Robert the Bruce him control of much of Scotland, and at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, Robert defeated a much larger English army under Edward II of England, confirming the re-establishment of an independent Scottish kingdom. The battle marked a significant turning point, with Robert's armies now free to launch devastating raids throughout northern England, while also extending his war against the English to Ireland by sending an army to invade there and by appealing to the Irish to rise against Edward II's rule. Despite Bannockburn and the capture of the final English stronghold at Berwick in 1318, Edward II refused to
Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster of King Robert the Bruce of Scotland. However, this did not stop him leading his forces from Ireland to support England's King Edward I in his Scottish campaigns and when the forces of Edward Bruce invaded Ulster in 1315, the Earl led a force against him, but was beaten at Connor in Antrim. The invasion of Bruce and the uprising of Felim Ó Conchúir in Connacht left him virtually without authority in his lands, but Ó Conchúir was killed in 1316 at the Second Battle of Athenry, and he was able to recover Ulster after the defeat of Bruce at