My Maternal 23rd. Great Grandfather, Dubhgall MacRory MacSomerled, King of the Isles

 

Isle of Skye, Argyll, Scotland, waterfall

Name: Dubhgall MacRory MacSomerled 

Born: 1143 in Morven, Argyll, Scotland

Married: before 1170 in Argyll, Scotland to Princess Margaret MacSomerled, daughter of Muchdanach of Moidart 

Children: ( 8) Agnes, Ospakr-Hakon, Alexander, Duncan, Ragnall, Ailin, Somairle, and Gill MacDougall

Died: 1192 in Argyll, Scotland

Buried: 1192 in Argyll, Scotland

Ardtornish Castle, Loch Aline, Morvern, Argyll, Scotland

Dubhgall mac Somairle was an apparent King of the Isles. He was a son of Somairle mac Gilla Brigte and Ragnhildr Óláfsdóttir. Dubhgall was a leading figure of Clann Somairle, and the eponymous ancestor of Clann Dubgaill. Dubhgall's career is obscure, and little is certain of his life.

In 1155 or 1156, Dubhgall was produced as a candidate to the kingship of the Isles, then-possessed by his maternal uncle, Guðrøðr Óláfsson. Later that year, Somairle defeated Guðrøðr, and the kingdom was divided between them. Two years later, Somairle again defeated Guðrøðr, and assumed control over the entirety of the realm. Whilst is possible that Dubhgall was the nominal King of the Isles, it is apparent that his father possessed the real power.

Dubhgall's father died in an invasion of Scotland in 1164. At least one of Somairle's sons was slain in this defeat, and it is unknown if Dubhgall was present. Whilst it is possible that Dubhgall retained a degree of royal authority after Somairle's death, it is evident that his maternal uncle Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson seized the kingship before being defeated by Guðrøðr. Nevertheless, the territories seized by Somairle in 1156 were retained by Clann Somairle.

Dubhgall's next and last attestation occurs in 1175, when he is recorded to have made a donation to St Cuthbert at Durham Cathedral. Whilst Somairle appears to have been a religious traditionalist, his descendants associated themselves with reformed monastic orders from the continent. Either Dubhgall, his father, or his brother Ragnall, may have been responsible for the foundation of the Diocese of Argyll.

Although the division of Clann Somairle territories is uncertain, it is possible that Dubhgall held Lorne on the mainland, and the Mull group of islands in the Hebrides. The date of Dubhgall's death is unknown. There is reason to suspect that he was succeeded or superseded by Ragnall at some point. Certainly, Ragnall and yet another brother, Aongus, came into conflict before the end of the century—possibly over the leadership of Clann Somairle. Despite Dubhgall's apparent overshadowing by Ragnall, the former's Clann Dubhgall descendants were the most powerful branch of Clann Somairle until the fourteenth century.

Dubhgall was a son of Somairle mac Gilla Brigte (died 1164) and Ragnhildr Óláfsdóttir. Somairle's familial origins are obscure, although he was almost certainly of Norse-Gaelic ancestry. Ragnhildr was a daughter of Óláfr Guðrøðarson, King of the Isles (died 1153). The union of Somairle and Ragnhildr appears to date to about 1140. According to the thirteenth–fourteenth-century Chronicle of Mann, the couple had several sons: Dubhgall, Ragnall (died 1191/1192–c.1210/1227), Aongus, and Amlaíb. 

There is reason to suspect that Dubhgall was the eldest of these sons. Certainly, near contemporary sources such as the chronicle and the thirteenth-century Orkney in saga list his name before his brothers'. Dubhgall's name is Gaelic. The mixture of Gaelic and Scandinavian names borne by Somairle's sons appears to exemplify the hybrid Norse-Gaelic milieu of the Isles. The marriage between Somairle and Ragnhildr had severe repercussions on the later history of the Isles, as it gave Somairle's descendants—Clann Somairle—a claim to the kingship by way of Ragnhildr's royal descent. King of the Isles