Battle of Largs - Background

Background

Further information: Scandinavian Scotland, Kingdom of the Isles, and Scottish–Norwegian War

Viking depredations have been recorded in the British Isles since the late 8th century, and Scandinavian settlement on Scotland's western-seaboard may have begun before the turn of the 9th century. Claims to this region by Norwegian kings date to the turn of the 12th century, when Magnus Olafsson, King of Norway (d. 1103) established himself in the Hebrides and the Isle of Man (Mann). Direct Norwegian control ended with Magnus' death, after which the Hebrides and Mann, known to the Norwegians as the "Southern Isles", were controlled by local dynasties for over a century and a half. In the first half of the 13th century, the seaboard was controlled by two main power-blocks: one consisting of the Mann, Lewis and Harris, and Skye—controlled by the patrilineal-descendants of Godred Crovan (d. 1095); the other consisting of mainland territories in Argyll, and the islands of Islay, Jura, Mull, and possibly Uist—controlled by the descendants of Somerled (d. 1164). As part of the far-flung, early 13th century Norwegian realm, these island rulers recognised the overlordship of Hakon Hakonarson, King of Norway (d. 1263).

The first half of the 13th century was a period of consolidation for both Scottish and Norwegian kings. The Norwegians, under Hakon, overcame a period of internal strife, from 1161 to 1208, and oversaw the submission of the Faroe Islands, the Greenland settlements, and Iceland, in the mid 13th century. The Scots, under Alexander II, King of Scots (d. 1249), extended royal authority into the northern Highlands, Argyll, and Galloway. The king also had wanted to incorporate the western-seaboard into the Scottish realm. In 1230, Scottish aggression against the Isles and interference forced the Norwegian king to pacify the region. In 1249, after attempting to purchase the Isles from Hakon, Alexander II launched a campaign of his own, deep into Argyll and into the Hebrides. Unfortunately for the Scots, their king died suddenly on the verge of conquest. Since his son and successor, Alexander III (d. 1286), was only a boy at the time, the Scottish realm suffered through a lengthily and troubled minority. In consequence, it wasn't until the 1260s that the king looked west, and attempted to finish what his father had so nearly accomplished.

In 1262, a year after another unsuccessful attempt to purchase the Isles, Scottish forces launched an attack upon Skye. Hakon's response to the invasion was to mastermind a massive military expedition of his own. Described by the Icelandic Annals as the largest force to have ever set sail from Norway, the fleet reached the Isles in the summer of 1263. After receiving only a lukewarm reception from his vassals in the region, Hakon's forces reached the Firth of Clyde, after his men had secured several castles, and undertook raids into the surrounding mainland. With the Norwegian fleet anchored off Arran, the Norwegians and Scottish embassies fiercely debated the sovereignty of the Islands of the Clyde. When talks broke down, Hakon dispatched a fleet of Islesmen to raid into Loch Lomond, and to ravage Lennox. Meanwhile the main Norwegian fleet repositioned itself between the Cumbraes and the Ayrshire coast.