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Somerled (Old Norse
Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic languages that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
 Sumarliği, Scottish Gaelic Somhairle, commonly Anglicized from Gaelic as Sorley) was a military and political leader of the Scottish Isles in the 12th century who was known in Gaelic as ri Innse Gall ("King of the Hebrides
Hebrides

The Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups, the Inner and Outer Hebrides....
"). His father was Gillebride of Clan Angus who had been exiled to Ireland. The name, a common one amongst the Viking
Viking

A Viking is one of the Norsemen explorers, warriors, merchants, and Piracy who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the late eighth to the early eleventh century....
s, means summer traveller.

Somerled first appears in historical chronicles in the year 1140 as the regulus, or King, of Kintyre
Kintyre

Kintyre is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the south-west of Argyll and Bute. The region stretches approximately 30 miles , from the Mull of Kintyre in the south, to East Loch Tarbert, Kintyre in the north....
 (Cinn Tìre) when he marries Raghnailt the daughter of Olaf
Olaf I of the Isle of Man

Olav I was King of Mann and the Isles from 1104 until 1153. His nickname was Morsel. He was born around 1080 and died 29 June 1153.His father was King Godred Crovan....
 (or Amhlaibh), King of Mann and the Isles.






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Somerled (Old Norse
Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic languages that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
 Sumarliği, Scottish Gaelic Somhairle, commonly Anglicized from Gaelic as Sorley) was a military and political leader of the Scottish Isles in the 12th century who was known in Gaelic as ri Innse Gall ("King of the Hebrides
Hebrides

The Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups, the Inner and Outer Hebrides....
"). His father was Gillebride of Clan Angus who had been exiled to Ireland. The name, a common one amongst the Viking
Viking

A Viking is one of the Norsemen explorers, warriors, merchants, and Piracy who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the late eighth to the early eleventh century....
s, means summer traveller.

Somerled first appears in historical chronicles in the year 1140 as the regulus, or King, of Kintyre
Kintyre

Kintyre is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the south-west of Argyll and Bute. The region stretches approximately 30 miles , from the Mull of Kintyre in the south, to East Loch Tarbert, Kintyre in the north....
 (Cinn Tìre) when he marries Raghnailt the daughter of Olaf
Olaf I of the Isle of Man

Olav I was King of Mann and the Isles from 1104 until 1153. His nickname was Morsel. He was born around 1080 and died 29 June 1153.His father was King Godred Crovan....
 (or Amhlaibh), King of Mann and the Isles. The year 1153 saw the deaths of two kings: David I of Scotland
David I of Scotland

David I or Dabhidh Mac Maol Chaluim was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians and later List of monarchs of Scotland . The youngest son of Maol Chaluim Mac Donnchaidh and Saint Margaret of Scotland, David spent most of his childhood in Scotland, but was exiled to England temporarily in 1093....
 and Olaf of Mann. There was much confusion and discord as a result and Somerled took his chance - making offensive moves against both Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 and Mann and the Isles, the latter having been inherited from Olaf by Somerled's brother-in-law, Goraidh mac Amhlaibh.

A summoning was sent to Somerled Dougal - Somerled's own son by his wife, the daughter of the Manx king - to move so he might be "King over the Isles". In 1156 Goraidh was defeated in battle against 80 ships of Somerled's fleet and the two enemies partitioned the isles between them. Goraidh kept the islands north of Ardnamurchan
Ardnamurchan

Ardnamurchan is a 50 square mile peninsula in Lochaber, Highland , Scotland, noted for being very unspoilt and undisturbed. It contains an abundance of wildlife....
 with Somerled gaining the rest. However, two years following this Somerled returned to the Isle of Man
Isle of Man

The Isle of Man , or Mann , is a self-governing Crown dependency, located in the Irish Sea at the geographical centre of the British Isles....
 with 53 warships. He defeated Goraidh again and this time forced him to flee to Norway
Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula....
. Somerled's kingdom now stretched from the Isle of Man to the Butt of Lewis
Butt of Lewis

The Butt of Lewis is in the area of Ness, Outer Hebrides. It is the northernmost point of the Isle of Lewis. It is the location for an abandoned lighthouse built in the 1860s and designed by David Stevenson ....
.

Thus both Viking
Viking

A Viking is one of the Norsemen explorers, warriors, merchants, and Piracy who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the late eighth to the early eleventh century....
 and Scot
Scot

A Scot is a member of an ethnic group indigenous to Scotland.Scot may also refer to:People with the given name Scot:* Scot Brantley , American football linebacker...
 formed one people under a single lord and came to share a single culture, one way of life - they were to become a powerful and noted race known as the Gall-Gaidheal, literally meaning 'Foreign-Gaels'. It was upon the seas their power was situated under the rule of the Kings of the Isles yet new enemies arose in the east
East

East is a Direction in geography. It is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points, opposite of west and at right angles to north and south....
. The Stewarts
House of Stuart

The House of Stuart, also known as the House of Stewart is an important European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century....
 made inroads in the west coast and eventually Somerled assembled a sizeable army to repel them. He advanced to the centre of the Stewarts' own territory, to Renfrew
Renfrew

Renfrew is a town in Scotland. It may also refer to:...
, where a great battle was fought in 1164. Much confusion surrounds the manner of the battle, and indeed whether a battle occurred at all, but what is certain is that Somerled was assassinated, after which his army retreated from the area.

Following the death of Somerled several powerful lords emerged from within his kingdom. The lordship was contested by two main families; that of Somerled and his descendants and that of the descendants of Goraidh mac Amhlaibh. During the 12th and 13th centuries the Scandinavia
Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a historical and geographical subregion in northern Europe that includes the Scandinavian Peninsula. It consists of the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark; some authorities also include Finland and some might even include Iceland....
n world saw much change in methods of rule and administration which ultimately resulted in more strongly centralized, unified kingdoms such as Denmark
Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries....
 and Norway
Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula....
. However, this did not happen in the Kingdom of the Isles, which was instead absorbed into the greater Kingdom of Scotland
Kingdom of Scotland

The Kingdom of Scotland was a state in North-West Europe which existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a Anglo-Scottish border to the south with the Kingdom of England, with which it was united to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, under the terms of the Acts of Union 1707, in 170...
, albeit its place in that state and the loyalty of its inhabitants to the King of Scots would remain peripheral and temperamental for centuries to come.

In 2005 a study by Professor of Human Genetics
Human genetics

Human genetics describes the study of inheritance as it occurs in human beings. Human genetics encompasses a variety of overlapping fields including: classical genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, biochemical genetics, genomics, population genetics, developmental genetics, clinical genetics, and genetic counseling....
 Bryan Sykes
Bryan Sykes

Bryan Sykes is Professor of Human genetics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford.Sykes published the first report on retrieving DNA from ancient bone ....
 of Oxford
University of Oxford

The University of Oxford , located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation in the English-speaking world....
 led to the conclusion that Somerled has possibly 500,000 living descendants - making him the second most common currently-known ancestor after Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan , born , was the founder, Khan and Khagan of the Mongol Empire, the World's largest empires contiguous empire in history....
.

See also

  • Lord of the Isles
    Lord of the Isles

    The designation Lord of the Isles , now a Scotland title of Peerage of Scotland, emerged from a series of hybrid Viking/Gaels rulers of the west coast and islands of Scotland in the Middle Ages, who wielded sea-power with fleets of galleys....
  • Norse-Gaels
    Norse-Gaels

    The Norse-Gaels were a people who dominated much of the Irish Sea region and western Scotland for a large part of the Middle Ages, who were of Gaelic origin with some Scandinavia admixture, and and as a whole exhibited a great deal of Gaels and Norsemen cultural syncretism....
  • John MacDonald II
    John of Islay, Earl of Ross

    John of Islay or John MacDonald , was Earl of Ross and the fourth-and last-Lord of the Isles as well as being chief of the Highland Clan Donald....
  • Scotland in the High Middle Ages
    Scotland in the High Middle Ages

    The history of Scotland in the High Middle Ages covers Scotland in the era between the death of Donald II of Scotland in 900 AD and the death of king Alexander III of Scotland in 1286, which led indirectly to the Scottish Wars of Independence....