Tim Newark's Celtic Warriors: 400 BC - AD 1600

Review by Paul Rice (continued)

Chapter 4: Celtic Counter-Attack -- Welsh and Scots against the Edwardian kings, AD 1200-1450

Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, lord of Wales, married a daughter of English King John. When John began attacking the Welsh, Llywelyn emerged as a great organizer and united the Welsh forces. He built many castles in the Gwynedd area. In 1215 the Magna Carta incident occurred, and Llywelyn -- already allied with the French -- was able to push the English out of Wales. [Another good description of Welsh armies starts at page 88.] The Welsh didn't actually use longbows -- not invented yet -- but rather a rough elm bow. Welsh bowmen did not fire at great ranges in masse, but as close range direct fire weapons. From this the English derived the idea of concentrated bow fire at range.

The book does not relate but somewhere in the next 60 years the Welsh fell under English overlordship again, for by 1272, Llywelyn ap Gruffyd, grandson of the former, was acting independent of the English crown. In 1277 King Edward invaded [that is, he must have tried diplomacy for 5 years]. Edward had better unity (was even able to draw away some Welsh forces), logistics, naval support, and a better strategy. Wales fell, and Llywelyn retreated into the mountains. In 1282 the uprising began again. While Edward won castle after castle, one of his lieutenants lost a battle at Bangor. The Welsh people believed this was a sign Llywelyn was fulfilling Merlin's prophecy. However, Llywelyn was killed in battle and his head stuck on the tower of London. Wales was put under direct control of England. Arthur's crown was allegedly discovered and Edward was crowned with it: King of the Britons. "Welsh propaganda maintained Arthur was still alive in the mountains of Wales, awaiting his time....The English responded by uncovering the bones of the dead Arthur on English soil at Glastonbury.... Not only had the English taken the land of the Celts, they had stolen their legends."

"In 1286, Alexander III, king of the Scots, went for a midnight ramble. 'Neither storm nor floods nor rocky cliffs would prevent him from visiting matrons and nuns, virgins and widows, by day or by night as the fancy seized him.'" It's good to be king! He fell off a cliff and died. His only direct heir "met an untimely death." Chaos reigned.

The main contenders were John Balliol and Robert the Bruce. Balliol was crowned king, and renounced English allegiance. Bruce remained loyal to England and refused to lend Balliol support. Edward, supported by Welsh mercenary bow, won battle after battle, conquered Scotland in a blitzkrieg, and deposed and humiliated Balliol. Seems the movie Braveheart was accurate: the war started when the English killed the lover of William Wallace, a "bandit", "outlaw", and "man of low status", in an attempt to get to him. With this spark various Scottish lords raised the banner. Robert the Bruce the Younger sided with the Scots.

Wallace built a spear-based army, and defeated the English at River Forth by waiting until half the English knights had crossed the bridge. He sent half his troops to attack the English van, and the other half to chop down the bridge. Wallace made a baldric for his sword from the skin of Edward's chief tax collector Hugh de Cressingham. Scottsman James Stewart captured the English baggage train when the rear guard fled.

In 1298 Edward marched from York with 2500 horse and 12,000 foot. The Scots retreated before the advance, and the English supply line failed.

At Falkirk, Wallace used marshy terrain to good effect. Looks like his army was mostly pike, with some bow and some cav, similar to the movie. English knights routed the Scot cav and bow, but then [impetuously] wrecked themselves against the pike schiltrons. Edward managed to pull back his knights, and stood off with bow. They pummeled the stationary targets until they showed signs of weakness. Edward then charged his knights and Wallace's army was crushed. Wallace was reduced to simple raids. "In 1305 he was betrayed by demoralized countrymen, dragged through the streets of London, half hanged and then dismembered."

In 1306 Robert was crowned King Robert I. The English retaliated, winning the battle of Methven, killing his family, putting his sister and lover in outdoor cages, and putting a price on his head. In 1307 Edward died. In 1310 Edward II invaded, and Robert's counterattack took the war into England. In 1314 Edward II marched from Berwick w/ 500 knights, 2000 horse, 3000 Welsh archers, and 15,000 spear. "By the time they reached a little stream called Bannock, they were exhausted."

Bruce emerged from the woods w/ 5000 spear, 500 horse and some archers, outnumbered 4:1. He had prepared the ground with hidden pits and barricades.

The English van of knights charged the handful of Scots knights in between the armies. Sir Humphrey de Bohun charged Bruce. Without a lance, Bruce should have fallen back behind his schiltron, but to retreat in front of his own men could be even more disastrous. He deflected de Bohun's lance, and with one swing of his battleaxe split de Bohun's skull open. The Celtic Scots then charged the small group of English knights, who got caught in the confusion of pits and were destroyed.

For the most part, the battle was a draw as the knights dared not charge the schiltrons and the pike could not charge the knights.

Overnight, English morale dropped and they suffered some desertion. The next morning the pike advanced in marching formation. English knights impaled themselves on the pikes. The pike pushed the knights back to the river, and then went into hand to hand. English bow opened up, so Bruce sent his cav after them. He committed his reserves to the battle by the river. The Scots camp followers then emerged from the woods and the English, fearing a second army had arrived, broke and ran. [Defeat is an orphan, victory has a thousand fathers. Every clan known to man claims to have been present at Bannockburn.]

Bruce swept south as far as Durham and Richmond, looting the countryside. Feeling his oats, Robert sent his brother Edward Bruce to Ireland to negotiate a treaty. To help him "negotiate", he brought 6,000 veterans [first mistake.] They rolled over the first Irish armies, and advanced deeper inland [second mistake]. Some Irish supported him, some didn't, and Ireland went into another civil war. In 1316 Edward was crowned King of Ireland, and sent for his brother to celebrate. Robert arrived with galloglas. In 1317 while they were riding victorious through the countryside with a small party [third mistake] winning hearts and minds, they were ambushed and escaped with their lives. Robert fled back to Scotland.

Edward II was the better politician and swung the support of the church. Archbishop positions in Ireland were filled with Edwardian supporters. The Bruces and everybody associated with them were excommunicated. Ireland broke into factions. Edward Bruce lost the battle of Faughart, and his head was put in a bucket of salt and sent to Edward II.

The territory around Dublin was known as "The Pale". This becomes important later.

In 1400 Welsh Lord Owain Glyndwyr attempted to settle a border dispute with Marcher Lord Grey through English Parliament. The case was dismissed, and through intrigue Grey was able to get empowered to arrest Glyndwr. The latter escaped and was crowned Prince of Wales. He raised an army and conquered several cities, operating out of a base in the wooded mountains. The English crown went smart and offered royal pardons to all his followers. His support dwindled. The crown then declared a "state of emergency" in Wales, seizing power. By 1401 there was open warfare.

Glyndwr was down to 400 veterans. He managed to get into a battle against 1500 "immigrants and merchants", and with victory his popularity soared. Henry IV had had enough, and sent his army. In 1405, 3,000 French invaded England and were reinforced by 10,000 Welsh. They took a few towns, but were then met by an army at Woodbury Hill headed by Henry's son, the future Henry V. For some reason they didn't have a battle but held a jousting tournament for the next 8 days, in which 200 men died. Prince Henry then retreated to Worcester, then attacked the retreating French rear. "The ambitious expedition had run out of steam." [what??? Something is clearly missing here, and I suspect that Newark's Welsh partisanship precluded him from writing that Prince Henry routed the Welsh.] "From 1406 onwards, Prince Henry and the English tightened the ring..." [he reconquered most of Wales]. The chapter ends with Owain disappearing into legend. "Many Welshmen were convinced that like Arthur, Glyndwr was asleep in a cave in the heart of Wales awaiting the right time to lead his people to freedom." I suspect the Welsh lost and Newark couldn't bring himself to put it in print.

Chapter 5: The Final Challenge -- Irish and Scots against the Tudors 1450-1600

By definition the Galloglas were foreigners. They started out as Norse-Scots, but after a while everybody had to have some. As a reminder, they were mercenary heavy infantry, fully armored and fighting with battleaxes and halberds. In this timeframe Irish Celts also fielded light horse.

Page 119 starts a good description of sixteenth century Irish tactics, which were hit and run guerilla.

By the sixteenth century, the English and Irish were basically suffering from irreconcilable differences, and the English thought of the Irish as sub-human. Ireland was considered as distant and mysterious as America or China, and the residents savages.

In 1494 Henry VII issued law stating the Irish Parliament could only pass laws approved by Privey Council in London. Henry VIII issued law to destroy Irish culture and language, specifying forbidden hair styles, fashions of clothing, colors, mustaches, and language. Elizabeth upped the anty by outlawing mercenaries and private armies, reinforcing laws against Irish hairstyles and clothing, and nullifying existing Irish law.

When the O'Donnel clan submitted to the crown, Con O'Neill did as well. His son Shane realized that under English law his brother Matt would be the legitimate successor, so he murdered his brother, deported his father, imported 15,000 mercs from Scotland, and armed his peasants. In 1561 Shane O'Neill captured his rival O'Donnel by treachery, and took his woman. Shane then went before Elizabeth. They struck a deal where he recognized the crown [isn't that why he murdered his brother and deported his father in the first place?] and agreed to rid Ireland of Scots, and in exchange she recognized him as The O'Neill.

The MacDonalds came over from Scotland, and O'Neill attacked them with his matchlocks at Ballycastle. O'Neill won and tried to ally with the French to kick the English out of Ireland. In 1566 the crown sent Sir Henry Sidney to take care of O'Neill. Sidney captured his treasury at Coney Island, and then defeated O'Neill at river Swilly in 1567 with a combined arms approach. O'Neill sought shelter with the MacDonalds -- who he had earlier attacked -- who gave his head to Sir Henry.

Remember from their viewpoint the English thought of the Irish as subhuman savages, and that civilization only was in an area called The Pale: all else was frontier. When the English gentlemen knights went beyond the Pale, they no longer fought as gentlemen against other civilized gentlemen, but treated their opponents as animals. Hence the origin of the phrase "beyond the Pale."

Hugh O'Neill, son of the murdered Matt, became The O'Neill in 1593. Under English direction he attacked the O'Donnells [now two "l"s]. Galloglas were now fading and being replaced by bonaghts, who fought with pike and musket. In 1598 the two clans united to fight the invading English again. As the undersupplied recruits of the English army marched to relieve Blackwater castle, Irish armies harassed them from the woods. Near the castle it broke into full combat. English discipline failed and they were routed. O'Neill combined forces with the Spanish at Kinsale (1601?), but the battle was in plain terrain and the English won the day. O'Neill fled the country.

Page 131 starts a good description of the differences between Highlanders and Lowlanders. As this is a book on Celtic warriors, they are the Highlanders.

Newark spends two pages on the Western Isles in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. I presume he means the Hebrides.

King James (IV?) of Scotland marched on Henry VIII in 1513 with 17 cannon. English general Earl of Surrey with 20,000 men outmaneuvered them at Flodden Hill. At Branxton Hill, English gunnery proved more effective. Although Scot schiltron crushed the English right, English billmen (8 ft) won the center over Scottish spearmen (15 ft). When James was killed, the Scottish army broke.

Scottish King James VI became English King James I, and outlawed the Macgregors clan, enacted laws against the Highlanders, outlawed importation of whiskey to the Western Isles, outlawed the Irish language (which meant all Gallic languages), and forced all gentlemen to send their eldest child to the Lowlands for education.

With the final alcove of their language officially outlawed, the Celts were assimilated.

[ Back to Part I ]

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