0:00:02 > 0:00:07EXPLOSIONS MEN SHOUT AND CHANT
0:00:07 > 0:00:12Contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14In 1315,
0:00:14 > 0:00:16an army from Britain invaded Ireland,
0:00:16 > 0:00:19numbering 6,000 battle-hardened veterans.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22It was one of the most powerful foreign forces
0:00:22 > 0:00:24ever to set foot in the country.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30But this was no English army.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32Its tough mail-clad soldiers were Scotsmen -
0:00:32 > 0:00:34gallowglasses and fighting men
0:00:34 > 0:00:36from the Highlands and Western Isles.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42Their commander was Edward Bruce,
0:00:42 > 0:00:45brother of Robert Bruce, the King of the Scots.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48Sheltron, arms. MEN SHOUT
0:00:48 > 0:00:50They had a simple objective.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54To drive out the English and make Edward Bruce King of Ireland.
0:01:01 > 0:01:02It was an ambitious plan.
0:01:02 > 0:01:04In over 100 years,
0:01:04 > 0:01:09no-one had succeeded in breaking the English stranglehold on Ireland.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15This is a story of two Celtic nations.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17A shared heritage and a forgotten war
0:01:17 > 0:01:21that could have changed the course of history.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58Open the gate!
0:01:59 > 0:02:01Open the gate!
0:02:01 > 0:02:03Open the gate!
0:02:20 > 0:02:21I have word for the king.
0:02:25 > 0:02:27I have urgent word for King Robert.
0:02:29 > 0:02:30What word?
0:02:33 > 0:02:37Sire. The English king has died.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48'I beheld these brothers of boundless ambition,
0:02:48 > 0:02:53'with whom no obligations were binding, no oaths sacred,
0:02:53 > 0:02:56'and no promises regarded that interfered with their goal
0:02:56 > 0:02:58'of freedom for their country.'
0:03:07 > 0:03:10The story of Ireland and Scotland 700 years ago
0:03:10 > 0:03:13is a story of struggle against tyranny.
0:03:13 > 0:03:18At this time, the Celtic nations were pitted against a ruthless enemy
0:03:18 > 0:03:22that seemed determined to subdue every inch of Britain and Ireland.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34When the Normans conquered England in 1066,
0:03:34 > 0:03:37their arrival signalled one of the greatest transformations
0:03:37 > 0:03:39in European history.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43And their search for power and land would change the politics
0:03:43 > 0:03:47and culture of these islands forever.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55The Normans come from northern France, where they have been used to
0:03:55 > 0:03:58building castles and training as heavy cavalry.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00They bring that military technology with them
0:04:00 > 0:04:04when they conquer England in 1066 and they carry on bringing it with them
0:04:04 > 0:04:09when they move into Scotland and as conquerors into Wales and Ireland.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13That there was a kind of demonic, psychic drive.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15They seem to have the urge to dominate.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18They seem to want to have not only what they possess
0:04:18 > 0:04:20but what everyone else possesses.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25They were of the view that they'd come to conquer
0:04:25 > 0:04:30and Wales was as vulnerable as England was and Scotland, likewise.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33And Ireland, of course, was always there in the background.
0:04:33 > 0:04:34It was on their to do list.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41Just over 100 years after the Battle of Hastings in 1066,
0:04:41 > 0:04:45an Anglo-Norman invasion force landed in Ireland.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49They conquered the island, established a new power base,
0:04:49 > 0:04:52and became known as the Anglo-Irish.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57Most native Irish kings had no option
0:04:57 > 0:05:00but to submit to these powerful newcomers.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06But many resented the new presence in their country
0:05:06 > 0:05:10and never truly accepted the English king as their monarch.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13In the late 12th century, what began to happen
0:05:13 > 0:05:15in the hundreds of years after was, essentially,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18two different societies co-existed.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23So you had Gaelic society and Norman, or what became Anglo-Irish.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26What fascinates me about Gaelic Ireland, about medieval Ireland,
0:05:26 > 0:05:31is the fact that you have two distinct societies in many ways.
0:05:31 > 0:05:36So I could travel from Dublin up to, say, O'Neill in Ulster
0:05:36 > 0:05:39and it would be like leaving one world for another.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42It's essentially two alien societies.
0:05:42 > 0:05:43So that's the fascination
0:05:43 > 0:05:47which you don't get in a lot of other countries in the Middle Ages.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52The thing about Ireland in the Middle Ages,
0:05:52 > 0:05:54which is not true of Scotland,
0:05:54 > 0:05:57is that Ireland was a very polar society.
0:05:57 > 0:05:58You know, you had the native Irish
0:05:58 > 0:06:03and you had the English of Ireland and they were two nations.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07They believed each other to be polar extremes.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10As far as the English were concerned,
0:06:10 > 0:06:14they had good reason to despise the Irish.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16After they first conquered the country,
0:06:16 > 0:06:21they brought with them a chronicler, Gerald of Wales, who described what
0:06:21 > 0:06:26he saw as the savage and uncivilised conduct of the native people.
0:06:26 > 0:06:33The Irish are a rude people, subsisting on the produce
0:06:33 > 0:06:39of their cattle only and living themselves like beasts -
0:06:39 > 0:06:42a people that has not yet departed from the primitive habits
0:06:42 > 0:06:43of pastoral life.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49Really, Gerald's writings begin a very long tradition
0:06:49 > 0:06:51of anti-Irish sentiment.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55He's pushing the Irish to one side and, I suppose,
0:06:55 > 0:06:57what can be called othering them.
0:06:57 > 0:07:02He's making them something that you can defeat because of what they are.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04You're absolutely justified.
0:07:04 > 0:07:10Neither willing to give up their old habits or learn anything new.
0:07:10 > 0:07:15Abandoning themselves to idleness and immersed in sloth,
0:07:15 > 0:07:19their greatest delight is to be exempt from toil...
0:07:20 > 0:07:24..their richest possession - the enjoyment of liberty.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29This people, then, is truly barbarous.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32Indeed, all their habits are barbarisms.
0:07:32 > 0:07:38In whatever requires industry, they are worthless.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41It's always more comfortable if you're a colonising,
0:07:41 > 0:07:46an imperial power, to be told that you're also superior.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50But there's also at the same time growing evidence that the English,
0:07:50 > 0:07:54politically, are worried about integration.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58Famously - the Statutes of Kilkenny and other laws
0:07:58 > 0:08:00in which the English are saying,
0:08:00 > 0:08:04"We want the Irish to be separate and we want the English to be separate."
0:08:04 > 0:08:06English people should not adopt Irish names,
0:08:06 > 0:08:09they should not have Irish hairstyles -
0:08:09 > 0:08:11these things are actually legislated against.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15And the law is a kind of apartheid law
0:08:15 > 0:08:17because by the end of the 13th century
0:08:17 > 0:08:21whereas to kill an English person in Ireland is a felony,
0:08:21 > 0:08:23to kill an Irishman is not.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38The native Irish felt a much closer affinity
0:08:38 > 0:08:40with their Celtic cousins in Scotland.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43The two countries had a shared history
0:08:43 > 0:08:46that dated back many centuries.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48In this shared history,
0:08:48 > 0:08:51it was the Irish who were the aggressors and colonisers.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54From around the third century AD,
0:08:54 > 0:08:59they conquered large parts of their neighbour to the northeast.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01The Scots were originally Irish.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03They came and settled in what is now Scotland
0:09:03 > 0:09:05very early in the Middle Ages.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08The Kingdom of the Scots was originally an Irish kingdom,
0:09:08 > 0:09:11Dal Riata, Gaelic speaking.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13And up until, say, about the year 1000,
0:09:13 > 0:09:16when you said the word Scot, you meant someone from Ireland.
0:09:18 > 0:09:23The first Irish people that we know of who settled in Scotland,
0:09:23 > 0:09:24they were conquerors.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26You know, we tend to think of ourselves in Ireland
0:09:26 > 0:09:29as being on the receiving end all the time of conquest
0:09:29 > 0:09:31but these people from Dal Riata
0:09:31 > 0:09:35who settled on the Western seaboard of Scotland came to conquer land.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39But when that became like a little province of Ireland,
0:09:39 > 0:09:41separated from Ireland by the North Channel,
0:09:41 > 0:09:44the Irish Church spread there as well.
0:09:44 > 0:09:49The invaders carried a sword in one hand and a Bible in the other.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52Saint Columba and other Irish monks
0:09:52 > 0:09:54helped to bring Christianity to Scotland.
0:09:57 > 0:09:58People who came over to Scotland,
0:09:58 > 0:10:01like famous examples like Columcille, Columba,
0:10:01 > 0:10:03were members of Irish dynasties.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07The kings of Scots were descended from Irish royalty.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10So, in fact, you're talking about a world, a kind of Gaelic world,
0:10:10 > 0:10:14that's absolutely continuous from, say, Cork up into Argyll.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20The links between the two countries
0:10:20 > 0:10:23were strongest in Ulster and Western Scotland.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27Far from being a barrier, the sea helped to bind them together.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35The North Channel could be crossed in just a couple of hours
0:10:35 > 0:10:38in a birlinn, a small Scottish galley
0:10:38 > 0:10:41similar to the Viking longboat.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43These ships were often used to ferry soldiers
0:10:43 > 0:10:46between Ulster and Scotland.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48But there were stronger links,
0:10:48 > 0:10:51links forged in blood and friendship.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58The prevailing ascendancy in Scotland is a Gaelic ethos
0:10:58 > 0:11:03and its heritage draws from Ireland, it draws back towards Ireland.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06Within the Scottish tradition, they looked to Ireland
0:11:06 > 0:11:11as a sort of a fertile ground for them, where they came from.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15They looked to Irish culture as their primary influencing culture.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20Maybe it goes back to notions of greater Scotia and lesser Scotia,
0:11:20 > 0:11:23which they had in the early Middle Ages,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26of the big Scotia and the smaller Scotia.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28And the big Scotia was Ireland at that point
0:11:28 > 0:11:31because this is seen from an Irish point of view,
0:11:31 > 0:11:34looking across towards the fringes of Scotland.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42Of course, the other thing which brings the two nations together
0:11:42 > 0:11:44very strongly is genealogy.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47And so many of the highland clans
0:11:47 > 0:11:49for example, well in a nutshell,
0:11:49 > 0:11:52trace themselves back to Niall of the Nine Hostages
0:11:52 > 0:11:55and these characters... Brian Boru if they can.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59That's another thing which is kind of, an awareness,
0:11:59 > 0:12:01a binding together if you like,
0:12:01 > 0:12:04of the peoples on both sides of the channel.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10At their nearest point, Scotland and Ireland are just 12 miles apart.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16An exercise I sometimes do with my students is to turn the usual map
0:12:16 > 0:12:19of the British Isles on its side, point to Turnberry
0:12:19 > 0:12:23and say there's the heart of the Bruce lordship, now look at it.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26And you see Ireland and the Western Isles, the Scottish coast,
0:12:26 > 0:12:29the north-western English coast, in a very different light,
0:12:29 > 0:12:31a different way of understanding it.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37If you went from a royal court in Ireland to a royal court in Scotland
0:12:37 > 0:12:40in the early Middle Ages, you wouldn't have noticed a difference.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42The language would have been the same,
0:12:42 > 0:12:44the culture would have been the same,
0:12:44 > 0:12:45the stories that would have been told
0:12:45 > 0:12:47would have been the same.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49And in fact, in some cases, the families would have been the same.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52When faced with the Anglo-Normans,
0:12:52 > 0:12:56the Scots had one major advantage over the Irish.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59The Irish did not have an undisputed high king.
0:12:59 > 0:13:05Scotland, on the other hand, was ruled by a single, decisive monarch.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07Rather than sit back and wait to be conquered,
0:13:07 > 0:13:11David I of Scotland invited the Anglo-Normans in.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16He allowed some Norman lords to settle in the country,
0:13:16 > 0:13:19relying on them to safeguard his authority.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23The greatest of these lords took his name from the small town
0:13:23 > 0:13:28near Cherbourg where his family originated - Brix or Bruce.
0:13:30 > 0:13:35The most famous of all Scottish kings sprang from this lineage.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39His name was Robert Bruce and he was not just of Norman stock.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42His father's marriage to the countess of Carrick
0:13:42 > 0:13:46had injected Celtic blood into the Bruce line.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52His mother, after all, was Countess of Carrick in her own right.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55The story was that when she met Robert's father,
0:13:55 > 0:13:58the Lord of Annandale, she fell for him in a big way,
0:13:58 > 0:13:59supposedly abducted him -
0:13:59 > 0:14:01this is a nicer version of the usual story -
0:14:01 > 0:14:05she abducted him, dragged him off to Turnberry Castle
0:14:05 > 0:14:08and they were inside for three days and when they emerged
0:14:08 > 0:14:10they announced they were getting married.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14And Robert Bruce was the product of whatever went on there.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21Carrick was part of Galloway, it was the northern part of Galloway,
0:14:21 > 0:14:23and it was definitely Gaelic speaking
0:14:23 > 0:14:26quite a long time after the reign of Robert Bruce.
0:14:26 > 0:14:32So, he was raised very much in a kind of Celtic or Gaelic speaking area,
0:14:32 > 0:14:34if you like, of Scotland.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39This, you could say is what really makes Robert Bruce and Edward
0:14:39 > 0:14:42and all the other brothers real hybrids, if you like,
0:14:42 > 0:14:46real sons of many kingdoms.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50I've come increasingly to think of it
0:14:50 > 0:14:52kind of as a search for a place for Bruce.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55I think he's brought up by his grandfather and his father,
0:14:55 > 0:14:59as are probably his brothers, as well, to expect some level
0:14:59 > 0:15:03of royal status, some enhanced level of political standing.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09Robert could aspire to be King of Scotland because he was related
0:15:09 > 0:15:11to a previous claimant to the throne.
0:15:11 > 0:15:16In 1302, he strengthened his position by marrying Elizabeth,
0:15:16 > 0:15:20the daughter of Richard de Burgh, The Earl of Ulster
0:15:20 > 0:15:22and one of the most powerful Anglo-Irish leaders.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28Because Richard de Burgh had a very eligible daughter in Elizabeth,
0:15:28 > 0:15:31who grew up here at Greencastle,
0:15:31 > 0:15:34there's a certain amount of matchmaking, we think,
0:15:34 > 0:15:37that Edward I and his...basically, one of his best friends,
0:15:37 > 0:15:39Richard de Burgh, said,
0:15:39 > 0:15:42"Well, we'll cobble together a marriage arrangement
0:15:42 > 0:15:46"between Robert Bruce and Elizabeth de Burgh."
0:15:48 > 0:15:51It's possible the marriage is dangled as a sort of carrot
0:15:51 > 0:15:52by Edward I himself.
0:15:52 > 0:15:57It's a way, from his point of view, of getting a leading lord
0:15:57 > 0:16:00of south-western Scotland, part of that Irish sea world,
0:16:00 > 0:16:03as an ally of the de Burgh Earl of Ulster,
0:16:03 > 0:16:06and stabilising the Irish situation.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09While Robert harboured a desire for the crown,
0:16:09 > 0:16:13Edward I had his own plans for Scotland.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17Edward I was an extremely successful,
0:16:17 > 0:16:20ambitious and ruthless monarch.
0:16:20 > 0:16:25And when he came to the moment in circa 1290,
0:16:25 > 0:16:28when he thinks that he can establish once and for all
0:16:28 > 0:16:30that he is overlord of Scotland,
0:16:30 > 0:16:34he doesn't stop for a moment in asserting that claim.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38He's turning it into another Ireland, another Wales,
0:16:38 > 0:16:40a land, not a realm.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43And I think that quite quickly turns him
0:16:43 > 0:16:45into a very strong figure of hate.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49There's now a difference between a Scot and an Englishman
0:16:49 > 0:16:51and Edward kind of marks it.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55The characteristics which the Scots later really like to label
0:16:55 > 0:16:58the English with of being arrogant, presumptuous, over-confident,
0:16:58 > 0:17:02are first and foremost attributed to Edward himself.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06Some refused to bend the knee.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09Among them was a young patriot named William Wallace, who waged
0:17:09 > 0:17:12a desperate guerrilla war against the English takeover.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16Robert Bruce hedged his bets.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20He supported Wallace, then he supported Edward.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24But foremost in his mind was his own claim to the Scottish throne.
0:17:28 > 0:17:34Robert does have this reputation for being slightly schizophrenic,
0:17:34 > 0:17:36allying himself to Edward and the English one day,
0:17:36 > 0:17:39and then the Scots the next.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43And I think that duplicity... to understand that
0:17:43 > 0:17:47we've really got to see Robert Bruce in context.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50He tries the political solution, the diplomatic solution,
0:17:50 > 0:17:55move to the Scots, under Wallace for a bit, then leave them,
0:17:55 > 0:17:59go back to the lordship of Edward I, cause that's a better bet.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03After all, Edward I's the head honcho in western Europe,
0:18:03 > 0:18:06practically, so that's where the power base is,
0:18:06 > 0:18:09that's where you should hang in if you want to advance the interests
0:18:09 > 0:18:10of your people.
0:18:10 > 0:18:12He's a pragmatist.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15He will take whatever path he needs to take
0:18:15 > 0:18:17to get to where he wants to go.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21And if one day that means he's got to, basically, give himself up
0:18:21 > 0:18:25to the English and fight on their side, he will do.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30If he wanted to be king of Scotland,
0:18:30 > 0:18:35Robert had to deal with his main rival John Comyn.
0:18:35 > 0:18:40And, in 1307, when the two men met at Greyfriars Abbey in Dumfries,
0:18:40 > 0:18:45an event took place that shaped the future of Scotland forever.
0:18:46 > 0:18:48He rode there at once
0:18:48 > 0:18:53and met with Sir John Comyn in the Grey Friars, at the high altar.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56In a mocking manner he showed him the indenture,
0:18:56 > 0:19:01and then with a knife took his life on that very spot.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06Because of it such great misfortune befell him.
0:19:08 > 0:19:13The killing of Comyn is a real puzzle in terms of where the Church stood,
0:19:13 > 0:19:17because we have to understand that when Bruce killed Comyn
0:19:17 > 0:19:23he did it at the altar of the Church of the Greyfriars in Dumfries.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28And when you kill somebody in hot blood, at the altar,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31you're automatically excommunicated.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35So, it's surprising then that Bruce seems to have garnished
0:19:35 > 0:19:38so much support from the Scottish Church.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41You would have expected the opposite to happen,
0:19:41 > 0:19:45that they would hold him in total disregard.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48He's a heretic, he's damned to hell for eternity,
0:19:48 > 0:19:52but they don't see it that way for some reason, they...
0:19:52 > 0:19:56Some remarkable talent rallies around Bruce.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58And I think that's strange.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01That action, whether it is premeditated murder
0:20:01 > 0:20:05or an act of rage in an argument, that's the turning point.
0:20:05 > 0:20:07He has a lightning decision to make.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11Either he goes on the run, he basically becomes a fugitive
0:20:11 > 0:20:15or he grasps the thistle and goes for the throne.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21As soon as we get to that point where Comyn is killed,
0:20:21 > 0:20:23the path is straight ahead,
0:20:23 > 0:20:27and the path is conflict between Bruce and the king of England.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36With the support of the Scottish Church,
0:20:36 > 0:20:39Robert had himself crowned King of Scots.
0:20:39 > 0:20:44But Edward I moved quickly to crush the upstart king.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46He captured several members of the Bruce family
0:20:46 > 0:20:49and had them killed or imprisoned.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52Robert's wife, Elizabeth de Burgh, was taken captive.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58Robert was now a hunted man.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01With his followers reduced to only a small band of men
0:21:01 > 0:21:04he fled to the Western Isles of Scotland.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15For it was nearly winter and there were so many enemies around him
0:21:15 > 0:21:17that all the country made war on him.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21Such dreadful misfortunes tested them then -
0:21:21 > 0:21:26like hunger, cold and cutting rain - that no-one alive can tell it all.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39Robert Bruce found himself at the Mull of Kintyre,
0:21:39 > 0:21:41on the very edge of Scotland.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44From here he could see the coast of Ulster.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47Not for the last time, the thought struck him
0:21:47 > 0:21:50that the Irish could help in the war with England.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55When we're trying to understand him and his ultimate success
0:21:55 > 0:21:57and when we're trying to understand
0:21:57 > 0:21:59what on Earth they were up to in Ireland,
0:21:59 > 0:22:01it's something about his background in the Gaelic world
0:22:01 > 0:22:04that provides us with part of the key to that.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10From Kintyre, Bruce made the short sea journey
0:22:10 > 0:22:13to Rathlin Island off the Antrim coast.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18He is supposed to have hidden here with his followers in a dank cave,
0:22:18 > 0:22:21accessible only by boat.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23It seems that he planned to regain the throne
0:22:23 > 0:22:25with the help of Irish allies.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29In fact, his two younger brothers, Thomas and Alexander Bruce,
0:22:29 > 0:22:33had raised an Irish army and landed in Scotland.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35But their mission came to nothing
0:22:35 > 0:22:39and the brothers were captured and executed by Edward I.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44It would be nearly a decade before Robert could cement his alliance
0:22:44 > 0:22:45with the Irish.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49Open the gate!
0:22:49 > 0:22:52Open the gate!
0:22:52 > 0:22:53Open the gate!
0:22:53 > 0:22:55Open the gate!
0:23:02 > 0:23:08In July 1307, Edward I died and in a single stroke
0:23:08 > 0:23:11the greatest obstacle to Scottish freedom was removed.
0:23:13 > 0:23:14Shortly before he dies,
0:23:14 > 0:23:19Edward has a couple of English friars executed for stating
0:23:19 > 0:23:23that Robert Bruce is the subject of the prophecies of Merlin.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25And that means that Robert Bruce
0:23:25 > 0:23:26is a second King Arthur,
0:23:26 > 0:23:29that his destiny is to unite
0:23:29 > 0:23:32Wales and Ireland and Scotland
0:23:32 > 0:23:37against England, and drive the hated English dragon
0:23:37 > 0:23:39back into the North Sea whence it came.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44King Edward I would be long remembered as the most ruthless
0:23:44 > 0:23:48and vindictive foe ever faced by Scotland.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52His tomb in Westminster Abbey was inscribed with the words
0:23:52 > 0:23:57Scottorum Malleus, Hammer of the Scots.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01But his son, who now succeeded him as Edward II,
0:24:01 > 0:24:04would prove to be a much less formidable opponent.
0:24:36 > 0:24:43Be near your surviving comrades who yet strive for glory.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47Inspire us to emulate your actions
0:24:47 > 0:24:52that our efforts may prove glorious.
0:24:56 > 0:25:03In 1314, an army led by Robert Bruce faced the English in battle.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07The fight took place south of Stirling, somewhere near a stream
0:25:07 > 0:25:09known as the Bannock Burn.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11For hundreds of years,
0:25:11 > 0:25:15there have been arguments as to the exact location of the battle.
0:25:15 > 0:25:20In 2013, military historian and archaeologist Tony Pollard
0:25:20 > 0:25:23spent a year searching and eventually locating
0:25:23 > 0:25:28the site of the most important battle in Scottish history.
0:25:28 > 0:25:33It was the pivotal encounter in the long and brutal war between Scotland
0:25:33 > 0:25:37and England and it was very much a case of David and Goliath.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41The Scots were outnumbered two to one.
0:25:41 > 0:25:42Leading up to the battle,
0:25:42 > 0:25:46Edward had been in command of the Siege of Stirling Castle.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49And it's that siege that brings about the battle.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52It's that siege that coaxes the English army north.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56So you've got these three massive divisions of well-trained men
0:25:56 > 0:26:01delivering a massive victory of the common man, really.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03These are men on foot.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05Many of these men are just commoners,
0:26:05 > 0:26:09they're farmers, they're people from the town.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12And it must have been incredibly demeaning for the English
0:26:12 > 0:26:16who have at the heart of their army the nobility,
0:26:16 > 0:26:20men on expensive horses wearing state-of-the-art armour.
0:26:20 > 0:26:22They're literally brought to their knees.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26The Scots absolutely wipe the floor with them.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28It's an absolute disaster for the English
0:26:28 > 0:26:31and a huge triumph for the Scots.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39Bannockburn would go down in history
0:26:39 > 0:26:42as Scotland's greatest single victory over England.
0:26:42 > 0:26:47Slowly but surely, Robert Bruce was driving the invaders
0:26:47 > 0:26:49back to their homeland.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04There has been a tendency for Scottish historians
0:27:04 > 0:27:07to ignore the aftermath of Bannockburn.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10It really should be the wonderful climax to Bruces' career
0:27:10 > 0:27:17and he has to drip on for another, what is it, 16 years
0:27:17 > 0:27:19before the English actually recognise his title
0:27:19 > 0:27:21as King of Scots.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23Robert Bruce wanted the English to recognise
0:27:23 > 0:27:25the independence of Scotland.
0:27:25 > 0:27:26That didn't change.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29But he also wanted one thing more than that, of course,
0:27:29 > 0:27:31he wanted them to recognise the independence of Scotland
0:27:31 > 0:27:37with him as its king and that didn't change one iota after Bannockburn.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40So, he was probably scratching his head,
0:27:40 > 0:27:42trying to figure out what he might do next.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45This must've been very, very depressing
0:27:45 > 0:27:49and it seems to be one of the reasons why he has to open up
0:27:49 > 0:27:55new fronts in the war with the English after Bannockburn.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59Despite the great Scottish victory, there was another crucial chapter
0:27:59 > 0:28:01in the story of the war against the English.
0:28:02 > 0:28:07But this part of the tale would be told not in Scotland
0:28:07 > 0:28:08but in Ireland.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11The Anglo-Irish colonists in the country
0:28:11 > 0:28:15would have been devastated by the news that this upstart Scot
0:28:15 > 0:28:18had defeated their king and I'm pretty sure that nearly everyone
0:28:18 > 0:28:21in Gaelic Ireland would have thought that this was bloody good news.
0:28:28 > 0:28:33In April 1315, Robert Bruce called a parliament at Ayr
0:28:33 > 0:28:38in South West Scotland to decide on the future campaign.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42It has always been thought that it was from here that Robert Bruce
0:28:42 > 0:28:45sent forth a famous appeal to the Irish.
0:28:48 > 0:28:53The King sends greetings to all the kings of Ireland,
0:28:53 > 0:28:56to the prelates and clergy,
0:28:56 > 0:29:00and to the inhabitants of all Ireland, his friends.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06Whereas we and you and our people and your people,
0:29:06 > 0:29:11free since ancient times, share the same national ancestry
0:29:11 > 0:29:15and are urged to come together more eagerly and joyfully
0:29:15 > 0:29:21in friendship by a common language and by common custom.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26It was only discovered in the 1950s or thereabouts.
0:29:26 > 0:29:30It's a tremendously interesting letter from Robert Bruce
0:29:30 > 0:29:33and it's a very kind of potent call to the Irish
0:29:33 > 0:29:36to join forces with the Scots.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40It's an appeal to some kind of ancient bond between the two.
0:29:43 > 0:29:48But what if the letter dates from a much earlier period?
0:29:48 > 0:29:52Had Robert Bruce always yearned to unite the Celtic nations?
0:29:52 > 0:29:55Sean Duffy of Trinity College Dublin believes that the letter
0:29:55 > 0:29:59was composed around 1306,
0:29:59 > 0:30:03when Robert and his followers were based on Rathlin Island.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07When you get down to the small print of the letter as it were,
0:30:07 > 0:30:12he says that the envoys he's sending are these two men called T and A.
0:30:12 > 0:30:13He just gives the initials
0:30:13 > 0:30:16because that's the way the letter has survived.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22It's pretty certain that that letter that Robert sent,
0:30:22 > 0:30:26the envoys mentioned in it are his brothers Thomas and Alexander
0:30:26 > 0:30:30and so, it belongs in the winter of 1306 to 1307,
0:30:30 > 0:30:31when he was in a lot of trouble
0:30:31 > 0:30:34and he was hanging on by his fingernails
0:30:34 > 0:30:36to the throne of Scotland,
0:30:36 > 0:30:39and he wanted an Irish alliance to join sides with him
0:30:39 > 0:30:41against the English.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45"We have sent you our beloved kinsmen,
0:30:45 > 0:30:48"the bearers of this letter,
0:30:48 > 0:30:50"to negotiate with you in our name
0:30:50 > 0:30:56"about permanently strengthening and maintaining inviolate
0:30:56 > 0:31:01"a special friendship between us and you,
0:31:01 > 0:31:03"so that with God's will,
0:31:03 > 0:31:07"our nation may be able to recover her ancient liberty."
0:31:09 > 0:31:12And there's a tendency by some people to think that Robert Bruce,
0:31:12 > 0:31:16because he's from a predominately Anglo-Norman background,
0:31:16 > 0:31:20that this must be pure cynicism on his part, and, you know
0:31:20 > 0:31:24because, how could he dare talk about our nation,
0:31:24 > 0:31:25the Scots and Irish nation,
0:31:25 > 0:31:29and our common language, as if he was a Gaelic speaker
0:31:29 > 0:31:32and imbued with all things Gaelic.
0:31:33 > 0:31:35The letter is genuine.
0:31:35 > 0:31:37It seems to me the letter was sent by Robert
0:31:37 > 0:31:39right at the start of his reign.
0:31:39 > 0:31:43It seems to me it won a lot of backing for him in Ireland
0:31:43 > 0:31:45and I think, therefore, we have to accept that
0:31:45 > 0:31:49there was a Gaelic side to Robert Bruce's character.
0:31:52 > 0:31:54I think the existence of this document,
0:31:54 > 0:31:57and I think Sean's right in this, actually,
0:31:57 > 0:32:01does imply very much that there's some understanding,
0:32:01 > 0:32:03before the letter, if you like,
0:32:03 > 0:32:07some sense of what may be a nacio, a nation.
0:32:07 > 0:32:09That's very powerful.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11This is a statement, if you like, if there's such a thing,
0:32:11 > 0:32:16of kind of Gaelic...nationality,
0:32:16 > 0:32:18if you could call it such.
0:32:18 > 0:32:20The trouble is, the danger here is
0:32:20 > 0:32:26whether we can use words to describe concepts in the past
0:32:26 > 0:32:28where they didn't have words for them themselves,
0:32:28 > 0:32:29this is our problem.
0:32:29 > 0:32:31So if nationalism is a word
0:32:31 > 0:32:34that doesn't come into the English language until the 19th century,
0:32:34 > 0:32:36can we apply it to people
0:32:36 > 0:32:39who were living in the 13th or the 14th centuries?
0:32:39 > 0:32:41Personally, I would say, yes, we can.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43If it's not nationalism we're talking about,
0:32:43 > 0:32:45it's that by almost any other name.
0:32:51 > 0:32:56During one long winter on Rathlin Island,
0:32:56 > 0:33:03I dreamed we would assist the sons and daughters
0:33:03 > 0:33:04of our sister nation
0:33:04 > 0:33:07in their fight against the common foe,
0:33:07 > 0:33:09the English...
0:33:10 > 0:33:15..and in doing so, reunite the Celtic people.
0:33:17 > 0:33:19Scotland under Robert Bruce
0:33:19 > 0:33:21and Ireland...
0:33:23 > 0:33:24..under Edward.
0:33:27 > 0:33:31Were we not colonised by the Irish?
0:33:31 > 0:33:35Been bound by blood, family, language?
0:33:36 > 0:33:39Were we not Christianised from the same source?
0:33:40 > 0:33:43Preparations have been made.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48We will be one with Ireland.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54After Bannockburn, he feels you've got to carry the torch to the enemy.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57This was Bruce's number one weapon
0:33:57 > 0:34:00in trying to get some sense out of the English kings
0:34:00 > 0:34:03to recognise the legitimacy of his kingship.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06The notion was, just as we're opening up
0:34:06 > 0:34:07a front in the North of England,
0:34:07 > 0:34:09let's open up one in Ireland.
0:34:30 > 0:34:34Assembling to himself men of great courage,
0:34:34 > 0:34:38then he took ship at Ayr in the following month of May,
0:34:38 > 0:34:40and took his way straight to Ireland.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43They have undertaken a great project
0:34:43 > 0:34:45when with so few as they were there,
0:34:45 > 0:34:48they prepared to conquer all Ireland,
0:34:48 > 0:34:52where they would see many thousands come armed to fight against them.
0:34:52 > 0:34:54But, although few...
0:34:54 > 0:34:56they were brave.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03Battlefield archaeologist Tony Pollard
0:35:03 > 0:35:04was born in England,
0:35:04 > 0:35:06but his grandparents are from Ireland,
0:35:06 > 0:35:08and he lives and works in Scotland.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14He's a living example of the close links between the three countries.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17And he's fascinated by the incredible events
0:35:17 > 0:35:21that brought them together in bloody conflict 700 years ago.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26Today, Larne Harbour is the most important port
0:35:26 > 0:35:29between Ireland and Scotland on the Irish side.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33In 1315, this would have been the place
0:35:33 > 0:35:36where Edward Bruce's Scottish army came together
0:35:36 > 0:35:38after landing on the beaches
0:35:38 > 0:35:40all the way up and down this coast.
0:35:40 > 0:35:45Around 6,000 men carried in 300 boats, it's said,
0:35:45 > 0:35:47and these boats were birlinns,
0:35:47 > 0:35:49they were West Highland galleys.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52And they would have plied a daily trade
0:35:52 > 0:35:53between here and Scotland,
0:35:53 > 0:35:55and up and down the west coast of Scotland,
0:35:55 > 0:35:57they wouldn't have been an uncommon sight.
0:36:02 > 0:36:04But to have been on the hills behind us,
0:36:04 > 0:36:08and seeing 300 of these heading towards these shores,
0:36:08 > 0:36:10must have been incredibly daunting.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33HE SHOUTS INSTRUCTIONS
0:36:36 > 0:36:38Scots are used as the kind of traditional bogeymen.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41"The Scots will come and get you."
0:36:41 > 0:36:44And then, in May, the Scots are no longer separated from them
0:36:44 > 0:36:46by a stretch of land,
0:36:46 > 0:36:47they're actually here,
0:36:47 > 0:36:51which throws the whole of the Anglo-Norman community into a panic.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54They've never really expected to end up fighting the Scots
0:36:54 > 0:36:55in their own back yard.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58So when 6,000 of them come into Antrim,
0:36:58 > 0:37:02this is like their worst nightmare come true.
0:37:17 > 0:37:20Right, and the thing is now, Tony, do you see what's over there?
0:37:20 > 0:37:24- That...- How close?- Ailsa Craig!- Yeah.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27- So that's Scotland.- It's Scotland.
0:37:29 > 0:37:32We're on the hill just above the town of Larne on the coast
0:37:32 > 0:37:36and this is said to be the site of the first battle of the campaign.
0:37:36 > 0:37:37Absolutely, Tony.
0:37:37 > 0:37:39This is where Sir Thomas Mandeville
0:37:39 > 0:37:42gathers all the Norman lords from Ulster,
0:37:42 > 0:37:44the Bissets, the Savages, the Logans,
0:37:44 > 0:37:48gathers them here, concentrates, cos he can see Larne over there.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59This is a victorious army.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02Bruce has got about 5,000 or 6,000 men with him.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06They are the men that smashed Edward II's army at Bannockburn.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08- It's D-Day down there. - This is D-Day, yes.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11If Mandeville manages to hold Bruce here,
0:38:11 > 0:38:13the campaign's off.
0:38:13 > 0:38:15- Or even kick him back into the sea. - Kick him back into the sea.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22SOLDIERS GROAN
0:38:38 > 0:38:41THUNDER RUMBLES
0:38:55 > 0:39:00Edward Bruce knew that he could count on certain allies in Ireland.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04First and foremost, was Domhnall O'Neill, the king of Tyrone,
0:39:04 > 0:39:06who had pledged to support the Scots.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14MAON: Robert had made able preparations,
0:39:14 > 0:39:16but we would have no success in Ireland
0:39:16 > 0:39:19without the help of the Irish families.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22Their attitude towards him was the pivot
0:39:22 > 0:39:24on which all his plans were based.
0:39:27 > 0:39:31Domhnall O'Neill was a descendant of the ancient high kings of Ireland.
0:39:31 > 0:39:35He was in no doubt about his own royal blood
0:39:35 > 0:39:40and his own place at the apex of the, you know, pyramid of power
0:39:40 > 0:39:42in Gaelic Ireland.
0:39:42 > 0:39:44You know, the problem was, though, for him
0:39:44 > 0:39:49that many other Irish people rejected his claim to be High King.
0:39:49 > 0:39:51You know, if you were a descendant of Brian Boru,
0:39:51 > 0:39:55you weren't necessarily convinced that it was O'Neills' ancestors
0:39:55 > 0:39:57who had a monopoly on the high kingship.
0:39:59 > 0:40:01He was a realist who recognised
0:40:01 > 0:40:04that his own interests could be served best
0:40:04 > 0:40:07if they could all unite behind another figure.
0:40:08 > 0:40:11Sure he was into it for what he could get out of it,
0:40:11 > 0:40:14like all politicians and like all powerful men.
0:40:19 > 0:40:21DOMHNALL O'NEILL: Though the Irish hunt be poor,
0:40:21 > 0:40:23and though our face be small,
0:40:23 > 0:40:28he sees his little lot as the lot of all.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31No prince's palace rears its head
0:40:31 > 0:40:35to shame the meanness of his humble bed.
0:40:35 > 0:40:37THEY LAUGH
0:40:37 > 0:40:40Man is worthy of this world
0:40:40 > 0:40:42who rejoices in the world
0:40:42 > 0:40:43and makes the most of it.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46THEY LAUGH
0:40:55 > 0:41:00The English king, and the English lords born in Ireland
0:41:00 > 0:41:05have heartlessly inflicted cruel injuries
0:41:05 > 0:41:08on us...and on our ancestors.
0:41:11 > 0:41:16They have forced us to live on mountains and in forests and bogs
0:41:16 > 0:41:19and other barren places like wild animals.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25It's not just their laymen,
0:41:25 > 0:41:27but even some of their clergy say
0:41:27 > 0:41:30that it is no more a sin to kill an Irishman
0:41:30 > 0:41:33than it is to kill a dog or other brute creature.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39So we are compelled to enter into a deadly war with them.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44If ever thou hast occasion for assistance
0:41:44 > 0:41:48to repel an invader or attack a foe...
0:41:50 > 0:41:51..call on Scotland...
0:41:53 > 0:41:55..whom thy hospitality has taught to be grateful...
0:41:56 > 0:42:01..and on whose heart thy kindness has made a deep impression.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25Today, Carrickfergus is a satellite town of Belfast,
0:42:25 > 0:42:27but in the 14th century,
0:42:27 > 0:42:30Belfast was no more than a tiny village
0:42:30 > 0:42:34and Carrickfergus was the most important town in Ulster,
0:42:34 > 0:42:38a strategic outpost of great military significance.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41It was vitally important that Edward Bruce capture it
0:42:41 > 0:42:44to prevent the English from landing an army there.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48Castles like Carrickfergus were the power base
0:42:48 > 0:42:51for the Anglo-Normans or the Anglo-Irish.
0:42:51 > 0:42:52These were the people that had come in
0:42:52 > 0:42:54and taken over Gaelic Ireland.
0:42:54 > 0:42:55And these were the people that
0:42:55 > 0:42:58Bruce was intending to have a go at in his invasion.
0:42:58 > 0:43:02So, for Edward Bruce, this castle is a very important target
0:43:02 > 0:43:04and he's very keen to take it.
0:43:04 > 0:43:06Cos he has to take Carrickfergus.
0:43:06 > 0:43:08If he can take Carrickfergus
0:43:08 > 0:43:10that means that Robert's position
0:43:10 > 0:43:13in his wars against the English in the north,
0:43:13 > 0:43:15it opens up everything.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18If they can take Carrickfergus,
0:43:18 > 0:43:21then the entire Northern Sea zone is theirs,
0:43:21 > 0:43:25and probably the entire sea zone right down towards Bristol.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28And if you can cut off that channel,
0:43:28 > 0:43:33then the oxygen to the supply routes for Edward II are almost extinct.
0:43:35 > 0:43:39Surely, one motive behind the Irish invasion
0:43:39 > 0:43:43was that they could somehow damage the English supply routes
0:43:43 > 0:43:45and the sources of English supply.
0:43:45 > 0:43:47Now, if you could cut off that kind of supply,
0:43:47 > 0:43:51you could make a big dent in enemy support,
0:43:51 > 0:43:53or support for the enemy,
0:43:53 > 0:43:55and I think Ireland was,
0:43:55 > 0:43:57Ireland's recognised to have been
0:43:57 > 0:44:00a very important bread basket for the English.
0:44:03 > 0:44:07The Scots took Carrickfergus town without much difficulty.
0:44:07 > 0:44:10The castle was a more difficult proposition.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13Edward Bruce did not have the siege equipment needed
0:44:13 > 0:44:14to take the castle by storm.
0:44:14 > 0:44:16So he surrounded it
0:44:16 > 0:44:19and prepared to starve its garrison into submission.
0:44:19 > 0:44:24When Edward Bruce arrives in Ireland in 1315,
0:44:24 > 0:44:28he's very keen to identify himself with Carrickfergus.
0:44:28 > 0:44:30And indeed, it's while he's here
0:44:30 > 0:44:34that around a dozen Gaelic chiefs, or even minor kings,
0:44:34 > 0:44:38come to him and proclaim him High King of Ireland.
0:44:45 > 0:44:48"Then all the kings of the Irishry came to Sir Edward
0:44:48 > 0:44:50"and did their homage to him.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52"He was well set now,
0:44:52 > 0:44:55"and in a good way, to conquer the land altogether
0:44:55 > 0:44:58"for he had on his side the Irish and Ulster."
0:44:59 > 0:45:02All hail Edward the Bruce,
0:45:02 > 0:45:04High King of all Ireland.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11With Edward now proclaimed High King of Ireland,
0:45:11 > 0:45:16many Gaelic leaders threw their support behind the Bruce invasion.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21Allegiance to a Scottish king in Ireland
0:45:21 > 0:45:24was preferable to supporting an absent English king.
0:45:27 > 0:45:29There were Irish allies of the Bruces
0:45:29 > 0:45:31who had convinced them that this would work.
0:45:32 > 0:45:35The Irish wanted the English out.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38The Irish had proved themselves incapable of uniting behind
0:45:38 > 0:45:41any one figure within Ireland.
0:45:41 > 0:45:43And so, the best thing, therefore,
0:45:43 > 0:45:45was to get somebody from outside Ireland,
0:45:45 > 0:45:48behind whom they could align.
0:45:49 > 0:45:53It's an interesting part of the history of Ireland and Scotland.
0:45:53 > 0:45:55There are cultural links, there's no doubt about that.
0:45:55 > 0:46:01But really, it's a significant political leap between them,
0:46:01 > 0:46:04with Edward coming over and claiming the High Kingship,
0:46:04 > 0:46:07and you could say it was misguided,
0:46:07 > 0:46:09you could say it's political sleight of hand,
0:46:09 > 0:46:10you could say a lot of things.
0:46:10 > 0:46:15But really, I think it does indicate that there's a recognition,
0:46:15 > 0:46:17even though he's a politician,
0:46:17 > 0:46:19there is a recognition that there's a possibility here
0:46:19 > 0:46:22that there's something he could build on.
0:46:22 > 0:46:25The strength of the cultural ties was enduring
0:46:25 > 0:46:27and had been going on since the early Middle Ages.
0:46:29 > 0:46:33The Anglo Irish had been completely taken off guard by the invasion
0:46:33 > 0:46:35and were even slower to react.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38The English king told his representative in Dublin,
0:46:38 > 0:46:39Edmund Butler,
0:46:39 > 0:46:43to gather the Anglo-Irish lords and raise an army.
0:46:43 > 0:46:46The most powerful of these lords was Richard de Burgh,
0:46:46 > 0:46:47the Earl of Ulster.
0:46:49 > 0:46:51He was also Robert Bruce's father-in-law.
0:46:53 > 0:46:56The Scots marched south through de Burgh's lands in Ulster,
0:46:56 > 0:47:00into a gap between Slieve Gullion to the west
0:47:00 > 0:47:02and the Cooley Mountains to the east.
0:47:02 > 0:47:05This area is known as the Moyry Pass,
0:47:05 > 0:47:08and to this day, it is an important corridor
0:47:08 > 0:47:10between Ireland north and south.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16Edward Bruce was now being guided into Leinster
0:47:16 > 0:47:19by people who had old scores to settle
0:47:19 > 0:47:22with local Anglo-Norman lords.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26The most notorious Anglo-Norman family was the de Verdons
0:47:26 > 0:47:29who held extensive estates in the Meath and Louth areas.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34The de Verdons had enforced a violent claim over the people,
0:47:34 > 0:47:38essentially ruling the area by fear and extortion.
0:47:40 > 0:47:42This was a de Verdon castle,
0:47:42 > 0:47:46and they were to be really quite important players
0:47:46 > 0:47:48in the fight against the Scottish invasion.
0:47:56 > 0:48:00The Feudal system is really like a protection racket.
0:48:00 > 0:48:02If you're a tenant or a peasant,
0:48:02 > 0:48:06you pay taxes or you do service for your lord.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09But in return, your lord will protect you.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14And that's what this castle is designed to do,
0:48:14 > 0:48:18is to...symbolise that power
0:48:18 > 0:48:20and that ability to protect,
0:48:20 > 0:48:23but it doesn't really work.
0:48:23 > 0:48:28Bruce comes down from Ulster with his army.
0:48:28 > 0:48:30He takes one look at this,
0:48:30 > 0:48:32and very sensibly thinks,
0:48:32 > 0:48:35"We're already tied up with one siege at Carrickfergus.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38"This place looks pretty impregnable,
0:48:38 > 0:48:40"we'll give it a swerve."
0:48:40 > 0:48:42So, they just leave it.
0:48:42 > 0:48:46But there's more than one way to skin a cat,
0:48:46 > 0:48:49and what they do is they burn the nearby town of Dundalk.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54And that demonstrates to the local population
0:48:54 > 0:48:58that their lords and masters no longer have the ability
0:48:58 > 0:48:59to protect them.
0:48:59 > 0:49:03And it does exactly what taking that castle would do,
0:49:03 > 0:49:04but it's much easier.
0:49:07 > 0:49:11PEOPLE SCREAM
0:49:26 > 0:49:28Dundalk suffered very severely
0:49:28 > 0:49:30during the course of the Bruce invasion.
0:49:30 > 0:49:32Not indiscriminately.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35I believe it was because it was held by the de Verdons.
0:49:36 > 0:49:38If you look at all the places they attack,
0:49:38 > 0:49:42there's usually a local political reason for it,
0:49:42 > 0:49:45it's not some kind of indiscriminate,
0:49:45 > 0:49:48you know, carpet bombing of Ireland by them.
0:49:50 > 0:49:52Unless the king of England invades Scotland again,
0:49:52 > 0:49:55the Scots will try to conquer Ireland this winter,
0:49:55 > 0:49:58and the Irish of Ireland will help them.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01I have lost everything fighting Edward Bruce,
0:50:01 > 0:50:05my lands, my horses, my armour, my rents and my revenues.
0:50:05 > 0:50:08ARMY SHOUTS IN THE DISTANCE
0:50:16 > 0:50:18There was very little concerted opposition
0:50:18 > 0:50:20to Edward Bruce to begin with,
0:50:20 > 0:50:23but by the end of his first summer in Ireland,
0:50:23 > 0:50:25the government was beginning to get its act together
0:50:25 > 0:50:29and it realised they'd have to get an army and march after him
0:50:29 > 0:50:31and try and meet him in the field.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42Richard de Burgh was Earl of Ulster.
0:50:42 > 0:50:46He created an almost impenetrable, invincible realm for himself,
0:50:46 > 0:50:50he's one of the most powerful Anglo-Norman magnates on the island.
0:50:50 > 0:50:52He controls lands in Connaught,
0:50:52 > 0:50:56he controls most of the land around here in Ulster.
0:50:57 > 0:51:01He's the one who says to the chief governor Edmund Butler
0:51:01 > 0:51:04that he wants to tackle Bruce himself.
0:51:04 > 0:51:09- RICHARD DE BURGH:- I have here a force of my own of 20 battalions.
0:51:09 > 0:51:13It is large enough to expel an equal number from the country,
0:51:13 > 0:51:15or to kill them in it.
0:51:15 > 0:51:18He wants to go back to Ulster
0:51:18 > 0:51:21and actually wrestle Ulster back from the Bruces,
0:51:21 > 0:51:23because it's almost like a personal insult to him.
0:51:23 > 0:51:25This is his son-in-law effectively saying,
0:51:25 > 0:51:30"I'm going to send my brother over to take away your personal kingdom."
0:51:30 > 0:51:32Richard de Burgh effectively says,
0:51:32 > 0:51:34"I'm not having this."
0:51:34 > 0:51:36He decides that, "I'm going to march from Connaught,
0:51:36 > 0:51:38"I'm going to take my Gaelic allies,
0:51:38 > 0:51:43"and we're going to defeat Bruce in my back yard effectively."
0:52:28 > 0:52:32Looking at this site, do you think this bit's a bit more prehistoric
0:52:32 > 0:52:33than the sight across the way?
0:52:33 > 0:52:35I don't know, it's...
0:52:35 > 0:52:37I can see a big stone wall over there.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40- I know, that looks extremely interesting.- Oh, wow.
0:52:40 > 0:52:42Look at them, how big are these stones, Tony?
0:52:42 > 0:52:46- It's massive, isn't it? Careful here, it's collapsing.- I know.
0:52:46 > 0:52:48This is known as the Old Fort,
0:52:48 > 0:52:51or, actually, known locally in Connor as the trench.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54- But it's a motte isn't it, of some sort?- It is.
0:52:54 > 0:52:56Why is it here? What function is it serving?
0:52:56 > 0:52:57Well, the thing about Connor is
0:52:57 > 0:53:02it's a very important Anglo-Norman ecclesiastical centre.
0:53:02 > 0:53:04We think it might have been fortified,
0:53:04 > 0:53:08so whenever de Burgh is coming up chasing after Bruce's army,
0:53:08 > 0:53:11- he suddenly finds himself out of supply.- Yeah.
0:53:11 > 0:53:13He comes from Antrim to here,
0:53:13 > 0:53:16because it has stores of whatever they need.
0:53:16 > 0:53:19Now, he comes here to defend it and takes those stores.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22Bruce is out there watching him.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33De Burgh comes up here with an Irish ally, Felim O'Connor.
0:53:33 > 0:53:35Felim O'Connor, however,
0:53:35 > 0:53:38halfway through this campaign of chasing up to Coleraine,
0:53:38 > 0:53:39goes back down to Connaught.
0:53:39 > 0:53:42So de Burgh is actually left high and dry.
0:53:42 > 0:53:45Sir Philip Mowbray actually organises Scots
0:53:45 > 0:53:47to go and wave banners,
0:53:47 > 0:53:50and taunts the Anglo-Normans to come out and chase him,
0:53:50 > 0:53:52come out and chase him.
0:53:52 > 0:53:54De Burgh sees the banners
0:53:54 > 0:53:56and they go out in that direction
0:53:56 > 0:53:57and they're hit in the flank,
0:53:57 > 0:54:01and then Bruce sees the battle and suddenly joins in.
0:54:01 > 0:54:03They refer to this battle as being
0:54:03 > 0:54:05one of the bloodiest of the campaigns,
0:54:05 > 0:54:07the field is wet with blood.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10He says, yeah, as an archaeologist this is really interesting, he says,
0:54:10 > 0:54:14"The field was wholly covered by weapons, arms and dead men."
0:54:26 > 0:54:29"The field soon grew wet with blood.
0:54:29 > 0:54:31"They fought there with such great fierceness,
0:54:31 > 0:54:34"and struck such blows on each other
0:54:34 > 0:54:37"with stick, with stone and with blow returned,
0:54:37 > 0:54:40"as each side could land on the other,
0:54:40 > 0:54:42"that it was dreadful to see."
0:54:43 > 0:54:46HE SCREAMS IN PAIN
0:55:27 > 0:55:30De Burgh is the most powerful lord in Ireland,
0:55:30 > 0:55:34he's a battle brother of Edward I, he was at Bannockburn.
0:55:34 > 0:55:38He is a military mind, he's a good, good warrior.
0:55:38 > 0:55:41And yet when he comes up here, he is all powerful,
0:55:41 > 0:55:43after the battle of Connor,
0:55:43 > 0:55:45his power is almost completely broken.
0:55:48 > 0:55:50He leaves here shattered.
0:55:52 > 0:55:56After Connor, Ulster is Scottish.
0:55:56 > 0:55:58It's no longer de Burgh's land at all.
0:56:03 > 0:56:06If he thought that he was going to send a message to the Bruces,
0:56:06 > 0:56:09that "Hang on here, this is my turf,"
0:56:09 > 0:56:11what actually ends up happening
0:56:11 > 0:56:15is he has to leave Ulster, he flees Ulster.
0:56:15 > 0:56:18The Annals of Connaught refer to him rather wistfully,
0:56:18 > 0:56:22as almost being like a wanderer, up and down the lands,
0:56:22 > 0:56:24no lordship, no power.
0:56:28 > 0:56:30Sheltron, front face!
0:56:32 > 0:56:34Sheltron, arms! THEY SHOUT
0:56:35 > 0:56:38Sheltron! THEY SHOUT BATTLE CRY
0:56:38 > 0:56:41Ireland was only one front in Robert Bruce's war
0:56:41 > 0:56:42against the English.
0:56:42 > 0:56:45He had raided territories in northern England,
0:56:45 > 0:56:49and personally led the army which laid siege
0:56:49 > 0:56:52to the English border town of Carlisle.
0:56:52 > 0:56:54No-one could deny that the Bruce brothers
0:56:54 > 0:56:57were causing major problems for the English,
0:56:57 > 0:56:59both at home and abroad.
0:57:03 > 0:57:08The ma thai be, the mar honour all-out haff we...
0:57:10 > 0:57:12..giff we ber it manlyly.
0:57:15 > 0:57:16We are set her in juperty
0:57:16 > 0:57:18to win honour or for to dey.
0:57:20 > 0:57:23We are to fer fra hame to fley.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26Tharfor lat ilk man worthi be.
0:57:28 > 0:57:30Yone ar gadryngis of this countre,
0:57:30 > 0:57:33and thai sal fley I trow it lychly.
0:57:36 > 0:57:40And ilk man assaile thaim manlyly.
0:58:02 > 0:58:05But if the judgment of heaven is called down on me and my people...
0:58:06 > 0:58:08..what is to become of us?
0:58:08 > 0:58:11I feel they must face the wrath of two kings
0:58:11 > 0:58:13to convince them of their loyalty.
0:58:13 > 0:58:15Prepare yourself for war.
0:58:15 > 0:58:17HE SCREAMS
0:58:19 > 0:58:23Treachery stops unashamed in Ireland among the nobility as well, I see.
0:58:25 > 0:58:28FIRE ROARS