April 23, 1014. Good Friday. As the sun sinks peacefully over the waters of Dublin Bay, nearly 10,000 men lie dead or wounded on the fields outside the city walls. In the waning hours, up to 1000 Viking mercenaries flounder in the ocean, as high tide cuts them off from the safety of their longships. Most of the retreating Vikings drown or are hacked down on the shoreline. Clontarf – one of the great battles in Irish history – is now over. The grinding, day-long engagement pitted Irish lords against Irish lords, with large contingents of Viking warriors involved.
In this moment of bloody triumph, High King Brian Boru consolidated his position as the most powerful man in Ireland. It was no small feat. Ireland in this age had over 100 petty kings and, now over 70 years old, Brian Boru had spent decades of his life battling to bring them under his capable, energetic
