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54 THE VIKING PERIOD
Thorsnes in Iceland :
"
there still stands Tlior’* stone,
on which were broken the backs of those men who were
about to be sacrificed, and close by is the ddmhringr where
the men were condemned to death." 1
Even as late as the
year A.D. 1000 we hear of Thor’s wood (calll Tomair)
north of Dublin, which was laid waste by Brian Borumha
after the battle of Gleann Mama. 2
The battle of Clontarf (A.D. 1014) is frequently represented
as a great fight between Pagan and Christian, but this
point of view is hardly confirmed by the historical facts.
It is true that the Norsemen numbered among their
supporters such prominent upholders of heathenism as
Sigurthr, earl of Orkney, and Broder who had been a
mass-deacon, but
"
now worshipped fiends, and was of all
men most skilled in sorcery," yet it must be remembered
that the Iveinstennen, under their king Maelmordha, also
formed part of the Norse army on the same occasion. More-
over, both the Norse and Irish accounts of the battle agree
that Gormflaith, who had been the wife of Brian Borumha,
inspired by hatred of Brian, was mainly responsible for the
renewal of hostilities between the two peoples. Her son,
Sihtric Silken Beard, who was most active in mobilising
the Norse troops, must have been a Christian, since the
coins which were minted in Dublin during his reign are
stamped with the sign of the cross. In 1028 he visited
Rome, and there is record of another visit some years later. 3
His death is entered in the Annals under the year 1042,
in which same year his daughter, a nun in an Irish convent,
also died.*
It was probably on his return to Dublin from Rome in
1
Landndmabok, II., ch. 12.
z War of the Gaedhi! with the Gaill, pp. 196, 198.
3
Annals of Tigernach, AD. 1028, 1036.
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