Amlaíb mac Sitric (d. 980; ), commonly called Amlaíb Cuarán (O.N.: ), was a 10th-century Norse-Gael who was King of Northumbria and Dublin. His byname, cuarán, is usually translated as "sandal". His name appears in a variety of anglicized forms, including Olaf Cuaran, Anlaf Sihtricson and Olaf Sihtricson, particularly in relation to his short-lived rule in York.In Old English he was Anlaf. To Irish speakers he may also have been Amlaíb mac ua Ímair or Amlaíb ua Ímair but others shared these names. Likewise, his Norse nickname, "Olaf the Red" was applied to several Norse rulers in Ireland and the Isles. He was the last of the Uí Ímair to play a major part in the politics of the British Isles.
Amlaíb was twice, perhaps three times, ruler of Northumbria and twice ruler of Dublin and its dependencies. His reign over these territories spanned some forty years. He was a renowned warrior and a ruthless pillager of churches, but ended his days in retirement at Iona Abbey. Born when the Uí Ímair ruled over large areas of the British Isles, by his death the kingdom of Dublin was a minor power in Irish politics. At the same time, Dublin became a major centre of trade in Atlantic Europe and mastery over the city and its wealth became the supreme prize for ambitious Irish kings.
In death Amlaíb was the prototype for the Middle English romance character Havelok the Dane. In life he was a patron of Irish poets and Scandinavian skalds who wrote verses praising their paymaster. Amlaíb was married at least twice, and had many children who married into Irish and Scandinavian royal families. His descendants were kings in the Isle of Man and the Hebrides until the 13th century.
Background
The earliest records of attacks by Vikings in Britain or Ireland are at the end of the eighth century. The monastery on Lindisfarne, in the kingdom of Northumbria, was sacked on 8 June 793, and the monastery of Iona in the kingdom of the Picts was attacked in 795 and 802. In Ireland Rathlin Island, off the north-east coast, was the target in 795, and so too was St Patrick's Island on the east coast in 798. Portland in the kingdom of Wessex in south-west Britain was attacked during the reign of King Beorhtric of Wessex (ruled from 786 to 802).Keynes, "Vikings in England", pp. 50–51; Ó Corráin, "Ireland, Wales, Man, and the Hebrides", pp. 83–85.
These raids continued in a sporadic fashion throughout the first quarter of the ninth century. During the second quarter of the century the frequency and size of raids increased and the first permanent Viking settlements (called longphorts in Ireland) appeared.Keynes, "Vikings in England", pp. 51–52; Ó Corráin, "Ireland, Wales, Man, and the Hebrides", pp. 84–89.
Origins
The Ímar from whom the Uí Ímair were descended is generally presumed to be that Ímar (English pronunciation Ivar): "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 Ivar the Boneless, the leader of the Great Heathen Army, is rather less certain, although at the same time not unlikely.Ó Cróinín, Early Medieval Ireland, pp. 250–254, discusses Ímar's career and the various arguments. See also Woolf, Pictland to Alba, chapter 2; Downham, Viking Kings, chapters 1–3, especially pp. 17–23 & 64 –67. Ó Corráin, "Vikings in Scotland and Ireland", passim, sets out the case against the identification.
Amlaíb Cuarán was probably a great-grandson of Ímar. There is no contemporary evidence setting out the descent from Ímar to his grandsons, but it may be that the grandsons of Ímar recorded between 896 and 934—Amlaíb Cuarán's father Sitriuc (d. 927), Ragnall (d. 921), Gofraid (d. 934), Ímar (d. 904) and Amlaíb (d. 896)—were brothers rather than cousins.Thus Downham, Viking Kings, p. 29, figure 6. Cyril Hart's contributions to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography make Ragnall, Sitriuc and Gofraid brothers; likewise Hudson, Viking Pirates, p. 31, figure 1, makes these three brothers, sons of Guthred. Amlaíb's father Sitriuc first appears in the record in 917 when he seized Dublin, a settlement which had probably been under the control of an Irish king since the expulsion of the previous Viking rulers in 902.Downham, Viking Kings, pp. 27–35.
Sitriuc ruled Northumbria until his death in 927. Manuscript D of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records his marriage to King Æthelstan's sister at Tamworth on 30 January 926. According to some late sources, such as the chronicler John of Wallingford, copying a lost northern record, Amlaíb was the son of Sitriuc and Æthelstan's sister, perhaps called Osgifu or Eadgyth. The historian Benjamin Hudson comments that "there is no obvious reason why the chronicle copied by John of Wallingford would fabricate this information, and the claim is supported by the historian Neil McGuigan.McGuigan, "Revisiting the End of Northern Independence", p. 144; Hudson, Viking Pirates, pp. 28–29. Sitriuc's other sons included Gofraid (died 951), king of Dublin, Aralt (died 940), ruler of Limerick, and, less certainly, Sichfrith and Auisle, listed among those killed at the battle of Brunanburh in 937 by the Annals of Clonmacnoise.Hudson, Viking Pirates, p. 31, figure 1, shows only Gofraid; Downham, Viking Kings, p. 29, figure 6 & pp. 245, 247, 254 & 269; Annals of Clonmacnoise, s.a. 931. A daughter of Sitriuc named Gytha is said in the Heimskringla to have married Norwegian pirate king Olaf Tryggvason, but she was probably a daughter of Amlaíb Cuarán.Hart, "Sihtric Cáech"; "Saga of Olaf Tryggvason", chapter 32, Heimskringla, pp. 171–173; Hudson, Viking Pirates, p. 31, figure 1 & p. 84.
Following Sitriuc's death, Amlaíb may have become king in York for a short time,Thus Keynes, "Rulers of the English", p. 505. but if he did it came to an end when Æthelstan took over the kingdom of Northumbria and defeated Sitriuc's brother Gofraid. According to William of Malmesbury, Amlaíb fled to Ireland while his uncle Gofraid made a second unsuccessful attempt to gain control of York.Downham, Viking Kings, p. 100; Hudson, Viking Pirates, p. 29; Woolf, Pictland to Alba, p. 151. Hudson, "Óláf Sihtricson", presumes Amlaíb to have been born in York, in which case he was a child at this time. In 937 an attack on Æthelstan's kingdom by Gofraid's son Amlaíb, assisted by Constantín mac Áeda, the king of Alba, and Owen, the king of Strathclyde, ended in defeat at the battle of Brunanburh.Woolf, Pictland to Alba, pp. 168–173; Downham, Viking Kings, pp. 103–105; Hudson, Viking Pirates, page numbers to be supplied. William of Malmesbury wrote that Amlaíb was present at Brunanburh and spied out the English camp the night before the battle disguised as a skald.Hudson, Viking Pirates, pp. 30–31; Hudson states: "If there is any historical basis to this story, Olaf Cuaran is clearly confused with his cousin ...".
King Æthelstan died in 939 and his successor, his half-brother Edmund, was unable to keep control of York. Amlaíb mac Gofrith, ruling in Dublin, crossed to Britain where he was accepted as king of the Northumbrians. He died in 941, shortly after sacking the church of Saint Baldred at Tyninghame, struck dead by the saint's power according to the Historia de Sancto Cuthberto.Hudson, "Óláf Guthfrithson"; Woolf, Pictland to Alba, p. 174. This traditional view of Amlaíb mac Gofrith's later career has recently been disputed by Kevin Halloran. The basic argument presented is that Amlaíb mac Gofrith did not rule in York and the suggestion that only one Amlaíb, Amlaíb Cuarán, was king there may explain some of the apparent anomalies in the numismatic record.
York
Amlaíb Cuarán's career began in 941, following the death of his cousin Amlaíb mac Gofrith, when he became co-ruler of York, sharing power with his cousin Ragnall son of Gofraid. According to the Annals of Clonmacnoise, Amlaíb had been in Britain since 940, having left another son of Gofraid, Blácaire, as ruler of Dublin.Downham, Viking Kings, pp. 43, 241 & 248; Costambeys, "Ragnall Guthfrithson"; Hudson, "Óláf Sihtricson"; Hudson, Viking Pirates, pp. 33–34; Woolf, Pictland to Alba, p. 181; Annals of Clonmacnoise, s.a. 933.
Amlaíb and Ragnall ruled in York until 944. The dating of events in the period between the death of Æthelstan and the expulsion of Amlaíb and Ragnall is uncertain as the various versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle are in conflict. It appears that after Æthelstan's death, not only did Edmund lose control of Northumbria, but that the Five Burghs of the Mercian Danelaw also pledged themselves to Amlaíb mac Gofrith.Higham, "Five Boroughs"; Higham, Kingdom of Northumbria, p. 193; Miller, "Edmund"; Woolf, Pictland to Alba, p. 174; but that either Amlaíb controlled the Mercian Danelaw is questioned by Downham, Viking Kings, pp. 108–109. One of the Amlaíbs stormed Tamworth according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:Here Olaf broke down Tamworth and a great slaughter fell on either side, and the Danes had the victory and led much war-booty away with them. Wulfrun was seized in the raid. Here King Edmund besieged King Olaf and Archbishop Wulfstan in Leicester, and he might have controlled them had they not escaped from the stronghold in the night.Swanton, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 111, Ms. D, s.a. 943. It is not clear when in the period between 940 and 943 these events took place, and as a result historians disagree as to whether they concern Amlaíb mac Gofrith or Amlaíb Cuarán.The events are associated with Amlaíb mac Gofrith by Higham, Kingdom of Northumbria, p. 193; Miller, "Edmund"; Woolf, Pictland to Alba, p. 174. Others, such as Swanton, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 111, note 11; Downham, Viking Kings, p. 110; Hudson, "Óláf Sihtricson", associate them with Amlaíb Cuarán.
Edmund reconquered the Five Burghs in 942, an event celebrated in verse by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The Chronicle reports the baptism of Amlaíb, with King Edmund becoming his godfather.Swanton, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, pp. 110–111, Ms. A, s.a. 942, Ms. D, s.a. 942 & 943. This need not mean that Amlaíb was not already a Christian, nor would such a baptism have permanently committed him to Christianity, as such baptisms were often political acts. Alfred the Great, for example, had sponsored the confirmation of Christian Welsh king Anarawd ap Rhodri.Asser's Life of King Alfred the Great. Thus Hudson, Viking Pirates, p. 34. Regarding the confirmation, Hudson describes it as "... a politically motivated act ... a recognised means of sealing an alliance with a dominant individual ...". Ragnall was baptised some time later according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Amlaíb was expelled from the kingship of York in 944. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that "King Edmund conquered all Northumbria and caused to flee away two kings [or "royally-born men"], Olaf and Rægnald".Swanton, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, pp. 110–111, Ms. A, s.a. 944, Ms. E., s.a. 944. It is possible that rivalry between Amlaíb and Ragnall contributed to their fall.Downham, Viking Kings, pp. 46 & 111–112; Woolf, Pictland to Alba, p. 182. Æthelweard's history reports that Amlaíb was deposed by a coup led by Wulfstan, Archbishop of York, and an unnamed Mercian ealdorman.Hudson, Viking Pirates, p. 35; Woolf, Pictland to Alba, p. 182, suggests that the unnamed Mercian leader was Æthelstan Half-King.
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