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Documentary, After Braveheart episode 1
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00:00In 1315, an army from Britain invaded Ireland, numbering 6,000 battle-hardened veterans.
00:20It was one of the most powerful foreign forces ever to set foot in the country.
00:24But this was no English army. Its tough, male-clad soldiers were Scotsmen, gallo-glasses and fighting men from the Highlands and Western Isles.
00:40Their commander was Edward Bruce, brother of Robert Bruce, the King of the Scots.
00:45Shelton, arms!
00:47They had a simple objective, to drive out the English and make Edward Bruce King of Ireland.
01:01It was an ambitious plan. In over 100 years, no one had succeeded in breaking the English stranglehold on Ireland.
01:09This is a story of two Celtic nations, a shared heritage and a forgotten war that could have changed the course of history.
01:20A man named Roy.
01:35A man named Roy.
01:39A man named Roy.
01:42A man named Roy.
01:46Open the gate!
01:59Open the gate!
02:02Open again!
02:16I have word for the king.
02:25I have urgent word for King Robert.
02:29What word?
02:33Sire, the English king has died.
02:37I beheld these brothers of boundless ambition,
02:49with whom no obligations were binding,
02:51no oaths sacred,
02:53and no promises regarded that interfered
02:56with their goal of freedom for their country.
03:07The story of Ireland and Scotland 700 years ago
03:11is a story of struggle against tyranny.
03:14At this time, the Celtic nations were pitted
03:16against a ruthless enemy
03:18that seemed determined to subdue
03:20every inch of Britain and Ireland.
03:31When the Normans conquered England in 1066,
03:34their arrival signaled one of the greatest
03:37transformations in European history,
03:40and their search for power and land
03:42would change the politics and culture
03:45of these islands forever.
03:51The Normans come from northern France,
03:54where they have been used to building castles
03:57and training as heavy cavalry.
03:58They bring that military technology with them
04:00when they conquer England in 1066,
04:03and they carry on bringing it with them
04:04when they move into Scotland
04:06and as conquerors into Wales and Ireland.
04:09That there was a kind of demonic, psychic drive.
04:13They seem to have the urge to dominate.
04:16They seem to want to have not only what they possess,
04:19but what everyone else possesses.
04:20They were of the view that they'd come to conquer,
04:25and Wales was as vulnerable as England was,
04:29Scotland likewise,
04:30and Ireland, of course, was always there in the background.
04:33It was on their to-do list.
04:35Just over 100 years after the Battle of Hastings in 1066,
04:42an Anglo-Norman invasion force landed in Ireland.
04:46They conquered the island,
04:48established a new power base,
04:50and became known as the Anglo-Irish.
04:55Most native Irish kings had no option
04:58but to submit to these powerful newcomers.
05:00But many resented the new presence in their country
05:06and never truly accepted the English king as their monarch.
05:11In the late 12th century,
05:13what began to happen in the hundreds of years after
05:15was essentially two different societies coexisted.
05:18So you had Gaelic society and Norman,
05:22or what became Anglo-Irish.
05:24What fascinates me about Gaelic Ireland,
05:26about medieval Ireland,
05:27is the fact that you have two distinct societies in many ways.
05:31So I could travel from Dublin up to, say, O'Neill in Ulster,
05:37and it would be like leaving one world for another.
05:40It's essentially two alien societies.
05:43So that's the fascination,
05:44which you don't get in a lot of other countries in the Middle Ages.
05:47The thing about Ireland in the Middle Ages,
05:53which is not true of Scotland,
05:54is that Ireland was a very polar society.
05:57You had the native Irish and you had the English of Ireland,
06:01and they were two nations.
06:03They believed each other to be polar extremes.
06:08As far as the English were concerned,
06:11they had good reason to despise the Irish.
06:13After they first conquered the country,
06:17they brought with them a chronicler,
06:19Gerald of Wales,
06:21who described what he saw as the savage
06:23and uncivilised conduct of the native people.
06:27The Irish are a rude people,
06:30subsisting on the produce of their cattle only,
06:36and living themselves like beasts.
06:39A people that has not yet departed
06:41from the primitive habits of pastoral life.
06:47Really, Gerald's writings begin a very long tradition
06:50of anti-Irish sentiment.
06:52He's pushing the Irish to one side,
06:55and I suppose what can be called othering them.
06:58He's making them something that you can defeat
07:00because of what they are.
07:02You're absolutely justified.
07:04Neither willing to give up their old habits
07:07or learn anything new.
07:11Abandoning themselves to idleness
07:13and immersed in sloth,
07:16their greatest delight is to be exempt from toil.
07:21Their richest possession,
07:22the enjoyment of liberty.
07:25This people, then, is truly barbarous.
07:29Indeed, all their habits are barbarisms.
07:33In whatever requires industry,
07:36they are worthless.
07:38It's always more comfortable
07:40if you're colonising an imperial power
07:43to be told that you're also superior.
07:47But there's also, at the same time,
07:49growing evidence that the English, politically,
07:53are worried about integration.
07:55Famously, the statutes of Kilkenny
07:58and other laws in which the English are saying,
08:01we want the Irish to be separate
08:02and we want the English to be separate.
08:05English people should not adopt Irish names.
08:07They should not have Irish hairstyles.
08:10These things are actually legislated against.
08:12And the law is a kind of apartheid law
08:15because by the end of the 13th century,
08:18whereas to kill an English person in Ireland
08:21is a felony,
08:22to kill an Irishman is not.
08:23The native Irish felt a much closer affinity
08:38with their Celtic cousins in Scotland.
08:41The two countries had a shared history
08:43that dated back many centuries.
08:45In this shared history,
08:49it was the Irish who were the aggressors and colonisers.
08:52From around the 3rd century AD,
08:55they conquered large parts of their neighbour to the northeast.
08:58The Scots were originally Irish.
09:02They came and settled in what is now Scotland
09:04very early in the Middle Ages.
09:06The kingdom of the Scots
09:08was originally an Irish kingdom,
09:09Dalriata, Gaelic speaking.
09:11And up until, say, about the year 1000,
09:14when you said the word Scott,
09:16you meant someone from Ireland.
09:17The first Irish people that we know of
09:22who settled in Scotland,
09:23they were conquerors.
09:25You know, we tend to think, of course,
09:26ourselves in Ireland
09:27as being on the receiving end all the time of conquest.
09:30But these people from Dalriata
09:32who settled on the western seaboard of Scotland
09:34came to conquer land.
09:36But when that became like a little province of Ireland,
09:40separated from Ireland by the North Channel,
09:42the Irish church spread there as well.
09:44The invaders carried a sword in one hand
09:48and a Bible in the other.
09:50Saint Columba and other Irish monks
09:52helped to bring Christianity to Scotland.
09:57People who came over to Scotland,
09:59like famous examples like Columkill, Columba,
10:02were members of Irish dynasties.
10:04The kings of Scots were descended from Irish royalty.
10:08So, in fact, you're talking about a world,
10:10a kind of Gaelic world,
10:11that's absolutely continuous
10:12from, say, Cork up into Argyle.
10:19The links between the two countries
10:21were strongest in Ulster and western Scotland.
10:24Far from being a barrier,
10:26the sea helped to bind them together.
10:32The North Channel could be crossed
10:34in just a couple of hours
10:35in a Berlin,
10:36a small Scottish galley
10:38similar to the Viking longboat.
10:42These ships were often used
10:43to ferry soldiers
10:44between Ulster and Scotland.
10:46But there were stronger links,
10:49links forged in blood and friendship.
10:55The prevailing ascendancy in Scotland
10:57is a Gaelic ethos,
10:59and its heritage draws from Ireland
11:02and draws back towards Ireland.
11:04Within the Scottish tradition,
11:06they looked to Ireland
11:07as a sort of a fertile ground for them,
11:11where they came from.
11:12They looked to Irish culture
11:13as their primary influencing culture.
11:17Maybe it goes back to notions
11:19of Greater Scotia and Lesser Scotia,
11:21which they had in the early Middle Ages
11:23of the Big Scotia
11:25and the smaller Scotia.
11:27And the Big Scotia was Ireland
11:28at that point,
11:29because this is seen
11:30from an Irish point of view,
11:32looking across towards
11:33the fringes of Scotland.
11:39Of course, the other thing
11:40which brings the two nations together
11:43very strongly is genealogy.
11:45And so many of the Highland clans,
11:48for example,
11:48well, in a nutshell,
11:50trace themselves back
11:51to nearly the nine hostages
11:53and these characters,
11:55Brian Beru, if they can.
11:58That's another thing
11:59which is kind of an awareness,
12:00a binding together,
12:01if you like,
12:02of the peoples
12:03on both sides of the Channel.
12:06At their nearest point,
12:08Scotland and Ireland
12:09are just 12 miles apart.
12:11An exercise I sometimes do
12:15with my students
12:16is to turn the usual map
12:17of the British Isles
12:18on its side,
12:19point to Turnberry
12:20and say,
12:20there's the heart
12:21of the Bruce Lordship.
12:22Now look at it
12:23and you see Ireland
12:24and the Western Isles,
12:26the Scottish coast,
12:27the North Western English coast
12:28in a very different light,
12:30a different way
12:31of understanding it.
12:35If you went
12:35from a royal court in Ireland
12:37to a royal court in Scotland
12:38in the early Middle Ages,
12:39you wouldn't have noticed
12:40a difference.
12:41The language
12:42would have been the same,
12:43the culture
12:44would have been the same,
12:45the stories that would have been told
12:46would have been the same,
12:47and in fact,
12:48in some cases,
12:49the families
12:49would have been the same.
12:51When faced
12:52with the Anglo-Normans,
12:53the Scots
12:54had one major advantage
12:55over the Irish.
12:57The Irish did not have
12:58an undisputed high king.
13:01Scotland, on the other hand,
13:02was ruled by a single,
13:04decisive monarch.
13:06Rather than sit back
13:07and wait to be conquered,
13:08David I of Scotland
13:10invited the Anglo-Normans
13:11to the Normans Inn.
13:13He allowed some Norman lords
13:15to settle in the country,
13:17relying on them
13:18to safeguard his authority.
13:20The greatest of these lords
13:22took his name
13:23from the small town
13:24near Sherbur,
13:25where his family originated,
13:27Brie,
13:28or Bruce.
13:30The most famous
13:31of all Scottish kings
13:33sprang from this lineage.
13:35His name was Robert Bruce,
13:38and he was not just
13:39of Norman stock.
13:41His father's marriage
13:42to the Countess of Carrick
13:43had injected Celtic blood
13:45into the Bruce line.
13:49His mother,
13:50after all,
13:51was Countess of Carrick
13:52in her own right.
13:53The story was that
13:54when she met
13:55Robert's father,
13:56the Lord of Annandale,
13:57she fell for him
13:58in a big way,
13:59supposedly abducted him.
14:00And this is a nice inversion
14:01of the usual story.
14:02She abducted him,
14:04dragged him off
14:04to Turnberry Castle,
14:06and they were inside
14:08for three days.
14:09And when they emerged,
14:09they announced
14:10they were getting married.
14:11And Robert Bruce
14:12was the product
14:13of whatever went on there.
14:19Carrick was part of Galloway.
14:21It was the northern part
14:22of Galloway.
14:23And it was definitely
14:24Gaelic speaking
14:24quite a long time
14:26after the reign
14:26of Robert Bruce.
14:27So he was raised
14:29very much
14:30in a kind of Celtic
14:32or Gaelic-speaking area,
14:33if you like,
14:34of Scotland.
14:37This, you could say,
14:38is what really makes
14:39Robert Bruce and Edward
14:40and all the other brothers
14:41real hybrids,
14:43if you like,
14:44real sons of many kingdoms.
14:48I've come increasingly
14:50to think of it
14:50kind of as a search
14:52for place for Bruce.
14:53I think he's brought up
14:55by his grandfather
14:55and his father
14:56as are probably
14:57his brothers as well
14:58to expect
14:59some level of royal status,
15:02some enhanced level
15:03of political standing.
15:05Robert could aspire
15:07to be King of Scotland
15:08because he was related
15:09to a previous claimant
15:11to the throne.
15:12In 1302,
15:14he strengthened his position
15:15by marrying Elizabeth,
15:18the daughter of Richard de Burgh,
15:19the Earl of Ulster
15:20and one of the most powerful
15:22Anglo-Irish leaders.
15:24because Richard de Burgh
15:26had a very eligible daughter
15:28in Elizabeth
15:28who grew up here
15:30at Greencastle,
15:32there's a certain amount
15:33of matchmaking,
15:34we think,
15:35that Edward I
15:35and his,
15:37basically,
15:38one of his best friends,
15:39Richard de Burgh,
15:40said,
15:40well,
15:41we'll cobble together
15:42a marriage arrangement
15:43between Robert Bruce
15:45and Elizabeth de Burgh.
15:49It's possible
15:49the marriage is dangled
15:51as a sort of carrot
15:52by Edward I himself.
15:54It's a way,
15:55from his point of view,
15:56of getting a leading lord
15:58of southwestern Scotland,
16:00part of the Irish sea world,
16:01as an ally
16:02of the de Burgh,
16:03Earl of Ulster
16:04and stabilising
16:05the Irish situation.
16:07While Robert harboured
16:09a desire for the crown,
16:11Edward I
16:11had his own plans
16:13for Scotland.
16:15Edward I
16:15was an extremely successful,
16:19ambitious,
16:20and ruthless monarch.
16:21And when he came
16:23to the moment
16:24in circa 1290,
16:26when he thinks
16:27that he can establish
16:28once and for all
16:30that he is
16:30overlord of Scotland,
16:32he doesn't stop
16:33for a moment
16:33in asserting that claim.
16:37He's turning it
16:38into another island,
16:39another Wales,
16:39a land,
16:40not a realm.
16:42And I think that
16:42quite quickly
16:44turns him
16:44into a very strong
16:45figure of hate.
16:46There's now a difference
16:47between a Scot
16:48and an Englishman.
16:50And Edward kind of marks it.
16:53The characteristics
16:54which the Scots
16:54later really liked
16:55to label the English
16:56with of being arrogant,
16:58presumptuous,
16:59overconfident,
17:00are first and foremost
17:01attributed to Edward himself.
17:04Some refused
17:05to bend the knee.
17:07Among them
17:07was a young patriot
17:08named William Wallace,
17:10who waged a desperate
17:11guerrilla war
17:12against the English takeover.
17:15Robert Bruce
17:16hedged his bets.
17:17He supported Wallace.
17:19Then he supported Edward.
17:21But foremost in his mind
17:22was his own claim
17:24to the Scottish throne.
17:30Robert does have this reputation
17:32being slightly schizophrenic,
17:35allying himself to Edward
17:36and the English one day
17:38and then the Scots the next.
17:40And I think that duplicity,
17:43to understand that,
17:44we've really got to see
17:46Robert Bruce in context.
17:48He tries the political solution,
17:50the diplomatic solution.
17:51Move to the Scots
17:53under Wallace for a bit,
17:55then leave them,
17:56go back to the lordship
17:58of Edward I,
17:59because that's a better bet.
18:00After all,
18:01Edward I's the head honcho
18:03in Western Europe,
18:04practically.
18:05So that's where
18:06the power base is.
18:07That's where you should hang in
18:08if you want to advance
18:10the interests of your people.
18:12He's a pragmatist.
18:13He will take
18:14whatever path
18:15he needs to take
18:16to get to where
18:17he wants to go.
18:18And if one day
18:19that means
18:20he's got to basically
18:21give himself up
18:22to the English
18:23and fight
18:24on their side,
18:26he will do.
18:29If he wanted
18:30to be king of Scotland,
18:31Robert had to deal
18:33with his main rival,
18:34John Common.
18:35And in 1307,
18:37when the two men met
18:38at Greyfriars Abbey
18:40in Dumfries,
18:41an event took place
18:43that shaped
18:44the future of Scotland
18:45forever.
18:48He rode there at once
18:49and met with
18:50Sir John Common
18:51in the Greyfriars
18:52at the high altar.
18:55In a mocking manner,
18:56he showed him
18:57the indenture
18:57and then with a knife
18:59took his life
19:00on that very spot.
19:04Because of it,
19:05such great misfortune
19:07befell him.
19:09The killing of Common
19:10is a real puzzle
19:11in terms of
19:12where the church stood
19:14because we have
19:16to understand
19:16that when Bruce
19:17killed Common,
19:18he did it
19:19at the altar
19:20of the Church
19:21of the Greyfriars
19:22in Dumfries.
19:23and when you kill
19:25somebody
19:26in hot blood
19:27at the altar,
19:30you're automatically
19:30excommunicated.
19:32So,
19:34it's surprising then
19:35that Bruce
19:36seems to have garnished
19:37so much support
19:38from the Scottish Church.
19:40You would have expected
19:41the opposite to happen,
19:43that they would hold him
19:44in total disregard.
19:46He's a heretic.
19:47He's damned to hell
19:48for eternity.
19:50But they don't see it
19:51that way for some reason.
19:52Some remarkable talent
19:55rallies around Bruce.
19:57And I think that's strange.
20:00That action,
20:01whether it is
20:01premeditated murder
20:03or an act of rage
20:04in an argument,
20:05that's the turning point.
20:07He has a lightning
20:07decision to make.
20:09Either he goes on the run,
20:10he basically becomes
20:11a fugitive,
20:12or he grasps
20:14the thistle
20:14and goes for the throne.
20:18As soon as we get
20:20to that point
20:20where Common is killed,
20:23the path is straight ahead.
20:24And the path is conflict
20:26between Bruce
20:27and the King of England.
20:35With the support
20:36of the Scottish Church,
20:38Robert had himself
20:39crowned King of Scots.
20:41But Edward I
20:42moved quickly
20:43to crush the upstart king.
20:45He captured several members
20:46of the Bruce family
20:47and had them killed
20:49or imprisoned.
20:50Robert's wife,
20:51Elizabeth de Bourgh,
20:53was taken captive.
20:57Robert was now
20:58a hunted man.
20:59With his followers
21:00reduced to only
21:01a small band of men,
21:03he fled to the
21:04western isles of Scotland.
21:05for it was nearly winter
21:13and there were so many
21:15enemies around him
21:16that all the country
21:17made war on him.
21:19Such dreadful misfortunes
21:21tested them then
21:22like hunger,
21:24cold and cutting rain
21:25that no one alive
21:27can tell at all.
21:27Robert Bruce found himself
21:39at the Mull of Kintyre
21:40on the very edge
21:41of Scotland.
21:43From here he could see
21:44the coast of Ulster.
21:45Not for the last time
21:47the thought struck him
21:48that the Irish could help
21:49in the war with England.
21:53When we were trying
21:54to understand him
21:55and his ultimate success
21:56and then we were trying
21:57to understand
21:58what on earth
21:59they were up to in Ireland
22:00there's something
22:01about his background
22:02in the Gaelic world
22:03that provides us
22:04with part of the key
22:05to that.
22:08From Kintyre
22:09Bruce made the short
22:11sea journey
22:11to Rathlin Island
22:13off the Antrim coast.
22:15He is supposed
22:16to have hidden here
22:17with his followers
22:18in a dank cave
22:19accessible only by boat.
22:22It seems that he planned
22:23to regain the throne
22:25with the help
22:25of Irish allies.
22:27In fact,
22:28his two younger brothers
22:29Thomas and Alexander Bruce
22:31had raised an Irish army
22:32and landed in Scotland.
22:35But their mission
22:36came to nothing
22:36and the brothers
22:37were captured
22:38and executed
22:39by Edward I.
22:41It would be nearly
22:42a decade before Robert
22:44could cement his alliance
22:45with the Irish.
22:48Open the gate!
22:51Open the gate!
22:52Open the gate!
22:54Open the gate!
22:55Open the gate!
23:03In July 1307,
23:06Edward I died
23:07and in a single stroke
23:09the greatest obstacle
23:10to Scottish freedom
23:12was removed.
23:14Shortly before he dies,
23:16Edward has a couple
23:17of English friars
23:18executed
23:19for stating
23:21that Robert Bruce
23:21is the subject
23:22of the prophecies
23:23of Merlin.
23:25And that means
23:25that Robert Bruce
23:26is a second King Arthur,
23:28that his destiny
23:28is to unite
23:30Wales
23:31and Ireland
23:32and Scotland
23:33against England
23:34and drive
23:36the hated
23:37English dragon
23:38back into the North Sea
23:40whence it came.
23:41King Edward I
23:43would be long remembered
23:44as the most ruthless
23:46and vindictive foe
23:47ever faced
23:48by Scotland.
23:49His tomb
23:50in Westminster Abbey
23:51was inscribed
23:52with the words
23:53Scottorium Melaus,
23:56Hammer of the Scots.
23:58But his son,
24:00who now succeeded him
24:01as Edward II,
24:02would prove
24:03to be a much less
24:04formidable opponent.
24:05in the end.
24:35Be near your surviving comrades who yet strive for glory.
24:45Inspire us to emulate your actions, that our efforts may prove glorious.
24:58In 1314, an army led by Robert Bruce faced the English in battle.
25:05The fight took place south of Stirling, somewhere near a stream known as the Bannock Burn.
25:11For hundreds of years there have been arguments as to the exact location of the battle.
25:17In 2013, military historian and archaeologist Tony Pollard spent a year searching and eventually locating the site of the most important battle in Scottish history.
25:30It was the pivotal encounter in the long and brutal war between Scotland and England.
25:36And it was very much a case of David and Goliath. The Scots were outnumbered two to one.
25:42Leading up to the battle, Edward had been in command of the siege of Stirling Castle.
25:48And it's that siege that brings about the battle. It's that siege that coaxes the English army north.
25:54So you've got these three massive divisions of well-trained men, delivering a massive victory of the common man really.
26:02These are men on foot. Many of these men are just commoners, they're farmers, they're people from the town.
26:09And it must have been incredibly demeaning for the English who have at the heart of their army, the nobility.
26:17Men on expensive horses wearing state-of-the-art armour. They're literally brought to their knees.
26:23The Scots absolutely wipe the floor with them. It's an absolute disaster for the English and a huge triumph for the Scots.
26:32Bannockburn would go down in history as Scotland's greatest single victory over England.
26:44Slowly but surely, Robert Bruce was driving the invaders back to their home.
27:02There has been a tendency for Scottish historians to ignore the aftermath of Bannockburn.
27:08It really should be the wonderful climax to Bruce's career.
27:12And he has to drip on for another, what is it, 16 years before the English actually recognise his title as King of Scots.
27:22Robert Bruce wanted the English to recognise the independence of Scotland. That didn't change.
27:28But he also wanted one thing more than that, of course. He wanted them to recognise the independence of Scotland with him as its king.
27:35And that didn't change one iota after Bannockburn. So he was probably scratching his head trying to figure out what he might do next.
27:43This must have been very, very depressing. And it seems to be one of the reasons why he has to open up new fronts in the war with the English after Bannockburn.
27:56Despite the great Scottish victory, there was another crucial chapter in the story of the war against the English.
28:03But this part of the tale would be told not in Scotland, but in Ireland.
28:10The Anglo-Irish colonists in the country would have been devastated by the news that this upstart, Scot, had defeated their king.
28:17And I'm pretty sure that nearly everyone in Gaelic Ireland would have thought it was bloody good news.
28:23In April 1315, Robert Bruce called the Parliament at Eyre in southwest Scotland to decide on the future campaign.
28:38It has always been thought that it was from here that Robert Bruce sent forth a famous appeal to the Irish.
28:46The King sends greetings to all the kings of Ireland, to the prelates and clergy, and to the inhabitants of all Ireland, his friends.
29:03Whereas 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.
29:22It was only discovered in the 1950s or thereabouts.
29:29It was a tremendously interesting letter from Robert Bruce.
29:31And it's a very kind of a potent call to the Irish to join forces with the Scots.
29:37It's an appeal to some kind of ancient bond between the two.
29:42But what if the letter dates from a much earlier period?
29:49Had Robert Bruce always yearned to unite the Celtic nations?
29:53Sean Duffy of Trinity College Dublin believes that the letter was composed around 1306,
30:00when Robert and his followers were based on Rathlin Island.
30:05When you get down to the small print of the letter, as it were, he says that the envoys he's sending are these two men called T and A.
30:14He just gives the initials because that's the way the letter has survived.
30:20It's pretty certain that that letter that Robert sent, the envoys mentioned in it are his brothers, Thomas and Alexander.
30:27And so it belongs in the winter of 1306 to 7, when he was in a lot of trouble and he was hanging on by his fingernails to the throne of Scotland.
30:37And he wanted an Irish alliance to join sides with him against the English.
30:42We have sent you our beloved kinsman, the bearer of this letter, to negotiate with you in our name about permanently strengthening and maintaining
30:56inviolate the special friendship between us and you, so that with God's will, our nation may be able to recover her ancient liberty.
31:11And there's a tendency by some people to think that Robert Bruce, because he's from a predominantly Anglo-Norman background,
31:17that this must be pure cynicism on his part and, you know, because how could he dare talk about our nation, the Scots and Irish nation,
31:27and our common language as if he was a Gaelic speaker and imbued with all things Gaelic.
31:35The letter is genuine. It seems to me the letter was sent by Robert right at the start of his reign.
31:41It seems to me it won a lot of backing for him in Ireland.
31:44And I think therefore we have to accept that there was a Gaelic side to Robert Bruce's character.
31:51I think the existence of this document, and I think Sean's right in this actually,
31:58does imply very much that there's some understanding before the letter, if you like,
32:04some sense of what may be a Nazi or a nation.
32:09That's very powerful. This is a statement, if you like, if there's such a thing of kind of Gaelic nationality.
32:18If you could call it such.
32:20The trouble is, the danger here is whether we can use words to describe concepts in the past
32:28where they didn't have words for them themselves. This is our problem.
32:31So if nationalism's a word that doesn't come into the English language until the 19th century,
32:36can we apply it to people who are living in the 13th or the 14th centuries?
32:40Personally, I would say yes, we can. If it's not nationalism they're talking about,
32:45it's that by almost any other name.
32:47During one long winter on Rathlin Island, I dreamed we would assist the sons and daughters
33:04of our sister nation in their fight against the common foe, the English.
33:11And in doing so, reunite the Celtic people.
33:18Scotland under Robert Bruce.
33:21And Ireland under Edward.
33:26Were we not colonised by the Irish, been bound by blood, family, language?
33:38Were we not Christianised from the same source?
33:41Preparations have been made.
33:45We will be one with Ireland.
33:50After Bannockburn, he feels you've got to carry the torch to the enemy.
33:55This was Bruce's number one weapon in trying to get some sense out of the English kings
34:02to recognise the legitimacy of his kingship.
34:05The notion was, just as we're opening up a front in the north of England,
34:09let's open up one in Ireland.
34:11Assembling to himself men of great courage, then he took Shepetier in the following month of May,
34:26and took his way straight to Ireland.
34:43They have undertaken a great project, when with so few as they were there, they prepared to conquer all Ireland,
34:49where they would see many thousands come armed to fight against them.
34:54But although few, they were brave.
35:01Battlefield archaeologist Tony Pollard was born in England,
35:06but his grandparents are from Ireland and he lives and works in Scotland.
35:10He's a living example of the close links between the three countries.
35:17And he's fascinated by the incredible events that brought them together in bloody conflict 700 years ago.
35:25Today, Larne Harbour is the most important port between Ireland and Scotland, on the Irish side.
35:31In 1315, this would have been the place where Edward Bruce's Scottish army came together
35:38after landing on the beaches all the way up and down this coast.
35:42Around 6,000 men carried in 300 boats, it said.
35:47And these boats were Berlins, they were West Highland galleys.
35:51And they would have applied a daily trade between here and Scotland,
35:55and up and down the west coast of Scotland.
35:57They wouldn't have been an uncommon sight.
36:00But to have been on the hills behind us and seen 300 of these heading towards these shores,
36:10must have been incredibly daunting.
36:25Come on, get it out!
36:30Scots are used as the kind of traditional bogeymen the Scots will come and get you.
36:43And then in May, the Scots are no longer separated from them by a stretch of land.
36:48They're actually here, which throws the whole of the Anglo-Northern community into a panic.
36:53They never really expected to end up fighting the Scots in their own backyard.
36:57So when 6,000 of them come into Antrim, this is like their worst nightmare come true.
37:03Right, and the thing is, do you see what's over there?
37:21Oh, Tony, do you see what's over there?
37:23That!
37:24How close?
37:25Ailsa Craig!
37:26Yeah!
37:27So that's Scotland!
37:28That's Scotland!
37:31We're on the hill just above the town of Larne on the coast,
37:34and this is said to be the site of the first battle of the campaign.
37:38Absolutely, Tony.
37:39This is where Sir Thomas Mandeville gathers all the Norman lords from Ulster,
37:44the Bissetts, the Savages, the Logans,
37:46gathers them here, concentrates because he can see Larne over there.
37:50This is a victorious army.
38:02Bruce has got about 5,000 or 6,000 men with him.
38:04They are the men that smashed Edward II's army at Bannockburn.
38:08It's D-Day down there.
38:09This is D-Day, yes.
38:11If Mandeville manages to hold Bruce here, the campaign's off.
38:15Yeah, or even kick him back into the sea.
38:16Kick him back into the sea.
38:47Edward Bruce knew that he could count on certain allies in Ireland.
39:02First and foremost was Donal O'Neill, the King of Tyrone,
39:07who had pledged to support the Scots.
39:09Robert had made able preparations, but we would have no success in Ireland
39:19without the help of the Irish families.
39:21Their attitude towards him was the pivot on which all his plans were based.
39:27Donal O'Neill was a descendant of the ancient High Kings of Ireland.
39:34He was in no doubt about his own royal blood and his own place at the apex of the pyramid of power in Gaelic Ireland.
39:44You know, the problem was, though, for him that many other Irish people rejected his claim to be High King.
39:51You know, if you were a descendant of Brian Beru, you weren't necessarily convinced that it was O'Neill's ancestors who had a monopoly on the High Kingship.
39:59He was a realist who recognized that his own interests could be served best if they could all unite behind another figure.
40:11He was sure he was into it for what he could get out of it, like old politicians and like old powerful men.
40:21Though the Irish hut be poor and though our feast be small, he sees his little lot as the lot of all.
40:30No prince's palace rears its head to shame the meanness of his humble bed.
40:38Man is worthy of this world, who rejoices in the world and makes the most of it.
40:45The English king and the English lords born in Ireland have heartlessly inflicted cruel injuries on them.
41:06Injuries on us and on our ancestors.
41:13They have forced us to live on mountains and in forests and bogs and other barren places like wild animals.
41:21It's not just their laymen, but even some of their clergy say it is no more a sin to kill an Irishman than it is to kill a dog or other brute creature.
41:35And so we are compelled to enter into a deadly war with them.
41:41If ever thou hast occasion for assistance, to repel an invader or attack a foe, call on Scotland, whom thy hospitality is taught to be grateful, and on whose heart thy kindness has made a deep impression.
42:04Today, Carrickfergus is a satellite town of Belfast, but in the 14th century, Belfast was no more than a tiny village.
42:19And Carrickfergus was the most important town in Ulster, a strategic outpost of great military significance.
42:39It was vitally important that Edward Bruce capture it to prevent the English from landing an army there.
42:46Castles like Carrickfergus were the power base for the Anglo-Normans or the Anglo-Irish.
42:52These were the people that had come in and taken over Gallic Ireland, and these were the people that Bruce was intending to have a go at in his invasion.
43:00So for Edward Bruce, this castle is a very important target, and he's very keen to take it.
43:07Because he has to take Carrickfergus. If he can take Carrickfergus, that means that Robert's position in his wars against the English in the north, it opens up everything.
43:18If they can take Carrickfergus, then the entire northern sea zone is theirs, and probably the entire sea zone right down towards Bristol.
43:28And if you can cut off that channel, then the oxygen to the supply routes for Edward II are almost extinct.
43:35Surely one motive behind the Irish invasion was that they could somehow damage the English supply routes and the sources of English supply.
43:47Now, if you could cut off that kind of supply, you could make a big dent in enemy support or support for the enemy.
43:55And I think Ireland was, Ireland's recognised to have been, a very important bread basket for the English.
44:02The Scots took Carrickfergus town without much difficulty. The castle was a more difficult proposition.
44:12Edward Bruce did not have the siege equipment needed to take the castle by storm, so he surrounded it and prepared to starve its garrison into submission.
44:22When Edward Bruce arrives in Ireland in 1315, he's very keen to identify himself with Carrickfergus.
44:30Indeed, it's while he's here that around a dozen Gallic chiefs or even minor kings come to him and proclaim him High King of Ireland.
44:40Then all the kings of the Irishry came to Sir Edward and did their homage to him.
44:52He was well set now, and in a good way, to conquer the land altogether, for he had on his side the Irish and the Ulster.
44:59All hail Edward the Bruce! High King of all Ireland!
45:11With Edward now proclaimed High King of Ireland, many Gallic leaders threw their support behind the Bruce invasion.
45:18Allegiance to a Scottish king in Ireland was preferable to supporting an absent English king.
45:30There were Irish allies of the Bruce's who had convinced them that this would work.
45:35The Irish wanted the English out. The Irish had proved themselves incapable of uniting behind any one figure within Ireland.
45:43And so the best thing, therefore, was to get somebody from outside Ireland behind whom they could align.
45:51It's an interesting part of the history of Ireland and Scotland. There are cultural links, there's no doubt about that.
45:58But really, it's a significant political leap between them, with Edward coming over and claiming the High Kingship.
46:06And you could say it was misguided, you could say it's political sleight of hand, you could say a lot of things.
46:13But really, I think it does indicate that there's a recognition, even though he's a politician, there is a recognition that there's a possibility here that there's something he could build on.
46:25The strength of the cultural ties was enduring and had been going on since the early Middle Ages.
46:31The Anglo-Irish had been completely taken off guard by the invasion and were even slower to react.
46:38The English king told his representative in Dublin, Edmund Butler, to gather the Anglo-Irish lords and raise an army.
46:45The most powerful of these lords was Richard de Bourgh, the Earl of Ulster.
46:51He was also Robert Bruce's father-in-law.
46:56The Scots marched south through de Bourgh's lands in Ulster, into a gap between Sleeve Gullion to the west and the Coulee Mountains to the east.
47:05This area is known as the Moirie Pass, and to this day it is an important corridor between island north and south.
47:16Edward Bruce was now being guided into Leinster by people who had all scores to settle with local Anglo-Norman lords.
47:24The most notorious Anglo-Norman family was the de Verdons, who held extensive estates in the Meath and Laod areas.
47:33The de Verdons had enforced a violent claim over the people, essentially ruling the area by fear and extortion.
47:41This was a de Verdons castle, and they were to be really quite important players in the fight against the Scottish invasion.
47:51The feudal system is really like a protection racket.
48:02If you're a tenant or a peasant, you pay taxes or you do service for your lord.
48:08But in return, your lord will protect you.
48:12And that's what this castle is designed to do, is to symbolise that power and that ability to protect.
48:23But it doesn't really work.
48:26Bruce comes down from Ulster with his army.
48:30He takes one look at this and very sensibly thinks,
48:35we're already tied up with one siege at Carrickfergus.
48:38This place looks pretty impregnable.
48:40We'll give it a swerve.
48:42So, they just leave it.
48:45But, there's more than one way to skin a cat.
48:48And what they do is they burn the nearby town of Dundor.
48:54And that demonstrates to the local population that their lords and masters no longer.
48:59have the ability to protect them.
49:02And it does exactly what taking that castle would do, but it's much easier.
49:29Dundork suffered very severely during the course of the Bruce invasion.
49:33Not indiscriminately.
49:35I believe it was because it was held by the Dever Duns.
49:38If you look at all the places they attack, there's usually a local political reason for it.
49:45It's not some kind of indiscriminate, you know, carpet bombing of Ireland by them.
49:52Unless the King of England invades Scotland again,
49:55the Scots will try to conquer Ireland this winter,
49:58and the Irish of Ireland will help them.
50:00I have lost everything fighting Edward Bruce.
50:03My lands, my horses, my armour, my rents, and my revenues.
50:08Marching! Marching! Marching! Marching! Marching!
50:19There was very little concerted opposition to Edward Bruce to begin with.
50:23But by the end of his first summer in Ireland,
50:25the government was beginning to get his act together.
50:28And it realised they would have to get an army and march after him
50:32and try and meet him in the field.
50:43Richard de Boer was Earl of Ulster.
50:45He created an almost impenetrable, invincible realm for himself.
50:49He's one of the most powerful Anglo-Norman magnates on the island.
50:53He controls lands in Conat.
50:55He controls most of the land around here in Ulster.
51:00He's the one who says to the chief governor, Edmund Butler,
51:04that he wants to tackle Bruce himself.
51:07I have here a force of my own of 20 battalions.
51:12It is large enough to expel an equal number from the country
51:16or to kill them in it.
51:18He wants to go back to Ulster
51:20and actually wrestle Ulster back from the Bruce's
51:24because it's almost like a personal insult to him.
51:26This is his son-in-law effectively saying,
51:28I'm going to send my brother over to take away your personal kingdom.
51:33Richard de Boer effectively says, I'm not having this.
51:37He decides that I'm going to march from Conat,
51:39I'm going to take my Gaelic allies
51:41and we're going to defeat Bruce in my backyard effectively.
51:46I don't know if he can't do this.
51:47I don't know if he can't do this.
51:48As you can't do it, he can't do it.
51:49He's got to do it.
51:50I don't know if he's got to do it.
51:51I don't know.
52:21Looking at this site, do you think this bit's a bit more prehistoric than the sites across
52:37the way? I don't know. I can see a big stone wall over there. I know. That looks extremely
52:42interesting. Oh, wow. Look at how big are these stones. It's massive. It's massive. Careful
52:47here. It's collapsing. I know. This is known as the old fort, or actually locally in Connor's
52:53as the trench. But it's a mott, isn't it, of some sort? It is. Why is it here? What function
52:59is it serving? Well, the thing about Connor is it's a very important Anglo-Norman ecclesiastical
53:04centre. We think it might have been fortified, so whenever de Beur is coming up chasing after
53:10Bruce's army. No, he suddenly finds himself out of supply. He comes from Antrim to here
53:16because it has stores of whatever they need. Now he comes here to defend it and take those
53:22stores. Bruce is out there watching him. De Beur comes up here with an Irish ally, Philem O'Connor.
53:37Philem O'Connor, however, halfway through this campaign of chasing up to Coleraine, goes
53:41back down to Conard. So de Beur is actually left high and dry. Sir Philip Mowbray actually
53:47organises Scots to go and wave banners and taunts the Anglo-Normans to come out and chase
53:54him, come out and chase him. De Beur sees the banners and they go out in that direction and
54:00they're hitting the flank. And then Bruce sees the battle and suddenly joins in. They refer
54:05to this battle as being one of the bloodiest of the campaigns. The field is wet with blood.
54:11He says, yeah, as an archaeologist this is really interesting, he says, the field was
54:15wholly covered by weapons, arms and dead men.
54:29The field soon grew wet with blood. They fought there with such great fierceness and struck
54:36such blows on each other with stick, with stone and with glory turned, as each side could
54:42land on the other. That it was dreadful to see.
54:45Fire! Fire!
55:15The End
55:30De Boer is the most powerful Lord in Ireland.
55:33He's a battle brother of Edward I, he was a Bannockburn.
55:37He is a military mind, he's a good, good warrior.
55:40And yet when he comes up here, he is all-powerful.
55:43After the Battle of Connor, his power is almost completely broken.
55:51He leaves here shattered.
55:55After Connor, Ulster is Scottish.
55:58It's no longer De Boer's land at all.
56:05If he thought that he was going to send a message to the Bruce's,
56:08that hang on here, this is my turf.
56:11What actually ends up happening is he has to leave Ulster.
56:16He flees Ulster.
56:17The Annals of Connacht refer to him rather wistfully
56:21as almost being like a wanderer up and down the lands,
56:24with no lordship, no power.
56:26No lordship, no power.
56:27No lordship, no power.
56:29No lordship, no power.
56:31No lordship, no power.
56:32No lordship, no power.
56:33No woodship, no power.
56:34No lordship, no power.
56:35Shelter, arms, war!
56:38Shelter, war!
56:41Ireland was only one front in Robert Bruce's war against the English.
56:46He had raided territories in northern England
56:48and personally led the army which laid siege to the English border town of Carlisle.
56:55No one could deny that the Bruce brothers were causing major problems for the English,
57:01both at home and abroad.
57:05The more they be, the more honour all out hath we.
57:14Gif we bear it manlyly.
57:18We are set here in jeopardy to win honour or for to die.
57:23We are too far free haem to flee.
57:26Therefore let ilk man worthy be.
57:30Yon are gather-ins of this country, and shall flee, I throw it likely.
57:37And I'll come on, assail them manlyly.
57:43But if the judgment of heaven has called down on me and my people, what is to become of us?
57:57I fear they must face the wrath of two kings to convince them of their loyalty.
58:16Try, prepare yourself for war.
58:23Treachery!
58:24Stalk's unashamed in Ireland among the nobility as well, I see.
58:27Increase the shame.
58:28Flexible оружiary of the white on to destroy our animal now.
58:29Silence, Johanna, you know,ì‚´ and thereto.
58:34Hence slapper,umble for you.
58:36M
58:442
58:48Transcription by CastingWords
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