Overview

Lectures:

• INTRODUCTION: Themes and the early kingdom

• GODRED CROVAN: The foundation of the Crovan dynasty; Olaf son of Godred.

• SOMERLED: king or rebel, Viking or Gael?

• REGINALD GODREDSON: civil war and the descendants of Somerled.

• HAKON, KING OF NORWAY: the ned of the kingdom?

• THE CHURCH

• ECONOMY, SOCIETY, CULTURE

• ENGLAND AND NORWAY: the Angevin world, the Viking world.

• IRELAND AND WALES: kings of Ireland, Dublin, and Gwynedd.

• SCOTLAND AND THE END OF THE KINGDOM: later history.

Representative list of seminar topics:

Introduction Godred Crovan and the Chronicle of the Kings of Man and the Isles

Source: Chronicle of the Kings of Man and the Isles

Somerled and Argyll

Source: Song of the Death of Somerled (Carmen de morte Somerledi)  

Reginald Godredson, king of Man and the Isles

Source: a range of sources including English documents, Orkneyinga saga, the Manx Chronicle, and the Gaelic poem in praise of Reginald  

Norway and the end of the kingdom

Source: two Norse sagas, Magnús saga berfœttr/Magnus Barefoot’s Saga by Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241), and Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar/Hakon Hakonson's Saga, by Sturla Þórðarson (1214–1284).  

The church and the descendants of Somerled

Source: ecclesiastical archaeology/architecture, focussing on Iona

Castles and community

Source: archeological evidence of castles: Peel; Castle Rushen; Dun Chonaill; Dunstaffnage; Aros; Cairnburgh

Ireland, Dublin, Wales

Source: Vita Griffini filii Conani, the biography of King Gruffudd ap Cynan of Gwynedd

Norway and England

Source: a range of English administrative documents invlolving the Manx kings, taken from Monumenta de Insula Manniae, ed. J. R. Oliver (2 vols, Douglas, 1860–1862).

The end of the kingdom?

Source: a fresh look at the Chronicle of the Kings of Man and the Isles

Assessment Strategy

Assessment criteria: Threshold Threshold students (low 40s) will show a basic knowledge of at least parts of the relevant field, and will make partly successful efforts at least to present an argument which will show awareness of different historical interpretations. Good Good students (50s) will show relevant knowledge of most of the field, using this to support conclusions based on analysis, and showing awareness of different historical interpretations. Very good Very good students (60s) will show a strong level of attainment in all the criteria listed in the previous paragraphs. Excellent Excellent students (70s and above) will show this strong attainment across the criteria as well as a particularly striking depth of knowledge ac/or ingenuity of analysis.

Learning Outcomes

• analyse primary source material in depth in the form of a degree essay, and relate this source material to the wider history of Man and the Isles and/or its surrounding areas (e.g. the Norse world, the Gaelic world).

• demonstrate a wide knowledge of the political and cultural history of the kingdom of Man and the Isles in the period c. 1000–c. 1300.

• demonstrate more detailed understanding of a specific aspect of the history of Man and the Isles.

• present historical arguments and support them with evidence under exam conditions.

• understand the relationship between the history of these islands and the history of the surrounding countires, and demonstrate a detailed knowledge of a particular aspect of this.

• weigh historiographical interpretations of the topic, including recent historiographical opinion.