The Battle of Langside ( English Langside ) ( May 13, 1568 ) - the battle between the troops of the Queen of Scotland, Mary Stuart, and the army of the Regent of Scotland, James Stuart, Earl of Moray . The defeat of Mary in this battle led to her expulsion to England and the consolidation of the victory of Protestantism in Scotland.
| The Battle of Langside |
|---|
| Main Conflict: The Overthrow of Mary Stuart |
|
| date of | May 13, 1568 |
|---|
| A place | Langside (south of Glasgow , Scotland ) |
|---|
| Total | The complete defeat of Mary Stuart |
|---|
|
|
|
Mary Stuart,
Queen of Scotland | James Stewart
Earl of Moray |
|
|
OK. 6000 people | OK. 4,500 people |
|
|
|
|
After July 24, 1567, during the general uprising of the Scottish nobles, Mary Stuart was forced to sign the abdication, she was placed under surveillance in Lochleven Castle in Fife . However, on May 2, 1568, the queen managed to escape from the castle. A significant part of the Scottish barons immediately took her side, including former members of her overthrow ( Duke de Chateletro , Counts Argyle , Huntley and others). Supporters of the queen formed a small army and moved to Dumbarton , where at that time was the regent of the country, James Stuart, Earl of Moray. Unable to gather significant forces in the western regions of the country, where the positions of the Hamilton and Campbell , who were on the queen's side, were traditionally strong, Moray was nevertheless able to put about 4,500 people against Mary Stewart.
On May 13, 1568, the Queen’s army, moving along the southern coast of Clyde , attacked the village of Langside, where the regent’s detachment strengthened. Unexpectedly for Mary Stuart, her army was attacked from the flank: Moray hid in the shelter of about two hundred horsemen, who at the appointed moment fell upon the royal army. The massacre lasted no more than an hour and most of Mary's troops were destroyed. The Queen herself, seeing the defeat of her army, almost single-handedly fled from the battlefield and after several days of racing crossed the Strait of Solway Firth and arrived in England, where she turned to Elizabeth I for help.
“Mary Stuart at Langside”, painting by
Giovanni Fattori The defeat of Mary Stuart at Lanside drew a line under her reign in Scotland. Despite the fact that the struggle between the queen’s supporters and the government lasted for about five more years, in many ways it was Lanside who decided her outcome: power in Scotland passed to the young king Jacob VI , during whose minority the country will be governed by regents - supporters of the deepening of Protestant reforms and further rapprochement with England. The course of politics independent of England and the attempts to preserve Catholicism in the country, undertaken by Mary Stuart, failed. This will allow 35 years after the Battle of Langside to unite the two British states under the authority of one monarch.