The rise and fall of the Kingdom of Man Andrew McDonald
On a small island in the middle
of the Irish Sea,
fortresses preside over the rugged shores.
This unlikely location
was the birthplace of a medieval empire
that lasted 200 years,
ruled by a dynasty of sea kings.
The first of these kings
was Godred Crovan,
a notorious warlord descended
from Irish and Viking rulers.
Starting in 1079,
Godred consolidated power
over the Isle of Man and the Hebrides,
a collection of islands
off the west coast of Scotland.
He seized control of important
sea routes between the British Isles,
Scandinavia, and the North Atlantic.
A turbulent period followed
Godred’s death,
characterised by invasions
from Norway and Ireland,
and intense feuding between princes.
But his descendants held on to power,
building coastal fortresses,
roving the seaways,
throwing themselves into epic battles,
and consolidating control
over an impressive maritime kingdom.
The inhabitants of this kingdom had
both Gaelic and Norse roots,
and many probably spoke both languages.
Those on the Isle of Man were
known as the Manx people,
while those in the Hebrides were known
as Islanders or People of the Isles.
Though we still don’t know
for sure how many there were,
we do know this relatively small group
had an outsize impact on the region.
Perched on cliffs with sweeping views
and safe harbors,
seaside fortresses helped the kings
control shipping, commerce, and resources.
The empire commanded vast fleets
of Viking-style long ships,
which they used for trading, raiding,
and plundering the seas.
Observing this prowess,
many neighboring rulers sought their aid.
The brothers Rognvald and Olaf
each solved neighbors’ maritime woes:
King Rognvald supplied
military assistance to the Scottish king,
and King Olaf’s forces
served as a Coast Guard
at the English King Henry III’s request—
for a hefty fee.
The sea kings also sparred
with their powerful neighbors,
but they had a particularly bitter rivalry
with another dynasty in their own isles:
a line of rulers in the Hebrides.
In the 1150s, a chieftain of this line,
Somerled,
defeated the Manx King,
his brother-in-law, in a naval battle
and formed a rival Kingdom of the Isles,
fracturing the old kingdom.
This began a century-long rivalry
between Somerled’s line,
who ruled the southern
and central Hebrides,
and the Manx Kings, who ruled
the Isle of Man and northern Hebrides,
to control the seaways.
Family feuds often blossomed
into bitter civil wars.
In 1223, King Rognvald sent
a letter to his son
commanding him to murder
his uncle Olaf.
When Olaf discovered the plot, he launched
a vicious attack on his nephew,
blinding and mutilating him.
After Rognvald’s death
several years later,
people realized the letter ordering
the attack might have been forged.
The Manx kings attempted to resolve
disagreements at Tynwald,
an open-air parliament
centered on a mound,
where assemblies ruled on matters
of justice and other issues.
Such sites were commonly used
in the Viking world
for resolving anything from local disputes
to matters involving kings.
These meetings didn’t always go smoothly—
sometimes violence erupted,
and in 1237, two rival factions squabbled
to the point
of breaking up the assembly at Tynwald.
The four-tiered mound at Tynwald
survives to this day,
and the modern Manx parliament
still holds an annual meeting there.
In 1248, King Harald of Man
died in a shipwreck
and was succeeded by his brother.
Weeks into the new king’s reign,
a rebel knight assassinated him.
His brother Magnus died in 1265
at Castle Rushen— without an heir.
According to one scribe, his death marked
the day that
“kings ceased to reign in Man.”
Scotland annexed Man and the Isles
the next year, in 1266.
We know about the exploits of the
sea kings primarily from a chronicle
written by Christian scribes living
on the Isle of Man,
and from the praise poems composed
to celebrate the kings’ victories.
Today, although the sea kings
are long gone,
their presence remains etched
onto the landscape.