Godred Crovan

Godred Crovan (v.irl Gofraid mac meic Arailt , Gofraid Méranech ) (death in 1095) reigned on Dublin, the island of Man and the Hébrides in the second part of the 11th century. Its epithet “Crovan” comes from Irish crobh bhan (“white hand”). In the folklore mannois, it is known like the king Orry ( King Orry ).

Its death is evoked in the Annales of Tigernach and the Annales of Ulster , where it is called Goffraigh Meranach laughed Gall or Goffraidh rex Normannorum . This is why, it is supposed that Godred was the son, or the nephew, of king Imar mac Arailt (or Ivar Haraldsson) which controlled Dublin of 1038 with 1046, which was itself the nephew of Sigtrygg Silkeskjegg Olavsson.

The Chroniques of Man on the other hand make of Godred the son of Harald the Black (Harald of Iceland) and announce that it was among the survivors of the defeat of Harald III with the Bataille of Stamford Bridge, the September 25th 1066, and that it took refuge with his relative Godred Sigtryggsson, then king of the island of Man. Irish sources indicate that Godred Sigtryggsson was then the vassal one of the Irish king of Dublin, Murchad, wire of Diarmait mac Mail Na mBo of the dynasty of the Uí Cheinnselaig. Godred and Murchad died both in 1070, and the throne of the island of Man passed to the son of Godred, Fingall.

The conquest of the capacity

Following the defeat of Stamford Bridge, Godred was constrained to flee the England and unloaded on the island of Man where he undertook to create a solid network which would enable him to expel Fingal island. but its ambition was not limited to the conquest of Man. It seized Dublin (which had been the seat of a Principauté Viking for two centuries) and most of the Leinster. It then attacked the Scot, directed by Malcolm III, called Malcolm Canmore.

Battle of Scacafell

According to the Chronicles of Man, in 1079, Godred invades with three recoveries the island of Man.

According to this Chronicle, and the Irish sources confirm it, that Godred took then Dublin, although the date is not known. In 1087, according to the Yearly of Ulster, " grandsons of Ragnall" were killed during a forwarding on the island of Man. In 1094, Godred was expelled of Dublin by Muircheartach Ua Briain. He died the following year, " peste" according to the Yearly of the four Masters, on Islay.

Godred left at least three wire: Lagmann, Olaf and Harald. Harald lost the sight because of Lagmann and does not appear consequently any more in annals, but the descendants of Lagmann and Olaf reigned on the islands until the advent of Somerled and its sons, and dominated the island until the end of the kingdom, in 1265 and its annexation by Alexandre III of Scotland. Only ten years later, in 1275, Godfred Magnuson de Man, wire of last king de Man, tried to take again the capacity on the island.

End of its reign

The king of Norway Magnus Berføtt expelled Godred Crovan and reigned on the island via his son Sigurd. Godred would have died two years later on the island of Isla, in Scotland. The tradition locates in an erroneous way its tomb on the island of Man.

Its tomb

The tomb known as of the king Orry (King Orry' S Engraves) is located on the east coast of the island, with the locality Minorca, a hill above Laxey. It consists of a Cairn 12 meters length on 4 meters broad made up of coloured stones. This tomb is however very former at the time of king Crovan. One estimates it at the period of the Neolithic (4.000 years front J. - C.) and would be the work of populations of farmers come to populate the island of Man since the Cumbrie.

Anecdotes

Godred Crovan enjoys a great popularity on the island of Man. It incarnates with the eyes of much the Celtic hero who drives out the invader Viking of Man. According to the tradition, when Crovan unloaded on the island in 1079, one asked him from where it came. Showing the Milky Way of its finger, he says: “Here the road which leads to my country”. For this reason, in mannois, the word which indicates the Milky Way is raad mooar ree Gorree , i.e., literally “the main road of king Orry”.

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