FOOTNOTES
[85] In the Annals of Tighernach (A.D. 716), the Annals of Ulster (A.D. 715), and the Book of Hymns (ed. Todd, p. 156) the Latin civitas (Ir. Cathair) is the word used for a monastery.
[86] The old name for Dublin was Baile-atha-Cliath, “the town of the hurdle ford.” It was afterwards called Dubh-linn (“black pool”), of which the O.N. Dyflin is a corruption.
[87] See p. 55.
[88] Armagh is the only place in Ireland which is marked on a tenth century map of the world preserved in the British Museum. See R. A. S. Macalister: Muiredach: Abbot of Monasterboice, p. 13.
[89] It is called Tengmonth and Teggemuta in medieval documents (Chartularies of St. Mary’s Abbey, I., 15, 461, 463, 465) and from it the surrounding parish of St. Andrew—“Parochia Sancti Andreae de Thengmote”—took its name. In 1647 it is referred to as “the fortified hill near the College,” but about thirty years later it was levelled to the ground and the earth was used for building Nassau Street (J. T. Gilbert: History of Dublin, II, p. 258).
[90] The name survived until the 18th century in Hog Hill, but it was afterwards changed to St. Andrew’s Street.
[91] Annals of Ulster, A.D. 839, 840, 925, 928, 934.
These colonies were governed by earls, not kings, and their dependency on the kingdom of Dublin is clearly shown by certain entries in the Annals. In 926 a Viking fleet at Linn Duachaill (on the coast of Louth) was commanded by Albdann (O.N. Halfdanr), son of Guthfrith (King of Dublin, 920-933). Later, when part of Albdann’s army was besieged at Ath Cruithne (near Newry), Guthfrith went with his forces to relieve it. In 927 the “foreigners of Linn Duachaill” accompanied Guthfrith when he marched on York. See Steenstrup, op. cit., III., p. 115.
[92] Wexford was also governed by earls. One of them, Accolb, is mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 928.
[93] The Irish name Luimnech (hence O.N. Hlymrek) was originally applied to the estuary of the Shannon, but was afterwards confined to the town itself when it had risen to importance under Scandinavian rule.
[94] Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 843; War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 8.
[95] Three Fragments of Annals, pp. 167, 144-6. War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, ch. 23.
[96] Three Fragments of Annals, pp. 173-175; Chronicon Scotorum, A.D. 887.
[97] The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, pp. 9, 66; War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 56.
[98] Annals of Ulster, A.D. 845, 922, 929; The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, p. 10; War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 10; Three Fragments of Annals, p. 197.
[99] Annals of Ulster, A.D. 924.
[100] Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 935; Chronicon Scotorum, A.D. 936.
[101] A. Bugge: Sidste Afsnit af Nordboernes Historie i Irland, pp. 254, 255.
[102] War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 41.
[103] The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, p. 64.
[104] Steenstrup: op. cit., III., p. 213.
[105] The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, p. 65.
[106] Annals of Ulster, A.D. 988.
[107] Three Fragments of Annals (A.D. 860) record that “two fleets of the Norsemen came into the land of Cearbhall, son of Dunlaing (King of Ossory) to plunder it.” These fleets probably sailed up the Barrow from Waterford harbour. The same annals also mention (p. 129) a Norse chieftain called Rodolbh, who may have been connected with the colony at Waterford. See also Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 888 [891].
[108] Annals of Ulster, A.D. 921.
[109] The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, p. 71.
[110] The Four Masters record “the plundering of Kildare by the son of Gothfrith (i.e., Olaf) from Waterford” (A.D. 926).
[111] The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, p. 70.
[112] The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, pp. 13, 70.
[113] Smith: History of Waterford, p. 165.
[114] Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 846, 864.
[115] Ib., 865. Fragments of Annals, p. 169.
Gnimbeolu is the O.N. Grímr Bióla. The Irish “Cinnsiolla” (Nom. Cenn Selach) is probably a translation of O.N. Selshofuth, a word which does not occur as a nickname in Old Norse literature. It was, however, known in Ireland as may be seen from the runic inscription—domnal Selshofoth a soerth (th) eta—on a bronze sword-plate found in Greenmount (Co. Louth). Cf. Marstrander, op. cit. p. 49.
[116] The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, pp. 10, 67.
[117] Cf. Marstrander, op. cit., p. 149.
[118] Cf. Marstrander, op. cit., p. 154. According to him, the O.N. Kerling, “an old woman” in this instance, is a folk-etymological form of Carlinn, the old name for the ford.
[119] Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 1062. Cf. Co dunad na Piscarcarla in Cath Ruis na Rig (ed. Hogan) where Piscarcarla corresponds to the O.N. fiskikari, “a fisherman.”
The word Trapcharla (“na Trapcharla”) also occurs in the Book of Ballymote as the name of a people who fought at Troy. It has been suggested that the term was generally used during the ninth and tenth centuries of a Norse colony in Co. Limerick, which colony would acquire a legendary character after the Norsemen had been driven out of Ireland, and would figure, like the Lochlannaigh or Norsemen, in Middle-Irish stories and poems.
See Miscellany presented to Kuno Meyer, pp. 293, 370.
[120] Landnámabók I. ch. 1.
[121] Heimskringla: Saga Óláfs hins helga, chs. 88, 10.
CHAPTER IV.
THE EXPANSION OF IRISH TRADE.
When the Scandinavians had firmly established themselves on the Irish coasts they developed trade to a considerable extent, not only by bringing Ireland into communication with their new settlements in England, but also by opening up commerce with Iceland and Scandinavia, and even with Russia and the East.[122] Before A.D. 900 at all events, they had been accustomed to visit France from Ireland, and had trafficked with merchants there, using a certain vessel called the ‘Epscop’[123] for measuring their wine. That this branch of their trade was in a flourishing condition in the latter half of the tenth century may be inferred from a contemporary poem in which Brian Borumha is said to have exacted as tribute one hundred and fifty vats of wine from the Norsemen of Dublin, and a barrel of red wine every day from the Limerick settlers.[124]
The Scandinavians also made marked advances on the old methods of trading by building their forts near the large harbours and carrying on from there a continuous overseas commerce.[125] Previous to this foreign merchants[126] who visited Ireland used to exchange their goods for home produce at the numerous oenachs or fairs held at certain intervals all over the country. These oenachs continued to be celebrated during the Viking period, but it was in the seaport towns, Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Wexford, and Waterford, that the most important trade was centred. Dublin, owing to its splendid position, half way between the Continent and the Scandinavian settlements in Scotland and Iceland, and within easy distance of England, became one of the wealthiest towns in the West. One Irish chronicler gives a glowing account of the treasures carried off from there by the Irish after the battle of Gleann Máma (A.D. 1000):
“In that one place were found the greatest quantities of gold, silver, bronze, and precious stones: carbuncle-gems, buffalo horns, and beautiful goblets… much also of various vestures of all colours were found there likewise.”[127]
Dublin is frequently mentioned in the sagas and seems to have been very well known to Icelandic dealers. In Olaf Tryggvason’s Saga (Heimskringla) we read that during the reign of Olaf Cuaran a merchant called Thórir Klakka, who had been on many a Viking expedition, went on a trading voyage to Dublin, “as was usual in those days.”[128] When Olaf’s son, Sihtric Silken Beard, was King of Dublin (c. 994) the Icelandic poet Gunnlaug Ormstungu sailed from England to Ireland with merchants who were bound for Dublin.[129]
Eyrbyggia Saga tells[130] of both Thórodd, the owner of a large ship of burden, and Guthleif,[131] who went with other traders on voyages “west to Dublin.” Still more interesting is the account in the same saga of a merchant-ship that came from Dublin in the year 1000 to Snaefellsness in Iceland and anchored there for the summer. There were on board some Irishmen and men from the Sudreyar (Hebrides) but only a few Norsemen. One of the passengers, a woman named Thorgunna, had a large chest containing “bed-clothes beautifully embroidered, English sheets, a silken quilt, and other valuable wares, the like of which were rare in Iceland.”[132]
Limerick is heard of only once in Icelandic sources; a trader named Hrafn was surnamed “the Limerick-farer” (Hlymreks fari)[133] because he had lived for a long time there. The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill gives a detailed description of the spoils gained by the Irish after the battle of Sulcoit (968) whence it would seem that the Limerick Vikings had been engaged in trade with France, Spain and the East.
“They carried away their (i.e., ‘The Vikings’) jewels and their best property, their saddles, beautiful and foreign, their gold and their silver; their beautifully woven cloth of all colours and of all kinds; their satins and their silken cloths, pleasing and variegated, both scarlet and green, and all sorts of cloth in like manner.”[134]
Reference has already been made to the numbers of Irish women captured by Viking raiders; many of these captives were afterwards sold as slaves in Norway and Iceland. In Laxdaela Saga we hear of Melkorka, an Irish princess, who was exposed for sale with eleven other women at a market in Norway. The slave-dealer, a man known as Gilli (Ir. Giolla) “the Russian” was in all probability a Scandinavian merchant from Ireland who had carried on trade with Russia. The extent of the slave traffic is further illustrated in Kristni Saga (ch. 3) where mention is made of “a fair Irish maid” whom Thangbrandr the priest bought; “and when he came home with her a certain man whom the emperor Otto the Young had put as steward there, wished to take her from him,” but Thangbrandr would not let her go![135] On the other hand, the Irish frequently descended on the Viking strongholds in Ireland and carried off the Norse women and children, “the soft, youthful, bright, matchless girls; blooming, silk-clad young women, and active, large well-formed boys.”[136] Therefore it is not unlikely that the “slaves ignorant of Gaelic” who are stated to have been given as tribute to the Irish kings in the ninth and tenth centuries[137] were really Scandinavian prisoners of war.
An interesting passage in the Book of Ely gives an idea of the activity of the Irish merchants at this period: “Certain merchants from Ireland, with merchandise of different kinds and some coarse woollen blankets, arrived at the little town called Grantebrycge (Cambridge) and exposed their wares there.”[138] It is not surprising then that the wealth of Ireland increased rapidly, so much so that Brian Borumha, realising that this was largely due to Viking enterprise, allowed the invaders to remain in their forts on the coast “for the purpose of attracting commerce from other countries to Ireland.”[139] And even after their defeat at Clontarf, the Vikings remained in the coast towns, whence they continued to engage in trade with England and the Continent. Both Giraldus Cambrensis[140] and William of Malmesbury[141] mention the extensive slave-trade carried on between Ireland and England in the twelfth century, Bristol being the chief centre. In addition to the slave traffic, large supplies of wine were imported from France, while the Irish ‘out of gratitude’ (non ingrata) gave hides and skins in exchange.[142] That there was commercial intercourse with Chester and also with the towns round the Bristol Channel may be seen from the names of the citizens of Dublin in the year 1200: Thorkaill, Swein Ivor from Cardiff; Turstinus and Ulf from Bristol; Godafridus and Ricardus from Swansea; Thurgot from Haverfordwest and Harold from Monmouth.[143] About 1170 two ships sailing from England “laden with English cloths and a great store of goods” were attacked and plundered near Dublin by a Norseman, Swein, son of Asleif; and some years later vessels from Britain carrying corn and wine were seized in Wexford harbour by the English invaders.[144]
The historical evidence is amply borne out by the existence of such old Norse loan-words in Irish as mangaire (O.N. mangari, a ‘trader’), marg (O.N. mörk, a ‘mark’), margadh, (O.N. markathr, a ‘market’), and penning (O.N. penningr, a ‘penny’), and also by certain archæological discoveries. In Scandinavia coins of King Sithric Silken-Beard have been found,[145] while four sets of bronze scales and some weights richly decorated in enamel and gold have been dug up in Ireland (Bangor, Co. Down).[146] To the same period (early ninth century) also belong the scales and weights which were discovered in the great hoard at Islandbridge, near Kilmainham in 1866.[147] With such strong evidence of the influence exerted by the Vikings on the expansion of Irish trade it is not surprising to find that even as late as the seventeenth century the greater part of the merchants of Dublin traced their descent to Olaf Cuaran and the Dublin Norsemen.[148]