19 Facts About Somerled

Somerled was asked by Thorfinn Ottarson, a Manx chief, to allow Somerled's son, Dugall, to be appointed king of Man and the Isles.

Accordingly, two years later, Somerled defeated and drove Godred from power.

Dugall continued as King of Man and Somerled thus ruled the entire kingdom of Argyll, Man and the Isles until his death.

Somerled was slain in 1164 at the Battle of Renfrew, amidst an invasion of mainland Scotland, commanding forces drawn from all over his kingdom.

Traditionally considered a Celtic hero, who vanquished Viking foes and fostered a Gaelic renaissance, contemporary sources reveal that while Somerled considered himself the leader of the Gaels of what was once old Dalriada, he operated in, and belonged to, the same Norse-Gaelic cultural environment as his maritime neighbours.

Recent genetic studies suggest that Somerled has hundreds of thousands of patrilineal descendants and that his patrilineal origins lie in Ireland as well as Scandinavia.

Somerled's career is patchily documented in four main contemporary sources: the Chronicle of Holyrood, the Chronicle of Melrose, the Chronicles of Mann, and the Carmen de Morte Sumerledi.

The sons of Malcolm as maternal grandsons of Somerled, descended from the latter's daughter.

The sons of Malcolm as maternal half-nephews of Somerled, descended from the latter's mother.

The after-effects saw Godred, Fergus, and likely Somerled himself, involve themselves in conflicts in Ireland.

However, about two years later in 1158, the chronicle records that Somerled launched a second assault upon Godred, and drove him from the kingdom altogether.

The entry, which outlines his final foray, states that Somerled commanded forces drawn from Argyll, Kintyre, the Isles, and Dublin.

The Carmen de Morte Sumerledi, written by an eyewitness, records that Somerled was "wounded by a [thrown] spear and cut down by the sword", and states that a priest severed his head and delivered it into the bishop's hands.

Several sources state that a son of Somerled was slain in the battle, with the Annals of Tigernach identifying him as GilleBride.

The precise chronology of Walter's westward expansion is not known for certain, but he and Somerled likely had conflicting ambitions in the region.

The void left by Somerled's death was seized upon by Walter and his succeeding son, Alan, who continued their family's westward expansion.

Somerled is known to have had at least five sons and a daughter.

The results of one such study, published in 2004, revealed that five chiefs of Clan Donald, who all traced their patrilineal descent from Somerled, were indeed descended from a common ancestor.

The consistent misidentification of Malcolm, his brother-in-law, with Malcolm MacHeth, has been interpreted as evidence that Somerled backed the cause of a supposed native anti-feudal movement.