<i5^ 



His death was the signal of revenge; the long persecuted natives 

 sprung upon their despots, and the astounded northerns were either 

 slain in battle, waylaid by stratagems, or compelled to return to their 

 mother country.* An impolitic application of the allegory, that the 

 best way to banish foul birds is to destroy their nests, imprudently in- 

 duced the Irish to raze the castles which those tyrants had, in the 

 plenitude of their power, constructed over the island. -f- Such indeed 

 was the excess of their exultation at this unexpected redemption from 

 slavery, that their king even sent ambassadors to Charles the Bald, 

 signifying his wish to offer his thanksgivings at Rome, and praying a 

 liberty of free passage through the territories of France. J 



Unfortunately, however, "the time, which should have been em- 

 ployed by the natives in providing a naval force, in repairing for their 

 own protection the Danish fortifications, which, in the height of their 

 tury, they had so demolished, or in erecting new ones on their coasts, 

 they wasted either in ease which was unmanly, or in exercises which 

 were unprofitable. "§ The enemy that was prowling without, greedily 

 seized the opportunity thus presented, and in A. D. 849, fresh aux- 

 iliaries in their interest, passed over in 140 ships to Ireland, and 

 renewed the barbarism of the preceding years. ll After some partial 



* "Norvegienses ubique truncantur, et in brevi omnes omnino seu vi seu dolo vel morti 

 traduntur, vel iterum Norvegiam et insulas unde venerant navigio adire compelluntur." — Top. 

 Hib. Dist. 3. c. 41. 



f " In castellorum Norvegiensium destructione Hibernenses per totam insulam unanimi- 

 ter insurrexerunt."— Top. Hib. Dist. 3. c. 42. 



t " Scoti, super Northmannos irruentes, auxilio Dei vietores eos e snis finibus propelle- 

 runt ; unde rex Scotorum ad Carolum Calvum pads et amicitiae gratia legatos cum muneribus 

 mittit, viam sibi petendi Romam concedi deposcens." — Chronicon de Gest. Nordman. in torn. 2. 

 Hist. Franc. Script, by Duchesne, p. 525. 



§ Warner's Ireland, vol. 2. p. 111. 



}| " Auxiliares copiae, e Dania et Norwegid cxl navibus in Hiberniam appellentes, bellum 

 magno Hibernorum damno redintegrarunt." — Ant. Celt. Scand. p. 75. ■ • - 



L l2 



