CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · History & Society

Battle of Invernahavon

battle in Highland, Scotland, UK

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 21, 2026
Entity authorityQ4871277 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Battle of Invernahavon was a Scottish clan battle between the Clan Cameron and the confederation of Clan Chattan that consisted of the Clan Mackintosh, Clan Macpherson, and Clan Davidson amongst others. Some sources give the date as 1386, others as 1370.

Background

During the chiefship of Lachlan Mackintosh, 8th chief of Clan Mackintosh, a feud had raged for some years with the Clan Cameron, apparently over the disputed lands of Glenlui and Loch Arkaig. Each side had raided each other's lands, lifting property.

Battle

In 1370, it is recorded in the Mackintosh MSS (manuscript), that around 400 Camerons made a raid into Badenoch and when they were returning home with their captured booty they were overtaken at Invernahavon by the Clan Chattan who were led in person by the Mackintosh chief.

In the first engagement, Mackintosh was defeated by the Camerons despite having a numerically superior force. This was apparently because there had been a dispute among the Clan Chattan between the Macphersons and Davidsons over who should have command of the right wing of their force, which was the post of honour. The Mackintosh chief favoured the Davidsons and as a result the Macphersons withdrew in disgust. Thus with the loss of the Macphersons, Mackintosh's force together with the Davidsons was numerically inferior and was totally defeated by the Camerons.

However, soon after the Macphersons rejoined the battle and attacked the Camerons turning their victory into a defeat.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Battle of Invernahavon” is battle in Highland, Scotland, UK. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Battle, Invernahavon and battle, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful synthesis for locating the documentary relationships between formal authority, participants and affected communities. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1386, 1370—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Battle, Invernahavon and battle is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “battle in Highland, Scotland, UK” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4871277. Authority coordinates are 57.039, -4.160. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1386 and 1370.

Critical limits

Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Battle of Invernahavon”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Battle of Invernahavon primary sources, Battle of Invernahavon archive and Battle research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Battle of Invernahavon”?
  2. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
  3. Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Battle of Invernahavon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.