Clan Gordon

In 1513, during the Anglo-Scottish Wars, the Clan Gordon led by Alexander Gordon, 3rd Earl of Huntly fought at the Battle of Flodden.

In 1515, the title of Earl of Sutherland and chiefship of the Clan Sutherland passed by right of marriage to Adam Gordon who was a younger son of George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly.

Later during the Anglo-Scottish Wars, George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly defeated an English army at the Battle of Haddon Rig in 1542 but the Gordons were later part of the Scottish army which was defeated at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh in 1547.

Chief George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly was General of the forces on the Borders who opposed the forces of Henry VIII of England and Gordon had many victorious encounters. He was however later killed at the Battle of Corrichie in 1562 fighting against the forces of James Stuart, Earl of Moray (half-brother to Mary Queen of Scots). Gordon was killed and his son, Sir John, and other members of his family were later executed at Aberdeen.

Throughout the 16th century the Clan Gordon were involved in a long and bitter struggle against the Clan Forbes. In the 1520s there were murders by both sides, and one of the most prominent killed by the Forbeses was Seton of Meldrum who was a close connection of the Earl of Huntly, chief of Clan Gordon. The Earl of Huntly then became involved in a plot against the Master of Forbes, who was the son of the sixth Lord Forbes. The sixth Lord Forbes had been heavily implicated of the murder of Seton of Meldrum. The Master of Forbes was accused by the Earl of Huntly of conspiring to assassinate James V of Scotland in 1536 by shooting at him with a cannon. The Master of Forbes was tried and executed however just days later his conviction was reversed and the Forbes family was restored to favor. The Protestant Reformation added to the feud between the Clan Forbes and Clan Gordon in that the Gordons remained Catholic and the Forbeses became Protestant. The traditional enemies of the Forbses such as the Clan Leslie, Clan Irvine and Clan Seton sided with the Gordons while Protestant families such as the Clan Keith, Clan Fraser and Clan Crichton sided with the Clan Forbes. Twenty Gordons were killed at a banquet held at the Forbes's Druminnor Castle in 1571. Later in 1571 the feud climaxed with the Battle of Tillieangus, and the Battle of Craibstone, and Druminnor, then the seat of the chief of Clan Forbes was plundered. The Gordons followed this up with the massacre of twenty seven Forbeses of Towie at Corgarff Castle. It took two Acts of Parliament for the clans to put down their arms.

For two centuries from the mid-15th century the Clan Gordon and Clan Campbell controlled the north-east and west of Scotland respectively, as the magnates who straddled the divide between the Scottish Highlands and Scottish Lowlands. In 1594, Archibald Campbell, 7th Earl of Argyll was granted a Royal Commission against George Gordon, 6th Earl of Huntly but was defeated at the Battle of Glenlivet.