With no one of Brian’s line left to claim the High Kingship, Ireland rapidly reverted to the disjoint and feuding kingdoms that had preceded Brian’s reign. Legend says that Brian, now an old man in his seventies, was killed by a fleeing Viking who found the old man at prayer for his lost son, grandson and in honor of Good Friday. Brian’s son and grandson were both killed in the battle. However, in winning the battle the Irish has also lost. The result was a slaughter Sitric and Mael Mordha killed and many of the Orkeny Vikings drowning as they attempted to flee in panic to their Longships as the tide was coming in. The battle swayed back and forth throughout the day when finally Brian’s forces gained the advantage. What resulted was one of the largest and bloodiest battles that Ireland had yet seen. Combining forces along with Viking allies that had been recruited by Sitric from the Orkney Islands they decided to challenge Brian at the Battle of Clontarf, located outside of what was then Dublin, on Good Friday April 23, 1014. In an attempt to consolidate his power through reconciliation, Brian had allowed Sitric, the Viking King of Dublin, and Mael Mordha King of Leinster to retain their positions after swearing loyalty to Brian. However, such a Golden Age would not last long. Relative peace and stability gave rise to a new golden age of Irish culture. It is said that Brian sent emissaries abroad in an attempt to acquire and return treasures and artifacts that had been taken from Ireland. Under Brian’s protection, the plundered monasteries were rebuilt. The next decade there was a period of relative peace and prosperity in Ireland. Brian became High King in name and fact with the submission of the then current High King, Malachy the II, in 1002. In 999 Brian captured Dublin, the last of the Viking cities yet to fall under his control. The title of Ard Ri was an ancient one, that had long been held by the O’Neill’s of Ulster, but it was more honor than substance, with the minor kings giving or withholding support as suited them. Brian avenged his brother’s death and assumed the throne of Munster.įor the next twenty years Brian would increase his power with a vision of becoming Ard Ri, “High King “of Ireland. Mathgamain success was short lived, he was betrayed by supposed allies and murdered. Brian’s older brother, Mathgamain, succeeded to the kingship of Munster and successfully captured and sacked the Viking settlement of Limerick. The Dal Cais had recently risen in power due to their strategic position of their lands straddling the river Shannon, which combined with knowledge gained from Norse tactics allowed them to become a formidable military force. Brian was the younger son of Cennedi, the King of the Dal Cais of north Munster. One of the contributing factors to the success of the Viking invasion was that the Ireland of that time was made up of dozens of small kingdoms and competing kings and chieftains. It was into this turbulent world, in the middle of the 10 th century, that Brian Boru was born. The result was the establishment of a chaotic and often violent status quo, with Viking Jarl and Irish Chieftain making alliances and breaking alliances as part of ongoing power struggles in both communities The drawback to these settlements for the Vikings is that they provided fixed targets for the Irish to attack. These Norse settlements would be the basis for the future Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Wicklow, Limerick and Stangford. The Vikings began building fortified towns, longphorts, near the sea which was the source of their strength. The Vikings were now no longer raiders, they were occupiers and colonists. In the winter of 841-842 the Vikings wintered in Ireland at a defensive position they had established: Dublin. The Viking tactics changed however in 837 sixty Viking longboats appeared in the river Boyne while another sixty appeared in the river Liffy and began to raid inland and plunder the great monasteries such as Clonamacnois. Hit and run raids along the Irish coast would continue for the next forty years. In 795, the Viking attacks on Ireland began with the sacking and burning of a monastery on Rathlin Island. A period of warming weather and a population explosion in what we now know as Scandinavia combined to unleash upon Europe a terror the likes of which had never been seen before: the Vikings. However, it would only be a matter of time before the “light” attracted the unwanted attention of those more interested in plunder than learning. While the rest of Europe plunged into darkness with the fall of the Roman Empire, the light of learning and western civilization was kept flickering in Ireland, preserved in the monasteries established by the followers of St. Artist Impression of Brian Boru from a 2002 Stamp issued by the Irish Postal Service
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