Ragnall mac Gofraid
Ragnall mac Gofraid was a Norse-Gael King of the Isles of Scotland during the early eleventh century. Ragnall's Norse name was Røgnvaldr Guðrøðsson[1][2] and he was titled rí na nInnsi meaning that he ruled over the Hebrides.[1][2] It is also possible his territory included the Isle of Man. [Note 1]
Very little is known of his life save that he was the son of Gofraid mac Arailt, who died in 989 and that Ragnall himself died in Munster in 1004[6] or 1005.[1] His presence in Munster may indicate an alliance with Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig against the growing strength in the western seas of Sigurd the Stout the Earl of Orkney & Mormaer of Caithness.[2] Sigurd was a vassal of the King of Norway who appointed a jarl called Gilli to rule over the Western Isles in 990, the year following Gofraid's death and Sigurd resumed direct control of the isles following Ragnall's death.[6] It is therefore possible that Ragnall's rule was either only over part of the territory of the Sudreyar or was wrested back from Sigurd in the year's following his father's death, or both.
Hudson (2005) contends that Echmarcach mac Ragnaill was Ragnall's son, which may make Cacht ingen Ragnaill, the queen of Donnchad mac Briain, Ragnall's daughter. Echmarcach was King of Dublin from 1036–38 and 1046–52 and the King of the Rhinns in Galloway,[7] and may have ruled over part of the Hebrides as well.[8][9]
References
- Notes
- ↑ Ragnall's father Gofraid was styled "king of Innse Gall".[3] Innse Gall, means "islands of the foreigners or strangers" and is a name that was originally used by mainland Highlanders when the Hebrides were ruled by the Norse[4] and is still occasionally used by Gaelic speakers today to mean the Hebrides or Outer Hebrides.[5]
- Footnotes
- General references
- Downham, Clare (2007) Viking Kings of Britain and Ireland: The Dynasty of Ívarr to A.D. 1014. Edinburgh. Dunedin Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-903765-89-0
- Etchingham, Colman (2001) "North Wales, Ireland and the Isles: the Insular Viking Zone". Peritia. 15 pp. 145–87
- Gregory, Donald (1881) The History of the Western Highlands and Isles of Scotland 1493 - 1625. Edinburgh. Birlinn. 2008 reprint - originally published by Thomas D. Morrison. ISBN 1-904607-57-8
- Hudson, Benjamin (2005), Viking Pirates and Christian Princes: Dynasty, Religion and Empire in the North Atlantic, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-516237-4
- Hunter, James (2000) Last of the Free: A History of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Edinburgh. Mainstream. ISBN 978-1-84018-376-4
- Woolf, Alex (2007), From Pictland to Alba, 789–1070, The New Edinburgh History of Scotland, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 978-0-7486-1234-5
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