Gofraid mac Arailt

Gofraid mac Arailt (died 989), in Old Norse Guðrøðr Haraldsson, was a Scandinavian or Norse-Gael king. He and his brother Maccus were active in the lands around the Irish Sea in the 970s and 980s.

Origins

Gofraid and Maccus are usually assumed to be members of the Uí Ímair, a kin group tracing its descent from Ímar (died 873), sometimes identified with the saga-character Ivar the Boneless. Their father Aralt or Harald is usually identified with the Aralt mac Sitric, king of Norse-Gael Limerick, who was killed in Connacht in 940. This identification would make Aralt and Gofraid nephews of Amlaíb Cuarán, the King of Dublin. An alternative proposal, advanced by Benjamin Hudson, makes Gofraid and Maccus sons of a Viking chief named Harald who was active in Normandy, but this has received little support.

Activities

The first record of Gofraid is probably an attack on Anglesey in 971 by a son of Harald. The "Brut y Tywysogion" states that it was Gofraid who led this. The following year he collected tribute from Anglesey. He probably led a raid on Powys in 979, and in 980 was allied with Custennin ap Iago, and they again ravaged Anglesey, but Custennin was killed by Hywel ap Ieuaf. Chester was attacked in 980, the attackers perhaps led by Gofraid. In 982 he was again in Wales, this time in the south-west attacking Dyfed.

In 984, along wih Maccus, he brought a fleet to Waterford, where they joined up with Brian Bóruma, king of Munster. Their combined armies and fleets attacked Dublin. An unnamed son of Harald won a battle on the Isle of Man in 987, but whether this was Maccus or Gofraid is unclear.

Gofraid died in in 989, said to be killed in Dál Riata, but whether this refers to the Glens of Antrim or perhaps to some part of the western coasts of Scotland is unclear. The notice of his death calls him king of the "Innse Gall", that is the Hebrides. Gofraid and Maccus are both usually included in lists of rulers of the Isle of Man.

Descendants

Gofraid's son Ragnall died in Munster in 1005, and he too is called king of the Hebrides. Echmarcach mac Ragnaill was probably Gofraid's grandson. The "Banshenchas" may record that a daughter of Gofraid named Máel Muire married Gilla Pátraic mac Donnchada, king of Osraige. If this is correct, Donnchad mac Gilla Pátraic, later King of Leinster, was Gofraid's grandson.

Lagmann, whom William of Jumièges calls "king of Swedes", probably an error for "king of the Sudreys", the Norse name for the Hebrides, is believed to have been a son of Gofraid. Lagmann's son Amlaíb is said by the "Cogadh Gáedhel re Gallaibh" to have been killed at the Battle of Clontarf and his genealogy is given there linking Lagmann and Gofraid.

References

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