Olaf I Godredsson

For other people named Olaf Godredsson, see Olaf Godredsson (disambiguation).

Olaf Godredsson
King of Mann and the Isles
Gaelic	Amlaíb mac Gofraid
Old Norse	Óláfr Guðrøðarson
Died	1153
Successor	Godred Olafsson (son)
Consort	1. Ingebjorg 2. Affreca
Dynasty	Crovan dynasty
Father	Godred Crovan
Children	many sons and daughters; including (sons) Godred, Ragnvald, Lagman, Harald, and (daughter) Ragnhilda

Olaf Godredsson (Gaelic: Amlaíb mac Gofraid; Old Norse: Óláfr Guðrøðarson), sometimes known in secondary sources as Olaf I, was a 12th century ruler of the Isle of Man and the Hebrides. Some secondary sources style Olaf "King of Mann", or "King of Mann and the Isles". However these terms are anachronisms, and Olaf styled himself "King of the Isles".

Ancestry

Olaf was a younger son of Godred Crovan, founder of the Crovan dynasty which ruled the Isle of Man and parts of the Hebrides until the mid 13th century. The ancestry of Godred is uncertain. The Chronicle of Mann describes him in Latin as filius Haraldi nigri de ysland,^[1] and it is possible that "ysland" may refer to Iceland.^{[note 1]} Within the Annals of Tigernach, he is given the Gaelic patronymic mac mic Arailt, which may mean that he was a son, or nephew, of Ivar Haraldsson, King of Dublin (d. 1054).^[3] Ivar was a grandson of the celebrated Olaf Cuaran, King of Dublin, King of Northumbria (d. 981),^[4] a second generation Uí Ímair dynast.^[5] Godred died in 1095, after ruling the Kingdom of the Isles for over 15 years. A period of confusion followed Godred's death before Olaf took control of the kingdom.^[6]

Part of Olaf's youth was spent at the court of Henry I, King of England.^[7]

Reign

According to the Chronicle of Mann, Olaf reigned for 40 years.^[8] The chronicle states that he was a peaceful monarch, and that that "all the kings of Ireland and Scotland as confederates in such a way that no one dared disturb the kingdom of the Isles during his lifetime".^[7][8]

Little is known of the ecclesiastical history of the Kingdom of the Isles until Olaf's appointment of Wimund as Bishop of the Isles, in 1134.^[9] One of the most important ecclesiastical events in the history of the kingdom was the foundation of Rushen Abbey, in 1134, with a grant of lands from Olaf to the Abbot of Furness.^[10] Another key ecclesiastical event was the foundation of the Archbishopric of Nidaros, a metropolitan see centred in Norway. In time this archbishopric, founded in 1152/53, incorporated 11 bishoprics within and outwith Norway.^{[note 2]} One of these bishoprics encompassed the domain of the Kingdom of the Isles,^[12] and was created by a papal decree in 1154.^{[note 3]} This bishopric mirrored the political reality of the Kingdom of the Isles, due to its similar geographical boundaries and its subjection to Norway; it also further to strengthened the link between the Kingdom of the Isles and Norway. The original grant of Olaf's gave the English Cistercian house of Furness the right to elect a Bishop of the Isles, and several of the early Abbots of Rushen held that position.^[13]

During the whole of the Scandinavian period the isles remained nominally under the suzerainty of the kings of Norway, but the Norwegians only occasionally asserted it with any vigour.

Family

Olaf is known to have married Ingebjorg, daughter of Hakon Paulsson, Earl of Orkney; and Affreca, daughter of Fergus, Lord of Galloway.^[7] The Chronicle of Mann states that it was by Affreca that Olaf had his son and successor Godred. The chronicle also records that Olaf had several concubines, and by them had sons Ragnvald, Lagman, and Harald. Olaf is also stated to have had many daughters by his concubines;^[8] one of whom married Somerled, Lord of Argyll.^[7]

Notes

1. ^ The Inner Hebridean island of Islay, and even just the word "island", have also been suggested.^[2]
2. ^ Of the 11 bishoprics, five were centred in Norway, and six in Norwegian colonies (two in Iceland, one in Orkney, one in the Faroe Islands, one in Greenland, and one centred on Mann).^[11]
3. ^ The bishopric is sometimes called "Sodor", and is derived from the Latin Sodorensis, which means "of the southern islands".^[13] This Latin term is in turn derived from the Old Norse Suðreyjar, which means "Southern Isles". This Old Norse term referred to the Hebrides, and sometimes included Mann as well.^[14]

References

Footnotes

1. ^ Duffy 1992: p. 106.
2. ^ The Ancestry of the MacLeods Reconsidered, Associated Clan MacLeod Societies Genealogical Resources Center (www.macleodgenealogy.org), http://www.macleodgenealogy.org/Research/Sellar.html, retrieved 24 March 2010 . This webpage is a transcription of: Sellar, W. David. H. (1997–1998), "The Ancestry of the MacLeods Reconsidered", Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness (Inverness) 60 . See also: Sellar 2000: p. 190 fn 16.
3. ^ Duffy 1992: pp. 106 fn 65, 106–107.
4. ^ Duffy 2004d.
5. ^ Woolf 2005a: p. 14.
6. ^ Oram 2004.
7. ^ ^{a b c d} Duffy 2004b.
8. ^ ^{a b c} Munch; Goss 1874: pp. xx–xx. See also: Anderson 1922: p. 137.
9. ^ Fleming; Woolf 1992: p. 347.
10. ^ Moore 1900: pp. 164–165.
11. ^ Orfield 2002: p. 135.
12. ^ Caldwell; Hall; Wilkinson 2009: pp. 175–176.
13. ^ ^{a b} Davey 2006c: pp. 1618–1619.
14. ^ Williams 2007: pp. 130–132 fn 8.

Bibliography

• Anderson, Alan Orr, ed. (1922), Early Sources of Scottish History: A.D. 500 to 1286, 2, Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924077097958 .
• Caldwell, David H.; Hall, Mark A.; Wilkinson, Caroline M. (2009), "The Lewis Hoard of Gaming Pieces: A Re-examination of their Context, Meanings, Discovery and Manufacture", Medieval Archaeology (Society for Medieval Archaeology) 53: 155–203, doi:10.1179/007660909X12457506806243 .
• Davey, P. J. (2006c), "Sodor and Man, the diocese of", in Koch, John T., Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, pp. 1618–1619, ISBN 1-85109-445-8 .
• Duffy, Seán (1992), "Irishmen and Islesmen in the Kingdoms of Dublin and Man, 1052–1171", Ériu (Royal Irish Academy) 43, JSTOR 30007421 .
• Duffy, Seán (2004b), "Godred Crovan [Guðrøðr, Gofraid Méránach] (d. 1095), king of Man and the Isles", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/50613, http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101050613/, retrieved 20 July 2010 .
• Duffy, Seán (2004d), "Ragnvald [Rögnvaldr, Reginald, Ragnall] (d. 1229), king of Man and the Isles", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/50617, http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/50/101050617/, retrieved 20 July 2010 .
• Fleming, Andrew; Woolf, Alex, eds. (1992), "Cille Donnain: a late Norse church in South Uist", Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (Society of Antiquaries of Scotland) 122: 329–350, http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/PSAS_2002/pdf/vol_122/122_329_350.pdf .
• Moore, A. W. (1900), A History of The Isle of Man, 1, T. Fisher Unwin, http://www.archive.org/details/ahistoryisleman01moorgoog .
• Munch, P. A.; Goss, A., eds. (1874), Chronica regvm Manniæ et Insvlarvm: The Chronicle of Man and the Sudreys; from the manuscript codex in the British Museum; with historical notes, 1, Douglas: printed for the Manx Society, http://www.archive.org/details/chronicaregvmma00gossgoog .
• Oram, Richard (2004), "Fergus, lord of Galloway (d. 1161), prince", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/49360, http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/49/101049360/, retrieved 2 April 2011 .
• Orfield, Lester Bernhardt (2002), The Growth of Scandinavian Law, The Lawbook Exchange, ISBN 9781584771807 .
• Williams, Gareth (2007), "'These people were high-born and thought a lot of themselves': A family of Moddan of Dale", in Smith, Beverley Ballin; Taylor, Simon; Williams, Gareth, West Over the Sea: Studies in Scandinavian Sea-Borne Expansion and Settlement Before 1300, The Northern World: North Europe and the Baltic c. 400-1700 AD. Peoples, Economies and Cultures, 31, Leiden: Brill, pp. 129–152, ISBN 978-90-04-15893-1, ISSN 1569-1462 .
• Woolf, Alex (2005a), "Amlaíb Cuarán (fl. c. 940–981)", in Duffy, Seán; MacShamhráin, Ailbhe; Moynes, James, Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia, New York: Routledge, pp. 14–15, ISBN 0-415-94052-4 .

Regnal titles
Preceded by Lagman (brother)	King of Mann and the Isles 1104–1153	Succeeded by Godred Olafsson (son)

Persondata
Name	Olaf Godredsson
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death	1153
Place of death