The Bruce Invasion and County Louth, 1315-18

Abstract

The Scottish invasion of Ireland in 1315-18, known as the Bruce invasion, is one of the most intensely studied incidents in medieval Irish history, but little has been written about its impact on particular localities.1 No part of Ireland endured as much military activity in these years as County Louth, otherwise known as Uriel. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the impact of the invasion on local society in the area. The Scots entered the county from the north on 29 June 1315 and burnt Dundalk before attacking and burning Ardee. Late in July a royal army led by the justiciar Edmund Butler and a force led by Richard de Burgh, earl of Ulster, gathered south of Ardee to confront Edward Bruce's forces, which had moved to Inishkeen. The English army moved to Louth but following a small skirmish the Scots escaped into Ulster and made their way to Coleraine, travelling west of Lough Neagh. The English went to Dundalk where a decision was taken to allow de Burgh to follow Bruce with his own force. Butler brought his force to Carlingford and there disbanded the royal army.2 Less than four months later, in mid-November 1315, the Scots again appeared at Dundalk before travelling through the north of County Louth to Nobber in Meath. They defeated Roger Mortimer at Kells and then attacked English settlements in Westmeath and Longford before spending Christmas at the captured de Verdun manor of Lough Sewdy. In January 1316 Bruce defeated the English at Skerries in County Kildare and in the following month led his exhausted army back to Ulster through Westmeath, Cavan and Monaghan. 1316 also witnessed two clashes between the inhabitants of Dundalk and the O Hanlons.3 Late in 1316 Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, with a large contingent of Scottish reinforcements, joined his brother Edward in Ulster. In February of the following year they were at Slane, having presumably travelled south through County Louth again. From Slane they made their unsuccessful expedition as far south as Limerick before retiring to Ulster via Trim at the beginning of May. Two months later, in July 1317, the leader of the English forces in Ireland, Roger Mortimer, who had recently arrived from England, came to Drogheda. With the help of Nicholas de Verdun, the leading local notable, he drove the de Lacys, who were accused of helping the Scots, from Meath. This seems to have been the last military engagement in County Louth until the battle of Faughart on 14 October 1318 when the Scots were finally defeated and Edward Bruce slain by an English force led by John de Bermingham and Nicholas de Verdun's brother, Milo.4