|
Rögnvaldr Óláfsson (Norwegian: ''Ragnvald'', English: ''Ranald'' or ''Reginald'', Old Norse: ''Rǫgnvaldr''; died 30 May 1249) was a mid-thirteenth-century King of Mann and the Isles who was assassinated after a reign of less than a month. As a son of Óláfr Guðrøðarson, King of Mann and the Isles, Rögnvaldr Óláfsson was a member of the Crovan dynasty. When his father died in 1237, the kingship was assumed by Haraldr Óláfsson. The latter was lost at sea late in 1248, and the following year Rögnvaldr Óláfsson succeeded him as king. Only weeks after gaining the kingship, Rögnvaldr Óláfsson was slain by a knight named Ívarr and his accomplices. The kingship was then seized by Haraldr Guðrøðarson, Rögnvaldr Óláfsson's first cousin once removed, suggesting that the killers and the new king had colluded together. The assassination, therefore, appears to have been a continuation of the vicious family feud that had engulfed the Crovan dynasty since the late twelfth century, when Rögnvaldr Óláfsson's father and Haraldr Guðrøðarson's grandfather first contested the kingship of the Isles. ==Background== Rögnvaldr Óláfsson was one of several sons of Óláfr Guðrøðarson, King of Mann and the Isles (died 1237), and thus a member of the Crovan dynasty.〔 Although Óláfr is known to have had two wives, and no contemporaneous source names the mother of his children, there is evidence suggesting that their mother may have been Óláfr's second wife: Cristina, daughter of Ferchar mac an tSacairt, Earl of Ross (died c. 1251).〔McDonald (2007) p. 79 n. 48.〕 Specifically, the ''Chronicle of Mann'' states that, when Óláfr died in 1237, he was succeeded by his fourteen-year-old son, Haraldr Óláfsson (died 1248).〔McDonald (2007) p. 79 n. 48; Anderson (1922) p. 507; Munch; Goss (1874) pp. 94–95.〕 This source therefore dates Haraldr Óláfsson's birth to 1223, about the time when Óláfr and Ferchar allied themselves in marriage.〔 The ancestral origins of Ferchar's family are unknown, although he appears to have been a native of eastern Ross.〔Munro; Munro (2008).〕 The Norse-Gaelic Crovan dynasty, founded by Rögnvaldr Óláfsson's paternal great-great grandfather, held royal power in the Isles from the late eleventh to the mid thirteenth century.〔McDonald (2007) p. 31; Wilson (1993) pp. 404–405.〕 Consisting of a region roughly encompassing the Hebrides and Mann, the Isles are named in Old Norse sources as ''Suðreyjar'' ("Southern Isles"),〔Williams (2007) pp. 130–133 n. 8.〕 and in Gaelic sources as ''Innsi Gall'' ("Islands of the Foreigners").〔Downham (2007) pp. 178–179, 183.〕 Various documentary sources, in the form of contemporary chronicles and sagas, reveal that during the dynasty's tenure of power, the kings of the Isles tended to acknowledge the authority of the kings of Norway.〔Beuermann (2010).〕 From the later twelfth- to the mid thirteenth century, the dynasty suffered from bitter factionalism and vicious kin-strife.〔Beuermann (2014) p. 87; Beuermann (2010) pp. 104–105; McDonald (2007) p. 90.〕 Rögnvaldr Óláfsson's father, Óláfr, was a younger son of Guðrøðr Óláfsson, King of Dublin and the Isles (died 1187). According to the chronicle, before his death in 1187, Guðrøðr Óláfsson instructed that Óláfr should succeed to the kingship. The latter was only a child at the time, however, and the Islesmen instead inaugurated Rögnvaldr Guðrøðarson (died 1229), Guðrøðr Óláfsson's eldest albeit illegitimate son. As the first quarter of the thirteenth century began to wane, contentions between the half-brothers broke out into outright war. By the turn of the first quarter of the century, Óláfr managed to put aside the wife that Rögnvaldr Guðrøðarson had assigned him; and afterwards married Cristina, thereby gaining her father's military assistance. As time wore on, Óláfr gained the upper-hand in the struggle, and at one point had Rögnvaldr Guðrøðarson's son, Guðrøðr Rögnvaldsson (died 1231), blinded and castrated.〔McNamee (2005); Duffy (2004b).〕 The bitter conflict between the half-brothers ended with Rögnvaldr Guðrøðarson's treacherous death in 1229. For a brief period in 1230/1231, Óláfr co-ruled the kingdom with Guðrøðr Rögnvaldsson.〔Beuermann (2010) p. 107 n. 25; McNamee (2005); Duffy (2004b).〕 When the latter was slain in 1231, Óláfr ruled the entire kingdom without any internal opposition until his own death in 1237.〔 The main documentary source for the kings of the Crovan dynasty is the ''Chronicle of Mann'', the only contemporary indigenous narrative-source concerning these men.〔McDonald (2007) pp. 37–38.〕 The source itself survives in the form of a fourteenth-century Latin manuscript,〔McDonald (2007) p. 37.〕 which is in turn a copy of a chronicle probably first commissioned and composed during the reign of Magnús Óláfsson, King of Mann and the Isles (died 1265).〔Beuermann (2010) p. 102; McDonald (2007) pp. 37, 99–100.〕 About fifteen percent of the chronicle is devoted to the strife between the half-brothers, and much of the rest of this source deals with the after-effects of the conflict.〔McDonald (2007) p. 98.〕 Although the chronicle's account of the half-brothers' struggle appears to be somewhat neutral, its treatment of their descendants is clearly slanted in favour of Óláfr's sons. In fact, it was only during the reign of Óláfr's son Magnús, that the former's sons finally overcame Rögnvaldr Guðrøðarson's descendants once and for all. The chronicle, therefore, may have been composed to further legitimise king's descended from Óláfr. In consequence, even the chronicle's claim that Óláfr's father had chosen him as his successor may be suspect.〔McDonald (2007) pp. 99–100.〕 Whatever the case, the chronicle is the main historical source for the life of Rögnvaldr Óláfsson. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rögnvaldr Óláfsson (d. 1249)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|