499 
particular attention to the tides of Dublin Bay. I therefore proposed 
to him to investigate the question—at what hour of the day the tide 
was full on the shore of Clontarf on Good Friday,* April 23, 1014; but, 
at his own request, I did not tell him what the hour, as stated in the 
MS. was, but simply that I wished to test the accuracy of the narrative 
of the battle of Clontarf contained in the ancient tract called ‘‘ The Wars 
of the Gaedhil with the Gaill,”’ i. e., of the Irish with theDanes and other 
Norsemen, which I am engaged in editing, as one of the series of Chro- 
nicles in course of publication under the direction of the English Master 
of the Rolls. 
The result of a very laborious calculation, communicated to the Aca- 
demy by Mr. Haughton, at its last meeting, was highly satisfactory. It 
completely confirmed the statement of the MS., showing that the morn- 
ing tide was full on the shore of Clontarf at sunrise, when the battle 
began, at half-past five, a.m; and that the evening tide, which so mate- 
rially aided in the defeat of the Danes, took place at 5.55, P. mM. 
The narrative states that, at the hour of the evening tide, the fo- 
reigners, retreating in disorder to the shore, found their ships carried out 
to sea beyond their reach, and were suddenly overwhelmed by the rising 
tide. The victorious forces, under the command of Brian, pressed upon 
them vigorously, taking possession of the wood of Clontarf, on the N.E., 
and of ‘‘ the head of Dubhgall’s Bridge,” on the west ; ‘‘ the foreigners, 
therefore,”’ to use the words of the narrative, ‘‘ could only fly to the sea, 
and were there drowned in great numbers ; and they lay in heaps and in 
hundreds, confounded, after parting with their bodily senses and under- 
standing, under the powerful and tremendous pressure’’ with which they 
were pursued by the Irish.t} 
Mr. Gilbert, in his History of Dublin,} has shown that Dubhgall’s 
Bridge,§ was ‘‘ the Old Bridge”’ leading from Bridgefoot-street to Oxman- 
town, the Norse quarter of Dublin; and this continued to be the only 
bridge over the Liffey, from about the year 1000 until a second was 
erected, in 1670. See Mr. Haliday’s valuable paper on the ancient name 
of Dublin, in vol. xxii. of the Transactions of the Academy. 
It appears, therefore, that, at least towards the close of the day, the 
battle extended from the wood of Clontarf to the Old Bridge, then 
called Dubhgall’s Bridge, and consequently may have been quite visible 
* Dr. Dasent, ‘‘ Story of Burnt Njal,” Introd., vol. i., p. exev., tells us that, in 1014, 
Good Friday fell on the 18th April; but the 18th April, 1014, was Palm Sunday, the 
Dominical letter being C. 
+ ‘Danish Wars,” ch. cvii., pp. 191, sq. 
t Vol. i., ch. ix., p. 319, sq. 
§ We know nothing of the Dubhgall, who seems to have given his name to this bridge, 
The word signifies ‘‘ black foreigner,” and was the appellation usually given by the Irish 
to the Danes, in contradistinction to the Fingall, ‘‘ white foreigners,” or Norwegians. 
The name is still preserved amongst us in the form of Dougall, Mac Dougall, and Doyle. 
From the proximity of the Oxmantown, or Ostman-town, the bridge may have been 
called Dubhgall, or Dane’s Bridge; but the word is in the singular number, as if Dubhgall 
was the the proper name of a man: Dpocaic Oubsaill, “ Dougall’s bridge,” not ono- 
calc na nOubgall, or “The bridge of the Danes.”—Gilbert, <d¢d. 
