Brian Boru was arguably the most famous medieval Irish king, due to his achievement in becoming the undisputed king of Ireland and his death by the Norsemen at Clontarf in 1014. Later tradition turned him into the first true high king of the island and a heroic fighter for Ireland’s freedom against the oppression of the heathen Vikings. Historians of the modern era have regarded him as an upstart from Munster who broke into the domination that the kings of Tara had enjoyed over Ireland for centuries. More true to the facts, Brian played a pivotal role in the transformation of the Irish political landscape in the tenth and eleventh centuries.
The Age of Brian Boru.
Career
According to many Irish annals, Brian was in the eighty-eighth year of his life when he was slain in 1014, and thus was born in 926 or 927. His birth is also recorded retrospectively in 923 or 942. His mother was Be Bind, the daughter of Aurchad (d. 945), king of West Connacht. He may have been called Brian "Boruma" from the territory of Boruma near Killaloe in Thomond, in the heartlands of the Dal Cais. His epithet is also rendered "Boraime," meaning "of the cattle-tribute," but this is probably a later interpretation. Brian was one of the twelve sons of Cennetig mac Lorcain of the Dal Cais, who died as king of Thomond in 951. The Dal Cais profited from the weakness of the divided Eoganachta, especially after the death of Cellachan Caisil, king of Cashel, in 954. Afterwards, the kingship of Cashel was occupied by lesser men whose careers were cut short by violent death. This situation gave Mathgamain mac Cennetig the opportunity to extend his domination to the south. According to Cogad Gaedel re Gallaib (The War of the Irish against the Foreigners), a text which dates from the reign of Brian’s great-grandson Muirchertach Ua Briain, he set up his camp near Cashel in 964. Mathgamain wanted to become king of Cashel in order to free Munster from its cruel Viking occupation. But stories about the subsequent liberation of Munster and the claim that the kingship of Cashel was the ancient birthright of the Dal Cais are simply propaganda to legitimize Mathgamain’s coup. Contemporary annals recognize him as king of Cashel when he and his allies attacked Limerick in 967. In the years afterwards he subjugated his rivals for the kingship of Munster, whom he subsequently enlisted as his supporters. Mathgamain was treacherously killed by such new allies in 976, but within two years, the kings responsible were defeated and slain by his brother Brian. As the new king of Munster, Brian first consolidated his position at home, before starting a series of campaigns to obtain the hostages of the kings of Osraige, Leinster, and Connacht. This ensured him of the hostility of Mael-Sechnaill II, the new king of Tara, who retaliated by plundering Leinster and Connacht. The ruling dynasties of the two provinces had long been traditional allies of Clann Cholmain of Mide (Meath). A period of more than fifteen years followed in which both kings tried to gain the upper hand in the two provinces, while occasionally raiding each other’s territories. A direct confrontation was either avoided or did not give one side a decisive victory. In the long run Brian’s tactics, stamina, and diplomacy paid off. He maintained a firm grip on the Munster kings, built a number of fortresses to defend his home territory, launched several campaigns at the same time, employed the Norse fleets of Limerick and Waterford along the Shannon and against Dublin, and turned former enemies into supportive allies.
Of Brian’s sons, Murchad is most often mentioned as an army-leader in his service. The annals state that he was in the sixty-third year of his life when he was slain in 1014. Murchad was the son of Mor, who was the daughter of Eidin (d. 906), king of the Uf Fhi-achrach Aidni of southern Connacht; Murchad also fathered Conchobar and Flann. Brian’s other sons were Domnall (d. 1010 or 1011), who was the son of either Dub Coblach (d. 1009), daughter of Cathal (d. 1010), king of Connacht, or of the daughter of Carlus, king of Uf Aeda Odba in Mide, who is also recorded as the mother of Tadg (d. 1023). Brian was also married to Gormfhlaith (d. 1030), daughter of Murchad (d. 972), king of Leinster, and mother of Donnchad (d. 1065). Since Donnchad was an adult in 1014, this last relationship dates from before 997, when Brian and Mael-Sechnaill came to terms at a meeting near Clonfert. On this occasion they divided Ireland into two spheres of influence according to an old scheme: the north (Leth Cuinn) was given to Mael-Sechnaill, the south (Leth Moga) to Brian. Brian exchanged his hostages of Connacht with those of Leinster and Dublin which had been in Mael-Sechnaill’s possession. Nominally, Brian was now overlord of Dublin, a major prize if he could tap its resources. Hence both kings made an expedition "and took the hostages of the foreigners to ensure good behaviour towards the Irish," as one annalist states. Yet Brian had to reckon with Mael Morda, king of Uf Faelain in Leinster, and Sitriuc Silkenbeard, king of Dublin, who were, respectively, the brother and son of Brian’s wife Gormfhlaith. Both had a long-standing row with Brian’s allies, the Uf Dunchada in Leinster and the Norsemen of Waterford. When they openly defied his overlordship, Brian gathered his forces, and routed them in the battle of Glenn Mama in 999. Dublin was plundered, and Sitriuc fled, but he found no asylum in the north. Upon his return he gave his submission, and it may be on this occasion that he married Brian’s daughter Slaine. Dublin was now in Brian’s hands, and this tilted the balance of power in his favor. In 1002, Brian managed to take the hostages of the men of Connacht and Mide after Mael-Sechnaill’s pleas for help to the northern Uf Neill had been rebuffed. When the kings of Ailech and Ulaid slew each other in battle in 1004, Brian, accompanied by most of the Irish royalty and their hostages, brought an army to Armagh the next year. He left twenty ounces of gold on the altar of St. Patrick, and had his secretary add to the Book of Armagh a note in which he is proclaimed as imperator Scottorum (emperor of the Irish). This can be regarded as a claim that he ruled both the Irish and the Norse in Ireland, and may even imply suzerainty over the Gaels of Scotland, some of whom fought on his side. In 1006, Brian took his forces on a circuit through the territories of the northern Uf Neill and the Ulaid, acting as a lord would when visiting his clients. But his overlordship was not recognized, and it would take several other campaigns in 1010 and 1011 before Brian secured the hostages of all Leth Cuinn. Thus Brian achieved what no Munster king and few kings of Tara had been able to do, obtaining the submission of all the Irish over-kings and Viking kings. It is symptomatic of the political relationships between the Irish kings that his success was shortlived.
Clontarf
In 1012, Flaithbertach ua Neill, king of Ailech and Brian’s son-in-law, started to reassert his position as overking of the northern part of Ireland. The next year the Laigin and Dublin Norse revolted, and neither Brian nor Mael-Sechnaill was able to quell them at once. According to both Irish and Old-Icelandic saga-literature, Gormfhlaith played a decisive role in stirring her brother Mael Morda to revolt, and in enlisting the support of the leader of the Vikings of the Irish Sea and the Orkneys. In 1014, Brian and Mael-Sechnaill raised camp near Dublin, accompanied only by the forces of Munster, southern Connacht, and Mide. Mael-Sechnaill retreated just before battle at Clontarf was joined, and Brian’s forces merely won a Pyrrhic victory. Brian, Murchad, and his son Tairrdelbach were slain, as well as many other Munster leaders. Dublin remained untouched, for after the battle young Donnchad led the Munster forces back home. Almost immediately strife broke out between the various contigents over the kingship of Munster. It set the pace for future struggles, which would keep the kings of that province occupied until the time of Tairrdelbach ua Briain. In later tradition, Brian and Murchad became the paragons of good kingship and bravery. The lists of those who were present at Clontarf swelled as allies of the Ui Briain wanted to include their forefathers among those present at the legendary battle. Brian, Murchad, and Clontarf hence entered the world of saga-literature and fiction, and ultimately became part of the "national" struggle of the Irish against foreign foes.
Achievements
For a brief period, Brian could by right claim to be the undisputed king of Ireland. Nevertheless, his domination was based on the usual terms by which an over king obtained the submission of other kings. Brian did not found a new institution or create a national monarchy of sorts, but he dealt a fatal blow to the kingship of Tara. Its wane in the tenth century, the fragmentation of the Ui Neill, and the weakness of the Eoganacht, paved the way for more vigorous dynasties on their fringes, such as the Dal Cais of Thomond and Ui Briuin Breifne of eastern Connacht. Brian’s rise accelerated the process in which new alliances were forged and the political map of Ireland was reshuffled. Additionally, it clearly showed that any able king could dominate large parts of Ireland. But it also underlined that it remained difficult to establish a lasting ascendancy even in one’s own lifetime. Irish political relations remained largely personal and temporary, and Brian’s power mainly rested on security at home, enlisting allies and former enemies in his campaigns, and the wearing-down of those who resisted his ambitions. This went hand in hand with the exploitation of the Norse ports for their economical and military resources, a strategical deployment of fleets, and unceasing campaigning. He exemplifies the development of a more "total" form of warfare, which gradually replaced seasonal campaigning and decisive pitched battles. Brian favored a prudent and careful approach in his actions. Ironically, the rare occasion that he engaged in a full-scale battle was to be his undoing, and it took the Dal Cais more than a generation to recuperate from their losses. Brian’s career seems to belie his reputation as the one who established law and order in Ireland, so that women could travel alone without being harassed. There are also not many indications that he particularly stimulated learning and scholarship—although sources are slim on this topic. If anything in this realm, he stimulated the occupation of ecclesiastical centers in Munster by his relatives. For example, Brian’s brother Marcan was superior of Terryglass, Inis Celtra, and Killaloe at his death in 1010. Brian was also keen to stay on good terms with Armagh. He recognized its supreme position in Ireland, and granted immunity to the churches of Patrick in 1012. It was also to Armagh that the dead king was taken, where the community of Patrick waked at his body for twelve nights in his honor. Brian had not been able to create a lasting overkingship in Ireland, but he established the domination of Munster by his descendants and relatives. The O Briain family would continue to rule Thomond for centuries thereafter.
