page_title: Haraldr Óláfsson
section_title: Accession and overlordship
hierarchical_section_title: Haraldr Óláfsson / Accession and overlordship
caption_attribution_description: English: Tynwald near St John's on Isle of Man
context_page_description: Haraldr Óláfsson was a thirteenth-century King of Mann and the Isles, and a member of the Crovan dynasty. He was one of several sons of Óláfr Guðrøðarson, King of the Isles, although the identity of his mother is uncertain. When his father died in 1237, Haraldr succeeded to the kingship as a fourteen-year-old, and held the kingship for about a decade afterwards.
  Early in his reign, Haraldr was forced to contend with an apparent coup perpetrated by a kinsman and perhaps an otherwise unknown younger brother. Following this, Haraldr was then ejected from Mann by envoys of his father's overlord, Hákon Hákonarson, King of Norway, who probably took action against Haraldr because the former had refused to render him homage. Unable to overcome Hákon's supporters in the Isles, Haraldr eventually submitted to Hákon in Norway, and remained there for about two or three years before being restored in the Isles.
  Unlike his immediate royal predecessors, who appear to have favoured the title rex insularum, Haraldr appears to have preferred rex mannie et insularum.
context_section_description: After his father's death, Haraldr succeeded to the kingship. Unlike the reign of his father, who temporarily ruled a partitioned kingdom, and endured years of near catastrophic kin-strife, Haraldr appears to have ruled a whole kingdom, and his kingship does not seem to have suffered from serious dynastic discord. Haraldr's young age at the time of his accession, and the fact that he had a potential rival in the person of Haraldr Guðrøðarson, suggests that Haraldr had been designated successor during his father's lifetime. Not long after his accession, the Chronicle of Mann records that he sailed into the Hebridean portion of the kingdom, and left a kinsman named Lochlann as governor on Mann. Lochlann's tenure on the island led to factional strife, and when Haraldr made his return the following spring, the chronicle states that Lochlann fled the island for Wales, taking with him his foster-son, Guðrøðr Óláfsson. There, somewhere along the northern Welsh coast, the chronicle claims that their ship was lost, with Lochlann and his foster-son amongst the dead. Quite why Lochlann was compelled to flee his sovereign in uncertain. The chronicle states that a friend of Haraldr had been slain in the uprising quelled by Lochlann, possibly indicate that the latter fled in fear of the king. Another possibility, is that Lochlann led a coalition opposed to Haraldr. Quite why Lochlann chose to Wales as his destination is also unknown, although the Crovan dynasty certainly had diplomatic and familial connections with the Welsh. In fact, a transaction between Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and Ralph de Mortimer that concerns the lands of Maelienydd and Gwerthrynion, and appears to date to 1241, makes note of a witness named "Godredo filio regis Mannie". The precise identity of this man is uncertain. One possibility is that he is identical to Lochlann's foster-son. If the chronicle is in error in its account of the maritime demise of Guðrøðr Óláfsson, and he is indeed  identical to the like-named Manx prince on record in Wales, his activities outwith the kingdom of his forefathers may have been a consequence of the troubles following the Haraldr's accession. The chronicle's account of the flight to Wales may, therefore, reveal that Lochlann tried and failed to replace Haraldr with an otherwise unknown younger son of Óláfr. If so, the episode would appear to be yet another example of the Crovan dynasty enduring internal strife.
  Later in 1238, the chronicle reveals that envoys of Hákon expelled Haraldr from Mann because the latter had refused to render homage to his overlord in Norway. Hákon's delegates in the Isles—a certain Gospatric, and Giolla Críost mac Muircheartaigh—are described by the chronicle to have seized control of the island, and taken tribute which was due to the Norwegian king. By sending such emissaries—men apparently without any hereditary claim to the kingdom—Hákon ignored other potential claimants, such as other members of the Crovan dynasty and members of Clann Somhairle. About a decade before, when Haraldr's father first gained complete control of the kingdom, Óláfr journeyed to Norway and may have rendered homage to Hákon. Later in 1235 Óláfr rendered homage to Henry, before being called back to Norway the following year. The episode concerning the ejection of Haraldr may well be related to his father's fealty to the English Crown, and appears to indicate that the latter was deposed for not fulfilling his duties as a Norwegian vassal; and that upon his subsequent removal, Haraldr's rights of vassalage passed to Hákon himself.
  Although Haraldr attempted to oust Hákon's representatives on several occasions, his successive invasions of Mann from the Hebrides ultimately proved unsuccessful, and the chronicle indicates that he finally journeyed to Norway to render his submission. After a stay of about two or three years in Scandinavia, the chronicle reports that Haraldr became reconciled with Hákon, who restored him to the kingship. The source reveals that the boundaries of his kingdom were carefully defined by Hákon as the islands 
caption: Tynwald Hill, near St John's may have been a national assembly site of the Kingdom of the Isles.[48] It may well have been the place where the Islesmen publicly inaugurated their kings,[49] proclaimed new laws, and resolved disputes.[50] Be that as it may, much of the visible site dates only to the eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth century.[48][note 3]
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