Ragnhildis Olafdottir, also known as Ragnhild, (c.1115 - unknown) was the daughter of king

Óláfr Guðrøðarson Olaf Guthfrithson or Anlaf Guthfrithson ( ; ; ; died 941) was a Hiberno-Scandinavian (Irish-Viking) leader who ruled Dublin and Viking Northumbria in the 10th century. He was the son of Gofraid ua Ímair and great-grandson of Ímar, making ...

of the Kingdom of Mann and Ingibiorg Hakonsdottir, making her a granddaughter of

Haakon Paulsson Haakon Paulsson (Old Norse: ''Hákon Pálsson''; died 1123) was a Norwegian ''jarl'' who ruled the earldom of Orkney together with his cousin Magnus Erlendsson from 1105 to 1123. Their lives and times are recounted in the ''Orkneyinga saga'', ...

. Ragnhild married the Norse-Gaelic lord

Somerled Somerled (died 1164), known in Middle Irish as Somairle, Somhairle, and Somhairlidh, and in Old Norse as Sumarliði , was a mid-12th-century Norse-Gaelic lord who, through marital alliance and military conquest, rose in prominence to create the ...

, king of the

Kingdom of 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 I ...

. As the mother of Dubgall,

Ragnall Ragnall is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, England. At the time of the 2001 census it had a population of 102, increasing to 146 at the 2011 census (with Fledborough), and falling to 88 for the 2021 census. It is located on ...

, and Aonghas,Entry for the year 1102
''Chronica Regum Manniæ et Insularum'' Ragnhild was the progenitor of Clann Somhairle and the ancestor of

Clan MacDonald Clan Donald, also known as Clan MacDonald or Clan McDonald ( ), is a Highland Scottish clan and one of the largest Scottish clans. Historically the chiefs of the Clan Donald held the title of Lord of the Isles until 1493 and two of those chiefs a ...

Clan MacDougall Clan MacDougall is a Highland Scottish clan, historically based in and around Argyll. The Lord Lyon King of Arms, the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry in Scotland, issuing new grants of coats of arms, and serving as ...

, Clan MacAlister, and many other clans. Little is known about her life apart from her marriage to Somerled and her being a part of the royal lineage of the

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 ...

Legacy

Ragnhild is important to Clann Somhairle because she gives the clan and its descendants royal status on the basis of their descent from the

and the Uí Ímair Dynasty, because her father

was the son of

Godred Crovan Godred Crovan (died 1095), known in Gaelic as Gofraid Crobán, Gofraid Meránach, and Gofraid Méránach, was a Norse-Gaelic ruler of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Dublin, Dublin and the Kingdom of the Isles, Isles. Although his precise parentage h ...

. This is one of the ways in which Somerled's expansion is politically legitimised. Ragnhild's place in Manx dynastic politics also strengthened claims by further descendants. Historian R. Andrew Macdonald recounts how the Chronicles of Mann describes how the wife of Somerled was the "cause of the collapse of the entire

kingdom of 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 I ...

" because the kingdom would fall under the control of Clann Somhairle and would become divided which ultimately led to its collapse in the mid 13th century.

Fictional depiction

Ragnhild was an important character in the novel ''Summer Warrior'' by Regan Walker.

Citations

References

* * * *Power, Rosemary (2005)
"Meeting in Norway: Norse-Gaelic Relations in the Kingdom of Man and the Isles, 1090–1270"
(PDF). ISSN 0305-9219. *Woolf, Alex (2004)
"The Age of Sea-Kings, 900–1300"
in Omand, D (ed.) ''The Argyll Book''. *Woolf, Alex (2005)
"The Origins and Ancestry of Somerled: Gofraid mac Fergusa and 'The Annals of the Four Masters'"
Medieval Scandinavia.
Ragnhild
." ''Encyclopedia.com'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Olafsdottir, Ragnhildis 1110s births 12th-century Manx people 12th-century Scottish women Scottish noblewomen 12th-century Scottish nobility Scandinavian Scotland Clan Donald Clan MacDougall Clann Somhairle Crovan dynasty Norse-Gaels Uí Ímair Manx women 12th-century nobility

Legacy

Fictional depiction

See also

Citations

References