The Brothers War


 * The Brothers War
 * by Dan McCollum
 * 30 January 2002


 * From The Rise and Fall of the Kingdom of Dublin
 * by Sean McErik

From SE 350 to 386 the Kingdom of Dublin enjoyed a period of financial and military glory, ruled by the great "Snorri Kings", that is Snorri I, Snorri II and Snorri III. Under their benevolent leadership, Dublin secured its powers over all by the most far-flung reaches of Ireland and Wales. FN1 Their armies where unmatched and even the Deputies of England were said to acknowledge their overlordship, though one can speculate as to the sincerity behind such words.

However, even during this time, the seeds of the Kingdom’s downfall were already being planted. The inability of the Kings to convert the Irish peasantry to Submission, to fully conquer some of the more rebellious clan chiefs, the growing repression of the Christian underclass, and above all the rise of the Crusader branch of Celtic Christianity, which was beginning to spread like wildfire among the Christians, especially those of the Earldom of Scotland. Despite this, the Kingdom itself might have managed to continue had it not been for the Seven Years War, otherwise known as the Brothers War.

The Brothers War was a complex set of conflicts which began with the death of Good King Snorri III in his sleep on March 21, 386 [1158 CE]. Snorri’s three sons immediately began to quarrel over the crown. Each claimed to have the only real legitimacy, based on the supposed legitimacy of their mothers’ marriage to Snorri, and each enjoyed the support of a part of the Kingdom’s nobility. The eldest son Snorri IV had, along with a growing tradition of primogeniture, the support of the aristocracy of Dublin itself as well as several other cities of the realm. The second son, the brutal, intolerant Ragnar VII enjoyed much support from the lower nobility of the land who were forced to deal on a daily basis with the Christian peasantry, and in particular with the Cennedites, as well as those lords from the Marches near the territory of the still-free Irish clans. The third son was Erik the Bold, a noted adventurer who had already sailed a small fleet of ships into the icy waters of the Northwest to raid among the Outsiders of Iceland and Vinland. He was popular amongst the navy as well as the only ruler openly supported by some Christian populations.

The Brothers War was not only a war between three different brothers for the rulership of the Kingdom, it was a class conflict between the deeply divided society of the Kingdom. When looked at in this fashion what we really see is a war between the prosperous merchants of the cities who supported Snorri against the Marcher aristocracy who supported Ragnar, with Erik the Bold, his navy and other supporters caught in the middle.

Over the next seven years much of the nobility of the Kingdom were destroyed by once side or another, cut down leading valiant but futile charges against opponents armed with mercenary companies of Welsh bowmen. Many of the great merchant families went bankrupt as their found their fleets conscripted, burned or worse. The Marcher lords where called away to fight for Ragnar and, in turn, the "Wild Irish" as they were called, threw themselves against the Kingdom, raiding deep into its heartland and making the rulers wish for the old days of the O'Neil clan.

Erik the Bold was the first to fall in SE 389 [1161 CE], his great fleet was caught in a gale and driven onto the sharp rocks of the Scottish shore. Erik's body was never recovered and in the dark days that followed, more than one pretender would don his identity to make a grab for the throne. This, of course, left Snorii and Ragnar to concentrate their efforts upon one another. The war now entered its second, and most bloody phase. Most of the forces of Erik defected to the side of Snorri, however the eldest son was a poor military leader, although a capable administrator, and in a culture that respected the way of the warrior, this was a fatal flaw as it forced him to assume direct command his forces. Battle after battle, he lost and was pushed back, losing Ragnarford and Galloway in 391. Snorri was on the run, and it only seemed a matter of time before he succumbed to defeat and death. That is until, while leading his troops in a retreat back to Dublin, they were attacked by Ragnar's forces at the Battle of Tara.

In truth, the war might have ended that day, had it not been for a sudden attack of the berserker mania in Snorri as he saw his men falling around him. Snorri raced to the battle line and fell into a battle frenzy, halting Ragnar’s advance "Like a Stone Wall" according to the accounts, and so inspired his men that what had been a rout was reversed into victory, and it was soon Ragnar's men fleeing for their lives. It was a shattering defeat for the second brother which would hamper him for the rest of the campaign season and cost Dublin the loss of more of the Submissive nobility.

But the following year skill and luck were on Ragnar's side, and he attacked Snorri with renewed determination. At the Second Battle of Tara in 392 [1164 CE], Ragnar finally defeated his brother. At the height of the battle a lone arrow struck Snorri and embedded itself deep within his eye. Their leader dead, the army fled in panic back to the walls of Dublin. Ragnar then placed Dublin under siege, for the citizens refused to surrender, and in fact, acknowledged one of the false Eriks as their true King, but it was an act of futility. On May 1, 393 the walls of Dublin where finally breached by the forces of Ragnar, the false Erik was put to death, the ranks of the nobility were thinned yet again, and the great Seven Years War had come to an end.

Why was Ragnar VII able to overcome his wealthier brother? The reasons are many, but most historians agree that the main contributing factor was the sheer ferocity of Ragnar's border-land warriors, as well as Snorri's gross incompetence as a general. The eldest son has shown some promise in the first phase of the war, before the death of Erik, but once all of the weight of Ragnar’s army was upon him, he chose to go on the defensive. This mindset is what eventually destroyed him, as Ragnar controlled the countryside and could move his forces at will. Not that Ragnar’s own generalship was outstanding, as demonstrated by the sheer length of the war, and his later performance as King demonstrated.

By 393 the fighting ended, but the effects of the Brothers War lingered. Much of the nobility of the Kingdom of Dublin had been destroyed, and it would take a generation for the wealth of the merchants and landowners to return. The countryside had been devastated, but the cities suffered even more as Ragnar vented his rage on the helpless townspeople of Ragnarsford and Dublin. Even the surviving Marcher lords of Ragnar’s army, upon returning to their homes, found very little to return to. In many cases the raids by the Free Clans had destroyed much of the wealth of the area, and some fortresses had to be utterly abandoned. Almost a third of Ireland had been lost to the Kingdom of Dublin, and the end of the fratricidal war did not mean the end of the frontier wars in the west. Throughout Ragnar's reign the Kingdom’s borders continued to contract.

The Christian peasants of the Kingdom of Dublin must also be reckoned as losers in the war; their support of Erik had gained them the permanent enmity of the already-intolerant Ragnar, who was now determined to put an end to the Kingdom’s Christian majority by fire and sword. The only Christians in Ireland who emerged from the Brothers War with more wealth and power were the Free Clans, who had managed to inflict serious defeats upon the distracted kingdom and gained prestige and honor in the process. Of the clan leaders, the most important would be Patrick O'Sullivan or "Wise O'Sullivan" a he is remembered. His family would have a very important part to play in the coming drama.

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