Amlaíb mac Gofraid (Old Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

: Óláfr Guðrøðarson; Old English

Old English language

Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...

: Ánláf, Modern English: Olaf Guthfrithson) (died 941), a member of the Norse-Gael

Norse-Gaels

The Norse–Gaels were a people who dominated much of the Irish Sea region, including the Isle of Man, and western Scotland for a part of the Middle Ages; they were of Gaelic and Scandinavian origin and as a whole exhibited a great deal of Gaelic and Norse cultural syncretism...

 Uí Ímair

Uí Ímair

The Uí Ímair , or Dynasty of Ivar, were an enormous royal and imperial Norse dynasty who ruled Northern England, the Irish Sea region and Kingdom of Dublin, and the western coast of Scotland, including the Hebrides, from the mid 9th century, losing control of the first in the mid 10th, but the rest...

 dynasty, was King of Dublin from 934 to 941. Gofraid ua Ímair

Gofraid ua Ímair

Gofraid was a Norse-Gael king of Dublin and, for a short time, king of Northumbria...

, his father, held both Dublin and York

York

York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

 until Athelstan of England

Athelstan of England

Athelstan , called the Glorious, was the King of England from 924 or 925 to 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder, grandson of Alfred the Great and nephew of Æthelflæd of Mercia...

 expelled him from York in 927.

Amlaíb married the daughter of Causantín mac Áeda

Constantine II of Scotland

Constantine, son of Áed was an early King of Scotland, known then by the Gaelic name Alba. The Kingdom of Alba, a name which first appears in Constantine's lifetime, was in northern Great Britain...

. He also allied himself with Owen I of Strathclyde. In 937, Amlaíb led his allies into battle against Athelstan, king of England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, in the Battle of Brunanburh

Battle of Brunanburh

The Battle of Brunanburh was an English victory in 937 by the army of Æthelstan, King of England, and his brother Edmund over the combined armies of Olaf III Guthfrithson, the Norse-Gael King of Dublin, Constantine II, King of Scots, and Owen I, King of Strathclyde...

 and was decisively defeated.

After Athelstan's death in 939, Olaf again invaded York the same year, forcing Athelstan's successor, Edmund

Edmund I of England

Edmund I , called the Elder, the Deed-doer, the Just, or the Magnificent, was King of England from 939 until his death. He was a son of Edward the Elder and half-brother of Athelstan. Athelstan died on 27 October 939, and Edmund succeeded him as king.-Military threats:Shortly after his...

, into a treaty which ceded to Amlaíb Northumbria

Northumbria

Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...

 and part of Mercia

Mercia

Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...

. Uniquely, the legend of his silver penny minted at York (illustration, right) is not in Latin or Old English but in Old Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

; the bird emblem perhaps represents the raven associated with the battle-god Odin

Odin

Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....

. He did not get to enjoy his new lands for long, dying just two years later in 941. He was succeeded by Amlaíb Cuarán.

Cammán mac Amlaíb

Cammán mac Amlaíb

Cammán mac Amlaíb was a Norse-Gaelic viking who is recorded in the Irish annals as being defeated in 960. He has been identified as being a son of Amlaíb mac Gofraid , as well as possibly being Sitriuc Cam, who was defeated in battle by Amlaíb Cuarán two years later.-Cammán:In 960, Cammán is...

, who is possibly identical to Sitriuc Cam, has been identified as one of the sons of Amlaíb mac Gofraid.