Battle of Kells by a supposed offer of fealty from Lord O'Dempsey from Offaly. The two armies met outside Kells, where the Scots began to burn the town. After three hours of fighting, the de Lacy brothers withdrew, leaving Mortimer to fight a much larger force. With his army destroyed and Kells burning, Mortimer managed to escape with a few knights and ride to Dublin. The Scots then burned Granard and march for two months unopposed through the midlands, devastating the country. Battle of Kells The Battle of Kells was a battle between Edward Bruce and Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March. After
Abbey of Kells in the "Annals of Ulster" is generally believed to refer the theft of the Book of Kells and it relates that the manuscript was returned after two months without its cover. The force of the removal of the cover probably explains the missing illustrations at the beginning and end of the book. The book was stored in the abbey for the remainder of the Middle Ages. In the 12th century, details of land charters for the abbey were copied onto blank pages of the Book of Kells as was common practice for the period. This is the earliest confirmed reference