Aufrica de Connoght

Coat of arms of the King of Mann, as depicted by the late thirteenth-century Armorial Wijnbergen.^[1]

Aufrica de Connoght,^[2] also known as Affrica de Counnought,^[3] and Aufrica de Cunnoght,^[4] was a fourteenth-century woman who claimed to be an heiress of Magnús Óláfsson, King of Mann and the Isles, and who had some sort of connection with Simon de Montagu (died 1316).

Manx claims

In 1264, with the collapse of Norwegian sovereignty along the western seaboard of Scotland, Alexander III, King of Scotland (died 1286) forced the submission of Magnús Óláfsson, King of Mann and the Isles (died 1265).^[5] The following year, Magnús died without a legitimate heir, and his island realm was annexed Alexander.^[6] After the latter's death in 1286, Edward I, King of England (died 1307) claimed overlordship of Scotland, and subsequently recognised John Balliol as King of Scotland in 1292.^[7]

In 1293, almost certainly as a result of the significant English influence upon John's fledgling regime,^[8] Aufrica appealed to John and Edward, concerning rights she claimed to Mann as an alleged heiress of Magnús.^[9] Later in 1304, Aufrica quitclaimed these claimed rights to Simon de Montagu (died 1316).^[10] Although it is possible that she and Simon were married at about this point,^[11] there is no specific evidence of such a union.^[12] Whatever the case, Simon later sought to seize control of the island, and in so doing incurred the wrath of Edward II, King of England (died 1327),^[13] who pardoned Simon for his actions against the island in 1313.^[14] Later in the century, Simon's grandson, William de Montagu, Earl of Salisbury (died 1344), inherited Simon's rights to Mann.^[15] Aufrica was not the only contemporary claimant to Mann. In 1305, the claims of a Maria, daughter of Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson, King of Mann and the Isles (died 1249), were pursued by her grandson, John Waldeboef.^[16]

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