The Ulster Revolt of 1404 — an Anti-Lancastrian Dimension?

Abstract

In 1403–1404 the Irish chiefs of eastern Ulster rose out in war against the colony there in association with the Scots of the Western Isles and were eventually suppressed by the third earl of Ormond, justicar from March to October 1404. It is an incident that has not hitherto attracted much attention. Otway-Ruthven has discussed it in connection with a later letter sent from the Ulster colony to the fourth earl of Ormond, dated 4 June 1420, when the inhabitants again found themselves in difficulty and exhorted the fourth earl to follow his father’s example and deliver them from their present danger.¹ A significant feature of this letter is its emphatic allocation of blame for the colonists’ previous and current difficulties to Aodh, son of Art Mág Aonghusa, [Magennis], king of Iveagh (Uí Eachach Uladh), south county Down, ‘son of perdition and enemy of Jesus Christ’, to quote some of its milder language, whereas Henry Marleburrough’s chronicle stresses instead the wickedness of Adam Mac Giolla Muire [MacGilmore] of north Down, and his son Aodh, who was eventually to be killed in 1408 in revenge for his misdeeds by the Savages, a leading family among the Ulster settlers. Paradoxically the Savages on this occasion fought as allies of Mag Aonghusa.²