page_title: Óláfr Guðrøðarson (died 1237)
section_title: Opposition from Alan fitz Roland
hierarchical_section_title: Óláfr Guðrøðarson (died 1237) / Opposition from Alan fitz Roland
caption_attribution_description: English: An excerpt from folio 100r of Royal MS 14 C VII (Historia Anglorum). The coat of arms is that of Henry III, King of England.
context_page_description: Óláfr Guðrøðarson (died 1237), also known as Olaf the Black, was a thirteenth-century King of the Isles, and a member of the Crovan dynasty. He was a son of Guðrøðr Óláfsson, King of the Isles and Fionnghuala Nic Lochlainn. Óláfr was a younger son of his father; Óláfr's elder brother, Rǫgnvaldr, probably had a different mother. According to the Chronicle of Mann, Guðrøðr appointed Óláfr as heir since he had been born "in lawful wedlock". Whether or not this is the case, after Guðrøðr's death in 1187 the Islesmen instead appointed Rǫgnvaldr as king, as he was a capable adult and Óláfr was a mere child. Rǫgnvaldr ruled the island-kingdom for almost forty years, during which time the half-brothers vied for the kingship.
  Óláfr appears to have held authority on the island of Lewis and Harris. At some point, Óláfr appears to have confronted Rǫgnvaldr for a larger stake in the kingdom, after which Rǫgnvaldr had him seized and imprisoned by the King of Scotland. Upon his release in 1214/1215, Óláfr is stated to have undertaken a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, after which the half-brothers were reconciled, and Rǫgnvaldr had Óláfr married to Lauon, the sister of his own wife.
context_section_description: In 1224, the year following the defeat of Rǫgnvaldr's son, the chronicle reveals that Óláfr took hostages from the leading men of the Hebridean portion of the realm, and with a fleet of thirty-two ships, landed on Mann at Ronaldsway, where he confronted Rǫgnvaldr directly. It was then agreed that the kingdom would be split between the two: with Rǫgnvaldr keeping Mann itself along with the title of king, and Óláfr retaining a share in the Hebrides. With Óláfr's rise at Rǫgnvaldr expense, the latter turned to Alan, one of Scotland's most powerful magnates. Alan and Rǫgnvaldr were certainly closely connected. Both were great-grandsons of Fergus, Lord of Galloway; both had received Ulster lands from the English at about the same time; and it is possible that connections between the Isles and Galloway had led to Rǫgnvaldr's involvement with the Scottish Crown in Caithness in about 1200. 
  In a letter from Alan to Henry, dated the year of the partitioning between the half-brothers, Alan mentioned that he was preoccupied with his army and fleet, travelling from island to island. This statement could well evince the beginning of joint military operations, conducted by Alan and Rǫgnvaldr against Óláfr, assigned by the chronicle to the following year. According to the latter source, however, the campaigning came to nought because the Manx were unwilling to battle against Óláfr and the Hebrideans. This record appears to show that Alan portrayed his actions in the Isles as related to his conflict with the Lacys in Ireland. As such, the correspondence could be evidence that the Ulster ambitions of Hugh de Lacy were aligned with Óláfr in the Isles. Not only did Óláfr clash with Rǫgnvaldr's son in 1223, but Hugh launched a bid to recover his forfeited Earldom of Ulster in the same year, a reclamation that seriously threatened recent Gallovidian expansion in Ireland. Whilst Rǫgnvaldr clearly had the support of Alan and his family, there is reason to suspect that Óláfr was allied to Hugh. In the correspondence between Alan and Henry, Alan stated that he had been on the verge of launching an invasion of Ireland when he learned of an agreement reached between Hugh and the Justiciar of Ireland, and therefore sought the king's confirmation of his family's lands in Ulster. Alan's letter appears to show that his campaigning in the Isles was understood to have been a detriment to Hugh in Ireland. As such, Hugh seems to have been expected to make use of military assistance from Isles in his restoration attempt. Óláfr's move against Rǫgnvaldr in 1223 and 1224—the very time the Lacys campaigned against Gallovidian interests in Ireland—is unlikely to have been a coincidence. It may have been window of opportunity that Óláfr seized upon. Alternately, it may have been Hugh himself who capitalised upon the Gallovidian's campaigning against Óláfr. 
  Other correspondence, possibly dating to about 1224, between Henry and his sister, Joan, Queen of Scotland, reveals that Hákon Hákonarson, King of Norway was rumoured to have been planning a naval expedition west-over-sea. Although Joan's letter to Henry places this campaign in the context of Hugh's threat to English-aligned interests in Ireland, it may be that Hákon's attention was focused upon the escalating situation in the Isles. One possibility is that Joan's letter is evidence that Óláfr was thought to have appealed to Hákon for support against Rǫgnvaldr.
  Also in 1224, the thirteenth-century Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar reports that a certain Gillikristr, Óttar Snækollsson, and many Islesmen, travelled to Norway and presented Hákon with letters pertaining to the needs of their lands. One possibility is that these so-called needs refer to the violent kin-strife and recent treaty between the half-brothers. The saga may therefore reveal that the Norwegian Crown was approached by either representatives of either side of the inter-dynastic conflict, or perhaps by neutral chieftains caught in the middle. Further attempts to quell the infighting by way of the Norwegian Crown may have been undertaken in 1226, when
caption: Coat of arms of Henry III as it appears on folio 100r of British Library Royal 14 C VII.[251]
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