Events from 1568 in the Kingdom of Scotland.
Incumbents Monarch – James VI Regent: James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray
Events 2 May – The deposed Mary, Queen of Scots, escapes from Lochleven Castle. 13 May – Marian civil war: Battle of Langside – The forces of Mary, Queen of Scots, are defeated by James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, her half-brother. 16 May – Mary, Queen of Scots, flees across the Solway Firth from Scotland to England but on May 19 is placed in custody in Carlisle Castle on the orders of Queen Elizabeth I of England, her cousin. 10 June – Regent Moray musters forces at Biggar for a march on Dumfries. 16 June – Kenmure Castle, the home of John Gordon of Lochinvar, is destroyed by Moray's army. October – Regent Moray shows Mary's "casket letters" at a conference in York headed by the Duke of Norfolk, and again at Westminster Palace on 7 December
Arts and literature Edinburgh merchant George Bannatyne begins compiling the Bannatyne Manuscript while confined to his home due to plague.
Births John Row, ecclesiastical historian and Reformer (died 1646) William Couper (bishop) Approximate date – John Welsh of Ayr, Presbyterian leader (died 1622 in England)
Deaths 6 June – Kenneth Mackenzie, 10th of Kintail William Baillie of Lamington, landowner
References