Today is the anniversary of the death of one of Ireland's great heroes.
Brian Boru was killed after the Battle of Clontarf whilst offering prayers of thanks in his tent. Almost to the day in fact, 23rd April 1014 was a Good Friday.
I always remember my Granny telling me the story about my name when I was very little.
Brian Boru's March is a lovely tune, but I cannot play it lively in Am. For me it has a certain pathos and I play it a lot slower, like a death march and in Em. It seems to convey so much sadness in that key.
Any one else play it differently, or other tunes for that matter, because of a special meaning or interpretation?
I use to play it in E on whistle-because it was so much easier!I used to tell people it was because I liked it in that key but it was really just so much easier! I play it in A on banjo and make it quite lively-the third part is begging for fast pull offs.
From an account of a performance by a harper named Byrne which appeared in The Emerald of New York in 1870--
Byrne’s command of the harp was complete, the writer tells us. His touch was singularly delicate yet equally firm. He could make the strings whisper like the sigh of the rising wind on a summer eve,or clang with a martial fierceness that made your pulses beat quicker.After quaffing a generous tumbler of punch, he would say, “Now,
ladies and gentlemen, I am going to play you the celebrated march of the great King Brian to the field of Clontarf, when he gave theDanes such a drubbing. The Irish army is far off, but if you listen Attentively you will hear the faint sound of their music.” Then his fingers would wander over the upper range of strings with so delicatea touch that you might fancy it was fairy music heard from a distance.Anything more fine, more soft and delicate than this performance, it is impossible to conceive. “They are coming nearer!” And the sound
increased in volume. “Now here they are!” And the music rolled loud and full. Thus the march went on; the fingers of the minstrel’sright hand wandering farther down the bass range. You find it hard to keep your feet quiet, and feel inclined to take part in the march music assumes a merry, lightsome character, as if it were played fordancers. “Rejoicing for the victory!” But this abruptly ceases; there is another shriek and dischord, jangling and confusion in the upper bass stings. The harper explains as usual, “They have found the old
King murdered in his tent.” Then the air becomes much slower and singularly plaintive. “Mourning for Brian’s death.” There is a firmerand louder touch now, with occasional plaintive effects with the left
hand. “They are marching now with the brave old King’s body to Drogheda.” The music now assumes a slow and steady tone, the tone is lowered, and grows momentarily louder and louder, till finally itdies away...And all these marvellous effects are produced upon what is used as a simple dance tune in the south of Ireland
Being serious, I understand he was killed by fleeing Danes as he offered prayers in his tent. And, as I've head explained to me, it was every warrior's desire to die in battle, I find it sad thsat he was denied this, hence my earlier comment alluding to pathos.
I loved your comment about a naughty boy! The sort of life I lead means that I do not always get the access to this and that which seem to be common to so many people today, eg., television, internet etc.
However, I did see "The Life of Brian" for the first time in 2008!
How I laughed. I then understood why so many people have said "Brian, you're a very naughty boy!"
To think that a quarter of a century had elapsed is startling. Also, because for its time it was so thought provoking, and still is. It certainly goes on to my list of all-time favourite films.
On the family thread, I've been told that Brian has been passed on through the generations of the Smiths of Forkhill, South Armagh.
Being positive, I am doubly blessed that my father was John Brian!
It wasn't a group of fleeing Danes but rather a bunch of foreign, IE a group that had turned up just for the party, norse/gales who had broken off to grab some plunder from the supply train in an attempt to salvage something from the day that promised to be short of spoils.
The fellow who dispatched the last High King of Ireland was taken to a tree by the remnant of the failed body guard where they cut open his side, removed a piece of small intestine, nailed it to the said tree and marched him round until completely drawn.
It wasn't just as simple as a fight between the Danes & the Irish , there were norse & irish fighting on both sides. In those days it was never about nationalist inspired struggles, it was all about the struggle for High Kingship, in which the groups were seldom aligned ethnically and usually kin against kin. The viking King of Dublin chose the wrong side and lost fighting against his High King.
"It wasn't just as simple as a fight between the Danes & the Irish , there were norse & irish fighting on both sides. In those days it was never about nationalist inspired struggles, it was all about the struggle for High Kingship, in which the groups were seldom aligned ethnically and usually kin against kin."
Solidmahog has it - the Battle of Clontarf is another example of a historical event being resurrected and reinvented by later generations to suit the political needs of the day.
He was a clever old begger. Died in 1014 or so, yet his harp dates from 1400+something.
He must be completely hacked off by the naff bit in the D music of "his" march though, and I bet they play it wherever he goes. Mind you, he's prob deaf by now anyway.
A great way to take note of day would be to listen again to Maurice Lennon's beautiful Brian Boru suite, which is on a recording posted here on April 23 a few years ago:
I'd have thought that on the whole the Viking people Brian Boru fought would have been of Norwegian descent, not Danish. Norwegian raiders and settlers found their way down to Ireland via Northern and Western Scotland. I don't think the Danish settlement in England got as far as the Irish Sea, or crossed it en masse.
But individual Scandinavians *did* travel and go adventuring round each others' territories, so a bunch of gap-year Danes could just have bumped into Brian Boru at a vulnerable moment, a bit like one of those incongruous no-good bunches who turn up with the baddies in "Blazing Saddles".
The upshot of Clontarf was the flight from Ireland of the Irish-Norse. Large numbers of these settled in North-West England, as far as I know peaceably and on land still then marginal. They are still there, notably in the Yorkshire Dales where they settled down to become Yorkshiremen, get trapped in the Tan Hill Inn by blizzards for weeks at a stretch, and write heart-warming memoirs about wrestling with the revolting complaints of livestock. Whether or not their ethnicity was mixed, the language behind the dialect words and names there is very much Scandinavian. It's a beautiful part of the world.
True nicholas, but remember that them vikings fought among themselves and when the King of the Danes came to dominate the The Norwegian Kings they grabbed the Norwegian Kingdoms: Dublin Orkney Caithness York and Man, so Dublin was under Danish rule at the time.
By this time many were only viking in name not ethnically so.
Yes, you make a good point regarding hiberno-norse settlement along the western costal fringes of Wales & England after the event but alas, their study has been blighted also, by political fudging and the nationalist agendas of the countries in question. Galloway in Scotland is the spot that remembers these people in the place name, the gallagael.
It's likely that there was little norse blood by that time as it would have been well diluted with abos from the british isles and ireland, also further a field. Gaelic was their language rather than norse although the chiefs and free men no doubt may well have been bilingual. The pity is that these people are looked at in isolation in an isolated geographical context (because they're spread over the coast of three countries each with it's own funding criteria and political agenda), only now are people starting to view this group as a whole. There is quite a bit known of these free boaters as much is preserved in the chronicles regarding the alliances made and trouble caused. It'll be the ones who settled that'll still be there.
There is so little known about the north west mainland of the time (doesn't get a mention anywhere from roman times until the 11th century) that it's almost impossible to get an idea of the overall situation on the atlantic west as a result. One thing that seems likely is that there was a resurgence of paganism during this time (unknown just how christian the population was before the arrival of the black and various other hues of heathen) would partly account for the lack of documentation for the north west and incline the christians to disown their fellow gael who fought below a raven banner or otherwise held onto older indigenous belief.
Modern study of the norse sagas shows that the gaelic influence on the norse was profound. And strangely enough many of the hero navigators mentioned therein hold gaelic names.
Not sure abpout his harp but he was probably one of the first to use one of these:-
I was up to my kneecaps in peat moss
On a turf contract down in the bog
When me schline struck something hard sir,
Like a stick or a stone or a log
‘Twas a chest of the finest bog oak, sir.
And I wondered just what it could hide,
So I chances me luck with the fairies
And I takes a quick peek inside
Now ye’ll hardly believe what I tell ye
It’s nearly too good to be true
‘Twas an ancient auld Irish French letter
A relic of Brian Boru
Aye’ an ancient auld Irish French letter
Made of elk hide and twelve inches tall
With a kind of red cowl on the top, sir.
And stud fees and rubies and all
(to be continued)
Interesting information - thanks. I hadn't known that by the time of Brian Boru, the Norse world in Ireland and other Northern and Western places had come, at least nominally, under Danish rule.
Danish overlord ship was likely only nominal in many places but important slave trading centers like Dublin were likely under direct control. After all the whole of england was ruled by a danish king around that time.
How time flies...Brian Boru
How time flies...Brian Boru
Today is the anniversary of the death of one of Ireland's great heroes.
Brian Boru was killed after the Battle of Clontarf whilst offering prayers of thanks in his tent. Almost to the day in fact, 23rd April 1014 was a Good Friday.
I always remember my Granny telling me the story about my name when I was very little.
Brian Boru's March is a lovely tune, but I cannot play it lively in Am. For me it has a certain pathos and I play it a lot slower, like a death march and in Em. It seems to convey so much sadness in that key.
Any one else play it differently, or other tunes for that matter, because of a special meaning or interpretation?
All the best
Brian x
# Posted on April 23rd 2011 by briantheflute
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
Who killed him? Why?
Did your Gran tell you this:
(1)To frighten you?
(2)To say that BB went out in a state of grace?
(3)To say Brian was a very naughty boy and deserved it?
(3)To say life just bites some people on the bum, & that's that?
(4)Other.
Good wishes anyway, Brian!
# Posted on April 23rd 2011 by nicholas
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
I use to play it in E on whistle-because it was so much easier!I used to tell people it was because I liked it in that key but it was really just so much easier! I play it in A on banjo and make it quite lively-the third part is begging for fast pull offs.
# Posted on April 23rd 2011 by shanty
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
From an account of a performance by a harper named Byrne which appeared in The Emerald of New York in 1870--
Byrne’s command of the harp was complete, the writer tells us. His touch was singularly delicate yet equally firm. He could make the strings whisper like the sigh of the rising wind on a summer eve,or clang with a martial fierceness that made your pulses beat quicker.After quaffing a generous tumbler of punch, he would say, “Now,
ladies and gentlemen, I am going to play you the celebrated march of the great King Brian to the field of Clontarf, when he gave theDanes such a drubbing. The Irish army is far off, but if you listen Attentively you will hear the faint sound of their music.” Then his fingers would wander over the upper range of strings with so delicatea touch that you might fancy it was fairy music heard from a distance.Anything more fine, more soft and delicate than this performance, it is impossible to conceive. “They are coming nearer!” And the sound
increased in volume. “Now here they are!” And the music rolled loud and full. Thus the march went on; the fingers of the minstrel’sright hand wandering farther down the bass range. You find it hard to keep your feet quiet, and feel inclined to take part in the march music assumes a merry, lightsome character, as if it were played fordancers. “Rejoicing for the victory!” But this abruptly ceases; there is another shriek and dischord, jangling and confusion in the upper bass stings. The harper explains as usual, “They have found the old
King murdered in his tent.” Then the air becomes much slower and singularly plaintive. “Mourning for Brian’s death.” There is a firmerand louder touch now, with occasional plaintive effects with the left
hand. “They are marching now with the brave old King’s body to Drogheda.” The music now assumes a slow and steady tone, the tone is lowered, and grows momentarily louder and louder, till finally itdies away...And all these marvellous effects are produced upon what is used as a simple dance tune in the south of Ireland
# Posted on April 23rd 2011 by shanty
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
G'day nicholas!
I laughed when I read your reply!
Being serious, I understand he was killed by fleeing Danes as he offered prayers in his tent. And, as I've head explained to me, it was every warrior's desire to die in battle, I find it sad thsat he was denied this, hence my earlier comment alluding to pathos.
I loved your comment about a naughty boy! The sort of life I lead means that I do not always get the access to this and that which seem to be common to so many people today, eg., television, internet etc.
However, I did see "The Life of Brian" for the first time in 2008!
How I laughed. I then understood why so many people have said "Brian, you're a very naughty boy!"
To think that a quarter of a century had elapsed is startling. Also, because for its time it was so thought provoking, and still is. It certainly goes on to my list of all-time favourite films.
On the family thread, I've been told that Brian has been passed on through the generations of the Smiths of Forkhill, South Armagh.
Being positive, I am doubly blessed that my father was John Brian!
All the best
Brian x
# Posted on April 23rd 2011 by briantheflute
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
Did you know that King B B has a wig museum?
# Posted on April 23rd 2011 by yhaalhouse
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
That wig museum is appropriately full of tragic partings.
# Posted on April 23rd 2011 by sergeant fox
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
It wasn't a group of fleeing Danes but rather a bunch of foreign, IE a group that had turned up just for the party, norse/gales who had broken off to grab some plunder from the supply train in an attempt to salvage something from the day that promised to be short of spoils.
The fellow who dispatched the last High King of Ireland was taken to a tree by the remnant of the failed body guard where they cut open his side, removed a piece of small intestine, nailed it to the said tree and marched him round until completely drawn.
It wasn't just as simple as a fight between the Danes & the Irish , there were norse & irish fighting on both sides. In those days it was never about nationalist inspired struggles, it was all about the struggle for High Kingship, in which the groups were seldom aligned ethnically and usually kin against kin. The viking King of Dublin chose the wrong side and lost fighting against his High King.
# Posted on April 23rd 2011 by Solidmahog
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
"It wasn't just as simple as a fight between the Danes & the Irish , there were norse & irish fighting on both sides. In those days it was never about nationalist inspired struggles, it was all about the struggle for High Kingship, in which the groups were seldom aligned ethnically and usually kin against kin."
A bit like thesession.org, in fact.
# Posted on April 23rd 2011 by Weejie
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
"That wig museum is appropriately full of tragic partings."
It could be seen as a fringe benefit.
# Posted on April 23rd 2011 by Weejie
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
"A bit like thesession.org, in fact." Weejie
Well yes, now you come to mention it.
# Posted on April 23rd 2011 by Solidmahog
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
Solidmahog has it - the Battle of Clontarf is another example of a historical event being resurrected and reinvented by later generations to suit the political needs of the day.
# Posted on April 23rd 2011 by the wounded hussar
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
"...every warrior's desire to die in battle..."
Yeah, right.
# Posted on April 23rd 2011 by gam
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
I get so confused with all this Klingon mythology.
# Posted on April 23rd 2011 by yhaalhouse
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
Every warrior's desire is to have the other guy die in battle.
# Posted on April 23rd 2011 by fidkid
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
He was a clever old begger. Died in 1014 or so, yet his harp dates from 1400+something.
He must be completely hacked off by the naff bit in the D music of "his" march though, and I bet they play it wherever he goes. Mind you, he's prob deaf by now anyway.
# Posted on April 23rd 2011 by TomB-R
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
A great way to take note of day would be to listen again to Maurice Lennon's beautiful Brian Boru suite, which is on a recording posted here on April 23 a few years ago:
Brian Boru - The High King Of Tara
# Posted on April 23rd 2011 by fiddlercjp
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
I'd have thought that on the whole the Viking people Brian Boru fought would have been of Norwegian descent, not Danish. Norwegian raiders and settlers found their way down to Ireland via Northern and Western Scotland. I don't think the Danish settlement in England got as far as the Irish Sea, or crossed it en masse.
But individual Scandinavians *did* travel and go adventuring round each others' territories, so a bunch of gap-year Danes could just have bumped into Brian Boru at a vulnerable moment, a bit like one of those incongruous no-good bunches who turn up with the baddies in "Blazing Saddles".
# Posted on April 23rd 2011 by nicholas
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
The upshot of Clontarf was the flight from Ireland of the Irish-Norse. Large numbers of these settled in North-West England, as far as I know peaceably and on land still then marginal. They are still there, notably in the Yorkshire Dales where they settled down to become Yorkshiremen, get trapped in the Tan Hill Inn by blizzards for weeks at a stretch, and write heart-warming memoirs about wrestling with the revolting complaints of livestock. Whether or not their ethnicity was mixed, the language behind the dialect words and names there is very much Scandinavian. It's a beautiful part of the world.
# Posted on April 23rd 2011 by nicholas
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
True nicholas, but remember that them vikings fought among themselves and when the King of the Danes came to dominate the The Norwegian Kings they grabbed the Norwegian Kingdoms: Dublin Orkney Caithness York and Man, so Dublin was under Danish rule at the time.
By this time many were only viking in name not ethnically so.
Yes, you make a good point regarding hiberno-norse settlement along the western costal fringes of Wales & England after the event but alas, their study has been blighted also, by political fudging and the nationalist agendas of the countries in question. Galloway in Scotland is the spot that remembers these people in the place name, the gallagael.
It's likely that there was little norse blood by that time as it would have been well diluted with abos from the british isles and ireland, also further a field. Gaelic was their language rather than norse although the chiefs and free men no doubt may well have been bilingual. The pity is that these people are looked at in isolation in an isolated geographical context (because they're spread over the coast of three countries each with it's own funding criteria and political agenda), only now are people starting to view this group as a whole. There is quite a bit known of these free boaters as much is preserved in the chronicles regarding the alliances made and trouble caused. It'll be the ones who settled that'll still be there.
There is so little known about the north west mainland of the time (doesn't get a mention anywhere from roman times until the 11th century) that it's almost impossible to get an idea of the overall situation on the atlantic west as a result. One thing that seems likely is that there was a resurgence of paganism during this time (unknown just how christian the population was before the arrival of the black and various other hues of heathen) would partly account for the lack of documentation for the north west and incline the christians to disown their fellow gael who fought below a raven banner or otherwise held onto older indigenous belief.
Modern study of the norse sagas shows that the gaelic influence on the norse was profound. And strangely enough many of the hero navigators mentioned therein hold gaelic names.
# Posted on April 24th 2011 by Solidmahog
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
"free booters"
# Posted on April 24th 2011 by Solidmahog
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
Not sure abpout his harp but he was probably one of the first to use one of these:-
I was up to my kneecaps in peat moss
On a turf contract down in the bog
When me schline struck something hard sir,
Like a stick or a stone or a log
‘Twas a chest of the finest bog oak, sir.
And I wondered just what it could hide,
So I chances me luck with the fairies
And I takes a quick peek inside
Now ye’ll hardly believe what I tell ye
It’s nearly too good to be true
‘Twas an ancient auld Irish French letter
A relic of Brian Boru
Aye’ an ancient auld Irish French letter
Made of elk hide and twelve inches tall
With a kind of red cowl on the top, sir.
And stud fees and rubies and all
(to be continued)
# Posted on April 24th 2011 by Free Reed
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
Brian -
Maurice Lennon Composed a work -
' Brian Boru The High King of Tara '
http://www.mauricelennon.com/
Link is from his web site - jim,,,
# Posted on April 24th 2011 by FIDDLE4
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
Wow. Never met anyone named Boru before.
# Posted on April 25th 2011 by MorganYYZ
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
@solidmahog:
Interesting information - thanks. I hadn't known that by the time of Brian Boru, the Norse world in Ireland and other Northern and Western places had come, at least nominally, under Danish rule.
# Posted on April 26th 2011 by nicholas
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
Danish overlord ship was likely only nominal in many places but important slave trading centers like Dublin were likely under direct control. After all the whole of england was ruled by a danish king around that time.
# Posted on April 26th 2011 by Solidmahog
Re: How time flies...Brian Boru
Free Reed;
doesn't it end something like: -
"You've had your own way long enough
"It's the hair side out tonight !" ?
# Posted on April 26th 2011 by Guernsey Pete