Read Online 1014: Brian Boru & the Battle for Ireland by Morgan Llywelyn - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Morgan Llywelyn
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comment from Malachy about the Battle of Clontarf: themost horrific eyewitness account of all comes from his scribe.
Most of Malachy’s contemporaries, if they were not engaged in battle with him, liked the man. The annalists portray him as a generous, gregarious individual, a real ‘man’s man’, who was well suited for the traditional niche he held in life. He was simple in the way that strong men were simple in those times. He lacked the labyrinthine turns of mind of a Brian Boru.
Undoubtedly he was brave, however, and able to uphold the demands of his kingship. When provincial kings tested their power against him he always rose to the challenge. Connacht and Leinster were proving particularly troublesome, with their tribes invading other provinces, raiding cattle and generally disregarding the law. For almost fifteen years both Malachy in Meath and Brian Boru in Munster would be engaged in sporadic warfare with belligerent tribes who refused to accept their individual authority. The ongoing divisions within Ireland made stable governance almost impossible.
Brian won such battles more often than Malachy Mór. In 988 Brian sailed his fleet up the Shannon and delivered a stinging defeat to an army of recalcitrant Connachtmen at Lough Ree. It was probably shortly after this that he married Duvcholly. Thereafter the provinceof Connacht was less hostile, at least to him.
Alas for Malachy Mór, he did not have an asset like Duvcholly. Soon after marrying Gormlaith of Leinster he realised he had stepped into a hornet’s nest. Her temper was sudden and explosive; her moods violent and unpredictable . Meanwhile, Gormlaith made discoveries of her own. A virile warrior king in his middle years could not be bullied like doddering old Olaf Cuaran, nor could he be manipulated like her callow son, Sitric. Gormlaith was not content with the placid role in life the Árd Rí assigned to her, so she began casting about for a way to amuse herself. The Árd Rí was away from home for long periods at a time. And Dublin was only a few days’ journey in good weather.
In 989 Malachy Mór learned of a rebellion simmering in Dublin as the result of a conspiracy between some of the Leinstermen and the Danes. Malachy promptly laid siege to the city. Sitric Silkbeard surrendered without putting up too much struggle, and promised to pay an ounce of gold for every garden in Dublin. Perhaps it was this which subsequently inspired Sitric to strike some of the earliest coins produced in Ireland. They had the profile of Gormlaith’s son on them.
While Sitric in Dublin nursed his hurt pride, perhaps with his mother at his elbow, Malachy Mór and BrianBoru kept encountering one another on the battlefield . The warriors of Leinster and the Danes of Dublin observed from afar, hoping that the two men would wear each other down and leave an opening for a new power in the land.
When Maelmora, Gormlaith’s brother, was elected king of Leinster, Sitric at once made a formal offer of the resources of his own kingdom to Maelmora, forgetting his earlier submission to Malachy Mór. One might sense Gormlaith’s fine hand in this. Her second marriage had not made her happy – if anything could. The annals do not record whether it was Malachy or Brian who suggested that the two of them combine their forces against Leinster and the Danes, but it may have been Tara that sent an emissary to Kincora. When his back was to the wall, Malachy usually did the prudent thing. An alliance with the ‘Lion of Munster’ was definitely the prudent thing.
For once, the interests of the two kings were converging , with a common enemy in Leinster. In 999 Brian Boru marched northwards to combine his army with that of Malachy Mór. Maelmora led his forces out to do battle with the two kings, accompanied by a large contingent from Dublin, warriors sworn to his nephew, Sitric Silkbeard. They met at a place called Glenmama,near Saggart in County Dublin. The battle was savage,
Most of Malachy’s contemporaries, if they were not engaged in battle with him, liked the man. The annalists portray him as a generous, gregarious individual, a real ‘man’s man’, who was well suited for the traditional niche he held in life. He was simple in the way that strong men were simple in those times. He lacked the labyrinthine turns of mind of a Brian Boru.
Undoubtedly he was brave, however, and able to uphold the demands of his kingship. When provincial kings tested their power against him he always rose to the challenge. Connacht and Leinster were proving particularly troublesome, with their tribes invading other provinces, raiding cattle and generally disregarding the law. For almost fifteen years both Malachy in Meath and Brian Boru in Munster would be engaged in sporadic warfare with belligerent tribes who refused to accept their individual authority. The ongoing divisions within Ireland made stable governance almost impossible.
Brian won such battles more often than Malachy Mór. In 988 Brian sailed his fleet up the Shannon and delivered a stinging defeat to an army of recalcitrant Connachtmen at Lough Ree. It was probably shortly after this that he married Duvcholly. Thereafter the provinceof Connacht was less hostile, at least to him.
Alas for Malachy Mór, he did not have an asset like Duvcholly. Soon after marrying Gormlaith of Leinster he realised he had stepped into a hornet’s nest. Her temper was sudden and explosive; her moods violent and unpredictable . Meanwhile, Gormlaith made discoveries of her own. A virile warrior king in his middle years could not be bullied like doddering old Olaf Cuaran, nor could he be manipulated like her callow son, Sitric. Gormlaith was not content with the placid role in life the Árd Rí assigned to her, so she began casting about for a way to amuse herself. The Árd Rí was away from home for long periods at a time. And Dublin was only a few days’ journey in good weather.
In 989 Malachy Mór learned of a rebellion simmering in Dublin as the result of a conspiracy between some of the Leinstermen and the Danes. Malachy promptly laid siege to the city. Sitric Silkbeard surrendered without putting up too much struggle, and promised to pay an ounce of gold for every garden in Dublin. Perhaps it was this which subsequently inspired Sitric to strike some of the earliest coins produced in Ireland. They had the profile of Gormlaith’s son on them.
While Sitric in Dublin nursed his hurt pride, perhaps with his mother at his elbow, Malachy Mór and BrianBoru kept encountering one another on the battlefield . The warriors of Leinster and the Danes of Dublin observed from afar, hoping that the two men would wear each other down and leave an opening for a new power in the land.
When Maelmora, Gormlaith’s brother, was elected king of Leinster, Sitric at once made a formal offer of the resources of his own kingdom to Maelmora, forgetting his earlier submission to Malachy Mór. One might sense Gormlaith’s fine hand in this. Her second marriage had not made her happy – if anything could. The annals do not record whether it was Malachy or Brian who suggested that the two of them combine their forces against Leinster and the Danes, but it may have been Tara that sent an emissary to Kincora. When his back was to the wall, Malachy usually did the prudent thing. An alliance with the ‘Lion of Munster’ was definitely the prudent thing.
For once, the interests of the two kings were converging , with a common enemy in Leinster. In 999 Brian Boru marched northwards to combine his army with that of Malachy Mór. Maelmora led his forces out to do battle with the two kings, accompanied by a large contingent from Dublin, warriors sworn to his nephew, Sitric Silkbeard. They met at a place called Glenmama,near Saggart in County Dublin. The battle was savage,
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