Chapter 2 - the Re-Conquest Begins
Chapter 2 – The Re-Conquest Begins
One of Dougal's first acts as King was to reorganize the military in order to prevent another war of succession. The fact that the Mac Carthy Reaghs had been able to muster a large enough army to challenge the crown was a problem that needed to be eliminated. Before Dougal's time, wars had been fought using mostly peasant conscripts raised by the various landowning houses. While the King held more lands than any one of lesser nobles, this was purely a difference of quantity rather than of quality. Enough of the lesser nobles together could still defeat the King.
Dougal, in his travels in France and England noted the crucial role that professional soldiers, mostly mercenaries, played in foreign armies, and decided that Desmond needed such an army of her own. A voyage to Scotland brought back a regiment of Gallogleigh infantry, and a voayge to Wales brought back a number of longbowmen. Rather than continually relying on foreign troops, Dougal settled these new recruits in land confiscated from the disgraced Mac Carth Reaghs and encouraged them to marry local women and raise their sons as soldiers.
Dougal knew that these new mercenaries would be expensive to maintain, and that their upkeep would require new sources of funds. While revenue from the confiscated Carbery lands, and new taxes could support some of that, Dougal decided that the army itself could be turned into a source of income. Knowing that the Norman Earl of Desmond would be a natural enemy, Dougal began sending his new army on regular raids into Norman territory for plunder. The peasants were no match for these small groups of well-disciplined soldiers, and the Norman Lords knew that the only way to stop such raids would be an all-out-war.
Thus the First War of Re-Conquest began in 1351 with the Earl of Desmond raising an army, and sending it marching straight for Balycarberry castle. The Norman army outnumbered Dougal's 3 to 1, but, aside from a number of armoured knights, was made up mostly of peasant conscripts. Dougal knew that if he could eliminate the knights, the rest of the army would dissolve into disorganization. Using knowledge of the mountainous terrain around Balycarberry to his advantage, he stationed longbowmen in defensible positions to fire upon the Norman army from a distance and from above. When horsemen were sent to chase down the archers, they were ambushed and eliminated one-by-one. After a few such ambushes, the Norman officers decided the best response to a rain of arrows was to retreat rather than try to engage the archers.
The constant advancing and then retreating of the Norman army greatly delayed their campaign, and the morale of their soldiers fell dramatically. The peasant conscripts were anxious that they had spent too much time away from their fields, and many deserted. As the Norman army started to come to the conclusion that it would be impossible to reach Balycarberry before winter, Dougal's army attacked. The Normans were caught by surprise, and as many of the exhausted peasants fled the battlefield, the knights moved to engage Dougal's infantry, only to find that the Galloglieghs would not scatter before a cavalry charge, and could adequately defend themselves even against heavy cavalry. The battle was a defeat, and the Norman knights withdrew to regroup and raise a new army over the winter.
In the spring of 1352 the Mac Carthy army began an offensive into Norman territory. This army consited not only of the professionals that had fought in the pervious years' campaign, but also a number of new peasant recruits, including a number who had deserted from the Norman army, and had been housed and fed by the Mac Carthys over the winter. The advance encountered little resistance and was able to march all the way to Cork without a real battle. Cork was soon beseiged, while the Normans were still busy trying to raise enough troops to match Dougal's army. The Normans had difficulty finding peasants willing to fight Dougal's army, which had acquired quite a reputation. Thus, only a month into the seige of Cork, the Earl of Desmond sued for peace.
The peace agreement handed over much of the southwest and northwest portions of the Earldom of Desmond to the Gaelic Kingdom of Desmond. While these were territories that the Norman Earl had often times had difficulty asserting control over, they added significantly to the amount of good farmland controlled by the Gaels. The Normans were only willing to give up this territory, however, in exchange for Dougal ceasing his raids into Norman territory. However, for Dougal, these raids would no longer be necessary as he now controlled enough land to support his army properly.
Even as this peace agreement was being negotiated, the war that would become the Second War of Reconquest had already begun. When Dairmaid O'Brien was crowned King of Thomond in 1350, he already had had his eye on the City of Limerick for many years already. With the Black Death decimating the population of the city, Dairmaid figured that the City's garisson was likely weakened, and the city could be returned to his dominion after a short seige. In 1352, after making military preparations, the army of Thomond marched on Limerick, and beseiged the city.
At the time, the City of Limerick was technically subject to the Earldom of Ormond, however, the Earldom itself was a vast territory stretching from Limerick to Kilkenney, and the Earl himself spent most of his time in the East. Thus, the City was mostly responsible for its own defence, and Diarmaid O'Brien was hoping that the seige could be won before reinforcements could arrive from Kilkenney or Dublin. Limerick was beseiged in August, and James Bulter, Earl of Ormond knew that he would not be able to dispatch a large enough army to lift the seige until spring. However, he knew that he had to make some response before winter, so he raised a small army in his Western territories and marched on Limerick.
The main part of Limerick is situated on King's Island in the River Shannon. The main part of the O'Brien forces were stationed on the North bank of the river, to be more easily resupplied from the North, while a smaller contigent had crossed the river upstream from the city in order to prevent resuplly of the garisson from the South. It was this Southern detachment that was targeted by the Ormond army. Coming from inland, Butler's army first secured all the bridges over the River Shannon, and then marched down the South Bank to engage the Southern detachment.
The battle on the South Bank was quick, as the Thomond army quickly admitted defeat, and were forced to withdraw to the West. The main force of the O'Brien army was unable to cross the river to reinforce the southern detachment, and thus the garrison at Limerick was resupplied and reinforced by Butler's forces. The Bridges were controlled by Ormond, and thus the O'Brien army was left only with control of the North Bank.
But, not all was lost for Thomond. The retreating southern detachment soon reached the territory of Dougal Mac Carthy. The Mac Carthy army, fresh from victory over the Earldom of Desmond was keen to fight again against what appeared to be a weakened foe. However, it took the length of winter for the army to prepare itself to fight again, and, early in spring 1353 the army marched again, this time heading North to the banks of the River Shannon.
But, by Spring, Butler had had a chance to raise his own army, and was prepared to meet Mac Carthy. The Ormond army was large, but Mac Carthy's army, reinforced by Thomond's southern detachment and many O'Brien troops which had been ferried over the Shannon during the course of the winter, was larger. Butler had the the advantage of cavalry, although, fighting a defensive position prevented him from taking full advantage of them. The battle was fierce and bloody, although Dougal came out on top in the end. Dougal's battle plan meant that Butler's forces were cut off between the Gaelic lines and the river, and that while the cavalry were able to break through the lines, the infantry were forced to retreat into the City of Limerick itself.
While forcing the retreating troops into the city strengthened the garisson, in the long run it was the beginning of the end for the seige itself. The granaries of Limerick had nearly a thousand more mouths to feed, and the influx of defeated troops lowered the morale of the defenders. By July 1353 the seige was over, and the City of Limerick surrendered to the combined forces of Mac Carthy and O'Brien.
With the surrender of Limerick, it became apparent that the forces of a single Norman Earl were no longer enough to contain the Gaels. James Butler knew that his forces alone were no match for the combined armies of Mac Carthy and O'Brien, but felt that if he was able to enlist the support of the Earl of Desmond and was able to call on reinforcements from England he could win in the future. Thus, he decided to make peace until the Norman armies could be rebuilt and reinforced. The western parts of the Earldom of Ormond were surrendered to the Gaels. O'Brien got the North Bank of the River Shannon and the City of Limerick proper, and Mac Carthy got all territories on the South Bank. Neither O'Brien nor Mac Carthy wanted to fight on, as both their armies had been weakened by the war. Thus, the Second War of Reconquest came to a conclusion.
