Siege of Inverness (1562) 1562
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate. Wikidata lists more than one location for this battle; the first is shown.
Key facts
| Year | 1562 | 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 | Scottish clan | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 57.4763, -4.2255 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The siege of Inverness Castle took place in 1562. When Mary, Queen of Scots, visited Inverness on 9 September 1562 the gates of the castle were shut in her face by Alexander Gordon upon the orders of George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly, who was chief of Clan Gordon and Sheriff of the county. The castle was subsequently besieged by supporters of the Queen.
The siege lasted for three days and, when the castle fell, Alexander Gordon was hanged for treason. His head was displayed on the castle. Some key members of the garrison, which consisted of only 12 or 14 "able persons", were imprisoned, the others allowed to go free. The Queen slept at Inverness Castle on the nights of 11, 12, 13, and 14 September 1562, then moved on to Spynie Palace. She bought gunpowder and 15 tartan plaids for her lackeys and members of her household in Inverness.
Alexander Mackenzie's later account of the siege includes the clans Mackenzie, Ross, Fraser, and Munro contributing to Queen Mary's rescue but only the Frasers and Munros are mentioned in the earliest account written by George Buchanan. Buchanan's account was originally written in Latin but was published in English by James Aikman in 1827, it reads:
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Inverness (1562) (revision 1370741986), 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
- Siege of Inverness (1649) 1649 · 0 km
- Siege of Inverness (1715) 1715 · 0 km
- Siege of Inverness (1746) 1746 · 0 km
- Siege of Inverness (1429) 1429 · 0 km
- Siege of Inverness (1650) 1650 · 1 km
- Siege of Inverness (1689) 1689 · 1 km
Other battles of the Scottish clan
- Battle of Dingwall 1411
- Battle of Logiebride 1597
All 3 battles of the Scottish clan →
Browse more: battles in Scotland · Europe · Early modern battles