Among the State Documents of 1298 is an entry for expenses and wages of horse and foot soldiers in an expedition to relieve Bunratty, which was besieged by Turlough O’Brien. This attack probably took place at an earlier date. The castle was besieged again in 1305 by Coveha MacConmara and the outworks burnt, which is thus picturesquely described: “Yea, at this bout, the open-spaced Bunratty, when it was gutted, fed the flames; and by the Wolf-dog’s pertinacity, not once, but twice, were many of the lime-white towers burnt.” The fortress was not taken, and Lord Burke persuaded MacConmara to raise the siege. At this time Maurice de Rochford was custodian. The Earl of Ulster marched into Clare with a great army in 1311 to besiege Bunratty. Richard de Clare sallied out to meet him on the hill behind the fortress, but was obliged to retreat. William de Burgo, pressing too far in pursuit, was taken prisoner, as well as John, son of Walter de Lacy. In 1313, de Clare was about to hang O’Brien’s son, who was hostage for the tribe of Coileau, but his wife, with the clergy and nobility, interceded for him. De Clare and his son Thomas were killed in 1318 in the battle of Dysert O’Dea, and upon his wife, Lady Johan de Clare, hearing of the disaster, she set fire to the castle and sailed for England. The following year it was spoiled by King Mortogh. It was immediately repaired, and the Government assigned it to Matilda, wife of Robert de Wills, and Margaret, wife of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, sisters to Richard de Clare, and appointed Robert Sutton constable. In 1326 it was held for the Crown by James de bello Fago, and in 1332 it was besieged and taken by the Macnamaras. There is an order dated 1356 to liberate Thomas, the son of John FitzMaurice, who had been imprisoned as accessory to the loss of the castle. The Lord Deputy recovered the fortress in 1558 by firing across the river until the garrison of Donnell O’Brien surrendered it. The Earl of Thomond was proclaimed rebel in 1570, and fled to sea; the Earl of Ormond meantime garrisoned Bunratty with his own men, but in 1585 the castle was confirmed to the Earl of Thomond. The “Great Earl” of Thomond restored it in 1617. Some authorities say Lord Forbes seized the castle in 1642 in a buccaneering expedition. When the rebellion broke out in 1641 the Earl of Thomond of the time found himself in a difficult position, for by religion he might have been supposed to side with the Government, while at the same time he was closely related to many of the prominent Confederates, being uncle to Lord Muskerry who commanded their troops in the south. He, therefore, remained quietly at Bunratty taking neither side, but he was too powerful to be allowed to presevere in neutrality.