What was Dublin like in the Viking era and what status did the city enjoy in the greater Viking world? In this anniversary year of the Battle of Clontarf, two historians bring their expert knowledge to this debate.
Sean Duffy’s Brian Boru and the Battle of Clontarf offers a new interpretation of the role of the Vikings in Irish affairs and explains how Brian emerged from obscurity to attain the high-kingship of Ireland because of his exploitation of the Viking presence.
Philip Parker is the author of The Northmen’s Fury: a History of the Viking World which describes how a region at the edge of Europe came to dominate and to terrorise much of the rest of the continent for nearly three centuries.
