Olaf The Black - in The Outer Isles, and Imprisonment

In The Outer Isles, and Imprisonment

Locations mentioned in the article. The first map shows the British Isles in relation to Iceland and Norway; the second map illustrates specific locations associated with the Crovan dynasty in England, Ireland, and Scotland; the third map is of Mann itself.

The Chronicle of Mann states that Rögnvaldr gave Óláfr possession of Lewis, which is described as an island; Lewis is in fact the northern part of the island of Lewis and Harris, which is by far the largest island in Scotland. The northern part of the island is rather flat and boggy, while the southern part, Harris, is more mountainous. The chronicle seems, however, to have conflated the northern and southern parts as it describes Óláfr's island as being mountainous and rocky, completely unsuitable for cultivation, and declares that the island's small population lived mostly by hunting and fishing. The chronicle relates that Óláfr was unable to support himself and his followers, because of his poor land, and states that he led "a sorry life".

Óláfr's time in the Isles is confirmed by several Icelandic sources which recount how, in 1202, Guðmundr Arason attempted to sail from Iceland to Norway to become consecrated as the Bishop of Hólar. These saga accounts relate how the Icelanders encountered a severe storm and were blown far off course before being forced to make landfall in the Hebrides. The island they landed upon was almost certainly Sanday, a tiny tidal island linked to its larger neighbour Canna, the westernmost of the Small Isles. According to the saga the Icelanders were pressured numerous times to pay a landing-tax to a king named Óláfr. The king encountered by the Icelanders is considered to have been Óláfr, although at this point in history the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles is not known to have encompassed the Small Isles. One possibility is that Óláfr, like the Icelanders, may have been temporarily stranded on the tidal island, and that he may have taken advantage of the storm-stricken churchmen to offset the poverty that is assigned to him by the chronicle.

The chronicle also relates that Óláfr went to Rögnvaldr, who was also living in the Hebrides, and asked him for more land. Rögnvaldr's response was, according to the chronicle, to have Óláfr seized and sent to William I, King of Scots, who kept him imprisoned for almost seven years. The chronicle states that, on the seventh year, William died and that just before his death ordered the release of all his political prisoners. William is known to have died on 4 December 1214. The chronicle relates that upon gaining his freedom, Óláfr met with Rögnvaldr on Mann, and then set out on a pilgrimage with a significant number of noblemen. Óláfr's intended destination is considered to have been the shrine of St James at Santiago de Compostela in Spain.