Olafr Godredsson

Who was Olafr Godredsson?

Óláfr Guðrøðarson was a mid twelfth-century King of the Isles. As a younger son of Gofraid Crobán, King of Dublin and the Isles, Óláfr witnessed a vicious power struggle between his two elder brothers in the aftermath of their father's death. At some point, the young Óláfr was untrusted to the care of Henry I, King of England; and like contemporaneous Scottish rulers, Óláfr appears to have been a protégé of the English king. As King of the Isles, Óláfr contracted marital alliances with neighbouring maritime rulers; he appears to have conducted successful military operations to reclaim the northern-most territories once controlled by his father, but may have witnessed the loss of lands in Galloway as well. Óláfr was a reformer and modernizer of his realm, but his four-decade reign ended in abrupt disaster when he was assassinated by three nephews in 1153. Following the ensuing power struggle, Óláfr's son Guðrøðr overcame the kin-slayers, and assumed the kingship of the Kingdom of the Isles.

The Isles—an archipelagic region roughly incorporating the Hebrides and Mann—was ruled by Gofraid Crobán for over two decades until his death in 1095, whereupon his eldest son Lögmaðr assumed control. Warring soon broke out between factions supporting Lögmaðr's younger brother Haraldr, which lead to the intervention and encroachment of Irish power into the region. After a short period of Irish domination, the region lapsed into further conflict which was capitalised on by Magnús Óláfsson, King of Norway, who led two military campaigns throughout the Isles and surrounding Irish Sea region at about the turn of the twelfth-century. Magnús dominated these regions until his death in 1103, whereupon control of the Isles appears to have fragmented into chaos once again.