Battle of Craibstone 1571
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1571 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Scotland | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Marian civil war | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Clan Forbes, Clan Gordon | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 57.1890, -2.2070 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
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. 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. 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.
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.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Craibstone (revision 1370437760), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Aberdeen (1646) 1646 · 7 km
- Battle of Aberdeen (1644) 1644 · 8 km
- Battle of the Brig of Dee 1639 · 9 km
- Battle of Inverurie (1745) 1745 · 15 km
- Battle of Corrichie 1562 · 17 km
- Battle of Inverurie (1308) 1308 · 18 km
Other battles of the Marian civil war
- Battle of Langside 1568
Browse more: battles in Scotland · Europe · Early modern battles