Today, the popular interpretation of Brian Boru, a famous high king alive during medieval Gaelic Ireland, is that he died as a martyr for Ireland, unified Ireland into one nation, and drove the heathen Vikings from Ireland’s coasts. This interpretation has been about for a very long time, beginning at least 900 years ago when the Cogad Gáedel re Gallaibh was written (“Cogadh Gaedhel Re Gallaibh”). The Cogad Gáedel re Gallaibh was essentially political propaganda in the form of a book written by Brian Boru’s descendants in the 12th century that told the tale of Brian’s life and his wars with the Vikings. Even though the book is a highly fictionalized version of the true history, it’s depiction of Brian Boru has been implanted in the minds of the public since it was written. Only recently has the legitimacy of the Cogad Gáedel re Gallaibh been called into question by historians and revisionist history started discerning what’s fact and what’s fiction in the history of Brian Boru. This revisionist history Brian Boru’s life has been going though these last few years is what inspired this paper and prompts the question this paper intends to answer: Was Brian Boru really a saintlike hero that unified Ireland and drove the Vikings from it’s coasts?
In order to answer this question, a brief, condensed history of Brian Boru must be given. This history of Brian Boru’s life is according to 3 major Irish Annals. These three Annals are: The Annals of Ulster, the Annals of Inisfallen, and the Annals of Tigernach. These specific sources were chosen because they are primary sources and are not as heavily exaggerated as the Cogad Gáedel re Gallaibh, though there are some conflicting passages in these Annals, mostly when describing the sizes of armies and other numerical amounts, indicating that some caution is needed when making conclusions from these Annals. Overall, these Annals make reasonable claims and do make for reliable sources.
In the year 941 AD, Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig (or Brian Boru) was born to Cennétig mac Lorcáin and his wife, Bé Binn inion Urchadh (Annals of Ulster). Cennétig was the king of a small tribe called the Dál gCais, which was located on the River Shannon, near modern day Limerick. The River Shannon was a blessing to the Dál gCais because it provided a swift and effective way to make surprise raids on nearby kingdoms. The naval warfare that the Dál gCais fought would leave a lasting impression on young Brian and prove to be a very successful tactic in his future military career.
When Brian’s father died in 951, Brian’s older brother Mathgamain mac Cennétig took kingship over the Dál gCais (Annals of Inisfallen). Mathgamain was an ambitious warrior. Soon after becoming king he turned his military strength towards the province of Munster and defeated it. After the submission of Munster was secured, Mathgamain decided to go to war with the Viking king, Ivar of Limerick, because he was a threat to the Dál gCais’ safety. To take on Ivar of Limerick, Mathgamain allied with Máel Muad mac Bran, who was actually a rival of Mathgamain’s, possibly because Mathgamain may have usurped Máel Muad from the throne when he took control of Munster. This alliance proved fruitful as the Annals of Inisfallen and the Annals of Ulster both record that in 967 victory was the Dál gCais’ and that there was a great burning of Luimnech. After the foreigners of Luimnech were forced into submission Mathgamain and Máel Muad began warring again. Eventually, in 976 Mathgamain mac Cennétig was captured and executed by Máel Muad (Annals of Ulster).
After his brother’s death, Brian Boru took over kingship of the Dál gCais and immediately began campaigning. In 978 Brian waged war with Máel Muad in the Battle of Belach Lecht where “Maelmuadh, king of Uí Eachach, fell therein” (Annals of Tigernach). After this victory and many others, Brian Boru began expanding his territory. Eventually, Brian’s expansion of the Dál gCais’ rule began to interfere with the authority of Gaelic Ireland’s High King Máel Sechnaill Mac Domnaill and conflict arose. History records many fierce battles between Brian, Máel Sechnaill, and the Vikings over the next 24 years. In these battles, Brian put to use his naval expertise that he acquired in his youth and on at least two separate occasions Brian is recorded participating in naval combat, commanding fleets of up to 300 boats (Annals of Inisfallen 988). During these years of violence between Brian and High King Máel Sechnaill, Brian in 999 had also attacked the Hiberno-Norse (i.e. Viking) city of Dublin, which was ruled by Sitric son of Olaf, better known as, Sigtrygg II Silkbeard Olafsson (Annals of Tigernach). After the Dál gCais’ victory over the Dubliners, Brian allowed Sigtrygg Silkbeard to remain in charge of Dublin as long as he recognized Brian’s authority. This political arrangement would play a massive role in the future of Brian. Finally, in 1002 the High King Máel Sechnaill submitted to Brian and they “parted on terms of truce”, but the Annals don’t record exactly why the truce was made (Annals of Ulster). Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig was now high king of Ireland.
As high king of Ireland, Brian fought hard the following years to bring the Northern Uí Néills, a group of many different independent kingdoms, under his rule. During Brian’s raids on the Northern Uí Néills things were becoming unstable back in Brain’s already conquered territory. Máel Mórda mac Murchada, the king of Leinster who was forced into submission to the Dál gCais by Brian Boru, had revolted against the high king and was actively making alliances in order make war with Brian. One of the alliances that Máel Mórda forged was with none other than Sigtrygg Silkbeard, the king of Dublin. Both Máel Mórda and Sigtrygg Silkbeard must have decided that there was no chance their armies would be able to stand up against the mighty High King Brian Boru, so they hired on Viking mercenaries. There were to groups of Vikings that would help Máel Mórda’s army fight, the army of Sigurd Hlodvirsson, the Earl of Orkney, and the army of Bróðir, a warrior from the Isle of Man (Annals of Ulster 1014). Both the Annals of Inisfallen and the Annals of Ulster say that in 1014 Brian Boru brought an army to Áth Cliath (or Dublin) and the Annals of Ulster testifies that Brian’s old foe Máel Sechnaill also brought an army to Áth Cliath to his aid.
The Battle of Clontarf is the battle in which all these mustering forces collided. The Annals of Ulster states:
All the Laigin were assembled to meet him, and the foreigners of Áth Cliath, and a like number of the foreigners of Scandinavia, i.e. to the number of 1,000 breastplates. A valiant battle was fought between them, the like of which was never before encountered. Then the foreigners and the Laigin first broke in defeat, and they were completely wiped out.
This battle was a victory for the Dál gCais and Máel Sechnaill, but was not able to be enjoyed by Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig. Brian was slain by “the chief of the Scandinavian fleet”, Bróðir (Annals of Ulster 1014). Other notable people that died at the Battle of Clontarf were Brian’s son, Murchad, Máel Mórda, Sigurd Hlodvirsson, and Bróðir (Annals of Inisfallen 1014, Annals of Ulster 1014). Máel Sechnaill and Sigtrygg Silkbeard were of those notable who did not die.
After the Battle of Clontarf, Brian’s body was taken to “the community of Patrick”, or coarb of Patrick and buried in a new tomb, along with his son Murchad. Twelve nights of mourning proceed after the burial in honor of the dead king (Annals of Ulster 1014). Shortly after, Máel Sechnaill reassumed his position as high king and ruled till his death in 1022. The Annals of Ulster reads:
Mael Sechnaill son of Domnall son of Donnchad, overlong of Ireland, pillar of the dignity and nobility of the western world, died in the 43rd year of his reign and the 73rd of his age on Sunday the fourth of the Nones 2nd of September, the second of the moon.
Without a strong leader, the Dál gCais would eventually go on to decline in power and eventually be no longer a significant force in Ireland.
The Annals of Gaelic Ireland gives a history of Brian Boru that is much more realistic than the account of Brian Boru’s life found in writings like the Cogad Gáedel re Gallaibh. Only in recent years, it has become obvious to historians that many of the things that make Brian Boru such a hero in the minds of the Irish are probably just fabricated tales or exaggerated accounts. This new way of thinking has allowed historians to start questioning: which part’s of Brian Boru’s life were real, and which parts were fake? Was Brian Boru really a saintlike hero that unified Ireland and drove the Vikings from it’s coasts?
History calls into question if Brian Boru was really a saintlike hero. When observing the life and deeds of Brian Boru through the lens of a medieval Christian, Brian Boru was definitely a saintlike hero. Much like Charlemagne’s battles against the pagan Saxons, Brian would have been praised for making war on the mostly pagan Vikings. Brian Boru was also a great benefactor to the church in Ireland. In the Annals of Ulster, it is recorded that in 1005, Brian left twenty ounces of gold on Patrick’s altar. However, the most popular saintlike qualities associated with Brian Boru are possibly no more than a myth. Historian Duffy Seán points out in his book, Brian Boru and the Battle of Clontarf, that both the Cogad Gáedel re Gallaibh and Njáls saga, an Icelandic saga, claim that Brian Boru refused to fight in the Battle of Clontarf because it was Good Friday and instead stayed in his tent to pray. These accounts about Brian refusing to fight on Good Friday may have been completely true, but there’s a more likely reason Brian Boru kept from fighting. At this point in Brian’s life he would have been of 71 years of age, an incredibly long life for a warrior in medieval Ireland. Brian wouldn’t have been much use on the battle field and wouldn’t have had much more to do other than to pray since he had given control of the army to his family members. While Brian may have or may have not had the intentions at the Battle of Clontarf the legend makers believed he had, he certainly helped out the church in Ireland. His actions would have been commended by the church and he would have been regarded as a saintlike figure.
The second part of the question the paper asks is if Brian Boru unified Ireland. The political structure in Gaelic Ireland was vastly different than it is today. There was no “nation of Ireland” but only many different tribes and kingdoms. Some of these kingdoms were more powerful than others and would sometimes produce what’s known as a high king. A person was granted title of high king by ultimately being able to make all the other kings in Gaelic Ireland submit to his power. After he solidified this position, he would be inaugurated on the ancient Hill of Tara (Mark). This position did not mean that all the kingdoms and tribes that submitted to the high king had to give up their positions as king and have their citizens become citizens of the high king’s kingdom. The high king instead still allowed the independence of the kingdoms subject to him, but required that they recognize the high king’s authority and paid tribute to the high king (“High Kings of Ireland”). It wasn’t the goal of a high king to unify Ireland, and it wasn’t Brian Boru’s goal either. Brian’s desire to become and eventually be the high king was nothing new to Irish history, and certainly wasn’t a move to buck-the-trend and unify the many independent Irish kingdoms. Brian Boru wouldn’t have unified Ireland any more than Máel Sechnaill had unified it as high king before Brian Boru usurped him. And since Máel Sechnaill took high kingship after Brian Boru’s death anyway, nothing really changed as far as Gaelic Irelands political structure.
The third, and last, part of the question this paper asks is if Brian Boru drove the Vikings from Ireland. Many people believe that the Battle of Clontarf was Brian’s attempt to free Ireland of the foreigners, or Vikings. The first recorded presence of Vikings in Ireland is in the year 795, when there was a “burning of Rechru by the heathens, and Scí was overwhelmed and laid waste” (Annals of Ulster). Over the next few decades a series of raids were carried out until the Vikings began to settle in Ireland. By 841 the Vikings had built an earthen and timber fort where Dublin is today. Once a very powerful and rich people, the Gaelic Viking’s wealth and power began to wane over the years due to an absorption into Gaelic Ireland’s culture (Attwood). The Vikings were becoming less of an independent people and more like the Irish. This was especially true by the time Brian Boru came to power. In reality, the Vikings that Brian Boru drove out of Ireland were not the ones even living in Ireland. The Vikings Brian Boru fought in the Battle of Clontarf, as already mentioned in this paper’s condensed history of Brian Boru, were foreign Viking mercenaries from Orkney and Isle of Man. After Brian’s death, Viking Dublin’s king, Sigtrygg Silkbeard, remained king and he and his people were by no means driven out of Ireland. Actually, the Vikings never were driven from Ireland. They just continued doing what they did before Brian Boru went to war with them; being absorbed into Irish culture. Brian Boru’s efforts against the Vikings were not what caused the Vikings to disappear from Ireland.
All though the popular view of Brian Boru as martyr of Ireland, great unifier of the Irish people, and liberator of Ireland from the heathen Vikings is an exciting viewpoint, it is not factual. This does not take away from what an amazing history the life of Brian Boru really is. Although Brian probably didn’t die the martyr’s death the legends say he did, it’s still commendable that he was even alive for the battle since he was so old and a warrior all his life. Despite the fact that Brian’s conquests didn’t really change Ireland’s political structure in the long run, let alone unify Ireland, it’s still notable how his kingdom, the Dál gCais, a once small tribe was able to achieve position of high kingship over Ireland. Even if Brian didn’t drive the Vikings out of Ireland, he did win a massive victory over the Viking mercenaries from Orkney and the Isle of Man. Brian Boru is rightfully a significant cultural icon in Ireland. From the song Brian Boru’s March to Brian Boru’s Harp on a bottle of Guinness stout, and even with revisionist history inspecting his life, his cultural significance hasn’t diminished. Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig was still an incredible man that did incredible feats, and the Irish will forever associate themselves with him.
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