Battle of Langside

The Battle of Langside was fought on 13 May 1568 between forces loyal to Mary, Queen of Scots, and forces acting in the name of her infant son James VI. Mary’s short period of personal rule ended in 1567 in recrimination, intrigue, and disaster when, after her capture at Carberry Hill, she was forced to abdicate in favour of James VI. Mary was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle, while her Protestant half-brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray, was appointed Regent on behalf of his nephew. In early May 1568 Mary escaped, heading west to the country of the Hamiltons, high among her remaining supporters, and the safety of Dumbarton Castle with the determination to restore her rights as queen. Mary was defeated and went into exile and captivity in England. The battle is generally considered the start of the Marian civil war. Queen's Men Mary's abdication had not been universally popular, even among sections of the Protestant nobility, and news of her escape were widely welcomed. With an escort of fifty horse led by Lord Claud Hamilton, she arrived in Lanarkshire, soon to be joined by a wide cross-section of the nobility, including the Earls of Argyll, Cassillis, Rothes, and Eglinton, the Lords Sommerville, Yester, Livingston, Herries, Fleming, Ross, numerous of the feudal barons, and their followers. Within a few days, Mary had managed to gather a respectable force of some 6,000 men. Mary at Hamilton Mary declared at Hamilton that her abdication, and her consent to the coronation of James, had been extorted from her under duress. An act of council was then passed, declaring the whole process by which Moray had been appointed as Regent to be treasonable. On 8 May a bond was drawn up by those present for her restitution, signed by eight earls, nine bishops, eighteen lords, twelve abbots, and nearly one hundred barons. Mary would later write that her enemies were only five miles away. Robert Melville brought a diamond ring, and four or brooches to Mary at Hamilton. She gave the brooches to her supporters. The ring, with a heart shaped diamond, had been a gift from Elizabeth I with a promise of help. Mary asked her servant John Beaton to carry the ring back to Elizabeth.