page_title: Tomrair
section_title: Familial relations and rank
hierarchical_section_title: Tomrair / Context / Familial relations and rank
caption_attribution_description: English: An excerpt from folio 25r of Oxford Bodleian Library MS Rawlinson B 489 (the Annals of Ulster). The excerpt concerns Auisle, King of Dublin (died 867).
context_page_description: Tomrair was a ninth-century Viking active in Ireland. He is one of the first Vikings recorded by Irish sources. Tomrair is reported to have been killed at the Battle of Sciath Nechtain, a conflict in which twelve hundred Vikings were slain, battling the combined forces of Ólchobar mac Cináeda, King of Munster and Lorcán mac Cellaig, King of Leinster, in 848.
  Surviving accounts of Tomrair's demise accord him the Gaelic title erell, making him the first earl noted by Irish sources. In fact, erell is the first Nordic loanword on record. Tomrair is also described as the tánaise ríg of Laithlind, which could mean that he was either an heir or deputy to the King of Laithlind. The accounts of Tomrair's final fall are the earliest annalistic references to the office of tánaise ríg. The precise identity of the King of Laithlind, or even location of Laithlind itself, is uncertain.
  The context of Tomrair's fall is likewise uncertain. The year after his death, the King of Laithlind is reported to have sent a force of Vikings to contend with Vikings already settled in Ireland.
context_section_description: Thereafter, Dublin was evidently ruled by three kings: Amlaíb, Ímar (died 973), and Auisle (died 867). There is reason to suspect that the three were brothers. The eleventh-century Fragmentary Annals of Ireland certainly claims that the three were brothers, and specifically identifies the father of Amlaíb and Ímar as a man named Gofraid.
  The fact that several of Ímar's apparent descendants—the Uí Ímair—repeatedly bore forms of the personal names Albdann, Amlaíb, Auisle, and Ímar, could further be evidence of shared kinship. If Ímar is identical to Ingware (died 869/870?)—a like-named leader of the Viking Great Army in Anglo-Saxon England—other brothers may include Albdann (died 877), and an unidentified Viking commander slain against the West Saxons in 878. The latter two are certainly described as Ingware's brothers by the ninth- to twelfth-century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
  Another brother could have been Tomrair himself. In any case, Tomrair could have been a member of the royal family of Laithlind, and specifically related to Amlaíb. The Fragmentary Annals of Ireland assigns Ímar the following pedigree: "Iomhar mc. Gothfraidh mc. Raghnaill mc. Gothfraidh Conung mc. Gofraidh". Although this pedigree may not be accurate, Gofraid, the alleged father of Amlaíb and Ímar, may well have been an historical figure. This man could be identical to the like-named King of Laithlind whose death is recorded by the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland. Although the identity of King of Laithlind is nevertheless uncertain, it is clear that Tomrair was himself a very important man. He is one of the earliest Vikings named by Irish sources.
  The earliest instance of the Gaelic title erell (later ı́arla) is the account of Tomrair's demise reported by the Annals of Ulster. The term itself, meaning "earl", is derived from the Old Norse jarl, and is the first Nordic loanword on record in Old Irish. The Scandinavian title of jarl referred to a king's subordinate or deputy, a man who held some form of vice-regal authority over a particular region.
  The historical accounts of Tomrair are the earliest annalistic references to the office of tánaise ríg. The precise meaning of this Gaelic title—forms of which are accorded to Tomrair by the Annals of the Four Masters, the Annals of Ulster, the Chronicle of Ireland, and Chronicon Scotorum—is uncertain. One possibility is that it means "awaited one of a king", "heir", "heir designate", "heir-designate", "designated successor", "heir apparent". "heir-apparent of a king", "king designate", or "royal heir". Another possibility is that it means "deputy", "military second-in-command", "representative", "second in command to a king", "second in rank or power", "second of a king", or "second to a king".
caption: The name of Auisle, one of the three co-kings of Dublin, as it appears on folio 25r of Oxford Bodleian Library Rawlinson B 489.[43] Tomrair could have been somehow related to these men.
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