Francesca's whimsical nightmares; "but as I said, this is an
anniversary. The famous battle of Clontarf was fought here in
Dublin on this very day eight hundred years ago, and Brian Boru
routed the Danes in what was the last struggle between Christianity
and heathenism. The greatest slaughter took place on the streets
along which we drove yesterday from Ballybough Bridge to the Four
Courts. Brian Boru was king of Munster, you remember" (Salemina
always says this for courtesy's sake), "or at least you have read of
that time in Ireland's history when a fair lady dressed in fine silk
and gold and jewels could walk unmolested the length of the land,
because of the love the people bore King Brian and the respect they
cherished for his wise laws. Well, Mailmora, the king of Leinster,
had quarrelled with him, and joined forces with the Danish leaders
against him. Broder and Amlaff, two Vikings from the Isle of Man,
brought with them a 'fleet of two thousand Denmarkians and a
thousand men covered with mail from head to foot,' to meet the
Irish, who always fought in tunics. Joyce says that Broder wore a
coat of mail that no steel would bite, that he was both tall and
strong, and that his black locks were so long that he tucked them
under his belt,--there's a portrait for your gallery, Penelope.
Brian's army was encamped on the Green of Aha-Clee, which is now
Phoenix Park, and when he set fire to the Danish districts, the
fierce Norsemen within the city could see a blazing, smoking pathway
that reached from Dublin to Howth. The quarrel must have been all
the more virulent in that Mailmora was Brian's brother-in-law, and
Brian's daughter was the wife of Sitric of the Silken Beard, Danish
king of Dublin."

"I refuse to remember their relationships or alliances," said
Francesca. "They were always intermarrying with their foes in order