THE VIKINGS IN IRELAND TO THE BATTLE OF CLONTARF (1014)
In the history of the Vikings in Ireland we have seen how the attempt
made by Turges to bring all Ireland under one ruler came to nought
by his death in 845. At first this seems to have thrown the Norsemen
into confusion and we hear of a series of defeats. Then, in 849, the
invasions developed a new phase. Hitherto while the Irish had been
weakened by much internecine warfare, their enemies had worked with
one mind and heart. Now we read of 'a naval expedition of seven score
of the Foreigners coming to exercise power over the Foreigners who
were before them, so that they disturbed all Ireland afterwards.' This
means that the Danes were now taking an active part in the invasions
of Ireland, and we soon find them disputing the supremacy with the
earlier Norse settlers. A full and picturesque account of the struggle
is preserved for us in the second of the _Three Fragments of Irish
Annals_ copied by Dugald MacFirbis. Unfortunately the chronology of
these annals is in a highly confused state and it is often difficult to
trace the exact sequence of events.
When the Norsemen first saw the approaching fleet they were much
alarmed. Some said it was reinforcements from Norway, but others, with
keener insight, said they were Danes who were coming to harry and
plunder. A swift vessel was dispatched to find out who they were, and
when the steersman called out to them inquiring from what land they
came and whether as friend or foe, the only answer was a shower of
arrows. A fierce battle ensued, in which the Danes killed thrice their
own number and carried off the women-folk and property of the Norsemen.
In 851 they plundered the Norse settlements at Dublin and Dundalk, but
in the next year the Norsemen attacked them in Carlingford Lough. At
first the Danes were defeated, but then their leader cunningly exhorted
his men to secure by their prayers and alms the patronage of St
Patrick, who was incensed against the Norsemen because of the many evil
deeds they had wrought in Erin. The battle was renewed and the Danes
were victorious. After the battle they made rich gifts to St Patrick
for 'the Danes were a people with a kind of piety: they could for a
time refrain from meat and from women.' After the fight we learn that
the Danes cooked their meat in cauldrons supported on the bodies of
their dead foes. The Danes now helped Cerbhal, king of Ossory, against
the Norsemen who were harrying Munster, and henceforward we hear again
and again how the various Irish factions made use of the dissensions
among the invaders to further their own ends.
Matters were further complicated by the fact that many of the Irish
forsook their Christian baptism and joined the Norsemen in their
plundering. These recreant Irish were known as the Gaill-Gaedhil
(i.e. the foreign Irish), and played an important part in the wars
of the next few years. The Gaill-Gaedhil were undoubtedly a race of
mixed Norse and Gaelic stock and we must not imagine that they sprung
suddenly into existence at this time. Long before this the Norsemen
and the Gaels must have had considerable peaceful intercourse with
one another in their various settlements, and in accordance with
well-established Scandinavian custom it would seem that many of the
Irish were brought up as foster-children in Norse households and must
soon have learned to accept their religion and customs. There was
also extensive intermarriage between Norsemen and Irish. The annals
speak of several such unions, the most famous being the marriage of
Gormflaith, afterwards wife of Brian Borumha, to Anlaf Sihtricsson,
while in the genealogies of the Norse settlers in Iceland at the end of
this century, Gaelic names are of frequent occurrence. One of the most
famous of the leaders of these 'foreign Irish' was Ketill Finn (i.e.
the White), a Norseman with an Irish nickname. These foreign Irish
fought either by the side of the foreigners or on their own account
and we have an interesting story telling how, when Vikings from Ireland
made an invasion of Cheshire (c. 912), Aethelflæd, the lady of the
Mercians, sent ambassadors to those Irish who were fighting on the side
of the invaders, calling upon them to forsake the pagans and remember
the old kindness shown in England to Irish soldiers and clergy.
The troubles between Norsemen and Danes were probably responsible for
the arrival in Ireland in 853 of Amhlaeibh, son of the king of Norway,
to receive the submission of the foreigners. This Amhlaeibh is Olaf
the White of Norse tradition. Olaf is represented as ruling together
with his brother Imhar (O.N. Ívarr). The annals are not very good
authority for the relationship of the Norse leaders to one another,
and it is quite possible that Ívarr is really Ívarr the Boneless, son
to Ragnarr Loðbrók. Under the strong rule of Olaf and Ívarr Dublin
became the chief centre of Scandinavian rule in Ireland, and the
Danes and Norsemen were to some extent reconciled to one another. The
Irish suffered great losses but some brave leaders were found to face
the Norsemen. Cennedigh, king of Leix (Queen's County), came upon a
party of them laden with booty; they abandoned the spoil and rushed
upon Cennedigh with angry barbarous shouts, blowing their trumpets
and many of them crying _nui, nui_ (i.e. probably, in the old Norse
speech, _knúi, knúi_, 'hasten on, hasten on'). Many darts and spears
were thrown and at last they took to their heavy powerful swords.
All was however of no avail and Cennedigh won a great victory. Less
fortunate was Maelciarain, 'champion of the east of Ireland and a
hero-plunderer of the foreigners.' He was expelled from his kingdom by
the Leinstermen, who envied him in consequence of his many victories
over the Norsemen!
The activities of Olaf and Ívarr were not confined to Ireland. In 866
Olaf paid a visit to Scotland, while in 870 both Olaf and Ívarr were
present at the siege of Dumbarton. If Ívarr is Ívarr the Boneless, he
must then have gone to England and taken part in the martyrdom of St
Edmund. In the next year both leaders returned to Dublin with a large
number of prisoners--English, Britons and Picts. In 873 Ívarr, 'king
of the Norsemen of all Ireland and Britain' died, and about the same
time Olaf returned to Norway, possibly to take part in the great fight
against Harold Fairhair at Hafrsfjord. The Danes seem to have taken
advantage of the removal of Olaf to attempt to throw off the Norse
yoke. Fresh fighting took place and the Danes under Albdann, i.e.
Halfdanr, king of Northumbria, were defeated on Strangford Lough in 877
with the loss of their leader.
After 877 the _War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill_ notes a period of
rest for Ireland, lasting some forty years. This is true to the
extent that no large fleets of fresh invaders seem to have come to
Ireland during this time--the Vikings were too busy elsewhere, both
in England and the Frankish empire--but there were occasional raids
from Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and other towns into various
districts of Ireland, and the Norsemen were often at variance amongst
themselves. Dissensions in Dublin were particularly violent and so
much did they weaken Norse rule there that in 902 Dublin fell into
the hands of the Irish. The Vikings were driven abroad, some going
to Scotland and others to England, where they besieged Chester (_v.
supra_, p. 57). In the year 914 all the old troubles were renewed.
Rögnvaldr, a grandson of Ívarr, fresh from a great victory off the Isle
of Man, captured Waterford, and two years later Sigtryggr, another
grandson of Ívarr regained Dublin. The Irish attempted resistance
under the _ardrí_ Niall Glundubh, but he fell with twelve other kings
in a fight at Kilmashogue near Dublin in 919. During the next fifty
years Ireland was a prey to ceaseless attacks by Norwegians and Danes
alike. Towards the close of the 9th century Limerick had become a
stronghold of the Norsemen in the west, and from there they made their
way up the Shannon into the heart of the country. Cork was settled in
the early years of the 10th century, chiefly by Danes, and from there
all Munster was open to attack. Waterford and Wexford, which stood
as a rule in close connexion with Dublin, served as centres of attack
against Leinster. The Irish made a stout resistance under able leaders
and Dublin was 'destroyed' more than once. First among these leaders
stands Muirchertach 'of the leather cloaks,' son of Niall Glundubh,
a hero who came forward about the year 926. His activities were
unceasing. He repeatedly attacked Dublin, took a fleet to the Hebrides
where he defeated the Vikings, gaining much spoil, and finally in 941
made a circuit of Ireland, from which he brought back as hostages many
provincial kings, including the Norse ruler of Dublin. More famous
still in Irish song and story was Cellachan of Cashel. He made war
against the Vikings in Munster and for a time had the Norse kingdom of
Waterford under his control. Similarly he conquered Limerick, and we
find him fighting side by side with Norsemen from both these towns.
During these fifty years the Norse kingdom in Dublin stood in close
relation with the Scandinavian kingdom of Northumbria. Rögnvaldr,
who died in 912, ruled there and so did his brothers Sigtryggr (d.
927) and Guðröðr (or Godfrey) (d. 934). The brothers left sons known
respectively as Anlaf Sihtricsson and Anlaf Godfreyson. The latter
took part in the great fight at Brunanburh and died in 939. Anlaf
Sihtricsson was destined to a longer career. He would seem to have
spent his early years in Scotland where he married king Constantine's
daughter. It is uncertain whether he fought at Brunanburh, but he
came to Northumbria in 941 and captured York. He was expelled from
Northumbria in 944 or 945 and retired to Dublin, and the rest of his
life was chiefly spent in fighting in Ireland. He was in close alliance
with the Norsemen in Man and the Western Islands, and was, for some
thirty years, the most powerful Norse ruler in Ireland. Then came the
first great blow to Norse rule in Ireland. In 980 Maelsechlainn II, the
_ardrí_, won a great victory at Tara over the foreigners of Dublin and
the Islands in which Anlaf's son was slain. The power of the kingdom of
Dublin was effectually broken. The Norsemen were compelled to liberate
all the hostages in their custody, to pay a fine of 2000 oxen and
to remit the tribute which they had imposed on all Ireland from the
Shannon eastwards to the sea. Anlaf abandoned his authority and retired
on a pilgrimage to Iona, where he died in the same year an inmate of
its monastery.
In the meantime events, fraught with important consequences for
Norse rule in that country, were gradually developing in a distant
quarter of Ireland. In the province of Munster the Dalcassian line
of princes first comes into prominence about the middle of the 10th
century, and the two most famous of these princes were the brothers
Mathgamhain and Brian, commonly known as Brian Borumha. Together
the brothers conquered Munster in spite of the support given to the
Irish by the Viking settlers, and when their success aroused Ívarr,
the ruler of Limerick, they attacked him and won a great victory at
Sulcoit near Tipperary (968). Limerick was captured, Mathgamhain died
in 976 and Brian was soon acknowledged king of all Munster. He next
became master of Leinster, but his rapid advance brought him into
conflict with the _ardrí_ and by a compact made in 998, Maelsechlainn
practically surrendered the southern half of Ireland to Brian. The
ruler of Dublin at this time was Sigtryggr of the Silken Beard, son of
Anlaf and Gormflaith, sister of Maelmordha, king of Leinster. In 1000
Leinster with the support of the Norsemen in Dublin revolted, but Brian
defeated them and captured Dublin, giving his daughter in marriage
to Sigtryggr and himself marrying Gormflaith. In 1002 Maelsechlainn
submitted to Brian and the latter became _ardrí_. There followed twelve
years of peace, but Brian's marriage with Gormflaith was his undoing.
Quarrelling with her husband, she stirred up Maelmordha of Leinster
against him. An alliance was formed between Maelmordha and Sigtryggr,
and Gormflaith dispatched embassies to all the Viking settlements in
the West, summoning them to the aid of Sigtryggr in a great fight
against Brian. Sigtryggr secured the help of Earl Sigurd of the
Orkneys and North Scotland by promise of the kingship of Dublin. Ships
came from all parts of the Viking world, from Northumbria, from Man
and the Western Islands, from Scotland and the Orkneys, and even from
Iceland. Dublin was fixed as the trysting-place and Palm Sunday 1014
was to be the time of meeting. Brian mustered all the forces of Munster
and Connaught and was joined in half-hearted fashion by Maelsechlainn,
who was really waiting to see which way the fortunes of war would turn.
Brian advanced into the plain of Fingall, north of Dublin, and the two
armies faced one another at Clontarf all Passion week. The Norsemen had
learned by magic incantations that if the fight took place before Good
Friday their chiefs would perish and their forces be routed, while if
the fight took place on Good Friday Brian himself would perish but the
Irish would win the day. So they waited until the Friday and then made
their attack. The fight was long and the slaughter was terrible. Brian
and Sigurd were themselves numbered among the slain. In the end the
Norsemen were defeated and Maelsechlainn completed their discomfiture
when he cut down the fugitives as they tried to cross the bridge
leading to Dublin and so reach their ships. No fight was more famous in
Irish history and it seems to have appealed with equally strong force
to Scandinavian imagination. Clontarf and Brunanburh are the two great
Viking battles which find record in Scandinavian saga, and in the story
of Burnt Njal[8] we have a vivid account both of the actual battle and
of the events leading up to it. Yet more interesting perhaps is the old
lay preserved to us, the _Song of the Valkyries_, who that same day
were seen in Caithness riding twelve together to a bower where they set
up a loom of which men's heads were the weights, men's entrails the
warp and woof, while a sword was the shuttle and the reels were arrows.
They wove the web of war and foretold the fate of king Sigtryggr
and Earl Sigurd as well as the sharp sorrow which would befall the
Irish[9]. The Norse world was full of this and like portents and there
can be no question that the Vikings were themselves conscious that the
battle of Clontarf marked a very definite epoch in the history of the
Vikings in the West and in Ireland more particularly. The Norsemen
remained in possession of their cities, Sigtryggr continued as king
of Dublin, but gradually the fortunes of the Norse settlers tended to
become merged in the history of the nation as a whole and there was no
further question of Scandinavian supremacy in Ireland.
FOOTNOTES:
[8] English version by Sir G. W. Dasent.
[9] This song was probably composed soon after the events with which it
is concerned and was first rendered into English by the poet Gray under
the title _The Fatal Sisters_.