page_title: History of Ireland (800–1169)
section_title: Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill and Brian Boru (980–1022)
hierarchical_section_title: History of Ireland (800–1169) / Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill and Brian Boru (980–1022)
caption_attribution_description: Brian Boru, King of Munster
context_page_description: The history of Ireland 800–1169 covers the period in the history of Ireland from the first Viking raids to the Norman invasion. The first two centuries of this period are characterised by Viking raids and the subsequent Norse settlements along the coast. Viking ports were established at Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork and Limerick, which became the first large towns in Ireland.
  Ireland consisted of many semi-independent túatha, and during the entire period, attempts were made by various factions to gain political control over the whole of the island. For the first two centuries of this period, this was mainly a rivalry between putative High Kings of Ireland from the northern and southern branches of the Uí Néill. The one who came closest to being de facto king over the whole of Ireland, however, was Brian Boru, the first high king in this period not belonging to the Uí Néill.
  Following Brian's death at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014, the political situation became more complex with rivalry for high kingship from several clans and dynasties.
context_section_description: In Munster, the influence of the Dal gCais had grown under Cennétig mac Lorcáin, and his son Mathgamain was the first non-Eóganachta ruler to be named by the annals as king of Cashel (i.e. king of Munster) in historical times. He was killed in 976, and succeeded by his brother Brian, later famously known as Brian Boru.
  Brian quickly established himself as the most powerful ruler in Munster, defeating the Norse of Limerick in 977 and the Eóganachta the following year. Having gained control over Munster, he tried to extend his authority by raiding Osraige in 982 and 983, and also, according to the annals of Innisfallen, entering an alliance with the Norse of Waterford, with the intention of attacking Dublin. There was such an attack, but Brian does not seem to have been involved – instead it was Domnall Claen of Leinster who was allied with Ivar of Waterford, and they were defeated by Glúniairn and Máel Sechnaill.
  Máel Sechnaill obviously perceived Brian as a threat, and as early as 982 raided Munster and the territory of the Dal gCais. The next two decades saw more or less constant warfare between them, mostly with Leinster as their battleground. Even if Brian never defeated Máel Sechnaill in battle, Brian's and Munster's influence was growing at the expense of Máel Sechnaill and the Southern Uí Néill. In 997 Máel Sechnaill was forced to acknowledge Brian's authority over the south of Ireland, and they formally divided Ireland according to the traditional scheme of Leath Cuinn and Leath Moga. In the years that followed, the two of them acted as allies in accordance with this agreement. In 999 Brian quelled a revolt against him by the men of Leinster and Dublin at the battle of Glen Mama, and only restored Sigtrygg Silkbeard as ruler of Dublin after he had formally submitted to Brian by handing over hostages.
  In 1000, Brian turned against Máel Sechnaill, and by 1002 he had forced Máel Sechnaill to submit to him, and now claimed kingship over the whole of Ireland. In the following decade, there were several campaigns in the north to force the Ulaid and the Northern Uí Néill into submission as well. Even if faced with multiple rebellions, both in the north and in Leinster, by 1011 he had received submission from every major regional king in Ireland, and thus earned the recognition by historians as the first real king of Ireland. During his visit to Armagh in 1005, he had his secretary add a note to the Book of Armagh where he is proclaimed as Imperator Scottorum (emperor of the Irish). According to Bart Jaski, "This can be regarded as a claim that he ruled both the Irish and the Norse in Ireland, and may even imply suzerainty over the Gaels of Scotland". In his obituary in the Annals of Ulster he is styled as "over-king of the Irish of Ireland, and of the foreigners and of the Britons, the Augustus of the whole of north-west Europe".
  In 1012, Flaithbertach Ua Néill revolted against Brian, and the following year Máel Mórda of Leinster and Sigtrygg of Dublin did too. The latter led to the famous battle of Clontarf, where Brian was killed, even if his army was victorious over Máel Mórda, Sigtrygg and their allies. Sigurd Hlodvirsson, Earl of Orkney as well as forces from Man participated on the Dublin/ Leinster side, and this may, in conjunction with the propagandistic account of the battle given in the Cogad, have created the still popular myth that what took place at Clontarf Good Friday 1014 was a decisive battle where the Irish defeated Viking invaders and were liberated from oppression (Duncan) Donnchadh Ó Corráin was one of the first to publicly debunk this national myth, in his groundbreaking Ireland before the Normans from 1972:
  The battle of Clontarf was not a struggle between the Irish and the Norse for the sovereignty of Ireland; neither was it a great national victory which broke the power of the Norse forever (long before Clontarf the Norse had become a minor political force in Irish affairs). In fact Clontarf was part of the internal struggle for sovereignty and was essentially the revolt of the Leinstermen agains
caption: 18th-century engraving of Brian Boru.
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