Echmarcach mac Ragnaill

Echmarcach mac Ragnaill was the Gall-Gaidhel King of the Isles, Dublin (1036–1038 & 1046–1052), and much of Galloway. According to Seán Duffy he was either a grandson or great-grandson of Ivar of Waterford, but an alternative exists. Benjamin Hudson has contended Echmarcach was a grandson of Gofraid mac Arailt. In fact neither can be much supported because so little knowledge has survived.

Echmarcach's long career brought both glories and failures. In 1036 he seized the Kingship of Dublin with the assistance of Donnchad mac Briain, King of Munster, to whom his possible sister Cacht was married in 1032, and Donnchad mac Gilla Pátraic, King of Osraige and King of Leinster, possibly his first cousin. Having been expelled by Ivar Haraldsson (Imar mac Arailt), he regained the city in 1046. At his height he was the overlord of the entire Irish Sea area, controlling Dublin, Mann, the Hebrides and at least the Rhinns of Galloway. Echmarcach was expelled from Dublin in 1052, and from the Isle of Man in 1061 by Murchad mac Diarmata mac Maíl na mBó.

It is very likely that Echmarcach is Iehmarc, one of the three kings of the north-west (another was King Máel Coluim II of Scotland), who according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle submitted to Knut, King of Denmark and England.

According to Heimskringla, Echmarcach plundered in Wales with his friend, the viking Guttorm Gunnhildsson. However they started quarreling over the plunder and fought a battle at Menai Strait. Guttorm won the battle by praying to Saint Olaf and Echmarcach was killed.

References

• Duffy, Seán, "Irishmen and Islesmen in the Kingdom of Dublin and Man 1052-1171", in Ériu 43 (1992): 93–133.
• Hudson, Benjamin (2005), Viking Pirates and Christian Princes: Dynasty, Religion and Empire in the North Atlantic, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-516237-4, http://books.google.com/?id=fH0mL0m95fsC&printsec=frontcover&q= 
• Woolf, Alex (2007), From Pictland to Alba 789–1070, The New Edinburgh History of Scotland, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 0-7486-1234-5 

Regnal titles
Preceded by Sigtrygg Silkbeard	King of Dublin 1036–1038 First reign	Succeeded by Ivar Haraldsson
Preceded by Ivar Haraldsson	King of Dublin 1046–1052 Second reign	Succeeded by Murchad
Preceded by Harald II The Black	King of Mann and the Isles 1052–1061	Succeeded by Murchad
Preceded by Amlaíb mac Sitriuc ?	King of the Rhinns to 1065	Succeeded by Macc Congail ?