but the description may not be the less accurate.  Brian plundered and destroyed as usual on his way to Dublin.  When he had encamped near that city, the Danes came out to give him battle on the plain of Magh-n-Ealta.[224] The king then held a council of war, and the result, apparently, was a determination to give battle in the morning.  It is said that the Northmen pretended flight in order to delay the engagement.  The Njal Saga says the Viking Brodir had found out by his sorcery, “that if the fight were on Good Friday, King Brian would fall, but win the day; but if they fought before, they would all fall who were against him.”  Some authorities also mention a traitor in Brian’s camp, who had informed the Danes that his forces had been weakened by the absence of his son Donough, whom he had sent to devastate Leinster.  Malachy has the credit of this piece of treachery, with other imputations scarcely less disreputable.

The site of the battle has been accurately defined.  It took place on the plain of Clontarf,[225] and is called the Battle of the Fishing Weir of Clontarf.  The weir was at the mouth of the river Tolka, where the bridge of Ballybough now stands.  The Danish line was extended along the coast, and protected at sea by their fleets.  It was disposed in three divisions, and comprised about 21,000 men, the Leinster forces being included in the number.  The first division or left wing was the nearest to Dublin.  It was composed of the Danes of Dublin, and headed by Sitric, who was supported by the thousand mail-clad Norwegians, commanded by Carlus and Anrud.  In the centre were the Lagennians, under the command of Maelmordha.  The right wing comprised the foreign auxiliaries, under the command of Brodir and Siguard.[226]

Brian’s army was also disposed in three divisions.  The first was composed of his brave Dalcassians, and commanded by his son Murrough, assisted by his four brothers, Teigue, Donough, Connor, and Flann, and his youthful heir, Turlough, who perished on the field.  The second division or centre was composed of troops from Munster, and was commanded by Mothla, grandson of the King of the Deisi, of Waterford, assisted by many native princes.  The third battalion was commanded by Maelruanaidh (Mulrooney of the Paternosters) and Teigue O’Kelly, with all the nobles of Connaught.  Brian’s army numbered about twenty thousand men.  The accounts which relate the position of Malachy, and his conduct on this occasion, are hopelessly conflicting.  It appears quite impossible to decide whether he was a victim to prejudice, or whether Brian was a victim to his not unnatural hostility.

On the eve of the battle, one of the Danish chiefs, Plait, son of King Lochlainn, sent a challenge to Domhnall, son of Emhin, High Steward of Mar.  The battle commenced at daybreak.  Plait came forth and exclaimed three times, “Faras Domhnall?” (Where is Domhnall?) Domhnall replied:  “Here, thou reptile.”  A terrible hand-to-hand combat ensued.  They fell dead at the same moment, the sword of each through the heart of the other, and the hair of each in the clenched hand of the other.  And the combat of those two was the first combat of the battle.