Brian Boru now in the hospitality business?

The Brian Boru is a Dublin pub and restaurant, also called Hedigans. Brian himself was a historic character, born more than a millennium ago to the chief of one of the royal free tribes who inhabited the Irish province of Munster.

After his mother was killed in a Viking raid, Brian left his home and became a guerrilla fighter. He attacked Viking settlements and then returned to the hills.

Eventually Brian Boru assembled an army to face the Norsemen, and triumphed. In 978, he took over the Kingship of Munster after defeating the King of Cashel.

In 998, Brian met Malachy, High King of Meath, and they agreed to divide Ireland between them. Five years later, Brian quietly took over Malachy's northern lands as well as his own in the south. Thus Brian Boru united the Irish, crushing the destructive military might of the Vikings. He was the first and only king to govern all of Ireland, until his death a millennium ago during the Battle of Clontarf.

Trinity College Dublin is now showing a Brian Boru exhibition in the Long Room of the library.