page_title: Murchadh Mac Suibhne
section_title: Norwegian campaign
hierarchical_section_title: Murchadh Mac Suibhne / Norwegian campaign
caption_attribution_description: English: The coat of arms of Hákon Hákonarson, King of Norway as it appears on folio 150r of British Library Royal 14 C VII.
context_page_description: Murchadh Mac Suibhne was a leading member of Clann Suibhne. He was a grandson of the family's eponymous ancestor Suibhne mac Duinn Shléibhe, and a nephew of the family's mid-thirteenth-century representative, Dubhghall mac Suibhne.
  During the latter's career, the Scottish Crown sought to extend royal authority into Argyll and the Isles. In the course of this westward drive, Clann Suibhne fell prey to the Stewarts, one of Scotland's most powerful and families. Charter evidence dating to the early 1260s reveals that Dubhghall resigned the Clann Suibhne lordship into the hands of Walter Stewart, Earl of Menteith. Whether this transfer was the result of a military operation against Clann Suibhne is unknown.
  The fact that some members of Clann Suibhne were unwilling to subject themselves to Stewart domination is evinced by the record of Murchadh supporting the cause of Hákon Hákonarson, King of Norway, who led a retaliatory campaign to reassert Norwegian authority in 1263. Murchadh played a prominent part in this campaign. He was amongst the Islesmen commanded a detachment of Hákon's fleet into Loch Lomond, where they devastated the Lennox district.
context_section_description: Whilst Alexander II projected Scottish royal power into the south-west Highlands, Alexander III focused his effort upon the Isles. In 1262, the year after yet another failed attempt by the Scottish Crown to purchase the Isles from Hákon Hákonarson, King of Norway, the thirteenth-century Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar states that Hákon was alerted that his Scottish counterpart sought the subjugation of the Isles, and was informed of recent Scottish aggression in the region, including a particularly savage attack upon the inhabitants of Skye. Thus provoked, Hákon assembled an enormous fleet—described by the Icelandic annals as the largest force to have ever set sail from Norway—to reassert Norwegian sovereignty along the north and west coasts of Scotland. The fact that members of Clann Suibhne were unwilling to subject themselves to Stewart domination is evidenced by the record of Murchadh supporting the Norwegian cause.
  In July 1263, the armada disembarked from Norway, and by mid August, Hákon reaffirmed his overlordship in Shetland and Orkney, forced the submission of Caithness, and arrived in the Hebrides. According to the saga, Hákon was met in the region by Magnús Óláfsson, King of Mann and the Isles and Dubhghall mac Ruaidhrí. As the fleet made its way southwards, Hákon sent a detachment of vessels under the command of Dubhghall and Magnús Óláfsson to harry Kintyre whilst Hákon himself made landfall on Gigha.
  It is evident that Magnús and Dubhghall were tasked with bringing Aonghus Mór Mac Domhnaill and Murchadh onto the king's side. The saga, and pieces of poetry embedded within it, glorifies the subsequent ravaging of Kintyre, suggesting that it was this rapaciousness that finally compelled Aonghus Mór and Murchadh to come into the king's peace. Certainly the saga reveals that these west-coast magnates duly submitted to Hákon, swearing oaths of allegiance, surrendering hostages into his keeping, and delivering the island of Islay into his control. The king is further said to have levied a tax of one thousand head of cattle upon the Kintyre headland, and a particular fortress—most likely Dunaverty Castle—is stated to have been surrendered to Hákon by an unidentified knight.
  In early September, the reinforced fleet of Norwegians and Islesmen entered the Firth of Clyde. Although Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar states that the Norwegian and Scottish envoys attempted to negotiate a peace between the realms, the Scottish king was unwilling to concede a claim to the islands of the Clyde: specifically Bute, Arran, and the Cumbraes. After peace talks broke down, the saga identifies Magnús Óláfsson, Dubhghall, Ailéan, Aonghus Mór, and Murchadh, as the commanders of a detachment of Islesmen and Norwegians who entered Loch Long, portaged across land into Loch Lomond, and ravaged the surrounding region of the Lennox. According various versions of the saga, this contingent consisted of either forty or sixty ships—a considerable portion of Hákon's fleet. There is reason to suspect that this strike is evidence that the Norwegians and Islesmen were directing their fury at the territories of the Stewarts. The contested islands of the Clyde were almost certainly possessions of the Stewarts at the time. Furthermore, by penetrating into the Earldom of Lennox, and possibly striking further east inland, Hákon's adherents would have been encroaching into the Earldom of Menteith. Military actions conducted by Ailéan are specifically acclaimed by the saga, which states that he took several hundred head of cattle, and caused much destruction throughout Scotland. This inland campaigning appears to be corroborated by Scottish exchequer records, as John Lamberton, Sheriff of Stirling is reported to have incurred expenses for the upkeep of "vigilant men" at Stirling Castle for the time when the Norwegian forces were in the area.
  Meanwhile, at the beginning of October, Hákon's main force clashed with the Scots at Largs, and withdrew into the Hebrides. Once regrouped with the detachment of Islesmen and Norwegians, the saga records that Hákon rewarded his ove
caption: The coat of arms of Hákon Hákonarson as depicted on folio 150r of British Library Royal 14 C VII (Historia Anglorum).[51][note 6]
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