Page 121 - Demo

Chapter Four 121
The next great warrior to stand against the Northmen , and a man who was destined to play a very important role in the inal phase of the war which afterwards became known as the “War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill,” was King Malachy the Second, or Malcahy Mór, ‘Malachy the Great,’ who became High-King in 980. In the same year he overwhelmingly defeated and routed the Norsemen near Tara, causing them to fall back on Dublin, their capital city. Emboldened by this success, Malachy resolved to attack Dublin; he therefore laid siege to that city, and compelled it to surrender after just three days, liberated two thou- sand prisoners, including the King of Leinster, who later treacherously allied himself with the Norsemen: he also took abundant spoils. At the same time he issued a proclamation, freeing every Irishman then in bondage to the Danes, and stipulating that the race of Niall should henceforth be free from tribute to the foreigners. Among the trophies that Malachy brought away from Dublin were two heirlooms greatly prized and almost venerated by the Norsemen: the sword of Carlus, who fell in battle in 869 and the torque or collar of the Norwegian prince Tomar—who had been killed 148 years before.
This is the incident referred to by Thomas Moore in his famous poem - Let Erin Remember: “Let Erin remember the days of old,
Ere her faithless sons betrayed her,
When Malachi wore the collar of gold
Which he won from the proud invader
When her kings, with standard of green unfurl’d Led the Red-Branch Knights to danger
Ere the emerald gem of the western world
Was set in the crown of a stranger.”
Even though Malachy Mór proved himself to be both a great and clever High-King-well versed in military and political matters, it is often claimed that had he been a bit more en- terprising and ambitious he could have smashed, once and for all, Norse power in Ireland and in doing so freed her from that tyranny forever, but for the fact that another great and noble monarch arose in the south of the country about the same time, and between whom, unfortunately, and Malachy, the inevitable disputes, jealousies and wrangling sprang up, di- viding whatever unity then existed in Ireland and her forces. This man who was destined to become Ireland’s greatest champion against the Northmen and one of the most celebrated