Above : Picture Of St. Laurence O’Toole

Two of the great seaports on the eastern coast were now in the possession of the invaders. Greater than either, however, was Dublin. Like them, it was occupied by inhabitants of Norse descent, and, like Wexford, it was situated in Laighin, and Diarmuid, therefore, had claims over it. All the Norse, however, had fiercely resisted the supremacy of Diarmuid, and they were even less friendly disposed towards the Norman barons and their armies of Flemish soldiers, whose record of pillage in England was well known to them. The Norse of Dublin had a special reason for fearing Mac Murrough, for they had murdered his father and given him an ignominious burial. Accordingly when Diarmuid sent messengers demanding their submission, their King, Asculph Mac Torkill defied him, and, on the other hand, besought the help of the Ard Ri.

The Ard Ri responded to the call of the Dublin Norsemen, and soon an army from nearly all the Irish clans encamped near Dublin. Diarmuid, flushed with success, had now extended his claims to the supremacy of all Ireland, and prepared to march against his enemies. The eyes of all were directed to Dublin as in the days before Clontarf. The position, however, was now reversed ; the Irish army defended Dublin ; the invaders were the assailing force. The Ard Ri sent troops to block the road which lay between the mountains and the sea. With his main army he encamped at Clondalkin to meet any force which, following Brian’s route {page 79), might come round the mountains through the plains of Leinster.

The Leinstermen, however; knew their territory too well, and they and their allies came by neither route. Tragersing the valleys and sacking Glendalough on their way, they crossed the passes of the mountains, and poured down on Dublin behind Rory’s army, through the woods which stretched to the very walls of the city. The citizens, taken by surprise, sent the Archbishop, St. Laurence O’Toole, to treat with the enemy, but while the negotiations were proceeding, 6ome of the Normans led by Raymond Le Gros and Milo de Cogan, burst into the city and began slaughtering the inhabitants. The other Normans followed. Mac Torkill and some of his followers escaped to their ships, and sailed to their kinsmen in the Isle of Man and the Hebrides, and the Normans remained in possession of Dublin (September, 1170).

When Dublin fell, Rory’s army disappeared ■—each unit retiring to its own territory. Diarmuid and his associates then went to the assistance of his friends amongst the O Maolachlans; and ravaged the lands of their rivals in Meath, and also attacked his old foe, O’Rourke of Breifne. Otherwise, the invaders merely held the three seaports they had captured from the Norse inhabitants. At a synod held in Armagh towards the close of the year, the invasion was declared to be a punishment for the practice which prevailed amongst the Irish of buying English children as slaves, and it was decreed that any English slaves in Ireland should be set free. Early next year (May 1171) the aged Mac Murrough, known ever after as ” Diarmuid na n-Gall” died at Ferns.

A prominent figure in the events connected with the invasion was that of St. Laurence O’Toole. His father was chief of his clan, representative of Ui Muireadhaigh, and, therefore, one of the three great ” ruling clans ” of Laighin. Early in life he had been a hostage in the hands of Diarmuid Mac Murrough, who treated him with severity, and although his sister was afterwards married to Diarmuid, and became the mother of Strongbow’s bride, Eva, there was little friendship between the brothers-in-law. At an early age Laurence was made Abbot of Glendalough, and in 1161, when he was not yet thirty years old, he was consecrated Archbishop of Dublin. When the invasion took place, he endeavoured to unite his fellow-countrymen in opposing it, and when he found that the invaders had made a permanent footing in the country, he exerted himself to secure some measure of justice in their dealings with the Irish clans. His position in the See of Dublin is more prominent because his successors for many centuries were practically the nominees of the Kings of England.