Battle of the Shirts

Battle of the Shirts
(Blàr na Léine, Kinloch-Lochy)

Date	July 1544
Location	Laggan, north end of Loch Lochy (Laggen and Kinloch Lochy) grid reference NN289967 Coordinates: 57°1′49″N 4°49′8″W / 57.03028°N 4.81889°W / 57.03028; -4.81889
Result	Stalemate

Belligerents

Clan Fraser of Lovat
Assisted by Clan Grant

Clan Macdonald of Clanranald
Assisted by Clan Cameron

Commanders and leaders

Hugh Fraser, Lord Lovat

John of Moidart (Iain Muideartach)

Strength

300

500

Casualties and losses

5 survivors
(295 killed)

8 survivors
(492 killed)

The Battle of the Shirts (Scottish Gaelic: Blàr na Léine, also the Battle of Kinloch-Lochy) was a Scottish clan battle that took place in 1544 in the Great Glen, at the northern end of Loch Lochy. The Clan Macdonald of Clanranald and their allies the Clan Cameron fought the Clan Fraser and men from Clan Grant. The battlefield has been included and protected by Historic Scotland in their Inventory of Historic Battlefields in Scotland.

Clan tradition of the clans involved and all histories written since the period have stated that the name was derived from the fact that the day was so hot that both sides threw off their plaids, fighting in their shirts. However, some have postulated in recent times that Blàr na Léine is a corruption of Blàr na Lèana 'the Field of the Swampy Meadow'.

The chiefship of the Clan Macdonald of Clanranald was in dispute. Hugh Fraser the Lord Lovat, chief of Clan Fraser of Lovat, was the uncle of one of the warring claimants, Ranald Galda (the stranger), whose cause he supported. Lovat with over four hundred of his best men joined up with the Earl of Huntly, chief of Clan Gordon, who was the Lieutenant of the North. They intended to crush the MacDonalds and make Ranald the chief. The combined Fraser and Gordon force marched to Inverlochy, in Lochaber and they successfully established Ranald's control over Moidart by taking Castle Tioram.

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