Battle of Craibstone 1571
Marker: recorded battle location (no official boundary).
Key facts
| Date (year) | 1571 | Wikidata P585 point in time |
|---|---|---|
| Century | 16th century | derived |
| Period | Tudor & early Stuart | derived |
| Country | Scotland | derived |
| War / conflict | Marian civil war | Wikidata |
| Participants | Clan Forbes, Clan Gordon | Wikidata |
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.
Visiting the battlefield
Location
- Recorded location (Wikidata; may be approximate): 57.1890, -2.2070
Battlefields are often on private farmland: please keep to public rights of way and respect landowners.
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; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations removed. No text added.
Battle location from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby battlefields
- Battle of Aberdeen 1646 · 7 km
- Battle of Aberdeen 1644 · 8 km
- Battle of the Brig of Dee 1639 · 9 km
- Battle of Inverurie 1745 · 15 km
- Battle of Corrichie 1562 · 17 km
- Battle of Barra 1308 · 17 km
Other battles of the Marian civil war
- Battle of Langside 1568
All battles of the Marian civil war →
Browse more: battles in Scotland · Tudor & early Stuart · 16th century battles