Free 1014: Brian Boru & the Battle for Ireland by Morgan Llywelyn Page A

destroyed by a lightning strike that damaged its roof beyond repair. Twenty ounces of gold would buy a lot of slate and pay for the finest workmanship.
    There was no further overt resistance to Brian from the northern Uí Néill. Although they never openly acknowledged him as Árd Rí, Brian took their submission as a given. As far as he was concerned the entire island was his to protect. He willed his body to Armagh and his soul to God. In 1014 Armagh would return the favour by giving Brian Boru the most magnificent funeral ever seen in Ireland.
    During his reign as high king Brian continued with his programme of construction, ignoring provincial boundaries and requesting no permissions from provincial kings. Because he realised that a strong permanent force would be necessary to secure the island from any further invasion, Brian continued to demand discipline from his army. He controversially insisted that the warriors of the Gael welcome Norse and Dane into their ranks. The Vikings had been in Ireland for generations by now, he argued, and their children and grandchildrenknew no other home. They should be willing to fight for it. At the Battle of Clontarf, Brian’s Vikings would be amongst his best fighters.
    Although he himself would never leave Ireland, apparently Brian thought in terms of creating a dynasty with a longer reach. He had begun by marrying his daughter Sabia to Cian, which had given the Dalcassians a broader base in the south. While still king of Munster, Brian arranged for his daughter Blanaid to wed Malcolm, prince of Alba – the ancient name for Scotland. There was a strange symmetry to this marriage. The highlands where Malcolm was born had been settled in the sixth century by the Dal Riada tribe from the north of Ireland, the ‘Scoti’, hence the name of Scot Land. In 1005 Brian’s son-in-law was crowned Malcolm II, king of Scotland.
    Two years later, one of Blanaid and Malcolm’s daughters married Sigurd the Stout, earl of Orkney. After the Battle of Clontarf their son Thorfinn was raised by his grandfather , Malcolm II. In 1040 Thorfinn took up arms against his cousin Duncan, who had succeeded Malcolm as king of the Scots. Duncan was defeated at the Battle of Torfness , and afterward was murdered by another cousin who aspired to the kingship, Macbeth – whose grandmother was the daughter of Brian Boru. Macbeth and Thorfinn ruled Scotland between them until both died in 1057.
    When Brian married his daughter Emer to Sitric Silkbeard , king of the Dublin Danes, he must have hoped to establish a more amicable relationship between Gael and foreigner. It might have been possible if human nature had been different. In the final analysis Brian was, more than anything else, a tribal chieftain working for the benefit of his tribe and clan. He was trying to give them something of lasting value. And he very nearly succeeded.
    Duvcholly died in 1009, leaving Gormlaith as the only queen at Kincora. Brian’s other wives have disappeared from history, having taken no active part in events. But Gormlaith was active enough to make up for them all. Her tempestuous nature caused constant problems at Kincora, where she was greatly resented by the other women in the king’s large entourage. Fortunately for them, Gormlaith’s tenure was drawing towards its close, though there was a final spectacular performance before she left the stage. And even after her death in 1030, something of her would remain in the fray …
    There would also be one more dynastic marriage, although Brian would not live to see it. Years after the Battle of Clontarf, Donough, Gormlaith’s son by Brian Boru, married Driella, the youngest daughter of Godwine , earl of Kent. Godwine’s other daughter, Edytha, was married to King Edward the Confessor. Their brother bytheir Danish mother, Gytha, was Harold Godwine, who would become the last of the Saxon kings of England.
    Through Brian Boru’s children and grandchildren his blood entered the