The Killing of the “Lord of the Foreigners of Luimneach” in Ardrahan in AD 940
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33178/SHJ.3.1.2Keywords:
Limerick, Ardrahan, Vikings, Irish History, 10th CenturyAbstract
An exploration of the accounts in the Annals of the killing of Aralt "Lord of the Foreigners of Luimneach", C. AD 940. This paper argues against the nationalist interpretation in Jerome Fahey's 'The History and Antiquity of the Diocese of Kilmacduagh' instead placing it in the context of a larger decline of Viking Limerick through the period.
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