Wars of the Irish Kings (16 page)

The Age of Christ, 888 …. A great wind [occurred] on the festival of St. Martin of this year; and it prostrated many trees, and caused great destruction of the woods of Ireland, and swept oratories and other houses from their respective sites. A battle was gained by Riagan, son of Dunghal, over the foreigners of Port-Lairge, Loch-Carman, and Teach-Moling, in which two hundred heads were left behind. A battle was gained by North Connaught over the foreigners, in which Eloir, son of Barith, was slain. A battle was gained over the Eili by Maelguala and the men of Munster, at Caiseal, in which many noble youths were slain.

The Age of Christ, 919 …. Foreigners were defeated, a great number of them was slain, but a few of them escaped in the darkness at the very beginning of the night because they were not visible to them [the Irish]. A fleet of foreigners consisting of twenty-two ships at Loch Feabhail … and was plundered by them. Fearghal, son of Domhail, Lord of the North, was at strife with them, so that he slew the crew of one of their ships, broke the ship itself and carried off its wealth and goods.

A
N ENTRY FOR THE YEAR
820 in
The Annals of Ulster
reads: “The sea spewed forth floods of foreigners over Erin, so that no haven, no landing-place, no stronghold, no fort, no castle might be found, but it was submerged by waves of vikings and pirates.” That is an early mention of the warlike strangers who would come to dominate Irish history for the next two hundred years. The chroniclers called them Norsemen, Danes (no matter where they came from), black gentiles (actual Danes), Gauls, Lochlanns (men from the lakes, probably Norway), land-leapers, Osmen or Ostmen (men from the east), and—most simply and most frequently—the foreigners. And more often than not their sudden appearances were described as natural disasters, storms, tidal waves, or plagues of insects.

The first recorded Viking raid, in 795, was a small affair, a quick looting of an island—Rathlin or Lambay—by men from Norway, but over the next twenty-five years or so the small Norse raiding parties were supplanted by massive well-coordinated fleets of Viking ships manned by Danes. The early marauding bands in their small, fast ships first terrified the Irish with seemingly mindless destruction and then took away what valuables or slaves they could carry. Monasteries were a frequent target because, in the immortal words of the American bank robber Willie Sutton, that’s where the money was. Not only were many monasteries wealthy in themselves, but their strong walls and high towers—often more substantial than the neighborhood castle—safeguarded the community’s valuables. In a land with no cities and few villages, monasteries were also the population centers. One lasting result of these monastic raids is that the monk-historians represented the “foreigners” in their annals not only as thieves and vandals but also as enemies of God and the true church.

After those first years of hit-and-run pillage—which in fact was not unlike what rival Irish kings were doing to each other—the Vikings came to play a major role in the development of Ireland. They taught the Irish
how to live in cities. Before the arrival of the land-leapers and the black gentiles, there was nothing that even resembled a large town. Most of the major cities on the island have Viking roots. Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, and more, all have their origins as Viking trading centers, for although the foreigners arrived as raiders and kidnappers, they later became businessmen who established busy ports (founded as winter camps) both to carry out trade and to provide embarkation points for raids on other lands, notably Scotland and northern Britain.

Nor was it always easy to place the Irish on one side of a battle and Vikings on the other. Almost from the very beginning, Vikings made alliances with Irish leaders—however briefly—and took part in the ongoing skirmishes between and among the Irish kings. (And the Vikings themselves were hardly unified. At one point the Norse and the Danes were battling each other in Ireland, with the Danes claiming the blessing of St. Patrick.) As will become clear in
Part IV
of this book, even the famous battle at Clontarf in 1014—in which tradition says the Vikings were driven out of Ireland—was actually a fight between one Irish king and another Irish king with his Viking allies.

ANOTHER FLEET CAME INTO THE
harbour of Luimnech [Limerick, A.D. 834]; and Corco-Baiscinn, and Tradraighe, and Ui Conaill Gabhra were plundered by them. The Ui Conaill defeated them at Senati, under Donnchadh, son of Scannlan, king of Ui Conaill, and Niall, son of Cennfaeladh, and it is not known how many of them were there slain.

There came after that [A.D. 839] a great royal fleet into the north of Erinn, with Turgeis, who assumed the sovereignty of the foreigners of Erinn; and the north of Erinn was plundered by them, and they spread themselves over Leth Chuinn. A fleet of them also entered Loch Eathach,
and another fleet entered Lughbudh, and another fleet entered Loch Rai. Moreover, Ard Macha [Armagh] was plundered three times in the same months by them; and Turgeis himself usurped the abbacy of Ard Macha and Farannan, abbot of Ard Macha, and chief comharba [successor] of Patrick, was driven out, and went to Mumhain, and Patrick’s shrine with him; and he was four years in Mumhain, while Turgeis was in Ard Macha, and in the sovereignty of the north of Erinn ….

There came Turgeis, who [brought] a fleet upon Loch Rai, and from thence plundered Midhe and Connacht; and Cluain Mic Nois [Clonmacnoise] was plundered by him, and Cluain Ferta of Brenann, and Lothra, and Tir-dá-glas, and Inis Celtra [monasteries of Meath and Connaught], and all the churches of Derg-dheirc, in like manner; and the place where Ota, the wife of Turgeis, used to give her audience was upon the altar of Cluain Mic Nois. The Connachtmen, however, gave them battle, in which Maelduin, son of Muirghes, royal heir apparent of Connacht, was slain.

After this came three score and five ships, and landed at Dubhlinn of Athcliath [Dublin] and Laghin [Leinster] was plundered to the sea by them, and Magh Bregh. But the Dal Riada [a clan in Antrim] met them in another battle, in which was slain Eoghan, son of Oengus, king of Dal Riada.

After this there came great sea-cast floods of foreigners into Erinn, so that there was not a point thereof without a fleet. It was by these that Bri-Gobhann [Munster] was plundered, and Tressach, son of Mechill, killed. A fleet came to Ciarraighe Luachra, and all was plundered by them to Cill Ita and Cuil Emhni; and the Martini of Mumhain were plundered by the fleet of Luimnech, who carried off Farannan of Ard Macha, from Cluain Comairdi to Luimneach, and they broke Patrick’s shrine.

It was in this year [A.D. 845] Turgeis was taken prisoner by Maelsechlainn; and he was afterwards drowned in Loch Uair, viz., the year before the drowning of Niall Cailli, and the second year before the death of Fedhlimidh, son of Crimhthann; and it was in the time of these two that all these events took place. Now, when Turgeis was killed, Farannan, abbot of Ard Macha, went out of Mumhain [to Ard Macha], and the shrine of Patrick was repaired by him.

Now the same year in which Farannan was taken prisoner, the shrine of Patrick broken, and the churches of Mumhain plundered, [the foreigners] came to Ros Creda [Roscrea, A.D. 845] on the festival of Paul and Peter, when the fair had begun; and they were given battle, and the foreigners were defeated through the grace of Paul and Peter, and countless numbers of them were killed there; and Earl Onphile was struck there with a stone by which he was killed. Much, indeed, of evil and distress did
they receive, and much was received from them in those years, which is not recorded at all.

There came after that a fleet of three score ships of the Northmen upon the Boinn [Boyne]; and Bregia and Midhe were plundered by them. [Another] fleet came and settled on Loch Echach, and these plundered all before them to Ard-Macha. Another fleet came and settled on the river of Liffe, and Magh Bregh was plundered by them, both country and churches.

There came after that a very great fleet into the south of Ath-Cliath, and the greater part of Erinn was plundered by them; they plundered, also, Hí of Colum Cille, and Inis Muireoc, and Damhinis, and Glenn dá Locha, and the whole of Laighin, as far as to Achadh Ur, and to Achadh Bó, and to Liath Mocaemhoc, and to Daire-mór, and to Cluain Ferta Molua, and to Ros Cre, and to Lothra, where they broke the shrine of Ruadhan, and they spoiled Cluain Mic Nois, [and as far as Saighir,] and on to Durmhagh ….

The [Viking] Earl, Oiter Dubh [Black Otter], came with an hundred ships to Port Lairge, and the east of Mumhain [Waterford] was plundered by him, and its south; and he put all under tribute and service to the foreigners; and he levied his royal rent upon them. The whole of Mumhain [Munster] became filled with immense floods, and countless sea-vomitings of ships, and boats, and fleets, so that there was not a harbour, nor a landing-port, nor a Dún [
dun
, fort], nor a fortress, nor a fastness, in all Mumhain, without fleets of Danes and pirates.

There came there, also, the fleet of Oiberd, and the fleet of Oduinn, and the fleet of Griffin, and the fleet of Snuatgar, and the fleet of Lagmann, and the fleet of Erolf, and the fleet of Sitriuc, and the fleet of Buidnin, and the fleet of Birndin, and the fleet of Liagrislach, and the fleet of Toirberdach, and the fleet of Eoan Barun, and the fleet of Milid Buu, and the fleet of Suimin, and the fleet of Suainin, and lastly the fleet of the Inghen Ruaidh. And assuredly the evil which Erinn had hitherto suffered was as nothing compared to the evil inflicted by these parties. The entire of Mumhain, without distinction, was plundered by them, on all sides, and devastated. And they spread themselves over Mumhain; and they built Duns, and fortresses, and landing-ports, over all Erinn, so that there was no place in Erinn without numerous fleets of Danes and pirates; so that they made spoil-land, and sword-land, and conquered-land of her, throughout her breadth, and generally; and they ravaged her chieftainries, and her privileged churches, and her sanctuaries; and they rent her shrines, and her reliquaries, and her books. They demolished her beautiful ornamented temples; for neither veneration, nor honour, nor mercy for Termonn, nor protection for church, or for sanctuary, for God, or for
man, was felt by this furious, ferocious, pagan, ruthless, wrathful people. In short, until the sand of the sea, or the grass of the field, or the stars of heaven are counted, it will not be easy to recount, or to enumerate, or to relate what the Gaedhil [Irish] all, without distinction, suffered from them: whether men or women, boys or girls, laics or clerics, freemen or serfs, old or young;—indignity, outrage, injury, and oppression. In a word, they killed the kings and the chieftains, the heirs to the crown, and the royal princess of Erinn. They killed the brave and the valiant; and the stout knights, champions, and soldiers, and young lords, and the greater part of the heroes and warriors of the entire Gaedhil; and they brought them under tribute and servitude; they reduced them to bondage and slavery. Many were the blooming, lively women; and the modest, mild, comely maidens; and the pleasant, noble, stately, blue-eyed young women; and the gentle, well brought up youths, and the intelligent, valiant champions, whom they carried off into oppression and bondage over the broad green sea. Alas! many and frequent were the bright and brilliant eyes that were suffused with tears, and dimmed with grief and despair, at the separation of son from father, and daughter from mother, and brother from brother, and relatives from their race and from their tribe.