At this time, the area was on the frontier with Gaelic Irish Kingdoms (particularly the MacMahons and O'Reillys) and suffered repeated attacks from them, mostly cattle raids, but sometimes resulting in the massacre of civilians.
[1] The final straw came on 9 June 1329, in the town of Ardee, when a man by the name of Robert Godeknave, was murdered by two Irish kerns following an argument.
[1] A later inquisition found that de Bermingham tried to reason or negotiate with the mob, and refused to lock the gates on his own people despite the urgings of the Irish before it was too late.
Among the dead was de Bermingham himself, two of his brothers, nine other unspecified relatives, well-known and respected Irish musician and composer, Maol Ruanaidh Cam Ó Cearbhaill, and about twenty of the latter's musical students.
[1] The ringleaders of the mob of tenants, one of whom was John Clinton, father-in-law of Robert Godeknave who had been murdered, soon wrote a letter to the King's court in England describing their version of events.