Irish Review (Dublin)

The Wars of Turlogh: An Historical DocumentAuthor(s): Edmund CurtisSource: The Irish Review (Dublin), Vol. 2, No. 24 (Feb., 1913), pp. 644-647Published by: Irish Review (Dublin)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30062940 .

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THE WARS OF TURLOGH AN HISTORICAL DOCUMENT

By EDMUND CURTIS

II

THE battle of Corcomrua, fought on the I5th of August, 1317, was the final cast on the side of both the claimants to the O'Brien chieftancy. Dermot O'Brien, we are told, col-

lected nine thousand swordsmen from his supporters in Thomond and Connacht, and if Prince Donogh's party raised as large a force most of the fighting men of western Ireland must have been present. That great day, in which so many princes of the O'Brien blood fell, ended in complete disaster for Clad Brian. It was a war of brothers, and the victors indulged no unnatural exultation; after the battle " Dermot encouraged and cheered his wounded and weary host ; they rejoiced not in the victory, for death, they said, had that day made the Clan Brian their brothers."

The back of faction thus broken, King Murtogh girded himself for battle with the Norman whose race had for forty years aided Clan Brian with the ultimate aim of dispossessing the whole O'Brien race. Yet the clash was postponed; Thomond was exhausted with battle, and the winter of I317-I318 was spent in comparative peace. De Clare was away at Kilmallock or Cork, but the embers of the great feud were kept glowing by Brian Bin, who held the field in Tipperary, and Mahon O'Brien, who refused to surrender to the King of Thomond the castle of Inchiquin, his father's capital and stronghold. The case was summonded by De Clare to Limerick, but Murtogh before venturing thither asked-and was contemptu- ously refused-a pledge that he should not meet the same treatment which had been given to Brian Rua long before. De Clare's conduct throughout is marked by the worst qualities of the Norman feudal caste, who were as capable of insolent pride, treachery and foul play as they were of supreme valour, chivalry, and statesman- ship. Not only did Turlogh and his son fight the battle of the native against the foreigner, but of honour and humanity against a high-handed and unscrupulous race, for whom even the longer- settled Burkes and Fitzgeralds had as little liking as they.

His attempts at peace having failed, King Murtogh fell upon Mahon and successfully unfurled the red flag, with the "onchu" or leopard of the O'Brien's, over Inchiquin.

Mahon fled to De Clare, and Murtogh, having once more

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THE WARS OF TURLOGH

attempted in vain to settle the dispute in peaceful fashion at Limerick, prepared for battle. De Clare himself collected an English army at Limerick and advanced on his fatal march to Quin and on to Ruan, where he camped on May 9th; the reinforcements expected from William Og Burke and Mahon O'Brien failed to come up with him; but none the less, a great force of Anglo- Normans and a few Irish was arranged under his banner, and Brian Bin brought with him the remnants of the Clan Brian Rua. On crossing the Fergus, the " Washer of the Ford " was seen washing blood-stained garments in the river; and De Clare, who spoke no Irish, requested his followers to interpret her words of prophecy. She proclaimed that she was " Br6nach, and abode in the fairy hills of the land, but that her permanent abode was among the dwellers of hell, from which place she had come to invite De Clare to follow her."

From Ruan, Conor O'Dea, the chief most exposed to De Clare's attack, sent out messengers hot-foot to Felim O'Conor, to O'Hehir, and to King Murtogh, who, with the Macconmaras, was at this moment to the north-east in Echtge in pursuit of his foe, Mahon. At the same time O'Dea requested terms of peace from De Clare, but in vain. The Norman, resolved on the entire destruction of Murtogh and his upholders, marched due west for Dysert O'Dea, where, on May ioth, I318, Anglo-Norman power in Thomond was shattered at one blow.

Covered by detachments sent out to right and left, De Clare's main army advanced to where a causeway crossed the stream at Dromcavan, north-west of Dysert O'Dea, on the shores of Loch Ballicullinan. Here O'Dea had ordered a number of his troops to show themselves driving cattle over the stream westward; this was to draw the enemy into an ambuscade which had been placed in the wood west of the stream. The Anglo-Norman van fell on these kerne and, drove them over the stream; once there, they turned and made so bold a stand that the enemy for some time could not cross the ford. The Irish fell back fighting past the wood, whereupon the men in ambush rushed forth and seized the pass, presenting a fresh front to the English forces. Here fell De Clare, in some obscure way, with several of his knights.* *Mr. Westropp tells us that " in 1839 the oldest living tradition about Dysert

showed the ford where Claraghmore (An ClArach Mor-De Clare) was slain. Conor O Hivor had made a plank bridge, which could be overturned by knocking out a prop; he lay in wait with his war-axe underneath the bridge, and, as Claraghmore rode over it, overturned it, and split the Norman's skull as he lay helpless in the stream."

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THE IRISH REVIEW

MacCraith, who could honour a brave foe, has few terms of respect for this violent and ungenerous man, the son of the murderer of Brian Rua. An Irish war-goddess could foretell the doom in honourable battle of the chief of Clan Brian, but for De Clare's dirge MacCraith brings a spirit from hell.

But this was only the prelude of the day. The main English army, getting over the stream, hemmed the O'Deas into a wood and seemed to cut them to pieces. At this moment Felim O'Conor, riding hot-foot from Corcomrua, appeared on the scene; he saw the battle proceeding from the brow of Scamhall hill, and calling his men to the charge, cleared the ground in between, broke through the English, and joined the hard-pressed O'Deas.

Even the arrival of the hero of Corcomrua could not turn the scale. The English pressed the Irish hard; marsh, wood and water hemmed them in; and O'Dea's plan seemed to have turned to his own destruction. An untimely impulse had ruined his ambuscade, but there was no lack of courage shown in retrieving it. It was no light thing for the Gael to face an English army of that age with its feudal horsemen all a mass of steel, both steed and man, and its stubborn yeomen archers and infantry. To face it was heroic, to beat it marvellous.

With the odds of four to one against them, the Irish formed themselves into an unbreakable square or front, and so held the English at bay. In this close fight Felim O'Conor's terrible axe that had slain a King claimed a second noble victim ; De Clare's son, leading a charge upon the Irish, was struck down by the Prince of Corcomrua, and died with three wounds upon him.

And now a second relief came. King Murtogh himself, with the faithful Macconmaras around him, was making his way from Echtge, while O'Hehir, too, was at hand. Murtogh, marching past Cnoc Urchoill (Spancel Hill), heard darker and darker news, met fugitives, was told of a great slaughter; excited beyond measure, his men flung away cloaks, spears, and armour, and rushing onwards plunged straight into the fight. For a moment Felim O'Conor thought that these were English reinforcements; resolving to die gloriously, he swept the enemy aside by one great effort like waves from a ship's prow, but the faces of the newcomers were faces of the Gael; united, they gave three great shouts, and, reinforced by O'Hehir, made the final onslaught upon the foreigner. The tide was at once turned. For the most part the Anglo-Normans fell where they stood; a few escaped to Bunratty; Brian O'Brien escaped eastward, never to vex Thomond again, but to found in Ormond the princely race of O'Brien Arra. Murtogh, Felim and the

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THE WARS OF TURLOGH

Macconmaras led the victors in pursuit, which neither stopped nor stayed till they came in sight of Bunratty, only to see it burst into smoke and flame. For Lady De Clare, hearing that all was lost, fired the strong fortress and town, took to her galleys, set her sails for Limerick, and left Bunratty for ever. " From that time," says MacCraith, "never one of their race came back to claim it." (Agus nior thainig neach dA sliocht d4 heiliughadh 6 shoin ale).

(To be Continued).

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