Brian Boru, the high king of Ireland,
is assassinated by a group of retreating Norsemen shortly after his Irish
forces defeated them.
Brian, a clan prince, seized the
throne of the southern Irish state of Dal Cais from its Eogharacht rulers in
963. He subjugated all of Munster, extended his power over all of southern
Ireland, and in 1002 became the high king of Ireland. Unlike previous high
kings of Ireland, Brian resisted the rule of Ireland's Norse invaders, and
after further conquests his rule was acknowledged across most of Ireland. As
his power increased, relations with the Norsemen on the Irish coast grew
increasingly strained. In 1013, Sitric, king of the Dublin Norse, formed an
alliance against Brian, featuring Viking warriors
from Ireland, the Hebrides, the Orkneys, and Iceland, as well as soldiers of
Brian's native Irish enemies.
On April 23, 1014, Good Friday, forces
under Brian's son Murchad met and annihilated the Viking coalition at the
Battle of Clontarf, near Dublin. After the battle, a small group of Norsemen,
flying from their defeat, stumbled on Brian's tent, overcame his bodyguards,
and murdered the elderly king. Victory at Clontarf broke Norse power in Ireland
forever, but Ireland largely fell into anarchy after the death of Brian.
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