Bruce, Edward

Bruce, Edward (d. 1318), earl of Carrick, lord of Galloway, and self‐styled king of Ireland, brother of Robert I., king of Scots. Bruce had a reputation as an ambitious knight and an energetic, if sometimes rash, military commander, who distinguished himself at Bannockburn (1314). He was appointed heir presumptive to the Scottish throne in April 1315, and then led an expedition to Ireland with the intention of conquering it and, perhaps, of launching from there an invasion of Wales. He landed at Larne on 25 May, and was proclaimed king of Ireland, having been joined by some of the Irish, most notably the king of Cenél nEógain, Donal O'Neill ( Domhnall Ó Néill), who sent his famous ‘Remonstrance’ to the pope explaining his support. In his first campaign Bruce defeated the local Anglo‐Irish colonists, and marched south where, on 29 June, he burned Dundalk, before being forced to retreat by an army led by the earl of Ulster, Richard de Burgh. When the two armies met on 1 September at Connor, Co. Antrim, the earl was decisively defeated. Next, Bruce's army marched to Meath where, in early December, he defeated the lord of Trim, Roger Mortimer, and was joined by the latter's tenants, the de Lacys. The Anglo‐Irish assembled a substantial army to oppose him but in a skirmish near Ardscull, Co. Kildare, on 26 January 1316, their quarrelling leaders failed to overcome him and he marched further south into Laois and Offaly. By now, though, Bruce's army was feeling the effects of the severe famine which coincided with his invasion, and he made a hasty retreat to Ulster. Here Bruce set up an administration and won some of the Anglo‐Irish to his cause, though most continued to oppose him. He also set about the capture of Carrickfergus Castle, which surrendered to him in September 1316. At this point Edward returned to Scotland and by Christmas was joined in Ireland by his brother Robert and an army of gallowglasses. They marched south, forced the earl of Ulster to retreat from Ratoath, and by 21 February were at Castleknock, perhaps with the intention of taking Dublin. The citizens, however, refortified the town walls and burned the suburbs, and the Bruce brothers, unwilling no doubt to risk a lengthy siege, passed on south. By early April they were in north Munster, proposing to join forces with a faction of the O'Briens, but chose not to risk a dangerous encounter with the government army. Instead they withdrew hurriedly to Ulster, and Robert himself to Scotland. Virtually nothing is heard of Edward for the next year and a half until, in the autumn of 1318, he again marched south, but was defeated and killed at the battle of Faughart. The defeat of his planned overthrow of the english lordship of Ireland was one of the most notable achievements in the career of the hapless Edward II.

Bibliography

Duffy, Seán , ‘The Bruce Brothers and the Irish Sea World, 1306–1329’, Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies, 21 (1991)
Frame, Robin , ‘The Bruces in Ireland, 1315–18’, Irish Historical Studies, 19 (1974–5)
Orpen, G. H. , Ireland under the Normans, iv (1920)

Seán Duffy