Ragnhildis Olafdottir, also known as Ragnhild, (c.1115 - unknown) was the daughter of king
Óláfr Guðrøðarson of the
Kingdom of Mann
The Kingdom of the Isles consisted of the Isle of Man, the Hebrides and the islands of the Firth of Clyde from the 9th to the 13th centuries AD. The islands were known to the Norse as the , or "Southern Isles" as distinct from the or Nor ...
and
Ingibiorg Hakonsdottir, making her a granddaughter of
Haakon Paulsson.
Ragnhild married the Norse-Gaelic lord
Somerled, king of the
Kingdom of the Isles. As the mother of
Dubgall,
Ragnall
Ragnall is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, England. At the time of the 2001 census it had a population of 102, increasing to 146 at the 2011 census. It is located on the A57 road one mile west of the River Trent. The parish churc ...
, and
Aonghas,
[Entry for the year 1102](_blank)
''Chronica Regum Manniæ et Insularum'' Ragnhild was the progenitor of
Clann Somhairle and the ancestor of
Clan MacDonald,
Clan MacDougall,
Clan MacAlister, and many other clans. Little is known about her life apart from her marriage to Somerled and her being a part of the royal lineage of the
Crovan Dynasty
The Crovan dynasty, from the late 11th century to the mid 13th century, was the ruling family of an insular kingdom known variously in secondary sources as the Kingdom of Mann, the Kingdom of the Isles, and the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles. The ...
.
Legacy
Ragnhild is important to
Clann Somhairle because she gives the clan and its descendants royal status on the basis of their descent from the
Crovan Dynasty
The Crovan dynasty, from the late 11th century to the mid 13th century, was the ruling family of an insular kingdom known variously in secondary sources as the Kingdom of Mann, the Kingdom of the Isles, and the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles. The ...
and the
UĂ ĂŤmair Dynasty, because her father
Óláfr Guðrøðarson was the son of
Godred Crovan.
This is one of the ways in which Somerled's expansion is politically legitimised. Ragnhild's place in Manx dynastic politics also strengthened claims by further descendants.
Historian
R. Andrew Macdonald recounts how the Chronicles of Mann describes how the wife of Somerled was the "cause of the collapse of the entire
kingdom of the Isles" because the kingdom would fall under the control of
Clann Somhairle and would become divided which ultimately led to its collapse in the mid 13th century.
Fictional depiction
Ragnhild was an important character in the novel ''Summer Warrior'' by Regan Walker.
See also
*
List of Manx royal consorts
*
British nobility
The British nobility is made up of the peerage and the (landed) gentry. The nobility of its four constituent home nations has played a major role in shaping the history of the country, although now they retain only the rights to stand for election ...
*
Irish nobility
Notes
References
*
*
*
*Power, Rosemary (2005)
"Meeting in Norway: Norse-Gaelic Relations in the Kingdom of Man and the Isles, 1090–1270"(PDF). ISSN 0305-9219.
*Woolf, Alex (2004)
"The Age of Sea-Kings, 900–1300" in Omand, D (ed.) ''The Argyll Book''.
*Woolf, Alex (2005)
"The Origins and Ancestry of Somerled: Gofraid mac Fergusa and 'The Annals of the Four Masters'" Medieval Scandinavia.
Ragnhild." ''Encyclopedia.com''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olafsdottir, Ragnhildis
1110s births
12th-century Manx people
12th-century Scottish women
Scottish noblewomen
12th-century Scottish nobility
Scandinavian Scotland
Clan Donald
Clan MacDougall
Clann Somhairle
Crovan dynasty
Norse-Gaels
UĂ ĂŤmair
Manx women
12th-century nobility