1 May: Bealltainn, the Gaelic festival marking the start of summer and the return of Brìde. Cattle are driven to summer pastures, and communities light bonfires to protect livestock and ensure fertility. Consequently, well-dressing and fire rituals connect the living world with older seasonal powers.
1 May 1590: King James VI and Anne of Denmark return to Leith, marking the start of a dark era. James begins a witch-hunt that will claim over a thousand lives in the following hundred years. Because of his personal obsession with the occult, the nation enters a period of intense fear and persecution.
1 May 1690: The last organised Jacobite forces are beaten by government troops at the Battle of Cromdale. This defeat near Grantown on Spey effectively ends the first major rising. Consequently, the dream of a Stuart restoration fades into the Highland mist for a generation.
1 May 1707: The Treaty of Union comes into effect, fundamentally altering the status of the nation. Queen Anne becomes the first sovereign of the Kingdom of Great Britain. Although the act is controversial, it creates the political framework that exists to this day.
2 May 1316: Edward Bruce is crowned High King of Ireland at Dundalk. As the brother of King Robert the Bruce, he sought to create a Celtic alliance against English rule. However, his reign is marked by famine and constant warfare across the Irish countryside.
2 May 1568: Mary Queen of Scots escapes from the island fortress of Lochleven Castle. She immediately revokes her forced abdication and begins to gather a loyal army. Then, she moves towards Dumbarton Castle to secure her position against the Confederate Lords.
2 May 1933: The Inverness Courier publishes an article about a sighting of a “beast” in Loch Ness. Unnamed locals reported the creature on 14 April, sparking a global phenomenon. Thus, the modern era of the Loch Ness Monster is born in the local press.
3 May 1567: James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, is divorced from his wife, Jean Gordon. This legal separation was orchestrated to clear the way for his planned wedding to Mary, Queen of Scots. Many viewed this move with deep suspicion and growing resentment.
3 May 1655: Kathrin Key pleads guilty to the murder of Laurence Oliphant’s child and is accused of witchcraft. She is later acquitted of the witchcraft charge due to lack of evidence. However, she is burned as a witch in November 1661, showing how accusations could return with fatal consequences.
3 May 1679: Archbishop James Sharp is attacked and killed while travelling through Fife to St Andrews. The attackers were likely waiting for the Sheriff of Fife but decided to murder the Primate instead. His death sparks a wider uprising leading to the “Killing Time”.
4 May 1663: Christian Caddell is deported to Barbados for fraudulently posing as a man and a witch-pricker. Her deception finally caught up with her, leading to a sentence of banishment across the Atlantic. Ironically, her last victims, Isobel Elder and Isobel Simpson, are executed as witches in Forres on this very day.
8 May 1233: Arbroath Abbey is consecrated for use. Nearly a century later, it becomes the setting for the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320. Therefore, the abbey’s foundation is tied to one of Scotland’s most important political documents.
8 May 1691: Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh, the Lord Advocate of Scotland, dies. Nicknamed “Bluidy Mackenzie” for his ruthless pursuit of Covenanters, he remains one of the era’s most feared legal figures. Therefore, later stories claim his ghost, the “Mackenzie Poltergeist”, haunts Greyfriars Kirkyard to this day.
11 May 1559: John Knox preaches a fiery sermon in Perth that ignites a major Protestant uprising. This religious fervour spreads swiftly across central Scotland, leading to the destruction of many Catholic icons. Therefore, the Scottish Reformation gains unstoppable momentum from this single event.
11 May 1685: The execution of the Wigtown Martyrs takes place during the height of the Covenanting struggles. Three men are hanged for their beliefs, while two women are tied to stakes in the Solway Firth. They are drowned by the rising tide in a horrific display of state power.
12 May 563: Saint Columba and twelve companions land on the island of Iona. They intend to establish a monastery that will serve as a beacon for Christianity in the north. Eventually, this small island becomes the sacred burial place for many early Scottish kings.
12 May 1561: The City Magistrates ban the May Games in Edinburgh. The general populace turns out despite the ban. Subsequently, James Gillon is made a scapegoat and arrested for attending the games.
13 May 1568: Mary Queen of Scots’ army is defeated at the Battle of Langside. A much smaller force under the Regent, the Earl of Moray, secures a decisive victory near Glasgow. Following this disaster, Mary is forced to flee south toward the English border.
13 May 1685: James Kirk is executed near Dumfries for refusing to swear the required abjuration oath. This killing is one of the last in the wave of state-sanctioned deaths during the “Killing Time”. His steadfast refusal remains a symbol of Covenanter defiance.
15 May 1567: Mary Queen of Scots marries the Earl of Bothwell at the Palace of Holyroodhouse. The Protestant wedding ceremony causes widespread popular dissent among the Scottish nobility and commoners alike. Soon, the couple must flee to Dunbar Castle to escape their enemies.
15 May 1568: Mary Queen of Scots reaches Terregles Castle near Dumfries during her final flight. She rejects the advice of her supporters to return to the safety of France. Instead, she chooses to seek the mercy of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth of England.
20 May 685: The Battle of Dunnichen takes place near Forfar, where the Picts face the Northumbrians. King Ecgfrith is decisively defeated, halting the northern expansion of the Angles. This victory paves the way for the eventual development of a separate Scottish nation.
24 May 1685: A group of 167 Covenanter prisoners is imprisoned in the Whigs’ Vault at Dunnottar Castle. The conditions are cramped and lethal, leading to several deaths and a desperate escape attempt. As a result, the vault remains one of the most haunting locations within the fortress.
24 May 1845: 18 families are evicted in Glen Calvie as part of the Highland Clearances. The majority were forced to camp in a tent set up in Croick Churchyard.
26 May 1652: Dunnottar Castle surrenders after an eight-month siege by Cromwell’s forces. It was the last Royalist stronghold on the eastern side of Scotland to fall. Fortunately, the Scottish crown jewels had already been smuggled out to safety in Kinneff.
26 May 1819: The Honours of Scotland are put on display in Edinburgh Castle for the public. Sir Walter Scott disinterred the crown jewels from a locked chest in the castle’s depths. They had remained hidden and forgotten since the Act of Union in 1707.
27 May 1661: The Marquis of Argyll is executed in Edinburgh while the shadow of betrayal at Ardvreck Castle lingers. Neil Macleod, who had famously betrayed the Marquis of Montrose at Ardvreck, managed to escape a similar fate. Meanwhile, the body of Oliver Cromwell is exhumed and symbolically beheaded in London.
29 May 1546: Protestants break into St Andrews Castle and murder Cardinal Beaton in his chambers. They seize the fortress as a stronghold for the burgeoning Reformation movement. Although they appeal to Henry VIII for support, their requests are ultimately ignored.
29 May 1563: The corpse of George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly, is tried for treason in Edinburgh. Having died in battle months earlier, his body was propped up in court to face judgment and forfeiture of his estates. Therefore, even death could not protect a Scottish noble from the reach of royal vengeance.
May 1662: Christian Caddell arrives in Tain under the alias John Dickson. She is asked to examine a man called John Hay, who had been vindictively accused of witchcraft. However, Hay is a court messenger with legal knowledge, and he successfully petitions the government for her arrest. Consequently, Christian vanishes and reinvents herself once again.
