Óláfr
Guðrøðarson,
perhaps
better-known
as Olaf the Black, was a 13th century sea-king
who ruled the Isle of
Man and, at
least,
parts of the Hebrides. He was a younger son of Guðrøðr
Óláfsson,
King of the Isles, King of Dublin, and his wife Finnguala,
a
grandaughter
of Muirchertach
Mac Lochlainn,
High King of Ireland, King of Cenél nEógain.
Uist
in the Sagas
“Godred,
a son of Olaf the Red, left three sons, Reginald, Olaf , and Ivar, of
who, shortly before his death, he recognised Olaf (born in 1173, and
afterwards known as Olaf the Black) as his lawful heir.”
“In
1202 King Olaf was residing at
‘Sandey’, in the Sudreys
which Captain Thomas identifies as being the
district and former parish of Sand, in North Uist, which...both from
its central position and comparative fertility, would appear in every
way the more likely residence to be chosen by a ruler of the Long
Island.”
(Source:
North Uist, Erskine Beveridge, 1911, p20-21)
According
to the saga of the celebrated chief and physician, Hrafn
Sveinbiarnson c1166-1213
(as cited in A.W. Moore’s 1900 publication A
History of the Isle of Man),
Hrafn
“and
the bishop-elect, Gudmund, sailed from Iceland towards Norway in the
year 1202, but were driven by storms to Sandey, one of the Sudreys,
where they happened to find Olaf and the bishop,
and were compelled by the former to pay a tax, that Reginald had
assigned the Hebrides to Olaf.” This
saga was presumably the source that Captain Thomas and Professor
Munch had used in their earlier respective researches into the matter
and it was the Captain’s interpretation
regarding the location of Sandey
that Beveridge referred
to in his book.
Thus,
thanks to the scholarship of Captain FWL Thomas, we have evidence
suggesting that Olaf the Black lived in North Uist in the area of Cill Chaluim Cille (Kilcolmkill) in the vicinity of the burial ground at Clachan Sands and near to Tobar Chaluim Cille
, the well of St Columba’s Chapel.
(See
also - https://saintsplaces.gla.ac.uk/place.php?id=1321445695
)
In
the Sleat History or History of the MacDonalds it is recorded that
Olaf the Red, Olaf the Black’s grandfather, killed a MacNicoll in
North Uist, although it has also been suggested that it may have been
the grandson Olaf the
Black
who was responsible. Either way, we have two clues pointing to the
presence of one or both of the Olaf’s in the island during the 12th
and 13th
centuries.
Erskine
Beveridge also notes that nearby Loch Amhlasariagh
derives its name from this period:
“Loch
Aulisary; Norse, from Olafs-erg or Olaf’s shileling” (Source:
p105, as previously)
It
would therefore appear possible, perhaps even likely, that it was
Olaf the Black who had his summer residence somewhere on the shore of
this tidal lagoon which is located within the old farm of Newton and
Cheesebay, now known as the Newton Estate, and who gave his name to
the loch.
Beveridge
remarks that:
On
the north side of Portain, near Loch Aulasary, occurs a group of
three place-names, Cnoc Mòr an t-Sagairt, Cnoc Beag an t-Sagairt,
and Loch an t-Sagairt – all obviously referring to a priest, and at
least suggestive that a chapel formerly stood in that vicinity.
(Source: Beveridge, p278)
Is
this, perhaps, a further link to Olaf and the bishop (possibly
Michael)
cited in the saga?
We
shall never know for sure but it is tantalising to think that more
than 800
years ago this ‘remote’ corner of Uist was in fact sufficiently
well-connected to attract a Norse ruler and his ecclesiastical ally
to make their respective marks by leaving clues within the naming of
the landscape.
