AD 795 — AD 901

The Viking Storm

In 795 the dragon-ships come for the island monasteries. Rathlin and Lambay first. For a hundred years after that, no coast and no river is safe. In 841 the raiders stay the winter at a longphort on the black pool of the Liffey, and Dublin is born: Ireland's first true town, and soon a market in silver and slaves.

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Who holds the land

Counties did not exist yet. The colours lay the dominant power over today’s 32 counties so you can find the place you know — they are not borders anyone drew at the time, and the further back you go the rougher the fit.

The Connachta ↗
The dynasties of the west claiming descent from the legendary Conn of the Hundred Battles, centred on the royal site of Cruachan (Rathcroghan).

Galway Mayo Sligo Leitrim Roscommon Cavan
The Eóganachta (Munster)
The dynasties who held Munster and the Rock of Cashel from about the 6th or 7th century to the 10th, when the Dál gCais of Brian Boru displaced them. They did not vanish with the kingship: the MacCarthys and O’Sullivans descend from them, and ruled much of Desmond for six centuries after.

Cork Kerry Limerick Clare Tipperary Waterford
Laigin (Leinster) ↗
The peoples of the south-east, who gave Leinster its name. Their kings contested the rich Liffey plain with Mide for centuries.

Kildare Wicklow Carlow Wexford Laois
Airgíalla (Oriel) ↗
A federation of nine tribes of the south Ulster borderlands, 'the hostage-givers', usually clients of their more powerful Uí Néill neighbours.

Armagh Monaghan Fermanagh Louth
Mide (Kingdom of Meath) ↗
The 'middle kingdom' around the Hill of Tara and Uisneach, seat of the (largely symbolic) High Kingship of Ireland.

Meath Westmeath Longford Offaly
Northern Uí Néill (Ailech) ↗
Descendants of Niall of the Nine Hostages who carved out the north-west, ruling from the stone fort of Grianán Ailigh. Ancestors of the O'Neills and O'Donnells.

Donegal Derry / Londonderry Tyrone
Ulaid ↗
The ancient over-kingdom of the north, ruled from Emain Macha and remembered in the Ulster Cycle sagas. Pressed steadily eastward into Antrim and Down by the rising Uí Néill.

Antrim Down
Norse Kingdom of Dublin ↗
Founded at the longphort of Duiblinn in 841, Viking Dublin grew into one of the richest trading (and slave-trading) towns of the North Atlantic world.

Dublin
Osraige (Ossory) ↗
The buffer kingdom between Munster and Leinster along the Nore valley, whose ambitious king Cerball mac Dúnlainge fought and allied with Vikings alike.

Kilkenny

🕯 Unknown history Viking Dublin ran one of the largest slave markets in western Europe — Irish captives were sold as far away as Iceland and Islamic Spain, which is why Icelandic DNA is heavily Irish on the maternal line.

People of this age

Turgesius — Viking warlord of the great fleets
Áed Findliath — Northern king who burned the longphorts
Cerball mac Dúnlainge — King of Ossory, fighter and ally of Vikings
Ota — Turgesius’s wife, who took the altar at Clonmacnoise and gave audiences from it, in a telling written three centuries after
The thralls of Dublin — By the 11th century Dublin was the largest slave market in western Europe. Almost none of the people sold through it are named

Almost everyone who lived through this age left no name. Records keep kings, abbots and whoever could write, so this is a list of who was written about rather than who was here.

📜 The chronicle — events of this age

AD 795

First Viking raids ↗

Dragon-ships strike Rathlin and Lambay; the monastic golden age meets the sea-raiders.

AD 806

Iona massacre ↗

68 monks killed; the community withdraws to Kells with (probably) the great gospel book.

AD 837

Great fleets on Boyne and Liffey ↗

Sixty-ship Viking fleets penetrate deep inland; raids become invasions.

AD 841

Dublin founded ↗

A Viking longphort is established at the black pool, Duiblinn, Ireland's first town.

AD 866

Áed Findliath burns the longphorts ↗

The northern king clears Viking bases from the north coast.

Quick answers

When was the Viking Storm in Ireland?

The Viking Storm spans AD 795 to AD 901 in this atlas. In 795 the dragon-ships come for the island monasteries.

Who ruled Ireland during the Viking Storm?

Power was divided: The Connachta (6 counties); The Eóganachta (Munster) (6 counties); Laigin (Leinster) (5 counties); Airgíalla (Oriel) (4 counties); Mide (Kingdom of Meath) (4 counties), among others. County boundaries are modern approximations.

What is a lesser-known fact about the Viking Storm?

Viking Dublin ran one of the largest slave markets in western Europe — Irish captives were sold as far away as Iceland and Islamic Spain, which is why Icelandic DNA is heavily Irish on the maternal line.

↗ links go to the relevant Wikipedia article for each event and ruler (sources & further reading).

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