Euphemia had also given up the right to dispose of the earldom at the same time as she had given up the title itself, the Duke disagreed, and then everything started to get out of hand.  Donald went looking for an ally and England agreed to chip in with a sailing fleet, one that was ten times better than the Scottish one!

     At the head of thousands of men armed with bows and arrows, broad swords, Lochaber axes, and daggers, the Lord of the Isles with his clansmen from the Isles and the Highlands assembled and then marched from Dingwall in Ross and Cromarty to Inverness.  They met with some resistance led by Angus Mackay of Farr, known as Black Angus, who was taken prisoner.  But his brother Roderic and many of his men were killed in the uneven encounter.

     Meanwhile, the Highland capital was thrown into a state of panic with no means to mount any sort of counter attack, the route into the town across an oak bridge - the capital's one and only bridge - lying open.  But suddenly, one man was seen standing in the way of the advancing clansmen, John Cumine of Earnside, in Moray.

     He was ready for a fight, too, by all accounts, buckling on his armour and wielding a mighty two-handed broad sword!  But although he apparently did give it a real go, quite what happened to the brave John Cumine afterwards, or how many of Donald's men he was able to dispatch, is not recorded.

     Anyway, what is certain is that the bridge was seized and put to the torch and in the ensuing occupation, while clansmen from near and far gathered to swell the ranks of the army to 10,000 men, Inverness was burnt and plundered, including the castle.  The army then set off for Aberdeen which Donald had sworn to deal with in similar fashion.

     The Islesmen and Highlanders headed south and east and marched through Moray with little or no resistance, all the time others joining the ranks.  Many areas suffered badly, particularly Strathbogie and the district of Garioch belonging to the Earl of Mar, as the Highland army swept through on its way to Aberdeen.

     As in Inverness, the citizens of Aberdeen were in a state of fear and alarm as the fierce clansmen approached, but then suddenly, as if by a miracle, a well-equipped army led by the Earl of Mar appeared almost as if out of nowhere.  At least that's how it must have seemed to the panic stricken citizens.

     The Earl's army consisted of some of the top families in the land, too, a who's who of the nobility, including Sir Alexander Ogilvy, sheriff of Angus, Sir James Scrymgeour, constable of Dundee and hereditary standard bearer of Scotland, Sir William de Abernethy of Salton, nephew to the Duke of Albany, Sir Robert Davidson, the provost of Aberdeen and many, many more.  Donald continued advancing south and east and the Earl advanced west out of Aberdeen.  The two armies met at Harlaw.

     Although the Earl's army was outnumbered quite drastically, some accounts put the miss-match at maybe ten to one, what it lacked in numbers was more than made up for in the bravery of its commanders, knights and foot soldiers.  The army also had that other necessary quality - discipline.

     Both sides faced up to each other, Donald at the head of his men and flanked either side by his various chieftains and their clansmen raring to get at the enemy.  Immediately facing them was a relatively small body of knights and soldiers commanded by the constable of Dundee and the sheriff of Angus, with the main body of the Earl's men drawn up behind.

     The Highland army charged in its usual blood-curdling way, meeting first the body of knights and soldiers at the front who, basically because of their better weaponry and discipline, effectively halted the momentum of the charge.

     Sir James Scrymgeour and his knights took advantage of the situation and pushed forward, leaving a trail of hundreds of dead and dying Islemen and Highlanders.  However, for every Highlander killed, another took his place without hesitation, and Sir James and his men gradually became exhausted, and surrounded.  Eventually they all perished.

     Meanwhile, the Earl of Mar at the head of his men, plunged into the welter of blood, taking the fight to the very heart of the Highland army.  But here, too, it proved an uneven contest, although the fighting continued until darkness eventually forced a halt.  It had been a costly affair, for both sides, and a day of incredible bravery, shown in equal measure by the men of both sides.

     It could not be said there was a victor as such, although the Lowlanders by the end of the day were down to a handful of men.  Their casualty list was horrendous, with hardly a noble family in the land unaffected in some way.

     Dead was Sir James, along with Sir Alexander Ogilvy, the sheriff of Angus, and his eldest son George Ogilvy.  Also killed were Sir Thomas Murray, Sir Robert Maule of Panmure, Sir Alexander Irving of Drum, Sir William Abernethy of Salton, Sir Alexander Straiton of Lauriston, and Sir Robert Davidson, the provost of Aberdeen, along with some 500 men that he'd brought along.

     Something in the region of a 1,000 Islesmen and Highlanders also lay dead on the battlefield, with thousands more wounded.  Harlaw had been nothing short of a mauling for Donald, forcing him to lick wounds and re-think plans.  But he would never recover his lost power or pose a threat ever again to the Scottish Crown.

     The Earl of Mar and the handful of survivors spent the night in the open.  When they awoke in the early dawn sunshine, it was to the sound of silence.  Donald, Lord of the Isles, and his army were gone.

Excerpts from the Highlander Web Magazine

Maps
Battle of Harlaw Poem
Battle of Harlaw midi
Index
Site Map