page_title: Battle of Renfrew
section_title: Battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Renfrew / Battle
caption_attribution_description: English: Stained glass windows in Bute Hall, University of Glasgow. Robert Story Memorial Window, by Douglas Strachan, placed in the Bute Hall of Glasgow University on 21 Oct. 1909. Saint Kentigern (=Saint Mungo)
context_page_description: The Battle of Renfrew was fought between the Kingdom of the Isles and the Kingdom of Scotland in 1164, near Renfrew, Scotland. The men of the Isles, accompanied by forces from the Kingdom of Dublin, were commanded by Somairle mac Gilla Brigte, King of the Isles. The identity of the Scottish commander is unrecorded and unknown. Herbert, Bishop of Glasgow, Baldwin, Sheriff of Lanark/Clydesdale, and Walter fitz Alan, Steward of Scotland are all possible candidates for this position. The battle was a disaster for the Islesmen and Dubliners. Somairle was slain in the encounter, apparently by local levies, and his forces were routed.
  Somairle first appears on record in the 1150s, when he is stated to have supported the cause of Máel Coluim mac Alasdair in a rebellion against Malcolm IV, King of Scotland. Máel Coluim was a member of a rival branch of the Scottish royal family, and his sons were closely related to Somairle. At about the time of the rebellion's collapse, Somairle appears to have shifted his energies from Scotland towards the Isles. In 1156, he wrested about half of the Kingdom of the Isles from his brother-in-law, Guðrøðr Óláfsson, King of the Isles.
context_section_description: The Battle of Renfrew is attested by sources such as: the fourteenth-century Annals of Tigernach, the fifteenth- to sixteenth-century Annals of Ulster, the twelfth-century Carmen de Morte Sumerledi, the thirteenth-century Chronica of Roger de Hoveden, the twelfth- to thirteenth-century Chronicle of Holyrood, the thirteenth- to fourteenth-century Chronicle of Mann, the twelfth- to thirteenth-century Chronicle of Melrose, the thirteenth-century Gesta Annalia I, the fifteenth-century Mac Carthaigh's Book, and the fifteenth-century Scotichronicon.
  The Chronicle of Melrose reports that Somairle's forces were drawn "from Ireland and various places". Irish sources—such as the Annals of Tigernach, Annals of Ulster, and Mac Carthaigh's Book—specify that his forces consisted of men from Argyll, Kintyre, the Isles, and Dublin. Such depictions of Somairle's forces appear to reflect the remarkable reach of power that he possessed at his peak. The invasion was clearly a well-planned affair. According to the Chronicle of Mann, Somairle's invasion fleet numbered one hundred and sixty ships. If each ship carried forty to fifty combatants, Somairle may have led between six thousand and eight thousand men. Although the tallies of combatants given by mediaeval sources are generally suspect, they can be indicative of the magnitude of a force's size. The participation of Dubliners in Somairle's venture suggests that he had an alliance with the Dubliners. Specifically, he may have had a pact with either the overlord of Dublin, Diarmait Mac Murchada, King of Leinster, or else with Diarmait's own overlord, Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn, High King of Ireland.
  According to the Chronicle of Mann, and the Chronicle of Melrose, Somairle's fleet made landfall at Renfrew. It is possible that the fleet specifically landed at Inchinnan, where his forces could have first engaged the Scots. The battle was evidently a fiasco for the Islesmen, with their commanding-king killed in a skirmish against local levies. The account given by Carmen de Morte Sumerledi certainly  suggests that Somairle was killed in the outset—"wounded by spear, slain by the sword"—and overcome by a hastily organised body of local defenders. As such, Somairle could have fallen in the opening encounter, with his leaderless followers giving up the fight. The account given by Carmen de Morte Sumerledi further states that Somairle's head was cut off by a priest, and presented to Herbert, Bishop of Glasgow. According to Gesta Annalia I, Somairle was killed with a son named Gilla Coluim. It is possible that this source has mistaken the latter's name for Gilla Brigte, the name that the Annals of Tigernach accords to Somairle's slain son. It is unknown if Dubgall participated in the battle.
  The stated location of Renfrew could be evidence that the target of Somairle's strike was Walter fitz Alan, Steward of Scotland. The latter certainly possessed Renfrew during his career, and it is possible that it functioned as the seat of his Strathgryfe group of holdings, or even as the principal seat of his entire lordship. The leadership of the Scottish forces is uncertain. It is conceivable that the commander was one of the three principal men of the region: Herbert, Baldwin, Sheriff of Lanark/Clydesdale, and Walter. Whilst there is reason to suspect that Somairle focused his offensive upon Walter's lordship at Renfrew, it is also possible that Herbert, as Malcolm's agent in the west, was the intended target. Certainly, Carmen de Morte Sumerledi associates Herbert with the victory, and makes no mention of Walter or any Scottish royal forces. On the other hand, Baldwin's nearby lands of Inverkip and Houston were passed by Somairle's naval forces, suggesting that it was either Baldwin or his followers who engaged and overcame the invaders. In any case, the victory over the Islesmen and their allies appears to have ensured peace in Scotland for the rest of Malcolm's rule. It may have been Malcolm's greatest victory, and is certainly the last major event of his reign on record.
caption: According to Carmen de Morte Sumerledi, divine intervention from St Kentigern (pictured in stained glass, in Bute Hall, University of Glasgow) delivered the Scots their victory over Somairle.
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