The Battle of Glasgow, 18 March 1560, was fought by supporters of the Scottish Reformation against French troops.
| Battle of Glasgow (1560) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of The Reformation | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Kingdom of Scotland (Protestant) |  Kingdom of France | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Earl of Arran Earl of Glencairn | Unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
The rule of Mary of Guise as Regent of Scotland was challenged by the Protestant Lords of the Congregation. Guise obtained French military support, and the Lords invited an English army under the terms of their Treaty of Berwick (1560). Just a few days before the conflict began to centre on the Siege of Leith, there was a battle at Glasgow.
According to a French journal of events, the foot soldiers of the Congregation left Fife for Glasgow on 3 March 1560. The leader of the Lords of the Congregation, the former Regent Arran, left Glasgow for Hamilton on 17 March 1560, leaving 25 men in the Bishop's Palace and 13 in the Steeple of the Cathedral. Henri Cleutin, sieur de Villeparisis, led his French troops to Glasgow in the morning of 18 March. The mounted French Harquebusiers were resisted by 70 Scots commanded by a son of the Earl of Glencairn. This party had remained in Glasgow to destroy provisions left behind during the evacuation.
Twice the French and Scots fought at the bridge, but finally the Scots were drawn into the open and 'cut to pieces.' The others were taken prisoner, and the leaders hanged. Mercy was offered to any of the rest who renounced the Congregation. Later in the afternoon the garrison in the Palace and Steeple surrendered under terms. [1] This French account of the battle is confirmed by a letter from Arran to Norfolk. Arran said he had left a garrison at Glasgow to buy 48 hours time. When the French entered the Castle they ignited gunpowder in one of the towers by accident and 13 were killed. Arran said there were 30 Scots fighting at the bridge who killed 8 Frenchmen. [2]
The French then returned to Leith shadowed by 800 Scots horsemen led by James Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Arran. The Earl skirmished with the French at Callendar woods. [3] The chronicler Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie points out that the Scots did not engage their full force with the French at this time because their allies, the English fleet commanded by William Winter, had just arrived. [4]
Mary of Guise, also called Mary of Lorraine, was Queen of Scotland from 1538 until 1542, as the second wife of King James V. She was a French noblewoman of the House of Guise, a cadet branch of the House of Lorraine and one of the most powerful families in France. As the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, she was a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked mid-16th-century Scotland, ruling the kingdom as queen regent on behalf of her daughter from 1554 until her death in 1560.
The Treaty of Edinburgh was a treaty drawn up on 5 July 1560 between the Commissioners of Queen Elizabeth I of England with the assent of the Scottish Lords of the Congregation, and the French representatives of King Francis II of France to formally conclude the siege of Leith and replace the Auld Alliance with France with a new Anglo-Scottish accord, while maintaining the peace between England and France agreed by the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis.
James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Châtellerault, 2nd Earl of Arran, was a Scottish nobleman and head of the House of Hamilton. A great-grandson of King James II of Scotland, he was heir presumptive to the Scottish throne. Arran was Regent of Scotland during the minority of Mary, Queen of Scots from 1543 to 1554, when he lost the regency to Mary of Guise. At first pro-English and Protestant, he converted to Catholicism in 1543 and supported a pro-French policy. He reluctantly agreed to Mary's marriage to Francis, eldest son of King Henry II of France, and was rewarded by Henry by being made Duke of Châtellerault in 1549. During the Scottish Reformation, Châtellerault joined the Protestant Lords of the Congregation to oppose the regency of Mary of Guise, and lost his French dukedom as a result.
James Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Arran (1537–1609) was a Scottish nobleman and soldier who opposed the French-dominated regency during the Scottish Reformation. He was the eldest son of James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault, sometime regent of Scotland. He was of royal descent, and at times was third or fourth in succession to the Scottish crown; several royal marriages were proposed for him, but he eventually never married. He went to France with Mary, Queen of Scots, where he commanded the Scots Guards. After returning to Scotland, he became a leader of the Protestant party against Mary and her French supporters. However, he went insane in 1562 and was confined for the rest of his life.
The Lords of the Congregation, originally styling themselves the Faithful, were a group of Protestant Scottish nobles who in the mid-16th century favoured a reformation of the Catholic church according to Protestant principles and a Scottish-English alliance.
The Battle of Ancrum Moor was fought during the War of the Rough Wooing in 1545. The Scottish victory put a temporary end to English incursions in the Scottish border and lowlands. The battlefield has been included in the Inventory of Historic Battlefields in Scotland and protected by Historic Scotland under the Historic Environment (Amendment) Act 2011.
The Scottish Reformation Parliament was the assembly elected in 1560 that passed legislation leading to the establishment of the Church of Scotland. These included the Confession of Faith Ratification Act 1560; and Papal Jurisdiction Act 1560. The legislation was not formally approved until 1567, when it was ratified by James VI.
The Rough Wooing, also known as the Eight Years' War, was part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars of the 16th century. Following its break with the Catholic Church, England attacked Scotland, partly to break the Auld Alliance and prevent Scotland being used as a springboard for future invasion by France, partly to weaken Scotland, and partly to force the Scottish Parliament to confirm the existing marriage alliance between Mary, Queen of Scots, and the English heir apparent Edward, son of King Henry VIII, under the terms of the Treaty of Greenwich of July 1543. An invasion of France was also contemplated.
The Secret Bond was a document drawn up by Cardinal Beaton and signed at Linlithgow by a number of Scottish peers and lairds on 24 July 1543. They agreed to prevent the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots, to Prince Edward of England. The document is sometimes called the "Linlithgow Bond". After an agreement was reached with the Governor of Scotland, Regent Arran, Mary moved from Linlithgow Palace to Stirling Castle.
The siege of Leith ended a twelve-year encampment of French troops at Leith, the port near Edinburgh, Scotland. French troops arrived in Scotland by invitation in 1548. In 1560 the French soldiers opposed Scottish supporters of religious reformation, and an English army arrived to besiege the French garrison at Leith. The town was not taken by force and the French troops finally left peacefully under the terms of a treaty signed by Scotland, England and France.
Henri Cleutin, seigneur d'Oisel et de Villeparisis, was the representative of France in Scotland from 1546 to 1560, a Gentleman of the Chamber of the King of France, and a diplomat in Rome 1564–1566 during the French Wars of Religion.
Jacques de La Brosse, cupbearer to the king, was a sixteenth-century French soldier and diplomat. He is remembered in Scotland for his missions in 1543 and 1560 in support of the Auld Alliance.
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, known as the Battle of the Butts, between Arran and the Earl of Glencairn.
James Somerville, 6th Lord Somerville, (c.1518-1569) was a Lord of the Parliament of Scotland
The Articles of Leith were the terms of truce drawn up between the Protestant Lords of the Congregation and Mary of Guise, Regent of Scotland and signed on 25 July 1559. This negotiation was a step in the conflict that led to the Scottish Reformation. Although its immediate effect was the withdrawal of Protestant forces from Edinburgh, subsequent disputes over the content and observance of the treaty fuelled the crisis in Scotland.
George Douglas of Pittendreich was a member of the powerful Red Douglas family who struggled for control of the young James V of Scotland in 1528. His second son became James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton and Regent of Scotland. Initially, George Douglas promoted the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots and Prince Edward of England. After war was declared between England and Scotland he worked for peace and to increase the power of Mary of Guise, the widow of James V.
The siege of St Andrews Castle (1546–1547) followed the killing of Cardinal David Beaton by a group of Protestants at St Andrews Castle. They remained in the castle and were besieged by the Governor of Scotland, Regent Arran. However, over 18 months the Scottish besieging forces made little impact, and the Castle finally surrendered to a French naval force after artillery bombardment. The Protestant garrison, including the preacher John Knox, were taken to France and used as galley slaves.
Corbeyran de Cardaillac de Sarlabous was a 16th-century French soldier who served in Scotland as Captain of Dunbar Castle, and was Governor of Le Havre for twenty years. He was usually called Captain Sarlabous in Scottish and English letters of his time. A contemporary French writer calls him the "sieur de Sarlaboz." Sarlabous is a place in the Hautes-Pyrénées where Corbeyran held lands.
Robert Sempill, 3rd Lord Sempill was a Scottish lord of Parliament.
Events from the year 1560 in the Kingdom of Scotland.