Transcript Slide 1

The Viking age in Ireland: 795 – 11th century
From raiding to settlement
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Key questions
This part
Who were the Irish Vikings?
The first Viking attack
The first phase – raiding, 795 – c. 830
Ireland – an easy target 1? - rich monasteries
Ireland – an easy target 2? - political divisions
Pagans versus Christians
The second phase – settlement
Part two
Viking Dublin
The first Dublin
The second Dublin
Linking British & Irish history
The end of Viking power in Ireland ?
Part three
Notes, etc.
Timeline
This part
Historical novels
This part
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Key questions
Were the Vikings merely violent plunderers?
(according to Irish written sources)
Or
Did the Vikings bring positive benefits to Ireland?
(according to archaeological evidence)
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Who were the Irish Vikings
Names
‘Ostmen’ (‘men from the east’ – Old Norse)
‘Lochlannaigh (‘people from the land of the Loughs’ – Irish)
Origins
Some people say they came to Ireland directly from Norway
Others think that they came to Ireland from Norwegian settlements in Scotland
Two phases
Raiding, 795-830s
Settlement, 840 onwards
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The first Viking attack – monastery on Rathlin Island, 795
University brooch
Ireland 'became filled with immense
floods, and countless sea-vomiting of
ships, and boats, and fleets'.
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The first phase – raiding, 795 – c. 830
At first the Vikings raided Irish
monasteries and returned to
Scandinavia with their booty.
The Vikings attacked the
monasteries because they were rich
in land, stock and provisions.
They also took valuable objects but
this was not their primary concern.
The Vikings inspired fear.
One monk wrote:
Since tonight the wind is high,
The sea’s white mane a fury,
I need not fear the hordes of Hell
Coursing the Irish Channel.
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Ireland – an easy target 1?
Rich monasteries
When they were first set up around
500 AD, Irish monasteries were not
worth attacking.
They were small communities living a
religious life and perhaps also
providing a ministry to their
neighbours.
Later many grew in size, forming
small monastic towns, with
agricultural dependants, craftsmen,
and traders, forming.
They also became very rich and
produced beautiful and valuable
metalwork.
Link
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Artist’s impression of
an early Irish monastery
Artist’s impression of
an Irish monastery in Viking times
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Leading Irish monasteries
aerial views
Clonmacnoise, Co. Limerick
Glendalough, Co. Wicklow
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Artist’s impression of Glendalough
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The round tower
Round towers in monasteries were first
and foremost bell houses.
They were five stories high.
Each storey had a wooden floor,
reached by a ladder
The top storey had four to six windows,
from which a small hand-bell would have
been rung.
Round towers were also used for defence
against attack – a refuge for people and
possessions.
Their chimney-like form meant they were
not ideal for such defence – fire could easily
spread.
In 1097, for example, the tower of
Monasterboice was burned ‘with its books
and many treasures’.
Templeoran monastic site, Co. Westmeath
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Treasures
Ardagh chalice
O’Donnell Battle Book
Moylough Belt Shrine
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Book of Kells
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Ireland – an easy target 2?
Political divisions
When the Vikings came to Ireland, the
country was not united.
The were many kings who controlled
different parts of the country and tried
to take control of other parts.
Cattle raiding and warring were part of
daily life. In fact, the Irish chieftains
were just as likely to attack as defend
the monasteries.
In the first quarter century of Viking
attacks there were twenty-six
plunderings by Vikings but eighty-seven
raids by the Irish themselves.
Over a century one monastery,
Clonmacnoise, suffered six Viking
attacks. However, the local Irish
attacked it eleven times!
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Pagans versus Christians
The Vikings were pagans.
Odin
The Irish were Christians.
Christians worshipped one God.
The Vikings believed in several
gods.
The most powerful was Odin.
Thor
Others included Thor, the God of
Thunder, and Freya, goddess of
love.
Christians had a symbolic
sacrifice in the mass.
Vikings made sacrifices of
animals and people. They
believed that this kept their gods
happy.
Freya
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Turgeis
(pronounced Tur-gice)
One of the Viking leaders, called Turgeis,
hated Christianity. He wanted to make
Ireland pagan again.
He attacked the north of Ireland in 832
with a large fleet. His ships went up the
River Bann to Lough Neagh.
From there they made their way to
Armagh – the headquarters, so to speak
of the Christian Church in Ireland.
In 1840 Turgeis and his followers
attacked the great monastery of Armagh
three times in one month. He chased the
abbot and the monks out of the
monastery.
He founded the (first) town of Dublin
and crowned himself king.
Armagh Cathedral today
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The Irish kings come to the rescue
Turgeis’s plans were, however,
foiled by the one of the most
powerful Irish kings.
In 845, Turgeis was taken
prisoner and drowned by King
Malachy in Lough Owel in Co.
Westmeath as a punishment for
all the trouble he caused.
Some people think that Turgeis
was not as evil as he has been
painted.
They think that Irish writers
exaggerated his misdeeds to
highlight Malachi’s achievement
in ridding Ireland of numerous
such invaders.
One story says that Malachy challenged Turgeis to
single combat on the shores of Lough Owel. Malachy
won. He not only drowned Turgeis in the waters of
the lake but also took his collar of gold.
Another version says Turgeis developed a passion for
Malachy’s daughter. One day Malachy said he would
send fifteen girls with his daughter and asked Turgeis
to choose one these and spare his daugther. Instead,
he sent fifteen young men disguised as girls. They
were all soldiers and captured Turgeis. Malachy kept
the Viking for a few days and made him suffer. Then
he threw him, tied in chains, into Lough Owel.
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The Vikings in Ireland adapted from
The Oxford Companion to Irish History edited by S.J. Connolly, OUP, 1998, 0-19866-240-8, 579-81
Vikings, Scandinavian adventurers, subsequently known as Ostmen (Old Norse ‘men of the east’) or Lochlannaigh (Irish ‘people from the
land of loughs’). They first appear in Irish sources as plunderers and this remains their dominant image in popular memory. In
reality their involvement with Ireland lasted almost 400 years, during which time the Scandinavians were transformed into farmers,
traders, colonists, and urban developers.
The first Viking raid on Ireland occurred in 795 when Reachrainn, probably Rathlin island (but Lambay island has also been suggested),
was attacked. During the next 25 years there was, on average, one Viking attack per year. The raids were hit-and-run affairs.
Monasteries were the prime target, not only because they possessed treasuries of precious objects but also because they were
densely populated centres with substantial stores of provisions and potential slaves. Archaeologically this phase of activity has left
no trace in Ireland, but about 6o metalwork objects of Irish manufacture have been discovered in graves of 9th-century date in
western Norway. These artefacts are normally interpreted as the result of plundering raids, but it should be noted that most of the
objects are domestic in function and may have been the result of trade or exchange.
The pattern of hit-and-run raids ceased during the 830s with the arrival of large Viking fleets on the rivers Liffey Boyne, Shannon, and
Erne. The forces transported by these fleets were substantial and, commonly they terrorized an area for some weeks or months
before returning to Scandinavia for winter. The success of these campaigns dearly gave rise to the next development, the
foundation of longphorts (a defended enclosure designed originally to protect ships) at Dublin and Annagassan, Co. Louth, in 841.
These were the first permanent Viking settlements in Ireland and were originally envisaged as defended bases in which the
Scandinavian forces could overwinter and plan the renewal of campaigning in the spring. In the course of the 9th century Dublin
developed into an important slaving centre and some of Dublin’s rulers, notably Olaf the White (d. 871) and Ivar the Boneless (d.
873), campaigned extensively in Scotland and Northumbria, from where they brought valuables and slaves to the Dublin markets.
While the longphorts provided the Vikings with a permanent base, they also gave the Irish kings a fixed objective to attack. In 848
the longphort at Cork was captured, while the assault on Dublin in 902 was so successful that the Vikings abandoned the
settlement and moved to northern Britain and the Isle of Man. Archaeologically little is known about the nature of these
longphorts. The cemetery of the 9th-century Dublin Vikings has been uncovered and shows, not surprisingly, that warriors formed
a prominent element of the population. There are some hints of rural settlement in the immediate vicinity of Dublin at this time
and there are slight indications of rural colonization in underpopulated areas such as western Connemara.
Continued on next page …
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In 914 a great Scandinavian fleet, originating in northern France, landed at Waterford, initiating a new phase of plundering activity.
Munster was devastated in 915 and Dublin was re-established two years later. The Viking position was consolidated in 919 when
they defeated the king of Tara, Niall Glúndub in battle. Other fleets also descended on Ireland. Limerick was founded in 922 by the
leader of one such fleet and Wexford (c.92 1) by another. The kings of Dublin played an important role in Irish political life for
much of the 10th century, although most of their attention was expended on controlling Northumbria and in obtaining authority
over the other Viking centres in Ireland. Dublin and York were closely connected and were ruled by members of the same family
until 952 when Olaf Cuarán (d. 981) was forced out of York and returned to Dublin. After their defeat at the battle of Tara (980)
the role of the Scandinavians diminished and their territories were gradually integrated into the Irish political framework.
The significance of the battle of Clontarf (1014) has been much overestimated largely due to the literary skills of the compiler of the
Cogadh Gáedhel re Gallaibh, a 12th-century work eulogizing the Uí Briain. In more recent centuries the battle acquired mythic
status in nationalist historiography as a synonym for the defeat and expulsion of invaders. In fact Limerick had been captured by
the Dál Cais in 967 and it was to be ruled by their descendants until 1197. Dublin maintained a semblance of independence until
1052 when the king of Leinster, Diarmait mac Máel na mBó, forced the Dubliners to accept his son Murchad as their ruler.
Paradoxically, however, as Dublin’s political power declined its economic importance increased and from 1049 onwards any king
with pretensions to the high kingship of Ireland had to control Dublin.
It has been argued that the Vikings had a negative impact on Irish society, promoting violence, accelerating church abuses, and
terminating the ‘golden age’ of Irish art. Modern historiography, however, has largely discredited these views and the port towns
of Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, and Limerick are generally regarded as the Scandinavians’ most enduring legacy.
Archaeological excavations have yielded good evidence of the urban layout and building fabric of these 10th-12th-century towns
but less is known about rural settlement in their vicinity. Each port had a rural hinterland (that of Dublin is referred to as
Dyflinarskíri), and the archaeological evidence suggests that they were settled by a mixed community that was heavily
Hibernicized. Scandinavian settlement in Ireland is unusual in its urban bias and motives more complex than the provision of pirate
bases may have influenced the foundation of these towns. They were all well placed, for instance, to take advantage of trade with
the interior. The colonization of large tracts of territory does not seem to have been a primary objective of the Scandinavians in
Ireland and it cannot be without significance that they put so much of their resources into the development of towns. An
influencing factor in this regard may have been the view that Britain, rather than Ireland, was the principal area in which to
achieve conquest and colonization.
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Click here for a more detailed timeline
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Timeline of the Viking Age in Ireland
700
Around this time there was a gradual transition from tribalism to dynastic politics, resulting in 500 years of inter-kingdom battles, too numerous
to mention, there were also inter-monastery battles.
709 Plague, believed to have been polio, also dysentery.
772 Twelve years of famine and plague, Bloody flux, smallpox, rabies and cattle murrain.
773 Drought and famine.
777 Bad summer - wind and rain.
795 First Viking raids on Ireland.
799 Inter-kingdom battles, too numerous to mention, took place during this century.
807 Large Viking raid on western coast.
837 Vikings carry out intensive raids on Ireland, and set up bases.
841 Viking establish base in Dublin.
848 Norse occupy Cork.
876 Relative respite from Viking raids for next forty years.
892 Great wind, forests destroyed and wooden churches and houses blown away.
899 More inter-kingdom battles, too numerous to mention, took place during this century.
900 English coins begin to circulate in Ireland.
902 Dublin evacuated by the Norse.
914 Large Viking fleet arrives in Waterford.
917 Vikings establish the proper town of Dublin
920 to 950 Dublin Kings strike coins at York in England.
922 Foundation of the Norse town of Limerick.
951 Outbreak of Small pox and bloody flux among the Norse in Dublin.
965 Famine.
978 Battle of Belach Lechta - in Ballyhoura mountains in north Cork. Brian Boruma mac Cennetig (Brian Boru) defeats and kills Mael Muad mac Brain
and becomes king of Munster.
980 Battle of Tara – defeat of Olaf Curran, King of Dublin, by Malachi of the O’Neill tribe.
999 Battle of Glenn Mama near Dublin, Mael Morda, king of Leinster, and Sitric Silkbeard king of Dublin defeated by Brian Boru. Other inter-kingdom
battles, too numerous to mention, took place during this century.
1000 Brian Boru captures Dublin.
1002 Reign of Brian Boru as High King commences twelve years of reasonable peace apart from odd out breaks of inter dynasty fights in Ulster.
1014 Mael Morda, king of Leinster, invites Jarl Sigurd of Orkney to help him fight Brian Boru. In the battle of Clontarf on Good Friday Apr. 23. They
are defeated and both killed. Brian Boru is killed after the battle. Inter-kingdom feuds and battles recommence.
1047 Famine in Ulster causing a lot of people to settle in Leinster.
1062 Colic in Leinster, spreads to rest of country.
1066 Battle of Hastings, Norman's conquer England.
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Irish kingdoms
St. Patrick found the population of Ireland divided into as many as 150 tuatha, a word most nearly
translated ‘tribes’ or ‘clans’. These were kin groups with a recognized leader and having collective claims to
the wealth of, and authority over, specified territories.
Pre-Viking Ireland (mid-8th century) was divided into perhaps 100 small kingdoms, of varying size and
importance, each ruled by a chief or king. There were three grades of kingship: king of one tuath; king of
three or four tuatha; and the third rank, overking or high king. Royal succession was determined during the
lifetime of a reigning king, from amongst eligible members of kindred.
The almost constant warfare between these groupings included the burning of churches, while the wars
and battles between monasteries were just as bloody.
On once occasion, Clonmacnoise engaged Durrow in a major pitched battle, slaying two hundred of the
latter's fighting men. The death toll was exceeded in 817 in the battle between the monastery of Taghmon,
assisted by Cathal mac Dunlainge, king of Ui Chennselaig, and the monastery of Ferns, in which four
hundred were killed.
There was a long-term tendency for these political divisions to grow larger and by 1100 the number of
tribal units in Ireland was about 30. Some Irish leaders claimed the title of ‘High King’, but their power was
always limited and temporary.
The process of unification was carried on much faster on the Continent and in Anglo-Saxon England. The
whole of the southern part of Britain had been unified, first under the Anglo-Saxons, and after 1066, under
the Normans. No such unification had occurred within Ireland despite various aborted tendencies in that
direction.
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Viking gods - Odin
Odin was the mighty god to the Norsemen. He was called All-Father.
He is pictured as a middle-aged man with long curly hair and a beard.
His weapon, called Gungnir, was a spear made by dwarfs. He was often accompanied by two ravens
named Hugin (thought) and Munin (memory).
In his thirst for knowledge, Odin sacrificed one of his eyes so he could drink from the roots of the World
Tree, Yggdrasil.
To discover the secret of the runes (magic spells), Odin hanged himself from the World Tree for nine days.
His special attendants were female warriors, called the Valkyrie. The Valkyries took the bodies of the
warriors killed in battle to Valhalla, which was located in the city of Heaven.
Around the eighth and ninth centuries, Odin took over the role of the Sky god
from Tyr.
Together with his brothers Vili and Ve, Odin created the world from the body of
the giant, Ymir.
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Viking gods - Thor
In Norse mythology, Thor was the god of thunder.
He produces thunder with his hammer, called Mjolnir, which means ‘The Destroyer’.
This hammer was made by dwarfs, and would magically return to Thor's hand whenever he needed it.
Thor is depicted as a tall, muscular man with red hair and a beard.
His magic belt could double his incredible strength, while his iron gloves protected his hands.
His greatest enemy was the World Serpent, which lived in the ocean surrounding Midgard, the Earth.
There are only a few stories remaining about this mighty champion of the gods. One tells of a quest to
destroy the dreaded World Serpent. Disguised as a young fisherman, Thor joins the giant Hymir in his boat.
Using the head of an ox, Thor got the beast on his line. He attempted to kill the serpent with one giant
swing with his sword. However, a scared Hymir cut the line, sending the serpent back into the ocean, just
before Thor could finish the job.
Thor was also challenged to a duel by the giant Hrungnir, who had a stone head and heart. Thor's
companion, Thjalfi, tricked the giant into standing on his shield. This allowed Thor to swoop down from
above and shatter his head.
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Viking gods - Freya
In Norse mythology, Freya is a goddess of love and fertility, and the most beautiful and propitious of the
goddesses.
She is the patron goddess of crops and birth, the symbol of sensuality and was called upon in matters of
love.
She loves music, spring and flowers, and is particularly fond of the elves (fairies).
Freya is one of the foremost goddesses of the Vanir.
She is the daughter of the god Njord, and the sister of Freyr.
Later she married the mysterious god Od (probably another form of Odin), who disappeared. When she
mourned for her lost husband, her tears changed into gold.
Her attributes are the precious necklace of the Brisings, which she obtained by sleeping with four dwarfs, a
cloak (or skin) of bird feathers, which allows its wearer to change into a falcon, and a chariot pulled by two
cats.
She owns Hildesvini (‘battle boar’) which is actually her human lover Ottar in disguise. Her chambermaid is
Fulla.
Freya lives in the beautiful palace Folkvang (‘field of folk’), a place where love songs are always played, and
her hall is Sessrumnir.
She divides the slain warriors with Odin: one half goes to her palace, while the other half goes to Valhalla.
Women also go to her hall.
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Distant Voices
Baldur’s Bones
Set in the north-west of Ireland, this is a powerful
and unusual evocation of the Viking era.
‘I think I am going to keep this Viking,’ said Finn,
wiping away the soil and lifting the skull. ‘Imagine, all
those centuries ago there was someone just like me
… a buck-toothed warrior.’
by Friel, Maeve, Poolbeg Press, 1-85371-410-0
This voice, this Harald, was haunting Ellie’s dreams,
speaking to her in his strange accent, drawing her
into another life.
He spins stories of sea voyages, exile and death,
while she sleeps.
His appeal to Ellie, ‘Only you will know where to
find me’, leads her across the border from Derry
into Donegal where she makes a startling discovery
on a lonely headland.
by Arrigan, Mary Collins, 0-00711-154-1
When Finn and Tara discover a skull on the site of an
ancient Viking burial ground, Finn is determined to
take it home.
However, this ghoulish find drags Finn and Tara into a
nightmarish adventure – a race against time – one
that become a matter of life or death.
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