1597 in Scotland

Incumbents

Events

• 4 February – Battle of Logiebride, a skirmish between men of the Clan Mackenzie against those of the Clan Munro and the Bain family of Tulloch Castle.
• March-October – The Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1597.
• 14 July – poet Alexander Montgomerie is declared an outlaw after the collapse of a Catholic plot.
• 23 July – Earthquake in the Highlands.
• Lands of the Clan MacLeod are forfeit to the Crown.
• Scottish Poor Laws make parishes rather than the church responsible for the administration of poor relief.
• King James VI's Daemonologie is published.

  Births

• Robert Bethune, Baron of Balfour
• Sir Duncan Campbell of Auchinbreck, soldier
• Approximate date –
• *Lady Mary Erskine, Countess Marischal
• *Andrew Murray, 1st Lord Balvaird, minister

  Deaths

• 11 March – Henry Drummond, evangelical writer and lecturer
• 27 May – James Tyrie, Jesuit theologian
• Sir Thomas Maclellan of Bombie, Provost of Kirkcudbright