Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson

12th and 13th century king in the British Isles
the eleventh century King of the Isles of the same name

Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson (died 14 February 1229) ruled as King of the Isles from 1187 to 1226. He was the eldest son of Guðrøðr Óláfsson, King of Dublin and the Isles. Although the latter may have intended for his younger son, Óláfr, to succeed to the kingship, the Islesmen chose Rǫgnvaldr, who was likely Óláfr's half brother. Rǫgnvaldr went on to rule the Kingdom of the Isles for almost forty years before losing control to Óláfr. The Crovan dynasty may have reached its zenith during Rǫgnvaldr's reign. Acclaimed in one near contemporary Scandinavian source as "the greatest warrior in the western lands", he lent military aid to William I, King of Scotland against the disaffected Haraldr Maddaðarson, Earl of Orkney and Caithness, and occupied Caithness for a short period of time at about the turn of the thirteenth century. Like his predecessors, Rǫgnvaldr was closely associated with the rulers of northern Wales. A daughter of his was betrothed to Rhodri ab Owain, a dynast of the ruling family of Gwynedd. In 1193, Rǫgnvaldr lent military aid to Rhodri against his rivals. Rǫgnvaldr was also involved in Irish affairs, as he was the brother in law of John de Courcy, one of the most powerful of the incoming Englishmen. With Courcy's eventual fall from power in the first decade of the thirteenth century, Rǫgnvaldr aided him in an unsuccessful attack on Courcy's rivals. On numerous occasions from 1205 to 1219, Rǫgnvaldr bound himself to the English Crown by rendering homage to John, King of England and his successor, Henry III, King of England. In return for his vassalage, these English rulers promised to assist Rǫgnvaldr against any threats to his realm, whilst Rǫgnvaldr pledged to protect English interests in the Irish Sea zone. With the strengthening of Norwegian kingship in the first half of the century, the Norwegian Crown began to look towards the Isles, and in 1210 the region fell prey to a destructive military expedition. In consequence, Rǫgnvaldr rendered homage to Ingi Bárðarson, King of Norway. The resurgence of Norwegian authority threat may well have been the reason why Rǫgnvaldr submitted to Pope Honorius III in 1219, and promised to pay a perpetual tribute for the protection of his realm. Óláfr's allotment in Rǫgnvaldr's island kingdom appears to have been Lewis and Harris. When confronted by Óláfr for more territory, Rǫgnvaldr had him seized and incarcerated by the Scots. After almost seven years in captivity, Óláfr was released in 1214, and Rǫgnvaldr arranged for him to marry the sister of his own wife. Óláfr was able to have this marriage annulled, sometime after 1217, whereupon he married the daughter of a rising Scottish magnate. Outright warfare broke out between the half brothers in the 1220s, and Óláfr's gains forced Rǫgnvaldr to turn to the powerful Alan fitz Roland, Lord of Galloway. Rǫgnvaldr and Alan bound themselves through the marriage of a daughter of Rǫgnvaldr to Alan's illegitimate son, Thomas. The prospect of a future Gallovidian king prompted the Manxmen to depose Rǫgnvaldr in favour of Óláfr. Although Rǫgnvaldr was initially aided against Óláfr by Alan and his family, Gallovidian military support dramatically diminished over time. On 14 February 1229, the forces of Rǫgnvaldr and Óláfr clashed for the last time, and Rǫgnvaldr himself was slain. His body was conveyed to St Mary's Abbey, Furness and buried.

Rǫgnvaldr was a son of Guðrøðr Óláfsson, King of Dublin and the Isles, and a member of the Crovan dynasty. In the mid twelfth century, Guðrøðr Óláfsson inherited the kingship of the Isles, a region comprising the Hebrides and Mann. He soon faced internal opposition from his brother in law, Somairle mac Gilla Brigte, Lord of Argyll, who seized the Inner Hebridean portion of the kingdom in 1153. Three years later, Somairle seized the entire kingdom, and ruled the entirety of the Isles until his death in 1164. Although nothing else is certain of Ívarr, Óláfr's mother appears to have been Findguala Nic Lochlainn, an Irishwoman whose marriage to Guðrøðr Óláfsson was formalised in 1176/1177, about the time of Óláfr's birth. When Guðrøðr Óláfsson died in 1187, the Chronicle of Mann claims that he left instructions for Óláfr to succeed to the kingship since the latter had been born "in lawful wedlock". Whether this is an accurate record of events is uncertain, as the Islesmen are stated to have chosen Rǫgnvaldr to rule instead, because unlike Óláfr, who was only a child at the time, Rǫgnvaldr was a hardy young man fully capable to reign as king. Although the chronicle seems to imply that Findguala was also Rǫgnvaldr's mother, at no point does the source state as much. In fact, there is evidence which strongly suggests that Rǫgnvaldr was the son of another woman. For example, the surviving fragments of a letter sent from Óláfr to Henry III, King of England in about 1228 reveal that Óláfr described Rǫgnvaldr as a bastard son of his father. Furthermore, the contemporary Gaelic praise poem, Baile suthach síth Emhna, declares that he was a son of Sadb, an otherwise unknown Irishwoman who may have been an unrecorded wife or concubine of Guðrøðr. The likelihood that Rǫgnvaldr and Óláfr had different mothers may well explain the intense conflict between the two men in the years that followed. This continuing kin strife is one of the main themes of Rǫgnvaldr's long reign.

According to the Chronicle of Mann, Rǫgnvaldr gave Óláfr possession of a certain island called "Lodhus". The chronicle disparagingly describes the island as being mountainous and rocky, completely unsuitable for cultivation, and declares that its small population lived mostly by hunting and fishing. In any case, the chronicle claims that, because of the impoverishment of his lands, Óláfr was unable to support himself and his followers, and that in consequence he led "a sorry life". The chronicle's otherwise perceptible prejudice against Rǫgnvaldr's branch of the Crovan dynasty, and its apparent bias in favour of Mann over the northernmost reaches of the realm, may also account for its denigrating depiction of Óláfr's allotted lands. In consequence of this supposed poverty, the chronicle claims that Óláfr went to Rǫgnvaldr, who was also living in the Hebrides, and confronted him for more land. Rǫgnvaldr's stated response was to have Óláfr seized and sent to William I, King of Scotland, who kept him imprisoned for almost seven years. It may be more probable, however, that Rǫgnvaldr had taken action against Óláfr because the latter had approached the Norwegian Crown, and offered himself as a more palatable vassal king in return for Norwegian support in deposing Rǫgnvaldr. In any case, the chronicle states that William died during the seventh year of Óláfr's captivity, and that William had ordered the release of all his political prisoners before his passing. Óláfr's incarceration appears to have spanned between about 1207 and 1214 or early 1215. Upon Óláfr's release, the chronicle reveals that the half brothers met on Mann, after which Óláfr set off on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.]] At roughly this period, in 1209, the fifteenth to sixteenth century Annals of Ulster reports that the sons of Ragnall mac Somairle attacked Skye and slaughtered many of the Skyemen. It is unknown if this invasion of Rǫgnvaldr's realm was any way related to the slaying of Ragnall's brother, Áengus mac Somairle, and the latter's three sons, in the following year. What is certain, however, is that these, and other records concerning the Meic Somairle, reveal that the Crovan dynasty was not alone in introducing instability into the Isles. In fact, the elimination of Áengus and his sons appears to have had serious repercussions on not only the Meic Somairle succession, but Rǫgnvaldr's kingship in the Isles.