Brian Boru and the Battle of Clontarf

Sean Duffy

• Éditeur: Gill Books
• Année: 2013
• ISBN:
  9780717157761
• Sujet: History
• Sous-sujet: Irish History

Brian Boru is the most famous Irish person before the modern era, whose death at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014 is one of the few events in the whole of Ireland's medieval history to retain a place in the popular imagination.

Once, we were told that Brian, the great Christian king, gave his life in a battle on Good Friday against pagan Viking enemies whose defeat banished them from Ireland forever. More recent interpretations of the Battle of Clontarf have played down the role of the Vikings and portrayed it as merely the final act in a rebellion against Brian, the king of Munster, by his enemies in Leinster and Dublin.

This book proposes a far-reaching reassessment of Brian Boru and Clontarf. By examining Brian's family history and tracing his career from its earliest days, it uncovers the origins of Brian's greatness and explains precisely how he changed Irish political life forever.

Brian Boru and the Battle of Clontarf offers a new interpretation of the role of the Vikings in Irish affairs and explains how Brian emerged from obscurity to attain the high-kingship of Ireland because of his exploitation of the Viking presence. And it concludes that Clontarf was deemed a triumph, despite Brian's death, because of what he averted – a major new Viking offensive in Ireland – on that fateful day.

PART I

Brian Boru’s world

Chapter 1

| THE FAMILY OF BRIAN BORU

We must not think of Brian Bóraime as a man raised from the dust, a pauper-turned-prince. He was born into nobility. True, as we have seen, the wider dynastic group to which he belonged has a name, the Déisi, that means ‘vassalry’, but it does not imply non-noble status, merely a position subordinate to the main royal lineages of Munster, the Eóganachta.¹

THE DÉIS TUAISCIRT

Brian belonged to a branch of the Déisi called Déis Tuaiscirt (Northern Déis), and they get honourable mention in public affairs as far back as the year 680 or thereabouts, when an ordinance was promulgated in west Munster called Cáin Fhuithirbe (‘Fuithibre’s Law’). This contains a catalogue of southern lords, among whom we find ‘the king of the Déis Tuaiscirt,’ although his name is not given.²

Some years later, in 697, a great gathering of the kings and leading churchmen of Ireland, Dál Riata and Pictland was held at Birr (Co. Offaly), at which the Cáin Adomnáin (‘Adomnán’s Law’) was put into effect. Otherwise known as the Lex Innocentium (‘Law of the Innocents’), it was a remarkable measure for protecting non-combatants—women, children, and clerics—from violence and the effects of war by means of a system of fines and guarantors. Included in the list of guarantors are ninety-one senior Irish and Scottish ecclesiastical and secular figures, and among the dozen or so Munster kings listed we find ‘Andelaith, king of the Déis Tuaiscirt (Andelaith rí in Deissi Tuaiscirt)’.³ This Andelaith, or Andlid, as the genealogists call him, had a brother who is credited with bestowing Inis Sibthonn (King’s Island at Limerick) on St Mainchín or Munchin, which if true would prove that the dynasty ruled that area by the late seventh century.⁴ And what the annals for 744 bluntly describe as ‘Destruction of Corco Mruad by the Déis (Foirddbe Corcu Mu Druadh don Deiss)’ was presumably a milestone on the advance of the Déis Tuaiscirt in Co. Clare, as this was the Corco Mruad’s homeland. This would explain why Aindlid’s grandson Torpaid, who died in the late 760s, is styled in one set of annals tigherna na n-Déisi (‘lord of the Déisi’) and in another ríg Corc m-Drúad (‘king of Corco Mruad’).⁵

UÍ THAIRDELBAIG

But Aindlid and Torpaid were not direct ancestors of Brian (see table 1).⁶ They, and no doubt several of their heirs as kings of the Déis Tuaiscirt, were of the branch of the dynasty called Uí Óengusso, descended from Aindlid’s great-grandfather Óengus (son of Cáirthenn Finn son of Blat), who lived about the year 600. Instead Brian’s people were descended from Óengus’s brother Eochu Ballderg, and their lineage name was Uí Thairdelbaig, from an eponym Tairdelbach who lived seven generations before Brian, some time in the eighth century. Tairdelbach had five sons, one of whom was St Flannán of Killaloe, which accounts for the family’s patronage of this ecclesiastical site. If these traditions are true, and as Tairdelbach probably lived before the Viking Age, this area—very much the dynasty’s later heartland—was presumably theirs already at that time.⁷

From another of Tairdelbach’s sons, Mathgamain, the lineage traced its descent, through his son Anlón (see table 2). The latter, the genealogists tell us, had one son, Corcc, who in turn had only one son, Lachtna, who, rather remarkably, also had only one son—showing how fragile a lineage can be—and he was Brian’s grandfather, Lorcán.

We do not know when and how Uí Thairdelbaig managed to outmanoeuvre their Uí Óengusso kinsmen and gain the ascendency. One possibility is that the latter were undermined by the Vikings of Limerick. We know from the annals that the year 836 witnessed a ‘slaughter of battle over the Déis Tuaiscirt by the heathens (Ar catha forsin Dess Tuaisceirt o genntib),’⁸ and the pseudo-historical tract called Cogadh Gáedhel re Gallaibh (‘The war of the Irish with the Foreigners’) places among the events of the following year a revenge victory by the Déis Tuaiscirt on Lough Derg,⁹ although Limerick is not specifically mentioned in either account.

By 845, however, there was known to be a Viking fleet operating out of the Shannon Estuary. Its forces raided inland to capture the abbot of Armagh—then making a circuit of the district—at Cluain Comarda (Colmanswell, Co. Limerick) and brought him back a hostage to longaibh Luimnigh, the ships in the estuary at or near Limerick.¹⁰ When this later became a permanent base the Viking fortress was on Inis Sibthonn (King’s Island), and we have seen that this may previously have belonged to Uí Óengusso (if the tradition of their granting a church site there to St Mainchín is to be believed).

All we can say for certain is that by the time of Brian’s grandfather Lorcán or even of his great-grandfather Lachtna the Uí Óengusso were in rapid decline and a transfer of power to Brian’s line of the dynasty was in prospect. We can tell this from the very first recorded mention of Uí Thairdelbaig. It is in a version of the Tripartite Life of St Patrick that was possibly written some time after 900 or so, which, in describing Patrick’s alleged journeys around Ireland, is careful to include encounters with all the people who matter. It is interesting, therefore, that the account of the saint’s journey through north Munster has him at Saingel (Singland, just east of Limerick), where he met a certain Cáirthenn Finn, son of Blat. This man was the father of both Óengus (ancestor of the Uí Óengusso) and Eochu Ballderg (from whom the Uí Thairdelbaig descend).

If the Uí Óengusso were still on top we might expect some mention; instead Cáirthenn Finn is called simply ‘ancestor of Clann Tairdelbaig (sen Clanne Tairdelbaig)’, i.e. the Uí Thairdelbaig. What is more, we are told that before being blessed and baptised by Patrick all Cáirthenn’s children were born deformed but that the saint worked a miracle that brought forth Eochu, who was given the nickname Ballderg (‘red-spot’ or ‘red-member’) in memory of the blood clot from which Patrick created him!¹¹ Obviously, the author is working hard to prove that the rightful kings of the Déis Tuaiscirt are Uí Thairdelbaig.

BRIAN’S EARLIEST KNOWN FAMILY MEMBERS

The earliest members of Brian’s family mentioned in the historical record (other than a later genealogy) are Connadar and Ainéislis ‘of the Uí Thairdelbaig (d’Úibh Tairdealbaigh)’, who are said to have been killed at the great battle of Belach Mugna (Ballaghmoon, Co. Carlow) in 908.¹² Brian’s grandfather Lorcán was probably the head of the lineage at that point, and Connadar and Ainéislis may have been his siblings (and perhaps they were unknown to later genealogists because of their early death without issue). Belach Mugna was the battle in which the Uí Néill king of Tara, Flann Sinna of Clann Cholmáin, triumphed over the Eóganacht king of Cashel, Cormac mac Cuilennáin, but the Uí Thairdelbaig died fighting on the latter’s losing side.

If true, this is potentially significant, because such an association with the Eóganachta might well help to explain how the Uí Thairdelbaig came to displace their Uí Óengusso kinsmen. The problem is that the story of the men’s deaths is not preserved in the straightforward annalistic accounts of the battle but rather in the so-called ‘Fragmentary’ Annals of Ireland, a later narrative in which the bare contemporary record has been much embellished for literary effect. So perhaps we should not read too much into it. Interestingly, though, appended to the annal entry is a poem on the battle that also refers to Connadar and Ainéislis. It is ascribed to Dallán mac Móire, the earliest of the Irish court poets whose work survives in any quantity. He was the ollam or chief poet to the Uí Fáeláin king of Leinster, Cerball mac Muirecáin (died 909), and six poems survive that are generally thought to be authentic.¹³ If Dallán’s poem is genuine it would obviously serve to corroborate the annal account, especially as part of it (though unfortunately not the quatrain referring to Connadar and Ainéislis) is attested elsewhere, being preserved in the Annals of the Four Masters.

THE MAG ADAIR INAUGURATION SITE

As well as listing Connadar and Ainéislis among the dead in the battle at Ballaghmoon, Dallán refers to Connadar as being ‘of Mag Adair (Connadhar din Adhar-mhaigh)’ and to Ainéislis as ‘of the Bórama (Aineslis din Borumha)’. Mag Adair (Moyare Park) is the plain between Tulla and Quin on which the dynasty’s inauguration site was situated, and this flat-topped mound still survives (see plate 7), surrounded by a bank and ditch, not far from which is a stone pillar that may also have played a part in the inauguration of the king.¹⁴ The site also had a sacred tree called a bile, which evidently played a role in the fertility rite that was part of the royal inauguration ceremony, during which at a later period, presumably reflecting an ancient ritual, the new king was conferred with a white wand called the ‘rod of kingship (slat na rige)’, which was doubtless cut from the sacred tree.¹⁵

The significance of this tree as a symbol of sovereignty is evident from enemy attacks on it. In 981, when the king of Tara brought an army south to counter the rising threat from Brian, ‘the bile of Óenach Maige Adair was cut, after being dug from the earth along with its roots (bile Aonaigh Maighe h-Adhar do thesccadh iarna tochailt a talmhain cona frémaibh),’ presumably in an attempt to deny Brian his legitimacy; but another was apparently planted in its place, because we know that seventy years later ‘the bile of Mag Adair was felled by Áed Ua Conchobair (Bile Maige Adar do thascrad do Áed h-Ú Chonchobuir)’ when the latter king of Connacht invaded Munster.¹⁶

The mention in 981 that the sacred tree was in Óenach Maige Adair is also significant, because it shows that Mag Adair was not merely Brian’s inauguration place but the site of his dynasty’s óenach, the meeting-place for the assembly of its inhabitants, where public business was conducted, where the king might promulgate an ordinance in a time of crisis, where sporting contests took place between the communities, and where no doubt a market-place evolved (and thus in later Irish the word aonach came to mean a fair or market). Indeed the great Limerick antiquary Thomas Johnson Westropp visited the site in 1891 and reported that even then ‘the older peasantry remembered its great meetings, held down to the time of the famine, no doubt a survival of the ancient fair, or merrymaking of Eanagh Magh Adhair.’¹⁷

BÓRAMA

The Ainéislis who died in 908 is referred to in Dallán’s poem as ‘of the Bórama (Aineslis din Borumha)’. The word bórama comes from bó-rím or bó-ríme (‘cattle-counting’) and came to mean ‘cattle-tribute’, but the ‘Bórama’ of the poem is a place, a place that presumably got its name because it was where cattle offered as tribute were gathered and counted.¹⁸ And the place in question, sometimes called Bórama and sometimes Bél Bóraime (‘the mouth of Bórama’, i.e. the entrance to Bórama), is an impressively large ring-fort on the west bank of the Shannon less than 2 km north of Killaloe (see plates 2 and 3). It may have taken its name from the ford at Killaloe on the Shannon (where the bridge is now), which is called Áth na Bóraime (plate 1; map 7), either because it was the ford that cattle-tribute was traditionally brought across or because it was the ford one crossed to get to Bórama. And presumably Ainéislis is referred to in Dallán’s poem as ‘of the Bórama’ because of a belief that he resided in or was associated with the great ring-fort of that name.

This word bórama, of course, gives us Brian’s famous epithet, generally anglicised as Boru. There has always been a doubt about whether he got the nickname because of a reputation for imposing cattle-tribute or because of an association with the place called Bórama or Bél Bóraime near Killaloe. In other words, is he ‘Brian of the cattle-tribute’ or ‘Brian of Bél Bóraime’? The balance of the evidence favours the latter explanation. There is one piece of evidence that would point to ‘Brian of the cattle-tribute’, and that is a poem by the great twelfth-century historian and bardic poet Gilla na Náem Ua Duinn (died 1160), which refers to the Battle of Clontarf as ‘the battle of Brian of the cattle (cath Bhriain in buair)’.¹⁹ Evidently, if he was Brian of a place called Bórama rather than a thing called bórama (i.e. cattle-tribute) the confusion began early!

We must balance Ua Duinn’s poetic reference against another in a poem (on the subject of three famous trees of Ireland) that is said to have been written by Brian’s famous contemporary Cúán ua Lothcháin (died 1024), a man who would have known Brian well, having served at the court of his rival and predecessor as kigh-king, Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill. In this poem the author specifically refers to him as ‘Brian of Ireland from Bórama (Brian na Banba a Bórumi)’.²⁰ This strikingly parallels the poem ascribed to Dallán mac Móire that described Brian’s putative ancestor Ainéislis as ‘of the Bórama (Aineslis din Borumha)’. The historical tract on Brian called Cogadh Gáedhel re Gallaibh refers to Brian’s dynasty as ‘Dál Cais of Bórama (Dail Cais Boruma)’, includes an elegy for Brian’s brother Mathgamain in which the latter is styled ‘fiery king of Bórama (rí bruthmar Bóroimhe)’, and specifically includes Bórama among the fortifications of Munster that it claims Brian built (do ronad . . . Boruma).²¹ In an elegy allegedly written for Tadc Ua Cellaig, the king of Uí Maine who died fighting alongside Brian at Clontarf, the high-king is referred to variously as Brian Bóraime and Brian Bóirne; and as the latter refers to a place, the Burren in Co. Clare, it heightens the chances that the former does likewise, i.e. the ring-fort at Bórama or Bél Bóraime.²²

If this poem, sometimes ascribed to Muirchertach mac Liacc (died 1014 or 1016), were genuinely of that vintage it would be the earliest occurrence of the famous soubriquet; but there are reasons for doubting it.²³ Likewise, he is called Brian Bóraime in an entry in the Annals of Tigernach for the year 992, but with annals one can never rule out the possibility that they have been tampered with at a later date; at least with a poem it was harder to do this, as the requirement for rhyme and alliteration minimises the opportunities to cut and paste. As against this we can be reasonably confident of the early date of the king-list preserved in the Book of Leinster, attributed to the eleventh-century historian and poet Gilla Cóemáin, which mentions ‘the destruction of Brian Bóraime (díbad Briain Boroma)’.²⁴

Other evidence suggests that there is every likelihood that Brian did have Bórama as one of his principal residences, along with Cenn Corad (usually anglicised as Kincora), which seems ...