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Manxmen and Saints: Local Heroes in the Chronicles of the Kings of Man and the Isles

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Kings, Usurpers, and Concubines in the 'Chronicles of the Kings of Man and the Isles'

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Abstract

The Manx kings descended from Godred Crovan form the principal focus of the Chronicles, but they are not the only heroes to be found within its folios. The group described by the Chronicles as the “Manx race” or else more simply “Manxmen” plays prominent roles serving the best interests of the Manx community, particularly at times of crisis. The Isle of Man also possessed other protectors in the form of the saints, the supernatural powers of whom form the subject of three significant episodes in the text. The roles assumed by both groups of local heroes illuminate hitherto neglected aspects of identity within the Kingdoms of Man and the Isles.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    S. Reynolds, Kingdoms and Communities in Western Europe 900–1300 (Oxford, 1984), chapter 8, quote at 250. Much has been written on the topic of late, but Reynolds remains an essential starting point. The Presidential addresses of Professor R.R. Davies to the Royal Historical Society between 1993 and 1997 are also essential reading on the topic: R.R. Davies, “The Peoples of Britain and Ireland 1100–1400: I. Identities,” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 4 (1994), 1–20; “The Peoples of Britain and Ireland 1100–1400: II. Names, Boundaries and Regnal Solidarities,” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 5 (1995), 1–20; “The Peoples of Britain and Ireland 1100–1400: III. Laws and Customs,” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 6 (1996), 1–23; “The Peoples of Britain and Ireland 1100–1400: IV. Language and Historical Mythology,” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 7 (1997), 1–24.

  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. 49r [hereafter CRMI].

  3. 3.

    CRMI, f. 33r. On this division and its significance see most recently G. Williams, “The System of Land Division and Assessment,” in S. Duffy and H. Mytum (eds.), A New History of the Isle of Man, Volume III. The Medieval Period 1000–1406 (Liverpool, 2015b), 466–483.

  4. 4.

    CRMI, f. 47v.

  5. 5.

    CRMI, f. 42v, f. 37r.

  6. 6.

    CRMI, f. 40v.

  7. 7.

    CRMI, f. 43v.

  8. 8.

    Antonia Gransden observes that, in a contemporary English context, “many chroniclers appealed to the right of the community of the realm to act against bad government”: “The Chronicles of Medieval England and Scotland,” in Legends, Traditions and History in Medieval England (London and Rio Grande, 1992), 218; the point is worth noting in our context, although it should not be pressed too far.

  9. 9.

    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, 110–111.

  10. 10.

    G.W.S. Barrow, Robert the Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland. 3rd ed. (Edinburgh, 1988), 16–18, 26–28; see also U. Hall, The Cross of St. Andrew (Edinburgh, 2006), 99–101.

  11. 11.

    Oliver, Monumenta, ii, 192–195, and see also 196–197.

  12. 12.

    Including Morkinskinna: The Earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings (1030–1157), trans. with introduction and notes by T.M. Andersson and K.E. Gade (Ithaca and London, 2000), 285–313; Fagrskinna: A Catalogue of the Kings of Norway, trans. A. Finlay (Leiden, 2003); Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla, trans. A. Finlay and A. Faulkes, 3 vols. (London, 2011–2015), iii, 127–144; and Orkneyinga Saga, see note 13 below.

  13. 13.

    Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney, trans. H. Pálsson and P. Edwards (London, 1981), 83. R. Power, “Magnus Barelegs’ Expeditions to the West,” Scottish Historical Review 73 (1985), 107–132, is a seminal treatment of the subject.

  14. 14.

    CRMI, f. 38r. According to medieval legend, Maughold (Machutus) was a pagan Irish chieftain and leader of a band of pirates who was converted by St. Patrick and set adrift in a vessel with no oars as penance for his sins. He is said to have washed ashore in the Isle of Man , where he eventually became bishop. Whatever we make of these legends (discussed in H. Birkett, The Saints’ Lives of Jocelin of Furness: Hagiography, Patronage and Ecclesiastical Politics (Woodbridge, 2010), 42–44), the ecclesiastical settlement dedicated to him at Maughold was a prominent centre of Christianity in the Isle of Man from the seventh to the twelfth or thirteenth centuries. Jocelin’s statement that the remains of an early monastery at Maughold could be seen in his own day, at the end of the twelfth century, is likely correct, and the mention of the place in the Chronicles is the earliest reference to it in an historical document (as opposed to Jocelin’s hagiographical text, which is, of course, earlier.) On Maughold see A. Johnson and A. Fox, A Guide to the Archaeological Sites of the Isle of Man up to AD 1500 (Douglas, 2017), 153–161, and P. Davey, After the Vikings: Medieval archaeology of the Isle of Man AD 1100–1550 (Douglas, 2013), 96–99.

  15. 15.

    CRMI, f. 38r.

  16. 16.

    CRMI, f. 39r.

  17. 17.

    CRMI, f. 47v.

  18. 18.

    CRMI, f. 47v–48r.

  19. 19.

    CRMI, f. 48r.

  20. 20.

    See B. Ward, Miracles and the Medieval Mind: Theory, Record and Event 1000–1215. Rev. ed. (Philadelphia, 1987). There is also much of value in R. Finucane, Miracles and Pilgrims. Popular Beliefs in Medieval England (New York, 1977).

  21. 21.

    Ward, Miracles, 36–42, quote at 42; see also The Book of Sainte Foy, trans. with an introduction and notes by P. Sheingorn (Philadelphia, 1995).

  22. 22.

    See Johnson and Fox, Guide to the Archaeological Sites of the Isle of Man, 153–161; and P. Davey, After the Vikings: Medieval Archaeology of the Isle of Man AD 1100–1550 (Douglas, 2013), 96–99.

  23. 23.

    A good introduction is J. Burton, Monastic and Religious Orders in Britain, 1000–1300 (Cambridge, 1994); on monasticism in the Isle of Man see P.J. Davey, “Medieval Monasticism and the Isle of Man, c.1130–1540,” in S. Duffy and H. Mytum (eds.), A New History of the Isle of Man, Volume III. The Medieval Period 1000–1406 (Liverpool, 2015), 349–376.

  24. 24.

    See Birkett, The Saints’ Lives of Jocelin of Furness, 44 and n. 97, and in B.R.S. Megaw, “The Monastery of St. Maughold,” Proceedings of the Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society 5, no. 2 (1946–1950), 169–181.

  25. 25.

    P.M.C. Kermode, Manx Crosses, with an introduction by David M. Wilson (Balgavies, 1994), 212–214, pl. lxiii, lxiv; J.W. Radcliffe and C.K. Radcliffe, A History of Kirk Maughold (Douglas, 1979), 29–30. See now Johnson and Fox, A Guide to the Archaeological Sites of the Isle of Man, 153–161.

  26. 26.

    CRMI, f. 50v. The episcopal succession at this juncture is tremendously problematic, thanks to a severely patchy documentary record: see A. Woolf, “The Early History of the Diocese of Sodor,” in S. Duffy and H. Mytum (eds.), A New History of the Isle of Man, Volume III. The Medieval Period 1000–1406 (Liverpool, 2015), 329–348; and A. Woolf, “The Diocese of the Sudreyar,” in S. Imsen (ed.), Ecclesia Nidrosiensis 1153–1537 (Trondheim, 2003), 171–182.

  27. 27.

    Kermode, Manx Crosses, 142–146.

  28. 28.

    M.T. Flanagan, “Jocelin of Furness and the Cult of St Patrick in Twelfth-Century Ulster,” in C. Downham (ed.), Jocelin of Furness Proceedings of the 2011 Conference (Donington, 2013), 63.

  29. 29.

    On the Blessed Virgin Mary see M. Warner, Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary (London, 1976), esp. chapter 8; the prominent role of the Cistercians in spreading the cult is addressed at 131. On the Cistercians see G. Coppack, The White Monks: The Cistercians in Britain 1128–1540 (Stroud, 2000).

  30. 30.

    See R.A. McDonald, Manx Kingship in Its Irish Sea Setting 1187–1229: King Rögnvaldr and the Crovan Dynasty (Dublin, 2007), 192–200; Davey, “Medieval Monasticism and the Isle of Man,” in S. Duffy and H. Mytum (eds.), A New History of the Isle of Man, Volume III. The Medieval Period 1000–1406 (Liverpool, 2015), 349–376.

  31. 31.

    B. Williams, “Chronicles of the Kings of Man and the Isles,” in S. Duffy and H. Mytum (eds.), A New History of the Isle of Man, Volume III. The Medieval Period 1000–1406 (Liverpool, 2015a), 319–320.

  32. 32.

    CRMI, f. 38r.

  33. 33.

    CRMI, f. 39r.

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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). Manxmen and Saints: Local Heroes in the Chronicles of the Kings of Man and the Isles. 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_5

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