Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson
Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's name as it appears on folio 47r of British Library Cotton Julius A VII (theChronicle of Mann): "Reginaldus Olavi filius".[2]
King of Mann and the Isles[1]
Reign	6 May 1249 – 30 May 1249
Predecessor	Haraldr Óláfsson
Successor	Haraldr Guðrøðarson
Died	(1249-05-30)30 May 1249
Burial	Rushen Abbey
House	Crovan dynasty
Father	Óláfr Guðrøðarson
Mother	Cairistíona inghean Fearchair

Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson (died 30 May 1249)^{[note 1]} was a mid-thirteenth-centuryKing of Mann and the Isles who was assassinated after a reign of less than a month. As a son ofÓláfr Guðrøðarson, King of Mann and the Isles, Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson was a member of the Crovan dynasty. When his father died in 1237, the kingship was assumed byHaraldr Óláfsson. The latter was lost at sea late in 1248, and the following year Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson succeeded him as king.

Only weeks after gaining the kingship, Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson was slain by a knight named Ívarr and his accomplices. The kingship was then seized byHaraldr Guðrøðarson, Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's first cousin once removed, suggesting that the killers and the new king had colluded together. The assassination, therefore, appears to have been a continuation of the vicious family feud that had engulfed the Crovan dynasty since the late twelfth century, when Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's father and Haraldr Guðrøðarson's grandfather first contested thekingship of the Isles.

Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson was one of several sons ofÓláfr Guðrøðarson, King of Mann and the Isles, and thus a member of theCrovan dynasty.^[14] Although Óláfr is known to have had two wives, and no contemporaneous source names the mother of his children, there is evidence suggesting that their mother may have been Óláfr's second wife: Cairistíona, daughter ofFearchar mac an tSagairt, Earl of Ross.^[15] Specifically, the thirteenth- to fourteenth-centuryChronicle of Mann states that, when Óláfr died in 1237, he was succeeded by his fourteen-year-old son,Haraldr Óláfsson.^[16] This source therefore dates Haraldr Óláfsson's birth to 1223, about the time when Óláfr and Fearchar allied themselves in marriage.^[15] The ancestral origins of Fearchar's family are unknown, although he appears to have been a native of easternRoss.^[17] TheNorse-Gaelic Crovan dynasty, founded by Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's paternal great-great-grandfather, held royal power in theIsles from the late eleventh to the mid thirteenth century.^[18] This realm was known inOld Norse asSuðreyjar,^[19] a term that means "Southern Islands",^[20] in reference to theHebrides^[20] andMann.^[21] Various documentary sources, in the form of contemporary chronicles and sagas, reveal that during the dynasty's tenure of power, the kings of the Isles tended to acknowledge the authority of the kings of Norway.^[22]

From the later twelfth- to the mid thirteenth century, the dynasty suffered from bitter factionalism and vicious kin-strife.^[23] Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's father, Óláfr, was a younger son ofGuðrøðr Óláfsson, King of Dublin and the Isles. According to the chronicle, before his death in 1187, Guðrøðr Óláfsson instructed that Óláfr should succeed to the kingship. The latter was only a child at the time, however, and the Islesmen instead inauguratedRǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson, Guðrøðr Óláfsson's eldest albeit illegitimate son. As the first quarter of the thirteenth century began to wane, contentions between the half-brothers broke out into outright war. By the turn of the first quarter of the century, Óláfr managed to put aside the wife that Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson had assigned him; and afterwards married Cairistíona, thereby gaining her father's military assistance. As time wore on, Óláfr gained the upper-hand in the struggle, and at one point had Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson's son,Guðrøðr Dond, blinded and castrated.^[24] The bitter conflict between the half-brothers ended with Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson's treacherous death in 1229. For a brief period in 1230/1231, Óláfr co-ruled the kingdom with Guðrøðr Dond.^[25] When the latter was slain in 1231, Óláfr ruled the entire kingdom without any internal opposition until his own death in 1237.^[24]

The main documentary source for the kings of the Crovan dynasty is theChronicle of Mann, the only contemporary indigenous narrative-source concerning these men.^[26] The source itself survives in the form of a fourteenth-centuryLatin manuscript,^[27] which is in turn a copy of a chronicle probably first commissioned and composed during the reign ofMagnús Óláfsson, King of Mann and the Isles.^[28] About fifteen percent of the chronicle is devoted to the strife between the half-brothers, and much of the rest of this source deals with the after-effects of the conflict.^[29] Although the chronicle's account of the half-brothers' struggle appears to be somewhat neutral, its treatment of their descendants is clearly slanted in favour of Óláfr's sons. In fact, it was only during the reign of Óláfr's son Magnús, that the former's sons finally overcame Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson's descendants once and for all. The chronicle, therefore, may have been composed to further legitimise king's descended from Óláfr. In consequence, even the chronicle's claim that Óláfr's father had chosen him as his successor may be suspect.^[30]

Having succeeded his father, the chronicle reveals that Haraldr Óláfsson was soon ousted from power by representatives ofHákon Hákonarson, King of Norway. After unsuccessfully repulsing these men, Haraldr Óláfsson voyaged to Norway, where he stayed for about three years, and thus reconciled himself with Hákon, who in turn reinstalled him as king in the Isles.^[33] In 1247, the thirteenth-centuryHákonar saga Hákonarsonar states that Haraldr Óláfsson again journeyed to Norway, where he married Hákon's daughter, Cecilía, in the winter of 1247/1248.^[34] On the newly-weds' return voyage in the autumn of 1248, the chronicle and saga report that their ship foundered offShetland, with all aboard lost.^[35]

Upon learning of the catastrophe, Hákon immediately directedEóghan Mac Dubhghaill to temporarily take up the kingship of the Isles on his behalf.^[36] According to theChronicle of Mann, Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson assumed the kingship of the Isles on 6 May 1249.^[37] This could mean that he and Eóghan shared a degree of authority in the Isles.^[38] In any case, Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's reign was an extremely short one, lasting hardly a month, as the chronicle states that he was slain on 30 May 1249.^{[39][note 3]} Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's body was then interred atRushen Abbey, the site of his father's final resting place.^{[42][note 4]} Following the killing, the chronicle reports that the kingship was seized by Haraldr Guðrøðarson, a grandson of Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson.^[43]

Although the chronicle names Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's killers as a knight named Ívarr and his followers,^[44] the precise identity of Ívarr is uncertain.^[45] One man bearing the same name was Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's paternal uncle, Ívarr Guðrøðarson. Although the latter is noted by the chronicle, in an entry concerning his father's demise,^[46] nothing more is known of him, and it is unlikely that someone born before 1187 would have been active in 1249.^[47] The chronicle's Latin designation of "milite" ("knight") to Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's killer may be evidence that he was a member of the elite.^[44] The fact that this Ívarr is not accorded apatronym of any sort, however, suggests that he was not a member of a prominent family (such as the Crovan dynasty).^[48] In fact, he appears to be identical to the "domino Yuor' de Mann" ("Lord Ívarr of Mann"), who witnessed a Latin charter of Haraldr Óláfsson in 1246.^{[49][note 5]} Ívarr's identity aside, the chronology of events surrounding Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's killing suggests that Haraldr Guðrøðarson and Ívarr were allies.^[51] A particular letter ofHenry III, King of England, dated April 1256, commanding his men not to receive Haraldr Guðrøðarson and Ívarr—the men whom the letter states "wickedly slew" Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson—further evidences an alliance between the two.^[52]

In light of Ívarr's possible collusion with Haraldr Guðrøðarson, the slaying of Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson may be evidence that the continuing strife between the rival branches descended from the half-brothers, Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson and Óláfr, continued well into the mid thirteenth century.^[53] In fact, the killing is the last recorded example ofregicide in the Norse-Gaelic realm, and may partly evidence theEuropeanisation of the peripheral regions of theBritish Isles during the twelfth- and thirteenth centuries.^[54] As it turned out, the reign of Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's successor was short-lived, since Haraldr Guðrøðarson was recalled to Norway in 1250, for having unjustly seized the kingship. Once in Norway, the latter was detained from returning to the Isles, and is not heard of again.^[55] Within two years, Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's brother, Magnús, was installed in the kingship. The latter reigned until his death in 1265, and was the last member of the Crovan dynasty to rule as king in the Isles.^[56] An after-effect of the inter-dynastic warring within the Crovan dynasty was the partitioning of the kingdom between rival factions. For example, from about 1187 to 1226, and for a brief period in 1229, the kingdom was divided between the half-brothers; and for a brief period in 1230/1231 it was divided between Óláfr and his nephew, Guðrøðr Dond. Although Haraldr Óláfsson appears to have reigned over a united kingdom, the years between his death and the installation of Magnús in 1252 is a murky period indeed, and it is possible that the kingdom was divided between rival factions during this brief span of years.^[57] Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson was evidently survived by a daughter, Maria. In 1305, a grandson of this woman pursued a claim to Mann.^[58]

• 1249 deaths
• 13th-century rulers of the Kingdom of the Isles
• 13th-century murdered monarchs
• Crovan dynasty
• Monarchs of the Isle of Man

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