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Clann Somhairle
Clann Somhairle, sometimes anglicised as Clan Sorley, refers to those Scottish and Irish dynasties descending from the famous Norse-Gaelic leader Somerled, King of Mann and the Isles, son of Gillabrigte (†1164), and ancestor of Clann Domhnaill. Primarily they are the Clan Donald, and Clan MacDougall and all their numerous branches. Clan Macruari are their lost sept. They are formerly known as the Lord of the Isles. Clan Donald played a significant role in the decline of Norse-Gaelic influence. Origins The origin of Somerled, from whom the clan derives, is obscure. Only the name of his father is directly attested in early records. He was later portrayed as having Gaelic ancestry, with late pedigrees from the 14th and 15th century tracing him from legendary Colla Uais and hence from Conn of the Hundred Battles, and some versions apparently including the legendary founder of the Scottish state of Dál Riata, Fergus Mór. Historians have distrusted this derivation, ...
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King Of Mann And The Isles
The Kingdom of the Isles, also known as Sodor, was a Norse–Gaelic kingdom comprising the Isle of Man, the Hebrides and the islands of the Clyde from the 9th to the 13th centuries. The islands were known in Old Norse as the , or "Southern Isles" as distinct from the or Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland. In Scottish Gaelic, the kingdom is known as . The territory is sometimes called the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles, although only some of the later rulers claimed that title. The historical record is incomplete, and the kingdom was not a continuous entity throughout the entire period. At times the rulers were independent of external control, although for much of the period they had overlords in Norway, Ireland, England, Scotland or Orkney. At times there also appear to have been competing claims for all or parts of the territory. The islands have a total land area of over and extend for more than from north to south. Viking influence in the area began in the late 8th ce ...
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Conn Of The Hundred Battles
Conn Cétchathach (), or Conn of the Hundred Battles, son of Fedlimid Rechtmar, was a legendary High King of Ireland who is claimed to be the ancestor of the Connachta, and through his descendant Niall Noígiallach, the Uí Néill dynasties, which dominated Ireland in the early Middle Ages. Literary tradition Early life and accession The ''Annals of the Four Masters'' says that five roads to Tara, which had never been seen before, were discovered on the night of Conn's birth. According to the '' Lebor Gabála Érenn'', he took power after killing his predecessor Cathair Mór. In other sources his predecessor is Dáire Doimthech. The '' Lia Fáil'', the coronation stone at Tara which was said to roar when the rightful king stood on it, roared under Conn for the first time since Cúchulainn split it with his sword when it failed to roar for Lugaid Riab nDerg. In the saga ''Baile in Scáil'' ("The Phantom's Ecstatic Vision"), Conn treads on the stone by accident while walki ...
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Orkneyinga Saga
The ''Orkneyinga saga'' (Old Norse: ; ; also called the ''History of the Earls of Orkney'' and ''Jarls' Saga'') is a narrative of the history of the Orkney and Shetland islands and their relationship with other local polities, particularly Norway and Scotland. The saga has "no parallel in the social and literary record of Scotland" and is "the only medieval chronicle to have Orkney as the central place of action". The main focus of the work is the Earl of Orkney, line of ''jarls'' who ruled the Earldom of Orkney, which constituted the ''Norðreyjar'' or Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland and there are frequent references to both archipelagoes throughout. The narrative commences with a brief mythical ancestry tale and then proceeds to outline the Norse take-over of the ''Norðreyjar'' by Harald Fairhair – the take-over is not in doubt although the role of the king is no longer accepted by historians as a likelihood. The saga then outlines, with varying degrees of detail, t ...
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List Of Rulers Of The Kingdom Of The Isles
The Kingdom of the Isles comprised the Hebrides, the islands of the Firth of Clyde and the Isle of Man from the 9th to the 13th centuries AD. The islands were known to the Norse as the , or "Southern Isles" as distinct from the or Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland. The historical record is incomplete and the kingdom was probably not a continuous entity throughout the entire period. The islands concerned are sometimes referred to as the "Kingdom of Mann and the Isles", although only some of the later rulers claimed that title. At times the rulers were independent of external control, although for much of the period they had overlords in Norway, Ireland, England, Scotland or Orkney. At times there also appear to have been competing claims for all or parts of the territory. The islands involved have a total land area of over and extend for more than from north to south. Viking influence in the area commenced in the late 8th century, and whilst there is no doubt that the Uí � ...
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Echmarcach Mac Ragnaill
Echmarcach mac Ragnaill (died 1064/1065) was a dominant figure in the eleventh-century Irish Sea region. At his height, he reigned as king over Kingdom of Dublin, Dublin, the Kingdom of the Isles, Isles, and perhaps the Kingdom of the Rhinns, Rhinns of Galloway. The precise identity of Echmarcach's father, Ragnall, is uncertain. One possibility is that this man was one of two eleventh-century rulers of Waterford. Another possibility is that Echmarcach's father was an early eleventh-century List of rulers of the Kingdom of the Isles, ruler of the Isles. If any of these identifications are correct, Echmarcach may have been a member of the Uí Ímair kindred. Echmarcach first appears on record in about 1031, when he was one of three kings in northern Britain who submitted to Knútr Sveinnsson, King of England, Knútr Sveinnsson, ruler of the Anglo-Scandinavian Empire. Echmarcach is recorded to have ruled over Dublin in 1036–1038 and 1046–1052. After losing Dublin for the final t ...
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Iain Moncreiffe
Sir Rupert Iain Kay Moncreiffe of that Ilk, 11th Baronet, (9 April 1919 – 27 February 1985), Chief of Clan Moncreiffe, was a British Officer of Arms, historian and genealogist. Biography Moncreiffe was the son of Lieutenant-Commander Gerald Moncreiffe, RN, and Hilda, daughter of the Comte de Miremont. He succeeded his cousin as 11th Baronet and Chief of Clan Moncreiffe in 1957.Way, George and Squire, Romily. ''Collins Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopedia''. (Foreword by The Rt Hon. The Earl of Elgin KT, Convenor, The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs). Published in 1994. Pages 276 - 277. Educated at Stowe School, Heidelberg, and Christ Church, Oxford, as a cadet officer Moncreiffe trained with Derek Bond (actor) and Patrick Leigh Fermor, he later served in Scots Guards during the Second World War, then as attaché at the British embassy in Moscow, before studying Scots Law at the University of Edinburgh. He was awarded a PhD (1958) with a thesis on the Origins and Backg ...
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Óláfr Guðrøðarson (died 1153)
Óláfr Guðrøðarson (died 29 June 1153) was a twelfth-century King of Mann and the Isles. As a younger son of Guðrøðr Crovan, King of Dublin and the Isles, Óláfr witnessed a vicious power struggle between his elder brothers in the aftermath of their father's death. At some point, the young Óláfr was entrusted to the care of Henry I, King of England, and like the contemporaneous Scottish monarchs, Alexander I, King of Scotland, Alexander I and David I, King of Scotland, David I, Óláfr appears to have been a protégé of the English king. As King of the Isles, Óláfr contracted marital alliances with neighbouring maritime rulers. Although he appears to have overseen successful military operations to reclaim the northernmost territories once controlled by his father, he may have witnessed the loss of authority in Galloway as well. Like his counterpart David I, Óláfr was a reformer and moderniser of his realm. However, his four-decade reign ended in abrupt disaster whe ...
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Ragnhildis Olafsdottir
Ragnhildis Olafdottir, also known as Ragnhild, (c.1115 - unknown) was the daughter of king Óláfr Guðrøðarson of the Kingdom of Mann and Ingibiorg Hakonsdottir, making her a granddaughter of Haakon Paulsson. Ragnhild married the Norse-Gaelic lord Somerled, king of the Kingdom of the Isles. As the mother of Dubgall, Ragnall, and Aonghas,Entry for the year 1102
''Chronica Regum Manniæ et Insularum''
Ragnhild was the progenitor of and the ancestor of ,

Uí Ímair
The Uí Ímair (; meaning ‘''scions of Ivar’''), also known as the Ivar dynasty or Ivarids, was a Norse-Gael dynasty which ruled much of the Irish Sea region, the Kingdom of Dublin, the western coast of Scotland, including the Hebrides and some part of Northern England, from the mid 9th century. The dynasty lost control of York in the mid 10th century, but reigned over the other domains at variously disputed times, depending on which rulers may be counted among their descendants. This has proved a difficult question for scholars to determine, because reliable pedigrees do not survive. Additionally, for between three and four decades, the Uí Ímair were overkings of the Kingdom of Scotland itself, distinct from the Kingdom of Strathclyde, of which they may also have been overkings, and later briefly the Irish province of Munster, dominated from Waterford, and later still, briefly the English kingdom of Mercia. In the west of Ireland, the Uí Ímair also supplied at least tw ...
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Crovan Dynasty
The Crovan dynasty, from the late 11th century to the mid 13th century, was the ruling family of an insular kingdom known variously in secondary sources as the Kingdom of Mann, the Kingdom of the Isles, and the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles. The eponymous founder of the dynasty was Godred Crovan, who appeared from obscurity in the late 11th century, before his takeover of the Isle of Man and Dublin. The dynasty was of Gaelic-Scandinavian origin, descending from a branch of the Uí Ímair, a dominant kindred in the Irish Sea region which first appears on record in the late 9th century. Leading members of the Crovan dynasty formed marriage-alliances with the Irish and Norwegian kings, as well as Hebridean, Gallovidian, and Anglo-Norman lords, and possibly Welsh princes as well. Surrounded by sometimes threatening English, Norwegian and Scottish monarchs, and various warlords from the western seaboard of Scotland, the leading members of the dynasty at times tactfully recognised ...
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Alex Woolf
Alex Woolf (born 12 July 1963) is a British medieval historian and academic. He specialises in the history of Britain and Ireland and to a lesser extent Scandinavia in the Early Middle Ages, with a particular emphasis on interaction and comparison across traditional ethnic boundaries. He is a senior lecturer at the University of St Andrews. He is author of volume two in the ''New Edinburgh History of Scotland'', covering the period between 789 and 1070. For this he won the 2008 Saltire Society award for "history book of the year". He is the younger brother of the ancient historian Greg Woolf. Education Woolf first went to University to study Scandinavian Studies at University College London, including spending time in Norway, but dropped out before completing the degree and spent four years working in service-sector jobs. He then proceeded to the University of Sheffield, where he completed a degree in Medieval History and Medieval English.Jack Davey,InFocus: Dr Alex Woolf, ...
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David Sellar
William David Hamilton Sellar (27 February 1941 – 26 January 2019) was a legal historian who served as Lord Lyon King of Arms from 2008 to 2014. Sellar studied history at University of Oxford, Oxford University graduating as Bachelor of Arts before gaining a law degree (LLB) from the University of Edinburgh. He qualified as a Scottish people, Scottish solicitor in 1966, and after two years as a legal assessor with the Scottish Land Court joined in 1968 the University of Edinburgh School of Law, Faculty of Law at the University of Edinburgh, where he was elected an Honorary Fellow. Sellar wrote about the Lord of the Isles, Lordship of the Isles and on the origins of many Scottish Highlands, Highland families. He served as a Member of the Ancient Monuments Board for Scotland, was President of the Scottish Family history society, Genealogy Society and sat on the council of the Heraldry Society of Scotland, and as Vice-President of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. He was t ...
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