This book is an account of Viking activity in the north of Ireland, one of the less well-known episodes in the history of early medieval Ireland. It is also the story of the Cenel nEogain dynasty, an important Irish population group in the north of the island. The kings of Ailech came to prominence c.800 AD, just as the first Viking fleets began to raid the coasts of Ulster. Early Viking activity in the north of Ireland followed a similar pattern to raiding activity elsewhere on the island. It began to diverge after 866 when Aed Findliath, a high-king of Ireland from the Cenel nEogain dynasty, destroyed Scandinavian settlements in what is now Co. Antrim. It appears to have been the intention of the Cenel nEogain to allow Viking strongholds to survive further south in Ulaid territory at Strangford Lough and Carlingford, and later-on also at Ruib Mena on Lough Neagh. However, these longphuirt too were eventually destroyed by the Irish of the north of Ireland, the final ones in a spiral of violence that surrounded the death of the famous king of Aileach, Muirchertach na Cochall Craicinn (of the Leather Cloaks), who was killed by the Vikings in 943. This book also tells the stories of other note-worthy early medieval high-kings of Ireland who sprang from the Cenel nEogain dynasty. Among those discussed is Niall Glundub, killed at the battle of Dublin in 919, leading the combined armies of the Northern and Southern Ui Neill against Viking invaders known as the grandsons of Ivarr. Also included is his grandson Domnall Ua Neill, one of the first Irishmen to adopt a surname (which he took from his well-known grandfather). It was Domnall’s over-ambitious plans, caused by the expulsion of the Vikings from the north of Ireland, that instead led to the collapse of the traditional Ui Neill high-kingship of Ireland in the early eleventh century.

lgli/The Kings of Aileach and the Vikings, 800-1060AD [3127462].pdf

lgrsnf/The Kings of Aileach and the Vikings, 800-1060AD [3127462].pdf

The kings of Aileach and the Vikings, AD 800-1060

The kings of Aileach and the Vikings, 800-1060 AD

Kings of Ailech and the Vikings: 800-1600ad

McGettigan, Darren

Josette Prichard

Four Courts Press Ltd

Open Air

United Kingdom and Ireland, Ireland

Second Edition, Second, PT, 2020

Dublin, Ireland, 2020

producers:
QuarkXPress(R) 14.21

Cover 1
Title page 4
Copyright page 5
Dedication 6
Trading insults, tenth-century Irish style 7
Table of contents 8
Abbreviations 9
List of illustrations 10
Acknowledgments 12
Introduction: Rise of the Cenél nEógain 16
1. Vestr um haf – west over the sea (Viking origins) 58
2. The first Vikings in the north of Ireland 74
3. Hector of the Western world 105
Plates 130
4. The Ua Néill family – from fame to obscurity 150
Conclusion: Over-mighty warriors? 180
Bibliography 188
Index 200

2024-07-16