[MR] Wikipedia: Battle of Knockdoe

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends, Especially the Irish:

On this date in 1504 the Battle of Knockdoe was fought in County Galway,
Ireland. It pitted the Hiberno-Norman Burkes led by Ulick Fionn Burke
against the pro-English Anglo-Norman Fitzgeralds led by the the King's
Deputy, Gerald, Earl of Kildare:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Knockdoe .

The Wikipedia account is somewhat spare and confusing. It appears to have
been drawn from a much better text by archaeologist Robert M. Chappel.
Chappel's account, with illustrations and a useful map, is at
http://rmchapple.blogspot.com/2014/03/knockdoe-1504-archaeological-historical.html
. This version is well worth reading for many interesting details.

The Battle of Knockdoe is interesting for a number of reasons. The Earl of
Kildare was was fighting for the interests of King Henry VII of England,
even though he was a staunch Yorkist and had previously supported the
pretender Lambert Simnel. This is apparently a case of ambition and
personal interests trumping political loyalties, or maybe Kildare saw the
handwriting on the wall and changed sides.

Both armies employed Galloglass warriors as shock troops, even though the
Earl was by law forbidden from using them. The Galloglass were elite
soldiers of Scottish descent who were employed by various Irish lords.
Among the most famous were the MacSweeneys (formerly the Scottish MacSweens
until they were forced into exile in Ireland), divided into two branches
employed by different and often opposing lords. The two MacSweeney
sub-clans loved to fight each other to the death, their main beef being
which branch was the senior. Chappel mentions the MacSweeneys but sadly
doesn't tell us for which side they fought, or whether there were
MacSweeneys on both sides. In Fergus Cannan's book GALLOGLASS 1250-1600,
GAELIC MERCENARY WARRIOR (Osprey, 2010), the author mentions at least two
different contingents of MacSweeneys were on the Earl's side, with the
Burke side also fielding two groups of MacSweeneys. Considering the
possible combinations, some MacSweeney's of their two factions might have
been fighting against their own traditional allies, and/or standing
side-by-side with their arch-rivals.

Finally, this battle is the first in Ireland were firearms are mentioned.
Kildare's army apparently had some, one "gunne" being used in
non-regulation fashion to bludgeon a Burke soldier. The weapons were likely
simple socket guns, something like a small hand canon on a stick, which
would have made a pretty good club if the gunner had been attacked before
he could reload. See the illustration at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_cannon#/media/File:06-357.png .

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆