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TheIsle of Man had become physically separated fromGreat Britain andIreland by 6500 BC. It appears that colonisation took place by sea sometime during theMesolithic era (about 6500 BC).[1] The island has been visited by variousraiders andtrading peoples over the years. After being settled by people from Ireland in the first millenniumAD, the Isle of Man was converted to Christianity and then suffered raids byVikings fromNorway. After becoming subject to Norwegiansuzerainty as part of theKingdom of Mann and the Isles, the Isle of Man later became a possession of the Scottish and then the English crowns.
Since 1866, the Isle of Man has been aCrown Dependency anddemocraticself-government.
The Isle of Man effectively became an island around 8,500 years ago at around the time when rising sea levels caused by the melting glaciers cutMesolithic Britain off from continental Europe for the last time.[2] There had earlier been a land bridge between the Isle of Man and Cumbria, but the location and opening of the land bridge remain poorly understood.[3]
The earliest traces of people on the Isle of Man date back to the Mesolithic Period (Middle Stone Age, 8000 BC - 4000 BC).[4] The first residents lived in small natural shelters,hunting, gathering and fishing for their food. They used small tools made offlint or bone, examples of which have been found near the coast. Examples of these artifacts are kept at theManx National Heritage museum.[citation needed]
TheNeolithic Period marked the coming offarming, improvedstone tools andpottery.[citation needed] During this periodmegalithic monuments began to appear around the island. Examples are found atCashtal yn Ard nearMaughold,King Orry's Grave inLaxey, Meayll Circle nearCregneash, and Ballaharra Stones inSt John's.[citation needed] The builders of the megaliths were not the only culture during this time; there are also remains of the localRonaldsway culture (lasting from the late Neolithic into the Bronze Age).[citation needed]
TheIron Age marked the beginning ofCeltic cultural influence. Largehill forts appeared on hill summits and smaller promontory forts along the coastal cliffs, while large timber-framedroundhouses were built.[citation needed]
It is likely that the first Celts to inhabit the Island wereBrythonic tribes from mainland Britain.[citation needed] The secular history of the Isle of Man during the Brythonic period remains mysterious. It is not known if theRomans ever made a landing on the island and if they did, little evidence has been discovered. There is evidence for contact with Roman Britain as anamphora was discovered at the settlement on theSouth Barrule; it is hypothesised this may have been trade goods or plunder.[citation needed]
It is generally assumed that Irish invasion or immigration formed the basis of the modern Manx language; Irish migration to the island probably began in the 5th century AD.[5] This is evident in the change in language used inOgham inscriptions. The transition betweenManx Brythonic (aBrythonic language like modernWelsh) andManx Gaelic (aGoidelic language like modernScottish Gaelic andIrish) may have been gradual. One question is whether the present-day Manx language survives from pre-Norse days or reflects a linguistic reintroduction after the Norse invasion.[citation needed] The island lends its name toManannán, the Brythonic and Gaelic sea god who is said in myth to have once ruled the island.[citation needed]
Tradition attributes the island's conversion to Christianity toSt Maughold (Maccul), an Irish missionary who gives his name to a parish. There are the remains of around 200 tiny early chapels calledkeeils scattered across the island. Evidence such asradiocarbon dating andmagnetic drift points to many of these being built around AD 550–600.[6]
TheBrythonic culture ofManaw appears throughout early British tradition and laterWelsh writings. The family origins ofGwriad ap Elidyr (father ofMerfyn Frych and grandfather ofRhodri the Great) are attributed to aManaw and he is sometimes named asGwriad Manaw.[7] The 1896 discovery of a cross inscribedCrux Guriat (Cross of Gwriad) and dated to the 8th or 9th century greatly supports this theory.[8]
The best record of any event before the incursions of the Northmen is attributed toBáetán mac Cairill, king ofUlster, who (according to theAnnals of Ulster) led an expedition to Man in 577–578, imposing his authority on the island (though some have thought this event may refer toManau Gododdin between the Firths ofClyde andForth, rather than the Isle of Man).[9] After Báetán's death in 581, his rivalÁedán mac Gabráin, king ofDál Riata, is said to have taken the island in 582.
Even if the supposed conquest of the Menavian islands – Mann andAnglesey – byEdwin of Northumbria, in 616, did take place, it could not have led to any permanent results, for when the English were driven from the coasts ofCumberland andLancashire soon afterwards, they could not well have retained their hold on the island to the west of these coasts.[citation needed] One can speculate, however, that whenEcgfrið's Northumbrians laid Ireland waste from Dublin toDrogheda in 684, they temporarily occupied Mann.[9]
The period of Scandinavian domination is divided into two main epochs – before and after the conquest of Mann byGodred Crovan in 1079. Warfare and unsettled rule characterise the earlier epoch, the later saw comparatively more peace.
Between about AD 800 and 815 the Vikings came to Mann chiefly for plunder. Between about 850 and 990, when they settled, the island fell under the rule of the ScandinavianKings of Dublin and between 990 and 1079, it became subject to the powerfulEarls of Orkney.[9]
There was a mint producing coins on Mann between c. 1025 and c. 1065. These Manx coins were minted from an imported type 2Hiberno-Norse penny die fromDublin.[citation needed] Hiberno-Norse coins were first minted under Sihtric,King of Dublin. This illustrates that Mann may have been under the thumb of Dublin at this time.[citation needed]
Little is known about the conqueror,Godred Crovan. According to theChronicon Manniae he subdued Dublin, and a great part ofLeinster, and held the Scots in such subjection that supposedly no one who set out to build a vessel dared to insert more than three bolts.[citation needed] The memory of such a ruler would be likely to survive in tradition, and it seems probable therefore that he is the person commemorated in Manx legend under the name of King Gorse or Orry.[9] He created theKingdom of Mann and the Isles in around 1079 including the south-western islands of Scotland until 1164, when two separate kingdoms were formed from it. In 1154, later known as theDiocese of Sodor and Man, was formed by theCatholic Church.[citation needed][10]
The islands under his rule were called theSuðr-eyjar (South isles, in contrast to theNorðr-eyjar North isles", i.e. Orkney andShetland), consisting of theHebrides, all the smaller western islands ofScotland, and Mann. At a later date his successors took the title ofRex Manniae et Insularum (King of Mann and of the Isles).[9] The kingdom's capital was onSt Patrick's Isle, wherePeel Castle was built on the site of a Celtic monastery.[citation needed]
Olaf, Godred's son, exercised considerable power and according to the Chronicle, maintained such close alliance with the kings of Ireland and Scotland that no one ventured to disturb the Isles during his time (1113–1152).[citation needed] In 1156 his sonGodred (reigned 1153–1158), who for a short period also ruled over Dublin, lost the smaller islands off the coast of Argyll as a result of a quarrel withSomerled (the ruler ofArgyll). An independent sovereignty thus appeared between[clarification needed] the two divisions of his kingdom.[9]
In the 1130s the Catholic Church sent a small mission to establish the firstbishopric on the Isle of Man, and appointedWimund as the first bishop. He soon afterwards embarked with a band of followers on a career of murder and looting throughout Scotland and the surrounding islands.[citation needed]
During the whole of the Scandinavian period, the Isles remained nominally under the suzerainty of theKings of Norway but the Norwegians only occasionally asserted it with any vigour.[9] The first such king to assert control over the region was likelyMagnus Barelegs, at the turn of the 12th century. It was not until Hakon Hakonarson's 1263 expedition that another king returned to the Isles.[citation needed]
From the middle of the 12th century until 1217 the suzerainty had remained of a very shadowy character; Norway had become a prey to civil dissensions. But after that date it became a reality, and Norway consequently came into collision with the growing power of thekingdom of Scotland.[9]
Early in the 13th century, whenRagnald (reigned 1187–1229) paid homage to KingJohn of England (reigned 1199–1216), we hear for the first time of English intervention in the affairs of Mann.[9] But a period of Scots domination would precede the establishment of full English control.[citation needed]
Finally, in 1261,Alexander III of Scotland sent envoys to Norway to negotiate for the cession of the isles, but their efforts led to no result. He therefore initiated a war, which ended in the indecisiveBattle of Largs against the Norwegian fleet in 1263.[citation needed] However, the Norwegian kingHaakon Haakonsson died the following winter, and this allowed King Alexander to bring the war to a successful conclusion.[citation needed]Magnus Olafsson, King of Mann and the Isles (reigned 1252–1265), who had campaigned on the Norwegian side, had to surrender all the islands over which he had ruled, except Mann, for which he didhomage. Two years later Magnus died and in 1266 KingMagnus VI of Norway ceded the islands, including Mann, to Scotland in theTreaty of Perth in consideration of the sum of 4,000marks (known asmerks in Scotland) and anannuity of 100 marks. But Scotland's rule over Mann did not become firmly established until 1275, when the Manx suffered defeat in the decisiveBattle of Ronaldsway, nearCastletown.[11]
In 1290 KingEdward I of England sentWalter de Huntercombe to seize possession of Mann, and it remained in English hands until 1313, whenRobert Bruce took it after besiegingCastle Rushen for five weeks. In about 1333 KingEdward III of England granted Mann toWilliam de Montacute, 3rdBaron Montacute (later the 1stEarl of Salisbury), as his absolute possession, without reserving any service to be rendered to him.[12]
Then, in 1346, theBattle of Neville's Cross decided the long struggle between England and Scotland in England's favour.[12] KingDavid II of Scotland, Robert Bruce's last male heir, had been captured in the Battle of Neville's Cross and ransomed; however, when Scotland was unable to raise one of the ransom instalments, David made a secret agreement with KingEdward III of England to cancel it, in return for transferring the Scottish kingdom to an English prince.[citation needed]
Following the secret agreement, there followed a confused period when Mann sometimes experienced English rule and sometimes Scottish. In 1388 the island was "ravaged" bySir William Douglas of Nithsdale on his way home from the destruction of the town ofCarlingford.[13]
In 1392 William de Montacute's son sold the island, including sovereignty, to SirWilliam le Scrope. In 1399Henry Bolinbroke brought about the beheading of Le Scrope, who had taken the side ofRichard II when Bolinbroke usurped the throne and appointed himself Henry IV.[citation needed] The island then came into the de facto possession of Henry, who granted it toHenry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland; but following the latter's later attainder, Henry IV, in 1405, made a lifetime grant of it, with the patronage of the bishopric, to SirJohn Stanley.[citation needed] In 1406 this grant was extended – on afeudatory basis under the English Crown – to Sir John's heirs and assigns, the feudal fee being the service of renderinghomage andtwo falcons to all future Kings of England on theircoronations.[citation needed]
With the accession of the Stanleys to the throne there begins a more settled epoch in Manx history. Though the island's new rulers rarely visited its shores, they placed it under governors, who, in the main, seem to have treated it with the justice of the time. Of the thirteen members of the family who ruled in Mann, the secondSir John Stanley (1414–1432),James, the 7th Earl (1627–1651), and the10th Earl of the same name (1702–1736) had the most important influence on it. They first curbed the power of the spiritual barons[clarification needed], introduced trial by jury, which supersededtrial by battle, and ordered the laws to be written. The second, known as the Great Stanley, and his wife,Charlotte de la Tremoille (or Tremouille), are probably the most striking figures in Manx history.[12]
Shortly after theWars of the Three Kingdoms began in June 1643,James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby returned to Mann to find the island on the brink of rebellion. Among the causes were complaints at the level oftithes payable to theChurch of England, and Derby's attempts to replace the Manx ‘tenure of straw’ by which many of his tenants held their lands, a customary tenure akin to freehold, with commercial leases. He managed to restore the situation through a series of meetings, but made minimal concessions.[14]
Six months afterCharles I was executed on 30 January 1649, Derby received a summons fromGeneral Ireton to surrender the island, but declined to do so. In August 1651, he and 300 Manxmen landed in Lancashire to take part in theThird English Civil War; defeated atWigan Lane on 25 August 1651, Derby escaped with only 30 troops to joinCharles II. Captured after theBattle of Worcester in September, he was imprisoned inChester Castle, tried bycourt-martial and executed atBolton on 15 October.[14]
Soon after Stanley's death, the Manx Militia, under the command of William Christian (known by hisManx name ofIlliam Dhone[15]), rose against the Countess and captured all the insular forts except Rushen and Peel. They were then joined by a Parliamentarian force sent from the mainland, led by ColonelsThomas Birch andRobert Duckenfield, to whom the Countess surrendered after a brief resistance.[16][12]
Oliver Cromwell had appointedThomas Fairfax "Lord of Mann and the Isles" in September 1651, so that Mann continued under a monarchical government and remained in the same relation to England as before.[12]
The restoration of Stanley government in 1660 therefore caused as little friction and alteration as its temporary cessation had. One of the first acts of the new Lord,Charles Stanley, 8th Earl of Derby, was to order Christian to be tried. He was found guilty and executed. Of the other persons implicated in the rebellion only three were excepted from the general amnesty. But byOrder in Council, Charles II pardoned them, and the judges responsible for the sentence on Christian were punished.[12]
Charles Stanley's next act was to dispute the permanency of the tenants' holdings, which they had not at first regarded as being affected by the acceptance of leases, a proceeding which led to an almost open rebellion against his authority and to the neglect of agriculture, in lieu of which the people devoted themselves to the fisheries and to contraband trade.[12]
Charles Stanley, who died in 1672, was succeeded first by his son William Richard George Stanley, 9th Earl of Derby until his death in 1702.[17]
The agrarian question subsided only in 1704, whenJames Stanley, 10th Earl of Derby, William's brother and successor, largely through the influence ofBishop Wilson, entered into a compact with his tenants, which became embodied in an Act, called theAct of Settlement. Their compact secured the tenants in the possession of their estates in perpetuity subject only to a fixed rent, and a small fine on succession oralienation. From the great importance of this act to the Manx people it has been called theirMagna Carta. As time went on, and the value of the estates increased, the rent payable to the Lord became so small in proportion as to be almost nominal,[12] being extinguished by purchase in 1916.[citation needed]
James died in 1736, and thesuzerainty of the isle passed toJames Murray, 2nd Duke of Atholl, his first cousin and heir general. In 1764 he was succeeded by his only surviving childCharlotte, Baroness Strange, and her husband,John Murray, who (in right of his wife) becameLord of Mann. In about 1720 thecontraband trade had greatly increased. In 1726Parliament had checked it somewhat for a time, but during the last ten years of the Atholl regime (1756–1765) it assumed such proportions that, in the interests of the Imperial revenue, it became necessary to suppress it. With a view to so doing, Parliament passed theIsle of Man Purchase Act 1765 (commonly called theRevestment Act by the Manx), under which it purchased the rights of the Atholls asLords of Mann, including the customs revenues of the island, for the sum of £70,000sterling, and granted anannuity to the Duke and Duchess. The Atholls still retained theirmanorial rights, the patronage of thebishopric, and certain otherperquisites, until they sold them for the sum of £417,144 in 1828.[12]
Up to the time of the revestment [wikt],Tynwald had passed laws concerning the government of the island in all respects and had control over its finances, subject to the approval of the Lord of Mann. After the revestment, or rather after the passage of theSmuggling Act 1765 (commonly called the Mischief Act by the Manx), theParliament at Westminster legislated with respect to customs, harbours and merchant shipping, and, in measures of a general character, it occasionally inserted clauses permitting the enforcement in the island of penalties in contravention of the Acts of which they formed part. It also assumed the control of the insular customs duties. Such changes, rather than the transference of the fullsuzerainty to the King of Great Britain and Ireland, modified the (unwritten) constitution of the Isle of Man. Its ancient laws and tenures remained untouched, but in many ways the revestment affected it adversely. The hereditaryLords of Mann had seldom, if ever, functioned as model rulers, but most of them had taken some personal share in its government, and had interested themselves in the well-being of the inhabitants. But now the whole direction of its affairs became the work of officials who regarded the island as a pestilent nest of smugglers, from which it seemed their duty to extract as much revenue as possible.[12]
There was some alleviation of this state of things between 1793 and 1826, whenJohn Murray, 4th Duke of Atholl served asgovernor, since, though he quarrelled with theHouse of Keys and unduly cared for his own pecuniary interests, he did occasionally exert himself to promote the welfare of the island. After his departure the English officials resumed their sway, but they showed more consideration than before. Moreover, since smuggling, which theIsle of Man Purchase Act had only checked – not suppressed – had by that time almost disappeared, and since the Manx revenue had started to produce a large and increasing surplus, the authorities looked more favourably on the Isle of Man, and, thanks to this fact and to the representations of the Manx people to British ministers in 1837, 1844 and 1853, it obtained a somewhat less stringent customstariff and an occasionaldole towards erecting its much neglected public works.[12]
Since 1866, when the Isle of Man obtained a nominal measure ofHome Rule, the Manx people have made remarkable progress, and currently form a prosperous community,[12] with a thrivingoffshore financial centre, atourist industry (albeit smaller than in the past) and a variety of other industries.[citation needed]
The Isle of Man was a base for alien civilianinternment camps in both theFirst World War (1914–18) and theSecond World War (1939–45).[citation needed] During the First World War there were two camps: one a requisitioned holiday camp inDouglas and the other the purpose-builtKnockaloe camp nearPeel in the parish ofPatrick. During the Second World War there were a number of smaller camps in Douglas, Peel,Port Erin andRamsey.[citation needed] The (now disbanded)Manx Regiment was raised in 1938 and saw action during the Second World War.[citation needed]
On 2 August 1973, aflash fire killed between 50 and 53 people at the Summerland amusement centre inDouglas.[18]
The early 20th century saw a revival of music and dance, and a limited revival of theManx language – although the last "native" speaker of Manx Gaelic died in the 1970s. In July 1947 theTaoiseach of the Republic of Ireland,Éamon de Valera, visited, and was so dissatisfied with the lack of support for Manx that he immediately had two recording vans sent over.[19]
During the 20th century the Manx tourist economy declined, as the English and Irish started flying toSpain forpackage holidays. The Manx Government responded to this by successfully promoting the island, with its low tax rates, as an offshore financial centre,[20] although Man has avoided a place on a 2009 UKblacklist of tax havens.[21] The financial centre has had its detractors who have pointed to the potential formoney laundering.[22]
In 1949 anExecutive Council, chaired by theLieutenant-Governor and including members ofTynwald, was established. This marked the start of a transfer of executive power from the unelected Lieutenant-Governor to democratically elected Manx politicians. Finance and the police passed to Manx control between 1958 and 1976.[23] In 1980 a chairman elected by Tynwald replaced the Lieutenant-Governor as Chairman of the Executive Council.[24] Following legislation in 1984, the Executive Council was reconstituted in 1985 to include the chairmen of the eight principal Boards;[25] in 1986 they were given the title of Minister and the chairman was re-titled "Chief Minister".[26] In 1986Sir Miles Walker CBE became the firstChief Minister of the Isle of Man. In 1990 the Executive Council was renamed the "Council of Ministers".[27]
The 1960s also saw a rise inManx nationalism, spawning the partiesMec Vannin and theManx National Party, as well as the now defunctFo Halloo (literally "Underground"), which mounted a direct-action campaign of spray-painting and attempted house-burning.[citation needed]
On 5 July 1973 control of the postal service passed from the UKGeneral Post Office to the newIsle of Man Post, which began to issue its ownpostage stamps.[citation needed]
The 1990s and early 21st century have seen a greater recognition of indigenousManx culture, including the opening of the first Manx-language primary school.[28]
Since 1983 the Isle of Man government has designated more than 250 historic structures asRegistered Buildings of the Isle of Man.[citation needed]
Gwriad.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Moore, Arthur William (1911). "Man, Isle of". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 534–539.
