Ragnall mac Somairle was a significant late-twelfth-century magnate, seated on the western seaboard of Scotland. He was probably a younger son of Somairle mac Gilla Brigte, Lord of Argyll and his wife, Ragnhildr, daughter of Óláfr Guðrøðarson, King of the Isles. The twelfth-century Kingdom of the Isles, ruled by Ragnall's father and maternal grandfather, existed within a hybrid Norse-Gaelic milieu, which bordered an ever-strengthening and consolidating Kingdom of Scots.
Nineteenth-century depiction of the seal of Alan fitz Walter, Steward of Scotland
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Inscription of a galley depicted on Hedin Cross, a Manx runestone. The power of the kings of the Isles laid in their armed galley-fleets.
Somerled, known in Middle Irish as Somairle, Somhairle, and Somhairlidh, and in Old Norse as Sumarliði, was a mid-12th-century Norse-Gaelic lord who, through marital alliance and military conquest, rose in prominence to create the Kingdom of Argyll and the Isles. Little is certain of Somerled's origins, although he may have been born in the north of Ireland and appears to have belonged to a Norse–Gaelic family of some prominence. His father, GilleBride, of royal Irish ancestry, appears to have conducted a marriage alliance with Máel Coluim mac Alaxandair, son of Alexander I of Scotland, and claimant to the Scottish throne. During a period of alliance with David I of Scotland, Somerled married Ragnhild, daughter of Óláfr Guðrøðarson, King of Man and the Isles in 1140. In 1153, Olaf of Man died and was succeeded by his son, Godred. But Godred Olafsson was a very unpopular ruler. Somerled was asked by Thorfinn Ottarson, a Manx chief, to allow Somerled's son, Dugall, to be appointed king of Man and the Isles. Somerled agreed and with 80 ships confronted Godred off the coast of Islay on January 5–6, 1156. After the sea battle, Somerled and Godred divided the Kingdom of Man and the Isles between them but Godred did not accept Dugall as King of Man. Accordingly, two years later, Somerled defeated and drove Godred from power. Dugall continued as King of Man and Somerled thus ruled the entire kingdom of Argyll, Man and the Isles until his death.
Somairle mac Gilla Brigte (Cambridge Corpus Christi College 139, folio ar)
Mid-12th-century depiction of David I, and his grandson, Malcolm IV. Earlier that century, Somerled's family appears to have bound itself in marriage to an opposing branch of the Scottish royal house.
Lewis chess piece depicting the armament of a Norse warrior roughly contemporaneous to Somerled.
St Oran's Chapel, the oldest intact building on Iona, may have been built by Somerled, Ranald, or members of the Crovan dynasty.
