Qualla: Battle of Linlithgow Bridge

Battle of Linlithgow Bridge: Introduction

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Margaret Tudor wanted her son back. The fourteen-year-old King James V had been a virtual prisoner of his stepfather Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, for nearly a year, and on 4 September 1526 the mother's plan to free him came down to a forced river crossing at a place called Manuel Convent, a mile upstream from Linlithgow. The boggy ground would soak men's boots before they ever reached the enemy. The uphill charge against Pace Hill would do the rest.

Battle of Linlithgow Bridge: The Mother's Move

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

When James IV died at Flodden in 1513, he left behind a one-year-old heir and a country that would spend the next decade and a half being managed by other people's ambitions. Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII, served briefly as regent before remarriage cost her the role. By 15...

Battle of Linlithgow Bridge: Pace Hill

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Angus moved faster than Margaret had hoped. He sent James Hamilton, the Earl of Arran, ahead with 2,500 men to delay the march by any means available. Arran did the sensible thing - he climbed Pace Hill, the ridge overlooking Linlithgow and the River Avon, and waited. Lennox arri...

Battle of Linlithgow Bridge: The Murder

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Arran's outnumbered force nearly broke. They were close to losing the ridge when reinforcements arrived from Edinburgh under Angus himself, followed by the reluctant teenage king who had been hauled along to legitimise whatever happened. The Lennox army collapsed. Men died on the...

Battle of Linlithgow Bridge: What the Battle Bought

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Margaret's gambit failed at Linlithgow Bridge, but the timeline she had set in motion did not. James remained under Angus's control for two more years. Then in 1528, aged sixteen, the young king slipped out of Edinburgh and rode to his mother at Stirling. He assumed personal rule...