Irish expedition to Scotland 1644

The Irish expedition to Scotland refers to a group of 2,000 troops that set sail from Ireland for Scotland in June 1644. Once in Scotland, they joined forces with the Royalist forces fighting the First English Civil War. The expedition was the result of an effort by King Charles I of England to enlist help from Irish Catholics in fighting Parliamentarian forces.

In September 1643, a truce was made between James Butler, Marquis of Ormonde, who was leader of the Royalist regime based in Dublin, Ireland and the Confederate Catholics of Ireland. The truce permitted Butler to send some of his forces from Ireland to fight for King Charles I, while allowing the Confederate Catholics to concentrate their forces against the Scots and Parliamentarian forces in Ireland.

King Charles hoped for troops from the Confederate Catholics of Ireland that he could use in the British theatres of the war. However, he could not be seen to be directly in league with the Irish Catholics since associating with them would alienate many of his British supporters. He decided to negotiate through Randal MacDonnell, Earl of Antrim, who was loyal to him but also held the rank of Lieutenant General of the Confederate Catholic armies. The plan was for MacDonnell to lobby the Confederate Supreme Council based in Kilkenny, Ireland, to allow him to send 2,000 Irish troops to Scotland and 10,000 troops to England.

In February 1644, MacDonnell was in Kilkenny where the Confederate Council agreed to arm and equip 2,000 men and transport them to Scotland, but the council refused to send men to England. The Scottish expedition was beneficial to the Confederate Council, in that it would draw the Scots army away from Ulster, which was, at that time, the biggest threat to southern Ireland. At the very least it would keep the Scots army close to the ports, which would prevent the campaign from spreading to southern and western Ireland. Another factor that the Confederates likely took into account was that many of the Ulster Irish disapproved of the Confederate-Ormond truce as their lands were still under occupation by the Scots. These men wished to continue fighting the Scots and the expedition gave them a chance to do this.

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