During the three years and a half of the Bruce invasion the sufferings of the Irish people were much greater even than before. The war had been a devastating one, and it had been accom¬panied by bad harvests, famine, and plague. Whether or not there were other reasons—either personal or national—for animosity it is difficult to say. But it is certain that the Irish annalists are all bitterly hostile to Bruce. The ” Four Masters” in recording his death, say ” no achievement had been performed in Ireland for a long time before, from which greater benefit had accrued to the country than from this ” ; while the ” Annals of Clonmacnoise ” say there was ” not a better deed done since the creation of the world and the banishment of the Fomorians.” The memory of those years of war was evidently a bitter one ; although it is scarcely generous to lay the blame upon the stranger who had been invited to accept the Crown of Ireland.