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The Battle of Kinloch-Lochy, also known as the Battle of the Shirts or Blar na Léine[1], was a 1544 battle in Scotland, fought largely within the Clan Donald, with the involvement of Clan Fraser.[2] The site was on Loch Lochy. Events April 11 - Battle of Ceresole - French forces under the Comte dEnghien defeat Imperial forces under the Marques Del Vasto near Turin. ...
Clan Donald crest: Per mare per terras (By sea and by land) Map of Dál Riata at its height, c. ...
The Clan Fraser (Gaelic - Clann Frisealach, French Clan Frasier) is a Scottish clan of French origin. ...
Loch Lochy as viewed from the A82 Loch Lochy is a large body of fresh water in the Highlands of Scotland. ...
Background
In 1540, John of Moidart[3], Chief- or Captain- of the MacDonalds of Clanranald, fell foul of the Scottish Royal Government during King James V's visit to the Hebrides. He was imprisoned, with other Chiefs of the Isles. Year 1540 was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. ...
MacDonald of Clan Ranald crest. ...
James V (April 10, 1512 – December 14, 1542) was king of Scotland (September 9, 1513 – December 14, 1542). ...
This article is about the Hebrides islands in Scotland. ...
A dispute arose over who would take over the Chiefship of Clan MacDonald of Clan Ranald, and the Clan Fraser and Clan Fraser of Lovat backed Ranald Gallda (the Stranger), son of the fifth Chief by a Fraser wife. Ranald had been fostered by the Frasers. Many of Clan Ranald found Gallda unacceptable. MacDonald of Clan Ranald crest. ...
The Clan Fraser (Gaelic - Clann Frisealach, French Clan Frasier) is a Scottish clan of French origin. ...
The Clan Fraser of Lovat Crest The arms of the Frasers of Lovat. ...
Ranald of the Hens For some years after the imprisonment of John, Ranald managed to take control of the affairs of Clanranald. Though he proved himself to be a brave and courageous man, the traces he has left in clan tradition are far from flattering. Highland chiefs were always expected to be lavish with their hospitality. However, when Ranald saw some oxen being prepared to celebrate his inauguration as chief, he is said to remarked that chickens would have done as well, earning him the nickname of Raonuill nan Cearc-'Ranald of the Hens'. When John Moidertach reappeared in the summer of 1543, Ranald, with no local support, was forced to take refuge with his Fraser kinsmen. Lord Lovat, chief of the Frasers, at once prepared to defend his rights. True to his warlike nature, John did not wait to be attacked-he carried his own war eastwards.
John Advances John summoned his kin and allies in the early summer of 1544. He was joined by the Camerons, the Macians of Ardnamurchan, and the Macdonalds of Glengarry and Keppoch. The combined force then advanced east, carrying out an extensive raid in the districts of Abertarff and Stratherrick-the property of Lord Lovat-and the nearby estates of Urquhart and Glenmoriston, belonging to the Grants. Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness was also taken. This raid was more than a simple family feud; it was a major provocation to the government, and especially to George Gordon, the 4th Earl of Huntly. Gathering the levies of the north, including those of Lord Lovat and the Laird of Grant, Huntly advanced to meet the insurgents. Ranald Gallda came with the Frasers. But John now showed himself to be a guerilla leader of some genius. Rather than risk a battle with a stronger enemy force, he retreated right back to his own country, the almost impregnable territory known as the Rough Bounds, the area between Loch Sunart in the south and Loch Hourn in the north, the very heartland of Clanranald. Donald Gregory, the nineteenth century historian of the Highlands, claims that Huntly managed to advance right into Moidart to restore Ranald, but there appears to be no evidence for such a contention. Surrounded by enemies, Ranald is unlikely to have felt very safe in Moidart, and he returned east with the rest of Huntly's army. Urquhart Castle, main tower Urquhart Castle ( ; Ordnance Survey grid reference NH530286) sits beside Loch Ness in Scotland along the A82 road, between Fort William and Inverness. ...
This article is about the body of water in Scotland. ...
The title Marquess of Huntly was created in the peerage of Scotland in 1599, making it the oldest existing marquessate in Scotland, and the second-oldest in the British Isles, only the English Marquessate of Winchester being older. ...
Kinloch-Lochy No sooner had the enemy retreated than John set off in pursuit. Keeping out of sight, he shadowed Huntly as far as the mouth of Glen Spean in Lochaber. Here the enemy forces separated, with Huntly and the Laird of Grant returning to Badenoch, while Lovat with Ranald returned to his own country, with no more than 400 men in all. This was the moment John had waited for. Moving fast, he crossed to the north of Loch Lochy in the Great Glen, ready to intercept the Frasers, marching along the southern bank. Seeing the danger he was in Lovat sent part of his forces to a nearby pass, which would offer some prospect of a retreat if things went wrong. He then prepared to engage the Macdonalds and Camerons. Lochaber (Scottish Gaelic, Loch Abar) refers to a large area of the central and western Scottish Highlands. ...
Badenoch, a district of south-east Inverness-shire in Scotland, bounded on the north by the Monadhliath mountains, on the east by the Cairngorms and Braemar, on the south by Atholl and the Grampians, and on the west by Lochaber. ...
Loch Lochy as viewed from the A82 Loch Lochy is a large body of fresh water in the Highlands of Scotland. ...
The Great Glen, also known as Glen Albyn or Glen Mor is a series of valleys in Scotland running 100 kilometres from Inverness on the Moray Firth to Fort William at the head of Loch Linnhe. ...
The Battle of Kinloch-Lochy began in the age old Highland fashion with a discharge of arrows. Once the missile weapons were exhausted, both sides moved in to a terrible close-quarter engagement with battleaxes and the huge two-handled swords known as claymores. As the grim struggle proceeded John's men began to prevail over their opponents. Lovat attempted to disengage, but the men of Clanranald had taken the pass through which he intended to make his escape. Cut off, the Frasers fought to the death with savage courage, and were apparently completely wiped out by their enemies. In noting the outcome of the battle, Bishop John Leslie says that 'it was reported that at this field their was none of the surname of the Frasers left levand that was cum to mannis age'. Lord Lovat, his eldest son and Ranald Gallda were among the dead, along with several hundred others. For days after the Loch is said to have been red with blood.
Field of the Shirts? The battle was fought in mid-July 1544. Highland armies at this time were still wearing chain-mail, as we know from a reference by an English observer in Ireland a year after the Battle of Kinloch-Lochy. This is supported in tradition by the tale that the armourers of Clanranald and the Frasers laid blows on one another to test the quality of their workmanship. It was not until the following century that Highland armies advanced into battle clad only in plaid without body armour. In August 1645 at the Battle of Kilsyth Montrose's Highland and Irish troops threw off their plaid and fought with their shirts tied between their legs, gaiving this fight a better claim to the title of Blar-na-Leine. Battle of Aberdeen Conflict Wars of the Three Kingdoms Date August 15, 1645 Place Aberdeen, Scotland Result Royalist Victory The Battle of Kilsyth was an engagement of the Scottish Civil War which took place on August 15, 1645. ...
Fortress Moidart Huntly appears to have been unable to mount an effective response to this humiliation. Although he wasted the lands of some of the rebels, he made no attempt to penetrate the dangerous Rough Bounds. For some considerable time afterwards he took no more part in pacifying the north, drawn off by affairs elsewhere in Scotland. This allowed John and his allies to take revenge on the Grants of Glenmoriston, Huntly's allies, and a spectacular revenge it was. In April 1545 the Captain of Clanranald, aided by Cameron of Lochiel and the chiefs of Glengarry, Keppoch and Glencoe, swept east and carried out a month-long raid in the neighbourhood of Urquhart Castle, carrying off a huge quantity of livestock and other moveable goods. What could not be removed was burned. In September John was summoned before parliament on a charge of treason. Secure in the Rough Bounds, he ignored this summons and several others like it. Faced with such intransigence the government was reduced to impotence. Some ten years later the following question was placed before parliament-'be quhat means may all of Scotland be brocht to universal obedience and how may Johne Moydart...be dantonit'. Significantly no answer was ever recorded. John finally died in 1584, defiant to the last. He deserves to be remembered as the greatest of all of the Captains of Clanranald.
References - The Book of Clanranald, in Reliquae Celticae, vol. II ed. A. MacBain and J. Kennedy, 1894.
- Fraser, James, The Chronicles of the Frasers. The Wardlaw Manuscript, ed. W. Mackay, 1905.
- Grant, N., Scottish Clans and Tartans.Crescent Books, New York, 1987 ISBN 0-517-49901-0.
- Gregory, D., History of the Western Highlands and Islands of Scotland, 1975 reprint.
- Hill, J. M., The Distinctiveness of Gaelic Warfare, 1400-1750, in The European History Quarterly, vol. 22, 1992.T
- Lesley, Bishop John, The History of Scotland from the Death of King James I, 1830.
- MacDonald C., Moidart, or among the Clanranalds, 1889.
- Mackay, D. N., Clan warfare in the Scottish Highlands, 1922.
Notes - ^ The day is said to have been so hot that both sides threw off their plaids, fighting in their shirts. This supposedly gave rise to the Gaelic name for the battle of Blar-na-Leine-'the Field of the Shirts-though this may be a mistake for Blar-na-Leana-'the Field of the Swampy Meadow.'
- ^ [1]
- ^ Iain Mùideartach, Ian Moidartach.
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