Norse influence in Ireland probably reached its climax in the 10th century. The battle of Clontarf offered a serious check and though there was still a succession of Norse kings and earls in Dublin they had to acknowledge the authority of the _ardrí_. The line of Sigtryggr of the Silken Beard came to an end by the middle of the 11th century, and the rulership of Dublin fell into the hands of various Norse families from other Irish settlements and from Man and the Isles. From 1078-94 it was under the rule of the great conqueror Godred Crovan from Man, and its connexion with that kingdom was only severed finally when Magnus Barefoot came on his great Western expedition in 1103, and brought Man into direct allegiance to the kings of Norway. Celtic influence must have been strong in the Norse families themselves. Several of the kings bear Gaelic names, and it is probably from this period that such familiar names as MacLamont or MacCalmont, MacIver, and MacQuistan date, where the Gaelic patronymic prefix has been added to the Norse names Lagmaðr, Ívarr and Eysteinn. While Norse power in Dublin was on the decline as a political force it is curious to note that the vigorous town-life and the active commerce instituted by the Norse settlers made that city of ever-increasing importance as a centre of Irish life and Irish interests generally, and there can be no question that it was the Norsemen who really made Dublin the capital city of Ireland. The Norse element remained absolutely distinct, not only in Dublin but also in the other cities in which they had settled, right down to the time of the English invasion in the 12th century. Frequent mention is made of them in the records of the great towns, and they often both claimed and received privileges quite different from those accorded to the native Irish or to the English settlers. They were known to the latter as 'Ostmen' or 'Easterlings,' a term which in this connexion seems to have ousted the earlier _Norvagienses_ or _les Norreys_, _les Norwicheis_. The term 'Ostman' doubtless represents O.N. _Austmaðr_, a man dwelling to the east. Exactly how or where it first came to be applied to Norsemen it is difficult to say. The word has left its mark in Oxmanstown, earlier Ostmanstown, the district of the city of Dublin assigned to the Ostmen by the English invaders.