192 Proceedings of the Society, 1956-57. Xiii. Argyll
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192 PROCEEDING E SOCIETYTH F O S , 1956-57. XIII. ARGYLL AND THE ISLES IN THE EARLIER MIDDLE AGES. DUNCANM . A B. YA , M.A., F.S.A.ScoT.D AN , A. L. BROWN, M.A., D.PHIL. 1 The many histories of the Vikings and Norway, of Scotland, the western seaboard, and the families which came to dominate that area, have ploughed d cross-ploughean e e yeareventdth th f so s betwee e expeditionth n f o s Magnus Barelegs (1098) and Hakon Hakonson (1263). Few of these accounts, however, have used critically narrative sources, both Latid nan Icelandic documentard an , y evidence therefore w d an , e ventur offeo t et ye r another survey, which thems takeit lordshis e a seth Somerlef po s hi d dan descendants. In this survey we have used "the Isles" as a political term to include Man and that part of the western seaboard subject to the Manx king;a we have used "the Hebrides," "the isles, "thd "an e Sudreys geographicas "a l terms for the islands from the Mull of Kintyre to the Butt of Lewis together case th f "th eo n i e n Sudreys.wit Ma Isle f hth eo " Bute, e Arranth d an , Cumbraes might be included in "the Isles" but not in the other terms. Our starting greapoine th s ti t Norwegian expeditio reduco nt Islee eth s llte close th hth f eo t century a expedition a , n which also achieve terrida - torial settlement wit kine hth Scotsf go . Most probably this took placn ei 1098, though 1093 has been suggested. It is known that king Magnus Barelegs made two expeditions to the isles, in 1098 and 1102, but it is commonly held that compounde sage th adn i narrative 109e th 8f s o expedi - tion are the events of an earlier expedition in 1093.3 There are two major piece f evidenco s r thiefo s theory. First e confuseth , d accoune th f o t expedition containe e Historyth n f dOrdericui o s Vitalis, which placee sth expeditio fifte th hreige n i yea109th n n i Williaf d f n o o r 8an m Rufus, i.e. in 1091-2.4 And, second e plentifuth , l evidence that Magnus dealt with Logmann, king of Man, and Malcolm, king of Scots, on his first expedition. evente th t s Bu describe Ordericuy db travesta e sar thosf yo e describen di other sources unde s chronologr hi 1098 d an , s knowy i poore e b Th o nt . followine 1Th g work referree abbreviationssy ar b o dt : Andersen. A.E.S.O . =A , Early Sources of Scottish History; A.8.A. =A. O. Anderson, Scottish Annals from English Chronicles. 2 As we shall show, this was a variable area. ' This seems to have been first argued by Munch, Chron. Man, 54-7. 4 Migne, Pairologia Latina, 188, cols. 727-8. It is possible that the text of Ordericus should be emende reao dt d "annr "annfo " " oV. o X EARLIEE E ISLEARGYLTH TH N SI D R LAN MIDDL E AGES3 19 . seven-year reign of Logmann began not in 1087 as the Chronicle of Man impliesimprisonmens 1095,n hi i t d 1bu an , Magnuy b t correctls si y placen di 1098 by the sagas.2 Moreover, an expedition in 1093 is inherently improb- able. Olav the Peaceful died in September 1093, and was succeeded by his son Magnus Barelegs and his nephew Hakon in uneasy and distrustful joint rule until the death of Hakon two years later. It is unlikely that Magnu sexpeditioe n h a woul n d Wo e ha 1093t n d th i . d havou o nt an ,t ese done so at once, which the sagas imply that he did not do, he would have found that Malcol beed ha n I killemII t Alnwicda 13tn ko h November 1093. The repeated statemen e sagath sn i t that Magnus mad a treate y with Malcolm, kin Scotsf go , seemimpossiblee b mors i o st t i e d plausiblan , o et amend the name of the Scottish king than to plunge into the chronological difficulties of a 1093 expedition. The 1098 expedition is mentioned by the d Melrose—an Chronicles n Ma f ino different terms d thereforan , e inde- pendently ; by Symeon of Durham and Florence of Worcester; and indirectly Annalse th Anglo-Saxone y f th b Ulster o d an Chronicle; theid an 3 r evidence preferree b evidence io st th o dt Ordericuf eo s Vitalis. In 1098 Magnus sailed from Orkney, where he had seized the earls, to Lewis, and thence to Skye, Uist, Tiree, lona, Mull, Sanday, Islay, down the west coas f Kintyro t Mano et , whose king, Logmann alreadd ha e h ,y cap- tured. From Man he sailed to Anglesey, where he defeated the earls of Chester and Shrewsbury, killing the latter, and where he took possession of the island. He then returned directly to Scotland where he entered into negotiations wit kine hth f Scot go madd an s treatea y wit"te m oth hhi effect that King Magnus should posses islande th wes e l th sf al s o t o that e tli Scotland." The Chronicle of Man, which is not entirely reliable, states 4 that at this time "he held the Galwegians under restraint" and it is possible that Magnus mad landinea Galloway.n gi 5 This treaty of 1098 is the first known agreement between the Scottish and Norwegian kings delimiting their territories and formally acknowledging the Norse conquest of the isles. Its significance however is not simply as a 1 A.E.S., n, 98. 2 A.E.S., n, 108. Early Manx chronology is wildly confused by the arbitrary year numbers of the Chronicle of Man. Godred die 1095dn i Logmand ,an n reigned seven years, dyin gCrusadera , presumably c. 1102. The statement that Magnus Barelegs reigned in Man for six years probably refers only to lordship over Logmann died . dRe Ola ie n th f115 3 after a "forty year" reign (Chron. Man), i.e. began to rule c. 1113, and not 1102 as Chron. Man states. Chron. Man states that on the death of Logmann, Donald, Tadc's sonregens threr ,wa fo t e years thad thin an ,i t s period kine th ,f Norwa go y sent one, Ingemund seizo t ,kingdoe e th Annalse Islese th Th f m.o of Innisfallen thay sa t Donald, Tadc's son, took kingshi Hebridee th f po forcey sb , apparentl true th ee datb 1111n yi t y thiwhicd ea san ma , h regencs hi y began squeezdifficulto e t t Th .no es i ythes e reigns int olimitea d period Ds a ,r Anderson suggests (A.E.S., n, 98 n.), but to stretch them out to cover a longer period. 3 A.E.S.,A.S.A.,d an anno, b alse II su oSe . HeimsTcringla, trans. Brling Momsen . 595-6pp , ; Macdonald, History of Argyll, p. 296, n. 173; Orkneyinga Saga, trans. Taylor, 371; Bremner, Norsemen Alban,n i 163-4. 1 A.E.S., II, 105-13. 5 A.E.S., n, 103; Chron. Man, 6. 3 1 VOL. XC . 194 PROCEEDING E SOCIETYTH F O S , 1956-57. , Scottish, surrender Magnur ,fo Edgad san r were partitioning territories which neithe effectiveld ha r y controlled Norwegiae Th . n king yielde l claidal m to the mainland of Argyll, Ross, and Caithness, but it is highly unlikely that these lands then became obedien kino t t g Edgar. Magnus s parthi r , fo , carefully perambulated the bounds of his territories by sailing inshore between the mainland and the islands on his journey north, and by sending his men there, taking formal possession of all the islands, inhabited and uninhabited. On this perambulation after the peace there occurred the famous incident when Magnus was drawn from East to West Loch Tarbert, across the isthmus of Kintyre, in a skiff with its rudder set. His intention may have been, sagae th s sa state claio ,t m possessio Kintyref no t claie no th ,d , m butdi so f ,i succeed.1 The boundaries of the diocese of Sodor, founded about 1100, and later suffraga Trondhjemo t n , prove diocese thisTh . e included precisely the area stated to have been ceded in the treaty, islands such as Bute, Arran, the Cumbraes, Gigha, but not Kintyre; good evidence that in the early 12th centur Norsyn i Kintyrt eno hands s furthed ewa An . r confirmatios ni 2 foun chartern di Davif so dalienatinI grevenues parhi f o t s from Argyld lan Kintyre. These alienation e conditionalar s termn o , s whose meanins gi not absolutel3 y clear, but it is certain that David I regarded Kintyre as part of his kingdom, and that he was in expectation of reasonably early revenues from it. It is perhaps also worth noting that, according to Barbour, in 1315 Robert I made a similar crossing of the isthmus with sails rigged, and that the Islemen submitted to him because of ancient prophecy that he who did so would conque e Isles.th r 4 Barhour's "aid prophesy t verno ys "i con - vincing as it seems likely that boats with furled sails not infrequently took this short cut; but it may have been a feat demanded of the man who would master the Isles.