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Brian Boru born c. 940 (near Killaloe in modern County Clare), died 1014, was king of Munster and was a High King of Ireland. He was King of Munster from 976 and High King of Ireland from 1002. He was killed on Good Friday April 23, 1014 during the Battle of Clontarf against the Vikings.
He became known as Brian of the Tributes (Boru), because he collected monies from the minor rulers of Ireland and used these to rebuild monasteries and libraries that had been destroyed during Norsemen (Viking) invasions. The family descended from him (the O'Briens) subsequently ranked as one of the chief dynastic families of the country (see Chiefs of the Name).
In the twelfth century his O'Brien descendents commissioned a dynastic propaganda tract known as Cogadh Gaedhil re Gallaibh (the War of the Irish with the Foreigners) in which he takes the leading role. Uncritical reading of this tract in the past has given rise to the inflated position he holds in the popular imagination.
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