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Plunders
Downpatrick
aud is slain.
86 THi: SCANDINAVIANS, AND
BOOK ii. The cause of warfare is not stated, but " the fleet
of Ulster" had made a descent on the Danes of
Mm. invades Nortliumbcrluiid, of whom Reginald was king ; and
940.
'
Reginald, perhaps for himself, or for his brother,
Si trie, claimed the Isle of Man from the Scandi-
navians of Ulster, of whom Barid was chief.
The son of Reginald, however, remained de facto
King of Man, and in A.D. 940, he landed from
thence on the opposite coast of Ulster, the territory
of Barith, and plundered Downpatrick, " for which
deed," the "Four Masters" say, that "God and
Patrick quickly took vengeance of him, for foreigners
came across the sea, and attacked him and his
people on their island, so that the son of Raghnall,
their chief, escaped to the mainland (where), he was
killed by Madudhan, King of Ulidia, in revenge of
Patrick, before the end of a week after the plun-
dering." 1
The immediate succession of the son of Reginald
is uncertain.
Magnus or Shortly after this period, however, a king of the
^.'i>. 971. name of Maccus, or Magnus, was sovereign of Man.
The signature " Ego Maccus rex insularum "
appears
to a charter of King Edgar in 966. This charter,
however, is alleged to be a forgery; 2
of " Maccusius Archipirata "
Dabhall (Blackwater), and over
Airghialla to Loch Erne, and Loch
Uachtair. Ann. 4 Mast.
i Ann. 4 Mast., A.D. 940. The
foreigners O
here mentioned were
probably from the fleet of King
Eric, son of Ilarald Gocfeld, who
had loft Norlhuuiberland in A.D.
appears
but the signature
to a charter of
947, "on a Vikingr cruise to the
westward," and had visited the
Orkneys, Hebrides, and isles of
Scotland, before he steered for
Ireland.
2 Codex Diplomatics Anglo
Saxouieus, vol. ii., p. 412. J. T.
Kcmble.