Battle of Craibstone

Last updated
Battle of Craibstone
Part of Clan Gordon - Clan Forbes feud, and the Marian civil war
The Crabstane.jpg
Monument marking the site of the Battle of Craibstone
Date20 November 1571
Location
Craibstone croft, Aberdeenshire
Result Gordon victory
Belligerents
Clan Gordon and allies Clan Forbes and allies
Commanders and leaders
Adam Gordon of Auchindoun
Captain Ker
Master of Forbes
Captain Chisholm
Captain Wedderburn
Alexander Campbell
Strength
800 900
Casualties and losses
60 [1]
200 [2]
60 [3]
300 [2]

The Battle of Craibstone was fought on 20 November 1571 between Clan Gordon and the Clan Forbes on an area that has now been constructed over, found in central Aberdeen, Scotland. [3] It was part of the Marian civil war in which the Clan Forbes supported the King James VI and the Clan Gordon supported Mary, Queen of Scots.

So called due to its proximity to Craibstone Croft, the battle was won by the Gordons who forced the Forbes into retreat in approximately one hour with the loss of sixty men. [3] According to news of the battle sent to John Lesley, the secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots, the number of casualties was three-score, 60 men, on each side, and the son of Lord Forbes, Alexander Master of Forbes, was imprisoned at Huntly Castle. [1]

According to the chronicle Diurnal of Occurrents, the Master of Forbes accompanied by Captains Chisholm and Wedderburn marched from Cowie to Aberdeen on 20 November 1571. Chisholm and Wedderburn, the Regent's men, commanded two bands of musketeers called "hagbutters." Their whole strength was about 800 men. Adam Gordon of Auchindoun and Captain Ker had 900 men in the town. The Forbes came over the bridge of Aberdeen, and fought with Adam's men for an hour at Craibstone. The Forbes retreated, Chisholm and 300 men were killed, and the Master of Forbes and 200 men were captured. Two hundred Gordons were killed. [2]

Richard Bannatyne mentions that some cavalry commanded by Alexander Campbell fought with the Forbes. Bannatyne says that the Forbes and the Regent's troops came to Aberdeen because they were short of food. Adam Gordon was reluctant to fight because he was outgunned, but saw his chance after the troops "foolishly" wasted their ammunition. The Forbes bowmen or archers fled, Bannatyne wrote they "gave backis, and did no guid." [4] The Historie of King James Sext says there were 600 cavalrymen. The pursuit of the fleeing Forbes covered four miles. The Historie of James Sext (which is biased against the Regents of Scotland), says that the Gordons had only 30 casualties and the Forbes 300, although all the other sources make the number more evenly matched. [5]

Related Research Articles

John Erskine, Earl of Mar (died 1572)

John Erskine, Earl of Mar was a Scottish aristocrat and politician. He was the custodian of the infant James VI of Scotland and Regent of Scotland.

Clan Gordon Scottish clan

Clan Gordon, also known as the House of Gordon, is a Scottish clan. The chief of the clan is the powerful Earl of Huntly, and now also the Marquess of Huntly. During the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 13th century, the Gordons supported William Wallace in the cause of independence. In the 15th century, the chiefship of the clan passed to an heiress, who married into the Seton family and her male descendants assumed the surname Gordon and continued as chiefs of the clan. The Gordons assisted in defeating the rebellion of the Earl of Douglas also in the 15th century. In the 16th century, the Gordons as Catholics feuded with their Protestant neighbors the Clan Forbes and also defeated at the Battle of Glenlivet, the Protestant Earl of Argyll. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of the 17th century, the Gordons supported the Royalist cause. During the Jacobite rising of 1715 the Clan Gordon was Jacobite. During the Jacobite rising of 1745, their chief, then the Duke of Gordon, pledged his support to the British-Hanoverian Government, but his clan remained Jacobite.

John Lesley

John Lesley was a Scottish Roman Catholic bishop and historian. His father was Gavin Lesley, rector of Kingussie, Badenoch.

Luffness Castle

Luffness Castle, also known as Luffness House, is a house built in a former fortification near the village of Aberlady, East Lothian, Scotland.

Battle of Corrichie Battle fought near Meikle Tap, near Aberdeen, Scotland, on 28 October 1562

The Battle of Corrichie, also known as the Battle of Corrichy was a battle fought near Meikle Tap, near Aberdeen, Scotland, on 28 October 1562. It was fought between the forces of George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly, chief of Clan Gordon, against the forces of Mary, Queen of Scots, under James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray.

The Battle of Carberry Hill took place on 15 June 1567, near Musselburgh, East Lothian, a few miles east of Edinburgh, Scotland. A number of Scottish lords objected to the rule of Mary, Queen of Scots, after she had married the Earl of Bothwell, who was widely believed to have murdered her previous husband Lord Darnley. The Lords were intent to avenge Darnley's death. However, Bothwell escaped from the stand-off at Carberry while Queen Mary surrendered. Mary abdicated, escaped from prison, and was defeated at the battle of Langside. She went to exile in England while her supporters continued a civil war in Scotland.

Clan Forbes Highland Scottish clan

Clan Forbes is a Highland Scottish clan from Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

Niddry Castle Tower house in Scotland

Niddry Castle is a sixteenth-century tower house near Winchburgh, West Lothian, Scotland. It is situated near the Union Canal, and between two large oil shale bings, or waste heaps. Historically it was known as Niddry Seton or West Niddry to distinguish it from Niddry Marischal in Midlothian and Longniddry in East Lothian.

Agnes Keith, Countess of Moray

Agnes Keith, Countess of Moray was a Scottish noblewoman. She was the wife of James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, regent of Scotland and the illegitimate half-brother of Mary, Queen of Scots, making her a sister-in-law of the Scottish queen. As the wife of the regent, Agnes was the most powerful woman in Scotland from 1567 until her husband's assassination in 1570.

James Hamilton (assassin) Scottish assassin

James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh and Woodhouselee was a Scottish supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots, who assassinated James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, Regent of Scotland, in January 1570. He shot Moray from the steps of his uncle Archbishop John Hamilton's house in Linlithgow.

Battle of Glasgow (1544) Battle on 16 March 1544 between the Earl of Lennox and the Earl of Arran, the Scottish regent

The Battle of Glasgow was fought on 16 March 1544, between Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox and the Scottish Regent James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran, and their adherents, during the minority of Mary, Queen of Scots. There was a second battle at Glasgow Muir in May 1544 between Arran and the Earl of Glencairn.

The Battle of Tillieangus was fought on 10 October 1571 between the Clan Gordon and the Clan Forbes near White Hill of Tillyangus, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It was part of the Marian civil war in which the Gordons supported Mary, Queen of Scots and the Forbeses supported her son, James VI of Scotland.

George Seton, 7th Lord Seton

George Seton V, 7th Lord Seton (1531–1586), was a Lord of the Parliament of Scotland, Master of the Household of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Provost of Edinburgh. He was the eldest son of George Seton, 6th Lord Seton, and Elizabeth Hay, a daughter of John Hay, 3rd Lord Hay of Yester. His childhood and schooling were in France.

Marian civil war

The Marian civil war in Scotland (1568–1573) was a period of conflict which followed the abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her escape from Lochleven Castle in May 1568. Those who ruled in the name of her infant son James VI fought against the supporters of the Queen, who was exiled in England. Edinburgh Castle, which was garrisoned in her name, became the focus of the conflict and surrendered only after an English intervention in May 1573. The conflict in 1570 was called an "intestine war in the bowels of this commonwealth", and the period was called soon after an "intestine war driven by questions against authority."

Cunningham of Drumquhassle

The Cunninghams of Drumquhassle were a family of the landed gentry in Scotland from the early 16th century to the mid-17th. They are linked to the Cunninghams of Kilmaurs in Ayrshire, being descended through junior lines via the Cunninghams of Polmaise. At their greatest extent, their lands included Mugdock-Mitchell and the house at Killermont, covering the part of parishes of Strathblane and New Kilpatrick. John Cunningham, the third laird held several positions of responsibility within the Scottish court, including Master of the Royal Household for James VI and a Collector General of tax during the regency of the Earl of Lennox, but his involvement in the power struggles between the Scottish nobility and the court of Elizabeth I of England also led to his demise and he was executed for treason in 1585. Over the next century, the family lost its land and power – in the mid-17th century, the Cunninghams sold their country house in Drumquhassle in rural Stirlingshire and it passed to the Govane family.

Adam Gordon of Auchindoun (1545–1580) was a Scottish knight, younger brother of the Earl of Huntly and military leader during the Marian civil war on behalf of Mary, Queen of Scots in north west Scotland. In Scottish ballad lore, Adam became known as Edom o'Gordon.

Patrick Lindsay, 6th Lord Lindsay of the Byres, (1521–1589), Scottish courtier and Confederate lord.

William Forbes, 7th Lord Forbes (1513-1593) was a Scottish landowner.

Alexander Abernethy, 6th Lord Saltoun was a Scottish landowner and courtier.

Robert Colville of Cleish (1532-1584) was a Scottish courtier.

References

  1. 1 2 Boyd, William K, ed. (1905). Calendar State Papers Scotland. Vol. 4. Edinburgh: General Register House. p. 67. Retrieved January 30, 2020. News of the defeat of the Clan Forbes, sent 16 December 1571
  2. 1 2 3 Thomson, Thomas, ed. (1833). Diurnal of Occurrents. Edinburgh: Printed for the Bannatyne Club. p. 255. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 "Battle of Craibstone/Battles in Aberdeenshire". mcjazz.f2s.com. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  4. Bannatyne, Richard (1836). Memorials of the Transactions in Scotland. Edinburgh: Printed for the Bannatyne Club. pp. 212–3. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  5. Thomson, Thomas, ed. (1825). The historie and life of King James the Sext: being an account of the affairs of Scotland from the year 1566 to the year 1596. Edinburgh: Printed for the Bannatyne Club. pp. 95–6. Retrieved January 30, 2020.