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120 Stephen Dunford: The Journey of The IrIsh
Despite bringing wealth and foreign commodities to this country through their trade with other lands, and also despite founding cities which quickly became great centres of commerce, on the whole, many believe that the evils of the Norse invasions by far out- weighed the benefits. In fact, several of the old Irish chroniclers woefully lament this sad period of Danish oppression as ‘Ireland’s terrible night of suffering and despair.’ It should be mentioned here that about 870 these invaders finally settled Iceland (possibly with cap- tured or escaped Irish slaves) where they established a sophisticated society complete with a functioning parliament known as the Althing-because of this Iceland can claim to have the world’s oldest parliamentary assembly.
From Iceland they sailed to Greenland and from there they set sail eventually arriving at the land they named “Markland” and “Vinland” exploring the American costline from Labrador to Nova Scotia. In fact, a Viking outpost discovered in the twentienth century at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland had the remains of longhouses which were made from turf and which housed about seventy colonists. Other artefacts showed that the inhab- itants were well settled in this spot from where they lived an organized and protected life- style, raiding against the native Americans. This was more than four hundred years before Christopher Columbus “discovered” the Americas.
But it wasn’t all one way traffic for the plundering Norsemen and many brave Irish lead- ers opposed and on occasion, defeated them.
One of the most daring and noble Irish leaders to do so arose in the person of Murtagh, son of another celebrated Norse opponent, Niall Glúndubh, ‘Niall of the Black Knee’; it is from this Niall that the O’Neills of Tyrone were descended, and derived their name. Many victories over the Norse are also attributed to Murtagh, and it is told that he fought and harassed the Norse incessantly for more than twenty years and by doing so prevented them placing the entire island under their absolute sway. This noble prince is known to history as Muircheartach na gCochaill Croicinn, ‘Murtagh of the Leather Cloaks’, because as part of his rightful ambition to be High-King, he once, it is recorded, in the dead of winter, clad a thou- sand chosen warriors in leather cloaks, and with these heroes he made a famous ‘circuit’ of the entire country, visiting all the kings and persuading or compelling them to support him as the next High-King-and in token thereof, it is said, he exacted hostages from them. The gallant Murtagh, as he lived fighting the Norsemen, fell fighting them at Ardee, in present- day county Louth, in 943.
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