Viking Kings of Britain and Ireland The Dynasty of Ívarr to ad 1014

362 Pages·2008·4.6 MB·English

Vikings plagued the coasts of Ireland and
o Britain in the 790s. Over time, their raids
Viking Kings
f became more intense and by the mid-ninth

B century vikings had established a number of
settlements in Ireland and Britain and had
r V of Britain and Ireland
become heavily involved with local politics.
i
t i A particularly successful viking leader named
a k
Ívarr campaigned on both sides of the Irish Sea
i i The Dynasty of Ívarr
n n in the 860s. His descendants dominated the
g major seaports of Ireland and challenged the
a
power of kings in Britain during the later ninth
n to a.d. 1014
K
and tenth centuries.
d
i
n In 1014, the battle of Clontarf marked a famous
I
stage in the decline of viking power in Ireland
Clare Downham lectures in Celtic and History at r g
the University of Aberdeen. She was a student of e s Clare Downham whilst the conquest of England in 1013 by
Mediaeval History at St Andrews and Anglo-Saxon, l the Danish king Sveinn Forkbeard marked a
a
Norse and Celtic at the University of Cambridge. watershed in the history of vikings in Britain.
n
Before arriving in Aberdeen she spent two happy The descendants of Ívarr continued to play a
d
years as a research scholar at the Dublin Institute for signifi cant role in the history of Dublin and the
Advanced Studies. Alongside her duties as a lecturer, Hebrides until the twelfth century, but they did
Clare Downham is Co-ordinator of the MLitt in not threaten to overwhelm the major kingships
Medieval Studies and the MLitt in Celtic Studies
of Britain or Ireland in this later period as they
at Aberdeen, and will welcome any enquiries from
had done before.
potential students for these programmes.
This book provides a political analysis of the
D
deeds of Ívarr’s family from their fi rst appearance
o
w in Insular records down to the year 1014. Such
n an account is necessary in light of the fl urry of
h
new work that has been done in other areas of
a
m Viking Studies. Recent theoretical approaches
to the subject have raised many interesting
questions regarding identity, material culture and
structures of authority. Archaeological fi nds and
excavations have also offered potentially radical
insights into viking settlement and society. In
line with these developments Clare Downham
provides a reconsideration of events based on
contemporary written accounts. It will appeal to
a wide range of people who are curious to know
more about the history of vikings in Britain and
ISBN 978-1-903765-89-0
Ireland.
DUNEDIN
DUNEDIN DUNEDIN
Photo of the author by Stephen Airey Downham reproduced by kind permission Cover photo: By permission © Ted Spiegel/Corbis
VIKING KINGS OF BRITAIN AND IRELAND

VIKING KINGS OF BRITAIN AND IRELAND
The Dynasty of Ívarr to A.D. 1014

Clare Downham
Lecturer in Celtic
School of Language and Literature
University of Aberdeen
DUNEDIN ACADEMIC PRESS
EDINBURGH
Published by
Dunedin Academic Press Ltd
Hudson House
8 Albany Street
Edinburgh EH1 3QB
Scotland

ISBN 978-1-903765-89-0

© 2007 Clare Downham

The right of Clare Downham to be identified as the author of this book has been asserted by her
in accordance with sections 77 & 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means or stored in any retrieval system of any nature without prior written
permission, except for fair dealing under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
or in accordance with a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Society in respect
of photocopying or reprographic reproduction. Full acknowledgment as to author,
publisher and source must be given. Application for permission for any other use
of copyright material should be made in writing to the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Typeset by Nancy R McGuire, Aberdeenshire
Cover design by Makar Publishing Production
Printed in Great Britain by Cromwell Press
For two women of great character

Contents

List of Illustrations ix
List of Abbreviations xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Prefatory note: Ethnicity and Viking-Age Politics xv
1 Ívarr and his Dynasty 1
2 Ireland 11
3 England: from the Conquest of York to the
Battle of Brunanburh, 866-937 63
4 England: from the Battle of Brunanburh to the
Danish Conquest, 937-1013 107
5 North Britain 137
6 The Kingdom of the Isles 177
7 Wales 201
8 Conclusion 231
Appendix: Prosopography of Viking-leaders named in Irish
Chronicles to A.D. 1014 237
Bibliography 277
Index 323

vii

List of Illustrations
Figure 1: Ireland c. A.D. 1000 xxi
Figure 2: England c. A.D. 1000 xxii
Figure 3: Direct References to Male Descendants of Ívarr in Irish
Chronicles 4
Figure 4: Ninth-century Chronicle-References to Viking-Camps
in Ireland 13
Figure 5: The Family of Ívarr 28
Figure 6: The Grandsons of Ívarr and Royal Succession at
Dublin to 1014 29
Figure 7: Dublin in the Tenth Century 33
Figure 8: Tenth-century Chronicle References to Viking-Camps
in Ireland 42
Figure 9: The Royal Dynasty of Limerick 55
Figure 10: The Royal Dynasty of Waterford 56
Figure 11: England during the Reign of Edward the Elder,
899-924 90
Figure 12: The Royal Dynasty of Man and the Isles, 940-1014 193
Figure 13: Vikings in Wales 216
Figure 14: Descendants of Rhodri Mawr 217
Credits
Figure 1: C. Downham, ‘Ireland c. 1000’, Atlas of Medieval Europe, edited
by David Ditchburn et al., second edition (Abingdon, 2007), p. 37,
reproduced with kind permission from Routledge publishers.
Figure 2: C. Downham, ‘England c. 1000’, Atlas of Medieval Europe, edited
by David Ditchburn et al., second edition (Abingdon, 2007), p. 35,
reproduced with kind permission from Routledge publishers.
Figure 11: Image prepared by Reginald Piggott and devised by S.D.
Keynes; reproduced with kind permission from Professor S.D. Keynes,
Trinity College, Cambridge.
Figure 13: Image prepared by Don Williams of Bute Cartographics after a
hand-drawn map by Clare Downham.
ix