Ragnvald Godredsson

Who was Ragnvald Godredsson?

Rögnvaldr Guðrøðarson ruled as King of the Isles from 1187 to 1226. He was the eldest son of Guðrøðr Óláfsson. Before his death in 1187, Guðrøðr intended that his younger son, Óláfr, would succeed to the kingship. The Manx people instead chose Rögnvaldr, who was likely Óláfr's half-brother. Rögnvaldr went on to rule the vast Kingdom of the Isles for almost forty years.

Described in one mediaeval saga as "the greatest warrior in the western lands", Rögnvaldr lent military aid to William I, King of Scots against Haraldr Maddaðarson, Earl of Caithness, Earl of Orkney, and occupied Caithness for a short period of time at about the turn of the 13th century. Like his predecessors, Rögnvaldr was closely associated with the rulers of northern Wales. An unnamed daughter of his was betrothed to Rhodri ab Owain, a dynast of the ruling family of Gwynedd. In 1193, Rögnvaldr lent military aid to Rhodri, who regained Anglesey from his rivals. Rögnvaldr was also involved in Irish affairs, as he was the brother-in-law of John de Courcy, one of the most powerful of the incoming Anglo-Normans. With de Courcy's fall from power in the first decade of the 13th century, Rögnvaldr aided the Englishman with one hundred ships, in an unsuccessful attack on Dundrum Castle, then under the control of de Courcy's rivals, the de Lacys.