DUBLINSee alsoBardic Schools, Learned Families; Flann
Mac Lonáin; Gaelicization; Gerald, 3rd Earl of
Desmond; Grammatical Treatises; Leinster, Book
of; Metrics; O’Neill, Clandeboye; Poetry, Irish
DUBLIN
Origins
As a settlement, Dublin belongs to a common cate-
gory in medieval Europe, commanding the lowest
fordable, and later bridgeable, site on a major river.
This attribute is reflected in the earlier of two Irish
placename forms—Áth Cliath (ford of hurdle-work)
—first recorded reliably in the sixth century C.E. The
settlement itself was located on a low east-west ridge
overlooking the south bank of the River Liffey, where
three long-distance routeways (Irish slighte) con-
verged. The proximity of a magnificent bay facing
the neighboring island of Britain would have made
Áth Cliath a major focal point of communications by
land and by sea. Economically, it may have func-
tioned as a trading place as well as an agrarian and
fishing community. A second pre-urban nucleus was
situated near the tidal “black pool” (Irish linn duib)
in the River Poddle, a small tributary of the Liffey.
Cumulatively there is strong evidence for the exist-
ence of an ecclesiastical community of some impor-
tance founded no later than the early seventh century.
As an inversion compound, Duiblinn gave rise ulti-
mately to the international name of the medieval and
modern city. A fourth long-distance overland route
coming from the south-west along The Coombe (Irish
com, “valley”) forded the Poddle near the site of
St. Patrick’s Cathedral and terminated at the southern
entrance to the postulated ecclesiastical enclosure. It
should be emphasized that this construct of the dual
origins of Dublin is essentially hypothetical, but a wide
range of documentary and topographical evidence is
broadly consistent within itself and in conformity
with this interpretation.
The Early Town
A third nucleus of settlement, which came to be known
as Dyflinn in Norse speech, evolved by stages after the
initial Viking takeover of 841. The annalists refer to a
naval encampment (Irish longphort) in the ninth cen-
tury and to a stronghold (Irish dún) in the tenth. In
between there was a period of enforced exile, at least
for the Norse leadership, in the years from 902 to 917.
For much of the Viking period Dublin appears to have
functioned economically as an emporium, with a
strong emphasis on the slave trade. Warrior-merchants
conducted occasional raids inland on horseback; their
war leaders were regarded as kings, most of whom
belonged to the dynasty established by Ívarr the Bone-
less (d. 873). After the Viking recapture of Dublin in
917 there must have been a good deal of social inter-
action with the local Irish population in the hinterland
of the main settlement. This we know from the house-
types—not typically Scandinavian—and from the rel-
atively small number of pagan burials (between eighty
and ninety) that have been discovered so far, the major-
ity upstream at Kilmainham and Islandbridge. After
decades of political turbulence and economic uncer-
tainty, it appears from both the archaeological and the
documentary evidence that the settlement achieved a
greater measure of permanency during the long reign
of Amlaíb Cuarán (945–980). The first defensive
embankments at Wood Quay have been dated to
around 950: the dúnof Áth Cliath had come to repre-
sent the town of Dyflinn.
King Amlaíb (Norse Óláfr) took an Irish wife, may
have understood the Irish language, and is said to
have been converted to Christianity. Thereafter a
mixedculture—part Irish, part Norse—characterized
the Hiberno-Norse inhabitants of Dublin for many
decades. Norse culture was represented by two public
monuments: the Thingmót, or assembly mound, and
the Long Stone, or megalith, marking the taking of
Dublin. It was also represented by burial mounds
(Norsehaugar) that presumably denoted the graves of
pagan kings, while the archaeological record includes
decorated wood, graffiti, ringed pins, runic inscrip-
tions, and models and timbers of ships that are indic-
ative of a strong Scandinavian cultural identity. After
around 980, however, the townspeople were drawn
politically into the Irish system of kingship; from 1052
onward their overlord was usually an Irish high king
or would-be high king.
Increasing social acculturation took on a dramatic
spiritual dimension around 1030 with the construction
of the first cathedral of the Holy Trinity, commonly
called Christ Church. More or less coincidentally, the
defended area of the town was doubled to about 12
hectares, and its population in the mid-eleventh cen-
tury has been estimated at 4,500. A major sign of
economic prosperity is the conversion of the earth and
timber defenses to stone around the end of that century.
By 1112, and probably earlier, there was a permanent
bridge across the Liffey. In 1170, there were, besides
the cathedral, seven parish churches inside the walls
and about the same number outside. There were, in addi-
tion, two suburban monasteries and a third on the north-
ern bank of the principal river. Thus the Hiberno-Norse
legacy was a fully-developed town in all essentials,
except that of chartered status.