Battle of Faughart facts for kids

The Battle of Faughart (also known as the Battle of Dundalk) was a major fight that happened on 14 October 1318. It was fought near Dundalk in County Louth, Ireland. The battle was between an Anglo-Irish army, led by John de Bermingham and Edmund Butler, and a Scottish and Irish army. The Scottish and Irish forces were commanded by Prince Edward Bruce, who was the brother of King Robert I of Scotland (also known as Robert the Bruce).

This battle was part of the First War of Scottish Independence and specifically the Irish Bruce Wars. Edward Bruce's defeat and death at Faughart ended his attempt to become the High King of Ireland. It also stopped King Robert's plan to create a second war front against England in Ireland.

Why the Scots Came to Ireland

After King Robert I of Scotland won the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, Scotland became independent from England. However, the war with England didn't end. Even though Scottish armies raided northern England many times, the English King Edward II of England didn't seem to react much. Something bigger was needed to truly end the conflict. This opportunity came in 1315 from Ireland.

Since the time of King Henry II, English kings had also claimed to be the Lords of Ireland. English settlers had moved to Ireland, mostly along the eastern coast near Dublin. But many Gaelic-Irish kings and lords still had a lot of control, especially in the north and west. English rule was often not very strong. King Edward II needed a lot of men and supplies from Ireland for his war with Scotland. This put Ireland in a very difficult financial situation.

King Robert, who had connections with Irish leaders in Ulster, saw a chance to use Irish unhappiness against his enemy. He sent messages to Irish kings and religious leaders. He reminded them of the shared history between the Scots and Irish. He offered to help them gain their freedom. Domnall Ó Néill, the king of Tír Eoghain, replied. He asked for help against the English and offered the kingship of Ireland to King Robert's brother, Prince Edward Bruce. The Bruce family was believed to be related to the Ó Néill clan through their mother's side. In May 1315, Edward Bruce landed with his army at Larne, ready to start a movement for "Gaelic internationalism."

Edward Bruce's Campaign

Edward Bruce was joined by several local Irish leaders. He quickly won some early battles against the Anglo-Irish nobles. He won his first fight near Jonesborough and then attacked Dundalk on 29 June. Bruce was good at using disagreements between his two main opponents: Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, and Edmund Butler, the Earl of Carrick and Justiciar of Ireland. He defeated them one by one. De Burgh, who was actually King Robert's father-in-law, was defeated at the Battle of Connor in County Antrim on 10 September. Butler was defeated at the Battle of Skerries in Kildare on 1 February 1316. After these victories, Edward Bruce felt strong enough to go to Dundalk. There, he was crowned High King on the hill of Maledon on 2 May 1316.

By spring 1316, it seemed like the Scottish plan in Ireland was working well. However, this was also a very bad time for Ireland. Across much of Europe, the weather was terrible, leading to what historians call the "Great Famine of 1315–1317". Crops failed, and people began to starve. Because of the lack of food, Bruce's army often had to take supplies from the local people. This made his campaigns seem like large-scale raids on an already suffering population.

In these difficult times, the idea of a shared Celtic background didn't really unite the Irish and Scots. Many Irish people found the Scots to be no better, and sometimes worse, than the English settlers they already knew. A text from Connacht at this time even called the Scots "Scottish foreigners less noble than our own foreigners." In the end, Edward Bruce could only truly control parts of northern Ireland. He was held back by problems with getting enough food and supplies for his army. He had to wait until 1318, when the weather and harvests improved, to try and expand his power.

The Battle at Faughart

We don't have many details about the Battle of Faughart itself. According to John Barbour, a Scottish writer, Edward Bruce caused his own defeat. He decided to fight a much larger enemy army (Barbour says 20,000 strong) without waiting for more soldiers from Scotland. The Annals of Clonmacnoise also supports this, saying Bruce "anxious to obtain the victory for himself, he did not wait for his [Sir John Stewart's] brother." Bruce set up his army on a hill at Faughart, close to Dundalk, on 14 October. When his Irish allies worried about facing such a strong enemy, Bruce put them at the back, near the top of the hill. This left about 2,000 Scottish soldiers to face the main attack.

The Lanercost Chronicle, a main English source, says that Bruce came to Dundalk "with a great army of Scots which had already arrived in Ireland." It seems that the three English commanders—John de Bermingham, Edmund, Lord Carrick, and Roland Joyce, Archbishop of Armagh—were attacked first. The Lanercost Chronicle gives the clearest description of what happened:

The Scottish army was in three groups, spread out so much that one group was defeated before the next could help. Then the second group was defeated before the third, where Edward Bruce was, could offer any help. So, the third group was also defeated, just like the first two. Edward Bruce fell in battle and was beheaded after he died. His body was cut into four parts and sent to the four main parts of Ireland.

We don't know the exact number of people killed. However, we know that thirty Scottish knights and more than eighty men-at-arms died. Among the dead were a Mac Ruaidhrí (a "King of the Hebrides") and a Mac Domhnaill (a "King of Argyll"). This suggests that most of the Scottish army came from the Gaels of the Western Isles and from Bruce's own area of Carrick in Ayrshire.

After this defeat, the Scottish position in Ulster almost completely collapsed. Carrickfergus castle was taken back by the English on 2 December. John de Bermingham received most of the praise for the victory. He was made Earl of Louth by the grateful English King. This was not the end of Scottish involvement in Ireland, but there would be no more attempts to crown a Scottish High King of Ireland.

Even though the Scottish adventure in Ireland failed in some ways, it helped Scotland's King Robert the Bruce. After this, the English were never again able to use Ireland as a base to attack the western coast of Scotland.