The Kingdom of the Isles was a Norse–Gaelic kingdom comprising the Isle of Man, the Hebrides and the islands of the Clyde from the 9th to the 13th centuries. It is also called Sodor or the Sudreys, from its Old Norse name , or "Southern Isles"; as distinct from the or Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland. Some of its later rulers were referred to as kings of Mann and the Isles. The historical record is incomplete, and the kingdom was not a continuous entity throughout the whole period. At times it was independent of outside control, although for much of the period the Isles were a Norwegian dependency and its rulers had overlords in Norway, Orkney, or Ireland. At times there also appear to have been competing claims for all or parts of the territory. The islands have a total land area of over and extend for more than from north to south.
Viking influence in the area began in the late 8th century. There is no doubt that the (Ivar) dynasty played a prominent role in this early period, but the records for the dates and details of its rulers are speculative until the mid-10th century. Hostility between the Kings of the Isles and the rulers of Ireland, and intervention by the crown of Norway (either directly or through their vassal the Earl of Orkney) were recurring themes.
An invasion by Magnus Barefoot in the 1090s resulted in a brief period of direct Norwegian rule over the kingdom, but soon the descendants of Godred Crovan re-asserted a further period of largely independent overlordship. This came to an end with the rise of Somerled, on whose death in 1164 the kingdom was split in two. Just over a century later, the Isles were transferred from Norwegian overlordship to the Kingdom of Scotland, following the 1266 Treaty of Perth. Most of the territory continued as the Scottish Lordship of the Isles and Diocese of the Isles.
Geography
The principal islands under consideration are as follows:
- The Isle of Man, located in the Irish Sea, equidistant from modern England, Ulster, Scotland and Wales.
- The islands of the Firth of Clyde some to the north, the largest of which are Bute and Arran.
- The southern Inner Hebrides to the west and north of the Kintyre peninsula, including Islay, Jura, Mull and Iona.
- The Inner Hebrides to the north of Ardnamurchan, made up of the Small Isles (including Eigg and Rùm), Skye, Raasay and their outliers.
- The Outer Hebrides, aka the "Long Island" to the west, separated from the northern Inner Hebrides by the waters of the Minch.
These islands, often referred to as the Sudreys, have a total land area of approximately of which:
- the Isle of Man is , 7% of the total
- the Islands of the Clyde , 7% of the total
- the Inner Hebrides , 50% of the total and
- the Outer Hebrides , 36% of the total.
Anglesey in modern Wales may also have been part of the insular Viking world from an early stage.
Orkney is some east-northeast of the Outer Hebrides, Shetland is a further further northeast and Norway some due east of Shetland. The total distance from the southern tip of the Isle of Man to the Butt of Lewis, the northern extremity of the Outer Hebrides, is approximately .
Early history
Sources
thumb|right|Signature page from the [[Annals of the Four Masters]]
The presence of the monastery on Iona led to this part of Scotland being relatively well documented from the mid-6th to the mid-9th centuries. However, from 849 on, when Columba's relics were removed in the face of Viking incursions, written evidence from local sources all but vanishes for three hundred years. The sources for information about the Hebrides and indeed much of northern Scotland from the 8th to the 11th century are thus almost exclusively Irish, English or Norse. The main Norse text is the , which should be treated with care as it was based on oral traditions and not written down by an Icelandic scribe until the early 13th century. The English and Irish sources are more contemporary, but may have "led to a southern bias in the story", especially as much of the Hebridean archipelago became Norse-speaking during the period under consideration. The archaeological record for this period is relatively scant, particularly in comparison to the numerous Neolithic and Iron Age finds in the area.
Scholarly interpretations of the period "have led to widely divergent reconstructions of Viking Age Scotland" and Barrett (2008) has identified four competing theories, none of which he regards as proven.
It is clear that the word "King", as used by and of the rulers of Norwegian descent in the isles, was not intended to convey sovereign rule (that is, that of a High King). This is different from the way the word was used in the emerging Kingdom of Scotland at the time. It should also be borne in mind that different kings may have ruled over very different areas and that few of them can be seen as exerting any kind of close control over this "far-flung sea kingdom". Precise dates are sometimes a matter of debate amongst historians.
Early Viking incursions in the Hebrides
thumb|upright|Folio 32v of the [[Book of Kells which may have been produced by the monks of Iona and taken to Ireland for safekeeping after repeated Viking raids of the Hebrides.]]
Prior to the Viking incursions the southern Hebrides formed part of the Gaelic kingdom of (or Dalriada). North of , the Inner and Outer Hebrides were nominally under Pictish control although the historical record is sparse. According to Ó Corráin (1998) "when and how the Vikings conquered and occupied the Isles is unknown, perhaps unknowable", although from 793 onwards repeated raids by Vikings on the British Isles are recorded. "All the islands of Britain" were devastated in 794 with Iona being sacked in 802 and 806. Various named Viking leaders, who were probably based in Scotland, appear in the Irish annals: in 837, in 845 and in 847. Another early reference to the Norse presence in the Irish records is that there was a king of "Viking Scotland" whose heir, , took an army to Ireland in 848.
In the 9th century, the first references to the (i.e., "foreign Gaels") appear. This term was variously used in succeeding centuries to refer to individuals of mixed Scandinavian–Celtic descent and/or culture who became dominant in southwest Scotland, parts of northern England and the isles.
According to the , in about 872 Harald Fairhair became king of a united Norway and many of his opponents fled to the islands of Scotland including the Hebrides of the west coast, and the Northern Isles. Harald pursued his enemies and incorporated the Northern Isles into his kingdom in 875 and then, perhaps a little over a decade later, the Hebrides as well. The following year the local Viking chieftains of the Hebrides rebelled. Harald then sent Ketill Flatnose to subdue them, which he did quickly, but then he declared himself an independent "King of the Isles", a title he retained for the rest of his life.|group=Note is also sometimes equated with , a reported leader of the fighting in Ireland in 857, although this connection is far from definite. left no successors and there is little record of the succeeding four decades. However, Woolf (2007) suggests that his appearance in the sagas "looks very much like a story created in later days to legitimise Norwegian claims to sovereignty in the region".
There are similar problems with the provenance of , the supposed 9th-century ruler of the Hebrides and ancestor of Clan Donald. It has been suggested that his appearance looks "very much like the product of fourteenth-century propagandists from Clann Donald".
House of
In 870 Dumbarton was besieged by and , "the two kings of the Northmen", who "returned to Dublin from Britain" the following year with numerous captives. It is therefore likely that Scandinavian hegemony was already significant on the western coasts of Scotland by then. is described as the "son of the king of " in the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland and Ó Corráin (1998) argues that "is Viking Scotland and probably includes Man" at this time suggesting an early date for an organised Kingdom of the Isles. In the same source is also recorded as having gone to the aid of his father , who was under assault from Vikings in in about 872. died in 873 and may have been succeeded briefly by who also died that year. probably died in 874. A lament for , a Pictish king who died in 878, suggests Kintyre may have been lost to his kingdom at that time. The Norse may have taken the Isle of Man in 877 and they certainly held it by 900. In 902 the Vikings were expelled from Dublin for up to a dozen years, and a year later , the "grandson of " was killed in battle with the forces of Constantine II in mainland Scotland. However these events were setbacks for the Norse rather than a definitive moment. Internecine fighting is recorded in the Annals of Ulster of 914, which describe 's defeat of in a naval battle off the Isle of Man.
thumb|left|Modern [[Dumbarton Castle, the site of the 9th-century siege by Amlaíb Conung and ]]
The first four decades of the 10th century are an obscure period so far as the Hebrides are concerned.|group=Note became King of Northumbria and probably succeeded his cousin as King of Mann. The former is recorded as being the , suggesting he may have been the first King of both Mann and the Western Isles of Scotland.