| Conflict: | Second Battle of Athenry |
| Partof: | the Bruce campaign in Ireland |
| Date: | 10 August 1316 |
| Place: | Athenry, County Galway |
| Map Type: | island of Ireland |
| Map Relief: | yes |
| Result: | Lordship victory |
| Commander1: | Rickard MacFerris William Burke Murtaugh O'Brien |
| Commander2: | Felim O'Connor † Teig O'Kelly † Donough O'Brien Ualgarg O'Rourke |
| Strength1: | Believed to be over 1,100 |
| Strength2: | Unknown |
| Casualties1: | Thought to be less |
| Casualties2: | Up to 3,000 killed according to the Regestum of the Dominicans in Athenry |
The Second Battle of Athenry took place at Athenry (Irish: Áth na Ríogh) in Ireland on 10 August 1316 during the Bruce campaign in Ireland.
The collective number of both armies are unknown, and can only be estimated. Martyn believes the royal army to have been as much as or more than a thousand, while that of Athenry was probably several hundred less. The list of deceased participants on the Irish side alone indicates that exceptionally high numbers were involved.[1]
Unlike the First Battle of Athenry in 1249, no surviving account gives the date of the battle itself. Even the site of the battle itself is uncertain.
Rickard de Bermingham and William Liath de Burgh led an Anglo-Irish force to victory. John Clyn states that "According to common report a sum of five .... thousand in all [were killed] the number decapitated was one thousand five hundred."[2]
The battle was a devastating defeat for the Connacht Gaels, who were allied with the Scotsman Edward Bruce. Among those killed were kings Fedlim Ó Conchobair and Tadhg Ó Cellaigh King of Uí Maine.[3]
In 2016, Martyn wrote that:
Though various Uí Chonchobair were Rí Connacht till 1477, prospective recovery of the overkingdom died with Fedlimid at Athenry. The real beneficiaries were among the ostensible losers, the kings of Tuadhmhumha, Uí Maine, and Uí Fhiachrach Muaidhe. Within decades each was successfully reconstituted as independent kingdoms, existing as such for the next two hundred and fifty years. Descendants of their leading lineages survive as titled aristocracy today.The heads of King Fedlimid of Connacht and King Tadhg of Uí Maine were mounted over the town's main gate. This image remains the coat of arms of Athenry today.[4]
The Annals of Ulster give the following account (U1313, recte 1316):[5]
After winning the battle of Tóchar-móna-Coinnedha (Templetogher, County Galway), on 25 January,[6]