page_title: Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson
section_title: Contested episcopate
hierarchical_section_title: Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson / Contested episcopate
caption_attribution_description: English: An excerpt from folio 50v of British Library MS Cotton Julius A VII (the Chronicle of Mann). The excerpt reads in Latin "Cristinus". The excerpt concerns Cristinus, Bishop of the Isles.
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: The ecclesiastical jurisdiction within Rǫgnvaldr's realm was the far-flung Diocese of the Isles. Like the Kingdom of the Isles itself, the origins of the diocese may well lie with the Uí Ímair imperium. In the mid twelfth century, during the reign of Rǫgnvaldr's father, the diocese came to be incorporated into the newly established Norwegian Archdiocese of Niðaróss. In effect, the political reality of the Diocese of the Isles—its territorial borders and nominal subjection to Norway—appears to have mirrored that of the Kingdom of the Isles. Before the close of the twelfth century, however, evidence of a new ecclesiastical jurisdiction—the Diocese of Argyll—begins to emerge during ongoing contentions between the Meic Somairle and the Crovan dynasty.
  In the early 1190s, the Chronicle of Mann reveals that Cristinus, Bishop of the Isles, an Argyllman who was probably a Meic Somairle candidate, was deposed and replaced by Michael, a Manxman who appears to have been backed by Rǫgnvaldr. The tenure of Cristinus seems to have spanned at least two decades during a sustained period of Meic Somairle power in the Isles. His downfall, however, came about at the time of the Crovan dynasty's resurgence under the then-recently enthroned Rǫgnvaldr.
  After Michael's death in 1203, a certain Koli is recorded to have been consecrated in 1210. The situation between this span of years is uncertain. On one hand, it is possible that the see was vacant between these years. On the other hand, Koli could have been elected bishop in 1203, but only consecrated in 1210. Another possibility is that the see was administered from Lismore—the future seat of the Diocese of Argyll—under the ultimate authority of Áengus, the aforementioned Meic Somairle dynast slain in 1210.
  There is also a possibility that Koli's consecration was connected to the attack on Iona in 1209/1210. Not only does the Norwegian expedition appear to have compelled Rǫgnvaldr and his son to submit to the Norwegian Crown in 1210, but it also made landfall in Orkney, and brought back to Norway the joint Orcadian earls and their bishop. The entire undertaking, therefore, may have been designed to reassert Norwegian overlordship over both secular and ecclesiastical authorities in Norwegian satellites overseas. If correct, the voyage would seem to have been orchestrated by both Ingi and his chief prelate, Þórir Guðmundarson, Archbishop of Niðaróss. Although the Meic Somairle controversially refounded Iona at the turn of the century, and further secured its independence from the Diocese of the Isles by placing it under the protection of the papacy, the Norwegian sack of the island may not have been a sanctioned act One possibility is that a visit to the island by the Norwegian delegation disastrously deteriorated into otherwise unplanned violence.
  The next bishop after Koli was Reginald. Although Reginald's rival for the episcopate, Nicholas, is recorded to have gained the support of the communities of Furness and Rushen, he does not appear to have ever occupied the see. In fact, Nicholas appears to have spent much of his time in Rome, since correspondence from the papacy to Walter de Gray, Archbishop of York, concerning Nicholas' final resignation, states that the latter had long been exiled from his see because "the lord of the land and others" were "altogether opposed to him". As early as November 1219, papal correspondence reveals that the pope had urged the leading men of the Isles to accept Nicholas' episcopacy.
  Rǫgnvaldr's remarkably warm relations with the papacy, and his deteriorating relationship with Óláfr, could be evidence that the papal correspondence in support of Nicholas was directed at Óláfr instead of Rǫgnvaldr. Further indication of Rǫgnvaldr's support of Nicholas may be his renewal of the rights of St Mary's Abbey, Furness to elect the Bishop of the Isles. The English Crown's warning to Óláfr about harming the monks of Furness could betray some sort of grievance with the community, whilst Rǫgnvaldr's burial at Furness appears show evidence his own affinity with the commun
caption: The name of Cristinus, Bishop of the Isles as it appears on folio 50v of British Library Cotton Julius A VII: "Cristinus".[347] Cristinus seems to have been a Meic Somairle appointee, and was evidently replaced by a bishop aligned with the Crovan dynasty early in Rǫgnvaldr's reign.
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