The Kingdom of the Isles was a Norse–Gaelic kingdom comprising the Isle of Man, the Hebrides and the islands of the Clyde from the 9th to the 13th centuries. It is also called Sodor or the Sudreys, from its Old Norse name Suðreyjar, or "Southern Isles"; as distinct from the Norðreyjar or Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland. Some of its later rulers were referred to as kings of Mann and the Isles. The historical record is incomplete, and the kingdom was not a continuous entity throughout the whole period. At times it was independent of outside control, although for much of the period the Isles were a Norwegian dependency and its rulers had overlords in Norway, Orkney, or Ireland. At times there also appear to have been competing claims for all or parts of the territory. The islands have a total land area of over 8,300 square kilometres (3,205 sq mi) and extend for more than 500 kilometres (310 mi) from north to south.
Viking influence in the area began in the late 8th century. There is no doubt that the Uí Ímair (Ivar) dynasty played a prominent role in this early period, but the records for the dates and details of its rulers are speculative until the mid-10th century. Hostility between the Kings of the Isles and the rulers of Ireland, and intervention by the crown of Norway (either directly or through their vassal the Earl of Orkney) were recurring themes.
An invasion by Magnus Barefoot in the 1090s resulted in a brief period of direct Norwegian rule over the kingdom, but soon the descendants of Godred Crovan re-asserted a further period of largely independent overlordship. This came to an end with the rise of Somerled, on whose death in 1164 the kingdom was split in two. Just over a century later, the Isles were transferred from Norwegian overlordship to the Kingdom of Scotland, following the 1266 Treaty of Perth. Most of the territory continued as the Scottish Lordship of the Isles and Diocese of the Isles.
Geography
The principal islands under consideration are as follows:
- The Isle of Man, located in the Irish Sea, equidistant from modern England, Ulster, Scotland and Wales.
- The islands of the Firth of Clyde some 140 kilometres (87 mi) to the north, the largest of which are Bute and Arran.
- The southern Inner Hebrides to the west and north of the Kintyre peninsula, including Islay, Jura, Mull and Iona.
- The Inner Hebrides to the north of Ardnamurchan, made up of the Small Isles (including Eigg and Rùm), Skye, Raasay and their outliers.
- The Outer Hebrides, aka the "Long Island" to the west, separated from the northern Inner Hebrides by the waters of the Minch.
These islands, often referred to as the Sudreys, have a total land area of approximately 8,374 square kilometres (3,233 sq mi) of which:
- the Isle of Man is 572 square kilometres (221 sq mi), 7% of the total
- the Islands of the Clyde 574 square kilometres (222 sq mi), 7% of the total
- the Inner Hebrides 4,158 square kilometres (1,605 sq mi), 50% of the total
- the Outer Hebrides 3,070 square kilometres (1,185 sq mi), 36% of the total.
Anglesey in modern Wales may also have been part of the insular Viking world from an early stage.
Orkney is some 180 kilometres (110 mi) east-northeast of the Outer Hebrides, Shetland is a further 80 kilometres (50 mi) further northeast and Norway some 300 kilometres (190 mi) due east of Shetland. The total distance from the southern tip of the Isle of Man to the Butt of Lewis, the northern extremity of the Outer Hebrides, is approximately 515 kilometres (320 mi).
Early history
Sources
The presence of the monastery on Iona led to this part of Scotland being relatively well documented from the mid-6th to the mid-9th centuries. However, from 849 on, when Columba's relics were removed in the face of Viking incursions, written evidence from local sources all but vanishes for three hundred years. The sources for information about the Hebrides and indeed much of northern Scotland from the 8th to the 11th century are thus almost exclusively Irish, English or Norse. The main Norse text is the Orkneyinga Saga, which should be treated with care as it was based on oral traditions and not written down by an Icelandic scribe until the early 13th century. The English and Irish sources are more contemporary, but may have "led to a southern bias in the story", especially as much of the Hebridean archipelago became Norse-speaking during the period under consideration. The archaeological record for this period is relatively scant, particularly in comparison to the numerous Neolithic and Iron Age finds in the area.
Scholarly interpretations of the period "have led to widely divergent reconstructions of Viking Age Scotland" and Barrett (2008) has identified four competing theories, none of which he regards as proven.
It is clear that the word "King", as used by and of the rulers of Norwegian descent in the isles, was not intended to convey sovereign rule (that is, that of a High King). This is different from the way the word was used in the emerging Kingdom of Scotland at the time. It should also be borne in mind that different kings may have ruled over very different areas and that few of them can be seen as exerting any kind of close control over this "far-flung sea kingdom". Precise dates are sometimes a matter of debate amongst historians.
Early Viking incursions in the Hebrides
Prior to the Viking incursions the southern Hebrides formed part of the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata (or Dalriada). North of Dál Riata, the Inner and Outer Hebrides were nominally under Pictish control although the historical record is sparse. According to Ó Corráin (1998) "when and how the Vikings conquered and occupied the Isles is unknown, perhaps unknowable", although from 793 onwards repeated raids by Vikings on the British Isles are recorded. "All the islands of Britain" were devastated in 794 with Iona being sacked in 802 and 806. Various named Viking leaders, who were probably based in Scotland, appear in the Irish annals: Soxulfr in 837, Turges in 845 and Hákon in 847. Another early reference to the Norse presence in the Irish records is that there was a king of "Viking Scotland" whose heir, Thórir, took an army to Ireland in 848.
In the 9th century, the first references to the Gallgáedil (i.e., "foreign Gaels") appear. This term was variously used in succeeding centuries to refer to individuals of mixed Scandinavian–Celtic descent and/or culture who became dominant in southwest Scotland, parts of northern England and the isles.
According to the Orkneyinga Saga, in about 872 Harald Fairhair became king of a united Norway and many of his opponents fled to the islands of Scotland including the Hebrides of the west coast, and the Northern Isles. Harald pursued his enemies and incorporated the Northern Isles into his kingdom in 875 and then, perhaps a little over a decade later, the Hebrides as well. The following year the local Viking chieftains of the Hebrides rebelled. Harald then sent Ketill Flatnose to subdue them, which he did quickly, but then he declared himself an independent "King of the Isles", a title he retained for the rest of his life. Ketill is also sometimes equated with Caittil Find, a reported leader of the Gallgáedil fighting in Ireland in 857, although this connection is far from definite. Ketill left no successors and there is little record of the succeeding four decades. However, Woolf (2007) suggests that his appearance in the sagas "looks very much like a story created in later days to legitimise Norwegian claims to sovereignty in the region".
There are similar problems with the provenance of Gofraid mac Fergusa, the supposed 9th-century ruler of the Hebrides and ancestor of Clan Donald. It has been suggested that his appearance looks "very much like the product of fourteenth-century propagandists from Clann Donald".
House of Ímar
In 870 Dumbarton was besieged by Amlaíb Conung and Ímar, "the two kings of the Northmen", who "returned to Dublin from Britain" the following year with numerous captives. It is therefore likely that Scandinavian hegemony was already significant on the western coasts of Scotland by then. Amlaíb Conung is described as the "son of the king of Lochlainn" in the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland and Ó Corráin (1998) argues that Lochlainn "is Viking Scotland and probably includes Man" at this time suggesting an early date for an organised Kingdom of the Isles. In the same source Amlaíb Conung is also recorded as having gone to the aid of his father Gofraidh, who was under assault from Vikings in Lochlainn in about 872. Gofraidh died in 873 and may have been succeeded briefly by Ímar who also died that year. Amlaíb probably died in 874. A lament for Áed mac Cináeda, a Pictish king who died in 878, suggests Kintyre may have been lost to his kingdom at that time. The Norse may have taken the Isle of Man in 877 and they certainly held it by 900. In 902 the Vikings were expelled from Dublin for up to a dozen years, and a year later Ímar, the "grandson of Ímar" was killed in battle with the forces of Constantine II in mainland Scotland. However these events were setbacks for the Norse rather than a definitive moment. Internecine fighting is recorded in the Annals of Ulster of 914, which describe Ragnall ua Ímair's defeat of Bárid mac Oitir in a naval battle off the Isle of Man.
The first four decades of the 10th century are an obscure period so far as the Hebrides are concerned. It is possible that Ragnall ua Ímair, who probably ruled Mann during this period may have had some influence. However, Amlaíb Cuarán is the next King of the Isles on record. After the death of Amlaíb mac Gofraid in 941, Amlaíb Cuarán became King of Northumbria and probably succeeded his cousin Amlaíb as King of Mann. The former is recorded as being the Rex plurimarum insularum, suggesting he may have been the first King of both Mann and the Western Isles of Scotland.
Amlaíb, who died some four decades later in 980 or 981 whilst in "religious retirement" on Iona, was succeeded by Maccus mac Arailt, who was probably his nephew. Maccus's brother Gofraid mac Arailt then succeeded him. During their lifetimes these two "sons of Harald" are known to have launched at least two major expeditions against Ireland, and the latter is recorded as having won "the battle of Man" in 987. Iona was sacked twice, in 986 and 987, Amlaíb Cuarán's later piety notwithstanding. This battle of Man, recorded by the Annals of Ulster, is said to have been won by Gofraid and "the Danes" – possibly forces directly from Scandinavia under the command of Olaf Tryggvason. The Annals of Ulster record Gofraid's death in Dalriada in 989, describing him as "king of Innse Gall" although it is not clear if this was a completely new term or had originally been used earlier, perhaps to refer to Amlaíb Cuarán's island kingdom. The complex geography of western Scotland and the lack of written records makes certainty about the extent and nature of these kingdoms hard to fathom. For example, the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba indicates that almost all these kings who reigned from the mid-10th to the late 11th century were buried on Iona. This may mean that Iona and Mull lay either within or close to the emerging Kingdom of Scotland. Furthermore, two records in the Annals of Innisfallen hint that the Western Isles may not have been "organised into a kingdom or earldom" at this time but rather that they were "ruled by assemblies of freeholders who regularly elected lawmen to preside over their public affairs".
Earls of Orkney and kings of Dublin
At this point the Orkneyinga Saga once again becomes the main source of information about the north. In 990 Sigurd the Stout, Earl of Orkney took control of the Hebrides, and placed a jarl called Gilli in charge. By 1004 the isles' independence had been re-asserted under Gofraid's son Ragnal mac Gofraid, who died in that year. It is possible their rule overlapped, with Gilli's zone of influence to the north and Ragnal's to the south. On Ragnal's death Sigurd re-asserted control, which he held until his death at the Battle of Clontarf after which the islands may have been held by Hákon Eiríksson. According to the Welsh text Historia Grufudd vab Kenan Olaf Sigtryggsson is recorded as having been king of a wide variety of places on his death in 1034. These included the Isle of Man, "many of the other islands of Denmark", Galloway, the Rhinns, and Anglesey. Olaf was an Uí Ímair dynast and it is difficult to reconcile his rule with that of the Norwegians who apparently came before and after him according to the sagas. There is also an obscure reference in The Prophecy of Berchán hinting that King Máel Coluim mac Cináeda of Scotland may have been active in Islay and Arran at about this time, emphasising the potentially fluid nature of Scandinavian, Norse-Gael and Scots influence during this period.
The next recorded ruler is Sigurd the Stout's son Thorfinn the Mighty, who took control circa 1035 until his own death some two decades later. The continuing close alliance of the Isles with Norway is suggested by a record from the Annals of Tigernach for the year 1058: "A fleet was led by the son of the king of Norway, with the Gaill of Orkney, the Hebrides and Dublin, to seize the kingdom of England, but God consented not to this". This monarch of Norway was Magnus Haraldsson, who may have used the death of Thorfinn as an excuse to exert direct rule of Orkney and the Hebrides.
However, in the mid-11th century the Uí Ímair dynast Echmarcach mac Ragnaill is said to be the ruler of Mann. He was also King of Dublin from 1036 to 1038 and from 1046 to 1052 as well as possibly being the King of the Rhinns in Galloway, suggesting that the overlordship of the Isle of Man and the Hebrides were once again sundered (although it is possible he ruled over part or all of the Hebrides as well).