Vikings in Ireland: Fighting for Kingship with Brian Boru

BY THE TENTH CENTURY CE, the situation in Ireland had grown in complexity as ‘Viking’ identity hazed into further obscurity while the original settlers of Dublin began to integrate with the Irish. Furthermore, powerful Viking chieftains from abroad sought political dominance over a town that was gradually becoming a kingdom of its very own: Dublin. Yet, from this turmoil came a unique opportunity. All eyes moved to Dublin as a new native power rose to take advantage of the ‘foreigners’ called Vikings. So begins the story of Brian ‘Bóruma’ mac Cennétig.

CONTENTS:
0. A Look at the Landscape: Ireland, 874–1014.
I. The Vikings Return
II. Ireland’s First and Only High Kingship
III. Impact and Conclusion

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0. A LOOK AT THE LANDSCAPE: IRELAND, 874–1014:

A CAREFUL EXAMINATION of this map will reveal the complexity of identity in Viking Age Ireland, as well as the various political and ‘military’ campaigns being led by various forces of Viking and Irish alike. I include this before the lesson so that  it can be referred to throughout the lesson, as well as provide a visual for the complex movements occurring throughout this period.

I. THE VIKINGS RETURN:

IN THE 860s, the Vikings ruled over the ‘kingdom’ of Dublin, which was also a particularly high moment under their rule.¹ At this time, there were three ‘kings’ of Dublin: Amlaíb, Ímar, and Cerball (later replaced by Auisle).² Yet, by 902 the Vikings were banished from Dublin, as it is told in the Annals of Ulster:

U902.2: “The heathens were driven from Ireland, i.e. from the fortress of Áth Cliath, by Mael Finnia son of Flannacán with the men of Brega and by Cerball son of Muiricán, with the Laigin; and they abandoned a good number of their ships, and escaped half dead after they had been wounded and broken.”³

It is important to mention here that only the political authorities were banished from Dublin. After all, the Irish rulers who sought control over Dublin truly desired the wealth and prosperity offered by the settlement, and getting rid of every Norse settler would greatly damage the town’s prospects. These sources generally did not care about average folk; they cared more so about the rulers who gave them great donations, or of their own clerical brethren. Thus, these annals are far more interested in the actions of the battling upper strata than they are about the craftsmen and families living in Dublin while all of this occurred. That is something we all ought to keep in mind.

Despite their best efforts, though, the Vikings returned to take control over Dublin in 917:

U917.2: “Sitriuc, grandson of Ímar, landed with his fleet at Cenn Fuait on the coast of Laigin. Ragnall, grandson of Ímar, with his second fleet moved against the foreigners of Loch dá Chaech. A slaughter of the foreigners at Neimlid in Muma. The Eóganacht and the Ciarraige made another slaughter.”

…and later that year:

U917.4: “Sitriuc grandson of Ímar entered Áth Cliath (Dublin).”⁴

To recall the previous lesson, this moment marks a subtle change in the ‘Vikings’ retaking Dublin. The keyword is ‘retaking’. Sitriuc is said to be the grandson of Ímar, who once lived in Dublin before being exiled. In other words, Sitriuc felt that he had a natural-born right and claim over authority in Dublin. This minor detail actually holds some significant importance, because now there were ‘Vikings’ who felt connected to the ‘kingdom’ of Dublin and Ireland.

The Vikings were actually quite active elsewhere, using Dublin as a base for operations in the whole of the British Isles. Note the reference to the Vikings of Dublin as “of Áth Cliath and the Isles” below (U980.1). One such battle is the famous Battle of Brunanburh, which was a battle that the Norseman fought against the Saxons:

U937.6: “A great, lamentable and horrible battle was cruelly fought between the Saxons and the Norsemen, in which several thousands of Norsemen, who are uncounted, fell, but their king, Amlaíb, escaped with a few followers. A large number of Saxons fell on the other side, but Athelstan, king of the Saxons, enjoyed a great victory.”⁵

The back and forth nature of Dublin continued, however, and by 980 it was once again taken away from the mighty Viking rulers. This time, it was the powerful Irish king Máel Sechnaill who sought control.⁶

U980.1: “The battle of Temair was won by Mael Sechnaill, son of Domnall, against the foreigners of Áth Cliath (Dublin) and the Isles, and very great slaughter was inflicted on the foreigners therein, and foreign power ejected from Ireland as a result. There fell therein Ragnall son of Amlaíb, the son of the king of the foreigners, and Conamal, son of a tributary king of the foreigners, and many others.”⁷

II. IRELAND’S FIRST AND ONLY TRUE HIGH KINGSHIP:

DESPITE THIS RATHER short-lived period of Viking resurgence, Dublin was now seen as a vital political holding in the eyes of native Irish rulers. Thus, Dublin became less of a foreign nuisance and more of an outlet for native authority.

Yet, for Ireland, the king who would come to rule them all was among the least expect. Rising from the lowly providence of Munster, from a vaguely known family called the Dál Cais, a man named Brian mac Cennétig would rise higher than even the most powerful family in all of Ireland, the Uí Néill. Full of ambition, and later nicknamed “bórumha,” Brian “thought it terms which extended far beyond the limited traditional Irish concept of kingship.”⁸ He was the first to fully recognize the potential of all that the Vikings had brought with them to Ireland: wealth, technology, and mercenaries.

Brian’s rise to power was astonishing. After the death of his brother in 976, he quickly took control over Limerick, becoming king of the Dál Cais.⁹ By 984 he was king of all of Munster, and by 999, after the battle of Glenn Mama, he had taken control over Dublin:

U999.8: “Brian, king of Caisel, led an army to Glenn Máma and the foreigners of Áth Cliath, accompanied by the Laigin, came to attack him. And they were defeated and a slaughter was inflicted on them, including Aralt son of Amlaíb and Cuilén son of Eitigén and other nobles of the foreigners. This happened on Thursday the third of the Kalends of January 30 Dec. Brian afterwards entered Áth Cliath, and Áth Cliath was plundered by him.”¹⁰

Perhaps more impressive was Máel Sechnaill’s submission to Brian in 1002. Within 25 years, a man once known only by a small portion of Ireland had risen to such a height that even the most influential and promising man of Ireland had submitted to his authority. In 1005, Brian boru was deemed “Imperātor Scōtōrum,” or ‘Emperor of the Gaels’, by the Church.¹¹

Yet, Brian went a step further than most of his contemporaries when it came to having control over Dublin. Not only did he forcefully take it, but he also married into the Viking ‘dynasties’ that ruler over Dublin. Aye, he was now legally their kin. This is attested in Brennu-Njáls saga:

“A king also came there, named Sigtrygg, from Ireland (Viking king of Dublin). He was the son of Olaf Kvaran, and his mother’s name was Kormlod. She was a very beautiful woman…Brian was the name of the king to whom she had been married, but they were divorced.”¹²

Brian’s reign began with Vikings, and so too shall it end with them. In 1014, Brian faced against his final foe, which was a rebellion led by king Sigtrygg and Earl Sigurd of the Orkneys. This was a fight to keep his empire, but it was not one he was able to win. This verse from Brennu-Njáls saga summarizes the situation best: 

“When swords screamed in Ireland
and men struggled, I was there;
many a weapon was shattered
when shields met in battle.
The attack, I hear, was daring;
Sigurd died in the din of helmets
after making bloody wounds;
Brian fell too, but won.”¹³

III. IMPACT AND CONCLUSION:

IN TAKING ADVANTAGE OF Viking settlements and their developments, Brain ‘Bóruma’ mac Cennétig was able to rise in power and lay claim to something unimaginable prior to this age: a true high kingship. Ireland was able to adapt to these invasions; their traditional system of power and politics embraced the changes brought by the Vikings and merged them into their own, native ways. The Viking invasions did not send Ireland into a decline, but rather changed its course of development into opening new opportunities moving forward, of which many kings would later take advantage of as they followed in the footsteps of the innovative king Brian Boru. 

The Vikings, then, had little lasting political control over the Irish, instead providing native powers with new methods of authority to exploit for themselves. Unlike many of the other victims to Viking raids, the Irish, it seems, were prepared to handle such incursions, being aquatinted with fractured politics that the Vikings had come from themselves.

The Viking storm had settled and a new light shone through battle-torn clouds, a dream of High Kingship was born and Ireland was now equipped with powerful settlements like Dublin. Viking Age Ireland tells a story of how raids turned to development, and of how the Irish overcame the destructive waves of Viking aggression, turning what at first seemed as a disadvantage into something that could work in their favor. Furthermore, it hosts a subtle story of integration, as Norse settlers worked together with the Irish to create an influential center for production and trade. A town worth fighting for by the powers of Viking rulers and native Irish powers alike.

Thank you, and I hope that you all enjoyed this lesson.

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Footnotes

1. Big statement. No direct source (that I have, at least). Thus, I shall cite a lecture – Dr. Jennifer Dukes-Knight, “Vikings in Ireland,” Lecture, Viking History, University of South Florida, 2015. ↩︎
2. Annals of Ulster, U859.2 and U867.6: U859.2: “Amlaíb and Ímar and Cerball led a great army into Mide.” Despite the names being Irish, these are Norsemen. Furthermore, I am more confident in the first two names listed above, since those were given to me in the lecture cited in footnote one. Cerball, however, was not mentioned in that class. Another entry states this, suggesting that Cerball was eventually replaced anyway: U867.6: “Auisle, one of three kings of the heathens, was killed by his kinsmen in guile and parricide.”  Needless to say, the politics of Dublin were beginning to get far more complicated. Also, I will be honest in saying that the genealogies of these people gets a bit convoluted, so be prepared.  ↩︎
3. Ibid., U902.2. ↩︎
4. Ibid., U917.2 and U917.4. ↩︎
5. Ibid., U937.6. The Amlaíb mentioned here is not the same from before, but he was still a foreigner king ruling over Dublin. ↩︎
6. We mentioned this name in the previous lesson, but this is not the same Mael we discussed then. Same family, though. ↩︎
7. Annals of Ulster, U980.1. ↩︎
8. Liam de Paor, “The Age of the Viking Wars: 9th and 10th centuries,” in The Course of Irish History, 5th ed., edited by T. W. Moody, F. X. Martin, and Dermot Keogh, with Patrick Kiely. (Lanham, MD: Roberts Rhinehart Publishers, 2012), 88. ↩︎
9. Ibid. ↩︎
10. Annals of Ulster, U999.8. ↩︎
11. Sean Dúffy, Brian Boru and the Battle of Clontarf. (Gill & Macmillan Ltd, 2013). This may not be the most authoritative voice on the matter, perhaps, but it is a source that discusses Brian in tremendous detail, as well as how he gained this title. ↩︎
12. Robert Cook trans., Njal’s Saga. (London: Penguin Books, 2001), 296. There are a couple of things I should point out here. The first of these things is the instability of ‘accuracy’ within Icelandic sagas (and medieval literature like this in general). Yet, it is possible, when treading with caution, to use these as sources for certain ‘facts’, so long as they are within reason (this depends of context) or attested in other sources as well. We are not getting into the various intricacies of this, but you should be aware that making a claim on one saga’s word alone is fragile. Secondly, this is right before Brian’s final battle at Clontarf, in which the Vikings fight against him to reclaim Dublin. With that in mind, it would not be surprising that he is apparently ‘divorced’ from his Viking marriage, given the tensions about to occur. Although, considering the nature of these sources, such a fact could have been bent to avoid the complications of technical kin-slaying. Again, it is tough to say without rambling on and citing numerous other sources. Just be aware of the existing complications. ↩︎
13. Ibid., 307-8. In other words, Brian fell, but his legacy would live on. ↩︎