The 'Battle in County Louth' and John de Courcy

Every Dundalk schoolchild of the past century must surely have been told of the story of the Edward Bruce invasion of Ireland in 1315 and of his alleged crowning himself as the King of All Ireland at Dundalk in the following year. Few, however, of my own childhood were ever taught about the John de Courcy Invasion of Ulster through Dundalk in 1177.

Which a great pity as this event must surely have made a much greater impact on the future history of the entire island of Ireland and on Dundalk in particular. My own interest in this expedition was renewed recently by an entry in the current edition History Ireland which, in its 'On This Day' column about the month of February gives a fairly lengthy description of this Norman advance into County Down which began in Dublin on February 4, 1177.

This article states ---

'John de Courcy and his legendary “twenty-two mailed horsemen”, fellow knights in Henry 11's (King of England) Dublin garrison set out to invade Ulster. With guides and about 200 foot soldiers from the native Irish, he passed through Meath, proceeded through Moyra Pass into Ulster. Four days later he reached his target – the settlement of Down (Downpatrrick) capital of the Kingdom of Dál Fiatach, ruled by Rory MacDonleavy.'

The article makes no mention of the Norman settlement at Castletown, Dundalk, which must have existed by this time, but de Courcy and his small army must surely have passed through it on his way north to the Moyra Pass. While I had long known about this adventure by the Norman knights who were interested in setting up their own kingdom in Ulster, little has been written about their journey between Dublin and Downpatrick. I had also wondered how such a small force had managed to travel so quickly through what must have been unknown and very hostile territory?

Then I recalled an article I had read in an old edition of the Tempest's Annual, written by Henry Morris and headed 'John de Courcy at Dundalk'. When I looked it up again, I noted that there was a second article in the same edition headed 'The Carew Papers' which also refers to de Courcy's Invasion of Ulster in which it says --- 'When de Courcy was sent over to Ireland with 10 knights by King Henry 11 under William Bourke, Procurator of Ireland, he marched with 22 knights, 50 squires and about 300 footmen into Ulster “where no Englishman went before him that was ever seen. He drove O'Donnell out of Downpatrick and later fought with and defeated him. Rory O'Hanlon was fighting for O'Donnell.”

Then follows this account of a battle in County Louth in which de Courcy is not made out to be the victor.'

The author of this second article is not given but it must have been Harry Tempest who was the compiler of the Annuals at this time. A footnote at the end notes – 'There was no O'Donnell in Downpatrick or anywhere near it' and infers that the name must have been a mistake for that of Donsleibhe (Dunleavy), King of Ulida.

The Carew Papers were written in the sixteenth century by a Sir George Carew, mostly taken from an old manuscript called the Book of Howth.

The Henry Morris article, in a way, is the most interesting from a Dundalk point of view because it appears to deal with this 'Battle in County Louth' in which de Courcy fought against the O'Hanlons. He does not say whether he thought this battle took place before or after the February Invasion of Ulster but says that his source claims that it took place 'south of Dundalk and north of the River Dondoygon' which Morris states in a footnote was the River Fane.

The Morris article says that --- 'There were in that place some 6,000 Irish and about 1,000 English' and goes on to describe how de Courcy himself was surrounded by the Irish and almost was killed before he was rescued by a troop of horsemen led by his brother-in-law Sit Amoric.

The story ends by stating 'The slaughter on both sides was great; few of the Irish and fewer of the English were left alive. The Irish got themselves to the Fewes and the English to Dundalke but who got the best there is no boast made'.

The account is interesting in that it appears from it that, although the walled town of Dundalk had not yet been started by 1177, the settlement was important to the successful invasion of Ulster by de Courcy and it may have been he and not Bertram de Verdon, who was granted lands in North Louth by Henry, who was responsible for the construction of the walls of Dundalk.