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Somerled
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Somerled (Sumarlidi Norse, Somhairle modern Gaelic) was a military and political leader of the Scottish Isles in the 12th century who was known as the "Rex Insularum" or Lord of the Isles.

Somerled first appears in historical chronicles in the year 1140 as the regulus, or King, of Kintyre (Cinn Tìre) when he marries Raghnailt the daughter of Amhlaibh (or Olaf), King of the Isle of Man. 1153 saw the deaths of two kings: David I of Scotland and Amhlaibh of Man. There was much confusion and discord as a result and Somerled took his chance - making offensive moves against both Scotland and Man under his 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 Somerleds fleet and the two enemies partitioned the isles between them. Goraidh kept the islands north of Ardnamurchan with Somerled gaining the rest. However, two years following this Somerled returned to the Isle of Man with 53 warships. He defeated Goraidh again and this time forced him to flee to Norway. Somerled's kingdom now stretched from the Isle of Man to the Butt of Lewis.

Thus both Viking and Scot 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. The Stewarts 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, 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 killed. Although the how of Somerled's death is also unsure, what is certain is that following the death of their great leader his army was greatly dispirited and 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 Scandinavian world saw much change in methods of rule and administration which ultimately resulted in more strongly centralized, unified kingdoms such as Denmark and Norway. However this did not happen in the Kingdom of the Isles which was instead absorbed into the greater Kingdom of Scotland 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

Legacy
Arguably Somerled's greatest legacy was the expulsion of the Norse from their Scottish foothold along the west coast - a foothold they had maintained for centuries. While the successor Lords of the Isles remained of questionable loyalty with regard to the Scottish Crown and nominally under the sovereignty of Norway they were Scottish in language and culture rather than Norse and foreign. As a result of this 'Gaelic Renaissance' under Somerled the great dichotomy which later formed in Scotland was between the Gaelic Scots (who came over the following centuries to be generally restricted to the Highlands and Hebrides) and the Lowland Anglo-Scots who, with the displacement of Scottish Gaelic by Inglis - later renamed Scots - across the lowlands came to dominate the east coast and south of the country.

Descendants
Somerled's sons bore mixed Norse — Olaf (Gaelic Amlaibh), Ranald (Norse Rognvald, Gaelic Ragnall) — and Gaelic — Duncan, Dugald, Angus and Gille Brigte — names, further evidence of the mixed nature of Norse-Gael culture. Later descendants also bore Scots, or Scotto-Norman names, such as Alexander (Gaelic Alisdair) borne by sons of Donald son of Ragnall, of Angus Mór brother of Donald, and of Ewen son of Duncan.

As with any successful kindred, the MacSorleys formed new lineages. Within a century of Somerled's death, the MacDougalls, named for Dugald son of Somerled, ruled in Lorne and Mull. Two kindreds traced their descent to Ranald son of Somerled, the MacRuaris of Garmoran, from Ruari son of Ranald, and the MacDonalds of Islay, from Angus Mór son of Donald son of Ranald