page_title: Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson
section_title: Divided loyalties: England and Norway
hierarchical_section_title: Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson / Divided loyalties: England and Norway
caption_attribution_description: English: Coat of arms of Hákon Hákonarson, King of Norway as it appears on folio 217v of Cambridge Corpus Christi College 16 II.
context_page_description: Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson ruled as King of the Isles from 1187 to 1226. He was the eldest son of Guðrøðr Óláfsson, King of Dublin and the Isles. Although the latter may have intended for his younger son, Óláfr, to succeed to the kingship, the Islesmen chose Rǫgnvaldr, who was likely Óláfr's half-brother. Rǫgnvaldr went on to rule the Kingdom of the Isles for almost forty years before losing control to Óláfr.
  The Crovan dynasty may have reached its zenith during Rǫgnvaldr's reign. Acclaimed in one near contemporary Scandinavian source as "the greatest warrior in the western lands", he lent military aid to William I, King of Scotland against the disaffected Haraldr Maddaðarson, Earl of Orkney and Caithness, and occupied Caithness for a short period of time at about the turn of the thirteenth century. Like his predecessors, Rǫgnvaldr was closely associated with the rulers of northern Wales. A daughter of his was betrothed to Rhodri ab Owain, a dynast of the ruling family of Gwynedd. In 1193, Rǫgnvaldr lent military aid to Rhodri against his rivals.
context_section_description: In the years between the death of Magnús Óláfsson, King of Norway and the reign of Hákon, Norwegian power in the Isles was negligible due to an ongoing civil war in Norway. In the mid twelfth century, however, during his visit to Norway, Rǫgnvaldr's father appears to have become a vassal of Ingi Haraldsson, King of Norway. Certainly the twelfth-century Norman chronicler Robert de Torigni, Abbot of Mont Saint-Michel reported a mid-century meeting between Henry II, King of England, William, and the Bishop of the Isles, where it was stated that the kings of the Isles were obliged to pay the kings of Norway ten marks of gold upon the latter's accession.
  Whilst bound to the English Crown in 1210, Rǫgnvaldr appears to have found himself the target of renewed Norwegian hegemony in the Isles. Specifically, the Icelandic annals reveal that a military expedition from Norway to the Isles was in preparation in 1209. The following year, the same source notes "warfare" in the Isles, and reveals that Iona was pillaged. These reports are corroborated by Bǫglunga sǫgur, a thirteenth-century saga-collection that survives in two versions. Both versions reveal that a fleet of Norwegians plundered in the Isles, and the shorter version notes how men of the Birkibeinar and the Baglar—two competing sides of the Norwegian civil war—decided to recoup their financial losses with a twelve-ship raiding expedition into the Isles. The longer version states that "Ragnwald" (styled "Konge aff Möen i Syderö") and "Gudroder" (styled "Konge paa Manö") had not paid their taxes due to the Norwegian kings. In consequence, the source records that the Isles were ravaged until the two travelled to Norway and reconciled themselves with Ingi Bárðarson, King of Norway, whereupon the two took their lands from Ingi as a lén (fief).
  The two submitting monarchs of Bǫglunga sǫgur probably represent Rǫgnvaldr and his son, Guðrøðr Dond. The skattr (tax) that Rǫgnvaldr and his son rendered to Ingi appears to be the same tribute that Robert noted in his account. The submission of the Islesmen appears to have been undertaken in the context of the strengthening position of the Norwegian Crown following the settlement between the Birkibeinar and Baglar, and the simultaneous weakening of the Crovan dynasty due to internal infighting. The destructive Norwegian activity in the Isles may have been some sort of officially sanctioned punishment from Norway due to Rǫgnvaldr's recalcitrance in terms of, not only his Norwegian obligations, but his recent reorientation towards the English Crown. The fact that Ingi turned his attention to the Isles so soon after peace was brokered in Norway may well indicate the importance that he placed on his relations with Rǫgnvaldr and his contemporaries in the Isles.
  Rǫgnvaldr may have also used his journey as a means to safeguard the kingship against the claims of Óláfr. His presence there may explain his absence from Mann during the ravaging of the island by the English. In fact, Rǫgnvaldr's submission to Ingi could have been contributed to the English attack, as it may have given the English an incentive to devastate Rǫgnvaldr's lands because he had bound himself to John only a few years previous. Although John had originally installed Hugh as Earl of Ulster, he proceeded to dismantle the lordship after Hugh gave refuge to the Briouzes. The ravaging of Mann, therefore, may have been a further demonstration of English royal power directed at a disloyal vassal. If this was indeed the case, Rǫgnvaldr's submission to the Norwegian Crown—although apparently undertaken to safeguard his kingdom—clearly resulted in severe repercussions.
caption: Coat of arms of Hákon Hákonarson as it appears on folio 217v of Cambridge Corpus Christi College 16 II.[227]
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