Olaf Guthfrithson's Raid on Tyninghame, 941
History & Significance
Olaf Guthfrithson or Anlaf Guthfrithson was a Hiberno-Scandinavian (Irish-Viking) leader who ruled Dublin and Viking Northumbria in the 10th century. He was the son of Gofraid ua Ímair and great-grandson of Ímar, making him one of the Uí Ímair. Olaf succeeded his father as King of Dublin in 934 and succeeded in establishing dominance over the Vikings of Limerick when he captured their king, Amlaíb Cenncairech, in 937. That same year he allied with Constantine II of Scotland in an attempt to reclaim the Kingdom of Northumbria which his father had ruled briefly in 927. The forces of Olaf and Constantine were defeated by the English led by Æthelstan at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937.
Olaf returned to Ireland in 938 but after Æthelstan's death the following year Olaf left for York where he was quickly able to establish himself as king, with his brother Blácaire mac Gofraid being left to rule in Dublin. Olaf and Æthelstan's successor Edmund met in 939 at Leicester where they came to an agreement regarding the division of England between them. This agreement proved short-lived, however, and within a few years Vikings had occupied the Five Boroughs of Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham and Stamford. Olaf died in 941 and was succeeded in Northumbria by his cousin Olaf Cuaran. At the time of his death, the Irish annals title him "king of Danes" and "king of the Fair Foreigners and the Dark Foreigners".
Olaf first conclusively appears in contemporary records in 933 when the annals describe him plundering Armagh on 10 November. He is then recorded as allying with Matudán mac Áeda, overking of Ulaid and raiding as far as Sliabh Beagh, where they were met by an army led by Muirchertach mac Néill of Ailech, and lost 240 men in the ensuing battle along with much of their plunder. An earlier reference to a "son of Gofraid" who plundered the monastery at Kildare in 928 might refer to Olaf but no name is given. Olaf's father Gofraid ua Ímair, King of Dublin, died in 934 and Olaf succeeded him as king. The following year Olaf carried out a raid at Lagore crannog in County Meath, and then looted the burial chamber at Knowth the following week.
Olaf is described as "Lord of the Foreigners" by the Annals of the Four Masters in 937, at which time he went to Lough Ree and captured Amlaíb Cenncairech, King of Limerick, and his troops after breaking their boats. This conflict can be ascribed to rivalry between the competing Viking settlements of Dublin and Limerick, with this event marking victory for Dublin. This period is considered to be the high-point of Viking influence in Ireland. Having secured his position in Ireland, Olaf turned his attention to England and Northumbria, which had once been ruled by Olaf's father and had been conquered in 927 by Æthelstan of England. Olaf allied with Constantine II of Scotland, whose kingdom had been invaded by Æthelstan in 934, and in 937, the same year as the victory over Limerick, Olaf and the Vikings of Dublin left for England.
The ground they fought on
The site of Olaf Guthfrithson's Raid on Tyninghame, 941 lies on Inverclyde Group, bedrock that formed in the Osagean. The rock here is sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.
In 2005, archaeologists excavating at Auldhame in East Lothian, a site adjacent to Tyninghame and likewise associated with Saint Baldred, unearthed a skeleton accompanied by grave goods including a belt of a type known to have been worn by high-status individuals in Viking-age Ireland. The age of the remains and the character of the burial goods prompted speculation among historians and archaeologists that these could be the bones of Olaf Guthfrithson himself, who is known to have raided both Auldhame and Tyninghame shortly before his death in 941. If the identification were ever confirmed, the man who sacked the church of a local saint would have been found lying in the soil of the very territory he had plundered.
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- Olaf Guthfrithson · Wikipedia
- Amlaíb Cuarán · Wikipedia