After his victory at the Battle of Bannockburn, Robert the Bruce decided to expand his war against the English by sending an army under his younger brother Edward to invade Ireland.

By the early 14th century, Ireland had not had a high king since Ruaidri mac Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair (Rory O'Conor) who had been deposed by his son in 1186.

This became critical when King Robert's control of the Isle of Man was lost to Norman-backed Scots in January 1315, opening a threat to the south and southwest of Scotland, and also reopening up a potential source of aid to England from the Hiberno-Normans and Gaelic Irish.

Their vision included "a grand Gaelic alliance against England"[citation needed] between Scotland and Ireland, both countries having a common heritage, language and culture.

He had previously fought against the Bruces at Bannockburn where he was taken prisoner and freed to return King Edward II's royal seal, lost in the rout.

In late June, Edward proceeded with his army from Carrickfergus along Magh Line (Six Mile Water), burning Rathmore, near Antrim town, which was a holding of the Savages.

While some skirmishing did result in a number of Scots deaths, Bruce refused to give battle and instead, with the Ó Néill, retreated northwards to Coleraine via Armagh.

Bruce and Ó Néill sacked and burned Coleraine, threw down the bridge over the river Bann and faced off de Burgh's pursuing army on the opposite bank.

Mindful of this, de Burgh eventually withdrew back forty miles to Antrim, while Butler had to return to Ormond due to lack of supplies.

In addition to this, Bruce sent separate messages both to King Felim and a rival dynast, Cathal Ua Conchobair, promising to support them if they withdrew.

Thus, when in August, Bruce and his men crossed the Bann (in four ships supplied by Scots sea captain, Thomas Dun), de Burgh retreated still further to Connor, where on either the first or ninth of September a charge by the Scots-Irish led to his defeat.

Finally apprised of the seriousness of the situation, Edward II had on 1 September ordered an assembly of the leading Anglo-Irish, which met at Parliament in Dublin in late October, but no decisive action was taken.

On 13 November, Bruce marched further south via Dundalk – where, incredibly, "some gave them the right hand", i.e., a fight – garrisoned Nobber on the 30th, and advanced to Kells, where he was met by Mortimer.

At the same time, Governor of Ireland (and Bishop of Ely) John de Hothum began to take drastic action to defend Dublin from Bruce, such as levelling entire tenements and churches to use the stones to reinforce their walls.

[2] After sacking and burning Kells, Bruce proceeded to do the same to Granard, Finnea, the Cistercian monastery of Abbeylara and raided Angaile (Annaly), the lordship of Gaelic lord O Hanely.

The pan-European Great Famine of 1315–1317 affected Ireland also, and disease became widespread in his army, causing it to shrink, and he was defeated and killed at the end of 1318 at the Battle of Faughart in County Louth.