Skanke
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Of ancient noble ancestry, the Skancke family can be securely traced back to the first half of the 10th century AD. The family is still organized through a family association ("The Skanke Association") and sees itself as the direct or indirect ancestors of the kings of Norway, Limerick, Dublin, Northumberland and Ulster.
The name stems from skank, the Norwegian version of the word shank, or leg, and refers to the family's coat of arms.
The Skanke family's coat of arms is a simplified version of the coat of arms of the family's last recognized King of Mann, Magnus III. Magnus' coat of arms still occupy the central position in the Isle of Man's triskelion flag and is the island's main national symbol.
As its first ancestors the family claims the Norse king Siggtrygg Gale (also called Siggtrygg Enöye; eng.: Siggtrygg One Eye) of Dublin and Northumberland (d. ca. 927) as well as king Harald Fairhair, the first king of a united Norway (d. ca. 945).
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[edit] The Sudreyan era
These two families united into one in the early 11th century when Harald I Fairhair's great granddaughter married Harald I the Black, the great grandson of Siggtrygg and king of the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles. Harald's father Godred Crovan had created the kingdom sometime after surviving the Battle of Stamford Bridge where he had fought on the side of King Harald Hardrada against King Harold of England.
The royal house would continue to rule over Man and the Hebrides until 1266. Although the family managed to keep its control over the kingdom it experienced regular periods of trouble. These troubles included repeated invasions by rival viking bands as well as a period in the first half of the 12th century when the royal house was ripped apart by the quarrels of three brothers who all claimed the throne.
The family feud ended after one of the brothers, Lagman, first had blinded and castrated one the other brothers, Harald, and then been killed by the third brother, Olav Bitling.
Olav was to become the most successful of the Norse kings of Mann, ruling for about 50 years. Even though Olav suffered from Dwarfism (Bitling means tiny person in Old Norse) he still managed to marry twice in his life time, first to Afreca/Affraic, daughter of Fergus of Galloway and later to Elisabeth, an illegitimate daughter of king Henry I of England.
[edit] Residences of the family on Man
Up until ca. 1250 the family's administrative center and seat of power on Man was Peel Castle, a fortified structure built around a pre-Norse christian monastery. Around the middle of the 13th Century, however, king Magnus III ordered the capital moved to what is now known as Castletown and the construction of a new fortress castle there. In the final years of the Sudreyan Empire Castle Rushen would serve as the residence and stronghold of the Manx royals.
[edit] The Treaty of Perth and exile
The Norse empire on Man ended in 1266 when the last King, Magnus III, died and the Scottish crown took over in accordance to the Treaty of Perth signed between the Scottish and Norwegian kings after the battle of Largs in 1263.
The last gasp of the family's involvement on the Isle of Man came nine years later when the son of Magnus III, Godfred Magnuson, led a failed uprising against the Scots in 1275 and briefly declared himself king Godfred Magnuson of the Isle of Man. The final Sudreyan attempt to regain control ended with the Battle of Ronaldsway where the Scots killed king Godred and many of his Manx followers. This battle ended the organised local opposition against the Scots.
The kinsmen of Magnus III and Godfred Magnuson emigrated to Norway after the failure of the 1275 uprising and became knights, landlords, and clergy under the Norwegian Crown.
[edit] The Clan Connection
The family's connection to the British Islands did, however, not fully end with the exile of the Manx royals. The Clan MacLeod was founded by Leod, or Ljod, son of King Olaf I of the Isle of Man, Leod dieing in ca. 1280. Clan MacLeod has continued its exitence in Scotland ever since,
[edit] The Skanke family in Scandinavia - the first centuries
After the first of the family arrived in Norway after 1266, and the remainder after the 1275 uprising, many of the Skanke nobles took up service in various capacities for the Norwegian Crown. After the demise of the original Norwegian crown in 1319, through unions with first Sweden (1319-1343) and then Denmark (1380-1396), the family transferred its loyalty to the monarchs of the Kalmar Union. Many members of the family served the ruling monarchs of Norway as officials and local representatives, a large number attaining knighthood in the course of the Late Middle Ages.
[edit] The Kalmar War of Succession
The Kalmar Union was an unstable creation, often shook by struggles between the Danish and Swedish factions within the Kalmar Union. These conditions would lead the family into battle, with relatives ending up on opposing sides in a war of succession. The pro-Danish side, led by the knight Olav Nilsson Skanke and his brother and fellow knight, Peder, came out on top in this struggle. The two brothers led pro-Danish Norwegian forces which repeatedly defeated the Swedish forces of Charles VIII in the area around Trondheim in Mid-Norway. After their participation in the fighting the brothers got high ranking positions in the administration of Norway, Olav becoming the head man in Bergen.
[edit] Olav's war on the Hanseatic League
Only a few years after becoming the main royal official in Bergen Olav lost his position due a conflict with the Hanseatic League. The League pressured the Danish king into firing Olav after he had made attempts at reducing their autonomous status in the city. In response to this Olav carried out a prolonged private war of piracy and raiding against both the League and Sweden, in the end forcing the Danish king into restoring his former position. After returning to Bergen, however, Olav was murdered by the League's men, together with his young son and his brother Peder, as well as the bishop of Bergen and many monks in the city's main church. After these murders the family, led by Olav's widow Elisabeth and her now fatherless children, continued to fiercely battle the League through piracy until receiving compensation and restoration of status some years later.
[edit] References
- G.V.C Young O.B.E. Fra Skanke-slektens historie, 1986
- The three legs go to Scandinavia a monograph on the Manx royal family and their Scandinavian descendants, Peel: Mansk-Svenska Pub.Co.17 North View, 1981
- Skanke semi-annual family magazine (Skanke-nytt) Nr. 1-2004
- Skanke semi-annual family magazine (Skanke-nytt) Nr. 1-2005
