¹Leerssen, Joep. Remembrance and Imagination: Patterns in the Historical and Literary Representation of Ireland in the Nineteenth Century. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame in Association with Field Day, 1997. 10.

²Duffy, Seán. "Beal Boru and Magh Adhair on Voices from the Dawn." Message to the author. 1 May 2014. E-mail.
The first use of the title "Emperor of the Gael" was credited to the king's amanuensis, Máel Suthain. The Annals of Ulster, under the year 1005, recorded that Brian donated 20 ounces of gold to the monastery at Armagh, where he was named Emperor, and where he declared Armagh the religious capital of Ireland. "

³Duffy, Seán. "Brian Boru & the Battle of Clontarf: Killaloe." Brian Boru Battle of Clontarf 2014 Millennium Festival Events. Web. 08 Apr. 2014. <http://www.brianborumillennium.ie/brian-boru/#killaloe>.
According to the author, the site's name may be derived from the name of the ford at Killaloe, which is called Áth na Bóraime.

⁴"Clare Places - Killaloe: Places of Interest." Clare County Library. Web. 08 Apr. 2014. <http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/places/kointerest.htm>.

⁵O'Kelly, Michael J. "Beal Boru, Co. Clare." Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society 67.205 (1962): 13-14.

⁶O'Kelly 13-14.
The author notes, "It may be that the words "near the Borowe " should have been read "on the Borowe." The Annals of Clonmacnoise have come down to us in an English translation only, a translation made in 1627. The original version written in Irish has not survived, so that we do not know with what exactitude the seventeenth century translator rendered the text into English."

⁷Sweetman, David. "Earth and Timber Castles- David Sweetman - The Medieval Castles of Ireland." Castle Duncan Forums. Web. 08 Apr. 2014. <http://www.castleduncan.com/forum/index.php?/topic/1305-earth-and-timber-castles-david-sweetman/>
The author describes a "ringwork castle" as "...in its simplest form, an area enclosed by a fosse and rampart. It has also been defined as having a minimum height of 2m above the level of the outside defences with the enclosed area disproportionately small compared to the massive enclosing elements."
Commenting on fort's abandonment and destruction, Professor O'Kelly noted, "The Annals of the Four Masters has an entry for the year 1116 which says that Toirdeal- bhach Ua Conchobhair made a raid in which he burned and demolished Boromha and Ceann-Coradh. If this can be accepted as a reference to the particular site under discussion here, the primary fort was still occupied in the early part of the 12th century and perhaps it was this very raid which brought about its abandonment, though the excavation gave no evidence whatsoever of any burning of structures within the fort." (O'Kelly, Michael J. "Beal Boru, Co. Clare." Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society 67.205 (1962): 13-14.)

⁸O'Kelly 6-7.
Boru biographer Roger Chatterton Newman, acknowledging that both Béal Bóramha and the other nearby Dalcassian stronghold at Kincora, were used by the family, suggests that "...it is more than likely that Brian, as a child, lived for a while in both - in troubled times the wife and children of Cinnéide would have found shelter in whichever was the stronger fortress."

⁹O'Kelly 2.
According to the author, "a modern stone revetment was added sometime between 1893 and 1911," likely by the landowner at the same time that he planted the now mature forest of trees. Due to O'Kelly's commitment not to let his excavations disturb any of the trees, a group of post-holes associated with a partially collapsed wall could not be investigated to determine any potential structure they may have delineated.

¹⁰Much of the early information about Brian Boru is from a 12th-century text which may have been written by his great-grandson in an effort to legitimize the claim of his descendants on the High Kingship, and thus must be regarded with skepticism: Cogadh Gaedhil re Gallaibh ("The War of the Irish with the Foreigners"). This text may be read here in an 1867 English translation by James Henthorn To

¹¹Beougher, David B. "Brian Boru: King, High-King, and Emperor of the Irish." Diss. The Pennsylvania State University, 2007. iii. Available online here.

¹²A clip from the end of this film, featuring this quotation, may be viewed here. The quotation was first used in this context by Seán Duffy in an Irish Times article.

¹³Newman, Roger Chatterton. Brian Boru, King of Ireland. Dublin: Anvil, 1983. 82.

¹⁴Duffy, Seán. Brian Boru and the Battle of Clontarf. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 2013. 11.
According to the author, Brian's family were "the Uí Thairdelbaig, who were a branch of the Déis Tuaiscirt, better known as Dal Cais, who were a branch of the Déis Bec, who were a branch of the Déisi of Munster."
The legendary founder of the Uí Néill dynesty, Niall Noígíallach, is depicted as striving to establish a strong, central monarchy in the 4th century CE, but was unable to do so. It was not until Brian Boru, six centuries later, that another effort was made to unite all the Irish tribes into a single alliance. According to Seán Duffy, "Níall may be more of a mythical figure than a historical one. Claims that the Uí Néill ruled Ireland from a very early period are hard to prove and may be a backward projection of later centuries. Certainly, no Uí Néill king could be proven to resemble anything like a king of Ireland until the middle of the ninth century." (Duffy, Seán. "Beal Boru and Magh Adhair on Voices from the Dawn." Message to the author. 1 May 2014. E-mail.)

¹⁵Duffy, Seán. Brian Boru and the Battle of Clontarf. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 2013. 350.
Professor Duffy cites a poem written some two centuries after the Battle of Clontarf, in which the poet celebrates Brian Boru's sacrifice and laments the lack of a comparable hero for his own age (pp. 395-96):
On Good Friday Brian was killed
Defending the hostaged Irish,
As Christ without sin was killed
Defending the children of Adam.
When will there come the like of Brian
South or north, east or west,
Who will protect the Irish against evil
As he alone protected?

¹⁶Duffy, Seán. "Brian Boru at the Battle of Clontarf: A Medieval Version of 1916?" Irish Times. Web. 09 Apr. 2014. <http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/brian-boru-at-the-battle-of-clontarf-a-medieval-version-of-1916-1.1667155>.

¹⁷Duffy. "Brian Boru at the Battle of Clontarf."
The quotation "...slaughter of the Foreigners of the Western World," is from the Annals of Innisfallen, written near the end of the 11th century. According to Professor Duffy, this account of the battle "...is as close as the author of the Inisfallen entry on Clontarf comes to describing it as a victory for Brian, and it is by no means certain that he  viewed it as such. From his viewpoint— although he says it in a rather matter-of-fact way—by far the most considerable outcome of the encounter was the death of Brian." (Duffy, Seán. Brian Boru and the Battle of Clontarf. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 2013. 257.)

¹⁸Kristjánsson, Jónas. Eddas and Sagas: Iceland's Medieval Literature. Reykjavík: Hiđ íslenska Bókmenntafélag, 1988 (1894).
Translation courtesy of Gudrun Helga Jonasdottir. The 1894 edition may be read online here. A part of this quotation was first used by Seán Duffy in an Irish Times article.
After Brodar, Brian Boru’s assassin, was captured by the Dalcassians he was tortured to death by Brian's brother, Ulf the Quarrelsome, "by having his entrails wound about a tree while he was living." (Newman, Roger Chatterton. Brian Boru, King of Ireland. Dublin: Anvil, 1983. 174-76.)

¹⁹Duffy. "Brian Boru at the Battle of Clontarf."
The medieval harp known as "Brian Boru's Harp" (also known as the Trinity College Harp) likely dates from the 15th century. Its iconic shape may be noted here.

²⁰Hugh Frazer of Dromore, Co. Down (1795–1865) executed this large (2.5m x 1.7m) oil painting, "The Battle of Clontarf," in 1826. Traditional details of the scene he incorporated into the work include the elderly Brian Boru observing the battle from his tent, and the single combat of his son Murchad with Jar Sigurðr. The High King's tent may be said to resemble the Trinity College Harp, also known as Brian Boru's Harp.
For three decades, until the fall of 2013, the painting was hanging in the Isaacs Art Centre in Hawaii. It was purchased by the private equity firm Kildare Partners and returned to Ireland just in time for the millennium events of 2014. During this time the painting was exhibited to the public at the Casino in Marino, just north of Dublin.
For the Zoomify feature on the Voices from the Dawn page, the image file of the painting was digitally extrapolated to a higher resolution.

²¹Newman 9.