Chaseabout Raid The Chaseabout Raid was a rebellion by James Stewart , 1st Earl of Moray against his half sister , Mary , Queen of Scots , on 26 August 1565 , over her marriage to Henry Stuart , Lord Darnley . The rebels also claimed to be acting over other causes including bad governance , and religion in the name of the Scottish Reformation . As the government and rebel forces moved back and forth across Scotland without fighting , the conflict became known as the " chase about raid . " Queen Mary ' s forces were superior and the rebel lords fled to England where Queen Elizabeth censured the leader . Background . There were fears that her marriage to Darnley signaled a return to Roman Catholicism . Moray is reported to have declared that he aimed at nothing else than " the maintenance of the true religion . " Uprising . The rebels gathered in Ayrshire . Mary set out from Holyroodhouse to Linlithgow and Stirling on 26 August 1565 to move to Glasgow and confront them . Her cannon followed , brought by John Chisholm , who had obtained funds from the Burgh of Edinburgh after Mary promised the town rights over Leith . The treasurer of the Scottish exchequer , John Wishart of Pitarro , had sided with the rebellion and was replaced by William Murray of Tullibardine . The Provost of Edinburgh was also removed and Simon Preston of Craigmillar , a friend of Mary put in his place . William Murray ' s lands were raided by Highlanders . On 31 Augus , Moray and his supporters arrived in Edinburgh with 1 , 000 or 1 , 200 men . The English diplomat Thomas Randolph doubted that this force could withstand the Queen and King ' s army , as they lacked " harquebusiers , " soldiers with hand - guns . Edinburgh Castle was held for the Queen and began to shoot its cannon at the rebels in the town . The rebel lords left Edinburgh . Mary came back to Edinburgh in early September and retired to Stirling , then back to Glasgow . Moray ' s supporters retreated to Dumfries and contemplated making for Carlisle in England . Thomas Randolph heard that Mary carried a pistol near Hamilton , and Darnley wore a " gylte corslet " , while the rest of the army wore " jacks . " By the 7 September Mary was back at Stirling . The rebels at Dumfries requested English guns , money , troops , and naval assistance in the Forth . The English ship , " The Aide " captained by Anthony Jenkinson arrived in the Forth on 25 September , but was bombarded by the cannon on Inchkeith and returned to Berwick - upon - Tweed . Jenkynson intended to prevent Lord Seton bringing more munitions for Mary from France . Moray failed to gather significant support and the rebellion was easily crushed by Mary , forcing Moray to flee . Moray in England . The rebels crossed the border at Carlisle , then made their way to Newcastle upon Tyne . Moray decided to go to London , and got as far as Royston in Hertfordshire , until he received a letter from Elizabeth I of England to stop as he was not invited and a rebel against his own queen . He was then brought to Westminster on 23 October 1565 to explain himself to Elizabeth and the French ambassadors . Elizabeth said to him that " itt were no Prince ' s part to think well of your doinges , . . . and , she wolde putt allso her helping hande too make them to understand the dutye which the subject owght to bear towarddes the Prynce . " Moray declared he had not intended anything to the danger of Mary ' s person . Moray stayed in England at Newcastle over the winter and returned to Scotland on 10 March 1566 . Mary had summoned him for trial , and David Rizzio had just been murdered . Moray was reconciled with Mary and back on the Scottish Privy Council by 29 April 1566 . Complaints against Mary . The rebels justified their cause by listing their complaints against Mary and her rule , which were sent to England in the hope of gaining recognition and support . These included specific details of the finance of the Church of Scotland , and were , in summary ;