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shrines of Ireland. Downpatrick, Moville, Inisdowill,
and Lusk suffered first (825-826), and then we find
Vikings fighting the tribal chiefs up-country, sometimes
defeated with slaughter, and yet persistent, until, in
832, Armagh was thrice plundered in one month, with
many other churches, and the shrine of St. Adamnan
was carried off from Donaghmoyne (co. Monaghan).
Next year Niall, the new-made overking of Ireland,
beat the Vikings at Derry, but they sacked Clondalkin.
And all the while Irish kinglets and chiefs amused
themselves at the old royal sport of ravage and
massacre ; so that the assaults of the Gaill are mere
incidents, a small percentage in the catalogue of
troubles. Even church-burning and monk-slaying were
not unknown among the Irish ; in this very year (833)
the king of Cashel slaughtered the monks of Clonmacnois
and Durrow ; another chief had massacred
the clergy of Kildare in the year before. Ireland was
ripe for conquest, but since the beginning of their raids
the Vikings had sailed past the coasts of England, year
after year, and never made a landing serious enough
for the chronicles to record.
Now, emboldened by success and experience, they
extended the sphere of their adventures. The first
great expedition against Flanders was made in 834,
and then for three years they were plundering that coast
and the coast of France to the mouth of the Loire.
A few slight attacks were made upon England; a
descent on Sheppey and a landing at Charmouth in
Dorset, where they defeated the local forces, were
episodes in the plundering on the other side of the
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