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An Irish Expedition to Scotland in 1335

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

Ranald Nicholson
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Extract

While the reign of Edward II has long been recognised as a critical period in the historical development of Ireland, it is less well known that the early years of the reign of Edward III also represent a critical phase. As in the previous reign, the crisis was connected with Anglo-Scottish warfare. In 1315 it was the Scots under Edward Bruce who had taken the initiative and overrun Ireland. It was the Scots again who landed in Ulster in 1327, hoping once more to enlist Irish support for their cause. In the following year the dying Robert Bruce paid a last visit to Ulster, demonstrating in a peaceful yet forceful manner that the initiative still lay with the Scots. By 1335, Edward III had shown his qualities as a military commander and the situation had changed: an expedition set sail from Ireland to co-operate with the English in an invasion of Scotland.

The details of this episode are of more than intrinsic interest. The surviving documents that record the organisation of the expedition illustrate the workings of the English dominion in Ireland in the crucial period following the Bruce invasions. Whether or not the expedition marked a restoration of royal authority in Ireland is a question that calls for an analysis of the events and circumstances that formed the background to the expedition of 1335.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 13 , Issue 51 , March 1963 , pp. 197 - 211
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1963

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References

1 The author wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to Dr Geoffrey Hand and Dr James Lydon for their helpful comments during the preparation of this article.

2 See Rymer, Foedera (Record Commission edition), ii, pt ii, pp. 804, 806-7, 809, 837; Bain, J., Calendar of documents relating to Scotland, iii. 185, no. 1022Google Scholar.

3 Rymer, , Foedera, ii, pt ii, pp. 825-9 passimGoogle Scholar.

4 Rotuli parliamentorum, ii. 65; Rymer, , Foedera, ii, pt ii, p. 840 Google Scholar.

5 Rymer, , Foedera, ii, pt ii, pp. 831, 832Google Scholar; Cal. close rolls, 1330-3, p. 581.

6 Cal. pat. rolls, 1330-4, pp. 322-3; Rymer, , Foedera, ii, pt ii, p. 841 Google Scholar.

7 Cal. close rolls, 1330-3, p. 487; Rymer, , Foedera, ii, pt ii, p. 842 Google Scholar.

8 See Chronica monasterii de Melsa (Rolls series), ii. 362-3; John Capgrave, Liber de illustribus Henricis (Rolls series), pp. 167-8; The Brut (Early English Text Society), p. 275.

9 Rotuli parliamentorum, ii. 66.

10 Cal. pat. rolls, 1330-4, p. 323.

11 See Orpen, Normans, iv. 245-6; Knighton, Henry, Chronicon (Rolls series), i. 467 Google Scholar.

12 See Wyntoun, Andrew, Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland, ed. Laing, David (1872), ii. 404 Google Scholar.

13 Wyntoun, ii. 414-6.

14 ‘. . . bien sereit qil mandast ses lettres au gardein Dirland daprestre la navie & les gentz vers celes parties issint qil soient en (eide de ceu)x des Isles en grevance des enemis sil piest au roi ’ (P.R.O., Council and Parliamentary Proceedings, C 49, file 6, no. 29, Petition of Edward Balliol to Edward III).

15 See Olive Armstrong, Edward Bruce’s invasion of Ireland, p. 70.

16 John of Newcastle, the clerk assigned to pay wages to Darcy’s troops and freight the necessary ships, drew £460 16s. 3½d. (P.R.O., Pipe Roll E372/179, m. 46, Enrolled account of Thomas de Burgh of the issues of the Irish treasury, 3 June 1331-Easter 1334). In Robert Salkeld’s counter-roll of payments from the Dublin treasury in the Easter term of 1335 (P.R.O., Various Accounts, E101, 240/8) there is passing mention of the company which Darcy took ‘ versus partes Ultonie & Scocie in servicio regis ’.

17 Dowling Annals, p. 22, in The annals of Ireland by Friar John Clyn and Thady Dowling, ed. Butler, R. (Irish Archaeological Society, Dublin, 1849)Google Scholar. The expedition of 1333 is also noted in the Grace Annals, pp. 126-8 ( Jacobi Grace Kilkenniensis annales Hiberniae, ed. Butler, R. (Irish Archaeological Society, Dublin, 1842)Google Scholar and in the Laud Annals, p. 379 (Chartul. St Mary’s, Dublin, ii).

18 John de la Bataille, receiver of the king’s victuals in Ireland, was granted a gift of a hundred shillings for his services in carrying wine and victuals to the supply base of Skinburness (Cumberland) in 1334(P.R.O., Pipe Roll E372/179, m. 46d). Proclamations against dealingwith the Scots were ordered on 15 Nov. 1334 (Rotuli Scotiae, i. 293).

19 Rotuli Scotiae, i. 336.

20 See P.R.O., Chancery Miscellanea, C. 47, bundle 2, file 25, nos 10, 12, 13.

21 Rotuli Scotiae, i. 337-8.

22 Rotuli Scotiae, i. 338, 24 Apr. 1335; cf. p. 336, 6 Apr. 1335.

23 Rotuli Scotiae, i. 340-1. ‘Pro isto autem passagio de carucata qualibet pacifica Hibernie dabantur duo solidi, a clero decima bonorum suorum, a civitatibus et villis magnis subsidium competens ad regis rogatum, sic ne in consequenciam vel consuetudinem duceretur’ (Clyn’s Annals, p. 26 in The annals of Ireland by Friar John Clyn and Thady Dowling).

24 Rotuli Scotiae, i. 340-1.

25 These are cited as Irewere O Neel de Ulvester, O Conewhir de Conaght, O Breen de Moulnester, O Mak Murghothe de Leynester, O Molaghelyn de Midd, O Morth de Leice, O Conwhor de Offali, O Raghele, Ma goghgane, Henr’ O Neel, O Hanlon, Mak Artane, Mak Dermot, O Shynagh (Rotuli Scotiae, i. 343).

26 See Rotuli Scotiae, i. 340-4, 8 May 1335.

27 Rotuli Scotiae, i. 344.

28 Rotuli Scotiae, i. 354, 355, 7 and 12 June 1335.

29 Rotuli Scotiae, i. 351-2.

30 For the evils of pardon see Olive Armstrong, op. cit., pp. 125; 132-3.

31 Cal. close rolls, 1337-9, p. 27, writ ordering compensation, 18 Mar. 1337.

32 Cal. close rolls, 1333-7, p. 581

33 P.R.O., Various Accounts, E101, 19/16, particulars of the account of Thomas Cross.

34 Clyn’s Annals, p. 26.

35 For details of the vessels see P.R.O., Various Accounts, E101, 19/16.

36 Cal. close rolls, 1339-41, p. 518, writ of computate of 6 July 1340.

37 ‘. . . pro cameris inde faciendis pro corporibus domini Johannis Darcy & comitum Ormon’ & Dessemon’ . . .’ (P.R.O., Various Accounts, E101, 19/16).

38 Cal. close rolls, 1339-41, p. 518.

39 Walter de Coumbe’s counter-roll of issues from the Dublin exchequer, Trinity, Michaelmas and Hilary, 9 Edward III (P.R.O., Various Accounts, E101, 240/11).

40 See Cal. close rolls, 1339-41, p. 518; P.R.O., Various Accounts, E101, 19/16; E101, 240/11.

41 See Orpen, Normans, iv. 244-5. The decision to releaseBermingham was taken by the king in a council at Waltham (P.R.O., Council and Parliamentary Proceedings, C 49, file 6, no. 19).

42 Of this sum he was soon paid fifty marks from the Dublin exchequer (P.R.O., Various Accounts, E101, 240/11).

43 For the prests see Cross’s enrolled account, P.R.O., Pipe Roll E372/187, mm. 55 and 55d; P.R.O., Various Accounts, E101, 19/16.

44 He received forty shillings in part payment of his wages (P.R.O., Various Accounts, E101, 240/11).

45 P.R.O., Various Accounts, E101, 19/16.

46 For the retinues see Appendix. A.E. Prince, who noted this Irish expedition, wrongly gives the impression that Walter Bermingham’s retinue of 40 men-at-arms and 100 footmen was additional to these figures (‘The strength of English armies in the reign of Edward III’, in E.H.R., xlvi (1931), p. 357 Google Scholar). The particulars of Bermingham’s accountsurvive (P.R.O., Various Accounts, E101, 19/18).

47 P.R.O., Various Accounts, E101, 19/16. These rates were slightly higher than those paid to hobelars and footmen for service within Ireland. See Orpen, , Normans, iv. 229-30Google Scholar.

48 See the particulars of Cross’s account (P.R.O., Various Accounts, E101, 19/16); the enrolled accounts of Cross (P.R.O., Pipe Roll E372/187, mm. 55, 55d) and Ellerker (P.R.O., Pipe Roll E372/182, m. 48); and the counter-roll of payments from the Irish exchequer(P.R.O., Various Accounts, E101, 240/11).

49 P.R.O., Various Accounts, E101, 240/11. John Baagh and John Gilrentagh seem also to have been sent on similar missions (P.R.O., Pipe Roll E372/180, m. 45, enrolled account of Thomas de Burgh).

50 ‘ navibus que vocantur scomers ’.

51 P.R.O., Various Accounts, E1O1, 240/11.

52 Walter Bermingham claimed to have sailed on 23 Aug. (P.R.O., Various Accounts, E1O1, 19/18); carpenters were still busy on the greatengine up to 26 Aug. (P.R.O., Various Accounts, E1O1, 19/16); and the earl of Desmond’s contingent was apparently still ashore up to 28 Aug. (P.R.O., Various Accounts, E1O1, 240/11).

53 P.R.O., Various Accounts, E101, 19/16.

54 See the controller’s copy of the wardrobe book of Richard Ferriby in B.M. Cott. MS Nero C VIII, f. 272.

55 Rotuli Scotiae, i. 351, 2 June 1335.

56 ‘les vghyles in Scocia’ (P.R.O., Pipe Roll E372/187, m. 55).

57 Darcy is recorded as having conducted the fleet from Dublin tothe castle of Bute, ‘pro obsessione eiusdem castri, & alibi per costeram maris in partibus Scocie’; the great engine had been brought ‘pro obsessione castri de Bote’ (P.R.O., Pipe Roll E372/187, m. 55).

58 P.R.O., Various Accounts, E101, 19/16.

59 P.R.O., Pipe Roll E372/187, m. 55d.

60 Clyn’s Annals, p. 25.

61 See P.R.O., Various Accounts, E101, 19/16; E101, 19/18; P.R.O., Pipe Roll E372/187, m. 55.

62 See Ellerker’s account, P.R.O., Pipe Roll E372/182, m. 48; Cal. pat. rolls, 1334-8, p. 196, 23 Jan. 1336. Although Cross had besought speedy auditing of his account, and this was ordered on 24 Oct. 1335 (Cal. close rolls, 1333-7, P. 448), the account had not been audited by 6 July 1340, when another order had to be sent to exchequer (Cal. close rolls, 1339-41, p. 518). The enrolled account shows that the earl of Desmond was still owed £61 14s. 8d. and other sums were due to 39 shipmasters (P.R.O., Pipe Roll E372/187, mm. 55, 55d).

63 See Prince, A.E., ‘The strength of English armies in the reign of Edward III’, in E.H.R., xlvi (1931), p. 356 Google Scholar.

64 For details of the troops involved see Cott, B.M.. MS Nero C VIII, ff. 236–237VGoogle Scholar. A corrupt allusion to this episode speaks of Balliol marching to Dumbarton ‘ ad firmandum castrum ’ (Chronicon Henrici Knighton, Rolls series, i. 473).

65 Chronica monasterii de Melsa (Rolls series), ii. 376.

86 See Chronica Adae Murimuth et Roberti de Avesbury (Rolls series), pp. 298-300.

67 Scalacronica (Maitland Club), p. 166; see also Rotuli Scotiae, i.388. On this occasion the future king of Scotland presumably did homage and swore fealty to the English king.

68 Rotuli Scotiae, i. 384, 385; Cott, B.M.. MS Nero C VIII, f. 237VGoogle Scholar.

69 See Johannis de Fordun chronica gentis Scotorum, ed. Skene, Wm. F. (1871), i. 359-60Google Scholar; Wyntoun, ii. 423-7.

70 See P.R.O., Pipe Roll E372/179, m. 46d.

71 ‘The colony was at the crisis of its fate, but a royal army might yet complete the conquest of the Gaels.’ (Curtis, Med. Ire., 2nd ed., 1938, p. 214)Google Scholar.