'Manx Kingship in its Irish Sea Setting, 1187-1229'

[John P. Ravilious]

Tuesday, 8 January, 2008


Hello All,

I have had the pleasure to indulge in sporadic readings
of R. Andrew McDonald's new work on the Kings of Man.
While enjoying the subject, I have noted two statements
which, in the light of past posts on the newsgroup, can be
shown to be either unproven or erroneous:

A. Fergus of Galloway and his wife

Concerning Oláfr Guðrøðarson and his contacts as a
youth in the court of Henry I of England, McDonald wrote
in part,

" And one of Henry's illegitimate daughters had
married Fergus, lord of Galloway (d. 1161),
another of Oláfr's neighbouring Irish Sea princes."[1]

Following on this is a discussion of sources concerning
the marriage of Oláfr to Aufrica of Galloway, in opposition
to sources stating that he had married Ingibjorg, daughter
of Hákon Pálsson, jarl of the Orkneys. It is unclear as
to why a problem was noted, as it seems to have been
accepted for some time thay Oláfr had married both women
(just not at the same time).

At the same time, there is the issue of Fergus'
wife (name unknown) and her alleged ancestry. That she
was related to Matilda, Henry I's daughter through some
common ancestry is known, and it has been widely accepted
that she was Henry I's illegitimate daughter. However,
to date there has been no evidence found to prove such
an identification.


B. The parentage of Guðrøðr (father of Rognvaldr)

McDonald discusses the actions by William 'the Lion',
king of Scots against Harald Maddadsson, Jarl of the
Orkneys ca. 1200. With regard to William's grant of
Caithness to Rognvaldr of Man, he wrote,

" Barbara Crawford, who has devoted more attention
than any scholar to the relations between the Orkney
jarls and the Scottish kings, has argued that by
granting Caithness to the Manx king, King William
was 'playing off one member of the jarlsaetten
[i.e. the descendants of previous earls with a
right to the earldom] against another in an attempt
to weaken the power of a strong and dangerous
earl' <41>. There is certainly much to commend
this view. By virtue of the marriage of his
grandfather, Oláfr Guðrøðarson, to Ingibjorg, the
daughter of Jarl Hákon Pálsson, Rognvaldr was
indeed a member of the kindred of the Orkney jarls
and a cousin of Haraldr Maddaðarson." [2]

Stewart Baldwin has shown that Guðrøðr was the son of
Oláfr Guðrøðarson by Aufrica (or Affrica), daughter of
Fergus of Galloway, and not by the Jarl's daughter
Ingibjorg. Interestingly, the genealogical chart
provided by McDonald (p. 27) shows exactly the same
parentage. See the myriad posts on the subject on the
newsgroup (e.g., Stewart Baldwin, 'Kings of Man - Part 3
of 4', 10 August 1999).


Despite the conventional statement re: the Fergus of
Galloway-Henry I of England 'connection' and the dissonance
re: the Galloway ancestry of Guðrøðr, this is certainly a
must read for those interested in the 12th and 13th century
history and relationships between the rulers of Man and the
Hebrides.

Cheers,

John *



NOTES

[1] R. Andrew McDonald, Manx Kingship in its Irish Sea
Setting, 1187-1229: King Rognvaldr and the Crovan
Dynasty (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2007), p. 66.

[2] McDonald, ibid., pp. 110-111. Footnote <41> cites
"Crawford, 'Earldom of Caithness and the Kingdom of
Scotland', p. 31."


* John P. Ravilious