Editing Brian Boru (section)

== Death ==
There are many accounts of how Brian was killed. Some suggest he was killed during heroic man-to-man combat, although others specify that he was not involved in the battle<ref>{{cite book |last=Haywood |first=John |date=27 September 2016 |title=Northmen: The Viking Saga, AD 793–1241 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Og2zCwAAQBAJ&q=brian+boru+death+tent+brodir&pg=PA158 |page=158 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=9781250106155 |access-date=5 November 2020 |archive-date=25 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925142839/https://books.google.com/books?id=Og2zCwAAQBAJ&q=brian+boru+death+tent+brodir&pg=PA158 |url-status=live }}</ref>
due to his advanced age and frailty.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tousy |first=Frank |date=1882 |title=Famous Assassinations of History: From the Time of Julius Caesar Down to the Present Day |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yzAg2LP0OZUC&q=brian+boru+death+tent&pg=PA15 |page=15 |access-date=5 November 2020 |archive-date=25 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925142840/https://books.google.com/books?id=yzAg2LP0OZUC&q=brian+boru+death+tent&pg=PA15 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to the ''[[Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh]]'', the elderly Brian Boru spent the day before his death away from combat, kneeling upon a cushion, and singing the [[Psalms]], paters, aves, and other prayers using a [[Pater Noster cord]]. He was killed by fleeing Viking mercenaries shortly after learning from his attendant that, despite his forces having won a great victory, his son Murchadh's standard had just fallen.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Todd |first=James Henthorn |author-link=James Henthorn Todd |title=Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh – The War of the Gaedhil with the Danes and Other Norsemen |date=1867 |pages=196–205}}</ref>

The most common accounts attribute the killing of Brian Boru to the Viking mercenary [[Brodir and Ospak of Man|Brodir]] of the [[Isle of Man]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Haywood |first=John |date=27 September 2016 |title=Northmen: The Viking Saga, AD 793–1241 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Og2zCwAAQBAJ&q=brian+boru+death+tent+brodir&pg=PA158 |page=158 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=9781250106155 |access-date=5 November 2020 |archive-date=25 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925142841/https://books.google.com/books?id=Og2zCwAAQBAJ&q=brian+boru+death+tent+brodir&pg=PA158 |url-status=live }}</ref> while praying in his tent at Clontarf.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Grant|first=R. G.|title=1001 Battles That Changed the Course of World History|author2-link=Robert A. Doughty|author2=Doughty, Robert|publisher=Random House|year=2011|isbn=978-0-7893-2233-3|page=128}}</ref> According to the 12th century ''[[Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib]]'', Brian was visited in a dream on the night prior to the battle by a [[Tuatha de Danaan|Pre-Christian goddess]] from the [[Irish mythology]] named [[Aibell]]. Aibell had been demoted since [[St Patrick]] to a [[Fairy Queen]] ruling over the [[Celtic Otherworld]] of [[Thomond]] and was traditionally considered the [[Tutelary deity|guardian spirit]], protectress, and the [[banshee]] of King Brian's clan and dynasty. In the dream, Aibell is said to have warned Brian of his impending death and further prophesied that whichever of his sons he saw first in the morning would succeed him. Believing that the dream predicted his destiny and also, it is implied, not wishing to outlive his son Murchadh, Brian refused to seek shelter from the retreating Vikings and even chose to dismiss his bodyguards at the critical moment.<ref>James Todd's translation of the Cogadh Gaedhel Re Gallaibh, pages cixxxviii, 200-201</ref>

The ''Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh'' alleges that when Brian Boru and Brodir came face to face, similarly to [[Prince Hamlet|Hamlet]] and [[Laertes (Hamlet)|Laertes]], all they accomplished was to kill each other.<ref>James Todd's translation of the Cogadh Gaedhel Re Gallaibh, pages cixxxviii, 200–205</ref> According to ''[[Njáls saga]]'', on the other hand, Brodir was captured almost immediately afterwards and brutally tortured to death by [[Ulf the Quarrelsome]], a bodyguard and possibly a relative through marriage of Brian and who was fiercely loyal to the late king. Brodir's stomach was first slashed open with a sword, his intestines were then tied to a tree, and Brodir was forced to walk around and around the tree resulting in a slow and excruciating death from both blood loss and [[disembowelling]].<ref>Njal's Saga</ref>

After his death, Brian's body was taken, as he had instructed moments before Brodir's arrival, for his [[Requiem Mass]] to the church upon Spittal Hill, in what is now [[Swords, Dublin|Swords]], [[County Dublin]] and then to [[Armagh]] to be buried in the Cathedral founded by [[St Patrick]]. His tomb is said to be in the north wall of [[St. Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh (Church of Ireland)|St Patrick's Cathedral]] in the city of Armagh.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stpatricks-cathedral.org/cathedral-history/brian-boru/|title=Brian Boru :: Saint Patrick's Cathedral Armagh – Church of Ireland|work=stpatricks-cathedral.org|access-date=1 March 2015|archive-date=27 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227101840/http://www.stpatricks-cathedral.org/cathedral-history/brian-boru/|url-status=live}}</ref>

There have been further reports that the body of Brian Boru was brought back to his homeland in Munster after his death. While passing an area named Graine, located outside Urlingford on the Leinster/Munster border, Brian's army was attacked and his corpse was tied against a tree to pretend he was directing the army. In later years, artefacts—swords and clothing—strongly suggest that his army was in this area.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.duchas.ie/en/src?q=Graine+hill&t=CbesTranscript|title=Text search|access-date=26 June 2020|archive-date=29 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629052435/https://www.duchas.ie/en/src?q=Graine+hill&t=CbesTranscript|url-status=live}}</ref> Graine hill today has a wall which separates the two provinces and a narrow road still exists which used to be the main road connecting the diocese of Ossory and Cashel.

Brian was succeeded as High King of Ireland by his former enemy, and later ally, [[Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill|Máel Sechnaill]] (Malachy Mór), who regained the title which he had previously lost to Brian many years before. He ruled until his death in 1022.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://aoh.com/2015/05/10/brian-boru-2/ |title=BRIAN BORU who again became the High King. |access-date=8 August 2020 |archive-date=25 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160625055303/http://www.aoh.com/2015/05/10/brian-boru-2/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.libraryireland.com/biography/KingMalachyMor.php |title=King Malachy More |access-date=8 August 2020 |archive-date=29 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191029092024/https://www.libraryireland.com/biography/KingMalachyMor.php |url-status=live }}</ref>