1012 – 23 April 1014
The revolt of Leinster and Dublin
In 1012 Flaithbertach Ua Néill, king of Cenél nEógain in the north, rises against Brian, and in 1013 Máel Mórda, king of Leinster, and Sigtrygg Silkbeard, king of Dublin, raid Meath. Máel Sechnaill, king of Tara, strikes back into the lands north of Dublin as far as Howth but is defeated and loses two hundred men, among them his son Flann. A fleet that Sigtrygg sends against Cork is beaten. Brian brings his army to Leinster and camps outside Dublin from September until the end of 1013.
Brian Boru addressing his army before the battle, a mural by James Ward and his students in Dublin City Hall, early 20th centuryWikimedia Commons, James Ward, Public domain (Війна з вікінгами.jpg)
Sigtrygg looks for help overseas and wins Sigurd the Stout, earl of Orkney, and Brodir, a Viking of the Isle of Man. Njáls saga says that he promises each of them the kingship of Ireland. The fleets of Orkney and Man sail into Dublin in Holy Week 1014.
Brian musters the army of Munster, joined by Máel Sechnaill and two kings of Connacht, Mael Ruanaid Ua hEidhin of Uí Fiachrach Aidhne and Tadhg Ua Cellaigh of Uí Maine, and marches on Dublin. By the Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib, written about a century later, he sends his men across the Liffey to burn the country north of the town as far as Howth, while Brian, now over seventy, stays behind to pray. On the morning of Good Friday, 23 April, the army of Dublin and Leinster comes out of the town to meet him.
The Battle of Clontarf, oil painting by Hugh Frazer, 1826, with Brian’s tent on the left and the Viking ships in Dublin BayWikimedia Commons, Hugh Frazer, Public domain ('Battle of Clontarf', oil on canvas painting by Hugh Frazer, 1826.jpg)
Sources
- Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib, edited by James Henthorn Todd as Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh: The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill (1867).
- Darren McGettigan, The Battle of Clontarf: Good Friday 1014 (2013), pp. 87 to 91.
- Seán Duffy, Brian Boru and the Battle of Clontarf (2013), pp. 190 to 191.
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