1315 battle in Ireland
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The
Battle of Moiry Pass
was a military engagement between a Scots-Irish army commanded by
Edward Bruce
, brother of
Robert Bruce
, king of Scotland and a
Hiberno-Norman
force. It took place during the
First War of Scottish Independence
and more precisely the
Irish Bruce Wars
.
[1]
Edward Bruce attacked a garrison of soldiers from the
Lordship of Ireland
, as part of his attempt to revive the
High Kingship of Ireland
. Bruce considered the battle a great success but his campaign would ultimately fail.
Background
[
edit
]
After the
Norman invasion of Ireland
in 1169, the
Lordship of Ireland
was created with the king of England as lord, represented locally by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The country was divided between the
Gaelic
dynasties that survived the Norman invasion and the
Hiberno-Norman
Lordship of Ireland
.
[2]
Edward Bruce, Earl of Carrick, invaded Ireland on 26 May 1315, with the full support of his brother,
Robert the Bruce
.
[3]
A number of MacDougalls and their allies had fled to Ireland and the Bruces saw it as another front in the ongoing war against Norman England.
[2]
Edward's 6,000 troops landed unopposed near
Larne
He defeated an of his brother's father-in-law,
Richard Og de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster
, led by Thomas de Mandeville, before moving on to take the town of
Carrickfergus
.
Battle
[
edit
]
In late June, Edward proceeded from Carrickfergus along Magh Line (Six Mile Water), burning Rathmore, near Antrim town, which was a holding of the Savages. He then went south by way of the Moiry Pass. Here he was met by Mac Duilechain of Clanbrassil and Mac Artain of Iveagh,
[3]
both of whom had submitted to him at Carrickfergus. Their attempted ambush ended in their defeat, and Bruce gained some supplies from the fleeing Anglo-Irish. According to the 14th-century account by John Barbour, the Scottish troops were led in the battle by
Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray
, who had them fight on foot as was typical.
[4]
Dundalk
[
edit
]
Moving southwards, they burned Rathmore and destroyed De Verdon's fortress of
Castleroache
near
Dundalk
. Outside the town Bruce encountered an army led by
John FitzThomas FitzGerald
, 4th Lord of Offaly, his son-in-law
Edmund Butler, Earl of Carrick
and
Maurice FitzGerald
, 4th Baron Desmond. The Scottish push them back towards Dundalk and lay waste to the town and its inhabitants.
[1]
At Ardee they set fire to the church in which a number of people had taken refuge and all were burned to death.
[5]
Although Bruce had a large army, he was losing large amounts of forces at every battle he was involved in. By 1318, Bruce had only 2,000 men left. At the
Battle of Faughart
, Bruce fought the lordship with all of his surviving men. Bruce was killed by John de Bermingham at the battle and Bruce was buried at a cemetery above Faughart.
[6]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Hull, Elanor.
"The Invasion of Edward BRUCE AND THE GAELIC REVIVAL"
. www.libraryireland.com
. Retrieved
16 September
2012
.
- ^
a
b
Shama, Simon, "Invasions of Ireland from 1170 - 1320", BBC - History
- ^
a
b
Duffy, Sean.
Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia
, Routledge, 2005
ISBN
9781135948245
- ^
Barbour, John (1374).
The Brus
. Cannongate Classics. p. 526.
- ^
Joyce, P.W., "Edward Bruce (1315?1318)",
A Concise History of Ireland
, Dublin, 1909
- ^
"Ireland's Wars: The End Of The Bruce Campaign"
. neverfeltbetter.wordpress.com
. Retrieved
16 September
2012
.