his disaster took place on the 10th
of August, 1316.

Still the Irish were not daunted. The O'Tooles and O'Byrnes rose in
Wicklow, the O'Mores in Leix. Robert Bruce came over to Ireland. The
Franciscan friars, always devoted to their country, made themselves
specially obnoxious by encouraging their countrymen to die in defence of
their country. They were threatened and cajoled by turns, but with
little effect.[346] Edward Bruce again appeared before Carrickfergus.
The siege was protracted until September, when Robert Bruce arrived, and
found the English so hard pressed, that they ate hides, and fed on the
bodies of eight Scots whom they had made prisoners.[347] In the year
1317, the Scottish army was computed at 20,000 men, besides their Irish
auxiliaries. After Shrovetide, King Robert and his brother crossed the
Boyne, and marched to Castleknock, near Dublin, where they took Hugh
Tyrrell prisoner, and obtained possession of the fortress. There was no
little fear in Dublin Castle thereupon, for the Anglo-Normans distrusted
each other. And well they might. The De Lacys had solemnly pledged their
fidelity, yet they were now found under the standard of Bruce. Even De
Burgo was suspected; for his daughter, Elizabeth, was the wife of the
Scottish King. When the invading army approached Dublin, he was seized
and confined in the Castle. It will be remembered that Dublin had been
more than once peopled by the citizens of Bristol. They were naturally
in the English interest, and disposed to offer every resistance. They
fortified Dublin so strongly, even at the expense of burning the suburbs
and pulling down churches, that Bruce deemed it more prudent to avoid an
encounter, and withdrew towards the Salmon Leap; from whence he led his
forces southward as far as Limerick, without encountering any serious
opposition.

But a reverse was even then at hand. An Anglo-Irish army was formed,
headed by the Earl of Kildare; famine added its dangers; and on the 1st
of May Robert Bruce returned to Scotland, leaving his brother, Edward,
with the Earl of Moray, to contend, as best they could, against the
twofold enemy. In 1318 a good harvest relieved the country in some
measure from one danger; two Cardinals were despatched from Rome to
attempt to release it from the other. On the 14th October, in the same
year, the question was finally decided. An engagement took place at
Faughard, near Dundalk. On the one side was the Scotch army, headed by