When the kings had united their forces, they obtained another important victory at Glen-Mama. Harolt, son of Olaf Cuaran, the then Danish king, was slain, and four thousand of his followers perished with him. The victorious army marched at once to Dublin. Here they obtained spoils of great value and made many slaves and captives. Meanwhile there can be but little doubt that Brian had in view the acquisition of the right to be sole monarch of Ireland. It is a blot on an otherwise noble character. Sitric, another son of Olaf's, fled for protection to Aedh and Eochaidh, two northern chieftains; but they gave him up, from motives of fear or policy, to Brian's soldiers, and after due submission he was restored to his former position. Brian than gave his daughter in marriage to Sitric, and completed the family alliance by espousing Sitric's mother, Gormflaith, who had been divorced from her second husband, Malachy. Brian now proceeded to depose Malachy. This was in the year 1001, when Brian was sixty years of age and Malachy fifty-three.

VI.

THE EVENTS OF THE ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH
CENTURIES.

(1001-1200.)

HEN Brian received the supreme power we find him wielding it with all the vigor he had manifested prior to his accession. His predecessor, the deposed king, joins with him in opposing the Northmen who still were in Ireland. At the same time he exacted and enforced the tribute from the provinces, which tribute was rendered on the 1st of November at his gate every year. There were wars to enforce this for the first three years of his reign, and then came a time of peace lasting to 1010. We find Brian at Lough Foyle, in 1012, in arms to expel another invasion of the Northmen, who would not yield any land without a severe 'struggle, when once they had obtained a foothold. He here gave freedom to the churches of St. Patrick and gained victories over the invaders. The deposed king, Donough, united with another army under a leader named Murrough, was engaged in the same patriotic work at other points. But the decisive struggle which was to decide the contest that had been waging for two hundred years was at hand, and a most formidable preparation was made by both sides. Brian had known of the exertions which the invaders were making to overrun all Ireland, and he prepared to meet force with force. We are gratified to find the deposed monarch aiding him in this patriotic enterprise.

There was only one province which joined with the invaders, the province of Leinster. Maelmordha was then the prince. He had a sister named Gormflaith who was remarkable for her beauty, but her temper was proud and vindictive. This was probably the reason why she had been repudiated both by Malachy and Brian. There can be no doubt that she and her brother were the remote causes of the famous battle of Clontarf. An opportunity soon offered for a quarrel. Brian's eldest son, Murrough, was playing a game of chess with his cousin, Conoing; Maelmordha was looking on, and suggested a move by which Murrough lost the game. The young prince exclaimed: "That was like the advice you gave the Danes, which lost them Glen-Mama." "I will give them advice now, and they shall not be defeated," replied the other. "Then you had better remind them to prepare a yew-tree for your reception," answered Murrough. Early the next morning Maelmordha left the place, "without permission and without taking leave." Brian sent a messenger after him to pacify him, but the angry chief, for all reply, "broke all the bones in his head." He now proceeded to organize a revolt against Brian, and succeeded. Several of the Irish princes flocked to his standard. An encounter took place in Meath, where they slew Malachy's grandson, Domhnall. Malachy marched to the rescue, and defeated the assailants with great slaughter, A.D. 1013. Fierce reprisals now took place on each side. Sanctuary was disregarded, and Malachy called on Brian to assist him. Brian at once complied. After successfully ravaging Ossory he marched to Dublin, where he was joined by Murrough, who had devastated Wicklow, burning, destroying, and carrying off captives, until he reached Cill Maighnenn (Kilmainham). They now blockaded Dublin, where they remained from St. Ciaran's in harvest (September 9th) until Christmas Day. Brian was then obliged to raise the siege and return home for want of provisions.

THE BATTLE OF CLONTARF AND THE RESTORATION OF MALACHY II.

Brian plundered and destroyed as usual on his way to Dublin. When he had encamped near that city, the Danes came out to give him battle on the plain of Magh-n-Ealta. The Njal Saga says the Viking Brodir had found out. by his sorcery, "that if the fight were on Good Friday King Brian would fall, but win the day; but if they fought before, they would all fall who were against him." The site of the battle has been accurately defined. It took place on the plain of Clontarf, and is called the battle of the Fishing Weir of Clontarf. The weir was at the mouth of the river Tolka, where the bridge of Ballybough now stands. The Danish line was extended along the coast, and protected at sea by their fleets. It was disposed in three divisions, and comprised about twenty-one thousand men, the Leinster forces being included in the number. The first division or left wing was the nearest to Dublin. was composed of the Danes of Dublin, and headed by Sitric, who was support

It

ed by the thousand mail-clad Norwegians, commanded by Carlus and Anrud. In the center were the Lagennians, under the command of Maelmordha. The right wing comprised the foreign auxiliaries, under the command of Brodir and Siguard. Brian's army was also disposed in three divisions. The first was composed of his brave Dalcassians, and commanded by his son. Before the engagement Brian harangued his troops, with the crucifix in one hand and a sword in the other. He reminded them of all they had suffered from their enemies, of their tyranny, their sacrilege, their innumerable perfidies. It was a conflict of heroes a hand-to-hand fight. Bravery was not wanting on either side, and for a time the result seemed doubtful. Toward the afternoon, as many of the Danish leaders were cut down, their followers began to give way, and the Irish forces prepared for a final effort. At this moment the Norwegian prince, Anrud, encountered Murrough, whose arms were paralyzed from fatigue; he had still physical strength enough to seize his enemy, fling him on the ground, and plunge his sword into the body of his prostrate foe. But even as he inflicted the death-wound, he received a mortal blow from the dagger of the Dane, and the two chiefs fell together. The Danish power was overthrown, and never again obtained an ascendency in the country. On Easter Monday the survivors were employed in burying the dead and attending to the wounded. The remains of more than thirty chieftains were borne off to their respective territorial churches for interment. But even on that very night dissension arose in the camp. The chieftains of Desmond, seeing the broken condition of the Dalcassian force, renewed their claim to the alternate succession. When they had reached Rath Maisten (Mullaghmast, near Athy) they claimed the sovereignty of Munster, by demanding hostages. A battle ensued, in which even the wounded Dalcassians joined. Their leader desired them to be placed in the fort of Maisten, but they insisted on being fastened to stakes, firmly planted in the ground to support them, and stuffing their wounds with moss, they awaited the charge of the enemy. The men of Ossory, intimidated by their bravery, feared to give battle.

This battle, which broke the Danish power in Ireland, also proved disastrous to the family of Brian. Not only was he slain, but his heir and his heir's heir; so there was none of his family to succeed him on the throne. The deposed king was recalled by universal request, and reigned acceptably for eight years. He followed up this decisive victory by the capture of Dublin and the destruction of its fort. He chastized the province of Leinster, which had joined the Danes. Sitric, the lord of Dublin, escaped into temporary exile; but his family influence was strong among the native princes, for whatever his secret inclinations may have been he had taken no part in the battle against them. He was half an O'Connor by his mother, Lady Gormley of Offaly, and by marriage the son-in-law of Brian, and uterine brother of Malachy. He returned to Dublin, and in 1018, when Brian, the son of Maelmordha, fell a prisoner into his hands he caused his eyes to be put out. This aroused the undying hatred of the men of Wicklow, who defeated him in battle in 1022. But he lived seven years after this, and died the acknowledged lord

of Dublin, leaving it to his son and son's son after him. We have come to the eighth year after Clontarf and now find the Dublin Danes once more fighting with the aged monarch, as we have said, in 1022, at Athboy. They were routed, and broken in spirit were driven out of Meath. But thirty days after this victory Malachy was called to face the tyrant, Death. He was carried for quiet and rest to the island opposite his residence, then called Inis-Cro, now Cormorant Island, and there "on the 4th of the nones of September, on Sunday precisely, after intense penance for his sins and transgressions, after receiving the body of Christ and His blood, after being anointed by the hands of Amhalgaidh, successor of Patrick, for he and the successor of Colum-Cille, and the successors of Ciaran, and most of the seniors of Ireland were present [at his death], and they sung masses, hymns, psalms, and canticles for the welfare of his soul." He is called "the last king of Ireland, of Irish blood, that had a crown." An ancient bard sang of him:

"After the happy Melaghlin,

Son of Donald, son of Donough,

Each noble king ruled his own tribe
But Erin owned no sovereign lord."

After his death came a long period of anarchy and the contest for the succession until the Anglo-Norman invasion under Strongbow.

THE CONTEST FOR THE SUCCESSION.

Though there was no Irish-born king to wear the crown after Malachy II. there were in Ireland seven crownless kings before the coming of the invader from England. These seven were termed Ard-Righ go Fresalra, that is, monarchs opposed, or unrecognized by certain tribes. For, as we have shown, the monarch must be recognized by three of the four provinces before his title was valid. The chants over the remains of the monarch had scarcely ceased before a claimant for the crown arose in the person of Donough O'Brien. He was the eldest son of Brian by a second wife, who was an O'Connor. This gave him a double claim. All Munster was favorable to him. Connaught was among the first to recognize him, Leinster gave him unwilling obedience, while Meath and the country north of it obeyed Flaherty O'Neill. This prince was an able and pious man, who held firmly upon the northern half-kingdom. His most determined rival was his own nephew, Turlough O'Brien. He regarded his uncle as his father's murderer and pursued him with perseverance to avenge the murder. Lienster and Ossory found pretext to renounce their allegiance to Donough O'Brien and join the nephews.

In 1065, Turlough O'Brien avenged the death of Teigue his father in a battle wherein Donough was defeated. After his reverse he went on a pilgrimage to Rome, where he died in the following year, after doing penance for his brother's murder. Dermod Mac Mael-na-mbo was killed in battle by the

king of Meath, A.D. 1072, and Turlough O'Brien, consequently, was regarded as his successor to the monarchy of Ireland. His principal opponents were the Mac Loughlins of Aileach, and the O'Melaghlins of Meath. In 1079 O'Brien invaded the territory of Roderic O'Connor, king of Connaught, expelled him from his kingdom, and plundered it as far as Croagh Patrick. Next year he led an army to Dublin, and received the submission of the men of Meath, appointing his son Murtough lord of the Danes of Dublin. The annals of the Four Masters give a curious account of O'Brien's death. They say that the head of Connor O'Melaghlin, king of Meath, was taken from the church of Clonmacnois, and brought to Thomond, by his order. When the king took the head in his hand, a mouse ran out of it, and the shock was so great that "he fell ill of a sore disease by the miracles (intervention) of St. Ciaran." This happened on the night of Good Friday. The day of the resurrection (Easter Sunday) the head was restored, with two rings of gold as a peace-offering. But Turlough never recovered from the effects of his fright, and lingered on in bad health until the year 1086, when he died. A period of anarchy ensued, during which several princes contended for royal honors. This compliment was finally awarded to Mac Loughlin, king of Aileach, and a temporary peace ensued. Its continuance was brief. In 1095 there was a pestilence all over Europe, "and some say that the fourth part of the men of Ireland died of the malady." In the year 1096 the festival of St. John Baptist fell on Friday. But the most important event of the period was the contention between the northern and southern Hy-Nials. Murtough was planning to obtain the supreme rule. In the year 1100 Murtough brought a Danish fleet against the Northerns, but they were cut off by O'Loughlin. He also assembled an army at Assaroe, near Ballyshannon, but the Cinel-Connaill defended their country bravely, and compelled him to retire. In 1101 when the twelve months' truce obtained by the clergy had expired, Murtough collected a powerful army, and devastated the north, without opposition. He took hostages of Ulidia, and returned to the south, having completed the circuit of Ireland in six weeks. The expedition was called the "circuitous hosting."

It would appear that the Irish were sufficiently occupied with domestic wars to prevent their offering assistance elsewhere. This, however, was not the case. When Harold returned to England, his brother-in-law, Donough, lent him nine ships; and we find the Irish affording assistance in several other feuds of the Anglo-Saxons of this period. A deputation of the nobles of Man and other islands visited Dublin, and waited on Murtough O'Brien to solicit a king. He sent his nephew, Donnell; but he was soon expelled on account of his tyranny. Another Donnell O'Brien, his cousin, was, at the same time, lord of the Danes in Dublin. In 1114 Murtough O'Brien was obliged to resign the crown in consequence of ill-health; the annals say that he became a living skeleton. His brother, Dermod, took advantage of this circumstance to declare himself king of Munster. This obliged Murtough to resume the reins of government, and put himself at the head of his army. He succeeded in