Flann Sinna - Flann Over Ireland

Flann Over Ireland

Flann's reign began with a demand for hostages from the kings of Leinster. In 881, he led an army of Irishmen and "Foreigners" into the north, attacking Armagh. Unlike the later poetic accounts which made the Gaels and the "Foreigners" bitterest enemies, and recast events as a struggle between natives and incomers, Irish kings generally had no qualms about allying themselves with the "Foreigners" when convenient. It is likely that one of Flann's sisters was married to a Norse or Norse-Gael leader. Gerald of Wales offers a typically inventive account of how this marriage came about in his Topographia Hibernica. Gerald claimed that Máel Sechnaill had granted his daughter to the Viking chieftain called Turgesius, and he had sent fifteen beardless young men, disguised as the bride's handmaidens, to kill the chieftain and his closest associates.

The Annals of Ulster report that Flann was defeated in 887 by the "Foreigners" at the Battle of the Pilgrim. Among the dead on Flann's side were Áed mac Conchobair of the Uí Briúin Ai, King of Connacht, Lergus mac Cruinnén, Bishop of Kildare, and Donnchad, Abbot of Kildare. Irish clergymen commonly appear among the named dead in battles of the Early Christian and Viking periods. In that year the Fair of Tailtiu was not held, a sign that Flann's authority was not unchallenged. Flann's defeat at the hands of the "Foreigners" was overshadowed by the signs of dissension among their leaders. That same year, the Annals of Ulster note that "Sigfrith son of Ímar, king of the Norsemen, was deceitfully killed by his kinsman". For the following year, the Annals report an "expedition by Domnall son of Áed with the men of the north of Ireland against the southern Uí Néill", and again in 888 the Fair of Tailtiu was reportedly not held.

In 892, events in England may have had an impact in Ireland, leading to the fall of Dublin (Áth Cliath) to the Irish. The Annals, following a report of the defeat of the Vikings by the Saxons—Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, was Flann's contemporary—announce "great dissension among the "Foreigners" of Áth Cliath, and they became dispersed, one section of them following Ímar's son, and the other Sigfrith the jarl". Amlaíb son of Ímar was killed in 897, and for 901 the Annals say that the "heathens were driven from Ireland" by the Leinstermen, led by Flann's son-in-law Cerball, and the "men of Brega", led by Máel Finnia son of Flannacán.

In 901, Flann's son Máel Ruanaid, described as "heir designate of Ireland", was killed, probably burnt in a hall along with other notables, by the Luigni of Connaught. In 904, Flann broke into the Abbey of Kells in order to seize his son Donnchad, who had taken refuge there, and beheaded many of Donnchad's associates. By this point in time, Flann had been king of Ireland in style for a quarter century.

Flann undertook an expedition against Cellach mac Cerbaill, King of Osraige, in 905, after Cellach had succeeded his brother Diarmait earlier in the year. In the following year, 906, Flann raided into Munster and ravaged much of the land there. Cormac mac Cuilennáin of the Eóganachta of Cashel, King of Munster, with his "evil genius" and later successor Flaithbertach mac Inmainén by his side, raided Connaught and Leinster in retaliation and, according to some annals, defeated Flann. A Munster fleet ravaged the coasts that same year.