The Irish standard., 1886-04-17
MINNEAPOLIS AND PAUL. SATURDAY. APRIL II, 1886.

sovereign capacity as King of Munster,
withdrew from what looked like hope
less struggle with the Danes, and
entered into a solemn treaty with them.
The treaty could not bind Brian. He
rallied around him mere handful of
the bravest and most desperate chief
tains, and fought the hostile Danes
whenever and wherever he could, and
to such good purpose that he succeeded
in restraining their onward advance.
Fired by the courageous example of
Brian, his brother Mahon and other
princes took heart and joined together
in comprehensive bond against the
common enemy. Limerick, in which
the power Of the Munster Danes was
massed, was assailed and carried after
some hot fighting, and the Irish found
themselves masters Of many prisoners
and vast quantity of treasures. Still,
in spite of this signal victory, such was
the power of the Danes, and such the
strength, of their arms from constant
reinforcement, and such the dread OF
their desperate reputation, that after a
while they were permitted to re-enter
Limerick as traders, and became mas
ters of the town again.
The reinstated Danes were full of Bit
ter feeling towards Mahon as head OF
the great enterprise which had, for the
time, struck so heavy a blow at their
influence and they determined on re-
venge. A conspiracy was formed be-
tween Ivar, head of the Danes OF Lime
rick, and renegade Irish Prince, Mol
10y, son of Bran. Lord of Desmond,
who had long been jealous rival OF
Mahon, whom Mahon had expelled
from Desmond, and who was thirsting
for revenge. Between the pair scheme
was laid for the assassination of Mahon,
which was carried out under conditions
of peculiar and revolving perGdy. Mol
10y summoned Mahon to an amicable
conference at which the claims Of the
two rival Princes might be discussed
and settled. The meeting was to*be
held at the house of Donovan, a Eugen
ian Prince. Mahon went to the meet
ing without any suspicion of the medi-
tated treason; he was Immediately
seized, made prisoner, hurried to the
mountains and slain.
News of his brothers. death was
brought :, to, Brian at Kinkora. Every
historian has recorded the passion of
grief and rage which seized upon the
young prince.
Rousing all his followers, he
flung himself first upon his Danish
foes, under Ivar OF Limerick, and
routed them completely. Iyar, the
chief of the traitors, with his two sons,
was slain. Then he turned the edge
Of his sword against the false Eugenian
Donovan. Donovan raised mighty
power OF his own people and of Des-
mond Danes, but they could make no
head against Brian; they were scattered
like chaff, and Donovan himself was
slain. One alone now remained of Ma
hons murderers, Molloy, the son Of
Bran. Brian sent him summons to
fight, which Molloy answered by taking
the field with a swollen armament. But
these, too, like the others, were dis
pe1sed and scattered by Brian's army,
and Molloy himself was. slam in the
thick of the fight by Murrogh: Brian's
valiant and high-spirited SON. Such
was the swift fate that overlook the
slayers Of MahOn.
While this blood-feud was being con-
summated, Brian's dominions were in
vaded by Malachy Nor, the famous
Malachy of the Collar of Gold. The
precise cause Of the quarrel between
these two illustrious princes seem now
to be somewhat uncertain, but it must
have been fierce, indeed, when it
moved so gallant a warrior as
Malachy to the ungenerous action of
cutting down the sacred tree of Adair,
under which Brian himself, and the
long line of his Dalcassian ancestors,
had been crowned. As soon as Brian
hadhi brothers. vendetta off his hands,
he turned the strength of his arm
against Malachy, by rayaging West
meath. For some time the quarrel be-
tween Brian and Malachy ragged with
intermittent fury, victory sometimes
inclining to enc prince and sometimes
to another. at last however, a COM
mon enemy united those hostile mon
archs.
Brian's reign as King Of ireland, was
brilliant and prosperous. Commerce,
arts, education, all fourished, and the
wealth and peace of the country be-
came proverbial. Bnt the old hatred of
the Danes, long smouldering, blazed at
last into a determined insurrectlon.
Aided by treason among the Irish
chiefs and princes, a formidable army
was levied against the aged King. But
age had not cooled the fiery courage Of
Brian'st nature. 3 He raised all his p ow-
,er and met his foes at Clontarf, on
Good Friday, the 23d of April, 1014.