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The Battle of Largs was an engagement fought between the armies of Norway and Scotland near the present-day town of Largs in North Ayrshire on the Firth of Clyde in Scotland on 2 October 1263. It was the most important military engagement of the Scottish-Norwegian War. The Norwegian forces were led by king Håkon Håkonsson and the Scottish forces by king Alexander III. The result was inconclusive, but in the long term favoured the Scots. The kingdom of Súðreyjar ("Southern Islands"), comprising the Inner and Outer Hebrides and Kintyre, and the kingdom of Man had been under the suzerainty of Norway since about 1100, its kings vassals of the king of Norway. Since the 1240s, the Scottish king Alexander II had been attempting to buy the islands from the Norwegian king Håkon Håkonsson, but he consistently refused. Alexander's successor Alexander III continued this policy, but again king Håkon refused. In the summer of 1262 Scottish forces under the earl of Ross launched raids against the Isle of Skye. News of this reached the Norwegian king together with reports that the Scottish king was planning to conquer all the islands. Håkon responded by equipping a large conscripted leidang-fleet. According to Icelandic annals Håkon led "the biggest fleet ever to leave Norway", which left Bergen for Scotland in July 1263. In the Hebrides, Håkon's fleet linked up with the forces of king Magnus III of Man and king Dougal of the Hebrides. Historians estimate that the size of his fleet after this was probably over 120 ships, with a force of between 12 000 and 20 000 men. After establishing control of the Hebrides, king Håkon anchored his fleet by the Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde, where he was approached by envoys from the Scottish king, opening peace talks. The talks dragged on without producing results, and in the end Håkon broke off the talks, and sent the kings Magnus and Dougal with 40 ships up Loch Long and into Loch Lomond with a part of the fleet to loot. The main body of the fleet moved closer to the mainland, between the islands of Cumbrae and Largs. While anchored here, the Norwegian fleet was surprised by stormy weather. Five longships and a trading cog were driven ashore on the mainland by the storm. They were attacked with ranged weapons by a small number of Scots, but no serious fighting ensued. The next day, October 2nd, King Håkon went ashore with some of his lendmenn, presumably to stave off further attacks until the stranded ships could be brought free. The lendmann Ogmund Crouchdance took control of a hill overlooking the beach with about 200 men, the force on the beach probably numbered about 600 more. During the day, a Scottish army approached. The saga states that the Scottish force included 500 knights in armour on horseback and a large body of foot soldiers, so that the Norwegians were outnumbered ten to one. If the saga is accurate, it would mean the Scottish army numbered about 8,000 men compared to the 800 Norwegian troops onshore.
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