1014: Brian Boru & the Battle for Ireland Read Online Free

central figure was a giant by any standards. He was known as Brian Boru.

CHAPTER TWO

I RELAND IN THE T ENTH C ENTURY
    I n AD 941 a son was born into a large clan in the kingdom of Thomond, a territory in the province of Munster. His parents had him christened Brian. Their clan, or group of closely related families, belonged to the tribe of the Dál gCais: the Dalcassians. The child’s father was Kennedy (Ceinnéidigh in Irish), son of Lorcan. Kennedy was a
bó-aire
, or cattle lord, possessing a wealth of fine black cattle. Kennedy’s wife, who was called Bebinn, was the daughter of a king of West Connacht, another
bó-aire
.
    Elected as a king of Thomond, Lorcan was the first of his tribe to lead an army outside his own territory. Heonce claimed the right to be king of all Munster but his claim was hotly contested by the more powerful Munster tribe, the Owenachts, and eventually he and his followers were defeated. They never forgot.
    By the time Brian was born, Kennedy and Bebinn already had eleven sons. Such large families were common: it was important to have many children in order to be certain of raising at least a few. When Brian was born most if not all of his brothers were still alive, as were an impressive number of aunts and uncles and cousins.
    Kennedy’s home was an Iron Age ringfort known as Béal Boru, on the west bank of the Shannon River in what is now County Clare. Thomond at that time was heavily forested; some referred to it as a wilderness. Majestic red deer as large as horses stalked the heights, like kings surveying their realms. Dense woodlands were home to shy but beautiful pine martens, with fur of glossy chocolate brown, a bushy tail and dazzlingly white throat. A dawn chorus of songbirds greeted the sunrise; a sleepy nocturne announced the fall of night.
    From Béal Boru one could see the southern bay of Lough Derg in one direction and the purple and brown mountains of Craglea and Thountinna in the other. The southern slope of Craglea was home to Ayvinn (Aoibhinn), the traditional banshee of the Dalcassians. On theflank of the mountain, a well sacred to Ayvinn gushed from a cleft in the crag. According to legend, the banshee ’s appearance always signalled the death of a chief of the tribe.
    The Dalcassians had once been important in Munster, but tribal warfare had taken its toll. By the time Brian was born they had subsided into near-obscurity, yearning for lost glories. They could have disappeared from history without leaving a trace, except for a curious quirk in the nature of Kennedy’s youngest son: Brian mac Kennedy was unwilling to accept limitations.
    Brian was the sort of boy who throws a stone into the water just to see how far the ripples will go. While still a small child he had listened with fascination to the tales that visiting storytellers told beside the fire. Such storytellers were an important part of Gaelic life, the entertainment that made dark winter nights bearable. Their repertoire invariably included the great heroic tales: Nuada of the Silver Arm; Cúchulainn, the invincible warrior; Fionn Mac Cumhaill, the outlaw leader of the Fianna.
    Inspired by these legends, when he was little more than a toddler Brian taught himself to use the dagger and the casting spear. Because he was the youngest of his family, there was a shortage of boys his own age to take part in his games. He had to invent his enemies. As hegrew older he lost interest in pretend battles against shadowy opponents and began to dream of adulthood, with its own set of fantasies and ambitions. But the early tales and first heroes of a child become permanent fixtures in the mind.
    Brehon law decreed an education to be the birthright of the noble class. Brian’s parents might have intended him for the priesthood as every Christian family sought to give at least one son to God. But his brother Marcan, seventh in the line of Kennedy’s sons, already was showing a strong preference for the Church. When Marcan