The Vikings in Ireland

The Vikings in Ireland

Who were the Vikings?

They were a group of people who originated in modern-day Denmark and Norway.

In the 8^th Century, pressure on land and overpopulation in Scandinavia had forced many nobles and warriors to seek land elsewhere. Some of these were younger sons, who inherited nothing of their father's estate. Noblemen with little to lose began to gather together groups of warriors and go down the coast pillaging settlements. They sold their booty for money, much like the black markets of today, and this became the means of making their living.

The invention of the longboat made it possible for these warriors to sail across the North Sea to attack Britain, France and Ireland as well. In these areas they became known as the "Norsemen" (north-men) and later as the "Vikings".

The Vikings who first attacked Ireland were Norwegian. Vikings did not have any respect for Christian symbols and sites. 

The picture on the left shows the Oseberg Ship, a reconstructed Viking raiding boat. (Photo by Universitetets Oldsaksamling, Oslo).

The Vikings were after two types of booty: riches and slaves which they carried off to sell. They soon found that the monasteries were the richest sources of both goods and this is why monasteries suffered so much. 

Vikings engaged in hit-and-run raids in which they landed a small number of ships at a settlement, spent a few days pillaging and burning it before heading back to Scandinavia to sell their booty.

In Ireland, Rathlin Island monastery was burned by the Vikings in 795. Other prominent monasteries that were attacked included Holmpatrick, Inishmurray, Inishbofin and Sceilg Mh icil. St Colum Cille's great monastery at Iona was burned in 802. 

The Raids Intensify

Vikings soon improved their methods of pillaging. Instead of landing 3 or 4 boats, they brought between 50 and 100 boats of Viking warriors, landed, and set up a camp. 

They pillaged monasteries, churches, the fortresses of Irish Lords, and farms. 

In 840 the Vikings spent a year on Lough Neagh pillaging, amongst others, the monastery of Armagh. Many of the scholars and monks of Louth monastery were captured and sold into slavery. In 841 they set up fortified camps at Annagassan (county Louth) and Dubhlinn (present day Dublin). Clonmacnoise, Birr and Clonfert were pillaged and the primate of Armagh was captured and carried off in 845.

This was the most intense period of Viking activity, and the Irish Kings seemed to be able to do little to prevent the destruction of their provinces.

By the end, many of the monks themselves fought the Vikings. However, just as it looked as if Ireland was about to be conquered by the Vikings, the Irish began to develop tactics to attack them, the raids died away. .

Meanwhile, many of the Viking settlements developed and grew into towns. Their town of Dubhlinn by the second half of the 9^th Century had become the principal supplier of slaves in the British Isles. In time it became a great merchant town, until it was defeated by an Irish attack in 902. Other Viking towns had also been defeated, for example Cork in 848, Vadrefjord (Waterford) in 864 and Youghal in 866.

The Second Period of Raids

A second phase of raiding began in 914, with the arrival of a large fleet of Viking ships in Waterford harbour. They re-captured their settlement of Vadrefjord (Waterford) from which the Irish had expelled the first Vikings half century earlier. Reinforced by a second fleet which arrived the following year, the Vikings launched a series of offensives deep into the province of Munster, and later Leinster.

In 917, the Vikings re-captured the settlement of Dubhlinn (Dublin) which the Irish had captured in 902.

The king of the Uí Néill, Niall Glúndub, who was the most powerful king in Ireland, decided that the Vikings had to be stopped. He brought together a force from the Uí Néill and enlisted the help of the forces of Leinster. They marched against the Vikings in Munster in 917. However, the Vikings routed the Leinster men, while the forces of the Uí Néill retreated from Munster with no decisive success.

Two years later, in 919, Niall Glúndub tried again and attacked Dubhlinn. However, his forces were again routed by the Vikings and Niall Glúndub himself was killed and "the cream of the Uí Néill fell with him".

As the time went by, the influence of the Vikings declined, they concentrated more on developing Dubhlinn as a trading city and promptly Dubhlinn became one of the most important cities in the Nordic world, as a trading and slaving centre.

The Vikings eventually settled down in the lands they had conquered. By 950, the Vikings had stopped raiding in Ireland and developed instead as traders and settled in the lands around their towns. The Vikings in England largely became farmers and fishermen. In France, the Vikings formed the Kingdom of Normandy on the north coast.

The Vikings left many place names in Ireland including: Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Wexford, Strangford, Leixlip, Carlingford, Youghal, Howth, Dalkey and Fingall (an area of modern-day Dublin). A few of their words were also adopted into the Irish language.

References / Sources:

- Various authors, "The Oxford Companion to Irish History", Oxford University Press,1998.
- RF Foster: "The Oxford History of Ireland", Oxford University Press, 1989
- Simon Schama, "A History of Britain: At the Edge of the World? 3000BC-AD1603",BBC,2000
- Seán Duffy, "Atlas of Irish History", Gill and Macmillan, 2000
- G. Stout and M. Stout, writing in the "Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape", Cork University Press, 1997, pp31-63

Other information:

Summary The Vikings in Ireland video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlvipYPwtmM  

ARTURO ARIAS

GCI ADVANCED 1