READINGS IN IRISH HISTORY

New Zealand Tablet, 20 September 1917, Page 9

READINGS IN IRISH HISTORY

By ''ShaSachibl''

'■ EDWARD BRUCE LANDS IN IRELAND. In the early part of the 6th century a colony of Irish migrated from Antrim and settled down in the northern districts of Scotland. ' For a time the colonists were subject to the mother country; but St. Columba secured for them their independence at the Convention of Druim Ceat. By degrees these Celtic tribes of the north increased in influence and power, and about the middle of the 9th century, Kenneth Mac Alpine having conquered the Piets, the two races were united under one government, and in course of time formed one people. Speaking the same language, similar in customs, traditions, and racial origin, the Celts of Ireland and Scotland were always friendly and sympathetic. To the ties of race were now added a common cause and fellowship in suffering : the existence of the Celts both in Ireland and Scotland was now threatened by the Anglo-Normans. It was natural, therefore, that in the wars between England and Scotland the Irish should be on the side of the Scots. So when the heroic Robert Bruce smashed the power of the English at Bannockburn, and restored to Scotland her independence, the good news thrilled the Irish, and kindled in them a new desire to be rid of Anglo-Norman supremacy. To Ulster in particular the victory of Bruce came as glad tidings. The distance between Antrim and Cantire is small ; frequent communications took place between the two peoples, and so there is reason to believe that the Ulster Irish aided Bruce in his struggle against the English. At any rate he was well known in the North : when a fugitive he found shelter and hospitality in Rathlin Island, a few miles off the coast of Antrim. Hence, when the Irish chiefs of the North, under their king, Domhnall O’Neill, turned for aid to their kinsman, the Scottish king, they found Robert Bruce both able and willing to help them. Three centuries had passed since the great victory over the Danes at Clontarf, Could not Ireland, under the leadership of one brave man, achieve a like victory over her present oppressors ?*- Could she not follow where Scotland had led Such were the questions the chiefs of Ulster asked themselves when they resolved to invite Edward Bruce to come over and be their king and lead them on. to victory. They had appealed in vain to the English king to check the growing rapacity of the Anglo-Norman adventurers. The condition of the Irish living among the descendants of the first adventurers was little better than slavery. The natives in the unsubdued parts of the country were in daily dread of being robbed and driven out by the Anglo-Irish lords,, who recognised no law but self-interest, and in whose eyes the natives were inferior beings. In vain the Irish of the conquered provinces had besought the English kings to place them on the. same legal footing as their conquerors. In vain several of the chiefs of the South and East asked for a. division of the lands between themselves and the newcomers, offering to hold their estates by English tenure. The English monarchs either would not or could not help them. Sometimes, indeed, so little did , the king’s writ run in Ireland that we find Henry 111. praying' these powerful Anglo-Irish lords to permit the administration of English law within the districts under their jurisdiction. It was useless then to look to England for a redress of the evils under which the country suffered. Justice was not to be hoped for from the Anglo-Irish lords. Wherefore, as O’Neill pointed out in his Remonstrance, the despairing Irish turned with confidence to the Pope, requesting him to sanction their choice of Edward Bruce as their king. The Pope refused. He even threatened with excommunication all those who should ■ support Bruce in this undertaking. John XXII. had no love for the : Bruces. ; Perhaps also he wished to save the country the miseries of a second invasion. Yet the Remonstrance | impressed him, for he wrote’ to the

English king warning and advising him -that the' Irish should be treated with greater justice. ~ tv It ...will., be convenient to divide the exploits of Edward Bruce in Ireland into three campaigns. In answer to the invitation of Domhnall O’Neill, and despite the Pope’s disapproval, Bruce got ready for. his coming to Ireland. In these preparations he was helped by his brother Robert, who seems to have been anxious to get rid of a restless, energetic subject, who might one day prove a rival for the Scottish crown. Thus it happened that May of 1315 witnessed a force of 6000 Scots, under Edward Bruce, land at Larne, Co. Antrim. They were well armed in English fashion, experienced in war, and flushed with recent victory ; their leaders were tried and trusty men. Bruce was cordially welcomed, and O’Neill very laudably renounced his kingship of Ulster in his favor, and together with other Irish and Scottish chiefs did homage to the man of their choice. Bruce’s first attack was made on the descendants of those adventurers who had come to Ulster with De Coui'cy, or had since been planted there by De Lacy and De Burgo. The new king swept the north-east corner of Ulster free of the English, who retired to Carrickfergus, which Bruce attacked and captured; but the fortress, despite repeated attacks, remained in the hands of the defenders. Bruce rapidly advanced south, laying waste the country as he advanced, and by the end of June he had captured Dundalk and Ardee.-' • In Ardee he burned the church, and the people who had taken refuge in it. Meanwhile the Anglo-Irish lords, realising that if was vain to look for help from England, assembled at Kilkenny to take steps to oppose the onward victorious march of Bruce and his confederates. . The Viceroy, Butler, Fitzgerald, De Birmingham, De la Poer, and many others were there. De Burgo, the Red Earl of Connaught, most powerful of them all, was absent. He disdained to take counsel with the others. Alone, with his vassals and Felim O’Connor, he assembled his forces at Athlone and marched against Bruce. A little south of Ardee De Burgo met Butler, the Viceroy, going north to encounter Bruce. The haughty De Burgo ordered Butler to return home : he and his vassals would crush this presumptuous Scot. Butler accordingly returned south, and De Burgo and his army came up with Bruce near Ardee. On the advice of O’Neill, Bruce fell back before the superior numbers under De Burgo. The hostile armies encamped on either side of the river Bann. The opposing bowmen exchanged shots across the river, but did not come to a decisive conflict ; for much as De Burgo. desired a battle, his opponents were equally desirous to avoid one. Moreover, Bruce, it seems, was waiting to disengage Felim O’Connor from his alliance with De Burgo, and in this he succeeded, for O’Connor announced to De Burgo that disturbances in his own district in Connaught called for his presence there. When O’Connor- had gone, De Burgo, feeling his forces inferior to those of Bruce, determined to retreat. He had fled eastward towards Ballymena, and at a little village named Connor, Bruce overtook him on September the 10th and compelled him to give battle. De Burgo suffered a crushing defeat. With a broken remnant of his army the Red Earl fled south, baffled, defeated, and disgraced. Thus ended in complete victory the first campaign of Edward Bruce in Ireland. -These events took place from May to September of the year 1315.