Battle of Culblean The Battle of Culblean was fought on 30 November 1335 , during the Second War of Scottish Independence . It was a victory for the Scots led by the Guardian , Sir Andrew Murray over an Anglo - Scots force commanded by David III Strathbogie , titular Earl of Atholl , and a leading supporter of Edward Balliol . Background . After the murder of John Comyn , the nephew of the former King John Balliol , by Robert Bruce and his supporters in 1306 , the Scottish War of Independence was at one and the same time a civil war , with the Balliol and Comyn parties taking the side of the English . In the winter of 1314 the Scottish Parliament , the first to meet after King Robert ' s great victory at the Battle of Bannockburn , pronounced formal sentence of forfeiture against all those who held land in Scotland but continued to fight on the side of the English . Thus was created a class of nobility known as the ' disinherited ' , old Balliol loyalists who would not be reconciled with the Bruce party . The 1328 Treaty of Northampton between England and Scotland , based on a full recognition of Robert Bruce ' s kingship , ended any immediate prospect these men had of gaining their lost inheritance . However , the death of Bruce in 1329 , and the accession to the throne of David II , his infant son , offered them a second chance . Under the determined and effective leadership of Henry Beaumont , 4th Earl of Buchan , one of their number and a veteran of the Scottish wars , a party began to take shape in the early 1330s , focusing their hopes on Edward Balliol , son of the former King John , as the rightful King of Scotland . In 1332 Beaumont and Balliol launched a seaborne invasion of Scotland , winning a remarkable victory at the Battle of Dupplin Moor ; but with only limited support in the country they were expelled by the end of the year . Edward III , the young English king , who had been playing something of a double game , then decided to declare his open support for Balliol , and the Scots were defeated once again in the summer of 1333 at the Battle of Halidon Hill . Edward Balliol was reseated on his contentious throne , but his residence proved no more certain than before . In 1335 Edward III made his what was to be his greatest effort on Balliol ' s behalf , coming to Scotland with a large army . Unable to force the issue in open battle , he left the disinherited to manage as best they could . A New Guardian . Although the flame of Scottish resistance burned low at times , it was never completely extinguished . David II was sent to the safety of France in 1334 . In September 1335 Sir Andrew Murray of Bothwell , whose father , also named Andrew , was joint - commander with William Wallace of the victorious Scottish army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge , was appointed Guardian of Scotland by the rump of Bruce loyalists meeting in Dumbarton Castle . Within a short period he was to become one of the country ' s greatest leaders , and a skilled student of the kind of guerilla warfare practised by King Robert in days past . Murray ' s credentials were perfect : he was consistent in his defence of the national cause , never at any time submitting to Edward III or Balliol , unlike Robert Stewart , nephew and heir of the infant David . The men who gathered round him at Dumbarton formed the nucleus of the national revival - the earls of March and Ross , Sir William Douglas , Maurice Murray and William Keith . After the departure of the English king from Scotland - followed soon after by Edward Balliol - Murray ' s chief opponent was David de Strathbogie , the titular earl of Atholl , and Balliol ' s chief lieutenant in the north . St . Andrew ' s Day , 1335 . In the late autumn of 1335 Strathbogie was operating north of the Forth , attempting , so the sources allege , to eradicate all freeholders , who from the time of William Wallace had been the backbone of Scottish resistance . Strathbogie ' s actions mirrored the policy of King Edward in southern Scotland , where over one hundred freeholders were forfeited in the period from 1335 to 1337 . John of Fordun , a Scottish chronicler , reports the situation thus ; " But the great tyranny and cruelty this earl practised among the people words cannot bring within the mind ' s grasp ; some he disinherited , others he murdered : and in the end , he cast in his mind how he might wipe out the freeholders from the face of the earth " . Strathbogie crowned his campaign by laying siege to Kildrummy Castle in the valley of the River Don in Aberdeenshire . Kildrummy had for some time been held for King David by his aunt , the Lady Christian Bruce , who also happened to be Murray ' s wife . From southern Scotland the Guardian rushed north to her aid , having gathered a modest force of some 800 men . Strathbogie , according to the historian Lord Hailes , had 3000 men at his disposal . Murray ' s tactics were risky : he was marching into battle , which all Scots leaders had carefully avoided since the disaster at Halidon Hill . But the situation was critical : the fall of Kildrummy would have been a serious setback to the national cause in the north . Strathbogie was warned of Murray ' s approach . He raised the siege of Kildrummy , moving south to intercept his enemy in the forest of Culblean . Murray was joined a few miles north of the River Dee , to the east of Strathbogie ' s position near Culblean Hill , by a party of three hundred men from Kildrummy , led by one John of the Craig . John ' s knowledge of the local countryside was invaluable . On the night of 29 / 30 November he guided Murray ' s force on a wide sweeping movement to the south and west , designed to take Strathbogie from the rear . As Murray approached at dawn on St . Andrew ' s Day the element of surprise was lost when he was spotted by enemy scouts . The camp was warned and Strathbogie made ready . But his troops were largely recruited from the local area , probably by impressment , and he appears to have had no archers . Murrays force was divided in two , the forward unit being commanded by William Douglas . When he saw Strathbogie arrayed for battle Douglas halted , as if hesitating in the face of the enemy ' s preparedness . This had the desired effect and Strathbogie led his men in a downhill charge ; but their ranks began to break on reaching a burn , and Douglas ordered a counter - charge . Sir Andrew with the rearguard immediately launched an assault on the enemy ' s exposed flank . The charge was so fierce that the bushes in the way were all flattened down . Pinned down in front and attacked from the side , Strathbogie ' s army broke . Unable to escape , and refusing to surrender , Strathbogie stood with his back to an oak tree and was killed in a last stand with a small group of followers , including Walter and Thomas Comyn . Some of the survivors took refuge in the nearby island castle of Loch Kinnard , but were forced to surrender the following day . Culblean in History . Compared with the other great battles of the Wars of Independence , Culblean was a relatively small affair , and is now largely forgotten . Nevertheless , its size was greatly outweighed by its importance on the road to Scottish national recovery . Dr Douglas Simpson passed what might be said to be the final verdict on the battle when he wrote ; " Culblean was the turning point in the second war of Scottish Independence , and therefore an event of great national importance " . Small as it was it effectively nullified the effects of Edward ' s summer invasion , ending forever Balliol ' s hope of gaining the Scottish throne . Its effects were almost immediately felt . Edward Balliol spent the winter of 1335 - 6 , so says the Lanercost Chronicle ; . . . " with his people at Elande , in England , because he does not yet possess in Scotland any castle or town where he could dwell in safety . "