502 
a title which seems not to be understood by the northern antiquarians. 
In Irish history he is called Amlaff Cuarain, or Olaff of the Sandle; for Cu- 
aran (as Mr. Curry informs me) is a word still used in Ireland to denote a 
shoe fastened by a thong, which leaves the upper part of the foot bare. Dr. 
Dasent, however, in his recently published translation of the Njal Saga, 
translates the name Oluf Rattle,assuming the word to be Icelandic.* This 
chieftain, immediately after his defeat at Tara, fled to Hy or Iona, where 
he soon after died. The Four Masters (A. D. 977-980) say that he died 
there ‘‘ after penance and a good life ;” from which it would seem that 
he had embracéd Christianity. Keating makes no mention of his con- 
version, and asserts that he was driven out of Ireland. But even in that 
case, if he was free to choose, it isnot likely that he would have selected 
Hy as his place of retreat, had he not been influenced by religion. 
His sons, Ragnall and Gluniarn, were the leaders of his army at the 
battle of Tara, where the former was slain. Itisnot said who Ragnall’s 
mother was; but we are told that Olaf had married Donflaith, daughter 
of Muirchertach MacNeill, of the Leather Cloaks, mother of Malachy, 
by whom he had Gluniarn ; he was also subsequently (we may presume) 
married to Gormflaith, by whom he had Sitric, who was King of the 
Danes of Dublin at the time of the battle of Clontarf, and had probably 
succeeded to the throne after the death of Gluniarn, in 989 ; this Sitric, 
as we shall see, was afterwards married to Brian’s daughter. 
The history of this lady Gormflaith, or Gormlaith, called Kormlada 
in the Njal Saga, strikingly illustrates what has been said as to the 
frequency of matrimonial alliances between the Danish and Irish fami- 
lies. She was an Irish princess, the grand-daughter of Finn, Lord of 
Offaly, who was slain in 928, and sister of the Maelmordha, or Mael- 
murry, King of Leinster, who was slain at the battle of Clontarf. She is 
said in the Icelandic account of Brian’s battle to have been ‘‘ the fairest 
of allwomen, and best gifted in everything that was not in her own power; 
but it was the talk of men that she did all things ill, over which she 
had any power.” + She was successively the wife of Amlaff or Olaf Cu- 
arain, of Malachy, and of Brian. She was probably married to Malachy 
about 980, after the flight of Olaf; and having been divorced by Malachy, 
was married by Brian,—if, indeed, her connexion with those chief- 
tains can be said to have been that of legal matrimony. The Njal Saga 
says expressly that she had no issue by Brian; but the ‘‘ Wars of the Gael 
with the Gaill’” followed by the Four Masters, assert that she was the mo- 
ther of Donogh, Brian’s youngest son. She is also said to have had a son 
by Malachy, named Conchobhar or Connor. Butit is difficult to reconcile 
with the dates given in the Annals the statement that she was the mother 
of Brian’s son Donogh or Dunchadh, unless we suppose him illegitimate, 
or born before her marriage with Brian. The Four Masters record the 
death of Dubhchobhlaigh, a wife of Brian, in 1009 ; therefore Brian could 
* The Latin translations of the Njal Saga and of the Saga Olaf’s Trygevasonar, leave 
the word untranslated. 
+ Dasent, ‘‘ Story of Burnt Njal,” ii. 323. 
