Echmarcach mac Ragnaill (died 1064/1065) was a dominant figure in the eleventh-century Irish Sea region. At his height, he reigned as king over Dublin, the Isles, and perhaps the Rhinns of Galloway. The precise identity of Echmarcach's father, Ragnall, is uncertain. One possibility is that this man was one of two eleventh-century rulers of Waterford. Another possibility is that Echmarcach's father was an early eleventh-century ruler of the Isles. If any of these identifications are correct, Echmarcach may have been a member of the Uí Ímair kindred.
Echmarcach first appears on record in about 1031, when he was one of three kings in northern Britain who submitted to Knútr Sveinnsson, ruler of the Anglo-Scandinavian Empire. Echmarcach is recorded to have ruled over Dublin in 1036–1038 and 1046–1052. After losing Dublin for the final time, he appears to have been seated in the Isles on Mann. In 1061, about a decade after his final defeat in Dublin, Echmarcach appears to have been expelled from the Isles, and may have then fallen back into Galloway.
Echmarcach appears to have forged an alliance with the powerful Uí Briain. A leading member of this kindred, Donnchad mac Briain, King of Munster, was married to Cacht ingen Ragnaill, a woman who could have been closely related to Echmarcach. Certainly, Echmarcach's daughter, Mór, married one of Donnchad's Uí Briain close kinsmen. Echmarcach's violent career brought him into bitter conflict with a particular branch of the Uí Ímair who had held Dublin periodically from the early eleventh century. This branch was supported by the rising Uí Cheinnselaig, an Irish kindred responsible for Echmarcach's final expulsion from Dublin and apparently Mann as well.
In about 1064, having witnessed much of his formerly expansive sea-kingdom fall into the hands of the Uí Cheinnselaig, Echmarcach accompanied Donnchad—a man who was himself deposed—upon a pilgrimage to Rome. Possibly aged about sixty-five at this point in his life, it was here that Echmarcach died, in either 1064 or 1065. In the decades following his demise, the Uí Briain used Echmarcach's descendants as a means to dominate and control Dublin and the Isles. One of his grandsons eventually ruled as king.
Uncertain parentage
Echmarcach was the son of a man named Ragnall. Whilst Echmarcach bore a Gaelic name, the name of his father is ultimately derived from Old Norse, a fact that serves to exemplify the hybrid nature of the eleventh-century Irish Sea region,Clancy, TO (2011) pp. 374–375; Hudson, BT (2005) p. 128. The identity of Echmarcach's father is uncertain.Woolf (2007) p. 246. One possibility is that Ragnall was a member of the dynasty that ruled the Norse-Gaelic enclave of Waterford in tenth- and eleventh centuries. If so, Echmarcach may have been the son of one of two Waterfordian rulers: Ragnall mac Ímair, King of Waterford, or this man's apparent son, Ragnall ua Ímair, King of Waterford.Downham (2013b) p. 147; Woolf (2007) p. 246; Forte; Oram; Pedersen (2005) p. 228; Connon (2005); Hudson, BT (2005) p. 129; Etchingham (2001) pp. 158 n. 35, 181–182, 197; Oram (2000) p. 16; Williams, DGE (1997) p. 104; Duffy (1992) pp. 96, 97; Hudson, BT (1992) p. 355. Another possibility is that Echmarcach belonged to a family from the Isles, and that his father was Ragnall mac Gofraid, King of the Isles, son and possible successor of Gofraid mac Arailt, King of the Isles.Charles-Edwards (2013) pp. 528, 564, 564 n. 140, 573; Downham (2013b) p. 147; McGuigan (2015) p. 107; Clancy, TO (2008) p. 29; Downham (2007) p. 193 fig. 12; Woolf (2007) p. 246; Hudson, BT (2005) pp. 129, 130 fig. 4; Etchingham (2001) pp. 158 n. 35, 181–182; Williams, DGE (1997) pp. 104, 145; Hudson, BT (1992) pp. 355–356. As a descendant of either of the aforesaid families, Echmarcach would appear to have been a member of the Uí Ímair, a royal dynasty descended from the Scandinavian sea-king Ímar.Woolf (2001).
Echmarcach and the imperium of Knútr Sveinnsson
Knútr and the three kings
Echmarcach appears to first emerge in the historical record in the first half of the eleventh century, when he was one of the three kings who met with Knútr Sveinnsson,Hudson, BT (2005) p. 132. ruler of the Anglo-Scandinavian Empire comprising the kingdoms of Denmark, England, and Norway.Bolton (2009) p. 307. The event itself is noted by Knútsdrápa, a contemporary drápa composed by Sigvatr Þórðarson, an eleventh-century Icelandic skald. Although Sigvatr's composition fails to identify the three kings by name, it does reveal that Knútr met them in Fife.Lawson (2013); Walker, IW (2013) ch. 5; Hollander (2011) p. 401 ch. 131; Bolton (2009) p. 149; Hudson, BT (2005) p. 132; Hudson, BT (1992) p. 350, 350 n. 1; Anderson (1922a) pp. 546–547 n. 1. The ninth- to twelfth-century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle also notes the meeting.Clarkson (2014) p. 8; Crawford (2013); Walker, IW (2013) ch. 5; Hudson, BT (2005) p. 132. The "D" version of the chronicle records that Knútr went to Rome in 1031, and soon after travelled to Scotland where he received the submission of an unnamed Scottish king. The later "E" version provides more information, stating that, after his return from Rome in 1031, Knútr went to Scotland and received the submission of three kings named: "Mælcolm", "Mælbæþe", and "Iehmarc".Firth (2018) p. 49, 49 n. 86; McGuigan (2015) p. 161; Charles-Edwards (2013) p. 574; Lawson (2013); Molyneaux (2011) p. 76; Bolton (2009) pp. 136, 149; Forte; Oram; Pedersen (2005) pp. 197–198; Downham (2004) p. 64; Irvine (2004) p. 76; Oram (2000) p. 16; Swanton (1998) pp. 156, 157, 159; Williams, DGE (1997) p. 104; Whitelock (1996) p. 255; Hudson, BT (1992) p. 350, 350 n. 2; Anderson (1922a) pp. 546–547 n. 1, 590–592 n. 2; Thorpe (1861) pp. 290–291; Stevenson (1853) p. 94. The latter name appears to be a phonetic form of the Gaelic Echmarcach, a relatively uncommon name.Oram (2000) p. 16; Hudson, BT (1992) pp. 355, 360. The three men almost certainly refer to: Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, King of Scotland, Mac Bethad mac Findlaích, and Echmarcach himself.Clarkson (2014) p. 8; Lawson (2013); Walker, IW (2013) ch. 5; Clancy, TO (2008) p. 29; Woolf (2007) p. 245; Hudson, BT (2005) pp. 132–133; Broun (2004b); Downham (2004) p. 64; Etchingham (2001) p. 161; Hudson, BT (1992).
Of the three kings, Máel Coluim appears to have been the most powerful, and it is possible that Mac Bethad and Echmarcach were underkings or client kings of his.Hudson, BT (2005) pp. 132–134. Mac Bethad appears to have become Mormaer of Moray in 1032 after the slaying of his kinsman, Gilla Comgáin mac Máel Brigti, Mormaer of Moray.Broun (2004a); Hudson, BT (1992) p. 354. Previous rulers of Moray are sometimes styled as kings by various Irish annals,The Annals of Ulster (2017) § 1020.6; The Annals of Tigernach (2016) § 1029.5; McGuigan (2015) p. 161, n. 522; Bolton (2009) p. 145; The Annals of Ulster (2008) § 1020.6; Woolf (2007) p. 228; Annals of Tigernach (2005) § 1029.5; Hudson, BT (1992) p. 354, 354 n. 1. a fact which may explain why Mac Bethad was called a king when he met Knútr.Hudson, BT (1992) p. 354. Although the apparent date of Mac Bethad's accession to the mormaership (1032) appears to contradict the date of the kings' meeting (1031), this discrepancy can be accounted for in two ways. One possibility is that Gilla Comgáin was actually slain in 1031 but only recorded in 1032. Another possibility is that Knútr merely returned from Rome in 1031, but actually met with the kings in 1032, after Gilla Comgáin's demise and Mac Bethad's accession.Woolf (2007) pp. 246–247. There is further evidence that could cast doubt on the date of the meeting. Although the aforesaid versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle date Knútr's pilgrimage to 1031, he is otherwise known to have visited Rome in 1027. Whilst it is possible he undertook two pilgrimages during his career, it is more likely that the chronicle has misdated his journey. In fact, it is possible that the chronicle failed to account for the time in which Knútr spent on the continent and Scandinavia after having visited Rome.Bolton (2009) p. 136 n. 117; Hudson, BT (1992) pp. 356–358.
Further confusion about Knútr in Scottish affairs comes from a continental source. At some point before about 1030, the eleventh-century Historiarum libri quinque, by Rodulfus Glaber, records that Knútr fought a long campaign against Máel Coluim, and that hostilities were finally brought to a close by the intervention of Knútr's wife, Emma, and her brother, Richard II, Duke of Normandy.Wadden (2015) p. 26; Lawson (2013); Bolton (2009) pp. 136–137; Woolf (2007) pp. 239–240; Lawson (1993) pp. 104–105; Prou (1886) pp. 29–30. If Rodulfus' account is to be believed, this conflict must have taken place before Richard's death in 1026, and could refer to events surrounding Máel Coluim's violent annexation of Lothian early in Knútr's reign.Lawson (2013); Lawson (1993) pp. 104–105. Despite uncertainties surrounding the reliability of Rodulfus' version of events,Bolton (2009) pp. 136–137. unless the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has misdated Knútr's meeting in Scotland, Rodulfus' account could be evidence that Knútr involved himself with Scottish affairs before and after 1026.
The record of Echmarcach in company with Máel Coluim and Mac Bethad could indicate that he was in some sense a 'Scottish' ruler, and that his powerbase was located in the Isles. Such an orientation could add weight to the possibility that Echmarcach was descended from Ragnall mac Gofraid.Etchingham (2001) pp. 161, 181–182. As for Máel Coluim, his influence in the Isles may be evidenced by the twelfth-century Prophecy of Berchán, which could indicate that he resided or exerted power in the Hebrides, specifically on the Inner Hebridean islands of Arran and Islay.Wadden (2016) p. 180; Duffy (2013) ch. 3; Woolf (2007) pp. 225–226, 253; Hudson, BT (2005) p. 133; Woolf (2004); Hudson, BT (1996) pp. 52 § 183, 90 § 183, 221; Anderson (1930) p. 51 § 181; Skene (1867) p. 99. Further evidence of Máel Coluim's influence in the Isles may be preserved by the fifteenth- to sixteenth-century Annals of Ulster and the fourteenth-century Annals of Tigernach which record the death of a certain Suibne mac Cináeda in 1034. These particular sources style Suibne "" and "".The Annals of Ulster (2017) § 1034.10; The Annals of Tigernach (2016) § 1034.3; Jennings; Kruse (2009) p. 125; The Annals of Ulster (2008) § 1034.10; Woolf (2007) p. 253; Annals of Tigernach (2005) § 1034.3; Hudson, BT (2005) p. 133. The Gaelic (plural ) is primarily a linguistic term referring to speakers of Gaelic.Jennings (1996) p. 68. The Gaelic term , literally meaning "Stranger-", was attributed to the population of mixed Scandinavian and Gaelic ethnicity in the Hebrides.Jennings (2015); Jennings; Kruse (2009) p. 124; Woolf (2007) p. 253 n. 45; Jennings (1996) p. 66. The fact that Máel Coluim and Suibne died the same year and share patronyms could be evidence that they were brothers. If the two were indeed closely related, Suibne may have been set up by Máel Coluim as a subordinate in an area of Scandinavian settlement.Woolf (2007) p. 253; Hudson, BT (2005) p. 133. One possibility is that the account of Máel Coluim preserved by the Prophecy of Berchán could be evidence that this region encompassed the lands surrounding Kintyre and the Outer Clyde.Woolf (2007) p. 253. This source, combined with the other accounts of Knútr's meeting, could indicate that Máel Coluim was then overlord of the Isles.Hudson, BT (1996) p. 223.
Context of the concordat with Knútr