[note 1] As a younger son of Guðrøðr Crovan, King of Dublin and the Isles, Óláfr witnessed a vicious power struggle between his elder brothers in the aftermath of their father's death.

The Isles—an archipelagic region roughly incorporating the Hebrides and Mann—was ruled by Guðrøðr Crovan for over two decades until his death in 1095, whereupon his eldest son Lǫgmaðr assumed control.

Warring soon broke out between factions supporting Lǫgmaðr's younger brother Haraldr, which led to the intervention and encroachment of Irish power into the region.

Not long after his marriage to Affraic, one of Óláfr's daughters married Somairle mac Gilla Brigte, Lord of Argyll, an emerging power in the region.

Apparently unable to overthrow Lǫgmaðr on their own, the dissidents turned to Muirchertach, whose recent conquest of Dublin gave him control of that realm's dominating naval forces.

Although Magnúss saga berfœtts, within the thirteenth century Heimskringla, places this particular episode in the context of Norwegian conquest, it is likely that Magnús had merely assumed the same protector role that Óláfr's father had once filled with Gruffudd ap Cynan, King of Gwynedd.

[74][note 3] If the Chronicle of Mann is to be believed, at one point in his career Lǫgmaðr repented the cruelty that he had inflicted upon Haraldr, and remorsefully resigned his kingdom before setting off to Jerusalem where he died.

[79] On the other hand, since the chronicle was compiled in the thirteenth century, during a period when the idea of a cross-bearing pilgrim was well established, it is possible that this depiction of Lǫgmaðr has been contaminated by anachronistic conceptions.

[87] Another possibility is that Lǫgmaðr regained some form of control in the Isles following Magnús' death, and afterwards joined Sigurðr's expedition to Holy Land in the first decade of the twelfth century.

[115] Domnall may have been driven out of the Isles by force,[116] or he could have been drawn back to Ireland in an attempt to capitalise upon his uncle's failing health and fleeting authority.

Although the English and Scottish kings were certainly at odds over Cumbria at about this time, it is likely that they would have cooperated to combat the extension of Uí Briain and Meic Lochlainn influence in the Isles.

[134][note 11] The marital alliance forged between Óláfr and Fergus gave the Crovan dynasty valuable familial-connections with the English king, one of the most powerful rulers in western Europe.

[148] During this period, David's authority extended southwards along the Cumbrian coast through Copeland, Furness, into Stephen's former honour of Lancaster, thereby making him a principal power in the northern Irish Sea region.

The result of this shift may be alluded to by the chronicle which states that Óláfr held peaceful alliances with Irish and Scottish kings so that none "dared disturbed" the Kingdom of the Isles.

[175] Óláfr's interest in religious reform is alluded to by the Chronicle of Mann, which declares: "he was devout and enthusiastic in matters of religion and was welcome both to God and men".

[196][note 19] During his tenure as archbishop (1114–1140), Thurstan was a proponent of ecclesiastical reform in northern England, and there is reason to suspect that he played an active role in Óláfr's foundation.

[208] Although a twelfth-century chronicle of the ecclesiastical history of York states that Wimund professed obedience to Thomas, this archbishop's early tenure (1109–1114) suggests he has been confused with Thurstan.

[221] According to Robert de Torigni's Chronica[222] and the thirteenth-century Wendover version Flores historiarum, Henry Murdac consecrated John, a Benedictine monk from Normandy, as Bishop of the Isles in 1152.

[227] As a result of Óláfr's inability to have Nicholas formally consecrated, and his refusal to accept John as bishop, the episcopal see of the Isles appears to have been vacant at the same time of Dublin's ecclesiastical ascendancy.

[231] Certainly, Guðrøðr's stay in Norway coincided with the Scandinavian visit of the papal legate Nicholas Breakspeare, Cardinal-Bishop of Albano,[232] a man who had been tasked to create Norwegian and Swedish ecclesiastical provinces in order to further extend the papacy's authority into the northern European periphery.

[257] Even in the immediate aftermath of Óláfr's demise, the Chronicle of Mann reveals that the chieftains of the Isles (principes insularum) gathered together and unanimously elected Guðrøðr as king.

[260][note 23] Óláfr styled himself rex insularum,[261] a Latin equivalent of a Gaelic title first accorded to his 10th century predecessor, Guðrøðr Haraldsson, King of the Isles.

[269] According to Hebridean tradition preserved by the seventeenth-century Sleat History, he was aided by Somairle in military operations (otherwise unrecorded in contemporary sources) against the "ancient Danes north of Ardnamurchan".

[276] The installation of Gilla Aldan as Bishop of Whithorn, in the third decade of the twelfth century, may mark the date when the Rhinns finally separated from the Kingdom of the Isles.

[277] Although support from the rulers of Galloway and Scotland may well have strengthened Óláfr's position in the Isles,[278] and the chronicle portrays his reign as one of peacefulness,[279] other sources vaguely recount the mainland depredations wrought by Wimund.

After hearing the demands of these men—that half of the kingdom should be handed over to them—a formal council was convened in which one of the Haraldssonar—a man named Rǫgnvaldr—approached Óláfr, raised his axe as if to salute the king, and decapitated him in a single stroke.

[296] Once in control of Mann, the chronicle reveals that the men fortified themselves against forces loyal to Guðrøðr, the kingdom's legitimate heir, by launching a preemptive strike against his maternal grandfather, Fergus.

[299] Additionally, the account of incessant inter-dynastic strife amongst the ruling family of Galloway, recorded in the twelfth-century Vita Ailredi, suggests that Fergus may have struggled to maintain control of his lordship by the mid 1150s, and may also explain his failure to come to Guðrøðr's aid following Óláfr's death.

The dynastic challenges faced by Malcolm, and the ebb of Scottish influence in the Isles, may partly account for Guðrøðr's success in consolidating control of the kingdom, and may be perceptible in the seemingly more aggressive policy he pursued as king in comparison to his father.

[310] Although the burial place of Óláfr is unrecorded and unknown, by the second quarter of the thirteenth century Rushen Abbey appears to have filled the role of royal mausoleum for the Crovan dynasty.