Battle of Torran Dubh 1517

About the battle

The Battle of Torran Dubh also known as the Battle of Torran-dow or the Battle of Torran Du was a Scottish clan battle that was fought in 1517 in Sutherland, in the Scottish Highlands.

There are two very different accounts of this battle. The first was written by 17th-century historian Sir Robert Gordon, 1st Baronet, who himself was a younger son of Alexander Gordon, 12th Earl of Sutherland, and it describes a battle fought between the Earl of Sutherland's forces who defeated the Clan Mackay of Strathnaver. The Earldom of Sutherland having recently passed to the Gordon family through marriage. However, this version of events is disputed. Firstly, late 19th-century historian Sir William Fraser states that Alexander Sutherland, who according to Gordon led the Earl of Sutherland's force at the battle, was in prison for the whole year of 1517 when the battle is supposed to have taken place. Secondly, early 20th-century historian Angus Mackay states that the battle was actually fought between the Clan Mackay, who were defeated, but who had fought against the Murrays of Aberscross, the Clan Ross and the Clan Gunn, and cited a historic manuscript as his source.

Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Torran Dubh (revision 1370591298), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.

Nearby battles

• Battle of Alltan-Beath 1542 · 5 km
• Battle of Skibo and Strathfleet 1480 · 9 km
• Battle of Littleferry 1746 · 11 km
• Battle of Carbisdale 1650 · 17 km
• Battle of Aldy Charrish 1487 · 23 km
• Battle of Tuiteam Tarbhach 1406 · 28 km

Browse more: battles in Scotland · Europe · Early modern battles

Further reading

• Wikipedia: Battle of Torran Dubh
• Wikidata Q4872577