Brian Boru
Brian Boru (941 – 23 April 1014) was High King of Ireland from 1002 to 1014. His fame became so great that the princes descended from him, the O’Briens, subsequently ranked as one of the chief dynastic families of the country.
In 1014, Brian's armies confronted a Norse-Irish alliance at the Battle of Clontarf near Dublin on Good Friday. It was a victory, but Brian was killed.
The battle was an important event in Irish history and is recorded in both Irish and Norse chronicles. In Ireland, the battle came to be seen as an event that freed the Irish from foreign domination, and Brian was hailed as a national hero. This view was especially popular during English rule in Ireland. Although the battle has come to be viewed in a more critical light, it still has a hold on the popular imagination.
Revisionist historians see it as an Irish civil war in which Brian Boru's Munster and its allies defeated Leinster and Dublin, and that there were Vikings fighting on both sides.
