Battle of Culblean - A New Guardian

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. Moray'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 - Moray's chief opponent was David de Strathbogie, the titular earl of Atholl, and Balliol's chief lieutenant in the north.