medieval-atlas/regional-and-local/441

Transcription

Regional and local Innse Gall in the thirteenth century The Kingdom of the Isles, extending from the Calf of Man to the Butt of Lewis, emerged as a political unit in the tenth and eleventh centuries. Contemporary nomenclature by both Norwegian (the Sudreys) and Gael (lnnse Gall -the Foreigners Isles) reflected a strong Scandinavian presence. By the twelfth century at latest, Norwegian overlordship in matters both secular and religious had been established, and was to continue until the treaty of Perth in 1266. The dynasty of Godred (or Godfrey) Crovan (d. about 1095), based in Man, originally ruled all the isles, but lost control (about 1156) of the Islay and Mull groups of islands and probably of the Uists also, to Somerled ofArgyll. Somerled had married Godred's granddaughter and is the ancestor of the MacDougalls,the MacRuaris and the later MacDonald Lords of the Isles. The map indicates the , oHirta , (St. Kilda) ... , North~\ BenbeculaQj, I So",h Ui"~ I Barra n,. ~isimul \ , , , ... likely division ofterritory between the kings of Man and the house of Somerled . .The areas of the mainland where Somerled's descendants are known or believed to have been major landowners, subject to the king of Scots, are also shown. The list of castles should be regarded as tentative. The dating and classification of Hebridean castles is notoriously fraught with problems. The intention is to include stone castles (or, in the case of Cairnburg, Iselburg and Dun Chonnel, strongly fortified sites) probably in existence by the end of the thirteenth century. Without doubt, many older brochs and duns were also in at least occasional occupation then and later. lZZJ Innse Gall ~ Territory of Somerled subject to the king of Scots before 1266 e:m Mainland possession of king of Man Territory of Somerled's descendants to Norwegian overlordship before 1266 Under control of king of Scots by 1250 • Castle: reasonably certain existence o Castle: conjectural existence • Monastic House + Cathedral .x, Battle kms ~"ft 0 2,5 50 75 100' I i i i i ~:n 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 miles Innse Gall in the thirteenth century WDHS 441

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