Kincora

Kincora (1905, rev. 1909), a ‘folk-history’ play by Lady Gregory giving an account of the Battle of Clontarf, where Brian Bóroime defeated the Danes [see Viking invasion]. The play takes liberties with history in order to depict a complex of human relationships behind the famous battle.

Fortress, sometimes ‘palace’ or ‘capital’, of Brian Bórama (Boru) on the west bank of the Shannon in what is now Co. Clare. Although lacking the grandeur associated with Emain Macha or Tara, Kincora does share the military glories of Brian (d. 1014) and the Dál Cais. Demolished by the 11th or 12th centuries, the ruins of Kincora are alleged to survive on the grounds of the Catholic church in Killaloe. The esteem given Kincora by 19th-century Anglo-Irish writers, especially in the romantic nationalist ‘Kincora’ by James Clarence Mangan (1803–1849), has tended to favour the use of the anglicized form over the Irish.