Kings of Man - Part 2 of 4
Stewart Baldwin
-------------------------------
Table 3: Echmarcach of Dublin and Man
Ragnall (see the Appendix for the
possibilities regarding his identity)
|
Echmarcach mac Ragnaill, d. 1065
king of Dublin, 1036-8, 1046-52,
also king of Man and Galloway
|
Mor md.
Tadg Ua Briain
king of Munster
More details on Echmarcach (with sources) are available in the
appendix. Mor is known from BS, which also traces some of her
descendants for a few generations, but it is not clear whether or not
modern descents can be traced from her.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 4: The kings of Chronicon Regum Manniae prior to Godred Crovan
The Chronicle of the Kings of Man (Chronicon Regum Manniae,
abbreviated "CRM") is the principle native source for the
history of the kings of Man. It gives two kings of Man before Godred
Crovan, Godred [called "ii" here] and his son Fingal. It
names an otherwise unknown Sitric as the father of Godred ii, but if
that name is wrong, it is possible that he was the same person
as Goffraidh son of Amlaibh (Olaf) son of Ragnall, the king of Dublin
who died in 1075 (see the appendix below). AU records the
death at Man of a certain Sitric son of Amlaib in the year 1073, but
he seems too late to identify with the father of Godred.
Sitric(?)
|
Godred ii, d. ca 1070/5
king of Man
|
Fingal, king of Man
dethroned by Godred Crovan
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Ancestry of Godred Crovan
The ancestry of Godred Crovan (d. 1095), king of Dublin and Man, is
not well documented, and there are differing opinions
regarding his parentage and immediate ancestors. Rather than try to
give a definitive solution to the problem, the basic evidence
will be outlined, and several possible alternatives will be given,
along with their strengths and weaknesses. Since the basic raw
data is itself somewhat contradictory, none of the suggested
alternatives will fit all of the primary evidence.
The basic raw data is as follows. First, the Annals of Tigernach [AT]
for the year 1091 refer to him as the son of the son of
Harald ["Goffraidh mac Maic Arailt, rí Atha Cliath."]. Then, there is
the Chronicle of the Kings of Man [CRM], which states that
Godred was the son of Harald the Black of "Ysland" (Iceland), without
further identifying this Harald. Finally, there is the Welsh
collection of Norse pedigrees in "Achau Brenhinoedd a Thywysogion
Cymru" [ABT, in EWGT, pp. 95-110], which includes a
genealogy of the kings of Man, as follows:
ABT.6c: Rhanallt m. Gwythryg m. Afloyd m. Gwrthryt mearch m. Harallt
ddu m. Ifor gamle m. Afloyd m. Swtrig.
Changing the names from these Welsh forms to the more familiar English
forms gives:
Reginald [king of Man, d. 14 Feb 1229], son of
Godred [king of Man, d. 10 Nov 1187], son of
Olaf [king of Man, d. 29 June 1153], son of
Godred [Crovan, king of Dublin and Man, d. 1095], son of
Harald ddu [i.e., the Black], son of
Ivar gamle [i.e., the Old], son of
Olaf [presumably Olaf Cuaran, king of Dublin and York], son of
Sitric [d. 927]
It may be that the above genealogy was composed during the reign of
Reginald (d. 1229), since he is the latest person mentioned in
the genealogy. There is no way of knowing whether copying mistakes
were made between that time of composition and the
surviving manuscripts.
We now list several possibilities regarding the ancestry of Godred
Crovan, along with the strengths and weaknesses of each
possibility (some of which are valid for more than one case, and are
therefore repeated). While there are other scenarios which
could be listed, they would seem less likely than the ones given
below.
Possibility 1: The genealogy of ABT is to be accepted as it is.
Strengths: It requires no emendation of the genealogy in ABT. It
agrees with the Chronicle of the kings of Man in making
Godred the son of Harald "the Black".
Weaknesses: No son of Olaf Cuaran named Ivar is known from the
Irish records. The generations are a bit long (but not
drastically so). It disagrees with the annals of Tigernach, which
make Godred the grandson of a certain Harald.
Possibility 2: In the process of copying the pedigree, a "Harald" was
accidently omitted between Ivar and Olaf Cuaran,
so the the pedigree should read Godred son of Harald the Black son of
Ivar son of Harald son of Olaf [Cuaran].
Strengths: Olaf Cuaran had a son named Harald, who in turn had a
son named Ivar, both known from the Irish annals, so the
agreement with the Irish annals would be excellent. It agrees with
the Chronicle of the kings of Man in making Godred the son of
Harald "the Black". The chronology fits better than Possibilities 1
and 3.
Weaknesses: It requires an emendation of the pedigree in ABT. It
disagrees with the annals of Tigernach, which make Godred
the grandson of a certain Harald.
Possibility 3: In the process of copying the pedigree, Harald and
Ivar were accidently switched, so that the pedigree
should read Godred son of Ivar son of Harald son of Olaf [Cuaran].
Strengths: Olaf Cuaran had a son named Harald, who in turn had a
son named Ivar, both known from the Irish annals, so the
agreement with the Irish annals would be excellent. It agrees with
the Annals of Tigernach, which call Godred the grandson of a
certain Harald.
Weaknesses: It requires an emendation of the pedigree in ABT. The
generations are a bit long (but not drastically so). It
disagrees the the Chronicle of the kings of Man, which make Godred the
son of Harald the Black.
Possibility 4: The pedigree in ABT is wrong, and Godred was not a
descendant of Olaf Cuaran, but was instead
descended somehow from the kings of the Isles who ruled in the late
tenth and early eleventh centuries.
Strengths: It would explain Godred's claim to the kingship of Man.
The known names used by the early dynasty of the kings of
the Isles were Guthfrith (i.e., Godred), Harald, Lagman, Olaf, and
Rognvald, which were exactly the names which were common
in the family of Godred Crovan (including the rare name Lagman), so
this possiblity has some onomastic support.
Weakness: It requires abandoning the manuscript genealogy of ABT,
so there is no direct supporting evidence. The onomastic
argument is mitigated somewhat by the fact that the names Guthfrith,
Harald, Olaf, and Rognvald were all common among the
Hiberno-Norse in general, so that only the rare name Lagman carries
significant weight in the onomastic argument.
Before I was aware of the genealogy in ABT, I favored possibility 4.
Now that I know about the ABT genealogy, I think
Possibility 2 is the most likely one. However, I think that none of
the four possibilities can be ruled out, given the currently known
evidence.
The following recnt articles have also discussed the ancestry of
Godred Crovan. I have not yet seen the Broderick article.
George Broderick, "Irish and Welsh strands in the genealogy of Godred
Crovan", in The Journal of the Manx Museum 8 (1980),
32-38.
Sean Duffy, "Irishmen and Islemen in the kingdoms of Dublin and Man,
1052-1171", in Ériu 43 (1992) 93-133.
David E. Thornton, "The Genealogy of Gruffudd ap Cynan", in Gruffudd
ap Cynan: a collaborative biography, edited by K. L.
Maund (Studies in Celtic History, vol. 16; Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk,
1996), 79-108.
-------------------------------
End part 2 of 4
Suzanne Doig
>From: sb...@auburn.campus.mci.net (Stewart Baldwin)
>Date: 1999/03/22
>Newsgroups: soc.genealogy.medieval
>
> Echmarcach mac Ragnaill, d. 1065
> king of Dublin, 1036-8, 1046-52,
> also king of Man and Galloway
> |
> Mor md.
> Tadg Ua Briain
> king of Munster
>
>More details on Echmarcach (with sources) are available in the
>appendix. Mor is known from BS, which also traces some of her
>descendants for a few generations, but it is not clear whether or not
>modern descents can be traced from her.
Is this the Tadg Ua Briain, King of Munster who died circa 1086, son
of Toirrdelbach Ua Briain, King of Munster d.1086 and g-grandson of
Brian Boru?
If so, do the sources state whether Mor was the mother of his
(un-named) eldest son and second son Donal, killed 1115?
Suzanne
* - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * -
Suzanne Doig - remove obvious from reply-to address
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/4038/index.html
Stewart Baldwin
>>Subject: Kings of Man - Part 2 of 4
>>From: sb...@auburn.campus.mci.net (Stewart Baldwin)
>>Date: 1999/03/22
>>Newsgroups: soc.genealogy.medieval
>>
>> Echmarcach mac Ragnaill, d. 1065
>> king of Dublin, 1036-8, 1046-52,
>> also king of Man and Galloway
>> |
>> Mor md.
>> Tadg Ua Briain
>> king of Munster
>>
>>More details on Echmarcach (with sources) are available in the
>>appendix. Mor is known from BS, which also traces some of her
>>descendants for a few generations, but it is not clear whether or not
>>modern descents can be traced from her.
>Is this the Tadg Ua Briain, King of Munster who died circa 1086, son
>of Toirrdelbach Ua Briain, King of Munster d.1086 and g-grandson of
>Brian Boru?
>If so, do the sources state whether Mor was the mother of his
>(un-named) eldest son and second son Donal, killed 1115?
>Suzanne
Yes, you have the right Tadg. According to the "Ban Shenchus" (see
the bibliography in part 4 of my Kings of Man posting), Mor was the
mother of the following four children by Tadg (order of birth unknown,
death dates supplied from the Irish annals when known):
1. Donnchad mac Taidg.
2. Domnall mac Taidg (d. 1115).
3. Amlaib mad Taidg (d. 1096).
4. Be Bind ingen Taidg, md. Donnchad mac Murchada, by whom she had a
son Amlaib and a daughter Dubchoblaig. "Ban Shenchus" does not
identify this Donnchad, but he could have been either Donnchad mac
Murchada, king of Leinster (d. 1115), or Donnchad mac Murchada,
king of Meath (d. 1106), either of whom is chronologically
possible.
Stewart Baldwin