In the Annals of Ulster you may read the tale of Cath Chluain Tarbh, when Máel Sechnaill and Brian Boru rode together to the conquest of Dublintown and fought on those royal banks Sigtrygg Silkbeard, King of Dublin, Sigurd the Stout, Earl of Orkney, and the fleet their ally Brodir brought from the Isle of Mann.

From the walls of Dublin Lady Sláine ingen Briain watched the battle. Her sympathies had worn too thin over the years of conflict to be strong on either side and it was little she ...