1014: Brian Boru & the Battle for Ireland

Morgan Llywelyn

• Publisher: The O'Brien Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781847175571
• eBook ISBN: 9781847176554
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

The date was Good Friday, April 23rd in the Year of Our Lord 1014. The most ferocious battle ever fought in Ireland was about to begin...

In the three decades since Morgan Llyweyln wrote the bestselling novel Lion of Ireland, she has studied the legendary life of Brian Boru, High King of Ireland. Often dismissed as a mythical figure, as all the known facts about him are contained within the several Irish annals. But thirty years of research have led Llyweyln to conclude with certainty that Brian Boru actually lived, a great battle took place in 1014: and Ireland won.

Read about the life of Brian Boru and the battle that changed the course of Irish history in this exciting and accessible account.

CHAPTER ONE

IRELAND

In 1014 Ireland did not think of itself as a nation or as a political entity. The concept of ‘nationhood’ was unknown. Poets referred to the land of many tribes as Erin, after an ancient goddess named Eriu. The inhabitants called themselves the Gael, or the Scoti. On maps drawn by the geographers of antiquity the island west of Britain was called Hibernia, from the Latin word hibernus, meaning ‘wintry’.

The Gael of Ireland belonged to one of several branches descended from a passionate and energetic warrior race whom the early Greeks identified as the Keltoi, or Celts. As with most things concerning the Celts, there is controversy about their origins, even about their right to be called a race. The Celtic homeland is described as extending from Bohemia in Germany to Silesia in southwestern Poland. The majority of modern anthropologists trace the Celts through their linguistic ties back to the Indo-Europeans, people of the steppes north of the Black Sea who migrated throughout continental Europe before the third millennium BC and became one of the foundations of western civilisation.

Archaeological studies indicate that the Gael reached Ireland by sea around the end of the Bronze Age. They brought iron weapons with them, enabling them to supplant the Bronze Age inhabitants who, in turn, had replaced Neolithic Man. At first the settlers probably intermarried with the surviving natives. There were no more incomers. For over a thousand years the Gael held undisputed sway over the land of Ireland. Great courage, a love of beauty, and a reverence for the natural world were amongst the qualities they admired and pursued. This was the culture that eventually produced the Book of Kells, the Tara Brooch, thousands of other works of art, and the Brehon law, which was described in 1987 by the Rt Honourable John J Flaherty, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania as ‘the most humane and realistic legal system ever devised’. But more of that later.

From their point of view, the Gael had found paradise at the edge of the Atlantic. Their island, which is about the size of the American state of Maine, was rich in the natural resources needed to support a pastoral, semi-nomadic lifestyle. The movement of glaciers during the Ice Age had carved the island into a fertile central plain ringed by coastal highlands. Although in the same latitude as Labrador, Ireland benefited from mild southwesterly winds and the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, which created a temperate climate. The island as a whole was a near-wilderness of timeless beauty. Much of the land was covered by expanses of mixed forest, primarily oak, but also hazel, ash, rowan, holly and yew. Thus there was an endless supply of timber to build shelter and to fuel fires. Field and forest abounded with game, rivers and lakes swarmed with fish, and the coasts provided a wide variety of shellfish. There also were deposits of gold, silver and copper to create the spectacular personal ornaments beloved of the Gael.

With everything they needed provided by the island on which they lived, the Gael had little inclination to venture further afield. A few did turn to piracy, harrying British sea lanes and occasionally seizing slaves; Saint Patrick was first brought to Ireland as a slave. For the most part, the Gael lived much as their warrior forebears had done on the European continent. Surrounded by water on all sides, Ireland was isolated for many centuries. The male population had no one to hone their battle skills upon but one another. This they did, with gusto. The tribes fought each other until battle became both sport and art, a way of life by which they defined themselves.

During the first millennium after Christ, Ireland contained between 100 and 150 semi-autonomous petty kingdoms, each made up of several tribes. Every tribe had its own chieftain; every kingdom had its own king who was elected from amongst the suitable members of the most powerful tribe. These petty kings had the right to demand tribute, a form of tax which usually consisted of cattle and warriors, from the tribes in their territory. They raised armies to fight other kings for territorial conquest, for the enforcement of hegemony, or to plunder and weaken a rival kingdom. The size and prosperity of the individual kingdoms waxed and waned with the fortunes of war. The victors were immortalised by the poets.

To add to the divisiveness, the island consisted of five separate and semi-autonomous provinces: Ulster (Uladh in Irish) in the north; Leinster (Laighin) in the east; Connacht (Connachta) in the west; Munster (Mumhan) in the south; and in the centre, Meath (Mídhe), the royal province. These were ruled by provincial kings to whom the petty kings in their territory owed tribute. The provincial kings, in turn, owed tribute to an overlord known as the Árd Rí, or high king, whose traditional seat was at Tara in Meath. Tara today is a long grassy ridge often occupied by grazing sheep. From its elevation on a clear day one can see mountains in each of the other four provinces, a kingly view indeed.

In no stage of Irish history had the term ‘high king’ implied monarchy. No high king governed all of Ireland. The Árd Rí reigned but did not rule. His subjects were the provincial kings who owed him tribute and courted his patronage to support their individual power. This arrangement likewise controlled the downward dispersion of property through petty kings and clan chieftains. Below the nobles were the freemen, and on the lowest rung of the ladder, the slaves, most of whom were captives taken in war. Slavery was not a permanent condition. A slave could buy his or her freedom, and many did.

The office of king, of whatever rank, was elective. In the case of the provincial kings and the high king it was restricted to the princely class, which included anyone whose great-grandfather had been a king. Male members of this class were obliged to undergo a very specific training, both mental and physical. The eldest son of a king did not automatically inherit his father’s role. So long as there was an eligible member of his family who had the support of the other tribes, that person might accede to the kingship if he was of the age, strength, and character to suit the office. Thus the method of choosing a king was not fully one of merit, nor fully elective, nor fully hereditary, but a combination of all three. In the case of the Árd Rí, the family from which he came was of paramount importance. For centuries the high king was elected from either the northern or southern branches of the Uí Néill, the family with the longest history of high kingship.

Until one man changed that.

The Gael developed a highly stratified society conforming to an elaborate system known as Brehon law. Brehons were judges, members of the intellectual class that included teachers, healers, and bards. Bards were highly revered – a poet was considered the equal of a prince, a gifted satirist could topple a king. Brehons, as interpreters of the law, were concerned with every aspect of tribal life, from governing the election of kings to writing statutes concerning beekeeping.

Under Brehon law women had a degree of equality with men. Whether single or married they could inherit property and conduct its usage. The importance of women’s work was shown by the value assigned to their implements: a needle used in embroidery was valued at an ounce of silver, or part ownership of a yearling heifer. In case of divorce, which was common in early Ireland, a woman’s dowry might be returned to her. Polygamy was accepted if all parties consented, although in certain circumstances, such as incest, adultery was punishable by death. There was no such thing as illegitimacy: any act which resulted in a child was considered a marriage. There were no orphans. If a child’s parents were dead, he or she was fostered by other members of the tribe.

Because the pre-Christian Gael had no written language, their history was painstakingly memorised by their bards over a period as long as twenty years. Poetry in its primitive form was a chant of pure emotion, speaking directly to the spirit. Captured in poetry like a fly in amber, Ireland’s history and genealogies were transmitted from one generation to the next virtually intact.

In the sixth century, Christianity arrived in Ireland together with its concomitant literacy. The new faith was superimposed on the ancient druidic tradition without a substantial struggle. Ireland underwent an almost bloodless conversion as kings and princes gradually accepted fresh ideas. The majority of the Gael, who had a long history of loyalty to their chosen leaders, followed them into the worship of Christ. Canon law took its place beside Brehon law in Gaelic society. For a long time observance appears to have been optional, however.

The people remained pastoral. The only towns of any size were those which developed around monastic centres. Tribal warfare continued unabated; cattle raids were as frequent as ever. Bands of outlaws, even if avowed Christians, were not above looting a monastery.

Literacy offered a fresh outlet for the artistic impulse. Masterpieces like the Book of Kells testify to a new faith and a soaring imagination. Christian craftsmen turned native gold and silver into objects of breathtaking beauty, such as the Ardagh Chalice. The Ireland of saints and scholars existed for several generations – but it could not last.

If the Gael were content to stay at home, others were not. The last decade of the eighth century saw the arrival of the Vikings. Their power in Ireland would reach its zenith with the Battle of Clontarf.

‘Viking’ was an appellation applied impartially to sea rovers from Norway and Denmark, as well as to adventurers from Sweden, Jutland, Iceland, and the islands and coasts of the Baltic. These people did not actually call themselves Vikings until the twelfth century, however. The origin of the word viking is something of a mystery. It may have been a verb describing what the Scandinavians did during three centuries of their history: they were seagoing marauders, they were Northmen who went ‘viking’.

Another term applied to them was ‘Land Leaper’, meaning someone who seizes another’s land. During the cold, dark, interminable nights of winter in northern Europe, a man could only dream of the sun – of green grass, of golden fields of grain. Dream … and long … and ultimately determine to find. And seize for himself. This very human urge motivated one of the most violent eras in history, but it was not the only cause.

A rise in the population of Scandinavia, which began in the seventh century, reached a climax in the tenth, putting great pressure on land and resources. Added to this was the resentment of the Norse jarls, or noblemen, with their own independent earldoms, at efforts being made to unify Norway under one crown.

The result of these forces coming together was an explosion of Vikings onto the world stage.

As with most of early history, facts about this period have been exaggerated and embellished until the underlying kernel of truth may be hard to find. A predilection for embroidering history is not unique to the Irish. Down through the ages famous historians have refused to let the truth get in the way of a colourful story. Plato, Herodotus, Giraldus Cambrensis – and that master propagandist, Julius Caesar – all employed creative fiction to suit their purposes. Thus it is not surprising that something as momentous in its time as the Battle of Clontarf has been heavily mythologised. The protagonists were always prime candidates for myth – none more so than the Vikings.

During the ninth and tenth centuries the political situation in Ireland had changed dramatically. Adding Vikings to the mix destabilised a complex societal structure built on blood and hereditary ties, an archaic code of law, and shifting military alliances. It also seemed to herald an increase in violence among the native Irish, who could not fail to be affected by the actions of the invaders.

The Norse and Swedes, whom the Gael identified as ‘the fair foreigners’ in the beginning, and the Danes, whom they described as ‘the dark foreigners’, often fought among themselves – not unlike the Irish. The Viking concept of warfare was somewhat different, however. They considered battle an end in itself, a transforming experience which could open the gates to Valhalla, their idea of heaven. The Gael usually respected their dead enemies. The Vikings practised a variety of mutilations on theirs. Two of the most frequently cited example...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Author’s Note
• Foreword The Rt. Hon. Conor O’Brien
• Introduction
• Maps
• Prologue: Morning
• Chapter 1: Ireland
• Chapter 2: Ireland in the Tenth Century
• Chapter 3: Vikings
• Chapter 4: The Principals
• Chapter 5: A Spark in Dry Tinder
• Chapter 6: The Northern Conspiracy
• Chapter 7: Call to Arms
• Chapter 8: The Dragons Are Coming
• Chapter 9: The Week Before
• Chapter 10: The Battleground
• Chapter 11: Battle Morning: Sunrise, 23 April 1014
• Chapter 12: Attack!
• Chapter 13: The End of the Day
• Chapter 14: Sunset
• Chapter 15: Afterword
• Kincora
• Select Bibliography
• About the Author
• Copyright