Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

40 HISTORY OF THE WESTERN ISLANDS.
noainst Malcolm \he fourth. By this wife he had one son
called Godred, besides three natural ones, Reginald, Lag-
man, and Harold ;
together with many natural daughters,
one of whom was married toSomerlid the Lord of Argyll.
Somerlid is improperly called Thane by Scottish his-
torians : as the Thanes were lords lieutenant, or some-
thing analogous, and servants of the crown, which he
was not and could not have been. This at least appears to
have been the limitation of the term in Scotland; though,
among the Anglo-Saxons, Thein had a wider mean-
ing; being applied to military servants or soldiers in
general. This is the connexion which makes the Mac-
dougal and the Macdonald descendants of the Kings ofthe
Isles ; though there are differences of opinion respecting
the exact descent of these families from this point. That
illegitimacy was neither disgrace nor disqualification
need not be told, when William assumed the title of Bas-
tard. I may only add, that if, as has been said, the Mac-
donalds claim an Irish descent, it must still be a Norwe-
gian one, and through the intervention of Olave, himself
a Norwegian; while it is equally understood that Somer-
lid was of the same lineage. I should remark here, as
belonging to the history of lona, that Magnus had erected
a see in Mann independent of its Abbots, and that Olave
founded the monastery of Rushin.
In 1142, the three sons of Harold the brother of
Olave invaded him in his kingdom; when he was slain
at a conference, by Reginald, after a reign of forty years.
In 1143, Godred, the legitimate son of Olave, who had
been absent, returned, overcame these rebels, and, as is
said, killed them ; which must be an error. The throne
of Dublin had been held by Olave for twenty years, and
governed by a deputy, Thorfin. Godred was now invited
to that throne also, and thus became King of Dublin and