Somerled & the Kingdom of the Isles

Somerled emerged as a major Norse-Gaelic ruler in western Scotland during the twelfth century, building power in Argyll and the Isles through warfare, alliance and marriage. The surviving evidence for his early life is sparse, but by the middle of the century he was a significant political and military force in the western seaboard.

His campaigns brought him into conflict with the rulers of Man and with the Scottish monarchy. By the late 1150s he had become dominant across much of the Kingdom of the Isles, creating a political inheritance later divided among his descendants. He was killed in 1164 during an expedition against Malcolm IV’s kingdom at Renfrew.

Antonia Senior’s The Winter Isles makes Somerled its historical protagonist and reconstructs the poorly documented years of his rise. The broad political setting and Somerled’s historical identity are documented, while characters such as Eimhear and many private motives, conversations and incidents are fictional.