In the shadow of Brian Ború, High King of Ireland

Some believe that Brian’s son Donnchadh brought his father’s regalia with him and gifted them to the Pope in Rome when he went to serve penance at the end of his own bloody reign in 1064. But others cast doubt on the very existence of a crown.

One thing is not in doubt though: Sifting through layers of legend and ancient sources of varying degrees of reliability, the grains of truth that remain reveal tantalising glimpses of a fascinating character, the importance of whose 12-year reign can’t be overlooked.

A handful of artefacts and sites lay dubious claim to a connection to the high king, including the Brian Ború harp on which both the emblem of the Irish State and the Guinness logo are based. But even his final resting place remains disputed.

Brian, son of Cinnéide, was born at Kincora, near Killaloe, in modern-day Co Clare. The name Brian Ború was given to him posthumously.

He is credited with being the Irish king who successfully united the country against hundreds of years of bloodshed and terror at the hands of the infamous Vikings. He is believed to have died at 88 years of age at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014.

Later accounts of his reign describe it as a time of relative peace and prosperity, from a background where Ireland had been a conglomeration of fiefdoms controlled by often warring factions.

“He restored and built churches, and gave every cleric his own temple according to his rank and his right to it,” the priest and historian Geoffrey Keating wrote in his 1634 History of Ireland.

“He built and set in order public schools for the teaching of letters and the sciences in general, and he also gave the price of books and expenses to each one who could not defray the expenses and who desired to devote himself to learning.”

To Cathal Crowe, long-time history buff and former mayor of Clare, who made waves by refusing to attend a planned 2020 commemoration of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) which was later shelved, the fact that Brian Ború is such an important historical figure means that it’s worth exploring whether his crown exists.

“He was the only Irish person to ever rule a united Ireland,” Mr Crowe points out.

Before him, there were around 150 local chieftains, and after him there was Norman Irish rule. So he was a very significant figure in Irish history.

Brian Ború’s existence is not in question: He is referenced in numerous primary-source historical texts, including the 9th century Book of Armagh, an addendum to which was included around 1005: This refers to Brian as “Imperator Scotorum,” the “Emperor of the Irish”.

It contains a record of an agreement between the high king and the Church’s seat of power at Armagh, and so it is held to be the only artefact that we know to have been in Brian’s presence.

“This is not a mythological character. He very much existed, he very much ruled,” Mr Crowe says.

“He witnessed as a child his mother Béibhinn being killed by Vikings; he resolved as an adolescent to take revenge for what happened to his family in a Viking raid; he united the clans and chieftains; and he led the biggest fight- back of warriors and combatants against a fearsome opponent.”

Mr Crowe says his parliamentary question was prompted by contact with a direct descendant of Brian Ború.

Conor O’Brien, the 18th Baron Inchiquin, who lived at Dromoland Castle and passed away in 2023, had held the title of The O’Brien, head of the O’Brien clan, who derive their name from Brian Ború. A decade before his passing, he had declared an interest in the claim that the Vatican had his ancestor’s crown.

But the idea that Brian had a crown at all has been disputed by many historians: Records of how kingship was conferred in pre-Norman Ireland only refer to kings being presented with a peeled white wooden wand.

Many argue that later depictions of Brian dating to the 18th century were drawing on European depictions of kings.

In 1627, historian Conall Mac Geoghegan made a translation of the now-lost Annals of Clonmacnoise. He claimed that “Donnogh Borowa”, Brian’s son, went to Rome “to Doe pennance because hee had a hand in the killing of his owen eldest brother Teige mcBryan. Hee brought the Crowen of Ireland with him thither, which remained with the Popes until Pope Adrean gave the same to King Henry the second that conquered Ireland.”

Writing in his 18th century ‘Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicus’, the British military surveyor Charles Vallency added the claim that the famous Brian Ború harp, now housed in Trinity College, was also a part of this gift, linking the fates of harp and crown.

“The holy father took these presents as a demonstration of the full submission of the kingdom of Ireland… these regalia were deposited in the Vatican till the reign of Henry VIII, when the Pope sent the harp to that monarch, with the title of Defender of the Faith, but kept the crown, which was of massive gold.”

Later historians were scathing about this account. George Petrie, archaeologist and painter, wrote in 1840 that the harp was “very far from being of the remote age to which it is popularly supposed to have belonged”, pointing out that its crest is of the O’Neill family.

Modern historians are in agreement that the harp is almost certainly not 1,000 years old.

“The crown and other regalia of the celebrated Brian were probably lost to the Momolians at the Battle of Clontarf when that old military usurper was slain by the Danes,” Petrie surmised. But he didn’t question whether the crown would have existed.

It is possible that Vallency was confused in his reference to Henry VIII because of the so-called ‘Crown of Ireland Act’, enacted during Henry VIII’s reign. The reference is to a symbolic kingship of English monarchs over Ireland, rather than the conferring of an actual crown.

But what if Brian’s ‘regalia’ did not consist of a crown, but his son did bring some kind of artefacts to the Pope in Rome?

To Mr Crowe, it’s worth the Irish State investing some time and resources into finding out. As far as he’s concerned, there’s nothing to be lost and everything to be gained.

“I think we need to bring in some expertise from the Office of Public Works heritage division to see if the crown exists or not,” he says.

“If it does exist, it merits a bit of a search because it is potentially a national treasure of some significance. And if it doesn’t exist but there is something there, any other artefacts should be returned.”

Clare local historian Gerard Madden is author of several history books and gives guided tours of Brian Ború’s old stomping grounds at Lough Derg. He comes from the parish of Whitegate, which has several connections to the “Emperor of the Irish”.

He is extremely sceptical about the claims as to the existence of a crown, pointing out that Brian Ború was subject to much revisionism in the name of Irish propaganda, claimed by the Church as proof of the civilising impact of faith, as with the Mac Geoghegan translation in this article, and claimed by early nationalists as the vanquisher of the Viking interloper.

“The depiction shows him like a European knight,” Mr Madden says. “It was a Christian Brothers thing: He is depicted as an emperor, with a crown, but it wasn’t like that. Yet they are the depictions of Brian Ború you most often see.”

Mr Madden is also sceptical about several of the ripples through time left in the wake of Ireland’s great high king.

He would have had three or four wives and 20 more concubines, but if every O’Brien is descended from Brian Ború, he would have had a better run at it than Genghis Khan.

Also in question by Mr Madden is the majestic Brian Ború oak at Tuamgraney, an ancient tree often held to have been planted by the high king beside the River Graney that flows into Lough Derg.

“They call it the Brian Ború oak, but the tree is about 500 years old, maximum,” he says.

“It certainly isn’t 1,000 years old. I’d bet my life on that. But Brian Ború has a deep association with Holy Island and Lough Derg. His brother Marcán was the abbot there and we know he died in 1008. Brian Ború provided the funds for the first stone building on the island.”

Nearby at St Cronan’s church in Tuamgraney, Brian is recorded in the ‘Annals of the Four Masters’ as having funded repairs to the building in 1012, just two years before his death.

While Mr Madden doubts the existence of a crown, there is one fact relating to Brian Ború that he would like to see investigated further: The high king’s final resting place.

The story goes that Brian Ború’s strong allegiance with the Church saw his remains taken north to be interred at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh, where there is a plaque to that effect, but without a precise burial location.

However, Mr Madden and many other locals point to the existence of a vast standing stone on Islandmore, Lough Derg’s largest island, overlooking Brian Ború’s birthplace of Killalloe.

“I fully believe he is buried at Islandmore,” Mr Madden says.

He points out that it was customary at the time for every chieftain to be returned to the place of their birth for burial. Bringing Brian Ború’s remains north from Clontarf to Armagh would have necessitated crossing the then enemy territory of the O’Neills. Far more likely, he believes, that he could have been brought overland to Banagher, and then by the Shannon to his home place.

Irish casualties had been vast at the Battle of Clontarf. “About 40 or 50 local chieftains were killed above at Clontarf — O’Keeffes and Maddens and others — and they were brought back to their local territory,” Mr Madden says.

“That’s the way it was done. The story goes that on the way, after four or five days, the stench from the bodies would have been horrific. So they stopped at Islandmore, within sight of Killaloe, and buried him. There is a standing stone at least three metres high which would tell you it’s someone important.

“That site has never been excavated and it probably never will be, because there’s no road about to go through there.

“But that would be quite the thing, to see who is actually buried there, facing Killaloe.”