February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Brian Boru, the high king of Ireland, was killed in the battle. Never again would Ireland be united under a single Irish king — a lack of unity England would eventually exploit.
To fully understand the situation in Boru’s Ireland, it is essential to review the essential details of the Viking invasions of Ireland. Viking raiders from Scandinavia began invading Western Europe in the last decades of the 8th century, striking Ireland in 795. Initially they focused on island monasteries, recognizing that these centers of economic activity possessed substantial stores of food, finished goods and potential slaves. But beginning about 835, large Viking fleets brought large invading forces that pressed into the Irish interior and established permanent settlements. One of them, a long-phort, or ship camp, established in 841, later took the name Dublin. Some Irish kings managed to capture centers like Cork, in 848, and Dublin, in 902, but the Vikings soon regained them, Dublin, in 917, among them, and reasserted Viking control over an area some 70 miles south, west and north of Dublin. Additional Viking towns independent of Dublin were established in Limerick, in 922, and Wexford, 921.
Although the Vikings wrought a significant amount of havoc in their invasions and occupation of Ireland, their influence Ireland was not entirely negative. In the course of century and a half of Viking occupation, Ireland developed its first significant towns — Dublin, Waterford, Wexford, Cork and Limerick — system of weights and measures, and coinage. The introduction of advanced ship designs and development of coastal towns greatly expanded Ireland’s trade contacts with Europe, contacts that lasted long after the Vikings left.
It was into this world of Viking-dominated Ireland that Brian Boru was born around 940. He was the second of two sons born to Cennedig, chieftain of the Dal Cais, a royal tribe in Munster, primarily present-day County Clare. His brother Mahon eventually succeeded his father as chieftain of the tribe but faced growing hostility from the region’s powerful Viking king, Ivar of Limerick. Like many leaders in his day, Mahon decided to accept the authority of Ivar in exchange for peace and concessions. His brother Brian, however, had other ideas.
Having seen Viking treachery firsthand as a youth — his mother and many Dal Caissians were murdered during a Viking raid — Brian took some like-minded soldiers and headed for the hills. For the next few years they attacked Viking settlements and generally made life very difficult for Ivar of Limerick, not to mention Mahon. With every successful raid, Brian’s reputation grew, as did his army, as volunteers flocked to join the rebels. Eventually older brother Mahon came to appreciate Brian’s resistance to Viking rule and the two reunited with Mahon renouncing his earlier agreement with Ivar. Together they toppled a succession of Viking strongholds in Munster and when they marched on Limerick to attack Ivar, the latter fled back to his Scandanavian homeland.
Peace reigned for nearly a decade before Ivar returned seeking revenge. He captured and killed Mahon and stood poised to wage an all-out assault on the province when Brian issued a bold challenge. Would Ivar take him on in a one-on-one, winner-take-all fight? Ivar accepted and died in the ensuing contest. His army went home.
Brian was now the head of the Dal Caissian tribe, but his success on the field of battle had whetted his appetite for more power. Over the next decade, his armies swept across Munster, defeating Irish and Viking challengers alike. He also rebuilt many churches, monasteries and other institutions previously destroyed by the Vikings. By the early 980s, Brian was king of all Munster and for all practical purposes the whole southern half of Ireland. His only rival was Malachy II, the king of Meath, essentially the northern half of Ireland, and a member of the powerful O’Neill clan. In 998, the two met and formally divided Ireland between them, but in 1002. Malachy bowed to the inevitable and ceded his power to Brian.
Brian now ruled all Ireland under the title ard ri — the high king of Ireland. But his rule was tenuous, as many rivals, both Irish and Viking, waited for the opportunity to overthrow him. That moment arrived in 1013 when Maelmordha, king of Leinster, joined forces with the Vikings and revolted against Brian’s rule. The armies of Brian and Maelmordha, the latter comprised of mainly Vikings, converged on Clontarf, near Dublin in April 1014.
Seventy-three years old and in declining health, Brian nonetheless oversaw preparations and planning for the battle. On Good Friday, April 23, 1014, the Vikings attacked. Brian’s forces, largely under the direct command of his son Murrough, managed to get between the Maelmordha’s army and its ships at anchor in Dublin Bay, turning the clash into a rout. Thousands of Maelmordha’s soldiers were put to the sword and the rest were scattered. Never again would Viking armies pose a threat to Ireland.
Victory, however, came with a high price. Toward the end of the battle, Brian was slain in his tent by King Brodar of Man. Brian’s son, Murrough, also died in battle, as did many of Brian’s loyal lesser kings and nobles. The ensuing power vacuum led to the return of war and rivalry among many contenders for the title of high king. Several would claim the title, but unlike Brian none truly ruled of all Ireland.
Over the centuries, especially as Ireland eventually came under British rule, Brian Boru became the central figure in the nationalist memory — the man who embodied the idea of an independent, unified Irish nation.
HIBERNIAN HISTORY WEEK
April 24, 1916: The Easter Rising begins in Dublin.
April 26, 1805: U.S. Marines under Lt. Presley O’Bannon seize Derma, Libya, dealing a major blow to the Barbary Pirates harassing American and European shipping in the Eastern Mediterranean.
April 27, 1983: By notching his 3,509th career strikeout, Nolan Ryan of the Houston Astros surpassed Walter Johnson to become baseball’s career strikeout king.
HIBERNIAN BIRTHDATES
April 23, 1947: Northern Ireland civil rights leader and member of parliament Bernadette Devlin is born in Dungannon, Co. Tyrone.
April 25, 1906: Associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court William J. Brennan, Jr. is born in Newark, N.J.
April 28, 1878: Academy Award-winning actor Lionel Barrymore is born in Philadelphia.