Vikings in Ireland: Arrival and Initial Impact

Rising out of the sea, a storm of serpents approached Ireland in 795 CE that would cast a complex shadow across the land of Éiru (Ireland) over the following centuries. The ‘Vikings’, in their storm of fury, allegedly came to pillage and destroyed the Golden Age of ecclesiastical learning in Ireland. The Vikings, however, did not come just to raid and plunder, nor were their intentions solely fixated on such a calculated and targeted destruction of ecclesiastical life. Indeed, the Vikings came for treasure at first, to start a family and farmstead back at home, but many eventually came to call Ireland their new home.

CONTENTS:
I. Arrival
II. Initial Impact

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I. ARRIVAL:

The arrival of the Vikings in Ireland was not much different than it was in England, if we recall the Wessex Reeve that was suddenly killed by Danes in 789 CE.¹ Yet, it was a few years later when the Viking wave hit Ireland. In 795 CE, the Vikings raided a church on Lambay Island (see map below) near Dublin:

Annals of Ulster, year 795, third entry:
“The burning of Rechru by the heathens, and Scí was overwhelmed and laid waste.”²

It is important to point out, though, that Dublin did not exist yet. As we will discuss momentarily, Dublin actually began as a Viking longphort in 841 (as a ‘camp’ of sorts, too, which acted as a base for raiding ‘operations’ in Ireland and the British Isles).³

When the Vikings arrived, they were immediately recognized by the Irish as outsiders. After all, as spoken of in the previous lesson, Ireland was a very rural and familiar society, meaning that kinship connections were vital to having a place in their society. The Vikings, at first, had none of these connections. In these early stages, they were either called gaill (foreigners)⁴ or genti (pagans).⁵

Much like it was elsewhere, the initial raids began uncoordinated and without centralized leadership. In other words, the raids between 795 and 830 were of a “hit and run” nature and were independent freebooters. Later on, especially during and after the 830s, annalistic sources begin mentioning a “king of the foreigners.”⁶

Here are a few of the important raids that occurred during this earlier stage (795-833 CE):

• 795: First raid in Ireland on Rechru on Lambay Island.
• 802: Iona is raided, and a book is moved from here in 807 to Kells (the Book of Kells).
• 811 and 812: Viking raiding parties are defeated by native Irish forces.
• 824: Bolder Viking attacks, starting with Bangor.
• 832: Armagh is raided three times in a single month.⁷

II. INITIAL IMPACT:

It is best to take a step back and discuss the early impacts that the Vikings had on Ireland, because to understand the initial response is to better understand how the later complexities unfolded. I mentioned in the introduction for the lesson that (older) scholarship has claimed that Ireland went into a decline once the Vikings arrived, arguing that Ireland was amidst an ‘Ecclesiastical Golden Age’ that the Vikings then pulled into oblivion. Yet, this is a closed perspective to hold. Ironically enough, it was in Iceland that literature and the arts flourished despite also being the worst period for feuding and violence.⁸

I want to begin with a bit of historical theory, because to label a period of history as one sided in its effects, especially a period of complex interaction, is to miss the richness and opportunities that actually existed. This seems more fitting as a conclusion, saved instead for part four of this segment, but this viewpoint ought to be in mind while seeing things unfold in the upcoming lessons. Thus, it is important to point out the violence of Ireland herself prior to the Vikings even stepping foot onto the island.

In 793 CE, only two years before the first recorded Viking raid in Ireland, the fourth entry for that year states that “Ard Macha (Armagh) was entered and invaded, and people were slain in it by the Uí Chremthainn.”⁹ In this event, it is evident that even native social tensions did not exclude monasteries in the unfolding violence, and, in fact, they were directly involved in political disputes.¹⁰ To further reinforce this, perhaps, is the example of 764 CE, in which this even occurred:

Annals of Ulster, year 764, sixth entry:
“The battle of Argaman between the community of Cluain Moccu Nóis and the community of Dermag, in which fell Diarmait Dub son of Domnall, and Diglach son of Dub Lis, and two hundred men of the community of Dermag. Bresal, son of Murchad, emerged victor, with the community of Cluain.”¹¹

The Vikings did not add violence, they added complexity to an already existing pattern and tendency for violence.¹² I bring this debate up for a second time to emphasize the importance to not oversimplify history, but also to demonstrate that the events I will be discussing in the coming weeks involve conflict and violence on both sides. The example of Ireland and the Vikings is a perfect example of how one cannot fully understand the Vikings and their impact without also knowing about the other side as well. After all, for a suitable discussion of the Vikings in Ireland, we have already had to spend a whole lesson on medieval Irish society, as well as take moments like this to reiterate that violence was not one sided.

CONCLUSION:

This subject regarding the Viking impact on Ireland will be revisited after all the lessons have been written (likely during part four, the final lesson for the segment), so that we may look back to see more than just violence, but also cooperation and integration. Until then, keep an open mind, especially regarding the violence and impact. After all, although the early impact of the Vikings seems like unnecessary aggression and unforeseen violence, this was not exactly the case, especially as we continue to move forward.

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Footnotes

1.  Angus A. Somerville and R. Andrew McDonald ed., The Viking Age: A Reader, 2nd Edition. (University of Toronto Press, 2014), 184:“787 [789]. This year, King Beorhtric of Wessex married Eadburg, Offa’s daughter. And in his days there came for the first time three ships of Northmen, from Hordaland in Norway. Then the Reeve rode to meet them; he intended to have them go to the king’s town because he did not know what they were. They killed him. These were the first Danish ships to attack the land of the English people…” ↩︎
2. The Annals of Ulster: U795.3, accessed on CELT (Corpus of ELectronic Texts). ↩︎
3. John Haywood, The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings. (London: Penguin Books, 1995), 72. Other sources record this, of course, but this is where I personally pulled the information from. ↩︎
4. eDIL, from gall. For those interested in Classics as well, the oldest meaning for this word is to refer to a Gaul. Meanings pertaining to the Viking Age, however, are: (1) “A Scandinavian invader,” or (2) “A foreigner.” Also, it is interesting to note that the Irish distinguished the types of gaill that there were, at least later during the Viking Age. For example, finngaill means “Northmen” whereas dubgaillmeans “Danes.” I will talk about why that is important later on, though. Even more interesting, though, is that the word for Danes includes a ‘prefix’ of “dub-” which relates to the word ‘Dublin’. The word ‘dub’, in this case, meant “dark” in a moral sense, yet also in the sense of “gloomy.” Thus, the Danes were actually called “dark-foreigners.” This is interesting for Dublin’s name, because it was settled by the Vikings (although initially by Northmen, not Danes), and it seems that the name partially derives from the terms used to describe the Danes. This is a suspicion of mine, though, and not a result of extensive study, so take caution with such information. ↩︎
5. eDIL, meaning “heathens, pagans,” but particularly in older literature. ↩︎
6. The Annals of Ulster: U849.6. ↩︎
7. Ibid., U795.3, U802.9, U811.6, U812.8/11, U824.2, and U832.1. ↩︎
8. For more on this period, see Jesse L. Byock, Viking Age Iceland. (London: Penguin Books, 2001), 341-53. ↩︎
9. The Annals of Ulster: U783.4. ↩︎
10. I have mentioned this in a previous lesson, using the example of Feidlimid mac Crimthainn. See Lesson 24a for more detail. ↩︎
11. The Annals of Ulster: U765.6. I am assuming, though, that “communities” referred to religious communities, and not just túatha in general. If such an assumption proves to be incorrect at a later date, I will make the correction. ↩︎
12. This statement is a bit general and may give the impression that Ireland was a savagely violent place within the medieval world. Such an assumption would be an unfortunate one to make, though, because, like I stated before, it blinds one to other opportunities. I am not going to extensively argue it here, but the level of violence in the medieval world is often exaggerated, especially in certain ‘pockets’ of that world, such as the outliers including the Vikings and the Irish. It was indeed violent, but there is so much more to the medieval world than violence alone, and that is important to remember. ↩︎