The Last King of Ireland — who was a Scot!
Ireland’s last high king was a Scot and his name was Edward de Bruce, the younger brother of the famous Robert de Bruce.
Way back in 2015, I attended a lecture at Trinity College Dublin and the lecturer was Seán Duffy, a renowned Irish historian. I own some of his books and have met Seán on one occasion when discussing Brian Ború, a High King of Ireland — a very successful High King. But, today I want to talk about something that is extremely interesting.
I recently made a video about Dermot McMurrough, and how he invited the Normans into Ireland: Some of the comments that came through talked about the Bruce invasions of Ireland, and how the Scottish actually invaded Ireland. Yes, it is true that there was a bruce invasion as when you check the historical records and read the historical accounts there was, in fact, a Bruce Invasion of Ireland in 1315.
But the reality is the Scottish and the Irish have always been friends and the reason why is we are the same people - we are of the Gael! The word Scotland derives from the word ‘Scoti’, and in the middle ages, the word ‘Scotus’ which is Latin meant ‘Gael’ or ‘Irishman’. In this respect, we can say Scotland and Ireland are pretty damn close in terms of their heritage, customs and language.
The Bruce Invasion wasn’t the invasion like we would think of an invasion. It was a massive invitation from the Irish people as they wanted to align with Scotland because of their common enemy - which was, of course, the English. Scotland had come off a massive victory at Bannockburn, and Robert de Bruce had claimed the throne of Scotland, but he had to go into exile and he chose Rathlin Island off the coast of Antrim. There’s a very famous account of him sending a letter to the Irish basically claiming friendship, alliance & brotherhood with the Irish. He talked about how they were of the same blood, the same customs, and the same language and this was very true.
The Bruces were of anglo-norman descent but on the mother’s side, they had Gaelic blood so that was a huge indication of why they were aligning themselves with the Irish. In 1315, Edward the bruce did enter Ireland on the coast of Antrim, and in some historical accounts, there was a massive battle up in Antrim. But it’s not written in our Irish annals so it’s unclear if it actually happened, or not.
Edward de Bruce in 1316 at Carrickfergus was named the High King of Ireland; but unfortunately, this high kingship of Ireland did not last too long. It lasted for three years as he was an unfortunate king because there was a great famine, hardship and weather at the time. When he chose to march down towards Dundalk he did meet his end in the Battle of Faughart.
707 years ago this year, Edward de Bruce was officially the Last High King of Ireland, and it’s a constant reminder of our brotherhood, sisterhood and alliance with the scots and Ireland.
Watch my video produced on the Bruce Invasion of Ireland <- Click here
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Thank you for reading!
Bertie Brosnan
