Viking’s Supplant Themselves Within Irish Politics:

After the emergence of the Vikings in Ireland around 795 AD the Vikings became deeply integrated into the political field of Ireland. Contrary to popular notions, the Vikings didn’t raid on random barbaric urges, instead, the Vikings launched politically driven campaigns against the Irish natives (Downham 108). The Scandinavian kings were in many ways savvy and cunning conquerors who knew how to cripple and take over another nation or entity politically. In fact, this political savviness of the Vikings in Ireland is notable within accounts from 832 AD when Viking raiders consecutively sacked the church of Armagh, one of the most important economic and political entities in medieval Ireland (Downham 108). While one may speculate these consecutive attacks were strictly for plundering for coin, recovered evidence argues against that claim as by the third raid there was no coin or items left to plunder, but rather the Vikings specifically targeted the church and Ui Neill members for their political position in Ireland (Downham 108).

These politically oriented attacks against Irish political entities soon evolved into something more concrete as the Vikings moved to establish their own kingdom within the territory of Ireland. This political move to establish kingships in Ireland was mainly led during the 850s by a pair of allied Scandinavian kings named Ivar and Olaf (Downham 108). By the 860s and early 870’s evidence asserts that Ivar and a large band of Vikings had established a political body within the settlement of Dublin with Ivar serving as the King of Dublin (Downham 109). This crafted Dublin into a large economic and political urban center that tapped into a large international trade market and established a Viking society alongside the Gaelic settlements.

The Viking political body in Dublin persisted well into the tenth and eleventh centuries with its last Scandinavian leader being Sitric Silkenbeard who ruled between 994 AD to 1036 AD. However, the battle of Clontarf in 1014 saw a major defeat of the Vikings by the combined efforts of Gaelic natives and ultimately pushed Viking society in Ireland closer to its end in the mid-eleventh century (Downham 111). While the Vikings failed to fully capture Ireland politically, they succeeded in establishing small, yet powerful economic and political centers across coastal territories in Ireland, with one of the most notable being the settlement of Dublin. The Vikings establishment of political centers displays evidence of actions that betray their barbaric outlook in Irish history, and rather portray the Vikings as a savvy group that wittingly supplanted themselves within Ireland.

Political Alliances Between Hiberno-Scandinavians and Gaelic Natives:

Shortly after the Vikings began to launch attacks against the Irish monasteries in 795 AD there’s evidence of the formation of political alliances between the Irish and Vikings. Due to the secular division rooted in medieval Ireland’s religious system, some Gaelic natives allied themselves with the Vikings in order to cripple their opposing religious faction (Downham 139). These alliances fed deeply into the initial bloody arrival of the Vikings, but as time passed these alliances grew more peaceful and mutually beneficial with the beginning of permanent Viking settlement. In fact, the Vikings requirement of trade in order to sustain permanent settlements pushed the Gaelic and Scandinavians to create political alliances for mutual economic exchange that prevented bloody insurrections (Downham 140). Such political alliances became even more encouraged and trusted once the Scandinavian settlers converted to Christianity during the ninth century as it created a closer bond and understanding between the two groups. While many of these political ties eventually collapsed after the battle of Clontarf in 1014, there was a considerable amount of time in Irish history that saw the cooperation between Gaelic natives and Scandinavian settlers in Ireland. Thus, such alliances reveal the Vikings complex and fluid position within medieval Irish history and betray their barbaric and bloody outlook that has persisted from the old Annals and popular media.