Qualla: Battle of Slioch https://qualla.com/battle-of-slioch en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:25 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Battle of Slioch https://qualla.com/battle-of-slioch Battle of Slioch: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-slioch/ On Christmas Day 1307, Robert Bruce - newly crowned King of Scotland, hunted by the English, and hunted by half his own country - lay sick in a litter at Slioch, near what is now the village of Drumblade in Aberdeenshire. He was supposed to be marching on his greatest Scottish enemy, John Comyn, Earl of Buchan. Instead he was lying in a litter being carried by his men, and the Earl had come to him. What followed was three days of inconclusive archery between bodies of Scots, neither side breaking, neither side yielding, with the King of Scotland too weak to mount a horse. The skirmish settled nothing. And yet, between this Christmas standoff and the campaign that resumed in the new year, the man who would win Bannockburn began to pull his kingdom together.

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/n/n/battle-of-slioch-wp/gfnn-battle-of-slioch-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Slioch: The King with Two Enemies https://qualla.com/battle-of-slioch/ By the autumn of 1307 Robert Bruce had been King of Scotland for less than two years, and his throne was extraordinarily contested. The English under the new King Edward II - his father Edward I, the Hammer of the Scots, had died in July - regarded him as a rebel and a murderer, ...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/n/n/battle-of-slioch-wp/gfnn-battle-of-slioch-the-king-with-two-enemies.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Slioch: Carried in a Litter https://qualla.com/battle-of-slioch/ Then Bruce fell ill. The chroniclers do not name the illness, but it was severe enough that he had to be carried in a litter. The royal army stopped at Slioch, a small settlement in the hilly country south-west of modern Huntly, to rest. The Earl of Buchan saw his moment. Bruce's...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/n/n/battle-of-slioch-wp/gfnn-battle-of-slioch-carried-in-a-litter.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Slioch: Three Days of Arrows https://qualla.com/battle-of-slioch/ The historian A. F. Murison summarised what followed precisely: "On three successive days there occurred skirmishes between bodies of archers, Buchan's men getting the worst of the encounter day after day. Buchan's force, however, was continuously getting additions, while Bruce w...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/n/n/battle-of-slioch-wp/gfnn-battle-of-slioch-three-days-of-arrows.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Slioch: A Few Months Later https://qualla.com/battle-of-slioch/ Buchan tried once more, days later, and again found Bruce's force too strong to attack. Then winter closed in. Bruce sheltered, slowly recovered, and used the months of recuperation to reorganise. By spring 1308 he was back in the saddle and his army back on the offensive. He too...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/n/n/battle-of-slioch-wp/gfnn-battle-of-slioch-a-few-months-later.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of Slioch: What Christmas at Slioch Decided https://qualla.com/battle-of-slioch/ The Battle of Slioch is officially a minor skirmish. The casualties were modest, no field was won, the day ended in withdrawal. And yet, if Buchan had broken Bruce's army on Christmas Day 1307 with the king already too weak to rise, the line of Scottish history would have run dif...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/n/n/battle-of-slioch-wp/gfnn-battle-of-slioch-what-christmas-at-slioch-decided.mp3 0:06 6 full