John de Bermingham, 1st Earl of Louth

Who is John de Bermingham, 1st Earl of Louth?

John de Bermingham, 1st Earl of Louth was an Irish peer. He was the commander of the Anglo-Irish army in the Battle of Faughart, the decisive battle in the Irish Bruce Wars 1315–1318. In this battle, Edward Bruce was killed, and Bermingham had Bruce's severed head 'salted in a chest' and transported to England to be put on display before Edward II.

De Bermingham married a daughter of Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster, with whom he had a son and four daughters.

He was murdered in the Braganstown Massacre in 1329, along with sixty of his family and retainers, and the Earldom of Louth ended. The title was held once more by Thomas IV de Bermingham, Baron Athenry, in 1749, but became extinct upon his death in 1799.