The Bruces and the Irish-Scottish relationship

‘The king sends greetings to all the kings of Ireland, to the prelates and clergy, and to the inhabitants of all Ireland, his friends. Whereas we and you and our people and your people, free since ancient times, share the same national ancestry and are urged to come together more eagerly and joyfully in friendship by a common language and by common custom, we have sent over to you our beloved kinsmen, the bearer of this letter, to negotiate with you in our name about permanently strengthening and maintaining inviolate the special friendship between us and you, so that with God’s will our nation may be able to recover her ancient liberty. Whatever our envoys or one of them may on our behalf conclude with you in this matter we shall ratify and uphold in the future.’

G. W. S. Barrow, Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland (Edinburgh, 2013 classic edn.) p.408

Robert Bruce, King of Scots, sent this letter to the ‘people of Ireland’, most probably in 1315. It is understood by historians to be the precursor to the invasion of Ireland led by Robert’s brother Edward in the same year. After landing in northern Ireland, Edward Bruce spent the next 3 years campaigning to gain control of the whole island and set himself up as King. But was this an invasion or an act of liberation? The Bruces at least were keen it to publicly present the campaigns as the latter, a way of extending the freedom from English interference and over-lordship that Scotland had recently won for itself.

Robert addresses the Irish as allies and friends. His description of a ‘special friendship’ between Ireland and Scotland and the unity expressed between these two communities has attracted much interest from cultural historians (like myself) as well as the more romantically minded. This language frames the arrival of Scottish troops in Ireland, not as the imposition of Scottish rule but part of a joint action against the English. Several contemporary sources tell us that an invitation was extended to Edward Bruce by at least one group within Ireland to become their king on condition that he free them from English over-lordship. The emphasis on the shared culture and origins between the Bruces and the Irish seeks to lend some legitimacy to Edward’s arrival in Ireland.

At this point you might well be thinking that this expression of friendship is rather convenient. One person’s liberation force looks very like another’s invasion force when you are on the receiving end of a landing party. We are also familiar with the political connotations that surround language of ‘special’ relationships which often seems to superficially cover individual interests. Consequently, there has been much debate about how far this appeal is simply a product of Bruce propaganda that bears little resemblance to the reality of the Scottish-Irish relationship at the start of the 14^th century. How seriously did Robert Bruce believe in his proclamation of shared heritage? And for that matter, how seriously did the Irish actually take his letter? In many ways this is difficult to answer, but it is possible to lay out a few important points that help us think about these questions.

Firstly, the Bruces’ claim to shared heritage, custom and language between Scotland (especially western Scotland) and Ireland was not simply pulled out of the air. Whilst undoubtedly used by the King of Scots to political advantage, Robert’s family did have links to Ireland. Robert’s father-in-law from his second marriage was Sir Richard earl of Ulster (although he did not support the Irish campaigns). His mother Majory was the countess of Carrick in the south-West of Scotland whose proximity to Ireland, like the other Western Isles, encouraged many links between them. These connections with western Scotland and Ireland had a strong influence on Robert. And this is without touching on the wider connections of language, heritage and culture that existed between Ireland and Gaelic Scotland.

Secondly, a potential for a Scottish-Irish alliance against the English was not quite as hopelessly unrealistic as it sounds. Whilst importantly different politically, socially and culturally, Scotland and Ireland (along with Wales) were unified by a shared interest in repelling the increasingly forceful incursions of England into their territory begun under Edward I (the English King who built all the castles) in the 13^th century. The Scots had learnt from their own experience in the Wars of Independence that opposition to the English could be powerful enough to cut across significant dividing lines. And the threat of a ‘pan-Celtic’ alliance could be a useful tool without it ever becoming a physical reality. The wish to increase pressure on England must surely have been one of the motivations behind Robert’s letter and a later letter from Edward Bruce to the Welsh inviting them to join forces with the Irish and the Scots. The English chronicle of Edward II’s reign the Vita Edwardi Secundi tells us that the threat was at least real enough to make the English lose some sleep at night:

“He [Robert] had also sent his brother Edward to Ireland with a picked force of knights, to stir up that people against the king of England, and subject the country, if he could, to his authority. And there was a rumour that, if he gained his desire there, he would at once cross to Wales, and raise the Welsh likewise against our king. For these two races are easily roused to rebellion; they bear the yoke of slavery reluctantly, and curse the lordship of the English.”

Wendy R. Childs (ed.), Vita Edwardi Secundi: the Life of Edward the Second (Oxford, 2005), p.107.

Thirdly, as you might already have gained an inkling of, the language of ‘special friendship’ could be mutually beneficial to both parties. The Irish who engaged with the Bruce’s letters and were involved in supporting their campaigns sought to use these events for their own political advantage. The cultural, political and social situation in Ireland was already complicated in this period; even considering that all medieval societies were less unified and monolithic than the more modern concept of countries or states. Edward was supported in his campaigns mainly by native Irish leaders (though by no means all of them) rather than Anglo-Irish lords. Perhaps the most prominent example was Domhnall Ua Néill who styled himself as ‘King of Ulster and by hereditary right the true heir to the whole of Ireland’ in the incredibly interesting document the ‘Irish Remonstrance’. Composed in 1317, the Remonstrance denounced the crimes of Ireland’s English rulers and sought papal recognition of their chosen replacement Edward Bruce on behalf of the Irish people.

The Bruces had other interests at play when it came to Ireland of course. It had the potential to supply troops and access to Scotland’s coast, things that the Bruces would clearly prefer to be in Scottish rather than English hands. Creating a headache for the English in Ireland (which has been under the control of the English crown since the 12^th century) also provided a useful diversion from Robert’s attempts to take back territory on the Scottish border.  A persistent rumour also exists in contemporary and later sources that Edward and Robert were on bad terms and the King’s brother was causing problems. If this were true, getting his brother out of the country and causing a headache for the English killed two birds with one stone for Robert. (The accuracy of this rumour is a more complicated matter, as politics always is, and demands more detailed discussion in a future post).

Doubtless all these motives were present to varying degrees when Robert penned his letter. As I’ve hopefully managed to highlight however, this does not remove the possibility that Robert’s identification with the Irish wasn’t completely disingenuous. The Bruce’s Irish campaigns show us the interconnected nature of the British Isles. And this was something that the English could not afford to ignore, even if opposition from a unified ‘pan-Celtic’ alliance was, in reality, unlikely.

Further Reading:

Colm McNamee, The Wars of the Bruces: Scotland, England and Ireland 1306-1328 (East Linton, 1997).

Sean Duffy, Robert the Bruce’s Irish Wars: The invasions of Ireland, 1306-1329 (Stroud, 2002).

John Barbour, The Bruce, ed. A. A. M. Duncan, (Edinburgh, 1997).
(For a contemporary account of the invasion of Ireland).