General Notes

REFN: 2359AN
REFN: P2360
Somerled (Old Norse Sumarliði, Scottish Gaelic Somhairle) was a military a
nd political leader of the Scottish Isles in the 12th century who was kno
wn in Gaelic as ri Innse Gall ("King of the Hebrides").
Somerled first appears in historical chronicles in the year 1140 as the re
gulus, or King, of Kintyre (Cinn Tìre) when he marries Raghnailt the daugh
ter of Amhlaibh (or Olaf), King of the Isle of Man. 1153 saw the deat
hs of two kings: David I of Scotland and Amhlaibh of Man. There was much c
onfusion and discord as a result and Somerled took his chance - making off
ensive moves against both Scotland and Man under his brother in law Gorai
dh mac Amhlaibh.
A summoning was sent to Somerled Dougal - Somerled's own son by his wif
e, the daughter of the Manx King - to move so he might be "King over the I
sles". In 1156 Goraidh was defeated in battle against 80 ships of Somerle
ds fleet and the two enemies partitioned the isles between them. Goraidh k
ept the islands north of Ardnamurchan with Somerled gaining the rest. Howe
ver, two years following this Somerled returned to the Isle of Man wi
th 53 warships. He defeated Goraidh again and this time forced him to fl
ee to Norway. Somerled's kingdom now stretched from the Isle of Man to t
he Butt of Lewis.
Thus both Viking and Scot formed one people under a single lord and ca
me to share a single culture, one way of life - they were to become a powe
rful and noted race known as the Gall-Gaidheal, literally meaning 'Foreign
-Gaels'. It was upon the seas their power was situated under the rule of t
he kings of the isles yet new enemies arose in the East. The Stewarts ma
de inroads in the west coast and eventually Somerled assembled a sizeab
le army to repel them. He advanced to the centre of the Stewarts own terri
tory, to Renfrew, where a great battle was fought in 1164. Much confusi
on surrounds the manner of the battle, and indeed whether a battle occurr
ed at all, but what is certain is that Somerled was killed. Although the h
ow of Somerled's death is also unsure, what is certain is that following t
he death of their great leader his army was greatly dispirited and retreat
ed from the area.
Following the death of Somerled several powerful lords emerged from with
in his kingdom. The lordship was contested by two main families; that of S
omerled and his descendants and that of the descendants of Goraidh mac Amh
laibh. During the 12th and 13th centuries the Scandinavian world saw mu
ch change in methods of rule and administration which ultimately result
ed in more strongly centralized, unified kingdoms such as Denmark and Norw
ay. However this did not happen in the Kingdom of the Isles which was inst
ead absorbed into the greater Kingdom of Scotland albeit its place in th
at state and the loyalty of its inhabitants to the King of Scots would rem
ain peripheral and temperamental for centuries to come.
Somerled's successors, who eventually emerged as the Lords of the Isles, w
ere nominally under the sovereignty of Norway until the late thirteenth ce
ntury. However, they were Gaelic in language and culture rather than Nors
e. As a result of this 'Gaelic Renaissance' under Somerled the great dicho
tomy which later formed in Scotland was between the Gaelic Scots (who ca
me over the following centuries to be generally restricted to the Highlan
ds and Hebrides) and the Lowland Anglo-Scots who, with the displaceme
nt of Scottish Gaelic by Inglis - later renamed Scots - across the lowlan
ds came to dominate the east coast and south of the country.
Somerled's sons bore mixed Norse — Olaf (Gaelic Amlaibh), Ranald (Norse Ra
gnvald, Gaelic Ragnall) — and Gaelic — Duncan, Dugald, Angus and Gille Bri
gte — names, further evidence of the mixed nature of Norse-Gael culture. L
ater descendants also bore Scots, or Scotto-Norman names, such as Alexand
er (Gaelic Alisdair) borne by sons of Donald son of Ragnall, of Angus