Who's That Ancestor?

SOMERLED

Lord of the Isles

The Clan Chiefs of Scotland were seeking a new King who would help them defeat the Viking and English raiders. They went from clan to clan in their search, asking each clan who among you is a great leader? They believed in omens and would ask each contender for an "omen" to insure that he was the "chosen one". To their surprise the islanders on Mull recommended Somerled. They said "He is a well tempered man, in body shapely,of a fair and piercing eye, off middle stature with quick discernment." The Chieftans were surprised, they had known him to be as peaceful as a torch or beacon - unlit. Little did they know that the hour was coming when he would be changed, when he would blaze like a burnished torch, or a beacon on a hilltop against which the wind is blowing." But when the Isles' men, over whom his ancestors had ruled, were in dire need of a leader Somerled came forward in his true character. A local tradition in Skye tells that the Islesmen held a council at which they decided to offer Somerled the chiefship, to be his and his descendants forever.
They found Somerled fishing, and to him made their offer. Somerled replied, "Islesmen, there is a newly run salmon in the black pool yonder. If I catch him, I will go with you as your Chief; if I catch him not, I shall remain where I am." The Islemen, a race who believed implicitly in omens, were content, and Somerled cast his line over the black pool. Soon after a shining salmon leapt in the sun, and the skillful angler had the silvery fish on the river bank. The Islemen acclaimed him their leader, and as such he sailed back with them "over the sea to Skye," where the people joyously proclaimed that the Lord of the Isles had come. Such a tradition in Skye. Other accounts say that the scene of Somerled's first achievements was in Morven, and his conquest of the Isles later.
Somerled, Rex Insularum, took his place as a leader of men, from whom descended a race of Kings, a dynasty distinguished in the stormy history of the Middle Ages, who ranked themselves before the Scottish Kings.
"The mate of monarchs, and allied On equal terms with England's pride." The young hunter uprose a mighty warrior, who with dauntless courage and invincible sword struck terror into the hearts of his foes. Nor did he depend along on his matchless courage. In one of his first encounters with the Norse invaders he made full use of that "quick discernment" ascribed to him by the early chronicler. It happened that while on a small island with a following of only one hundred Islemen, he was surrounded by the whole Norwegian fleet, and, realizing that his small force was utterly inadequate to resist their attack, conceived a clever stratagem to deter the norsemen from landing on the island. Each of his men was ordered to kill a cow, and this having been done, and the cows skinned, Somerled ordered his little force to march round the hill on which they lay encamped; which having been done, in full view of the enemy, he then made them all put on the cowhides to disguise themselves, and repeat the march round the hill. He now ordered his men to reverse the cowhides, and for a third time march round the hill, thus exhibiting to the Norsemen the appearance of a force composed of three divisions. The ruse succeeded, for the enemy fleet withdrew.
Somerled (a.k.a. Sumarlidhi Höld) was born in about 1113 in Morvern. His father was Gillebride Mac Gille Adomnan, a descendant of a noble Gaelic family who were probably an offshoot of the House of Alpin at the time Kenneth I combined Dalriada with Pictavia. Somerled's mother was of Norse descent. The wider picture in Scotland at the time is set out in our Historical Timeline.

Somerled's grandfather, Gilledomman of the Isles, had been defeated by the Norse and exiled to Ireland. When he was a child, Somerled's more immediate family was also expelled from their home and sent to Ireland. His father Gillebride raised an army of 500 and returned to Morvern to regain their lands; but was beaten off and killed.

Much of Somerled's youth was spent on the margins of life in his native land. But some time around 1135 he became the leader of a rebellion against the Norse control. He successfully cleared Morvern, Lochaber and the northern part of Argyll from Norse influence and became known as Thane of Argyll: possibly with the formal endorsement of David I of Scotland who would have been grateful to see the Norse tide turned back in at least one part of Scotland.

In 1140, Somerled extended his area of influence by marrying Ragnhild, daughter of Olaf the Red (Olaf I The Red Godredson), the Norse King of Man, whose territory included the Hebrides. They had three sons, Dughall, Ragnald, and Aonghus. Somerled also had one son by a previous marriage: Gillecallum. Shortly afterwards Somerled helped suppress an uprising against Olaf the Red.

In 1143 Olaf the Red was murdered by the sons of his brother Harold but was succeeded as King of Man by his son (and Somerled's brother in law) Ochraidh Godred II the Black Olafson, or Godfrey the Black. Godfrey ruled with a heavy hand, and was deeply unpopular. In 1158 there was an uprising against Godfrey, and this time Somerled backed it.

Somerled's involvement proved decisive, and using a fleet of galleys fitted with rudders, the latest in naval technology, he defeated Godfrey and declared himself Ri Innse Gall or King of the Isles. What Somerled had achieved was to introduce a "third force" into the long-standing conflict between the Kings of Scotland and the Kings of Norway over the ownership of the Hebrides. While the title Ri Innse Gall dated back centuries before Olaf the Red, all its holders up to Godfrey the Black owed allegiance to the King of Norway. In contrast, Somerled's Kingdom of the Isles was not a subservient kingdom to the Kingdom of Norway, it was a separate kingdom, independent of both Norway and Scotland.

The newly powerful Somerled was seen as a serious threat by King Malcolm IV of Scotland, and in 1160 the two met in indecisive battle in Argyll. After an uneasy peace, conflict was resumed in early 1164. Somerled landed an army of 15,000 men from 164 galleys at Greenock. He intended to capture Renfrew, but somewhere near Inchinnan (close to the site of today's Glasgow Airport), Somerled was betrayed and killed, allegedly by a nephew in the pay of Malcolm IV. His army returned to their galleys and departed without engaging in a full scale battle. Accounts differ as to whether Somerled was buried on Iona or at Saddell Abbey.

Somerled is credited with breaking the stranglehold of the Norse on western Scotland and the Isles. There is a certain irony in this as he was himself Norse on his mother's side (and possibly in part on his father's side according to DNA studies); and he had married into the family of Olaf the Red. The independent kingdom he had briefly created was not to outlive him, but Somerled had changed things for good.

After his death, Somerled's Kingdom of the Isles was divided amongst his three sons from his marriage to Ragnhild. The descendants of Aonghus went on to form the Clan McRuari or McRory; the descendants of Dughall went on to form the Clan MacDougall; and the descendants of Ragnald's son Donald Mor McRanald would become the Clan Donald, who went on to found the Lordship of the Isles. Widespread DNA studies suggest that as many as 500,000 people living today are descended from Somerled: this is a number only bettered by Genghis Khan who, again according to DNA studies, is estimated to be the ancestor of 16 million people alive today.

Somerled (a.k.a. Sumarlidhi Höld) was born in about 1113 in Morvern. His father was Gillebride Mac Gille Adomnan, a descendant of a noble Gaelic family who were probably an offshoot of the House of Alpin at the time Kenneth I combined Dalriada with Pictavia. Somerled's mother was of Norse descent. The wider picture in Scotland at the time is set out in our Historical Timeline.