page_title: Lagmann mac Gofraid
section_title: King of the Isles
hierarchical_section_title: Lagmann mac Gofraid / King of the Isles
caption_attribution_description: English: An excerpt from folio 36v of Oxford Bodleian Library MS Rawlinson B 489 (the Annals of Ulster). The excerpt refers to Amlaíb mac Lagmainn, a possible son of Lagmann mac Gofraid.
context_page_description: Lagmann mac Gofraid may have been an early eleventh-century ruler of the Kingdom of the Isles. He seems to have been a son of Gofraid mac Arailt, King of the Isles, and was likely a member of the Uí Ímair kindred. According to mediaeval sources, Lagmann was closely associated with Óláfr Haraldsson, a future King of Norway. According one source, both men lent assistance to Knútr, son of Sveinn Haraldsson, King of Denmark, although it is possible that this account actually refers to Óláfr's campaigning in England several years beforehand. Lagmann and Óláfr are also recorded to have assisted Richard II, Duke of Normandy. The two are specified to have not only ravaged lands in Brittany on behalf of Richard, but were tasked to counter Richard's opponent Odo II, Count of Chartres. Lagmann's activities on the Continent may have arisen as a result of being forced from the Isles following the death of his possible brother Ragnall mac Gofraid, King of the Isles in 1004 or 1005. Lagmann's son, Amlaíb, is recorded to have perished at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. If Lagmann died at about this time as well, it could account for the record of Hákon Eiríksson assuming control of the Isles.
context_section_description: According to the eleventh-century Gesta Normannorum ducum, Knútr, son of Sveinn Haraldsson, King of Denmark sought military assistance from a king of the Noricorum named Óláfr, and a king of Suauorum named Lacman. Whilst Óláfr seems to be identical to Óláfr Haraldsson, there is otherwise no known Swedish king named Lagmann. In fact, Gesta Normannorum ducum appears to refer to a King of the Isles rather than a King of Sweden, with Suauorum likely being a form of Sudrorum. The Kingdom of the Isles was known in Old Norse as Suðreyjar, a term that means "Southern Islands", in reference to the Hebrides and Mann.
  The Gaelic personal name Lagmann is derived from the Old Norse lǫgmaðr ("lawman"). The latter word originally referred to a profession, and was later adopted as a personal name. Although the name itself is historically found in the Isles as early the tenth century, it is not attested in Scandinavia proper. Corroboration that there was indeed a contemporaneous potentate from the Isles who bore the name is preserved by the fifteenth- to sixteenth-century Annals of Ulster and the eleventh- or twelfth-century Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib. These sources reveal that a prominent Islesmen named Amlaíb, described as the son of Lagmann mac Gofraid, fought and died at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. The patronym accorded to Lagmann in these sources suggests that his father was Gofraid mac Arailt, King of the Isles, and thus a brother of Ragnall mac Gofraid, King of the Isles. It is conceivable that Lagmann's son led the Hebridean contingent at Clontarf.
  According to the twelfth-century Roman de Rou, and Gesta Normannorum ducum, after Lagmann and Óláfr assisted Knútr, the two were approached by Richard II, Duke of Normandy, who needed aid battling against Odo II, Count of Chartres. Lagmann and Óláfr are also stated to have campaigned on behalf of the Normans against the Bretons in Brittany where the two sacked Dol. It is possible that a record of this ravaging of Dol—and the unidentified coastal site of Hringsfjǫrðr—is preserved by Víkingarvísur, a piece of contemporary praise poetry composed by Sigvatr Þórðarson, extolling battles fought by Óláfr in England, Scandinavia, and on the Continent. In any event, when Robert II, King of the Franks afterwards intervened between the duke and count, Gesta Normannorum ducum records that Lagmann and Óláfr were presented with gifts from the king, and persuaded to return home to their own countries. The accounts of Lagmann and Óláfr suggest that they were sea-kings, the royal commanders of Viking fleets that sought out plunder, mercantile wealth, and mercenarial employment.
  The exact chronology of the events attributed to Lagmann on the Continent is uncertain. There is reason to suspect that the episode concerning 1014 may be erroneous, and actually refers to Óláfr's otherwise known campaigning with Þorkell inn hávi in 1009–1011. Certainly, no English source associates Óláfr with Knútr in 1014, at about the time when the former was active in Scandianvia claiming the Norwegian kingship. Although it is likewise uncertain who ruled the Isles at about the time of the Battle of Clontarf, it is conceivable that Lagmann held a degree of authority on Mann. The royal title accorded to him by Gesta Normannorum ducum suggests that had ruled in the Kingdom of the Isles, or at least possessed a claim to the kingship. One possibility is that his actions in England and on the Continent are evidence that he had been exiled from the Isles by this time. Such an expatriation could have come about in the immediate aftermath of the death of Ragnall in 1005. If correct, Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig, High King of Ireland could have seized upon Ragnall's demise and forced Lagmann from the Isles in an attempt to wrest control of realm for himself. The fact that the Annals of Ulster describes Brian in 1014 as "over-king of the Gaels of Ireland, and of the Foreigners, and of the Britons" could be evidence that Brian indeed held authority in the Isles, or at least sought to. It is conceivable that such interference could have e
caption: The name of Amlaíb mac Lagmainn, Lagmann's apparent son, as it appears on folio 36v of Oxford Bodleian Library Rawlinson B 489 (the Annals of Ulster).[12]
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