!BIOGRAPHY: Rev. Dr. Donald MacKinnon, MACLEOD CHIEFS OF HARRIS AND
DUNVEGAN, Edinburgh, The Clan MacLeod Society, 1969, pp. 5-6. Alick
Morrison, THE CHIEFS OF CLAN MACLEOD, East Kilbride, Scotland,
Associate Clan MacLeod Societies,1986, pp. 18-19.
As soon as Godred the Black died, the Islesmen chose Reginald as their
king. Their choice was probably dictated by two considerations:
(1) Olaf, the legitimate offspring of the late king, was only 10 years
old.
(2) Reginald was a man of great martial qualities, resembling the
Vikings of old.
"His chronicler proudly records that for three years he never slept
''beneath a sooty rafter''. He assigned Lodhus (comprising Lewis, Harris
and Uist) to his younger brother, Olaf, for his maintenance. The latter
was far from satisfied. He complained to King Reginald, who promptly
seized him and handed him over to William the Lion, King of Scotland. For
some reason, that monarch saw fit to imprison Olaf the Black in
Marchmont Castle for a period of seven years. On the death of King
William in December 1214, Olaf was released. He went on a three years''
pilgrimage to St. James of Compostella in the North of Spain. Thereafter
he made peace with King Reginald and settled down in his patrimony of
Lodhus. He seems to have been married, before he was imprisoned in
Scotland, to a ''lady from Kintyre'', a cousin of the Queen of Man and the
Isles. According to Canon Roderick MacLeod, Leod, progenitor of the
MacLeods, was a son of this marriage. In this particular, the Canon
departs from MacLeod traditions (e.g. the Manuscript Memorial of 1767,
the Talisker Manuscript and the Bannatyne Manuscript), which claimed
that Leod was a son of Olaf''s third marriage with Christina, daughter of
Farquhar, Earl of Ross. Some time after his return to Lodhus, Olaf
decided to marry again in 1218 to ''Jauon'' (i.e. Joan) a sister of the Queen
of Man. Reginald, the Bishop of the Isles, now took action and convening
the Synod, demanded that Olaf must divorce his wife on the ground that
she was cousin german to his first wife. Olaf complained that his first
marriage was not confirmed: Bishop Reginald was adamant: Joan had to
go. In 1222, Olaf married his third wife, Christina daughter of Farquhar,
Earl of Ross, with issue four sons, Harold Reginald, Magnus and Godfrey.
The last son died early, but the other three successively foiled their
father, as Kings of Man and the Isles.
These marriage tangles were to involve Olaf the Black in considerable
trouble. King Reginald''s wife was furious that he had divorced her
sister, Joan. She exhorted her son Godred Donn, who was then living in
Skye, to assassinate Olaf the Black. He heard of the project, probably
from Pol son of Boke (Paul MacBhaic), who was sheriff in Skye, owned
lands in Harris and was the foster father of Leod, Olaf''s son by the first
marriage. Olaf managed to escape to his powerful father-in-law,
Farquhar, Earl of Ross. After receiving assistance there and also from
Paul MacBhaic, he landed in Skye and surprised Godred Donn ''in an island
on a fresh water loch in Trotternish, in which there is a chapel and
monastery dedicated to St. Columba''. Godred Donn was barbarously
punished, though he was allowed to remain alive. The punishment was
meted out by the Sheriff of Skye and Olaf felt it was much too severe.
"In 1224, Olaf, aided by the bulk of the Sudreyans, invaded the Isle of
Man with the intention of dethroning King Reginald. Both brothers
however managed to reach agreement to divide the kingdom between
them and Olaf returned to his old residence in Lodhus. In 1225, however,
Reginald assisted by Allan, Lord of Galloway, tried to dispossess Olaf
but far from being successful, he only incurred the displeasure of the
inhabitants of Man. Now Olaf again invaded Man and in 1226 drove King
Reginald out of the island, and became sole ruler. Reginald however
returned, but on February 7th, 1228, he was finally defeated and slain in
the Isle of Man, at Tynwald Hill."