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- IV. The Expansion of Irish Trade
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32 THE VIKING PERIOD
was exposed for sale with eleven other women at a market
in Norway. The slave-dealer, a man known as Gilli (Ir.
Giolla)
"
the Russian
"
was in all probability a Scandinavian
merchant from Ireland who had carried on trade with
Russia. The extent of the slave traffic is further illustrated
in Kristni Saga (ch. 3) where mention is made of
"
a fair
Irish maid
"
whom Thangbrandr the priest bought ;
"
and
when he came home with her a certain man whom the
emperor Otto the Young had put as steward there, wished
to take her from him," but Thangbrandr would not let her
go !
*
On the other hand, the Irish frequently descended on
the Viking strongholds in Ireland and carried off the Norse
women and children,
"
the soft, youthful, bright, matchless
girls ; blooming, silk-clad young women, and active, large
well-formed boys."
2
Therefore it is not unlikely that the
"
slaves ignorant of Gaelic
"
who are stated to have been
given as tribute to the Irish kings in the ninth and tenth
-
\- centuries 3
were really Scandinavian prisoners of war.
An interesting passage in the Book of Ely gives an idea
of the activity of the Irish merchants at this period:
"
Certain merchants from Ireland, with merchandise of
different kinds and some coarse woollen blankets, arrived
at the little town called Grantebrycge (Cambridge) and
exposed their wares there."* It is not surprising then that
the wealth of Ireland increased rapidly, so much so that
Brian Borumha, realising that this was largely due to Viking
enterprise, allowed the invaders to remain in their forts
on the coast
"
for the purpose of attracting commerce from
1
Kristni Saga, ch. 3.
a War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 79.
3 The Book of Rights (Leabhar na gCeart), pp. 87, 181. Ed. J.
O’Donovan.
*Liber
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