Page 131 - Demo

Chapter Four 131
Oil painting of Battle of Clontarf by Hugh Frazer 1826
There was also a terrible slaughter of the Dublin Norse warriors: only twenty of them es- caped from the battle, and they were cornered and killed on the city’s single bridge. It is claimed by some annalists that 7,000 Irish and 14,000 Norsemen were slain that day. By sunset, albeit at a huge cost, one of Ireland’s bloodiest battles was successfully ended, and the might and mastery of the Norsemen, which had been such a baleful power in Ireland for two centuries, was smashed.
Malachy, King of Meath left us the following account of the battle of Clontarf:
“I retired with the troops under my command, to an eminence separated from the com- batants by a ield and a ditch only. The appearance of the men, the glittering of their swords, spears, and battle-axes, and the brightness of their armour, exhibited at once a glo- rious and an awful sight. The engagement soon commenced, and in less than half an hour it was impossible to distinguish the combatants from each other; even a father or a brother could not be known except by his voice. So closely were they engaged and so covered with blood which scattered on every side by the wind, which was then sharp and high, separated as we were from them, the spears, swords, and battle-axes of our men were so entangled by the quantity of blood and clotted hair lying from the ield of battle, that with diiculty and constant labour only, were they able to disengage them and keep their ranks, nor was it for some time after that their arms recovered their former lustre. The scenes of carnage that spread far and wide, were terrible beyond description, so much so, that the very sight