#Annals of Connacht

[stairnaheireann]

Ancient Irish Law

‘Irish law is the oldest, most original, and most extensive of mediaeval European legal systems. It is a unique legal inheritance, an independent indigenous system of advanced jurisprudence that was fully evolved by the eighth century. It is also far less well-known than it deserves.’ ‘Early medieval Ireland evolved a system of law (often called ’Brehon’ law, from the Old Irish word brithemain…

[werewolfetone]

[margridarnauds]

Regarding that tag, do you have any recommendations for good reading on Gráinne? Pretty sure I've only read the Anne Chambers book, and that novel.

At the moment? Honestly not. It's extremely frustrating, because research on Gráinne is overwhelmingly based on the Chambers book, but, imo, her research is...it was groundbreaking in the 1980s. And I think...she does have a lot of the folkloric and the primary sources down. To the extent that, when I had an expert on local folklore in Connemara pinned down, she was the only source he could recommend. But the things she does with them...

She has favorites (the treatment of Donal and Murrough O'Flaherty is heinous, honestly), she plays with them, she merges the folkloric sources with the primary sources to try to create an image of Gráinne and "Celtic women" that aligns with what she wants them to be, not necessarily what the primary sources show us (and who is remarkably devoid of flaws for someone who colluded with the English whenever it was convenient for her), and until someone writes a better book, she's what we're stuck with.

(And for the record, re: the exact context of that tag: I don't believe that EVERY SINGLE male annalist and historian of Early Modern Ireland had a specific grudge against Gráinne and that's why she doesn't appear in any of the written sources. I think it does a discredit to the amount of work that went into the annals, which often *do* highlight women, including daring or unconventional women, to say that they were trying to Put Down a Strong Woman. I think we have to look at other options before we bring that up. I'm not saying they weren't sexist by our standards, but I'm saying that their sexism =/= ours. And I think a part of why she and, subsequently, everyone who's followed after her blames sexism is because she's made Gráinne into SUCH a girlboss, SUCH an icon, SUCH an untouchable, almost divine figure that...you have to have someone to blame for why the primary sources don't really live up to it. It isn't to say she wasn't impressive -- the English sources seem to more than make up for the muted nature of the Irish sources, but I suspect that she had a lot of currency in Connacht that didn't go far beyond Connacht.)

[theirishjewelrycompany]

Grace O'Malley: The Pirate Queen of Connacht and Her Swashbuckling Legacy

In the annals of history, certain figures stand out as icons of defiance and courage. Grace O’Malley, known as the Pirate Queen of Connacht, was one such remarkable woman. Born in 1530, Grace defied societal norms and rose to prominence as a powerful leader, fearless seafarer, and cunning diplomat. This blog post delves into the life and adventures of Grace O’Malley, uncovering her fascinating…

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

okay yeah i have THOUGHTS about this

and they turned out. really long. so i'm gonna have to put them under a cut else everybody will get an essay. it's literally 1500 words i'm so sorry. please bear in mind that i am not in the same city as any of my books right now bc i'm with my family for christmas, so i am relying entirely on notes and texts that have been digitised, and it's possible i will miss things as a result. i'm doing my best

so

as @oddnub-eye observed, fergus is present, which implies it occurs before longes mac nuislenn, since after that he's in exile in connacht. however, longes mac nuislenn is generally problematic in that regard because it says that he was in exile for sixteen years, and, well, cú chulainn is only seventeen and the boyhood deeds part of the táin says that fergus was around for at least some of his childhood, so we ALREADY have problems there, and that's with the text that is supposed to directly related to LmU! goddammit LmU

(the early modern version condenses the timeline and makes an effort to explain why cú chulainn wasn't involved -- bc he would've killed everyone -- but we are focusing on the medieval version here)

another text that is problematic to reconcile with LmU is mesca ulad, since in that text cú chulainn is clearly an adult (has a foster son, furbaide, not something he would be legally eligible to do as a teenager when he's still in fosterage himself, as far as i understand the laws), and yet the sons of uisliu are present, suggesting it happens before LmU, which happens before the táin, which happens when cú chulainn is 17. but sure, whatever, mesca ulad and longes mac nuislenn are pretty separate as stories, so i'm happier to let that one be a garbage pile of chronology. it's the fact that LmU doesn't make sense with TBC that has me tearing my hair out because it SHOULD and it NEEDS TO for TBC to make sense

ahem

so where does this leave serglige con culainn

well. let's set aside the fergus evidence because we have seen that that is deeply unreliable. plus it's entirely possible he could've come back to hang out with cú chulainn much later on when things were less drama, so he's not an accurate temporal marker

who else is present who might allow us to slot this story into a timeline?

obviously the story is in two halves and in the first half, cú chulainn's wife is eithne, and in the second half, it's emer, so we probably have two different traditions we're working with. that complicates things. doesn't help with chronology except that it has to happen after tochmarc emire (at least the second half!), but most things do because cc was weirdly young in that, so that's fine. moving on

NEXT. lugaid of the red stripes. now this is an interesting one. he's cú chulainn's foster son -- again, suggesting adult cú, suggesting post-táin, but we've seen from MU that this is not entirely reliable. lebor gabala erenn claims lugaid is supposedly enough of an adult to become king 5 years after conaire dies (see: togail bruidne da derga) which opens a whole can of chronological worms bc wtf. so. this suggests Properly Grown Up Cú Chulainn Who Has Adult Foster Kids, and like ??? he dies at 33 ?? how does that even work ?? CHRONOLOGICAL PROBLEM ZONE.

BUT LOOK! we don't even need to go to LGE for that detail, because serglige con culainn references the need for a king after the death of conaire! and that they're gonna pick lugaid! wow, is this continuity? ... not quite, since it says it's been 7 years of interregnum, whereas LGE says 5 and the annals of the four masters say 6. BUT STILL. this does tell us one thing for sure: this story is supposed to happen seven years after togail bruidne da derga. this does not help us place it with regard to the táin, particularly, since cú chulainn is Notably Not In TBDD -- it's another one where conall gets to play a more significant role. but we're getting closer i think

who is involved in this kingship process? well, we have a reference here to cú roí, so it must be before the death of cú roí (he also shows up in fled bricrenn and mesca ulad iirc; remember that, it might be useful). we also have a reference to finn mac ross and erc mac caipri. that doesn't tell us too much, but it helps a little, bc cú chulainn kills erc's dad carpri during cath rúis na ríg, which is explicitly positioned as a sequel to táin bó cúailnge. this fact is not referenced in serglige con culainn. since carpre's death is one of the reasons erc allies with medb against cú chulainn to kill him, i feel like it Would Be Mentioned if it had happened and he was pissed about it. so there is a strong chance that CRR hasn't happened yet, and since it follows fairly directly on from TBC, that suggests we are pre-TBC

BUT we are in an alternate timeline where pre-TBC cú chulainn is an adult, and also his wife, for half the story, is eithne

and this, i think, is crucial

because we cannot / should not necessarily understand this story as existing in a timeline where the táin happened at all. perhaps there is more than one ulster cycle timeline: one in which cú chulainn was an adult when conaire mór was killed, has been raising foster sons, and eventually experiences both mesca ulad and serglige con culainn, with fergus and the sons of uisliu still in ulster, and then a separate strand, in which the events of the táin go down when he's 17, followed at various points by cath rúis na ríg, cath findcorad (the second one), and oidheadh con culainn, among others (aided chon roí has to be in here somewhere because his son lugaid is a major player in OCC, i'm just too tired to figure out where)

and possibly infinite other strands

it's not that NONE of these stories join up -- SCC explicitly positions itself in relation to TBDD! CRR is explicitly a sequel to TBC, mentions Cath Findcorad at the end of it, and then OCC starts by referencing both CRR and CF! so there are like, internal threads you can follow from one stories to another. but not EVERY story joins to every other story, and i posit that the reason it's so hard to make SCC fit in with TBC is because it's from a different thread. possibly even two different threads, because i can't stress enough that this story is in two distinct halves and in one of them cú chulainn has a completely different wife whom, iirc, isn't referenced anywhere else, so might point to a completely different tradition that didn't survive, or to this one author's OC

the fact that cú roí shows up in mesca ulad and fled bricrenn is imo another indicator that this story should belong in that thread more than the TBC thread (i think he is also mentioned in TBC though so this is not like. A Diagnostic Criterion, it's just a thing to note), likewise the absence of super animosity from others who hate CC in the TBC-CRR-CF-OCC thread

sorry this is getting really long. but anyway here we have multiple strands:

doomed hero strand. cú chulainn is a teenager/20-something and a glorious hero above all others and is going to die young. tochmarc emire - tain bo cuailnge - cath ruis na rig - cath findcorad (btw this is lost, we just know it existed bc there are refs to it) - brislech mor maige muirthemni / oidheadh con culainn. among others.

just some guy strand. cú chulainn is an adult hero who may or may not have been a king at some point, has foster sons, is a fully integrated member of society. i don't have a proposed chronology for these but it would include mesca ulad, serglige con culainn, and a few other Problematic Tales. this also includes togail bruidne da derga, because it's referenced in SCC, but cú chulainn isn't in that. that's fine, because in this strand, he's just some guy! it's other people's turn! i don't know where i'd put fled bricrenn. probably here? but at the same time it is kinda Special Hero Cú Chulainn so it might need to be in its own strand. would need to look at it again to decide

late adventure tales strand. cú chulainn is our favourite character and we're going to write stories about him :) e.g. toruigheacht gruaidhe griansholus, eachtra na gcuradh etc. these are generally late (17th-18th century) and also don't necessarily map onto the medieval tales at all, chronologically, so they need to be treated separately to some degree

thus i would not say that SCC happens before or after TBC, but in an alternate universe. they're going down a different leg of the ulster cycle trousers.

having said that, if i were trying to unify it, i would probably put it after, simply based on vibes and the fact that CC seems like an adult and not like the disaster murder teen he would be before TBC. but the text itself does not provide solid evidence for this, as far as i can tell

Does anyone have specific ideas as to where they’d put Serglige Con Chulainn in the vague ass ulster cycle timeline?

[medieval-women]

Aed O Domnaill, king of Tir Conaill, came into Carbury and ravaged the whole district, being advised thereto by his wife, the daughter of Magnus O Conchobair. She herself, with all the gallowglasses and men of the Clan Murtagh that she could obtain, marched against the churches of Drumcliff and plundered many of its clergy.

Annála Connacht 1315

[thebritishmonarchycouk]

Sweating sickness . (2.) . Sweating sickness first came to the attention of physicians at the beginning of the reign of Henry VII, in 1485. There is no definitive statement that the sickness was present in troops landing at Milford Haven. Henry arrived in London on 28 August soon after the Battle of Bosworth, & the disease broke out on 19 September 1485; it had killed several thousand people by its conclusion in late October that year. Among those killed were two lords mayor, six aldermen, & three sheriffs. . This alarming malady soon became known as the sweating sickness. . It was regarded as being quite distinct from the Black Death, the pestilential fever, or other epidemics previously known because of the sweating which gave it its name & its extremely rapid & fatal course. It reached Ireland in 1492, when the Annals of Ulster record the death of James Fleming, 7th Baron Slane from the pláigh allais, newly come to Ireland. . The Annals of Connacht also record this obituary, & the Annals of the Four Masters record “an unusual plague in Meath” of 24 hours’ duration; people recovered if they survived it beyond that 24-hour period. . It did not attack infants or little children. However, Freeman denies that this “plague” was the sweating sickness, despite the similarity of the names. He thought it to be “Relapsing or Famine Fever"—possibly typhus. . . . (at United Kingdom) https://www.instagram.com/p/B87MIMPHBGn/?igshid=1veqe0w272rwb

[natgeoyourshot]

Top Shot: Castle Island

Top Shot features the photo with the most votes from the previous day’s Daily Dozen, 12 photos selected by the Your Shot editors. The photo our community has voted as their favorite is showcased on the @natgeoyourshot Instagram account. Click here to vote for tomorrow’s Top Shot.

Your Shot photographer Max Malloy photographed Castle Island on Lough Key in County Roscommon, Connacht, Ireland during sunrise in late April 2018. He writes, "We first heard of a castle island when the Annals of Loch Cé reported that it was burned down in 1187 by lightning." Photograph by Max Malloy

[glorioustidalwavedefendor]

Grace O'Malley (c. 1530 – c. 1603), also known as Gráinne O'Malley[1] (Irish: Gráinne Ní Mháille, pronounced [gˠɾˠaːnʲə nʲiː waːlʲə]), was the head of the Ó Máille dynasty in the west of Ireland, and the daughter of Eóghan Dubhdara Ó Máille.

In Irish folklore she is commonly known as Gráinne Mhaol (anglicised as Granuaile) and is a well-known historical figure in sixteenth-century Irish history. Her name also was rendered in contemporaneous English documents in various ways, including Gráinne O'Maly, Graney O'Mally, Granny ni Maille, Grany O'Mally, Grayn Ny Mayle, Grane ne Male, Grainy O'Maly, and Granee O'Maillie,[2] rarely as Grace O'Malley[3]In popular culture she is often referred to as "The Pirate Queen".

O'Malley is not mentioned in the Irish annals, so documentary evidence for her life comes mostly from English sources, especially the eighteen "Articles of Interrogatory", questions put to her in writing on behalf of Elizabeth I.[4] She is mentioned in the English State Papers and in other documents of the kind, as well.[5]

Upon her father's death she took over active leadership of the lordship by land and sea, despite having a brother, Dónal an Phíopa Ó Máille. Marriage to Dónal an Chogaidh (Donal "of the war") Ó Flaithbheartaigh brought her greater wealth and influence, reportedly owning as much as 1,000 head of cattle and horses. In 1593, when her sons Tibbot Bourke and Murchadh Ó Flaithbheartaigh (Murrough O'Flaherty) and her half-brother Dónal an Phíopa ("Donal of the Pipes") were taken captive by the English governor of Connacht, Sir Richard Bingham, O'Malley sailed to England to petition for their release. She formally presented her request to Queen Elizabeth I at her court in Greenwich Palace.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_O%27Malley

Fuck Mary Stuart, where is my big Holywood blockbuster about Grace O'Malley meeting Elizabeth I ?!

[stairnaheireann]

Samhain and Irish Mythology

Irish mythology was originally a spoken tradition, but much of it was eventually written down in the Middle Ages by Christian monks, who Christianised it to some extent. Nevertheless, these tales may shed some light on what Samhain meant and how it was marked in ancient Ireland. Irish mythology tells us that Samhain was one of the four seasonal festivals of the year. The 10th-century tale…

[worldofcelts]

Dangerous Women of Irish Mythology

Article by Sharon Blackie @ DWP

I’ve often heard it declared that Celtic myths and legends are largely heroic in nature, dominated by the exploits of roving adventurers like Fionn Mac Cumhaill, the battles of formidable warriors like Cú Chulainn, and the courtly questings of Gawains, Galahads and Percevals for the Holy Grail. It’s true of course that the old stories have their fair share of male heroism and adventure, but what often goes unrecognised is that the major preoccupation of their heroes is with service to and stewardship of the land. And the Otherworldly (divine) woman who just as consistently appears in these tales happens to be the guardian and protector of the land, the bearer of wisdom, the root of spiritual and moral authority for the tribe.

Old Irish texts contain an abundance of stories of powerful women who were embodiments of the Sovereignty, an allegorical figure who in many senses represented the spirit of the Earth itself, the anima mundi, a deeply ecological force. The power of Sovereignty (in Irish, flaithius) was the power to determine who should rule the land – but if the power she bestowed was abused, then disaster befell the tribe. Whilst a king reigned who was favoured by the goddess, the land was fertile, and the people were prosperous and victorious in war. But if the king didn’t meet her expectations, crops would fail and the tribe would falter.

So it was that the ancient rites of kingship in Ireland included a ceremonial marriage contract, the banais ríghi, between the king and the goddess of the land, and so fundamental was that idea to the Irish way of life that those rites lasted into the sixteenth century. In this sacred marriage, the king swore to uphold and protect the land and his people, and to be true to both; in return Sovereignty granted him the gifts which would help him to keep his oath. These old stories make it clear that, while there is mutual respect between the two partners – between the goddess and the king, between the land and the people, between nature and culture, between feminine and masculine – then all is in harmony and life is filled with abundance. But when the contract is broken, the fertile land becomes the Wasteland.

Sovereignty figures, however, are very different from the usual ‘Earth-Mother’ archetypes who symbolise fertility and prosperity. Like most women in early Irish literature, they are infinitely more ambiguous, unpredictable, and on occasion, decidedly dangerous. Mess with them at your peril. Sovereignty could show herself as a beautiful young woman, fairy mistress or wife; she could appear as a powerful (and by modern standards, promiscuous) sexual figure; she could take the form of a leprous old hag, or a harbinger of war and death.

Let’s take the example of Macha, just one of many fascinating and complex Sovereignty figures in early Irish mythology. Typically, her attributes include tribal/territorial goddess (she is associated with Armagh, Ard Mhacha, in Ulster) and fertility goddess – but she is also a battle goddess. And as is so often the case with these complex divine women, there are three different versions of Macha in the early texts.

In one story, Macha appears as a typical Otherworldly bride, turning up out of the blue at the door of Cruinniuc, an unsuspecting farmer, and bestowing good fortune and prosperity on him. But one day, at a fair, disobeying Macha’s instructions, he boasts to King Conchobar of Ulster that his wife can run faster than any of the king’s horses. In spite of the fact that she is heavily pregnant, Conchobar forces Macha to come and prove herself: to race against his horses. She wins easily, but at the finishing line she collapses and goes into labour; as soon as her twins are born she dies. But before she does, she curses the men of Ulster to experience labour pains at the hour of their greatest need.

In a second story, Macha Mong Ruad (‘red mane’), daughter of Áed Rúad, is the only queen in the List of High Kings of Ireland. She defends her right to her father’s throne against male rivals who deny her because she’s a woman. She marries one of them, defeats the other in battle, and pursues the latter’s sons into the wilderness of Connacht. Surprisingly, since she’s disguised as a leper, the men seem to find her attractive and, one by one, they follow her into the woods to sleep with her. But Macha overcomes each of them and takes them back as slaves to her territory, where she forces them to build her a fortress: the great Emhain Mhacha. This Macha, clearly, is keeping the Sovereignty firmly for herself.

In a third set of references to her, Macha is a woman of the Tuatha Dé Danann, one of three daughters of Ernmas – the others being Morrígu, the dangerous and powerful goddess who appears often as a raven or crow, and Badb. In the Yellow Book of Lecan, she is referred to as ‘one of the three morrígna’, ‘raven women who instigate battle’. In the Second Battle of Mag Tuired, the Morrígan ensures victory for the Tuatha Dé Danann by sleeping with the Dagda, one of their leaders.

Inevitably perhaps, the old goddess of Sovereignty has been treated badly over the centuries, as patriarchal values have increasingly taken hold. She began to lose some of her power when these stories from ancient oral traditions were first committed to paper by Christian monks. Later, she might find herself reinvented as a saint. But if the qualities she embodied in a specific incarnation didn’t fit new images of what a good woman should be, she would be dismissed simply as a ‘fairy woman’, or (for example, in many stories about Medb – or Maeve – of Connaught) remodelled as a promiscuous, pseudo-historical queen. The Morrígan, impossible to whitewash, was simply written out of later versions of the old stories. And by the seventeenth century, when a woman could no longer be accepted in any significant position of influence, all that persisted of the once-powerful goddess of Sovereignty were the dreamlike visions known as aislings in which she appeared as a muse to inspire (male) poets – a weak, melancholy, vaguely Otherworldly maiden, sexless, romanticised and distinctly unreal.

And yet, in the last century Sovereignty, irrepressible, has risen up out of her iconic landscapes and undergone something of a renaissance. We see her, alive and well, in contemporary Irish poetry – from the fertile, female bogs to which Seamus Heaney declared his betrothal, to Nuala Ní Dhomnaill’s Cailleach-ridden Kerry mountains. We see her in a growing interest in the female divine, and the divine female of Irish legend is more interesting than most. It is her complexity, perhaps, that fascinates above all else; these dangerous women for sure don’t lend themselves to easy archetypes, to simple psychological classifications, as has happened with the Greek pantheon in way too many ‘find the goddess within you’ books by a string of Jungian psychologists. Throughout their stories, these women of old Irish literature teach us about the beauty of balance and the dangers of excess. Along with fertility comes promiscuity; the giving of life is balanced by the bringing of death; adherence to the light must be balanced by embracing the dark.

Sources

Lebor Gabála Érenn: The Book of Invasions

Annals of the Four Masters

The Second Battle of Mag Tiured

Secondary sources

Bitel, Lisa M. Land of Women: Tales of Sex and Gender from Early Ireland. (Cornell: Cornell University Press, 1996)

Clark, Rosalind. The Great Queens: Irish Goddesses from the Morrígan to Cathleen ní Houlihan. (Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1991)

[photoohistory]

The Mac Diarmada were the ruling dynasty of Magh Luirg (Moylurg; northeast Connacht) from the 10th to 16th centuries. A castle stood on this island from the 12th century: in 1184, the Annals of Loch Cé report that a lightning bolt caused a fire. A rebuilt castle featured in the final part of the 1235 conquest of Connacht by Richard Mór de Burgh, 1st Baron of Connaught. The castle came under siege, first by a raft-mounted catapult, and then by fire ships. Cormac MacDermott, King of Moylurg, was forced to surrender... #unesco #history #archaeology #archaeologist #ancient #archeologia #travel #ancientcity #discovery #follow #archeological #instalikes #instagood #amazing #likes #nice #photooftheday #travelingram #tourism #travelgram #instagram #bestoftheday #photoohistory #NYC #usa #археология #amazingplace #igersitalia #viagg #newyork (McDermott's Castle) https://www.instagram.com/p/CWBMcCysJdS/?utm_medium=tumblr

[mintdonna2-blog]

Battle of Clontarf (1014)

Battle of Clontarf

Date 23 April 1014 Location Clontarf, Dublin Result Munster Irish victory; Viking power in Ireland broken

Belligerents Irish of Munster Irish of Leinster and Vikings of Dublin Commanders and leaders Brian Bóruma † Murchad mac Briain † Máel Mórda † Sigtrygg Silkbeard Strength ~7,000 men ~6,600 men Casualties and losses >4,000 dead ~6,000 dead

The Battle of Clontarf (Irish: Cath Chluain Tarbh) took place on 23 April 1014 between the forces of Brian Boru and the forces led by the King of Leinster, Máel Mórda mac Murchada: composed mainly of his own men, Viking mercenaries from Dublin and the Orkney Islands led by his cousin Sigtrygg, as well as the one rebellious king from the province of Ulster. It ended in a rout of the Máel Mórda's forces, along with the death of Brian, who was killed by a few Norsemen who were fleeing the battle and stumbled upon his tent. After the battle, Ireland returned to a fractious status quo between the many small, separate kingdoms that had existed for some time.

Background

Brian Boru (Brian mac Cennétig (Kennedy)) had ruled most of Ireland since 1002, but the island was still highly fractious and the title of "High King" had been largely ceremonial. Brian looked to change this, and unite the island, which he set about doing over a period of years.

In 997, Brian Boru and Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill had met in Clonfert and reached an agreement where they recognized each other's reign over their respective halves of the country. Brian attacked Máel Sechnaill's territory constantly, which forced Máel Sechnaill to resign his land to Brian.

In 1012, the king of Leinster, Máel Mórda mac Murchada, rose in revolt. His attempts were quickly thwarted when Brian arranged a series of cross-marriages, giving his daughter to Sigtrygg Silkbeard, leader of the Dublin Vikings, and himself marrying Sigtrygg's mother and Máel Mórda's sister, Gormflaith. However this alliance was destined not to last, and in 1013 Máel Mórda again went to Sigtrygg for help after being admonished by Gormflaith for accepting Brian's rule. This time Sigtrygg was ready to fight, and various Irish clans who were envious of Brian quickly joined him.

Brian immediately imprisoned Gormflaith, and went on a series of raids around Dublin in order to tie down any Irish who would attempt to join the Viking forces. Meanwhile Gormflaith contacted Sigurd Lodvesson, the Viking earl of the Orkney Isles, to come to her aid. He not only agreed, but in turn contacted Brodir of the Isle of Man to join the fight. Sigurd and Brodir both planned on killing the other after the battle to take the seat of High King for themselves, while Sigtrygg was busy trying to form alliances with everyone involved in an attempt to at least retain his own seat in Dublin.

In 1014, Brian's army had mustered and set off towards Dublin. As they approached, the Irishmen of Meath, commanded by ex-high king Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill, refused to take part in the battle. This left him with 4,500 men, outnumbering the 1,000 or so under Sigtrygg, but considerably worse equipped in comparison. They arrived outside the walls of Dublin and set up camp.

That night Brian received news that the Viking forces had boarded their longships and headed out to sea, deserting Sigtrygg. This was in fact a ruse. After nightfall they turned around and landed on the beaches of Clontarf, just over a mile to the north of Dublin, in order to surprise Brian's army the next day. At the time Dublin was only on the south shore of the River Liffey, connected to the north bank, and Clontarf, only by a single bridge. This allowed the Vikings time to disembark and prepare in relative safety.

Battle

Battle of Clontarf, oil on canvas painting by Hugh Frazer, 1826, Isaacs Art Center

The Viking army formed up into five divisions on the field, while Sigtrygg and 1,000 of his men remained in town. Sigtrygg's son commanded the extreme left of the line with 1,000 of the men from Dublin who decided to fight in the open. Máel Mórda added another 3,000 men from Leinster in two divisions. Although numerous, they too were poorly armed in comparison to the Vikings on either side. Sigurd's Orkney Vikings manned the center with 1,000 men, and Brodir's Vikings added another 1,000 or more on the right, on the beaches.

Brian's forces were arranged in a similar fashion. On the right (the Viking left) were 1,000 foreign mercenaries and Manx Vikings. Next to them, 1,500 clansmen of Connacht were gathered under their kings, while more than 2,000 Munster warriors under Brian's son Murchad continued the front, flanked by 1,400 Dal Caissans on the extreme left led by Murchad's 15-year-old son, Tordhelbach, and Brian's brother, Cuduiligh. Off to the right and several hundred yards to the rear stood Máel Sechnaill's 1,000 men who simply watched.

The battle opened with several personal taunts between men in either line, often ending with the two men marching out into the middle of the field to enter personal battle, while the forces on either side cheered. While this went on the two groups slowly edged towards each other. They engaged early in the morning.

At first the battle went the Vikings' way, with their heavier weapons prevailing over their opponents as everyone had expected. This advantage also served Brian, whose Viking mercenaries on his right slowly pushed back the forces facing them. On the left, Brodir himself led the charge and gained ground, until he met the warrior Wolf the Quarrelsome, brother of King Brian. Although Wolf was unable to break Brodir's armor, he knocked him to the ground and Brodir fled to hide. This left the now leaderless Viking force facing Murchad's forces, who considered themselves the "king's own" (containing many of Brian's more distant relatives) and by the afternoon Brodir's forces were fleeing to their ships.

In the centre things were going more the Vikings' way. Both Sigurd's and Máel Mórda's forces were hammering into the Munster forces. However Sigurd, according to legend, carried a "magical" standard into battle which drew the Irish warriors to it, eventually forcing their way in and killing the bearer. Although the standard was supposed to guarantee a victory for the bearer's forces, it also guaranteed the bearer's death. No one would pick it up due to its reputation, so Sigurd did and was quickly killed.

By the end of the day, after several mutual pauses for rest, the Vikings found themselves with both flanks failing, Sigurd dead, and everyone exhausted. The beaches in front of the ships were already lost, and many men took to trying to swim to the ships further offshore, drowning in the process. The battle was now clearly going Brian's way, and the Dublin Vikings decided to flee to the town. At this point Máel Sechnaill decided to re-enter the battle, and cut them off from the bridge. The result was a rout, with every "invading" Viking leader being killed in the battle.

Meanwhile Brodir, hiding in the woods near Dublin, noticed Brian praying in his tent. Gathering several followers they ran into the tent and killed him and his retainers. Then they retreated, with Brodir yelling, Now let man tell man that Brodir felled Brian. According to Viking accounts, he was eventually tracked, captured and gruesomely killed by Wolf the Quarrelsome with whom he had clashed earlier on the battlefield.

Of the 6,500 to 7,000 Vikings and allied forces, an estimated 6,000,[citation needed] including almost all the leaders, were killed. Irish losses were at least 4,000,[citation needed] including their king and most of his sons. There were in fact some sons of Brian Boru left after the battle of Clontarf. Two of his sons, Donnogh and Teige both were heirs of Brian and after their father's death in 1014, were at debate against each other which started with mild quarrelsome and ended with both brothers coming together in 1018 and killing Donell McDuff Davereann.[1] The two sons of Brian did not inherit the throne right after their father was slain. It was Moyleseachlin (Irish: Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill) - from whom Brian once took power in the heated moment before the Battle of Clontarf - who regained power once again in Ireland.[2]

Aftermath

With the Irish now leaderless, and the power of the Dublin Vikings as a political force broken, Ireland soon returned to a series of bloody factional fighting. However things had changed as a result of the battle, with Viking and Gaelic culture no longer contesting power. After a number of years this led to a lasting peace.

There were also domestic battles before the 1014 battle, and after the Vikings were supposedly expelled from Ireland, no more written sources state that there were any other fighting between just the Vikings or Norsemen and the Irish. From the Annals of Clonmacnoise, “Moyleseachlin, after King Brian was thus slaine, succeeded again King of Ireland and reigned 8 years, during which time he fought 25 battles both great and small against his enemies.”[1] His enemies were not the Norsemen, but his fellow Irishmen from other kingdoms. If the Vikings were expelled from Ireland in 1014, or at least the looting and raiding stopped after that, then whoever the Irish were fighting had to be either another race of people coming into Ireland, just as the Vikings did, or the Irish were having yet another domestic or civil battle. The Battle of Clontarf could have been a domestic battle between kingdoms, and the Vikings were living in and helping out Dublin. The battle could have had other major incentives, but expelling the Vikings might have just given the Irish Munster king (Boru) extra motivation to beat the Leinster king. In the source of Clonmacnoise, McMoylenamo is not only the king of Ireland, Wales, and protector of the honor Leah Coynn, but also the “[king of the] Danes of Dublin.”[3] After the battle in 1014, Irish high kings actually ruled over the Danes of Ireland's five separate kingdoms.[4]

Sigtrygg, who had watched the battle with Gormflaith from Dublin, on the south bank of the River Liffey, and with the Irish army melting away the next day, ended up as the only "winner" of the contest, continuing his rule in Dublin until his death in 1042. The Kingdom of Meath also benefitted from the fact that its warriors suffered few casualties, and managed to come from the battlefield in a much stronger position, with most of its neighbours, including the Dublin Vikings, all incapable of launching further advances. However the series of wars had resulted in a fragmented political landscape, which could not unite under the old High King.

See also

References

^ a b Conell Mageoghagan, trans. The Annals of Clonmacnoise; Being Annals of Ireland, from the Earliest Period to A. D. 1408. (Dublin: University Press for the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 1896), 168.

^ Conell Mageoghagan, trans. The Annals of Clonmacnoise; Being Annals of Ireland, from the Earliest Period to A. D. 1408. (Dublin: University Press for the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 1896), 167-169.

^ Conell Mageoghagan, trans. The Annals of Clonmacnoise; Being Annals of Ireland, from the Earliest Period to A. D. 1408. (Dublin: University Press for the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 1896), 133.

^ Ulster, Connacht, Meath, Munster, and Leinster (Dublin)

Source: https://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Battle+of+Clontarf

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