page_title: Godred Crovan
section_title: Downfall and death
hierarchical_section_title: Godred Crovan / Downfall and death
caption_attribution_description: English: An excerpt from folio 19r of Oxford Bodleian Library MS Rawlinson B 488 (the Annals of Tigernach). The excerpt concerns Domnall Mac Lochlainn, King of Cenél nEógain (died 1121). The excerpt reads "Domnall mac Lochlainn".
context_page_description: Godred Crovan, known in Gaelic as Gofraid Crobán, Gofraid Meránach, and Gofraid Méránach, was a Norse-Gaelic ruler of the kingdoms of Dublin and the Isles. Although his precise parentage has not completely been proven, he was certainly an Uí Ímair dynast, and a descendant of Amlaíb Cúarán, King of Northumbria and Dublin.
  Godred first appears on record in the context of supporting the Norwegian invasion of England in 1066. Following the collapse of this campaign, Godred is recorded to have arrived on Mann, at the court of Gofraid mac Sitriuc, King of the Isles, a likely kinsman of his. During the 1070s, the latter died and was succeeded by his son, Fingal. Within the decade, Godred violently seized the kingship for himself, although the exact circumstances surrounding this takeover are uncertain. By 1091, Godred attained the kingship of Dublin, and thereby secured complete control of the valuable trade routes through the Irish Sea region. Godred's expansion may be further perceptible in the Clyde estuary and Galloway, and may well have forced the English to consolidate control of Cumberland in an effort to secure their western maritime flank.
context_section_description: Godred's rule in Dublin lasted until 1094. That year the Annals of Inisfallen reveal that warfare broke out between Muirchertach and a northern Irish alliance that included Godred. This source and the seventeenth-century Annals of Clonmacnoise, the Annals of the Four Masters, and the Annals of Ulster, reveal that Muirchertach marched upon Dublin where he was confronted by the alliance. Godred's maritime force in this campaign is numbered at ninety ships by the seventeenth-century Annals of the Four Masters. Although all these sources indicate that Muirchertach's forces were at first forced to flee, Muirchertach soon returned after the alliance had dispersed, and succeeded in driving Godred from Dublin. The Annals of Inisfallen appears to indicate that warfare between Muirchertach and Godred was wrought throughout the year. The source also reveals that, during Dublin's fall, Muirchertach captured Conchobar Ua Conchobair Failge, King of Uí Failge. Although the Kingdom of Uí Failge had previously enjoyed the patronage of the Uí Briain, it is possible that Godred had forged an alliance with Conchobar. Following the Uí Briain conquest of Dublin, the Ua Conchobair kings of Uí Failge may have been the only Leinster lords who refused to acknowledge Muirchertach's overlordship.
  From a late eleventh-century Irish perspective, dominance of Dublin appears to have been a virtual prerequisite of gaining the Irish high-kingship, and Muirchertach's quest for control of this coastal kingdom appears to have been undertaken in such a context. In fact, it is evidence that Godred had allied himself with Muirchertach's fiercest rival for the high-kingship, Domnall Mac Lochlainn, King of Cenél nEógain. It possible that this compact contributed to Godred's successes in Dublin. Just as Godred's seizure of Dublin appears to have taken place at a point when two superior powers were occupied elsewhere, his expulsion from the kingdom appears to have taken place at a time when Muirchertach's hands were free, having temporarily settled matters with his rival half-brother, Diarmait Ua Briain, and having earned some success in extending Uí Briain authority into Connacht.
  Contemporary numismatic material concerning Dublin indicates that, starting in 1095, immediately following Godred's demise, the kingdom's coinage became drastically debased in terms of weight and stylistic quality. For about a generation previous, Dublin's coinage had imitated the near contemporary styles of the English and Anglo-Normans, albeit with varying consistency, but immediately after 1095 Dublin's coins dramatically degenerated into poor imitations of nearly century-old designs. This could be evidence that, in comparison to Muirchertach's immediate Norse-Gaelic predecessors in Dublin, his own regime lacked the expertise to ensure the vitality of the kingdom's commerce and currency.
  Annalistic evidence from throughout Europe indicates that the continent suffered from a resurgence of plague and famine during the first years of the 1090s. In fact, if the Annals of the Four Masters is to be believed, about a quarter of Ireland's population succumbed to pestilence in 1095. This source, and a host of others—such as the Annals of Clonmacnoise, the Annals of Inisfallen, the Annals of Tigernach, and the Annals of Ulster—all single out Godred as one of the many mortalities. The Chronicle of Mann, which also records Godred's death, reveals that he died on Islay.  The fact that he met his end on that island could be evidence that Muirchertach not only drove him from Dublin, but from Mann as well. On the other hand, the possibility that Islay was an important locus of royal power in the Isles, combined with the evidence of his father's links with the island could instead be evidence against such an overthrow. Furthermore, the chronicle itself states that Godred was succeeded by his eldest son, Lagmann.
  On Godred's death, the Annals of Inisfallen accord him the title "ríg Atha Cliath & Inse Gall" (translated variously as "King of Dublin and of the Isles" and "king of Dublin and the Hebrides"
caption: The name of Domnall Mac Lochlainn—Muirchertach's arch-rival and Godred's possible ally—as it appears on folio 19r of Oxford Bodleian Library Rawlinson B 488: "Domnall mac Lochlainn".[240]
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