The mystery of Robert the Bruce, Ardchattan Priory and Knights Templar

Dunstaffnage Castle by Oban and the fight at Cruachan. King Robert the Bruce and a small force heavily defeat his enemies the McDougalls.

Ardchattan Priory near Oban, and the Parliament of Robert the Bruce probably held around 1309 to cement his dominance of the area. The MacDonalds under Angus Og probably forged a major link with the Bruce at Ardchattan Priory, possibly with the Campbells. Both fought heroically at Bannockburn.

With great help from the Highland clans, Bruce wins the final great battle for Independence of Scotland at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 and becomes Scotland’s hero

Background. After the Vikings left Scotland’s West Coast

The great West Coast Lord, Somerled, part-Viking part-Scot set up the powerful McDougall clan in the 12th century. Their stronghold was Dunstaffnage castle. They buried their Chiefs at Ardchattan Priory, by Loch Etive, built in Somerleds time 1230 on Loch Etive. The ruined Priory is beautiful to visit even to-day.

Bruce and Comyn. The knife fight in a Church

In 1306 a fight between two rivals for the Scottish throne, ended in the death of John Comyn, in the Church at Dumfries. He was stabbed by Robert the Bruce, the son of a Norman father and a Celtic mother, who was thereby excommunicated by the Pope for the deed. The McDougall’s were cousins to the Comyn family and became deadly enemies of the Bruce. Inverlochy Castle on the outskirts of Fort William was a Comyn Castle destroyed by The Bruce. This ruin can still be explored to-day. After the battle in 1314 The Bruce divided their lands between the MacDonalds and the Campbells

Bruce crowned as King

Despite his disputed claim to the throne, Bruce was quickly crowned King of Scotland, and immediately went on the run as a fugitive from Edward 1st of England. As an expert guerrilla fighter with small forces he fought his way back to his lands, particularly after King Edward 1 died. His implacable foes remained the McDougalls who were the major clan of the West Coast around our Oban area.

The Battle of Cruachan, at Brander Pass

Argyll was won by The Bruce when his small force met the McDougalls on the slopes of Ben Cruachan, at the Pass of Brander, Loch Awe where the Hydro plant is to-day. His ruse was to send a small troop with his friend James Douglas up the hill to hide out and then fall upon the McDougalls in the rear driving them into the River Awe. The surviving Clansmen fell back to their Dunstaffnage Castle which was lost to Bruce the next year.

The “Parliament” at Ardchattan Priory

The Bruce now dominated Argyll and the West of Scotland. He held a “Parliament” at Ardchatten Priory. It is doubtful that it was a full parliament – the great Scottish nobles would not willingly travel to the West Coast. Bruce spoke his mother’s Gaelic tongue and they didn’t. But it is likely that he forged his important West Coast alliances here with the Gaelic-speaking Clans of the West. They all wanted to be rid of the English. Later, he granted the lands of “Durror and Glenco” to the grandson of Somerled, Angus Og, his friend and ally the head of the great Clan McDonald. Five years later this led to his magnificent success at the Battle of Bannockburn, the Battle for Scotland’s freedom. He may have been besieging Dunstaffnage Castle at the time. It would be a 15 minute boat journey from the South side of Loch Etive to the North at low tide in the morning, and reverse the trip 13 hours later on the outgoing tide. The tide would help carry them across and back.

It was the supposed to be the last time a Scots parliament was held in Gaelic. You can visit the beautiful Ardchattan Priory to-day and its gardens, on the North side of Loch Etive. These connections have not previously been made.