Andrew Murray (soldier)

[1] He was the son of Andrew Moray, joint-commander with William Wallace of the Scottish army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge on 11 September 1297.

During his campaign of 1303 while Edward I was residing in Lochindorb Castle in the Moray uplands, he dispatched men to seize the five-year-old Andrew Murray as a hostage.

The child would spend the next eleven years in English captivity, only returning home to Scotland in the autumn of 1314 in the prisoner exchanges after the Battle of Bannockburn.

In July 1326 at a ceremony at Cambuskenneth Abbey, Andrew Murray married Christian Bruce, also known as Christina, sister of King Robert I, widow of Sir Christopher Seton.

Following his return from English captivity, in 1315 Andrew Murray attended the Scottish Parliament at Ayr when the succession to the throne was decided.

When the treaty of Northampton was signed on 17 March 1328 at Holyrood in Edinburgh, he was among an impressive gathering of Scottish nobles present to witness the final peace between both countries.

Murray was present at the futile parliament convened at Dairsie Castle in April 1335, by the steward of Scotland and the returned Earl of Moray, the regents.

In the subsequent surrender to Edward, and in the making of the treaty of Perth (18 August 1335), Murray had no part, but chose to go into hiding with the Earl of March and William Douglas, Lord of Liddesdale.

During the winter of 1335–6, Murray kept an army in the field, and laid siege to the castles of Cupar, Fife and Lochindorb in Cromdale, in the latter of which was Catherine, Athole's widow.

No sooner had Edward returned to England, he assumed the offensive, capturing the castles of Dunnottar, Lauriston, and Kinclaven, and laid waste the lands of Kincardine and Angus.

His destruction of the great tower, the most visible part of the structure, not only prevented reoccupation by the English but also demonstrated his loyalty to the Bruce cause.