You wrote:
>Does anyone have information regarding the history of the Brian Boru March.
> According to Grainne Yeats, legend states that this march was played at the
>Battle of Clontarf in 1014. (Irish battle??)
I'm not sure how far back this piece actually can be tracked. Here's some
history of the Battle of Clontarf, largely taken from Katherine Scherman's
fine book "The Flowering of Ireland".
The battle of Clontarf took place on Good Friday, April 23, 1014. King
Brian Boru's army fought the Norse Vikings outside of Dublin; the
battle-date was chosen by the Vikings who thought the pious King Brain
would not fight on the holy day. Wrong guess! It was the longest and
bloodiest battle in Irish history to that point -- some accounts say there
were 19,000 dead on both sides (surely an exaggeration for effect). The
Norse retreated to the sea, and many were drowned.
Unfortunately, the 73-year-old King Brian was slain that day, not on the
field but in his tent, by a Viking named Brodar who found the King
unattended behind the battle lines. Brodar was caught at once by Brian's
guards, and summarily executed, but it was too late for Brian.
Scherman goes on: "The battle of Clontarf has been hyperbolized and
oversimplified into the decisive Irish-Norse confrontation, resulting in
the final and total collapse of the invader. In truth it was hardly and
Irish-Norse conflict at all, but an internal affair (the Norse had been in
the Dublin area for decades). Long before Clontarf the Norse had ceased to
be a power in Ireland. They had never come anywhere near to conquering the
country, nor had they wanted to. Unlike the Danes in England, the Norse
had no designs on the subjugation of the country. Their city-states were
of interest to them only as ports and trading centers, never as
headquarters for a serious penetration of the island."
Morgan Llewellyn has an excellent historical novel about King Brian, called
"Lion of Ireland" She recently published a so-so sequel, "Pride of Lions",
about Brian's sons and grandsons. Her writing is excellent as usual, but
she has weak subject material to start with.
Hopefully someone else can help you with the history of the tune itself.
Regards,
Mary Norton
numa@aros.net
Salt Lake City