31 Facts About Sigtrygg Silkbeard

Sigtrygg II Silkbeard Olafsson was a Hiberno-Norse king of Dublin of the Ui Imair dynasty.

Sigtrygg Silkbeard has a prominent role in the 12th-century Irish medieval text Cogadh Gaedhil re Gallaibh and the 13th-century Icelandic Njal's Saga, as the main Norse leader at the Battle of Clontarf.

Sigtrygg Silkbeard battled with rival Norse kings, especially in Cork and Waterford.

Sigtrygg Silkbeard went on a pilgrimage to Rome in 1028 and is associated with the foundation of Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin.

Sigtrygg Silkbeard was a son of Olaf Cuaran, King of York and of Dublin, and Gormlaith ingen Murchada.

Sigtrygg Silkbeard went on to marry the King of Meath and High King of Ireland, Mael Sechnaill, and subsequently Brian Boru.

Sigtrygg Silkbeard was a beautiful, powerful and intriguing Irish woman, who, according to the 13th-century Icelandic Njal's saga, was "the fairest of all women, and best gifted in everything that was not in her own power, but it was the talk of men that she did all things ill over which she had any power".

In 998, Mael Sechnaill and the King of Munster, Brian Boru, forced Sigtrygg Silkbeard to recognise their lordship by giving hostages.

Sigtrygg Silkbeard realised that Dublin's wealth made him a target, and that his city needed powerful allies and walls.

Sigtrygg Silkbeard first allied with his maternal uncle, Mael Morda mac Murchada, King of the Ui Faelain of north Leinster.

Aournd this time, Sigtrygg Silkbeard married Slaine, Brian's daughter by his first wife; Brian, in-turn, took Sigtrygg Silkbeard's mother, the now three-times-married Gormflaith, as his second wife.

Dublin enjoyed a sustained period of peace while Sigtrygg Silkbeard's men served in the armies of Brian.

Sigtrygg Silkbeard never forgot the Ulaid's refusal of aid when he fled from Dublin and, in 1002, he had his revenge when his soldiers served in Brian's campaign against the Ulaid and ravaged their lands.

Sigtrygg Silkbeard's fleet raided Ulster, and he plundered Kilclief and Inis Cumhscraigh, taking many prisoners from both.

Sigtrygg Silkbeard aligned himself with the forces of Mael Morda, leader of the revolt, and the chiefs Ua Ruairc, Ua Neill, and others.

Sigtrygg Silkbeard sent his son Oleif to lead a fleet south to Munster to burn the Viking settlement of Cork.

Sigtrygg Silkbeard arrived in Orkney for Sigurd's Yule feast, where he sat in a high seat between the two brothers-in-law, Earl Sigurd of Orkney and Earl Gilli of the Southern Isles.

The Cogadh Gaedhil re Gallaibh records that Sigtrygg Silkbeard was able to observe the progress of the battle and the movement of the battle standards from the ramparts of his fortress.

Njal's Saga records that Sigtrygg Silkbeard was on the wing opposite Ospak of Man for the whole battle, and that Ospak eventually put the king to flight.

Immediately after Clontarf, Sigtrygg Silkbeard's fortunes appear to have declined, even though he emerged with his kingdom intact.

In 1018, Sigtrygg Silkbeard plundered Kells; he "carried off innumerable spoils and prisoners, and slew many persons in the middle of the church".

When Sigtrygg Silkbeard raided south in 1021, he was defeated at Delgany in County Wicklow where the new King of Leinster, Augaire mac Dunlainge, "made a dreadful slaughter of the foreigners" in the Kingdom of Breifne.

Sigtrygg Silkbeard formed a new alliance with the men of Brega.

Sigtrygg Silkbeard rallied to the fight again at Lickblaw where Donnchad and Roen were slain.

Sigtrygg Silkbeard was forced to pay a ransom of 1,200 cows, 140 British horses, 60 ounces of gold and of silver, "the sword of Carlus", the Irish hostages of Leinster and Leath Cuinn, "four hostages to Ua Riagain as a security for peace, and the full value of the life of the third hostage".

In 1032, without allies, Sigtrygg Silkbeard won a victory on the Boyne estuary of a type previously unseen by his dynasty for two decades, against a coalition of three kingdoms: over 300 members of the Conailli, the Ui Tortain, and the Ui Meith were captured or killed at the Battle of Inbher Boinne.

Meanwhile, in a renewal of ancient feuds that same year, Sigtrygg Silkbeard executed Ragnall King of Waterford, in Dublin.

Sigtrygg Silkbeard died in exile, at an unknown place, in 1042.

Sigtrygg Silkbeard was, according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, "a patron of the arts, a benefactor of the church, and an economic innovator".

Sigtrygg Silkbeard established a bishopric at Dublin and in 1028 he made a pilgrimage to Rome.

Sigtrygg Silkbeard went on to found Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, which today is the oldest building in Dublin, but relatively young in comparison to the many monastic cathedrals in the rest of Ireland.