Diethe, Jürgen Somerled

Mythos und Wahrheit eines schottischen Königs

Rarely is there a Scottish king who is shrouded in as many myths and magical events as Somerled, whose name appears repeatedly in British history like a will-o'-the-wisp. The legendary ruler played his leading role in the diffuse island and coastal world around the Irish Sea, including the Hebrides, Argyll and Lochaber, the Isle of Man, and even Ireland. Here, the Norsemen, with changing ties to the Norwegian king, whose sovereignty was often only nominal, were the dominant power, but alongside the Scots, the Irish and even the English, who had emerged stronger from the Norman conquest, also played a role. And ultimately, Somerled, after his dramatic rise to power. The Scottish king pushed back the Norwegians and has therefore been declared the savior of Gaelic culture. Today's historiography no longer follows this view so one-sidedly, but the fact is that the once Scandinavian Hebrides are now the most important and fragile strongholds of the Gaelic language in Scotland. And Somerled is rightly considered the progenitor of several Scottish clans, foremost among them the largest and most prominent: the MacDonalds. Their family tree begins with Somerled; ancestral lines going back further are largely fantasy. There is no doubt that the name has rightly sparked curiosity, even if the web of relationships and events is extremely complicated, even in Scotland, but especially in the area around the Irish Sea, because so many threads came together there.