The Great King Brian Boru and the Battle of Dublin

Clontarf (AD 1014) or The Battle of Dublin, is soon to see the 1000th year anniversary date in 2014.

A passage of the NJAL's SAGA (according to Ronald Williams book 'The Lords of the Isles' published by House of Lochar, Isle of Colonsay, Argyll, Scotland 1997) reads as follows:

Clontarf

I have been where champions battled;
High in Erin sang the sword.
Boss to Boss clashed many shields,
Steel clanged sharp on warriors' helms.
I can tell of that fierce struggle;
Sigurd fell in storm of spears;
Brian fell but gained the kingdom
Ere the blood flowed from his wounds.
********************

King Brian Boru fell during the time of battle, but not on the battlefield.

This is a story that was told to me years back.
And, ...

If it was a truth that was told to me,
then it's a truth I'm telling you now.

King Brian Boru had worked hard and long to gather the needed strength of warriors
for his army, to take on the force of the Norsemen, who had their stronghold on the Isle of Man.
It is said, that it took Boru's men a fortnight to convince him, to not be on the battlefield with them. Although a great and powerful King and leader, they would rather focus on killing their enemy than protecting his life.
Boru, finally but reluctantly agreed, and he made his way up the rise to the hill above the battlefield with his trusted companion Donlan, who had been by the King's side since he was young.
They passed where the bards stood to watch the battle unfold, (so they could document in their stories and songs, who the heroes were, who fell with glory, and who fled the field.)
Boru and Donlan, went through the wood and found a grove, where they pitched a tent so the King could reflect and pray for his people's victory that day.

Every once in awhile he would rise and send Donlan out to see how the battle was going. The third such time, ...when Donlan returned he exclaimed to Boru, "The Norseman's standard has fallen and we no doubt have won the day!"
Boru jumped up and said, "Great! You go, ... and wait for my men, to come tell me of our victory!"
Donlan left his side, and Boru huddled down once again to pray, and be thankful.

It was during this same time, there were many Norsemen fleeing the battlefield, to save themselves. One such man came running out of the wood into the grove. He stopped when he saw the tent...then suddenly recognized the Great King, by his robe and his crown, huddled there in prayer. With his great battle-ax in hand this Norseman rushed forward into the tent...
cleaved the great King's head in half, ...rushed back out...(thinking he heard other Norsemen coming into the grove), and started to exclaim...
"I alone, .. have killed the Great King Brian Boru!!!! Me,... I've done it!" slapping his chest with his fists he repeated this again, then fell silent when, ...
he realized what he'd heard, in fact was Boru's men emerging from the forest.

Donlan was so aghast at the sight of his life-long friend and King; lying there in a pool of blood, ...that he and Boru's men disarmed the Norseman, stripped him of his armour and garments. Donlan sliced open the man's gut, ...pull out part of his entrails, ...
marched him over to a tree, attaching his guts to it, and made him walk around the tree while it disemboweled him. Then they put him to death.

Gruesome yes, ...but not nearly as some things done "in that day and age".

Now the purpose of this story is to show how important the family coat of arms symbols can be.
If you look at the Donlan family Coat of Arms of Ireland you will see a naked man that looks like he's tied to a tree, ...but on closer examination you may actually be able to distinguish that... it's not a rope you see there at all, ... but something quite different indeed.