Battle of Renfrew 1164
Marker: recorded battle location (no official boundary).
Key facts
| Date (year) | 1164 | Wikidata P585 point in time |
|---|---|---|
| Century | 12th century | derived |
| Period | Norman & medieval | derived |
| Country | Scotland | derived |
About the battle
The Battle of Renfrew was fought between the Kingdom of the Isles and the Kingdom of Scotland in 1164, near Renfrew, Scotland. The men of the Isles, accompanied by forces from the Kingdom of Dublin, were commanded by Somerled (Sumarliði / Somairle mac Gilla Brigte, King of the Isles). The identity of the Scottish commander is unrecorded and unknown. Herbert, Bishop of Glasgow, Baldwin, Sheriff of Lanark/Clydesdale, and Walter fitz Alan, Steward of Scotland are all possible candidates for this position. The battle was a disaster for the Islesmen and Dubliners. Somerled was slain in the encounter, apparently by local levies, and his forces were routed.
Somerled first appears on record in the 1150s, when he is stated to have supported the cause of Máel Coluim mac Alasdair in a rebellion against Malcolm IV, King of Scotland. Máel Coluim was a member of a rival branch of the Scottish royal family, and his sons were closely related to Somerled. At about the time of the rebellion's collapse, Somerled appears to have shifted his energies from Scotland towards the Isles. In 1156, he wrested about half of the Kingdom of the Isles from his brother-in-law, Guðrøðr Óláfsson, King of the Isles.
Visiting the battlefield
Location
- Recorded location (Wikidata; may be approximate): 55.8610, -4.4020
Battlefields are often on private farmland: please keep to public rights of way and respect landowners.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Renfrew (revision 1379612073), 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 Langside 1568 · 9 km
- Battle of Glasgow 1544 · 10 km
- Battle of Glasgow 1560 · 10 km
- Battle of Bothwell Bridge 1679 · 23 km
- Battle of Hieton 1650 · 25 km
- Battle of Kilsyth 1645 · 28 km
Browse more: battles in Scotland · Norman & medieval · 12th century battles