After The Advent of Norsement

Above: Illustrating picture about the Norsemen

After the advent of the Norsemen and largely as the result thereof, respect for the sanctity of the marriage bond waned somewhat, but to a degree scarcely perceptible by comparison with the conditions among continental peoples. Prominent instances met with in the native annals are those of Gormflaith daughter of Flann Siona who died in g^yt having been betrothed if not married to Cormac mac Cuilean-nain and wedded subsequently to Niall Glundubh and to Cearbhall king of Leinster; and of the more notorious Gormflaith, sister of Maolmordha king of Leinster, who was married first to Amhlaoibh Cuaran, then to Maelsheach-lain, later to his rival, Brian Boirmhe, and finally had herself promised in marriage to the leading foreign chiefs invited to Ireland to overthrow Brian at Clontarf. A couple of years before Gormflaith’s separation from Brian, another wife Dubhcoblach daughter of the king of Connacht is recorded to have died—in 1009. During the fervour which followed the mission of Patrick, it was not unusual for husband and wife to separate by mutual consent, withdraw from the cares of the world, and devote the remainder of their lives to the service of the new Church. In later times, particularly after the incursions of the Danes, references to queens ending their days
in religious houses are not infrequent. Conceivably, in those turbulent and more materialistic times, some queens after a period of married life withdrew from the anxieties of the world to the seclusion of the cloister, thus releasing, at least by implication, their warlike husbands from their marriage bonds.    Dr. Lanigan in his Ecclesiastical History partly explains this phenomenon by the old distinction and possible interval between sponsalia de futuro and de praesenti, i.e. between solemn
betrothal or espousal and the consummation or contract of matrimony.As in the case of Brigid and other historic names, many remarkable women bore the name of Gormflaith. The Annals of Ulster record that Gormflaith, most delightful queen of the Scoti, died after penance in 860. And Gormflaith daughter of Murchadh mac Diarmada comharb of Brigid  abbess of Kildare died in good penance in 1112. Other examples have just been noted.