Everything about Gofraid Ua Mair totally explained
Gofraid or
Gothfrith (
Old Irish Gofraid ua Ímair,
Old Norse Góröðr) (died 934) was a
Norse-Gael king of Dublin and, for a short time,
king of Northumbria. Gofraid was one of the grandsons of Ímar, the dynasty is known as the
Uí Ímair, and along with his kinsmen
Sihtric Cáech and
Ragnall, he was active in
Ireland and in northern
Britain.
The
Ímar from whom the Uí Ímair were descended is generally presumed to be that Ímar, "king of the Northmen of all Britain and Ireland", whose death is reported by the
Annals of Ulster in 873. Whether this Ímar is to be identified with the leader of the
Great Heathen Army, or with
Ivarr the Boneless, is less certain. In the period between the death of Ímar and the expulsion of the Northmen and Norse-Gaels from
Dublin in 902, it isn't certain that any descendants of Ímar played a notable part in the politics of the region. Members of the kindred appear to have led armies against the
Picts following their expulsion, but these killed and the armies destroyed in 904 by
Constantín son of Áed, the
king of Alba.
In the following decade it's supposed that the grandsons of Ímar may have been in some part of the
Atlantic or
Irish Sea coasts of Britain where the historical record sheds almost no light on events, the area in question extending from the
Isle of Man through the
Hebrides to the
Northern Isles, as well as the coasts opposite. They reappear again in 914 when Ragnall and his kinsman Sihtric are recorded leading fleets in the Irish Sea. The first report of Gofraid is in 918, when he accompanied Ragnall's expedition to
Northumbria and fought at the second, or perhaps only,
battle of Corbridge against Constantín son of Áed and
Ealdred son of Eadwulf. The battle wasn't decisive, but this allowed Ragnall to take power at
York. Sihtric had established himself as ruler of
Dublin in late 917, and defeated and killed the
High King of Ireland Niall Glúndub on
14 September 919. Sihtric joined Ragnall and Gofraid in Northumbria in 920, and succeeded Ragnall in 921. Gofraid then returned to Ireland to rule in Dublin.
On
10 November 921, Gofraid's army seized
Armagh, the home of the cult of
Saint Patrick and one of the chief church centres of Ireland. The
Annals of Ulster state:
the prayer-houses with their complement of culdees and sick he spared from destruction, and also the monastery, save for a few dwellings which were burned through carelessness.
Ó Cróinín and Woolf contrast this with the earlier phases of the Viking Age in Ireland. Gofraid's raid into the north, while initially successful, ended with defeat by an army led by
Muirchertach mac Néill.
Gofraid's son Alpdann (Old Norse
Hálfdan) was killed in 927 at Linn Duachaill—now
Annagassan,
County Louth—by Muirchertach and the survivors of his army besieged until Gofraid brought an army from Dublin to rescue them. Sihtric Cáech died the same year, and the
Annals of Ulster state that Gothfrith left Dublin with a fleet. He appears to have been chosen as king to succeed Sihtric, but within six months he was back in Dublin, having been driven out of Northumbria by King
Æthelstan.
Back in Ireland, Gofraid raided
Osraige and
Leinster in 930 and outraged the annalists by pillaging
Derc Ferna in modern
county Kilkenny.
Gofraid died in 934, the
Annals of Ulster describing him as "a most cruel king of the Norsemen". He was followed as king of Dublin by a son
Amlaíb, and another son,
Blácaire would also rule Dublin.
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