The Invasion of the Danes

Ireland had been for nearly three centuries the center of the scholarship, piety, and Christian zeal in the world. She was now doomed to be overrun by a pagan race, and to submit for a long period to a barbarous foreign yoke. In the catastrophe, learning and Christianity were destined to almost disappear from the island, and were not to be revived until after many desperate conflicts. In the course of time, the condition of the Irish had been gradually changing. Tribal customs had begun to disappear. The lands which had once been used by the tribes in common, were becoming absorbed by the chiefs and barons; and the quarrels between the chiefs resulted, here and there, in the conquest of domains which became the property of the victors. It was the dissensions and rival ambitions which grew up among the chiefs, which opened to the Danes the way to descend upon the Irish coast, to carry rapine and murder into the interior, and finally to subjugate the island to their savage rule.

The Danes were a race of hardy, ferocious sea warriors, who came, not only from Denmark (whence they derived their name), but also from Norway and Friesland. For many centuries they had roved the seas, bent on errands of plunder and conquest. They were very skillful navigators, and were unequalled in their warlike courage. Their kinsmen had defeated the legions of Roman emperors, and had sacked and burned Rome itself. Everywhere along the coasts of Northern Europe the coming of the Danes was intensely dreaded. No race could cope with their great, strong ships on the ocean: few could withstand their hot valor on the field of battle.

But Ireland had for centuries escaped the scourge of their attack. Already Britain had long been assailed by the fleets of the Danish Vikings, while the fields and villages along her shores had been devastated by the Danish pirates. Two centuries were yet to elapse, however, before a Danish king would sit upon the British throne. The first invasion of Ireland by these ferocious sea-rovers took place towards the close of the eighth century. At first, they came with their big ships at rare intervals, landing at various points on the eastern coast, building forts, ravaging the country round about, and then departing. But in course of time the Danes and their kinsmen, the Norwegians, found out the dissensions which existed between the Irish rulers, and perceived that Ireland, given over to piety and learning, had neglected the arts of war. Then they flocked across the sea in greater numbers, and with greater frequency. They seized upon Dublin and Wexford on the east, Cork on the south, and Down on the north. They then began to make and fortify settlements, from whence they issued to spread rapine and massacre among the peaceful villages and the quiet monasteries of the interior. The Danes were resolved to conquer the island and to extirpate its people, and to themselves enjoy its fair domain.

The Danes were pagans, like the Saxons who had subjugated Britain. They believed in the gods Odin and Thor, and the goddess Friga; and to these they offered barbarous sacrifices. Their faith was warlike, bloody, and revengeful. Above all things the Danes detested and despised Christianity, which they looked upon as a religion rival to their own, and one, entirely unlike their own, of peace and brotherhood. When, therefore, they found themselves in Ireland, the first objects of their attack were the sacred places of Irish piety. With fierce and rapacious ardor they assailed, sacked, and burned the churches and monasteries. They destroyed the precious books, which had been written with such long and patient care by the monks. They seized the ornaments, the jeweled plate and symbols, the rich clothes and golden chalices which adorned the Christian sanctuaries and the shrines of the Irish saints. They scattered the bones and relics of the saints to the winds. Without mercy, they murdered bishops and priests wherever they could find them. They broke up the colleges and schools, driving the students into exile, and razing to the ground the edifices within which so many thousands had found a scholastic retreat.

The Irish fought desperately against the relentless invaders; but, in the earlier years of the invasion, the Danes were victorious in almost every part of the island. When they had vanquished the Irish, they avenged themselves by the most savage atrocities. The Danish warriors forced themselves into Irish households, and compelled the families to support and serve them. They made the Irish wear their own cast-off clothing, and forbade them to have schools, to learn the art of war, or to hold Christian services. At last, a powerful Danish chieftain named Turges brought Ireland under well-nigh complete subjection. He built strong fortifications at Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick, and took up his abode on the green borders of Lough (Lake) Ree, in the heart of Ireland (837). From thence he ruled the Irish with an iron hand. He compelled them to pay heavy taxes: those who refused to pay these taxes had their noses cut off. His soldiers were quartered on the people, and he cruelly punished every attempt to worship according to the Christian faith.

For a long time this Danish despot held his own. In vain did the valiant Irish king, Nial, contest his power. But the capture and imprisonment of the archbishop of Armagh by the Danes aroused the ancient military ardor of the Irish. Nial defeated the Danes on the plain of Moynith; and Turges was not long after taken prisoner by Malachy, king of Westmeath, and was drowned in the waters of Lough Ree. The fortunes of War continued to waver between the Irish and the Danes for many years. The monasteries, churches, and schools were for the most part swept away; the people were impoverished by the almost constant desolation of conflict; and there were times when the Irish seemed ready to yield in sullen despair to their rude conquerors. Now and then an able Irish king would arise, inflict heavy defeats upon the Danes, and revive the sinking spirits of the people. Then fierce rivalries between the princes would breakout afresh; and, amid the fatal divisions of the Irish, the Danes would recover again the ground they had lost.

At last, an ambitious and warlike prince, in the person of Brian, brother of the king of Munster, arose to contend successfully with the savage intruders. Brian was a wise as well as a brave man. He not only fought with brilliant courage, but gave just laws to his subjects. His proud spirit burned to avenge the wrongs which the Irish had so long suffered at the hands of the Danes. He stoutly refused to pay the tribute which the Danes exacted of him, gathered his forces together, and met the Danes in battle at Sulcoit. A desperate battle ensued. In the end the Danes were driven from the field, and hastened to find refuge within the walls of Limerick. The valiant Irish followed them through the gates, and drove them out of the city with great slaughter. Limerick was then plundered and burned, and its Danish inhabitants were reduced to slavery. In the conflict, Mahon, Brian's brother, had been slain by the Danes; and this inspired Brian to continue the war with more fiery vigor than before.

Soon after this defeat of the Danes, Brian became, by his elder brother's death, king of Munster; although, by the law of alternate succession, the throne really belonged to a prince of another family. Brian was no less ambitious than energetic. He now resolved to become the ruler of all Erin. With this end in view, he married a sister of the king of Leinster, and also caused his children to marry into powerful families. He won the affection of the people by restoring monasteries and schools, rebuilding fortresses and bridges, and driving the Danes from the lands which they had seized, and had held by superior force. Thirty years after his victory over the Danes at Limerick, Brian succeeded in expelling Malachy, the king of all Ireland, from his throne, and assumed the crown himself.

But now Brian quarreled bitterly with his brother-in-law, the king of Leinster. He demanded of him a tribute which had long ceased to be exacted. Upon this, the king of Leinster allied himself with the Danes, and with them prepared to oust Brian from the Irish throne.

BRIAN, KING OF MUNSTER, AT THE HEAD OF HIS ARMY.

The sturdy old warrior promptly aroused himself, not only to defend his throne, but also to deal his ancient enemy, the Danes, a tremendous blow. Allied with the Danes were the forces of Leinster, a Norwegian fleet under Sigurd, and fresh recruits from Norway and Denmark. In all, the forces opposed to Brian comprised over twenty thousand men. Brian, on his side, entered upon the conflict with thirty thousand warriors, drawn from Meath, Munster, and Connaught. Five of Brian's sons served as generals under their aged but still vigorous sire. The white-haired monarch himself rode at the head of his soldiers, inspiring them with his own dauntless and unyielding spirit. The hostile forces met in battle at dawn, on Good Friday, at Clontarf (1014). The fight raged with intense, unabating fury throughout the day. The loss, both on the side of the Irish and on that of the Danes, was terrible. The Danes and their allies lost nearly one-half of their army. At dusk, the rout of the foreigners had become complete. The Danes fled before the prowess of Brian's stalwart warriors, and were driven to the coast, and within the walls of Dublin. But the brave Brian did not survive his hard-won victory. As he lay in his tent, some Danes who were hastening from the field discovered and slew him. Four of his sons, moreover, had been killed while fighting valiantly for their country's cause.

The battle of Clontarf forever destroyed the ascendancy of the Danes in Ireland. They never recovered from the blow, and ceased from that time to continue their attempts to gain sway over the entire island. Some of their settlements still remained at various points on the eastern coast; and in process of time the Danes who thus staid in Ireland became Christians, and were absorbed among the native race, or among the English, who afterwards established themselves over the Irish. At the time of the death of Brian, it seemed as if the Irish were about to become undisputed masters of their own land. But soon the country was once more rent by the feuds and rivalries of ambitious princes, and by bitter struggles to seize or hold the royal power. The sad history of civil conflict was again and again repeated, until Ireland lay once more at the mercy of foreign conquerors.