Godred Crovan
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| Godred Crovan | |
| King of Mann and the Isles and King of Dublin | |
| Reign | 1079–1095 |
|---|---|
| Birthplace | Isle of Man |
| Died | 1095 |
| Place of death | Islay (Inner Hebrides) |
| Predecessor | Fingal Gofredson |
| Successor | Magnus Barefoot |
| Issue | Lagmann, Olaf and Harald |
| Father | ?Ímar mac Arailt |
Godred Crovan (Old Irish: Gofraid mac meic Arailt, Gofraid Méranech; Guðrøðr[1]) (died 1095) was a Norse-Gael ruler of Dublin, and King of Mann and the Isles in the second half of the 11th century. Godred's epithet Crovan may mean "white hand" (Middle Irish: crobh bhan).[2] In Manx folklore he is known as King Orry.
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[edit] Ancestry and early life
The notice of Godred's death in the Annals of Tigernach calls him Gofraid mac meic Aralt or Godred, son of Harald's son. As a result, it has been suggested that Godred was a son, or nephew, of the Norse-Gael king Ímar mac Arailt (or Ivar Haraldsson) who ruled Dublin from 1038 to 1046, who was in turn a nephew of Sigtrygg Silkbeard and grandson of Amlaíb Cuarán. The Chronicles of Mann call Godred the son of Harald the Black of Iceland,[3] and make him a survivor of Harald Hardraade's defeat at the Battle of Stamford Bridge on 25 September 1066. They say that he took refuge with his kinsman Godred Sigtryggsson, then King of Mann and the Isles. Irish annals record that Godred Sigtryggsson was subject to the Irish King of Dublin, Murchad son of Diarmait mac Mail na mBo of the Uí Cheinnselaig. Godred Sigtryggsson and Murchad both died in 1070 and the rule of the Isle of Man passed to Godred's son Fingal.
[edit] Invasions of the Isle of Man
In 1079, the Chronicles of Mann say that Godred invaded the Isle of Man three times:
| “ | In the year 1056 [1079], Godred Crovan collected a number of ships and came to Mann; he gave battle to the natives but was defeated, and forced to fly. Again he assembled an army and a fleet, came to Mann, encountered the Manxmen, was defeated and put to fight. A third time he collected a numerous body of followers, came by night to the port called Ramsey, and concealed 300 men in a wood, on the sloping brow of a hill called Sky Hill. At daylight the men of Mann drew up in order of battle, and, with a mighty rush, encountered Godred. During the heat of the contest the 300 men, rising from the ambuscade in the rear, threw the Manxmen into disorder, and compelled them to fly. | ” |
[edit] Conquest and loss of Dublin
The Chronicles say, and Irish sources agree, that Godred then took Dublin although the date is unknown. In 1087 the Annals of Ulster record that "the grandsons of Ragnall" were killed on an expedition to the Isle of Man. In 1094 Godred was driven out of Dublin by Muircheartach Ua Briain. He died the following year, "of pestilence" according the Annals of the Four Masters, on Islay.
[edit] Issue and legacy
Godred left three known sons, Lagmann, Olaf and Harald. Harald was blinded by Lagmann and disappears from the record, but the descendants of Lagmann and Olaf ruled the Kingdom of the Isles until the rise of Somerled and his sons, and ruled the Isle of Man until the end of the kingdom 1265 and its annexation by Alexander III, King of Scots. Even as late as 1275 Godred son of the last King of Mann tried to seize the island.
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Fingal Gofredson |
King of Mann and the Isles 1079–1095 |
Succeeded by Magnus Barefoot |
| Preceded by Énna mac Diarmata or Donnchad mac Domnaill Remair |
King of Dublin 1086–1094 |
Succeeded by Domnall (mac Muirchertaig) Ua Briain |
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Seán Duffy, ‘Godred Crovan (d. 1095)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
- ^ His other epithet, Méranech, means "furious", Crovan might also derive from Irish crúbach, "claw", or Old Norse kruppin, "cripple"; Hudson, p. 173.
- ^ Hudson notes that Ysland in the Manx Chronicle may represent "Ireland"; Hudson, p. 171.
[edit] References
- The Chronicle of Man and the Sudreys published by the Manx Society (1874) at A Manx Note Book
- CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts at University College Cork includes the Annals of Ulster, Tigernach and the Four Masters as well as Genealogies, and various Saints' Lives. Most are translated into English, or translations are in progress
- Crawford, Barbara (1987), Scandinavian Scotland, Leicester: Leicester University Press, ISBN 0-7185-1282-0
- Hudson, Benjamin (2005), Viking Pirates and Christian Princes: Dynasty, Religion and Empire in the North Atlantic, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-516237-4
- McDonald, R. Andrew (1997), The Kingdom of the Isles: Scotland's Western Seaboard c.1100–c.1336, East Linton: Tuckwell Press, ISBN 1-898410-85-2
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