Medieval Ireland. An Encyclopedia

BRIAN BORU (926[?]–1014)

law changed, and indeed as the Irish language itself
changed. These glosses and commentaries date
mainly from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries.
The surviving legal manuscripts also date from this
period.
NEIL MCLEOD

References and Further Reading

Binchy, Daniel, ed. Studies in Early Irish Law.Dublin: Dublin
Institute for Advanced Studies, 1936.
Breatnach, Liam. Uraicecht na Ríar: The Poetic Grades in Early
Irish Law. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies,
1987.
———. “Lawyers in Early Ireland.” In Brehons, Serjeants &
Attorneys, edited by D. Hogan and W. N. Osborough, 1–13.
Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1990.
———. “Law.” In Progress in Medieval Irish Studies, edited
by K. McCone and K. Simms, 107–121. Maynooth, Ireland:
The Department of Old Irish, Saint Patrick’s College,
1996.
Hancock, W. N., et al., eds. Ancient Laws of Ireland.Vols 1–6.
Dublin: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1865–1901.
Kelly, Fergus. A Guide to Early Irish Law.Dublin: Dublin
Institute for Advanced Studies, 1988.
———.Early Irish Farming. Dublin: Dublin Institute for
Advanced Studies, 1997.
———, and Charles-Edwards, Thomas. Bechbretha. An Old-
Irish Law-Tract on Bee-Keeping. Dublin: Dublin Institute
for Advanced Studies, 1983.
McLeod, Neil. Early Irish Contract Law. Sydney: University
of Sydney, Centre for Celtic Studies,1992.
Patterson, Nerys. Cattle Lords & Clansmen: The Social Struc-
ture of Early Ireland. Notre Dame: University of Notre
Dame Press, 1994.
Stacey, Robyn Chapman. The Road to Judgment: From Custom
to Court in Medieval Ireland and Wales. Philadelphia: Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania Press, 1994.

See alsoCanon Law; Common Law;
Law Schools, Learned Families; Law Texts;
March Law

BRIAN BORU (926[?]–1014)
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.

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 Bé Bind, the daughter of Aurchad (d. 945), king

of West Connacht. He may have been called Brian

“Bóruma” from the territory of Bóruma near Killaloe

in Thomond, in the heartlands of the Dál Cais. His

epithet is also rendered “Bóraime,” meaning “of the

cattle-tribute,” but this is probably a later interpreta-

tion. Brian was one of the twelve sons of Cennétig

mac Lorcáin of the Dál Cais, who died as king of

Thomond in 951. The Dál Cais profited from the weak-

ness of the divided Eóganachta, especially after the

death of Cellachán 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 Cennétig

the opportunity to extend his domination to the south.

According to Cogad Gáedel 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 Dál Cais are simply propaganda to

legitimize Mathgamain’s coup. Contemporary annals

recognize him as king of Cashel when he and his allies

The Age of Brian Boru.

Cork

DESMUMU

Belach

Lechta (978)

DÉISIWaterford

UÍ FIDGENTE Wexford

Limerick

Fertas Camsa

CENÉL

CONAILL

CENÉL

nEÓGAIN

DAL RIATA

Ráith M ́or

DAL nARÁIDE

Armagh

DÁL FIATACH

AIRGIALLA

Dundalk

Ferta Nime

CORAILLE MUIRTSMORE

Ta r a

Clontari (1014)

Dublin

Glenn Mámia (999)

LAIGIN

OSRAIGE

DAL CAIS

Kincora

Por t Dá

Chainóc

Athlone

Uisnech

SOUTHERN

UÍ NÉILL

UÍ BRIÚIN BRÉIFNE

Tr acht

Eothaile

Assaroe

NORTHERN

UÍ NÉILL

CONNACHT

R.

Sh

ann

or