Battle of Corrichie
Who Fought
History & Significance
The Battle of Corrichie was fought on the slopes of the Hill of Fare in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on 28 October 1562. It was fought between the forces of George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly, chief of Clan Gordon, and the forces of Mary, Queen of Scots, under James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray.
Huntly had defeated the English twenty years earlier at the Battle of Haddon Rig; however, at Corrichie he was defeated by Queen Mary's forces, and apparently he died of apoplexy after his capture. Mary had come in person to the north of Scotland intent on confronting the power of the Gordons. At Corrichie, the Gordons' tactic of charging with swords was defeated by Moray's pike drill.
George Buchanan described the events of 1562 in his History of Scotland. The Earl of Huntly had lost the earldoms of Moray and Mar, which he considered his heritage, and became an enemy of the new Earl of Moray, the half-brother of Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary and Moray arrived at Aberdeen in mid-August, and met the Earl and Countess of Huntly. A stumbling block in their discussions was the case of their son, John Gordon who had fought with James Ogilvie in Edinburgh. Mary wished that he be imprisoned in Stirling Castle. (It had previously been suggested that John might marry Mary, but only in order to manipulate his father.) Mary and Huntly journeyed together towards Huntly Castle but the Queen, impatient at Huntly's refusal to hand over his son turned back. The English diplomat Thomas Randolph wrote that Mary came within four miles of Huntly Castle, but would not go there. Randolph accepted an invitation and stayed two nights, commenting that the house was "fayer, beste furnishede of anye howse that I have seen in thys countrie."
Mary and her court then travelled to Inverness Castle, but the Gordon Captain refused to give the royal castle to the Queen's representative. At this time the Clan Chattan deserted Huntly and joined the Queen, and others of what Buchanan calls the "ancient Scots" meaning the Gàidhealtachd came to her aid, with the Frasers and Munros. They easily took Inverness Castle on 9 September, and the Gordon garrison was executed (or at least, the Captain). Mary and her court returned to Aberdeen. Huntly tried to get intelligence of the Queen's intentions via his cousin the Earl of Sutherland, but Sutherland's correspondence was discovered and he was forced to flee. Huntly was now close to Aberdeen at Corrichie.
The English diplomat Thomas Randolph, who accompanied Queen Mary to Aberdeen, described the battle in letters to William Cecil. These letters add more detail. Randolph says that Huntly had a royal cannon at Huntly Castle (then called Strathbogie) which he had been given by Regent Arran. Mary demanded its return with short notice. Her men went to Huntly Castle on 9 October and attempted to capture the Earl, but he escaped over a low wall at the back gate. The Countess of Huntly stayed at Strathbogie and the Earl went to his house at Badenoch, the site of Ruthven Barracks, and was declared a rebel on 17 October. John Knox mentions another incident which angered the Queen; Mary had sent Captain Stewart with 60 men to seize Findlater Castle. They were surprised in the night at Cullen by Huntly's son John Gordon and sustained a number of casualties.
The ground they fought on
The site of Battle of Corrichie lies on Unnamed Igneous Intrusion, Late Silurian To Early Devonian, bedrock that formed in the Early Devonian. The rock here is felsic-rock.
The aftermath produced one of the strangest legal proceedings in Scottish history. Because an old law held that a charge of treason must be answered whether the accused were living or dead, Huntly's body was disembowelled, salted and embalmed, then shipped to Edinburgh. In May 1563, some seven months after he died, the preserved corpse was stood upright before a full session of Parliament, with the Queen on her throne, and solemnly convicted of treason. The Gordon lands and titles were forfeited, and the body was not released for burial until 1566.
- Rebels: Clan Gordon; Clan Brodie: 120 killed; 100 captured
Frequently Asked Questions
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- Battle of Corrichie · Wikipedia
- Mary, Queen of Scots: The Fall of Huntly · Tudor Times