Transcriber’s Note: The spelling, accents and hyphenation of given names are inconsistent and have been retained as printed.

SCANDINAVIAN RELATIONS
WITH IRELAND DURING
THE VIKING PERIOD

BY

A. WALSH

DUBLIN
THE TALBOT PRESS LIMITED

LONDON
T. FISHER UNWIN LIMITED

1922

PREFACE

This short study was written during my tenure of a Travelling Studentship from the National University of Ireland, and in March, 1920, was accepted for the Research Degree Certificate of Cambridge University.

A glance at the bibliography shows that comparatively little has been written in English on this interesting period of our history. On the other hand modern Scandinavian scholars—Alexander Bugge, Marstrander, and Vogt—have thrown a good deal of light on the subject, but unfortunately very few of their books have been translated into English. The present dissertation is based principally upon the Old and Middle Irish annals and chronicles and the Icelandic sagas; reference has also been made to the work of Scandinavian, English and Irish scholars on the subject.

I should like to acknowledge my debt to Professor Chadwick, who directed my work: those who have had the privilege of working under him will readily understand how much is due to his encouragement and stimulating criticism. I wish also to express my thanks to my friends, Miss N. Kershaw and Mr. E. J. Thomas, for many kindnesses while the book was in preparation; to Miss Eleanor Hull and Professor Ó’Máille, University College, Galway, for the loan of books; and to the Librarian and staff of Cambridge University Library, the National Library, Dublin, and T.C.D. Library.

A. W.

CONTENTS

Scandinavian Relations with Ireland during the Viking Period.

CHAPTER I.
THE VIKINGS IN IRELAND (795-1014).

The Vikings made their first appearance[1] on the Irish coasts in 795 A.D., when they plundered and burned the church on Recru, or Lambay Island, near Dublin. During the next ten or twelve years Ireland seems to have been almost free from further attacks, but in 807 they descended on Inis Murray, off the Sligo coast, and from there made their way inland to Roscommon.[2] After that the raids ceased for a few years, then began again with renewed vigour on Connacht and Munster, on some of the inland counties of Leinster, and on several places along the east coast.[3]

The arrival of Turgeis[4] (O.N. Thorgestr) in Armagh, about 832, marks a new phase of the invasions. Hitherto the Vikings had come in isolated parties solely for purposes of plunder; now, however, “great sea-cast floods of foreigners” landed in every harbour, and began to form settlements in various parts of the island. Dublin was first occupied in 836, and four years later the Norsemen strengthened their position there considerably by the erection of a longphort or fortress. From their longphort at Linn Duachaill (between Drogheda and Dundalk) built in the same year, they made their way to the West and plundered Clonmacnois, while settlers from Cael-uisce, near Newry, went south and laid waste County Kildare.[5]

The power of Turgeis was not confined to the north of Ireland. His fleets were stationed on Loch Ree, the centre from which Meath and Connacht were devastated. His wife, Ota (O.N. Authr), desecrated the monastery of Clonmacnois by giving her oracular responses (a frecartha) from the high altar.[6] The tyranny of Turgeis came to an end in 845, when he was captured by Maelsechnaill, who afterwards became árd-rí, and was drowned in Lough Owel.[7]

After his death the tide of battle turned in favour of the Irish, and the Norsemen were defeated in several battles. Weakened by warfare, they had to contend in 849 with an enemy from without—the Dubh-Gaill[8] or Danes who had sailed round the south coast of England and landed in Ireland “to exercise authority over the foreigners who were there before them.” Two years after their arrival the newcomers plundered the fortresses at Dublin and Dundalk, but were attacked in the following year on Carlingford Loch by the Norsemen. In this great naval battle, which lasted three days and three nights, the Danes were finally victorious.[9]

“Amhlaoibh Conung, son of the King of Lochlann,” known in Icelandic sources as Olaf the White, came to Ireland about 852 to rule over his countrymen, and to exact tribute from the Irish.[10] According to the Fragments of Annals, he left suddenly and returned a few years later accompanied by his “younger brother, Imhar,” who may be identified with Ivarr Beinlausi (i.e., “the Boneless”) son of Ragnarr Lothbrók. Both kings ruled from Dublin, which town now gained a new importance as the seat of the Scandinavian Kings in Ireland. In 865 the Vikings extended their activities to Scotland, whence they carried off much plunder and many captives. An expedition on a larger scale was made by Olaf and Ivarr in 869, when Dumbarton, after a four months’ siege, fell into their hands. They returned in triumph to Ireland in the following year with a large number of English, British, and Pictish prisoners and ended their victorious march by the capture of Dunseverick (Co. Antrim).[11]

Olaf returned to Norway some time after this to take part in the wars there,[12] and we hear no more of him in the Irish Annals. “Imhar, King of the Norsemen of all Ireland and Britain,” did not long survive him; his death is recorded under the year 873.[13]

During the years which followed Ivarr’s death the country was comparatively peaceful, and the Irish began to enjoy a rest from fresh invasions, which lasted about forty years.[14] The Danes and the Norsemen again began to quarrel among themselves, and once more their opposing fleets met on Carlingford Lough;[15] in this battle Albann (O.N. Halfdanr), brother of Ivarr, a well-known leader of the Vikings in England, was slain. Dissensions also spread among the ranks of the Dublin Norsemen, dividing them into two hostile parties, one siding with Sitriucc, son of Ivarr, the other with a certain Sighfrith.[16] This internal strife so weakened Norse power that the Irish captured the fortress at Dublin in 902, and drove the Vikings across the sea with great slaughter.

The forty years’ rest terminated abruptly in 913, when several fleets arrived at Waterford and proceeded to ravage all Munster and Leinster. In 916 Raghnall (O.N. Rögnvaldr), grandson of Ivarr, assumed command while his brother or cousin, Sihtric Gale (also nicknamed Caoch, ‘the Blind’) came with a fleet to Cenn Fuaid, in the east of Leinster, and built a fortification there.[17] Both chiefs united forces against the árd-rí Niall Glundubh, and having defeated him in battle Sihtric entered Dublin and became king (918). In the following year the Irish under Niall made a brave stand at Kilmashogue, near Dublin, but Sihtric won a decisive victory, and Niall and twelve other kings were among the slain.[18]

Scandinavian power in Ireland was now at its height. Large fleets occupied all the lakes in Ulster, so that no part of the surrounding territory was safe from their attacks.[19] The Vikings also retained their grip of the coast towns, and successfully withstood the efforts made by the Irish leaders to dislodge them. Between the years 920 and 950 the importance of Dublin increased considerably through its connection with the Scandinavian Kingdom of Northumbria. Raghnall, grandson of Ivarr, captured York about 919[20] and reigned there until his death in 921.[21] He was succeeded by Sihtric Gale, who had been expelled from Dublin in the preceding year,[22] probably by his brother, Guthfrith. After Sihtric’s death in 927 Guthfrith, King of Dublin (d. 934), with the Vikings of Dundalk, left Ireland in order to secure his own succession in York, but he would seem to have been driven out by Aethelstan, for the Irish Annals mention his return to Dublin after an absence of six months.[23]

Guthfrith’s son, Olaf, came forward about this time. Supported by the Norsemen of Strangford Lough he plundered Armagh, but his subsequent attacks on Ulster were checked by Muirchertach MacNeill, son of Niall Glundubh. Olaf fought in alliance with Constantine in the battle of Brunanburh (937), and after the defeat inflicted on them by Aethelstan’s forces he fled to Dublin.[24] He is probably the “Anlaf of Ireland” who was chosen King by the Northumbrians in 941,[25] but he died about a year later.[26]

Another Olaf, the famous Olaf Cuaran, also called Sihtricsson to distinguish between them, also played an important part in campaigns in Ireland and England. He went to York about 941, and was elected king by the Northumbrians, but was expelled after a few years along with Raegenald, son of Guthfrith.[27] He then took the Dublin Kingdom under his rule, and in the following year was defeated in battle by the Irish at Slaine (Co. Meath). Leaving his brother Guthfrith to govern in his stead, he departed to York, where he became king a second time; but the Northumbrians drove him out after three years and placed “Yric, son of Harald” (i.e., Eric Bloodaxe, late King of Norway) on the throne.[28]

Henceforward Olaf limited his activities to Ireland, where he reigned, the most famous of the Dublin Kings, for some thirty years. In 980, having summoned auxiliaries from the Scottish isles and Man, he prepared to attack the árd-rí, Maelsechnaill II. A fierce battle was fought between them at Tara in which the Norse armies were completely routed, Olaf’s son Raghnall being among the slain. Maelsechnaill followed up this victory by a three days’ siege of Dublin, after which he carried off a number of hostages from the Norsemen, and also obtained from them 2,000 kine, together with jewels and various other treasures.[29] Olaf himself, utterly disheartened by his defeat, went on pilgrimage to Iona, where he died soon after.

Some fifteen years before, a severe blow had been struck at the power of the Limerick Vikings under Ivarr, grandson of Ivarr and his sons. The attack made on them at Sulcoit (968) by two princes of the Dal Cais, the brothers Mathgamain and Brian, resulted in victory for the Irish, who took Limerick shortly after.[30] Mathgamain was treacherously murdered in 976, and Brian then became King of Thomond. He soon brought the Kingdoms of Ossory and Leinster under his control, and by the terms of a treaty made in 998 Maelsechnaill consented to leave Brian master of Leth Mogha (i.e., the southern half of Ireland). The Leinstermen under King Maelmordha, dissatisfied with this arrangement, began to make trouble and revolted, assisted by the Dublin Norsemen. An important victory was gained over their combined armies at Gleann Mama (Co. Wicklow) in the year 1000 by Brian, who after the battle captured Dublin. King Sihtric (O.N. Sigtryggr), son of Olaf Cuaran, had to submit to Brian’s authority. Having accepted his allegiance Brian married Gormflaith, mother of Sihtric and sister of Maelmordha, and at the same time gave his own daughter to Sihtric in marriage.[31]

Brian became árd-rí in 1002, and after that for about twelve years there was peace. Towards the end of that time Gormflaith, who had meanwhile separated from her husband, incited her brother Maelmordha to make war on Brian. Maelmordha and Sihtric began to gather forces for the coming struggle. Sihtric at his mother’s command sought the aid of Sigurthr, Earl of Orkney and of Brodar,[32] a Viking whose fleet then lay off the west coast of Man. Fleets also came from Norway[33] and Iceland to help their kinsmen. The armies under Brian and Maelsechnaill marched towards Dublin, and having encamped near Kilmainham set fire to the district of Fingal (i.e., Fine Gall, “the Foreigners’ territory”) north of the city. The two armies met at Clontarf on Good Friday morning and the battle, one of the most famous ever fought on Irish soil, raged all that day. The Norsemen suffered a severe defeat, and in attempting to fly for refuge to their ships were slaughtered by Maelsechnaill at Dubhgall’s Bridge, near the Four Courts. Brian himself did not take part in the fight, but he was slain in his tent by Brodar after the battle.[34]

After the Battle of Clontarf the Norsemen became gradually absorbed in the general population except in a few coast towns, where they continued to live more or less distinct and governed by petty kings until the English Invasion (1169). In the chronicles of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries they are generally alluded to as “Ostmen” (corruptly Houstmanni, Nosmani, etc.),[35] and it would seem that when Dublin, Limerick, and Waterford were captured by the English the “Ostmen” had to withdraw to certain districts outside the walls of these towns. Thus, near Dublin, north of the River Liffey, we hear of Ostmaneby[36] (i.e., Austmannabyr) afterwards called Ostmanstonry, and now known as Oxmanstown. Mention is also made (c. 1200) of a “‘cantred’ of the Ostmen and holy isle,” near Limerick and (c. 1282) of a “vill of the Ostmen”[37] near Waterford.[38] In the records of the fourteenth century, however, there is an almost total absence of references to the “Ostmen” in Ireland.[39]

FOOTNOTES

[1] Zimmer was of the opinion that the Norsemen made their way to Ireland as early as the seventh century. He bases his theory on an entry in the Annals of Ulster and in certain other Irish annals (under the year 617) recording “the devastation of Tory Island by a marine fleet.” (über die frühesten Berührungen der Iren mit den Nordgermanen, p. 279 ff. in Sitzungsberichte der kgl. preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. 1891. Bd. I., pp. 279-317.) But this attack is likely to have been due to Saxon or Pictish raiders rather than to the Norsemen.

[2] Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 807.

[3] Annals of Ulster, A.D. 811, 820-824, 827, 830.

[4] Some writers would identify Turgeis with Thorgils, son of Harold Fairhair, who with his brother Frothi went on a viking expedition to Ireland. They captured Dublin, and Thorgils reigned there for a long time as king. In the end, however, he was betrayed by the Irish and was killed. (Heimskringla: Haralds saga hins hárfagra, ch. 35.)

This account of Thorgils certainly bears a resemblance to that of Turgeis contained in the Irish chronicles and Giraldus Cambrensis (cf. Todd: Introduction to War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, I., ii.), but it is of course incorrect to say that Turgeis was a son of Harold Fairhair.

[5] Annals of Ulster, A.D. 841.

[6] War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 13.

[7] Ib., p. 15.

[8] The Irish chroniclers use a variety of names for the Scandinavians: Dibearccai (outlaws), Gaill (foreigners), Gennti (Gentiles), and Pagánaigh (Pagans). They also distinguish between Danes and Norsemen. The Danes were known as Danair, Danmarcaigh, Dubh Gennti (Black Gentiles), and Dubh-Gaill. The word Dubh-Gaill (Black Foreigners) still survives in the personal names Doyle and MacDowell and in the place-name Baldoyle. The Norsemen were called Finn-Gaill (Fair Foreigners), Finn-Genti, Nortmannai (Lat. Northmanni) and Lochlannaigh (i.e., men of Lochlann or Norway).

[9] Annals of Ulster, A.D. 851 (= 852).

[10] Three Fragments of Annals, p. 127.

Vogt (Dublin som Norsk By, p. 66) suggests that Olaf was related to Turgeis, the first Norse King of Ireland, and to Earl Tomrair (O.N. Thórarr), “tanist of the King of Lochlann,” who fell in the battle of Scaith Neachtain (847). On the other hand it may be noted here that the Annalist errs in making Olaf a brother of Ivarr the Boneless.

[11] Annals of Ulster, A.D. 870.

[12] Three Fragments of Annals, p. 195. The Landnámabók, II., ch. 15 says that “Olaf fell in battle in Ireland,” but this is surely a mistake.

[13] Annals of Ulster, sub anno, 872 (= 873).

[14] Cf. War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 27. Cf. also the entries in the Annals of Ulster:

“Ruaidhri, son of Muirmenn King of the Britons came to Ireland, fleeing before the Black Foreigners” (an. 876).

“The shrine of Colum-Cille and all his relics were brought to Ireland to escape the Foreigners” (an. 877).

[15] The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill (p. 27) mentions another battle between Fair and Black Gentiles, in which many of the latter were killed.

[16] It is extremely difficult to identify these two princes owing to the similarity between their names. It has been suggested that Sighfrith is the Siefredus or Sievert who ruled jointly with Guthred-Cnut (d. c. 894) as King of Northumbria, while Sitriucc son of Ivarr is probably the “Sitric comes” whose name appears on a coin dating from this period. (See A. Mawer: The Scandinavian Kingdom of Northumbria, pp. 11-13. Saga-book of the Viking Club, VII. Part I.)

[17] Annals of Ulster, A.D. 916.

[18] Annals of Ulster, A.D. 918. War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 37. An entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (A.D. 921), referring to the result of this battle, runs:—“In this year King Sihtric slew his brother Niel.” There is, however, no evidence in Irish sources that Sihtric and Niall were brothers, or even half-brothers.

[19] Annals of Ulster, A.D. 920, 921, 923, 925.

[20] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 923.

[21] Annals of Ulster, A.D. 920.

[22] Annals of Ulster, A.D. 919.

[23] Ib., A.D. 927.

[24] Ib., A.D. 937. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, A. Annal, 937.

[25] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, D. Annal 941.

[26] Ib., E. Annal 942; Annals of Clonmacnoise, A.D. 934.

[27] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, A. Annal 944.

[28] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, E. Annals 949, 952.

[29] Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 978, 979; Annals of Ulster, A.D. 979 (= 980).

[30] War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 77.

[31] War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 115; Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 997.

[32] War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 153. Njáls Saga, ch. 155. In the Annals of Loch Cé (A.D. 1014) Brodar is called the earl of York (iarla Caoire Eabhroigh).

[33] War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 151.

[34] Ib., pp. 151-191; Njáls Saga, chs. 155-157, Annals of Loch Cé, A.D. 1014; Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 1013.

[35] Calendar of the Ancient Records of Dublin (ed. by J. T. Gilbert), II. 81; Chartularies of St. Mary’s Abbey, Dublin (ed. by Gilbert), I. 258; II. 251; Giraldus Cambrensis: Topographia Hibernica, V. 187.

The name “Ostmen” is generally supposed to have been first given to them by the English, but the word is Norse (i.e., Austmenn, plural of Austmathr, “a man living in the East”) and therefore must have been current in Ireland before the English invasion. It may be suggested that the name was applied to the original Scandinavian settlers in Ireland, to merchants and other later comers from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Cf. the nickname Austmathr, given to a certain Eyvindr by the Scandinavian settlers in the Hebrides because he had come there from Sweden.

[36] Chartularies of St. Mary’s Abbey, I. 267; ib., I. 227, 234, etc.; Calendar of the Ancient Records of Dublin, I. 55; II. 96.

[37] A Calendar of Documents Relating to Ireland (ed. by H. S. Sweetman), I. 24.

[38] Ib., II. p. 426.

[39] For interesting articles on the Ostmen in Ireland see A. Bugge: Sidste Afsnit af Nordboernes Historie i Irland, pp. 248-315 (Aarb ger for nord. Oldk. 1900); and E. Curtis: The English and the Ostmen in Ireland (English Historical Review, XXIII., p. 209 ff.).

CHAPTER II.
INTERCOURSE BETWEEN THE GAILL AND THE GAEDHIL DURING THE VIKING PERIOD.

The existence of the Gaill-Gaedhil or foreign Irish in Ulster and various parts of Munster[40] during the years 854-856 shows that even in the early part of the ninth century there must have been considerable intercourse between the Vikings and the native population. For some of the Gaill-Gaedhil were partly of Irish, partly of Norse extraction; others, as the annalist explicitly states, were Irishmen who had been fostered by the Norsemen, and in consequence had forsaken Christian practices and lapsed into Paganism.[41] From a chance allusion in a tenth century text[42] it would seem that they could speak Gaelic, but so badly that the expression “the gicgog of a Gall-Gaedheal” was generally understood to mean halting or broken Gaelic.

They are mentioned in the Annals for the first time[43] in 854, in which year Aedh Finnliath, King of Aileach, won a great victory over them in a battle fought at Glenelly, in Tyrone.[44] After this they took an active part in the Irish wars, fighting like mercenaries on different sides—at one time in alliance with the árd-rí, Maelsechnaill, who was at war with the Norsemen;[45] again, with an Irish clan against the Dublin Vikings under Ivarr,[46] and still later we find them joined with the men of Waterford in opposition to the árd-rí.[47] Led by Caittil Find (O.N. Ketill + Ir. find—fair) they made their last stand against the Dublin Vikings under Olaf and Ivarr, but were defeated with heavy losses, and after this there is no further record of their activities in Ireland.[48] On one occasion at least, they fought with the Viking armies in England. According to the account of the siege of Chester (c. 912) preserved in the Three Fragments of Annals, many Irishmen, foster-children of the Norsemen, formed part of the besieging army under the chieftain Hingamund,[49] who had been expelled from Dublin some time previously. To these Irishmen Aethelflaed, the lady of the Mercians, sent ambassadors appealing to them as “true and faithful friends” to abandon the “hostile race of Pagans” and to assist the Saxons in defending the city. The Irish then deserted their former allies and joined the Saxons, “and the reason they acted so towards the Danes,” adds the chronicler, “was because they were less friendly with them than with the Norsemen.”[50]

The Vikings who formed settlements in Ireland during the reign of Turgeis (839-845) seem to have mingled freely with the Irish, for we find them not long after their arrival stirring up the clans to rebellion against the árd-rí[51] and joining the native princes on plundering expeditions. The annals mention several such alliances. Cinaedh, Prince of Cranachta-Breagh, who had revolted against Maelsechnaill with a party of plunderers, laid waste the country from the Shannon eastward to the sea.[52] Another Irish prince, Lorcan, King of Meath, accompanied Olaf and Ivarr when they broke into the famous burial-mounds[53] at New Grange, Knowth and Dowth, on the Boyne, and carried off the treasures which they found there. After the great naval battle between Danes and Norsemen in Carlingford Lough (A.D. 852) Danes and Irish frequently united forces against the common enemy, and on one occasion—after the two armies had won a victory over the Norsemen in Tipperary—the Danish chieftain Horm and his men were escorted in triumph to Tara where they were received with great honour by the árd-rí.[54] Even after the arrival of Olaf the White, who brought about a temporary reconciliation between the two parties of “Foreigners,” a detachment of Danes remained on in the service of Cearbhall, King of Ossory.[55]

The Irish chronicler, in alluding to the Norse practice of billeting their soldiers in the Irish farmhouses, lays stress on the feelings of hostility entertained by the Irish towards this “wrathful, foreign, purely Pagan people.” Yet, we not infrequently find instances of friendly intercourse, as in the well-known story of Olaf-Trygvason and the peasant.[56] It appears that after Olaf’s marriage to Gyda, sister of Olaf Cuaran, he occasionally visited Ireland. Once he sailed there with a large naval force, and being short of provisions went on land with his men on a foraging expedition. They seized a large number of cows, and were driving them towards the shore when a peasant ran after them and begged Olaf to give him back his cows. Olaf told him to take them, if he could separate them from the rest without delaying their journey. The peasant had with him a large sheep-dog, which he sent in among the herd, and the dog ran up and down and drove off as many cows as the peasant claimed. As they were all marked in the same way it was evident that the dog knew all his master’s cows. Then Olaf asked if the peasant would give him the dog. “Willingly,” was the reply. So Olaf gave him in return a gold ring, and assured him of his friendship. The dog was called Vígi, “the best of all dogs,” and Olaf had it for a long time. Years later, after the great naval battle in which Olaf lost his life, “Vígi lay on a mound and would take no food from anyone, although he drove away other dogs and beasts and birds from what was brought to him… Thus he lay till he died.”[57]

Moreover, the evidence of both Norse and Irish sources goes to show that all through the ninth and tenth centuries there was extensive intermarriage between the two peoples. Marriages of the invaders with the women whom they had carried off as captives must have taken place from an early period,[58] and we know definitely that the kings and chieftains on both sides frequently strengthened their alliances by unions between members of the royal families. According to the Landnámabók many distinguished Icelanders traced their descent to Kjarval, i.e., Cearbhall, King of Ossory (d. 887), an ally of Olaf and Ivarr. His grandson, Dufthak (Ir. Dubhthach)[59] was the founder of an Icelandic family, and three of his daughters, Kormlöth (Ir. Gormflaith),[60] Frithgerth[61] and Rafarta[62] married Norsemen. The Landnámabók speaks of Kjarval as having been King of Dublin while “Alfred the Great ruled in England… and Harold Fairhair in Norway,”[63] a statement which is often doubted because unsupported by the evidence of the Irish historians; but it is not at all unlikely, since Cearbhall was remotely connected with the Dublin royal house through his granddaughter Thurithr, who married Thorsteinn the Red, son of Olaf the White.[64]

There is no mention of Authr, Olaf’s Norse wife, in the Annals, but we hear incidentally[65] that Olaf, while in Ireland, married a daughter of Aedh Finnliath, King of Aileach. After he became árd-rí (864) Aedh turned against the Norsemen, and having plundered all their fortresses in the north of Ireland marched towards Lough Foyle, where they had assembled to give him battle. Aedh was victorious, and some years after he again defeated the Foreigners, who were at this time in alliance with his nephew Flann; Flann himself and Carlus, son of Olaf the White being numbered among the slain. We also hear of other Irish Kings who were closely related to their Viking opponents. Laxdaela Saga contains an interesting account of a slave-woman who was bought at a market in Norway by an Icelander called Höskuldr. The woman was dumb, but Höskuldr was so struck by her appearance that he willingly paid for her three times the price of an ordinary slave, and took her back with him to Iceland. A few years later, happening to overhear her talking to their little son, Olaf Pái, he discovered to his amazement that her dumbness was feigned. She then confessed that her name was Melkorka (Ir. Mael-Curcaigh) and that she was the daughter of Myr Kjartan, a king in Ireland, whence she had been carried off as a prisoner of war when only fifteen years old.

When Olaf was grown up his mother urged him to visit Ireland in order to establish his relationship with King Myr Kjartan, “for,” she said, “I cannot bear your being called the son of a slave-woman any longer.” Before they parted she gave him a large finger-ring and said: “This my father gave me for a teething-gift, and I know he will recognise it when he sees it.” She also put into his hands a knife and belt and bade him give them to her nurse: “I am sure she will not doubt these tokens.” And still further Melkorka spoke: “I have fitted you out from home as best I know how, and taught you to speak Irish, so that it will make no difference to you where you are brought to shore in Ireland…”[66]

The saga goes on to describe the voyage to Ireland, the landing there, and Olaf’s reception by King Myr Kjartan.

Myr Kjartan may be identified with Muirchertach “of the Leather Cloaks,” King of Aileach, who like his father Niall Glundubh distinguished himself by his spirited resistance to Norse rule in the first half of the tenth century.[67] Donnflaith, another of his daughters and mother of the árd-rí, Maelsechnaill II., married Olaf Cuaran. Their son, Gluniarainn, reigned in Dublin after his father’s retirement to Iona, and appears to have been on friendly terms with Maelsechnaill.[68] The relationship between these two families becomes more complicated owing to the fact that Maelsechnaill’s own wife, Maelmuire (d. 1021), was a daughter of Olaf.[69]

But perhaps no figure stands out so prominently in the Irish and Norse chronicles[70] of the second half of the tenth century as Gormflaith (O.N. Kormlöth) who first married Olaf Cuaran, then his enemy Maelsechnaill II., and finally Brian Borumha, from whom she also separated.

The interchange of family and personal names which took place to such an extent during the Viking period also points to the close connection between the foreigners and the Irish. As early as 835 mention is made of one Gofraidh (O.N. Guthröthr), son of Fergus, who went to Scotland from Ireland in order to strengthen the Dal Riada and died some time after as King of the Hebrides.[71] The Dublin Viking who led an attack on Armagh in 895 had an Irish name, Glun-iarainn, obviously a translation of O.N. Jarn-kné. He was in all probability a relative of Iercne or Jargna (corrupt forms of Jarn-kné) who ruled in conjunction with Zain or Stain (O.N. Steinn) as King of Dublin (c. 850);[72] while other earls of Dublin, Otir mac Eirgni,[73] Eloir mac Ergni or Largni[74] and Gluntradna, son of Glun-Iarainn would also appear to have been of the same royal family.[75] Irish names occur more frequently in Norse families during the tenth and eleventh centuries; we find Uathmaran, son of Earl Bairith (O.N. Barthr); Camman,[76] son of Olaf Godfreyson; Giolla Padraig, Dubhcenn[77] and Donndubhan, sons of King Ivarr of Limerick;[78] Niall, son of Erulb (O.N. Herjulfr); Cuallaidh, son of King Ivarr of Waterford; Eachmarach, and very many others.[79] On the other hand, we may note the prevalence of such common Norse names as Ivarr, Guthröthr, Sumarlithi among the Irish, especially in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Several of these names still survive, as, for instance, MacAuliffe (O.N. Óláfr); MacCaffrey (O.N. Guthöthr); MacCalmont or Lamont (O.N. Lögmathr); Kettle (O.N. Ketill); Kitterick (? Ir. Mac + N. Sigtryggr); MacKeever (O.N. Ivarr); Manus and MacManus (O.N. Magnus); Quistan (Ir. Mac. + O.N. Eysteinn); Reynolds (O.N. Rögnvaldr); Sigerson (O.N. Sigurthr) and MacSorley (O.N. Sumarlithi).

Both Gaill and Gaedhil, so dissimilar in many ways, benefited by their intercourse with one another. In Ireland the Vikings played an important part in the development of trade; they also promoted the growth of town life. We may trace the beginnings of the seaport towns, Dublin, Limerick, Waterford and Wexford, to the forts built by them near the large harbours in the ninth and tenth centuries. In Dublin coins were minted for the first time in Ireland[80] during the reign of Sihtric Silken Beard (c. 989-1042). Moreover, the large number of loan-words from Old Norse which made their way into Irish shows that the Irish learned in many other ways from the invaders, notably in shipbuilding and navigation.

So far as literature and art are concerned, the period of the Viking occupation is one of the most interesting in the history of Ireland. In spite of the destruction of the monasteries and the departure of numbers of the monks[81] to the Continent the work of the great schools was carried on and there was considerable literary activity;[82] in 914 and 924, respectively, the great crosses at Clonmacnois and Monasterboice were set up; cumhdachs, or book-shrines of plated gold and silver, were made for the three great manuscripts, the Book of Kells, the Book of Durrow and the Book of Armagh; carved gold, silver, and bronze work reached a high level of excellence in the famous Ardagh Chalice and the Tara Brooch; and during the years which intervened between the battles of Gleann Mama and Clontarf, Romanesque architecture was introduced into Ireland. Irish art did not remain wholly free from Scandinavian influence. In the Cross of Cong (A.D. 1123) the Celtic interlaced patterns are found side by side with the “worm-dragon” ornament, while the crosier of Clonmacnois, the psalter of Ricemarsh and the shrine of St. Patrick’s Bell are decorated in the style known as “Hiberno-Danish.”[83]

The Vikings, on the other hand, came under the influences of Irish art and literature. We find marks of Celtic influence not only in the sculptured crosses erected by the Norsemen in the North of England and Man, but even in Scandinavia itself.[84] Moreover, there are strong reasons for supposing that the rise of the prose saga among the Icelanders may be the outcome of their intercourse with the Irish in the ninth and tenth centuries.

FOOTNOTES

[40] Annals of Ulster, A.D. 855, 856; Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 856.

[41] Three Fragments of Annals, pp. 128, 129, 138, 139.

[42] Airec Menmam Uraird Maic Coisse, sec. 29 (Marstrander: Bidrag til det Norske Sprogs Historie i Irland, p. 10).

[43] With the Gaill-Gaedhil are often identified a body of plunderers, members of Meath and Cavan clans, who in the year 845 devastated large tracts of territory “after the manner of the Gentiles” (Annals of Ulster, A.D. 845). The Annalists call them “sons of death” (maic báis), possibly a term applied by the monastic chroniclers to a people who had abandoned their Christian baptism, and who had profaned churches and religious houses. (Cf. Marstrander, op. cit., p. 7, n.)

[44] Cf. Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 854. Three Fragments of Annals, A.D. 852, referring to the same event, mention the “fleet of the Gaill-Gaedhil.”

[45] Annals of Ulster, A.D. 855.

[46] Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 856.

[47] Fragments of Annals, A.D. 858.

[48] There was also a mixed Norse and Gaelic population in Galloway (the word is a corruption of Gall-Gaedhil, Welsh Galwydel) as well as in the Hebrides (Ir. Innse Gall., i.e., the “Islands of the Foreigners or Norsemen”) and other parts of Scotland. There is a reference to these Gaill-Gaedhil in the Four Masters (A.D. 1154): “The Cinél Eoghain and Muirchertach, son of Niall, sent persons over the sea to hire the fleets of the Gaill-Gaedhil of Aran, Cantire and the Isle of Man and the borders of Scotland in general, over which Mac Sgelling was in command…” (For other references see Marstrander, op. cit., p. 9.)

By Gaddgethlar the Norsemen understood “the place… where Scotland and England meet” (cf. Orkneyinga Saga, ch. 28). It is also interesting to note that in Norse sources the inhabitants of Galloway are called Vikinga-Skotar, a direct translation of Gaill-Gaedhil.

O’Flaherty (Ogygia, p. 360) thought that the Gaill-Gaedhil mentioned in the Annals of the mid-ninth century came to Ireland from Scotland, but the ancient Three Fragments of Annals, which contain the fullest accounts of the Gaill-Gaedhil (pp. 138-141) speak of them as Scuit (i.e., an Irish form of the Latin Scoti, a word which is always used with reference to the Irish before the tenth century). Moreover, the impression received from reading the Fragments of Annals is that the Annalist had in his mind the Norse-Gaelic population of Ireland, not of Scotland.

[49] Ann. Cambriae, A.D. 902; (Steenstrup: Normannerne, III., pp. 37-41).

[50] Three Fragments of Annals, p. 230 ff.

[51] Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 845, 852; Annals of Ulster, A.D. 846. Three Fragments of Annals, A.D. 862.

[52] Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 848.

[53] The plundering of these burial-mounds—“a thing that had never been done before”—made a deep impression on the Irish Annalists; it was thought that the Vikings discovered the existence of the treasure by magic, “through paganism and idol worship” (War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 115). The same source (p. 25) records the plundering of Kerry by Baraid (O.N. Barthr) and Olaf the White’s son “who left not a cave there underground that they did not explore.”

Several references to this practice of the Vikings occur also in Icelandic literature. It is interesting to compare the Irish accounts with the following passage from Landnámabók (I., ch. 5): “Leifr (one of the earliest settlers in Iceland) went on a Viking raid to the West. He plundered Ireland and found there a large underground house (Icel. jarth-hus). It was dark within until he made his way to a place where he saw a light shining from a sword which a man held in his hand. Leifr slew the man and took the sword and much treasure besides.”

[54] Three Fragments of Annals, p. 135.

[55] Ib., p. 137.

[56] Heimskringla: Óláfs Saga Tryggvasonar, ch. 35.

[57] Cf. The story of Samr, (i.e., probably Ir. sam, “happy” or “peaceful”) the Irish hound which Olaf Pai gave to Gunnarr. Samr was killed while defending his master’s homestead. (Njáls Saga, chs. 69, 75.)

[58] Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 820; Fragments of Annals, p. 166; War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 79; The Victorious Career of Callachan of Cashel, p. 9.

[59] Landnámabók, V., ch. 8.

[60] Ib., V., ch. 13.

[61] Ib., III., ch. 9.

[62] Ib., III., ch. 12. Rafarta was the wife of Eyvindr the Easterner, “who settled down in Ireland and had charge of Kjarval’s defences” (cf. Grettis Saga, ch. 3). Orkneyinga Saga (ch. 11.) makes Edna (Ir. Eithne) another of Kjarval’s daughters to be the mother of Sigurthr, Earl of Orkney (killed in the battle of Clontarf, 1014); but owing to the chronological difficulty this is hardly likely.

[63] Landnámabók, I., ch. 1.

[64] Ib., II., ch. 15.

[65] Three Fragments of Annals, p. 151. The same source (p. 173) mentions still another wife of Olaf, “the daughter of Cinaedh,” i.e., in all probability Cinaedh Mac Ailpin, King of the Picts (d. 858).

[66] Laxdaela Saga (translated by M.A.C. Press), chs. 12, 13, 20, 21.

[67] The Annals of the Four Masters record his death under the year 941: “Muirchertach of the Leather Cloaks, lord of Aileach, the Hector of the West of Europe in his time, was slain at Ardee by Blacaire, son of Godfrey, lord of the Foreigners.”

Muirchertach’s grandson was killed by Olaf Cuaran. (Ib., A.D. 975).

[68] Ib., A.D. 981.

[69] Ib., A.D. 1021.

[70] War of the Gaedhit with the Gaill, p. 142 ff.; Njáls Saga, chs. 153, 154.

[71] Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 851.

[72] Three Fragments of Annals, pp. 119, 123. Annals of Ulster, A.D. 852.

[73] Chronicon Scotorum, A.D. 883.

[74] Ib., 886; Annals of Ulster, A.D. 885.

[75] See A. Bugge: Nordisk Sprog og Nordisk Nationalitet, i Irland, pp. 284, 285. Professor Marstrander (op. cit., pp. 45, 46) takes Gluntradna to be an Irish adaptation of an O.N. nickname Trönu-Kné, to which he compares Trönubeina, the daughter of Thraell, in the Rígsthula, 9.

[76] Cf. the name Grímr Kamban (Landnámabók, Hauksbók MS., ch. 19) which seems to be a Norse form of the Irish Camman.

[77] According to A. Bugge, Dubhcenn is a translation of the O.N. Svarthöfthi, but Marstrander (op. cit., p. 45) holds that the name was known in Ireland before the Viking age. It may be suggested that it was a nickname given to Ivarr’s son by the Irish. Cf. Olaf Cuaran (Ir. cuaran, a shoe made of skin); Olaf Cenncairech (i.e., “Scabby-head.”)

[78] Their mother was an Irishwoman, sister of Donnabhan, King of Ui Fidgenti. Donnabhan himself was married to a daughter of Ivarr, King of Limerick. (War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 207).

[79] Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 931; Annals of Ulster, A.D. 960, 1036, 1042, etc. See also Whitley Stokes: On the Gaelic Names in the Landnámabók (Revue Celtique, III., pp. 186-191).

[80] From the contemporary Irish poems the Book of Rights and The Curcuit of Muirchertach Mac Neill it may be inferred that in ancient Ireland all payments were made in kind. With the extension of trade, however, it is probable that many Anglo-Saxon and other foreign coins—including those of the Scandinavian Kings of Northumbria, several of whom also reigned in Ireland—came to be circulated in Ireland. The Vikings in England struck coins there during the reign of Halfdanr (d. 877). (Cf. C. F. Keary: Catalogue of Coins in the British Museum, I., p. 202).

[81] One of these fugitives wrote the following lines on the margin of Priscian’s Latin Grammar in the monastery of St. Gall, Switzerland:

“Is acher ingaith innocht fufuasna fairge findfolt,

Ni agor reimm mora minn dond laechraid lainn na lothlind.”

(Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus. Ed. Stokes and Strachan, II., 290.)

i.e.,

Bitter is the wind to-night,

It tosses the ocean’s white hair;

To-night I fear not the fierce warriors of Norway

Coursing on the Irish Sea.

(Translation by Kuno Meyer: Ancient Irish Poetry, p. 101.)

[82] See Margaret Stokes: Early Christian Architecture in Ireland, p. 127.

[83] G. Coffey: A Guide to the Celtic Antiquities of the Christian Period (National Museum, Dublin) pp. 29, 49 and 62.

[84] Ib., p. 17.

CHAPTER III.
THE GROWTH OF THE SEAPORT TOWNS.

The foundation of the seaport towns was the most important, and at the same time the most permanent effect of the Viking invasion of Ireland. Before this the only towns were the larger monastic centres[85] at Armagh, Clonmacnois, Durrow and Clonfert, which, besides the monastery itself, consisted of numerous beehive-shaped houses of stone, or small huts of clay and wattles built for the accommodation of the students attending the schools. During the first half of the ninth century these monasteries suffered sorely from the attacks of Viking raiders. After a stubborn resistance on the part of the Irish, Armagh fell into the hands of Turgeis, who drove out the abbot Farannan and “usurped the abbacy” (c. A.D. 839). Some years later Armagh was abandoned when the Vikings captured Dublin, at this time a small “town by the hurdle ford,”[86] but they were quick to realise its possibilities as the seat of their monarchy and the chief centre of their trade. As a result of the struggle for ecclesiastical supremacy, which took place at a later period[87] between Armagh and Dublin, the Bishops of Dublin were obliged to acknowledge the Primate of Armagh; but the latter town never recovered its former prestige as the capital of Ireland.[88]

That Dublin owes its importance, if not its origin, to the Norsemen may be inferred from the almost total silence of the historians and annalists regarding it in the years preceding the Scandinavian inroads. It is probable that there was a fort to guard the hurdle-ford where the great road from Tara to Wicklow, Arklow and Wexford crossed the Liffey, but it seems to have played no great part in history before the Norsemen fortified it in 840. Between Church Lane and Suffolk Street they had their Thing[89] or meeting-place, which was still to be seen in the seventeenth century; while all along College Green, called Le Hogges[90] and later Hoggen Green by the English, lay their barrows (O.N. haugar). During the ninth and tenth centuries the Kingdom of Dublin—known to the Scandinavians as Dyflinarski—became one of the most powerful in the west. Its sway extended north to its colonies[91] at the Strangford and Carlingford Loughs, west to Leixlip, south to Wicklow, Wexford[92] and even as far as Waterford. The Dublin kings intermarried with royal families in Ireland, England and Scotland, and between the years 919 and 950 ruled, though in somewhat broken succession, as Kings of York.

Limerick (O.N. Hlymrek)[93], the great stronghold on the west coast, had no existence as a city before the ninth century. It was first occupied during the reign of Turgeis by Vikings, who used the harbour as a base for their ships.[94] The only chieftains mentioned in connection with this kingdom during the ninth century are Hona and Tomrir Torra (O.N. Thórarr Thórri), who were slain about the year 860 in attempting to capture Waterford.[95] A few years later Barith (O.N. Barthr) and Haimar (O.N. Heimarr) when marching through Connacht on their way to Limerick, were attacked by the Connachtmen and forced to retreat.[96] The real importance of Limerick, however, dates from the early part of the tenth century when it was colonised by Vikings under Tomar (Thórir) son of Elgi (O.N. Helgi). To secure the fort against attack an earthen mound was built all round, and gates were placed at certain distances leading into the streets and the houses.[97] As a kingdom it was independent, having subject colonies at Cashel, Thurles, Lough Ree and Lough Corrib.[98] It had no connection with Dublin during the tenth century; in fact, there is evidence to show that both royal houses were bitterly hostile towards each another. On one occasion Guthfrith, King of Dublin, led an army to Limerick, but was repulsed with heavy losses by the Vikings there.[99] A few years later (A.D. 929) he expelled Tomar’s successor, King Ivarr of Limerick, and his followers from Magh Roighne (a plain in Ossory), where they had encamped for a whole year. Olaf Godfreyson was equally active. After defeating Olaf Cenncairech and the Limerick Vikings at Lough Ree in 937, he carried them off to Dublin,[100] and that same year probably forced them to fight on his side in the battle of Brunnanburh.

This hostility would seem to have been due to rivalry between two powerful kingdoms, rather than, as has been suggested,[101] to difference of nationality. It is not at all certain that the Limerick Vikings were purely Danes. One Irish chronicler speaks of the Scandinavians in Munster as Gaill and Danair and calls their fleets loingeas Danmarcach ocus allmurach (“fleets of Danes and foreigners”).[102] Elsewhere[103] we find the word Lochlannaigh (i.e., Norsemen) used with reference to the Limerick settlers; and Colla (O.N. Kolli), Prince of Limerick (d. 931) was certainly a Norseman, for he was son of Barthr, a leader of the Finn-Gennti in the ninth century. There would seem to have been a mixture of both Danes and Norsemen in Limerick, and since there is no proof that struggles for mastery took place between them, we may take it that they acted in harmony.

During the tenth century Limerick stood in close connection with the Scandinavian Kingdom in the Hebrides.[104] Mention is made of one chieftain “Morann, son of the Sea King of Lewis,”[105] who fought and fell in Limerick against the Irish. Moreover, the occurrence of the names Manus, Maccus (O.N. Magnus) and Somarlidh (O.N. Sumarlithi) in both royal families points at least to relationship by marriage. Indeed, the same family seems to have reigned in both kingdoms. “Godfrey, son of Harold, King of the Hebrides,” who was slain by the Dal Riada in 989[106] was in all probability a son of that “Harold, lord of the foreigners of Limerick,” whose death is recorded by the Four Masters in 940.

Practically nothing is known of the Scandinavian settlement in Waterford[107] (O.N. Vethrafjörthr) before the year 919, when Vikings under Raghnall (O.N. Rögnvaldr), “King of the Danes,” concentrated their forces there before attacking Dublin. These invaders, sometimes called Nortmannai (‘Norsemen’), but generally alluded to as Gaill (‘foreigners’) must have also included Danes, as Raghnall’s army was composed of both Danes and Norsemen;[108] and moreover, both parties are represented as fighting side by side against the Irish in Waterford.[109]

Waterford had not at first a dynasty of its own, but was dependent on the Dublin Kingdom. Olaf Godfreyson seems to have been in command there while his father was King of Dublin;[110] and we hear also that when the town was attacked by the Irish under Cellachan of Cashel, Sihtric, a prince from Dublin, came with a fleet to relieve it.[111] Later in the same century, the kingdom of Waterford stood quite distinct, and was governed by Ivarr (d. 1000), who was probably a member of the Dublin royal family. He came forward as a claimant to the Dublin throne after the murder of Gluniarainn, son of Olaf Cuaran (989) but was driven out after a three years’ reign by Sihtric Silken-Beard. Ivarr’s successors in Waterford, Amond (O.N. Amundr) and Goistilin Gall were killed in the battle of Clontarf.

In the tenth and eleventh centuries Waterford was strongly fortified, and, like Limerick, had gates leading into the town.[112] The town itself was built in the form of a triangle with a tower at each angle,[113] only one of which, the famous Reginald’s Tower, built in 1003, is still standing. Gualtier (? Ir. Gall tír, ‘land of the foreigners’), a barony lying on the west side of the harbour, is supposed to have been connected with the ‘Ostmen,’ who were obliged to settle there after the arrival of the English in 1169.

Cork, the seat of a famous school founded by St. Finbar, fell an easy prey to the Vikings in the first half of the ninth century. They built forts there and at Youghal,[114] but in endeavouring to push their way inland to Fermoy were checked by the Irish (866), and their chief, Gnimcinnsiolla (or Gnimbeolu)[115] was slain. We hear no more of Scandinavians here until early in the tenth century when new invaders, part of the large army which came to Waterford with Raghnall and Earl Ottarr in 919, gained possession of the town. The new settlers seem to have been chiefly, if not entirely, Danes (Danair and Duibhgeinnti),[116] and it would seem that with the Danish colonies at Thurles and Cashel they subsequently came under the authority of Ivarr of Limerick, “the high-king of the foreigners of Munster.”

Traces of the Scandinavian occupation still remain in the place-names on the coast, especially in the districts surrounding the seaport towns. Near Dublin we find Howth (O.N. höfuth, ‘a head’) and Skerries (O.N. skjær, ‘a rock’); also Lambey, Dalkey and Ireland’s Eye, all three containing the O.N. form ey, an ‘island.’ The name Leixlip is probably a form of O.N. laxhleypa[117] (‘salmon-leap’) not, as is generally supposed, of O.N. lax-hlaup. The O.N. fjörthr occurs in Wexford, Strangford and Carlingford (O.N. Kerlingafjörthr).[118] Other Scandinavian names on the east coast are Copeland Islands (i.e., Kaupmannaeyjar, ‘the merchants’ islands’) near Belfast Lough; Arklow, Wicklow (O.N. lo, a low, flat meadow by the water’s edge.); Carnsore and Greenore (O.N. eyrr, ‘a small tongue of land running into the sea’).

The number of names on the south and west coasts is limited; besides Waterford, we find only Helvick (O.N. vík, ‘a bay’), Dursey Island, south-west of Cork, and Swerwick Harbour, in Kerry. At least three well-authenticated place-names have dropped out of use; Dún na Trapcharla, in Co. Limerick (O.N. (1) torf-karl, ‘a turf-cutter’ or (2) thorp-karl, a ‘small farmer’);[119] Jolduhlaup,[120] a cape in the north of Ireland; and Ulfreksfjörthr,[121] the Norse name for Lough Larne.

It is also interesting to note that the second element in the names of the three provinces, Ulster, Leinster and Munster is derived from the O.N. stathir (plural of stathr, ‘a place’), while the name Ireland (O.N. Iraland) is Scandinavian in form and replaced the old Irish word Eríu during the Viking period.

FOOTNOTES

[85] In the Annals of Tighernach (A.D. 716), the Annals of Ulster (A.D. 715), and the Book of Hymns (ed. Todd, p. 156) the Latin civitas (Ir. Cathair) is the word used for a monastery.

[86] The old name for Dublin was Baile-atha-Cliath, “the town of the hurdle ford.” It was afterwards called Dubh-linn (“black pool”), of which the O.N. Dyflin is a corruption.

[87] See p. 55.

[88] Armagh is the only place in Ireland which is marked on a tenth century map of the world preserved in the British Museum. See R. A. S. Macalister: Muiredach: Abbot of Monasterboice, p. 13.

[89] It is called Tengmonth and Teggemuta in medieval documents (Chartularies of St. Mary’s Abbey, I., 15, 461, 463, 465) and from it the surrounding parish of St. Andrew—“Parochia Sancti Andreae de Thengmote”—took its name. In 1647 it is referred to as “the fortified hill near the College,” but about thirty years later it was levelled to the ground and the earth was used for building Nassau Street (J. T. Gilbert: History of Dublin, II, p. 258).

[90] The name survived until the 18th century in Hog Hill, but it was afterwards changed to St. Andrew’s Street.

[91] Annals of Ulster, A.D. 839, 840, 925, 928, 934.

These colonies were governed by earls, not kings, and their dependency on the kingdom of Dublin is clearly shown by certain entries in the Annals. In 926 a Viking fleet at Linn Duachaill (on the coast of Louth) was commanded by Albdann (O.N. Halfdanr), son of Guthfrith (King of Dublin, 920-933). Later, when part of Albdann’s army was besieged at Ath Cruithne (near Newry), Guthfrith went with his forces to relieve it. In 927 the “foreigners of Linn Duachaill” accompanied Guthfrith when he marched on York. See Steenstrup, op. cit., III., p. 115.

[92] Wexford was also governed by earls. One of them, Accolb, is mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 928.

[93] The Irish name Luimnech (hence O.N. Hlymrek) was originally applied to the estuary of the Shannon, but was afterwards confined to the town itself when it had risen to importance under Scandinavian rule.

[94] Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 843; War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 8.

[95] Three Fragments of Annals, pp. 167, 144-6. War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, ch. 23.

[96] Three Fragments of Annals, pp. 173-175; Chronicon Scotorum, A.D. 887.

[97] The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, pp. 9, 66; War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 56.

[98] Annals of Ulster, A.D. 845, 922, 929; The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, p. 10; War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 10; Three Fragments of Annals, p. 197.

[99] Annals of Ulster, A.D. 924.

[100] Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 935; Chronicon Scotorum, A.D. 936.

[101] A. Bugge: Sidste Afsnit af Nordboernes Historie i Irland, pp. 254, 255.

[102] War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 41.

[103] The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, p. 64.

[104] Steenstrup: op. cit., III., p. 213.

[105] The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, p. 65.

[106] Annals of Ulster, A.D. 988.

[107] Three Fragments of Annals (A.D. 860) record that “two fleets of the Norsemen came into the land of Cearbhall, son of Dunlaing (King of Ossory) to plunder it.” These fleets probably sailed up the Barrow from Waterford harbour. The same annals also mention (p. 129) a Norse chieftain called Rodolbh, who may have been connected with the colony at Waterford. See also Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 888 [891].

[108] Annals of Ulster, A.D. 921.

[109] The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, p. 71.

[110] The Four Masters record “the plundering of Kildare by the son of Gothfrith (i.e., Olaf) from Waterford” (A.D. 926).

[111] The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, p. 70.

[112] The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, pp. 13, 70.

[113] Smith: History of Waterford, p. 165.

[114] Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 846, 864.

[115] Ib., 865. Fragments of Annals, p. 169.

Gnimbeolu is the O.N. Grímr Bióla. The Irish “Cinnsiolla” (Nom. Cenn Selach) is probably a translation of O.N. Selshofuth, a word which does not occur as a nickname in Old Norse literature. It was, however, known in Ireland as may be seen from the runic inscription—domnal Selshofoth a soerth (th) eta—on a bronze sword-plate found in Greenmount (Co. Louth). Cf. Marstrander, op. cit. p. 49.

[116] The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, pp. 10, 67.

[117] Cf. Marstrander, op. cit., p. 149.

[118] Cf. Marstrander, op. cit., p. 154. According to him, the O.N. Kerling, “an old woman” in this instance, is a folk-etymological form of Carlinn, the old name for the ford.

[119] Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 1062. Cf. Co dunad na Piscarcarla in Cath Ruis na Rig (ed. Hogan) where Piscarcarla corresponds to the O.N. fiskikari, “a fisherman.”

The word Trapcharla (“na Trapcharla”) also occurs in the Book of Ballymote as the name of a people who fought at Troy. It has been suggested that the term was generally used during the ninth and tenth centuries of a Norse colony in Co. Limerick, which colony would acquire a legendary character after the Norsemen had been driven out of Ireland, and would figure, like the Lochlannaigh or Norsemen, in Middle-Irish stories and poems.

See Miscellany presented to Kuno Meyer, pp. 293, 370.

[120] Landnámabók I. ch. 1.

[121] Heimskringla: Saga Óláfs hins helga, chs. 88, 10.

CHAPTER IV.
THE EXPANSION OF IRISH TRADE.

When the Scandinavians had firmly established themselves on the Irish coasts they developed trade to a considerable extent, not only by bringing Ireland into communication with their new settlements in England, but also by opening up commerce with Iceland and Scandinavia, and even with Russia and the East.[122] Before A.D. 900 at all events, they had been accustomed to visit France from Ireland, and had trafficked with merchants there, using a certain vessel called the ‘Epscop’[123] for measuring their wine. That this branch of their trade was in a flourishing condition in the latter half of the tenth century may be inferred from a contemporary poem in which Brian Borumha is said to have exacted as tribute one hundred and fifty vats of wine from the Norsemen of Dublin, and a barrel of red wine every day from the Limerick settlers.[124]

The Scandinavians also made marked advances on the old methods of trading by building their forts near the large harbours and carrying on from there a continuous overseas commerce.[125] Previous to this foreign merchants[126] who visited Ireland used to exchange their goods for home produce at the numerous oenachs or fairs held at certain intervals all over the country. These oenachs continued to be celebrated during the Viking period, but it was in the seaport towns, Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Wexford, and Waterford, that the most important trade was centred. Dublin, owing to its splendid position, half way between the Continent and the Scandinavian settlements in Scotland and Iceland, and within easy distance of England, became one of the wealthiest towns in the West. One Irish chronicler gives a glowing account of the treasures carried off from there by the Irish after the battle of Gleann Máma (A.D. 1000):

“In that one place were found the greatest quantities of gold, silver, bronze, and precious stones: carbuncle-gems, buffalo horns, and beautiful goblets… much also of various vestures of all colours were found there likewise.”[127]

Dublin is frequently mentioned in the sagas and seems to have been very well known to Icelandic dealers. In Olaf Tryggvason’s Saga (Heimskringla) we read that during the reign of Olaf Cuaran a merchant called Thórir Klakka, who had been on many a Viking expedition, went on a trading voyage to Dublin, “as was usual in those days.”[128] When Olaf’s son, Sihtric Silken Beard, was King of Dublin (c. 994) the Icelandic poet Gunnlaug Ormstungu sailed from England to Ireland with merchants who were bound for Dublin.[129]

Eyrbyggia Saga tells[130] of both Thórodd, the owner of a large ship of burden, and Guthleif,[131] who went with other traders on voyages “west to Dublin.” Still more interesting is the account in the same saga of a merchant-ship that came from Dublin in the year 1000 to Snaefellsness in Iceland and anchored there for the summer. There were on board some Irishmen and men from the Sudreyar (Hebrides) but only a few Norsemen. One of the passengers, a woman named Thorgunna, had a large chest containing “bed-clothes beautifully embroidered, English sheets, a silken quilt, and other valuable wares, the like of which were rare in Iceland.”[132]

Limerick is heard of only once in Icelandic sources; a trader named Hrafn was surnamed “the Limerick-farer” (Hlymreks fari)[133] because he had lived for a long time there. The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill gives a detailed description of the spoils gained by the Irish after the battle of Sulcoit (968) whence it would seem that the Limerick Vikings had been engaged in trade with France, Spain and the East.

“They carried away their (i.e., ‘The Vikings’) jewels and their best property, their saddles, beautiful and foreign, their gold and their silver; their beautifully woven cloth of all colours and of all kinds; their satins and their silken cloths, pleasing and variegated, both scarlet and green, and all sorts of cloth in like manner.”[134]

Reference has already been made to the numbers of Irish women captured by Viking raiders; many of these captives were afterwards sold as slaves in Norway and Iceland. In Laxdaela Saga we hear of Melkorka, an Irish princess, who was exposed for sale with eleven other women at a market in Norway. The slave-dealer, a man known as Gilli (Ir. Giolla) “the Russian” was in all probability a Scandinavian merchant from Ireland who had carried on trade with Russia. The extent of the slave traffic is further illustrated in Kristni Saga (ch. 3) where mention is made of “a fair Irish maid” whom Thangbrandr the priest bought; “and when he came home with her a certain man whom the emperor Otto the Young had put as steward there, wished to take her from him,” but Thangbrandr would not let her go![135] On the other hand, the Irish frequently descended on the Viking strongholds in Ireland and carried off the Norse women and children, “the soft, youthful, bright, matchless girls; blooming, silk-clad young women, and active, large well-formed boys.”[136] Therefore it is not unlikely that the “slaves ignorant of Gaelic” who are stated to have been given as tribute to the Irish kings in the ninth and tenth centuries[137] were really Scandinavian prisoners of war.

An interesting passage in the Book of Ely gives an idea of the activity of the Irish merchants at this period: “Certain merchants from Ireland, with merchandise of different kinds and some coarse woollen blankets, arrived at the little town called Grantebrycge (Cambridge) and exposed their wares there.”[138] It is not surprising then that the wealth of Ireland increased rapidly, so much so that Brian Borumha, realising that this was largely due to Viking enterprise, allowed the invaders to remain in their forts on the coast “for the purpose of attracting commerce from other countries to Ireland.”[139] And even after their defeat at Clontarf, the Vikings remained in the coast towns, whence they continued to engage in trade with England and the Continent. Both Giraldus Cambrensis[140] and William of Malmesbury[141] mention the extensive slave-trade carried on between Ireland and England in the twelfth century, Bristol being the chief centre. In addition to the slave traffic, large supplies of wine were imported from France, while the Irish ‘out of gratitude’ (non ingrata) gave hides and skins in exchange.[142] That there was commercial intercourse with Chester and also with the towns round the Bristol Channel may be seen from the names of the citizens of Dublin in the year 1200: Thorkaill, Swein Ivor from Cardiff; Turstinus and Ulf from Bristol; Godafridus and Ricardus from Swansea; Thurgot from Haverfordwest and Harold from Monmouth.[143] About 1170 two ships sailing from England “laden with English cloths and a great store of goods” were attacked and plundered near Dublin by a Norseman, Swein, son of Asleif; and some years later vessels from Britain carrying corn and wine were seized in Wexford harbour by the English invaders.[144]

The historical evidence is amply borne out by the existence of such old Norse loan-words in Irish as mangaire (O.N. mangari, a ‘trader’), marg (O.N. mörk, a ‘mark’), margadh, (O.N. markathr, a ‘market’), and penning (O.N. penningr, a ‘penny’), and also by certain archæological discoveries. In Scandinavia coins of King Sithric Silken-Beard have been found,[145] while four sets of bronze scales and some weights richly decorated in enamel and gold have been dug up in Ireland (Bangor, Co. Down).[146] To the same period (early ninth century) also belong the scales and weights which were discovered in the great hoard at Islandbridge, near Kilmainham in 1866.[147] With such strong evidence of the influence exerted by the Vikings on the expansion of Irish trade it is not surprising to find that even as late as the seventeenth century the greater part of the merchants of Dublin traced their descent to Olaf Cuaran and the Dublin Norsemen.[148]

FOOTNOTES

[122] See the map of the Irish Trade Routes in Mrs. J. R. Green’s The Old Irish World.

[123] “Epscop fina” in the sea-laws, i.e., “a vessel for measuring wine used by the merchants of the Norsemen and the Franks.” See Sanas Cormaic (Cormac’s Glossary) compiled c. A.D. 900. (Anecdota from Irish Manuscripts IV., ed. Kuno Meyer.)

[124] Cf. O’Curry: Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish, II., p. 125. For a transcript of the poem see A. Bugge: Vesterlandenes Indflydelse paa Nordboernes i Vikingetiden, p. 183.

[125] Cf. Laxdaela Saga, ch. 21.

[126] According to an ancient poem on the great fair of Carman (Co. Kildare) foreign merchants visited this fair and sold there “articles of gold and silver, ornaments and beautiful clothes.” For other references see Joyce: A Social History of Ancient Ireland, Vol. II., pp. 429-431; O’Curry: Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish, III., p. 531.

[127] War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 115.

[128] Saga Óláfs Tryggvasonar (Heimskringla), ch. 51.

[129] Gunnlaugs Saga Ormstungu, ch. 8.

[130] Eyrbyggia Saga, ch. 29.

[131] Ib., ch. 64.

[132] Ib., ch. 50.

[133] Landnámabók, II., ch. 21, etc.

[134] War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 79.

[135] Kristni Saga, ch. 3.

[136] War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 79.

[137] The Book of Rights (Leabhar na gCeart), pp. 87, 181. Ed. J. O’Donovan.

[138] Liber Eliensis, (ed. Gale) I., ch. XLII.

[139] Keating: History of Ireland, III., p. 271. (Ed. Dinneen). Keating probably derived his information from Giraldus Cambrensis: Topographia Hibernica, D. III., ch. LIII.

[140] Expugnatio Hibernica, I., ch. XVIII.

[141] De Vita S. Wulstani, II., 20.

(See Cunningham: Growth of English Industry and Commerce, I., p. 86.)

[142] Giraldus Cambrensis: Topographia Hibernica, I., ch. VI.

[143] A. Bugge: Contributions to the History of the Norsemen in Ireland, Part III.

[144] Giraldus Cambrensis: Expugnatio Hibernica, I., ch. III.

[145] A. Bugge: Vesterlandenes Indflydelse paa Nordboernes i Vikingetiden, pp. 300-304.

[146] G. Coffey, op. cit., p. 91.

[147] Ib., p. 89.

[148] Duald Mac Firbis: On the Fomorians and the Norsemen (ed. A. Bugge), p. 11.

CHAPTER V.
SHIPBUILDING AND SEAFARING.

The almost complete absence of any allusion to Irish ships[149] during the eighth and ninth centuries shows that at this time the Irish had no warships to drive back the powerful naval forces of the Vikings. Meeting with no opposition on sea the invaders were able to anchor their fleets in the large harbours, and afterwards to occupy certain important positions along the coasts. In this connection it is interesting to note that the Irish word longphort (a ‘shipstead’; later, ‘a camp’) is used for the first time in the Annals of Ulster with reference to the Norse encampments at Dublin and Linn-Duachaill (840); hence it has been concluded that the early Norse long-phorts were not exactly fortified camps, but ‘ships drawn up and protected on the landside, probably by a stockaded earthwork.’[150]

The Annalists tell how, when the Vikings were expelled from Dublin in 902, they fled across the sea to England, leaving large numbers of their ships behind them. It was probably the capture of these vessels that impressed upon the Irish the advantages of this new method of warfare, for they now began to build ships and to prepare to meet the Vikings in their own element.[151] In 913 a “new fleet,” manned by Ulstermen, attacked the Norsemen off the coast of Man but was defeated.[152] Another Ulster fleet commanded by Muirchertach mac Neill, King of Aileach, sailed to the Hebrides in 939 and carried off much spoil and booty.[153] Moreover, the Irish seem to have imitated the Scandinavian practice of “drawing” or carrying their light vessels over land to the lakes and rivers in the interior of the island. Mention is made of Domhnall, son of Muirchertach, who “took the boats from the river Bann on to Lough Neagh, and over the river Blackwater upon Lough Erne, and afterwards upon Lough Uachtair.”[154]

The men of Munster also had their navy, which they organised according to Norse methods[155] by compelling each district in the different counties to contribute ten ships to it. Thus by the middle of the tenth century they were able to put a formidable fleet to sea. When Cellachan of Cashel (d. 954) was captured by the Vikings and brought to Dublin, he sent messengers to the Munstermen bidding them to defend their territory: “and afterwards,” he said, “go to the chieftains of my fleet and bring them with you to Sruth na Maeile (Mull of Cantyre), and if I am carried away from Ireland, let the men of Munster take their ships and follow me.”[156] The chronicle goes on to give a vivid description of the great naval battle which followed: the Vikings under the leadership of Sihtric, a prince from Dublin, took up their position in the Bay of Dundalk, where the “barques and swift ships of the men of Munster” met them. The Irish ships were arranged according to the territories they represented: those of Corcolaigdi and Ui Echach (Co. Cork) were placed farthest south; next came the fleets of Corcoduibne and Ciarraige (Co. Kerry), and lastly those of Clare. When the Munstermen saw Cellachan, who had been bound and fettered to the mast by Sihtric’s orders, they made gallant attempts to release him; some of them leaped upon “the rowbenches and strong oars of the mighty ships” of the Norsemen, while others threw tough ropes of hemp across the prows to prevent them from escaping. Failbhe, King of Corcoduibne, brought his ship alongside Sihtric’s, and with his sword succeeded in cutting the ropes and fetters that were round the King, but was himself slain immediately afterwards. The battle ended in victory for the Irish: the Norsemen were forced to leave the harbour with all their ships, but “they carried neither King nor chieftain with them.”[157]

The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill records still more victories for the Munster fleet during the reign of Brian Borumha. In 984 he assembled “a great marine fleet” on Lough Derg and took three hundred boats up the Shannon to Lough Ree[158] and again in 1001 sailed with his fleet to Athlone.[159] But the greatest triumph of all was in 1005, when Brian, then at the height of his power, “sent forth a naval expedition composed of the foreigners of Dublin and Waterford and the Ui Ceinnselaigh (i.e., the men of Wexford) and almost all the men of Erin, such of them as were fit to go to sea; and they levied royal tribute from the Saxons and the Britons and from the men of Lennox in Scotland and the inhabitants of Argyle.”[160]

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the names of a number of Frisian sailors who fought with the English in a naval battle against the Vikings (A. an. 897). In the same way the Irish ships must have been manned to a large extent by Norse mercenaries or by the Gaill-Gaedhil, for practically all the shipping terms introduced into Irish in the tenth and eleventh centuries are of Norse origin.[161] This is evident from the following list:—

CHAPTER VI.
LINGUISTIC INFLUENCES.

(a) Loan-words from Old Norse in Irish.

The large number of loan-words from Old Norse which occur in Old and Middle Irish indicate clearly the extent and character of Scandinavian influence in Ireland. They are therefore interesting from an historical point of view, for they confirm, and sometimes supplement, the evidence of Irish and Icelandic sources, that the relations existing between the two peoples were largely of a friendly character.

As the subject has already been fully dealt with by Celtic scholars,[163] only the more important loan words are given here:—

I. Dress[164] and Armour.

II. Housebuilding.

III.

Other interesting loan words are:—

Certain old Norse words and phrases which are to be found in Irish texts also go to show the familiarity of the Irish with the Norse language. They may be mentioned here, although they are not loan-words, but rather attempts on the part of the Irish authors to reproduce the speech of the foreigners:—

(b) Gaelic Words in Old Norse Literature.[170]

Considering the close connection between Ireland and Iceland, especially in the tenth and eleventh centuries, it is surprising that so few Gaelic words found their way into Old Norse literature. The only Norse words that can be said, with any certainty, to be derived from Irish, are the following:—

(c) Irish Influence on Icelandic Place-nomenclature.

A number of the place-names mentioned in the Landnámabók[175] contain a Gaelic element which, with one or two exceptions, is present in the form of a personal name. Among these Icelandic place-names we may note the following:—

CHAPTER VII.
THE VIKINGS AND THE CELTIC CHURCH.

Beyond a few meagre allusions the Irish Annals throw no light on the progress of Christianity among the “foreigners” in Ireland during the ninth century. Fortunately, however, the Icelandic Sagas and the Landnámabók have preserved some interesting details concerning a small number of the Norse settlers in Iceland, who had previously come under the influence of Christianity in Ireland and in the Western Islands of Scotland. As far as we can gather from these sources the new faith seems at first to have made but little headway; heathenism retained a strong hold on the majority of the Norse people, and there can be little doubt that this form of religion was extensively practised in Ireland during the Viking age. Evidence of this is to be found in The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, which describes how Authr, wife of Turgéis, sat on the high altar of the church in Clonmacnois, and gave audiences as a prophetess.[176] In this instance the high altar would seem to have corresponded to the seithr hjallr or platform which it was customary to erect in Icelandic houses when a völva or prophetess was called in to foretell the future.[177] Some writers[178] also point to the numerous raids on churches and religious houses as a proof of the Vikings’ hostility to Christianity, but these attacks were much more likely to have originated in the amount of treasure which the raiders knew to be stored in these places. It is rather in this light, too, that we must regard Turgéis’ expulsion of the abbot Farannan from Armagh (in 839), and his subsequent usurpation of the abbacy,[179] than as an attempt to stamp out Christianity and establish heathenism in its stead.

Yet, at the same time, the Norsemen must have come into close contact with the religion of the “White Christ” through their intercourse with the Irish. Indeed, an entry in the Annals of Ulster (A.D. 872), referring to the death of Ivárr the Boneless, implies that this famous Viking died a Christian.[180] The records are silent on this point with regard to Olaf the White, although he was related by marriage to Ketill Flatnose, a famous chief in the Hebrides, all of whose family, with the exception of his son, Björn the Easterner, adopted Christianity. Olaf’s wife, Authr, daughter of Ketill, was one of the most zealous of these early Norse converts: “She used to pray at Crossknolls, where she had crosses erected, because she was baptized, and was a good Christian.” Before her death she gave orders that she was to be buried on the seashore, between high and low water-mark, because she did not wish to lie in unconsecrated ground. The Landnámabók also says that for some time after her death her kinsfolk reverenced these knolls, but in course of time their faith became corrupt, and in the same place they built a temple and offered up sacrifices.[181] We hear, too, of Orlygr the Old, who had been fostered by Bishop Patrick in the Hebrides. When he was setting out for Iceland the Bishop gave him “wood for building a church, a plenarium, an iron penny and some consecrated earth to be put under the corner pillars,” and asked him to dedicate the church to St. Columba. On the voyage a great storm arose. Orlygr prayed to St. Patrick that he might reach Iceland in safety, promising, as a thanksgiving, to call the place in which he should land by the saint’s name.[182] Mention is also made of several other Christians from the British Isles: Jörundr, Helgi Bjóla;[183] Thorkell—son of Svarkell from Caithness—“who prayed before the cross, ever good to old men, ever good to young men;”[184] Ásólf,[185] Ketill—grandson of Ketill Flatnose—who was surnamed hinn fiflski (‘the foolish’) because he adhered to Christianity.[186] A long time after (c. A.D. 997) Thangbrandr the Priest found descendants of Ketill’s in Iceland, “all of whom had been Christians from father to son.”[187] Considering the missionary ardour of the Irish at this period it is curious that no priests accompanied these early settlers to Iceland. This may have been due to scepticism as to the sincerity of these converts; such, at least, is the impression received from the Irish annals and chronicles, in which the Norsemen are almost invariably referred to as ‘heathens’ and ‘pagans.’ The result was that the influence of Christianity declined in Iceland; “some of those who came from west-the-sea remained Christians until the day of their death” says the Landnámabók, “but their families did not always retain the faith, for some of their sons erected temples and offered sacrifices, and the land was wholly heathen for nearly one hundred and twenty years.”[188]

In the transition from heathenism to Christianity opposing beliefs were sometimes held at the same time; the Viking continued to have recourse to Thor even after he had been baptized. Helgi the Lean, son of Eyvindr the Easterner, and Rafarta, daughter of King Cearbhall of Ossory, “was very mixed in his faith; he believed in Christ, but he invoked Thor for seafaring and brave deeds. When he came in sight of Iceland he asked Thor where he should settle down;” and when he had built his house, “he made a large fire near every lake and river, thus sanctifying all the land between… Helgi believed in Christ, and therefore named his house after Him.”[189] We also read that “Örlygr the Old and his family trusted in Columba,”[190] but whether they abandoned all other belief in the Christian faith and fell into Paganism is not quite clear. Again, in the account of the naval battle between Danes and Norsemen in Carlingford Lough (A.D. 852) the annalist describes how “Lord Horm,” leader of the Danish forces, advised his men to “pray fervently” to St. Patrick, “the archbishop and head of the saints of Erin,” whose churches and monasteries the Norsemen had plundered and burned. So the Danes put themselves under the protection of the saint: “Let our protector,” they cried, “be the holy Patrick and the God who is lord over him also, and let our spoils and our wealth be given to his church.” After the battle ambassadors from the árd-rí found the Danes seated round a great fire, cooking their food in cauldrons—which were supported on the dead bodies of the Norsemen, while near by was “a trench full of gold and silver to give to Patrick; for the Danes,” adds the chronicler, “were a people with a kind of piety; they could for a while refrain from meat and from women.”[191]

This confusion of the two religions is also illustrated in the crosses, symbols of Christianity, which the Vikings erected in the north of England and in the Isle of Man to the memory of their kinsfolk. On the Gosforth cross in Cumberland a representation of the Crucifixion—obviously influenced by Celtic designs—is found side by side with a figure of the god Vitharr slaying the Wolf, a scene described in Vafthrúthnismál; while on the western side of the cross is portrayed the punishment of Loki.[192] A fragment of a cross in the same locality shows Thor fishing for the Mithgarthsormr,[193] a subject which is also treated on a cross slab in Kirk Bride Parish Church, Isle of Man.[194] Among the many other Celtic crosses in Man are four upon which are carved pictures from the story of Sigurthr Fáfnisbani: Sigurthr roasting the dragon’s heart on the fire and cooling his fingers in his mouth, his steed Grani and the tree with the talking birds; another figure has been identified with Loki throwing stones at the Otter.[195] There are besides twenty-six crosses with Runic inscriptions, six of which bring out the Viking connection with the Celtic Church. On one the Ogam alphabet is scratched, and the same monument bears a Runic inscription which tells us that “Mal Lumkun (Ir. Mael Lomchon) raised this cross to his foster (mother) Malmuru (Ir. Maelmuire), daughter of Tufgal (Ir. Dubhgall), whom Athisl had to wife.” To this the rune writer adds: “It is better to leave a good foster-son than a bad son.”[196] Crosses were also erected by Mail Brikti (Ir. Mael Brigde), son of Athakan (Ir. Aedhacan) the smith;[197] by Thorleifr Hnakki in remembrance of his son Fiak (Ir. Fiacca);[198] and by an unknown Norseman to the memory of his wife Murkialu (Ir. Muirgheal).[199] Another cross-slab commemorates Athmiul (? Ir. Cathmaoil), wife of Truian (i.e., the Pictish name Druian), son of Tufkal,[200] while still another stone contains a fragment of a prayer to Christ, and the Irish saints, Malaki (Malachy), Bathrik (Patrick), and Athanman (Adamnan).[201]

The advance of Christianity during the tenth century may be attributed to a large extent to the prevalence of the practice known as prime-signing or marking with the sign of the cross. According to Eyrbyggja Saga (ch. 50), this was “a common custom among merchants and mercenary soldiers in Christian armies, because those men who were ‘prime-signed’ could associate with Christians as well as heathens, while retaining that faith which they liked best.” Nearly all the Norse kings who reigned in Dublin during this century seem to have accepted Christianity. When Gothfrith plundered Armagh in 919 “he spared the church and the houses of prayer, with their company of culdees (ceile-de) and the sick.”[202] We may assume that Sihtric Gale, Gothfrith’s brother (or cousin) was also a Christian, since he formed a friendly alliance with Aethelstan, who gave him his sister in marriage.[203] In 943 Olaf Cuaran was baptized, and in the same year Rögnvaldr, another Norse prince, was confirmed.[204] After the battle of Tara (980) Olaf went on pilgrimage to Iona, where he died “after penance and a good life.”[205] His daughter and grandson were called by distinctively Irish Christian names—Maelmuire[206] (servant of Mary), and Gilla Ciarain[207] (servant of St. Ciaran). We may also note the name Gilla-Padraig which occurs in the royal family of Waterford[208] and the half-Irish name of a priest in Clonmacnois, Connmhach Ua Tomrair, who must have been of Norse extraction.[209]

But all traces of heathenism in Ireland had not disappeared by the end of the tenth century. An interesting relic was Thor’s ring (Ir. fail Tomhair) which was carried off from Dublin by King Maelsechnaill II. in 994.[210] This must have been the dóm-hringr, so frequently alluded to in Icelandic literature. It was a ring of silver or gold, about twenty ounces in weight, which lay upon an altar in the temple, except during ceremonies, when it was worn on the priest’s arm.[211] Upon this ring oaths were usually sworn.[212] That it was connected with the worship of Thor is clear from a passage in the Landnámabók describing a place called Thorsnes in Iceland: “there still stands Thor’s stone, on which were broken the backs of those men who were about to be sacrificed, and close by is the dómhringr where the men were condemned to death.”[213] Even as late as the year A.D. 1000 we hear of Thor’s wood (caill Tomair) north of Dublin, which was laid waste by Brian Borumha after the battle of Gleann Mama.[214]