Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/270

254 IRELAND [HISTORY. surprise. With this view he concluded an armistice, during which he was to decide whether he would give Brian hostages (that is, abdicate) or not. He applied to the northern Hiii Neill to come to his assistance, and even offered to abdicate in favour of Aed O Neill, chief of theCinel Eogain ; but the latter clan refused unless Malachy undertook to cede half the territory of his own clan the Clann Colmain to them. The attempt to unite the whole of the Heremonian race against the Eberian race, and preserve a dynasty that had ruled Ireland for six hundred years, having failed, Malachy submitted to Brian, and without any formal act of cession the latter became over-king, for the annalist Tigernach, who was himself of the Hui Neill, records at the end of the year 1001, " Brian regnat." The Four Masters, also of the northern Hui Neill, begin his reign in 1002. During a reign of twelve years (1002-1014) he is said to have effected much improvement in the country by the erection and repair of churches, the construction of bridges, causeways, and roads, and the strengthening of the royal forts and "crannogs" or island fortresses. We are also told that he administered rigid and impartial justice, and dispensed royal hospitality, and, as he was liberal to the bards, they have not forgotten his merits. Towards the end of Brian s reign a conspiracy was entered into between Maelmorda, king of Leinster, and his nephew, Sitric of Dublin, who was married to Brian s daughter. This conspiracy was instigated by Gormflaith, Maelmorda 3 sister, and Brian s wife or concubine, who seems to have used all her arts to secure allies. In the spring of 1014 they had collected a considerable army in Dublin, composed of Maelmorda s own Leinster troops and Welsh allies, the Danes of Dublin, and considerable contingents from Man, the Isles, Orkney, and in fact from all the Scandinavians of the west. Some Saxons and Flemings interested in the trade of Dublin seem to have also joined the expedition. Its leader was Sigurd, earl of Orkney and Caithness, son of Earl Hlo Sver or Lewis, by an Irish princess (Ethne or Edna, daughter of Cerball, king of Ossory), whom he succeeded in 980. Sigurd, who aimed at the supreme command of all the Scandinavian settlements of the west, suc ceeded in the course of a few years in conquering the Sudreys, and even Sutherland, Ross, Moray, and Argyll. He had acci dentally fallen into the power of Olaf Tryggvason, when the latter was on his way from Dublin to be king of Norway, who only set him free on condition of his becoming a Christian and swearing fealty to him. Another leader of the Dano-Hibernian army was an apostate deacon called Brodir, who, according to Maurer s conjecture, was the Danish viking Gutring. To meet this formidable force, Brian, who was then an old man, unable to lead his troops in person, mustered all the forces of Monster and Connaught, and was joined by the forces of Meath under Malachy the deposed king. The northern Hui Neill and the Ulaid took no part in the struggle. Brian advanced into the plain of the Fine-gaill, north of Dublin, where a council of war was held. It is said that Malachy differed with Brian on the plan of battle, and did not join his troops with Brian s. He is further accused of treachery and of being in league with the enemy. This is, however, a calumny of the Munster bards. The probability is that his troops had not yet come up when the battle began, and that he held them in reserve. There is no doubt, however, that he mainly contributed to the victory by keeping the strong garrison under Sitric, which held Dublin, in check, and at a critical moment falling upon the Leinster wing of the enemy, which he crushed, and preventing the Danes from rallying, by which num bers were forced back to the shore and drowned by the advancing tide. The battle, which in the Norse saga is called Brian s Battle, and in Irish history the battle of Cloutarf, though the chief fighting took place close to Dublin, about the small river Tolka, was fought on Good Friday 1014. In it fell most of the leaders on both sides, und also Brian himself, who wds slain in his tent by Brodir when a fugitive from the field of battle. The Irish as usual did not follow up their victory by taking Dublin, which remained a Danish city until the advent of the Nor mans. This probably arose from the dissensions which immediately broke out among the Munster men about the kingship of Munster, each party hastening home as quickly as possible in order to get possession of the prize. On the way the Dal-Cais were opposed, by the men of Ossory, but no battle took place owing to the heroic conduct of the wounded. This unpatriotic conduct of the king of Ossory has been made much of ; but nationality in the modern sense had nothing whatever to do with the affair. In the following year, 1015, Malachy, who was again recognized as king of Ireland, with the aid this time of the northern Hui Neill, burned Dublin and harried the Leinster clan the Hui Cennselaig. But the effects of Brian s revolution were permanent ; the prescriptive rights of the Hui Neill were disputed, and after Clontarf, until the coming of the Normans, the history of Ireland consisted of a struggle for ascendency between the O Brians of Munster, the O Neills of Ulster, and the O Connors of Connaught. The power of the western Scandinavians was broken at Clontarf ; no new invasion took place, chiefly no doubt because of their conversion to Christianity. They continued to hold their strongholds on the coasts, and occasional conflicts took place between them and their neighbours. Gradually, however, they assumed the position of native tribes ; but, owing to the distinction of language, they did not readily fuse with the Goedel, though intermarriages were frequent. They fused much more readily with the Normans and English, not so much from any affinity of language, as from their civic life and commercial spirit being alike. The next generation saw Christianity the recognized faith of the Dano-Irish, who founded bishoprics, at first in con nexion with the church in Norway, but wholly unconnected with the Irish clan-bishops until a short time before the Anglo-Norman invasion. From the Battle of Clontarf to the Anglo-Norman Invasion. The death of Malachy, the last over-king acknowledged by the whole country, afforded an opportunity fer an able and ambitious man to subdue Ireland, establish a strong central government, break up the tribal system, and assist the gradual fusion of factions into a homo geneous nation. Such a man did not, however, arise ; those who afterwards claimed to be ard ri lacked the qiialities of founders of strong dynasties, and, though sometimes acknowledged by the greater part of the country, were never accepted as the legitimate rulers of the whole of Ireland. Even the Scandinavian towns of Ireland ceased to cooperate as one people. Their native chiefs were sometimes expelled and replaced by Irish ones, and the fusion of the two races went rapidly on. In 1052, Diarmait (called Mac Mael na mBo), king of Leinster, defeated the Dano-Irish king of Dublin, Echmargach (Margaftr in the Sagas), son of Eognvaldr (Reginald), and became king of Dublin, and was succeeded by his son Murchad, who defeated Sigtryggr, son of Eognvaldr, king of Man, and made that island tributary to Dublin, a relation it generally stood in under Scandinavian rulers. After an ineffectual attempt of Donnchad, son of Brian, king of Munster, to become ard ri, Diarmait, king of Leinster, gained the upper hand. At the com mencement of Donnchad s reign great lawlessness prevailed in Munster, which was further intensified by a dearth. The king held an assembly of the chiefs and clergy at Killaloe in 1050, to devise measures for its repression, and appears to have succeeded, for Munster was peaceable for a long time, and many Saxon and Welsh nobles found refuge there. Much intercourse appears to have existed between the southern Irish and the Anglo-Saxons, and many Irish nobles were mixed up with English feuds. Intermarriages were also frequent, the king himself being married to Driella, sister of Editha, queen of Edward the Confessor. In the rebellion of Earl Godwine, Harold took refuge with his brother-in-law, who gave him nine ships on his return to England. Tordelbach (Torlough), in revenge for the death of his father Tadg, whom his uncle Donnchad had slain, attacked the latter and defeated him in 1063. On the death of Diarmait Mac Mael na mBo, who was killed in a battle with the king of Meath in 1072, the Tordelbach just men tioned was geneially recognized as ard ri, but he did not succeed in gaining the allegiance of the northern Hui Neill. He appears to have appointed his son Muircertach (Murtough) lord of Dublin ; but the latter must have only had precarious possession of it from about 1075 or 1076 to 1079 ; for, immediately after the death of Diarmait, Godred, son of Sigtryggr (Sitric), was king. This Godrcd requested Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, to consecrate a cer tain Gillepatrick bishop of Dublin, in succession to Duncan, a fact which shows that at this period the Danish cities acknowledged the supremacy of the see of Canterbury. Lanfranc in his answer calls Godred " Rex Hibernise," a title which he also gave to Tordelbach. On the death of the latter, Muircertach succeeded him as king of Munster, and while he was establishing himself on the throne, Godred Mananach (i.e., of Man) got possession of Dublin, which he ruled till 1094, when he was defeated by Muircertach. This is the Godred usually called Crovan, a name which, however, properly belongs to an earlier king of Man. A fierce war broke out between Muircertach and Dornnall O Loughlin, king of Ailech (of the northern Hui Neill). Godred took the side of Domnall with ninety ships, and Muircertach was defeated ; but in the end he succeeded, and in 1094 he drove Godred out of Dublin. It is probable that Muircertach had received assistance to do this from Magnus " Bare- leg," who made his first expedition to the west about this time. As the Isle of Man was always an apanage to the Scandinavian king dom of Dublin, the Manxmen on the defeat of Godred Crovan natu rally applied to Muircertach for a governor ; he sent them his kinsman Domnall, who was, however, expelled some time after for his tyranny. The struggle for the sovereignty between the rivals Muircertach and Domnall O Loughlin continued, with intervals of truce negotiated by the clergy, without any decisive advantage on either side. In 1102 Magnus "Bare-leg" made his third and last expedition to the west, with the express design of conquering Ireland. His former ally Muircertach had meanwhile joined in a league against the king of England. The Norman lords, Robert of BeKsme and Arnulph, brothers of Earl Hugh Montgomery, who had been killed by Magnus in his attack on Anglesey, on the occasion of his first expedition to the west, having espoused the cause of Eobert, duke of Normandy, against his brother Henry Beauclerc, leagued with some Welsh princes against the king. Arnulph entered into alliance with Muircertach, who gave him his daughter