The Troubles Between the
Earls of Huntly and Moray
The instruments of this trouble were the Laird of Grant and
Sir John Campbell of Calder, knight. The Knight of Calder had spent the most part of this
time in Court, where he was familiar with Chancellor Maitland, from whom he received
instructions to engender differences between Huntly and Moray; which commission he
accomplished very learnedly, and inflamed the one against the other, by the Laird of
Grant's means.
Thus, James Gordon (eldest son to Alexander Gordon of
Lismore), accompanied with some of his friends, went to Ballindalloch, in Strathspey, to
assist his aunt, the widow of that place, against John Grant, tutor of Ballindalloch, who
went about to do her son injury, and to detain her rents from her. James Gordon coming
thirther, all was restored until the widow, a small matter excepted; which, not
understanding, he would have from the tutor; thinking it a disgrace to him and to his
family if his aunt should lose the least part of her due. After some constestation, there
was a beating of servants on either side; and, being put asunder at that time, James
Gordon and his company retired home.
Hereupon the family of Lismore do persuade John Gordon
(brother to Sir Thomas Gordon of Cluny) to marry the widow of Ballindalloch, which he did.
The tutor of Ballindalloch, grudging that any of the surname Gordon should dwell among
them, fell at variance with John Gordon, by the laird of Grant's permission, and killed
one of John Gordon's servants; whereat John Gordon was so incensed, and pursued so eagerly
the tutor and such of the Grants as would assist, harbour, or maintain him or his
servants, that he got them outlawed, and made rebels by the laws of the Kingdom; and,
further, he moved his chief, the Earl of Huntly, to search and follow them by virtue of a
Commission as Sheriff of that shire. Huntly besieges the house of Ballindalloch, and takes
it by force the 2nd day of November, 1590; but the tutor escaped.
Then began Calder and Grant to work their premeditated plot,
and do stir up the Clan Chattan and their Chief, Mackintosh, to join with the Grants; they
persuade also the Earls of Athole and Moray to assist them against Huntly. They show the
Earl of Moray that how he had a fit of opportunity and occasion to make himself strong in
these north parts, and to make head against the House of Huntly; that they and all their
friends would assist him to the uttermost of their power; that Chancellor Maitland would
work at Court to this effect against Huntly; so that now he should not slip this occasion,
lest afterward he should never have the like opportunity in his time.
Hereupon the Earls of Moray and Athole, the Dunbars, the Clan
Chattan, the Grants, and the Laird of Calder, with all their faction, met at Forres to
consult of their affairs, where they were all sworn in one league together, some of the
Dunbars refusing to join with them.
Huntly, understanding that the Earls of Moray and Athole did
intend to make a faction against him, assembled his friends with all diligence, and rides
to Forres, with a resolution to dissolve their Convention.
Moray and Athole, hearing of Huntly's coming towards them,
leave Forres and flee to Darnaway, the Earl of Moray;s chief dwelling-place. The Earl of
Huntly follows them thither; but, before his coming, the Earl of Athole, the Lairds of
Mackintosh, Grant, Calder and the Sheriff of Moray had left the house and were fled to the
mountains; only the Earl of Moray stayed, and had before provided all things necessary for
his defence. Huntly, coming within sight of the house, he sent John Gordon
before-mentioned, with some men to view the same; but John, approaching more hardily than
warily, was shot from the house, and slain with a piece by one of the Earl of Moray's
servants. Huntly, perceiving the House of Darnaway furnished with all things necessary for
a long siege, and understanding also that the most part of his enemies were fled to the
mountains, left the house and dissolved his company, the 24th of November, 1590.
The Earl of Huntly thereupon hastens to the Court, and doth
reconcile himself to Chancellor Maitland, who shortly thereafter (not so much for the
favour he bore to Huntly as for the hatred he had conceived against the Earl of Moray for
Bothwell's cause), did purchase a commission to Huntly against the Earl of Moray, caring
little in the meantime what should become either of Moray or Huntly.
The year of God, 1591, Huntly sent Allan Macdonuill-Duibh
into Badenoch against the Clan Chattan; after a sharp skirmish, the Clan Chattan were
chased, and above fifty of them slain. Then Huntly sent MacRonald against the Grants, whom
MacRonald invaded in Strathspey, killed eighteen of them, and wasted all Ballindalloch's
lands. The year of God, 1591, the 27th of December, the first raid of the Abbey was
enterprised by the Earl of Bothwell; but, failing of his purpose, he was forced to flee
away, and so escaped. The Duke of Lennox and the Earl of Huntly were sent into the West
with a commission against Bothwell, and such as did harbour him; but Bothwell escaped
before their coming. Then took the Earl of Moray his fatal and last journey from Darnaway
south to Dunibristle, where he did harbour and recept the Earl of Bothwell. Huntly being
now at Court, which then sojourned at Edinburgh, urges Chancellor Maitland for his
commission against the Earl of Moray; and, having obtained the same, he takes journey with
forty gentlemen from Edinburgh to the Queen's Ferry, and from thence to Dunibristle, where
he invades the Earl of Moray. Huntly, before his approach to the house, sent Captain John
Gordon (brother to Willliam Gordon, laird of Gight) to desire the Earl of Moray to give
over the house and to render himself, which was not only refused, but also Captain John
Gordon was deadly hurt by a piece of one by one of the Earl of Moray's servants at his
very first approach to the gates; whereupon they set fire to the house and forced the
entry.
Huntly commanded the Earl of Moray to be taken alive, but the
laird of Cluny, whose brother was slain at Darnaway, and the laird of Gight, who had his
brother lying deadly wounded before his eyes, overtaking Moray, as he was escaping out of
the house, killed him among the rocks upon the seaside. There was also the Sheriff of
Moray slain by Innes of Invermarkie, which happened the 7th day of February, 1591.
Presently hereupon Huntly returned into the North, and left Captain John Gordon at
Inverkeithing until he recovered of his wound, when he was taken by the Earl of Moray's
friends and executed at Edinburgh, being scarce able to live one day longer for his wound
received at Dunibristle. Sir John Campbell of Calder, Knight, who was the worker and cause
of their troubles, and of the miseries that ensued thereupon, was afterwards pitifully
slain by his own surname in Argyle.
The Earl of Huntly was charged by the Lord St. Colme (the
late slain Earl of Moray's brother) to underly the censure of the law for the slaughter of
Dunibristle. Huntly compeared at Edinburgh at the day appointed, being ready to abide the
trial of an assize; and, unto such time as his peers were assembled to that effect, he did
offer to remain in ward in any place the King would appoint him; whereupon he was warded
in the Blackness, the 12th day of March, 1591, and was released the 20th day of the same
month, upon security and caution given by him that he should enter again upon six day's
warning whensoever he should be charged to that effect.
After the Earl of Moray's slaughter at Dunibristle, the Clan
Chattan (who of all that faction most eagerly endeavoured to revenge his death) did
assemble their forces under the conduct of Angus Macdonald, William's son, and came to
Strathdisse and Glenmuck, where they spoiled and invaded the Earl of Huntly's lands and
killed four gentlemen of the surname of Gordon, among whom was the old Baron of Breaghly,
whose death and manner thereof was much lamented, being very aged and much given to
hospitality. He was slain by them in his own house, after he had made them good cheer and
welcome, never suspecting them, or expecting any such reward for his kindly entertainment,
which happened, the first day of November, 1592.
In revenge whereof, the Earl of Huntly, having gotten a
commission against them, assembled his power and raid into Petty (which was then in
possession of the Clan Chattan), where he wasted and spoiled all the Clan Chattan's lands,
and killed divers of them; but, as the Earl of Huntly had returned home from Petty, he was
advertised that William Mackintosh, with 800 of Clan Chattan, were spoiling his lands of
Cabrich; whereupon Huntly and his uncle, Sir Patrick Gordon of Achindown, with some few
horsemen, made speed towards the enemy, desiring the rest of his company to follow him
with all possible diligence, knowing that, if once he were within sight of them, they
would desist from spoiling the country. Huntly overtook the Clan Chattan before they left
the bounds of Cabrich, upon the head of a hill called Steeplegate, where, without staying
for the rest of his men, he invaded them with those few he had; after a sharp conflict he
overthrew them, chased them, killed 60 of their ablest men, and hurt William Mackintosh
with divers others of his company.
Shortly afterward the Earl of Huntly convened his forces and
went the second time into Petty, causing Alexander Gordon of Abergeldie, Huntly's bailie
in Badenoch for the time, bring down his Highlandmen of Lochaber, Badenoch, and
Strathdown, to meet him at Inverness, desiring him also, in his journey towards Inverness,
to direct some men of Clan Ranald's into Strathspey and Badenoch, to spoil and waste the
land of Grant and Mackintosh's lands, which was done; and afterward Abergeldie and
MacRanald, with the Highlandmen, met Huntly at Inverness, from whence (joining altogether)
they invaded Petty, where they wasted, burnt, and spoiled all the rebels' lands and
possessions, killed a number of them, and then returned home into their countries.
Whilst the North of Scotland was thus in a combustion, the
Spanish Blanks were discovered, and Mr. George Carr, Doctor of the Laws, was apprehended
in the Isle of Cumbrae, and brought back to Edinburgh, 1592. Afterward, the year of God,
1594, the Popish Earls, Angus, Huntly, and Errol, were, at the earnest suit of the Queen
of England's ambassador, forfeited at a Parliament held at Edinburgh the penult of May,
1594. Then was the King moved to make the Earl of Argyll, His Majesty's Lieutenant in the
North of Scotland, to invade the Earls of Huntly and Errol.
Argyll, being glad of this employment (having received money
from the Queen of England for this purpose), makes great preparation for the journey, and
addresses himself quickly forward; thinking thereby to have a good occasion to revenge his
brother-in-law, the Earl of Moray's death; so on he went, with full assurance of a certain
victory, accompanied with the Earl of Tullibardine, Sir Lachlan Maclean, and divers
Islanders, Mackintosh, Grant, and Clan Gregor, Macneill of Barra, with all their friends
and dependers, together with the whole surname of Campbell, with sundry others, whom
either greediness of prey or malice against the Gordons, had thrust forward in that
expedition; in all, above 10,000 men.
And, coming through all the mountainous countries of that
part of Scotland, they arrived at Ruthven of Badenoch, the 27th of September, the year
1594, which house they besieged, because it appertained to Huntly; but it was so well
defended by the Clan Pherson (Huntly's servants) that Argyll was forced to give over the
siege and to address himself towards the Lowlands; where the Lord Forbes, with his kin,
the Frasers, the Dunbars, the Clan Kenzie, the Irvines, the Ogilvies, the Leslies, the
Munroes, and divers other surnames of the North, should have met him as the King's
Lieutenant, and so join with his forces against Huntly.
Argyll came thus to Drummin, in Strathdown, and encamped hard
thereby, the 2nd of October. Huntly and Errol, hearing of this great preparation made
against them, lacked neither courage nor resolution; they assemble all such as would
follow them and their fortune in this extremity. Errol came unto the Earl of Huntly to
Strathbogie with 100 or 120 of resolute gentlemen; and so, having there joined with
Huntly's forces, they march forward from thence to Carnburgh, and then to Achindown, with
1500 horsemen, the 3rd of October; parting from Achindown, Huntly sent Captain Thomas Carr
and some of the family of Tillieboudie (Gordon), to spy the fields and view the enemy.
These gentlemen, meeting by chance with Argyll's spies, killed them all, except one whom
they saved and examined, and by him understood that Argyll was at hand. This accident much
encouraged the Earl of Huntly's men, taking this as a presage of an ensuing victory;
whereupon Huntly and Errol do resolve to fight with Argyll before he should join with the
Lord Forbes and the rest of his forces; so they march towards the enemy, who, by this
time, was at Glenlivet, in the mountains of Strathavon.
The Earl of Argyll, understanding that Huntly was at hand,
who (as he believed) durst not show his countenance against such an army, he was somewhat
astonished, and would gladly have delayed the battle until he had met with the Lord
Forbes; but, perceiving them to draw near, and trusting to his great number, he began to
order his battle, and to encourage his people with the hope of prey, and the enemy's small
forces to resist them. He gave the commandment and leading of his vanguard to Sir Lachlan
MacLean and to Achinbreck, which did consist of 4000 men, whereof 2000 men were
hagbutters. Argyll himself and Tullibardine followed with all the rest of the army. The
Earl of Errol and Sir Patrick Gordon of Achindown, accompanied with the Laird of Gight,
Bonnietoun Wood, and Captain Carr, led the Earl of Huntly's vanguard, which consisted of
300 gentlemen; Huntly followed them with the rest of his company, having the Laird of
Cluny (Gordon), upon his right hand, and Abergeldie upon the left hand; and, as he began
to march forward, he encouraged his men, shewing them that there was no remedy, but either
to obtain the victory, or to die with their weapons in their hands, in defence of
whatsoever they held dearest in this world.
Argyll, his army being all footmen, and assailed, had the
advantage of the ground; for they were arrayed in battle upon the top of a steep, rough
and craggy mountain, at the descent whereof the ground was foggy, mossy, and full of
peatpots, exceeding dangerous for horse. Huntly's forces consisted all in horsemen, and
were constrained to ride first through the mossy ground at the foot of the hill, and then
to ride up against that heathy, rough mountain, to pursue the enemy, who did there attend
them.
Before that Errol and Achindown gave the first charge, Huntly
caused Captain Andrew Grey (now Colonel of the English and Scottish in Bohemia) to shoot
three field-pieces of ordnance at the enemy, which bred a confused tumult among them, by
the slaughter of MacNeill of Barra, an Islander, and one of the most valiant men of that
party. Huntly's vanguard, seeing the enemy disordered, presently gave the charge; the Earl
of Errol, with the most part of the vanguard, turned their sides towards the enemy, and so
went a little about, directly towards Argyll, leaving Maclean and the vanguard upon their
left hand, being forced thereto by the steepness of the hill, and the thick shot of the
enemy; but Achindown, with the rest of his company, did gallop up against the hill towards
Maclean; so that Achindown himself was the first man that invaded the enemy, and the first
that was slain by them, having lost himself by his too much forwardness.
The fight was cruel and furious for a while. Achindown's
servants and followers, perceiving their master fall, raged among their enemies, as if
they had resolved to revenge his death, and to accompany him in dying. Maclean, again
playing the part of the good commander, compassed Huntly's vanguard and enclosed them
betwixt him and Argyll, having engaged themselves so far that now there was no hope of
retreat; so that they were in danger to be all cut to pieces, if Huntly had not come
speedily to their support, where he was in great danger of his life, his horse being slain
under him; but being presently horsed again by Invermarkie, he rushed in among the
enemies. Thus the battle was again renewed with great fury, and continued two hours.
In end, Argyll with his main battle began to decline, and
then to flee apace, leaving Maclean still fighting in the field; who, seeing himself thus
destitute of succours, and his men either fled or slain, retired in good order with the
small company he had about him, and saved himself by flight; having behaved himself in the
battle, not only like a good commander, but also like a valiant soldier.
Huntly and his horsemen followed the chase beyond the brook
of Aldehonlihan, killing the enemies, till the steepness of the next mountains did stay
them, being inaccessible for horsemen. Argyll's ensign was found in the place of battle,
and brought back with them to Strathbogie.
The Earl of Argyll lost in this battle his two cousins,
Archibald Campbell of Lochnell, and his brother, James Campbell, with divers of
Achinbreck's friends, MacNeill of Barra, and 700 common soldiers.
Neither was the battle pleasing to the Earl of Huntly, for,
besides that the Earl of Errol, the Laird of Gight, and the most part of all his company
were hurt and wounded, Sir Patrick Gordon of Achindown, his uncle, a wise, valiant, and
resolute knight, with 14 others, were there slain. All their hurt men were carried that
night to Achindown, where most part of them stayed until they were recovered. This battle
was fought on Thursday, the 3rd day of October, 1594.
The Lord Forbes, the lairds of Buchan and Drum, assembled all
their friends and followers, with intention to join Argyll; but, hearing of his overthrow,
they conclude to join with the Dunbars, and the rest of the forces coming from the
provinces of Moray and Ross, and so to invade the Gordons when they came from the battle,
thinking it now an easy matter to overthrow them, and to revenge old quarrels. To this
effect the whole surname of Forbes, with most part of the Leslies and the Irvines, met at
Druminour (the Lord Forbes's dwelling) and so went on, thinking to overtake Argyll, and to
cause him to return and renew the battle against the Gordons and their partakers; but, as
they marched forward, a gentleman called Irvine was killed with the shot of a pistol, in
the dark of the night, hard by the Lord Forbes, the author of which shot was never yet
known until this day; for presently all their pistols were searched and found to be full.
This unexpected accident bred such a confusion and amazement to the minds of the Forbeses
and their followers, being now all afraid of one another, that they dissolved their
companies, and returned home. The rest of the clans in the North, such as the Dunbars, the
Frasers, the Munroes, and the Clan Kenzie, being convened at Forres in Moray, were stayed
by the policy of Dunbar of Moyness, who was then tutor to the Sheriff of Moray, and
favoured the Earl of Huntly, Sir Patrick Gordon of Achindown having married his mother.
Whilst the Earl of Argyll was thus employed against Huntly,
the King came to Dundee, where he expected the issue of that battle; which, when he had
heard, His Majesty took journey north toward Strathbogie. In this voyage His Majesty, by
the instigation of Huntly and Errol's greatest enemies, permitted (though unwillingly)
divers houses to be thrown down, such as the house of Strathbogie, which appertained to
Huntly, the house of Slaines, in Buchan, appertaining to the Earl of Errol, the house of
Culsamond, in Garioch, appertaining to the Laird of Newton Gordon, the house of Bagays, in
Angus, appertaining to Sir Walter Lindsay, and the house of Craig, in Angus, appertaining
to Sir John Ogilvy, son to the Lord Ogilvy.
In this meantime that the King was at Strathbogie, the Earl
of Huntly, with divers of his friends, went into Sutherland and Caithness; and, when His
Majesty returned to Edinburgh, Huntly left the Kingdom, and travelled through Germany,
France and Flanders; having stayed abroad one year and five months, he was recalled again
by the King; and, at his return, both he, Angus, and Errol were again restored to their
former honours and dignities, at a Parliament held in Edinburgh in November, 1597; and
further, His Majesty honoured the Earl of Huntly with the honour of Marquis, the year
1599. All quarrels betwixt him and the Earls of Argyll and Moray were taken away by the
marriage of Argyll's eldest daughter, to George, Lord Gordon, Huntly's eldest son, and by
the marriage of Lady Anne Gordon, Huntly's daughter to James, Earl of Moray, son to him
that was slain at Dunibristle. |
