The
Irish History
And
The Fighting Irish
And
The Fighting Irish
( Ireland and the Viking Invasion )
history of the Viking period, which began in the eighth century and lasted for about 400 years, reads
like a fairy tale. There were two impelling motives which led to the emigration of the Vikings, or ' men of the bays for such is the meaning of the name by which they have made themselves famous. These were the inadequate economic resources of their country, due to over-population, and a desire to seek warmer and more fruitful lands. Coupled with this was the spirit of adventure.
At first the Vikings confined themselves to their native fiords whence, in their long open boats, they would dart out and pounce upon some passing vessel. But they soon extended the field of their operations and undertook expeditions to more remote and less known regions, which they laid waste and plundered. Piracy in those days was not regarded as an ignoble profession. About the year 850, they made their way over the stormy North Sea to Iecland, where intrepid sailors as they were, they learned that Irish monks had been there before them. Thence they sailed to Greenland, to Vinland the Good and even reached the coasts of North America. In the east and south, they were no less enterprising and successful. In the tenth century we find these adventurous sea-rovers making permanent settlements on the continent of Europe.
Bands of them sailed down the coast and forced the King of France to yield to them the fair province ever afterwards known by their name the Duchy of Normandy. More of them went up the Rhine, the Loire, and the Gironde, and fought the Moors on the banks of the Guadalquivir. Others of them pushed on past the Pillars of Hercules into the Mediterranean and built a powerful kingdom in Italy. Still others even found their way to Greece and the Black Sea. They planted colonies on the coast of Prussia, rounded the North Cape and discovered a route by water to the White Sea. By way of the Dnieper, the Dniester, the Volga and the northern stretches of the Dvina, their enterprising hucksters and freebooters penetrated in the interior of Russia, and in the year 862, laid the foundations, at Novgorod, of the kingdom out of which has grown modern Russia. Still more of them sailed down the Volga to the Caspian and, by the Dnieper, entered the Bosphorus and nearly succeeded in capturing the capital of the Sultan.
At the other extreme end of Europe more than half of Britain was already in their power. The kingdom of Alfred the Great was threatened and shaken to its foundation, and the outlying islands were entirely occupied by them. They placed a Danish sovereign on the throne of England. Indeed at one time, that is about the middle of the ninth century, it looked as if the Vikings were on the point of becoming masters of the greater part of northern and western Europe. But their victorious career was stopped for all time and the western world saved from becoming Norse by the final defeat which they met with in Ireland. Relations between the northern lands and Ireland must have begun at a very early date. It was only a few days' journey, and as the Viking vessels were galleys propelled by oars as well by sails, they were independent of the weather. The Irish traded and married with them a century before the invasion. Even in the old Irish epic of the heroic period, there is mention of warriors from Norway or
" The Northern Way " and of Irish Chieftains who were levying tribute on the Shetlands, the Orkneys, and the Faroes. The first acceptedly correct information on the Norsemen in " the Isles of the Foreigners " as the western islands were called, dates from the early part of the seventh century. In the year 617 they burned the cloister of Eig, slwe the Abbot Donnan and 52 of his companions, and using the western islands as stepping stones, they robbed and ravaged their way down as far as the Isle of Man. It was perhaps in the same year that they laid waste to Tory Island off the coast of Donegal. These attacks lasted some four or five years, and were followed by more than a century and a half of peace, during which the Norse and the Irish mingled and settled down on friendly
terms.
In the year 794 occurred the first powerful Norse attacks in Irish waters, when these fearsome warriors landed on Rechru, now Lambay, off Howth, which they devastated, and some other small islands north of Dublin, and simultaneously thay launched attacks as such distant points as the Isle of Skye and Glamorganshire in South Wales. These Vikings had no difficulty in landing, plundering, and getting away to their ships, but they brought away what was still more valuable to those who followed them in their profession, namely tales of bright green fields, of rich fertile soil, in a word, of a land that was well worth fighting for. Such reports brought Vikings in more frequent bands and in far greater numbers to Ireland. As yet however, they were only reconnoitring parties who who confined themselves to the islands and forelands and did not interfere with the internal affairs of the country. Sometimes they showed poor judgment in choosing their points of attack, as in the year 823, when they scaled the almost inaccessible Scelic Michil ( The Skelligs ) far out in the Atlantic, and carried off the hermit Etgal, perhaps in spite of finding no treasure on that barren, wind-sswept rock. During the next two or three years, among other misdeeds, they burned Bangor, an easy prey because of its proximity to the sea, murdered its monks and scholars and violated the sactuary. At the confluence of the Liffey and a small stream called the Poddle, was a village which the Irish had founded at least two centuries earlier and which they called, and still call, Ath Cliath, " The Ford of the Hurdles " It was also named Dubhlinn, " Blackpool " from the dark colour of the water under the bog. The Norsemen were struck by the excellent location of the village and consequently, about the year 837, they threw up a strong earthen fort on the hill, where now stands the castle and for nearly two hundred years Dublin remained an exclusively Norwegian or Danish city and the capital and headquarters of the Vikings in western Europe. The Irish however still regarded Armagh as their national capital.
At first the Vikings confined themselves to their native fiords whence, in their long open boats, they would dart out and pounce upon some passing vessel. But they soon extended the field of their operations and undertook expeditions to more remote and less known regions, which they laid waste and plundered. Piracy in those days was not regarded as an ignoble profession. About the year 850, they made their way over the stormy North Sea to Iecland, where intrepid sailors as they were, they learned that Irish monks had been there before them. Thence they sailed to Greenland, to Vinland the Good and even reached the coasts of North America. In the east and south, they were no less enterprising and successful. In the tenth century we find these adventurous sea-rovers making permanent settlements on the continent of Europe.
Bands of them sailed down the coast and forced the King of France to yield to them the fair province ever afterwards known by their name the Duchy of Normandy. More of them went up the Rhine, the Loire, and the Gironde, and fought the Moors on the banks of the Guadalquivir. Others of them pushed on past the Pillars of Hercules into the Mediterranean and built a powerful kingdom in Italy. Still others even found their way to Greece and the Black Sea. They planted colonies on the coast of Prussia, rounded the North Cape and discovered a route by water to the White Sea. By way of the Dnieper, the Dniester, the Volga and the northern stretches of the Dvina, their enterprising hucksters and freebooters penetrated in the interior of Russia, and in the year 862, laid the foundations, at Novgorod, of the kingdom out of which has grown modern Russia. Still more of them sailed down the Volga to the Caspian and, by the Dnieper, entered the Bosphorus and nearly succeeded in capturing the capital of the Sultan.
At the other extreme end of Europe more than half of Britain was already in their power. The kingdom of Alfred the Great was threatened and shaken to its foundation, and the outlying islands were entirely occupied by them. They placed a Danish sovereign on the throne of England. Indeed at one time, that is about the middle of the ninth century, it looked as if the Vikings were on the point of becoming masters of the greater part of northern and western Europe. But their victorious career was stopped for all time and the western world saved from becoming Norse by the final defeat which they met with in Ireland. Relations between the northern lands and Ireland must have begun at a very early date. It was only a few days' journey, and as the Viking vessels were galleys propelled by oars as well by sails, they were independent of the weather. The Irish traded and married with them a century before the invasion. Even in the old Irish epic of the heroic period, there is mention of warriors from Norway or
" The Northern Way " and of Irish Chieftains who were levying tribute on the Shetlands, the Orkneys, and the Faroes. The first acceptedly correct information on the Norsemen in " the Isles of the Foreigners " as the western islands were called, dates from the early part of the seventh century. In the year 617 they burned the cloister of Eig, slwe the Abbot Donnan and 52 of his companions, and using the western islands as stepping stones, they robbed and ravaged their way down as far as the Isle of Man. It was perhaps in the same year that they laid waste to Tory Island off the coast of Donegal. These attacks lasted some four or five years, and were followed by more than a century and a half of peace, during which the Norse and the Irish mingled and settled down on friendly
terms.
In the year 794 occurred the first powerful Norse attacks in Irish waters, when these fearsome warriors landed on Rechru, now Lambay, off Howth, which they devastated, and some other small islands north of Dublin, and simultaneously thay launched attacks as such distant points as the Isle of Skye and Glamorganshire in South Wales. These Vikings had no difficulty in landing, plundering, and getting away to their ships, but they brought away what was still more valuable to those who followed them in their profession, namely tales of bright green fields, of rich fertile soil, in a word, of a land that was well worth fighting for. Such reports brought Vikings in more frequent bands and in far greater numbers to Ireland. As yet however, they were only reconnoitring parties who who confined themselves to the islands and forelands and did not interfere with the internal affairs of the country. Sometimes they showed poor judgment in choosing their points of attack, as in the year 823, when they scaled the almost inaccessible Scelic Michil ( The Skelligs ) far out in the Atlantic, and carried off the hermit Etgal, perhaps in spite of finding no treasure on that barren, wind-sswept rock. During the next two or three years, among other misdeeds, they burned Bangor, an easy prey because of its proximity to the sea, murdered its monks and scholars and violated the sactuary. At the confluence of the Liffey and a small stream called the Poddle, was a village which the Irish had founded at least two centuries earlier and which they called, and still call, Ath Cliath, " The Ford of the Hurdles " It was also named Dubhlinn, " Blackpool " from the dark colour of the water under the bog. The Norsemen were struck by the excellent location of the village and consequently, about the year 837, they threw up a strong earthen fort on the hill, where now stands the castle and for nearly two hundred years Dublin remained an exclusively Norwegian or Danish city and the capital and headquarters of the Vikings in western Europe. The Irish however still regarded Armagh as their national capital.
Map showing various routes and destinations taken byViking raiders.
VIKING RAIDS
The First Wave 795-851
Principle Monasteries attacked before 837 ( with dates )
Viking encampments with date of first use, if known.
Note: Wexford and Limerick were also founded by the Vikings but after the period covered by the map.
The First Wave 795-851
Principle Monasteries attacked before 837 ( with dates )
Viking encampments with date of first use, if known.
Note: Wexford and Limerick were also founded by the Vikings but after the period covered by the map.
When about the year 832, the Norse felt ready to make their first great attack on Ireland in force, they had the advantage of having as their leader one of the most extraordinary and capable figures in Nordic History. This was the famous Norwegian warrior Tuirgeis. Tuirgeis, like most of his race who came after him, was filled with ambition to establish a great pagan empire and to make himself Lord of Ireland as his countrymen had made themselves masters of England and Normandy. He came with a great fleet of 120 ships, which held some . . . .
