Chaseabout Raid

The 1st Earl of Moray.

Date	1565
Location	Lowlands of Scotland
Result	Victory for Mary

Belligerents

Scotland

Protestant rebels

Commanders and leaders

Mary, Queen of Scots

James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray

Strength

Unknown

Casualties and losses

Unknown

The Chaseabout Raid was a rebellion by James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray against his half sister, Mary, Queen of Scots, on 26 August 1565, over her marriage to Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. The rebels also claimed to be acting over other causes including bad governance, and religion in the name of the Scottish Reformation. As the government and rebel forces moved back and forth across Scotland without fighting, the conflict became known as the "chase about raid." Queen Mary's forces were superior and the rebel lords fled to England where Queen Elizabeth censured the leader.

There were fears that her marriage to Darnley signaled a return to Roman Catholicism. Moray is reported to have declared that he aimed at nothing else than "the maintenance of the true religion."

The rebels gathered in Ayrshire. Mary set out from Holyroodhouse to Linlithgow and Stirling on 26 August 1565 to move to Glasgow and confront them. Her cannon followed, brought by John Chisholm, who had obtained funds from the Burgh of Edinburgh after Mary promised the town rights over Leith. The treasurer of the Scottish exchequer, John Wishart of Pitarro, had sided with the rebellion and was replaced by William Murray of Tullibardine. The Provost of Edinburgh was also removed and Simon Preston of Craigmillar, a friend of Mary put in his place. William Murray's lands were raided by Highlanders. On 31 August, Moray and his supporters arrived in Edinburgh with 1,000 or 1,200 men. The English diplomat Thomas Randolph doubted that this force could withstand the Queen and King's army, as they lacked "harquebusiers," soldiers with hand-guns. Edinburgh Castle was held for the Queen and began to shoot its cannon at the rebels in the town.

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Wikipedia