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SCANDINAVIAN ANTIQUITIES OF DUBLIN. 49
Godfrey's death having
left the throne of Dublin BOOK r.
vacant, the Irish, who, since the defeat of Flann in
885, had watched an opportunity to restore a native
dynasty, considered this a moment favourable to the
c"Ar lv '
attempt.
The year of Godfrey's death Ireland was visited
J
wasted by
by a stransre calamity. Wafted by an unusual wind locust8 ; manr
J J
Danes fly to
a flight of locusts came to our shores, and spreading iceiand,A.o.
over the land " consumed the corn and grass through-
out the country." 1
The dearth thus caused influenced many to emi-
grate from Dublin to Iceland, and the garrison,
further weakened by the departure of numbers who
had followed Godfrey into England, and by the loss
of those who had joined Thorstein the Red in Scot-
land, became inadequate to repel the assaults of the
Irish.
Our annals record that, A.D. 897, "the foreigners The Danes
driven from
were expelled from Ireland," " from the fortress of Dublin, A.I>.
897.
Ath Cliath by Cearbhall, son of Muirigen," king of
the adjoining territory of Leinster, and that, " leaving
great numbers of their ships behind them, they
escaped half dead across the sea " to Ireland's Eye, an
island near Dublin, where they were "besieged" 2
until, hopeless of regaining their city fortress, they
sought a residence on the opposite coast.
duccd among the Norsemen by the married Olaf, King of Dublin.
connexion with the Irish, amongst
whom the name was common, and
J Ann. Cambr.,
P. of Wales, 896;
896 Chron.
;
Caradoc, 897,
the possession of it by the son of p. 42 ; where they are described as
Godfrey shows his connexion with
u vermin of a mole-like form each
them. Niall Glundubh was son having two teeth, which fell from
of Aedh Finnliath, by Maelmur, heaven."
daughter of Kenneth, King of 8 Ann. 4 Mast , A.D. 897.
Scots. Niall Glumlubh's sister