| Marian Civil War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the European wars of religion | |||||||
 Woodcut of the Siege of Edinburgh Castle held for Mary in 1573, from Holinshed's Chronicles (1577) | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 King's Men supported by: England |
Queen's Men | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Regent Moray Regent Lennox Regent Mar Regent Morton William Drury |
Duke of Châtellerault Earl of Huntly Lord Fleming Kirkcaldy of Grange Gordon of Auchindoun | ||||||
The Marian civil war in Scotland (1568–1573) was a period of conflict which followed the abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her escape from Lochleven Castle in May 1568. Those who ruled in the name of her infant son James VI fought against the supporters of the Queen, who was exiled in England. Edinburgh Castle, which was garrisoned in her name, became the focus of the conflict and surrendered only after an English intervention in May 1573. The conflict in 1570 was called an "internecine war in the bowels of this commonwealth",[1] and the period was called soon after an "internecine war driven by questions against authority."[2]
- ^ Register Privy Council of Scotland, Addenda, vol. 14, p. 50
- ^ Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 361 no. 437, an English comment of 1579 referring 1568–1573: Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1982), pp. vi, 274 no. 1674, Latin phrase "tempore ultimi intestini belli nostro in regno concitani per questionem tunc contra nostram authoritatem commotam", referring to May 1571.