Battle of Clontarf, 1014 – End of the Viking Age in Ireland

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🚩 The Battle of Clontarf was a major military encounter that occurred in Ireland in April 1014. The battle is best known for being the culmination of a conflict between the local Irish kingdoms and the Viking forces, which had gained a foothold in Ireland.

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📢 Narrated by David McCallion

🎼 Music:
Epidemic Sounds
Filmstro

📚 Sources:
Clare County Library Resources & Archive – https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/people/brianbor.htm
Clare Downham – The Battle of Clontarf in Irish History and Legend. History Ireland – https://www.historyireland.com/the-battle-of-clontarf-in-irish-history-and-legend/
Sean Duffy – Brian Boru and the Battle of Clontarf
Sean Duffy – Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopaedia
Patrick Weston Joyce – A Concise History of Ireland (Library Ireland)

#history #medieval #documentary

April 23rd, 1014. Good Friday. The King of Dublin Sigtrygg Silkbeard   ascends a set of wooden steps and stands  on the walls of Dublin, looking west.   His wife, Slaine, stands by his side. As they watch, wrapped in furs to protect  

Against the frigid spring air that slices in  from the sea behind them, a shape appears on   the horizon, distant in the lowlands below  the brown and drab Dublin Mountains.   Indistinguishable in the distance, after a while  the outline of the approaching shape become clear,  

And all who stand around the royal couple  can see that it is a body of armed men.   The guards and advisors shuffle their feet back  and forth, nervous, and the thump of their boots  

Echo on the boards that make up the parapet. Sigtrygg looks at his wife and then back at the   oncoming army, winding its way  around his walls and toward the   northwest. No pipe or battle drum can be heard. The silent army marches in the open, proceeding at  

A determined pace over the River Liffey and toward  the Tolka River beyond, out of range of the walls   and making no attempt to close on them. Sigtrygg looks again at his wife, searching   for a reaction, but she is placid, unmoving,  her blue eyes following the line of men as they  

Disappear out of sight into the green distance. Sigtrygg knows that these faces are familiar to   her – they are her father’s army – the army  of the High King of Ireland, Brian Boru.   They have arrived to once more assert his  authority on the foreigners of Dublin,  

And to consolidate his rule on the land – for  the first time in history – as a unified kingdom,   encompassing the whole island of  Ireland, in fact as well as name.   Sigtrygg knows Brian well also, for  Brian was married to his mother,  

Gormlaith, a fiery power behind the throne of  three different men by this year, 1014.   While Sigtrygg gazes at Slaine, her eyes suddenly  turn red, and when he looks back, the first fires   have started on the northern horizon. Brian’s men are burning the countryside,  

Finngall in the north and over to Swords,  moving unopposed through Sigtrygg’s territory,   all the way to the village of Howth on the  long headland that shelters Dublin Bay.   While Slaine continues to show no emotion as  she watches her father’s forces do their work,  

Burning her husband’s domain, Sigtrygg  walks down the wall, moving to the far end   of the parapet to look out over the sea. There, a Viking fleet, made up of scores of   ships from the Isle of Mann, Orkney, and  the Hebrides, even Iceland and Normandy,  

Is using that same stinging wind to blow them  into Dublin, and there yet more ships in the   harbor are filling with Sigtrygg’s own Viking  warriors and their Leinster allies.   They have managed to outrun a storm that is still  over the sea between Ireland and the Isle of  

Anglesey, the uncertain breeze earlier making it  unclear where they would find their landing.   All Sigtrygg can know is that his  allies are making their entrance   on a backdrop of black cloud, as though  the very open sea itself is aflame.  

Later in the morning, while Brian – now aged  in his 70s – retires to his tent ahead of   his forces to pray for the success of the  campaign, his men burn Howth and prepare to   return to their king’s camp. As they march south and west,  

Toward the coast at Clontarf, their way is blocked  by the arrival on shore of battalions of Norsemen,   storming up the beach after sailing across  the Bay, locking shields in place to form   a line obstructing the Irish army’s path. Both sides begin throwing missiles and curses  

On one another, but the longships continue to  deploy men onto the sand and very quickly the   Irish army is isolated in hostile territory, with  nothing but a wall of fire at their backs.   Howling prayers to heaven for their lands,  their tribes, and their king, the Irish raise  

Their weapons and charge headlong into the  midst of their enemy, the fury of the ancient   gods and the new driving them forward. The Vikings rise and run to meet them.   The storm that has threatened to break throughout  the morning whips in over their heads, merging  

With the smoke from the burning villages and farms  to block out the sun, turning the day to night,   leaving scarlet flames the only reflection  on the blood stained battleaxes.   In spring 1002, Brian arrives at the Hill of  Tara in central Ireland with his entire host,  

Expecting to fight yet another bloody battle  for the right to rule as sovereign.   But instead of a matching army in  opposition, there was only Malachy,   the High King of Ireland with whom Brian has  been at war on and off for two decades.  

Mounted on his horse, wearing no armor, and  apparently unarmed, Malachy is accompanied   by just a handful of his retainers. Malachy rides forward and announces that   he will acknowledge Brian as High King and  his sovereign, if in return he is allowed  

To keep his own lands and other privileges. Brian  agrees to the terms and so becomes High King.   It is the culmination of a career that has  seen Brian rise from the unlikely twelfth   son of an assassinated provincial  king to leading the foremost army  

And political power base on the island. Though he was now in his sixties, Brian did   not – like other High Kings who were content to  rule with opposition – rest on his laurels.   Over the next years, he campaigned determinedly  to bring the last of the northern Ulster kingdoms  

To heel and accept his overlordship. As the Tudor kings and queens of England   were to discover five centuries later,  Ulster is a difficult geographic area   to invade and harder still to control. Brian made use of a two pronged strategy.  

While making use of his now perfected  combined land and naval attacks,   utilizing the ships of Sigtryyg of Dublin  alongside his own and those of his other allies,   his armies attacked by land, drawing the  northern O’Neill’s forward to meet him.  

Whenever the enemy or the terrain hampered  Brian’s advance, his navy was able to move   around and attack O’Neill’s shores and river  settlements, causing consternation among the rebel   alliance as well as dissipating their forces’  ability to gather with strength of numbers.  

At the same time as he pursued this military  strategy, Brian was engaging in diplomacy   with the Church, a very considerable force on the  island, and he ruled that the northern religious   center of Armagh, founded by St. Patrick  himself, was the supreme spiritual power in  

Ireland and all others were subject to it. As such, Armagh was now the beneficiary of all   religious dues in Ireland, and so long as  Brian remained king, this funding would   continue. In such a way, Brian made his interests  the interests of the northern church as well.  

It was a hard and dogged war, startlingly  so for an aged king who had spent his life   in the open field, but by 1011, Ulster was  secure, and Brian felt himself strong enough   to surpass the traditional title of High King  and declare himself Emperor of the Irish.  

Given that at this time Ireland had  roughly half the population of England,   and half of what is now modern England  was under the rule of Viking powers,   Brian’s position looked very strong indeed. In 1012, while Brian faced no threat to his rule  

And all of Ireland recognized his authority,  King Aethelred the Unready paid almost 50,000   English pounds Danegeld in tribute and submission  to the Danes after the capture and destruction of   Canterbury, an event that culminated in the  lynching of the Archbishop of Canterbury.  

Across the water, the future legacy for Brian, his  son and heir Murchad, and his grandson Toirdelbach   looked more than promising, especially given the  hard pressed nature of European monarchies in the   early years of the 11th century. It was, however, not to last.  

At the same time that Brian completed the  submission of the northern realms of Ulster,   he also chose that moment to divorce his  wife of the past decade, Gormlaith.   Gormlaith was not only the sister of the King of  Leinster and the mother of the King of Dublin,  

She was also the ex-wife of Malachy, the former  High King. The Irish annals that include her   describe a woman with pride and ambition  every bit as large as that of Brian.   Though it is only legend, when her  brother Mailmora, the King of Leinster,  

Arrived at Brian’s fort in Cenn Corad to give  tribute, Gormlaith is said to have mocked him   for becoming nothing more than a vassal. Such  a status was shameful to their ancestors.   Later at the same meeting, Mailmora was  allegedly insulted by Brian’s son and heir also,  

Who reminded him of his previous defeats  when in alliance with the Vikings.   Mailmora left without paying Brian his full  tribute, and then raised the Leinster clans   to rebellion. They sent out invitations  to the northern Ui Neills in Ulster and  

Were also joined by Sigtryyg of Dublin. He was no doubt displeased at the treatment   of his mother, but also likely  sensed an opportunity in this new   rising against the power of Brian’s dynasty. Rather than move directly against the High King,  

However, they made an indirect feint and set a  trap to which Brian had to make a response.   Mailmora and Sigtryyg began an incursion into  the lands of Malachy, the former High King,   and still king of Meath, after his northern Ui  Neill rivals made a raid from the north.  

Assembling his army of Munster,  Connaught, and Viking forces,   Brian and Murchad marched north in two columns,  ravaging the lands of Mailmora and his allies   in the southern part of the province thoroughly  before moving on to put Dublin under siege.  

Brian’s navy completed the encirclement by sea.  With few other takers of their offer to rise   against Brian, Mailmora and his nephew Sigtryyg  looked to have lost their final gamble.   One hope that remained was to endure the  siege until winter came, and they managed  

This when Brian ran short of supplies in  December, 1013, and disengaged his army   to shelter and resupply in Munster. There was no doubt that he would return   in the new year to complete the task, but  Mailmora and Sigtryyg had no intention of  

Sharing the fate of Brian’s past enemies. While Brian prowled impatiently in Munster,   Sigtryyg set off by sea to raise allies. He  reached Orkney, looking for mercenaries willing   to join his and Mailmora’s cause as he went,  and also came ashore at the Isle of Mann. There,  

Two brothers promised their ships and  forces to him, Brodir and Ospak.   The brothers possessed a fleet of 30 ships, and  they, along with Sigurd of Orkney, galvanized   Mailmora and Sigtryyg’s diminished host. They promised that they would reach Dublin   in force by Good Friday. Once winter was past and the  

Cold of February had given way to April’s  more clement conditions, Brian wasted no   time in marching again toward Dublin. His forces reached the city as the middle   of the month gave way to Easter  time, and it appeared that he  

Had a free run to take the city once more. Meanwhile, Sigtryyg and Mailmora put together   their own forces and anxiously awaited  the reinforcements from the islands.   It’s unlikely that Brian knew nothing  of Sigtryyg’s winter recruitment drive,   but if he was aware of it, he made  no alteration to his strategy.  

His army crossed the Liffey and then the  Tolka, burning Sigtryyg’s lands as they went,   and the Viking leader must have been feeling  pressure as he watched them march north   from the walls of Dublin. At some point, two defections  

Affected both sides of the conflict. Ospark decided that he did not trust the promises   of Sigtryyg and went over to the cause of Brian,  who he described as a fine and noble king. His   brother, Brodir, remained on the rebel side. Around the same time, Brian and Malachy had a  

Falling out, and the King of Meath withdrew his  forces, which would have been of a considerable   size. Nevertheless, Brian continued  the campaign to take the city.   As the army under the command of his son, Murchad  and fifteen year old grandson Toirdelbach moved  

Back from Howth, a party of Dublin and Leinster  forces led by Sigtryyg’s brother Dubgall,   Mailmora, and Sigrud of Orkney advanced  over the Tolka at a more easterly point   than Brian’s army and marched to cut  off the High King’s withdrawal.  

Sigtryyg remained in Dublin with a  garrison force to hold the city in   the event of defeat on the field. At the same time, Brodir and his Viking   fleet landed on Clontarf and attacked  the Irish from a second direction.   The annals say that Brian’s host was  divided into companies or battles,  

Most likely following their tribal and provincial  origin, Munster on one side, marked by its banner,   and Connaught on the other with its own. A third force fighting for Brian were his   Viking mercenaries of Limerick, Cork,  and Waterford, most likely containing  

Other nationalities also, for their leader  was a Scotsman, Domnall man Eimhin.   The Viking and north Leinster armies were said to  have arranged themselves into three battles also,   with Brodir and the newly arrived island forces in  the lead, then the Vikings of Dublin, and finally,  

The Leinstermen of Mailmora in the rear. The Irish made use of what were called short   spears, which they used in the same  manner as the ancient Roman pila,   launching them as missiles to thin the enemy  ranks before closing and fighting a melee.  

Some accounts have it that these were what made  the difference between the opposing forces on the   day of the battle, but it is known that the  Norse-Leinster armies were in the stronger   position during the battle’s early stages. While the two sides made some use of arrow and  

Bow, particularly the Vikings,  there were no dedicated archery   companies as in continental armies. Instead, bow and arrow were simply one   of the weapons used for the initial exchange of  missiles and then discarded at the advance.   Brian, Murchad, and their household  forces were mounted warriors,  

But the majority of the Irish army were infantry  armed with spears and knives. Those who could   afford them used axes and swords. Though the Irish had gleefully embraced   the Norse style of axe and it was the  predominant weapon of Gaelic armies, it  

Seems that the Vikings themselves used spears  and swords in far greater proportion.   The two sides also differed in their defensive  choices. Almost none of the Irish used armor   or even chain mail in this period, and  only their commanders wore helmets.  

Irish annals report that the Irish felt armor to  be unmanly, and instead preferred to use shields,   which could be utilized as an  offensive weapon in the melee.   The Vikings wore chain mail armor, a long vest  that reached their knees called a hauberk.  

It was in this state that the sides charged,  and the battle immediately became one of   extraordinary violence and ferocity. The Vikings and Leinstermen initially drove   the Irish back, so much that Sigtryyg,  still watching from the walls of Dublin,  

Turned to his wife Slaine and compared the carnage  to farmers scything wheat at harvest time.   “Well do the foreigners reap the field,” he told  her, but Brian’s daughter remained composed,   telling him that nothing would be  certain until the day was over.  

The Viking men and women watched on from the walls  as sparks struck from weapons on mail and shield   appeared like flashes of fire in the air. So terrible did the fighting become that   within minutes living brothers, as well  as sons and fathers, could not recognize  

One another due to the sheets of blood  and gore that covered their faces.   Spears became too heavy to raise not because  of exhaustion, but due to their points becoming   clogged with hair and viscera. It was Murchad, Brian’s son and heir,  

Who broke the Viking momentum and turned  the tide of the battle for the Irish.   With a sword in each hand, he sprinted directly  into the enemy’s front line, killing fifty on   his left and fifty on his right. His men and relatives charged after  

Him – unwilling to let the son of the king and  the man who would soon take the throne himself   go into battle with foreigners alone. The Viking lines began to falter, and then   the Connaught battle charged the Leinstermen. The ensuing slaughter was every bit as savage as  

That between Murchad and the Norse. Leinster put up a fierce resistance,   but the Connaught tribes eventually prevailed,  the numbers being reduced from thousands on both   sides to just 100 Connaughtmen and  twenty survivors from Leinster.   It is not known who broke first, but  the Leinstermen and the Dublin Vikings  

Began retreating back toward  the city, over the bridge.   Around the same time, the Vikings who had  arrived across the bay tried to return   to their ships. By this stage in the late  afternoon, the exhausted warriors saw that  

Vessels were no longer beached in position, but  had instead been lifted out by a high tide.   They turned to see the screaming and blood  drenched horde of Irish bearing down on them.   They made what defense or retreat they could on  the bitterly cold beach, many of them drowning  

In the near freezing waters of the sea. Much fighting took place along the weirs and   landing points, the fighting stretching from  Clontarf beach all the way to Dubgall’s bridge,   where the Leinstermen and Dublin Norse  were being butchered as they scrambled   over one another to cross it. Watching the disintegration of her  

Husband’s army and the imminent victory of her  father and brother, Slaine shed her impassive   demeanor and addressed Sigtryyg. “The foreigners are coming into   their inheritance,” she told him. “What do you mean by that?” he responded.