page_title: Guðrøðr Óláfsson
section_title: Death and descendants
hierarchical_section_title: Guðrøðr Óláfsson / Death and descendants
caption_attribution_description: Photo of Peel Castle.
context_page_description: Guðrøðr Óláfsson was a twelfth-century ruler of the kingdoms of Dublin and the Isles. Guðrøðr was a son of Óláfr Guðrøðarson, King of the Isles and Affraic, daughter of Fergus, Lord of Galloway. Throughout his career, Guðrøðr battled rival claimants to the throne, permanently losing about half of his realm to a rival dynasty in the process. Although dethroned for nearly a decade, Guðrøðr clawed his way back to regain control of a partitioned kingdom, and proceeded to project power into Ireland. Although originally opposed to the English invasion of Ireland, Guðrøðr adeptly recognised the English ascendancy in the Irish Sea region and aligned himself with the English. All later kings of the Crovan dynasty descended from Guðrøðr.
  In the last year of his father's reign, Guðrøðr was absent at the court of Ingi Haraldsson, King of Norway, forging closer ties with the Kingdom of Norway. When Óláfr was assassinated by rival members of the Crovan dynasty in 1153, Guðrøðr returned to the Isles, overthrew his usurping cousins, and seized the throne for himself.
context_section_description: According to the Chronicle of Mann, Guðrøðr had four children: Affrica, Rǫgnvaldr, Ívarr, and Óláfr svarti. Although the chronicle specifically states that Findguala was Óláfr svarti's mother, and that he had been born before his parent's formalised marriage, the mothers of the other three children are unknown or uncertain. According to the anonymous praise-poem Baile suthach síth Emhna, Rǫgnvaldr's mother was Sadb, an otherwise unknown Irishwoman who may have been a wife or concubine of Guðrøðr. As for Ívarr, nothing further is recorded of him, although it is possible that his mother was also the product of an uncanonical liaison. During the twelfth century, the Church sought to emphasise the sanctity of marriage, and took steps to combat concubinage. As such, the record of Vivian's part in the marriage ceremony of Guðrøðr and Findguala may be evidence of an attempt by the papal representative to personally reinforce a stricter rule of marriage in the region. In any case, there may be evidence to suggest that Guðrøðr had another son, Ruaidrí, who appears in a royal charter recorded as Rǫgnvaldr's brother ("Rotherico, fratre meo"). There is also reason to suspect that Guðrøðr had another daughter, as the Chronicle of Mann describes a thirteenth century Bishop of the Isles, a man named Reginald, to have been of royal birth, and to have been a sister-son of Óláfr svarti.
  Guðrøðr died on 10 November 1187 on St Patrick's Isle. The fact that Guðrøðr and his son, Óláfr svarti, are recorded to have died on this islet could indicate that it was a royal residence. In any case, the following year Guðrøðr was finally laid to rest on Iona, an island upon which the oldest intact building is St Oran's Chapel. Certain Irish influences in this building's architecture indicate that it dates to about the mid twelfth century. The chapel could well have been erected by Óláfr or Guðrøðr. Certainly, their family's remarkable ecclesiastical activities during this period suggest that patronage of Iona is probable. 
  Upon Guðrøðr's death the chronicle claims that he left instructions for his younger son, Óláfr svarti, to succeed to the kingship since he had been born "in lawful wedlock". On one hand, this record could be evidence that Guðrøðr continued to advance the institution of kingship in the Isles. For example, this episode appears to be the earliest record of a ruling member of the Crovan dynasty designating a royal successor. If so, such an arrangement may have been borne out of Guðrøðr's own bitter difficulties with rival claimants to the throne. On the other hand, it is uncertain if the chronicle has preserved an accurate account of events, as the Islesmen are stated to have chosen Rǫgnvaldr to rule instead, because unlike Óláfr svarti, who was only a child at the time, Rǫgnvaldr was a hardy young man fully capable to reign as king. One possibility is that Guðrøðr may have intended for Rǫgnvaldr to temporarily rule as a lieutenant of sorts until Óláfr svarti was able to hold sway himself. Although Rǫgnvaldr appears to have later forged an alliance with the Meic Somairle, and may have temporarily reunited the entire Kingdom of the Isles under his own leadership, he was later opposed by Óláfr svarti, and the ensuing violent conflict between Guðrøðr's descendants carried on to further generations.
caption: The ruins of Peel Castle and St German's Cathedral on St Patrick's Isle. The fact Guðrøðr and his son, Óláfr svarti, are recorded to have died on the islet could be evidence that it was the site of a royal residence.[281]
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