Page 127 - Demo

Chapter Four 127 6th - His conception of a National Government with a National Army and Navy
places him in an intellectual category far above his contemporaries.
Up to Brian’s time the scribes of Ireland had not conceived the idea of recording a gen- eral history of the country, instead they conined themselves to detailed ad hoc histories of particular phases and districts; but because of Brian’s love of learning, many scholars began to have a diferent view on the way events were recorded. In fact, the most famous Irish book dealing speciically with the Norse invasions, Cogadh Gaedheal le Gallaibh, which we mentioned earlier, was written by Mac Liag, chief poet to Brian Boru, who died not long after his pa- tron. Furthermore, the custom of using surnames did not become general in Ireland until the early part of the eleventh century, a custom reputed to have its origin in an edict issued by Brian. Until that time, proper names only had been used. Now, however, each person took as a surname either the name of his father, with ‘Mac’ preixed, or the name of his grandfather or some other ancestor, with ‘O’ preixed, giving names like Mac Carthy, Mac Murrough, Mac Mahon, Mac Nally, O’Neill, O’Connor, etc etc.
Because the vanquished Norse in Ireland now acknowledged his sway, in turn Brian treated them with respect and leniency. Being the purposeful thinker and shrewd politi- cal diplomat that he was, Brian was aware that by then most of the Norsemen were now civilized and Christianised. Equally so, many of them were also excellent traders, promot- ing both national and international commerce and to the fore in developing the country’s resources-in other words, they were an invaluable strength necessary to the economic life and growth of Ireland. In an efort to preserve this new and welcome status quo, Brian gave his own daughter Sláine in marriage to Sitric, the Danish King of Dublin and his former enemy, whom he restored to his kingdom, along with Maelmora, and he himself married Sitric’s mother, and Maelmora’s conniving sister, Gormlaith, pronounced Gormley, who was herself Irish. It is maintained that she was not only ‘remarkable for her beauty’ but ‘cunning as well.’
But despite his best eforts at peace and reconcilliation, Brian’s power was to be put to a severe test.
Even though Brian had restored Sitric, his now son-in-law and stepson, and Maelmora, his now brother-in-law, to their kingdoms after their rebellion in 999, both men still retained