Battle of Culblean

Battle of Culblean
Monument marking the site of the Battle of Culblean
Date 30 November 1335 Location Culblean, Aberdeenshire, Scotland Result Decisive Bruce loyalist victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Scotland	Forces loyal to Edward Balliol
Commanders and leaders
Sir Andrew Murray, Guardian of Scotland	David III Strathbogie, titular Earl of Atholl †
Strength
1100	3000
Casualties and losses
unknown	unknown
Location within Scotland

Coordinates: 57°05′24″N 2°56′03″W / 57.0899°N 2.9341°W / 57.0899; -2.9341

The Battle of Culblean was fought on 30 November 1335, during the Second War of Scottish Independence. It was a victory for the Scots led by the Guardian, Sir Andrew Murray over an Anglo-Scots force commanded by David III Strathbogie, titular Earl of Atholl, and a leading supporter of Edward Balliol.

After the murder of John Comyn, the nephew of the former King John Balliol, by Robert Bruce and his supporters in 1306, the Scottish War of Independence was at one and the same time a civil war, with the Balliol and Comyn parties taking the side of the English. In the winter of 1314 the Scottish Parliament, the first to meet after King Robert's great victory at the Battle of Bannockburn, pronounced formal sentence of forfeiture against all those who held land in Scotland but continued to fight on the side of the English. Thus was created a class of nobility known as the 'disinherited', old Balliol loyalists who would not be reconciled with the Bruce party.

The 1328 Treaty of Northampton between England and Scotland, based on a full recognition of Robert Bruce's kingship, ended any immediate prospect these men had of gaining their lost inheritance. However, the death of Bruce in 1329, and the accession to the throne of David II, his infant son, offered them a second chance. Under the determined and effective leadership of Henry de Beaumont, one of their number and a veteran of the Scottish wars, a party began to take shape in the early 1330s, focusing their hopes on Edward Balliol, son of the former King John, as the rightful King of Scotland. In 1332 Beaumont and Balliol launched a seaborne invasion of Scotland, winning a remarkable victory at the Battle of Dupplin Moor; but with only limited support in the country they were expelled by the end of the year. Edward III, the young English king, who had been playing something of a double game, then decided to declare his open support for Balliol, and the Scots were defeated once again in the summer of 1333 at the Battle of Halidon Hill. Edward Balliol was reseated on his contentious throne, but his residence proved no more certain than before. In 1335 Edward III made his what was to be his greatest effort on Balliol's behalf, coming to Scotland with a large army. Unable to force the issue in open battle, he left the disinherited to manage as best they could.