Lagmann mac Gofraid
According one source, both men lent assistance to Knútr, son of Sveinn Haraldsson, King of Denmark, although it is possible that this account actually refers to Óláfr's campaigning in England several years beforehand.
[13] Corroboration that there was indeed a contemporaneous potentate from the Isles who bore the name is preserved by the fifteenth- to sixteenth-century Annals of Ulster and the eleventh- or twelfth-century Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib.
These sources reveal that a prominent Islesmen named Amlaíb, described as the son of Lagmann mac Gofraid, fought and died at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014.
[21][note 3] It is possible that a record of this ravaging of Dol—and the unidentified coastal site of Hringsfjǫrðr—is preserved by Víkingarvísur, a piece of contemporary praise poetry composed by Sigvatr Þórðarson, extolling battles fought by Óláfr in England, Scandinavia, and on the Continent.
[21][note 4] The accounts of Lagmann and Óláfr suggest that they were sea-kings, the royal commanders of Viking fleets that sought out plunder, mercantile wealth, and mercenarial employment.
If correct, Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig, High King of Ireland could have seized upon Ragnall's demise and forced Lagmann from the Isles in an attempt to wrest control of realm for himself.
[35] If Lagmann and his son died at about the same time, the lack of a suitable native candidate to succeed as King of the Isles may account for the record of the region falling under the control of the Norwegian Hákon Eiríksson.
[37] The tenth- or eleventh-century Gesta Normannorum alleges that the dukes of Normandy were associated with people variably identified in Latin as the Hibernenses—a term that ostensibly refers to the Irish.
[43] Although this particular passage purports to describe events in the late tenth-century, it is evident that the source is heavily influenced by the realities of the early eleventh century.
[45] Together, this pact and Gesta Normannorum, may indicate that Richard I was associated with leading figures in the Irish Sea region, such as Lagmann's father and uncle, Maccus mac Arailt.
