Ragnvald Godredsson - Relations With John of England

Relations With John of England

Rögnvaldr's involvement in Ireland and his connection with John de Courcy may have led to contact with John, King of England, and his son and successor, Henry III, King of England (d. 1272). Rögnvaldr was not the first monarch of the Crovan dynasty to have connections with the English court: his paternal-grandfather was sheltered at the court of Henry I, King of England before taking the kingship of the Isles in early 12th century; his father fled to England following his forced exile from the Isles in the mid 12th century. On 8 February 1205, the same year of the attack on Dundrum, John took Rögnvaldr under his protection. The following year, on 8 February, John issued Rögnvaldr safe conduct for fifteen days to come to England for Easter (22 April 1206). Rögnvaldr is known to have met and rendered homage to John during his Easter sojourn, since the English king ordered the Sheriff of Lancaster, on 28 April, to assign thirty marcates of land to Rögnvaldr. Accordingly, the Lancashire Pipe Rolls show that the sheriff associated twenty librates of land with Rögnvaldr during the year spanning Michaelmas 1205 and Michaelmas 1206. Since the rolls do not name any estate associated with Rögnvaldr, he does not appear to have been assigned any lands, but rather a charge upon the ferm of the county. The next day, John ordered his treasurer to pay thirty marks to Rögnvaldr. About a year later, on 17 June 1207, John ordered the sheriff to assign Rögnvaldr with twenty liberates of land, which is again confirmed by the Lancashire Pipe Rolls.

In 1210, the Chronicle of Mann reports that John led five hundred ships to Ireland. While Rögnvaldr and his men were absent from Mann, the chronicle states that part of John's forces landed and ravaged the island in a fortnight, before leaving Mann with certain hostages. Since John and Rögnvaldr were clearly on friendly terms between 1205 and 1207, John's assault on Mann does not appear to connected to Rögnvaldr's campaigning with de Courcy. Instead, the ravaging of Mann may very well be related to John's sour relations with the de Lacys and the de Braoses. Various historical sources relate how William de Braose (d. 1211), his wife and family, fled from John to Ireland, where they were harboured by the de Lacys; and how John's 1210 arrival in Ireland caused the de Braoses to flee towards Scotland, where they were apprehended in Galloway, by Donnchad, Earl of Carrick (d. 1250). The link between the flight of the de Braoses and Rögnvaldr appears in the Histoire des ducs de Normandie et des rois d'Angleterre, a particularly important contemporary source for this period, which states that while en route to Scotland, the de Braoses stayed on Mann for four days. Possibly significant is a report in the Annals of Loch Cé, which records that John sent men to ravage Mann after he attacked Carrickfergus. John himself stated that he learned of the capture of de Braose's wife and children while at Carrickfergus, which may hint that the attack on Mann was punitive in nature.

Although it is impossible to know whether Rögnvaldr sanctioned the arrival of the fleeing de Braoses, their close connection with the de Lacys, and Rögnvaldr's close connection with de Courcy (who had been forced from his Irish lands by the de Lacys) make it somewhat unlikely. English records for the year 1210 reveal that a certain Richard de Muroil was paid to guard John's supply on Mann. One possibility is that, following the island's ravaging, John may have taken advantage of Mann for use as a depot for his Irish operations. However, considering the favourable relations known to have existed between Rögnvaldr and John, it may be more likely that the latter's use of the island was part of an agreed alliance between the two monarchs.