at Adair*, under whose boughs the Dalcassian princes used in former times to be inaugurated, was, by Malachy's order, in the course of this inroad cut down.t 983 But these pointed aggressions, among which the latter stands forth the most prominently in all our annals, having failed to arouse the resentment of the hero of Munster, the monarch again, in the following year, held forth the signal of defiance, by marching his troops into the province of Leinster, which, as forming a part of the kingdom of Leath Mogh, was now under the dominion of Brian, and there spreading havoc and devastation over its plains "to the very sea." Such an infringement of his royal rights was not to be submitted to by the king of Munster, who, putting himself at the head of a large force, marched directly against the monarch, and, by this prompt and decisive A.D. movement, rendered hostilities for the time unnecessary. Yielding to remonstrances so strongly backed, Malachy consented to acknowledge his rival's claims; and a sort of convention was then mutually agreed upon, confirming to Brian his right of dominion over the kingdom of Leath Mogh, in like manner as it assured to the monarch his right of sovereignty over Leath Cuinn. It was moreover stipulated on both sides, that all persons held in captivity by either, who belonged to the dominions of the other, should be forthwith delivered up; and lastly, in reference to the claim upon Leinsterthe point immediately at issue, it was settled that Donald, the king of that province, was bound to pay tribute to Brian.{ Through the four or five following years this amicable arrangement appears to have been respected by both parties; but, in the year 988, whether in revenge for some A. D. aggression, or moved by the one sole aim and object of his career, the supplanting 988. of the power of the monarchy, we find Brian actively preparing, both by land and water, for the invasion at once of the two provinces, Meath and Connaught. Embarking the whole of his force in boats on the Shannon, he thus conveyed them as far as Lough Ree, laying the country on each side under contribution. Then dividing his forces into two corps, he detached one of them to the western parts of Connaught, which they plundered and laid waste, slaying Murgisius, the Roydamna of that province; while with the other he himself marched into Meath, devastating all that lay in his course, on the western bank of the Shannon, and returned to his palace of Kinkora, laden with rich spoils.|| The two great rivals were now again in open conflict; though, for the three following years, alternate inroads into each other's territories, for the purpose of spoil and plunder, appear to have been the only means of mutual annoyance resorted to by them. Against the Danes, however, the spirited monarch continued to carry on a brisk and effective warfare; and so closely laid siege to them in Dublin, for the space of "twenty nights," that they were at length reduced to salt water for their only drink. In 989. this extremity, finding themselves compelled to submit, they agreed to pay to the monarch, in addition to the accustomed tributes, one ounce of gold out of every principal dwelling-house in Dublin, to be paid yearly on Christmas-night to him and his heirs for ever.¶ A. D. In the year 994, Dublin must again have been the scene of his triumphs, as he is said to have then carried off from thence two trophies,-the collar of Tomar, and the sword of Carlus ;** to which, from the emphatic manner in which they are always mentioned, * Annal. Inisfall. ad ann. 982. See an account of the practice of tree-worship among the ancient Irish, in c. ii. p. 43, &c. of this Work. † Annal. Inisfall. ad an. 982-983. Our antiquary, Ledwich, in his great anxiety to prove the Irish to have been of Teutonic origin-a supposition which, with regard to a small portion of her population, the Scots, has been shown to be highly probable,-has adduced, among other evidence, the ancient custom of inaugurating the kings of Cashel on a large stone. "This was a Firbolgian custom," he says, "introduced from the north; where the people erected great stones, or stone-circles, for the election and inauguration of their princes." He forgot, however, that though the Eugenian branch of the Munster kings adopted this form on their election, those of the Dalcassian line were inaugurated under the Bile Magh-Adair, or sacred tree, in Thomond; a custom which, being, according to him, a proof of Celtic descent, is sufficient to neutralize at least the inference deduced by him from the other. 1 "Go Muir, "-Tigernach, ad an. 983. IV. Mag. ad an. 982, (æræ com. 983.) Inisfall. ad an. 983. IV. Mag. Vallancey (Laws of Tanistry,) from Munster Records. Vallancey gives to this Roydamna the name of Muiredach. T Tigernach. ad an. 989. ** Harris could not have seen this record, or he would not have asserted that the sword of Carlus belonged to Carolus Knute, who was killed at Clontarf. The collar of Tomar was a golden torques, which the monarch Malachy took from the neck of a Danish chieftain whom he had conquered: "Let Erin remember the days of old, Ere her faithless sons betrayed her. When Malachy wore the collar of gold Which he won from her proud invader.”—Irish Melodics. peculiar interest must have been attached. In the course of the same year, during an inroad made by him into Munster, an engagement ensued between his forces and those of Brian, in which the latter was defeated. But this passing eclipse of the Momonian hero's good fortune was amply redeemed in the following year, when invading, in his turn, the dominions of the monarch, he gained a complete victory over him; and, carrying conflagration into the Royal Rath, in which stood the palace of the kings of Tara,t burned that ancient and stately structure to the ground. At length, recalled perhaps by some worthier feelings than appear in general to have actuated their conduct, to a sense of the lasting injury they were inflicting upon their country by these feuds, the rival sovereigns again formed with each other a treaty of peace, on the basis, as before, of mutual recognition of their respective rights, as rulers of the two great divisions of the island, Leath Cuinn and Leath Mogh.‡ 997. That an honest zeal for the public welfare bore some share in the motives that led to this step, may be fairly inferred from the first fruits of their reconcilement having been an active campaign in concert against the Danes. Marching with their united forces to Dublin, they there demanded and received hostages from the Northmen; and in the same year, having renewed their joint invasion of that city, they carried off from thence both spoil and hostages, and, as the chroniclers exultingly add, "with much triumph to the Irish." A yet more brilliant success awaited them in the following year, when, as they Jay encamped with their respective armies in the valley called, in those times, Glen-Mama, the Danes poured forth from their seat of strength an immense force, with the A. D. hope of surprising and overwhelming the two sovereigns. But, in the conflict 1000. that then ensued, the superior fortune of the day was with the Irish; and, among the Danish princes and nobles who fell in the action, is recorded Harold, the son of Anlaf.|| Not long after this event the Northmen of Dublin, under the command of their king, Sitric, making an irruption into Leinster, carried away with them the king of that province, Donogh Mac-Donald; on hearing of which outrage upon his liegeman, the active Brian marched instantly with a select force to their city, and having delivered the royal captive, burned down their principal dun, or fortress, making himself master of the gold, silver, and other precious effects they had amassed, and then forced them to expel king Sitric, the author of the outrage, from the country. The Annals of the Four Masters represent Malachy as acting with Brian in this expedition; but Tigernach, the annals of Ulster, and of Inisfallen, all agree in attributing the credit of it to Brian alone. It is, indeed, manifest that, about this period, the monarch had seen reason to separate his interests from those of the aspiring king of Munster; whether from jealousy of that prince's increasing fame, or, as seems more probable, from a clearer insight into the real nature of his designs, and a too late conviction, perhaps, that, in aiding so active a rival's schemes, he was but hastening forward the march of a power already threatening the rights and safety of the supreme throne itself. Whatever may have been his real motives for such conduct, the fact of a change, at this time, in the policy of the monarch is sufficiently evinced by his marching his troops on a predatory expedition into Leinster (that province being now in relations of allegiance with Brian) in the very same year that had just been signalized by Brian's victory * Inisfall. ad an. 994. With a spirit of partisanship which deserves praise, at least, for its ardour, being ready to kindle even on matters as far back as the tenth century, Vallancey suppresses all mention of this defeat of his favourite hero; though, in the annals most partial to the cause of Muuster-those of Inisfallen -it forms almost the only record for the year. † Annal. Innisfall. ad an. 995. These annals style the structure that was burned down "Teach n aoidhe," or, the House of the Learned Man, or Preceptor; but, according to Vallancey's authorities, it was the Regal House, or Rath, of Meath. Tigernach and Inisfall. ad an. 999. We have here another historical partisan in the field. The author of Cambrensis Eversus, with whom Malachy is not undeservedly a favourite, assigns to him alone all the glory of this achievement. "He attributes (says Vallancey) the whole honour of this action to Malachy, with an utter exclusion of Brian, although the annals of Tigernach expressly mention Brian as solely engaged in the affair, without attributing any share of it to Malachy." Vallancey then proceeds, with much warmth and energy, to contend that Malachy had no share whatever in this exploit. As long as this sort of partisanship confines itself within the bounds of honest zeal, it is, however, misplaced, respectable; but too often unfairness is one of the weapons to which it resorts, and Vallancey himself is not always exempt from this charge. In order to palliate the violence of Brian's proceedings, attempts have been made by some of his enthusiastic admirers to make it appear that the first aggression came from Malachy; and, with this view, Vallancey, in giving an account of an attack upon Munster, in the year 988, by the people of Connaught, asserts, without the slightest authority from any of our authentic annals, that the monarch's own principality of Meath took a part in the aggression. "In 988," he says, "the people of Connaught, assisted by those of Meath, in open violation of their king's treaty with Brian, invaded the west of Munster... ... Brian, to revenge this insult, marched at the head of a powerful army," &c. over the Northmen. In consequence, as it is said, of this overt act of hostility, but clearly in pursuance of his own long-meditated scheme of usurpation, Brian collected together a large army from the provinces of Connaught, Munster, and Leinster, together with an auxiliary corps furnished by the Danes of Dublin, whom he had now brought into obedience; and, at the head of this imposing force, marched towards Tara. Learning that the monarch had retired with his troops to the plain of Bregia, he detached to that place a squadron of Danish cavalry, which, coming in conflict with the troops of Malachy, were, almost to a man, cut to pieces. On the appearance however, of Brian, with the main body of his immense force, the monarch saw that to continue 1000. his resistance would be for the present unavailing, and that by concession only could he hope to purchase a brief respite for the monarchy. Accordingly, appealing to his rival's generosity, on account of the disparity in the numbers of their respective forces, and giving hostages in pledge of fidelity and present submission, he succeeded for the time in averting the danger with which he was threatened; and Brian, withdrawing his troops peaceably from the royal territory, departed, as the chroniclers express it," without battle, without waste, without burning."* A. D. According to some accounts of this transaction, the monarch, in pleading the comparative weakness of his own force, requested that a certain time should be allowed him for the purpose of bringing into the field his whole military strength; engaging solemnly that if, within that period, he should find himself unable to try the question with the sword, he would at once resign his throne and pay homage and tribute to Brian as monarch. With this plausible arrangement the king of Munster, it is added, politely complied. That such instances of courtesy in warfare were not unfrequent among the Scandinavians, we learn from one of their own historians; who tells of a Danish general voluntarily reducing his force in order to be on a level with that of his antagonist. But the story of Brian's still more chivalrous flight of complaisance, besides that it is mentioned in none of the authentic Irish chronicles, bears evident marks of modern fabrication. CHAPTER XXI. Usurpation of the Throne of Tara by Brian.-His triumphant Progress through the Country.—Gifts and privileges bestowed by him upon the Church.-State of the Country under his dominion. Unusually long interval of Peace.-Disturbed by the restlessness and perfidy of the People of Leinster.-Malachy, Defeated by them, applies for assistance to Brian.Is refused.-Preparations of the Northmen, in league with the Lagenians, for a Descent upon Ireland.-Forces collected from most of the Danish dominions.-Great battle of Clontarf and its consequences. THE following year beheld the accomplishment of the ambitious Brian's pro- A. D. jects and hopes. It is commonly stated, with a view of exonerating him from the 1001. odium of usurpation, and investing his acts with the sanction of popular approval, that he had been, previously to his first rebellion, solicited earnestly by the princes and states of Connaught to depose Malachy from the supreme throne, and take the sceptre into his own hands. But in none of our really trustworthy records is there to be found the slightest authority for this assertion; and the term "rebellion," applied by the annalists to Brian's first march upon Tara, sufficiently points out the sort of aspect under which that agression must have been generally regarded. Though left to linger on through a few more feverish months, in the mere semblance of sovereignty, the fate of the monarch was by that step finally sealed, and his rival's supremacy secured. In the following year, at the head of a force as formidable in numbers as before, Brian again marched to Tara; and there, in the palace of her ancient monarchs, received the homage * "Gan cath, gan indradh, gan loscc."-IV. Mag. ad an. 1000 (æræ com. 1001.) † O'Halloran. 1 Mallet, tom. i. 231. Tigernach, ad. an. 1000, and IV Mag. ad an. 999 (æræ com 1000) Tigernach calls it "a rebellion through treachery;"-impod tre mcabhal. of their last legitimate successor, the descendant of a series of fifty Hy-Niell kings, and was by him acknowledged supreme sovereign of all Ireland. However strong and ascendant was the power acquired by Brian over the minds of his fellow countrymen, by a long life of military success, so daring a step as he had now ventured upon, in utter defiance of all those long cherished prejudices in favour of old and prescriptive rights which we have seen to be innate in the national character, could hardly have been risked by him without some misgivings, and even apprehensions, as to the result. Accordingly, though in no quarter does there appear to have been open resistance to his authority, nor any instance of a recourse to arms, in favour of Malachy, it is yet clear, from the constant and watchful activity with which the new monarch kept the field through the two or three following years, and his restless movements throughout all Ireland, demanding hostages in every quarter, that the apparently willing submission of the country was mainly the work of his own vigilance and vigour; and that what he had acquired by the sword, was chiefly by the sword maintained. The powerful houses of the Hy-Niells, as well the two branches long excluded from the succession as those-the Tirone and Clan-Colman,—which had, down to this period, alternately enjoyed it,* made common cause in opposing and thwarting the new monarch, but only in one instance appear to have ventured on open hostilities with him in the field. The southern Hy-Niells having, with the aid of the forces of Connaught, taken up A. D. arms against his authority, he gave them battle in the neighbourhood of Athlone, and obtained an easy victory over them.t 1008. The prince who governed at this time the Hy-Niells of the north was Aodb, the grandson of the heroic Murkertach,-a chief who, as being the roydamna, or successor apparent to Malachy, was the person, next to this prince, the most aggrieved by his deposition. But a menacing movement or two, not followed up by any actual hostility, was all that the usurper had to encounter from the young Aodh; who, making war soon after (A. D. 1005,) on the province of Ulad, fell gallantly, as became a descendant of the Chief "of the Warriors of the Saffron Hue," in an engagement called, from the place where it occurred, the Battle of the Wood of Tulka. Among the few faint attempts at resistance made by the Hy-Niells of the north, was that of a prince of Ulidia, Flahertach O'Neill, who refused to give hostages to Brian. But the military dictator extorted these sureties by force; and, soon after, carried off Flahertach himself as his prisoner. The ready acquiescence with which, in general, so violent a change in the polity of the country was submitted to, may be in a great degree attributed to the example of patience and disinterestedness exhibited by the immediate victim of this revolution, the deposed Malachy himself. Nor, in forming our estimate of this prince's character from a general view of his whole career, can we well hesitate in coming to the conclusion, that not to any backwardness in the field, or want of vigour in council, is his tranquil submission to the violent encroachments of his rival to be attributed; but to a regard, rare at such an unripe period of civilization, for the real interests of the public weal, and an unwillingness to risk, for his own personal views, the explosive burst of discord which, in so inflammable a state of the political atmosphere, a struggle for the monarchy would, he knew, infallibly provoke. Acting on this prudent, and, as far as we can judge, patriotic motive, he even generously lent his aid to the usurper in preserving the general peace of the country; and when Brian, attended by the kings of Leath-Mogh, proceeded on his circuit through the provinces,-passing, as his progress is described, "beyond the Red Cataract, into Ula,"-we find Malachy, with the contingent of troops supplied by his principality, following quietly among the other liegemen in the royal train. During one of these progresses, having remained a week in the city of Armagh, the new monarch left, as a devout offering, on the great altar of the cathedral, a gold collar weighing twenty ounces.T A most marked feature, indeed, in the policy of this prince, was the regard manifested by him for the interests of religion, and his liberal patronage of the ministers of the church. In the course of a subsequent visit to Ulster he afforded a substantial mark of his feeling on this subject, when, in order to repair the ravages committed by the Northmen, he granted, in addition to a gift of glebe lands to the churches of Ireland, a considerable extension of their immunities and rights. After depositing his pious oblation at Armagh, he proceeded, attended by the kings of the south, See Dissertation &c., by O'Connor of Balenagar, sect. 15. IV. Mag ad an. 1001 (æræ com. 1003.) "Cath Craoibhe Tulcha." IV. Mag. Annal Inisfall. ad an. 1006. Easruaidh, the present Ballyshannon,-called the Red Cataract, from the salmon-leap, for which thin spot is celebrated. The value of gold was, I suppose, at that time, about five times as great as at the present day. to the royal seat of the Dalriedans in Antrim, called Rath-mor-Muige-Line, or the Great Fortress near the Water,* where he received hostages from all the princes of that region, as well as from the whole of the remaining dynasts of Leth-Cuinn. To follow in detail the various progresses of this description which he performed during the first few years of his reign, would be little more than a mere repetition of the same uninteresting and, for the most part, bloodless course of events; the few instances that occurred of resistance to his demands, having led rarely to any more serious result than the seizure of the refractory chieftains as prisoners; and all such captives of this rank as fell into his power were led in chains to his regal fortress at Kinkora. This vigorous policy appears to have completely succeeded. An interval of peace for some years followed upon these measures, such as it has rarely been Ireland's fortune, whether in ancient or modern times, to enjoy; and the void left by the dearth of the usual stirring events in the bloodless annals of these few tranquil years has been filled up, by the fancy of later writers, with a glowing picture of the peace, prosperity, and civilization which was now diffused throughout the whole country, by the salutary laws and wise government of its ruler. In addition to the endowments and privileges newly conferred upon the church, the schools and colleges ravaged by the Danes were all restored to their former condition and new institutions of learning and piety founded. The wealth of the state devoted to objects of public utility was, we are told, employed in the erection of fortified places, in the building of numerous bridges, and the construction of massive causeways; while, to provide also for the dignity of the regal state, the various royal houses and palaces throughout Munster, more especially the monarch's favourite abode at Kinkora, were, by his orders, all rebuilt and embellished. It is added likewise by the same romantic authorities, as a proof of the influence of Brian's laws on society, and the consequent purity of the public morals, that a beautiful maiden, adorned with gold and jewels, and bearing in her hand a white wand, with a costly ring on its top, travelled alone over the whole island without any attempt being made on her honour or her treasures.t Through the whole of this prosperous picture it is easy to trace the florid colouring of the fabulist; and, with the exception of the endowment granted to the churches, and the repairs of some of the royal forts in Munster, there is not one of the acts attributed thus to Brian, of which any record is to be found in our genuine annals; while the story of the maiden, travelling safely with her ring and jewels over the island, is but an improvement on similar fables long current among the Danes and Anglo-Saxons. It was the boast of the Danish lawgiver, Frotho, that he could expose, without fear of theft, the most precious things on the public paths; and, in Alfred's time, as a similar test of the honesty of the people, rich bracelets were, it is said, hung up by the road-side.‡ But though, in the instance of our Irish hero,-and the same has been the fate of all such lights of obscure periods,-romance supplies the place amply of authentic history, there is yet enough, in the genuine records of his actions, to entitle him to the rank he holds in historic fame. Had he no other claim to distinction, his name would fully merit commemoration for the vigorous policy with which, when advanced to the supreme power, he succeeded in quelling and keeping down that whole swarm of petty kings and dynasts, who, at once tyrants and rebels, have been at all times the worst scourge of the country, leaving neither peace to the people, nor security to the throne. To his prompt vigour in suppressing, or rather coercing into harmlessness this most mischievous as well as most absurd of all forms of aristocracy, is to be attributed the rare and, in those times, unexampled tranquillity which the country enjoyed under his sway. Inisfall. ad an. 1004. See Beauford (Ancient Topography of Ireland,) at Rath-mor muighe-line:-Collectan. vol. iii. Verses quoted by Keating. We find in Feller (Dict. Hist.) a translation of these verses by M. Lally To. lendal:-"Les lois et les mœurs étaient tellement respectés, que les bardes Irlandois, en chantant le règne heureux de Brien Boroihmh, ont dit,— "Une vierge, uniseant aux dons de la nature De l'or et de rubis l'éclat et la valeur, A la clarté du jour ou dans la nuit obscure D'une mer jusqu'à l'autre allait sans protecteur, Ne risquait rien pour sa pudeur." "Il fit de si bons réglemens contre le brigandage, et veilla si à leur observation qu'il exposoit des bagues d'or sur les grands chemins sans que personne osat les prendre. Les historiens Anglais racontent la même chose du grand Alfred,"-Mallet, Hist. de Dannemarc. Of William the Conqueror's time, a similar romantic account is given. "Amongst other things, is not to be forgotten that good peace that he made in this land; so that a man of any account might go over his kingdom unhurt, with his bosom full of gold."-Saxon Chronicle. |