Qualla: Battle of the Shirts https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-shirts en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:24 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/h/s/battle-of-the-shirts-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of the Shirts https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-shirts Battle of the Shirts: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-shirts/ Photo credit Nigel Brown, CC BY-SA 2.0. The name tells you how the battle was fought. Blar-na-Leine -- the Battle of the Shirts -- earned its title because the fighting on that July day in 1544 was so intense, and the weather so warm, that the combatants threw off their plaids and fought in their linen undershirts. The violence that erupted on the shores of Loch Lochy was clan warfare at its most devastating. By the time the killing stopped, both sides had been effectively destroyed as fighting forces. According to tradition, the Frasers could muster only five survivors, while the MacDonalds and Camerons fared little better.

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Image: Nigel Brown | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/h/s/battle-of-the-shirts-wp/gfhs-battle-of-the-shirts-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of the Shirts: A Chieftainship Disputed https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-shirts/ Photo credit Nigel Brown, CC BY-SA 2.0. The cause of the battle was a succession crisis within Clan Ranald, a branch of the MacDonalds. The details of the dispute are tangled in competing clan loyalties and political maneuvering, but the essential question was who would lead the Clanranald. The matter drew in Clan Fras...

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Image: Nigel Brown | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/h/s/battle-of-the-shirts-wp/gfhs-battle-of-the-shirts-a-chieftainship-disputed.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of the Shirts: Carnage at the Lochside https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-shirts/ Photo credit Nigel Brown, CC BY-SA 2.0. The battle took place on the north shore of Loch Lochy, in the Great Glen between Fort William and Fort Augustus. The Frasers, reinforced by Grants, faced the combined strength of the Clanranald MacDonalds and Camerons. The scale of the slaughter was extraordinary even by the sta...

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Image: Nigel Brown | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/h/s/battle-of-the-shirts-wp/gfhs-battle-of-the-shirts-carnage-at-the-lochside.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of the Shirts: A Battlefield Preserved https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-shirts/ Photo credit Nigel Brown, CC BY-SA 2.0. The site of the Battle of the Shirts is now protected by Historic Scotland as a designated battlefield. Loch Lochy stretches along the Great Glen in the same long, narrow ribbon of dark water that the combatants would have seen in 1544. The landscape has changed -- the trees are ...

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Image: Nigel Brown | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/h/s/battle-of-the-shirts-wp/gfhs-battle-of-the-shirts-a-battlefield-preserved.mp3 0:06 4 full