0:00:02 > 0:00:07EXPLOSIONS MEN SHOUT AND CHANT
0:00:07 > 0:00:12This programme contains some violent scenes
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 > 0:00:48Schiltron, 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.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33Soon after he arrived,
0:01:33 > 0:01:36Edward Bruce had himself proclaimed High King of Ireland.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42In a bid to forge an Irish-Scottish alliance,
0:01:42 > 0:01:46support for Edward's claim came from Donal O'Neill,
0:01:46 > 0:01:47the powerful king of Tyrone.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54The English in Ireland, known as the Anglo-Irish,
0:01:54 > 0:01:55were in disarray.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58One of their greatest lords, Richard de Burgh,
0:01:58 > 0:01:59had been crushed in battle.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02Edward Bruce now had control of most of Ulster.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06He brought his army southwards into Leinster,
0:02:06 > 0:02:09hitting at the heart of Anglo-Irish power.
0:02:19 > 0:02:24Winter 1315, 1316, the Scots are in a position where they're
0:02:24 > 0:02:28actually on the threshold of sweeping everything
0:02:28 > 0:02:30away in front of them.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34You can't stop the Scots, they've had no serious reverse.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44When the Bruces invaded Ireland,
0:02:44 > 0:02:46the only people - almost without exception -
0:02:46 > 0:02:48who supported them were the native Irish,
0:02:48 > 0:02:52the reason being that if you were a member of the English colony
0:02:52 > 0:02:55in Ireland and you joined the Bruces that made you a traitor.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58So there was very little support for them in Anglo-Ireland.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04Overwhelmingly, it became a war between the English in Ireland
0:03:04 > 0:03:07and the native Irish, and they only had the backing of the native Irish.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12THUNDER RUMBLES
0:03:18 > 0:03:22The Scots knew that overall victory in Ireland was far from certain.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25Before long, they were faced with a devastating enemy
0:03:25 > 0:03:27that couldn't be defeated in battle.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36The heavens showed anger, as if the spirits of our fallen foe were
0:03:36 > 0:03:39imploring the unearthly powers to pour their gathered stores
0:03:39 > 0:03:43on our unsheltered heads, threatening us with ruin.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Heavy rain had been falling in May 1315,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54the month in which the Scots arrived in Ireland.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57All summer long, the country was plagued by the worst weather
0:03:57 > 0:04:00seen across Europe in generations.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03When the time came to gather what was left of the harvest,
0:04:03 > 0:04:05the reality was bleak.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08There would not be enough food to last the winter.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14This was the beginning of the Great European Famine,
0:04:14 > 0:04:18one of the worst natural disasters in the continent's history.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22For the early years of the 14th century,
0:04:22 > 0:04:24Europe is subject to a series
0:04:24 > 0:04:30of crop failures, and that culminates in the Great Famine of 1315-17.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33Life was pretty difficult in general in Ireland.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37By the time Edward Bruce arrives in 1315,
0:04:37 > 0:04:41the population would probably have been substantially weakened.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45It's a poor country, people are subject to...
0:04:45 > 0:04:49I suppose, the inequities of war all the time,
0:04:49 > 0:04:51whether you're in a Gaelic or an Anglo-Irish area.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54Edward Bruce comes in here to a country where it's not exactly
0:04:54 > 0:04:59optimum conditions for the population at that time.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02In fact, it's going to become very difficult very quickly
0:05:02 > 0:05:04from 1315 to 17.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12"Many afflictions in all parts of Ireland,
0:05:12 > 0:05:17"very many deaths, famine and many strange diseases, murders,
0:05:17 > 0:05:20"and intolerable storms as well."
0:05:22 > 0:05:25It's very telling that a number of the Irish annal sources
0:05:25 > 0:05:28for the period and later
0:05:28 > 0:05:31actually blame the famine itself on the presence
0:05:31 > 0:05:34of the Bruce army, that somehow they've caused it
0:05:34 > 0:05:38or worsened it. Although they also criticised the English forces
0:05:38 > 0:05:41for adding to it, so there's certainly
0:05:41 > 0:05:43a sense in which, for the ordinary purpose,
0:05:43 > 0:05:46the two are run together.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49If you think of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - War and Famine,
0:05:49 > 0:05:52here's two of them being visited upon us at the same time.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54GIBBET CREAKS
0:06:01 > 0:06:05In his first few months of being in Ireland, Edward Bruce clearly
0:06:05 > 0:06:10rounds up large bodies of supply, spoil, booty
0:06:10 > 0:06:11and ships it back to Scotland.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16And it may be that supply was a central motive
0:06:16 > 0:06:19to going there in the first place.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23But by the time you get to 1316, 1317,
0:06:23 > 0:06:27after two failed harvests, into your third bad winter,
0:06:27 > 0:06:30livestock would be dwindling, population would be moving about
0:06:30 > 0:06:33in search of food...
0:06:33 > 0:06:36It's really a large part of the war itself.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50"We left nothing but the harvest of a charred desert that was now
0:06:50 > 0:06:52"the bitterness of dust and ashes.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57"And in their affliction we began to see the hand of God
0:06:57 > 0:06:59"outstretched to punish sin.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05"Famine and sickness waited not to be invited, as the oppressed
0:07:05 > 0:07:09"looked around for a protector, and finds he has none."
0:07:16 > 0:07:20People in the Middle Ages understood their place, in a way.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22That's the way the system worked.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25So, if you were born into poverty,
0:07:25 > 0:07:29you could look forward to an afterlife of heaven.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32I mean, that's what was sold to them.
0:07:32 > 0:07:33That keeps you in your place.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36The world is run on these lines, there are those who work,
0:07:36 > 0:07:38those who pray and those who fight.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42And depending on which one you're born into, that's where you stay.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45So there is an acceptance of that.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48There's a kind of a fatalism about what you're born into.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50There would be an idea that,
0:07:50 > 0:07:53"This is my lot and this is what I have to put up with."
0:07:55 > 0:07:59You are being punished, in a way, by suffering now,
0:07:59 > 0:08:02for some unidentified sins that you or somebody else
0:08:02 > 0:08:06did a while ago. So that is the world-view.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09That is how calamitous events are understood,
0:08:09 > 0:08:12like the Bruce invasion, like the famine,
0:08:12 > 0:08:15like the Black Death that follows not that long afterwards.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22As the year 1315 drew to a close,
0:08:22 > 0:08:25Edward Bruce was campaigning in the Irish midlands.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28He was many miles from his base in Ulster,
0:08:28 > 0:08:33and his main priority was to find food and shelter for his army.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37But in a scenario that was becoming more and more common,
0:08:37 > 0:08:41the local population suffered the burden of war.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45The idea is not to engage so much in actual battles,
0:08:45 > 0:08:49as to take a phalanx - a huge number of men -
0:08:49 > 0:08:52through a territory and devastate it.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57Destroy anything in it that could help the residents
0:08:57 > 0:09:02once you've passed through. So you kind of starve them out.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05The chevauchee has been described as an early example of total warfare,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08because it attacks women and children as well as men.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11And I suspect that something like this might have been
0:09:11 > 0:09:13in Edward's head in Ireland.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17I have looked at an example of an attack on a settlement
0:09:17 > 0:09:20outside Slane in County Meath.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23There is an entry saying that 80 men, women and children
0:09:23 > 0:09:26were killed by an attack of the Bruce.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28So even from that you can just tell that it
0:09:28 > 0:09:31must have been tremendously savage.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33No quarter seems to have been given.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36This was a village in an English-held area.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38So what you do have, even in a country
0:09:38 > 0:09:42which was used to quite savage warfare,
0:09:42 > 0:09:46what was happening with Edward Bruce seems to have taken people
0:09:46 > 0:09:49even then by surprise, in the ferocity of what was happening.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06It's probably the worst time to be alive in the Middle Ages...
0:10:06 > 0:10:07SHE LAUGHS
0:10:07 > 0:10:10..the first half of the 14th century. It's pretty much hell.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24Ravaged by famine, many areas were deserted.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27Entire towns vanished at this time.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29Like Ardreigh, near Athy.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32This place was once a thriving settlement,
0:10:32 > 0:10:35but was abandoned in the 14th century.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38When a cemetery was excavated there,
0:10:38 > 0:10:41over 1,000 skeletons were recovered.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44Some of them date from the time of the Bruce invasion.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10During the course of excavation works here, over 1,200 people
0:11:10 > 0:11:13were found, so a full medieval population.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16And we know this is actually an area the Bruce army
0:11:16 > 0:11:18passes through, because they go through Athy
0:11:18 > 0:11:20and the surrounding areas, so it was an area that would
0:11:20 > 0:11:24have been affected without a shadow of a doubt by the wars.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30When you come to look at how things really were for people
0:11:30 > 0:11:33hundreds of years in the past, if you're looking at human remains
0:11:33 > 0:11:35you're looking directly into the face of somebody who was
0:11:35 > 0:11:39alive at the time the Bruce invasion was taking place.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42The types of injuries that they sustain are
0:11:42 > 0:11:45practically unimaginable to us now.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48The tough aspect of their lives is just quite incredible.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53The human remains like this are like a storybook
0:11:53 > 0:11:55of people's lives at the time.
0:11:57 > 0:12:01Here we have an individual that is male and aged between
0:12:01 > 0:12:0435 and 45 years of age at death.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08Evidence of interpersonal violence would be
0:12:08 > 0:12:11evident by the presence of sharp force trauma to the skull,
0:12:11 > 0:12:14which we have here in the frontal bone.
0:12:14 > 0:12:19It comes in at a point, which has sharp edges on each side,
0:12:19 > 0:12:23which indicates it may have been a sword and it comes to a point
0:12:23 > 0:12:25just above the eye, which narrowly misses the eye.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28So here we have the frontal bone,
0:12:28 > 0:12:30which has the orbits of the eyes here and here,
0:12:30 > 0:12:32and this is the ear.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36This male was probably facing his assailant,
0:12:36 > 0:12:40and a right-handed attack has come in, probably from a sword,
0:12:40 > 0:12:41and it's swept in like this.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46The sharp force trauma probably exposed the skull.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50This individual is incredibly lucky, because he survived this blow.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52And as well as this blade cut coming through here,
0:12:52 > 0:12:56there is the blunt force trauma at the top of the head.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59So either at the same time or two separate occasions,
0:12:59 > 0:13:02this man was hit by two different weapon types.
0:13:02 > 0:13:03A sharp force trauma, probably a sword,
0:13:03 > 0:13:05and then a blunt force trauma,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08which could be a variety of different weapons,
0:13:08 > 0:13:11but the type of things in the medieval period that can inflict
0:13:11 > 0:13:13this type of force are things like hammers,
0:13:13 > 0:13:14that type of weaponry.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17We have some from the same cemetery where people,
0:13:17 > 0:13:20we can tell they've raised their arms
0:13:20 > 0:13:24above their faces in an attempt to ward off blows.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28So really the human remains are the human story
0:13:28 > 0:13:30of what's going on at this time,
0:13:30 > 0:13:33and this man is one of the people who lived through it.
0:13:45 > 0:13:50Just a few miles northeast of the now vanished town of Ardreigh
0:13:50 > 0:13:55is a huge artificial mound - the Motte of Ardscull.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57Today, the motte is covered with trees,
0:13:57 > 0:14:01but in the 14th century it had a very different appearance.
0:14:01 > 0:14:07In January 1316, the Anglo-Irish lords gathered a great army here,
0:14:07 > 0:14:09commanded by Edmund Butler -
0:14:09 > 0:14:12the English king's representative in Ireland.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14They knew the Scottish army was nearby
0:14:14 > 0:14:18and were determined to destroy them once and for all.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25Battlefield archaeologist Tony Pollard is following the trail
0:14:25 > 0:14:28of Edward Bruce and the Scottish army
0:14:28 > 0:14:30as they advanced through Ireland.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35There can be no denying that this is pretty impressive.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37- DAMIAN:- Absolutely, yeah.
0:14:37 > 0:14:38We've been looking for battlefields
0:14:38 > 0:14:42all the way down to get to here, and everywhere we've been
0:14:42 > 0:14:45we've seen mottes, but they've all been much smaller than this.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48Well, what we have here, Tony, is a very important settlement site.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51So what we're looking at is this huge mound that originally
0:14:51 > 0:14:53would have had a wooden palisade on the top.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56It would have had a small garrison inside,
0:14:56 > 0:14:58but what we see today is only a small fraction
0:14:58 > 0:15:01really of what used to be here. There would have been
0:15:01 > 0:15:03a major settlement that accompanied this motte.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05And when the Anglo-Normans came to Ireland,
0:15:05 > 0:15:08they constructed these mottes to try and control the landscape.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11So you consistently find them beside routeways,
0:15:11 > 0:15:13whether they're roads or rivers.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16We're beside the road here, a road that undoubtedly
0:15:16 > 0:15:18the Bruce army would have marched down originally.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23The Bruce army is the largest army that's really ever come to the country.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25And it's the largest army that will be seen for
0:15:25 > 0:15:27- a number of hundred years in Ireland.- Wow.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30And an army that size has to operate
0:15:30 > 0:15:32- along the major routeways.- Yeah.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34It has to move close to these centres of power consistently,
0:15:34 > 0:15:36and that's exactly what we have at Ardscull.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39So these are like castles really, but built on the cheap?
0:15:39 > 0:15:41That's exactly it, a quick fix to try
0:15:41 > 0:15:43and control territory as quickly as they can.
0:15:48 > 0:15:52The Anglo-Irish, they seem to have a fairly big army here,
0:15:52 > 0:15:57they surely had an opportunity to smash the Scots,
0:15:57 > 0:16:00who by this time must have been in a fairly dilapidated state,
0:16:00 > 0:16:02but they kind of let it go, don't they?
0:16:02 > 0:16:04Absolutely, there's no doubt that they significantly
0:16:04 > 0:16:08outnumbered the Scots and should have won.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12The Scots say there were about 50,000 English descending on them,
0:16:12 > 0:16:16they had about 10,000 men and they defeat - using the tactics
0:16:16 > 0:16:19that you would be familiar with at Bannockburn - the English.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21If you then look at the other side of the accounts,
0:16:21 > 0:16:23the Anglo-Irish accounts, what they're saying is
0:16:23 > 0:16:26in fact, the Scots didn't have much to do with this battle at all,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29that they had a bit of a disagreement among themselves,
0:16:29 > 0:16:30and after killing about 70-odd Scots,
0:16:30 > 0:16:33they lost five men and then had this argument
0:16:33 > 0:16:34and leave the fields,
0:16:34 > 0:16:37that it was really unfortunate what occurred to them here.
0:16:37 > 0:16:38Whichever way you cut it,
0:16:38 > 0:16:41it doesn't really bode well for the Anglo-Irish, does it?
0:16:41 > 0:16:45Either they're defeated by the Scots through sheer force of arms,
0:16:45 > 0:16:48or they can't agree among themselves what to do
0:16:48 > 0:16:49and have a barney and then clear off.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52And I think on the balance of evidence, you have to consider
0:16:52 > 0:16:53that the Scots more than likely
0:16:53 > 0:16:56defeated them militarily on the battlefield.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58But the Scots are allowed to fight another day?
0:16:58 > 0:17:00Yeah, allowed to fight on their terms
0:17:00 > 0:17:02and to fight another day, and the war continues,
0:17:02 > 0:17:04and the misery continues for everybody really.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12Ardscull was a missed opportunity for the Anglo-Irish.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14Edmund Butler had failed to take his best chance yet
0:17:14 > 0:17:16to annihilate Edward Bruce.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20And now Dublin lay open to assault by the victorious Scots.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27However, in the days that followed the battle, they found themselves
0:17:27 > 0:17:32caught in the fog of war, that cloud of uncertainty
0:17:32 > 0:17:35when an army is unsure of its own capability
0:17:35 > 0:17:37and its enemy's intentions.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41The Scots were hungry and exhausted.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44Edward Bruce knew they were in no condition to attack
0:17:44 > 0:17:46the most important city in Ireland.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58At the end of the first campaigning season, if you like,
0:17:58 > 0:18:03contemporary opinion was that Bruce was winning.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06He had the advantage and he had an opportunity
0:18:06 > 0:18:11then to consolidate his position and work ahead.
0:18:11 > 0:18:16The problem for him I suppose was that that first season in Ireland
0:18:16 > 0:18:20was also the first of these famine years.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23The conditions weren't ripe for him
0:18:23 > 0:18:26to do something very elaborate to begin with.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29I think even Edward Bruce was, you know,
0:18:29 > 0:18:32even after his first matter of months in Ireland
0:18:32 > 0:18:34he might have begun to think that
0:18:34 > 0:18:37maybe it wasn't going to go as easily
0:18:37 > 0:18:39as he had thought initially.
0:18:50 > 0:18:52The Scots had no option but to begin
0:18:52 > 0:18:57the slow and painful march north to their base in Ulster.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59Their supplies were now almost gone,
0:18:59 > 0:19:01and the men began to die of starvation.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11What was happening during the course of the Bruce invasion
0:19:11 > 0:19:13was very extreme.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16Contemporary accounts say that people were struggling
0:19:16 > 0:19:19so much they were resorting to cannibalism in parts of Ireland.
0:19:22 > 0:19:27"It was said truly that some evil men were so distraught by famine
0:19:27 > 0:19:32"that they dragged out of cemeteries the corpses of the buried,
0:19:32 > 0:19:35"and roasted the bodies on spits
0:19:35 > 0:19:37"and ate every single one of them.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43"And women ate their sons for hunger."
0:19:47 > 0:19:51It was a very bleak time, and I think the timing was
0:19:51 > 0:19:55devastating from the Scots' point of view.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04The weakened Scottish army limped back to Ulster.
0:20:04 > 0:20:09Even there, the Scots were not secure, as Carrickfergus Castle -
0:20:09 > 0:20:12the most important stronghold in the north -
0:20:12 > 0:20:13still held out against them.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19Edward Bruce relied on the tried and trusted weapon
0:20:19 > 0:20:21of siege warfare - starvation.
0:20:26 > 0:20:28The Scots don't really need big siege engines,
0:20:28 > 0:20:31they don't need to be actively attacking this all the time,
0:20:31 > 0:20:36they just sit outside in their siege camp and let nature take its course.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39So it's an incredibly brutal conflict,
0:20:39 > 0:20:42but it's not one that involves lobbing huge missiles inside.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45It's just keeping them bottled up.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48And at one point the Scots send emissaries into the castle
0:20:48 > 0:20:52to negotiate and they're taken prisoner by the garrison.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55And rumours start to leak out that these guys
0:20:55 > 0:20:59have actually been eaten by the garrison, so hungry are they.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03And eventually, nature does take its course, and around about
0:21:03 > 0:21:09late July, August 1316, just over a year after the siege begins,
0:21:09 > 0:21:13the castle opens its gates and Edward Bruce takes control.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25This victory could not hide the fact that Edward Bruce was still
0:21:25 > 0:21:28a long way from being recognised across the island
0:21:28 > 0:21:29as the High King.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33Fedhlim O'Connor, the King of Connacht,
0:21:33 > 0:21:35now threw his lot in with Bruce
0:21:35 > 0:21:40and attacked English settlements throughout the western province.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43But he was defeated and killed in the Battle of Athenry.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48Other Gaelic chiefs showed little or no interest
0:21:48 > 0:21:50in joining the Scots.
0:21:53 > 0:21:55The thing about Ireland in the Middle Ages,
0:21:55 > 0:21:58which is not true of Scotland,
0:21:58 > 0:22:00is that Ireland was a very polar society.
0:22:00 > 0:22:05You had the native Irish and you had the English of Ireland,
0:22:05 > 0:22:07so of course it probably was a bit naive
0:22:07 > 0:22:11to think that they could put aside these internal divisions
0:22:11 > 0:22:14and rise above it for some kind of,
0:22:14 > 0:22:17in inverted commas, "national cause".
0:22:17 > 0:22:21But Bruce still had the backing of a formidable Gaelic leader -
0:22:21 > 0:22:23Donal O'Neill of Tyrone.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26O'Neill's army represented the main Irish support
0:22:26 > 0:22:27for the Scottish campaign.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33Instead of fighting the English, we'll fight ourselves.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38And so we owe to ourselves the miseries with which we are afflicted.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40HE CHUCKLES
0:22:41 > 0:22:43HE SIGHS
0:22:43 > 0:22:48Degenerates. Manifestly unworthy of our ancestors.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55It was by their valour and splendid deeds that
0:22:55 > 0:22:59the Irish race in all the ages past retained our liberty.
0:23:02 > 0:23:04We must be at harmony at home.
0:23:05 > 0:23:11We must prosecute this war with our united forces.
0:23:11 > 0:23:12If we are to regain our liberty.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19The idea that they thought of themselves as distinctively Irish
0:23:19 > 0:23:23does emerge, but Ireland is still a very divided country
0:23:23 > 0:23:25for most of the Middle Ages.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28That's the tragedy, is that they didn't band together
0:23:28 > 0:23:31and work together, that just never happened.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42You can argue that these Irish leaders SHOULD have
0:23:42 > 0:23:45put their differences aside in this national cause.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51You're asking a person to take a gamble on losing everything
0:23:51 > 0:23:54that he has in the world for some greater cause,
0:23:54 > 0:23:55and it was too much to ask.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02Each of these Irish leaders was the head of a branch
0:24:02 > 0:24:05of the family, he was somebody who was
0:24:05 > 0:24:08trying to hold on to his land.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10And ultimately, it's all about land.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20Edward Bruce's campaign was losing momentum.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23He desperately needed reinforcements and supplies
0:24:23 > 0:24:25for his depleted and weakened army.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28And only one man could provide such assistance.
0:24:30 > 0:24:35In September 1316, Edward travelled to Fife to see his brother,
0:24:35 > 0:24:39the King of Scotland himself, Robert Bruce.
0:24:43 > 0:24:44THEY LAUGH
0:24:46 > 0:24:49The Irish are impressed.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52The government is frightened of the wedge that has been thrust
0:24:52 > 0:24:55so quickly into the heart of English influence -
0:24:55 > 0:24:59and yet...you did not march on to the walls of Dublin?
0:25:00 > 0:25:03My hand was forced.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05Famine and fatigue wore weary my few remaining men
0:25:05 > 0:25:08while Carrickfergus still lay under siege.
0:25:08 > 0:25:10I could not afford a battle on two fronts.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15I heeded your advice, brother.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18Demand nothing until you have the force to enhance your claim.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23I fear they must face the wrath of two kings
0:25:23 > 0:25:25to convince them of their loyalty.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30Replenish your stocks, reinforce your men...
0:25:30 > 0:25:32prepare yourself for war.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38It was always Edward Bruce that we see to the fore
0:25:38 > 0:25:40in this invasion of Ireland,
0:25:40 > 0:25:43and indeed Robert's contemporary biographer,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46this man John Barbour, who wrote a very long poem
0:25:46 > 0:25:49about Robert later on in the 14th century,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52he paints Edward as a bit of a troublemaker and that
0:25:52 > 0:25:54Robert wanted rid of him,
0:25:54 > 0:25:57but I think there are other reasons for that.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00All the contemporary evidence suggests that
0:26:00 > 0:26:02Robert and Edward were very close.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04Edward was Robert's right-hand man.
0:26:04 > 0:26:10It could be that Edward was desirous of proving himself
0:26:10 > 0:26:12as the worthy successor,
0:26:12 > 0:26:15worthy potential successor to Robert Bruce.
0:26:17 > 0:26:18Edward might have thought,
0:26:18 > 0:26:21"Well, if I'm going to be the next King of Scots,
0:26:21 > 0:26:24"maybe I should show that I've got the mettle for it,"
0:26:24 > 0:26:26because he must have felt somewhat overshadowed,
0:26:26 > 0:26:28I think, by his brother Robert.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32The whole thread running through this story, I think,
0:26:32 > 0:26:36is the relationship between the two brothers, Robert and Edward.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38And it's a relationship that I don't think
0:26:38 > 0:26:40has been given enough attention.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42I think there are assumptions made about it,
0:26:42 > 0:26:45and I think some of them are very wrong.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48One of which is that Robert wanted to get his brother
0:26:48 > 0:26:51out of the way, because he was a possible threat.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54I think that's absolute nonsense.
0:26:54 > 0:26:59Robert sent his brother to Ireland because he fully trusted him,
0:26:59 > 0:27:02and I don't think it smacks at all of a suspicious
0:27:02 > 0:27:05or difficult relationship between Edward and Robert.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08And let's face it, the entire Bruce family
0:27:08 > 0:27:11has almost been wiped out. All the other brothers are dead.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15It's only that pair, and I think they've got a fairly close bond.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24"King Robert arrived in Ireland in this way,
0:27:24 > 0:27:28"and when he had stayed in Carrickfergus for three days,
0:27:28 > 0:27:31"they consulted and decided that with all their men
0:27:31 > 0:27:34"they would hold their way through all Ireland,
0:27:34 > 0:27:36"from one end to the other."
0:27:40 > 0:27:45It is to me very interesting that one fifth of John Barbour's poem
0:27:45 > 0:27:49is devoted to the Irish expedition,
0:27:49 > 0:27:52and that suggests that to contemporaries,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55this was a really important thing, it was a big deal.
0:27:55 > 0:27:57A much bigger deal than Scottish historians
0:27:57 > 0:27:59have made of it ever since.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05When Robert Bruce came into Ireland the army marched down
0:28:05 > 0:28:08and they were clearly marching on Dublin.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14Dublin was at the centre of everything in Ireland.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16It was the headquarters of the English government,
0:28:16 > 0:28:19and if you were going to topple English government in Ireland,
0:28:19 > 0:28:22you had to get control of Dublin.
0:28:22 > 0:28:24They came as far as Castleknock,
0:28:24 > 0:28:26and they were looking at the city
0:28:26 > 0:28:29and contemplating an assault on it, maybe the next morning.
0:28:31 > 0:28:34But the citizens of Dublin, they went inside their walls
0:28:34 > 0:28:37and burned the suburbs after them
0:28:37 > 0:28:40to deny the Scots cover as they tried to get to the town.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45The citizens of Dublin pull down their own walls,
0:28:45 > 0:28:48they retreat within the very bastions of the core of the city,
0:28:48 > 0:28:51the governor flees Dublin for Cork...
0:28:51 > 0:28:53it's effectively wide open.
0:28:56 > 0:28:58It's hard to see, other than the capture of Dublin,
0:28:58 > 0:29:01what would have tipped the balance in Ireland.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03I mean, it takes them over a year to take Carrickfergus,
0:29:03 > 0:29:06and it falls, and it doesn't really make much difference.
0:29:06 > 0:29:08What are they actually trying to achieve?
0:29:10 > 0:29:13The problem for Robert Bruce when he was in Ireland
0:29:13 > 0:29:17was that he was committed to a short sharp shock here in Ireland.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20He couldn't spend a year hanging around outside Dublin
0:29:20 > 0:29:21for them to surrender.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24So I think they took a look at the situation
0:29:24 > 0:29:26and they realised it was either a lengthy siege,
0:29:26 > 0:29:29or we just abandon Dublin for the time being and march on.
0:29:34 > 0:29:36Leaving Dublin behind, the Scots
0:29:36 > 0:29:38marched west to Leixlip,
0:29:38 > 0:29:40where they spent four days
0:29:40 > 0:29:42burning and plundering.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46Further south, the Franciscan monks at Castledermot
0:29:46 > 0:29:49had no reason to welcome the approach of Robert Bruce.
0:29:49 > 0:29:52Two years before, his brother had destroyed
0:29:52 > 0:29:53their friary in Dundalk.
0:30:03 > 0:30:04Throughout the campaign,
0:30:04 > 0:30:08the Scots had seen religious orders as legitimate targets.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12Because these same religious orders stood accused of
0:30:12 > 0:30:15committing atrocities of their own against the native Irish.
0:30:24 > 0:30:26So these places are certainly not set aside,
0:30:26 > 0:30:30they're not left alone, they are embroiled within this conflict?
0:30:30 > 0:30:33They are, neither side is offering any sanctuary
0:30:33 > 0:30:36to these locations at all. These are fair game.
0:30:36 > 0:30:40There's no rhyme nor reason why they necessarily single out
0:30:40 > 0:30:43a particular monastery, friary or abbey,
0:30:43 > 0:30:45but when they do,
0:30:45 > 0:30:48they visit the wrath of the Bruces upon the place.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51It just demonstrates how serious the Scots were
0:30:51 > 0:30:54- about this place and this operation.- Mmm.
0:30:54 > 0:30:57- They left no stone unturned really, did they?- No, they didn't.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04In the Remonstrance in 1317 by Donal O'Neill for example,
0:31:04 > 0:31:10there is a direct allegation at Abbeylara that monks
0:31:10 > 0:31:13- are going around hunting Irishmen. - The monks?!
0:31:13 > 0:31:15The monks going out hunting Irishmen,
0:31:15 > 0:31:17because he wants to say,
0:31:17 > 0:31:23"This is the chaos that Edward II has wreaked upon Ireland.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26"This is why we want Edward Bruce to come over and save us."
0:31:28 > 0:31:30AGONISED GROAN
0:31:33 > 0:31:36One side is accusing the other side
0:31:36 > 0:31:39of the most terrible crimes imaginable.
0:31:39 > 0:31:41It is horrific really, what we're looking at is total war,
0:31:41 > 0:31:44I guess, absolutely nothing is sacred.
0:31:44 > 0:31:48There's all that Braveheart nonsense about the Scots always being
0:31:48 > 0:31:52the underdog and the English aggressor, but when you step back
0:31:52 > 0:31:54and look with an objective eye,
0:31:54 > 0:31:56the Scots are capable of mixing it up
0:31:56 > 0:31:58in a bad way with the best of them -
0:31:58 > 0:32:00or should I say the worst of them?
0:32:08 > 0:32:10The Bruce army was slicing its way
0:32:10 > 0:32:12through the heart of Ireland,
0:32:12 > 0:32:15leaving a trail of smouldering ash
0:32:15 > 0:32:17and a land stripped bare in its wake.
0:32:40 > 0:32:45It's a Scots military practice to actually deny your enemy
0:32:45 > 0:32:48food supplies, resources and provisions.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51The only thing is, of course, that it actually robs
0:32:51 > 0:32:54your own army of the ability to have provisions as well.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58If you can talk about public opinion
0:32:58 > 0:33:01in the early 14th century that might have begun to
0:33:01 > 0:33:04swing opinion slightly against the Scots.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07Some people were saying, "What was so wrong with the English?"
0:33:07 > 0:33:10There is one source that says this exact thing -
0:33:10 > 0:33:14"Our OLD foreigners are much better than these new foreigners
0:33:14 > 0:33:16"who've come in and doing all this damage."
0:33:20 > 0:33:23You only have to look at the campaign.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27How aimless it almost seems, weaving round and about,
0:33:27 > 0:33:29first past Dublin, down into the south,
0:33:29 > 0:33:31across to Limerick, back across, back up.
0:33:31 > 0:33:34Are they actually desperately in search of food?
0:33:37 > 0:33:40The joke that they almost starve to death,
0:33:40 > 0:33:43or eating their own horses, how do you explain it?
0:33:43 > 0:33:47They're marching to places to try to rouse the Irish population
0:33:47 > 0:33:49to join their side,
0:33:49 > 0:33:54so the furthest south they get to is within sight of Limerick,
0:33:54 > 0:33:57and they're trying to get the O'Briens to join them.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01The problem with the O'Briens, as with the O'Connors
0:34:01 > 0:34:03and many of the other dynasties,
0:34:03 > 0:34:05is that there are two rival branches.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08And once one side says that he's going to join with the Scots,
0:34:08 > 0:34:11the other fellow stays with the English government,
0:34:11 > 0:34:15and the kind of unity that they were expecting,
0:34:15 > 0:34:17it was alien to Ireland in the early 14th century.
0:34:27 > 0:34:31Treachery stalks unashamed in Ireland among the nobility as well, I see!
0:34:35 > 0:34:37What now, Robert?
0:34:37 > 0:34:42Demand nothing until you have the strength to enforce the claim.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45We retreat - to Carrickfergus.
0:34:45 > 0:34:46Hup! Hup!
0:34:52 > 0:34:54There was more bad news for the Scots.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57An army of English reinforcements had landed at Youghal
0:34:57 > 0:34:59and was on its way north.
0:35:07 > 0:35:09That campaign in particular is the one
0:35:09 > 0:35:12to really question. At one point,
0:35:12 > 0:35:14King of Scots, his brother - the High King of Ireland -
0:35:14 > 0:35:17the man who would have been guardian of the Scottish realm
0:35:17 > 0:35:20in the event of the death of both of these men,
0:35:20 > 0:35:22Thomas Randolph, so the three leading men of Scotland
0:35:22 > 0:35:28are pretty close to being starved, killed, hunted down, wiped out,
0:35:28 > 0:35:32at a time when Robert Bruce only has a grandson
0:35:32 > 0:35:34to follow him.
0:35:34 > 0:35:37What's going on? Why do they think it's worth it?
0:35:40 > 0:35:44The Scots' latest retreat had an air of finality to it.
0:35:44 > 0:35:46Robert was needed back in Scotland, which the English
0:35:46 > 0:35:49were threatening to invade again.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52In May, he boarded a ship for his homeland.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58There's a sense in which Ireland stretches them too far,
0:35:58 > 0:36:01and as much as it's a two-front policy,
0:36:01 > 0:36:05they can only really run one at a time effectively.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08I suspect the English after a while know that.
0:36:08 > 0:36:11They know that unless Edward Bruce commits to really taking
0:36:11 > 0:36:15somewhere like Dublin, it's not going to tip the balance.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27There is virtually no information on how the war went for
0:36:27 > 0:36:30over a year after Robert's departure.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33It seems that for many months, the Scots, the Irish
0:36:33 > 0:36:36and the Anglo-Irish abstained from further fighting.
0:36:36 > 0:36:41The most likely explanation is that each side needed to recover
0:36:41 > 0:36:43after almost three years of war and famine.
0:36:58 > 0:37:02"Excommunication is to be pronounced against
0:37:02 > 0:37:04"all invading England or disturbing its peace."
0:37:05 > 0:37:07Donald.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18Your brother may be able to afford to defy the Pope.
0:37:18 > 0:37:23But if the judgment of heaven is called down upon my people...
0:37:23 > 0:37:24what is to become of us?
0:37:26 > 0:37:29We shall address the Pope ourselves.
0:37:29 > 0:37:31Through the cardinals. We shall persuade him
0:37:31 > 0:37:33that Ireland's cause is a just one.
0:37:43 > 0:37:48In 1317, O'Neill and other Gaelic leaders sent a letter
0:37:48 > 0:37:51known as "The Remonstrance of the Irish Princes"
0:37:51 > 0:37:53to Pope John XXII.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57It explained why they had supported Edward Bruce against the English.
0:37:59 > 0:38:03From that time the English crossed the borders of our kingdom
0:38:03 > 0:38:09with evil intent, with all their strength and using all
0:38:09 > 0:38:14the skills in their power they have tried to destroy our people utterly
0:38:14 > 0:38:16and eradicate them completely.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22On account of the aforesaid injuries, then,
0:38:22 > 0:38:25and innumerable others which cannot easily be grasped
0:38:25 > 0:38:29by the human understanding, we are compelled
0:38:29 > 0:38:31to enter into a deadly war with the aforementioned.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39The Remonstrance claims that Donal O'Neill
0:38:39 > 0:38:41had the support of a large number of the Irish bishops,
0:38:41 > 0:38:43and I think that may well be the case.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47Because if you read the text of the Remonstrance, the importance
0:38:47 > 0:38:51of it is that it was sent to the Pope, who was then in Avignon.
0:38:51 > 0:38:53And so it has to make an appeal to something
0:38:53 > 0:38:55that might win the Pope over.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58So it reminds him that, actually, the English came to Ireland
0:38:58 > 0:39:01because they had a licence from the then Pope to do it,
0:39:01 > 0:39:03Pope Adrian IV.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06And that part of their mission in Ireland was meant to be
0:39:06 > 0:39:08to reform the Irish Church,
0:39:08 > 0:39:12but, in fact, the Remonstrance says the opposite happened,
0:39:12 > 0:39:13they didn't reform the Irish Church,
0:39:13 > 0:39:15they damaged the Irish Church.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18So it's trying to make an ecclesiastical appeal,
0:39:18 > 0:39:21to get the Pope to take the Irish side against the English,
0:39:21 > 0:39:22just as at the same time,
0:39:22 > 0:39:25Bruce in Scotland was trying to get the Pope
0:39:25 > 0:39:27to take the Scots' side against the English.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31HE READS ALOUD IN LATIN
0:39:31 > 0:39:34To achieve our aims more swiftly,
0:39:34 > 0:39:39we call to our help and assistance the illustrious Edward de Brus,
0:39:39 > 0:39:44Earl of Carrick, and brother to the Lord Robert,
0:39:44 > 0:39:48the most illustrious King of all the Scots,
0:39:48 > 0:39:50and sprung from our noblest ancestors.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58In its wording, the Remonstrance is uncannily similar to the
0:39:58 > 0:40:03Declaration of Arbroath, which the Scottish Church and nobility
0:40:03 > 0:40:06sent to the Pope three years later.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10A number of Irish historians, as well as Scottish historians,
0:40:10 > 0:40:14detect the hand that was behind the Declaration of Arbroath
0:40:14 > 0:40:16in the Remonstrance.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19That this was a product of Bruce's chancery, if you like.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23A propaganda document, no question,
0:40:23 > 0:40:26but it's making many similar points.
0:40:26 > 0:40:31The Irish had ruled for centuries unconquered by a foreigner,
0:40:31 > 0:40:33exactly as the Scots did in the declaration.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36The English King came to the Irish as a friend
0:40:36 > 0:40:40but betrayed them as an enemy, the same thing in Scotland.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43The English ever since have reigned as tyrants in Ireland,
0:40:43 > 0:40:49the same as Edward I and Edward II tried to rule in Scotland.
0:40:49 > 0:40:53So there is a direct relationship between these two documents,
0:40:53 > 0:40:54I'm pretty sure of it.
0:40:54 > 0:40:56It's controversial, this, but if things are not
0:40:56 > 0:40:59controversial in history they're not worth talking about.
0:41:04 > 0:41:08It is in truth not for glory, or riches,
0:41:08 > 0:41:11or honour that we are fighting.
0:41:13 > 0:41:14But for freedom alone.
0:41:16 > 0:41:21Which no honest man will give up... but with life itself.
0:41:23 > 0:41:26I think this is really where Bruce invents something called
0:41:26 > 0:41:28Scottish independence.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31Bruce must have realised somewhere along the line
0:41:31 > 0:41:35that as long as people had this loyalty to their clan
0:41:35 > 0:41:39and their family, you could never build a state or a nation.
0:41:39 > 0:41:42And I think that's when he said, "We've got to give these guys
0:41:42 > 0:41:46"something greater than themselves to which they can aspire."
0:41:46 > 0:41:49Bruce's supporters send a letter to the Pope,
0:41:49 > 0:41:52begging him to bring pressure to bear upon Edward II
0:41:52 > 0:41:54to recognise Bruce as legitimate King of Scots,
0:41:54 > 0:41:56to end these terrible wars.
0:41:56 > 0:41:58They tell the Pope that, "If you don't do this,
0:41:58 > 0:42:00"you will be responsible for the bloodshed that follows."
0:42:00 > 0:42:04In the course of this letter, they make two great pronouncements.
0:42:06 > 0:42:11"If Bruce should ever submit us or our kingdom to the
0:42:11 > 0:42:14"King of England or the English,
0:42:14 > 0:42:16"we will remove him and set up another better able
0:42:16 > 0:42:20"to govern us as our king." And this, I have argued,
0:42:20 > 0:42:26is the first articulation of the contractual theory of monarchy...
0:42:26 > 0:42:27in Europe.
0:42:27 > 0:42:31And then they go on to make the statement which many people
0:42:31 > 0:42:33still like to quote.
0:42:33 > 0:42:35"For so long as 100 of us
0:42:35 > 0:42:37"remain alive we shall never surrender,
0:42:37 > 0:42:39"it is not for glory nor riches nor honours
0:42:39 > 0:42:41"that we're fighting, but for freedom alone,
0:42:41 > 0:42:44"which no honest person will lose but with life itself."
0:42:44 > 0:42:46Who could argue with that?
0:42:54 > 0:42:57Some 450 years later,
0:42:57 > 0:42:59the Declaration of Arbroath would inspire one of
0:42:59 > 0:43:01the most famous assertions of freedom,
0:43:01 > 0:43:05human rights and self-determination ever written -
0:43:05 > 0:43:07the American Declaration of Independence.
0:43:11 > 0:43:15This document could have had its roots in a forgotten war,
0:43:15 > 0:43:18fought in Ireland and Scotland centuries earlier.
0:43:20 > 0:43:24And in 1317, that war had still to reach its conclusion.
0:43:28 > 0:43:31Time was running out for Edward Bruce.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34Twice he and his army had a chance to capture Dublin,
0:43:34 > 0:43:37and twice they had failed.
0:43:37 > 0:43:39The Irish kings who supported him
0:43:39 > 0:43:41outside of Ulster had been defeated in battle.
0:43:42 > 0:43:45But even in the face of these setbacks,
0:43:45 > 0:43:49Edward had reason to believe that things might improve.
0:43:49 > 0:43:54In 1318, for the first time in years, there was a good harvest.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59Finally, he was able to supply his men properly.
0:43:59 > 0:44:00And news came from Scotland that
0:44:00 > 0:44:02further reinforcements were on the way.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07And so, in the autumn of 1318,
0:44:07 > 0:44:11Edward made the decision to bring his army south and out of Ulster.
0:44:17 > 0:44:22We know that Robert is sending reinforcements to Carrickfergus,
0:44:22 > 0:44:26and it's just a question of why Edward suddenly decides
0:44:26 > 0:44:30to leave Carrickfergus before King Robert comes over again.
0:44:30 > 0:44:36It could be something to do with a repeat of the events of 1317,
0:44:36 > 0:44:41when effectively Edward leads the vanguard down south
0:44:41 > 0:44:43and Robert's main army follows him,
0:44:43 > 0:44:46and it could have been some kind of attempt to take Dublin.
0:44:46 > 0:44:51I suspect they only headed south in October 1318
0:44:51 > 0:44:54because they had a new idea,
0:44:54 > 0:44:58there was one final effort that they thought might do the trick.
0:44:58 > 0:45:01So the Scots still had hopes for Ireland.
0:45:01 > 0:45:03It's just possible that they might have been able to
0:45:03 > 0:45:06pull some kind of a rabbit out of a hat at that stage.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27We're just south of the Moyry Pass, which is one
0:45:27 > 0:45:30of the most important ways to get from the north into the south.
0:45:32 > 0:45:34We're on the hill at Faughart,
0:45:34 > 0:45:36which is just at the mouth of the pass,
0:45:36 > 0:45:39so a very important strategic location.
0:45:39 > 0:45:41It's still a very important place.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44Indeed, during the Troubles, this was a hot spot.
0:45:44 > 0:45:46So for Edward to be up here makes total sense.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49But for whatever reason, the Anglo-Irish have
0:45:49 > 0:45:53got their act together and have a big army waiting for him.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56And Edward Bruce has to decide what to do,
0:45:56 > 0:45:59and Barbour talks about him having a Council of War with
0:45:59 > 0:46:01his Irish allies and everybody's basically saying,
0:46:01 > 0:46:04"Don't be so foolish, we're massively outnumbered,
0:46:04 > 0:46:05"we've only got 2,000 men,
0:46:05 > 0:46:09"what are we going to do against that massive force?"
0:46:13 > 0:46:18There could be, in Edward's mind, that he wanted to finish this off.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23Maybe there is some kind of thing going on in Edward's head
0:46:23 > 0:46:26where he needs to have the same kind of victory
0:46:26 > 0:46:28as Robert had at Bannockburn.
0:46:28 > 0:46:32It might be the case that Edward Bruce likewise was
0:46:32 > 0:46:36a bit of a hothead, and that he rushed into this battle
0:46:36 > 0:46:38even though there were further...
0:46:38 > 0:46:41Apparently the contemporary sources say there
0:46:41 > 0:46:42were further troops on their way,
0:46:42 > 0:46:44by way of reinforcement to him.
0:46:44 > 0:46:47But he decided to take the gamble on the battle.
0:46:50 > 0:46:52Historians have settled on this spot,
0:46:52 > 0:46:56this slope facing down towards the mouth of the pass,
0:46:56 > 0:46:58as the battlefield.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01To me, it doesn't really make sense.
0:47:01 > 0:47:05It's far too steep for cavalry to be positioned on it
0:47:05 > 0:47:07if the Anglo-Irish are up here.
0:47:07 > 0:47:09If Edward Bruce is up here,
0:47:09 > 0:47:11he's surely going to be facing towards the town.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14That seems to be where the enemy are coming from.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17I am not convinced that this is the battlefield.
0:47:17 > 0:47:20To me, having seen a lot of battlefields in my time,
0:47:20 > 0:47:22this really doesn't make too much sense.
0:47:39 > 0:47:41Every time I've been in a place of historical importance
0:47:41 > 0:47:44on this trip, there's been one of these things.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47Almost like a signpost saying, "Here's a battle."
0:47:47 > 0:47:49And it's a motte.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52It's a type of Anglo-Irish fortification.
0:47:52 > 0:47:54The Normans were very good at them.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57And it's basically just a mound of earth
0:47:57 > 0:47:59that gives you a strong point.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02And this being on the top of the hill at Faughart
0:48:02 > 0:48:05makes it an ideal location for Edward Bruce
0:48:05 > 0:48:08to be able to see whatever's happening around.
0:48:08 > 0:48:12So I think this location is probably a pretty good marker
0:48:12 > 0:48:15from where to start to think about where this battle was fought.
0:48:19 > 0:48:23On top of the motte, on top of the hill at Faughart,
0:48:23 > 0:48:27I've got a very clear view down into the town,
0:48:27 > 0:48:30but importantly, it's not just the visibility,
0:48:30 > 0:48:33this is a much gentler slope.
0:48:33 > 0:48:36So, if Edward Bruce and his Scottish army
0:48:36 > 0:48:40and his Irish allies are on this hill,
0:48:40 > 0:48:42it offers a much better advantage
0:48:42 > 0:48:45going into a fight, because his men can move down it.
0:48:45 > 0:48:48They've got the advantage of height, but they can move down it
0:48:48 > 0:48:50in a controlled fashion, unlike the other side,
0:48:50 > 0:48:53which is just far too steep.
0:48:53 > 0:48:56But he seems to fancy his chances.
0:48:56 > 0:48:58So there are scores to be settled,
0:48:58 > 0:49:00and indeed, on that day, they are.
0:49:03 > 0:49:05"Then with great anger, Edward said,
0:49:05 > 0:49:07"Let whoever wants to, help,
0:49:07 > 0:49:10"but rest assured that I will fight today,
0:49:10 > 0:49:11"without more delay.
0:49:13 > 0:49:16"Let no man say while I'm alive that
0:49:16 > 0:49:18"superior numbers would make me flee.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21"God forbid that anyone should blame us
0:49:21 > 0:49:23"for defending our noble name."
0:49:25 > 0:49:28SCREAMING, METAL CLANGS
0:49:53 > 0:49:56As it turns out, it really actually ends up being
0:49:56 > 0:49:58an Anglo-Norman Bannockburn,
0:49:58 > 0:50:00because they completely rout the Scots
0:50:00 > 0:50:04and that's the end of the dream, on that Dundalk hillside.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09SCREAMING, METAL CLANGS
0:50:09 > 0:50:11He should have won that battle.
0:50:12 > 0:50:14The leader of the Anglo-Irish forces
0:50:14 > 0:50:17was not a particularly elevated individual.
0:50:17 > 0:50:19He was a man called John de Bermingham.
0:50:19 > 0:50:25He led what by all accounts is a relatively local force of people,
0:50:25 > 0:50:27primarily from County Louth itself,
0:50:27 > 0:50:29some of them from County Meath,
0:50:29 > 0:50:31and it wasn't some vast government army
0:50:31 > 0:50:34and they were trying to forestall the Bruces,
0:50:34 > 0:50:40presumably before they got to Dundalk and could do a lot of damage there.
0:50:40 > 0:50:44If they had beaten Bermingham's army at Faughart,
0:50:44 > 0:50:48the chances of the Scots establishing
0:50:48 > 0:50:50their foothold here permanently
0:50:50 > 0:50:52would probably be a safe bet.
0:50:58 > 0:51:00BELL TOLLS
0:51:16 > 0:51:18HE GRUNTS
0:51:27 > 0:51:29It goes very badly wrong for them.
0:51:29 > 0:51:33Indeed, so badly wrong that Edward Bruce is killed in the battle.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39Edward's head is removed, it's packed in a box of salt
0:51:39 > 0:51:43and sent to Edward II to prove that he is actually dead.
0:51:44 > 0:51:45His limbs are hacked off
0:51:45 > 0:51:48and displayed in various parts of the kingdom,
0:51:48 > 0:51:51again, to demonstrate that the dreaded Edward Bruce
0:51:51 > 0:51:52has been vanquished.
0:51:53 > 0:51:58If that's the case, this can't be the grave of Edward Bruce.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01But it is a fitting memorial.
0:52:01 > 0:52:04It marks the end of Edward Bruce's story,
0:52:04 > 0:52:09it marks the end of the Scottish invasion of Ireland,
0:52:09 > 0:52:15and three and a half years of warfare and grief and fear
0:52:15 > 0:52:18come to an end somewhere near this hilltop.
0:52:31 > 0:52:33GASPING AND GRUNTING
0:52:45 > 0:52:46We are set here in jeopardy
0:52:46 > 0:52:50To win honour or for to die
0:52:50 > 0:52:53We are too far frae hame to flee
0:52:53 > 0:52:56Therefore let ilk man worthy be.
0:53:13 > 0:53:17For Bruce's Irish supporters, things took a turn for the worse.
0:53:19 > 0:53:23Donal O'Neill's rivals, the O'Donnells, attacked him
0:53:23 > 0:53:25and killed his son Seoan.
0:53:27 > 0:53:28Donal himself survived,
0:53:28 > 0:53:33but his hopes of driving the English from Ireland were in tatters.
0:53:33 > 0:53:35The war was over.
0:53:39 > 0:53:41I think there is a sense
0:53:41 > 0:53:45in which King Robert is taken out of the account
0:53:45 > 0:53:49of the campaign which came to grief at Faughart.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52I think that in a way,
0:53:52 > 0:53:54this was down to his brother,
0:53:54 > 0:53:55this was Edward.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59He was carrying the can for what happened here.
0:53:59 > 0:54:03Maybe there's even a notion that Bruce,
0:54:03 > 0:54:06given these few hints we have in his correspondence,
0:54:06 > 0:54:10that Bruce somehow understood the Irish sympathetically
0:54:10 > 0:54:12in a way that Edward didn't.
0:54:12 > 0:54:15Edward didn't know really how to treat them.
0:54:15 > 0:54:17When you think about it,
0:54:17 > 0:54:24it's a pretty odd thing for a guy to sort of show up on the Irish shore
0:54:24 > 0:54:27and say, "I'm here to be High King."
0:54:27 > 0:54:30And they say, "Well, who are you?"
0:54:32 > 0:54:35So I suspect Robert Bruce, the king,
0:54:35 > 0:54:37felt that if he had led the expedition,
0:54:37 > 0:54:40there might have been a different outcome.
0:54:40 > 0:54:45Barbour is probably just as accurate as any medieval source would be,
0:54:45 > 0:54:49but you have to bear in mind the various kind of agendas he has
0:54:49 > 0:54:53and his agenda mainly is to glorify Robert, not Edward.
0:54:53 > 0:54:58So he will give Edward due regarding courage and bravery,
0:54:58 > 0:55:01but not necessarily a lot of common sense.
0:55:02 > 0:55:04It's always Robert who is perceived
0:55:04 > 0:55:06as being the one who's the wiser head,
0:55:06 > 0:55:08which I think is unfair on Edward,
0:55:08 > 0:55:11but that's John Barbour for you.
0:55:11 > 0:55:14There are later charges against Edward Bruce that he's headstrong,
0:55:14 > 0:55:19that he's over-ambitious, that he's short-tempered.
0:55:19 > 0:55:24Some of that probably has to be later distancing,
0:55:24 > 0:55:26by the Scots, probably,
0:55:26 > 0:55:28of Robert I from his brother's failings.
0:55:31 > 0:55:33For Robert,
0:55:33 > 0:55:37I think it probably only confirmed the difficulties of Ireland,
0:55:37 > 0:55:40probably the insurmountable difficulties.
0:55:40 > 0:55:43I think he's more worried about what it means for Scotland,
0:55:43 > 0:55:45because with his brother's death,
0:55:45 > 0:55:47it's fairly clear from the evidence
0:55:47 > 0:55:51that this provokes a major crisis in Scotland.
0:55:51 > 0:55:55Bruce's enemies see that now he only has his grandson, an infant,
0:55:55 > 0:55:56as his heir presumptive.
0:55:56 > 0:56:00He hasn't yet had sons by his queen, Elizabeth de Burgh,
0:56:00 > 0:56:03and there's a real danger
0:56:03 > 0:56:05for the Bruce dynasty.
0:56:09 > 0:56:13But the shadow of misfortune did seem to fade.
0:56:13 > 0:56:18In 1324, Robert's wife gave birth to a son and heir, David,
0:56:18 > 0:56:23and in 1328, the English finally recognised
0:56:23 > 0:56:25Robert's right to rule Scotland.
0:56:26 > 0:56:30To this day, he is remembered as the greatest monarch
0:56:30 > 0:56:32ever to sit on the Scottish throne.
0:56:37 > 0:56:38Robert Bruce, all through his life,
0:56:38 > 0:56:41you find him back and forth in Ireland.
0:56:41 > 0:56:46Even when he was on his deathbed - one contemporary source says,
0:56:46 > 0:56:50"He was so ill that he could barely move his tongue," -
0:56:50 > 0:56:53he had himself brought to Ireland on a couple of occasions
0:56:53 > 0:56:56in the latter years of his life.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59But I think that it does show that this Bruce connection
0:56:59 > 0:57:02with Ulster in particular is an ongoing thing,
0:57:02 > 0:57:06it's part of their background and it's part of the family life
0:57:06 > 0:57:08and if you want to understand the Bruce invasion,
0:57:08 > 0:57:12it's not just in terms of the long-running relationship
0:57:12 > 0:57:14between Ireland and Scotland in the Middle Ages,
0:57:14 > 0:57:17but it's the family ties between the Bruces
0:57:17 > 0:57:19and some people in the northeast corner of Ireland.
0:57:21 > 0:57:26This period, except in some very unique quarters
0:57:26 > 0:57:27and specialised quarters,
0:57:27 > 0:57:30has been effectively dismissed
0:57:30 > 0:57:32and that is interesting in itself,
0:57:32 > 0:57:37because the potential that it might have had is staggering.
0:57:37 > 0:57:43The idea of having an Irish kingdom,
0:57:43 > 0:57:47albeit one which had a Scots ancestry,
0:57:47 > 0:57:50well, we don't know how on earth that could have played out
0:57:50 > 0:57:53in, you know, centuries to come.
0:57:53 > 0:57:56But for a small brief period, the Scots did have a kingdom in Ireland.
0:58:03 > 0:58:05For over three years,
0:58:05 > 0:58:08Edward Bruce was the self-styled ruler of that kingdom.
0:58:08 > 0:58:12But he never managed to inspire and lead the Irish
0:58:12 > 0:58:14in the way that Robert did the Scots.
0:58:16 > 0:58:20Ireland remained, and would remain, a divided country.