Norse invaders in 812 settle Limerick, situated on the estuary of the River Shannon, in west central Ireland.

Olaf defeats his Norse rivals based at Limerick in August 937, leaving him free to pursue his family claim to the throne of York.

He marries the daughter of king Constantine II of Scotland, and also allies himself with Owen I of Strathclyde.

Æthelstan, well known in Europe, has married his sisters to several powerful princes, including the Saxon German king Otto.

He sends another fleet in 939 that unsuccessfully attempts to help Louis in a struggle with rebellious magnates.

Æthelstan's court is perhaps the most cosmopolitan of the Anglo-Saxon period, and the close contacts between the English and European courts will end soon after his death, but descent from the English royal house will long remain a source of prestige for continental ruling families.

Æthelstan dies on October 27, 939, at Gloucester.

His grandfather Alfred, his father Edward, and his half-brother Ælfweard had been buried at Winchester, but Æthelstan chose not to honor the city associated with opposition to his rule.

By his own wish he was buried at Malmesbury Abbey, where he had buried his cousins who died at Brunanburh.

No other member of the West Saxon royal family was buried there, and according to William of Malmesbury, Æthelstan's choice reflected his devotion to the abbey and to the memory of its seventh century abbot, Saint Aldhelm.

After his death, the men of York immediately choose the Viking king of Dublin, Olaf Guthfrithsson, as their king, and Anglo-Saxon control of the north, seemingly made safe by the victory of Brunanburh, collapses.

The reigns of his half-brothers Edmund (939–946) and Eadred (946–955) will largely be devoted to regaining control.

Many present-day Irish dioceses trace their boundaries to decisions made at the Synod of Ráth Breasail, which marks the Irish church from a monastic to a diocesan and parish-based church.

The papal legate giving authority to the Synod is Gille, Bishop of Limerick, at this time a Hiberno-Norse city.

The Anglo-Normans had finally captured the area around Limerick in 1195, under John when he was Lord of Ireland.

Local legend claims that Limerick in 1197 was given its first charter and its first Mayor, Adam Sarvant.

A castle, built on the orders of King John and bearing his name, is completed around 1200.

Limerick, made a shire of Munster in the early thirteenth century, comes under control of the earls of Desmond in 1329.

Essex now marches west to Limerick city, where on June 4 he is well received.

His army is joined during this part of the march by a large train of baggage porters who outnumber the fighting men two-to-one; they will remain a drain on resources throughout the campaign.

Limerick, the Jacobite headquarters, having successfully resisted two sieges, finally surrenders in October.

The pacification of Limerick permits freedom of religion for Catholics in Ireland and free transport of Irish soldiers to France, including Sarsfield, who joins Louis XIV's army in the Spanish Netherlands.

But the Irish Protestants object: civil articles to secure toleration for the Catholics are not ratified, thus enabling later Irish leaders to denounce the of Limerick, broken "before the ink was dry".

Immediately after Limerick, acts of the English Parliament secure the Protestant position by declaring illegal the acts of King James's Parliament in Ireland and restricting membership in future Irish Parliaments to Protestants only.

The sale of the lands forfeited by James and some of his supporters further reduce the Catholic landownership in the country.

Catholic land ownership in Ireland is less than fifteen percent by 1703.

On this foundation is established the Protestant Ascendancy.