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This transfer took place at Athlone in 1003, where Brian, joined by the men of Leinster and the Danes, defeated Southern Hy-Niall and the Conacians; and whether the original motive of Brian's opposition was selfish, as asserted by Tighernach,' who was almost a cotemporary writer, or the exigencies of the time, the consequences were the terminating of the frequent and fatal quarrels between the inferior princes and chiefs, and final subjugation of the Danes. On the abdication of Malachy, who still retained the title of King of Meath, and afterwards served under the supreme King, Brian became sovereign in chief, and having received the homage of Cahall O'Connor, King of Connaught, and other Kings of that province, he set out for Ulster at the head of an army of twenty thousand men.

Brian's progress to enforce the submission of the Northern Princes appears to have been unopposed until he reached the locality known as Ballysadare, when the determined attitude of the enemy compelled him to retreat. But in his next expedition he was more successful. Accompanied on this occasion, as before, by the dynasts of Leath Mogah, he traversed Meath, and was honorably received at Armagh by Maelmurry, the Archbishop, and left a gold collar weighing twenty ounces, as an offering on the high altar of the Cathedral. After this munificent oblation, the value of which may be estimated as about £800, he proceeded to the royal seat of the Dalriadans in Antrim, called Rathmore-Muige-Line, where he received hostages from the Princes of that territory as well as from the other chiefs of Leth-Cuinn.

Brian made various expeditions of this character, and frequently brought away such chieftains as resisted him to his fortress at Kincora amongst others, the Lord of Kinel Connel upon his refusing to give him hostages, which Brian at last extorted by force from the Kinel Eoghain, thus completing the subjugation of the illustrious house of the northern Hy-Nialls. This event took place about six years after Brian's offering at Armagh which, occurred in 1004, on which occasion he signed a confirmation of the usual grant to the Clergy of Armagh, under the style of "Imperator Scotorum," an entry which is still extant in the Book of Armagh.

After this victorious progress through Ulster, Brian proceeded to Tara, where he was solemnly crowned. He had now subjugated all his enemies, and had time to turn his thoughts to the improvement of his kingdom, to which he contributed in an extraordinary degree by the enactment of salutary laws, by the re-establishment of churches and educational establishments, and by the construction and repair of bridges, causeways and various public works, restoring to their old possessors the property taken from them by the Danes, raising fortresses and palaces, and putting an end to the existing confusion in genealogies by ordaining that all the branches of the Irish races should in future have surnames.

Brian's authority as supreme King was now fully established, and after the peaceful interval, which he had employed to such good purpose, the advantage of even an enforced alliance between the several inferior Kings was shown by new projects on the part of his antagonists, the Danes. The deposed monarch Malachy having been defeated by Maolmordna, King of Leinster and his Danish allies, had presented himself at Kincora to solicit the assistance of Brian, but had been unsuccessful; in the summer of the same year Brian found the movements of the Danes so menacing that he

1 Annals of Tigernach.

was compelled once more to take the field; and having devastated the territory of Ossory in his march, pitched his camp in the locality at present known as Kilmainham. Having returned, however, to Kincora with his spoils, the Danes, encouraged by his absence, and recovering from the severe defeats which they had sustained from his son Morrogh, had summoned their allies from Scotland, from the Orkneys, from the Hebrides, from the Shetland Islands, from the Islands of the Baltic, and even from Denmark, Norway and other parts of Scandinavia, inviting the northern pirates to make a common effort for the complete subjugation of Ireland. The summons was obeyed with alacrity.

Ön Palm Sunday, the 18th April, 1014, a powerful fleet, containing the contingents furnished from all parts of the world where the Danes resided, including some Norman, French, Belgians, and Britons from Wales and Cornwall, arrived in the bay of Dublin, under the command of Brodar, the Danish admiral.-The entire of these combined forces amounted to 12,000 men, and their Irish allies, the Lagenians, numbered 9,000, in all 21,000 men-the Lagenians being furnished by the counties of Wexford, Carlow, Wicklow, and Kildare, with part of the Queen's and King's County, the Princes of which were in alliance with the Danes, and related by blood to Sitric, King of Dublin, whose mother, Gormlaith or Kormloda, the repudiated wife of Brian Boru, is said to have invited the noted pirates, Brodar and Upsous, or Upsacus, to join the confederacy against her royal consort.

About 20,000 men composed the amount of Brian's army, of whom the Dalcassians or troops of Thomond collected from Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary, were commanded by himself in person, by his eldest son Murrogh, aided by his five other sons, Teige, Donagh, Donal, Conor, and Flan, and by Turlough, the son of Murrogh, and fifteen other nephews and relatives of Brian. These constituted the first of the three lines into which Brian's army, as well as that of the Danes, was formed in this famous Battle. The second body composed of the Conacians (Connaught men) under King Teige O'Connor and other chiefs. The third was formed by Desmonians and Desians, under Kian and other chiefs of Desmond. Malachy, King of Meath, who did signal services in this battle, and who subsequently succeeded Brian, was appointed to assist the Dalcassians in the first division, while the Ultonians co-operated with the Desmonians in the third division, as did also Donald and the Scotch Stewards of Lennox, and Marr. The annals of Innisfallen speak of one of the Maguires of Fermanagh being amongst the Ultonians; but it does not appear from the Annals of the Four Masters or the Annals of Ulster that the north sent any forces.

The left of Brian's army, which, like that of the Danes, was divided into three bodies, was commanded by Malachy, King of Meath, who, according to Keating, retired with his troops in the beginning of the action, and refused to take part in it, to be avenged of Brian for his lost crown. This statement is accepted by M'Geoghegan and others; but if it were true, it is not at all likely that Malachy would have been universally recognised as the worthy successor of Brian, or rather the recoverer of his lost right.2

1 Hist. 2, 250.

* O'Halloran, however, has likewise ascribed this act of treachery to Malachy, and he adds that it occurred at the very moment that the Dalgais with the whole right wing marched to attack, sword in hand, the Danes commanded by Brodar and Aisgiodal, whereupon Morrogh, with great presence of mind, cried out to his brave Dalgais "that this was the time to distinguish themselves, as they alone would have the unrivalled glory of cutting off that formidable body of the enemy."-Hist. 244. Hist. 3, 263.

In the meantime, the left, under the King of Connaught, attacked the Leinster Danes and their insular allies, while the troops of South Munster fell upon the Lagenians and their traitor King, Maolmordha.

In the Annals of the Four Masters we find it distinctly stated, that Malachy drove the foreigners and the Leinster men "by dint of battling, by bravery and striking," from the river Tolka (Zulcainn) to Dublin (Athclaih), and in all probability the Dalcassian writers have invented this slander against Malachy in order to elevate the character of his competitor, Brian, whose command of the army devolved upon Malachy after the death of the Monarch. Ware, Vallency and Lanigan have also fallen into what Moore calls "the general error" concerning Malachy's treason.

Having made his arrangements for battle, Brian harangued his troops, reminding them that the foes with whom they had to contend were the perpetual oppressors and murderers of their kings, dynasts and clergy-had never shown any mercy to age or sex-had spoiled and burned their churches, and had trampled under foot the most sacred relics of their saints, calling upon his troops to take full revenge for their treacherous acts, and for their profanation of so many churches on that Friday in Holy Week (on which the battle was fought) upon which Christ had died for their redemption, who would undoubtedly be present with them, as a just avenger of his holy religion and laws. Here the annalist repeats the charge against Malachy, and describes the prodigies of valour as well as military skill exhibited by the heroic Brian, who, as appears from other accounts, had been induced to retire to his tent, where he was attacked while in the act of prayer by Broder, the Danish chief, and slain with a blow of his battleaxe, but not until he had received a fatal sword thrust from the hand of the monarch.

Then follows an account of the marvellous achievements of Morrough, Brien's eldest son, who though aged 63 years, slew several Danish officers of distinction, cutting down amongst the rest two standard bearers of the Danish army, as the Danish historians also record, and dispatched two others who had assailed him simultaneously. The heroic Morrough, who had occasionally retired with some of the chiefs to drink and cool their hands at the river, which was at last stopped by the Danes, at last encountered Prince Anrud, of Norway, just at the time when Morrough was unable to employ his sword from the swollen state of his hands. He therefore grasped the Norwegian with his left hand, shook him out of his armour, cast him to the earth, and pierced him through with his sword. But the Norwegian even in dying was not unrevenged, for while Morrough stooped over him he snatched his knife or dagger and plunged it into his breast. The wound in a short time proved fatal, and Malachy assumed the command.

The death of Brian took place about this period of the conflict, and the Irish were so exasperated by the death of their king, that a total route of their enemies resulted after the command was taken by Malachy, who again reigned eight years, four months and ten days, until the year 1022, when he died, aged 73 years.'

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Ibid, p. 436.—The passage in the Dublin edition of the Annals of Ulster, which describes the Danish loss at 13,000, and that of the Leinstermen at 3,000, is evidently erroneous, if not unauthentic. The Ulster Annalists, who say nothing of O'Carroll, of O'Neil, or Maguire of Fermanagh assisting Brien in this battle, state that the loss of the Danes did not exceed 7,000. The Annals of Boyle agree with the Four Masters that besides the 1000 Danes in armour, 3000 others were killed, who, if added to the 3000 Leinster troops, would bear out the estimate of the Annals of Ulster.

The body of young Turlogh O'Brien was found in the waters of Tolka with his hands entangled in the hair of a Dane. Of the other distinguished families of Ireland almost every one lost a member. On the day after the battle the wounded were conveyed to the camp at Kilmainham, and on the next day the monks of St. Columba at Swords came to bear away the body of Brian in order to bury it in the Cathedral of Armagh, where it was deposited at the north side of the Cathedral, and those of Murrough and his relatives at the South. For twelve successive nights, according to the Annals, the clergy of St. Patrick kept watch over the dead, chaunted hymns and offered up prayers for the souls of the heroes.

It appears from an accounts taken from the archives of Denmark by Torfæus, historiographer to Christian V, that equally with the Irish, Danes were engaged at opposite sides in the battle of Clontarf. This historian describes Brian as "a Prince justly celebrated for clemency, lenity and many other virtues."

Among the inferior notabilia of the battle of Clontarf, which lasted one, not three days, as the Latin writers quoted by Lanigan has it, we may mention that tradition says that Brian sailed under the shadow of the towers and steeples of the monasteries and churches of the Holy Island (Innis Cailthra) on Lough Dergh, as he proceeded up the Lake from Kincora, and that in the Norse, Broder, the slayer of Brian, is stated to have called all present to witness that it was he who killed him."

1 Some, however, say that they were buried at Kilmainham, in the old church known as "Bully's Acre," with the bodies of Thadeus O'Kelly, and other lords-while some assert they brought it to Cashel. Dr. O'Donovan remarks (Annals of the Four Masters, 1013, note b.) that Moore has adopted in his interesting account of this battle the falsifications made in the Dublin copy of the Annals of Innisfallen by Dr. O'Brien, who was assisted by John Conroy-such as the presence of Tadphy Tadhg O'Connor, son of the king of Connaught and of Maguire, in the battle at which it seems they were not present. The Annals of Clonmacnoise state that all the Leinster chiefs, except O'Moore and O'Nolan, took part with the Danes, and that the O'Neals forsook King Brian in this battle, as did all Connaught (?) except Hugh, the son of Ferral O'Rorke, and Teigue O'Kelly.

2 Annals of Ulster and Innisfallen, An. 1014.

3 History of the Orkneys, 10 c. p. 33.

The appearance of the fort of Kincora at this day indicates clearly that it was fortified, as its Danish name (Worsaee, quoting the Danish Sagas) Kincoraborg would also show. Keating, indeed, gives a pretty lengthened list of places of strength erected or improved by Brian, besides Kincora, within a few miles of which he repaired the round tower of Tomgraney, built a church at Inniskeltra, and erected another at Killaloe. Amongst other places we find Cahir, Cashel, Roscrea in Tipperary, and in the county of Limerick, Lough Gur, Bruree, Duntryleague and Knockany.

CHAPTER III.

BRIAN AND HIS IMMEDIATE SUCCESSORS; AND THE KINGS OF THOMOND,

ALTHOUGH the battle of Clontarf may be said to have decisively crushed the power of the Danes, they still continued for some time to possess considerable wealth and influence in the principal cities and towns of Ireland, especially the seaports, where for the encouragement of commerce, to which they appear to have been as much addicted as to fighting and plundering, even Brian Boru had been willing they should remain. From their first invasion in A.D. 794 to the taking of Dublin by the Anglo-Norman invaders, and the death of Asculph Mac Thorkill in A.D. 1171, about a century and a half after the battle of Clontarf, we find this valiant and politic, but barbarously cruel and sacrilegious people engaged in contests with the natives for 377 years; and not till after the invasion of the Normans, a kindred people, as were indeed the Anglo-Saxons also, shall we lose sight of the Danes as a distinct community. At the present day we have many respectable families who are said to be of Danish blood, such as Harold, Godfrey, Stack, and Trant, in Limerick and Kerry; and Plunket, Gould, Gilbert, Galway, Palmer, Sweetman, Dowdall, Everard, Drumgoole, Blacker, Betach, Cruise, Skiddy, Terry, Revel, and some say Fagan, (of Feltrim), in other parts of Ireland.

In Limerick in particular we find the Danes giving the following Bishops, the see being confined to the city as elsewhere, and these Bishops going for consecration to Canterbury, to whose Archbishops they promised canonical obedience, while the Irish Bishops were under Armagh, and were consecrated either in Ireland or in Rome. The Danish Bishops of Limerick were Gille or Gilbert, Apostolic Delegate of Ireland, Bishop from 1110 to 1140, a most remarkable and learned Prelate. Patrick Harold, who died in 1151; Torgesius, and Brictius, who attended the Council of Lateran in 1179, Of the lives of these Bishops, and of the part taken by them in the ecclesiastical affairs of the diocese and kingdom generally, as far as appears in the authorities accessible to us, we shall treat, when giving the lives of the Bishops of Limerick. In reference to the early Bishops of the See, we shall follow, for the most part, the learned Sir James Ware.

If Brian's eminent qualities and powerful resources had compelled an acquiescence in his claims to the chief monarchy while he lived, the legitimist claim met a prompt recognition after his decease. In conformity with the view taken of his usurpation by some of the annalists, who call it "rebellion with treachery," the Annals of Innisfallen as well as those of Ulster count the years of Brian's reign amongst those of the deposed Prince who preceded and succeeded him. The example thus set by Brian, who, with the exception of Botan, was the only chief Monarch not chosen from the Hy-Niall race for upwards of 500 years, was one cause of the troubles which we have now to record, and which owing partly to the laws of succession, are unfortunately

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