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Brian Boru and Dynastic Upheaval
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In the 970s the Uí Néill of north Ireland were dominant. However, in 980, Brian Boru came to the throne in Munster. He was a skilled warrior and first defeated the Vikings of Limerick before attacking Connacht and Leinster. So effective was his campaign that, in 997, the King of the Uí Néill met Brian Boru and agreed to divide Ireland between them, with Boru getting Munster, Dubhlinn and Leinster and the Uí Néill getting Connacht and their own territory. However, Brian Boru was not satisfied. When Dubhlinn and Leinster revolted in 999, Brian Boru viciously put them down and, such was his demonstration of power, that the King of the Uí Néill himself submitted to Brian Boru in 1002. Over the next 4 years he undertook two circuits of Ireland to assert himself as High King of the whole island.

However, his power was only skin-deep. Leinster and Dubhlinn held a second revolt in 1013, the result of which was that Brian Boru's armies despoiled most of Leinster and sieged Dubhlinn itself for 4 months. Giving up as Christmas set in, he returned with a vengeance in 1014. Meanwhile, the Vikings of Dubhlinn had rallied extra troops from western Scotland and the Isle of Man. In the ensuing battle, called the Battle of Clontarf, many thousands of people died. While Brian Boru's army won, he himself was killed. The next leader of Munster was not the skilled warrior that Boru had been and the Uí Néill reasserted their supremacy. Although Dubhlinn had been defeated, the Vikings were allowed to rule it for a further 70 years, albeit on Irish terms. Its significance grew and it eventually became the symbolic capital of the island.

The period 1014 to 1150 is complex. Suffice to say that there was a period of prolonged dynastic warfare between the kingdoms. The armies were modernised, with cavalry and navies being introduced. The Kings themselves spent so long at war that they employed governors to look after their kingdoms. The last High King in this period was Rory O'Connor of Connacht who first subdued Munster before setting his sights on Dubhlinn. He was opposed by an alliance of the Uí Néill and Leinster but with the assassination of the Uí Néill king in 1166, O'Connor routed the Leinstermen and drove their king, Dairmait Mac Murchada, out of Ireland. His subsequent appeal for help to England changed history.

During this same period, the Christian church in Ireland had become corrupt and power was too distributed. Between 1100 and 1150, reformers from both Ireland and Europe reformed the church, made it more centralised and got rid of much of the corruption. Ireland was divided into dioceses and was placed under the supremacy of the monastery Armagh. Other, more modern, monastic orders started to arrive in Ireland at this time too.

Events in Britain are also vital to understand. In the 800s, the Vikings had conquered much of central Britain and it was only when the various English kingdoms united under Alfred the Great that they were stopped. The Vikings never left England: rather, the two regions slowly fused together to form a united kingdom of England that was ruled by Danes. Not sooner was it up and running, however, when in 1066 England was invaded by the Normans - descendants of Vikings living in northern France. Under William the Conqueror, the throne of England passed to Norman hands. Like their European rivals, the Kings of England sought influence and England expanded in Wales and western France. It is little wonder, then, that they took the opportunity provided by Dairmait Mac Murchada to expand control in Ireland too.

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Related Topics:
Bookshop - Books on pre-Norman Ireland
Bookshop - General Irish history books

The Anglo-French
(Normans) in Ireland