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Dysert O'Dea, 1318The battle of Dysert O'Dea, fought in Co. Clare on 10 May 1318 between Richard de Clare and the O'Briens, O'Deas and others, vividly illustrates the improved methods and the improved military quality of the Irish.Dysert O'Dea lies between Ennis and Corofin, in territory that was, in medieval times, part of the O'Brien kingdom of Thomond. Forty-two years before the date of the battle Thomas de Clare, head of one of the great Norman families of the invasion and fourth in descent from Strongbow, was given a grant of Thomond by King Edward I of England. This was not the first intrusion of the Normans, who had secured themselves in the old Norse town of Limerick at the end of the twelfth century, into the country lying north of the Shannon estuary. They had for long assisted one O'Brien against another, and the O'Briens against the Macnamaras, the O'Quins ..and others, and they had received earlier land grants and had built castles, including the first of at least four successive ones beside the Shannon at Bunratty. But de Clare's grant, if he could have made it good against the inhabitants, was sweeping. It might have been the foundation of a dominion as powerful as that of the FitzGeralds in Desmond or the de Burghs in Clanrickard. Every Gaelic Irish lordship in medieval times, and down to the extinction of organised Gaelic society in the reign of James I, was unstable. The system of rule, whatever its theoretical merits, was in practice brittle. Succession to kingship, or lordship, depended on selection, not, as in the Norman feudal society, on primogeni-ture. The result was that Gaelic ruling families were periodically, on the death of lords, split into warring factions; on these occasions weak human nature trampled on the rules and the ones who had not been selected fought against those who had. Every king had opposition; every lordship, at one time or another, was shattered from within. The factions in Thomond in the thirteenth century were those of Brian and Turlough O'Brien. Turlough sought aid in Connacht, but Brian, and after Brian's death his son Donough, sought it from Thomas de Clare. There was a momentary settlement in 1281, when, under the mediation of de Clare, Thomond was divided between Turlough and Donough; but three years later Turlough killed Donough and made a bid for the whole. Before his death in 1306 he was effective King of Thomond and his followers-showing their resentment of the presence of intruders -had burnt the Norman Quin Castle and had done their best to destroy Bunratty. He was succeeded by his son Donough. Thomas de Clare died in 1287. Following his royal grant, he had driven a wedge into Thomond; it remained for his heir Richard, who succeeded his brother Gilbert in 1308, to attempt to strike the wedge home. A new generation had now arisen to inherit the old quarrels. This time the de Clares backed Dermot, grandson of Brian O'Brien, and, further to confuse the issue, the Norman de Burghs of Connacht entered the lists as allies of King Donough. Donough was killed in 131 I, and Dermot and the de Clares emerged for the moment victorious. But Dermot died in 13 13. Another Donough of the faction of Brian carried on the struggle against the faction of Turlough, now led by Murtough O'Brien. In 13 17 the two factions fought a great battle at Corcomroe Abbey in the Burren hills, overlooking Galway Bay. Murtough prevailed. Within a year he was to pursue his advantage, and, by defeating them at Dysert O'Dea, was to scatter the Normans and drive them out of Clare. This was the local scene. These happenings had, however, a wider significance. In May 1315 Edward Bruce, brother of Robert, King of Scotland, landed with a powerful army at Larne, Co. Antrim, and began an invasion that was to upset Ireland for the next three years and to leave its mark on the country for genera-tions. The purpose of the Bruces was, as has been made clearer by recent research, almost certainly defensive: they were carrying the Scottish war of defence against Edward II into Ireland. Viewed thus, their chief motives were to lift the English pressure on Scotland by compelling Edward to attend to the defence of Ireland and, by the spoliation of the Irish countryside, to prohibit the continued use ofIreland as a source of supplies for England's Scottish wars. No doubt there were other motives as well. The Scots had friends among the Gaelic lords and the Anglo-Irish. As the recent victors of Bannockburn, they may have wished to share their success by helping them; later on Edward Bruce accepted the crown of Ireland from Donal O'Neill, King of Tyrone, and others who coupled traditions of the old High Kingship with resentment of English sovereignty. But the ruth-lessness with which the Scots destroyed the English areas through which they marched-a ruthlessness such as Wallace showed in England after his victory at Stirling in 1297-disclosed their real intent; and it had its reward, for the English did not again use Ireland against Scotland. Whatever the reasons for the Bruce invasion may have been, it had two very clear results. Like all wars, it spread an element of militarism beyond its seat of operations; and it served to play up the Irish in Ireland and to play down the English. The history of the Battle of Dysert O'Dea, 1318 continues here Taken from Irish Battles by G.A. Hayes-McCoy, published by Appletree Press. Further reading: A Little History of Ireland by Martin Wallace with illustrations by Ian McCullough. Click here for more information on the book. First instalment of 'the Battle of Dysert O'Dea': Part 1 Further instalments of 'the Battle of Dysert O'Dea': Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 |
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