Would Ireland have been a superpower had he not been slain by the retreating vikings at the age of 88?

Would Ireland have been a superpower had he not been slain by the retreating vikings at the age of 88?

no

Not much coal and iron to industrialize. No.

maybe if varus never fucked up, rome stayed in england & amalgimated the isles successfully. they'd come to be the dominanting force, at least hybrid-culturally etc as the centre of power with the romans taking out the predictable forces of boudicas resistence, power vaccum, localities of alliance/influence of what is left, how all rome works, take apiece give a piece

If he'd lived longer then perhaps he would've at least laid the foundations for Ireland to become a centralised Kingdom, which would lead to them being better able to resist the Norman invasion or since there would be no petty king of Leinster in the first place, prevent it from ever happening, which would've lead to more normalised relations with other European countries, but if the Protestant reformation still happens and they still remain Catholic, it's doubtful that they could take on both England and Scotland, assuming that Edward Bruce's plan for a united Gaelic Kingdom of Scotland and Ireland never came to fruition.

Alternate history is ultimately too hard to come up with long term, there are so many variables.

Objectively yes, I lean towards materialism myself, but I admit we often underestimate the influence rulers have.

Brian Boru controlled one of the largest economic surpluses in Ireland, far more than future and past rulers until the modern era, and most of it was left to his discretion due to the very slow growth rates of the middle ages. Most rulers would just funnel it all back into the military to protect the pre-existing system, some would pour it into palaces and lavish feasts, Brian Boru however was a reformer, he would have changed the system and entrenched the political and socio-economic changes leaving Ireland as a unified regional power comparable to Scotland.

They would have almost certainly played a role in the downfall of Anglo-Saxon England and it is completely feasible that Irish hegemony would have been accomplished in place of the Normans. The heart of this empire would eventually gravitate towards southern England, but a new anglo-irish identity would have developed there, Britain today would be unrecognizable and the world would be a century or 2 ahead technologically.

>>Brian Boru controlled one of the largest economic surpluses in Ireland, far more than future and past rulers until the modern era
Tell me more

He was the most successful high kings and controlled the monasteries and towns.

He was 88. He'd have probably died on the way home.

But honestly, even if he had lived for another hundred years and managed to actually unify Ireland rather than just hold a sort of momentary hegemony, no. You might as well ask if Iceland or Estonia could have been a superpower.

Ireland was a backward, underpopulated, tiny and relatively isolated island without any kind of socio-political system comparable to those of Franks or Normans or even the late Anglo-Saxons. They were semi-tribal, with about 150 different petty kingdoms loosely tied together by more overfull over-kings whose actual power could fluctuate wildly; Brian was just a particularly powerful one of these. There were no centralized states and there weren't even any large secular settlements outside of the Norse ports; Brian's royal capital probably looked a bit like pic related. There's no reason to think Brian was about to change any of this, especially considering his age.

Gaelic Ireland had a brilliant Christian and secular culture, with its incredible art and literature and an amazing legal system, but it could never have been especially politically influential in Western civilization.

Naw, Ireland doesn't have the right geography or resources.

It'd be better off than today, to be sure.