Features - Notable Dates in History

1 August 1560	The Scottish Parliament abolished Papal jurisdiction and approved a Calvinistic Confession of Faith, thus founding the Presbyterian Church of Scotland under the leadership of John Knox.
5 December 1560	King Francis II of France, husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, died from a brain abscess in Paris, leaving her a widow at only 17.
20 December 1560	First General Assembly of the Church of Scotland met in Edinburgh.
14 August 1561	Mary, Queen of Scots, set sail from Calais for Scotland.
19 August 1561	Mary Queen of Scots landed at Leith from exile in France to take over the reins of government. She returned a widow following the death of her husband Francis, King of France, on 6 December 1560.
23 January 1562	Licence granted for lead-mining in Upper Clydesdale, including Wanlockhead.
28 October 1562	Royal forces led by James Stewart, Earl of Moray, defeated George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly, in the Battle of Corrichie. Huntly lost his life in taking up arms against Mary, Queen of Scots.
4 June 1563	Act passed by the Scottish Parliament, The Three Estates, making witchcraft punishable by death.
11 September 1564	Mary Queen of Scots gifted the former orchard of the Greyfriars Monastery to the burgh of Dundee as a burial ground.
7 April 1565	Mary Queen of Scots ordered a Roman alter and bath-house discovered at Inveresk, near Musselburgh, to be protected.
29 July 1565	Mary Queen of Scots married her cousin Henry, Lord Darnley, in the old Abbey Chapel at Palace of Holyrood, Edinburgh.
9 March 1566	David Riccio, Italian-born confidential secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots, was murdered by Scottish nobles led by her husband Darnley, in the Palace of Holyrood.
19 June 1566	Birth of James VI, only son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Lord Darnley, in Edinburgh.
10 February 1567	Murder of Henry, Lord Darnley, estranged husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, in Kirk o Field.
24 April 1567	First printed book ever published in Gaelic, translated from English by Bishop John Carsewell of the Isles, was 'Forms of Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Catechism of the Christian Faith'.
15 May 1567	Marriage of Mary Queen of Scots and James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, in Holyroodhouse, “not with the mass but with preaching at ten hours afore noon”. “Bot within four dayis thaireftir, finding oportunitie, be ressoun we wer past secrtlie towartis Sttriveling to visit the Prince our derrest sone, in oure returning he awaited us be the way accumpaneit with a greit force, and led us with all diligence to Dunbar. Being thair, we reprochit him… Albeit we fand his doingis rude, yit wer his answer and wordis bot gentill. Eftir he had be thir meanis, and mony utheris, brocht us agaitward to his intent, he partlie extorted and partlie obtenit oure promeis to tak him to oure husband.” The Queen’s Account from her Instructions to the Bishop of Dunblane to the Court of France.
15 June 1567	Mary Queen of Scots surrendered to the Protestant Lords at Carberry Hill, near Musselburgh. She was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle but her husband, James Boswell, escaped abroad. “For the laird of Grange was declairen unto the Quen how that they all wald honour and sere hir, sa that sche wald abandon the Erle Bodowell, wha was the mourtherer of hir awen husband; and culd not be a husband unto hir, that had bot laitly married the Erle of Huntleis sister. Then the Quen sent again for the laird of Grange and said to him, that gin the lordis wald do as he had spoken to hir, sche suld put away the Erle Bodowell and com unto them. Then he raid up again and saw the Erle Bodowell part, and led Hir Maieste be the brydill doun the bra unto the lordis, Hir Maieste was that nycht convoyed to Edenbrough. As sche cam throw the toun, the common people cryed out against her Maieste at the windowes and staires, quhilk was a pitie to heir.” Sir James Melville – memoirs
17 June 1567	Mary, Queen of Scots, imprisoned in Lochleven castle by the Council of Scotland and compelled to abdicate in favour of her son (James VI).
29 July 1567	James VI was crowned at Stirling. Regarded as 'The Wisest Fool in Christendom' he succeeded to the English throne in 1603. He subsequently only revisited his Northern Kingdom once.
31 December 1567	Dundee merchant Robert Jack was hanged and quartered for bringing counterfeit coins called ‘hard heads’ into Scotland.
2 May 1568	Mary, Queen of Scots, escaped from Loch Leven Castle. She had been forced to abdicate in favour of her son James (VI) on 24 July 1567.
13 May 1568	Battle of Langside, the final defeat of Mary, Queen of Scots, in her attempt to regain the throne from her son, James V1, and his supporters. She fled to England and was imprisoned until her execution in 1587.
15 May 1568	Mary Queen of Scots sailed from Port Mary across the Solway Firth to begin her exile and imprisonment in England.
8 September 1568	An outbreak of plaque began in Edinburgh, brought to the city, it was said, by a merchant James Dalgleish. In six months some 2,500 died.
1 October 1568	The Bannatyne MS, the most extensive collection of early Scottish poetry extant, made by George Bannatyne, an Edinburgh merchant, while living in Newtyle in Angus, to escape the plaque. "Heir endis this buik, writtin in tyme of pest, Quhen we fra labor was compeld to rest Into the thre last monethis of this yeir, From oure Redemaris birth, to knaw it heir, Ane thousand is, fyve hundreth, threscoir aucht." From the Envoi of the Collection.
23 January 1570	James Stewart, Earl of Moray, Regent of Scotland, assassinated by James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh at Linlithgow.
14 February 1570	Protestant Reformer John Knox conducted the funeral service of the assassinated Regent of Scotland, James Stewart, Earl of Moray. Known as ‘the good regent’, Moray was shot by James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh as he rode through Linlithgow in January 1570 and died within hours.
4 September 1571	Regent Lennox, Mathew 4^th Earl of Lenox, was killed in a skirmish with Marian supporters. He became Regent in July 1570, on behalf of his grandson James VI, King of Scots, following the assassination of James Stewart, Earl of Moray and Regent and was succeeded by John Erskine, Earl of Mar.
5 September 1571	John Erskine, Earl of Mar, appointed as regent for the young James VI.
28 October 1572	Death of John Erskine, Earl of Mar, Regent for the young James VI, King of Scots. He had only served as Regent since 1571 when he succeeded Lennox.
9 November 1572	Protestant Reformer John Knox preached his last sermon in Edinburgh.
24 November 1572	Death of John Knox, leading Scottish Protestant reformer. He was the founder of Scottish Presbyterianism and author of the 'History of the Reformation in Scotland'.
23 February 1573	Pacification of Perth ended fighting in Scotland between Regent Morton, James Douglas, 4^th Earl of Morton, and supporters of the deposed Mary Queen of Scots.
14 April 1575	Death of James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, third husband of Mary Queen of Scots, at Dragsholm Castle in Denmark. He had been a prisoner since 1567 and is thought to have become mad. His body is preserved in Faarevejle Church.
7 July 1575	The Raid of the Reidswire, one of the last skirmishes between Scottish and English borderers, resulted in a victory for the Scots under the Laird of Carmichael. " Then raise the slogan with ane shout - 'Fy Tindaill to it! Jedbrugh's here! "
4 March 1578	A Dutchman was given a 19 year licence to search for gold and silver in Scotland: efforts were concentrated in Clydesdale and Nithsdale.
10 July 1579	The first Bible to be printed in Scotland was published.
17 August 1579	Dunbar herring fleet of 60 boats was devasted by hurricane force winds in the Forth Estuary; some 300 men were said to have perished.
28 January 1580	King James VI signed the Confession of Faith, "The King's or Negative Confession", later incorporated into the National Covenant of 1638.
2 June 1581	The Regent Morton was executed for complicity in the murder of Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, it is said by the ‘Maiden’, a guillotine he himself had introduced to Scotland. “The man that brought me these news came from Edinburgh on Friday last at two of the clock, and then the said Earl of Morton was standing on the scaffold, and it is thought the accusations that were laid against him were very slender, and that he died very stoutly.” Letter from Sir John Fraser to Sir Francis Walsingham
24 February 1582	Pope Gregory XIII announced the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, replacing the Julian calendar . That was acknowleged by Scotland in 1600, and adopted by England in 1752, by which time a loss adjustment of eleven days had to be 'fixed'.
14 April 1582	The University of Edinburgh was founded, the youngest of the four ancient Scottish universities – ‘The Tounis College’ was chartered by James VI, King of Scots, and opened in 1583 when 80 students were enrolled under Robert Rollock, the first ‘Regent’.
3 July 1582	James Crichton of Eliock, “the Admirable Crichton”, graduate of St Andrews University, tutor of James VI, King of Scots, soldier and scholar, was killed in a brawl in Mantua. “The Scotsman, James Crichton, is a youth who on the 19^th of August last completed his 20^th year. He is master of ten languages, Latin and Italian in perfection, and Greek so as to compose epigrams in that tongue, Hebrew, Chaldaic, Spanish, French, Flemish, English and Scots, and he also understands the German. He is most skilled in philosophy, theology, mathematics, and astrology…He possesses a most thorough knowledge of the Cabala. His memory is so astonishing that he knows not what it is to forget. In his person he is extremely beautiful: his address is that of a finished gentleman. A soldier at all points, he has attained to great excellence in leaping and dancing and to a remarkable skill in the use of every sort of arms. He is a remarkable horseman and an admirable jouster.” From a handbill by Domenico and Giovanni Battista – Guerra, Venice 1580.
22 August 1582	Ruthven Raid in which Protestant supporters captured James VI, King of Scots, while he was out hunting and held him captive until June 1583.
20 September 1582	Death of George Buchanan, noted historian, scholar and tutor to James VI, King of Scots, in Edinburgh. He was buried in Greyfriars’ Churchyard and was regarded as ‘The finest writer of the tongue of ancient Rome since the age of Augustus’ and ‘one of the founders of modern constitutional liberty.’
23 June 1585	The coining of gold, silver and alloy switched from Edinburgh to Dundee; the Exchequer to Falkland and the Court of Session to Stirling because of plaque in the Capital.
13 December 1585	Birth of William Drummond of Hawthornden, poet, at Hawthornden Castle, the family home perched on a rock above Lothian river Esk. Educated at Edinburgh’s High School and University, he was well read in European literature and became a major poet of the late renaissance. He studied law at Bourges and Paris, but returned to Scotland when his father died in 1619, to become Laird of Hawthornden.
21 October 1586	The coining of gold, silver and alloy which was being carried out in Dundee, after a plaque outbreak in Edinburgh, was transferred to Perth following a plaque outbreak in Dundee.
25 October 1586	Death sentence was pronounced against Mary, Queen of Scots. she had been imprisoned in England since 1568.
1 February 1587	Queen Elizabeth I of England signed warrant for the execution of her cousin Mary Queen of Scots.
8 February 1587	Mary Queen of Scots was executed, after nearly 19 years of imprisonment, for her implication in the Babington Plot to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I of England and restore Roman Catholicism in England. The execution took place at Fotheringay Castle in Northampshire, England.
28 May 1588	Alison Peirson, a healer of disease ‘by magical powers’, was tried for witchcraft and burnt at St Andrews.
29 September 1589	The court of James VI, King of Scots, was stunned by the death of Jane Kennedy, Lady Melville, who was drowned when a ferry sank in the Forth. She had attended Mary Queen of Scots on the scaffold at Fotheringay Castle, England, in 1587.
24 November 1589	Marriage of Anne of Denmark, daughter of Frederick II, to James VI, King of Scots, in Oslo.
1 April 1591	After a siege lasting a year Dumbarton Castle was taken in a daring action by Captain Thomas Crawford of Jordanhill on behalf of James VI, King of Scots. Only Edinburgh Castle was left in the hands of supporters of the deposed Mary, Queen of Scots.
5 June 1592	Scottish Parliament passed act which established Presbyterian government in the Scottish Church after the Reformation – “Act for abolishing of the Acts contrair the trew religion”.
1 July 1592	Charter granted to Sir Alexander Fraser of Philorth to found a university at Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire. "To edifie and big up collegis, nocht onlie till the great decoirement of the cuntrey, bot also to the advancement of the loist and tint youthe in bringing tham up in leirning and vertew." - Act of Scottish Parliament 16 December 1597 endowing the college.
2 April 1593	The College of New Aberdeen, founded by the Earl Marischal of Scotland, George Keith of Inverugie, now part of the University of Aberdeen.
3 October 1594	Royal force under the 7th Earl of Argyll were defeated in the Battle of Glenlivet by Catholic lords led by the 4th Earl of Huntly.
19 January 1595	A street fight occurred between supporters of the Earl of Montrose and Sir James Sandilands at Edinburgh’s Salt Tron. At least two men were killed and Sandilands badly wounded.
24 March 1595	Peace of Boulogne ended England’s war with France and Scotland.
15 September 1595	Edinburgh High School scholars rioted and seized control of the school buildings after being refused a holiday. Bailie John MacMorrane was shot dead by one of the scholars, William Sinclair, during the riot. The scholar was freed without punishment.
11 April 1596	William Armstrong, a noted moss-trooper, was rescued from English imprisonment in Carlise Castle, giving rise to the Border Ballad ‘Kinmont Willie’. The successful rescue was led by his kinsman Walter Scott of Buccleuch, Keeper of Liddlesdale, Armstrong of Kinmont, near Canonbie, was one of the most successful of the Border Reivers and could rally up to 1000 horsemen in his raids into Northumberland and Cumberland. “And when we cam to the lower prison. Where Willie of Kinmont he did lie, ‘O, sleep ye, wake ye, Kinmont Willie, Upon the morn that thou’s to die?... ‘Farewell, farewell. My gude Lord Scrope! My gude Lord Scrope, farewell!’ he cried; ‘I’ll pay you back for my lodging mail, When first we meet on the Borderside.’ “ From the Ballad of Kinmont Willie
3 August 1596	Englishman John Dickson was hanged in Edinburgh for calling James VI, King of Scots, “ane bastard king not worthy to be obeyed.” He had been requested to move his ship by royal officers.
21 December 1596	James Carmichael, second son of the Laird of Carmichael, killed Stephen Bruntfield, Captain of Tantallon in a duel at St Leonard's Craig, Edinburgh.
19 February 1597	Janet Wishart was burnt as a witch in Aberdeen.
25 March 1597	A huge crowd witnessed the execution of Margaret Clerk or Bain, Lumphanan, as a witch in Aberdeen. It was claimed that she had been taught ‘The Black Art’ by her sister who had previously been executed as a witch in Edinburgh.
17 December 1599	James VI, King of Scots, through the Privy Council, decided that Scotland should come into line with other 'well governit commonwealths'. like France and have New Year's Day on 1 January instead of 25 March.
1 January 1600	Scotland recognised 1 January for first time as the official start of the New Year. Previously the New Year officially started on 25 March (Lady Day). In December 1599 King James VI and his Privy Council resolved to bring Scotland into line with other 'well governit commonwealths' like France.
5 August 1600	The Gowrie Conspiracy, an unsuccessful attempt by Alexander, Lord Ruthven, and his brother the Earl of Gowrie to seize James VI, King of Scots, at Gowrie House in Perth, The King alleged that he was threatened with death and his followers who ‘rescued’ him killed the brothers.
19 November 1600	Birth of Charles I, reigned 1625 - 1649, at Dunfermline Palace, Dunfermline.
4 December 1600	Death of John Craig, aged 88, eminent Reformation preacher and colleague of John Knox. He assisted in the compilation of the Second Book of Discipline.
5 December 1600	Founding of the Scots College, Collegio Scozzese, in Rome, Italy, by Pope Clement VIII, following the outlawing of receiving a Catholic education in Scotland.
24 November 1601	An outbreak of plague at Crail in Fife and in the Renfrewshire parishes of Eaglesham. Eastwood and Pollok was reported.
16 March 1602	With the royal family in residence at Dunfermline, the Queensferry passage across the Forth was suspended in order to prevent the plaque being brought from Edinburgh to Fife.
24 March 1603	King James VI of Scotland succeeded to the throne of England to begin reign as James I of England on death of Queen Elizabeth. The news was brought from England by Sir Robert Carey who reached Hollyrood on the 26th March.
5 April 1603	James VI, King of Scots, left Edinburgh for his new kingdom of England. He only returned to Scotland once during his reign as King James I of England. “This I must say for Scotland, and may truly vaunt it. Here I sit and governe with my Pen. I write and it is done, and by a Clearke of the Councell I governe Scotland now, which others could not do by the sword.’ King James to the English Parliament, 1607.
5 May 1603	A public postal system, with posts between Edinburgh and Berwick, was established at Canongate Foot, Haddington and Cockburnspath. ‘To appoint, constitute and plaice in townes maist commodious for that purpois betwixt this and Berwick postmaisters haifing grantit unto thame allowance and standing fie for intertyning of hors for the pacquets and ar bund to serve the carriage thairof alsweiill by nicht and day.’ Register of the Privy Council VI. 567.
5 November 1605	The Gunpowder Plot to blow up James VI, King of Scots, II of England, and the English Houses of Parliament were foiled. ‘When Johnson [Guy Fawkes] was brought to the King’s presence, the King asked him how he could conspire so hideous a treason against his children, and so many innocent souls, which never offended him? He answered that it was true; but a dangerous disease required a desperate remedy. He told some of the Scots that his intent was to have blown them back again into Scotland.’ Letter from Sir E Hobart to English Ambassador at Brussels, 19 November 1605.
12 April 1606	A union flag incorporating the St George’s Cross of England and the St Andrew’s Cross of Scotland was introduced by proclamation by James VI, King of Scots, and I of England.
4 April 1609	The various clans forming Clan Chatton met at a house called Termit on Petty Ridge to renew their confederation of mutual support first created in 1397 after the Battle of the North Inch. ‘The Bond of Union’ was witnessed by the Inverness provost, the burgh clerk and the Petty minister. Clan Chatton which included MacPhersons, Macintoshes and MacGillvrays were loyal supporters of the Stewarts. The ‘Bond of Union’ was renewed in 1664 and extended to include the Farquharsons for the first time.
23 August 1609	The Statutes of Icolmkill were agreed upon by the chieftains of the Isles before Bishop Andrew Knox of the Isles at Iona.
27 July 1610	Twenty-seven pirates who had plaqued shipping around the coast of Scotland and had been captured in Orkney were hanged in Leith.
24 December 1610	A licence was granted for Scotland’s first glass-factory which opened a few years later at Wemyss in Fife making high quality window glass.
10 March 1615	St John Ogilvie, Banffshire-born Jesuit priest, the only Roman Catholic martyr in Scotland, was hanged for refusing to renounce the supremacy of the Pope. He was canonised in 1976.
14 August 1615	Three Edinburgh citizens convicted of helping Catholics, including John Ogilvie, received a stay of execution; their sentences were commuted to banishment.
6 November 1616	Captain William Murray was granted a patent giving him the sole privilege of importing tobacco to Scotland for a period of 21 years.
10 December 1616	Ordinance for establishment of parish schools in Scotland. The same act of the Privy Council commended the abolition of Gaelic. ‘The Kingis Majestie, with advise of the Lordis of his Secreit Counsall, hes thocht it necessar and expedient that in everie parroche of this Kingdome whair convenient meanes may be had for interteyning a scoole, that a scoole salbe establisheit, upoun the expensis of the parrochinneris. Register of the Privy Council X. 671. This had been approved by the General Assembly in 1652.
4 April 1617	Death of John Napier of Merchiston, Scotland's greatest mathematician and inventor of logarithms. "A Description of the Admirable Table of Logarithms; with a declaration of the most plentifull, easy and speedy use thereof in both kinds of Trigonometrie, as also in all Mathematical calculations." The Title of the English translation 1616
16 May 1617	Against the wishes of his English advisors, James VI, King of Scots, returned to Edinburgh, for his first and only visit to Scotland, following his accession to the English throne as James I in 1603 on the death of Elizabeth I.
24 September 1617	Death of Charles Ferme of Fairholme, minister of Fraserburgh and principal of the short-lived university of Fraserburgh.
2 November 1619	Patent granted to Nathaniel Udwart of Edinburgh for a monopoly in the manufacture of soap. 'Haveing fund his greene soap to be als goode and sufficient as the soape of that kind broght from Flanderis.' From the Privy Council Commission's Report, 1621.
29 September 1621	Charter to colonise Nova Scotia granted to Sir William Alexander of Menstrie. "Our pleasure is, that yow graunt unto the sayd Sir William, his heires and assignes, or to anie other that will joyne with him ... a Signatour under our Great Seale of the sayde lands lying between New England and Newfoundland, To be holden off us from our Kingdome of Scotland as a part thereof." Letter of King James VI to the Privy Concil of Scotland, 5 August 1621
12 February 1624	Death of George Heriot, aged 61, ‘Jingling Geordie’ wealthy Edinburgh goldsmith to James VI, King of Scots. As banker to the king he moved with James to London in 1603 where he amassed further wealth and on his death bequeathed £23,625 to found the Edinburgh school and hospital which perpetuate his name.
23 June 1624	King Charles I gave £500 towards a relief appeal following the destruction of his birthplace Dunfermline by fire; parishes throughout Scotland contributed to the appeal.
18 July 1629	Supporters of the rival Earls of Cassilis and Wigton were ordered off the streets of Edinburgh where they had been parading in a 'tumultous manner', recalling disorders of the previous century.
29 May 1630	Birth of King Charles II, known as 'The Merry Monarch', he was the last king to be crowned in Scotland, at Scone on 1 January 1651.
8 October 1630	Six people, including Lord Melcum, were burned to death when the castle of Frendraught near Huntly caught fire around midnight. Arson was suspected and John Meldrum was later tried, convicted and executed.
24 April 1633	Warrant from the Privy Council to Sir John Hepburn to raise regiment of 1200 men to fight in the French service. The recruits came mainly from Scottish mercenaries of Gustavus Aldolphus in the Thirty Years' War. The cops ultimately became the First Regiment of Foot, the Royal Scots.
19 June 1633	Charles I was crowned king of Scots at Holyroodhouse, eight years after his accession.
10 July 1633	In a sudden and violent storm King Charles I's baggage ferry, The Blessing', sank in the Forth off Burntisland. The King watched the ship sink. Thirty-three drowned and royal household goods and a vast treasure sank without trace.
14 October 1633	Birth of James VII, King of Scots, (II of England0, second son of King Charles I. He succeeded to the thrones on 5 February 1685 on the death of his brother Charles II.
23 July 1637	Laud’s Prayer Book riot in the High Kirk of St Giles, Edinburgh, when the Dean, James Hanna, started to read the new liturgy ordered by King Charles I. The Kirk was forcibly emptied and the doors locked. “The Dean, Mr James Hanna, was mightily upbraidit… One did cast a stool at him intending to have given him a ticket of remembrance; but jouking became his safeguard at that time… A good Christian woman betook herself to her Bible in a remote corner of the Church. A young man sitting behind her began to sound forth ‘Amen!’ At the hearing thereof, she quickly turned her about, and after she had warmed both his cheeks with the weight of her hands, she thus shot against him the thunderbolt of her zeal. ‘False thief!’ said she, ‘is there no other part of the kirk to sing mass in, but thou must sing it at my lug?’ “ From a pamphlet of the Covenanting period.
3 October 1637	Almost a hundred soldiers drowned when four ships lying at harbour in Aberdeen were driven ashore and wrecked during a gale.
28 February 1638	The launch of the document which became known as the National Covenant, a petition against King Charles 1's unpopular religious and political policies, in Greyfriars Kirkyard, Edinburgh. Before signing commenced the document was read by one of the authors, the lawyer Archibald Johnston of Wariston, and prayers had been said by his fellow co-author, Alexander Henderson, minister of Leuchars in Fife. Many of Scotland's noblemen then signed the document; this was followed the next day by the signatures of some 300 ministers and also representatives of Royal Burghs.
6 November 1638	Birth of James Gregory, inventor of the reflecting telescope, in Drumoak, Aberdeenshire. He was educated in Aberdeen and Padua and became professor in both St Andrews and Edinburgh.
14 May 1639	Trot of Turriff, opening engagement in the Covenating Wars: Aberdeenshire Royalists drove out a small force of Covenanters.
19 March 1641	Foundation stone of Hutcheson's Grammar School, Glasgow, laid by the philanthropist Thomas Hutcheson. It was established as a residential school for the poor of the city.
7 April 1641	Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromdale knighted by King Charles I at Whitehall, England. Poet, historian and eccentric humourist, he is best known for his translation of the first three books of Rabelais. he was educated at King's College, Aberdeen, fought on the royalist side in the Civil War, and is said to have died with laughter at the news of the Restoration in 1660.
28 March 1642	The Scots Guards were commissioned. "Whereas the Lords of our Privvy Councill of Scotland, enabled by an Act of Parliament to that purpose out of the speciall trust and confidence of the approved wisdome valour and abilities of Archibald Marquis of Argyle, have chosen and appointed the said Marquis to be chiefe comander of one Regiment of our Scottish subjects consisting of the number of fifteene hundred men more or fewer to be forthwith raysed in our Kingdome of Scotland..." From the Letters Patent under the Great Seal.
14 September 1643	Foundation of the Scots Church in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, by exiled Covenanters.
29 November 1643	The Solemn League and Covenant between Scottish Covenanters and English Parliamentarians against Charles I was signed.
13 April 1644	James Graham, 5th Earl and 1st Marquis of Montrose, unfurled the Royal Standard prior to a brilliant campaign against his former Covenanting allies.
1 September 1644	James Graham, 5th Earl and 1st Marquis of Montrose, began his victorious year-long campaign by defeating a larger Covenanter army under Lord Elcho at the Battle of Tippermuir, 4 miles from Perth.
13 September 1644	The city of Aberdeen was sacked by Royalist forces following their victory in the Battle of Aberdeen. The Royalists led by James Graham, 5th Earl and 1st Marquis of Montrose, lacked sufficient troops to hold the city and afterwards retreated towards Speyside.
10 January 1645	Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, was beheaded on Tower Hill, London, England, for treason. He introduced press censorship, persecuted Puritans and provoked the Bishops' War in Scotland by trying to impose the English Prayer Book.
2 February 1645	Royalist army led by James graham, 5th Earl and 1st Marquis of Montrose routed the Earl of Argyll's Covenating forces in the Battle of Inverlochy.
9 May 1645	James Graham, 5th Earl and 1st Marquis of Montrose led Royalist army to victory over Covenant forces under Hurry in the Battle of Auldearn, Nairnshire.
2 July 1645	The Royalist army led by James Graham, 5^th Earl and 1^st Marquis of Montrose, defeated Covenanting forces under William Baillie in the Battle of Alford.
15 August 1645	During his brilliant campaign against the Covenanters James Graham, 5th Earl and 1st Marquis of Montrose, routed a force under William Baillie at Kilsyth.
13 September 1645	The brilliant campaign waged by James Graham, 5th Earl and 1st Marquis of Montrose, on behalf of King Charles I ended at the Battle of Philiphaugh, near Selkirk, where his Royalist force was overwhelmingly defeated by the Scottish Covenanting army under General Sir David Leslie.
5 May 1646	King Charles I surrendered to the Scottish army at Newark. In settlement of the indemnity agreed at Ripon (The Treaty of Ripon, 1641) the Scots eventually agreed to hand the King over to the English parliament.
30 January 1647	Scots handed over King Charles I to English Parliamentary forces.
27 August 1647	The General Assembly approved the Westminster Confession of Faith.
19 January 1649	King Charles I was put on trial before an unrepresentative English Parliament. He had surrendered to the Scottish army in 1646 and was handed over by the Scots to the English Parliament in 1647 following a settlement of indemnity agreed at Ripon.
30 January 1649	Charles I beheaded at Whitehall Palace, London, having been convicted of treason by the English Parliament.
4 February 1649	Charles II was proclaimed king in Edinburgh following his father’s execution in London. “We proclaimed on Monday last the Prince King of Brittaine, France and Ireland,,,The first necessare and prime one (as all here have without exception conceive) doth put his Majestie and his people both in a hopeful proceeding and his Majestie’s joyning with us in the Nationall Covenant, subscribed by his grandfather King James, and the Soleme League and Covenant, wherein all the well-affected of the three kingdoms are entered, and must live and die in, upon all hazards; if his Majestie may be moved to joyn with us in this one point, he will have all Scotland readie to sacrifice their lives for his service.” Letter of Robert Baillie to William Spang, minister of the Scots Kirk at Veere in the Netherlands, 7 February 1649.
9 March 1649	James 3^rd Marquis and 1^st Duke of Hamilton was executed in London. He was commander of the Royalist army in support of the Engagement which was defeated at Preston in 1648 and resulted in his capture by Oliver Cromwell’s forces.
29 March 1650	Birth of William Livingston, Third and last Viscount of Kilsyth. He opposed the 1707 Treaty of Union, between Scotland and England, and supported the Stewarts in the 1715 Jacobite Rising. He was attainted for high treason and his estate forfeited to the crown. He died in exile in Holland on 12 January 1733.
27 April 1650	A covenanting army under Alexander Strachan routed a royalist force led by James Graham, 5^th Earl and 1^st Marquis of Montrose, at Carisdale. Montrose was captured following the battle, sentenced to death by the Scottish Parliament, and executed in Edinburgh on 21 May 1650.
1 May 1650	The metrical version of the Psalms came into official use in the Church of Scotland.
21 May 1650	James Graham, 5th Earl and 1st Marquis of Montrose, was executed by hanging in Edinburgh.
3 September 1650	The Scottish Covenanting army of Charles II, King of Scots, under Sir David Leslie, routed by the English Parliamentarians under Oliver Cromwell at Dunbar.
13 November 1650	The Palace of Holyrood House was largely destroyed by fire whilst being occupied by Cromwell’s English troops. The apartments once used by Mary Queen of Scots were saved.
24 December 1650	Edinburgh Castle surrendered to English army under Oliver Cromwell
1 January 1651	King Charles II crowned at Scone. The last coronation in Scotland.
20 July 1651	A Royalist force supporting King Charles II failed to halt the northward progress of the English Cromwellian army and were heavily defeated in the Battle of Inverkeithing on north shore of the Firth of Forth.
1 September 1651	Over 1,000 men, women and children were killed after General Monck besieged and took Dundee on behalf of the English Cromwellian authorities.
3 September 1651	A Scots Royalist army under King Charles I and David Leslie, Lord Newark, was defeated by Oliver Cromwell at the Battle of Worcester. David Leslie was taken prisoner and spent nine years imprisoned in the Tower Of London.
31 March 1652	The Scottish Regalia, (crown, sceptre and sword), was saved from England’s Oliver Cromwell and hidden beneath the floorboards of Kinneff Parish Church, south of Stonehaven, by the minister Rev James Granger. “I, Mr James Granger, minister at Kinneff, grant me to have in my custody the Honours of the Kingdom, viz. the croun, sceptre and sword. For the croun and sceptre I raised the pavement-stone just before the pulpit in the night tyme and digged under it ane hole and put them in there… The sword again at the west end of the church;… and if it shall please God to call me by death before they be called for, your Ladyship will find them in that place.” Mr James Granger to the Countess Marischall at Dunnotar
20 July 1653	A General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was broken up by Cromwellian troops who were ordered, if necessary, to drag out those attending.
13 September 1653	The Swan, a small three-masted ship, sank in a storm off the Isle of Mull. The vessel was part of a task force sent by Oliver Cromwell to attack Duart Castle, stronghold of the Maclean clan whose chief was loyal to King Charles II. After unloading troops, cannons and supplies, a fierce storm struck sinking three of the six ships, including The Swan. Of the sunken ships only The Swan has been found.
4 May 1654	Proclamation at the Mercat Cross, Edinburgh of the Protectorate and Union with England by General Monck.
25 June 1654	A group of Scots irregulars from the forces of the Earl of Glencairn, who had opposed the English Cromwellian Occupation, were deported from Leith to Barbados.
8 January 1661	Publication of first Scottish newspaper, Mercurius Caledonius. It promised coverage of 'the Affairs now in Agitation in Scotland, with a Survey of Foreign Intelligence'. Only 9 numbers were published, the last dated 28 March 1661.
4 April 1661	Death of Sir Alexander Leslie, 1^st Earl of Leven, ‘Auld Crookit-Back’, leader of the Scottish Army of the Covenant, at Balgonie Castle, Fife. He was captured by Oliver Cromwell at the Battle of Dunbar and imprisoned in the Tower of London, Due to his previous service in the Swedish army, rising to Field Marshal in 1638, the Queen of Sweden interceded and won his parole.
18 June 1661	Act passed appointing a Council of Trade. “His Majestie with advice and consent of his Estates of Parliament, have thought it necessarie that a Councill of Trade be established with powers to… make and set down rules, acts, and ordinances for regulating, improveing and advanceing of trade, navigation, and manufactories, and to establish severall companies and impower them with such privileges, liberties, and immunities as shall be fittest for the good of the service.” Acts of Parliament Scotland VII, 273.
18 December 1661	The "Elizabeth" of Burntisland lost off the English coast with the Scottish records aboard, being returned from London to which they had been taken by Oliver Cromwell.
19 June 1633	Charles I was crowned king of Scots at Holyroodhouse, eight years after his accession.
22 July 1663	Sir Archibald Johnson of Warriston, who drew up the National Covenant (1638), a Lord of Session (1641), a commissioner to the Westminster Assembly (1643), Lord Advocate (1646), and Lord Clerk Register (1649 and again 1657 for Cromwell) was executed at the Mercat Cross, Edinburgh. Following the restoration of King Charles II he was tried and condemned to death for cooperation with the Cromwellian regime.
10 April 1664	Andrew Honyman was consecrated as Bishop of Orkney: he succeeded Bishop Sydserf.
6 February 1665	Birth of Queen Anne, last Stewart monarch, second daughter of King James VI and II.
28 November 1666	The Battle of Rullion Green and defeat of the Covenanters at the hands of Sir Thomas Dalyell.
22 December 1666	After making an impassioned defence of the Covenant, Hugh McKail was executed at the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh; he had been captured during the Pentland Rising.
22 May 1668	Kilmarnock was badly damaged by a fire which made almost almost the entire population of 180 families homeless.
28 January 1669	Postal service was established between Inverness and Edinburgh.
1 January 1671	Reconstitution of the High Court of Justicary, the supreme criminal court in Scotland. "That the ancient and necessar policie and custome of Justices aires and circuit courts, which upon occasion of the late troubles have bein intermitted, should be againe revived and continued." - Register of the Privy Council
9 January 1671	Steeple of St Magnus Cathedral in Orkney was badly damaged by fire after being struck by lightning.
19 January 1671	William Head and John Fergusson were given permission to stage a public lottery anywhere in Scotland; for several years they had operated a successful lottery in England.
7 March 1671	Baptism of Robert MacGregor or Campbell, ‘Rob Roy’, a noted Highland gentleman, freebooter and outlaw.
26 February 1672	Naturalisation granted to Philip van der Straten, a Fleming settled in Kelso, where he had set up a woollen manufactory, the beginning of the Border woollen industry. ‘Anent a petition presented by Philippus van der Straten… intending to reseid in this country and imploy a considerable stock of money in dressing and refining of wooll, in order to which he hath already sett up a work and imployed diverse workmen who are now refining and dressing of Scottes wooll at Kelso… being born in Bruges in Flanders.’ Register of the Privy Council.
3 November 1677	Hundreds were made homeless when a large section of Glasgow’s Saltmarket was destroyed by a fire which was started by an apprentice smith in revenge for a beating from his master.
26 December 1677	Commission to the Marquis of Atholl to raise 'The Highland Host' against the Covenanters.
23 September 1678	The Earl of Mar was commissioned to raise a regiment, to suppress the covenanters, the Earl of Mar's Gray Breeks, later the Royal Scots Fusiliers, who were amalgamated with the HLI to form the Royal Highland Fusiliers in 1959.
3 May 1679	Archbishop James Sharp, of St Andrews, murdered by Covenanters at Magnus Muir, Fife.
12 May 1679	Rev. James Kirkwood MA (1650-1708) became minister of Minto. The father of public libraries in Scotland and author of the anonymous publication of 1699: “An overture for establishing of Bibliothecks in every paroch throughout this kingdom”.
1 June 1679	Battle of Drumclog fought between victorious Covenanters, attending a Conventicle, and Royalist troops under Graham of Claverhouse ( Bonnie Dundee ) in Avondale Parish, Lanarkshire.
13 June 1679	A manifesto known as The Hamilton Declaration was issued by moderate Covenanters before the Battle of Bothwell Brig, demanding Presbyterian government and a free assembly and parliament but expressing loyalty to the King.
22 June 1679	Battle of Bothwell, defeat of the Covenanters under Balfour of Burleigh and Hackson of Rathillet, by Royal Troops led by the Duke of Monmouth.
10 December 1679	Over 200 Covenanter prisoners, taken at Bothwell Bridge, perished when the Crown, en route to the New World, was driven on to the Scarvataing Rocks, Orkney.
22 June 1680	In the Sanquhar Declaration Richard Cameron and his Covenater associates renounced allegiance to King Charles II and declared war on him and his agents.
22 July 1680	Covenanter leader Richard Cameron, ‘The Lion of the Covenant’, and his brother Michael were killed and his forces defeated after fierce resistance at the Battle of Airds ( or Airs) Moss, near Cumnock, by government troops led by Bruce of Earshall. Amongst those taken prisoner was David Hackston of Rathillet, one of Archbishop Sharp’s murderers and the ablest of the Cameronian commanders. The head and hands of Richard Cameron were cut off, taken to Edinburgh and presented to the Privy Council who ordered them to be displayed at the Netherbow.
30 July 1680	Covenanter leader David Hackston of Rathillet, captured at the Battle of Airds (or Airs) Moss, was cruelly executed in Edinburgh. His body was afterwards quartered and his head fixed upon the Netherbow. Other parts of his body were hung at St Andrews, Magnus Moor, Cupar, Burntisland, Leith and Glasgow.
27 July 1681	Leading Covenanter Donald Cargill was hanged and beheaded in Edinburgh.
25 November 1681	Commission from King Charles II to Sir Thomas Dalyell of the Binns to form a regiment of horse, the Royal Regiment of Scots Dragoons, later the Royal Scots Greys, originally for the suppression of the Covenanters.
29 November 1681	The Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, was granted its charter by Charles II.
16 January 1682	Alexander Cockburn, the Edinburgh hangman, was sentenced to death for murdering a beggar.
11 February 1682	Three men drowned after falling through ice on Edinburgh’s Nor Loch, now the site of Waverley Station.
1 March 1682	The Advocates' Library (since 1925 the National Library of Scotland) opened by its founder, Sir George Mackenzie, the Lord Advocate.
13 June 1683	Following the killing of a government soldier, two Covenanters, John Wharry and James Smith, were executed and their bodies hung in chains from Inchbelly Bridge over the River Kelvin.
12 July 1683	Edinburgh merchant Thomas Hamilton, who had been importing beaver and racoon skins from North America, set up Scotland’s first beaver hat factory.
11 September 1683	The Privy Council recommended a licence to mine copper in Midlothian. "The many attempts for finding out and working of copper mines within this kingdom having hitherto proved altogether uneffectuall... and there being a German here called Joachim Gouel who is a skilfull man and hath been conversing all his life in such things he is content to begin so desirable a work without any other encouragement than a gift of a particular copper mine lying within the parish of Currie." Register of the Privy Council VIII.241.
15 October 1684	Birth of Allan Ramsay, poet and editor, at Leadhills, a lead-mining village in Lanarkshire. His most celebrated work 'The Gentle Shepherd', a pastoral comedy, received much praise throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries for its portrayal of the rustic life and manners.
6 February 1685	Death of King Charles II. His coronation at Scone in 1651 was the last held in Scotland.
11 May 1685	Two female Covenanters, Margaret MacLauchlan and Margaret Wilson, were executed by drowning in the narrow channel of the Bladenoch a mile from Wigtown.
30 June 1685	Archibald Campbell, 9^th Earl of Argyll, was executed in Edinburgh. He had refused to sign the Test Act and was condemned to death for treason in 1681 but escaped from Edinburgh castle to the Continent. He was captured in 1685 after returning to Scotland at the head of an invasion force designed to restore the Protestant religion. “We parted suddenly but I hope shall meete happily in heaven. I pray God to bless you and if you seeke him he will be found of you". From his last letter to his son.
4 December 1685	John Louden, a Covenanting martyr, who had fought at Drumclog and Bothwell Brig, was executed in Edinburgh, after being betrayed by a member of his own family.
10 June 1688	Birth of James Francis Edward Stewart, 'The Old Pretender'. His birth set in motion the events which led to the exile of his father James VII and I.
14 March 1689	Meeting of the Convention of Estates of the Scottish Parliament commenced in Edinburgh with the proclamation of the Claim of Right. “Therefore the Estates of the Kingdom of Scotland find and declaire that King James the Seventh being a profest papist did assume the Regall power and acted as king without ever taking the oath required by law, and hath by the advice of evill and wicked counsellors invaded the fundamentall constitution of the Kingdom and altered it from a legall limited monarchy to ane arbitrary despotick power and hath exercised the same to the subversione of the protestant religion and the violation of the laws and liberties of the Kingdome, inverting all the ends of government, whereby he hath forfaulted the right to the croune and throne is become vacant.” From the proclamation of the Convention of Estates.
18 March 1689	The Earl of Leven was commissioned to raise a regiment of 800 in Border country to hold Edinburgh against the Jacobites. It became the King's Own Borderers. James Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, left Edinburgh to raise the Royal Standard on behalf of the exiled James VII, King of Scots.
21 March 1689	The Scottish Convention decided to create a fleet of two frigates, the Pelican and Janet, both of Glasgow, to patrol the west in order to prevent supporters coming from Ireland to join James Graham of Claverhouse’s Jacobite Rising.
11 April 1689	The Scottish Claim of Rights, signed by the Convention of Estates, declared that James VII, King of Scots, by his unconstitional acts had forfeited the Crown and offered vacant throne to William of Orange and his wife Mary, eldest daughter of James.
16 April 1689	John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, raised the Royal Standard on behalf of the exiled James VII on Dundee Law.
19 April 1689	Followers of the Covenater Richard Cameron who had assembled at Edinburgh to guard the Revolution Convention of Estates, formed into a regiment under the Earl of Angus. The Cameronians were disbanded in 1968.
18 May 1689	Jacobite clans mustered under James Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, at Dalcomera. A month earlier he had raised the Royal standard on behalf of the exiled King James VII.
10 July 1689	Glasgow ships The Pelican and Janet were overwhelmed by three French frigates of superior power, who were bringing Irish Jacobite reinforcements to Scotland in support of the Dundee Rising on behalf of the exiled James VII, King of Scots, and II of England. The Scottish Convention had hired the two ships in an attempt to stop such reinforcements.
27 July 1689	Battle of Killiecrankie in which Williamite forces, under the Whig General Mackay, were routed by Jacobites led by John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, who was mortally wounded during the battle.
30 July 1689	James Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, was buried at St Blair’s Kirk, near Blair Atholl, following his death at the Battle of Killiecrankie.
21 August 1689	Seige of Dunkeld where the Covenating Cameron Regiment under William Cleland repulsed attack by Jacobite forces. Cleland died in the engagement but the retreat from Dunkeld by the Jacobites heralded the end of the Rising.
1 May 1690	The defeat of the Jacobite army in the Battle of Cromdale by Government forces marked the end of the Rising raised by Viscount Dundee on behalf of the exiled James VII.
14 May 1690	A fleet of ships departed Greenock for the Western Highlands to begin construction of Fort William as a bastion against Jacobite clans.
12 December 1691	James VII, in exile, signed an order at St Germain allowing the Jacobite clans to sign an oath of allegience to King William ' for their own safety'.
6 January 1692	At Inveraray, Argyll, MacIan, the Chief of Glencoe MacDonalds, was six days late in signing oath of allegiance to King William, setting in motion the events leading to the Glencoe Massacre of 13 February 1692.
13 February 1692	Under orders from King William a Royalist force, under the command of Captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, carried out the Massacre of Glencoe which resulted in the death of 38 MacIan MacDonalds.
24 June 1693	Commission set up by the Scottish Parliament into the Glencoe Massacre presented its findings; John Dalrymple, Master of Stair, had caused a 'barbarous murder', it concluded. Stair was to receive the support of King William (under whose signed order the Massacre took place) but was eventually forced to resign as Secretary of State in 1695.
4 June 1694	The Merchant Maiden Hospital, later to be known as The Mary Erskine School, was founded by Mary Erskine in Edinburgh's Cowgate.
4 October 1694	Birth of Lord George Murray, son of John Murray, 1^st Duke of Atholl, at