The Battle of Glen Fruin was fought on 7 February 1603 in Glen Fruin, situated in the Loch Lomond area of Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It pitted the Clan Gregor and its allies, including men from Clan Cameron, against the Clan Colquhoun and its allies. The two clans had long been at feud, with the MacGregors carrying out sustained raids on Colquhoun lands from at least 1594 through to 1602, plundering cattle, horses, sheep and goats. The immediate trigger for open battle was a large raid at Glenfinlas on 7 December 1602, led by Duncan Mackewin MacGregor, in which three hundred cows, one hundred horses and mares, four hundred sheep, and four hundred goats were taken and two Colquhouns were killed. Following that raid, Colquhoun of Luss visited King James VI at Stirling on 21 December 1602, accompanied by female relatives carrying the bloodied shirts of the dead and wounded. The King was sympathetic, granted Colquhoun a commission of lieutenancy, and vowed to take vengeance on the MacGregors. This commission, however, roused the MacGregors to raise a strong force in response.
Allaster MacGregor of Glenstrae led a large body of his clan, reinforced by Cameron allies, into Colquhoun territory. The MacGregor force was well armed with hagbuts, pistols, murrions, mailcoats, axes, two-handed swords, darlochs, and other weapons. The Colquhouns had similarly been granted royal permission to bear offensive weapons following their complaints to the King. The subsequent engagement in Glen Fruin ended in the comprehensive defeat of the Colquhoun force. In the aftermath, rather than the MacGregors receiving any reward for their victory, royal policy turned sharply against them, and the MacGregors faced punitive measures that endured for some 150 years. The episode also highlighted the ambiguous role of Archibald Campbell, 7th Earl of Argyll, who as the King's lieutenant over Clan Gregor had allegedly used his authority to stimulate MacGregor aggression against the Colquhouns rather than to restrain it.
Allaster MacGregor of Glenstrae advanced into Colquhoun territory at the head of a large force that included Clan Cameron allies, all armed with hagbuts, pistols, murrions, mailcoats, axes, two-handed swords, and darlochs; despite the Colquhouns having received a royal commission of lieutenancy and permission to bear arms following their dramatic appeal to King James VI at Stirling, where female relatives had presented the bloodied shirts of the dead and wounded from the Glenfinlas raid, the Colquhouns were comprehensively defeated in the ensuing battle in Glen Fruin.
Not specified in the sources
Clan Gregor and Clan Cameron allies (armed with hagbuts, pistols, murrions, mailcoats, axes, two-handed swords, and darlochs) versus Clan Colquhoun and its allies
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