Battle of Langside 1568
Outline: officially registered battlefield boundary. Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1568 | 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 | Kingdom of Scotland | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 55.8277, -4.2706 | Wikidata P625 |
| Official record | HES Inventory BTL35 | OGL v3 |
| Registered area | 359.4 ha | OGL v3 |
About the battle
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.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Langside (revision 1370447146), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Battlefield boundary: contains Historic Environment Scotland and OS data © Historic Environment Scotland and Crown Copyright and database right 2026, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. See also this battlefield on Battlefields of Britain.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Glasgow (1544) 1544 · 5 km
- Battle of Glasgow (1560) 1560 · 5 km
- Battle of Renfrew 1164 · 9 km
- Clydebank Blitz 1941 · 11 km
- Battle of Bothwell Bridge 1679 · 14 km
- Battle of Hieton 1650 · 16 km
Other battles of the Marian civil war
- Battle of Craibstone 1571
Browse more: battles in Scotland · Europe · Early modern battles