This period of activity in England and Scotland corresponds with Ivar’s absence from the Irish Annals during these years. Ivar (Ímar) was given the title " King of the Norsemen of all Ireland and Britain" in contemporary annals and has been identified by historians as ‘Ivar the Boneless’, the Viking who led the Great Heathen Army in England in the 860’s, returning to Dublin in 870 with much booty and slaves after his success at Dumbarton. They were leaders of a particularly aggressive Scandinavian group active across Ireland and Britain, raiding into Wales and Scotland by the mid-9th century, taking York in 866 and ruling the city until 954, taking Dumbarton, the rock of the Britons in 870 after a 4-month siege, and being the dominant force in England for a short period in 878. Ímar had two brothers, Auisle and Amlaíb, collectively described in the Irish Annals as “ kings of the foreigners”.
The Fragmentary Annals of Ireland record that Ímar (Ivar) was the son of Gofraid, King of Laithlinn (Norway?). Ingimund was clearly associated, if not directly related, to this group if this relationship is correct we should not be surprised to find him among the Viking leaders at Tettenhall.
Find and destroy northmenn longphort mac#
Ivar arrived in Dublin in 851 ejecting their predecessors the ‘ Fair Foreigners’ (Finngaill), but were driven from the longphurt by Irish kings Cerball mac Muirecáin King of Leinster and Máel Findia mac Flannacáin King of Brega in 902. Significantly, the river Ribble forms the southern border of Amounderness.ĭavid Dumville notes that three of the Viking leaders who fell at Tettenhall possess the same names as the sons of the King of Laithlinn who attacked Dublin in 851, and subsequently identifies these fallen Viking kings as members of the dynasty of Ímar (Ivar).īeing expelled from Dublin in 902, we can be fairly certain that Ingimund was a member of the group of Vikings, known as ‘ Dark Foreigners’ (Dubgaill) in the Irish Annals, the Norse dynasty of Ímar (Ivar) and his brothers, the sons of the King of Laithlinn. FT Wainwright suggested this huge silver hoard was the booty deposited by Vikings fleeing north, probably on route to York, after the battle of Tettenhall. The deposition of the Cuerdale Hoard, containing more than 8,000 items of hack-silver, ingots and coins, uncovered just 40 miles from Chester on the banks of the river Ribble in Lancashire in 1840, has been dated to 905-910, the time immediately following the expulsion from Dublin and Ingimund's floruit on the British mainland. The archaeologist and historian FT Wainwright identified this ‘Agmund’ with Ingimund. However, according to the ‘C’ and ‘D’ texts of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle there was a Viking leader who fell at the battle of Tettenhall in 910 who was named ‘ Agmund’ who is said to have given his name to Amounderness (Agemundernes) in Lancashire. Ingimund duly mustered his forces and attacked Chester, yet Æthelflæd had filled the city with Mercian forces and successfully repelled the Viking onslaught.Īfter the battle for Chester Ingimund disappears from the Annals. In due course the Irish Vikings outgrew their lands in Wirral and desired to take the city of Chester, an ideal trading port facing the Irish Sea and mid-way between Dublin and York. Then, so the story goes, the Irish Vikings sought permission from the English Queen Æthelflæd to settle in Mercia who granted them lands near Chester. The Three Fragments describes Ingimund’s expulsion from Ireland and how they failed to gain a foothold in Wales.