Battle of the Pass of Brander

Battle of Pass of Brander
Part of Wars of Scottish Independence
Eastern end of Pass of Brander, dammed in 1959
Date 1308 Location Bridge of Awe, Lorne, Scotland grid reference NN03822905 Coordinates: 56°24′47″N 5°10′49″W / 56.41306°N 5.18028°W / 56.41306; -5.18028 Result Victory for Robert the Bruce
Belligerents
Scottish Royal Army	Clan MacDougall Clan Macnaghten
Commanders and leaders
Robert Bruce	John MacDougall of Lorn
Strength
Unknown	Unknown
Casualties and losses
unknown	Very High

The Battle of the Pass of Brander in Scotland 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 overlapping conflict. It was a victory for King Robert the 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. Traquair dates it to August 1308.

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, 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 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 near Tyndrum. Bruce, who narrowly escaped capture, took to hiding.

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