By the middle of the
ninth century Scandinavian settlement of the Hebrides (or Western
Isles) off the coast of Scotland was already very advanced. What is
clear though is that the Gaels who had settled there before were not
displaced by this influx. It was during the mid ninth century that
the legendary Scots King, Kenneth Mac Alpin (whose brother was the
progenitor of the Clan Gregor), moved both the capital of his Kingdom
& the Lia Faill (Stone of Destiny) from Dalriada to the ancient
Pictish capital at Scone. The threat of Norse raiding parties was
obviously one of the major reasons for this, but another was that he
wanted to consolidate his Kingdom & by taking over the ancient Pictish
capital, this was possibly one way of doing this.
To the Scandinavian's the Hebrides were known as "The Sudrey's", or
"southern islands," whilst the Gaels referred to them as "Innse Gall"
or, "islands of the foreigners." During the 10th & 11th Centuries a
new political system began to take shape in the islands, and these
islands which stretched from the Butt of Lewis in the North to the
Calf of Man in the South, were ruled over by a dynasty of Norse
"Sea-Kings" called the "Hy Ivarr."
By the end of the 11th Century Godfrey Crovan was the King of the "Hy
Ivarr" & ruled Man & the Isles. It is interesting to note that the
Isle of Man today (itself the ancient home of the Celtic Sea God,
Manannan) retains its own independence & many of its unique
institutions such as the "Tynwald" & "House of Keys" date from the
time of Crovan. Indeed, the "Tynwald" is one of the oldest
parliaments in the world.
Being the Dark Ages though, things weren't without times of upheaval,
and, as you will see, it was not a great deal of time before the power
of the "Hy Ivarr" was broken.
Into this period of history steps the figure of Somerled. His was a
Scandinavian name meaning "Summer Wanderer" or "Viking." Despite this
betrayal of Norse origins, he must also have had Celtic blood coursing
through his veins however, as both his father & grandfather were
reportedly named after Celtic saints.
Originally he held Argyll, but, in 1156 he challenged his brother in
law, Godfrey, Son of Olaf, King of Man in a great sea battle, in which
he defeated said individual. The result of this was a division which
shattered effectively the stranglehold the "Hy Ivarr" had upon all the
Isles. Godfrey & his descendants, as a result of this battle,
retained the islands of Man, Skye & Lewis, whilst Somerled received
Islay, Mull & perhaps North & South Uist as well, indeed, Islay would
become the base for the "Lordship of the Isles."
It is interesting to note that to this day the flag of the Island of
Lewis retains a Danish flag in its upper left corner. The Norse
"Chronicles of Man" stated that the downfall of the "Hy Ivarr" in the
Isles came about when the Sons of Somerled took possession thereof.
Meanwhile, on the mainland, the Righ (or King), Malcolm IV, was
getting very concerned by the rise to power of this man in the West
who was now calling himself "King of the Isles." This, as he saw it,
was a clear threat to his authority, but realising the strength he had
in his island fastnesses, he decided that he had to reach an agreement
with the same. So four years after the battle with Godfrey, the Righ
signed an agreement with Somerled. It is known that this ocurred as a
charter exists from this time describing a grant of lands to one
"Berowald the Fleming" in the district of Moray. This was written on
Christmas day 1160 at Perth, and, almost as a footnote it goes on to
mention that this was after the agreement arranged between the Righ &
Somerled.
Somerled however broke this treaty when he invaded Renfrew in 1164
with a composite army of Islesmen & Scandinavians from the Kingdom of
Dublin. A fierce battle ensued in which he was killed not long
afterwards. For the Righ too things didn't look to good, and "The
Maiden", as he was called, died in 1165.
Not everything Somerled tried to do was warlike however. Amongst the
other things he did, the most important was to try (unsuccessfully) to
re-establish the prestige of the sacred island of Iona as a place of
Christian Pilgrimage, the island itself having previously been sacked
by the Norse. Indeed he was unsuccessful in his bid to instal Flaherty
O'Brolchan from Ireland as an abbot there.
Somerled did not die without issue however, and he had three sons,
Angus; Dugald & Ranald. Details on Angus are vague to say the very
least (nothing is known of what became of him - at least to this
writer), and information on Dugald is only slightly less so. We
do know that he had three sons however (Duncan; Olaf; Ranald) & that
he was a benefactor of Durham Cathedral of all places in 1175.
The "Book of Life" there states his & his sons names. More generally,
Dugald was the progenitor of the Clan Dougall & the Dougall's
(MacDougall's) under John of Lorne would throw their lot in with the
Comyn family & the English in the late 13th Century & 14th Centuries.
Indeed, they swore to oppose "The Bruce" on land & on sea, and had, by
all accounts an impressive collections of galley's! Dugald also built
Dunstaffnage Castle near Oban, the ruins of which, exist even unto
this day.
The other son Ranald is more famous. He is known as a "King of the
Isles" & as a lawmaker, however, none of his laws seem to have
remained today, and any definite evidence of them has sadly been long
lost. His standing however is vouched for in a charter of James VI
some 400 or so years later, which stated "The Charter of Ranald, son
of Somerled, who called himself 'King of the Isles & Lord of Argyll &
Kintyre'."
Like his father he must have been a fairly religious man, as well as
having to be warlike, and it is known that he built both a monastery &
nunnery on Iona. Ranald had two sons (Donald & Ruari) & from these
two another two clans had there progenitors, namely the Clan Donald
(MacDonald) & the Clan Ruari (MacRuari).
The Norse however had not gone away & all through the eleventh century
they sought to re-establish the prestige of the "Hy Ivarr" in the
Islands, and in the 1090's, Magnus Barelegs (so called for his
deferrence to Gaelic style dress) raided, sacked & looted his way
through the Isles. Bjorn Cripple-Hand, the Royal poet at his court
wrote the following verse about his deeds:
In Uist the King deep
crimson made the lightning of his glancing blade, the
peasant lost his land and life who dared to bide the Norseman's
strife, the hungry battle-birds were filled in Skye with
blood of foemen killed, and wolves on Tiree's lonely shore
dyed red their hairy jaws in gore.
After this the
Scots conceded control of the islands of the West to Norway & later
rulers of the islands would seek Norwegian agreement on their right to
rule. Indeed, in 1248 Somerled's grandsons Ewan MacDougall & Dugald
MacRuari sailed to Bergen to petition the Norwegian king, asking that
he give them the right to use the title King over the northern half of
the Hebrides. As if things were not bad enough, not only did the
"Island Kings" have to petition the King of Norway for their rights in
the Islands, but, any mainland possession of theirs would only be
obtained by similarly petitioning the Scottish Righ. In 1249
Alexander II even threatened Ewan on the grounds that no man could
ever best serve two masters. Ewan had asked him for time to decide
but the Righ refused & died on the island of Kerrera, near Oban,
leading an expedtionary force against him.
Fourteen years later, the King of Norway, who by this juncture was
King Haakon Haakonsson, (from now on Haakon IV) assembled a fleet in
Bergen & set sail for the Isles intent on showing who was boss. This
would eventually end in the Battle of Largs (1263) & Haakon IV fled &
died in the Orkney islands. Haakon's Saga tells how Alexander II died
because he attacked the sacred territory of Columba, and if the saga
is to be believed, it was against a background of atrocities such as
the burning of churches & burning of woman & children that Haakon IV
decided to sail. In any event, a decisive sea battle ensued off the
Ayrshire Coast at Largs in which many of the Norse troops were cut
down even before they could make shore. Even today in Largs they hold
an annual Viking festival to celebrate this event. On his voyage of
disaster Haakon was joined by Angus MacDonald of Islay & Alan MacRuari,
but Ewan MacDougall of Argyll refused to join them, perhaps seeing the
expedition for the folly that it was. In 1266 at the "Treaty of
Perth" Haakon IV's successor, Magnus the Law-Mender, agreed to hand
over the Western Isles to the Scots Righ (Alexander III) in return for
the payment of a lump sum of 4,000 merks & an annual payment
thereafter of 100 merks (which continued to be paid well into the
fourteenth century). The treaty effectively gave Scots control of the
Sudrey's & Man whilst the Norwegians retained the Northern Isles, at
least for a time.
Angus Og MacDonald is perhaps one of the most colourful figures of
14th Century Scotland. He & his kin on their island fastness of Islay
threw in their lot with the Bruce, and without the aid of the self
styled "Lord of the Isles", who like his relation MacDougall had an
impressive fleet to command, things might have been a little different
in Scotland.
