Battle of Harlaw The Battle of Harlaw ( ) was a Scottish clan battle fought on 24 July 1411 just north of Inverurie in Aberdeenshire . It was one of a series of battles fought during the Middle Ages between the barons of northeast Scotland against those from the west coast . The battle was fought to resolve competing claims to the Earldom of Ross , a large region of northern Scotland . Robert Stewart , Duke of Albany , Regent of Scotland , had taken control of the earldom as guardian of his niece Euphemia Leslie . This claim was contested by Donald , Lord of the Isles , who had married Euphemia ' s aunt Mariota . Donald invaded Ross with the intention of seizing the earldom by force . First he defeated a large force of Mackays at the Battle of Dingwall . He captured Dingwall Castle and then advanced on Aberdeen with 10 , 000 clansmen . Near Inverurie he was met by 1 , 000 – 2 , 000 of the local gentry , many in armour , hastily assembled by the Earl of Mar . After a day of fierce fighting there was no clear victor ; Donald had lost 900 men before retreating back to the Western Isles , and Mar had lost 500 . The latter could claim a strategic victory in that Aberdeen was saved , and within a year Albany had recaptured Ross and forced Donald to surrender . However Mariota was later awarded the earldom of Ross in 1424 and the Lordship of the Isles would keep the title for much of the 15th century . The ferocity of the battle gave it the nickname " Red Harlaw " . It is commemorated by a 40 foot ( 12 m ) high memorial on the battlefield near the town of Inverurie , supposedly by the church at Chapel of Garioch , and by ballads and music . Background . During the Dark Ages , the territory of what later became Scotland was divided between the Gaelic kingdoms of Dál Riata on the western seaboard and Alba in the southeast , and Pictish kingdoms in the northeast of which Fortriu was the most important . In addition were the Anglo - Saxon ' English ' Kingdom of Bernicia , later part of Northumberland , and the Brythonic Kingdom of Cumbria . Viking influence increased in the west , with the Gaelic - Vikings that became Lords of the Isles taking control of much of Dál Riata in 1156 . The Gaels of Alba acquired Brythonic elements from the conquest of the Kingdom of Strathclyde in the 11th century and increasingly absorbed Norman - French and Anglo - Saxon culture , influences which also spread to the Pictish areas of the northeast . The lands of Fortriu became part of the great Mormaerdom ( kingdom ) of Moray , which was conquered by Alba in 1130 and fragmented into territories that were semi - independent of the King in Edinburgh . Thus there was a long history to conflicts between the Moray gentry and the clans of the West Coast , but some historians present Harlaw as a clash between the Scottish Highlands and Lowlands , or between Celt and Teuton . John Hill Burton ( 1809 – 1881 ) claimed that in Lowland Scotland Harlaw " was felt as a more memorable deliverance even than that of Bannockburn . What it was to be subject to England the country knew and disliked ; to be subdued by their savage enemies of the mountains opened to them sources of terror of unknown character and extent " . However Sir Robert Rait ( 1874 – 1936 ) detected no racial antipathy in the two contemporary accounts of the " Scotichronicon " and the Book of Pluscarden , and viewed Harlaw not as a conflict between races , but between two groups of Scots of which one spoke Scots and the other Gaelic . Rait mentions Buchanan ' s view that it was simply a raid for plunder . Claims on the Earldom of Ross . The Earldom of Ross was a vast territory reaching from Skye to Ross and Inverness - shire , with superiority over the outlying lands of Nairn and Aberdeenshire . In 1370 Uilleam ( William ) , Earl of Ross received a charter from King David II , confirming his right to the title and directing that in the absence of male heirs , the entirety of the earldom , titles and lands would fall to " the elder daughter always " without division . Uilleam died in 1372 without a male heir , and the title passed to his daughter Euphemia . By her first husband Sir Walter Leslie , Euphemia had two children - Alexander Leslie and Mariota ( anglicised as Margaret or Mary ) . After Walter ' s death , Euphemia married Alexander Stewart , Earl of Buchan ( the " Wolf of Badenoch " ) in 1382 , giving the Stewarts control of the earldom . In 1392 the marriage was annulled as Buchan had long been living with Mairead inghean Eachann with whom he had a number of children , including Alexander Stewart , Earl of Mar . Euphemia died in 1394 and her son Alexander Leslie inherited the title . Robert Stewart , Duke of Albany had taken effective control of mainland Scotland towards the end of the reign of his father Robert II ; his power increased during the reign ( 1390 – 1406 ) of his ineffective elder brother Robert III . Albany ' s daughter Isabel Stewart married Alexander Leslie before 1398 , their only child was a sickly daughter also called Euphemia . According to the Calendar of Fearn , Leslie died on 8 May 1402 , whilst his daughter was still a minor . Albany gained wardship of Euphemia , which gave him control of Ross . After the capture by the English of Robert III ' s heir James and Robert ' s death soon afterwards in April 1406 , Albany was confirmed as regent ; Albany continued to govern Scotland until his death in September 1420 . Meanwhile Donald ( Domhnall ) , Lord of the Isles claimed the earldom of Ross through his marriage to Euphemia ' s aunt , Mariota , the oldest living female descendant of Uilleam . He also signed an alliance with Henry IV of England on 16 September 1405 , which was renewed on 8 May 1408 . Skene believed the treaty of 1408 to be the key to the Harlaw campaign and that the claim on Ross was no more than a pretext for coordinated hostilities by Donald and the English against the Lowlands of Scotland , a plan abandoned after Harlaw . Invasion and the Battle of Dingwall . It took Donald time to ready his assault , but in 1411 he assembled his forces at Ardtornish Castle on the Sound of Mull and invaded Ross . He met no opposition until " a severe conflict " at Dingwall , seat of the Earls of Ross , where , at the Battle of Dingwall , he fought a large body of men of the Clan Mackay from " Strathnaver " . Their leader Angus - Dow ( Angus Dubh , Angus Duff ) Mackay was captured and his brother Rory - Gald was killed along with " the greater part of his men " ; Donald would later give Angus his daughter in marriage . Donald then captured Dingwall Castle . Donald assembled his army at Inverness , and summoned all the fighting men in Boyne and Enzie ( northern Banffshire between the Rivers Deveron and Spey ) to join his army . He then swept through Moray meeting little or no resistance . He then turned southeast , following roughly the route of the modern A96 road although the main road ran north of the River Urie , not south as it does today . Donald ' s men committed " great excesses " in Strathbogie and the Garioch , which belonged to Alexander Stewart , Earl of Mar . Finally the Highland horde came to Bennachie , the last hill of the Grampians before the coastal plain between Inverurie and Aberdeen . Donald had often promised to burn Aberdeen , and he was now within of the burgh . On 23 July 1411 , he set up camp just north of Inverurie , on high ground 2 km northwest of the bridge over the River Urie . The Earl of Mar had plenty of warning of their advance , and had assembled a force from among the gentry of Buchan , Angus and the Mearns ( Kincardineshire ) . The Irvings , Maules , Morays , Straitons , Lesleys , Stirlings and Lovels were led by their respective clan chief s . Mar gathered his troops at Inverurie , a strategic town on the Inverness - Aberdeen road , and on the morning of 24 July marched northwest to meet the invaders . Battle . According to the " Scotichronicon " , the two armies joined battle on the eve of the feast of St James – Friday , 24 July 1411 . The same source puts Donald ' s army at 10 , 000 islanders and men of Ross , although it was probably far less . They were armed with swords , bows and axes , short knives and round targe shields . Tradition has it that they faced a force numbering between 1000 and 2000 men , although it was probably several thousand , with significant numbers of knight s . Sir Gilbert de Greenlaw died at Harlaw and his tombstone at Kinkell Church Donald ' s son Alexander succeeded to the title on her death in 1429 . After Harlaw , the Earl of Mar " ruled with acceptance nearly all the north of the country beyond the Mounth " according to the " Scotichronicon " . He entered into an " uneasy alliance " with his uncle Albany , but the ruin of Albany ' s heirs left Mar in control of the north . Alexander attempted an invasion of Ross in 1429 which led to his defeat and capture by Mar at the Battle of Lochaber . In turn Mar suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of Donald ' s nephew Donald Balloch , at the Battle of Inverlochy ( 1431 ) . The resulting power vacuum allowed Alexander to occupy Inverness and perhaps consider himself Earl of Ross by 1437 ; the title was officially confirmed by the new regent , the Earl of Douglas , after the death of James I that year . Commemoration and archaeology . The battle would be remembered as " one of the hardest fought that ever took place on Scottish soil " , The fighting was so fierce that the battle would go down in history as " Red ( Reid ) Harlaw " . The battle is commemorated in a march , " The Battle of Harlaw " , and in ballads such as Child ballad 163 . Maidment has a different ballad which apparently shares the same tune , but he is sceptical of its antiquity . Sir Walter Scott mentions Harlaw in his 1816 novel " The Antiquary " , particularly in Elspeth ' s ballad in Chapter 40 . Tradition has it that Mar founded Chapel of Garioch after the battle , to celebrate masses for the souls of the fallen . In 1911 , Aberdeen Town Council erected the Harlaw Monument , located to the north of the town of Inverurie , to the memory of Provost Robert Davidson and the Burgesses of Aberdeen that fell in the battle . Designed by Dr . William Kelly and located to the south of Harlaw House , the granite monument is hexagonal and tall . There were once several cairns in the area that were traditionally associated with the battle , but little remains of them now - Drum ' s Cairn , Provost Davidson ' s Cairn , Donald ' s Tomb and the Liggars Stane . 12 human skeletons were uncovered northeast of Harlaw House in 1837 ; . Although there have been several discoveries of prehistoric artefacts , such as stone axeheads and a flint core , no artefacts directly attributable to the battle have been recorded . However , the battlefield has been inventoried and protected by Historic Scotland under the Historic Environment ( Amendment ) Act 2011 .