Amlaib Cuaran (Olafr Kvaran), the son of Sihtric Caech (d. 927), belonged to the second generation of the Ui Imair dynasty, which came to dominate the Hiberno-Norse world in the course of the tenth century. His father Sitriuc and uncle Ragnall had led the return of the Vikings to Ireland in 917 and, after eliminating rivals to Scandinavian leadership in the Irish sea world, they turned their attention to native dynasties. Sitriuc’s refoundation of Dublin was secured by his victory over Niall Glundub, king of Tara, at Islandbridge in 919. The following year, upon Ragnall’s death, Sitriuc succeeded as senior member of the dynasty and moved his center of operations to Northumbria. It was there that he died in 927. Sitriuc’s death led to the loss of most of Northumbria to ^thelstan of Wessex, although his brother Gofraid (927-934) and nephew Amlafb mac Gofraid (934-941) continued to contest control with the West Saxons. Amlafb Cuaran, a child when his father died, appears in the historical record as king of Northumbria on the death of his cousin Amlafb mac Gofraid in 941. Two other members of the dynasty, "mac Ragnaill" and Blacaire mac Gofraid, the latter based in Dublin, ruled the Irish dominions. Amlafb was expelled from Northumbria by Edmund of Wessex in 943, having first been forced to undergo baptism, and his whereabouts were unknown for two years.
In 945, the Annals of Ulster record that "Blacaire gave up Dublin and Amlafb succeeded him." This notice is immediately followed by one in which Amlafb and Congalach Cnogba, the new king of Tara, were engaged in military action against the Northern Ui Neill dynast Ruaidri Ua Canannain. Because Blacaire and Congalach were implacably hostile to one another, one can only suppose Amlaib’s accommodation in Ireland was arranged for him by the king of Tara. In 946 Amlafb plundered Mide, but in 947 he and Congalach were defeated in battle at Slane by Ua Canannain. The following year, 948, Blacaire was back in Dublin, only to be slain by Congalach, and Amlafb was back in Northumbria. It seems likely that the defeat at Slane had convinced the Dubliners that the alliance with Congalach was a mistake and that Amlafb had been expelled for promoting it.
Amlafb continued to rule in Northumbria until 952, when he was expelled by the populace. He then disappeared for about a decade while Blacaire’s nephew Gofraid ruled in Dublin. This Gofraid mac Amlafb died in 963, and the following year Amlafb Cuaran returned to the Irish stage with a raid on Kildare. Amlafb seems to have maintained his alliance with the family of Congalach, who had been slain by Gofraid in 956. Curiously the woman who succeeded as abbess of Kildare in 963, did not belong, like her predecessors, to the Fothairt dynasty, but was Congalach’s daughter Muirenn. This seems more than coincidence. At this time Amlafb had his own daughter, Ragnaillt, married to Domnall mac Congalaig. Amlafb himself married Dunlaith, the sister of Domnall ua Neill, king of Tara, and widow of Domnall mac Donnchada king of Mide (d. 952). At some point between about 966 and 970, Amlafb married Gormflaith daughter of Mael Morda, king of the Laigin, and his relations with Domnall ua Neill soured. The king of Tara targeted the monasteries that fell under Amlaib’s protection at Louth, Dromiskin, Monasterboice, and Dunleer. In 976, he also destroyed Skreen, the Columban church adjacent to Tara, which seems to have been patronized by Amlafb. In the same year Domnall mac Congalaig, Amlaib’s son-in-law, died.
In 980, following the retirement into religion of Domnall ua Neill, Amlafb fought a great battle at Tara against his own stepson Mael Sechnaill mac Domnaill, king of Mide. It is possible that Amlafb was presenting his own claim to the kingship of Ireland, but he was defeated and Mael Sechnaill took the kingship. Amlafb, after four decades at the heart of Insular politics retired to Iona where he died in penance the following year. One son, Ragnall, was killed in the battle of Tara, but a number of others, including Glun Iairn, Sitriuc, Aralt, Imar, and Dubgall, survived their father and continued to play a significant role in Irish history. Amlaib’s career marks the process of nativiza-tion of the Vikings. His father’s generation were pagan Scandinavians, but his own patronage of monasteries, retirement to Iona, and the Gaelic names borne by some of his children bear witness to the extent to which the Hiberno-Norse were now as much Irishmen as foreigners.
