Amlaíb Conung
Encyclopedia
Amlaíb Conung was a Norse or Norse-Gael
leader in Ireland
and Scotland
in the years after 850. Together with his brothers Ímar and Auisle
he appears frequently in the Irish annals
.
Amlaíb has often been seen as the same person as Olaf the White
of the Landnámabók
and other Icelandic sagas. The Irish annals, and the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland
, are much older than these, and in some respects are source materials for the Icelanders. These say little about Amlaíb's kin, and what they do say contradicts the Icelandic accounts.
report the arrival of Amlaíb in Ireland in 853: The Fragmentary Annals expand on this:
Lochlann, originally Laithlinn or Lothlend, the land where Amlaíb's father Gofraid, or Guðrøðr, was a king is often identified with Norway
, but it is not universally accepted that it had such a meaning in early times. Several historians have proposed instead that in early times, and certainly as late as the battle of Clontarf
in 1014, Laithlinn refers to the Norse and Norse-Gael lands in the Hebrides
the Isle of Man
, the Northern Isles
and parts of mainland Scotland
. Whatever the original sense, by the twelfth century, when Magnus Barefoot undertook his expedition to the West, it had come to mean Norway.
and his Norse-Irish in the lands of Munster." Although there is no certain evidence to suggest that this Caitill is the same person as the Ketill Flatnose of later sagas, it has been suggested that they are the same person.
By 859 Amlaíb and Ímar were aiding Cerball mac Dúnlainge
, King of Osraige, against Máel Sechnaill, plundering in Meath. They may also have joined with Áed Finnliath, who succeeded Máel Sechnaill as High King of Ireland
, in raiding Meath again in 862, by which time Amlaíb was married to a daughter of Áed. In 864, Conchobar mac Donnchado, the King of Mide, was put to death by drowning on Amlaíb's orders.
Amlaíb and his brother Auisle "went with the foreigners of Ireland and Scotland to Fortriu
, plundered the entire Pictish
country and took away hostages from them" in either 864 or 866. The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba
appears to say that they overwintered in Scotland. Áed Finnliath, at about this time, was engaged in destroying Viking "longphorts", or encampments, along the north coasts of Ireland, a campaign that may have been made easier by the absence of Amlaíb and Auisle's army, then in eastern Scotland. A family dispute resulted in Auisle's death in 867, apparently killed by Amlaíb, and this may have encouraged Cennétig mac Gaíthéne, king of the Loígis of modern County Laois
, to destroy a longphort at Clondalkin
that year, and then to raid Dublin itself.
In 870, Amlaíb returned to Scotland with Ímar and laid siege to Dumbarton Rock, chief fortress of the Britons of Strathclyde
. They captured it after a siege of four months, returning to Dublin in 871 with 200 ships and they "brought with them in captivity a great prey of Angles, Britons and Picts. A siege of this duration was exceptional, and the captives may have included the king of Alt Clut, Artgal
, who according to the Annals of Ulster the next year was "slain by the counsel of Causantín mac Cináeda
", or Constantine I, probably meaning that Constantine refused to pay ransom for the captured king of Strathclyde. These informative entries in the Annals of Ulster help to understand the short reference in the Chronicle of the Kings of Scotland, version A, which says that Amlaíb returned "at the head of 100 [ships?], [and was] killed by Constantine". According to the Annals of Ulster it was Artgal who was killed by Constantine."
In the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland, it is said that Amlaíb returned to Lochlann to aid his father in a war in 871. With this, he disappears from the Irish annals. According to the Pictish Chronicle
, he died around 874 during a protracted campaign against Constantine I in Scotland:
, daughter of Ketil Flatnose, a son, Thorstein the Red
, being born of the marriage. In the Annals of Ulster for the year 875, Thorstein is referred to as Oistín in the following excerpt: "U875.4 - Oistín son of Amlaíb, king of the Norsemen, was deceitfully killed by Albann." Aud however does not appear in the Irish sources.
Amlaíb Conung is said in the Fragmentary Annals to have been a son-in-law of Áed Finnliath mac Néill. Elsewhere the Fragmentary Annals, when reporting the death of Óisle, refer to "the daughter of Cináed" as Amlaíb's wife. It is suggested that the reference to Áed is mistaken, and that Amlaíb's wife was a daughter of Cináed mac Conaing, who had been drowned by Máel Sechnaill in 851. An alternative suggestion is that the Cináed in question is Cináed mac Ailpín (known in English as Kenneth MacAlpin
, which would have made Amlaíb a brother-in-law of his killer Constantine I, a son of Kenneth).
A number of sons of Amlaíb are known. Of these, Carlus was killed at the battle of Cell ua nDaigri in 868, fighting alongside Flann mac Conaing, brother and successor of Cináed, who is suggested to have been Amlaíb's father-in-law. Therefore it is likely that Carlus was fighting alongside his maternal relatives. Oistin was killed in 875 "by Halfdan, by stratagem."
Norse-Gaels
The Norse–Gaels were a people who dominated much of the Irish Sea region, including the Isle of Man, and western Scotland for a part of the Middle Ages; they were of Gaelic and Scandinavian origin and as a whole exhibited a great deal of Gaelic and Norse cultural syncretism...
leader in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
in the years after 850. Together with his brothers Ímar and Auisle
Auisle
Auisle , in Old Norse either Ásl or Auðgísl, was a Scandinavian, or perhaps Norse-Gael, king active in Ireland and north Britain in the 850s and 860s....
he appears frequently in the Irish annals
Irish annals
A number of Irish annals were compiled up to and shortly after the end of Gaelic Ireland in the 17th century.Annals were originally a means by which monks determined the yearly chronology of feast days...
.
Amlaíb has often been seen as the same person as Olaf the White
Olaf the White
Olaf the White was a viking sea-king who lived in the latter half of the 9th century.Olaf was born around 840, possibly in Ireland. His father was the Hiberno-Norse warlord Ingjald Helgasson...
of the Landnámabók
Landnámabók
Landnámabók , often shortened to Landnáma, is a medieval Icelandic written work describing in considerable detail the settlement of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries AD.-Landnáma:...
and other Icelandic sagas. The Irish annals, and the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland
Fragmentary Annals of Ireland
The Fragmentary Annals of Ireland are a Middle Irish combination of chronicle from various Irish annals and narrative history. They were compiled in the kingdom of Osraige, probably in the lifetime of Donnchad mac Gilla Pátraic , king of Osraige and of king of Leinster.The Fragmentary Annals were...
, are much older than these, and in some respects are source materials for the Icelanders. These say little about Amlaíb's kin, and what they do say contradicts the Icelandic accounts.
Background
The Annals of UlsterAnnals of Ulster
The Annals of Ulster are annals of medieval Ireland. The entries span the years between AD 431 to AD 1540. The entries up to AD 1489 were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín, under his patron Cathal Óg Mac Maghnusa on the island of Belle Isle on Lough Erne in the...
report the arrival of Amlaíb in Ireland in 853: The Fragmentary Annals expand on this:
Lochlann, originally Laithlinn or Lothlend, the land where Amlaíb's father Gofraid, or Guðrøðr, was a king is often identified with Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, but it is not universally accepted that it had such a meaning in early times. Several historians have proposed instead that in early times, and certainly as late as the battle of Clontarf
Battle of Clontarf
The Battle of Clontarf took place on 23 April 1014 between the forces of Brian Boru and the forces led by the King of Leinster, Máel Mórda mac Murchada: composed mainly of his own men, Viking mercenaries from Dublin and the Orkney Islands led by his cousin Sigtrygg, as well as the one rebellious...
in 1014, Laithlinn refers to the Norse and Norse-Gael lands in the Hebrides
Hebrides
The Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups: the Inner and Outer Hebrides. These islands have a long history of occupation dating back to the Mesolithic and the culture of the residents has been affected by the successive...
the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
, the Northern Isles
Northern Isles
The Northern Isles is a chain of islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The climate is cool and temperate and much influenced by the surrounding seas. There are two main island groups: Shetland and Orkney...
and parts of mainland Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. Whatever the original sense, by the twelfth century, when Magnus Barefoot undertook his expedition to the West, it had come to mean Norway.
Chronology
Amlaíb returned to Ireland by 856 when he and Ímar are presumed to have aided Máel Sechnaill. "Great warfare between the heathens and Mael Sechnaill, supported by Norse-Irish" is reported by the Annals of Ulster. In 857 Amlaíb and Ímar "inflicted a rout on Caitill the FairCaittil Find
Caittil Find was the leader of a contingent of Norse-Gaels, recorded as being defeated in battle in 857 CE. Some historians have considered him to be identical to Ketill Flatnose, a prominent Norse sea-king who had strong associations with the Hebrides of Scotland and Olaf the White...
and his Norse-Irish in the lands of Munster." Although there is no certain evidence to suggest that this Caitill is the same person as the Ketill Flatnose of later sagas, it has been suggested that they are the same person.
By 859 Amlaíb and Ímar were aiding Cerball mac Dúnlainge
Cerball mac Dúnlainge
Cerball mac Dúnlainge was king of Osraige in south-east Ireland. The kingdom of Osraige occupied roughly the area of modern County Kilkenny and lay between the larger provincial kingdoms of Munster and Leinster....
, King of Osraige, against Máel Sechnaill, plundering in Meath. They may also have joined with Áed Finnliath, who succeeded Máel Sechnaill as High King of Ireland
High King of Ireland
The High Kings of Ireland were sometimes historical and sometimes legendary figures who had, or who are claimed to have had, lordship over the whole of Ireland. Medieval and early modern Irish literature portrays an almost unbroken sequence of High Kings, ruling from Tara over a hierarchy of...
, in raiding Meath again in 862, by which time Amlaíb was married to a daughter of Áed. In 864, Conchobar mac Donnchado, the King of Mide, was put to death by drowning on Amlaíb's orders.
Amlaíb and his brother Auisle "went with the foreigners of Ireland and Scotland to Fortriu
Fortriu
Fortriu or the Kingdom of Fortriu is the name given by historians for an ancient Pictish kingdom, and often used synonymously with Pictland in general...
, plundered the entire Pictish
Picts
The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...
country and took away hostages from them" in either 864 or 866. The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba
Chronicle of the Kings of Alba
The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba, or Scottish Chronicle, is a short written chronicle of the Kings of Alba, covering the period from the time of Kenneth MacAlpin until the reign of Kenneth II . W.F...
appears to say that they overwintered in Scotland. Áed Finnliath, at about this time, was engaged in destroying Viking "longphorts", or encampments, along the north coasts of Ireland, a campaign that may have been made easier by the absence of Amlaíb and Auisle's army, then in eastern Scotland. A family dispute resulted in Auisle's death in 867, apparently killed by Amlaíb, and this may have encouraged Cennétig mac Gaíthéne, king of the Loígis of modern County Laois
County Laois
County Laois is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Midlands Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It was formerly known as Queen's County until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. The county's name was formerly spelt as Laoighis and Leix. Laois County Council...
, to destroy a longphort at Clondalkin
Clondalkin
-Today:Modern Clondalkin is a busy satellite town of Dublin, with a population of 43,929 in 2006. Retail facilities include Tesco Ireland- and Dunnes Stores-led shopping centres, and Aldi and Lidl stores on the Fonthill Road and New Nangor Road respectively, and the village centre is a base for...
that year, and then to raid Dublin itself.
Kingdom of Strathclyde
Strathclyde , originally Brythonic Ystrad Clud, was one of the early medieval kingdoms of the celtic people called the Britons in the Hen Ogledd, the Brythonic-speaking parts of what is now southern Scotland and northern England. The kingdom developed during the post-Roman period...
. They captured it after a siege of four months, returning to Dublin in 871 with 200 ships and they "brought with them in captivity a great prey of Angles, Britons and Picts. A siege of this duration was exceptional, and the captives may have included the king of Alt Clut, Artgal
Artgal of Alt Clut
Artgal was a king of Alt Clut and Strathclyde , a Brythonic kingdom in the Hen Ogledd or "Old North" of Britain, for some time in the mid-9th century. Artgal's reign is notable in that he is the first certain king of Alt Clut since Dumnagual III of Alt Clut a century before...
, who according to the Annals of Ulster the next year was "slain by the counsel of Causantín mac Cináeda
Constantine I of Scotland
Causantín or Constantín mac Cináeda was a king of the Picts. He is often known as Constantine I, in reference to his place in modern lists of kings of Scots, though contemporary sources described Causantín only as a Pictish king...
", or Constantine I, probably meaning that Constantine refused to pay ransom for the captured king of Strathclyde. These informative entries in the Annals of Ulster help to understand the short reference in the Chronicle of the Kings of Scotland, version A, which says that Amlaíb returned "at the head of 100 [ships?], [and was] killed by Constantine". According to the Annals of Ulster it was Artgal who was killed by Constantine."
In the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland, it is said that Amlaíb returned to Lochlann to aid his father in a war in 871. With this, he disappears from the Irish annals. According to the Pictish Chronicle
Pictish Chronicle
The Pictish Chronicle is a name often given by historians to a list of the kings of the Picts beginning many thousand years before history was recorded in Pictavia and ending after Pictavia had been enveloped by Scotland...
, he died around 874 during a protracted campaign against Constantine I in Scotland:
...after two years Amlaib, with his people, laid waste Pictavia; and he dwelt there from 1 January until the feast of Saint Patrick [17 March]. Again in the third year Amlaib, while collecting tribute, was killed by Constantine. A short while after that battle was fought in his 14th year at Dollar between the Danes and the Scots, the Scots were annihilated at Atholl. The Norsemen spent a whole year in Pictavia.
Marriages and children
Olaf the White was said to have been married to Aud the Deep-MindedAud the Deep-Minded
Aud the Deep-Minded was an earlier settler in Iceland.-Biography:...
, daughter of Ketil Flatnose, a son, Thorstein the Red
Thorstein the Red
Thorstein the Red or Thorstein Olafsson was a viking chieftain who flourished in late ninth-century Scotland. He was born around 850 AD and was the son of Olaf the White, King of Dublin, and Aud the Deep-minded, who was the daughter of Ketil Flatnose...
, being born of the marriage. In the Annals of Ulster for the year 875, Thorstein is referred to as Oistín in the following excerpt: "U875.4 - Oistín son of Amlaíb, king of the Norsemen, was deceitfully killed by Albann." Aud however does not appear in the Irish sources.
Amlaíb Conung is said in the Fragmentary Annals to have been a son-in-law of Áed Finnliath mac Néill. Elsewhere the Fragmentary Annals, when reporting the death of Óisle, refer to "the daughter of Cináed" as Amlaíb's wife. It is suggested that the reference to Áed is mistaken, and that Amlaíb's wife was a daughter of Cináed mac Conaing, who had been drowned by Máel Sechnaill in 851. An alternative suggestion is that the Cináed in question is Cináed mac Ailpín (known in English as Kenneth MacAlpin
Kenneth I of Scotland
Cináed mac Ailpín , commonly Anglicised as Kenneth MacAlpin and known in most modern regnal lists as Kenneth I was king of the Picts and, according to national myth, first king of Scots, earning him the posthumous nickname of An Ferbasach, "The Conqueror"...
, which would have made Amlaíb a brother-in-law of his killer Constantine I, a son of Kenneth).
A number of sons of Amlaíb are known. Of these, Carlus was killed at the battle of Cell ua nDaigri in 868, fighting alongside Flann mac Conaing, brother and successor of Cináed, who is suggested to have been Amlaíb's father-in-law. Therefore it is likely that Carlus was fighting alongside his maternal relatives. Oistin was killed in 875 "by Halfdan, by stratagem."
External links
- CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts at University College Cork. The Corpus of Electronic Texts includes the Annals of Ulster and the Four Masters, the Chronicon Scotorum and the Book of Leinster as well as Genealogies, and various Saints' Lives. Most are translated into English, or translations are in progress
- Chronicle of the Kings of Alba