Somerled - Conquest of The Isles

Conquest of The Isles

In 1154, warfare broke out in Ireland between Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn, King of Cenél nEógain (d. 1166), and Toirdelbach Ua Conchobair, King of Connacht (d. 1156), as the two rivals renewed their struggle for domination over the island. In one particular action, recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters, a savage sea-battle was fought near Inishowen, between Ua Conchobair's fleet and mercenary naval forces drawn from Galloway, Arran, Kintyre, Mann, and the coast of Scotland. Ua Conchobair's Connachtmen defeated Muirchertach's foreign mercenaries, and the losses suffered by the forces supplied by Godred appear to have undermined the his own authority in the Isles. Two years later, Godred suffered another setback, when he unsuccessfully attempted to secure control of the Kingdom of Dublin.

Disaffected elements appear to have soon taken root against, not only Godred's rule, but also Muirchertach's influence in Dublin and the Isles. In 1156, Somerled participated in a coup d'état against Godred, and the Chronicle of Mann relates that, Thorfinn Ottarsson, one of the leading men of the Isles, produced Somerled's son, Dugald (d. after 1175), as a replacement to Godred's rule. Somerled's stratagem does not appear to have received unanimous support amongst the Islesmen, since the chronicle relates that, as Dugald was conducted throughout the Isles, the leading Islesmen were made to render pledges and surrender hostages unto him. However, following an inclusive but costly sea-battle, fought off Mann on the night of the Epiphany, the chronicle records that Somerled and Godred divided the Kingdom of the Isles between themselves. According to the History of the MacDonalds, Somerled had previously aided Godred's father in military operations, otherwise unrecorded in contemporary sources, against the "ancient Danes north of Ardnamurchan". Together with its claim that Olaf had also campaigned on North Uist, this source may be evidence that the partitioning of the Isles between Godred and Somerled can be viewed in the context of Somerled taking back territories that he had helped secure into Olaf's kingdom. In fact, there is reason to suspect that portions of the Isles had previously fallen under the influence of the Earls of Orkney, before being reclaimed by the Kings of Isles during this period. At about the time of the partitioning of the Isles, Malcolm IV was reconciled with Malcolm MacHeth, and restored the latter as Earl of Ross, an investiture which may have been a consequence of Somerled's threatening territorial expansion.

With the partitioning of the Isles, Somerled and Godred appear to have agreed to a truce. However, about two years later in 1158, the chronicle records that Somerled launched a second assault upon Godred, and drove him from the kingdom altogether. From this date until his death, Somerled ruled the entire Kingdom of the Isles, and may well have exerted some degree of influence into Galloway. In fact, the Chronicle of Melrose and the Chronicle of Holyrood record that Malcolm IV launched military operations into Galloway in about 1160, with the latter chronicle specifying that the king subdued his "confederate enemies". Although the exact identity of these enemies are unknown, it is possible that the chronicles document a Scottish victory over an alliance between Somerled and Fergus. Before the end of the year, Fergus had retired to Holyrood Abbey, and a charter records that Somerled had come into the king's peace. The precise occasion on which Somerled was reconciled with Malcolm IV may have been the king's Christmas feast, held at Perth in that year. This occasion may well have been the origin of the epithet "sit-by-the-king", accorded to Somerled in the Carmen de Morte Sumerledi.