Haraldr Óláfsson (born 1223 or 1224; died 1248) was a thirteenth-century King of Mann and the Isles, and a member of the Crovan dynasty. He was one of several sons of Óláfr Guðrøðarson, King of the Isles, although the identity of his mother is uncertain. When his father died in 1237, Haraldr succeeded to the kingship as a fourteen-year-old, and held the kingship for about a decade afterwards.
Early in his reign, Haraldr was forced to contend with an apparent coup perpetrated by a kinsman and perhaps an otherwise unknown younger brother. Following this, Haraldr was then ejected from Mann by envoys of his father's overlord, Hákon Hákonarson, King of Norway, who probably took action against Haraldr because the former had refused to render him homage. Unable to overcome Hákon's supporters in the Isles, Haraldr eventually submitted to Hákon in Norway, and remained there for about two or three years before being restored in the Isles.
Unlike his immediate royal predecessors, who appear to have favoured the title rex insularum, Haraldr appears to have preferred rex mannie et insularum. Three charters from Haraldr's reign are known, two of which are recorded to have borne a waxen seal, depicting a galley on one side and a lion on the other. Haraldr reigned during a period of competing claims to overlordship of the Isles by the English, Norwegian, and Scottish Crowns. Like his father before him, and a younger brother after him, Haraldr was knighted by Henry III, King of England. The act itself brought Haraldr closer within the orbit of the English Crown. Late in 1247, however, Haraldr returned to Norway and married Hákon's daughter, Cecilía, and thereby bound himself closer to the Norwegian Crown. Whilst attempting to return to the Isles in the autumn of 1248, the newly-wed's ship was lost at sea south of Shetland in a tidal race known as Sumburgh Roost. News of Haraldr's demise appears to have reached Mann by the spring of 1249, whereupon his younger brother, Rǫgnvaldr, succeeded to the kingship.
Haraldr was evidently a popular and capable king who appears to have garnered much of his support from the Hebridean portion of his realm. His untimely death, however, led to the continuation of the vicious kin-strife which had wracked the Crovan dynasty during his father's floruit. The chaos brought about by Haraldr's demise appears to have contributed to the invasion of Argyll, and near conquest of the Hebrides, by Alexander II, King of Scotland.
Background
Haraldr was a son of Óláfr Guðrøðarson, King of the Isles,McDonald (2019) p. ix tab. 1; McDonald (2007b) p. 27 tab. 1; Power (2005) p. 34 tab.; Brown (2004) p. 77 tab. 4.1; Sellar (2000) p. 192 tab. i; McDonald (1997) p. 259 tab.; Duncan; Brown (1956–1957) p. 200 tab. ii. and a member of the Crovan dynasty.McDonald (2007b) p. 27 tab. 1. The identity of Haraldr's mother is less certain. Óláfr is known to have had two wives. His first marriage was to "", a woman who was likely a member of Clann Somhairle, possibly a daughter of either Ruaidhrí mac Raghnaill or Domhnall mac Raghnaill, or else a daughter of their father, Raghnall mac Somhairle.Cochran-Yu (2015) p. 36; McDonald (2007b) pp. 27 tab. 1, 116–117; Woolf (2007) pp. 81–82. Óláfr's second wife was Cairistíona, daughter of Fearchar mac an tSagairt.McDonald (2007b) p. 27 tab. 1; Woolf (2007) pp. 81–82. Although no contemporaneous source names Haraldr's mother,McDonald (2007b) p. 79 n. 48. the thirteenth- to fourteenth-century Chronicle of Mann states that Óláfr died in 1237, and specifies that Haraldr was fourteen-years-old at the time. This would place his birth in about 1222 or 1223, at about the time that Óláfr married his second wife,McDonald (2019) p. 61; McDonald (2007b) pp. 79 n. 48, 171; Woolf (2007) p. 82; Anderson (1922) p. 507; Munch; Goss (1874a) pp. 94–95. indicating that either woman could have been Haraldr's mother.McDonald (2019) p. 61; Cochran-Yu (2015) p. 40; Woolf (2007) p. 82.
Haraldr reigned during an apparent lull in an ongoing and vicious struggle over the kingship fought between two rival branches of the Crovan dynasty.McDonald (2007b) pp. 87, 90. This kin-strife had its origins in the late twelfth century, on the death of Haraldr's paternal grandfather, Guðrøðr Óláfsson, King of Dublin and the Isles,McDonald (2007b) p. 70. after which the king was succeeded by Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson. Although the latter was Guðrøðr Óláfsson's eldest son, and had the support of the Islesmen, Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson's mother was an uncanonical wife or concubine.McDonald (2007b) pp. 70–71, 72–73; Duffy (2004b). Haraldr's father, on the other hand, was the product of canonically recognised marriage, and may well have been Guðrøðr Óláfsson's chosen successor.McDonald (2007b) pp. 70–72; McNamee (2005); Duffy (2004b). After a period of imprisonment, Rǫgnvaldr had Óláfr marry Lauon, the sister of his own wife.McDonald (2007b) pp. 78–79; McNamee (2005); Duffy (2004b). Óláfr, however, managed to have the union nullified, and married Cairistíona.McDonald (2007b) p. 79; McNamee (2005). Tensions between the half-brothers turned to outright warfare in the 1220s, in which Rǫgnvaldr's son, Guðrøðr Dond, was captured and mutilated by Óláfr.McDonald (2007b) pp. 79–80; McNamee (2005); Duffy (2004b); Gade (1994) p. 199. Rǫgnvaldr was slain battling Óláfr in 1229, after which the latter gained complete control of the kingdom.Duffy (2004b); McNamee (2005). In the 1230s, during a period of heightened tensions between the Norwegian and Scottish realms, Óláfr and Guðrøðr Dond temporarily shared control of the Crovan dynasty's partitioned realm.McDonald (2007b) pp. 158–158; McNamee (2005). When the latter was killed in 1231, Óláfr assumed control of the entire kingdom, and ruled it peacefully until his own death.McNamee (2005).
Haraldr also ruled during a period of competing claims to the overlordship of the Isles,Stringer (2004); Helle (2009). a region comprising the Hebrides and Mann, known in the Norse world as (the "Southern Islands") due to its geographical position in relation to Norway itself.McDonald (2012) p. 152. Since the reign of Magnús berfœttr, King of Norway, a king who conquered Orkney, the Isles, and possibly Dublin before his death in 1103, the Norwegian Crown appears to have claimed ultimate authority in the Isles.Beuermann (2010) p. 105. In fact, on several occasions during the reigns of Haraldr's royal predecessors, leading Islesmen sought recognition and protection from Norwegian monarchs.Beuermann (2010) pp. 106–108. The ruler of Norway during Haraldr's floruit was Hákon Hákonarson, King of Norway, a formidable ruler who spent the latter part of his reign focused on foreign policy and strengthening royal authority throughout far-flung Norse colonies such as the Isles.Helle (2009). At the same time the Scottish Crown, in the person of Alexander II, King of Scotland, consolidated control over Scotland's western seaboard, and moved to extend Scottish influence further into the Isles. Meanwhile, Henry III, King of England also had an interest in the Isles, and worked to bring the Crovan dynasty closer under the orbit of the English Crown.Barrow (1981) p. 111.
Accession and overlordship
After his father's death, Haraldr succeeded to the kingship.McDonald (2019) 69; Oram (2013); McDonald (2007b) pp. 87, 106, 171; Power (2005) p. 46; Duffy (1993) p. 107. Unlike the reign of his father, who temporarily ruled a partitioned kingdom, and endured years of near catastrophic kin-strife, Haraldr appears to have ruled a whole kingdom, and his kingship does not seem to have suffered from serious dynastic discord.McDonald (2019) p. 75; McDonald (2007b) pp. 87, 90. Haraldr's young age at the time of his accession, and the fact that he had a potential rival in the person of Haraldr Guðrøðarson, suggests that Haraldr had been designated successor during his father's lifetime.McDonald (2007b) pp. 171–172. Not long after his accession, the Chronicle of Mann records that he sailed into the Hebridean portion of the kingdom, and left a kinsman named Lochlann as governor on Mann. Lochlann's tenure on the island led to factional strife, and when Haraldr made his return the following spring, the chronicle states that Lochlann fled the island for Wales, taking with him his foster-son, Guðrøðr Óláfsson. There, somewhere along the northern Welsh coast, the chronicle claims that their ship was lost, with Lochlann and his foster-son amongst the dead.Oram (2013); Moore (2013) ch. 3; McDonald (2007b) pp. 52, 106; Smith (1998) p. 38 n. 5; Williams (1997) p. 260 n. 117; Anderson (1922) pp. 507–509; Munch; Goss (1874a) pp. 94–97. Quite why Lochlann was compelled to flee his sovereign is uncertain. The chronicle states that a friend of Haraldr had been slain in the uprising quelled by Lochlann, possibly indicate that the latter fled in fear of the king. Another possibility is that Lochlann led a coalition opposed to Haraldr.Williams (1997) p. 260 n. 117. Quite why Lochlann chose to Wales as his destination is also unknown,McDonald (2007b) p. 106. although the Crovan dynasty certainly had diplomatic and familial connections with the Welsh.Moore (2013) ch. 3; McDonald (2007a) p. 55; McDonald (2007b) p. 106. In fact, a transaction between Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and Ralph de Mortimer that concerns the lands of Maelienydd and Gwerthrynion, and appears to date to 1241, makes note of a witness named "".Moore (2013) ch. 3; McDonald (2007a) pp. 55–56 n. 49; McDonald (2007b) p. 106; Pryce; Insley (2005) p. 490 (§ 317); Smith (1998) p. 38, 38 n. 5. The precise identity of this man is uncertain.McDonald (2007b) pp. 106–107. One possibility is that he is identical to Lochlann's foster-son.Oram (2013); McDonald (2007b) pp. 106–107; Smith (1998) p. 38, 38 n. 5. If the chronicle is in error in its account of the maritime demise of Guðrøðr Óláfsson, and he is indeed identical to the like-named Manx prince on record in Wales, his activities outside the kingdom of his forefathers may have been a consequence of the troubles following the Haraldr's accession.McDonald (2007b) pp. 106–107; Smith (1998) p. 38, 38 n. 5. The chronicle's account of the flight to Wales may, therefore, reveal that Lochlann tried and failed to replace Haraldr with an otherwise unknown younger son of Óláfr. If so, the episode would appear to be yet another example of the Crovan dynasty enduring internal strife.Oram (2013).