Editing Inner Hebrides (section)

===Norse rule===
{{main|Kingdom of Mann and the Isles}}
[[File:KellsFol032vChristEnthroned.jpg|thumb|Folio 32v of the ''[[Book of Kells]]'' which may have been produced by the monks of [[Iona]] and taken to Ireland for safekeeping after repeated Viking raids of the [[Hebrides]].]]
According to Ó Corráin (1998) "when and how the Vikings conquered and occupied the Isles is unknown, perhaps unknowable"<ref>Ó Corráin (1998) p. 25</ref> although from 793 onwards repeated raids by Vikings on the British Isles are recorded. "All the islands of Britain" were devastated in 794<ref>Thomson (2008) p. 24-27</ref> with Iona being sacked in 802 and 806.<ref>Woolf (2007) p. 57</ref> In 870 [[Dumbarton Castle|Dumbarton]] was besieged by [[Amlaíb Conung]] and Ímar, "the two kings of the Northmen".<ref>Woolf (2007) p. 109</ref> It is therefore likely that Scandinavian hegemony was already significant on the western coasts of Scotland by then.<ref>Woolf (2007) p. 115</ref> In the 9th century the first references to the ''[[Norse-Gaels|Gallgáedil]]'' (i.e. "foreign Gaels") appear. This term was variously used in succeeding centuries to refer to individuals of mixed Scandinavian-Celtic descent and/or culture who became dominant in south-west Scotland, parts of [[Northern England]] and the isles.<ref>Woolf (2007) pp. 253, 296-97</ref>

The early 10th century are an obscure period so far as the Hebrides are concerned<ref name=G4-6/> but [[Amlaíb Cuarán|Aulaf mac Sitric]], who fought at the [[Battle of Brunanburh]] in 937 is recorded as a King of the Isles from c. 941 to 980.<ref name=G4-6>Gregory (1881) pp. 4-6</ref>

It is difficult to reconcile the records of the Irish annals with Norse sources such as the ''[[Orkneyinga Saga]]'' but it is likely that Norwegian and ''Gallgáedil'' [[Uí Ímair]] warlords fought for control for much of period from the 9th to the 12th centuries. In 990 [[Sigurd the Stout]], Earl of Orkney took command of the Hebrides,<ref>Hunter (2000) p. 84</ref> a position he retained for most of the period until he was killed at the [[Battle of Clontarf]] in 1014.<ref name=G4-6/><ref>Woolf (2007) p. 213</ref> There is then a period of uncertainty but it is possible that Sigurd's son [[Thorfinn the Mighty]] became ruler circa 1035 until his own death some two decades later.<ref name=G5>Gregory (1881) p. 5</ref>

By the late 12th century Irish influence became a significant feature of island life and [[Diarmait mac Maíl na mBó]], the [[High King of Ireland]] took possession of Mann and the Isles until 1072.<ref name=G5/><ref name=D101>Duffy (1992) pp. 100-01</ref> The records for the rulers of the Hebrides are obscured again until the arrival of [[Godred Crovan]] as King of Dublin and the Isles.<ref name=D108/> The ancestor of many of the succeeding rulers of Mann and the Isles, he was eventually ousted by [[Muirchertach Ua Briain]] and fled to Islay, where he died in the plague of 1095.<ref name=D108>Duffy (1992) p. 108</ref><ref name=D106>Duffy (1992) p. 106</ref><ref name=W2p212>Woolf (2005) p. 212</ref> It is not clear the extent to which [[O'Brien dynasty|Ui Briain]] dominance was now asserted in the islands north of Man, but growing Irish influence in these seas brought a rapid and decisive response from Norway.
[[File:Kong-magnus-berrfott-menn.jpg|left|thumb|19th-century depiction of Magnus Barelegs's forces in Ireland, before his death in 1103.]]
[[Magnus III of Norway|Magnus Barelegs]] had re-established direct Norwegian overlordship by 1098.<ref name=D106/><ref>Ó Corráin (1998) p. 23</ref>
A second expedition in 1102 saw incursions into Ireland but in August 1103 he was killed fighting in Ulster.<ref name=D110>Duffy (1992) pp. 110-13</ref> The next king of the isles was [[Lagmann Godredsson]] and there followed a succession of Godred Crovan's descendants who, (as vassals of the kings of Norway) ruled the Hebrides north of [[Ardnamurchan]] for the next 160 years. However, their control of the southern Inner Hebrides was lost with the emergence of [[Somerled]], the self-styled Lord of Argyle.<ref name=G917>Gregory (1881) pp. 9-17</ref><ref name=H104>Hunter (2000) pp. 104</ref>{{refn|Hunter (2004) states that the claims of Somerled's descent from [[Gofraid mac Fergusa]] are "preserved in Gaelic tradition and accepted as broadly authentic by modern scholars".<ref name=H104/> However, Woolf (2005) asserts that "contrary to the image, projected by recent clan-historians, of [[Clann Somhairle]] as Gaelic nationalists liberating the Isles from Scandinavians, it is quite explicit in our two extended narrative accounts from the thirteenth century, ''Orkneyinga saga'' and ''The Chronicle of the Kings of Man and the Isles'', that the early leaders of Clann Somhairle saw themselves as competitors for the kingship of the Isles on the basis of their descent through their mother Ragnhilt" and that their claim "to royal status was based on its position as a segment of Uí Ímair."<ref name=W2p212/>|group=Note}}

For a while Somerled took control of Mann and the Hebrides ''in toto'', but he met his death in 1164 during an invasion of the Scottish mainland.<ref>Gregory (1881) pp. 15-16</ref> At this point [[Godred V of the Isle of Man|Godred the Black]], grandson of Godred Crovan re-took possession of the northern Hebrides and the southern isles were distributed amongst Somerled's sons, his descendants eventually becoming known as the [[Lord of the Isles|Lords of the Isles]], and giving rise to [[Clan MacDougall]], [[Clan Donald]] and [[Clan Macruari]].<ref>Gregory (1881) pp. 17-19</ref> However, both during and after Somerled's life the Scottish monarchs sought to take a control of the islands he and his descendants held. This strategy eventually led to an invasion by [[Haakon IV of Norway|Haakon Haakonarson]], King of Norway. After the stalemate of the [[Battle of Largs]], Haakon retreated to Orkney, where he died in 1263. Following this expedition, the Hebrides and Mann and all rights that the Norwegian crown "had of old therein" were yielded to the Kingdom of Scotland as a result of the 1266 [[Treaty of Perth]].<ref>Hunter (2000) pp. 106-111</ref><ref>Barrett (2008) p. 411</ref><ref>[http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/manxsoc/msvol04/v3p210.htm "Agreement between Magnus IV and Alexander III, 1266"] isleofman.com. Manx Society vols IV, VII & IX. Retrieved 11 January 2011.</ref>