Bruce, and assisted (from what motive it is difficult to determine) by
the De Lacys and other Anglo-Norman lords; on the other side, the
English army, commanded by Lord John Bermingham. The numbers on each
side have been differently estimated; but it is probable the death of
Edward Bruce was the turning point of the conflict. He was slain by a
knight named John Maupas, who paid for his valour with his life.
Bermingham obtained the Earldom of Louth and the manor of Ardee as a
reward for Bruce's head; and the unfortunate Irish were left to their
usual state of chronic resistance to English oppression. The head of the
Scottish chieftain was "salted in a chest," and placed unexpectedly,
with other heads, at a banquet, before Edward II. The English King
neither swooned nor expressed surprise; but the Scotch ambassadors, who
were present, rushed horror-stricken from the apartment. The King,
however, was "right blyth," and glad to be delivered so easily of a
"felon foe." John de Lacy and Sir Robert de Coulragh, who had assisted
the said "felon," paid dearly for their treason; and as they were
Anglo-Normans, and subjects of the English crown, the term was justly
applied to them, however cruel the sentence. They were starved to death
in prison, "on three morsels of the worst bread, and three draughts of
foul water on alternate days, until life became extinct."

Since this chapter was written, Mr. O'Flanagan has kindly presented me
with his valuable _History of Dundalk_, from which I am permitted to
make the following extracts, which throw much additional light upon the
subject:--[348]

"'In the ninth year of King Edward's reign,' writes Hollinshed, 'Edward
Bruce, brother to Robert Bruce, King of Scots, entered the north part of
Ireland, with 6,000 men. There were with him divers captains of high
renown among the Scottish nation, of whom were these:--The Earls of
Murray and Monteith, the Lord John Stewart, the Lord John Campbell, the
Lord Thomas Randolf, Fergus of Ardrossan, John Wood, and John Bisset.
They landed near to Cragfergus, in Ulster, and joining with the Irish (a
large force of whom was led out by Fellim, son of Hugh O'Conor). Thus
assisted, he conquered the Earldom of Ulster, and gave the English there
divers great overthrows, took the town of Dundalk, spoiled and burned
it, with a great part of Orgiel. They burned churches and abbeys, with
the people whom they found in the same, sparing neither man, woman, nor
chil