Dublin, kingdom of

Dublin, kingdom of. Established by the Vikings in 841, the kingdom of Dublin survived until the execution of its last Hiberno-Norse king, Asgall Mac Turcaill, by invading Anglo-Normans in 1171. Its earliest rulers may have come from Rogaland in Norway, Olaf the White, famous in Norse tradition, being its first recorded king. In their early years the Dublin Norse faced competition from Vikings of Danish origin, and, although involved in raiding and military alliances in Ireland, much of their attention was devoted to Britain and during the first half of the 10th cent. members of its ruling family were also kings of York. After the defeat of King Olaf Cuarán (Sihtricsson) at the battle of Tara in 980 Dublin's kings, now largely integrated into Irish politics and society, came increasingly to feel the domination of the Irish provincial kings, most spectacularly in the defeat of Olaf's son, Sihtric Silkbeard, at the hands of Brian Boru at Clontarf in 1014. In 1052 the kingship of Dublin was seized by the Leinster king, Diarmait mac Maíl na mBó, and from then until the Anglo-Norman invasion Dublin, effectively the country's capital, was largely an appanage claimed by the contenders for the high kingship of Ireland.

Sean Duffy