In the second year of the English civil war both king and parliament sought and received substantial military assistance from outside the kingdom: Charles concluded a truce with the Irish rebels and began the importation of troops from Ireland; parliament negotiated the introduction of an army from Scotland. Historians of the period are agreed that these parallel steps had quite opposite results. While the Scots army is invariably viewed as a ‘big factor in turning the scales against the king’, Charles's importation of Irish soldiers is regarded as having an insignificant impact on his military situation and a disastrous effect upon his popular standing. Parliament's alliance with the Scots has therefore been acclaimed necessary and prudent, Charles's acquisition of Irish help a terrible blunder. Samuel R. Gardiner, in his classic history of the English civil war, singled out the king's importation of Irish troops to England as the act which did most to weaken his authority.

There must still be room for argument over whether Ireland's ‘war of independence’ was a spontaneous movement of the mass of the people, as Republicans hold, or whether, as the British government liked to suggest, it was essentially the work of a handful of fanatical terrorists. In attempting to resolve this argument, considerable weight must be placed on instances of what would now be called civil resistance—where the government is opposed by ordinary members of the public. Foremost amongst these are politically-motivated industrial actions. It is a curious feature of Irish historiography that very little attention has in fact been paid to the industrial actions which occurred during the Anglo-Irish conflict of 1916-1921, most notably the embargo on the transportation of government forces and munitions implemented by Irish railway workers between May and December 1920.

The thesis defended in this contribution to Viking studies in the British Isles is simple and straightforward. It is argued that the Viking warrior Ragnarr Loðbrók was an historical personage. Tradition associates him with the area about the Kattegat and in particular with south Norway and Zealand where Ragnarr and his sons were the leaders of a large force of vikings. These were sea-kings rather than rulers of territories. Ragnarr flourished in the first half of the ninth century and died some time after 851. Amongst his many sons, three were famous: Ívarr inn beinlausi, Hálfdan and Ubbe. Ragnarr was the leader (or one of the leaders) of the Danish attack on the Irish Vikings, probably Norwegians, in 851 and his son Ívarr established himself as king of Dublin which he ruled jointly from 853 with one Óláfr, identical with the Vestfold king, Óláfr Geirstaðaálfr, who after years of campaigning in Ireland with Ívarr returned to Norway in or about 871.