[note 1] Although the precise identities of his father and grandfather are uncertain, Gofraid was probably a kinsman of his royal predecessor, Echmarcach mac Ragnaill, King of Dublin and the Isles.

In 1052, for example, Echmarcach was forced from the kingdom by the Uí Chennselaig King of Leinster, Diarmait mac Maíl na mBó.

Gofraid appears to have had little independence from his Uí Briain overlord, as evidence by surviving correspondence between him, Toirdelbach, and Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury.

On one hand, it is possible that Gofraid was ejected for involving himself in the Anglo-Danish insurrection against the recently established Norman regime of the Kingdom of England.

[17] Alternately, Echmarcach could have been a member of the Meic Arailt dynasty, and a descendant of Ragnall mac Gofraid, King of the Isles.

[18] In the eleventh- and twelfth-centuries, four candidates to the high-kingship of Ireland managed to gain control of the Kingdom of Dublin, and appoint their intended heirs as its rulers.

In effect, control of this Norse-Gaelic coastal kingdom, and the exploitation of its military strength and remarkable wealth, had become a prerequisite for any Irish ruler wishing to stake a claim to the high-kingship.

[19] In 1052, Echmarcach was driven overseas from Ireland by Diarmait mac Maíl na mBó, King of Leinster, who thereupon assumed the kingship of Dublin.

[30] On Diarmait's unexpected death in 1072, Toirdelbach Ua Briain, King of Munster gained overlordship of Leinster,[31] and took control of Dublin.

[33] Although this record may be mere Uí Briain propaganda, it could instead be evidence of the Dubliners' preference for a distant overlord from Munster rather than one from neighbouring Leinster.

[50] It is further possible that these two were not only closely related to Echmarcach, but that their family also included Cacht ingen Ragnaill, wife of Donnchad mac Briain, King of Munster.

[58] At the time, Lanfranc seems to have envisioned Dublin as a metropolitan see, subject to the authority of Canterbury, but with jurisdiction over the entire Irish Church.

[69][note 2] Specifically, the Annals of Innisfallen relates that he was banished overseas by Toirdelbach, and that he died "beyond sea", having assembled a "great fleet" to come to Ireland.

[85] Unfortunately for the rebels, the uprising was quelled, largely due to the actions of Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester, and by the time Knútr's fleet reached the English coast, the revolt was utterly crushed.

[76] In fact, there may be physical evidence of Gofraid's involvement in the form of an eleventh-century longship, Skuldelev II, recovered from Roskilde Fjord in Denmark.

[99] In fact, it may be relevant that Wulfstan, who played a leading role in repelling the uprising of 1075, was a close associate of the recently consecrated Gilla Pátraic, who was in turn on good terms with Toirdelbach.

The latter is attested in 1066 by the thirteenth- to fourteenth-century Chronicle of Mann, which states that he gave sanctuary to Gofraid Crobán following the Norwegian rout at the Battle of Stamford Bridge.