At the end of my last post I noted that in the mid-800s, as well as fighting the Irish, we now had Vikings attacking Vikings and that the narrative was in danger of becoming even more confusing. Fortunately the annalists seem to have come up with a way of distinguishing the established vikings from the more recent arrivals – by colour-coding them, and it is this which the “black and white” of the title above refers to.

In 851, “the Dubgennti came to Áth Cliath, made a great slaughter of the Fionnghaill, and plundered the naval encampment, both people and property. The Dubhgenntib made a raid at Linn Duachaill, and a great number of them were slaughtered.”[1]

Who were the Dubgennti and their adversaries the Fionnghaill?

The two names are usually respectively translated as “dark (or black) heathens” and “fair (or white) foreigners.” The easy bit is to confirm that both were vikings, but – as with Laithlinn/Lochland – there remains uncertainty beyond that. Over the years, the colours have been associated with hair colour and geography, and sometimes both: for example, white-haired foreigners from Norway and dark-haired from Denmark. This does seem too simplistic (and somewhat anachronistic as the respective kingdoms of those two countries were still in the process of being formed) and other historians have made more convincing arguments that the distinction is between the Norse who had been in Ireland for some time, and those more recent arrivals. In that respect it is worth remembering the entry from the Annals for the year 849 (and quoted in Tomrair, a Viking Jarl in Ireland):

“A naval expedition of seven score (140) ships of adherents of the king of the foreigners came to exact obedience from the foreigners who were in Ireland before them, and afterwards they caused confusion in the whole country.” [2]

Were the “dark” heathens the newcomers and therefore were they (again as per the discussion in the previous post) also the warriors of the King of Laithlinn, whose deputy had been killed by the Irish in 848?

The next reference to the two groups comes one year later in 852:

“A force of eight score (160) ships of fair heathens came to Snám Aignech, to do battle with the dark heathens; they fought for three days and three nights, but the dark heathens got the upper hand and the others abandoned their ships to them. Steinn took flight, and escaped, and Iarnkne was beheaded.”[3]

Again those called “dub” are the victors. Note that both groups are now “gennti”, which is usually translated as “heathens”, just in case you thought there was a religious difference suggested by the earlier entry in the Annals.

Then in the following year (853) we have:

“Amlaíb, son of the king of Lathlinn, came to Ireland, and the foreigners of Ireland submitted to him, and he took tribute from the Irish.[4]”

This could back up a positive answer to the question posed above – i.e. the “dark” foreigners were working for the king of Lathlinn and had attacked the “fair” foreigners who had been in Ireland for some decades. By 853, the king of this territory was someone called Amlaíb and he himself accompanied his naval force to Ireland[5], subjugating not only the earlier vikings but also forcing the Irish to pay tribute to him.

Also in this year we see evidence of continued strife between Irish and Vikings:

“Cathmál son of Tomaltach, half-king of Ulaid, was killed by Northmen.”[6]

In 854 we are reintroduced to Mael Sechnaill once again (mentioned in previous blogs). In one account (Annals of the Four Masters 852.3), he is seen attacking Muma (Munster) and taking hostaged from the Irish people there who had “attempted to oppose him through the influence of foreign people.”[7] A second account notes that he had sent his son-in-law, a man called Cerball, into Munster to take the hostages[8].

Cerball was the son of Dunlang and king of Osraige, a smaller kingdom sandwiched between Munster and Leinster (see map in Tomrair, a Viking Jarl in Ireland). His sister, Land, was married to Mael and the family link was further strengthened when Cerball married Mael’s daughter.

In 855, Osraige was attacked by a viking army led by someone called Rodolb[9], but Cerball  and his troops initially fought off the attackers. Then:

“trouble occurred for Cerball himself there; that is, when the defeat was accomplished, and he was separated from his attendants, a group of the people from Lochlann came to him and took him captive. But through the Lord’s help he was aided: he himself tore his clothes and the fetters that were on him, and he got away from them safely. Great indeed was the massacre that was made of the people from Lochlann there.”[10]

As discussed in the last post, we have the problem of not quite knowing who the people of Lochlann are here. I have suggested that if Lochlann is the same as Laithlinn (and that is not in itself a given), then these were the “dark” foreigners, which would make sense as Mael will be seen to have sided with the original Norse. However, just after this, Cerball appears to have changed his allegiance when a viking force led by Horm/Orm came to Cerball seeking an alliance against other northmen. Although the much later Fragmentary Annals says that these were Danes (Danair) and their enemy were the people of Lochland[11], the Annals of Ulster describe Orm as “toesech na nDubgennti” – leader of the “dark” heathens[12]. Orm, this text tells us, was killed in battle in Wales against the British king Rhodri ap Merfyn.

In 856 after noting that Loch Cenn was raided by heathens, causing the deaths of 120 Irish – including Gorman son of Lonan and Prince of Caisil – the Annals report:

“A great war between the heathens and Mael Sechnaill and the Foreigner-Gaels with him.”

The original word here is “Gall-Ghoidhelaib” [13](I will use “Gall-Gael”) and this is another important term ascribed to a group of people of the time. It is clear that these people were of mixed Gaelic and Norse ancestry (perhaps 2^nd or 3^rd generation vikings living in Ireland?) but it is interesting that they were fighting alongside Mael and against the (newly-arrived?) Vikings.  However it seems that there were no consistent nationalist-based loyalties between the various groups. Also that year, an Irish adversary of Meal, Aed Findliath, son of Niall, attacked the Gall-Gaels in Glenn Foichle[14].He would also go on to raid Mide (Mael’s homeland)[15].

Can we reason then that the Gall-Gaels were, if not the same as, at least on the same side as, the Fair Foreigners, i.e. the Norsemen who had been in Ireland for a generation or two? This would seem to be the case when in 857 we hear once again of Amlaíb, now in battle against the Gall-Gaels:

“Ímar and Amlaíb inflicted a rout on Caitil Find and his Gall-Gaels in the lands of Munster”[16]

So perhaps we have the following:

• The Dark Foreigners (who would later be led by Amlaíb, the son of the king of Laithlinn, and Ímar) on one side pit themselves against the Fair Foreigners and the Gall-Gaels, who are supported by Mael Sechnaill.
• Cerball, although initially doing the bidding of his in-law Mael, would change sides and ally himself with the Dark Foreigners.
• Aed Findlaith also fought against the Gall-Gaels, but whether or not at this stage he was an ally of Amlaíb and the Dark Foreigners is uncertain

The entry in the Annals for 858, would seem to support this premise: Cerball and Ímar, with 6,400 men, defeated the Gall-Gaels of Leth Cuinn in the territory of Ara Tire[17].

Of course all this assumes that the Gall-Gaels were one homogenous group. It is possible that just like the Irish kingdoms, there were various tribes with different alliances and loyalties.

What is clear however is that Amlaíb and the man who will be linked as his ally over the next two decades, Ímar, were adversaries of the Gall-Gaels (perhaps that they were Dark/New Foreigners who saw the Fair/Old Foreigners as a block to their ambitions) and that they opposed Mael Sechnaill, but were allies of Cerball.

In 859, Amlaíb, Ímar and Cerball joined forces to launch a great military outing into Mael’s territory of Mide[18]. However at this point Cerball seems to have changed his allegiances (again?) – perhaps under duress. The Annals of the Four Masters report that “a great meeting of the chieftains of Ireland was collected by the King Mael Sechnaill… to establish peace and concord between the men of Ireland.” Cerball’s alliance with “the son of the King of Lochlann” and his plundering of Mide are mentioned, but that was all put to one side.

Chronologically then what we have is:

851: The dark foreigners come to Dublin and slaughter the fair foreigners

852:  A fair foreigners’ fleet of 160 ships attacks the dark foreigners, but the dark foreigners get the upper hand

853: Cathmal, half-king of Ulaid is killed by Norsemen.

853: Amlaíb, son of the king of Lathlinn, comes to Ireland. The foreigners of Ireland submit to him, and he takes tribute from the Irish.

854: Mael Sechnaill, High King of Ireland, attacks the Irish in Munster after the people there rebelled “through the influence of foreign people”.

854: Mael sends his son-in-law, Cerball, King of Osraige, to demand hostages from the people of Munster.

855: The viking force led by Rodolb attacks Osraige but Cerball fights the attackers off. Cerball is captured but escapes by ripping off his clothes and chains.

855: A viking force (probably the dark foreigners) ask Cerball for help against other foreigners. This leads to further alliances between Cerball and the dark foreigners against other foreigners and Irish.

856: Orm, leader of the dark foreigners is killed in battle with the British king Rhodri ap Merfyn in Wales.

856: A great war between the heathens and Mael Sechnaill and his Gall-Gael allies.

857: Amlaíb and Ímar defeat Caitil Find and the Gall-Gaels in Munster.

858: Cerball and Ímar lead a force of 6,400 mean against the Gall-Gaels in Ara Tyre, and defeat them

859: Cerball, Ímar and Amlaíb attack Mide

859: A royal assembly results in Cerball pledging his allegiance to Mael

As we approach the end of the 850s, three Irish leaders stand out: Mael Sechnaill, Cerball and Aed. It seems that while Mael has consistently been on one side of the various conflicts (allied with the Gall-Gaels and against the newer foreigners), Cerball has vacillated. While at times apparently opposing Mael, or at least his Gall-Gael allies, family ties and possible other pressures have won out and he now stands with Mael. All three will feature again in future posts.

What then of the vikings, Amlaíb and Ímar? We first met Amlaíb back in The Roaring ’20s (the 820s) where I said that:

“820 saw the birth of a certain Olaf (Amlaíb is the Celtic version) who represents the coming together of Hiberno and Norse cultures…. The Book of Settlements[19] notes that Olaf would eventually go on a viking expedition to the British Isles (“Olafr en Hviti heriadi i vestrviking”) and conquer Dublin – but we are getting ahead of ourselves and will look at this character in much more detail in a later blog.”

Now is the time to start to do that as the Amlaíb from the Irish sources is probably the same as Olaf from the sagas. Other Amlaíbs are also known as Olaf, such as Amlaíb mac Sitriuc who becomes Olaf Sigtryggsson in the 11^th century (also known as Amlaíb Cuarán  and Óláf kváran with the nickname meaning “sandals”) and Amlaíb mac Illuilb, a king of Alba, also sometimes called Olaf, who lived in the 10^th century.

According to the Icelandic sources, our Olaf was the son of Ingjald, son of Helgi Olafsson, a petty Norwegian king from the Ringerike area. This is mentioned in the Book of Settlements[20], Erik the Red’s Saga[21] and Eyrbyggja Saga[22].  A different lineage, mentioned in Laxdaela Saga, states that Olaf’s father Ingjald was “the son of Frodi the Valiant, who was slain by the Svertlings”[23].

In the contemporary Irish sources we are simply told that he was the son of the king of Laithlinn although the later Fragmentary Annals will provide us with the name of his father – Gofraid – but we will come back to that reference later on. In the sagas, Olaf is also linked with Auð “the Deep-minded” (Auðr djúpúðga), the daughter of Ketil Flatnose. In Arrival of the Norwegians: Early Kings and The Family of Ketil Flatnose, I suggested that when Ketil’s family landed in the Hebrides, he married his daughter to Olaf, one of the viking leaders there, in the year 849. This would not be inconsistent with the narrative above, with Olaf/Amlaíb based in the Norse kingdom of Laithlinn (based in northwestern Scotland), expanding his ambitions across the sea to Ireland and eventually establishing a new/dark viking base there.

It is also worth re-looking at one of the entries in the Annals from above, referring to the year 857:

“Ímar and Amlaíb inflicted a rout on Caitil Find and his Gall-Gaels in the lands of Munster”[24]

Some historians have suggested that Caitil Find was Ketil Flatnose. The nickname “Find” of course is the same word we have met before describing the “fair” foreigners – the vikings who had been established in Ireland for at least one generation. However it would seem odd if Olaf was at war with his father-in-law (albeit we have seen the fluidity of some alliances). I suppose it might be possible that Caitil’s nickname linked him to the fair foreigners, however that might suggest we should do the same with Amlaíb (Olafr en Hviti is Old Norse for “Olaf the White”) and that would be too problematic – and contradict the supposition that Amlaíb was a “dark” foreigner. So perhaps Caitil and Ketil are two different people.

Despite all of this uncertainty, what is beyond doubt is that the influence of Amlaíb/Olaf – and Ímar – on Ireland and Scotland (and eventually England) will come to have very significant consequences for this history of the next few decades, and I will go on to look more at these two characters in future posts. However before doing that I want to return momentarily to events in Pictland and I will also look at what was happening in a volcanic island a thousand miles to the north-west of Ireland.

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[1] Annals of Ulster (AU) 851.3. “Tetact Dubgennti du Ath Cliath co ralsat ár mór du Fhinngallaibh ⁊ coro shlatsat in longport eitir doine ⁊ moine. Slat do Dubhgenntib oc Lind Duachail ⁊ ar mor diib.”See also Annals of the Four Masters (A4M) 749.9.

[2] AU 849.6: ““Muirfhecht .uii.xx. long di muinntir righ Gall du thiachtain du tabairt greamma forsna Gaillu ro badur ara ciunn co commascsat h-Erinn n-uile iarum.”

[3] AU 852.3: “Lucht ocht .xxit long di Fhindgentibh do-roachtadur du cath fri Dubgennti do Shnamh Aighnech; .iii. laa ⁊ .iii. aithchi oc cathugud doaib act is re n-Duibhgennti ro m-meabaidh co farggabsat a ceile a l-longa leu. Stain fugitiuus euasit ⁊ Iercne decollatus iacuit” See also Chronicon Scotorum (CS) 852.3 and A4M 850.16.

[4] AU 853.2: “Amhlaim m. righ Laithlinde do tuidhecht a n-Erinn coro giallsat Gaill Erenn dó, & cis o Goidhelaib.”

[5] Crossing the sea either from Norway or from a Norse kingdom in Scotland – see Tomrair, a Viking Jarl in Ireland

[6] AU 853.1: “Cathmal m. Tomaltaigh, lethri Ulath, a Norddmanis interfechtus est” See also CS 853.2 and A4M 851.8. This is only the third example in the Annals of Ulster when the word “Northmen” is used (following 837 and 842).

[7] A4M 852.3. See similar in Tomrair, a Viking Jarl in Ireland for the year 847

[8] Fragmentary Annals of Ireland (FAI) 246. Available here.

[9] FAI 249

[10] FAI 249: “Do rala imorro glifit sonn do Chearball fén, .i. a n-úair tabhartha an madhma, ⁊ sgaoilidh da mhuinntir úadh, dream dona Lochlannachaib do thoidheacht chuige ⁊ a erghabhail doibh. Acht tré fhurtacht an Coimdheadh fúair a fhoirithin: ra bhris fén a edach, ⁊ na ceangail ra bhattar fair, ⁊ ra chuaidh slán úaidhibh. As mór trá an t-ar tugadh ann so forsna Lochlannachaib”.

[11] FAI 251:”Isin aimsir si tanagattar Danair, .i. Horm cona muinntir, d’ionnsoighidh Cearbaill mc. Dunlaing, go ro congnaidh Cearbhall leo i c-cean na Lochlannach, uair bá h-eagail leo a f-foruaisliughadh tre chealgoibh na Lochlannach. Ra ghabh dono Cearbhall go h-onorach chuige iad, ⁊ ro bhattar maille ris go minic og breith chosgair do Ghallaibh ⁊ do Ghaoidealaibh.” (At this time the Danes (i.e. Horm with his people) came to Cerball son of Dúnlang, and Cerball assisted them against the Norwegians, since they were afraid that they would be overcome by the stratagems of the Norwegians. Therefore Cerball took them to him honourably, and they were together with him often gaining victories over foreigners and Irish)

[12] AU 856.6. See also CS 856.6

[13] AU 856.3. In CS 856.3, “Gall Gaoideloibh” is used

[14] Glenelly in Co Tyrone. AU 856.5, A4M 854.10

[15] FAI 269

[16] AU 857.1: “Roiniudh re n-Imar & re n-Amlaiph for Caittil Find cona Gall-Gaedelaibh h-i tiribh Muman.” See also CS 857.1

[17] CS 858.3, A4M 856.8

[18] AU 859.2, A4M 857.6

[19] Landnámabók, chapter 95 (as per Pálsson & Edwards). Old Norse text available here: Landnámabók. I-III. Hauksbók. Sturlubók. Melabók m. m. Udgiven af Det kongelige nordisk oldskrift-selskab : Finnur Jónsson, 1858-1934

[20] Ibid

[21] Eiríks saga rauða Chapter 1

[22] Eyrbyggja saga Chapter 1

[23] Laxdæla saga Chapter 1

[24] AU 857.1: “Roiniudh re n-Imar & re n-Amlaiph for Caittil Find cona Gall-Gaedelaibh h-i tiribh Muman.” See also CS 857.1