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Kings, Usurpers, and Concubines in the 'Chronicles of the Kings of Man and the Isles' pp 21–30Cite as

Heroes: The Manx Sea Kings Descended from Godred Crovan

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Abstract

The principal focus of the Chronicles of the Kings of Man and the Isles is the dynasty of Manx sea kings that ruled Man and the Isles between 1079 and 1265 and from one perspective, the text can be regarded as a dynastic history. The early portion of the text dealing with the founder of the dynasty, the warlord Godred Crovan (d. 1095), proves challenging to sift for historical evidence and has the appearance of laying an ideological foundation for the dynasty’s rule. By the early twelfth century material becomes more historical in nature and it is possible to examine the depiction of the Manx rulers by the compilers of the Chronicles.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    N.F. Blake, “Chronicles,” in J.R. Strayer (ed.), Dictionary of the Middle Ages, 12 vols. (New York, 1983), vol. 3, 327.

  2. 2.

    Cronica Regum Mannie & Insularum. Chronicles of the Kings of Man and the Isles BL Cotton Julius A vii, ed. G. Broderick, 2nd ed. (Douglas, 1995; repr. 1996; 1st ed. 1979), f. 33r–33v. [Hereafter CRMI].

  3. 3.

    B.T. Hudson, Viking Pirates and Christian Princes: Dynasty, Religion, and Empire in the North Atlantic (Oxford, 2005), 171. See also S. Duffy “Man and the Irish Sea World in the Eleventh Century,” in S. Duffy and H. Mytum (eds.), A New History of the Isle of Man, Volume III. The Medieval Period 1000–1406 (Liverpool, 2015), 9–26.

  4. 4.

    S. Duffy, “Emerging from the Mist: Ireland and Man in the Eleventh Century,” in P.J. Davey and D. Finlayson (eds.), Mannin Revisited: Twelve Essays on Manx Culture and Environment (Edinburgh, 2002), 55–56. Duffy regards Godred as a son or nephew of Ivar Haraldsson. See also G. Broderick, “Irish and Welsh Strands in the Geneaology of Godred Crovan,” Journal of the Manx Museum 8 (1980), 32–38.

  5. 5.

    B.E. Crawford, The Northern Earldoms: Orkney and Caithness from AD 870 to 1470 (Edinburgh, 2013), 80.

  6. 6.

    Crawford, Northern Earldoms, 80 and n. 2; background on Orkneyinga saga in M. Chesnutt, “Orkneyinga Saga” in P. Pulsiano (ed.), Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia (New York, 1993), 456–457, and the relevant comments in J. Jesch, “History in the ‘Political Sagas,’” Medium Aevum 62 (1993), 210–220.

  7. 7.

    On these kings in general see R.A. McDonald, The Sea Kings: The Late Norse Kingdoms of Man and the Isles, c. 1066–1275 (Edinburgh, 2019). Other studies include S. Duffy and H. Mytum (eds.), New History of the Isle of Man, Volume III: The Medieval Period 1000–1406 (Liverpool, 2015), which covers the entire period of the Kingdom of Man and the Isles; R.A. McDonald, Manx Kingship in its Irish Sea Setting 1187–1229: King Rognvaldr and the Crovan Dynasty (Dublin, 2007); I. Beuermann, Man amongst the Kings and Bishops: What was the Reason for Godred Olafsson’s Journey to Norway in 1152/53? (Oslo, 2002); and see also Hudson, Viking Pirates.

  8. 8.

    CRMI, f. 33v; Hudson, Viking Pirates, 188–189, 198–199.

  9. 9.

    CRMI f. 34v. On Magnus see R. Power, “The Isle of Man and the Kings of Norway: Magnús Barelegs and After,” in Duffy and Mytum (eds.), New History of the Isle of Man III, 27–57; R. Power, “Magnus Barelegs’ Expeditions to the West,” Scottish Historical Review 73 (1985), 107–132; and Hudson, Viking Pirates, 189–198. On the identification of castles in Man that might be associated with his expedition, see P. Davey, After the Vikings: Medieval Archaeology of the Isle of Man AD 1100–1550 (Douglas, 2013), 41–47.

  10. 10.

    CRMI, f. 35v.

  11. 11.

    CRMI, f. 35v.

  12. 12.

    CRMI, f. 37v.

  13. 13.

    CRMI, f. 44v.

  14. 14.

    CRMI, f. 43v. Rognvald’s reign is covered in detail in McDonald, Manx Kingship, but see also R. Costain-Russell, “The Reigns of Guðröðr and Rögnvaldr, 1153–1229,” in S. Duffy and H. Mytum (eds.), New History of the Isle of Man, Volume III: The Medieval Period 1000–1406 (Liverpool, 2015), 79–96.

  15. 15.

    See inter alia E.J. Cowan, “The Last Kings of Man, 1229–1265,” in Duffy and Mytum (eds.), New History of the Isle of Man Volume III, 97–117.

  16. 16.

    CRMI, f. 46r

  17. 17.

    CRMI, f. 47r

  18. 18.

    The Saga of Hakon, and a Fragment of the Saga of Magnus, with Appendices, trans. Sir G.W. Dasent. Icelandic Sagas and Other Historical Documents Relating to the Settlements and Descents of the Northmen on the British Isles (London, 1894), vol. 4, 267–268, chapter 261. The modern edition of the text is Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar, eds. Þ. Hauksson, S. Jakobsson, and T. Ulset, 2 vols. (Reykjavík, 2013); there is no modern translation.

  19. 19.

    CRMI, f. 49r–f. 49v. English government documents corroborate the claim: a letter of protection for Magnus from April 1256 describes the Manx king as “lately invested with a military belt”: Foedera, conventiones, litterae, et cujuscunque generis acta publica, inter reges Angliae et alios quosvis imperatores, reges, pontifices, principes, vel communitates habita aut tractata, ed. T. Rymer, 10 vols. (Hagae Comitis, 1739–1745), i, pt. ii, 12; Monumenta de Insula Manniae, or a Collection of National Documents Relating to the Isle of Man, ed. and trans. J.R. Oliver, 3 vols. (Douglas, 1860–1862), ii, 86.

  20. 20.

    Similarly, the famous expedition of King Hakon IV of Norway in 1263 also receives only the briefest of mentions: “In the year of our Lord 1263 Hakon King of Norway came to Scotland and achieving nothing returned to Orkney and there died at Kirkwall,” CRMI, f. 49v.

  21. 21.

    Annals of Furness in Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II and Richard I, ed. R. Howlett, 4 vols. (London, 1884–1849), ii, 549; trans. Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers, A.D. 500–1286, ed. and trans. A.O. Anderson (London, 1908; repr. Stamford 1991), 380.

  22. 22.

    CRMI, f. 50r; see C. McNamee, “The Isle of Man under Scottish Rule, 1266–1333,” in Duffy and Mytum (eds.), New History of the Isle of Man, Volume III, 118–150.

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  1. Department of History, Brock University, St Catharines, ON, Canada

    R. Andrew McDonald

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McDonald, R.A. (2019). Heroes: The Manx Sea Kings Descended from Godred Crovan. In: Kings, Usurpers, and Concubines in the 'Chronicles of the Kings of Man and the Isles'. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22026-6_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22026-6_3

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