body of literary material, Gormlaith daughter of
Murchad was famous in Irish tradition as the most
ambitious and aggressive of historical Irish queens.
Her reputation is indicated by a short tract in the
genealogies of the Book of Leinster describing a vision
wherein the daughter of an unnamed king of Con-
nacht (possibly Tadg mac Cathail of Uí Briúin Aí)
slept with the king of Leinster, subsequently bearing
him a son—Máelmórda—who took the kingship of
Leinster, and a daughter—Gormlaith—who took the
kingship of Ireland.
While Gormlaith did not literally take the king-
ship of Ireland, at least one of her husbands did. A poem
in the Leinster genealogies describing Gormlaith as
taking “a leap at Dublin, a leap at Tara, a leap at
Cashel of the goblets overall” indicates that marriage
was seen to be her route to power. Commentary
following the poem explains the leap at Dublin as
her union with Amlaíb Cuarán, the Norse king of
Dublin, by whom she bore a son, Sitriuc Silkenbeard,
another king of Dublin. The leap at Cashel, mean-
while, represents her marriage to Brian Boru, Dál
Cais king of Munster and, later, of Ireland. Gormlaith’s
son by Brian, Donnchad, was also king of Munster
and a contender for the kingship of Ireland. The “leap
at Tara” is more problematic. The commentary
asserts that after Amlaíb, Gormlaith married Máel-
Sechnaill II, the southern Uí Néill king of Tara, and
later sources state that she was the mother of Máel-
Sechnaill’s son Conchobar, king of Tara. The eleventh-
century king of Tara by the name of Conchobar,
however, was not Máel-Sechnaill’s son, but his
grandson. Furthermore, while the sources most
closely contemporaneous with Gormlaith mention
Donnchad and Amlaíb, they make no reference to
Conchobar or to her marriage with Máel-Sechnaill.
Although such a coupling would have been plausible,
possibly the “fact” of their union arose as a later
addition to the literary tradition surrounding the
queen.
The most vivid aspect of this literary tradition is
the central role it ascribes to Gormlaith in instigating
the Battle of Clontarf. The twelfth-century Cogad
Gáedel re Gallaib depicts Gormlaith as inciting her
brother Máelmórda to rebel against her former hus-
band, Brian Boru, while the thirteenth-century Brennu-
Njáls saga portrays the queen as a beautiful, but
wicked, Machivellian manipulator, instructing her son
Sitriuc to gain the support of the Vikings against Brian
at all costs. No doubt this image of Gormlaith has
been exaggerated for dramatic and thematic effect;
however her portrayal in the later sources makes it
clear that the reputation Gormlaith daughter of Mur-
chad left to posterity at her death in 1030 was that of
a strong character, at-home in the political sphere, and
adept at using ties of blood and marriage in the service
of her goals.
ANNE CONNONReferences and Further Reading
Ní Dhonnchadha, Máirín. “On Gormfhlaith Daughter of Flann
Sinna and the Lure of the Sovereignty Goddess.” In Sean-
chas: Studies in the Early and Medieval Irish Archaeology,
History, and Literature in Honour of Francis J. Byrne, edited
by A. P. Smyth, 225–237 Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000.
———. “Tales of Three Gormlaiths in Medieval Irish Litera-
ture.” Ériu 52 (2002): 1–24.
Trindade, Ann. “Irish Gormflaith as Sovereignty Figure.” Études
Celtiques 23 (1986): 143–156.
See also Amlaíb Cuarán; Battle of Clontarf; Brian
Boru; Kings and Kingship; Máel-Sechnaill II;
Queens; Uí DúnlaingeGOSSIPRID
In medieval Ireland, as in continental Europe, kinship
bonds provided the framework of society. These famil-
ial bonds could be adapted to “secure” political rela-
tionships between an overlord and his clients. From
the fourteenth to early seventeen centuries, political
alliances in Ireland were most frequently underpinned
by marriage, fostering, and gossiprid. Political mar-
riage was common throughout Europe, and fostering
likewise had obvious European parallels. However, the
social custom of gossiprid appears to have been unique
to Ireland.
Gossiprid was a pledge of fraternal association
between a lord, who by the arrangement gained ser-
vice, and his client(s), who received protection and
patronage. It was a phenomenon of a bastard feudal
system, as it raised the demands of personal lordship
above those of the central government. There were four
methods by which gossiprid could be practiced. First,
the client could take a voluntary oath to complete a
specific agreement on behalf of his lord. This form
emphasized the personal relationship between the
overlord and the individual client. All other forms of
gossiprid were contracted with varying degrees of for-
mality, to emphasize the communal relationship by
which an overlord and his adherents created a political
faction or affinity. Second, the clients could receive
gifts or salaries from their overlord, and undertook to
serve him, and to assist his followers and allies. Third,
the clients pledged service to the lord and his following
by the symbolic breaking of bread, and would again
receive a “gift.” And fourth, the most formal type of
gossiprid was agreed by all contracting parties receiv-
ing the sacrament of communion, in pledge of their
adherence to the faction.
FIONA FITZSIMONSGORMLAITH (d. 1030)