AmlaÃÂb Conung ( ; died c. 874) was a Viking leader in Ireland and Scotland in the mid-late ninth century. He was the son of the king of Lochlann, identified in the non-contemporary Fragmentary Annals of Ireland as Gofraid, and brother of Auisle and ÃÂmar, the latter of whom founded the UàÃÂmair dynasty, and whose descendants would go on to dominate the Irish Sea region for several centuries. Another Viking leader, Halfdan Ragnarsson, is considered by some scholars to be another brother. The Irish Annals title AmlaÃÂb, ÃÂmar and Auisle "kings of the foreigners". Modern scholars use the title "kings of Dublin" after the Viking settlement which formed the base of their power. The epithet "Conung" is derived from the Old Norse konungr and simply means "king". Some scholars consider AmlaÃÂb to be identical to Olaf the White, a Viking sea-king who features in the Landnámabók and other Icelandic sagas.
During the late 850s and early 860s AmlaÃÂb was involved in a protracted conflict with Máel Sechnaill, overking of the Southern UàNéill and the most powerful ruler in Ireland. The cause of the conflict is uncertain, but it may have been sparked by competition for control of Munster and its resources. AmlaÃÂb allied successively with Cerball, King of Ossory and ÃÂed Findliath, overking of the Northern UàNéill against Máel Sechnaill. Máel Sechnaill died in 862 and his lands were split, effectively ending the conflict. Following this AmlaÃÂb and his kin warred with several Irish leaders in an attempt to expand their kingdom's influence. In later years AmlaÃÂb conducted extensive raids in Scotland, though these were interrupted by a war in 868 against his former ally ÃÂed Findliath when several Viking longphorts along the northern coast were razed. AmlaÃÂb disappears from contemporary annals in 871. Later accounts say he returned to Lochlann to aid his father in a war, and the Pictish Chronicle says he died in battle against Constantine I of Scotland. This event is usually dated to 874.
The earliest recorded Viking raids in Ireland occurred in 795. Over time, these raids increased in intensity, and they overwintered in Ireland for the first time in 840–841. Later in 841 a longphort was constructed at ÃÂth Cliath (Irish for hurdled ford), a site which would later develop into the city of Dublin. Longphorts were also established at other sites around Ireland, some of which developed into larger Viking settlements over time. The Viking population in Ireland was boosted in 851 with the arrival of a large group known as "dark foreigners" â a contentious term usually considered to mean the newly arrived Vikings, as opposed to the "fair foreigners", i.e., the Viking population which was resident in arrival prior to this influx. A kingdom in Viking Scotland was established by the mid ninth-century, and it exerted control over some of the Vikings in Ireland. By 853 a separate kingdom of Dublin had been set up which claimed control over all the Vikings in Ireland.
The earliest mention of AmlaÃÂb Conung is in the Annals of Ulster, which in 853 describe his arrival in Ireland:
AmlaÃÂb is named in the annals as a "king of the foreigners", but in modern texts he is usually labelled the first king of Dublin, after the Viking settlement which was the base of his power. His brothers arrived in Ireland later and ruled together as co-kings. The Fragmentary Annals go into more detail regarding AmlaÃÂb's arrival:
Lochlann, originally Laithlinn or Lothlend, the land where AmlaÃÂb's father was king, is often identified with Norway, but it is not universally accepted that it had such a meaning in early times. Several historians have proposed instead that in early times, and certainly as late as the Battle of Clontarf in 1014, Laithlinn refers to the Norse and Norse-Gael lands in the Hebrides, the Isle of Man, the Northern Isles and parts of mainland Scotland. Whatever the original sense, by the twelfth century, when Magnus Barefoot undertook his expedition to the West, it had come to mean Norway.
If he did indeed leave Ireland, AmlaÃÂb had returned by 857 at the latest when he and ÃÂmar fought against Máel Sechnaill, overking of the Southern UàNéill, and a group of Vikings sometimes known as the Norse-Irish. Máel Sechnaill was the most powerful king in Ireland at the time and his lands lay close to the Viking settlement of Dublin. The fighting began in the previous year: "Great warfare between the heathens and Mael Sechnaill, supported by Norse-Irish" is reported by the Annals of Ulster.
The fighting was focused on Munster; Máel Sechnaill sought to increase his influence over the kings there. He took hostages from the province in 854, 856 and 858, and the power of the over-kings had been weakened in 856 by a Viking raid on the royal centre at Lough Cend, when Gormán son of Lonán, a relative of Munster's over-king, was killed alongside a great many others. This weakness likely drew the gaze of both Máel Sechnaill and the Vikings, and their competition for Munster's resources may have been the cause of the war. Early battles seem to have gone the way of the Vikings: AmlaÃÂb and ÃÂmar "inflicted a rout on Caitill the Fair and his Norse-Irish in the lands of Munster". Although there is no certain evidence to suggest that this Caitill is the same person as the Ketill Flatnose of later sagas, Anderson and Crawford have suggested that they are the same person.
In 858 ÃÂmar, allied with Cerball, King of Ossory, routed a force of Norse-Irish at Araid TÃÂre (east of Lough Derg and the Shannon in modern-day County Tipperary). Ossory was a small kingdom wedged between the larger realms of Munster and Leinster. At the beginning of his reign in the 840s, Cerball's allegiance was pledged to the over-king of Munster, but as that kingdom grew weaker Ossory's strategic location allowed opportunities for his advancement. Cerball had previously fought against the Vikings, but he allied with them to challenge the supremacy of Máel Sechnaill and his Norse-Irish allies. The following year AmlaÃÂb, ÃÂmar and Cerball conducted a raid on Máel Sechnaill's heartlands in Meath, and in consequence a royal conference was held at Rathugh (modern-day County Westmeath). Following this meeting Cerball shed his allegiance to the Vikings and formally submitted to Máel Sechnaill in order to "make peace and amity between the men of Ireland".
With their ally turned against them, AmlaÃÂb and ÃÂmar sought a new alliance with ÃÂed Findliath, overking of the Northern UàNéill, and rival of Máel Sechnaill. In 860 Máel Sechnaill and Cerball led a large army of men from Munster, Leinster, Connacht and the Southern UàNéill into the lands of ÃÂed Findliath near Armagh. While the southern forces were encamped there, ÃÂed launched a night attack, killing some of the southern men, but his forces took many casualties and were forced to retreat. In retaliation for this invasion AmlaÃÂb and ÃÂed led raids into Meath in 861 and 862, but they were driven off both times. According to the Fragmentary Annals this alliance had been cemented by a political marriage:
In later years, alliance between the Northern UàNéill and the Vikings of Dublin became a regular occurrence: the Northern and Southern UàNéill were frequent competitors for supremacy in Ireland, and the uneasy neighbourhood between Dublin and the Southern UàNéill made the Vikings natural allies for the Northerners.
Máel Sechnaill died in 862, and his territory in Meath was split between two rulers, Lorcán mac Cathail and Conchobar mac Donnchada. AmlaÃÂb and ÃÂmar, now joined in Ireland by their younger brother Auisle, sought to make use of this change to extend their influence in the lands of the Southern UàNéill. In 863 the three brothers raided Brega in alliance with Lorcán, and the following year AmlaÃÂb drowned Conchobar at Clonard Abbey. Muirecán mac Diarmata, overking of the UàDúnchada, was killed by Vikings in 863, probably by AmlaÃÂb and his kin trying to expand into Leinster.
Beginning around 864 the three brothers halted their campaigns of conquest in Ireland, and instead campaigned in Britain. ÃÂmar disappears from the Irish Annals in 864, and does not reappear until 870. Downham concludes he is identical to Ivar the Boneless, a Viking leader who was active in England during this period as a commander of the Great Heathen Army. According to O Croinin "ÃÂmar has been identified with ÃÂvarr Beinlausi (the boneless), son of Ragnar Lodbrok, but the matter is controversial". In 866 AmlaÃÂb and Auisle led a large army to Pictland and raided much of the country, taking away many hostages.
The native Irish kings took advantage of this absence to fight back against the growing Viking power in Ireland. In 866 a number of longphorts along the northern coast were destroyed by ÃÂed Findliath, overking of the Northern UàNéill. It is possible that ÃÂed was still allied with AmlaÃÂb at this point, and that the longphorts which were razed belonged to Vikings not affiliated with the Dubliners, but by 868 at the latest AmlaÃÂb and ÃÂed were at war. In 865 or 866 a battle was won by Flann mac Conaing, overking of Brega, against the Vikings, possibly in retaliation for the raids on his land by AmlaÃÂb and his brothers in 863. Numerous further setbacks for the Vikings occurred in 866–867 when their camps at Cork and Youghal were destroyed, an army was routed in Kerry, two battles were lost against the native Irish in Leinster, and AmlaÃÂb's fort at Clondalkin was destroyed.
AmlaÃÂb returned to Ireland in 867, probably to try to stop this string of defeats. His return is attested to in the Annals of Inisfallen, which mention an "act of treachery" committed against the church of Lismore (modern-day County Waterford). Around this time his brother Auisle was murdered by a kinsman, possibly by AmlaÃÂb himself. In 868 another of AmlaÃÂb's kinsmen was killed, this time his son Carlus, who died in battle at Killineer (near the Boyne, County Louth), fighting against the forces of AmlaÃÂb's former ally ÃÂed Findliath. This battle was a significant victory for the Northern UàNéill and is recorded in many Irish chronicles. In retaliation for this defeat AmlaÃÂb raided the monastery at Armagh, which was one of the most important religious sites patronised by the over-kings of the Northern UàNéill.
In 870 the situation of the Vikings was improved by infighting amongst the ruling Irish of Leinster. Another victory came that year when a previously unknown "dark foreigner" known as ÃÂlfr killed a king of southern Brega. The situation had evidently stabilised enough for AmlaÃÂb to go raiding in Britain again: in 870 AmlaÃÂb and ÃÂmar (once more appearing in the Irish Annals after an absence of six years) laid siege to Dumbarton Rock, the chief fortress of the Kingdom of Strathclyde, and captured it following a four-month siege. The pair returned to Dublin in 871 with 200 ships and they "brought with them in captivity a great prey of Angles, Britons and Picts".
AmlaÃÂb's return to Dublin in 871 is the final time he is mentioned in contemporary annals, but according to the Fragmentary Annals he returned to Lochlann that year to aid his father Gofraid in a war. According to the Pictish Chronicle, he died around 874 during a protracted campaign against Constantine I in Scotland:
The Viking sea-king Olaf the White, who features in several Nordic sagas, is positively identified with AmlaÃÂb by Hudson. According to Holman, "Olaf is usually identified with the AmlaÃÂb that is the first recorded king of the Vikings in Ireland." The Landnámabók says that Olaf the White landed in Ireland in 852 and established the kingdom of Dublin, closely corresponding to the Irish annals' account of AmlaÃÂb. AmlaÃÂb's lineage according to this saga is as follows:
The Laxdæla saga offers a slightly different genealogy, naming Olaf the son of Ingjald, the son of King Frodi the Valiant. Both of these options are problematic since according to the Irish annals (albeit the non-contemporary Fragmentary Annals) AmlaÃÂb was the son of Gofraid, King of Lochlann. The sagas identify Aud the Deep-minded, daughter of Ketill Flatnose, as Olaf's wife, but the Irish annals name a daughter of ÃÂed Findliath as the spouse of AmlaÃÂb in one account, and the daughter of "Cináed" in another. They also disagree on AmlaÃÂb/Olaf's children, the sagas naming Thorstein the Red, and the annals naming Oistin and Carlus. Todd in his translation of Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh suggests that Thorstein and Oistin are the same person, but later historians have rejected this due to "the obvious discrepancy of their dates".
A further complication is that the Pictish Chronicle says AmlaÃÂb was killed in battle in Scotland, whereas the sagas say Olaf was killed in battle in Ireland. Hudson proposes a solution for this apparent contradictionâÂÂthe Vikings did not distinguish between the Gaelic peoples of Scotland and Ireland.
AmlaÃÂb's father is identified as Gofraid by the Fragmentary Annals. He was joined in Ireland by his brother ÃÂmar sometime in or before 857 and by his brother Auisle sometime in or before 863. The three are identified as "kings of the foreigners" by the Annals of Ulster in 863, and as brothers by the Fragmentary Annals:
The Annals of Ulster say that Auisle was killed in 867 by "kinsmen in parricide". The Fragmentary Annals state explicitly that AmlaÃÂb and ÃÂmar were responsible for their brother's death:
Some scholars identify Halfdan Ragnarsson as another brother. This identification is contingent upon ÃÂmar being identical to Ivar the Boneless: Halfdan and Ivar are named as brothers in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. According to the Annals of Ulster AmlaÃÂb's son Oistin was slain in battle by "Albann" in 875. This figure is generally agreed to be Halfdan. If that is correct, then it may explain the reason for the conflict: it was a dynastic squabble for control of the kingdom. One potential problem is that according to Norse tradition Ivar and Halfdan were the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok, whereas ÃÂmar and AmlaÃÂb are named as sons of Gofraid in the Fragmentary Annals. However, the historicity of Ragnar is uncertain and the identification of Ragnar as the father of Ivar and Halfdan is not to be relied upon.
Two wives of AmlaÃÂb are mentioned by the annals. The first, an unnamed daughter of ÃÂed Findliath is mentioned in passing by the Fragmentary Annals with regards to an alliance between AmlaÃÂb and ÃÂed. Elsewhere the Fragmentary Annals, when reporting the death of Auisle, refer to "the daughter of Cináed" as AmlaÃÂb's wife. It has been suggested that the reference to ÃÂed is mistaken, and that AmlaÃÂb's wife was a daughter of Cináed mac Conaing, who had been drowned by Máel Sechnaill in 851. Another possibility is that the Cináed in question is Cináed mac AilpÃÂn (i.e., Kenneth MacAlpin, which would make AmlaÃÂb a brother-in-law of his killer Constantine I, a son of Kenneth). Two sons are noted by the annals: Oistin and Carlus, each of whom is mentioned a single time. Both died violently: Carlus died in 868 fighting against ÃÂed Findliath and Oistin was "deceitfully killed by Albann" in 875.