First Battle of Athenry 1249
Marker: recorded battle location (no official boundary).
Key facts
| Date (year) | 1249 | Wikidata P585 point in time |
|---|---|---|
| Century | 13th century | derived |
| Period | Norman & medieval | derived |
| Country | Ireland | derived |
About the battle
The First Battle of Athenry was fought on 15 August 1249 at Athenry (Irish: Áth na Ríogh) in modern County Galway, Ireland. The Irish forces of Connacht besieged the town but were repelled by the English under Jordan de Exeter, Sheriff of Connacht.
Áth na Ríogh had existed as a Gaelic settlement under the Ó Mainnín kings of Soghain [1], but between 1236 and 1241 Meyler de Bermingham captured the area and made Athenry an urban walled settlement. Though by 1249 it featured a castle and Franciscan friary, it was still close to hostile Gaelic territory.
The contemporary Annals of Connacht give the following account of the battle:
Visiting the battlefield
Location
- Recorded location (Wikidata; may be approximate): 53.3105, -8.7480
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Text adapted from the Wikipedia article First Battle of Athenry (revision 1370618436), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations removed. No text added.
Battle location from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby battlefields
- Second Battle of Athenry 1316 · 0 km
- Battle of Aughrim 1691 · 29 km
- Battle of Lough Raska 1317 · 29 km
- Battle of Meelick Island 1650 · 47 km
- Battle of Dysert O'Dea 1318 · 49 km
- Battle of Castlebar 1798 · 71 km
Browse more: battles in Ireland · Norman & medieval · 13th century battles