Background
By the 1300s, Norman control spread from the Antrim and Down coasts to the newly built castle of Northburgh (Greencastle) in Donegal. Irish chieftains, noting the defeat of the English by Robert Bruce in 1314, summoned assistance from the heavily armed, professional Scottish soldiers (‘gallowglasses’). In 1315, Edward Bruce (brother of Robert Bruce) led 6,000 Bannockburn veterans into County Antrim. Among their successes was the capture of Carrickfergus. Within a year, Edward Bruce was crowned king of Ireland.Bruce’s destruction of farms and crops, combined with a series of famine years between 1315 and 1318, heaped disaster on the Norman colony. Although Bruce was killed at the Battle of Faughart (near Dundalk), by the 1330s Norman territory in Ulster consisted only of Twescard (Coleraine and the Bush Valley), Carrickfergus, Antrim, Blathewyc (Newtownards) and Down. Further disaster loomed.Towns in the Middle Ages were so filthy and overcrowded that diseases spread very quickly. Open sewers ran down the streets. No-one knew what caused disease and there were few effective treatments. Monks tried to treat disease, trusting in the curative qualities of herbs and applying them to infected wounds.The most severe epidemic in human history, the Black Death (also known as the Plague), ravaged Europe from 1347 to 1351. It arrived in Ireland in 1349 and spread rapidly. The first symptoms were high fever, aching limbs and vomited blood. Boils (buboes) turned black, giving rise to the name ‘Black Death’. Eventually the painful swollen glands burst. Victims finally turned purple, due to respiratory failure. Death soon followed. The Plague was so terrible that many thought it was the end of the world.
Man with Plague
The Black Death was very contagious: it could spread immediately through contact. The disease was carried by fleas which lived on black rats. The fleas bit humans, who then became sick.
Rat
One-third of the population of Europe died of teh Plague, and two-thirds of the Norman population in Ireland died. This considerably weakened Norman control in Ireland.
Walter de Burgh
Walter de Burgh belonged to an important Anglo-Norman family in Ireland. Through marriage to Hugh de Lacey’s daughter, the de Burghs inherited the Earldom of Ulster. One of their great castles was Northburgh (also known as Greencastle) in north Donegal.
Greencastle
In a family dispute, Walter was seen as a threat and was locked away in a dungeon in Greencastle, where he starved to death. He appears as a skeleton on the coat of arms of Derry City.
Coat of arms of Derry
The Norman Legacy
The Normans have left a rich legacy. Many of the words and phrases we use come from the Normans, and many Irish surnames are old Norman names.
Savage family, Co. Down
Norman mottes and castles, towns and monasteries still dominate parts of the Irish landscape.
Carrickfergus
Carlingford
Dundrum
