The Catholic earls — Huntly and Erroll — mustered their forces at Cromdale in Strathspey in advance of the Glenlivet campaign, assembling the core of the army that would defeat Argyll. Cromdale was Huntly's choice for concentration because it offered multiple routes east and west and was far enough from Edinburgh to give time for response. The muster gathered Gordon tenantry, Erroll's Hay followers, and a core of Spanish-trained infantry who had arrived from the Continent. The Spanish connection — the earls had been in correspondence with Philip II — gave their small force a professional quality that Argyll's Highlanders could not match.
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