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 respon-
sible 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 cam-
paigns to obtain the hostages of the kings of Osraige,
Leinster, and Connacht. This ensured him of the hos-
tility of Máel-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 Cholmáin 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 Mór, who was
the daughter of Eidin (d. 906), king of the Uí 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 Uí Áeda 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 Máel-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 Máel-
Sechnaill, the south (Leth Moga) to Brian. Brian
exchanged his hostages of Connacht with those of
Leinster and Dublin which had been in Máel-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 Máel Mórda, king of Uí Fáeláin 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 Uí Dúnchada 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 Máma 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 Sláine. 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 Máel-Sechnaill’s pleas for
help to the northern Uí Néill 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 pro-
claimed 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 north-
ern Uí Néill and the Ulaid, acting as a lord would
when visiting his clients. But his overlordship was
not recognized, and it would take several other cam-
paigns 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 Néill, 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 nei-
ther Brian nor Máel-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 Mórda to revolt, and in
enlisting the support of the leader of the Vikings of
the Irish Sea and the Orkneys. In 1014, Brian and
Máel-Sechnaill raised camp near Dublin, accompa-
nied only by the forces of Munster, southern Connacht,
and Mide. Máel-Sechnaill retreated just before battle
at Clontarf was joined, and Brian’s forces merely
won a Pyrrhic victory. Brian, Murchad, and his sonBRIAN BORU (926[?]–1014)