Magnus (III) Gibbonsson (1256-1273) was an

Earl of Caithness Earl of Caithness is a title that has been created several times in the Peerage of Scotland, and it has a very complex history. Its first grant, in the modern sense as to have been counted in strict lists of peerages, is now generally held to have ...

and

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

. He was the son of

Gilbert, Earl of Orkney Gilbert, son of Magnus (1210–1256) was jarl of Orkney (which, at the time, included Caithness and Sutherland). Although this was a Norwegian title, some writers use the Scottish term ''earl'', as when the land became Scottish, in the 15th ce ...

, and grandson of

Magnus II, Earl of Orkney Magnus II (born 1185 or 1190 – died 1239) was the first in the Angus line of Scottish earls (or jarls) of Orkney. His title was "Earl of Orkney and Caithness." He was the son of Gille Críst, Earl of Angus, and his second wife, Ingibiorg Erics ...

Reign

Magnus III was the reason that the disputes between his two overlords,

Håkon IV Haakon IV Haakonsson ( – 16 December 1263; Old Norse: ''Hákon Hákonarson'' ; Norwegian: ''Håkon Håkonsson''), sometimes called Haakon the Old in contrast to his namesake son, was King of Norway from 1217 to 1263. His reign lasted for 46 y ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

for

and Alexander III of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

for

Caithness Caithness ( gd, Gallaibh ; sco, Caitnes; non, Katanes) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. Caithness has a land boundary with the historic county of Sutherland to the west and is otherwise bounded by ...

transformed into open conflict the Scottish-Norwegian War. Scottish provocations against Norwegian vassals in the

Hebrides The Hebrides (; gd, Innse Gall, ; non, Suðreyjar, "southern isles") are an archipelago off the west coast of the Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner and Outer Hebrid ...

led Håkon IV of Norway to undertake a punitive expedition to reassert his suzerainty under his western island domains. Magnus Gibbonsson was summoned to

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

and placed at the head of part of the Norwegian fleet which sailed towards

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

and the Orkneys in order to strengthen itself. After the

Battle of Largs The Battle of Largs (2 October 1263) was a battle between the kingdoms of Norway and Scotland, on the Firth of Clyde near Largs, Scotland. Through it, Scotland achieved the end of 500 years of Norse Viking depredations and invasions despite bei ...

, King Håkon IV of Norway, aged and tired, decided to winter in Orkney where he died in 1263. The

Treaty of Perth The Treaty of Perth, signed 2 July 1266, ended military conflict between Magnus VI of Norway and Alexander III of Scotland over possession of the Hebrides and the Isle of Man. The text of the treaty. The Hebrides and the Isle of Man had become ...

, signed in 1266, between Scotland and the new King Magnus VI of Norway ended to the conflict and maintained Norwegian suzerainty over Orkney. The death of Magnus is noted in 1273 by the "Annals of Iceland." He was succeeded by his eldest son

Magnus Magnusson Magnus Magnusson, (born Magnús Sigursteinsson; 12 October 1929 – 7 January 2007) was an Icelandic-born British-based journalist, translator, writer and television presenter. Born in Reykjavík, he lived in Scotland for almost all his life, a ...

References

Magnus (II) 13th-century mormaers Place of birth unknown Place of death unknown 1256 births 1273 deaths {{Orkney-bio-stub