From The Abbey of Misrule:
This week, like last week, we’re in Killaloe, the small town at the end of Lough Derg which is currently most famous, if it’s famous at all, for its twelfth-century cathedral and the good fishing that can be had where the river Shannon meets the country’s second-biggest lake. But things have not always been this quiet. It’s a little-known fact that, once upon a time, this sleepy little town was the de facto capital of Ireland.
Admittedly, it was quite a long time ago. About a thousand years, to be precise. Back then, the Big Man around these parts was one Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig - better known today as Brian Boru. Boru, whose star still shines brightly around here, with statues and visitor centres and churches dedicated to him, was perhaps the key figure in early medieval Ireland, and is most famous now for finally defeating the Vikings who, as in neighbouring England, had been raiding, settling, slaughtering and trying to conquer the nation for years. The ‘nation’ back then had no central government or ruler, being instead a collection of 150 uneasily co-existing kingdoms in a country of not more than half a million people. This, as again in neighbouring England, made the Vikings’ job easier, since there was no united opposition to their raids.
Brian Boru was originally the King of a small sub-kingdom of the larger kingdom of Munster, but he had greater ambitions, and set about subjugating and defeating the other Irish kingdoms with great success. In 1002 he was acknowledged by his defeated foes as High King of all Ireland. Killaloe, where he was born and where his father had reigned, became his capital. You can still visit an overgrown hillfort on the lakeshore which may have been his family’s fortress. As king, however, he built himself a fancy new palace on the high ground in the town, where the Catholic church now stands. (Read more.)
No comments:
Post a Comment