Ivar of Limerick
| Ímar Luimnich | |
|---|---|
| King of Hlymrek King of the Foreigners |
|
| Reign | c. 960 to 977 |
| Successor | Aralt mac Ímair (died 978) |
| Died | 977 Inis Cathaig |
| Issue | Amlaíb, Dubcenn, Aralt, Daughter (name unknown) |
| House | Uí Ímair |
| Father | uncertain |
| Mother | unknown |
Ivar of Limerick (Irish: Ímar Luimnich, rí Gall; Ímar ua Ímair; Ímar Ua hÍmair, Ard Rí Gall Muman ocus Gáedel; Íomhar Mór, Old Norse: Ívarr), died 977, was the last Norse king of the city-state of Limerick, and penultimate King of the Foreigners of Munster, reigning during the rise to power of the Dál gCais and the fall of the Eóganachta. His repeated attempts to assert his authority in Limerick and the surrounding region and possibly over even the greater province of Munster itself earned him the most prominent role as antagonist in the first part of the early 12th century saga and political tract Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib, as an enemy of Mathgamain mac Cennétig, claimant to the title King of Munster, and his more famous younger brother and successor Brian Bóruma.
According to the author of the Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib, Ivar succeeded in establishing himself as King of Munster for a period in the 960s, until routed in the Battle of Sulcoit in 968, but this claim has long been doubted by scholars. He then appears to have returned only a year or two later and established himself in the region again in some capacity.
The two main sources for the career of Ivar are the early 12th century Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib itself and what support it receives from the Annals of Inisfallen. Both are believed to have used as their primary source a now lost collection of annals of ultimately Chronicle of Ireland descent to which were added material of Munster concern. Unfortunately, however, though the Cogad author made extensive use of these annals, as well as local sources also now lost, and also some contemporary poetry, his purpose was political and intended to glorify Brian Boru and the Dál gCais for the benefit of his descendant Muirchertach Ua Briain, so although in part annalistic it is also full of exaggerations, flowery language, and dubious passages of various origin. The major problem with the Annals of Inisfallen, on the other hand, is that they are a substantially abbreviated and otherwise edited redaction of the original and so actually preserve less ultimately reliable or contemporary coverage of Ivar in total than does the Cogad with all its faults. The Annals of Inisfallen also suffer from a considerable lacuna or simply an empty gap containing no entries at all, for whatever reason, of two and a half critical years in Ivar's career, from mid-969 to the beginning of 972.
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