Viking Invasions of Ireland

Scandinavian raiders began attacking Irish religious and coastal sites in the late eighth century. Permanent bases and towns developed at Dublin, Waterford, Limerick, Wexford and other locations.

Norse rulers became participants in Irish dynastic politics, sometimes fighting Irish kings and sometimes forming alliances with them. Trade, intermarriage and military service created a complex Hiberno-Norse society.

This context supports fiction about Viking raids, the Norse towns of Ireland and the conflicts that culminated in the Battle of Clontarf.