Second Battle of Athenry
Template:Short description Template:More footnotes Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Irish English Template:Infobox military conflict Template:Campaignbox First War of Scottish IndependenceTemplate:Campaignbox Irish-Norman warsThe Second Battle of Athenry (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell) took place at Athenry (Template:Langx) in Ireland on 10 August 1316 during the Bruce campaign in Ireland.
Overview
The collective number of both armies are unknown, and can only be estimated. Martyn believes the royal army to have been as much as or more than a thousand, while that of Athenry was probably several hundred less. The list of deceased participants on the Irish side alone indicates that exceptionally high numbers were involved.<ref>The Battle of Athenry, Adrian Martyn, in East Galway News and Views, August 2008 – May 2009.</ref>
Outcome
Unlike the First Battle of Athenry in 1249, no surviving account gives the date of the battle itself. Even the site of the battle itself is uncertain.
Rickard de Bermingham and William Liath de Burgh led an Anglo-Irish force to victory. John Clyn states that "According to common report a sum of five .... thousand in all [were killed] the number decapitated was one thousand five hundred."<ref>The Annals of Ireland by Friar John Clyn, p. 164, edited by Bernadette Williams, 2007. Template:ISBN</ref>
The battle was a devastating defeat for the Connacht Gaels, who were allied with the Scotsman Edward Bruce. Among those killed were kings Fedlim Ó Conchobair and Tadhg Ó Cellaigh King of Uí Maine.<ref>A Dictionary of British History. 2004 [2001] by Oxford University Press.</ref>
In 2016, Martyn wrote that:
Though various Uí Chonchobair were Rí Connacht till 1477, prospective recovery of the overkingdom died with Fedlimid at Athenry. The real beneficiaries were among the ostensible losers, the kings of Tuadhmhumha, Uí Maine, and Uí Fhiachrach Muaidhe. Within decades each was successfully reconstituted as independent kingdoms, existing as such for the next two hundred and fifty years. Descendants of their leading lineages survive as titled aristocracy today.
The heads of King Fedlimid of Connacht and King Tadhg of Uí Maine were mounted over the town's main gate. This image remains the coat of arms of Athenry today.<ref>The Tribes of Galway: 1124–1642, Adrian Martyn, Galway, 2016, pp. 68–81. </ref>
Annalistic accounts
The Annals of Ulster
The Annals of Ulster give the following account (U1313, recte 1316):<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The Annals of Loch Cé
After winning the battle of Tóchar-móna-Coinnedha (Templetogher, County Galway), on 25 January,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>