Godred II Olafsson - Death and Succession

Death and Succession

The Chronicle of Mann records that Godred died on 10 November 1187, on St Patrick's Isle off the western coast of Mann. According to the chronicle he was buried the following summer on the Inner Hebridean island of Iona. Godred is known to have had three sons: Ragnvald (d. 1229), Olaf (d. 1237), and Ivar. The chronicle states that the eldest son, Ragnvald, was illegitimate, and that Godred had instructed that Olaf should succeed to the kingdom. Olaf was still very young according to the chronicle, and thus the Manx people appointed the capable Ragnvald as their king. The half-brothers subsequently fell out and the kingdom was severely weakened by bitter family-feuding. At one point Ragnvald's son, Godred Don (d. about 1231), was defeated in battle against Olaf and brutally mutilated by one of Olaf's close followers. Ragnvald was finally slain in 1229, whilst battling Olaf's forces on Mann. Olaf then took the throne and ruled until his death in 1237. Recognised rule of the kingdom by the Crovan dynasty ended with the death of Olaf's younger son, Magnus, in 1265. The kingdom was then ceded by the Kingdom of Norway to the Kingdom of Scotland, through the Treaty of Perth in 1266.

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