made a raid on Arzilla in Morocco. After the expedition embassies were exchanged between the Viking king and the Emir 'Abd-ar-Raḥmān II. The Moorish embassy would seem to have found the king in Ireland, and it is possible that he was the great Viking chief Turgeis, of whom we must now speak.
We have traced the development of Viking activity in Ireland and England, for Ireland down to the year 834. It was just at this time that the great leader Turgeis (? O.N. Thorgestr) made his appearance in North Ireland and attempted to establish sovereignty over all the foreigners in Erin and gain the overlordship of the whole country. He conquered North Ireland and raided Meath and Connaught, while his wife Ota (O.N. Auðr) gave audience upon the altar of Clonmacnois. His power culminated in 841, when he usurped the abbacy of Armagh. In 845 he was captured by the Irish and drowned in Lough Owel. By this time so numerous were the invading hosts that the chroniclers tell us "after this there came great sea-cast floods of foreigners into Erin, so that there was not a point without a fleet." In 849 the invasions developed a new phase. Hitherto while the Irish had been weakened by much internecine warfare their enemies had worked with one mind and heart. Now we read: "A naval expedition of seven score of the Foreigners came to exercise power over the Foreigners who were before them, so that they disturbed all Ireland afterwards." This means that the Danes were now taking an active part in the Scandinavian invasions of Ireland, and we soon find them disputing supremacy with the earlier Norwegian settlers. At the same time we have the first mention of intrigues between Irish factions and the foreign invaders, intrigues which were destined to play an important part in the Irish wars of the next fifty years. For a time Dublin was in the hands of the Danes, but in 853 one Amhlaeibh (i.e. Olaf), son of the king of Lochlann (i.e. Norway), came to Ireland and received the submission of Danes and Norsemen alike, while tribute was given him by the native Irish. Henceforward Dublin was the chief stronghold of Norse power in Ireland.
This Amhlaeibh was Olaf the White of Norse tradition, the representative of that branch of the Yngling family who, according to Ari Fróði, settled in Ireland. Affairs were now further complicated by the fact that many Irish forsook Christianity and joined the Norsemen in their plunderings. These recreant Irish, who probably intermarried with the Norsemen, were known as the Gall-Gaedhil, i.e. the foreign Irish, and played an important part in the wars of the next few years. One of their leaders was Caitill Find, i.e. Ketill the White, a Norseman with an Irish nickname. Usually they fought on the side of the Norsemen but at times they played for their own hand. Olaf was assisted by his brothers Imhar (O.N. Ívarr) and Auisle (O.N. Auðgísl), and married the daughter of Aedh Finnliath (MacNiall), King of all Ireland. Dublin, Waterford, Limerick and occasionally Cork
