In the early 16th century a younger son of the Earl of Huntly, chief of Clan Gordon, married an heiress of the last de Moravia Earl of Sutherland. Murray of Aberscross may have been for a time partisan to Alexander Sutherland who rivaled the Gordon's claim to the Earldom of Sutherland. However, the Murrays of Aberscross then supported the new Gordon Earls of Sutherland at a number of battles including the Battle of Torran Dubh in 1517 against Mackay of Strathnaver, and the Battle of Alltachuilain in 1518 or 1519 against Alexander Sutherland himself. Murray of Aberscross was victorious on both occasions, and was then offered women in marriage for his loyalty by the new Gordon Earls of Sutherland but he declined the offer. Historian Robert Mackay states that: "The year 1518 Adam Earl of Sutherland gave unto John Murray of Aberscors (Shiberscross), for his two sons Hugh and Thomas, the ward and marriage of Janet Clyne, and of her sister Elizabeth, the daughters and heirs of William Clyne of Clyne: all which and more did John Murray and his children deserve at Earl Adam his hands for their good service in defence of his earldom and country". According to Charles Gordon, 11th Marquess of Huntly (d. 1937), Earl Adam Gordon of Sutherland fled from the field of Flodden where his brother, the "gallant" Laird of Gight was killed, and that when his brother-in-law Alexander Sutherland tried to assert his right to the Earldom of Sutherland by force of arms, he remained quietly at home and got Leslie of Kinninvie and the "old warrior Laird", Murray of Aberscross, to fight his battles and recover his wife's possessions.