Battle of Tuiteam Tarbhach

Battle of Tuiteam Tarbhach
Part of the Scottish clan wars
Battlefield looking westwards from the cemetery. The Tutim Burn joins the Oykel roughly level with Tuiteam house, the white building on the right.
Date 1406? Location North bank of River Oykel 57°58′32″N 4°38′45″W / 57.97556°N 4.64583°W / 57.97556; -4.64583Coordinates: 57°58′32″N 4°38′45″W / 57.97556°N 4.64583°W / 57.97556; -4.64583 Result Decisive Mackay victory
Belligerents
Clan Mackay, Clan Sutherland	Clan MacLeod of Lewis
Commanders and leaders
Angus Du Mackay, 7th of Strathnaver Hugh Mackay, Alexander Murray	Malcolm MacLeod
Strength
Unknown	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown	1 survivor

The Battle of Tuiteam Tarbhach (Scottish Gaelic: "plentiful slaughter"; also known as Tuttim–Tarwach, Tuttim–Turwigh, Tuttim–Tarwigh or Tutim Tarvach) was a Scottish clan battle in which the Mackays wiped out raiders from the Clan MacLeod of Lewis who were returning from an attack on Mackay land in Strathnaver. The Mackays caught up with the raiders on the north bank of the River Oykel some three miles west of where the river joins the River Cassley at the head of the Kyle of Sutherland. The battle probably took place in 1406, but the date is uncertain from the manuscripts.

Angus Mackay, 6th of Strathnaver had married Sidheag, sister of Roderick, chief of the MacLeods. When Angus died, he left his brother Black Hugh (Uistean Dow or Houcheon Dubh) as regent ("tutor") for his two sons Angus Dow (Dubh) and Rory Gald (Roderick Gald, "Lowland"). When Roderick heard that his sister was in dispute with Hugh Mackay in 1406, he decided to resolve the matter by sending a company of men to the Reay Country, the Mackay lands that bordered Caithness. The men were led by Roderick's brother, Malcolm (Máel Coluim or Maol Choluim) MacLeod, later known as Gille-caluim Beag, Gill-callum-beg-Macbhowan or Gilealm Beg McBowen ("Malcolm the Little"); "gille" had come to replace "maol" in such names.

Failing to come to an amicable agreement, Malcolm ravaged Mackay lands in Strathnaver, and the Sutherland district of Brae-Chat (Breachat), around Lairg at the south end of Loch Shin. This provoked both the Mackays and Robert Earl of Sutherland, the latter sending a company of men under Alexander Murray of Cubin (Alistair Ne-Shrem-Gorme) to join Hugh Mackay in pursuit of the raiders.

The River Oykel and its estuary the Kyle of Sutherland stretch across the Highlands from Dornoch on the east coast almost to Ullapool on the west coast. The river is the traditional boundary between Sutherland to the north and Ross to the south, and is a major transport artery linking the East Coast to the MacLeod territory of Assynt in the west. The Mackays and Sutherland men caught up with the MacLeods as they were crossing the Tutim Burn, laden down by booty and stolen cattle.

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Wikipedia