Historian casts doubts over Battle of Clontarf

A key account of a battle which came to define Irish identity may have been fabricated, a researcher has claimed as the country marks the millennium of the Battle of Clontarf.

Widely accepted accounts of the Battle of Clontarf — a defining moment in Irish history fought on April 23, 1014 — was partly a “pseudo-history” borrowed from the tale of Troy, according to an academic from the University of Cambridge.

In popular history, the battle has been characterised as an epic and violent clash between the army of the Christian Irish High King, Brian Boru, and a combined force led by the rebel king and leader of the Dublin-based Vikings.