Echmarcach Mac Ragnaill - Pilgrimage and Death in Rome

Pilgrimage and Death in Rome

In 1064, Echmarcach seems to have gone upon a pilgrimage to Rome, accompanied by Donnchad. Both men may have been elderly at the time of their long trek, and soon afterwards both men appear to have died in the city. Surviving sources give conflicting dates for Echmarcach's passing, and it is uncertain whether he died in 1064 or 1065. The Annals of Inisfallen, the Annals of Loch Cé, and the Annals of Ulster indicate that he died in 1064. The contemporary 11th century Irish chronicler Marianus Scotus (d. 1082) recorded that Echmarcach died in 1065, in a statement which suggests that Echmarcach and Donnchad travelled to Rome together. If Echmarcach's father was indeed Ragnall mac Gofraid, and if Echmarcach had been born only a few years before his father's death, Echmarcach would have thus been about sixty-five when he himself died.

Marianus' Latin account of Echmarcach's demise accords him the title "rex Innarenn". This title may be a garbled form of the Latin "rex insularum", meaning "King of the Isles". An alternate possibility is that it means "King of the Rhinns", in reference to the Rhinns of Galloway. During this period of history, the latter region would have included not only the modern boundaries of the Rhinns, but also what is today the Machars; the entire region during Echmarcach's floruit would thus have stretched from the North Channel to Wigtown Bay, and would have likely encompassed an area similar to the modern boundaries of Wigtownshire. Earlier in the century, the entire region may have formed part of Sitric's realm, and various Irish and Welsh sources indicate that it may have been held by his son, Amlaíb mac Sitriuc (d. 1034). If Echmarcach was indeed the son of Ragnall mac Gofraid, and succeeded his father sometime in the 1030s, Echmarcach may well have first seized control of the Rhinns when he began his domination of the Irish Sea region in 1036 (the year he first seized Dublin). On the other hand, if Echmarcach was in fact a native of what is today the south-west of Scotland, the title accorded him in 1065 could be evidence that, on the collapse of his once expansive kingdom, Echmarcach proceeded to entrench himself in the protection of his native home.