Magnus Olafsson - Background

Background

Magnús was a member of the Crovan dynasty—a line of Norse-Gaelic sea-kings whose kingdom encompassed the Isle of Man (Mann) and the northern parts of the Hebrides, from the late 11th century to the mid 13th century. Although the kingdom originally encompassed the entirety of the Hebrides, much of the Inner Hebrides was permanently lost in the mid 12th century, but the dynasty retained control of the largest Hebridean islands of Lewis and Harris and Skye. Magnús was the son of Óláfr Guðrøðarson, King of the Isles (d. 1237). Although Óláfr is known to have had two wives, and no contemporaneous source names the mother of his children, Magnus' mother may have been Óláfr's second wife—Christina, daughter of Fearchar, Earl of Ross, (d. circa 1251).

Óláfr was a younger son of Guðrøðr Óláfsson, King of the Isles (d. 1187). Before his death in 1187, Guðrøðr instructed that Óláfr should succeed to the kingship. However, Guðrøðr was instead succeeded by his elder son, Rögnvaldr (d. 1229), who had popular support. Rögnvaldr and Óláfr, who are thought to have had different mothers, subsequently warred over the dynasty's kingdom in the early 13th century, until Rögnvaldr was slain battling Óláfr in 1229. Rögnvaldr's son, Guðrøðr (d. 1231), who was also in conflict with Óláfr, took up his father's claim to the throne, and at his height co-ruled the kingdom with Óláfr in 1231. Guðrøðr was slain in 1231, and Óláfr ruled the entire kingdom without internal opposition until his own death in 1237. Óláfr was succeeded by his son, Haraldr, who later travelled to Norway and married a daughter of Hákon Hákonarson, King of Norway (d. 1263), but lost his life at sea on his return voyage in 1248. In May 1249, Haraldr's brother, Rögnvaldr (d. 1249), formally succeeded to the kingship of the Crovan dynasty's kingdom.

Rögnvaldr Óláfsson's reign was an extremely short one; only weeks after his accession, he was slain on Mann. His killer is identified by a contemporary source as a knight named Ívarr who may have been an ally of Rögnvaldr Óláfsson's second cousin once removed, Haraldr Guðrøðarson (fl. 1249), who seized the kingship immediately following the killing. Although at first Haraldr was recognised as a legitimate ruler of the kingdom by Henry III, King of England (d. 1272), Haraldr was later regarded as a usurper by his Norwegian overlord, Hákon. In 1250, Hákon summoned Haraldr to Norway to answer for his seizure of the kingship, and Haraldr was kept from returning to the Isles.