UNIVERSITY 
 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 AN 
 
 HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL 
 
 ACCOUNT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ISLE OF MAN, 
 
 FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT DATE; 
 
 WITH A VIKW OF ITS 
 
 ANCIENT LAWS, PECULIAR CUSTOMS, AND 
 POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 
 
 BY JOSEPH TBAIN, F.S.A. Scot. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 DOUGLAS, ISLE OF MAX : 
 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY MARY A. QUIGGIN, NORTH QUAY; 
 
 LONDON, SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., STATIONERS' HALL COURT 
 
 LIVERPOOL, CHEGVVIN & HALL, AND G. PHILIP 
 
 GLASGOW, J. LUMSDEN & SON. 
 
 MDCcdxLV.
 
 ' • • » • ♦
 
 
 
 v. I 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 X 
 
 ^ 
 
 A distinct historical relation of the many revolutions 
 of which the Isle of Man has been the theatre, and of its 
 civil and ecclesiastical establishments in olden times, 
 would, in the opinion of an eminent writer of the last 
 century, be " a curious, entertaining, and instructive 
 work ;" ' but its early history is involved in darkness, 2 
 " and to illustrate it would require much time and 
 trouble." 3 
 
 In a pursuit so publicly abandoned by the indefatigable 
 Lord Hails and by Toland, the learned antiquary, Mac- 
 culloch and other eminent writers deemed further inquiry 
 hopeless. 4 But Sir Walter Scott entertained a different 
 opinion. In 1810, he called the attention of his brother 
 Thomas, receiver-general of the insular customs, 5 towards 
 ^- writing a history of the Isle of Man ; e but fortuitous 
 ^ circumstances occurred which prevented the execution 
 of that design. At a subsequent period, Sir Walter 
 strongly directed my views to the same subject, with the 
 
 1 Campbell's Political Survey of Great Britain, Dublin edition, 1 775, vol. ii, p. 530. 
 
 2 Toland' s History of the Druids, London, 1726, p. 64. 
 
 3 Lord Hails' Annals of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1772. vol. i, p. 48. 
 
 4 Description of Western Isles of Scotland, Loudon, 1824, vol. iii, p. 29. 
 
 5 Quayle's General View of Agriculture in the Isle of Man, London edition, p. 146. 
 G Lockhart's Memoir of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, edition 1837, 1838, vol. 
 
 ii, chap. ix. Thomas Scott, was ' ' now engaged in the peaceful occupation of collect- 
 ing materials for a history of the Isle of Man, to which his brother had strongly 
 directed his views." 
 
 rwv./.^^*- '
 
 ii HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 most friendly assurance that he would render me any 
 assistance which I might require in prosecuting the 
 undertaking. He at the same time made me a present of 
 an old work on the subject, and placed his valuable library 
 at my service, in following out the inquiry necessary to 
 the accomplishment of the work. 
 
 I assented — but my professional duty as supervisor over 
 an extensive district occupied my time so exclusively, that 
 ere I had it in my power to avail myself of the assistance 
 of my illustrious friend, he was no more. On the occur- 
 rence of that mournful event, my gleanings were in a great 
 measure laid aside, nor was it until I had at my own 
 solicitation been placed on what is called the " Retired 
 Revenue List," that in order to while away my leisure 
 hours, I assumed the task of arranging the materials which 
 I had previously collected. But I am aware how imper- 
 fectly this has been accomplished, when compared with 
 what the work would have been, had it been subjected to 
 the pruning hand of the great master under whose auspices 
 it was commenced. 
 
 Amid the changes which took place in the affairs of the 
 tiny monarchy of Man, from the tenth down to the fifteenth 
 century, it is highly probable that the land was held only 
 by the power of the sword, or by charter horns 1 or charter 
 
 1 From a period prior to the Norman conquest, it was customary to transfer 
 inheritances solely by the gift of some implement which was known to have belonged 
 to the granter. Ingulph, abbott of Croyland, states that in the conqueror's time, 
 the implements usually given in lieu of a charter were the sword, helmet, or horn of 
 the lord or donor. Hence originated the charter horns, so frequently mentioned by 
 old writers. The horn now preserved in the vestry of the church of York, was given 
 by Ulphus, "in token of his bestowing on God and St. Peter all his lands and 
 tenements." The pusey horn was given by King Canute, as a charter for the village 
 of the same name. " It was by the gift of a horn from Henry II of England, in 1177, 
 that the Earl of Ormond held his lands in Ireland." Charter stones were equally
 
 INTRODUCTION. Ill 
 
 o 
 
 stones, and that the records of the transactions during 
 that time, were neither numerous nor accurately kept. 
 That some valuable records, however, have been lost, 
 may be reasonably supposed. Kissack O'Hutcheon, sector 
 of Kells, was drowned on his voyage to Ireland, with the 
 Cabhier or " Book of the Battles," ' and other manuscripts, 
 which, had they been preserved, would probably have done 
 much to elucidate the history of the Hebrides at large. 
 
 Other misfortunes are said to have befallen the archives 
 of the Island at a subsequent period. Reginald, who was 
 slain by the knight Ivar, a.d. 1249, left a daughter named 
 Mary, who, to escape the troubles in Man which followed 
 the death of her father, was secretly conveyed by her 
 friends to England, " with all the public deeds and charters 
 of the Island." 2 By another author, it is stated that the 
 most ancient records of the Island were removed in 1292 
 to Drontheim, once the capital of Norway, by Maude, a 
 princess of the ancient race, where they were subsequently 
 destroyed by fire, and that the few records which remained 
 in the Island at the commencement of the civil wars, 
 were carried away by Charlotte, countess of Derby. 3 
 
 In confirmation of the records of the Island having been 
 carried to Norway, Waldron adds, that a Mr. Stevenson, 
 an eminent merchant of Dublin, offered the bishop of 
 
 common. King Robert Bruce " gave a blue stone as a charter of the Leper's Estab- 
 lishment of King's Case, near the town of Ayr." The battle for the charter stone 
 of Old Daily, in Carricks, is recorded by Sir Walter Scott. The charter stone of 
 Dabry, in Galloway, is still carefully preserved ; and the charter stone of Inverness 
 is kept at the market-place of that town, hooped with iron. " While the famous 
 marble chair was allowed to remain at Scoon, it was considered as the charter stone 
 of Scotland." 
 
 1 Annals of Ulster .• Maclean's Historical Account of Iona, p. 74. Whether it u 
 Kells in Galloway that is here alluded to, or Kells in East Meath, is uncertain. 
 
 - Seacome's History of the House of Stanley, Liverpool, 1741, p. 535. 
 
 3 Johnstone's Jurisprudence of the Isle of Man, Edinburgh, 1811, p. 5.
 
 IV HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 Drontheim a large sum of money for those documents, 
 with a view of presenting them to the inhabitants of the 
 Isle of Man ; but the bishop would not part with them 
 on any terms. 1 If the ancient charters and records of the 
 kingdom of the Isles, of which Man was the capital, were 
 kept at Iona, as asserted by Dr. Jamieson, 2 and were con- 
 veyed from thence to Aberdeen, about the year 1500, in 
 order to be examined by Hector Boetius, the celebrated 
 Scottish historian, they consequently could not have been 
 carried away by the princess Maude in 1292, or by the 
 Norwegians, who were finally expelled from the Isles 
 upwards of two centuries before the time mentioned by 
 Dr. Jamieson. We are left, therefore, in doubt, as to any 
 such documents ever having been deposited at Drontheim. 
 The ancient records and charters of Galloway too, 
 according to popular complaint, were either carried off 
 or destroyed by the Douglases, when lords of that pro- 
 vince. Perhaps it would be more to the purpose in both 
 instances, to suppose that there was little either to carry 
 away or destroy. 3 The great proprietors of the Western 
 Highlands of Scotland, and of the Out-Isles, enjoyed their 
 lands allodially under their Gaelic customs, until David II, 
 in order to secure their allegiance, obliged them to take 
 charters from him. Sir John Stanley, nearly a century 
 afterwards, was the first to call upon the Manks for a 
 similar purpose ; and from the opposition which was raised 
 to that measure, it may be confidently inferred that the 
 fiefs of the ancient kingdom of the Isles were similar 
 throughout. 4 
 
 i Waldron's Description of the Isle of Man, London, 1731, p. 96. 
 8 Jamieson' 's Historical Account of the Ancient Culdees, cap. xiv. 
 3 Chalmer's Caledonia, vol. iii, p. 379. 
 * Fordun, lxiv, cap. xxxiv ; Hail's Annals, vol. ii, p. 266.
 
 INTRODUCTION. V 
 
 There are no landrights, such as precepts of seisin, pro- 
 curatories of resignation, or any records of the proceedings 
 of either the civil ' or ecclesiastical councils of the Island 
 to be found, anterior to the commencement of the reign of 
 the Stanley family ; and the oldest parochial register is that 
 of Ballaugh, which commences in 1598. Perhaps the 
 oldest document relating to the Island now extant, is an 
 account of the ancient church lands, found by the Rev. 
 James Johnstone, chaplain to the British envoy at the 
 court of Denmark, in 1786, in the library of the king of 
 Denmark, and published by him in his work entitled 
 Celto Normanicce? 
 
 A Chronicle of the Kings of Man, from a.d. 1066, to 
 a.d. 1266, was published by Camden in 1586, and is sup- 
 posed by that author to have been written by the monks 
 of Rushen. 3 But the ignorance manifested in that work, 
 even of events which happened in Man, and which are 
 circumstantially and clearly narrated in the Norse Sagas, 
 and in the Irish Annals, induces the editor of the Celto 
 Normanicce to infer that the Chronicles of the Kings of 
 Man is of no northern origin. 
 
 Johnston 4 has detected several palpable errors in the 
 dates of events in the Chronicles of the Kings of Man ; but 
 
 1 Even in Britain there is scarcely a landright to be found of a more ancient date 
 than 1300. A lease taken by Chaucer the poet, is one of the oldest upon record. 
 It is dated on Christmas day, 1399. This document is a lease of a garden adjoining 
 St. Mary's Chapel, London, from Robert Hermodesworth, chaplain, in favour of 
 Geoffry Chaucer, for fifty-three years, at a yearly rent of fifty-three shillings and 
 fourpence, in case the tenant should live so long, with power to distrain for a fort- 
 night's arrears. — Borthwick's British Antiquities, Edinburgh, 1776, p. 24. 
 
 2 See vol. ii, p. 62, Ancient Limitation of Church Lands. 
 
 3 Mr. Gregory was author of the History of the Western Islands and Isles of 
 Scotland from 1493 to 1625, with a brief sketch from a.d. 80 to 1493, Bvo., Edin- 
 burgh, 1836. 
 
 4 Mr. Gough, in bis edition of Camden, three vols, folio, 1789. prefers Mr. 
 Camden's copy of the Chronicles of the Kings of Man, to that published in 17S7 by
 
 vi HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 many others escaped his notice, which were first pointed 
 out to me by the late eminent antiquary, Donald Gre- 
 gory, secretary to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 
 and by the kindness of William Forbes Skene, Esquire, 
 his successor in that office, who, in the course of collect- 
 ing materials for his valuable work entitled The High- 
 landers of Scotland, 1 has become, perhaps, more conversant 
 with ancient Irish, and Scandinavian literature, than 
 any other writer of the present day. I have been enabled 
 to give in the course of this history, from documents of 
 unquestionable authority, a more correct chronology of 
 the kings of Man, than has hitherto appeared, particularly 
 from the accession of Goddard Crovan to the death of 
 Godred, the son of Olave Kleining. 
 
 There appears, however, some reason to apprehend, that 
 prior to the conquest of Goddard Crovan, the succession 
 of the Danish Vikingr in the sovereignty of Man, is not 
 yet exactly known. There is preserved in the Castle 
 of Dunvegan, in Skye, a drinking cup of the most ancient 
 and curious workmanship. Around the edge is a legend, 
 perfectly legible in Saxon black letter, which runs thus :-r- 
 
 "m*-. gWjfe: mfl>: II fHgn: grtnctpte: Dc: fcr : flJanae: 
 
 Uid) : || Hiaijta : flUgvmicit : || et Spat : ©o : 3tyu : Sa : || Ctea : 
 Moru : ©pa: || dfccitf Stao: Mi: fir: || 93o : (©mli: <©imt: ||." 
 
 Translated thus : 
 
 " Ufo, the son of John, the son of Magnus, Prince of the land of Mann, the 
 grandson of Liahta Macgryneil ; and he trusts in the Lord Jesus, that mercy will be 
 shown unto him on account of their works. Oneil Oiini made this in the year of our 
 Lord 993." 
 
 Mr. Johnstone, from a fine old i\TS. on vellum in the Cottonian library, marked Julius 
 A. VII, 3, because in the former the dates are all right in the original, whereas in 
 the Utter they are made so by the editor in his margin. — Gough's Camden, vol. iii, 
 p. 700. 
 
 1 Published by Murray, London, 1830. 
 
 \
 
 INTRODUCTION. Vll 
 
 This legend Joes not agree with history. 1 I am not aware 
 of their having been a Magnus, prince of Man, before 
 Magnus Barefoot, and he did not arrive in Man for a 
 century after the date of the cup. Magnus had four sons, 
 and as many grandsons ; but the name of John, or of Ufo, 
 does not appear in the list. 2 It is thus evident that he is 
 not the Magnus referred to on the cup ; and Magnus II 
 did not ascend the throne of Man till 1252. I am more 
 inclined to believe that the history of the Isles is defective, 
 than that the cup is not what the legend imports it to be. 
 But as this is merely a matter of opinion, I must leave it 
 to some future antiquary to decide upon a more certain 
 basis. 
 
 I found another puzzle in a document of considerable 
 antiquity, descriptive of the historical transactions of the 
 ancient inhabitants of Man — a metrical account of the 
 Island, written in Manks, from the earliest period to the 
 landing of Thomas, Earl of Derby in the Island, which 
 the author appears to have witnessed. 3 This was in 
 striving to ascertain the true meaning of the words 
 ".Quinney and Quayle," which occur in the first line of 
 the twenty-fifth verse of that document. According to 
 
 1 This very curious piece of antiquity is nine inches inside depth, and ten and a 
 half inches outside, the extreme measure over the lips being four inches and a half. 
 It is made of wood, most curiously wrought and embossed with silver work which 
 projects from the vessel. The family tradition bears that it was the property of Neil 
 Ghlune-dhu or Blacknee. But who this Neil was no one pretends to say. — Sir 
 Walter Scott's Lord of the Isles, note to canto ii. It is rather singular that neither 
 Sir Walter Scott nor the possessor of the ancient cup, Mac. Leod, of Mac. Leod, 
 the chief of an ancient and powerful clan, should not have been aware that Neil 
 Ghlunedbh was king of Ireland, and was slain near Dublin fighting against the 
 Danes. — See Ware's Antiquities of Ireland, DubliD, edition 1705, p. 61; and 
 0' Donovan's Translation of the Annals of the Four Masters. 
 
 2 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, London, 1736, folio, table 590. 
 
 3 Literal Translation of the Metrical History of the Me of Man — see appendix 
 to chapter ii, note i, p. 50.
 
 Vlll HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 the Rev. J. E. Harrison, vicar of Jurby, one of the best 
 Manks scholars of the age, but whose opinion I have only 
 learnt since this article was in type, these words have 
 not been translated by Mr. Curphey ; otherwise, that line 
 should have been rendered : — 
 
 " Then came the House of Keys and then came courts." 
 
 Quinney being an old Manks name for the House of Keys, 
 and Quayle for courts. 
 
 This little work remained upwards of three centuries 
 in manuscript ; and it was not until after it fell into my 
 possession that it was translated into English on my 
 account, by Mr. Thomas Curphey, of Kirk Braddan. It 
 contains information, so far as I am aware, not to be 
 found elsewhere. 
 
 I caused, also, about three hundred proverbs to be 
 translated from the Manks language into English, expect- 
 ing to discover some specimens of ancient aphoristic wis- 
 dom relating either to historical incident, local customs, 
 or sententious maxims ; but the Islanders seem to have 
 no indigenous aphorisms or apothegms that are not also 
 the common property of other countries. 
 
 In imitation of the practice of the Druids, the laws of 
 the Island were locked up in the breasts of the Deemsters, 
 until, by command of Sir John Stanley, they were pro- 
 mulgated on the Tynwald Hill in 1417, after which they 
 continued to be committed to writing. About the end of 
 the seventeenth century, the statute laws and ancient 
 ordinances of the Island were transcribed from the liber 
 placitorum, liber scaccarii, liber cancellarius, book of 
 customary law, and other original records preserved in the 
 Castle of Rushen, and from the episcopal registers of the 
 diocese, in the possession of the archbishop of York, by
 
 INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 John Parr, one of the deemsters of the Island, from 1695 
 to 1712, alphabeticallyarranged for his private convenience 
 as a judge. This manuscript volume in folio, was pre- 
 sented in the year 1745, by a Mr. William Curphcy to 
 Matthias Christian, Esq., member of the House of Keys, 
 and subsequently became the property of Mr. Alexander 
 M'Clure, who was comptroller at Peel, from 1811 to 1814. 
 Mr. M'Clure was a native of Galloway, and after his death 
 the Parr manuscript fell into the hands of David Niven, 
 Esq., one of the magistrates of the burgh of Kirkcudbright, 
 from whom I received this invaluable record in the year 
 1830. 
 
 That the manners and customs of the people of the Isle 
 of Man were different from all others in Europe, is mani- 
 fested in the peculiarities of their ancient laws, 1 is abun- 
 dantly evident from this singular volume. 
 
 A small abridgement of the insular laws was for the 
 first time printed in the year 1792, and in 1797 "an 
 attempt was made to publish the statutes at large, but 
 this work was found to be so imperfect and mutilated" 
 that in 1819 what was supposed to be a complete edition 
 of the Lex Scripta of the Island was published at Douglas, 
 by the authority and under the patronage of the Governor, 
 Council, and House of Keys. 2 In collating this, however, 
 with the transcript of the ancient laws, made by Deemster 
 Parr, I find the authorised edition very defective, many 
 of the old statutes being wholly omitted and others given 
 only in a mutilated form. Where I have found such to 
 be the case, I have, in the course of the following sheets, 
 frequently quoted from or referred to the manuscript 
 
 ^ Waldron's Description of the Isle of Man, London, 1731, p. 160. 
 See the dedication of Mr. Jefferson, the editor and publisher of the Lex Senptn 
 of the Isle of Man, to John. Duke of Atholl, p. 3, Douglas, edition 1819.
 
 X HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 volume of Deemster Parr. Without this explanation, it 
 might have been asked why I quoted from a manuscript 
 in preference to a printed copy of the laws, or how I had 
 obtained access to ancient records that have hitherto been 
 out of the reach of every other author ? An improved 
 edition of the Manks laws, entitled the Ancient Ordinan- 
 ces and Statute Laws of the Isle of Man, was published by 
 Mr. M. A. Mills, in 1821. 
 
 Under the influence of circumstances arising out of the 
 secluded situation and political relations of the Isle of 
 Man, many peculiar enactments became necessary for the 
 governance of the people, though the ancient fabric of 
 " Customary Law" has been modernised considerably 
 since the revestment of the Island in the crown of Great 
 Britain, it yet retains marks of having been originally 
 founded under the strictest influence of feudal principles. 1 
 From these ancient laws many extracts may be found in 
 the following pages, generally in the words and ortho- 
 graphy of the statute, or if abbreviated, only to omit such 
 redundancies as tended either to retard or cloud the sig- 
 nification. The same occurs generally with quotations 
 from old authors. 
 
 The secluded situation of the Isle of Man has also led 
 to the continuance of ancient customs 2 and of superstitious 
 
 1 In the spring of 1812, the fodder jury of the parish of Onchan sold part of 
 a farmer's stock, he having, as they supposed, more cattle than he had means to 
 support. — See vol. ii, p. 242. 
 
 ; On the 5th June, 1818, the execution of Robert Kewley, for sheep stealing, was 
 to take place at Hango hill, at twelve o'clock, noon ; but an hour before that time, 
 the captain of each of the seventeen parishes of the Island, accompanied respectively 
 by four mounted javelin men, well accoutred and dressed in their uniform of blue and 
 red, assembled on the parade at Castletown, and thence rode to the place of execution, 
 where they formed a large circle round the gallows to keep off the crowd. When 
 the prisoner, preceeded by the constituted authorities, and guarded by the military, 
 arrived, the javelin men nearest the town fell back to right and left, and permitted 
 'he melancholy procession to enter the circle.— hie of Man Weekly Gazette of 11th
 
 INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 observances 1 that have ceased to be attended to in other 
 countries, where similar notions of supernatural agency 
 once prevailed. 
 
 It is vain to look for the manners and customs of a 
 people in the halls of the great or in the schools of the 
 learned, the existing state of society is generally to be 
 found most accurately pourtrayed in what is termed the 
 middle walks of life ; but he who wishes to witness the 
 olden usages of the natives of Mona, will rarely find them 
 in the towns and villages along the coast. He must look 
 for them in the uplands and there he will not be dis- 
 appointed. He who is prone to treat with levity all 
 stories in which supernatural agency is employed and to 
 look to real operative causes only for the explanation of 
 events, may justly wonder how rational beings can be 
 actuated by such absurd fancies as he will find collected 
 in the eighteenth chapter of this work. But the customs 
 of a people cannot be studied without acquiring some use- 
 ful knowledge of mankind ; even wisdom may be extracted 
 from the follies and superstitions of our fathers : — 2 
 
 " All nations have their omens drear, 
 Their legends wild of woe and fear." 
 
 In a work purporting to be a general history of the 
 
 June, 1818. A body of mounted javelin men on duty in the nineteenth century, was 
 certainly a novel spectacle. These parochial horsemen formed the body-guard of the 
 sovereign prince and lord of Man, from the earliest times to the last progress of the 
 duke of Atholl to the Tynwald Hill.— See vol. ii of this Work, p. 191. By a com- 
 munication received in answer to a letter soliciting information on this subject from 
 Mr. Robert Fargher, of Douglas, whose grandfather was captain of the parish of 
 Maughold, it appears that to attend the execution of Kewley was the last time the 
 javelin men were called upon to act in a public capacity. For a singular circumstance 
 attending the execution of Kewley, see vol. ii, p. 216. 
 
 1 A trial for witchcraft took place in the parish of Marown, in January, 1811.— 
 See vol ii, pp. 168, 169, 170. 
 
 2 Brand's General Preface to Bourne's Antiqu.Uatcs Vulgares, p. ix. 
 
 3 Marmion, introduction to canto vi. 
 
 f
 
 Xll HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 Island, some account of the popular superstitions of the 
 people could not with propriety have been wholly over- 
 looked. Waldron, from whose work I have extracted 
 many stories of supernatural appearances, says : — " For 
 my own part, I shall not pretend to determine if such 
 appearances have any reality or are only the effect of 
 imagination, I shall leave the point to be discussed by 
 those who have made it more their study." 1 
 
 In the public records of the Island and in other 
 orio-inal documents, I have found the names and transac- 
 tions of several Bishops of Sodor and Man, not mentioned 
 in the works either of Le Nevi or Keith, these prelates I 
 have now brought before the public in chronological order, 
 although this may be considered by many like carviDg 
 portraits on a cherry stone, or in other words as labour 
 thrown away, the names of most of the dignitaries of the 
 Manks church having outlived their good actions. The 
 ancient canons of the Manks church, and several grants 
 and charters relating to the Island, are for the first time 
 presented to the English reader. 2 
 
 A judicious recital of events, where the historian is 
 bewildered in his way by a partial glimmering of imper- 
 fect records, is peculiarly difficult. He can merely judge 
 of the reality of events by tracing back effects to their 
 causes. Thus in the Chronicles of Man, the transactions 
 of the kings appear often motiveless and disjointed : by 
 referring, however, to many other sources of authentic 
 information, I have succeeded in concentrating in this 
 work fragments and incidental notices of Manks history, 
 
 1 Description of the Isle of Man, folios 138, 139. 
 
 2 Most of these unique manuscripts being deposited in King William's College at 
 Castletown, were unfortunately destroyed by fire on the 14th of January, 1844. — 
 See vol. ii, p. 255.
 
 INTRODUCTION. Xlll 
 
 which were hitherto to be found only scattered in the 
 annals of other countries. My historical researches have 
 enabled me also to fill up for the first time, a blank of 
 four centuries in the chronology of the kings of Man; and 
 in describing the sovereign authority exercised during that 
 period in Man by the Princes of North Wales, for which 
 I have not been indebted to the Hen- Welley or to the 
 Cambrian Legends, although they bear much on the point, 
 I preferred rather the testimony of ancient authors, so 
 that I may appropriately, in the words of Chaucer say, 
 
 " Oute of olde fieldes, as men sayethe, 
 
 Come alle newe corns frome yeare to yeare ; 
 Ande oute of olde bookes, in gude faithe, 
 Come alle newe things upgathered here." 
 
 And I may here remark, that the works I have quoted, 
 are few in number as compared with others I have perused, 
 in prosecution of my gathering in of Manks history. 
 
 Several interesting sketches of passing events in the 
 Isle of Man, have hitherto been given to the public ; but 
 these little productions being in general designed as guides 
 to tourists, the authors have confined themselves to de- 
 picting with care the existing objects and local incidents 
 most likely to attract the notice of the visitor, without 
 enquiring into the real history of the Island. A few 
 among them, who have given a preponderance to the latter 
 subject, have tacitly contented themselves with the con- 
 tributions of Meyrick and Wilson, to the works of Cam- 
 den and Gibson, devoting themselves to those subsidiary 
 enquiries. They have made no further investigation. 
 
 In the course of my researches for the compilation of 
 this work, I have experienced kindness which I cannot 
 allow to pass unacknowledged here. For the opportunity 
 afforded me of consulting many rare manuscripts and
 
 xiv HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 scarce books, my gratitude is particularly due to the 
 council of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland ; and to 
 William Forbes Skene, Esq., their secretary, I offer my 
 best thanks for the deep research made by him at my 
 solicitation, for incidents connected with Manks history 
 in the annals of the ancient Irish, and in the northern 
 Sagas. 
 
 I remember with feelings of pleasure, the affability of 
 John M'Hutchin, Esq., clerk of the rolls in the Isle of 
 Man, in frankly permitting me to examine and make 
 extracts from the archives deposited in the castle of 
 Rushen ; and I feel myself deeply indebted also to the 
 other gentlemen of the Isle of Man, whom I have specially 
 mentioned in course of the work. For the research which 
 he made at my request, in the library of the University 
 of Cambridge, I express my gratitude to J. Lodge, Esq., 
 of Magdalene College. To William Dobie, Esq., of 
 Grangevale, near Beith, in Ayrshire, my thanks are due 
 for the many copious materials which he liberally placed 
 at my disposal, and for the number of scarce books with 
 which he favoured me. 
 
 Having thus adverted to the various points necessary 
 to explain the ground on which this history was compiled, 
 it is highly gratifying to me to add the favourable opinion 
 given by the gentlemen of the Manks press,* of such parts 
 of the work as have been already published. 
 
 Loch vale Cottage, Castle Douglas, 
 July, 1845. 
 
 * Appendix, Note i, " Opinions of the Manks Press."
 
 INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 APPENDIX. — Introduction. 
 
 NOTE I.— Page xiv. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE MANKS PRESS. 
 
 " A well-written, impartial history of the Isle of Man, has, for a long time, been 
 considered as a desideratum ; only scanty scraps of information can be obtained 
 respecting the inhabitants of by-gone days. Authentic documents are scarce, and 
 very difficult to be obtained. Much of what has been given as the history of early 
 times, is evidently fabulous. Many things are only conjectural, and others are 
 garbled statements, to suit the purposes of tourists and guide writers ; but we have 
 no clear devclopement of principles — no faithful delineation of the characters of the 
 people — the way in which they are employed, and their peculiar customs. Mr. 
 Joseph Train, a member of the Antiquarian Society of Scotland, has come forward 
 to supply the deficiency ; and, if we may judge from the numerous authorities to 
 which he refers, there must have been great diligence used in his researches to procure 
 materials ; that he must have availed himself of every source whence he could gain 
 correct information ; and that it must have cost much time and labour to have pre- 
 pared these two volumes for the press." — Manxman, August 11, 1842. 
 
 " Mr. Train, a Scotchman, has prepared for the press a History of the Island, in 
 two volumes, and the first part is nowbefore us, containing the history of the Island from 
 a.d. 517 until 1637. We have carefully examined this part, and must pronounce it 
 to be a work of great research and labour, and as far as we are competent to judge, 
 is impartial. As the remaining parts are likely to be more interesting, we would 
 recommend to all who wish to become acquainted with the history of their own 
 favourite Isle, to purchase the work." — Manx Liberal, August 13, 1812. 
 
 " A History of the Island has been a desideratum. We have abundance of tiny 
 tours, guide books, sketches, and what not ; but nothing of the least pretension to 
 the character of a history. Such, we need scarcely say, has been the subject of much 
 complaint, and the occasion of considerable ignorance and misconception of our 
 antiquities, statistics, ecclesiastical and civil polity, even amongst our own people. 
 The work of Mr. Train ably supplies a long felt deficiency, is a history of no ordinary 
 excellence and interest, and will speedily be ranked among our standard works of 
 historical investigation. It will be an indispensable adjunct in every library of any 
 pretension to completeness. The contents of the present part (part i,) is a chapter 
 on insular statistics, embodying a vast mass of most important and interesting facts. 
 The strictly historical narrative commences with the dynasty of the Welsh kings in 
 the year 517,and continues to the kings and lords of Man, of the House of Stanley, 
 in 1637. The text, descriptive of even these dark ages, is written in a style, at once
 
 xvi HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 chaste, elegant, and concise ; even the notes are highly valuable and curious. A 
 vast mass of authorities are quoted, and we have no doubt — so far as authentic records 
 may be considered authority— Mr. Train's work has high claims of impartiality, and 
 unquestionably displays vast research, and literary qualifications of no mean order. 
 Above all, the sine qua non of all history is every where visible— a patient investi- 
 gation of facts— sound judgment and discrimination, in selecting from the musty 
 records of antiquity what is deserving of credit, in accordance with ascertained con- 
 temporary history, and rejecting the fabulous and fanciful." — Mono's Herald, August 
 
 30, 1842. 
 
 " The third part of this work has just been issued, and we have great pleasure in 
 introducing it to the notice of the public. History has long been considered an 
 important part of a people's literature, and hence to historical details, the energies 
 of talented men have ever been directed. There are, however, comparatively few 
 good histories to be found in the world of letters. Hume, Gibbon, Robertson, 
 Rollin, and a few others, and we have mentioned all whose efforts are distinguished 
 by the qualities which command immortality. Special qualifications are required to 
 form a good historian. He should be an original thinker, have the ability of dis- 
 criminating wisely, and be capable of patient, persevering investigation into matters, 
 the connexion of which is obscured by the mists of the past. He should, moreover, 
 be well read in contemporaneous history, have an intimate acquaintance with the 
 conntry about which he writes — its inhabitants, their origin, habits, laws, customs, 
 superstitions, and legends ; and possess withal a facile pen, able to throw the charm 
 of novelty and beauty over the dry details of a people's history. These qualities are 
 but seldom found in one man, yet they are needed in an historian, for history must 
 be interesting in order to its being read, and truthful, that, when read, its facts may 
 be data for the mind to work upon. Such a history of the Tsle of Man has been a 
 desideratum, which Mr. Train appears to have well supplied. Not being au fait 
 in Manks antiquities, we cannot decide upon the accuracy of some of the earlier 
 records ; but, from the evidence of investigation which are manifested, we should be 
 inclined to depend on Mr. Train's statements, around which he has contrived to 
 throw the charm and grace of fiction." — Manx Sun, May 18, 1844. 
 
 " We noticed the first and second portion of this valuable work with commendation, 
 
 and the part now before us is equally deserving of our warmest praise. The present 
 
 part brings the civil and ecclesiastical history generally, down to the year 1838, and 
 
 many occurrences down to the present period. The work evinces extraordinary 
 
 research, sound judgment, and impartiality; and this part more immediately relating 
 
 to modern times, becomes more and more interesting to the general reader. Mr. 
 
 Train has nobly discharged his difficult task : the limits to which the work has been 
 
 prescribed, necessarily prevent any lengthened literary disquisition of the work, being 
 
 encumbered with much of what is termed the philosophy of history ; but it contains 
 
 what is of infinitely greater value — accurate summaries of facts, expositions of the 
 
 peculiar laws and customs, the popular superstitions, antiquities, constitution, &c, 
 
 &c, in which singular accuracy of information is displayed, and every known 
 
 authority consulted ; forming, at once, a work of highly respectable literary talent, 
 
 and what is of yet more value, a standard reference of real utility— a work not only 
 
 indispensable in the library of every intelligent Manxman, but which no library, 
 
 throughout the United Kingdom, with any pretensions to completeness, ought, or 
 
 can be without. This is high praise, but not more than deserved ; for we speak 
 
 from personal knowledge, when we say that in extent and accuracy of information on 
 
 all matters of local interest, no previous work can be compared to that of Mr. Train ;
 
 INTRODUCTION. wil 
 
 nor do we think any future historian can add any information which is not to be found 
 in these volumes. The book is neatly printed, and, withal, one of the cheapest 
 original works now issuing from the press." — Mona's Herald, May 7, 184-1. 
 
 " This is a work of much historical interest and value ; and, beyond comparison, 
 the most complete History of the Isle of Man ever given to the public. Mr. Train 
 writes with much eloquence and vigour, and the vast mass of information at his com- 
 mand has been examined with the most persevering industry ; — and so far as yet 
 published relative to modern times, of our own knowledge, we can testify to its 
 accuracy and impartiality." — Odd-Felloivs' Chronicle, December 27, 1844.
 
 XV111 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 VOLUME THE FIRST 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INSULAR STATISTICS. 
 Geographical Situation of the Island — Its Appearance from the Sea — Moun- 
 tains — Climate — Springs — Rivers — Bays — Havens and Headlands — Geographical 
 Structure of the Island — Fossil Remains — Minerals — Woodlands — Enclosures — 
 Soil — Agricultural Produce — Purrs — Cattle — Loaghtyn Sheep — Rumpy Cats — 
 Deer — Eagles — Puffins — Marine Plants — Fishes — Primitive Inhabitants — Divi- 
 sions of the Island — Chief Towns — Appendix. ...... 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 WELSH KINGS FROM A.D. 517 TO 919. 
 Various opinions as to the Etymology of the Name of the Island — Shown to 
 be derived from the Celtic Language — Mannanan-Beg-Mac-y-Leirr regarded by 
 the Manks as the Founder and Legislator of their Kingdom — Not a Brother of 
 Fergus II, King of Scotland, as stated by some Authors — That he was the Son of 
 an Irish Prince equally improbable — Apparently identical with Mainus or Finnan, 
 descendants of Fergus I — Early Manks History defective — Gallovidians and Picts, 
 defeated by the Romans, take refuge in the Isle of Man — The Manksmen assist 
 the Gallovidians against the Romans, and fight bravely — Voadicia raises an army 
 in Man — She is taken prisoner in Galloway, and put to death by the Roman Cap- 
 tain, Cerealis, and her troops defeated — Brule, a Scot, Governor of Man — Mael- 
 gwyn Gwynedd, prince of North Wales, defeats the Scots in Man, and takes 
 possession of that Island — His Son, Rhun, defeated there by Aidon, King of Scot- 
 land, who establishes his Nephew in Man, with the title of Thane — He is slain, 
 and Beli, Prince of North Wales, succeeds to the sovereignty of Man — Cadwallon 
 defeated by Euwin, king of Deria, who concpiers and takes possession of the Isle 
 of Man — Cadwalader succeeds his father Cadwallon — Retakes and retains the Isle 
 of Man— North Wales divided by the law of Gavel-Kind— Cynan Tindaethwy 
 obtains peaceable possession of the Isle of Man — Mervyn Vrych marries Essyllt, 
 daughter of Cynan, and in her right succeeds to the sovereignty of Man — The 
 name of Mona formerly applied to Anglesea, now confined solely to Man — A hostile 
 fleet from Mona enters the river Boyne — Rodri Maur succeeds his Father in the 
 sovereignty of Man, and being sovereign of all Cambria at his death, these do- 
 minions are, by the law of Gavel-Kind, partitioned — His son, Anarawd, inherits 
 the Isle of Man as his part — At the demise of Anarawd the dynasty of the Welsh 
 kings of Man closes, having extended over a period of nearly four centuries — 
 Appendix ... .... 37
 
 CONTENTS, VOL. I. Xl\ 
 
 CHAPTER 1 1 J. 
 
 NORTHERN V1KINGR, GORREE, AND KINGS OF HIS LINE, FROM A.D. 888 TO 106fi. 
 
 Aurn Konungr slain in the Island of Isla by Regnar Lodbrog — Caittill Fin 
 succeeds to the sovereignty of the Isles — Harold Harfagr succeeds his father, 
 expels the Fylkis Konga or petty princes, and becomes the King of all Norway — 
 His Expedition to the Isles — Dynasty of Ketill — Gorree conquers Man — Castle 
 of Rushen built by Guthred — Rapid succession of Manks Kings — Naval power of 
 Hacon — Danish Sea Rovers — The Manks join the Confederacy against Brian 
 Borom — Glance at British History — Appendix ...... 59 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS, FROM A.D. 1066 TO 1164. 
 Northern Auxiliaries of William the Conqueror — Goddard Crovan, son of 
 Harold the Black of Iceland, conquers Man — Subdues Dublin and a great part of 
 Leinster — Terrific irruption of Magnus Barefoot — Death of Goddard Crovan — 
 The Manks flee on the approach of Magnus — Malcolm, King of Scotland, resigns 
 the Western Isles to the Norwegian Conqueror, as does Donald Bane the Isles of 
 Orkney and Shetland — Vision of Magnus — Civil War in Man — Battle decided by 
 the valour of the Women of the Northern District— Wretched state of the Island 
 when visited by Magnus — His descent into Wales — Sends his Shoes to the King of 
 Ireland to carry publicly on his shoulders in token of his submission — Meditates the 
 Conquest of Ireland — Death of Magnus — Lagman, sonof Goddard Crovan, ascends 
 the Throne of the Isles — Succeeded by Donald the son of Teig — Fate of Inge- 
 mund — Olave Kleining called to the Throne — Married to a daughter of the Lord 
 of Galloway — Confirmed in his Dominions by the King of Norway — Conspiracy 
 against Olave — His Death and Character — The Assassins of Olave defeated in 
 Galloway — Fergus, Lord of Galloway, places his grandson Godred on the Throne 
 of the Isles — Godred elected King of Dublin — Insurrection of Somerled — Battle 
 at Sea — Godred and Somerled divide the Kingdom of the Isles — Somerled drives 
 Godred from the Throne — Church of St. Maughold plundered — Death and 
 Character of Somerled — Appendix. ........ 75 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS, FROM A.D. 1 I/O TO 1265. 
 King Godred returns to Man — Is married to the Daughter of an Irish King — 
 Is defeated in Ireland by Milo Cogan — War in Galloway — Godred submits to 
 the Authority of the Pope's Legate — Fall of an Aspirant to the Manks Throne — 
 Matrimonial Alliance with John de Courcy, Duke of Ulster — Death of Godred — 
 Reginald, a natural Son of Godred, usurps the Throne — Assists de Courcy, his 
 Brother-in-Law — Is defeated, and De Courcy made Prisoner — Rebellion of Angus, 
 Son of Somerled — King John sends Fulko-de-Cantelupe to subdue the Isle of 
 Man — Reginald does homage to King John, and receives a Knight's Fee of Corn 
 and Wine — His Brother, Olave the Black, is liberated from Prison — Receives 
 from Reginald the Island of Lewis, with the title of King — Reginald, to support 
 his usurpation, first does homage to Heniy III, and then surrenders the Island 
 to the Pope — The Queen of Man forms a Plot to murder Olave the Black, which 
 terminates in the Death of her own Son — Reginald cedes the half of the Isles to 
 Olave, and then applies to Allan, Lord of Galloway, to assist in dethroning him — 
 Reginald deposed, and Olave called to the Throne — During the absence of Olave, 
 Allan plunders the Isle of Man — Battle between Olave and Reginald, in which 
 the latter is slain — Reginald's Character — Olave visits Norway to do homage to
 
 XX HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 King Haco — Assists him against the Sudereyan Kings — Battle of Isla Sound — 
 Storming of the Castle of Bute — Olave resumes ihe Government of Man — Assas- 
 sination of Paul Balkason and Godred Don — Olave receives a Knight's Fee from 
 the King of England — The Manks assist their Gallovidian Neighbours — Death 
 and Character of Olave — Succeeded by his eldest Son Harold — Battle in Man — 
 Harold is confirmed in his Possessions by the Norwegian King — Is knighted by 
 Henry HI — Proceeds to Norway — Marries Haco's Daughter — The Royal Party 
 drowned at Sea — Reginald, his Successor, slain — Usurpation of the Government 
 — Magnus, the Son of Olave the Black, raised to the Throne of Man — Expedition 
 of Haco — Battle of Largs — Death and Character of Magnus the last King of the 
 Norwegian Line — Appendix. . . . . . . . . .105 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ENGLISH AND SCOTCH GOVERNMENT, FROM A.D. 1266 TO 1405. 
 Retrospective glance at Norwegian History — Death of Haco — The Isle of Man 
 ceded by treaty to Scotland — Death of Magnus the last King of Man of the Nor- 
 wegian Line — Ivar the Usurper slain in Battle — Man governed by a Lieutenant 
 named Goddard — Succeeded by Allan, the instigator of a sanguinary Combat, at 
 which he is crushed to death — Animosity allayed by the policy of Maurice Oker- 
 fair — Brenus, the next Scottish Governor who first taught the Islanders the Art of 
 Fishing, is slain — Succeeded by Donald and Richard de Burgo — Edward's Troops 
 take possession of the Island — Resigned under Seisine to John Baliol — William 
 Earl of Douglas, called the Hardy, Governor of Man — The Island reverts to the 
 Crown of England — Retaken by Robert the Bruce — Plundered by Richard de 
 Mandeville — Mantholine, the Scotch Governor, writes against Witchcraft — The 
 Earl of Salisbury crowned King of Man — Man plundered by two Scotch Earls — 
 The Island sold by Salisbury to Sir William Scroope — Reverts to the King of 
 England, who grants it first to Percy, Earl of Northumberland, and afterwards 
 to Sir John Stanley — Appendix . .133 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 KINGS AND LORDS OF MAN OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY, FROM A.D. 1406 TO 1637. 
 
 Policy of the former Governments of the Island — The Isle of Man granted to 
 Sir John Stanley by Henry IV, with the title of King — His son holds a Tynwald 
 Court, which alarms the people — Their grievances partially redressed — The title 
 of King of Man discontinued by Thomas, Earl of Derby — Thomas, the Grandson 
 of the preceding Earl, visits the Isle of Man — Invades Galloway and burns the 
 town of Kirkcudbright — Retaliation of Cutlar Mac Culloch, a Gallovidian Chief 
 — The fifth Earl of Derby makes certain regulations in the Island — Munificence 
 of Edward, Earl of Derby — Mysterious death of his successor, Ferdinand — The 
 Supremacy of the Island disputed at Law — William, Earl of Derby, obtains a 
 new patent for the Isle of Man from James I, which he resigns to his Son, Lord 
 Strange, afterwards called the Great Earl of Derby, and retires to a cottage on 
 the banks of the Dee, where he died — Appendix . . . . . .158 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY, FROM A.D. 1637 TO 1736. 
 Retrospective Sketch of the Proceedings of Lord Strange — His Enactments 
 against Regraters — Bloodwipes and Battery — Succeeds his Father as Earl of 
 Derby — His connection with the civil wars of England — Takes up arms in behalf of 
 Charles I — His treatment from that Monarch — Overture from the Parliamentary 
 Party — Recalled to Man — Discontents of the People — The Exactions of Plough-
 
 CONTENTS, VOL. I. XXI 
 
 dues, Smoke-pennies, Corpse-presents, &c. adjusted — Siege of Latham House — 
 The Earl of Derby njects offers made to him by Fairfax and Ireton — He joins 
 the King's Army — Is taken Prisoner and beheaded — The Isle of Man surrendered 
 to the Parliamentary Army by Christian — The Sovereignty of the Island granted 
 to Lord Fairfax — Transferred at the Restoration of Charles II, to Charles, Earl 
 of Derby — Trial and Execution of Christian — Enactments by William, Earl of 
 D er by — James, Earl of Derby, stranded on King William's Bank — Act of Settle- 
 ment — Dynasty of the Stanleys terminates in Man — Appendix . . .187 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LORDS AND GOVERNORS OF MAN OF THE HOUSE OF ATHOLL, FROM A.D. 1736, 
 
 TO 1830. 
 
 Genealogical Sketch of the Family of Tullibardine — John second Duke of Atholl 
 
 succeeds to the Lordship of Man — Visits the Island — His enactments — The Lords 
 
 of the Treasury empowered by Parliament to purchase the Royalties of the Island 
 
 — Negotiations on that subject long protracted — Sale of the Island by John the 
 
 third Duke — Act of Revestment — Royal Proclamation — Consequences of the 
 
 Revestment — Exertions of the Duke of Atholl to obtain further Remuneration 
 
 in lieu of his vested Rights — Commissioners appointed by Parliament to enquire 
 
 into the validity of the Duke's claims — Obtains a grant by Act of Parliament — 
 
 The Manks become loyal subjects of Great Britain — The Duke of Atholl accepts 
 
 the office of Captain General of the Island — Becomes unpopular — His measures 
 
 strongly opposed by the People — Finally disposes of all his interests in the Island 
 
 — Appendix. ............ 231) 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS. 
 Dormitories of the Dead — Ancient Custom of burying eminent Persons who fell 
 in Battle — Cromlachs, Cairns, standing Stones, and other Sepulchral Monuments 
 — The green Moats of Galloway alluded to — Tynwald Hill — Origin of the Name 
 — Formalities of the Tynwald Court — Fortlets and Blockhouses enumerated — 
 Fortified Camp described — Great Antiquity of the Fort of Douglas — Peel Castle 
 described — Occupied as a State Prison — Castle of Rushen described — Besieged 
 by King Robert the Bruce — The Garrisons built and maintained in repair by Suits 
 and Services called Carriages — Quarterlands taxed to supply the Castle Larder — 
 Carriage Troves — Castle Mazes — Setting Corn — Duties of the Garrison Oificers 
 — Soldiers' Qualifications — Insular Militia — Commanded by Majors and Captains 
 of Parishes — Dress — Watching and Warding, a Duty of great Importance — Male 
 Population may be called to Arms — All Military Appointments now vested in 
 the Crown of England — Appendix 262 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY FROM A.D. ;G TO 830. 
 Introduction of Druidism into Britain — The Druids leave Stonehenge and 
 settle in Anglesea — On their Altars being overturned and their Groves being cut 
 down by the Romans, they retire into the Isle of Man— Office, Dress, and Power 
 of the Arch -Druid— Their Places of Worship and Ceremonies — Anniversary of 
 Bal or Baal and other superstitious Observances — Persecution of the Christians. . 
 Arrival of St. Patrick in the Isle of Man— Converts the Inhabitants to the Chris- 
 tian Faith — Succeeded by St. Germain — Maughold, a Leader of Irish Banditti, 
 becomes Bishop of Man— St. Bridget, one of the tutelar Saints of Ireland, receives 
 the Veil of Virginity from St. Maughold— Scottish Princes educated by St. Conan. 
 Bishop of Man— An Irish Prince nearly starved to death— Singular Adventure of 
 Orlygus— Appendix 308
 
 XX11 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY FROM A.D. 838 TO 1839. 
 Bishopric of Sodor founded by Pope Gregory IV — Wimund consecrated by 
 the Archbishop of York — Norwegians, Scots, and Englishmen admitted to the 
 See of the Isles without any distinction as to country — Lawrence consecrated 
 Bishop of Man by the Archbishop of Drontheim— The Manks laid under an In- 
 terdict for having banished the Bishop— The Smoke penny Tax imposed, as a 
 Punishment for that Offence — William consecrated Bishop of Man at Avignon, 
 by Pope Clement VII — The Bishopric of the Isles separated from that of Sodor 
 and Man — The Earl of Derby confirms to Huan and his Successors all the Pri- 
 vileges anciently possessed by the Bishops of Man— The singular title of " Sword 
 Bishop" borne by John Meyrick — Earl of Derby's opinion as to the choice of a 
 Bishop— Patriotic Exertions and Bequests of Bishop Barrow— Account of Bishop 
 Wilson— The Scriptures translated into the Manks Language— The People resist 
 certain Claims of Tithes made by the Bishop— The See of Sodor and Man to be 
 united to that of Carlisle— That Act repealed— A Bill passed by the House of 
 Keys for the Commutation of Tithes — Appendix . 331
 
 HISTORY OE THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INSULAR STATISTICS. 
 
 Geographical Situation of the Island — Its Appearance from the Sea — 
 Mountains — Climate — Springs — Rivers — Bays — Havens and Head- 
 lands — Geographical Structure of the Island — Fossil Remains — 
 Minerals — // oodlands — Enclosures — Soil — Agricultural Produce — 
 Purrs — Cattle — Loaghtyn Sheep — Rumpy Cats — Deer — Eagles — 
 Puffins — Marine Plants — Fishes — Primitive Inhabitants — Divisions 
 of the Island — Chief Towns. 
 
 The Isle of Man forms the central point of the Brit- 
 ish dominions in Europe. It lies in St. George's Channel, 1 
 at nearly an equal distance from Cumberland, Ulster, and 
 Galloway. 2 The length of the Island is about thirty miles, 
 
 1 It lies directly in the chops of the channel, that runs between Scotland and 
 Ireland. If this Island of Man did not very much break off the force of the winds 
 and westerly tides, it might be much worse for the part of England that lies oppo- 
 site to it. — Camden Britannia, vol. ii. p. 1441 ; Chaloner's Treatise of the Isle of 
 Man, cap. i. ; Sacheverell's Survey of Man, p. 1. 
 
 It raised no small disputes among the ancients to fix to which of the countries 
 this Island belonged ; but the difference was at last adjusted, as it appeared that ve- 
 nemous creatures brought over to try the experiment would live there, it was 
 unanimously adjudged to belong to Britain, and not to Ireland. — Heylyn's Mirros- 
 mus, or Descriji/ioii of the Great World, edit. 1621, p. 524. — Hollinshead's C/iro- 
 nicles of England, folio edit. p. 37. — Camden's Britannia, vol. ii. p. 1439. 
 
 Pennant says, vipers lived formerly in the Western Isles, which includes the Isle of 
 Man, so venemous, that a sword, on which their poison had fallen, would hiss like a 
 red hot iron in water. — Pennant's Tour in Scotland, quarto edit. vol. ii. p. '-(53. — 
 There has not, however, been a snake seen in the Island by any person now alive ; 
 but the sand and common lizard abound in it, as do the warty and common eft. — 
 Dimensions of the Island.
 
 2 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAX. 
 
 and the breadth eleven ; although these dimensions differ 
 widely from those stated by some ancient geographers. 
 Its northern extremity, called the Point of Ayre, is in 
 lat, 54 deg. 27 min. N* and Ion. 4deg. 20 min. W. from 
 
 Greenwich. ?alin& 
 
 In July, 1836, I found the salisiSa strength of the sea 
 at the Point of Ayre to be 26^ lbs., by Bates's patent 
 saccharometer, while at the race of the Calf it was only 
 2o\ lbs. by the same instrument. 
 
 From the surrounding shores, the Isle of Man appears 
 in the blue distance like a dark cloud hanging over the 
 boundary of the waters, or, as an old writer says, " It 
 looks like ane parke in ye seae impaled with rocks." 1 
 
 As the voyager approaches this little territory, the alti- 
 tude of its mountains seem to rise before him. Down 
 their sloping sides, rocks and ravines meet his view, whilst 
 in passing along the shore, the glens and bases of the hills 
 present many objects of rural beauty and scenes of roman- 
 tic grandeur. 
 
 Snafield, 3 the highest mountain in the Island, rises 2004 
 feet above the level of the sea, and 200 feet above the 
 conical mass of North Barrule. 3 The mountainous range 
 extending from Maughold to Brada, by intercepting the 
 fleets of vapour from the south, frequently envelopes the 
 
 * Appendix, Note the first. 
 
 1 Heylin's Survey of Guernsey, cap. i, p. 298.— Ap. Campbell's Political Survey, 
 vol. ii. p. 513. 
 
 - This, in the ancient Norse language, signifies " Snowy Mountains," from snaer, 
 (snow) and fae/d (hill.) One of the highest mountains in Iceland bears the same 
 name, and is spelled Snaefield. — Uno Von Troib's Letters from Iceland, London edit. 
 1780, p. 88 
 
 3 Baare Oole, in the Manks language, signifies the " top of an apple," from which 
 the mountain takes its name, being of that form. The prospect from the hill seems 
 to have excited a whimsical reflection in the mind of James Earl of Derby. He says 
 in a letter to his son, " When I go to the mount called Barool, and turning me 
 round, see England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, I think shame to see so many 
 kingdoms at once, which no place I think in any nation that we know of under 
 heaven can afford such a prospect of, and have such little profit by them." — Peck't 
 Decid. Curiosa, vol. xi, book xi, No. xii.
 
 INSULAR STATISTICS )) 
 
 Island in dense fogs, thereby adding to theungenial humi- 
 dity of the climate; but their winters are not seven-. 
 frosts seldom occur, and are of short continuance, and 
 snow is rarely to be seen for any length of time on the 
 ground. 
 
 Perennial springs, descending from the mountains to- 
 wards the sea, are often swollen by heavy rains, into 
 rivers of considerable magnitude. Of these, Sulby is the 
 largest. It rises in the northern aspect of Snafield, and 
 discharges itself into the sea at Ramsey, where its estuary 
 forms a harbour. Insular tradition is very strong with 
 respect to the discharge, formerly, of all the waters in 
 the great northern level, in the direction of Lemoor, 
 instead of Ramsey, and the aspect of the country favours 
 that opinion. 
 
 The other principal rivers are the Doo and the Glass, 
 which, windingfromthemountains of Braddan and Marown, 
 unite and fall into the sea at Douglas. The Neb, or as 
 it is now more generally termed, the Great River, which 
 rises in the mountains of Michael, after a rapid course 
 joins the sea at Peel ; and the Water of Castletown, 
 which springs from South Barrule ; besides these, there 
 are many trout fishing streams. 
 
 At one time a muscle, containing large pearls, was 
 found in the Doo ; but none have been discovered in 
 these shells lately. 1 Some of these springs are said to 
 contain peculiar qualities ; St. Catherine's is mentioned 
 by the tourist Feltham, as possessing medicinal properties, 
 and a more ancient writer says, " There is a pool in the 
 mountainous part of Kirk Christ Rushen of such vitriolic 
 quality that ducks and geese cannot live near it." 2 Balla- 
 
 1 Mr. Forbes exhibited one of these shells to the Royal Physical Society of Edin- 
 burgh in 1835, as a remarkable variety of unio margaritafera, peculiar to the Isle 
 of Man ; and the discovery was announced by Mr. Grey to the British Association 
 that met at Liverpool in 1837. — Malacologia Monenxis, Edin. ISiiS, pp. 1 J, 15. 
 
 2 Sacheverell's Account of the Me of Man, London, 1702, p. 8.
 
 4 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 trollag spring, near Ballasalla, is of a mineral kind, and 
 several other saline and chalybeate springs are to be 
 found in the Island. 
 
 The sea boundary is in many parts formed by precipit- 
 ous cliffs, deeply indented with caverns, formed by the 
 dashing of the billows which meet here from different 
 directions. The flood streams that roll towards the east 
 from the southern coast, and from the northern shores of 
 Ireland, unite about a mile to the west of Contrary Head, 
 (so called from this circumstance), and these again, dividing 
 into two branches, the one runs towards the Point of 
 Ayre at the speed of four miles an hour, while the other 
 takes the direction of the Calf at the increased rate of 
 six miles per hour ; these currents again meet off Maug- 
 hold Head and pass away with less velocity than when 
 rounding the Island. 
 
 The Havens and Headlands are objects of great impor- 
 tance to seafaring people. The Point of Ayre, a tract of 
 lowland, constitutes the northern extremity of the Island ; 
 immediately south from it, on the eastern coast, is Ramsey 
 Bay, the largest in the Island, being about five miles in 
 width and stretching nearly two miles inward. During 
 westerly winds it affords safe anchorage to vessels of the 
 largest size in the British navy ; it is bounded on the S. W. 
 by Maughold Head, a bold promontory, four hundred feet 
 high. About six miles from Ramsey is Laxey Bay ; the 
 shore on both sides is distinguished by precipices, which 
 rise to a greater height than any on that part of the coast ; 
 it is less interrupted by deep indentations, and is closely 
 backed by the high land from within. The land-locked 
 Bay of Douglas is bounded on the south by a headland of 
 the same name, and on the north by Banks's Howe ; it is 
 about two miles in width, and stretches half a mile 
 inward; it affords good shelter to vessels during gales 
 from various points.
 
 INSULAR STATISTICS. 5 
 
 Derbyhaven is a circular basin, about half a mile in 
 diameter, having an entrance by a narrow opening on the 
 east. It is protected on all sides, and is an excellent lee- 
 shore asylum for vessels that take the beach. There 
 is a lighthouse erected on the round tower called Fort 
 Derby, on the low point that forms the seaward boundary. 
 
 Castletown Bay adjoins Langness Point on the south- 
 east. It is a deep, rocky, and dangerous indentation, two 
 miles wide, and three inland. The accumulated Stack of 
 Scarlet Point forms its south-west termination. Round- 
 ing it, Poolvash or Port-le-Mary Bay sweeps to the west- 
 ward. From Port-le-Mary the high precipices of Spanish 
 Head occupy the shore. Beyond these lies the Calf, 1 
 divided from the mainland by a narrow channel. It is an 
 island of a circular form, rising high and abrupt from the 
 sea, and contains about 600 superficial acres. Rounding 
 the southern extremity of the Island, the western coast 
 presents a perpendicular wall about 200 feet high, almost 
 in a right line from the Race of the Calf to Port Erin 
 Bay, being a distance of two miles. 
 
 The form of Port Erin Bay resembles exactly that of 
 a horse-shoe. The gentle declivity of the sandy shore 
 at the head forms a striking contrast to the tremendous 
 rocks of Brada Head, which extend along the coast to 
 Dalby Point, a distance of five miles. 
 
 Peel Hill is an oblong and insulated eminence, running- 
 two miles along shore, and often rising to the height of 
 500 feet above the level of the sea. It terminates in the 
 small rocky islet on which Peel Castle stands. These 
 form the western boundary of Peel Bay, which has a good 
 harbour, but of small dimensions. There are many curi- 
 ous caves in the rocks along the coast to the northward 
 
 1 The name Calf is of Norse origin. Maylor KaJf, in the Norwegian language, 
 signifies a " small island adjoining a larger one," as the Calf of Mull, the Calf of 
 Man, &c.— Johnson's Account of Haco's Expedition. Copenhagen edit. 17S0, p. 110.
 
 6 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 of Peel. Agates and cornelians, fit for jewellery, are fre- 
 quently found. It is about ten miles from Peel to Jurby 
 Point. From thence the coast slopes along to the Point 
 of Ayre, almost in a straight line, rapidly reducing the 
 Island to its narrow termination on the north. In former 
 times, many a poor mariner met his fate on the rocky and 
 shoaly shores of Man ; but the danger has of late been 
 greatly obviated by the erection of landmarks and light- 
 houses at the most important harbours and headland. — 
 The sunken rocks called the " Chickens," adjoining the 
 Calf— the " Carrick," near Port-le-Mary — and the " Se- 
 raans," at Langness Point, were the most fatal to strangers. 
 There are also the Shoals of Strumakiti, Bahama, and the- 
 dangerous shallow, which, from the accident that befell the 
 English Monarch there in 1690, has since been called 
 " King William's Sands." 
 
 The geological structure of the Island consists of primi- 
 tive clay slate and mica slate resting upon granite, of 
 grey-wacke slate, of limestone, and of sandstone, restingupon 
 clay. Near Poolvash Bay there is quarried, below high- 
 water mark, good marble for tomb-stones, the formation 
 of which is facilitated by the increased thinness of the 
 laminae. The steps of St. Paul's church in London are 
 formed of this marble, which was presented by Bishop 
 Wilson. At Castletown, the bed of the river is of blueish 
 limestone. When I visited that place in 1836, I had an 
 opportunity of examining some fragments containing im- 
 pressions of shells and other marine exuviae ; and I was 
 informed by some workmen employed in deepening the 
 harbour, that a butterfly, superimposed on lime, had been 
 dug up from the bottom of the river a few days before. 
 
 On the shore east of Castletown, a red sandstone con- 
 glomerate is superimposed on grey-wacke slate. At 
 Rockmount, a formation of hornblende rock occurs. 1 At 
 
 1 Oswald's Guide, page 30.
 
 INSULAR STATISTICS. J 
 
 the place called, by mariners, the " Cow of the Calf," arc 
 pointed rocks that present a most grotesque, yet beautiful 
 appearance ; the upper parts are formed of a kind of 
 shining spar, as white as snow, while the lower are of 
 bastard marble, as black as jet, and they are so exactly 
 divided in height, that one pillar seems fixed by art upon 
 another, in order to form a perfect contrast of colour. 
 
 In the lime district of Ronaldsway, coal has been bored 
 for with some appearance of success. 1 Bones of animals 
 unknown in this quarter of the globe have frequently been 
 dug up in the extensive morass called the Curragh, em- 
 bedded in shell marl, with which the north district 
 abounds : one of the largest heads of the cervus alces, of Lin- 
 naeus, was found here. It measures from the tip of the 
 highest antler to that of the other eight feet six inches; the 
 longest horn is five feet eight inches, and at its broadest 
 palmative part fourteen inches. This splendid relic is now 
 in the British Museum ; but the fossil elk in the Royal 
 Museum of the College of Edinburgh, is now the most 
 perfect known specimen of this animal. 
 
 IT • ft - '" C- 
 
 Height to the tip of the process of the 
 
 first dorsal vertebra, which is the 
 
 highest point of the trunk 6 1 
 
 Height of the anterior superior angle of W\lli- \ 
 
 the scapula ' 5 4 N^toIF 
 
 Lengtli from the first dorsal vertebra to ^>tiw' 
 
 the tip of the O. S. coeey gis 5 2 ]0£ 
 
 Height to the tip of the right horn .'. 9 7 J dl'P& 
 
 This superb fossil was dug up ~*>k*Mi 
 near Ballaugh, in the year 1819; 
 it was eighteen feet below the 
 surface. The enterprising in- 
 dividual who found it, Mr. 
 Thomas Kewish, of Ballaugh, 1 
 
 1 Oswald's Guide, p. 33.— The recent attempts to find coal'in the Island are fully 
 detailed in Chap. XXIV of this work, and also the geology of the sheading of Rushen.
 
 8 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 expended a considerable sum in getting it put together ; 
 but it was claimed by the Duke of Atholl, as Lord of the 
 Manor, and by his Grace presented to the College 
 Museum. 1 
 
 Lead ore has been found in different parts of the Island 
 so early as the year 1292. John Comyn, Earl of Buchan, 
 obtained from Edward L, a license to dig for lead in the 
 Calf of Man, to cover eight towers of his castle of Crug- 
 gelton, in Galloway. 2 
 
 At a Tynwald held by Sir John Stanley at the castle of 
 Rushen, on the vigil of St. Mary, 1422, it was ordered, 
 " That my mine be sett forward by my Lieutenant Re- 
 ceiver and Comptroller, for my best profit, and that they 
 see the miner do his duty." 3 
 
 Mines of lead were worked in the Isle of Man during 
 the reign of Henry IV. of England, and were in some ac- 
 tivity in the early part of last century. Bishop Wilson 
 says, " The lead mines have been wrought to good advan- 
 tage, many hundred tons having been smelted in England." 
 Mr. Taylor, in his Records of Mining* states, that five 
 hundred tons of lead ore were raised in the Isle of Man 
 in the year 1828 ; in the year 1830 there were five hun- 
 dred and forty-eight tons of ore and black jack 5 exported ; 
 and, in 1836, there was even a larger quantity. 
 
 Lead mines have been wrought for a considerable time 
 past in the mountains of Man, at Foxdale, Brada, and 
 Laxey. The Bishop of Landaff states the produce of 
 some of the Manks ore to have amounted to twenty ounces 
 of silver in the ton of lead, 6 and by some of the workmen 
 
 1 In the Edinburgh Journal of Natural History and of the Physical Sciences for 
 August, 1836, p. 58, this fossil is stated to have been dug up in the parish of Kirk 
 RalafT, which is e\ tdently a mistake, as there is no such place in the Island. 
 
 2 C huh iter's Caledonia, vol. iii, p. 372. Duydale Baron, vol. i, p. 685. 
 Statute 1422, Lex Scripta of the Isle of Man, p. 26. 
 
 i Kuiyhf's Magazine, No. 18(1. Mineral Kingdom, Section 33, " Lead." 
 
 s Oswald's Guide, p. 47 
 
 8 Watson's Chemical Essays, vol. iii, p. 328, 7th edition.
 
 INSULAR STATISTICS. !> 
 
 it has been asserted that the quantity of silver has occa- 
 sionally amounted to thirty-five ounces in the ton. A re- 
 cent writer says, " The lead glance of the Manks mines is 
 very rich in silver, one of it affording, on assay, 180oz. of 
 silver, according to the report of the workmen employed 
 at the mines." 1 
 
 Mr. Wood was evidently misled by the workmen, as I 
 have the best authority for stating that the silver produce 
 never rose above the quantity mentioned by the Bishop of 
 Landaff. 
 
 Copper ore is found at Brada. That mine was first 
 discovered in the seventeenth century; it is abundant and 
 rich in quality, producing six pennyweights of pure copper 
 from an ounce of ore. All mines belonged by prerogative to 
 the Lord of the Isle : they were let by him, and he 
 claimed, as lessor, one-eighth part of their gross produce. 
 If discovery is made of any mine or ore within the Island, 
 the same is to be immediately communicated to the Lord 
 proprietor, and if he sends over a miner, the Lord's offi- 
 cers are to see him do his work faithfullv, because the 
 Lord should not be at expense in that work unless it be 
 to his profit and advantage. 2 
 
 There is scarcely any growing timber to be seen on the 
 Island older than the middle of last century, although the 
 legislature, upwards of two hundred years ago, manifested 
 great care to protect growing wood in all time coining. 
 In the year 1629, it was enacted, " That any person con- 
 victed of breaking trees, plants of trees, or quick-setts, 
 should be whipped throughout the market towns of the 
 Island ;" and at a subsequent period, " Forasmuch as it 
 would greatly conduce not only to the beauty, but also 
 to the health and riches of my Island, to have wood 
 planted in all convenient places, be it enacted, that who- 
 
 1 Woods' History of the Isle of Man, p. 19. 
 
 2 Statutes, anno. 1613, 1618, 1630. 
 
 CHAP. I. B
 
 10 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 soever shall be convicted of having cut, broken, or spoiled 
 any tree, sett, plant, or graft, shall, for the first offence, 
 be compelled to plant five for every one so hurt or spoiled; 
 and for the second offence ten, in such places as the owner 
 of the land shall appoint ; and for the third offence to be 
 fined to the Lord, and suffer such punishment, by impri- 
 sonment, as the Governor or his Deputy may think fit to 
 inflict." 1 
 
 Although the Island is destitute of growing wood to 
 an extent that might not have been expected by these 
 enactments, the log timber yet found in the turburies 
 prove that it has not always been so. In the Curragh 
 of Ballaugh, trees of very large dimensions have been 
 found twenty feet beneath the surface, with their roots 
 firm in the ground, and their trunks laid over in a north- 
 easterly direction. 2 The trees found buried are oak or fir 
 separately, never intermixed, and occasionally hazel, birch, 
 willow, and thorn. Some names of places yet imply that 
 the Islaftl was formerly well wooded. 3 
 
 Injurious to the Islanders as their ancestors' neglect, 
 or, perhaps, careless destruction of their growing timber 
 proves, still greater blame attaches to themselves, who 
 now feel the want, and possessing the ability to supply it, 
 still omit planting. Some small attempts have been 
 made, forming a kind of oasis in the desert. 
 
 1 Statutes, anno. 1629, 1667, Lex Scripta, pp. 103, 151. 
 
 2 SacheverelV s Account of the Me of Man, London, 1702, p. 12. 
 
 3 Balla Kelly in Marown ; Balla Kelly in Santon ; Balla Killey in Malew ; Balla 
 Killey in Rushen ; Balla Killey in Bride ; Balla Kelly in Maughold ; Balla Kelly 
 in Andreas, and Ballakeyl in Andreas, all signify " The town or estate of the Wood 
 or Forest." Knoch-e-Killey in German, " The hill of the Wood ;" Eary Kelly in 
 Michael, and Airy Kelly in Marown, both signify " The open Wood or Forest." 
 Ballacallin, " The place of the Ilazelwood ;" Cronk-darragh in Arbory, " The hill 
 of the Oakwood ;" Darrayh in Rushen, "Oak trees;" and Glen Darrayh in 
 Rushen, " The vale of Oak;" — Creyeen's Manks Dictionary, Douglas, 1835. — 
 Mc. Alpine's Gaelic Dictionary, Edin. 1833. At the present time in the south of 
 Scotland, a single farm steading is called " a town," and this appears to have been 
 the case formerly in the Isle of Man.
 
 INSULAR STATISTICS. 11 
 
 What a difference in scenery would this little Island 
 present, if the horizon were skirted by a fringe of wood, 
 and the foreground ornamented by waving groves, — 
 occasionally concealing the mountain streams and clus- 
 tered cottages; but it is not in point of ornament alone 
 that the deficiency of growing wood is to be regretted, 
 the scarcity of timber impedes the improvement of agri- 
 culture. 1 What the Manks farmer cannot supply by stone 
 or straw remains often undone. 
 
 By an ancient customary law, the inhabitants were not 
 obliged to fence their lands, except from Lady-day till 
 Michaelmas, so that during the remaining part of the year 
 the lands lay common ; but as the growth of timber could 
 not be extended while such a course was followed, it was 
 provided in 1583, " That all make sufficient ditches of 
 the height of four feet-and-a-half, and in thickness of a 
 double ditch" 2 By the act of 1667, these fences were re- 
 quired to be five feet high ; and by an act of 1691, all 
 fences were required to be five feet-and-a-half high, with a 
 trench at the bottom of one fobt-and-a-half deep, and three 
 feet otherwise; a fence of six feet high in the perpendicular, 
 where a trench cannot be made, and where a trench 
 must be used instead of a ditch, such trenches to be six 
 feet broad at the top, and three feet deep. 3 
 
 These fences are constructed of sods taken from the 
 
 1 The aspect of the Island has, however, been certainly much improved since it 
 was thus described by Waldron, not much above a century ago. " The place ir.ay 
 properly enough be called a rocky mountainous desert, little space being left for 
 either arable or pasture, and nothing of wood or forest in the whole Island. You 
 may ride many miles, and see nothing but a thorn tree, which is either fenced round 
 or some other precaution taken that so great a rarity shall receive no prejudice. 
 Hedges they have none, but what are made of clay. They have a great quantity of 
 fern and gorsethat serves them to bake their bread with instead of wood." — Descr/ji- 
 tion of the Isle of Man, London, 1731, p. 143. 
 
 - By a ditch, is here meant hedge; the word is probably a corrupted sound of dyke 
 or mound, and is used as such in Ireland. By double ditch is meant ;; hedge con- 
 sisting of two exterior ranges of sods with a space between them tilled with earth 
 raised from the side or bottom. — Quagle's Agriculture of the Isle of Man, pp. 17, 4S. 
 
 3 Statutes, anno. 1583, 1667, 1091, Lex Scripta, pp. 78, 166, 180.
 
 12 HISTORY OF THF ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 surface, and filled up in an equilateral triangle, to the 
 height required by law ; at the foundation they reach 
 the width of six feet, and at the summit two. The top is 
 generally planted with furze, which gives the country a 
 very primitive appearance, particularly as the fields in 
 general are very small. 
 
 The space of ground excoriated to raise these hedges 
 is never less than four feet on each side, but where strug- 
 gling whins and stones stud the surface, fourteen feet on 
 each side are sometimes sacrificed to raise the embankment. 
 From the first moment of the erection of some of these 
 fences their decay commences, by the mere action of the 
 elements; — the sand returns to the surface, whence it 
 came, and new sacrifices of soil must be made to keep 
 them at their original elevation. 
 
 The original design of these fences it may be supposed, 
 was to mark each man's holding rather than to exclude 
 the cattle of strangers, or to protect his own. The law 
 of trespass is spread over the statute book, and the legis- 
 lature strives to produce, by means of fines and penalties, 
 that which the laws of motion and matter forbid ! In order 
 to procure the food growing on the slanting fence, the 
 cattle and sheep acquire the habit of clambering on it, 
 and often, perhaps from natural causes, preferring the 
 forbidden side to their own. The boundary fences are 
 often the grounds of contention between contiguous 
 owners, each wishing to throw the burden of repairs on 
 his neighbour, and consequently to neglect them himself; 
 
 ice the wretched state of the fences, and the employ- 
 ment of pcnfolds. 1 
 
 1 Statutes, anno. 1664, 1C65, 1705,1747, 1753, Lex Scripta, pp.144, 157, 
 207, 315, 354. This primitive mode of enclosing land intended for tillage, is not 
 wholly confined to the Isle of Man. In Jersey, every field is surrounded by a mound 
 of earth six or eight feet broad at the base, and nearly as high, surmounted by hedge 
 brambles; but in Guernsey, where the fences are of the same description, they are 
 topped with furze. — Jni/lis's Tour of the Channel Inlands, chap, ii., iii. .
 
 INSULAR STATISTICS, 1 3 
 
 By statutes in 1578 and 1579, a penfold was ordered 
 to be erected in every parish, to be upheld by the tenant 
 of every treen, 1 in the same manner as the church-yards 
 are kept in repair. For every penfold a warden is elected 
 by the captain of the parish and four of the great inquest. 
 It is his duty to lie in the penfold while he has cattle 
 under his charge, and can demand as his due, a halfpenny 
 for every foot so pounded, whereof he receives one half, 
 and the other half goes to the Lord of the Isle. 2 
 
 Small as is the extent of the Island, it comprehends 
 almost every variety of soil. To define the boundaries of 
 each would be attended with difficulty, and as they are 
 constantly shifting, would be liable to error. Bishop 
 Wilson, in his brief sketch of the Island, says, "There is 
 a remarkable layer of peat, for some miles together, of 
 two or three feet thick, under a layer of gravel, clay, or 
 earth, two, three, and even four feet deep. 3 
 
 A large portion of the Island is yet unreclaimed by the 
 plough, but the bleak and sterile soil of some parts of it 
 will long preclude its being brought under tillage, although 
 traces of the plough are still discernable in lofty situations. 
 When Edw r in, king of Northumberland, ravaged Man, in 
 the beginning of the seventh century, there were in it only 
 three hundred families ; if this be understood of hide /a nils, 
 as the Saxon translation takes it. then it implies that 
 there were forty-eight thousand acres of profitable land 
 in the Island. 4 
 
 While under the sway of the Norwegians, the Isle of 
 Man made little progress in the arts of civilized life ; but 
 it appears to have been well supplied with corn at an 
 
 1 Troon is a township that divides tithes into three. — Cregeen's Mania Dictionary. 
 
 - Statutes, anno. 1577, 1579, 1583. Lex Scripta, pp. 62, 71. 155, 156, 1 G6. — 
 
 Every parish is divided into treens, each of which comprises four quarterlands, 
 
 varying in extent from 60 to 150 acres, according to value. 
 
 3 Camden's Britannia, vol. ii., p. 1 1 12. 
 
 4 Campbell's Political Survey nf Great Britain, Dublin, 1775, vol. ii.. p. 1 1 12 

 
 14 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 early period of its history. The small white oats, pro- 
 vincially called placket, 1 was cultivated in the Island in 
 early times, as were also rye and some kinds of pulse. 
 White pease were only introduced in the time of Bishop 
 Wilson, by a curate, who sowed them in his garden. The 
 number was so small that they were nearly all picked up 
 by a pigeon, in a few minutes afterwards ; but just as the 
 feathered depredator was about to wing away with the 
 stolen pulse, the clergyman, having discovered the theft, 
 presented his fowling piece and shot him dead on the spot ; 
 not wishing to part with his pease, he ripped open the 
 stomach of the lifeless bird, took out the corn, planted it 
 anew, and, according to tradition, had an excellent crop. 
 
 Doubts have been entertained as to the period when 
 the cultivation of wheat was introduced into the Island. 
 Mr. Quayle, in his Agricultural Survey, 2 founding on a do- 
 cument in Rymcrs Foedera, supposes it to have been 
 introduced prior to 1235 ; 3 but this does not appear to be 
 the case from a fair translation of the document referred 
 to ; 4 but we have at least sufficient evidence to induce us 
 to believe that wheat was cultivated in Man in the four- 
 teenth century. 
 
 The Manks bought of the Scots a truce for one year 
 for 300 marks ; but not having been able to raise the 
 whole of this sum in specie, they loaded a vessel with dif- 
 
 1 Campiell's Political Survey of Great Britain, Dublin, 1775, vol. ii, p. 532. 
 
 2 General View of the Agriculture of the Me of Man, London, 1812, p. 56. 
 
 3 Rymer, vol. i., p. 342. 
 
 4 " A.D. 1235. The King to his chosen and faithful M. Gerold, son of Maurice 
 Fitz Gerold, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; greeting, know that we have given and 
 confirmed by our seal, to our chosen and faithful Olave, King of Man, both the 
 Island, for his service in keeping under his care the coast of the English sea towards 
 Ireland, and the aforesaid Isle of Man. And we have also given him forty marks, 
 and one hundred cramocks of corn, (frumenti) and five casks of wine, yearly, to be 
 received in our land of Ireland, at the term of Lent, by the hands of our Lord Lieu- 
 tenant of Ireland, as long as the said King of Man shall rightly and faithfully serve us 
 by guarding the said coasts." — Rymer's Foedera, vol. i., p. 342. — Calendars of 
 Ancient Charters, with Rolls and Schedules of Fealties done in the Isle of Man, 
 London, 1772, p. 429.
 
 INSULAR STATISTICS. 1 ."> 
 
 fercnt articles to make up the amount. Among these 
 was wheat. In her passage to Scotland, this vessel was 
 intercepted by some Irishmen, but Edward III, in the 
 sixteenth year of his reign, 1343, issued a writ to the 
 Chief Justice of Ireland for her liberation.' 
 
 If the necessities of the Islanders were at that time so 
 great as to prevent their raising the sum required in 
 specie, it is infinitely more probable that the wheat found 
 on board the captured vessel was their own production, 
 than that it had been previously imported. 
 
 We find from the time of the earliest records, that all 
 the soldiery of the castles and other garrisons of the 
 Island were supplied with a daily allowance of wheaten 
 bread, and it was a standing order from the year 1422, 
 " That there should be, at all times, eleven bowles of 
 ground wheate in the Castle, to be kept in pipes, and 
 thirty casts of bread to be made out of one bowle of 
 wheate." 2 At the time of the dissolution of the monas- 
 teries, an allowance was made for the wheat delivered to 
 Rushen Abbey, and the rents of the ecclesiastical lands 
 were afterwards ascertained solely by the value of that 
 species of corn. John Meryk, Bishop of Man from 1 ")77 
 to 1600, enumerates wheat among the insular crops. 3 
 
 The culture of wheat, however, could not have been 
 extensive; even at the present day it has not entered 
 into the ordinary food of the inferior orders of people 
 dwelling in the towns, and still less of the peasantry. 
 The culture of this grain now extends to every farm of 
 magnitude, yet the Island derives part of its supply from 
 the English coasts, there being about 2500 quarters im- 
 ported annually. 
 
 Until near the end of last century, they got part of their 
 wheaten bread, in a manufactured state, from Cumber- 
 
 ' Prynere's Animadversions of the Fourth Institute, chap. l.\L\., p. 384. 
 
 2 Statutes, anno. 1422, 1561, Lex Scripta, pp. 18, 41. 
 
 3 Camden's Britannia, edition 1690, p. 1051.
 
 16 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 land, whence vessels trading to Ireland brought it out and 
 disposed of it to the Manks boats at sea, then constantly 
 hovering about in pursuit of their smuggling business. 1 
 
 In the improvements that have taken place in farming 
 live stock in modern times in the Isle of Man, some indi- 
 genous animals have become extinct, and others by cross- 
 ing with different breeds are daily loosing their charac- 
 teristic peculiarities. The purr, a species of the wild 
 boar that ran at large in the mountains, was only extir- 
 pated near the close of last century. These animals 
 were of a grey sandy colour, spotted with black, and were 
 so numerous as not to escape the fangs of the churchman. 
 In the year 1577, the spiritual law directs an account to 
 be taken of all purrs, at Michaelmas, and the tithe to be 
 received at Easter, in the proportion taken of colts and 
 calves. 2 Those that could be collected in the hills were 
 brought to the low-lands in winter, but many ran wild 
 the whole year round, increasing in strength and ferocity. 
 The last wild purr had a den in the mountain of South 
 Barrule, whence he sallied forth almost daily into some 
 of the surrounding valleys in search of prey. In summer, 
 a fold was no barrier to his killing and carrying off both 
 sheep and lambs. In winter, impelled perhaps by hun- 
 ger, he became so daring that every adjoining farm-yard 
 was the scene of his depredations. At last the people rose 
 to drive the enemy from his stronghold, and besetting him 
 with the fiercest dogs that could be procured, they suc- 
 ceeded in| hunting him over the high cliffs of Brada Head, 
 where he was killed by falling amongst the rocks, ere he 
 reached the sea below. This was the last of the purrs. 
 A species resembling them are now to be found in the 
 Island, said to have been brought from the coast of Guinea. 3 
 
 1 Curwen's Agricultural Report, appendix ; Bullock's History of the Isle of 
 Man, p. 245. 
 
 2 Statute, anno. 1577, Lex Scripta, p. 55. 
 
 3 Quayle's View "J' Agriculture, p. 119.
 
 INSULAR STATISTICS. 17 
 
 Strong draught horses, chiefly from Ireland, have dis- 
 placed the indigenous breed, thus described by a gentle- 
 man who visited the Island in the year 1648 : — ' 
 
 " The Manks breed of horses are low, little, and withal 
 pitifully poor, and the most unsightly anywhere to be seen, 
 for you are scarce able to discern any head for hair, which 
 is of a sooty black colour. Long straggling hair hangs 
 dangling likewise down beneath their bellies. Their ex- 
 coriated hides are not, by the eye, to be distinguished from 
 a bear's skin. A reasonably tall man needs no stirrups 
 to astride them ; but being mounted, no man needs desire 
 a better beast for travelling ; they will plod on freely the 
 whole day and night also, if they be put to it, without either 
 meat or drink." 2 Of these hardy little animals, Waldron 
 says, " They wear no shoes, eat no corn, never go into a 
 stable but when they come off a journey; though the wea- 
 ther be ever so bad they are turned out to graze." 3 
 
 The original stock is said to be extinct, but a small 
 breed is still seen in the uplands, unshod and rarely housed 
 even in winter. So early as the year 1584, the attention 
 of the legislature was turned towards the improvement 
 of the breed of horses. " Whosoever shall keep a stoned 
 horse, unless he be five quarters of a yard high, and worth 
 six shillings and eight-pence, shall, upon presentment to 
 the Great Inquest, be fined in three shillings and four- 
 pence ; 4 and if any person shall be detected pulling the 
 hair of horses' tails, he shall be punished on the wooden 
 horse for the space of two hours, and whipped from the 
 waist upwards, naked." 5 
 
 1 This gentleman, according to his own account, left Wales to escape the exactions 
 of the plundering parliamentary troopers, and fixed his residence for a short time in 
 the Isle of Man, of which he wrote an account. This curious M.S. fell into the 
 hands of Mr. Townlcy, from which several extracts are published in his journal, 
 printed at Whitehaven, by Ware, 1791. 
 
 * Appendix, Townley's Journal, Whitehaven, 1791, vol. ii., p. 108. 
 
 :! Waldron' 8 Description of (he Me of Man, folio 157. 
 
 4 M.S. Statute Book, p. 91, "Horses;" Statute, anno. 1584; Les Scripta, p. C9. 
 
 8 Statutes, anno. 1601, 1602; Original Statute Book, folio 68. 
 
 CHAP. I. C
 
 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 As the Welshman's account of the Manks black cattle 
 
 iiis time is curious, I again quote his words : " Their 
 
 ves in general are, by consequence, little, low, small, 
 
 I poor, and no marvel, for they feed, in most parts, in 
 
 :thy grounds, lying continually in the open fields ; nei- 
 
 er is any hay or fodder given them. Those that graze 
 
 the sea-shore, or near thereunto, are observed every 
 
 iy, of themselves, to go down in companies, nature and 
 
 scessity only guiding them, and there will they expect 
 
 ebbing of the tide water, to have the benefit of eating 
 
 sea-tangle. The cattle do more willingly, yea, I may 
 
 ay, more greedily feed on those weeds than upon grass 
 
 r hay ; and it is to be observed that those cows that 
 
 d on them are far fairer, bigger bodied, fatter, and give 
 
 lore milk than those in the inland parts, that have not 
 
 ■ same commodity for their saturation, sustenation, and 
 
 irishment." 1 The cattle at present met with in the 
 
 and are a mixture of the breeds of different countries, 
 
 rticularly of England and Scotland. 
 
 The Isle of Man has also an indigenous breed of sheep, 
 
 rmed, in the language of the country, Loaghtyn? which 
 
 gnifies a brownish colour. These hardy little creatures 
 
 ire of mean appearance, with a high back, narrow ribs, 
 
 and tails somewhat resembling that of a goat. A writer 
 
 of the sixteenth century says, " The Manks sheep have 
 
 tails of almost incredible magnitude." 3 In the whole 
 
 breed, a general distinctive mark is said to appear in a 
 
 brownish coloured patch on the back of the neck. 4 
 
 1 " It was singular to see the Manks cows feeding greedily on tangle." I fancy he 
 was near-sighted, and took the great hogs for small cows ; for those go regularly to 
 the shore on the recess of the tide, not to feed upon tangle, hut upon small crabs 
 
 ought in with it. These they devour with great greediness. — Townley's Journal, 
 1. ii, p. 106. 
 
 2 Quayle, p. 111. Creyeen's Manks Dictionary. 
 
 3 Hollinshead's Chronicles of Eng la ml, vol. i, p. 38. — Appeals* Wood, p. 42. — 
 Harrison's Description of Britain, p. 38. 
 
 4 " They have a remarkable kind of sheep called Loaghtyn, which is one of the 
 greatest natural rarities in the country. "—Sacheverell's Account of the Isle of Man, 
 London, 1702.
 
 INSULAR STATISTICS. 19 
 
 In traversing the Island in the summer of 183G, I 
 could only observe, in the uplands, a few of these starved 
 looking animals. They are generally kept throughout the 
 year on the waste lands, and whether they really produce 
 any profit to the owner seems doubtful. Mr. Quayle did 
 not underrate their value in saying, " When shorn, 
 eight fleeces, unwashed, average seven pounds of wool." 1 
 
 The same breed of sheep appears in St. Kilda, one of 
 the most remote isles of the Hebrides, 2 and likewise in 
 Iceland, from which it may be inferred that they are of 
 Norwegian origin. The esteem in which cloth or stockings 
 made of loaghtyn wool is held by the Manks, from a sort 
 of national pride, leads to the preservation of sheep of 
 this colour. From the great influx, however, of foreign 
 breeds, this particular race is in danger of being soon 
 lost ; parliament having permitted an annual exportation 
 of 300 sheep from Great Britain into the Isle of Man. 
 
 It appears from the statute book, that these loaghtyn 
 sheep were formerly so wild that they could not be 
 brought into the fold, for the purpose of taking the tithe. 
 " Every one that hath wild sheep or lambs that cannot be 
 brought to fold, then the proctor hath used to depose 
 them upon a book what wool and lambs they have, and 
 so to pay truly the tithe thereof." 3 
 
 Moles, badger, and foxes are now unknown in the Isle 
 
 1 Quayle's Agricultural View, p. 43. " The natives pretend that there is a great 
 uncertainty in regard of these sheep ; hut some, curious in this respect, have found 
 it would be very practicable to have whole flocks of this breed, and with some indus- 
 try and care, make a very profitable manufacture." — Campbell's Political Survey of 
 Great Britain, Dublin edition, 1775, vol. ii, p. 534. 
 
 2 Martin's Voyage to St. Kilda, p. 27. A singular custom is mentioned by Mar- 
 tin in his Description of the Western Isles, p. 109, which, I am informed, once pre- 
 vailed in Man, although I cannot say, with certainty, that it did so. " In the event 
 of sheej) having twin lambs, beside the ordinary rent paid, one of them was to go to 
 the laird, who, on his part, was obliged, if any of the tenant's wives had twins, to 
 take one of t!.em into his own family." Mr. Martin knew a gentleman who had six- 
 teen of these twins in his house at one time. — Aj>ptmt^f Toland's History of the 
 Drvids, London, 1726, p. 172. 
 
 3 Old Spiritual Laics and Customs, Lex Scripfa, p. 54.
 
 20 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 of Man ; but Cronkshynnagh, the name of an estate in the 
 parish of Arbory, signifying, in the Manks language, " the 
 hill of the fox," implies that reynard was formerly a 
 denizen of the Island. 
 
 According to my friend, Mr. Forbes, the only quadruped 
 peculiar to the Island, of which it can boast, is the tail-less 
 cat, called in Manks, " Stubbin," and in English, " a 
 Rumpy " This is, he thinks, an accidental variety of the 
 common species felis catus, frequently showing no traces 
 of caudal vertebrae, and others merelv a rudimental substi- 
 tute for it. 1 There is a tradition still current in the Is- 
 land, that the first rumpy cat seen there was cast on shore 
 from a foreign vessel that was wrecked on the rocks at 
 Spanish Head, but at what period no one pretends to say. 
 A modern author speaks with more certainty by affirming 
 that the rumpy is the genuine aboriginal cat of the Island. 2 
 As a monger, the rumpy is preferred to all others of its 
 kind. Formerly when cats were scarce in Europe, the 
 rumpy would have brought a high price. 3 In Wales the 
 value of a cai was fixed by law, and the same regulation 
 extended to the Isle of Man, when under the rule of the 
 Cambrian Princes. 4 The Manks rumpy resembles some- 
 what in appearance the cats said by Sir Stamford Raffles 
 to be peculiar to the Malayan Archipelago. 5 Of late 
 
 1 Natural History of the Isle of Man, by Edward Forbes ; Quiff gin's Isle of Man 
 Guide, p. 40. 
 
 2 A Six Days' Tour in the Isle of Man, in 1836, p. 151. 
 
 3 Sir William Jardine's Naturalist's Library, " Mammalia," vol. ii, p. 243. 
 
 4 The price of a kitten, before it could see, was a penny ; after it could see, and be- 
 fore it caught a mouse, two-pence ; and after it had caught a mouse, four-pence ; 
 which was a large sum in the tenth century. It was required, besides being a good 
 mouser, that it should be perfect in its senses of hearing and seeing, and likewise 
 should have good claws. If it failed in any of these qualities, the seller was to forfeit 
 to the buyer the third part of its value. If any one stole or killed the cat that guarded 
 the prince's granary, he was to forfeit a milk ewe, its fleece, and lamb, or as much 
 wheat as, when poured on the cat suspended by the tail, the head touching the floor, 
 would form a heap high enough to cover the tip of the tail. — Laws of Hywell Dha, 
 folio edition, London, 1730. 
 
 5 Cuvier's Animal Kingdom, London edit., 1827, vol. ii, p. 489.
 
 INSULAR STATISTICS. 
 
 lil 
 
 years, many rumpies have been carried out of the Island 
 as curiosities by visitors. I have had one in my posses- 
 sion for upwards of four years — a circumstance which lias 
 afforded me an opportunity of observing the habits of the 
 animal. 1 
 
 1 My observations on the structure and habits of the specimen in my possession, 
 leave little doubt on my mind of its being a mule, or cross^l between the female 
 cat and the buck rabbit. In August, 1837, I procured a female rumpy kitten, direct 
 from the Island. Both in its appearance and habits it differs much from the common 
 house cat : the head is smaller in proportion, and the body is short ; a fud or brush 
 like that of a rabbit, about an inch in length, extending from the lower vertebra, is 
 the only indication it has of a tail. The hind legs are considerably longer than those 
 of the common cat, and, in comparison with the fore legs, bear a marked similarity in 
 proportion to those of the rabbit. Like this animal too, when about to tight, it springs 
 from the ground and strikes with its fore and hind feet at the same time. The com- 
 mon cat strikes only with its fore paws, standing on its hind legs. The rumpy dis- 
 charges its urine in a standing posture, like a rabbit, and can be carried by the ears 
 apparently without pain. Like every species of the felinre, it is carniverous and 
 fond of fish, and is an implacable enemy to rats and mice. My little oddity was 
 six months old before it saw a mouse, but when a dead one was exhibited, it in- 
 stantly displayed all the characteristics of a practised mouser. It has never had any 
 offspring, although the common cat propagates its species when about twelve months' 
 old. Indeed, on this subject, although I have made many inquiries, 1 have not been 
 able to establish a single instance in which a female rumpy was hnovon to produce 
 young. My opinion, as to the origin of the rumpy, has been strengthened by a co- 
 incident circumstance connected with this district. A few years ago, John Cunning- 
 ham, Esq., of Hensol, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, stocked a piece of waste land 
 on his estate with rabbits, which multiplied rapidly. In the immediate neighourhood
 
 22 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 There are, also, a few barn-door rumpy fowls in the 
 Island, but the species is common to the Hebrides at 
 large. Their eggs are said to be of a different shape from 
 those of other hens, being alike thick and round at each 
 end. 
 
 In the time of the Commonwealth of England, the king's 
 forest was stocked with red deer i 1 and in the beginning of 
 the eighteenth century, the Earl of Derby sent over fallow 
 and red deer to propagate in the Calf. 2 The tide runs 
 with such rapidity through the narrow channel called the 
 Race, which separates the Calf from the mainland, 3 that 
 no vessel can stem the current, yet the deer so frequently 
 made their way across this dangerous passage, and in such 
 formidable numbers, to pillage the corn of the farmers on 
 the mainland, whether it was in the field, the barn-yard, 
 or on the shilling-hill, that these depredations were finally 
 the cause of their extinction in the Island, as well as in 
 the Calf. 
 
 The Manks hares are said to be remarkably large. 
 Pennant, who visited the Island, remarks, " That hares 
 differ much in size, the smallest are in the Isle of Islay, 
 the largest in the Isle of Man, where some have been 
 
 of this warren rumpy cats are now plentiful, although previously altogether unknown 
 in the locality. Not a doubt seems to exist as to the nature of their origin. I am 
 afraid the known facilities which exist in the Isle of Man, for giving effect to this 
 opinion as to the origin of the rumpy, may go far to dissipate the cherished belief 
 of the Islanders, in its being a distinct genus. At the same time I am far from wish- 
 ing my statements to be understood as settling the question. My opportunities of 
 observation have induced this general opinion of their origin, but, as it is possible 
 many local objections may be taken to its reception, I would willingly avail myself 
 of any authenticated communication on this head, before the final publication of my 
 work. I have no wish, apart from the discovery of truth, to deprive the Island of 
 this, or any of its peculiarities. 
 
 1 Chaloner ; ApptaJm. Wood's History of the Isle of Man, p. 26. 
 
 2 Sacheverell, p. 6 ; Robertson's Tour through the Isle of Man, in 1791, p. 135. 
 
 3 The channel that separates the two Islands is about a mile wide ; it abounds with 
 dark hidden rocks, the passage made more difficult by a small Island called the Kit- 
 terland, and the tide is so strong that vessels can seldom get through it without being 
 driven sideways or stern foremost. — Townlei/'s Journal, vol. i, pp. 60, 61. — [The dis- 
 tance of the Calf from the mainland is, we are informed, about 300 or 400 yards. — 
 
 Al TIIOR.]
 
 INSULAR STATISTICS 23 
 
 found that weighed 121bs." 1 They are confined to the 
 mainland ; the experiment has been made of fostering 
 them in the Calf, but the rabbits, with which the little islet 
 is plentifully stocked, never ceased pursuing the timid 
 strangers till the whole race were exterminated.' 2 Wal- 
 dron says, " The rabbits are in such plenty in the Calf of 
 Man, especially in the months of August and September, 
 that they may be bought for a penny a-piece, returning 
 the skin, which goes as a perquisite to the Earl of Derby." 3 
 At a later period, the price received for the rabbits of the 
 Calf amounted to about £140 per annum. 4 
 
 The eagle had his eyrie in the fastness of Snafield in 
 the time of Bishop Wilson, and the Scotch merlvn was 
 an annual visitor there ; 5 but these, with the grouse which 
 inhabited the lower mountains, are no longer to be seen ; 6 
 though when Robinson visited the Island, in the year 
 1791, " Partridges and moor-game were abundant. 7 " — 
 
 1 Pennant's British Zoology, fourth edition, vol. i, p. 100 ; General Atlas, folio, 
 London, 1721, article "Man." 
 
 2 Quayle's Agriculture of the Isle of Man, p. 120 ; Robertson's Tour through 
 Man, in 1 791, p. 135 ; General Atlas, London, folio, 1721. " So far back as 1584, 
 we find ' it was ordered and enacted, in pursuance to an ancient custom and privi- 
 lege, that no person or persons of whatsoever degree or quality, except the Governor 
 of the Isle and the Lord's officers, should be permitted without license to fowl or 
 shoot out of any manner of hand-gun at a fowl, or hunt or course the hare with any 
 greyhound, bitch, beagle, curr, or mungrell, willingly or wittingly within the limited 
 warren or circuit from Castle Rushen to Kentraugh Burn in Kirk Christ Rushen, 
 and following the said Burn up to the fell ditch to the north-eastward to Kirk Santan 
 Burn, and so along the said burn to the sea side, and from the sea side to the Castle 
 again, upon pain of fine ;' and to ensure the better observance of this order, ' six 
 honest men' and ' four soldiers, who were not ordinary hunters or fowlers them- 
 selves,' were to reside in different places of the said circuit, and were to be sworn at 
 every court to make presentment of offenders. The same prohibition extended to ' a 
 certain circuit or warren on the north side of the Isle, appropriated unto the Lord by 
 his prerogative, for a warren for Conies or to plant Rabbits in, beginning at the burn- 
 foot of Ballaugh, and so round about the shore to the Point of Ayre, and up again 
 into Ramsey burn foot, which his Lordship farmed unto certain warrens at a yearly 
 rack-rent.' "—M.S. Statute Book, p. 111. 
 
 3 Waldron'8 Description of the Isle of Man, folio 158. 
 
 4 Townley's Journal, Whitehaven, 1791, vol. i, pp. GO, 61. 
 •■ Wilson's Brief Sketch in Camden, vol. ii, p. 1 1 13. 
 
 6 Wood's History of the Isle of Man, p. 26. 
 
 7 Mavor's British Tourist, vol. iv., p. 130.
 
 24 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 In former ao-es the Island was famous for its breed of 
 falcons, and they are still to be found in the most retired 
 and inaccessable precipices. 1 That noble bird, the pere- 
 grine falcon, so esteemed of old when hawking was in 
 fashion, breeds in the cliffs at Maughold Head, and in 
 the rocks at the Calf. Various kinds of hawks, as well 
 as ravens, and a great variety of other carrion birds, find 
 secure shelter in the inaccessable rocks which abound, as 
 well on the coast as in the mountains. The game now con- 
 sists, for the most part, of snipes, landrails, partridges, and 
 woodcocks ; the former breed in considerable numbers in 
 the extensive marshes in the northern part of the Island. 
 Landrails arrive in May and depart in Autumn. On 
 their periodical migration southward, in November, the 
 woodcocks rest for a time on the mountains, and again in 
 February on their return to the Norwegian forests. Of 
 the rarer British birds, the red-legged crow is common, 
 the king-fisher not rare if sought for, and the hoopoe, the 
 goat-sucker, the shrike, the cross-bill, and the roller have 
 been killed in the Island ; Manks specimens of many of 
 these birds may be seen in Mr. Wallace's museum at 
 Douglas. 2 
 
 A person, more fanciful than prudent or kind to his 
 country, not long since brought magpies into it, 3 which 
 have increased incredibly, and become a great nuisance. 
 Although the wild notes of the woodlark have never 
 been heard on the Island, the linnet and many other 
 small singing birds are numerous there. 4 
 
 The woodcock and snipe are sufficiently abundant. — 
 Rook-pigeons breed in vast numbers in the high rocky 
 cliff's all the way from Peel to the Calf ; they are smaller 
 
 1 Oswald's New Guide, third edition, p. 43. 
 
 2 Quiffffin's Me "f Man Guide, second edition, 1840, p. 40. 
 •'' Gibson' 8 Camden, vol ii., p. 1443. 
 
 "There are no pheasants, no nightingales, but small birds exceed in number those 
 to be observed in any part of England, and the blackbirds, like the magpies, are a 
 real pest."— Quaylc's General View of Agriculture, p. 1G1.
 
 INSULAR STATISTICS. 25 
 
 than the blue dove-cot species, and of a much darker 
 colour, being almost black, while their legs and feet are 
 of a beautiful red, and thair beaks of a yellow or gold 
 colour. There is a strong colony of the pied-crow at 
 Douglas Head, where they live and breed in great secu- 
 rity. The Island likewise abounds with cranes or herons, 
 called by the natives "long-legged-fishers;" and a glutton- 
 ous tribe of cormorants, which are held in great dislike, 
 and into which we are informed by Milton, the devil 
 transformed himself: — ■ 
 
 " Hence up he flew, and on the tree of life 
 Sat like a cormorant." 
 
 The birds that build their nests and frequent the Calf, 
 are thus described by a tourist who visited the Island in 
 1 789 : " There are such a mixed multitude of birds as no 
 other spot in the universe can exhibit, for there are num- 
 bers so astonishingly great, that I do not know how to 
 liken them, but by scriptural comparison, as the stars of 
 the firmament, or the sand upon the sea-shore." 1 But of 
 all the migratory birds that visited the Calf, down to the 
 beginning of the present century, the coulterneb puffin 
 was the most numerous ; this species is called, in Scot- 
 land, Cockandi/, and in the Orkney Isles, Tommy-noddle. 2 
 Their spies or harbingers generally made their appearance 
 in the Calf about the end of March, seemingly to see if 
 their former habitations were in good order, and after 
 remaining a few days departed. In the beginning of 
 May the main body arrived ; 3 and as if unwilling 
 to take the trouble of making nests for themselves, they 
 took forcible possession of the burrows made by the rab- 
 bits. 4 The puffin hatches only one bird at a time, but if 
 the egg be taken away, it will lay another, and even a 
 
 1 Townley's Journal kept in the Me of Man, Whitehaven, 1791, vol. i, pp. 58, 59. 
 
 2 Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary. 
 
 3 According to Sacheverell, they were only to be seen in the " months of June and 
 July." — Account of the Me of Man, London, 1702, p. 6. 
 
 4 Willoughby's Ornithology, p. 326. 
 
 CHAP. I. D
 
 26 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 third in the same place, which caused the Manks poachers 
 to say, " That if the nest was not robbed the old ones 
 would breed there no longer." The old puffins left their 
 nests at day-break, and did not return till night-fall, when 
 they ejected from their stomachs into the mouth of their 
 young, part of the half-digested fish caught by them through 
 the clay; 1 by this oily substance they were nourished and soon 
 became very fat. When they arrived at their full growth, 
 they were drawn from their holes by a person furnished 
 with a hooked stick, who, as a tally, chopped off one foot 
 of each bird as it was taken. This was perhaps necessary 
 as the annual number generally exceeded five thousand ! 
 On account of the flesh of the puffin partaking so much 
 of the nature of fish, it was allowed by the church on 
 Lenten days. In the Calf is also found the bird some- 
 times called the stormy petrel, and familiarly known to 
 mariners as Mother Carey's chicken. It is not difficult 
 to take it with the hand, but the attempt, whether suc- 
 cessful or not, will be made at the expense of some un- 
 pleasant sensations ; for the petrel has the faculty of 
 throwing from the bill to a considerable distance a quan- 
 tity of foetid oily matter, more than equivalent for the 
 capture. The only other places frequented by the stormy 
 petrel in our regions are the Scilly Isles and Berhou, one of 
 the smallest of the Channel Islands. 2 It was a high infrac- 
 tion of the law, " To go into the houghs where hyrons do 
 breed to take old hyrons, young hyrons, or hyron's eggs out 
 of their nests ;" 3 and the like protection being afforded to 
 the puffin was, in latter times, the grounds of so many prose- 
 cutions and the cause of so much perjury, " That the puf- 
 fins," as the Manks peasants in the immediate neighbour- 
 hood say, " were compelled by a superior power to leave a 
 
 1 Challoner's ApgVthm-; Wood's History, p. 25 ; Goldsmith's History of Birds, 
 B. vii. chap. viii. 
 
 2 Jnylis's Channel Islands, chap. iv. 
 
 3 Statute, anno. 1577 ; Lex Scripta, p. GG.
 
 INSULAR STATISTICS. 27 
 
 place where their presence was the cause of so much 
 wickedness ;" but they were in reality exterminated by 
 a swarm of Norway rats, ca?t on shore from a Russian 
 vessel, which was wrecked on the coast. 1 
 
 The only indigenous plant peculiar to the Island, that 
 has yet been discovered, is the Sisymbrium Monetise, or 
 the " Isle of Man Rocket," which, in the Linnsean clas- 
 sification, is of the order Tetr adynamia. It is a dwarf 
 sea-rocket, with smooth stem, pinnatifid leaves, and 
 erect pods. 2 
 
 There is a great variety of marine plants to be met 
 with in the several bays and creeks of the Island. Dur- 
 ing the summer season, they are tinged with the most 
 beautiful shades of red, green, brown, and yellow ; there 
 are some of a blueish cast, but those that are tinged with 
 different shades of red are the most numerous. The Island 
 is only moderately rich in botanical productions. It 
 may probably contain some five hundred species of the 
 flowering plants, many of which, however, are of scarce 
 kinds. 3 The tangle cast on the shore by the sea is ap- 
 plied to various purposes of farming. 
 
 1 Townley's Journal, vol. i, pp. GO, 61. — The red legged choughs, called keys by 
 the Manks, are very numerous on the Calf, although Goldsmith says they are only 
 seen along the west coasts of England. — Goldsmith's Animated Nature, book iv, 
 chap. i. 
 
 - Miller's Guide to Botany, Edinburgh, 1818, p. 120. 
 
 3 From Mr. Forbes's sketch of the Natural History of the Island, we subjoin a list 
 of the rarer plants, with the localities in winch they are found, viz. : — 
 
 Sparganium simplex. Ditches in curragh. j Lavetera arborea. Near Spanish Head. 
 Scirpus Savii. Douglas Bay. Derbyhaven. i Malva moschata. Sea cliffs and roadsides. 
 Juncus maritimus. Scarlett. I Linum angustifohum. Field on the cliff 
 
 Alisma ranunculoides. Curragh, common. | beyond Derby Castle. 
 
 Radiola millegrana. Wet places. 
 
 Hypericum elodes. Bogs, abundant. 
 
 Hypericum Androsaemum. Port Soderic. 
 
 Crambe maritima. Near Peel. 
 
 Thlaspi arvense. -Sandy fields. 
 
 Lepidiuni campestre* Common. 
 
 Lepidiuni smithii. Ballaugh. 
 
 Cochlearia Grsenlandica. Cliffs near Peel. 
 
 Erysimum cheiranthoides. Roadsides, 
 Ballaugh. 
 
 Scilla verna. Douglas Head, and other 
 
 cliffs by the sea, abundant. 
 Polygonum raii. Shore at Derbyhaven. 
 Anagallis tenella. Bogs, common. 
 Pinguicula lusitanica. Boggy spots near 
 
 Derby Castle and Banks's Howe. 
 Euphrasia, a supposed new species. Fields 
 
 by the sea at Ballaugh. 
 Verbascum Thapus. Near Miltown. 
 Hyoscyamus niger. Poolvash it Derbyhav
 
 28 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 The shell fish 1 on the coasts and shores of the Island 
 consist of sea craw-fish, prawns, scallops, razor-fish, lim- 
 pets, lobsters, crabs, and oysters ; 2 but the most singular 
 marine creature to be met with on the Manks coast is 
 the battle-cock. This extraordinary sea production has 
 a circular place on its breast exactly resembling the 
 sucker of a pump, by means of which it adheres so close- 
 ly to its chosen spot on the rock, where it sits in the at- 
 
 Solanum nigrum. Near Seafield. 
 Lycopus europreus. Curragks. 
 Pulegium vulgare. Marl pits at Ballaugh. 
 Lamium intermedium. Waste ground at 
 
 Kirk Michael, &c., common. 
 Lamium amplexicaule. With the last. 
 Stachys ambigua. North of the Island. 
 Scutellaria minor. Onchan, &c. 
 Convolvolus soldanella. Point of Ayre. 
 Erythraea latifolia. Cliffs by the sea. 
 Carduus marianus. Sandy fields, Ballaugh 
 Carduus tenuifiorus. Common. 
 Bidens tripartita. North districts, common 
 Artemisia maritima. Rocks near Seafield 
 Gnaphalium margaritacum. Hedges near 
 
 Ballacurry, Andreas. 
 Pyrethrum maritimum. Cliffs by the sea. 
 Helosciadium nodiflorum. Ditches, Jurby 
 Crithmum maritimum. (Samphire.) Cliffs 
 
 at St. Ann's Head, and other places. 
 Eryngium maritimum. (Eringo root.) 
 
 North Coast. 
 Erodium maritimum. Castletown. 
 Geranium pusillum. At Scarlett. 
 
 Brassica monensis. Grounds at Castle 
 
 Mona ; in great plenty at the Ledn and 
 
 at Andreas. 
 Reseda fructiculosa. On a wall at the 
 
 Rectory of Ballaugh. 
 Viola montana. Common in the North. 
 Viola Curtisii. Near the sea, Kk. Michael. 
 Silene anglica. Jurby, rare. 
 Cerastium tetrandrum. Sandy fields in the 
 
 North. 
 Cerastium arvense. Derbyhaven. 
 Spergula maritima. Ramsey. Peel Castle. 
 Sedum anglicum. Rocks and old walls. 
 Cotyledon umbilicus. Walls, everywhere. 
 Tormentilla reptans. Hedges, common. 
 Rubus saxatilis. Glen at Bishop's Court. 
 Ulex nanus. Common on heaths and 
 
 hedges. 
 Vicia angustifolia. Sandy fields of Andreas. 
 Vicia lathyroides. With the last. 
 Ornithopus perpusdlus. Sandy fields. 
 Trifolium fragiferum. Ballaugh. 
 Euphorbia portlandica. Wallbury. 
 Asplenium marinum. Rocks by the sea. 
 
 1 Among the rare kinds which abound on the coast, are to be found the following, 
 given by Mr: Forbes in lus Natural History of the Island: — " On the rocks at low 
 water live Trochus umbilicatiis, Littorina tenebrosa, Skenea depressa, Rissoa cingilla 
 and Kellia rubra; also, (though more rarely) the scarce Velutina otis. By the 
 dredge may be taken Lima fragilis ; Astarte Danmoniensis and Scotica ; Kellia 
 suborbicularis ; Chiton ruber, laevis, and fascicularis ; Venus ovata, cassina and 
 fasciata ; Fissurella graeca, Emarginula jissura, Velutina laevigata, Fusus antiguus 
 
 and corneus, Fusus Bamfius, Trochus tenuis and striatus ; Isocardia Cor ; Corbula 
 inoequivalvis ; Nucula margaritacea ; Eulima polida ,• Bulla lignaria; Natica Alderi, 
 with many other shells equally rare, and a number of the more frequent species. 
 In the river by Kirk Braddan Church is a rare form of the pearl muscle (Unio mar- 
 garitifera) which was formerly much sought after by the natives for the sake of the 
 pearls which it sometimes contains. Besides the shellfish, the neighbouring sea fur- 
 nishes also many rare animals of the genera Asterias, Ophiura, Echinus, Comatula, 
 and Actinia." 
 
 2 Forbes's Catalogue of the jnolusca inhabiting the Isle of Man and the neighour- 
 bouring seas. Edin. 1838.
 
 INSULAR STATISTICS. U9 
 
 titude of a frog, that it cannot be removed but by some 
 act of intentional force, or some accidental violence. It 
 possesses nearly all the desirable properties of the turtle, 
 abounding with a substance that is esteemed a very good 
 substitute for the most delicious food, the green fat. 
 
 The entomology of the Island is not attractive, though 
 a few of the rarer coleoptera may be found on the sandy 
 district of the north. 1 
 
 The bays of the Island abound with turbot, sole, plaice, 
 bret, flowk or flounder, with gurnet, mullet, mackerel, carp, 
 and conger, also rock cod,? whiting, polluck or blocking, 
 haddock, ray, bull-mort, sproad, salmon, dog-fish or 
 gobbock, 3 all in such abundance, that if managed with 
 the same prudence and industry of the Dutch, might, 
 in addition to the herring fishery, be a source of con- 
 siderable wealth to the Island. The herrings make 
 their appearance on the coast in the month of June, in 
 vast shoals, and continue till October or November. They 
 
 1 Forbes 's Natural History of the Isle of Man. 
 
 2 Toivnley's Journal, Whitehaven, 1791, vol. i. p. 148. Mr. Townley remarks, 
 " The rock cod is a very beautiful fish, almost of a vermilion colour. Some people 
 fancy they acquire that beautiful red tinge from feeding very much upon lobsters ; 
 but lobsters are of a blackish colour in the water, and only become red when boiled. I 
 am of opinion the beautiful tinge is communicated to the skin by the red mosses and 
 weeds which all the rocks are clothed with where the rock cod is generally taken. — 
 Vol. i. pp. 291, 294. The gurnet is of a beautiful colour, resembling red mullet, but 
 with a strangely shaped head. The people of the Island put a wily imposition upon 
 strangers, by telling them ' They must not take the head of the gurnet, for all the 
 fish upon it is of a poisonous quality.' In truth, there is no fish upon it, — no sub- 
 stance whatever except a shining skin as thin as paper." — Vol. i., p. 93. 
 
 3 " An old experienced fisherman told me, that the best baits they use for catching 
 that odious, ravenous species of fish, are the embryos of their own young; that as soon 
 as they lay hold of a female gobbock, they open her, take out the infantine young, 
 and bait with them, by which they are sure of laying hold of the male fish as fast as 
 they can let down their lines. How any human being can think of eating these nasty 
 voracious sea-creatures is astonishing to me, and yet the common people here are 
 exceedingly fond of them. Talking with a lady and gentleman, at whose house I was 
 dining the other day, of that strange predilection in the country people for a food so 
 disgusting to the very idea of others, they told me their servants would often request 
 a little fresh gobbock, by way of treat, and that their little boy, only four years of 
 age, preferred it in appearance to any other kind of food." — Toivnley's Journal, 
 vol. i, pp. 233, 234.
 
 30 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 first appear on the Peel side, where they continue until 
 September, about which time they move round to the 
 east coast, generally followed by the porpoise or great sea- 
 herring-hog, called in Manks, the Perkyn} The salmon 
 ascend the rivers in great numbers in the winter months 
 for the purpose of spawning ; but comparatively few of 
 them succeed in regaining the salt-water, owing to the 
 numerous poachers who destroy them with spears. Trout 
 abound in every stream not affected by water from the 
 
 lead mines. 
 
 The transactions of the primitive inhabitants of this 
 little kingdom are as deeply buried in the gloom of anti- 
 quity, as its geographical aspect is, at times, obscured by 
 day clouds rising from the sea. Many of the actors in the 
 opening scenes of its political drama may pass before the 
 eye of the reader like the evanescent figures of a cloudy 
 atmosphere ; but I shall endeavour, in a subsequent part 
 of this work, to bring them all as distinctly as possible 
 into view, leaving the reader to judge to whom the well 
 known couplet of the old satirist applied : — 
 
 When Sathane tryed his arts in vaine, 
 Ye worship of ye Lorde toe gaine, 
 Ye yird, he said, and all be thine, 
 Except ane place, that maun be .mine. 
 Though bare it is, and scarce a span, 
 By mortals called ye Ysle of Mann ; 
 That is a place I cannot spare, 
 For all. my choicest friends are there ! 2 
 
 According to the venerable Bede, the population of the 
 Island, at the commencement of the eighth century, did 
 not exceed three hundred families. 3 Hollinshead, in his 
 
 1 This monster, from which we "now turn with loathing, was eaten with avidity by 
 the old English epicure. Ancient cookery exhausted all its art in mixing sauces for 
 this delectable morceau ; and there was no entertainment of any magnificence, until 
 the sixteenth century, at which the porpoise, either bodily or in junks, did not find 
 a respectable place." — Warner's Antiquitates Culinarice, 4to. Blamire, 1791. 
 
 ^'Irvine's Histories Scotica; Nomenclatura, Edinburgh edition, 1682. 
 
 3 Ecclesiastical History, book ii, chapter. ix.
 
 INSULAR STATISTICS. 31 
 
 Chronicles of England, 1584, says, " There were formerly 
 1300 families in the Island, but now there are scarcely 
 half that number. 1 In Camden's Britannia, which was first 
 published only two years subsequent to the Chronicles of 
 Hollinshead, it is stated, seemingly with more accuracy, 
 that the Island contained 060 families. 2 In the year 
 1667, it contained 2531 male persons, between the ages 
 of sixteen and sixty. 3 By a manuscript, still extant, in 
 the handwriting of Bishop Wilson, the population of the 
 Island in 1726, appears to have been 13,971. 4 A roll 
 made out from the reports of the parochial clergy in 1757, 
 shows the number to have been 19,144. 5 By the Report 
 of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, for 
 the year 1764, the number of the native inhabitants of 
 the Island had increased to 20,000. 6 The population 
 of the Island, as taken by order of the Governor in 
 1784, amounted to 24,924/ The Bishop's visitation in 
 1792, shows the number to be 27,913. 8 By the compu- 
 tation in 1811, 34,316 9 ; by the census of 1821, the popu- 
 lation of the Island amounted to 40,081 ; by the census 
 of 1831, to 41,758 ; and by that of 1841, to 47,986 — 
 thereby increasing to more than three times the number 
 in 1726 * 
 
 For ecclesiastical purposes, the Island is divided into 
 seventeen parishes ; of these, three are rectories and 
 
 1 Ilollinshead's Chronicles of England; Appendix Wood, p. 30. 
 
 2 Gibson's Camden, vol. ii, p. 1 139 ; Heylin's Description of the Great World, 
 edition 1621, p. 524. 
 
 3 Wood, p. 30. 
 
 1 When Mr. Quayle visited the Island in 1811, this document was in the hands of 
 Mr. StoweU, then Clerk of the Rolls. 
 
 •' This account of the number of the inhabitants was made out by the clergy in 
 obedience to the 12th Article of the Bishop's visitation. 
 
 6 Report p. 115, Isle of Man Charities, drawn up for the information of Govern- 
 ment, and printed in 1831, pp. 52, 53. 
 
 7 This number is taken from the Report of the Parliamentary Commissioners of 1 791 . 
 
 8 Agricultural Report of 18 10. 
 
 * Quayle' s Agricultural Report, 1812, \>. 192. 
 
 * Appendix, Note ii, " Population of the Island."
 
 32 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 fourteen vicarages. Consistorial courts are held by the 
 Vicars General, by whom an officer called the Sumner 
 General is appointed, and who is assisted in his duty by 
 parochial officers called Sumners. For judicial purposes, 
 the Island is divided into two districts, called Northern 
 and Southern, which are respectively placed under the 
 jurisdiction of the two Deemsters, or judges, appointed by 
 the Crown. These districts are again subdivided into six 
 sheadings, or small sheriffdoms, to each of which the 
 Governor annually appoints a Coroner — an officer -nvho 
 unites in his person the duties of a constable, a coroner, 
 and many of those of a sheriff in England, and who is the 
 active organ of the Deemster. In every sheading an 
 officer called a Lockman is appointed to assist the Coroner. 
 The Moar is another parish officer, whose duty is to col- 
 lect the Lord's rents and parochial fees, and to take charge 
 of all wrecks for the benefit of the Lord proprietor of the 
 Island. 1 
 
 The chief towns in the Island are, Castletown, Douglas, 
 Ramsey, and Peel. These will be particularly noticed 
 in a subsequent chapter. 
 
 In the mountainous part of the Island, the language of 
 the original inhabitants is still spoken by the natives. — 
 The Manks is a dialect of the ancient Gaelic, differing in 
 many instances only in a slight degree from the Scottish 
 Gaelic. Of its " construction, texture, and beauty," Mr. 
 Cregeen, in his introduction to the Manks Dictionary, re- 
 marks, " It appears like a piece of exquisite network, 
 interwoven together in a masterly manner, and framed by 
 the hand of a most skilful workman, equal to the compo- 
 sition of the most learned, and not the production of 
 chance. The depth of meaning that abounds in many of 
 the words must be conspicuous to every person versed in 
 the language." 
 
 1 SachevereW s Account nf the Isle of Man, London 1702, p. 2. 
 
 I 
 
 i
 
 INSULAR STATISTICS. 33 
 
 APPENDIX.— Chapter I. 
 
 NOTE I.— Page 2. 
 
 DIMENSIONS OF THE ISLAND. 
 
 Camden, whose Britannia appeared first in 1586, states the breadth of the Island 
 
 to be fifteen miles, (vol. ii, p. 1439) ; and which is confirmed in the Geographical 
 
 Description of the World, (London, 1659, folio 6.) By Maxwell it is said to be 
 
 eighteen Scotch miles, ecpial to 27 English. — Theatre of the World, 1521, p. 187, 
 
 ; ■/iiMJnx Townley's Journal, vol. ii, p. 187. 
 
 " See what time can do!" says Polydo re Virgil, "this Island of Man is now 
 remote from the land twenty-five miles, which, in old times, was scarce one mile 
 distant from Anglesea, and joined into Wales." — Appendix Totvn/ey' s Journal in the 
 Isle of Man, Whitehaven, 1791, vol. ii, p. 189. The account of its situation by Hector 
 Boetius is ecpially strange: "Agricola, the Roman general, determined to pursue his 
 good fortune, prepared to subdue the Isle of Man ; but wanting vessels to carry his 
 army over from Scotland, he found means that such as could swim and knew the 
 shallow places of the coast, made shift to pass the gulph, and so got on land to the 
 great wonder of the inhabitants." — Hollinshead's Chronicles of Scotland, edition 
 1805, vol. i, p. 92. 
 
 From the annnal encroachments made by the sea, both on the N.E. and N.W. 
 coasts of the Island, we have no doubt of the dimensions of the Island, as given by 
 Camden, being correct at the time they were taken ; but we are not inclined to coun- 
 tenance the assertion of a more ancient historian, that " Man has been separated 
 from the mainland by the washing of the waves of the ocean." — Paulus Jovius ; Ap- 
 pendix Townley, vol. ii, p. 189. The land, gradually undermined and swept away by 
 the sea, is part of the most valuable soil in the Island. The remains of ancient fences, 
 and traces of the plough broken off abruptly at the very edge of the cliff, give attes- 
 tation to tradition, that the evil has been progressive. — Quayle's View of Agricul- 
 ture in the Isle of Man, London, 1812, p. 104. The destruction is not occasioned 
 by the sea acting in a direct fine inward, but by what is called the rake of the tide — that 
 is, by the current passing in a parallel line with the coast, scooping out and under- 
 mining the land in its progress. Its ravages are thus described by an eye witness : 
 "The level ground along the beach extended a quarter of a mile farther in Bishop 
 Wilson's time than at present ; his favourite airing ground, where he used to go out 
 in his old carriage, is trashed away. In proceeding along, we saw several empty cells, 
 and before we left the shore, we were so lucky as to see one laid open to view by a 
 fresh fall, but it still retained all its furniture. We found, afterwards, seven or eight 
 graves, in a regular range, laid open by the sea." — Townley's Jam-mil kepi in the 
 Isle of Man, 1791, vol. i, p. 172. Feltham, who visited the Island in 1797, says, 
 "Within these last two years, the sand bank at Bishop's Court has suffered consi- 
 derably from the encroachments of the high tides." — Page 196. 
 
 The north end of the Island appears to have undergone the greatest changes. The 
 oldest document perhaps extant, which bears any reference to the topography of the 
 island, is An Account of Hi <• E,i lent of the Ancient Church-lands, in Johnston's 
 Cello Normanicce, published at Copenhagen, 1786". In the second division of these, 
 lands, woods, lakes, and islands, are thus described, now nowhere to be found : 
 
 CHAP. I. E
 
 34 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAX. 
 
 " This is the line that divides the lands of Kirkercus from the abbey-lands. It begins 
 at the lake of Myreshaw, which is called Hexanappayse, and goes up the dry moar, 
 directly from the place called Monenyrsana, along the wood to the place, called 
 Seabba-Ankomathway. It then ascends to Roselan as far as the brook of Gryseth, 
 and so up to Glendrummy, and proceeds up to the King's way to the rock called 
 Craigeth as far as Deeppoole, and descends along the rivulet and Hedaryegorman, 
 and so descends along the river Salaby to the wood of Myreshaw ,■ it encloses three 
 islands in the lake of Myreshaw, and descends along the old moor of Dnflock, and 
 so winds along and ends at Hescanakeppage." " The lake of Myreshaw, called 
 Mirescogh, was occupied as a state prison. Donald, a veteran chieftain in Man, a 
 particular friend of Harold Olaveson, was decoyed from the monastry of St. Mary, of 
 Rushen, where he had taken sanctuary, A.D., 1249, by Harold, son of Goddard Don, 
 who had usurped the throne of Man, and by his order was bound and carried to the 
 Isle of Mirescogh, in the lake of Myreshaw, where he was consigned to a strong guard ; 
 but, when sitting in his chamber there, the fetters dropt off his ancles, and he found 
 himself at liberty." — Johnson's Celto Normanica, Copenhagen edition, 1786, p. 151. 
 The lake of Mirescogh must have been of considerable extent, and well-stocked with 
 fish, as Thomas, Earl of Derby, granted to Huan, Bishop of Man, in 1505, one-half 
 of the fishing of Mirescogh. — Johnston's Jurisprudence, p. 233. 
 
 The names of places often outlast the language of the country at the time they 
 were given, and therefore prove to antiquaries, what well known landmarks are to 
 mariners, guides by which to steer through the surrounding gloom ; but some of these 
 hard-sounding words are beyond our ken. 
 
 Ancient tradition is likewise strong in support of the Island having been formerly 
 much larger than it is now.i The native inhabitants say they have been told by their 
 fathers that, in olden times, large fragments were detached from the main Island by 
 internal convulsions, and thrown into the sea, as they suppose, by the power of en- 
 chantment ; 2 and all that now remains of these huge masses are the Bahama Rig 
 and King William's Bank, both dreaded by mariners as they steer along the coast of 
 Ramsey. 3 
 
 At the northern extremity of the Isle of Man was formerly a considerable village, 
 which, in the language of the Island, was called Balla-moar-cranstil, or in English 
 " Cranston." — Camden ; Heylen ; Speed; Ap. Toivnley's Journal, vol. ii, p. 187. 
 A modern writer thus remarks, " The sea has made great encroachments on the town 
 of Peel ; but a few years back many well known properties occupied a site on the 
 margin of the bay, not a vestige of which is now remaining. During the last summer 
 
 1 The sea has, likewise, made deep inroads on the opposite shores of Galloway. Tn the year 
 1312, Duncan M'Dougal received provisions and stores from Edward 111, to furnish his Pele 
 or fortalice which he held out against the Scots. "This fortalice appears to have stood in a 
 small island called Earthholm, on the coast of Galloway."— Robertson's Scotland, i, 624, 625, 
 °-9 — Chalmers Caledonia, vol. iii, p. 376. This island is now nowhere to be seen, which is 
 likewise a proof that the distance between the Isle of Mau and the Scottish coast, is yearly 
 becoming: greater. 
 
 2 Waldron's Description of the Isle of Man, London, 1731, folio, p. ISO. 
 
 8 These banks arc thus described in Quiggiris Mariners' Guide for 1836 :—" The Bahama 
 Bank, or Rig;, bears X.IC. 2 leagues from Ramsey town, and is about 4 miles in length from 
 S.S.E. to N.N.W., with only 6 feet depth of water at the S. end, differing in other parts, from 9 
 to 12 feet, and is rather more than ^ a mile broad. At the S. end, Clay Head bears S.W. by 
 W. 12 miles, and the Point of Ayre N.N.W. Westerly, 6 miles distant; the N. end bears from 
 the same Point S.E. by S. King William's Bank is 7 miles in length from S.E. toN.\V.,and ± 
 a mile broad : the N.W. end is E., 6* miles from the Point of Ayre, and N.E. 11 miles from 
 Maaghold Head, from which the S.E. end bears E.N.E. J E. 13£ miles, and from the Point of 
 Ayre, E.S.E. 12 miles distant. The least depth of water on it is 18 feet.
 
 INSULAR STATISTICS. 
 
 35 
 
 (1835) two jetties were thrown up here, with the view of counteracting if possible 
 the progress of the waves ; but the only way of supporting the veto, ' Hither slmlt. 
 thou come but no farther,' is by constructing a breast wall all along the shore below 
 the town ; some acres of land might thus be rescued from the devouring element." — 
 A Siu.' Days' Tour in the Isle of Man, 1836, p. 146. The Histories Scoticce 
 Nomenclatura, published at Edinburgh in 1682, also states the Isle of Man to have 
 been of much larger dimensions than it is at present. 
 
 The situation of the Island and the distances from its headlands to the opposite 
 headlands and harbours hi the channel, will appear distinctly from the following table 
 of the compass bearings and distances, as given by nautical men. 
 
 From Douglas Head to Miles. 
 
 Skerries Light . . . . S.W. by S. 45 
 
 Great Onus Head . . S.|W 54 
 
 Chester Bar S by E 60 
 
 Liverpool N.W. Buoy SbyE^-E 60 
 
 Preston Channel . . S.E by S 60 
 
 Lancaster Channel . . S.E § E 54 
 
 Peel Foudry . . . . S.E by E 40 
 
 Ravenglass E by S 40 
 
 St. Bees Light .... E by N 42 
 
 From Point of Ayre to 
 Liverpool Floating Light 
 
 S£E 
 
 Whitehaven EbyS-JS 
 
 St. Bees Head .... E.S.E J E 
 
 Maryport E by S 
 
 Dumfries EbyN£N 
 
 BalcaryBay E.N.E 
 
 Kirkcudbright .. .. N.EiE 
 
 Burrow Head . . . . N.N.E 
 
 Miles. 
 
 70 
 28 
 26 
 37 
 13 
 34 
 24 
 16 
 
 From Mautjhold Head 
 Liverpool N.W Buoy 
 Lancaster Channel . . 
 
 Ravenglass 
 
 Whitehaven 
 
 Workington 
 
 Maryport E.N.E.JN 
 
 Dumfries Bar .. . .N.E.byEiE 
 Balcary Bay . . . . N.E by E 
 Kirkcudbright .. .. N.E 
 
 to 
 S I E. 
 S.EUS 
 E.S.E 
 E i N 
 E.N.E 
 
 66 
 50 
 32 
 31 
 36 
 40 
 49 
 40 
 32 
 
 From Peel to 
 
 Mull of Galloway . . N i W 26 
 Copeland Isles .... NbyWfW 37 
 Strangford Lough .. N.W by W 27 
 
 Ardglass N.WbyW jW 32 
 
 Carlingford Lough . . W by N -\ N 50 
 
 Mull of Galloway N.WbyNfN 21 
 Copeland Isles, Belfast NWJN 38 
 Strangford Lough . . WbyN$N 40 
 
 From Calf of Max to 
 
 Mull of Galloway .. N.N.E 36 
 
 Copeland Isles .... N 43 
 
 Strangford Lough .. N.N.W£W 29 
 
 Ardglass N.W i N 31 
 
 Dundrum . . 
 Carlingford Lough 
 Dublin .. .. 
 
 Wexford . . . 
 
 N.W 37 
 
 W.N.W 45 
 
 WbySJS 60 
 
 S.W by W 113 
 
 Drogheda. 
 
 W % N 54 
 
 Holyhead S.S.W 45 
 
 Great Orms Head . . S by E 54 
 
 Liverpool N.W Buoy S.S.E J E 68 
 
 Point Linas SJ-E 42 
 
 THE PRESENT MEASUREMENT OF THE ISLAND. 
 
 Content of rhe Isle of Man, in square miles 209 
 
 Number of acres in do. considered as a plain, 640 to a mile . . . . 133,760 
 To which add one-twentieth for hills and dales, gives 6,688 
 
 Total number of acres in Man 
 
 CONTEXTS OF MOUNTAIN^. 
 
 East of the road from Douglas to Peel 
 
 West of do. do. do 
 
 Total 
 
 Barren wastes 
 Intack lands . 
 
 140,448 
 
 Acres. 
 
 16,11!) 
 
 4,686 
 
 21,135 
 
 30,000 
 25,000
 
 36 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 NOTE II.— Page 31. 
 
 POPULATION OF THE ISLE OF MAN 
 
 At different Periods, exhibiting the Increase since the Year 172G. 
 
 The Letters p and t signify Parish and Town. 
 
 Places. 
 
 Andreas, p. ., 
 Arbory, p. ., 
 Ballaugh, p. ., 
 Braddan, p. . 
 Douglas, t. . 
 Bride, p. 
 German, p. . 
 
 Peel, t 
 
 Jurby, p. . 
 Lezayre, p. . 
 Lonan, p. . 
 Malew, p. . 
 Castletown, t. 
 Marown, p. . 
 Maughold, p.. 
 Ramsey, t. . 
 Michael, p. . 
 Oncban, p. . 
 Patrick, p. . 
 Rushen, p. . 
 St. Ann, p. . 
 
 Total . 
 
 1726 
 
 1757 1 
 
 1784 
 
 
 1792 
 
 1821 
 
 1831 
 
 1841 
 
 Increase 
 since 
 1726. 
 
 967 
 
 1067 
 
 1390 
 
 
 1555 
 
 2229 
 
 2217 
 
 2332 
 
 1365 
 
 661 
 
 785 
 
 912 
 
 
 1143 
 
 1455 
 
 1511 
 
 1615 
 
 954 
 
 806 
 
 773 
 
 871 
 
 
 1005 
 
 1467 
 
 1416 
 
 1516 
 
 710 
 
 780 
 
 1121 
 
 1214 
 
 s 
 
 5045 J 
 
 1754 
 
 1927 
 
 2 122 
 
 1342 
 
 810 
 
 1814 
 
 2850 
 
 6054 
 
 6776 
 
 8647 
 
 7837 
 
 612 
 
 629 
 
 652 
 
 
 678 
 
 1001 
 
 1039 
 
 1153 
 
 541 
 
 510 
 
 475 
 
 925 
 
 805 
 
 } 2474J 
 
 } 
 
 2505J 
 
 1849 
 1909 
 
 1791 
 1722 
 
 1896 
 2133 
 
 1386 
 1658 
 
 483 
 
 467 
 
 637 
 
 
 713 
 
 1108 
 
 1097 
 
 1063 
 
 580 
 
 1309 
 
 1481 
 
 1680 
 
 
 1721 
 
 2209 
 
 2657 
 
 2323 
 
 1014 
 
 547 
 
 869 
 
 1219 
 
 
 1408 
 
 1846 
 
 1923 
 
 2230 
 
 1683 
 
 890 
 
 1466 
 
 1861 
 
 1 
 
 3333J 
 
 2649 
 
 2778 
 
 3085 
 
 2195 
 
 785 
 
 915 
 
 1318 
 
 ( 
 
 2036 
 
 2062 
 
 2283 
 
 1498 
 
 
 658 
 
 841 
 
 
 842 
 
 1201 
 
 1216 
 
 1318 
 
 
 529 
 
 759 
 
 1079 
 
 } 
 
 2007 1 
 
 1514 
 
 1341 
 
 1585 
 
 1056 
 
 460 
 
 882 
 
 894 
 
 1523 
 
 1754 
 
 2104 
 
 1644 
 
 643 
 
 826 
 
 980 
 
 
 1003 
 
 1427 
 
 1317 
 
 1376 
 
 733 
 
 370 
 
 434 
 
 560 
 
 
 690 
 
 1451 
 
 1482 
 
 2589 
 
 2219 
 
 745 
 
 954 
 
 1452 
 
 
 2153 
 
 2031 
 
 2195 
 
 2768 
 
 2023 
 
 813 
 
 1007 
 
 1451 
 
 
 1590 
 
 2568 
 
 2732 
 
 3079 
 
 2266 
 
 376 
 
 507 
 
 589 
 
 
 512 
 
 800 
 
 798 
 
 769 
 
 393 
 
 13971 
 
 19144 
 
 24924 
 
 
 27913* 
 
 40081 
 
 41758 
 
 47986 
 
 $3097 ' 
 
 * "These accounts are made up with regularity and exactness in general, though Governor 
 Shaw conceives that from some superstitious motive many of the people do not like to give 
 in the whole number of their families." — Feltkam, p. 188. 
 
 In tbe year 1824, when the Duke of Atholl was about to dispose of all his remain- 
 ing privileges and immunities in Man to the British Government, it was ascertained, 
 by an account then taken, that the gross rental of the Island amounted to about 
 £70,000 sterling. The present rental of the Island is said to be about £100,000.— 
 Lord Teignmouth's Sketches ; vol. ii. p. 414, London edit. 1836.
 
 WELSH KINGS. 37 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 WELSH KINGS FROM A.D. 517 TO 919. 
 
 Various opinions as to the etymology of the Name of the Island — Shown 
 to be derived from the Celtic language — Ma u no ua n-Beg-Mac-y-Leirr 
 regarded by the Manks as the founder and legislator of their king- 
 dom — Not a brother of Fergus II., king of Scotland, as stated by 
 some authors — That he was the son of an Irish prince equally im- 
 probable — Apparently identical with Mainus or Finnan, des- 
 cendants of Fergus I. — Early Manks History defective — Gallo- 
 vidians and Picts, defeated by the Romans, take refuge in the 
 Isle of Man — The Manksmen assist the Gallovidians against the 
 Romans, and fight bravely — Voadicia raises an army in Man — 
 She is taken prisoner in Galloway, and put to death by the Roman 
 Captain, Cerealis, and her troops defeated — Brule, a Scot, Governor 
 of Man — Maelgwyn Gwynedd, prince of North Wales, defeats the 
 Scots in Man, and takes possession of that Island — His son, Rhun, 
 defeated there by Aidon, king of Scotland, who establishes his nephew 
 in Man, with the title of Thane — He is slain, and Beli, prince of 
 North Wales, succeeds to the sovereignty of Man — Cadivallon defeated 
 by Edwin, king of Deria, who conquers and takes possession of the 
 Isle of Man — Cadwalader succeeds his father Cadwallon — Retakes 
 and retains the Isle of Man — North Wales divided by the law of 
 Gavel-Kind — Cynan Tindaethwy obtains peaceable possession of the 
 hie of Man — Mervyn Vrych marries Essyllt, daughter of Cynan, and 
 in her right succeeds to the sovereignly of Man — The name of Mono 
 formerly applied to Anglesea, now confined solely to Man — A hostile 
 fleet from Mona enters the river Bogne — Rodri Maur succeeds Ids 
 father in the sovereignty of Man, and being sovereign of all Cambria, at 
 bis death, these dominions are, by the laws of Gavel-Kind, partitioned 
 — His so)ij Anarawd, inherits the Isle of Man as his part — At the 
 demise of Anarajtgd. the dynasty of the Welsh kings of Man closes, 
 having extended over a period of nearly four centuries. 
 
 Etymologists arc not agreed respecting the derivation of 
 Man, as applied to the Island described in the preceding 
 chapter. It was called Monocda, by Ptolemy ; Monabia, 
 
 I
 
 38 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 by Pliny ; Menabia, by Bede ; Eubonia, by Gildas ; and 
 Menaic, by the Welsh. 1 Caesar mentions an island called 
 Mona, that lies midway between Britain and Ireland. 2 
 Tacitus relates the circumstance of the army of Paulinus 
 Suetonius coming from the mainland to Mona, the infan- 
 try in flat bottomed boats, and the cavalry by fording the 
 passage and swimming their horses. The army under the 
 command of Agricola crossed without the assistance of 
 any vessels, and so frightened the inhabitants of Mona, 
 by the boldness of such conduct, that they immediately 
 sued for peace. 3 
 
 A learned dissertation, tending to prove that Caesar al- 
 luded to the Isle of Man, and Tacitus to Anglesea, was 
 published in the eighteenth century. 4 Mona was the an- 
 cient name of both islands, which some suppose to be de- 
 rived from the Saxon word Mm, signifying isolated, 5 to 
 which Caesar gave the Latin termination ; but it has more 
 the appearance of being derived from the Celtic language, 
 a circumstance hitherto overlooked by all the learned ex- 
 pounders of that little word. 6 
 
 It should be observed, that in analyzing proper names 
 in any language, much must, of necessity, be left to con- 
 jecture; some of them are quite obvious; others, from being 
 corrupted in pronunciation and then written in a corrupted 
 form, are altogether obscured. The Manks, in writing 
 their dialect of the Celtic, give the letters the same 
 powers as the English. The Gael of Scotland, on the 
 other hand, combine theirs ingeniously, to denote the va- 
 
 1 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, fol. 773. 
 
 2 Ccesar de Bella Gallico, lib. v, chapter xv; Pliny, book iv, section xvi. 
 
 3 Life of Agricola, Annals, book xiv. Sections xiv and xviii, evidently apply to 
 Anglesea. 
 
 4 Brown's Dissertation about the Mona of Ccesar and Tacitus, London 1 707, p. 152. 
 fi Owen's Dictionary; Lambard's Typographical Dictionary, p. 103 ; Harrison's 
 
 Description af Britain, p. 37. 
 
 //. Lhuyd's Description of Britain, folio 17. It is remarkable that there is 
 no mention made of the Isle of Man in the Saxon Chronicles.
 
 WELSH KINGS. 39 
 
 rious and very peculiar sounds of their primitive and ex- 
 pressive speech. The Manks call their Island "Mannin," 
 " In" being an old Celtic word for " Island ;" therefore, 
 " Meadhon-In" (pronounced " Mannin") signifies literally 
 " The middle Island." 1 May this not be the true deriva- 
 tion of the name? 
 
 The Manks suppose their Island to have derived its 
 name from Mannanan-Beg-Mac-y-Leirr,* who, they say, 
 was the father, founder, and legislator of their country. 2 
 He is thus described in the Statute Book of the Island : 
 " Mannanan-Beg-Mac-y-Leirr, the first person who held 
 Man, was the ruler thereof, and after whom the land was 
 named, reigned many years, and was a paynim — he kept 
 the land under mist by his necromancy. If he dreaded 
 an enemy, he would cause one man to seem an hundred, 
 and that by art magic." 
 
 This personage is stated to have been the son of a king 
 of Ulster, and a brother of Fergus II, the restorer of the 
 Scottish monarchy ; 3 but it is known to every person con- 
 versant in Scottish history, that Erich, the father of Fer- 
 gus II, was not an Irish king. He lived from his boy- 
 hood an exile in Denmark, where he died, leaving only 
 one son, Fergus, who afterwards ascended the Scottish 
 throne. Long before that period, the Manks had assisted 
 the Gallovidians in their wars against the Romans, con- 
 sequently this assertion has no foundation in history. 4 
 
 1 " Y or I" likewise in the Celtic language signifies "an island." — GoodalV s Intro- 
 duction to the History and Antiquities of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1773, p. 13. The 
 definition given by the Monk of Chester out of Gildas is more amusing. " The Isle 
 of Man is seated in the navel of the sea, as it were in the very midst of all that the 
 kings of Great Britain do command, even as the heart of a man is seated in the 
 midst of his bodv. The comparison will hold very fitly, for the heart of a man is 
 encompassed in a bag of water, called the pericardium, and therefore the heart of 
 man may truly be called the Isle of Man." 
 
 * Appendix, Note i. — " Traditionary Ballad." 
 
 2 M.S. Record preserved in the Castle of Rushen. 
 
 3 Sacheverell's Account of the Isle of Man, London, 1702, p. 20. 
 
 4 Hollimhead's Chronicles of Scotland, edition 1805, vol. i. p. 147 ; Andersons 
 Royal Genealogies, London, 1736, p. 754.
 
 40 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 That he was a son of Alladius, who was of royal blood, 
 and that his own name wasOrbsen, but called Mannan from 
 his country, and after the manner of those ages, Lear, or 
 " God of the sea," from his skill in navigation, I think 
 equally improbable. Lear, in the Gaelic, signifies the 
 " sea" only, not the God of the sea, as Toland would wish 
 his readers to believe. 1 
 
 It is, I think, much more probable that the great ma- 
 gician and legislator owned identity with Mainus 2 the son 
 of Fergus I. king of Scotland ; or else with his descendant 
 Finnan, king of Scotland. Mainus ascended the Scottish 
 throne, B.C. 290, fifteen years after the death of his father ; 
 his uncle Feritharis having, in the interim, wielded the 
 sceptre. He had, it is probable, after the custom of that 
 age, received his education in the Isle of Man. The 
 traditionary character ascribed to Mannanan Beg agrees 
 in many respects with that recorded of king Mainus : — 
 " He was the establisher and cultivator of religion, after 
 the manner of the Egyptians. He instituted several new 
 and solemn ceremonies. He caused great stones to be 
 placed in the form of a circle ; towards the south was 
 one mighty stone far greater than all the rest, pitched 
 up in the manner of an altar, whereupon the priests made 
 their sacrifices in honour of their gods. To the goddess 
 of hunting, he instituted a monthlie sacrifice, by reason 
 whereof this use was taken, that so soon as any of them 
 got sight of tlie new moon, next after her change, he 
 saluted her, which custom remained among them many 
 hundred years." 3 
 
 King Finnan succeeded his father Josina, B.C. 134. In 
 the character of legislator, he is recorded to have ordained 
 
 1 Toland' s History of the Druids, London, 1726, p. 66. 
 
 2 In the General Atlas, folio, London, 1721, he is, seemingly by mistake, called 
 the brother of Fergus I, king of Scotland. 
 
 3 Baetius, book ii, p. 15 ; Dr. Macpherson, p. 314 ; Grose's Tour in Scotland, 
 4tq, London, 1786, vol. ii, p. 206 ; Hollinshead' $ Chronicles of Scotland, Arbroath 
 edition, 1805, vol. i, p. 5J.
 
 WELSH KINGS. 41 
 
 that the king should make no important determinations 
 without the consent of the people ; and in that of founder, 
 to h \ave first established the Druids in the Isle of Man. 1 
 
 In either of these personages I think the reader could 
 more easily recognise the real Mannanan, although stript 
 of the crude exaggerations of the ignorant, which, in the 
 lapse of time, magnified him into a supernatural being 
 who had the elements under his control. 2 
 
 The earlier transactions of the inhabitants of the "Mid- 
 dle Isle" have reached our times in such fabulous confu- 
 sion, as to bewilder even those who delight to wander in 
 the tangled mazes of antiquarian research. Out of oral 
 traditions and the sono-s of Seanachies, the first annalists 
 have generally culled the materials of history ; but the 
 Manks, being a conquered people, changed their rulers 
 with the passing events of the surrounding nations. It 
 was not theirs to celebrate in song the valorous achieve- 
 ments of their heroes — for that is more properly confined 
 to a victorious people — and it is, therefore, from the annals 
 of other countries, more fortunate in this respect, that we 
 must glean the scattered details of their history. 
 
 Four hundred years prior to the Manks account of the 
 discovery of their Island, it had been the retreat of many 
 political exiles from the shores of Britain. After the 
 siege of Camelon, Vespasian proceeded to Galloway, 
 where the people submitted to his arms. He then col- 
 
 1 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, folio 753. 
 
 2 Magicians and sorcerers were always supposed to have the elements under their 
 control, one of the "most noted and mischievous disturbance of the elements, recorded 
 in Scottish history, occurred during the return of James VI from completing his ma- 
 trimonial union with a princess of Denmark, in the year 1590. While all the rest 
 of the fleet had a favouring gale, the course of the royal pair was interrupted by vehe- 
 ment storms. King James's subjects did not dislike the match ; but sorcerers, who 
 owe no earthly allegiance, employed themselves adversely, first in Denmark and then 
 in Scotland, in exciting tempests : some vessels actually perished in this country, 
 especially a passage boat between Leith and Kinghorn. Certain anomalies distinguished 
 the conjurations practised for that purpose." — DalyeU's Darker Superstitions of 
 Scotland, Glasgow 1835, p. 245. 
 
 CHAP. II. F
 
 42 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 lected vessels for the purpose of transporting his troops to 
 the Isle of Man, where a vast number of Britons and 
 Picts had taken refuge ; but as he was about to embark, 
 having received intelligence that the people of the south 
 coast had revolted, he altered his design. 1 
 
 On the arrival of the Roman captain, Ostorius Scapula, 
 in Galloway, a.d. 54, the people rose in rebellion against 
 him, and were joined by the Picts and such Britons as 
 came out of the Isle of Man, who made such havoc in 
 the Roman army, that it was an article in the treaty of 
 peace, subsequently concluded between Csesius Nasica 
 and Corbreid, " That neither the Scots nor Picts, from 
 thenceforth, should receive or succour, by anie maner of 
 means, the inhabitants of the Isle of Man, who had done 
 many notable displeasures to the Romans during the last 
 wars." 2 
 
 The warlike character of the Manks at that period 
 ranked so high, that Voadicia, daughter of Aruiragus, 
 king of the Britons, (who, after the death of her mother, 
 had resided with her uncle Caratake, in the city of Car- 
 rick, on the coast of Ayrshire) resolving to revenge the 
 wrongs she had sustained at the hands of the Romans, 
 proceeded to the Isle of Man, where she raised a power- 
 ful army of the inhabitants and Gallovidians, who had 
 taken refuge there. With this force she landed on the 
 coast of Galloway, during night, unperceived by the 
 Romans, who were encamped near Whithorn, 3 then called 
 Candida Casa. She attacked them with such fury before 
 they were aware of her presence, that, for a time, they 
 were thrown into great confusion ; but the Roman gover- 
 nor, Petilius Cereales, who commanded in person, having 
 a store of firebrands dressed with pitch, resin, and tallow, 
 
 1 Hollinshead's Chronicles of Scotland, edition 1805, vol. i, p. 78. 
 
 2 Hollimhead, vol. i, pp. 82, 84. 
 
 3 This is very probably the Roman camp which I discovered at R«span, near 
 Whithorn, in the year 1820, described by my friend, the late Mr. George Chalmers, 
 in his Caledonia, vol. hi, p. 354, from a survey of it which I sent him.
 
 WELSH KINGS. 
 
 43 
 
 caused them to be lighted with great rapidity, and con- 
 tinued throwing the brands in the faces of the assailants 
 with such force, that their progress was not only retarded, 
 but they were driven back in disorder upon the city 
 Epiake, where the heroic Voadicia was taken prisoner, and 
 put to death by the haughty governor. 1 
 
 If the Romans followed up this advantage of carrying 
 their victorious arms into the Isle of Man, it is not dis- 
 tinctly stated by any of our ancient historians, although 
 there is reason to believe they did. 
 
 In clearing away the foundation of a cross, which, ac- 
 cording to the ancient custom of 
 the Romans, had been erected in 
 the market-place of Castletown, 
 three coins of Germanicus and 
 Agrippina were found carefully 
 deposited in a square hollow, 
 scooped out of freestone. 2 
 
 There is still preserved at 
 Castletown the remains of a 
 Roman altar, exactly similar to 
 some found in Great Britain, 
 which appears by the inscrip- 
 tion to have been erected to 
 Jupiter by Marcus Censorius, 
 son of Marcus Flavius Volinius 
 of the Augustensian legion, 
 prefect of the Tungrian cohort 
 of the province of Narbonne.* 
 
 According to the old English historian Nennius, Brule, 
 a Scot, governed the Isle of Man in the reigns of the 
 Emperors Arcadius and Honorius. :{ 
 
 1 Hollinshead' 8 Chronicles of Scotland, vol. i, p. 90. 
 
 2 Oswald's Guide, p. 89. 
 
 * Appendix, Note ii, " Roman Antiquities." 
 
 3 The Brules or Brudes were kings of xVibania for the space of one hundred and
 
 44 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 In the year 503, there was a war in Man. 1 In 517, the 
 Island became subject to the kings and princes of North 
 Wales. At this period, Maelgwyn, son of Caswallon 
 Law-hir, reigned in the district which afterwards formed 
 the principality of North Wales. He, like his father, 
 had pre-eminency of the sovereigns of Cambria. 2 He was 
 the nephew of king Arthur, 3 by his sister, and had re- 
 ceived a liberal education under the celebrated Illustius. 4 
 
 As remarkable in stature as he was eminent in valour — 5 
 qualities which, in early times, generally commanded dis- 
 tinction and power — Maelgwyn proved not only a formida- 
 ble enemy to the Saxons, but he even, with the assistance 
 of his renowned relation king Arthur, 6 made a conquest 
 of the Isle of Man from the Scots. From this enterprise 
 he obtained the name of Draco Insular is, 7 and was 
 afterwards admitted a Knight of the Round Table. In 
 a.d. 552, he endowed the Abbot of Bangor, in Carnar- 
 vonshire, with certain franchises of land in the Isle of 
 Man ; for which barony and temporality the Abbot of 
 Bangor was required to do homage down to a late period 
 to the Lord of Man. 8 
 
 Upon the death of Maelgwyn, his son Rhun 9 succeeded 
 to the government of North Wales and Man; 10 but he 
 
 fifty years. The dynasty which commenced with Brade Boat terminated with Brude 
 Urmund. Brude gave the Isle of Man to St. Columba in 5C3. — Mac Cutloch's 
 Western Isles, London 1824, vol. ii, p. 29. Sacheverell erroneously calls the person 
 Brinley, in his Account of the Isle of Man, p. 19. 
 
 1 Johnston's Annals of Ulster, Edinburgh 1/86, p. 56 ; Fordina's Scotch Chroni- 
 cles ; Appendix to Buchanan's Introduction to Knox's History of the Reformation 
 in Scotland, Edinburgh, edition 1732. 
 
 - Rowland's Monastic Antiquities, p. 185. 
 
 3 Lattff horn's Chronicles Reg. Aug., p. 90. 
 
 4 One of the primitive fathers of the Cambrian church. 
 
 5 Randolph Hedgeon Gale, Scrip, p. 225. 
 
 6 Rowland's Monastic Antiquities, pp. 147, 148. 
 
 "' Warrington's History of Wales, London 1788, p. 64. 
 
 8 Monastic Antiquities ; Lex Scripta of the Isle of Man, Douglas 1819, p. 5. 
 
 " Rowland's Monastic Antiquities, p. 187. 
 
 1 Warrington's History of Wales, London 1788, pp. 75, 76.
 
 WELSH KINGS. 45 
 
 was called to defend his Manks territory by force of arms 
 against Aidon, the valorous king of Scotland, who, having 
 overpowered his antagonists at the battle of Laro in 575, 
 and fought the battle of Aldery in 577, with Rydderch 
 the king of Strathclvde, 1 in 581 2 carried his arms into the 
 Isle of Man. Here, according to an Irish antiquary, he 
 was victorious, 3 and established his nephew Brennus in 
 the government, with the title of Thane of Man. 4 The 
 Thane, however, was soon afterwards slain, fighting for 
 his uncle against the Picts, and the Manks again became 
 subject to the princes of Powysland. 5 
 
 On the demise of Illmn ap Maelgwyn in 586, his son 
 Beli succeeded to his territories, including the kingdom 
 of Man. He reigned thirteen years, but little is known 
 of him even in Welsh history. 6 
 
 He was succeeded in 599, by Jago ap Beli, founder of 
 the deanery of Bangor, who shortly afterwards gave place 
 to his son Cadvan ap Jago. The early part of this prince's 
 reign was distinguished by the siege of Chester, and by 
 the memorable massacre of the Monks of Bangor. 7 Dur- 
 ing both their reigns, Man remained undisturbed. But 
 the next prince, Cadwallon, the son of Cadvan, being of a 
 more restless temperament, carried his arms into Nor- 
 thumberland, against Edwin king of Deira. Edwin had 
 been educated at the court of Cadwallon, but a violent 
 animosity had of late arisen between these two princes. 
 
 1 1 Flaherty's Ogygia, p. 474. 
 
 2 Lhugdd's Chronicle*, 1731, p. 142 ; Collectanea cle Rebus Albanius, vol. i, part 
 iii, p, 217. In the ancient Gaelic poem, "A Eolcha Albain Uile," Aidon is called 
 " King of the golden sword." — Appcndi.c In the Transactions of the Iona Club, vol. 
 i, part i. p. 73. 
 
 3 Annals of Ulster ; Abercromby's Martial Achievements, Edinburgh, edition 1702, 
 vol. i, p. 131. 
 
 4 Hollinshead's Chronicles of Scotland, 1805, vol. i, p. 208. 
 
 5 Rowland's Monastic Antiquities, p. 187. 
 
 6 Warrington's History of Wales, p. 76. 
 
 7 Geoffry of Monmouth, p. 372; O'Vogan's British Chronicles.
 
 46 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 The Welsh king advancing into Northumberland against 
 the Saxon prince, was routed by Edwin 1 at Weddington, 
 who, following up his victory, 2 extended his conquest to 
 Anglesea and the Isle of Man. 3 
 
 After his defeat at Weddington, Cadwallon retired into 
 Scotland, whence he proceeded to France ; and having 
 obtained assistance from the French king, he returned to 
 Wales, where he overcame his enemies and regained pos- 
 session of his dominions ; but he was slain fighting against 
 Edwin king of Deira and Bernicia, 4 and his troops were 
 nearly cut to pieces. 5 
 
 A.D. 676. Cadwallon was succeeded by his son Cad- 
 walader in the kingdom of North Wales and Man ; but 
 during his reign, and those of his son Edwal, and grandson 
 Roderic Moelwynoc, Welsh history is silent as to the 
 affairs of the little Island. 
 
 In right of the distribution of property which took 
 place in Wales by the custom of Gavel-Kind, Howel, the 
 younger son of the late king Roderic Moelwynoc, claimed 
 the Isle of Anglesea as his part of his father's inheritance. 
 This claim was disputed by Cynan Tindsethwy, the reign- 
 ing prince, and his eldest brother. Two successive battles 
 were fought between them, 6 in both of which Howel was 
 victorious, acquiring and retaining possession of the island. 
 Enraged at these defeats, Cynan was determined by a 
 vigorous effort, at every hazard, to recover his territory, 
 and with this intent he again raised an army and marched 
 against his brother ; but Howel, seeing himself unable to 
 oppose a superior force, withdrew from the conflict, and 
 
 1 Geoff ry of Monmouth, p. 372 ; O'Vogan's British Chronicles. 
 
 2 Dinwyder. 
 
 3 Matthew West, p. 105 ; Bede's Ecclesiastical History, chap, ix, p. 87. 
 
 4 Bede's Ecclesiastical History, book iii, chap, ii, p. 104. 
 
 5 In the reign of Ivar, third prince of Wales, a.d. 088, 090, aremarkable earthquake 
 happened in the Isle of Man, which much disturbed and annoyed the inhabitants." — 
 Pratt's Gleanings, vol. i p. 116. 
 
 c Warrington's History of Wales, p. 125.
 
 WELSH KINGS. 47 
 
 escaped to the Isle of Man, 1 leaving Anglesea in the 
 hands of the conqueror. Here he remained in peaceable 
 possession ; the Gallovidians being otherwise employed 
 than to disturb his reign. The government of Galloway 
 was at that time consigned by Ethfin, son of Engine VII., 
 to Murdoc, Thane of the province. Donald, Lord of the 
 Isles, taking advantage of the defenceless state of the 
 country, plundered the whole district, in which he was 
 countenanced by Murdoc ; but Eugine VIII. , who suc- 
 ceeded Ethfin, defeated, took prisoner, and put to death 
 both the Lord of the Isles and his confederate, the Thane 
 of Galloway. 2 
 
 Cynan did not long enjoy the fruits of his good fortune, 
 for lie died soon after, leaving the kingdom of North 
 Wales to his daughter Essyllt, the wife of Mervyn Vrych, 
 king of Man, 3 who was descended by the maternal line 
 from the house of Powys.* 
 
 On the death of Cynan, Mervyn Vrych and his Queen 
 Essyllt succeeded to the sovereignty of North Wales, an- 
 nexing the Isle of Man to their other dominions. 4 In the 
 early part of their reign, 5 Egbert, king of the West 
 Saxons, invaded Wales with a powerful army, and deso- 
 lated the country as far as the mountains of Snowdon. 6 
 He then advanced to Mona, and took possession of that 
 Island. But it was soon recovered by king Mervyn, 
 who, at the head of a large army, composed chiefly of his 
 Manks subjects, succeeded in driving out the Saxons. 
 
 It would appear that at this time the ancient name of 
 " Mona" was changed into Anglesea, or " The English- 
 
 1 Welsh Chronicles, p. 22 ; Anderson's Royal Genealogies, London, edition 1736, 
 table 494. 
 
 2 Guthrie's History of Scotland, vol. 1, p. 131. 
 
 3 Ron-land's Monastic Antiquities, pp. 173, 188. 
 ♦Appendix, Note iii, " Forms of the Court." 
 
 4 Warrington's History of Wales, pp. 124, 125. 
 s Mathew of Westminster, pp. 224, 227. 
 
 ' In Welsh signifies " Mountains of Snow."
 
 48 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 man's 'Isle," by which it has since been distinguished, 
 thereby leaving the Manks Island in the undisputed pos- 
 session of the early name. 1 
 
 In the year 841, a hostile fleet from the Isle of Man 
 entered the river Boyne, which is all that is known either 
 of its strength or its object. 2 
 
 Two years afterwards, Bethred, the tributary sovereign 
 of Mercia, renewed hostilities against the Welsh, and in 
 a severe battle fought between the two princes at Kettle, 
 Mervyn Vrych, the king of North Wales and Man, was 
 slain. 3 
 
 Rodri Maur succeeded to his father's throne with a 
 greater extent of territory than had ever yet fallen to the 
 share of any Cambrian sovereign. 4 He enjoyed by right 
 of his father and mother the sovereignty of the Isle of 
 Man, with the territories of North Wales and Powysland, 
 and having married Augharad, the heiress of South Wales, 
 the government of the whole province of Cambria centred 
 in his person. 5 
 
 Agreeably to the law of Gavel-Kind, 6 he partitioned his 
 dominions among his sons, Cadell, Aberfyn, and Anarawd ; 
 the latter of whom inherited the Isle of Man. 7 
 
 In 913, a battle was fought on the coast of Man, be- 
 tween Barred O'Kivan and Rysnald Mac Ivar, on the one 
 part, and a numerous fleet of Danish pirates on the other, 
 who made a descent at Loch-da-eaoch. 8 
 
 1 Roland' s Monastic Antiquities, pp. 172, 173. 
 
 2 Saxon Chronicles, p. 75. 
 
 3 Welsh Chronicles, pp,27, 28. 
 
 4 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, folio, London 1736, table 479. 
 
 5 Warrington' s History of Wales, p. 141. 
 
 6 Gavel- Kind continued to be the law of Venedotia or North Wales till the 12th of 
 Edward 1st, a.d. 1283, when, by the statute of Rutland, it was reformed in some 
 particulars, and continued so till the 34th of Henry VIII, a.d. 1 542, when, by another 
 statute, it was wholly abolished. — Ware's Antiquities of Ireland, p. 22. 
 
 7 Warrington's History of Wales, p. 141. 
 
 8 Johnston's Cello Normanica, Copenhagen, edition 1 78G, p. 66. 

 
 WELSH KINGS. 49 
 
 With the demise of Anarawd ap Roderic in 913, closed 
 the dynasty of the Welsh kings of Man, whose line ex- 
 tended over a period of four centuries.* If the Island 
 then became a part of Danelaghe, the next chapter will 
 show that alliance was only of short duration. 1 
 
 * Appendix, Note iv., " Welsh Line of Manks Kings." 
 
 1 Sir Francis Polgrave's Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth, ap. 
 Skene's Highlanders of Scotland, part i, p. 259. 
 
 CHAP. II.
 
 50 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 APPENDIX.— Chapter II. 
 
 NOTE I.— Page 39. 
 
 TRADITIONARY BALLAD. 
 
 The following curious Ballad, which is now for the first time translated into Eng- 
 lish, was composed in the Manks language. The date of printing has been obliterated 
 from the copy in my possession, which I believe to be extremely scarce ; but the 
 writer, as appears from the last three verses, lived during the time of Thomas, second 
 Earl of Derby, whose landing in the Island in 1507, he describes. This earl suc- 
 ceeded his grandfather in a.d. 1504, and died 1522, between which dates the ballad 
 has evidently been written. 
 
 ORIGINAL MANKS. 
 
 LITERAL TRANSLATION. 
 
 MANNANAN BEG 
 MAC Y LEIRR; 
 
 NY, SLANE COONTEY JEH 
 
 ELLAN VANNIN : 
 
 SOILSHAGHEY, 
 
 Cre'n Mayll v'er ny Mannanee da Man- 
 nanan ; kys ren Noo Parick eshyn 
 y imman ersooyl as e Heshaght ; kys 
 hug Parick ayn Creestiaght ; as coon- 
 tey jeh ny chied Aspickyn va 'syn Elian. 
 
 Myrgeddin coontey jeh'n chied Ree va 
 Mannin, as e Lhuight; coontey jey 
 ny Chiarnyn; as kys kaink yn Elian 
 gys Clein Stanley. 
 The following is a translation of the lines 
 
 any regard to the poetry in English : — 
 
 l 
 
 Dv neaishtagh shin agh rish my Skeayll, 
 
 As dy ving lhieu ayns my Chant: 
 Myr share dy voddyms lesh my Veeal, 
 
 Yinnin diu gcill da'n Ellan Sheeant. 
 2 
 Quoi yn chied er ee row rieau ee, 
 
 Ny kys eisht myr haghyr da , 
 Ny kys hug Parick ayn Creestiaght, 
 
 Ny kys myr haink cc gys Utanlaa. 
 3 
 Manannan beg va Mac y Leirr, 
 
 Shen yn chied er ec row rieau ee ; 
 Agh myr share oddym's cur-my-ner, 
 
 Cea row eh hehe agli An-chreestee. 
 4 
 Cha nee lcsh e C'hliwe ren ch ec rcayll 
 
 Cha nee lesh c Hidcyo, ny lcsh e Vhow; 
 Agli tra aikagh ch Lhuingys troailt 
 
 Oallagh eli cc my gcayrtlesh Kay. 
 
 LITTLE MANNANAN 
 SON OF LEIRR ; 
 
 OR, AN ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 ISLE OF MAN : 
 
 SHOWING, 
 
 What rent the Manks Inhabitants paid to 
 Mannanan ; and how St. Patrick ban- 
 ished him and his company away ; and 
 how St. Patrick established Christianity 
 first in the Island. 
 
 Also, an Account of the first King that was 
 in the Island, and his posterity ; and how 
 the Island came to the Stanley Family. 
 
 as they stand in the Manks song, without 
 
 If you would listen to my story, 
 
 I will pronounce my chant 
 As best I can ; I will, with my mouth, 
 
 Give you notice of the enchanted Island. 
 2 
 Who he was that had it first, 
 
 And then what happened to him ; 
 And how St. Patrick brought in Christianity, 
 
 And how it came to Stanley. 
 3 
 Little Mannanan was son of Leirr, 
 
 He was the first that ever had it ; 
 But as I can best conceive, 
 
 lie himself was a heathen. 
 4 
 It was not with his sword he kept it, 
 
 Neither with arrows or bow, 
 But when he would see ships sailing, 
 
 He would cover it round with a fog.
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. II. TRADITIONARY BALLAD. 
 
 51 
 
 Yinnagh ch Doinncy ny hassoo er Brooghc 
 
 Er-lhieu shen henc dy beagh ayn Keeacl ; 
 As shcn myr dreill Mannanan keoie, 
 
 Yn Elian shoh'n-ayn lcsh cosney Bwoid. 
 6 
 Yn Mayll deeck dagh unnane ass e Cheer, 
 
 Va bart dy Leaogher-ghlass dagh bleiu ; 
 As eisht shcn orroo d'eeck myr Kccsh, 
 
 Trooid magta ny Cheery dagh Oie-Lhoine. 
 
 7 
 Paart ragh lcsh y Lcoaghcr seose, 
 
 Gys yn Slieau mooar ta heose Barrool ; 
 Paart elley aagagh yn Leoagher wass, 
 
 Ec Mannanan crskyn Keamool. 
 8 
 Myr shen eisht ren adsyn beaghcy, 
 
 O cr-lhiam peue dy by-veg nyu Geesh ; 
 Gyn Kiarail as gyn Imnea, 
 
 Ny doggyr dy lhiggey er nyn Skeeys. 
 
 9 
 Eisht haink ayn Parick nyn meayn, 
 
 She Dooinney-noo v'eh lane dy Aitue, 
 Dimman eh Mannanan er y Tonn, 
 
 As e grogh Vooinjer dy lieh-chiart. 
 10 
 As jeusyn ooilley dy row oik, 
 
 Orroo cha ren ch veg y Ghraysc ; 
 Dy row jch sluight ny Buch-chrout, 
 
 Nagh ren eh strooie as coyrt dy baase. 
 11 
 Vannee eh'n Cheer vcih Kionc dy Kione, 
 
 As rieau cha daag eh Boght ayn.jee ; 
 Dy row jeh lhiurid Lhannoo beg, 
 
 Dy dob rieau dy ve ny Creestee. 
 
 12 
 Shen myr haink y chied Chredjue Mannin, 
 
 Ec Parick Noo er ny chur ayn ; 
 As Creest dy niartagh ayn in eh, 
 
 As neesht myrgeddin ayns nyn Gloan. 
 
 13 
 Eisht vannee Parick Karmane noo, 
 
 As dcag ch eh ny Aspick ayn ; 
 Dy niartagh yn Credjue ny smoo as ny smoo, 
 
 As Caballynlen eh anrick ayn. 
 14' 
 Ayns dagh trcen Bailey ren eh unnane, 
 
 D'an sleih shen ayn dy hect dy ghuee ; 
 Myrgeddin ren ch Keei/l Charmane, 
 
 Ta ayns y Pheelcy foast ny soie. 
 
 15 
 My dug Karmane er e Obbyr kionc, 
 
 Hug Jee fys er as hooar eh baase ; 
 Myr shoyn diu henc yn Chaghtcr chion 
 
 Cha vel fer ain lied jch lcsh Saase. 
 
 1(3 
 Hooar cshyn baase as t'eh ny lhic, 
 Raad by Vooar y treih ve cha lcah er n'in shley 
 Crosh dy Chlagli tec e gha Chass, 
 Ayns e Chccill hene foast ayns y Pheelcy. 
 
 i; 
 
 Eisht haink Maughold ayn myr beer, 
 As ghowch Thalloo ec y Chione ; 
 
 As hrog ch K'ccill as Rollick mygeart, 
 Yn Ynnyd by-vian lcsh beaghcy ayn. 
 
 He would set a man, standing on a hill, 
 
 Appear as if he were a hundred : 
 And thus did wild Mannanan protect 
 
 That Island with all its booty, 
 (i 
 The rent each landholder paid to him was, 
 
 A bundle of coarse meadow grass yearly, 
 And that, as their yearly tax, 
 
 They paid to him each midsummer eve. 
 
 7 
 Some would carry the grass up 
 
 To the great mountain up at Barrool ; 
 Others would leave the grass below, 
 
 With Mannanan's self, above Keamool.. 
 8 
 Thus then did they live ; 
 
 O I think their tribute very small, 
 Without care and without anxiety, 
 
 Or hard labour to cause weariness. 
 
 9 
 Then came Patrick into the midst of them ; 
 
 He was a saint, and full of virtue ; 
 He banished Mannanan on the wave, 
 
 And his evil servants all dispersed. 
 10 
 And of all those that were evil, 
 
 He showed no favour nor kindness, 
 That were of the seed of the conjurers, 
 
 But what he destroyed or put to death, 
 n 
 He blessed the country from end to end, 
 
 And never left a beggar in it ; 
 And, also, cleared off all those 
 
 That refused or denied to become christians. 
 
 12 
 Thus it was that Christianity first came to Man, 
 
 By Saint Patrick planted in, 
 And to establish Christ in us, 
 
 And also in our children. 
 
 13 
 
 He then blessed Saint German, 
 
 And left him a bishop in it, 
 To strengthen the faith more and more, 
 
 And faithfully built chapels in it. 
 M 
 For each four quaitcrlands he made a chapel 
 
 For people of them to meet to prayer ; 
 He also built German Church, in Peel Castle, 
 
 Which rcmaincth there until this day. 
 
 15 
 Before German had finished his work 
 
 God sent for him, and he died, 
 As ye, yourselves, know that this messenge 1 ' 
 
 Cannot be put of by using means. 
 
 10 
 He died, and his corpse was laid 
 Where a great bank had been, but soon was 
 levelled ; 
 A cross of stone is set at his feet 
 In his own church, in Pee) Castle. 
 
 17 
 Then came Maughold, we arc told, 
 
 And came on shore at the Head, 
 And built a church and yard around, 
 
 At the place he thought to have his dwi I
 
 52 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 18 
 Ny Caballyn doardee Karmane noo, 
 
 Da'n Sleih Shen-ayn dy heet dy ghuee ; 
 Hug Maughold shiartanse jeu ayns Unnane, 
 
 As myr shen ren eh Skeeraghyn cooie. 
 
 19 
 Hooar Maughold baase as t'eh ny lhie, 
 
 Ayns e Cheeill hene neesht ec y Chione ; 
 As y nah aspick hank ny-yei, 
 Myr share shioune dooys she eh va Lonnan. 
 20 
 Connaghan yn nah er eisht haink ayn, 
 
 A haink Marooney reesht yn trass ; 
 T'ad shen nyn droor ayns Keill Marooney, 
 As ayns shen vees ad dy bra vaght 
 21 
 Nish lhig mayd shaghey ny Deinney-noo, 
 As chymney rnayd nyn Anmeenyn gys Mac 
 Yee, 
 Cha nheeu Fir agglish voylley ny smoo, 
 Derrey hig ad fenish Ree dagh Ree. 
 22 
 Myr shen eisht ren adsyn beaghey, 
 
 Gyn Dooinney ayn yinnagh orroo corree ; 
 Agh goll dy gheddyn pardoon veih'n Raue, 
 Er-derry haink eh hue Ree Gorree. 
 23 
 Lesh e Lhuingys hrean as Pooar y Ree, 
 
 As ghow eh Thalloo ec y Laane; 
 Shen y chied er ec row rieau ee, 
 Dy ve ny Ree er yn Elian. 
 
 24 
 Cha geayll mee dy ren eh skielley ec Purt, 
 
 Chamoo ren eh marroo ayn jee ; 
 Agh aym ta sis dy daink jeh Sluight, 
 
 Three Reeaghyn jeig jeh Ree Gorree. 
 
 25 
 
 Eisht hank ayn Quinney as haink ayn Quaill, 
 Haink towse dy Lheigh as Reillayn jeej 
 
 Ny Keeshyn mooarey as y Mayll 
 Vees dy hirrey dy bragh er Dooinney dy bee. 
 
 26 
 My ta red erbee jannoo Skielley dhi, 
 
 Cur-jee nyn Mollaght er 3Iannan.ee ; 
 She ad by-vessey da'n Elian Sheeant 
 
 Ec dagh drogh Leigh 'yannoo ayn jee. 
 
 27 
 Eisht haink ayn Ollister mooar Mac Ree Albey 
 
 Lesh Lhuingys hrean dy braue ayn jee; 
 
 As er-lhiam pene dy by-voolesh Foalsaght, 
 
 Cha nee lesh Dunallys smoo chragh eh ee. 
 
 28 
 Cha daag eh bio jeh sluight y Ree, 
 
 Mac ny Inneen d'ymmyrkey Kiona ; 
 Agh an Unnane myr baare dod ee, 
 
 Hie dy hirrey Cooney gys Ree Goal. 
 
 29 
 O Albanee my vow uss feeu, 
 
 As dy Haghter oc dy heet ayn ; 
 Cammah nagh durrce oo as ve dy Ree, 
 
 Myr vow O ree, as Mac Ree Laug/tlin. 
 
 18 
 The chapels which Saint German ordered 
 
 For the people to come to prayers in them, 
 Maughold put a parcel of them into one, 
 
 And thus made regular parishes. 
 
 19 
 Maughold died, and he is laid 
 
 In his own church at Maughold Head ; 
 And the next bishop that came after, 
 
 To the best of my knowledge, was Lonnan. 
 
 20 
 Connaghan then came next, 
 
 And then Marown the third : 
 There all three lieth in Marown, 
 
 And there for ever lieth unmolested. 
 
 21 
 Now we will pass by these holy men, 
 
 And commit their souls to the Son of God, 
 It profiteth not to praise them more 
 
 Until they appear before the King of kings. 
 
 Thus then did they live or pass their time, 
 No man that would molest or anger them ; 
 
 But going to get a pardon from Rome, 
 Until there came to them King Gorree. 
 
 23 
 With his strong ships and king's command, 
 
 And came on shore at the Laauej 
 He was the first that ever had it, 
 
 To be a King of the Island. 
 
 24 
 I never heard that he did any injury at a har- 
 bour, 
 Neither did he kill any in the Island ; 
 But 1 know that there came of his race, 
 Thirteen Kings of King Gorree. 
 25 
 Then there came Quinney, and then came 
 Quayle, 
 There came a measure of law and rule, 
 With greater taxes and greater rents, 
 
 Which will for ever be demanded of the men 
 that be. 
 
 26 
 If anything doeth you harm, 
 
 Give your curse upon the Manksmen ; 
 They were the worst for the enchanted Island, 
 By making each bad law in her. 
 
 27 
 
 Then came great Ollister, son of the King of 
 
 Scotland, 
 
 With strong shipping he bravely came ; 
 
 But I think myself it was more by falsehood, 
 
 And not by courage he made most havoc. 
 
 28 
 He left not living, of the King's seed, 
 
 A son or daughter to carry his head, 
 Excepting one, who, as best she could, 
 
 Went to seek for help to the King of France. 
 
 29 
 O Scotchman, if thou wert worthy, 
 
 And as a messenger when thou didst come, 
 Why didst thou not stop and be our king, 
 
 As thou, O king ! wert son of king Laughlin*
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. II. TRADITIONARY BALLAD. 
 
 53 
 
 30 
 Ag-h s'beg eh lhiam, dy veg eh lhiat, 
 
 Ny Fee 've rock, rock crskyn dy Ching ; 
 Agh Ihig dooys loayrt jeh'n [nueen gring 
 
 Neeayr as nagh daag oo bio agh ee ; 
 Hiink jch Sluight Ree Laughlin, 
 
 As v'ee Iuucen da Ree Gorree. 
 
 31 
 Cliia leah as chragh y Noid y Cheer, 
 
 Nagh jagh ell roish as daag eh ee ; 
 Myr yiunagh y Sowia choo rish e Quallan, 
 
 Eh aagail ny lhie er Beggan Bree. 
 32 
 Cha leah as cragh y Noid y Cheer, 
 
 Nagh jagh eh roish noon gys Nolbin ; 
 As ghow ish Lhuingys neesht myr beer, 
 
 As hie ee rhimbee gys Ree Hoocsyn. 
 
 33 
 Cha leah as raink ee gys y Choort, 
 
 Ren eh j'ee soiagh dy seer choar ; 
 Aa daa ny deiney haink maree. 
 
 Hug y Ree palchey dargid's d'oar. 
 
 31 
 Nagh ren eh fenaght j'ee quoi v'ee, 
 
 Ny ere vo heilkin gys e Choort ; 
 To mish dooyrt un Inneen da Ree, 
 
 Erreish ve Spooilt as gyn Kiannoort. 
 
 35 
 She mysh dty Vyghin as dty Ghrayse, 
 
 Ta mish nish lhoobey hoods, O Ree ; 
 Cha vel mee geearee Mie ny Maase, 
 
 Agh geearee ort dtv Chymmey, Ree. 
 36 
 She dty Vea hooin, dooyrt Ree Hocsyn, 
 
 As ren eh poosey ish myr beeu ; 
 Vee Sluight Laughlin, Inneen Gorree, 
 
 Rish Sir William dy Voicntegue. 
 
 37 
 Eisht Sir William va Ree Vannin, 
 
 Cha hoie eh jee agh beggan feeu ; 
 Son chreck eh ee as ghow eh Maase, 
 
 O ree red bastagh dy ren rieau. 
 38 
 Rish yn Chiarn Scroop chreck eshyn ee, 
 
 O ree nagh moal hug saynt da Maase ; 
 Ga ve ayns foayr mooar rish y Ree, 
 
 Gerrit ny-yei hur eshyn baase. 
 
 39 
 Agh fys nyn Gooishyn cha vel aym, 
 
 Lhig dauesyn sailliu fyfferee ; 
 Agh aym ta sys er shoh dy feer, 
 
 Dy row lane Maase seihlt ec y Ree. 
 40 
 Haink yn Elian cisht gys y Ree, 
 
 Conaant Scroop myr shoh dy jarroo, 
 Nagh beagh ny sodjey echey j'ee 
 
 Ny veagh e vio-hys er y Thalloo. 
 
 41 
 
 Haink yn Elian reesht gys y Ree, 
 As mooar y bree cha row echey ayn; 
 
 Hug eh da Earl Northumberland ee, 
 Agh cha dug eh ee da e Chloan. 
 
 30 
 
 But I care but little, that thou thought'st it 
 little, 
 
 The ravens to croak, croak above thy head ; 
 But let mc speak of the mentioned girl, 
 
 Since thou didst not leave alive but she, 
 Of all the seed of King Laughlin, 
 
 And she was daughter to King Gorree. 
 31 
 As soon as the enemy spoiled the country, 
 
 Did he not go away and leave it ? 
 As the she greyhound would do with her whelp, 
 
 And leave him lying with little strength. 
 
 32 
 As soon as the enemy spoiled the country, 
 
 Did he not go over to Scotland ? 
 And she took shipping, and to the best that I 
 know, 
 Went over to the King of England. 
 33 
 As soon as she arrived at court, 
 
 He entertained her with great kindness, 
 And to the men that came with her. 
 He gave plenty of silver and gold. 
 34 
 He then asked her who she was, 
 
 Or what her business to the court? 
 She answered, I am a King's daughter, 
 I have been robb'd, and without a protector. 
 35 
 It is to thy mercy and thy grace. 
 
 That 1 do humbly sue to thee, O King ; 
 I do not ask for good or wealth, 
 But crave of thee for thy pity, O King. 
 36 
 Welcome to us, says the King of England, 
 
 And he married her very soon ; 
 She was of the seed of Laughlin, the daughter 
 
 of King Gorree, 
 By Sir William of Montague. 
 
 37 
 Then Sir William was King of the Isle of Man, 
 
 But he thought but little of it, 
 For he sold it, and bought cattle, 
 Which was a pity that ever he did. 
 38 
 To Lord Scroop he sold it ; 
 
 O King, how simple to covet cattle ; 
 Altho' he was in great favour with the King, 
 It was but a short time until he suffered 
 death. 
 
 39 
 But their matters I do not know ; 
 Let those who please prophesy ; 
 But this I know right well, 
 That the King had a vast number of cattle. 
 40 
 Then the Island came to the King, 
 
 Scroop's covenant appointed so, 
 That he should have no more of it 
 Than during his life on earth. 
 11 
 The Island then came to the King ; 
 
 But he had no great authority in it. 
 Because he gave it to the Earl of Northum- 
 berland ; 
 But he did not give it to his children.
 
 54 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 42 
 Adsyn veagh dunnal ayns Caggey. 
 
 Yioghe ad Giootyn mooar myr bailliu ; 
 Agh ayns Caggey mooar Sal'sbury, 
 
 Va Earl Northumberland er ny varroo. 
 
 43 
 Quoi hagher eisht gys y Vagher, 
 
 Agh Sir Juan Stanley cosney Bwoid ; 
 Myr by-vannee haink er y Laa, 
 
 Lesh e Chliwe geyre ve sheer goll trooid. 
 
 44 
 
 My Ree, by-veg er hene nyn Mea, 
 Yiaragh eh Dooinney sheese dyn Glare ; 
 
 Varragh eh lesh un vuilley Shleiy, 
 Cabbyl as Dooinney gys y Laare. 
 
 45 
 Cre dy aase veagh Claiggin e Ching, 
 
 Gyn King cha ragh eh-aas ■ 
 Ny cre by eillit veagh e Ghreem, 
 
 Roashagh e Chliwe geyre e Chress. 
 
 46 
 Tra scuirr y Magher, as gow eh fea, 
 
 Eisht boggey mooar ayn hene ghow'n Ree : 
 As deie eh huggey Sir Juan Stanley, 
 
 Dy ghoail eh Leagh jeh Maase as Nhee. 
 
 47 
 Kyndagh dy vel us er my rere, 
 
 Sheer cosney Bwoid dooys, as dhty hene; 
 Gow son dy Leagh Elian Vannin 
 
 Son Leagh dy hogher dy braghbeayn. 
 
 48 
 Shen myr haink yn Elian gys nyn Laue, 
 
 As shen myr haink Clein Stanley ayn ; 
 As Ree lurg Ree freayal shin veih Gaue, 
 
 As mooarane Bleeantyu Chiarnane ayn. 
 
 49 
 Eisht tra hooar Sir Juan Stanley baase, 
 
 Haink reesht Sir Juan geyit er e Vac ; 
 Va mooarane Blein heear ayns Neirin, 
 
 Ny Lieutenant feer ooasse oc. 
 
 50 
 Eisht haink Thomase Derby Ruggerey Ree, 
 
 Eh-hene va ceau yn Cribble Oar ; 
 Cha row un Chiarn ayns Socsyn 'sthie, 
 
 Lesh whilleenGymman-glioon cheet ny chear 
 
 51 
 En Albanee choilleen eh Clea, 
 
 As hie eh noon gys Keel choobragh ; 
 As ren eh lhcid y chladdagh Thie'n, 
 
 Dy vel paart ayn foast gyu Mullagh. 
 
 52 
 Nagh bwaagh shen Dasyn Dooinney aeg. 
 
 Yn Clea chooilleen my by-voar e Ghraine ; 
 Roish haink rieau er o Ghob Faasaag, 
 
 As e gheiney 'chur lesh as dy slane. 
 
 53 
 
 Ayns unThousane Queig Chccad as Shiaght, 
 She ayns Mee ny Boaldincy ve; 
 
 Ghow eh Thalloo ayns Roonyssvie, 
 Fr Boirey'n Thcay hug eh slanc Fea. 
 
 42 
 
 Those that would be courageous in wars 
 Would get great presents if they would ; 
 
 But in the great war at Salisbury, 
 The Earl of Northumberland was killed. 
 
 43 
 Who happened then to come to the field, 
 
 But Sir John Stanley, well fitted ; 
 As that day proved a blessing to him, 
 
 As he went by with his sharp sword. 
 
 44 
 My King, he little thought of life, 
 
 He would cut a man down without speaking ; 
 He would with one blow of spear, 
 
 Take to the ground both man and horse. 
 
 45 
 
 Whatever growth his head might be, 
 Without heads he would not go away ; 
 
 Or however harnessed his back might be, 
 His sharp sword would reach his girdle. 
 
 46 
 When the field was quiet and had taken rest, 
 
 There the King rejoiced greatly himself; 
 And he called to him Sir John Stanley, 
 
 To take his pledge of cattle and goods. 
 
 47 
 Because thou hast served me well, 
 
 And gained booty for me and thyself, 
 Take for thy portion the Isle of Man, 
 To be for thee and thine for ever. 
 
 48 
 
 Thus the Island came to their hands, 
 And thus the Stanley's name came in : 
 
 And King after King keeping us from danger, 
 And many years Lords in it. 
 
 49 
 Then, when Sir John Stanley died, 
 
 Then came again Sir John, his son, 
 Who had been many years in Ireland, 
 
 A very noble Lieutenant there. 
 
 
 50 
 Then came Thomas Derby, born King, 
 
 'Twas he that wore the golden crupper ; 
 There was not one Lord in England itself 
 With so many knee-guineamen coming in 
 his country. 
 
 51 
 On Scotchmen he revenged himself; 
 
 And he went over to Kirkcudbright, 
 And there made such havoc of houses, 
 
 That some of them are yet unroofed. 
 
 52 
 Was not that pretty in a young man 
 
 To revenge himself while he was but young, 
 Before his beard had grown round his mouth, 
 
 And to carry his men home with him whole. 
 
 53 
 In one thousand five hundred and seven, 
 
 And it was in the month of May, 
 He came on shore at Derbyhaven, 
 And put a full end to the commotion of the 
 public.
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. II. ROMAN ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 55 
 
 54 
 
 Lhcid y Thie as dreill csliyn hcnc, 
 Dy Ree ny Ruggerey dy hreg ny hrcan ; 
 
 Clia vaik sleih lhied rish Milley Blein, 
 Chamoo hee reesht 'syn Earish ain. 
 
 55 
 Agh arragh dy voylley cha jean yms ny sraoo, 
 
 Choud assbooie dooiney scanish my Hooill; 
 Er-aggle dy dagher daue rhym y ghra, 
 
 Dy nee son Leagh vein sheer brinooile. 
 
 56 
 Agh faag-ym da'n nah Ghooinney hig my Yei 
 
 Dy voylley hene myr sheagh chur da ; 
 Tra vees e Chress ny lhic 'syn oaie, 
 Yiew'n Dooinney Bwoid myr sheagh cur da. 
 
 51 
 
 Such a house as he kept himself, 
 For a King, or down to a low degree, 
 
 People never saw for countless years, 
 Neither will again in our days. 
 
 55 
 But any more praise I will not give 
 
 So long a I live among men, 
 For fear they may tell me 
 
 That it is for gain I make so much flattery. 
 
 56 
 But I leave the man that cometh after me 
 
 To praise him as he will find him worth; 
 When his crest will be laid in the grave, 
 
 He will get the glory he deservcthto have; 
 
 NOTE II.— Page 13. 
 
 ROMAN ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 That the Romans occupied Galloway, Anglesea, and the northern shores of Eng- 
 land, thereby encompassing the Isle of Man, at a distance from the nearest point of 
 not more than twenty-one miles, are facts established by history. If a doubt ever 
 existed as to these concmerors having braved the Manks in their dens, who had done 
 them "so many notable displeasures" in Galloway, (Hollimhead, vol. i, p. 84,) it 
 must now be dissipated by the discovery of the coins of Germanicus and Agrippini in 
 the foundation stone of the temple of Jupiter. 
 
 We know that veneration for the Pagan deities was transferred, along with their fanes 
 and fountains, to Christian saints. — Dalyell's Popular Superstitions of Scotla?id, p. 
 91. Thus, when the heathen temple of Rushenwas overthrown, a chapel, dedicated to the 
 Virgin Mary, was erected on its site. — HollinsAead's Chronicles of Scotland, v. i, p. 130. 
 The foundation stone of the Roman temple remained undisturbed ; nor was it till the 
 foundation of the second Christian church, erected on the site of St. Mary's Chapel, 
 in 1G98, was cleared away in 1826, for the erection of a third on the same spot, that 
 it was discovered with its deposit of Roman coins, evidently placed there by Roman 
 hands. 
 
 The pedestal to the altar of Jupiter is of freestone, similar to that found in Cum- 
 berland, and Bishop Wilson refers to a dark tradition of its having been brought from 
 thence. When the first Saint Mary's Church, of Rushen, was taken down, in 1698, 
 the altar, originally erected to Jupiter, was removed to the House of Keys. It was 
 subsecpiently placed in a niche inside the castle wall, and latterly removed to Gover- 
 nor Ready's garden, at Lome House, in the immediate neighbourhood of Castletown. 
 By these frecpient removals, the stone has suffered damage, and some of the letters 
 have been obUterated. The probable meaning of the words thereby rendered defec- 
 tive, are thus restored by a learned anticmary : — " M.F., combined in one chan 
 in the third line, may very properly be read Marci Filius ; and the remainder of that
 
 56 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 line I would read Filius or Filii Voltinise. In the fifth line I have read Etensis, hav- 
 ing nothing but the stone before ine, though I do not pretend to guess of what word 
 either of these fragments may have made a part. Many corps of the Roman army 
 had names ending with the syllables etensis or tenses. In the Notitia Imperii, among 
 the ' Legiones Comitatenses sub dispositione viri illustris magistri militum per Thra- 
 cias,' there are mentioned Divitenses Gallicani, Augustenses, etc. The next word in 
 the same line I have read Prcef for Prsefectus. The sixth line which immediately 
 follows, has in the beginning, a charm, ending with V.S., which is not easily referred 
 to any word I know ; but the Coh. T., following it, leads one to suppose that the 
 preceding word might be Prcef ectus, denoting the chief officer of a Cohort. The re- 
 mainder of the word which began with T., being lost, we may conjecture that it was 
 Tungrorum, of which name several corps are mentioned in the Notitia, and the name 
 frecmently occurs in such inscriptions. The beginning of the next line, which is in- 
 distinct, may have been the end of this word. There are two provinces of Narbonne, 
 in Gaul, and the word here probably describes the country of the person who erected 
 this altar." — Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. ii, part ii, 
 edition 1831, pp. 499, 500. 
 
 The old fort of Douglas, which stood in the "bight of Pollock Rock," according 
 to Waldron, (Description of the Isle of Man, p. 152,) was as old as the time of the 
 Romans, and was probably built by that heroic people. The round towers of the 
 Camp, at Richborough, in Kent, and those of Bingh in Suffolk, the only existing 
 remains of Roman garrisons in Great Britain, exactly resemble, in every particular, 
 the old fort of Douglas, which is, I think, an additional proof of the Romans having 
 visited the Isle of Man. This remarkable structure, which had survived the crowding 
 generations of seventeen centuries, was, by a gothic order of the insular government, 
 levelled to the ground in 1818. 
 
 NOTE III.— Page 47. 
 
 FORMS OF THE COURT. 
 
 The Cambrian Kings were, by law, empowered to lead an army once a year, be- 
 yond the boundary of their kingdom, but they were not permitted to remain for a 
 longer period than six weeks out of their continental territories. — Warrington's His- 
 torg of Wales, London, 1788, p. 149. This prevented the Welsh sovereigns of Man, 
 prior to Mervyn Vrych, from remaining long with their Manks subjects ; but that 
 monarch having no inland dominions, had his residence at Rushen, where he held his 
 courts till after his marriage with Essyllt, the only child of Cynan Tindaethwy, king 
 of North Wales. His dominions being by that union united to Wales, he, in order to 
 comply with the law, removed his court to Caer Segont, in Caernarvonshire, a fa- 
 vorite residence of the Princes of Powys. — Rowland's Monastic Antiquities. 
 
 As Mervyn was a lineal descendant of that distinguished family, (Welsh Chroni- 
 cles, p. 22,) he strove to imitate at Rushen the splendour of the Court of Mathraval 
 the palace of the Princes of Powys, in Montgomeryshire. — Rowland's Monastic His- 
 torg, p. 175. The royal authority was in many instances similar, and the court regu- 
 lations were nearly the same.
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. II. FORMS OF THE COURT. 57 
 
 The king of Man was the original landholder of the Island. A yearly tribute was 
 made him of horned cattle, bacon, hogs, and sheep, with provender for the royal stud. 
 Shipwrecks, and all other things thrown from the sea on the King's personal estates, 
 became his property ; but when thrown on the Bishop's or Abbey-lands, he had only 
 a right to an ecpial share. Foreigners found upon the Island, without permission, be- 
 came the property of the king. By the laws of Howel Dha, and of Bleddyn ap 
 Cynvyn, three sorts of persons might be killed with impunity : " Foreigners, mad- 
 men, and lepers." — Warrington, p. 166. A toll was also paid by every merchant 
 ship that came into any of the creeks of the Island, and if such ship was wrecked be- 
 fore the toll was paid, her cargo became the property of the king. 
 
 The royal guard was composed of the officers of the household, and twelve other 
 gentlemen, mounted on horses provided by the king. 
 
 The master of the horse had a lodging near the royal stables. From every person 
 on whom the king bestowed, the master was entitled to receive a valuable present. — 
 To him belonged the riding caps, saddles, bridles, and spurs which the king had used, 
 and laid aside. He had a deputy called the Groom of the Rein, whose duty it was, 
 in his absence, to lead the king's horse to and from the stable, bring out his majesty's 
 arms, hold the stirrup till he mounted, and run by his side as his page. — Warring, 
 ton, page 153. 
 
 The early kings of Man had likewise their musicians, who were held in high esteem. 
 They had lands allotted to them in Glencrutchery, which, in the Gaelic language, 
 signifies " The Harper's Glen." This is a fine fertile spot in the neighbourhood of 
 Douglas. 
 
 In the early history of all European nations, we may trace a famdy likeness, so to 
 speak, as well in their religious tenets, their superstitious observances, and their forms 
 of government, as in their domestic arrangements, that bespeak the whole to have 
 been of one common origin. At a period when a foreigner might have been slain in 
 Cambria or Man with impunity for appearing there without authority, and when 
 one would suppose the manners of these countries to have been uncontaminated by 
 foreign intercourse, we can distinguish many traits similar to those of the Scandina- 
 vian nations. Every northern court had its Candelarii, an office corresponding with 
 the Canhwyllyd of the Welsh andManks princes. — Laics of Howel Dha. "The Can- 
 delarii were young gentlemen of family, whose office it was to hold tapers in their hands 
 while the Norwegian monarchs sat at table, and whose duty it was to see that the palace 
 was properly lighted."— Anecdotes of Olave the Black Prince,-?. 17. They likewise 
 attended the funerals of princes. When Haco, king of Norway died in the bishop's 
 palace at Kirkwall, " The masters of the lights stood with tapers in their hands, and 
 the whole hall was illuminated."— Account of Haco' s Expedition, translated from the 
 Icelandic, by J. Johnson, 1782. Even at a much later period some of the Highland 
 chiefs had their torch bearers. Sir Walter Scott, alluding to an ancient custom of 
 his country, describes the masters of thelights with great vivacity. — See Waver I y Novels, 
 vol. xv., page 52 ; and Froissart, the French historian, in his account of the domes- 
 tic habits of Gaston, Earl of Foix, says, " When the Earl came out of his chamber at 
 midnight into the hall to supper, he had before hym twelve torches borne b\ twelve 
 varlettes standying before the table all supper. They gave a gret light over the hill. 
 — Sir Walter Scott's Em-ay on Chivalry, page 58, Prose Works, vol. vi. 
 
 " The Domestic Chaplain" was likewise a person of some distinction, and the pro- 
 visions made for him were somewhat singular : — "He shall have free lands, and the king 
 shall provide him a horse, with woollen vestments; and the queen shall provide him 
 with woollen garments. His place in the hall is beyond the fire, over :;_;iinst the 
 king, and next to the column ; to ask a blessing on the meat, and sing the Lord's 
 
 CHAP. III. II
 
 58 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 prayer. He shall lodge in the house of the churchwarden, (chaplain or parochus) 
 with his clergymen. If any person shall offer injury to the court priest, or kill him, 
 or go to law with him, he shall be judged by the synod, unless when slander is 
 brought against him ; and in that case, for that injury, the fine or punishment shall 
 be xii cows, of which he himself shall have one-third, and the king two-thirds. For 
 a private supper there shall be given to him a dish of meat, and a horn with diink. 
 He shall have the tithes of the family, and their dead clothes. At the passover, he 
 shall have the penitential garments of the king, with which he shall be clothed in 
 Lent. He is one of the Triumvirate, who shall sustain the dignity of the household 
 in the absence of the king. The Court Priest, the chief Fowler, the chief Huntsman, 
 the Court Judge, and the Master of the Horse shall have horses from the king when- 
 ever there shall be need. The Domestic Chaplain's horse (as well as all the horses of 
 all the principal ministers) shall have a double portion of fodder." — Laics of Howel 
 Bha,ap. Wotton's History of Wales, London, 1730, pp. 18, 19. 
 
 NOTE IV.— Page 49. 
 
 WELSH LINE OF MANKS KINGS. 
 
 Began to Reign A.D. Died. 
 
 Maelgwyn, son of Caswallon Law-hir ... 517 560 
 
 Rhun, son of Maelgwyn 560 586 
 
 Beli, son of Rhun 586 599 
 
 Jago, son of Beli ... ... ... ... 599 603 
 
 Cadvan, son of Jago 603 630 
 
 Cadwallon, son of Cadvan ... ... ... .. 630 676 
 
 Cadwalader, son of Cadwallon ... ... ... .. 676 703 
 
 Roderic Moelwynoc, son of Edwal, the son of Cadwalader 720 755 
 
 Cynan Tindaethwy ... ... ... ... ... 755 817 
 
 Mervyn Vrych and Esyllt 817 843 
 
 Roderic the Great 843 877 
 
 Anarawd, son of Roderic .. .. 877 913
 
 NORTHERN VIKINGR, GORREE, ETC. 59 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 NORTHERN VIKINGR, GORREE, AND KINGS OF HIS LINE, 
 FROM A.D. 888 TO 1066. 
 
 Aurn Koniingr slain in the Island of Isla, by Regnar Lodbrog — Caittil 
 Fin succeeds to the sovereignty of the Isles — Harold Harfagr suc- 
 ceeds his father, expels the Fylkis Konga or petty princes, and be- 
 comes the king of all Norway — His Expedition to the Isles — 
 Dynasty of Ketill — Gorree conquers Man — Castle of Rushen built 
 by Guthred — Rapid succession of Blanks Kings — Naval power of 
 Hacon — Danish Sea Rovers — The Manks join the Confederacy 
 against Brian Borom — Glance at British History. 
 
 While the princes of North Wales ruled quietly in Man, 
 the rest of the Hebrides were either governed by their 
 native chiefs or by piratical adventurers, in rapid succes- 
 sion ; each of whom assumed the sovereign right of plun- 
 dering the people with relentless ferocity. 1 
 
 Regnar Lodbrog, one of the most noted of the Vikingr 
 who infested the Western Isles, landed in the island of 
 Isla in the year 851, and slew Aurn Konungr, or Aurn 
 king of the Gallgael, a term given by the Irish annalists 
 to the Scottish islanders. 2 Mr. Skene is of opinion that 
 Aurn is the person hitherto called Orree, the first of that 
 name alluded to in Manks history, but of whom nothing 
 whatever is known. It has been shown in the preceding- 
 chapter, from historians of acknowledged veracity, that 
 the Isle of Man formed no part of the kingdom of the 
 Isles at the time Aurn reigned in Isla ; and according 
 to all accounts I have seen, Gorree or Orree, the reputed 
 
 1 Gunnlangi Saga, by the Sculd Rafni Hafhise, edition 1775, p. 263. 
 
 2 Skene's Highlanders of Scotland, part ii, chap. ii.
 
 60 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 founder of the House of Keys, did not appear in Man till 
 nearly a century after Aura Konungr was slain by Regnar 
 Lodbrog. 
 
 Caittil Fin, the next chief of the Gallgael, of whom 
 any thing is now known, waged war against the pirate 
 kings of Dublin, but was defeated by Amlaf, in Minister, 
 in a.d. 857. 1 
 
 After the death of Caittil Fin, in 880, the Hebrides 
 became subject to the Norwegian Fylkis Konga, or petty 
 princes, who had been driven from their country by Harold 
 Harfagr. 2 
 
 On the death of his father, Halfdan Ivart the Black, 
 Harold Harfagr succeeded to the government of one of 
 the little princedoms, into which Norway was then di- 
 vided ; but, ambitious of enlarging his territory and add- 
 ing to his power, he soon formed the bold design of unit- 
 ing them all under one sceptre, and making himself as 
 independent a sovereign of Norway as Eric was of Swe- 
 den, Gorom of Denmark, or Athelstane of England. What 
 later ages have extolled as a laudable political enterprize, 
 could onlybe viewed by the Fylkis Konga or districtkings of 
 Norway, in the light of tyranny and oppression. With their 
 united forces they repeatedly met Harold in battle, but 
 he was always victorious. The league formed against 
 him was at length broken, and he became the king of all 
 Norway, a.d. 878. 3 
 
 The Norwegian nobles, although they had been defeated, 
 were not disposed to submit to the sway of Harold ; they 
 did not forget that they had been his equals in power, dignity, 
 and descent ; and many, therefore, rather than yield sub- 
 mission to his yoke, fled into the Orkneys and the Western 
 
 1 Ware's Antiquities of Ireland, Dublin, 1705, p. GO. 
 
 2 Torfei. Hist. Norv. part ii, p. 49 ; ap. Campbell's Political Survey of Great 
 Britain, vol. ii, p. 043. 
 
 3 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, London, 1736, tabic 590; Schoening Norgcs 
 Hikes' s History, vol. ii, p. 91.
 
 NORTHERN VIKINGR, GORREE, ETC. Gl 
 
 Isles, whence they made incessant incursions on the newly 
 erected kingdom of Norway, to harass the conqueror who 
 had expelled them from their country. Harold, at length 
 determined to put an end to the predatory attacks of 
 these rebellious chiefs, by wreaking his vengeance on the 
 islands which afforded them shelter ; for this purpose he 
 collected a powerful fleet, and in 888, set sail in person 
 from Norway, " westward over the sea," making an indis- 
 criminate slaughter of all that came in his way. 1 
 
 " Now watch-fires burned from across the main — 
 
 From Rona, from Uist, and Skye, 
 To tell that the ships of the Dane 
 
 And red-haired spoilers were nigh." 2 
 
 When Harold arrived at the Isle of Man, he found 
 that the inhabitants had fled over to Galloway, and had 
 carried with them all their effects, thereby disappointing 
 his prospects of booty. 3 Having left a garrison for the 
 maintenance of his authority in these distant Isles, 
 Harold retraced his course towards the North, ravaging; 
 the coast of Scotland as he proceeded. 4 
 
 He had no sooner returned to Norway than the Hebri- 
 dean chiefs, who had fled at his approach, took advantage 
 of his absence to revenge their wrongs by the expulsion 
 or slaughter of the Norwegians whom he had left to hold 
 them in subjection. These hostile measures induced 
 Harold to adopt the resolution of placing a Lieutenant 
 over the Isles, a measure which had already proved suc- 
 cessful in Orkney. With that view he dispatched Ketill 
 
 1 Torfceus's History of Norway, vol. ii, chap, xii ; ap. Transactions of the Iona 
 Club, vol. i, p. 65. 
 
 2 Campbell's Rhymes of Horkriklosuis ; ap. Enson's Ancient Stale of Orkney, 
 edition 1788, p. 10. 
 
 3 Ynglinga Saga, chap, xxii ; ap. Collectanea dc Rebus Albanicis, p. G5; John- 
 ston's Scandinavian Antiquities, pp. 3, 4, 5 ; Torfceus in Orcadibus, pp. 10, 11. 
 
 4 Skene's Highlanders of Scotland, part i, chap, v ; Barre's History of the 
 Orkney Islands, cpaarto, 1805, p. 108.
 
 62 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 Flatnefr, or Flatnose, the son of Biorn, chief of Raums- 
 dal, with a large fleet. 1 
 
 Having brought the Western Isles under subjection, 
 Ketill began to strengthen his power by alliances with 
 the native chiefs, with the Scandinavian Resolutes, and 
 with the Vikingr Scotar, 2 or native pirates, all of whom 
 paid him tribute and presented him with badges of vas- 
 salage ; 3 and no sooner did he find himself in quiet pos- 
 session of the Western Isles than he threw off his alle- 
 giance to Harold Harfagr, and declared himself sovereign of 
 the Hebrides. The dynasty thus founded by Ketill, about 
 the year 890, extended from Man to the Orkneys ; 4 but 
 it proved only of brief duration. He died soon after the 
 erection of his new kingdom, and was succeeded by his 
 son Helgi and his grandson Thorstein the Red. The 
 native chiefs, however, were not long in embracing a fa- 
 vourable opportunity of expelling these intruders, and 
 again throwing off the Norwegian yoke. Helgi and 
 Thorstein joined Sigurd, the piratical king of the Orkneys, 
 and assisted him in conquering the north of Scotland as 
 far as the Grampians, where Sigurd died. Thorstein, the 
 ex-king of Man, then assumed the title of king of the 
 half of Scotland, and maintained his dominion for nearly 
 six years, till he was slain defending his possessions in 
 a.d. 900. 5 
 
 While these events were passing in Scotland, the govern- 
 ment of the Isles had passed into other hands. The next 
 king we hear of is Nial, who was succeeded, a.d. 914, by 
 
 1 Repp's Forensic Institutions of Scandinavia and Iceland, p. 162. — Mr. Laing has 
 identified Ketill, the son of Biorn, as Carthula, the son of Sarno, King of Inistore, 
 in Ossian's poem of Carrick Thura. — Laing' s History of Scotland, vol. iv, edition 
 1804, p. 418. 
 
 2 Are Frodi, an old Norse writer ; ap. Skene's Highlanders, p. 2, chap. ii. 
 
 3 Chalmcr's Caledonia, vol. i, book iii, chap, iv ; Collectanea de Rebus Abanicis, 
 part i, p. 69. 
 
 4 Repp's Ancient Forensic Institutions of Scandinavia, p. 162. 
 
 5 Skene's Highlanders of Scotland, part ii, chap. ii.
 
 NORTHERN VIKINGR, GORREE, ETC. G3 
 
 his nephew Amlaf ; but I am apprehensive that the Egilla 
 Sao-a 1 has confounded the former with Nial Glundubh, 
 son of Finleath king of Ireland, who was slain in battle 
 at Dublin, 2 in September, 918 ; and the latter, with Anlaph, 
 likewise king of Ireland, who, after being defeated at 
 Brunanburgh, in 938, by Athelstane, the Saxon king, fled 
 to Ireland, and on his way plundered the Isle of Man. 3 
 
 It is the duty of an historian to place before his readers 
 facts as they appear to have occurred, and in every in- 
 stance to show the authority on which his statements 
 are founded. The earliest writers who allude to the 
 conquest of Man by Orree or Gorree, appear to have 
 had only oral tradition for their guide ; but they all agree 
 as far as I have been able to discover, that he arrived in 
 Man early in the tenth century, " With a fleet of strong 
 ships, worthy of being under the command of such a power- 
 ful king." 4 
 
 It is reported by oral tradition, that on Gorree's land- 
 ing at the Laane, on a clear evening, he was met on the 
 beach by a deputation of the inhabitants, who had as- 
 sembled at a distance. One of the deputation demanded 
 whence he came. "That is the way to my country," he re- 
 plied, pointing to the galaxy or milky-way ; and even 
 at the present time this celestial phenomenon is . only 
 known to the native Manks, as " Raad mooar ree Goree ;" 
 that is, " The great road of king Gorree." 5 Whether 
 
 1 Ap. Skene's Highlanders of Scotland, part ii, chap. ii. 
 
 2 0' Donovan's Translation of the Annals of the Four Masters; ap. Ware's Anti- 
 quities of Ireland, p. Gl. 
 
 3 Hollinshead's Chronicles of Scotland, edition 1805, vol. i, pp. 288, 289 ; Bur- 
 ton's History of Scotland, Westminster, edition 1813, p. 64. 
 
 4 Manks History of the Isle of Man. In a MS. of unknown antiquity, in the 
 Castle of Rushen, with a copy of which I have been favoured through the kindness of 
 Dr. Underwood of Castletown, there occurs the following passage :—" And there 
 came a son of the king of Denmark, who conquered the land, and was the first 
 that was called king Orree, and after him remained twelve of that stock of kings." 
 
 5 Gorree, or as he is more generally called Orree, is supposed to be an abbreviation 
 of Goddard or Godfrey. Some of the chieftains of the Isles claim to be of the same 
 race of Gorree, particularly the Mc. Goaries, or as it is spelled in modern times, Mc.
 
 64 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 he wished his future subjects to understand thereby, that 
 ■he had descended direct from heaven or had come from a 
 country at the apparent extremity of the galaxy, tradition 
 does not inform us. 1 
 
 The kingdoms of Denmark and Norway were not united 
 till Haquin, the sixth king of Norway, married Margaret, 
 Queen of Denmark, in 1344. It is thus evident that he was 
 not the son of " a king of Denmark and Norway," as 
 stated by a late writer on the subject, 2 as these kingdoms 
 were not united till centuries after Gorree's arrival in Man. 
 That he was even of the race of the Danish, Swedish, or 
 Norwegian kings, does not appear from history. 3 
 
 From these circumstances it may be inferred, that if 
 he was really of royal extraction, it must have been only 
 in a remote degree. He is said to have conquered the 
 Orcades and Hebrides, 4 before he fixed the seat of his 
 government in the Isle of Man. 
 
 There is reason to presume that he was a native of 
 Scandinavia, from the circumstance of his having divided 
 Man into Sheadings, on the principle of the Godirics of 
 the Icelanders. 5 
 
 Though Gorree seized the reigns of government by the 
 hand of violence, the inhabitants of Mona suppose them- 
 selves to be indebted to him for the first formation of 
 those constitutional representatives call Ta^iaan, 6 signify- 
 
 Quarries. — See Dean Monro. Castle Corry, in the parish of St. Maughold is sup- 
 posed to have derived its name from its having been the residence of Orree ; but 
 places compounded of his name are to be met with in various parts of the Island, 
 such as Orrisdale, Orristal, Orrismount, and Ballagorree. In the Swedish or old 
 Gothic language, Orie signifies a black cock. — Campbell's Political Survey of Great 
 Britain, section iv. In the Manks language. Ree signifies "king;" Or-ree may 
 therefore signify King Or. 
 
 1 The Norwegians call the milky way " the road to winter." — Malet's Northern 
 Antiquities, London, 1770, vol. i, p. 355. 
 
 2 Wood's History of Man, p. 330. 
 
 3 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, London, 1736, tables 550, 587, 588, 589. 
 
 4 Wood's History of the Isle of Man, p. 330. 
 
 5 Repp' s Forensic Institutions of Scandinavia and Iceland, Edinburgh 1832, p. 170. 
 Lex Scripta of the Me of Man, Douglas, 1819, p. 16.
 
 NORTHERN VIKINGR, GORREE, ETC. 65 
 
 ing pledges or hostages, and subsequently called Keys. 
 Watch and Ward, on pain of death, was likewise estab- 
 lished in king Gorree's day, 1 and the laws of the Island 
 were then first committed to writing. 2 
 
 A.D. 947. Gorree was succeeded, as king of Man, by 
 his son Guthred, who commenced building the castle of 
 Rushen, which was finished a.d. 960, and in which he lies 
 buried. Nothing further is known of him with certainty. 
 
 Reginald, his son, next ascended the throne of Man. He 
 was reputed a magician ; and even attempted, it is said, to 
 build a bridge across the channel, from the Point of Ayre 
 to Burrough Head, in Galloway. Regarding this, many 
 traditions are yet related, both by the Manks and Gallo- 
 vidian peasantry. Reginald is reported to have been slain 
 by an officer in his army, whose sister he had seduced. 
 
 A.D. 960. Olave, his son, was the next king of Man. 
 He opposed Sidric Cam, the stooped, in battle, and shot 
 him through the thigh with an arrow. 3 Olave having as- 
 cended the throne of the Isles without acknowledging the 
 superiority of the Norwegian monarch, a right claimed 
 even at that early period, was invited to the court 
 of Harald II., called Grqfekl, then on the throne of 
 Norway ; but as soon as he set foot on shore, he was 
 seized and thrown into prison, and being condemned by 
 " The assembly of the Gulathing," was executed as a 
 traitor. Harald Grafeld had in his turn refused to pay 
 tribute to the Danes, and they therefore sent a fleet and 
 army to force him into obedience ; but to avert the power 
 of his rival, the Danish king, we are told that he sacrificed 
 his two sons to the devil, and "thereby," add the super- 
 stitious writers of the day, ' ; he obtained a tempest that 
 dispersed the Danish fleet." 4 
 
 1 Af<S'. Statute Book of the Island, folios 13, 46, 48, 51, confirmed by Statutes, 
 anno. 1595, 1011, and 1011. 
 
 2 Lex Scripta, \<. 16. 
 
 3 0' Donovan's Translation of the Annals of the Four Masters, Dublin, 1832. 
 
 4 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, table 590. 
 
 CHAP. III. I
 
 60 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 A rapid succession of kings of the race of Gorree now 
 follows on the throne of Man. Olain the brother of the 
 last monarch died in Ireland, but not from the cause 
 stated by Sacheverell. 1 He was slain by Aongus Mac 
 Doony. 2 Allan, who succeeded Olain, was a bad charac- 
 ter, and is said to have died by poison. Fingall the son, 
 and Goddard the grandson of Allan, likewise filled the 
 throne of Man ; all which appears to have happened in 
 the space of fourteen years. 
 
 A.D. 974. Gorree died about 940, and it is established 
 on the authority of many historians, that Macon was king 
 of Man in 974. He was one of the eight princes who 
 rowed king Edgar on the Dee in a stately barge built for 
 the occasion. Edgar himself held the rudder to testify 
 his superiority over the rest. These princes were Kenneth 
 III. king of Scotland ; Malcolm, king of Cumberland ; 
 Macon, or more properly Hacon, king of Man and the 
 Isles, and five petty kings of the Britons. 3 We have 
 already seen that even at this early period, the Manks 
 kings were vassals of Norway ; and it would appear from 
 the circumstances which I have just stated, that they also 
 acknowledged a dependance on the king of England. 
 
 Hacon stood so high in the esteem of Edgar, on account 
 of his great naval acquirements, that he was honoured 
 with the third oar, to give him precedence over the other 
 five ; and when Edgar made the memorable confirmation 
 of the charter of Glastonbury, Hacon subscribed that do- 
 cument immediately after the king of Scotland. 4 
 
 King Hacon sailed round the isles of Britain with a 
 fleet of 3600 vessels, 5 in order to clear the seas of the 
 
 1 Sacheverell' s Account of (he Isle of Man, London, 1702, p. 26. 
 
 2 Johnstone's Celto Normanicce, p. 24. 
 
 3 Hume's History England, chap, ii ; Campbell's Naval History of Great Britain, 
 edition 1813, vol. i, p. 48 ; Abcrcromby's Martial Achievements of the Scots Nation, 
 edition 17G2, vol. i, pp. 185, 186. 
 
 4 Sacheverell' s Account of the Isle of Man, p. 28. 
 
 6 Spelman's Chronicles. — For this extravagant number of ships, see Hovedon, 
 p. 426; Flor. WiffOtl, p. 607 ; Abbott's Rieval, p. 360 ; Bompton, p. 869.
 
 NORTHERN VIKINGR, GORREE, ETC. 67 
 
 northern rovers, who at that time harassed our shores. 
 Well might Hacon be numbered among the admirals of 
 the British Isles, if he could command such a fleet as 
 historians have placed under his control. Well, indeed, 
 might he be termed the prince of seamen ! 
 
 Hacon had appositely for his armorial bearing, a ship 
 with the sails furled, and the motto Rex Mannice et In- 
 sularum, which continued to be the ensign of the kings 
 of Man till the time of the Scottish conquest, when the 
 three legs were resumed. 
 
 By the Irish annalists, Hacon is called the son of 
 Aralt or Harald, and grandson of Sitric, so that he ap- 
 pears to have been the successor of Aulaf or Olain. — 
 Sacheverell says that Maceus was succeeded by his son 
 Syrach ;' but according to Mr. Skene, he was succeeded 
 by his brother Goddard or Godfrey Mac Arill. 2 
 
 A.D. 988. During the reign of Goddard, the Manks 
 were grievously harassed by the unexampled depredations 
 of the Danish sea-rovers, who, we are told, were trained 
 from infancy to be the scourges of the human race. 3 Olave, 
 the piratical son of Triggo, king of Norway, after plunder- 
 ing the coast of Northumberland, arrived at the Isle of 
 Man, where he defeated king Goddard in battle, in which 
 a thousand men were slain. Olave, who was prodigal of 
 gold, instituted many warlike exercises in Man. 4 
 
 Prince Sigurd, another of the predatory sea-kings of the 
 north, with his companions Karius and Nailsonii, steered 
 towards the south, and landed in Sutherland, where they 
 were stoutly opposed by the Comites at Dungalmipia ; 
 but obtaining much booty, they proceeded to Ross. At 
 a sumptuous banquet there, Sigurd presented to Karius a 
 golden-headed spear, taken from the Scots ; 5 to Helgus, a 
 
 1 Sacheverell' s Account of the Isle of Man, p. 28. 
 
 2 Skene's Highlanders of Scotland, p. ii, chap. ii. 
 
 3 Olaus Magnus's History of the Northern Nations, London, 1658, p. 106. 
 
 ? Annals of Ulster, ap. Johnston's Celto Scandicce, Copenhagen, 1786, p. 67. 
 6 Johnston's Scandinavian Antiquities, pp. 86, 87, 88, 89.
 
 68 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 bracelet and a robe ; and to Girus a sword and a shield, 
 as rewards for their bravery. These pirates then took 
 leave of the prince, and steered through the Hebrides, till 
 at length they arrived at Man, where they overcame king 
 Goddard in battle. Having secured much booty, they re- 
 turned to Ross,, and took up their winter quarters with 
 prince Sigurd. They returned to Man in the following 
 summer, and fought another battle with Goddard, in which 
 his son Dungall was slain. 
 
 A.D. 989. According to Ware, Goddard was slain by 
 the Dalriadins. 1 By Mr. Skene's account, however, God- 
 dard, a Dane, was king of Man, in 996. 2 He was, suc- 
 ceeded by his son Reginald, during whose reign the Isles 
 were conquered by Sigurd, Earl of Orkney, and ruled un- 
 der him by Gillie, styled Iral of the Sudereys ; but they 
 were re-conquered by Kenneth, the son of Goddard, and 
 brother of Reginald, the reigning king of Man. In this 
 enterprise, Kenneth appears to have been slain, as, on the 
 death of Reginald, 1004, his son Suibne succeeded to the 
 throne of the Isles. 3 
 
 Brian Boiroimhe, or Borom, the great king of Ireland, 
 who hospitably entertained three thousand persons daily 
 at his board, 4 concerted measures for expelling the Norse- 
 men 5 from Ireland ; but Sitric, king of the Danes of 
 Dublin, timeously discovered the plot, and, ere the Irish 
 were aware, called to his assistance the Danes of the Isle 
 of Man, and the Hebrides. 6 
 
 1 Ware's Antiquities of Ireland, p. 63. 
 
 2 Skene's MS. Chronological Table*. 
 
 3 Skene's Highlanders of Scotland, part ii, chap. ii. 
 
 4 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, table 528. 
 
 5 Danes and Norwegians were frequently called by the native Irish, Norsemen, that 
 is, men of the north— sometimes Ostmen, denoting the men of the east, relating to the 
 place of their residence in Ireland. These names were likewise divided into Dugalls 
 and Fingalls, the former meaning the black, and the latter the white foreigners. — 
 Ware's Antiquities of Ireland, p. 19. 
 
 6 Ware's Antiquities of Ireland, edition 1705, p. 63 ; Keating' s General History 
 of Ireland, part ii. — This affords a clear proof that the Scandinavians were in posses-
 
 NORTHERN VIKINGR, GORREE, ETC. 69 
 
 The Danes of Dublin and those of the Hebrides had 
 always lived on the most friendly terms, and in this in- 
 stance they were not slow in rendering the assistance re- 
 quired. Suibne, by virtue of the " War Arrow,"* col- 
 lected his forces with great expedition from the Out-Isles, 
 and placed his fleet under the command of Brodar, a 
 Danish Prince, who was afterwards joined in the Liffey 
 by Carol Kanute, son of the king of Denmark, with 
 1400 men. As they advanced to Clontorf, where the 
 Irish had taken up their position, they were also joined 
 by Maelmordha, at the head of a still more numerous 
 army. 
 
 One division of the Norsemen were clad in coats of 
 mail from head to foot. 1 Their appearance is thus de- 
 scribed as they were at first observed by the advanced 
 guard of the Irish army : — " A vast multitude is moving 
 towards us," said the orderly officer to Brian Borom. 
 " What sort of people are they ?" enquired Brian. " They 
 are green, naked people," answered the officer. " Oh !" 
 replied the king, " they are the Danes in armour." 2 
 
 The arms and accoutrements of the Irish soldiers con- 
 sisted of a helmet of leather, a skeine or large knife, a 
 battle axe, and a long spear ; and, lest they might be 
 caught in flight by an enemy, they had their heads shaven 
 behind. 3 
 
 sion of Man and the other western Isles, before the era assigned by some of the Scot- 
 tish historians, and Irish annals. — Macpherson's Critical Dissertations on the Origin 
 of the Ancient Caledonians, p. 251. 
 
 * Appendix, Note i, " War- Arrow." 
 
 1 Annals of the Four Masters. 
 
 - Hardiman's Translation of the Leabhar Oiris. 
 
 3 Saxo Grammaticus, Danicte, lib. v. — "When the Irish go to battle they say certain 
 prayers or charms to their swords, making crosses therewith upon the earth and 
 thrusting the points of their blades into the ground, thinking thereby to have better 
 success in battle." — Spencer's View of the State of Ireland, ap. Lithgoir's Travels, 
 Leith, 1814, pp. 341, 342. Giraldus Cambrensis thus speaks of the havoc made by 
 the Irish with the battle-axe : — " They hold the axe with one hand, the thumb being 
 stretched along the handle to direct the blow, from which neither the helmet can de- 
 fend the head nor the iron mail the rest of the body. Whence it happens that the
 
 70 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 A.D. 1014. The battle of Clontorf commenced at sun- 
 rise, and the onset was terrible. Never was greater de- 
 termination or animosity displayed in battle. The sol- 
 diers fought man to man, and the victors in one rank fell 
 victims in the next. Not a man of the mailed warriors 
 survived the sanguinary contest. 1 The commanders on 
 both sides performed prodigies of valour ; but the greater 
 part of them were also slain. Carol Kanute fell by the 
 hand of the son of Moloo-h, the son of the Irish kino-. 
 Brodar engaged in single combat with Brian Borom, and 
 both fell in the deadly strife. Only a few men of the in- 
 sular levies returned to the Out-Isles, or to Man. 2 
 
 A.D. 1034. Suibne, the son of Kenneth, reigned over 
 the Isles till 1034. As his death happened in the year 
 of the conquest of the Isles by Torfinn, Earl of Orkney, 3 
 Mr. Skene is of opinion that he was slain in the unsuc- 
 cessful defence of his territories. 4 
 
 A.D. 1035. Sitric Mac Amlaisich, king of Dublin, was 
 this year driven by Torfinn, Earl of Orkney, to take refuse 
 in the Isle of Man. 
 
 A.D. 1040. In this year Harold king of Man died at 
 Duncha in Ireland. 5 
 
 A.D. 1052. Eachmarcach, the son of Reginald king 
 of the Danes, was driven from Dublin, by Dermid, son of 
 Mailnambo king of Inisgall, Dublin, and Minister, and 
 took refuge in the Isle of Man, where his brother Goddard 
 was king. 6 Here, however, he was not secure from the 
 attacks of his enemies. A.D. 1061. Mirrcad, the son of 
 
 whole thigh of a soldier, though ever so well cased in iron mail, is cut through by 
 one blow of the axe, the leg falling on one side of the horse and the dying body on 
 the other." 
 
 1 Annals of Innisfallen ; Niala Saya ,■ Chronicle of Ademar. 
 
 2 O' Donovan— Account of the Battle of Clontorf , translated from the Irish Manu- 
 script entitled Cath Chluana Tarbh, Dublin, 1832. 
 
 3 Orkneyinga Saga and the Flatey Book. 
 
 4 Skene's Highlanders of Scotland, part ii, chapter ii. 
 6 Annals of Ulster, ap. Johnstone, p. 69. 
 
 6 Annals of the Four Masters ; Tighemac.
 
 NORTHERN VIKINGR, GORREE, ETC. 71 
 
 Dermid and grandson of Mailnambo, at the head of a 
 hostile armament, landed in Man, vanquished there Each- 
 marcach Mac Reginald, and laid the Island under con- 
 tribution. 1 
 
 If Goddard held the sovereignty of Man under the con- 
 trol of Torfinn, Earl of Orkney, he was relieved of his 
 vassalage by the death of that military chief in 10G4. 2 
 
 At this period, the English were vainly struggling to 
 throw off the foreign yoke under which they had long 
 laboured. 3 Ireland was suffering under the control of the 
 white foreigners. 4 Scotland had yielded to the sway of 
 the traitor Macbeth ; 5 and in a few years afterwards the 
 iEbudian throne was overturned by another swarm from 
 the northern hive.* 
 
 1 Tighernac. 
 
 2 Skene's Highlanders of Scotland, part i, chap. iv. According to Johnstone, 
 Godred, king of Man, died in 1051, and was succeeded by his son Fingal. — Celto 
 NormaniccE, Copenhagen, edition 1786, p. 149. 
 
 3 Hume's History of England, cap. hi. 
 
 4 Ware' s Antiquities of Ireland, p. 19. 
 
 5 Guthrie's History of Scotland, vol. i, p. 339. 
 
 ♦Appendix, Note ii, " Kings of the Race of Ketill and Gorree."
 
 72 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 APPENDIX.— Chapter III. 
 
 NOTE I.— Page 69. 
 
 WAR-ARROW. 
 
 The ancient Scandinavians had a piece of wood in the form of an arrow, which 
 they dispatched round the country to warn or alarm the natives. Its form was typi- 
 cal of the rapidity with which it should be sent. In Iceland this custom is still pre- 
 served, only with this difference, that the magistrate of a district summoning the 
 inhabitants to a Thing, in the month of May, wraps a paper round a wooden halbert. 
 This proclamation must be read at the door of each house, it being unlawful to take it 
 under a roof. It is then forwarded by a fast running person to the next stage. Its 
 route is prescribed by ancient custom, and carrying it out of that course is highly 
 punishable. — Repp's Ancient Juries, Edinburgh, 1832, p. 105. When the symbol 
 carried round was burnt at one end, it indicated that if the person required did not 
 appear at the place appointed, his dwelling, in default, would be burned to the ground. 
 When a cord was tied to it, hanging was to be the punishment for non-attendance. — 
 Olaus Magnus's History of the Northern Nations, London, 1658, p. 95. 
 
 In the highlands of Scotland, when a chieftain designed to summon his clansmen 
 on any great or sudden emergency, he slew a goat, and making a cross of any light 
 wood, seared its extremities in the fire, and extinguished them in the blood of the 
 animal. This was called "The Fiery Cross." It was dispatched by a quick mes- 
 senger, from hamlet to hamlet, in the manner just described, through all the districts 
 which owed allegiance to the chief. — Sir Walter Scott's Poetical Works, vol. viii, 
 p. 316. 
 
 In the Isle of Man, the captain of each parish, who may be considered a subordi- 
 nate sheriff, is conservator of the peace, and to his custody is committed the cross, an 
 instrument of the size of a man, which, in cases of emergency requiring public aid, is 
 conveyed by him to a neighbour, who carries it forward to another ; and thus it pro- 
 ceeds from house to house till it has performed the entire circuit of the parish ; and 
 its detention through neglect or other impediment would be regarded with much dread 
 by the inhabitants of the house in which it should occur. This ancient custom is still 
 observed, the last occasion on which it was practised was calculated to strip it of all 
 romantic associations. The late Mr. Gawne, who had large property in the neigh, 
 bourhood of Castletown, having a few years ago lost some sheep, summoned forth 
 the captain of the parish, and the cross was exhibited not in vain, for the robber was 
 detected. — Lord Teignmouth's Sketches of the Coasts and Islands of Scotland and 
 of the Isle of Man, London, 1836, vol. ii, pp. 238, 239.
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. III. WAR-ARROW. 73 
 
 An aged person in the Island, with whom I conversed respecting the Cross, says 
 that when a young man he recollects very well running with it. The manner in which 
 it went round the district was, the Captain of the Parish, with whom the custom 
 always commenced, gave it to his next neighbour, with instructions that the cross 
 was to muster the people at such a place, or for Watch and Ward ; and then the 
 neighbour took it from the captain and proceeded to his neighbour, until the whole 
 parish was alarmed. The Cross was two pieces of wood about the length of a man's 
 arm. This custom was observed during the American war of 1780 and the French 
 Revolutionary war of 1789 ; but my informant never heard of the cross A useu for such 
 a purpose as that mentioned by Lord Teignmouth about Mr. Gawne ; but supposes 
 his lordship has confounded the business of the cross with that of a Jury of Enquiry, 
 which court summonses all suspected persons to appear before it. 
 
 War was anciently proclaimed in Britain by sending messengers in different direc- 
 tions through the land, each bearing a bent how ; and peace was in like manner an- 
 nounced by a bow unstrung. — Cambrian Antiquities. 
 
 This custom is beautifully described by Mrs. Hemans ; (Poetical Works, vol. iv, 
 p. 105) :— 
 
 " There was heard the sound of a coming foe ; 
 There was sent through Britain a bended bow; 
 And a voice was poured on the free winds far, 
 As the land rose up at the sign of war. 
 
 ' Heard you not the battle horn ? 
 
 Reaper ! leave thy golden corn ; 
 
 Leave it for the birds of heaven, 
 
 Swords must flash and shields be riven; 
 
 Leave it for the winds to shed; 
 
 Arm, ere Britain's turf grow red !' 
 And the reaper armed like a freeman's son ; 
 And the bended bow and the voice passed on. 
 ' Hunter leave the mountain chaee, 
 
 Take the falchion from its place ; 
 
 Let the wolf go free to day, 
 
 Leave him for a nobler prey ; 
 
 Let the deer, ungalled, sweep by, 
 
 Arm thee ! Britain's foes are nigh.' 
 And the hunter armed ere the chase was done ; 
 And the bended bow and the voice passed on. 
 
 ' Chieftain ! quit the joyous feast, 
 
 Stay not till the song has ceased ; 
 
 Though the mead be foaming bright, 
 
 Though the fires give ruddy light, 
 
 Leave the hearth, and leave the hall, 
 
 Arm thee ! Britain's foes must fall.' 
 And the chieftain armed, and the horn was blown. 
 And the bards made songs for the battle won." 
 
 CHAP. IV. K
 
 74 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 NOTE II.— Page 71. 
 
 KINGS OF THE RACE OF KETILL AND GORREE. 
 
 LINE OF KETILL. a.d. 
 Ketill Flatnefr 890 
 
 ■HdS 1 1 894 
 
 Thorstein J 
 
 Nial 914 
 
 LINE OF GORREE. 
 
 Gorree about 920 
 
 Guthred 947 
 
 Olavel 960 
 
 LINE OF GORREE continued. 
 
 Olain 
 
 Allan 
 
 Fingall .... 
 Goddard I .. 
 
 Hacon 
 
 Goddard II... 
 
 Reginald 
 
 Suibne 
 
 Harold I 
 
 Goddard III 
 
 . 974 
 . 988 
 . 988 
 1034 
 .1040 
 .1052
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 75 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS, FROM A.D. 1066 TO 1164. 
 
 Northern Auxiliaries of William the Conqueror — Goddard Crovan, 
 son of Harold the Black of Iceland, conquers Man — Subdues Dublin 
 and a great part of Leinster — Terrific irruption of Magnus Barefoot 
 — Death of Goddard Crovan — The Manks flee on the approach of 
 Magnus — Malcolm King of Scotland resigns the Western Isles to the 
 Norwegian Conqueror, as does Donald Bane the Isles of Orkney and 
 Shetland — Vision of Magnus — Civil War in Man — Battle decided 
 by the valour of the Women of the Northern District — Wretched state 
 of the Island when visited by Magnus — His descent into Wales — 
 Sends his Shoes to the King of Ireland to carry publicly on his shoul- 
 ders in token of his submission — Meditates the Conquest of Ireland — 
 Death of Magnus — Logman, son of Goddard Crovan, ascends the 
 Throne of the Isles — Succeeded by Donald the son of Teig — Fate of 
 Ingemund — Olave Kleining called to the Throne — Married to a 
 daughter of the Lord of Galloway — Confirmed in his Dominions by 
 the King of Nonvay — Conspiracy against Olave — His Death and 
 Character — The Assassins of Olive defeated in Galloway — Fergus 
 Lord of Galloway, places his grandson Godred on the Throne of the 
 Isles — Godred elected King of Dublin — Insurrection of Somerled — 
 Battle at Sea — Godred and Somerled divide the Kingdom of the Isles 
 — Somerled drives Godred from the Throne — Church of St. Maughold 
 plundered — Death and Character of Somerled. 
 
 While William of Normandy was making preparations 
 for invading England, Harald Harfagr, king of Norway, 
 was prevailed on by his influence to engage in the en- 
 terprise. The Norwegian monarch having arrived with a 
 large armament in the Isle of Man, 1 was joined there by 
 
 1 Mac Cullock's Description of the Western Isles, London, 1824, vol. iii, p. 36.
 
 76 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 the forces of Goddard, the son of Sygtrig, 1 then king of 
 the Isles. The united fleets, amounting to three hundred 
 sail, were joined on the shores of Northumberland, by 
 Tosti, the rebellious brother of Harold, king of Eng- 
 land, with sixty vessels which he had collected in the 
 ports of Flanders. After carrying fire and sword along 
 the coast of England, the combined fleets reached the 
 Humber, where the troops disembarked ; but were soon 
 afterwards attacked and totally defeated at Standford- 
 bridge, by Harold, the reigning king of England. In this 
 sanguinary conflict, Tosti and Harfagr 2 were slain, and 
 the whole of the Norwegian fleet fell into the hands of 
 the conqueror, who had the generosity, however, to allow 
 Olave, the son of Harfagr, to depart with twenty vessels. 3 
 
 On steering homeward, this small remnant of the great 
 armament, which had so recently left the shores of Man, 
 returned to that Island, where the unfortunate warriors 
 were kindly received by the king. 
 
 Among those who on this occasion shared with Olave the 
 hospitality of the Manks king, was Goddard Crovan or 
 Chrouban, 4 son of Harold the Black, of Iceland. During his 
 
 1 Goddard, the son of Sygtrig, was of the Northumberland family. His pedigree 
 stands thus : — " Goddard Mac Iterig, Mac Aulay, Mac Iterig, Mac Aulay, Mac 
 Iterig, king of Northumberland." — Johnstone's Celto Normanicce, Copenhagen 1786, 
 p. 149. The Saga relates that before Harold left Trondheim he caused the shrine, 
 wherein the body of his half-brother St. Olaf was deposited, to be opened and the 
 nails and hair to be cut off, that he might take them with him as holy relics. — Chrich- 
 ton's Scandinavia, vol i, chap. iv. 
 
 2 Harfagr is synonymous with our English Fairfax and signifies Fair locks. — 
 Mallett's Northern Antiquities, London, 1770, vol. i, p. 50. 
 
 3 Hume's History of England, chap. iii. 
 
 4 Chrouban in Icelandic signifies White-handed. The surnames of Scandinavia 
 were not heritable but distinctive. It would be difficult to find an instance of two 
 kings, of the same country, of the same name and surname. Iceland was divided 
 into shires or prefectures, called Goddard, and the prefect or magistrate of each shire 
 was called Godi ; and the term Goddard denoted both the dignity and also the district 
 over which the authority extended, that is, the Godi-ship and the Godi-ric ; from 
 which it may be inferred Crowman had either been a Godi in his own country or as- 
 sumed that title on his arrival in Man, in addition to that of king, being perhaps 
 accounted more honourable. Crowman, signifying the Slaughter, was perhaps con- 
 ferred on him, being a Vikingr. — Thorl. Gudm. Repp., p. 171.
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 77 
 
 stay, this Icelandic prince had time to observe the defence- 
 less state of the Island, and he soon bethought himself of 
 turning this circumstance to his own advantage. Sti- 
 mulated by the success which had attended the arms of 
 former adventurers from the northern regions of Europe, 
 he, on his return to Norway, raised an army in his native 
 mountains, and equipped a large fleet to transport his 
 piratical legions to the shores of Man. Here, however, 
 he was opposed by Fingall, the son and successor of king 
 Goddard, 1 who in the interval had been gathered to his 
 fathers. 2 The first descent of the invaders was so boldly 
 opposed by the Manks, that they were obliged to seek 
 refuge in their ships. Goddard, having rallied his forces, 
 his fleet again returned to the Island, but was again re- 
 pulsed. On a third attempt, however, with a recruited 
 army, he was more successful. Having anchored in Ram- 
 sey Bay, a.d. 1077, he landed his troops by night, in order 
 to deceive the islanders as to the true strength of his 
 armament, and placed an ambuscade of three hundred men 
 in a wood on Skye Hill, above Ramsey. 3 
 
 Early next morning, the Manks, with their young king 
 Fingall at their head, rushed upon the foe with great im- 
 petuosity, in the confident hope of again driving them to 
 their ships or into the sea ; and notwithstanding the am- 
 bush men having sprung unexpectedly on their rear, the 
 islanders fought with such bravery that the issue of the 
 conflict remained long doubtful. At length, when the 
 Manks king fell boldly facing the foe, his followers got 
 into great confusion, and were driven by the invaders into 
 the river Sulby, swollen at the time by the influx of the 
 tide, where the greater part of them perished. The resi- 
 
 1 The Goffraig of the Irish Annals is the Godridus of the Latin writers and the 
 Goddard of the Chronicles of Man. 
 
 2 Chronicles of the Kings of Man, ap. Camden's Britt. 
 
 3 Johnstone's Cello Normanicce, p. 69 ; Sac hever ell's Account of the Isle of Man, 
 London, 1702, p. 29.
 
 78 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 due, cut off from all means of escape, submitted uncon- 
 ditionally to the conqueror. In this great battle fell 
 Sigtrig Mac Olave, and two O'Brians of the blood royal 
 of Ireland. 1 
 
 The Icelandic conqueror, having thus acquired possession 
 of Man, left it to the choice of his followers, either to 
 plunder the Island and depart with the booty, or to re- 
 main and have the land divided among them. The former 
 proposal, as being more congenial to their habits and 
 pursuits, was preferred by the greater part of the soldiery, 
 who returned home enriched with the spoils of the van- 
 quished Manksmen. 
 
 Goddard himself, however, was disposed to keep pos- 
 session of Man ; those, therefore, who were intent upon 
 following the fortunes of the chief who had led them to 
 victory, took possession of the southern part of the Island, 
 while the northern division was granted to the remaining 
 inhabitants, under the express condition of their being 
 tenants at will, " and that none of them or their heirs 
 should ever presume to claim any part of it by way of 
 inheritance." Thus, then, the whole Island became the 
 property of this northern conqueror, in whose line it re- 
 mained for centuries aftenvards. 2 
 
 As the Manks had been the most ancient allies of the 
 Gallovidians, and had at various periods afforded an asy- 
 lum to their refugees, it might naturally have been ex- 
 pected that these people would stretch forth an arm in 
 their cause. The Gallovidians, however, while they saw 
 the valiant islanders subjugated by a northern prince, were 
 without the power to render them any assistance, being 
 themselves weakened by intestine broils, and by a foreign 
 
 1 Annals of Ulster, ap. Johnstone's Celto Normanicce. The Annals of Ulster place 
 the death of these persons in 1073. 
 
 2 Chronicles of the Kings of Man, ap. Camden's Brittanica ; Anderson's Royal 
 Genealogies, London, 1736, p. 773 ; Campbell's Political Survey of Great Britain, 
 vol. ii, p. 528.
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 79 
 
 enemy. Galloway being the common receptacle for his 
 English enemies, was invaded by William the Conqueror, 
 as well by land from Carlisle as by sea from the mouth of 
 the Solway. Having in vain, however, harassed his 
 troops by marching and counter marching through this 
 wild mountainous district, William at length struck 
 through Clydesdale and proceeded directly to Lothian. 1 
 
 Having now established his throne in Man, Goddard 
 turned his attention towards Ireland, which was at that 
 time divided into petty principalities. He subdued Dub- 
 lin, and a great part of the province of Leinster sub- 
 mitted to his arms. 2 He likewise brought the Western 
 Isles, with Orkney and Shetland, under subjection. His 
 son Lagman was lieutenant of the Western Islands. — 
 Goddard himself is called by Torfseus, king of the No- 
 dereys. 3 It is also stated that he brought the Scots to 
 such subjection that they dared not build a vessel with 
 more than three nails or bolts in it. 4 
 
 This instability in the government of Scotland, proved 
 highly favourable to the ambitious views of Magnus 
 Barefoot, 5 the piratical king of Norway. This monarch, 
 having equipped a large fleet, a.d. 1093, sailed from Nor- 
 way, "Not," as he declared, "to invade the territories 
 of others, but only to resume the ancient rights of Nor- 
 way." Notwithstanding, however, of this declaration, the 
 rapacity which Magnus evinced had not been equalled by 
 
 1 Guthrie's History of Scotland, vol. i, p. 265 ; Johnstone's Cello Normanicce, 
 page 69. 
 
 2 Chronicles of the Kings of Man, ap. Camden. 
 
 3 Mac Culloch's Western Isles, vol. iii, p. 37. 
 
 4 Ware's Antiquities of Ireland, Dublin, 1705, p. 65 ; Anderson' s Royal Genealo- 
 gies, p. 773; Campbell's Political Survey of Great Britain, Dublin, 1775, vol. ii, 
 p. 530. 
 
 5 He was called by his countrymen Magnus Berfaettr which signifies Barelegs, and 
 which is thus accounted for. " It is said that when king Magnus returned from his 
 first expedicion to the west, he had adopted the custom in use in the western lands, 
 and from this was called barelegs or barefoot."— Magnus Berfaetr's Saga, ap. Trans- 
 actions of the Iona Club, vol. i, part iii, p. 27 ; Torfaeus, vol. iii, book vii, cap. viii.
 
 80 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 any of his piratical predecessors in the Northern seas. 
 He began his career by deposing Paul Erland, a descen- 
 dant of Torfin, who was created Earl of Orkney in 1028. 1 
 The Orcades then quietly submitted to his power, and he 
 left his son Sigurd 2 prefect of those Isles, with council- 
 lors to assist him in the government. As he proceeded 
 " westward over the sea," the fury of his cruel irruption 
 fell successively upon Lewis and Skye, from the latter of 
 which he carried off as many cattle as victualled his fleet: 
 he then reduced the Uists and Mull, and proceeding 
 southward, spent some time in pillaging Isla, destroying 
 the inhabitants, burning their villages, and laying every- 
 thing waste around him. The Norwegian Bard who, ac- 
 cording to the custom of that age, attended Magnus, on 
 purpose to record his triumphs, thus describes the pro- 
 gress of the expedition : 3 — " The sea swelled with joy at 
 the devastation of the land, and the army was in action 
 whilst the dry-fire rose from the temples." Lagman, the 
 obnoxious son of Goddard Crovan, having fallen into his 
 hands, the event is thus described by another Danish 
 poet : — " Dangerous was every place in the hills where 
 dwelt the son of Goddard, for the mighty king of the 
 Throndonians strictly watched Lagman, that his flight 
 might be interrupted. He escaped to the ocean; but he 
 was seen from the beach, and the kings ships followed 
 him. Behind the promontory the clashing swords were 
 heard ; the sound died away, and the happy leader had, 
 
 1 Hollinshead's Chronicles of Scotland, edition 1805, vol. i, p. 36 ; Guthrie's 
 History of Scotland, London, 1767, vol. i, p. 289; Chalmer's Caledonia, vol. i, 
 book iii, chap, iv ; MS. Supplement to Eunson's Account of Orkney, in the Library 
 of the Society of Antiquaries, Edinburgh. 
 
 2 Torfceus's History ofNonvay, part iii, cap. iv, p. 421. 
 
 3 Biornus Kreppendi, apud Johnstone's Antiquities of Scandinavia, Copenhagen, 
 1736, p. 231. "Thenaraes," says Campbell, "of the two Norwegian bards, whose 
 songs of this expedition have been transcribed into their histories, were Biornus 
 Curvimanus and Thorkell Hamarskiold, which also shows the authority of these 
 poetic chronicles, which were, beyond all doubt, the most ancient records of the 
 Northern nations." — Campbell's Political Survey, vol. ii, p. 560.
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 81 
 
 by his valour, the honour of numbering king Lagman 
 among his captive enemies." 1 
 
 The Sagas affirm that Goddard Crovan was expelled 
 from the throne of the Western Isles by Magnus Bare- 
 foot ; 2 and the Chronicles of Man assert that he died in 
 Isla. 3 It is probable that, on the tidings of the irruption 
 of Magnus into the Orkneys, and the account of his hav- 
 ing overturned the government there, reaching Man, God- 
 dard mustered all his forces, and proceeded to support his 
 son Lagman in defending the Nodereys ; and that, on his 
 arrival at Isla, he fell in the sixteenth year of his reign, 
 amid the general slaughter which deluged the Island in 
 blood, leaving three sons, Lagman, Harold, and Olave. 
 
 This view of Manks history at that period is strength- 
 ened by the circumstance of Magnus, on his arrival in 
 Man, finding the Island nearly deserted by its inhabitants. 
 On hearing of his approach, they fled over to Galloway, 
 and the Island became an easy conquest. 4 
 
 Malcolm, king of Scotland, who was then on the eve 
 of commencing the expedition into England, in which he 
 lost his life, resigned to Magnus all the Western Isles 
 around which he could sail. The Norwegian king, taking 
 advantage of this vague document, caused his boat to be 
 drawn across the small isthmus which unites Knapdale to 
 Kintyre, asserting that the latter came within the descrip- 
 tion of those resigned to him. 5 
 
 King Malcolm died in 1093 ; and his brother, Donald 
 Bane, on ascending the throne, not only confirmed to 
 
 1 Johnstone, p. 232 ; Buchanan's History of Scotland, vol. i, book i. 
 - Magnus Berfaettr's Saga ; Orkneyinga Saga ; Snorro Hatey ; Annals of Inn is ■• 
 fallen; Torfceus's History of the Orcades, pp. 71, 72. 
 
 3 Chronicles of the Kings of Man,- Johnstone's Celto Nbrmanica, p. 149. The 
 Annals of Ulster by Johnstone say that Goddard died in 1095 ; but the expedition of 
 Magnus is known to have taken place in 1093. According to Crichton, Goddard 
 was captured by Magnus Barefoot. — Scandinavia, vol. i, p. 233. 
 
 4 Johnstone's Antiquities of Scandinavia. 
 
 8 Magnus Berfaettr's Saga, apud Skene's Highlanders, part ii, chap. ii. 
 
 CHAP. IV, L
 
 82 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 Magnus his brother's grant of the Western Isles, but 
 also ceded to him those of Orkney and Shetland. So 
 soon, however, as the transaction became known in Scot- 
 land, the public indignation rose to such a height against 
 Donald, 1 that he was driven from the elevated seat of his 
 usurpation. Although Magnus had little to fear from 
 Edgar, his feeble successor on the Scottish throne, he, 
 nevertheless, built strongholds for his soldiers in nearly all 
 the places he had subdued. In the Isle of Man, he 
 erected a fortress which he distinguished by his own 
 name, but of which no trace is now to be found. In order, 
 also, to intimidate the Gallovidians, he built # garrisons 
 along the precipitous coasts at Burrow Head, Cragiedown, 
 and Castlefeather ; and he even compelled the Galloway- 
 men to supply him with stone and timber for the erection 
 of these bulwarks. 2 
 
 On the completion of these works, Magnus appears to 
 have returned to Norway and resumed his seat on the 
 Norwegian throne, for, in the year 1098, we find him again 
 preparing to leave his northern kingdom with a powerful 
 armament. 
 
 The monkish writers of that period, ever fond of super- 
 natural agency, affirm that Magnus, contrary to the in- 
 junctions of his clergy, caused the tomb of St. Olave, the 
 martyr king, to be opened, in order to ascertain whether 
 the body, which had been interred sixty-eight years before, 
 had remained incorrupt ; and that having himself ascer- 
 tained that it had, he was seized with great fear and has- 
 tily departed. In the ensuing night, it is added, the spirit 
 of the offended saint appeared to the affrighted king, or- 
 dering him to make choice of these two offers, " either to 
 
 1 Buchanan's History of Scotland, vol. i, p. 297 ; Guthrie's Hist, of Scot., vol. i, 
 p. 289 ; Hist. Normanor-um, p. 1000 ; Fordun Scot., book v, chap, xxv; Major 
 Scotorum, book iii, chap. ix. 
 
 - Chalmer's Caledonia, vol. iii, p. 367 ; Hollinshead's Chronicles of Scotland, 
 edition 1805, vol. i, p. 361.
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 83 
 
 lose his kingdom and his life, or, within thirty days, to 
 leave Norway for ever." 1 The king, starting from his 
 couch, dispatched the Skera up Heror, or War- Arrow? 
 to summon an immediate convention of his nobles, and 
 the elders of the people. Having informed them of his 
 vision, and repeated the commands of the vengeful 
 spirit, that he might receive their advice respecting his 
 future conduct, they unanimously advised him to leave 
 the kingdom with all possible despatch. Pursuant to 
 this decision, therefore, he equipped a fleet of one hun- 
 dred and sixty vessels, and again sailed " westward over 
 the seas." 
 
 Neither the Icelandic Sagas nor the Irish Annals de- 
 scribe, distinctly, the progress of this expedition through 
 the Western Isles ; and all other historians have, in a 
 great measure, overlooked the first irruption of Magnus, 
 in 1093. 3 These expeditions, five years apart, should not 
 be blended together, there being historical documents ex- 
 tant to prove the certainty of both. 
 
 The chief cause of Magnus's expedition, in 1093, was 
 a compact which he had made with Donald Bane to 
 assist the latter in ascending the Scottish throne ; and the 
 true reason of his undertaking that of 1098, was to re- 
 establish his authority in the Isle of Man, which of late 
 had been disregarded. Octtar, the Norwegian Jarl, had, 
 for some fancied acts of tyranny, been displaced by the 
 inhabitants of the southern district of the Island, and one 
 
 1 Chronicles of the Kings of Man, apud Camden's Brittanica ; Johnstone's Celto 
 Normanicce, p. 70. St. Olave was interred at Trondheim in the magnificent cathe- 
 dral which rose upon the ruins of the temple of Thor. — Crichton's Scandinavia, 
 vol. i, p. 156. 
 
 - Repp's Scandinavian Forensic Institutions, p. 105. 
 
 3 Simeon Dunelm, ap. Hale's Annals of Scotland, vol. i, p. 52 ; Ordericus Vitalis, 
 ap. Abercrombif s Martial Achievements of the Scots Nation, edition 1762, vol. i, 
 p. 395. It is asserted by the author that in the fifth year of the reign of William 
 Rufus, king of England, (1092) Magnus, king of Norway, subdued the Orkneys and 
 settled a colony in the Isle of Man. — Mallet's Northern Antiq., vol. i, chap. xi ; 
 Macpherson's Critical Dissertations, p. 255.
 
 84 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 Macmarus had been elected in his place. Macmarus 
 was in every respect qualified for the guidance of the 
 affairs of the state, with a steady hand ; but his election 
 to that dignity was the cause of a civil war, as the in- 
 habitants of the northern district still adhered to Jarl 
 Octtar. 1 Both parties at length resolving to put an end 
 to the contest by a decisive fight, the people of the south 
 were led by Macmarus, and those of the north by Jarl 
 Octtar. The conflict which ensued at Santwart, or St. 
 Patrick's Isle, in the parish of Jurby, was long and 
 bloody. The party of Macmarus were dispersing their 
 opponents, when the women of the north rushed forth 
 simultaneously to the scene of action, and, by the timely 
 assistance which they rendered to their husbands and re- 
 lations, changed the issue of the fight, although not till 
 both leaders were slain. As a reward for the bravery of 
 the northern amazons, it was afterwards enacted by the 
 insular government, that, " of all goods immoveable, not 
 having any life, the wives shall have the halfe on the north 
 side, whereas those on the south side shall receive only 
 one-third." 2 
 
 On the arrival of Magnus Barefoot in Man, the Island 
 presented a most appalling spectacle : the scene of the 
 last sanguinary conflict was strewed with the mangled 
 corpses of the slain of both parties, uninterred, and in a 
 state of putrefaction. The whole Island was a desert, 
 well nigh depopulated by war and famine, so that it cost 
 Magnus little trouble to re-establish his power. So 
 wretched, however, was the condition of the inhabitants, 
 that even he regarded them with commiseration, and 
 caused them to build houses, of which they were nearly 
 
 1 Chronicles of Kings of Man, ap. Camden; Johnstone's Celto Normanica>, p. 
 150. Jarl is a Norwegian title, synonymous with Earl: Macpherson's Critical Dis- 
 sertations on the Origin of the Ancient Caledonians, Edinburgh, edition quarto, 
 17G8, p. 257. 
 
 2 Lex Scripta of the Isle of Man, p. 52, Douglas, edit. 1819.
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 85 
 
 destitute, 1 for, like the Firbolgs, so famous in the Irish 
 Chronicles, they lived in small huts or cells, under the 
 ground, chiefly in the mountains. 2 
 
 After a short stay in Man, for the purpose of refitting 
 his ships, Magnus embarked his troops, and steered 
 towards the ancient Mona of Wales. 3 
 
 The subjects of William Rufus, in the counties bordering 
 on Wales, had been so often harassed by the depreda- 
 tory incursions of the Welshmen, headed by their refrac- 
 tory chiefs, that, for the purpose of subjugating these tur- 
 bulent mountaineers, William invaded North Wales with 
 a numerous army ; sending, at the same time, another 
 into the Isle of Anglesea, against the rebellious Owen ap 
 Edwyn. This army was placed under the joint command 
 of Hugh, Earl of Shrewsbury, and Hugh, Earl of Chester, 
 who waged a savage war against the poor Islanders by 
 mutilating all the prisoners who fell into their hands, 
 sparing neither age nor sex. 4 
 
 At this juncture, the Norwegian fleet appeared on the 
 coast. The English army, headed by Shrewsbury, sped 
 to the beach to oppose the landing of the Norsemen ; but 
 that nobleman, whose impetuous valour had carried him 
 into the sea, had no sooner exposed himself to the view of 
 the Norwegian king, than he received an arrow, which 
 passing through an opening in his armour, pierced his 
 right eye and reached his brain. 5 As he tumbled convul- 
 sively from his horse, Magnus exclaimed exultingly, " see 
 how he dances !" 
 
 1 Chronicles of Man, ap. Johnstone, p. 149 ; Ordericus Vitalis, ap. Mallet's 
 Northern Antiq., vol, i, cap. xi. 
 
 2 Cooil, in the Manks language, signifies " a hiding-place ;" and several places in 
 the Island yet bear that name, in the following parishes : — There is Cooil-shallagh 
 in Michael ; Cooil-bane in Lezayre ; Cooil-ingil in Marown ; Cooil-cam in Malew ; 
 Cooil-valley in Maughold ; Cooil-awey in Jurby ; Balla-cooil in Patrick ; and 
 Balla-coilley in Ballaugh. 
 
 3 Chronicles of the Kings of Man, ap. Camden. 
 
 4 Welsh Chron. p. 150 ; Hist, of the Ancient Princes of Wales, p. 53. 
 
 5 Giraldus Cambrensis, ca;i. viii ; Simon of Durham, p. 223 ; Warring/ton's 
 History of Wales, London, 1788, pp. 241, 242.
 
 86 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 The death of the Earl of Shrewsbury produced great 
 disorder among the English, and obliged them to abandon 
 the shore. The Earl of Chester, also, on the occurrence 
 of this disaster, suddenly retreated into England. 1 The 
 Norwegians, finding that the English had left little for 
 them to plunder, soon re-embarked, 2 although, according 
 to the Chronicles of Man, Magnus raised large contribu- 
 tions in Wales. 3 
 
 A.D. 1100. There is on record, a protection sent to 
 Magnus by Henry I, to meet him in Wales, for the pur- 
 pose of concerting measures for making a joint conquest 
 of Ireland. 4 It is not known, however, if that interview 
 took place ; but it is certain the project was not carried 
 into execution. 
 
 Brien Boiroimhe the Great, or, as he is more generally 
 called, Brien Boron, at his death, left three sons, Murtough, 
 Teig, and Donough, the last of whom succeeded his father 
 on the Irish throne ; but, being concerned in the murder 
 of his brother Teig, he was dethroned, and was succeeded 
 by his elder brother Murtough, 5 a prince only remarkable 
 for the quietude of his manners. 
 
 On learning the character of the reigning king of Dub- 
 lin, Magnus sent him his shoes, with a command that he 
 should carry them on his shoulders through his palace on 
 Christmas day, in presence of the Norwegian messengers, 
 to signify his submission to his authority. The Irish 
 people received this insolent command with great wrath 
 and indignation ; but the peaceable Murtough said he 
 would rather eat the shoes in question than that Magnus 
 should destroy one province of Ireland. He consequently 
 
 1 King's Vale Royal of Cheshire, p. 48. 
 
 2 Warrington's History of Wales, p. 242. 
 
 3 Johnstone's Cello Normanicee, p. 149. 
 
 4 Calendars of Ancient Charters, with Welsh and Scottish Rolls, in the Tower of 
 London, 1772, p. 329. 
 
 5 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, table 528.
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 87 
 
 complied with the order ; and sent back the messengers 
 loaded with rich presents. 1 
 
 The pusillanimity of Murtough, together with the re- 
 port of the messengers, as to the attractions of Ireland, 
 turned the attention of Magnus upon the conquest of that 
 country. He met, however, with more opposition than 
 he contemplated ; for " The men of Ireland marched to 
 Dublin to give battle to Magnus and the Norwegians who 
 had come to plunder Ireland." Finding his forces inade- 
 quate to the accomplishment of the object he had under- 
 taken, Magnus entered into a treaty with the Irish, for 
 one year; and his son Sigurd received in marriage the 
 daughter of king Murtough, " with many rich and pre- 
 cious articles." 2 
 
 This family alliance was not followed by that friendly 
 intercourse which might naturally have been anticipated 
 between the Irish and the Islesmen. Each state occupied 
 the stipulated resting time in actively preparing for war, 
 and, ere the time of the treaty had expired, Magnus was 
 seen steering along the Irish coast with a more formida- 
 ble force than he had before commanded in those seas. 
 A.D. 1103. Leaving his fleet with sixteen gallies to re- 
 connoitre the shores, he incautiously landed at a place 
 then called Moichoaba. Here is guardian angel appears 
 to have deserted him, for he was instantly slain, and all 
 his party were put to the sword. This event was speedily 
 followed by a general massacre of all the Danes in Dublin. 3 
 
 Thus fell Magnus Barefoot, a monarch whose crimes 
 have stained the page of history, and whose good qualities, 
 
 1 Chronicles of the Kings of Man, ap. Cough's Camden ; Johnstone's Cclto Nor- 
 maniccB; Warrington's History of Wales. 
 
 2 Annals of the Four Masters, translated from the original MS. in the library of 
 the Royal Irish Academy, by John O'Donovan, Dublin, 1832. 
 
 3 Annals of the Four Masters ; Annals of Ulster; Ware's Antiquities of Ireland, 
 edition 1703, p. 67; Chronicles of the Kings of Man, ap. Gough's Camden; Chal- 
 mer's Caledonia, vol. i, p. 618 ; Torfeus' 's History of Norway <, vol. i, b. Hi, p. 441 ; 
 Annals of Innisf alien.
 
 88 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 if he were possessed of any, are now unknown. He at 
 last found a resting place in the abbey of Cluen, near St. 
 Patrick's Church, in Down. 1 
 
 Magnus was the fifth in descent from Sigurd Rise, the 
 fifth son of Harold Harfagr. His grandfather, Harold 
 the Hardy, died in England, in 1066. By his queen, 
 Magnus had four sons, Osteen, Sigurd, Olaus, and Harold 
 Gyllie — the three former of whom ascended the throne of 
 Norway, on the death of their father in 1103, and reigned 
 conjointly. Harold Gyllie, the fourth son, had left Nor- 
 way with his father, and, having accompanied him in all 
 his enterprises, claimed in his right, the throne of Man ; 
 but, on this plea being rejected, he withdrew to Ireland, 
 whence, sometime afterwards, he retired to Norway. Here 
 he had to undergo the Fiery Ordeal,* in order to prove 
 himself the real son of Magnus Nudipes, before he was 
 permitted, in 1131, to share the government of the king- 
 dom with his only surviving brother, Sigurd. 
 
 A.D. 1104. On the right of Goddard Crovan to the 
 crown of the Isles being recognised, Lagman, 2 the son of 
 that conqueror, succeeded to the throne; but by holding the 
 reins of government with a despotic hand, he soon became 
 obnoxious in the highest degree to his subjects. Suspect- 
 ing his brother Harold, the heir apparent to the throne, 
 to be instrumental in promoting the discontent of the 
 people, with a view to his own succession, Lagman caused 
 his eyes to be put out, and his body to be otherwise mu- 
 tilated according to the barbarous custom of the Norwe- 
 gians of that age. Perceiving, however, that this un- 
 merited act of severity had inflamed the public indignation 
 against him, the wretch abdicated his throne and under- 
 
 1 Ware's Antiquities of Ireland. 
 
 * Appendix, Note i, " Fiery Ordeal." 
 
 2 Lagman, in the Norwegian language, signifies a person who administers justice; 
 Letters from Iceland, by Uno VonTroil, London, 1776, vol. iii, p. 421.
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 89 
 
 took a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, whence he never 
 returned. 1 
 
 Olave, the only remaining son of Goddard Crovan, be- 
 ing yet a minor, and residing at the court of Henry I., re- 
 ceiving his education, according to the custom of the 
 times, the inhabitants of Man despatched delegates to 
 Murtough O'Brien king of Ireland, soliciting him to send 
 a person of royal extraction to rule over them during the 
 minority of the young king. Murtough being, as before 
 stated, a peaceful, well-meaning person, with blind parti- 
 ality for his young kinsman Donald, the son of Teig, no- 
 minated him governor of the Isles. 2 This unworthy scion 
 of a collateral branch of the family of the Irish king, 3 
 no sooner found himself possessed of the reigns of govern- 
 ment than he began to act the despot. 4 His tyranny was 
 aggravated by the perpetration of so many atrocious 
 crimes, that the Hebridean chieftains entered into a gene- 
 ral association, and collecting their followers, expelled 
 him from the Isles in the third year of his reign. 5 On his 
 return to Ireland, he was put in chains and cast into pri- 
 son, by order of king Murtough ; but he was subsequently 
 set at liberty. 6 
 
 The Norwegian kings deeming this a favourable oppor- 
 tunity for again seizing upon the sovereignty of the Isles, 
 despatched one Ingemund to take possession of them. — ■ 
 Ingemund, on arriving at Lewis, sent messengers* to all the 
 insular chiefs, requesting them to assemble for the purpose 
 of acknowledging him as their king. 
 
 1 Chronicles of Man, op. Camden. 
 
 " We have here a clear proof that the princes and great men of the Western Isles, 
 had withdrawn their allegiance from their old masters, the kings of Norway. — Mac- 
 pherson's Dissertations, p. 237. 
 
 3 Teig was grandson of Tirloch O'Brien, king of Ireland. It was this monarch 
 who furnished Wm. Rufus with wood for building Westminster Hall. — Anderson's 
 Royal Genealogies, table 528. 
 
 4 Ware's Antiquities of Ireland, edition 1703, p. 67. 
 
 5 Johnstone's Cello Normanica, edition 1786, p. 1 19. 
 
 6 Annals of the Four Masters in the library of the Royal Irish Academy, translated 
 from the original IMS. by O'Donovan, Dublin, 1832. 
 
 CHAP. IV. M
 
 90 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 A.D. 1114. Iii the mean time he and his retainers 
 spent the time in rapine and revelry, giving themselves up 
 to every kind of sensual gratification. When the chiefs 
 of the Isles assembled they were so enraged to hear of the 
 enormities committed by these Norlings, that during the 
 night they set fire to the house of Ingemund, and destroyed 
 himself and all his retinue by fire and sword. 1 
 
 Having found from a lengthened experience that the 
 internal distractions of the state had long exposed it to the 
 inroads of military adventurers from other nations, and 
 fearing a recurrence of those troubles which their country 
 had already endured, the chiefs of the Isles unanimously 
 agreed to call Olave, the son of Goddard, who was now 
 of age, to the throne of his father. 
 
 This youth, who, from his dwarfish stature, was called 
 Olave Kleimng, and sometimes from the colour of his hair, 
 Olave the Red, 2 had been sixteen years absent from his 
 native country 3 under the tuition of William Rufus and 
 his successor Henry I. Although of tender years, he 
 accompanied king William, as aid-de-camp, to Normandy, 
 and acted in that capacity till peace was concluded be- 
 tween the royal brothers. He distinguished himself in 
 the war against Malcolm, king of Scotland, to the great 
 
 1 Chronicles of the Kings of Man, ap. Camden; SacheverelVs Account of the 
 Isle of Man, p. 33. 
 
 2 Seldon complains that Olave, Olaus, Aulave, Amlaff, and Anlaphus, are names 
 which breed great confusion in history ; but these names, seemingly different, appear 
 to me the same. The sennachies of the Isles call the Olave, of whom we are now 
 speaking, Aula or Amhla; in Latin, Amlavus, or Anlaphus, or Olaus ; and they distin- 
 guish him from other princes of the same name by the title of Amhla Dreag Mac Ree 
 Lochlin, that is to say, Red Olave the king of Lochlin's son. Goddard, the father 
 of Olave, was from Scandinavia, which is called Lochlin by the inhabitants of the 
 Highlands and Isles, with whom Lochlin and Scandinavia are synonymous terms. — 
 Macpherson's Dissertations, p. 251 
 
 3 Johnstone's Celto Normanicce, p. 150; Down to a late period, such nicknames 
 were common in the Highlands of Scotland : thus, Viscount Dundee was, by his fol- 
 lowers, called John Du-nan-cack — black -haired John who fights the battles ; and, in 
 like manner, John, Duke of Argyle, was known by the name of John Roy-nan-cack 
 — red-haired John who fights the battles. — Gordon's Itinerary, p. 40.
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 91 
 
 satisfaction of many of the Island chiefs, who took the 
 earliest opportunity that occurred of manifesting their 
 attachment towards him. 
 
 A splendid embassy was sent to conduct him to the 
 shores of his native land, where he was received by the 
 inhabitants with every demonstration of joy ; nor had 
 they afterwards reason to regret having made choice Of 
 such a sovereign. 1 
 
 Like a prudent legislator, he secured peace to his do- 
 minions and stability to his government, by entering into an 
 amicable alliance with the kings of England and Ireland, 
 and by contracting a marriage with Arnica, 2 daughter of 
 Fergus, the powerful lord of Galloway, 3 and grand-daugh- 
 ter of his friend and patron Henry I. of England. 4 
 
 According to my friend, Mr. Skene, David I. king of 
 Scotland, conquered the Isles of Man, Bute, and Arran 
 from the Norwegians in the year 1135, and gave them to 
 Somerled, the great Moarmer of Argyll. 5 If this was the 
 case, it does not appear that Man was on that account 
 evacuated by Olave. 
 
 It had been the practice, on assuming the royal dignity 
 of the Isles, to pay to the kings of Norway a tribu- 
 tary fee of "ten marks of gold."" b During the reign of 
 his friend and protector, king Henry I., Olave had either 
 neglected or refused to make payment of this token of 
 vassalage. Afterwards, however, finding it necessary to 
 cultivate a friendly intercourse with the Norwegian king, 
 
 1 Anderson's Royal Genealogies ; Chronicles of Man, ap. Camden's Brittanica. 
 
 - Mr. Macculloch says Olave was married first to a daughter, either of the Earl 
 of Caithness or the Earl of Orkney, he is not certain which ; if so, she makes no figure 
 in his history. — Description of the Western Isles, vol. iii, p. 40. 
 
 3 Guthrie's History of Scotland, London, 17G7, vol. i, pp. 315, 331. 
 
 4 Chalmer's Caledonia, vol. iii, p. 367. 
 
 5 Skene's Highlanders of Scotland, part ii, chap. ii. 
 
 6 Historia Normannorum, p. 100. Spelman in Voce Marca quotes an author who 
 describes a merk of gold as equivalent to fifty merks of silver. According to the 
 same learned antiquary a merk of gold was sometimes of no greater value than tea 
 merks of silver.
 
 92 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 he proceeded to his court accompanied by his son Godred 
 and a small retinue. 
 
 Harold Gyllie, the competitor for the crown of the Isles, 
 had, before the arrival of Olave Kleining at Drontheim, 
 paid the great debt of nature, and his three sons, Sivar, 
 Osten, and Ingo now conjointly filled the throne of their 
 father. 1 Olave was received by the three brothers with 
 every mark of respect and distinction ; and before his 
 departure from Drontheim was formally crowned king of 
 the Isles ; 2 leaving, at the same time, his son Godred to 
 be educated at the Norwegian court. 
 
 In these barbarous ages the sceptre was frequently 
 wrested from the hands of its lawful possessor by daring 
 and enterprising characters. The wise administration of 
 Olave was not a sufficient safeguard against the intrigues 
 of his near relations. 3 He had just landed from his 
 northern voyage, when he found his quiet reign disturbed 
 by a conspiracy concocted in Dublin and matured in Man 
 during his absence, by the three sons of Harold, who, 
 blind and mutilated, had died in prison at an early age. 
 
 They demanded, in right of their father, a moiety of 
 the sovereignty of the Isles. The king replied, that he 
 would take the matter into consideration, and appointed 
 the day of the feast of the apostles St. Peter and St. 
 Paul for making his will publicly known, on the conse- 
 crated ground near Kirk Christ Lezayre. 4 
 
 A.D. 1154. The ringleader of the claimants with 
 nearly a battalion of Manks refugees took up a strong 
 position near Ramsey Haven, to overawe the king by 
 their formidable appearance. It was the custom of all the 
 Scandinavian nations to discuss every important measure, 
 
 1 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, table 590. 
 
 2 Seacorne's History of the Isle of Man, Liverpool, 1741, p. 7. 
 
 3 Haining's Guide, p. 17. 
 
 4 Johnstone's Celto Norman.; Chronic, of the Kings of Man, ap. Camden; Sa- 
 cheverell's Description of Man.
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 93 
 
 whether of church or state, in the open air ; and the 
 Manks, even to a very recent period, followed this ex- 
 ample. 
 
 Olave advanced with a few of his nobility to the place 
 where the hostile party was assembled, and was met Jby 
 Reginald, one of the three rebellious nephews, who had 
 stept forward for the purpose, as it was supposed, of en- 
 tering upon a conference with his uncle ; but as Olave 
 turned round to salute him, the traitor raised his shining 
 battle-axe, and at one blow severed the king's head from 
 his body. 1 * 
 
 Thus fell, by the hand of an assassin, one of the most 
 amiable princes that had filled the throne of the Isles. — 
 He was of a mild disposition, and was distinguished by 
 his brilliant talents. He possessed many rare accom- 
 plishments, acquired by long residence at the court and 
 camp of the English kings. His greatest care was to 
 soften the temper and humanize the actions of his turbulent 
 and savage subjects — to improve their condition, and to 
 govern them by wise and equitable laws. 
 
 According to a modern writer, Olave held the throne 
 of Dublin, in addition to that of the Isles, for a period of 
 twenty years; but neither the Chronicles of the Kings of 
 Man nor the works of any of the Irish annalists which I 
 have seen, appear to warrant this assertion, which leaves 
 it to be regretted that Mr. Macculloch did not quote his 
 authority, in order to counteract evidences upon which 
 we must otherwise rely. 2 
 
 1 Campbell's Political Survey of Great Britain, vol. ii, p. 528. 
 
 * Appendix, Note ii, " Goddard Crovan and other Kings of his Line." 
 
 2 As Olave died in 1154, he must, on the authority of Mr. Macculloch, have been 
 king of Dublin from a.d. 1134 to 1154. Within that period, however, we find the 
 following incidental notices of other kings of Dublin from authority which has not 
 hitherto been doubted. — A.D. 1137, Dermod Mc Morough. king of Leinster, with 
 the Danes of Dublin and Wexford besieged Waterford. — 1141, Connor O'Brien 
 marched to Dublin, and the Danes submitted to him as their king. — 1149, the Danes 
 of Dublin, under the command of Dermod Mc Morough their king, plundered Dun- 
 leek,— 1150, Torlogh O' Brien marched at the head of an army to Dublin and the
 
 94 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 According to the fashion of his time, Olave granted to 
 the clergy large franchises, liberties, and immunities. 
 In the year 1134, he gave the abbey of Rushen to Evan, 
 abbot of Furness, to serve as a nursery to the Manks 
 church ; hence it was that the abbot of Furness had the 
 appointment of the abbot of Rushen, and, as some believe, 
 the right of electing the bishop himself. The tithes were 
 divided by him into three parts ; to the bishop he gave 
 one-third for his maintenance ; to the abbey, one-third 
 for the education of youth and relief of the poor ; and to 
 the parochial clergy he gave the remaining third for their 
 subsistence. 1 * 
 
 Besides the clergy of the Island, the prior of Whithorn 
 in Galloway, the abbot of Furness in Lancashire, the 
 abbot of Bangor in Wales, the abbot of Sabal, and the 
 prior of St. Beade in Copeland, were barons, " in respect 
 of their holdings to yeald farther and do fealty unto the 
 king of Man, at and upon the general assembly of the 
 whole Island called the Tinwald Court." 2 
 
 By his queen, Olave had only one son, Godred, whom 
 he had left, as already mentioned, at the Norwegian court. 
 He had also an illegitimate family, consisting of Lawman, 
 Reginald, and Harold, with several daughters, one of 
 whom, named Ayla, was married to Shomhairle Mac 
 Gillebhride, prince of Argyll, 3 to whom she had four sons, 
 
 Danes submitted to him as their king. He gave them 1200 cows for their services. 
 —Annals of the Four Masters, ap. 0' Donovan's Antiquities, Dublin, edition 1832. 
 — Such a statement was scarcely to be expected from Mr. Macculloch, who says he 
 undertook his sketch of Manks history, merely because it had been previously mis- 
 apprehended and misrepresented by all other historians. — Description of the Western 
 Isles, vol. iii, p. 29. 
 
 1 Seacome's History of the Isle of Man, Liverpool, 1/41, p. 7. 
 * Appendix, Note iii, " Grants to the Church." 
 
 2 Parr's MS. Statutes, folios 1,3, 5, 15, confirmed by Statute, anno 1577, 1584, 
 1600. 
 
 3 Lord Hailes supposes Shomhairle to be a corruption of Samuel, (Annals of 
 Scotland, a.d. 1164) ; but the author of the Antiquities of Dublin, taking it to be 
 derived from the word surly, calls him the surly son of Gilbert. Shomhairle is now 
 generally corrupted into Somerled, which Lord Hailes thinks is "an error in modern 
 critics."
 
 « 
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 95 
 
 Dulgall or Dugall, Reginald, Angus, and Olave. This 
 proved, ultimately, an unfortunate marriage for the king- 
 dom of the Isles. 1 
 
 The inhabitants of Man, surrounded as they were by 
 monarchical forms of government, had no idea of any other, 
 and even on the supposition that they had, their insigni- 
 ficance as a people could warrant little reliance on the 
 support of any state disposed to assist them, in the ex- 
 pectation of mutual advantage. It is to this cause, there- 
 fore, that we may trace their ready submission to the yoke 
 of so many military adventurers. To the assassins of Olave 
 Bitling Kleining they offered no resistance ; and although 
 he was, perhaps, one of the most popular kings that 
 had yet swayed the sceptre of the Isles, the successful 
 conspirators were allowed quietly to divide the Island 
 among themselves. 2 
 
 The triumvirate, already flushed with the success attend- 
 ing their enterprise, now invaded Galloway at the head of a 
 potent body of Manksmen, with a view of seizing on the 
 person of their aunt Affrica, who, on the death of her 
 husband, had fled for protection to her father ; but they 
 were boldly met by the Galloway men who drove them 
 back to their ships with great slaughter. On returning 
 to Man, these tyrants exercised every cruelty on the Gal- 
 loway people residing there which shame, disappointment, 
 and revenge could suggest. 
 
 At the request of many of the nobles of the Out-Isles, 
 Fergus, Lord of Galloway, (a.d. 1154,) recalled his 
 grandson Godred from the court of Norway, where he was 
 still residing. In the autumn following, Godred arrived 
 with five ships, and as soon as the circumstance could be 
 made known throughout the Hebrides by means of the 
 
 1 Chronicles of the Kings of Man, ap. Camden's Brittanica ; Johnstone's Cclto 
 Normanicce, p. 151. 
 
 2 Chronicles of the Kings of Man, ap. Camden.
 
 96 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 War-Arrow, the nobles assembled, and unanimously ac- 
 knowledged him their king. 
 
 At this period, Godred was active and brave. Being 
 of noble mien and great stature, his person was admir- 
 ably adapted to command the admiration of his subjects, 
 as well as to attract the attention of strangers. — 
 The first act of his government was to cause Reginald, 
 his father's assassin, to be put to death, and the two 
 younger conspirators to be deprived of their eyes. 
 
 While employed in following the rules laid down by his 
 father for the government of the Isles, events were passing 
 in Ireland in which he was soon to be concerned. The 
 Danes of Dublin had agreed with Cadwalader ap Gryffith, 
 for a sum of two thousand marks, to assist him in waging 
 war against his brother Owen, king of North Wales, and, 
 in conformity with this agreement, they had landed the 
 stipulated force in North Wales ; but before their services 
 were required, the rival brothers had secretly made peace. 
 Cadwalader having failed to pay the stipulated subsidy 
 to his auxiliaries, was immediately seized by them and 
 placed in confinement until they had collected an equiva- 
 lent in cattle. Under this pretext, the Irish Danes plun- 
 dered the country round to a considerable extent ; and 
 were proceeding to laden their ships with the booty, 1 when 
 Owen, the brother of Cadwalader, at the head of a resist- 
 less force, unexpectedly rushed upon them, rescuing his 
 brother, and cutting off nearly the whole of the invaders. 
 Ottar, the Danish commander, escaped in an open boat, 
 and with great difficulty reached the Irish coasts. 
 
 This battle was followed by another in Meath, where 
 Reginald, king of the Danes in Dublin, was slain. Ottar, 
 the commander of the Welsh expedition, being of royal 
 extraction, became a candidate for the vacant throne ; 
 
 1 Ware's Antiquities of Ireland, p. G7. Caradocus Lhancarvanensis says "The 
 spoil of the Danes consisted of every necessary of life, clothes, domestic utensils, and 
 cattle which they killed and prepared on the shores which were ravaged."
 
 NORWEGIAN LTNE OF KINGS. 1)7 
 
 but Godred, king of Man, was the choice of the people. 
 Godred, therefore, soon afterwards arrived with a for- 
 midable armament in the Liffey, and was rapturously re- 
 ceived by the citizens of Dublin. 
 
 When Murchieard, king of the greater part of Ire- 
 land, heard of the arrival of the Manks king with such a 
 warlike equipment, he advanced on Dublin with a 
 "mighty host." O'Sbillan, the brother of Murchieard, 
 had reached the Cortehelis of the city before him, at the 
 head of three thousand horsemen, 1 when the inhabitants 
 sallied out at the gates, shouting like the Berserkir, 2 and 
 accompanying their cries with such showers of missile 
 weapons, that the troopers were obliged to fall back in 
 great confusion, saving themselves only by the swiftness 
 of their horses. O'Sbillan, distinguished himself bravely 
 in the fight till he fell mortally wounded. Murchieard 
 immediately disbanded his troops and allowed them to 
 disperse. 3 
 
 Godred returned to Man, and likewise disbanded the 
 captains who had accompanied him to Ireland, whither it 
 does not appear he ever returned, as two years after- 
 wards, Brodar, the brother of king Reginald, who was 
 slain in Meath, was elected " King of the Danes in 
 Dublin." 4 
 
 On being raised to the dignity of a double crown, 
 
 1 Anciently the Irish rode without saddles, which, however, afterwards came in use 
 among them, hut without stirrups. These horsemen were armed either with spears or 
 arrows. A certain Frenchman, who wrote in French metre of the second expedition of 
 Richard II. into Ireland, describes Murchardid, one of the most powerful kings of 
 Ireland, in that manner on horseback, without a saddle; but he says " his horse cost 
 four hundred cows '" — Ware's Antiquities of Ireland, p. 30. 
 
 2 "These Northern barbarians, when a conflict impended or a great undertaking 
 was to be commenced, abandoned all rationality upon system ; they studied to resem- 
 ble wolves or mad dogs, they bit their shields, they howled like beasts, they threw off 
 all covering, they excited themselves to strength, that has been compared to that of 
 bears, and then rushed to every crime and horror, which the most frantic enthusiasm 
 could perpetrate." — Turner's History nf l he Anglo Saxons. 
 
 3 Johnstone's Celto Norrnaniecp, p. 69. 
 
 4 Ware's Antiquities of Ireland, edition 1705, p. 68. 
 
 CHAP. IV. N
 
 98 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 Godred appears, by fancied acts of severity, to have be- 
 come unpopular with his Manks subjects. The resent- 
 ment of the people was fomented by the agents of Tor- 
 finn, the son Ottar, the unsuccessful competitor for the 
 crown of Dublin. Ottar was slain soon after his compe- 
 tition with Godred; and Torfinn, supposing that his 
 father had fallen by the intrigues of his rival, entertained 
 a deadly hatred against Godred, striving, by every means 
 in his power, to overturn his government of the Isles. In 
 this undertaking he found a willing coadjutor in Somerled, 
 the Jarl or Moarmor* of Argyll, who, on being foiled in 
 an attempt to establish his grandsons in their alleged right 
 to the earldom of Moray, as claimed by their father 
 Wimund, in 1153, had taken refuge in Ireland. 1 
 
 The object of this conspiracy was to place Dugall, the 
 eldest son of Somerled by his wife Ayla, daughter of 
 Olave Kleining, on the throne of the Isles. Rejoicing at 
 the prospect of obtaining this object, Somerled delivered 
 up Dugall to the care of Torfinn, who conducted the young 
 prince through the Hebrides, and compelled the chiefs of 
 the Isles to acknowledge him king, and to give hostages 
 for their allegiance. The majority of the nobles, however, 
 yet adhered to the reigning sovereign ; among these was 
 Paul Balkason, Lord of Skye, who, without waiting to 
 take the obligation required by Torfinn, passed secretly to 
 Man, and acquainted Godred with the means resorted 
 to by his enemies in the Out-Isles, to bring about a revo- 
 lution. 2 
 
 Alarmed at this intelligence, Godred immediately dis- 
 
 * Appendix, Note iv, " Moarmor." The Chronicle of the Kings of Man calls 
 Somerled, also, Prince of Keregaidhel, which is a corruption of Jar-ghael, that is to 
 say the country of the Western Caledonians.— Macpherson, p. 273. 
 
 1 Hollimhead's Chronicles! of Scotland, edition 1805, vol. i, p. 371 ; Shaw's His- 
 tory of Mora,/, p. 392; Chalmers' Caledonia, vol. i, book iv, chap, ii; History of 
 Renfrewshire, p. 45. 
 
 •' Johns-tone's Cello Normanicce, p. 70; Chronicles of the Kings of Man, ap. Cam- 
 den . Sacheverell's Account of Man, p. 40.
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 99 
 
 patched the War-Arrow ordering his vassals to pre- 
 pare their ships, and without delay he sailed to oppose the 
 conspirators. Somerled had already been in preparation 
 for the expected struggle, and was advancing towards 
 Man with a fleet of eighty galleys. The hostile fleets met 
 on the evening preceding the feast of the Epiphany, 
 a.d. 1156; but the action was indecisive, as next morn- 
 ing at day break a compromise was effected, by which 
 Godred and Somerled agreed to divide the sovereignty of 
 the Isles. By this treaty all the Islands south of the 
 Point of Ardnamurchan, the most western part of the 
 Scottish mainland, were ceded to Somerled, who acted 
 now on an independant footing. After this division, the 
 kingdom of the Isles was never afterwards united under 
 one sovereign. 1 
 
 A.D. 1158. The peace, concluded on the occasion of 
 this treaty, was not, however, of long continuance. Two 
 years afterwards Somerled the Surly treacherously re- 
 turned to Man with a fleet of fifty-three sail. A battle 
 ensued, in which Somerled was victorious ; and he pro- 
 ceeded to plunder the Island 2 without any resistance on 
 the part of the people. 
 
 It is related that, immediately before this battle, the 
 inhabitants of the northern district of the Island had de- 
 posited their gold, jewels, and other property in the church 
 of Kirk Maughold, trusting that the veneration entertained 
 for the saint, added to the sanctity of the place, would 
 prevent their being touched by violent hands ; but Gillie- 
 colum, the son of Somerled, having received information of 
 the circumstance, communicated the particulars to his 
 father, with a request that he might be allowed to plun- 
 der the church, adding that in this he could no more offend 
 
 1 Chronicles of Kings of Mem, ap. Camden; Skene's Highlanders of Scotland, 
 part ii, cap. ii ; Dissertation en the Government of the Isles, up. Pennant's Tour 
 in Scotland, a.d. 1772, vol. iii, p. 419. ■ 
 
 "Johnstone's Celto Normanica>; Chronicles of the Kings of Man, ap. Camden.
 
 100 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 St. Maughold, than by driving off the cattle which were 
 enclosed within the walls of the consecrated ground, for 
 the support of the army. Somerled reluctantly complied, 
 saying, " Let the affair rest between you and St. Maugh- 
 old ; I claim no share of the sacrilegious booty." As 
 soon as it was understood that even the sanctity of the 
 church was not to be respected by the conquerors, the 
 priests, and those who had been allowed to take shelter 
 within the walls, fled into caves and dens, while the rest 
 of the inhabitants ran wildly about the church, imploring 
 St. Maughold not to forsake them in such an extremity. 
 
 The first watch of the night was nearly past, adds the 
 chronicler of the event, before liberty was given to pillage 
 the church, when Gilliecolum, having secured the booty 
 and placed sentinels to protect it till morning, retired to 
 sleep in his tent ; scarcely, however, had he fallen into 
 slumber, when St. Maughold appeared to him in such an 
 angry mood, that he awoke in terror, called for the priests, 
 and restored to them all the property which had been 
 seized by his order within the precincts of the church. — 
 This circumstance was hailed as an extraordinary inter- 
 ference on the part of the saint, which the priests knew 
 well how to turn to good account. 1 
 
 Godred, driven from his throne, retired to the court of 
 Ingoe, called Crook-back? then king of Norway ; while 
 Somerled obtained quiet possession of the kingdom of the 
 Isles, for the space of six years. During this period, he 
 was actively employed in bringing to maturity his fa- 
 vourite scheme of conquering Scotland, a feat which had 
 baffled Rome in the zenith of her power. 
 
 A.D. 1164. From a fleet of one hundred and sixty sail, 
 he landed a heterogeneous mob of 15,000 naked men, con- 
 sisting of Kerns and Roysters, at the bay of St. Laurence, 
 
 1 Johnstone's Celto Normaniccr, page 70. 
 
 2 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, table 590.
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 101 
 
 now Greenock ; but as he advanced into the interior of 
 the country, he was slain by Maurice Mac Niel, one of 
 his nephews, near Renfrew, along with his son Gillie- 
 colum, and the greater part of their followers. 1 
 
 Antiquaries differ as to the lineage of Somerled ; some 
 affirm that he was a descendant of Conn Ceadchaghach, 
 called "The hero of the hundred battles," 2 who was the 
 one hundred and third king of Ireland, of the Milesian 
 race, and lived in the second century of the Christian 
 era. 3 Others suppose him to have been a descendant of 
 some of the Danish Vikingr, who, in the ninth century, 
 infested the coasts of Scotland, and who had by conquest 
 gained large possessions in Argyll. 4 While my friend, 
 Mr. Skene, finds him to have been of Pictish descent, 
 and of the tribe of Gallgael. 5 But whatever may have 
 been his origin, Buchanan says, that " His fortune was 
 above his family, and his ambition above his fortune." 6 
 
 1 Buchanan's History of Scotland, vol. i, p. 311 ; Chalmers' Caledonia, vol. iii, 
 chap, vi ; Hollinshead' s Chronicles of Scotland, vol. i, p. 374 ; Macpherson, p. 270. 
 
 2 Gregory's History of the Western Highlands and Islands of Scotland. 
 
 3 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, London 1736, table 525 ; Abercromby' s Martial 
 Achievements of the Scots Nation, Edinburgh, edition 1762, vol. i, p. 311. 
 
 4 Guthrie's History of Scotland, vol. i, p. 332 ; Macculloch's Western Isles, 
 London, 1824, vol. iii, p, 41. 
 
 5 Skene's Highlanders of Scotland, part ii, chap. ii. 
 
 6 Buchanan's History of Scotland, edition 1762, vol. i, p. 306. Langebeck in 
 his Scriptores Rerum Dauicarum mentions a life of Somerled by a contemporary 
 writer, in which he is styled Rex Mannice ; but this is not confirmed by history. 
 In the Chronicles of Melrose, a.d. 1164, he is called a vassal of the king of Scot- 
 land, at which time it does not appeal" that the Scottish monarch exercised any 
 authority over the Isle of Man.
 
 102 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 APPENDIX.— Chapter IV. 
 
 NOTE I.— Page 88. 
 
 FIERY ORDEAL. 
 
 Harold Gyllie, returning from Ireland to Norway, had to prove by ordeal, that he 
 was a son of king Magnus Barefoot, (who was killed in battle in Ireland,) in the 
 following manner : "King Sigurd said that he should walk over hot-iron bars to 
 prove his parentage — that was thought a very severe ordeal, as he was to perform it 
 merely to prove his parentage, and not to assert his right to the crown, yet he con- 
 sented to it, and thus was performed the severest ordeal that ever took place in Nor- 
 way : nine red-hot plough-shares were laid down, and he walked over them with his 
 feet naked, led by two bishops ; three days after this the ordeal was tried and his feet 
 were found unhurt !" (See Snorra Sturlusonar Heimskringla, Saga Sigurdar Jor- 
 salafara, cap. xxxiii.) This trial was censured even by the Norwegian clergy, as 
 being too severe ; but Sigurd, wishing to get rid of a claimant to a part of his king- 
 dom, proposed the most severe ordeal he had seen in other countries, (he had tra- 
 velled much) and still to no purpose. 
 
 Exactly the same ordeal was used in England : " The resolution of the synod, as 
 reported by the Archbishop, was this — that Emma, the queen mother, should be sen- 
 tenced to go on her bare feet over nine plough shares heated red rot in the presence 
 of the clergy and the people, in the cathedral church of Winchester." (See History 
 of the Trials, p, 3.) "Thus in England, too, the ordeal co-existed with the trial by 
 jury, and was often applied in cases of the greatest moment." — Rep2>'s Forensic In- 
 stitutions, Edinburgh, 1832, p. 43. See Ware's Antiquities of Ireland, p. 151, for 
 a similar custom ; and Mallet's Northern Antiquities, vol. i, cap. viii. 
 
 NOTE II.— Page 93. 
 
 GODDARD CROVAN, AND OTHER KINGS OF HIS LINE. 
 
 The period from the accession of Goddard Crovan, to the death of Godred, the son 
 of Olave Kleining, has hitherto been a very confused portion of Manks history, re- 
 sulting evidently from an adherence to the dates of the Chronicles of Man, or of the 
 Cello Normanicce.
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. IV. GODDARD CROVAN, ETC. 
 
 103 
 
 It is known that the battle of Standford bridge was fought in September, 1066. If 
 Goddard Crovan was actually present at that defeat, of which there seems to be no 
 doubt, and subsecpiently made his escape with Olave, the son of Harald Ilalfagr to 
 Man, it seems impossible that, after remaining there for some time, he could have 
 proceeded to Norway, and from thence made three descents upon the Isle of Man 
 within the same year, 1066, for such it was according to the Chronicles of Man. A 
 recent writer on the Western Isles, (Macculloch, vol. hi, p. 36) alludes to this 
 anachronism, but he has gone astray in confounding Goddard Crovan with king 
 Goddard of the Isles, the father of Fingall. I have adopted the more probable 
 data of the Norse Sagas, which fixes the period of Goddard Crovan's conquest in 
 a.d. 1077, thereby allowing a reasonable time for the performance of all the adven- 
 tures alluded to in Goddard's history, between the defeat at Standford Bridge, and 
 his obtaining possession of the Isle of Man. 
 
 The following chronological table of the kings of Man from the accession of God- 
 dard Crovan to the death of Godred, the son of Olave Kleining, shows how widely 
 the most accredited chroniclers differ as to dates in treating of dark periods : — 
 
 
 K< ign commenced, Recording to 
 
 ( leased to reign, according to 
 
 1 
 
 Camden, 
 
 Johnstone 
 
 Norse 
 Sagas and 
 
 Irish 
 Annals, 
 
 Camden, 
 
 Johnstone 
 
 Nor.se 
 
 Sagas and 
 Irish 
 
 Annals, 
 
 
 1066 
 1082 
 1089 
 1097 
 1102 
 1144 
 
 1056 
 1073 
 1075 
 1077 
 1103 
 1144 
 
 1077 
 1103 
 1111 
 1114 
 1114 
 1154 
 
 1082 
 1089 
 
 1072 
 
 1093 
 1110 
 1112 
 1114 
 1154 
 1187 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1142 
 1187 
 
 1143 
 1187 
 
 
 
 If Godred Kleining ascended the throne of Man in 1144, as stated by both Cam- 
 den and Johnstone, and reigned only 33 years, he must have died in 1177, and not 
 in 1187, as stated by these writers; but it appears from other sources that he reigned 
 forty-four years. The grand error of the chronicle is two-fold, first in confounding 
 the two expeditions of Magnus Barefoot ; and, secondly, in placing their single con- 
 fused expeditions after the accession of Donald, the son of Tade, and that of Inge- 
 mund ; whereas all the Norse Sagas are agreed that the first expedition of Magnus 
 took place in the reign of Goddard Crovan, and in the last year of the reign of Mal- 
 colm Canmore. In support of this the Irish Annals are distinct that Magnus died in 
 1103 ; and that Donald obtained the Isles in a.d. 1111. From the death of Godred 
 Kleining, Camden, Johnstone, the Sagas, Annals, and the Chronicles of Man agree. 
 
 The remaining kings of the line of Goddard Crovan, are as under : — 
 
 
 Began tn Reign. 
 
 Died. A.D 
 
 Reginald 
 
 1187 
 
 1228 
 
 Olave, surnamed the Black 
 
 1220 
 
 1237 
 
 Harald 
 
 1237 
 
 1249 
 
 Reginald 
 
 1249 
 
 1252 
 
 Magnus 
 
 1252 
 
 1263
 
 104 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 NOTE III.— Page 94. 
 
 GRANTS TO THE CHURCH. 
 
 It is a singular fact in the history of monastic establishments, that most of them 
 were founded in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries — a general belief having pre- 
 vailed throughout Christendom that the world would be destroyed at the end of the 
 prophetic period of twelve hundred and sixty years from the birth of Christ : (Reve- 
 lations, cap. 12,) the immediate consequence of which was that large secular posses- 
 sions were given up to the church for the erection and endowment of religious estab- 
 lishments, thereby to secure, if possible, the favour of heaven in such an emergency. 
 It was thus that, in less than half a century, upwards of fifteen hundred of these edi- 
 fices were erected in England, and a proportionate number in Scotland. King 
 David I. made so many grants to the church, that James I. said, when visiting his 
 tomb at Dunfermline, " he was a sore saint for the crown." — Hollinshead's Chroni- 
 cles of Scotland, edition 1805, vol. i, p. 366. Hence the magnificent donations 
 made at that period by the kings of Norway and of Man to the Monastery and Abbot 
 of Rushen. — Calendars of Ancient Charters; Catalogue of Muniments, p. 344. 
 
 NOTE IV.— Page 98. 
 
 MOARMOR. 
 
 Moarmor meant, anciently, in Scotland, a great Baron or Lord. It is a question 
 that has been often asked, yet never been satisfactorily answered — when were the 
 titles of Earl and Baron introduced into Scotland ? The late Lord Kaimes answers 
 explicitly, that it was Malcolm Canmore who introduced both. — Essay on British 
 Antiq. p. 21. But that learned person did not know that the prince, the people, and 
 the policy of North Britain were all Celtic in the reign of Malcolm. Wallace, fol- 
 lowing the speculative tract of Lord Kaimes, gave it, as his opinion, that Earldoms 
 were probably more ancient than the time of Malcolm. — Ancient Peerages, p. 51. 
 Scotland was divided into districts, such as Galloway, which were ruled hereditarily 
 by distinguished persons, who were called, in the Gaelic speech, " Moarmors " in 
 Latin, " Comes;" and in Danish, "Jarl," which was easdy traduced into the Eng- 
 lish " Earl;" but there was certainly no erection of any Earldom, or creation of an 
 Earl, in the reign of Malcolm, as Lord Kaimes and the peerage writers suppose. 
 Moarmors assumed the titles of Earls when the word Moarmor b»came obsolete ; and 
 Comes became fashionable. Botb Comites and Barons existed, undoubtedly, under 
 David I. — Chalmers' Caledonia, vol. i, book iv, cap. ii.
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 105 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS, FROM A.D. 1170 TO 1265. 
 
 King Godred returns to Man — Is married to the Daughter of an Irish 
 King — Is defeated in Ireland by Milo Cogan — War in Galloway — 
 Godred submits to the Authority of the Pope's Legate — Fall of an 
 Aspirant to the Manks Throne — Matrimonial Alliance with John de 
 Courcy, Duke of Ulster — Death of Godred — Reginald, a natural Son of 
 Godred, usurps the Throne — Assists De Courcy, his Bruther-in-Law 
 — Is defeated, and De Courcy made Prisoner — Rebellion of Angus, 
 Son of Somerled — King John sends Fulko-de-Cantelupe to subdue 
 the Isle of Man — Reginald does homage to King John, and receives 
 a Knight's Fee of Corn and Wine — His Brother, Olave the Black, is 
 liberated from Prison — Receives from Reginald the Island of Lewis, 
 with the Title of King — Reginald, to support his usurpation, first 
 does homage to Henry III, and then surrenders the Island to the 
 Pope — The Queen of Man forms a Plot to murder Olave the Black, 
 which terminates in the Death of her own Son — Reginald cedes the 
 half of the Isles to Olave, and then applies to Allan, Lord of Gallo- 
 tcay, to assist in dethroning him — Reginald deposed, and Olave called 
 to the Throne — During the absence of Olave, Allan plunders the Isle 
 of Man — Battle between Olave and Reginald, in which the latter is 
 slain — Reginald's Character — Olave visits Norway to do homage 
 to King Haco — Assists him against the Sudereyan Kings — Battle of 
 Isla Sound — Storming of the Castle of Bute — Olave resumes the 
 Government of Man — Assassination of Paul Balkason and Godred 
 Don — Olave receives a Knight's Fee from the King of England — 
 The Manks assist their Gallovidian Neighbours — Death and Cha- 
 racter of Olave — Succeeded by his eldest Son Harold — Battle in Man 
 — Harold is confirmed in his Possessions by the Norwegian King — 7* 
 knighted by Henry III. — Proceeds to Norway — Marries Haco's 
 Daughter — The Royal Party droivned at Sea — Reginald, his Successor, 
 slain — Usurpation of the Government — Magnus the Son of Olave the 
 Black raised to the throne of Man — Expedition of Haco — Battle of 
 Largs — Death and Character of Magnus the last King of the Nor- 
 wegian Line. 
 
 CHAP. V.
 
 106 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 From the many claims advanced by factious aspirants to 
 the crown of the Isles, it appears manifest to us that little 
 regard was paid, in those days, to the indefeasible right 
 of primogeniture. 
 
 Immediately after the death of Somerled, Reginald, a 
 natural son of Olave Kleining, raised his standard in Man ; 
 but Godred arriving at that juncture with an army from 
 Norway, where he had remained in exile during the usur- 
 pation of Somerled, 1 succeeded in taking the aspirant pri- 
 soner, and after causing his eyes to be put out, treated 
 him with other marks of severity. 
 
 Godred was hailed with joy by his old subjects, from 
 whom he had now been so long absent that all former griev- 
 ances were mutually forgot. Desirous, therefore, to settle 
 the aifairs of his government with prudence and modera- 
 tion, he took a journey through the Out-Isles for this pur- 
 pose, and was cordially welcomed by all classes of his 
 subjects. 
 
 He received in marriage Phingola, daughter of Me- 
 lughlin, king of Ireland ; but, from this connection, he 
 was induced to take more interest in Irish affairs than 
 perhaps tended to the interest of his Manks subjects. 
 Asculph, king of the Danes of Dublin, having been de- 
 feated in battle and driven from his kingdom by the native 
 Irish, applied to Godred king of the Isles, and Huan of 
 the Orkneys, tc aid him in his struggle for the recovery 
 of his dominions. These sovereigns with a united fleet 
 of sixty ships set sail from Man, and arrived in the harbour 
 of Dublin. A.D. 1171. When their troops, however, were 
 attempting to enter the city, Milo Cogan, then command- 
 ing the garrison, sallied out of the citadel and put the 
 whole to flight. Many were slain, among whom was 
 Huan of the Orkneys. Asculph was taken prisoner, and 
 by order of the Commander-in-chief, instantly beheaded. 2 
 
 1 SacheverelV s Account of the Isle of Man, p. 41. 
 
 1 Ware's Annals of Ireland, edition 1705, p. 5 ; Donovan's Annals of Dublin, 
 edition 1832 ; Macpherson's Dissertations, p. 277.
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 107 
 
 Godred afterwards entered into a treaty with Roderick 
 O'Connor, king of Ireland, to assist him in expelling the 
 English from Ireland ; but the result of that fruitless un- 
 dertaking is generally known. 1 
 
 A.D. 1175. While these events were passing in Ire- 
 land, war raged with exterminating fury in Galloway. 
 Gilbert, the powerful lord of that province, had rebelled 
 against William the Lion, king of Scotland ; but in the 
 course of fighting twenty battles against the king's forces, 
 the followers of the Gallovidian chief had been so much 
 reduced that Gilbert was forced to seek shelter in the 
 Isle of Man. 2 
 
 The marriage of Godred with his queen Phingola not 
 having taken place according to the rites of the Catho- 
 lic church, Pope Alexander III, sent Vivian, cardinal 
 legate of the apostolic see, to the Isle of Man with a com- 
 mission to see the king married in proper form. To Sil- 
 van, abbot of Rieval, was committed the honour of per- 
 forming the ceremony. On this occasion Godred presented, 
 as an offering to the church, a portion of the land of 
 Mirescoge, 3 where he built a monastery 4 and endowed 
 a small plantation of the Cistertian order of monks. 
 In after times this donation was transferred to the abbey 
 of Saint Mary of Kushen, whither also the monks were 
 transferred. 
 
 A.D. 1187. In this year appeared another stickler for 
 the sovereignty of the Isles in the person of Reginald, the 
 son of Eac Marcat of the blood royal. Having landed 
 on the Manks shore with a band of ragged Gallowglasses 
 from Ulster, he immediately raised the standard of rebel- 
 lion ; but the alarm of invasion had no sooner spread than 
 
 1 Ware's Annals of Ireland, p. 5. 
 
 2 Hollinshead's Chronicles of Scotland, edition 1805, vol. i, p. 380. 
 
 3 Mirescoge is conjectured to be the place now called Ballamona in the parish of 
 Kirk Christ Lezayre. — Feltham, p. 170. 
 
 4 Johnstone's Celto Normanicce, p. 71. •
 
 108 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 the people assembling with their wonted alacrity put the 
 whole banditti to death, and left the bones of the leader 
 to bleach on the shore. 1 
 
 About this time, John de Courcy, having gained, by 
 right of conquest, the province of Ulster, in order the bet- 
 ter to bind Godred, the king of Man, to his interest, and 
 strengthen himself against his enemies, proposed to marry 
 AfFrica, the king's daughter. The proposal was readily 
 agreed to, and the ceremony was soon afterwards per- 
 formed. 2 
 
 Queen Phingola, at the time of this marriage, having 
 only been married nine years to Godred, it may be in- 
 ferred that AfFrica was not the offspring of their union ; 
 and who her mother was is not recorded. 
 
 Godred, being given to the pleasures of the chase, estab- 
 lished a royal forest in Man, and enacted forest-laws some- 
 what similar to those established by Howel Dha, in Wales, 
 two centuries before. 3 He continued to conduct the 
 affairs of his government with great activity until the 
 time of his death, which occurred in 1187, in the thirty- 
 third year of his reign. In the following summer his 
 remains were conveyed to Iona, and deposited in the 
 tomb of the kings of his race, with great pomp and 
 solemnity. 4 Godred left only one lawful son, Olave, sur- 
 named the Black, who was thirteen years of age at 
 the time of his father's decease. He had, also, two ille- 
 gitimate sons, Reginald and Ivar, and one daughter. 
 
 In order to prevent disputes among his children after 
 his death, as to the right of succession, Godred had 
 nominated his son Olave, when only ten years of age, as 
 his successor in the government of the Isles ; and the 
 Manks people had made oath to acknowledge no other 
 
 1 Chronicles of the Kings of Man, qp. Camden. 
 
 2 Ware's Annals of Ireland, p. 34. 
 
 3 Warrington's History of Wales, p. 111. 
 
 4 Cello Normanicce; Maclean's Iona, p. 109.
 
 NORWEGIAN LTNE OF KINGS. 109 
 
 king, when Olave should succeed his father by right of 
 inheritance. Immediately, however, on the demise of 
 Godred, they dispatched messengers, officially, to Regi- 
 nald, his natural son, and laid at his feet the crown and 
 sceptre of the Isles.* 1 
 
 A.D. 1188. The reason assigned for this breach of 
 faith, as well as act of injustice, was that Olave being 
 too young to be intrusted with the reins of government, 
 it would be more for the safety of the state to be 
 governed by a prince of more advanced years. But the 
 secret interest of his brother-in-law De Courcy, Earl of 
 Ulster, with whom Reginald resided, is assigned as the 
 true cause of such a choice beina - made. 
 
 If De Courcy had exerted himself to accomplish the 
 elevation of his young relation from an idea that he might 
 soon require his sovereign aid, he had calculated well. By 
 birth, a lineal descendant of Louis IV, king of France, 
 it was supposed this high pedigree, together with his 
 rich possessions, had combined to give De Courcy a 
 haughty demeanour, which was the cause of producing to 
 him many enemies. Among the most treacherous of these 
 was Hugh de Lacy, Earl of Ulster, who found at last an 
 opportunity of gratifying his long cherished enmity. 2 
 
 It will be remembered that Richard I, king of Eng- 
 land, when he entered on the holy war, declared his 
 nephew Arthur, duke of Brittany, his successor, and, by 
 a formal deed in his favour, set aside the title of his own 
 brother, John ; but that Arthur was murdered in prison 
 when John mounted the throne. 3 De Courcy was one 
 of the party who accused king John of being accessary to 
 
 * Appendix, Note i, " Ceremony of Crowning the Kings of the Isles. 
 
 1 In those days illegitimacy did not incapacitate any person in the northern parts 
 of Europe from succeeding his father in the possession of an estate or a kingdom. — 
 Macphersons Dissertations, p. 279. 
 
 * Leland's History of Ireland, Dublin, 17*4, vol. i, p. 173. 
 1 Hume't History of England, chap. xi.
 
 110 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 the murder of his nephew. Stung with reproach, John 
 summoned him to repair to his presence and do him 
 homage ; but De Courcy treated the mandate with con- 
 tempt. The king placed a commission in the hands of 
 De Lacy to subdue the refractory baron, and to send him 
 prisoner to London. 
 
 A.D. 1204. De Lacy, gratified with having such a 
 warrant to execute, invited the Earl, or, as he is some- 
 times called the Duke, of Ulster to his castle, who having 
 no suspicion of the treachery, accepted the invitation ; but 
 on entering the gates he was made prisoner. 1 Having 
 succeeded, however, in effecting his escape, De Courcy 
 passed over to the Isle of Man to obtain the assistance of 
 his brother-in-law Reginald, king of the Isles, who, with 
 becoming gratitude, called into action the disposable force 
 of his dominions, on behalf of his valiant kinsman. 
 
 A.D. 1205. In obedience to the call of the War- 
 Arrow, one hundred vessels, the greater part of them from 
 the Out-Isles, rendezvoused in Ramsey Bay, whence, with 
 a large land force, they steered for the coast of Ireland, 
 under the joint command of the lord of Ulster, and the 
 sovereign of the Isles. The troops disembarked at 
 Strandford Haven, and laid siege to Rath Castle ; but 
 John de Courcy, who had gained many victories in Ire- 
 land, was now destined to experience as signal reverses. 
 Walter de Lacy, lord of Meath, the brother of Hugh, 
 with a tumultuous army of Gallowglasses,* not only 
 forced him to raise the siege of Rath Castle, but after- 
 wards succeeded in capturing his unfortunate enemy. 
 Reginald returned to Man with only the shattered re- 
 mains of the finest army of native troops that had ever 
 left the Island. 2 
 
 1 Ware's Annals of Ireland, edition 1703, p. 173. 
 * Appendix, Note ii, " Gallowglasses." 
 
 2 Chronicles of the Kings of Man, ap. Camden; Sacheverell's Account of the 
 Is/p of Man, p. 46. Affrica, the wife of De Courcy, died in Ireland and was buried
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. Ill 
 
 Notwithstanding the devastating issue of this expedi- 
 tion, we arc informed by another authority, that Harold 
 Jarl, of the Orkneys, raised an army of adventurers in 
 Man, and fitted out a fleet to convey them to the Orcadcs, 
 where they re-conquered all the Islands which had sub- 
 mitted to the forces of Sutormus Birkebein, the regent of 
 Norway, during the minority of Ingo Baarson. 1 
 
 A.D. 1210. Reginald having lost his nearest ally, the 
 crown began to sit uneasy on his brow. Angus, the son 
 of Somerled, having raised the standard of rebellion in the 
 Out-Isles, was defeated in the Isle of Skye. Nothing 
 daunted by that disaster, he recruited his force in Argyll, 
 and, with a legion of Kitterans, gave battle to Reginald, 
 in Man, where he was slain along with his three sons who 
 had accompanied him in his unfortunate enterprise. 2 
 
 A.D. 1211. The assistance rendered by Reginald to 
 the refractory baron of Ulster, had given great displea- 
 sure to king John, of England, who dispatched Fulko de 
 Cantelupe, a knight of violent temper and rude manners, 3 
 with a large army from Ireland, to chastise Reginald for 
 his imprudence ; but he being on a progress through the 
 Isles at the time of Fulko's arrival in Man, the fury of 
 the latter fell chiefly on the inhabitants, after plundering 
 whom and taking hostages for their fidelity, he departed. 4 
 
 The absence of Reginald from the seat of his govern- 
 ment, when his capital was plundered by the furious 
 Fulko, was not, as he wished his subjects to believe, the 
 mere result of chance. He foresaw well the approaching 
 storm, and to ensure his own personal safety and that of 
 
 in the abbey of Leigh or De Jugo Dei, in Down, which she had founded in 1193, 
 and supplied with monks from the abbey of Holmcultram. — Ware's Antiquities "/' 
 Ire/and, p. 94. Affrica left one son, named Miles, who was created Baron Kingsail, of 
 whom the present Lord Kingsai] is a lineal descendant. 
 
 1 Johmtone's Cello Norm. ; Anderson's Royal Genealogies, table cxc. 
 
 2 Jo/in.itone's Cello Normanicai, p. 70. 
 
 •> Hump's History of England, chap. xi. 
 * Chronicles of Man; Sac/ievcrell, p. 16.
 
 112 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 a few favourites, he sought shelter in the most remote Isle 
 of his dominions. This shallow pretext was easily per- 
 ceived by his subjects, and it only served to withdraw 
 from him the more the already ebbing current of their affec- 
 tions. Reginald had agreed to do homage to the English 
 king for the Isle of Man and the Out-Isles, for which he 
 was to receive yearly, at Drogheda, on the 26th May, a 
 knight's fee of two tuns of wine, and one hundred and 
 twenty quarters of corn. 1 The Manks, therefore, now 
 began to find that however high their expectations of their 
 monarch might have been at one time, they had been com- 
 pletely baulked by the truckling policy which he had pur- 
 sued since the commencement of his reign. Those influ- 
 ential persons who had befriended him at his outset, now 
 withdrew their confidence, and for his actions he was 
 branded as a knave and a coward even by the meanest of 
 his subjects. 
 
 A.D. 1214. Under pretence of sending his brother Olave, 
 called the Black, to be educated at the court of William 
 I, king of Scotland, he sent him into confinement ; but 
 when Alexander II, on the death of his father, Wil- 
 liam, ascended the throne, he set at liberty all the state 
 prisoners in the realm. The gates of Merchmont Castle 
 were consequently thrown open to Olave, who had been 
 confined there since the year 1208. 
 
 Influenced by the superstitious notions of devotion 
 which then prevailed, Olave, immediately on his libera- 
 tion, set out on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James of 
 Compostella, 2 whence, after offering up thanks for his 
 providential deliverance from captivity, he returned to 
 Man, and was received by Reginald with great apparent 
 
 1 Leland's History of Ireland, Dublin, 1774, vol. i, p. 182 ; Seacome's Account 
 of (he Isle of Man, 1741, p. 12. Notwithstanding Reginald's acceptance of this 
 small gratuity from the king of England, he was so wealthy as to purchase the whole 
 district of Caithness, from William the Lion, king of ScoUand. — Johnslone's Celto 
 Normanicce, p. 52. 
 
 2 Johnstone's Celto Normanic<e, p. 72.
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 113 
 
 affection. Having prevailed upon him to marry Lavon, a 
 sister of his queen, and supposed by some to be a daugh- 
 ter of Somerled, 1 Reginald surrendered to him the Island 
 of Lewis, with the title of king, on which barren Isle 
 Olave took up his residence. 
 
 Disturbed by the recollection of the injustice done his 
 brother, by usurping his crown, and fearing lest he might 
 now, when at liberty, be striving to recover it, Reginald 
 maintained only a feverish and uneasy existence ; and 
 still losing the esteem of his subjects, we find him endea- 
 vouring to bolster up his falling power by foreign alliance. 
 
 A.D. 1219. In this year Henry III, of England, granted 
 to him letters of safe conduct, to come to England and do 
 him homage ; and two years after, the same king writes to 
 Maurice Fitz Gerald, lord justice of Ireland, " to deliver 
 to Reginald, king of Man, his knight's fee of two tuns of 
 wine, and one hundred and twenty quarters of corn, 
 granted him annually by the charter of king John, his 
 father." 2 Not satisfied, however, with being the subject 
 king of Henry, this vacillating usurper infamously surren- 
 dered his dominions to the Pope, in order to hold his 
 crown from the see of Rome, 3 * paying annually therefore 
 twelve marks to the abbey of Furness. 4 
 
 All these efforts were unavailing to him in securing the 
 peaceable possession of his kingdom, which was again 
 destined to feel all the miseries of a civil war. The 
 bishop, in open conclave, divorced Lavon from her hus- 
 band, Olave the Black, on account of her being the cousin 
 of his former wife. 5 The holy father, who thus wielded 
 
 1 Maccullock's Western Isles, vol. iii, p. 45. 
 
 2 Senrome's House of Stanley, p. 12. 
 
 3 Johnstone's Cello A'ormaniccE, p. 72. 
 
 * Appendix, Note iii, " Surrender of the Isle to the Pope." 
 
 4 It may not be improper here to remark that Reginald submitted to the crown of 
 England on the express condition that the admiralty of the seas should belong to 
 him. — Bishop Wilson, op. Ward's Ancient Records, pp. 17, 18. 
 
 5 Johnstone's Celto Normanicce. 
 
 CHAP. V. P
 
 114 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 the thunder of the church so rigorously, was Ronald, the 
 nephew of the brothers, Olave and Reginald, and he 
 had, perhaps, been induced by a political motive to 
 dissolve the matrimonial union of his uncle. Olave, how- 
 ever, soon afterwards married Scristina, daughter of Fer- 
 quhard, earl of Ross, by Maud, sister of Robert I. king 
 of Scotland. This gallant earl commanded the third 
 division of the army of Alexander II. in Galloway, when 
 he collected his forces to suppress the rebellion of Thomas 
 Mac-Du-Allan. 1 
 
 Thirsting to revenue her sister's divorce, the wife of 
 Reginald sent private directions to her son Godred, then 
 in the Isle of Skye, to put his uncle Olave to death, for 
 the disgrace which he had imposed on their family by the 
 repudiation of Lavon. 
 
 Olave of Lewis was possessed of many of those showy 
 characteristics which often render princes popular with- 
 out any solid virtue to justify or reward the partiality of 
 the people. He had already become the idol of his sub- 
 jects, and was, as already hinted, the cause of great dis- 
 quietude to the reigning sovereign of Man. It was perhaps 
 as much on this account, as from feelings of wounded hon- 
 our, that the barbarous queen was induced to send such dia- 
 bolical directions to her no less barbarous son. Godred, 
 with his assembled clansmen, immediately hastened to 
 Lewis to put his mother's mandate into execution. For- 
 tunately, Olave had just time to escape in an open boat ; 
 in which, although the weather was boisterous, he reached 
 in safety the castle of his father-in-law on the main-land. 
 
 In the bitterness of disappointed revenge, Godred, or 
 as he was called, the Dragon of the Isles, pillaged the 
 island of Lewis, and put to death many of the inhabitants 
 who were most noted for their attachment to his uncle. 2 
 
 1 Guthrie's History of Scotland, vol. i, p. 381. 
 
 2 Chronicles of Man ; Cello Normanicce.
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 115 
 
 The tyrannical conduct of young Godred, in Skye, gave 
 great offence to Paul Balkason, a person of high influence, 
 and a valiant warrior. On the gathering of the clans for 
 the invasion of Lewis, he set sail privately for the main- 
 land with the intention of rousing the men of Ross against 
 the intended assassins of Olave. Singularly enough, Paul 
 and Olave, unknown to each other, reached the castle of 
 the earl of Ross at nearly the same time. 
 
 A.D. 1223. There, entering into alliance, they set sail 
 for Iona, where it was understood Godred and a few 
 friends were regaling themselves without any apprehen- 
 sion of danger. Having effected a disembarkation during 
 the night, without being discovered, they at break of day 
 put all to the sword without the precincts of the church. 
 Godred, in striving to gain the sanctuary, was taken pri- 
 soner, and notwithstanding the most lively remonstrances 
 in his behalf on the part of Olave, his eyes were put out 
 by Paul Balkason. 1 
 
 A.D. 1224. Olave having this summer received hos- 
 tages from the nobles of the Isles, accompanied by his 
 friend Paul, steered direct to the Isle of Man. Reginald, 
 afraid to hazard an engagement, ceded to him one-half 
 of the Isles, and gave him a plentiful supply of provisions. 
 Olave, however, had no sooner set sail for his new domi- 
 nions, than the duplicity of Reginald appeared, in his ap- 
 plying to Allan, lord of Galloway, for his assistance, when 
 outwardly at peace with his brother. 
 
 Galloway had been wasted by a civil war between the 
 rival brothers, Uchtrcd and Gilbert. But Roland, the 
 son of the former, who was a good soldier and a munifi- 
 cent statesman, had maintained the independence of the 
 province, in despite of Henry II. He had even led his 
 warlike soldiers into the north, and conquered the preten- 
 der, Mac William. 2 Allan, the son of Ronald, was like- 
 
 1 SacheverelVs Description of Man, p. 48. 
 
 2 oi'f'T// Caledo>l ' a ' vol. iii, P- 258 ; Guthrie's History of Scotland, vol. i, 
 
 pp. o4o, OOO.
 
 116 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 wise a valiant warrior. He had led " the wild men of 
 Galloway who pillaged wheresoever they went, and eat 
 flesh in lent," 1 into the western borders of England. But 
 this circumstance did not prevent him from acceding to 
 the wishes of Reginald. He sailed with that faithless 
 prince to the Hebrides, intending to dethrone Olave, but 
 as their army, consisted chiefly of Manksmen, who had a 
 partiality for the Black Prince of the Isles, and refused to 
 fight against him, they were forced to return home with- 
 out having accomplished their object. 2 
 
 Reginald, shortly afterwards, under pretence of making 
 a journey to the court of England, obtained from his sub- 
 jects one hundred marks in order to defray his expences. 
 No sooner, however, had he received the money, than he 
 proceeded direct to the court of Allan, and on his arrival 
 in Galloway had his daughter married to Thomas Dubh, 
 a natural son of that nobleman, who was afterwards 
 created Earl of Atholl. 3 
 
 A.D. 1226. Such a misapplication of public genero- 
 sity greatly disturbed the tranquillity of the Manks. They 
 saw themselves ungratefully imposed on ; and remem- 
 bering their own injustice to their lawful prince, they, by 
 universal suffrage, sent for Olave, and presented him with 
 the sceptre of the Isles. 
 
 A.D. 1228. The consent of the people and the appro- 
 bation of the king of Norway seemed always requisite to 
 the succession of the throne of Man. Where either of 
 these were wanting it generally proved fatal to the prince 
 and disastrous to the people. In the second year of his 
 reign, Olave the Black, with all the nobility, and many of 
 the military inhabitants of the Isle of Man, made a tour 
 of the Isles, seemingly unaware of the storm which was 
 gathering on the opposite coast. 
 
 1 Haile's Annals of Scotland, a.d. 1258. 
 
 2 Chronicles of Man ; Sacheverell, p. 50 ; Wood, p. 349. 
 
 3 Guthrie's History of Scotland, vol. i, p. 389.
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 117 
 
 Taking advantage of this absence of all the constituted 
 authorities, Allan, lord of Galloway, Thomas, earl of 
 Atholl, and the discomfited Reginald, collected one hun- 
 dred and fifty vessels, well supplied with men and arms, 
 and at the head of this powerful army made a descent 
 upon the Isle of Man. They spoiled the churches, put 
 the greater part of the inhabitants to death, and spread 
 desolation over the Island. Having thus gratified their 
 revenge, the invaders returned to Galloway, leaving bai- 
 liffs to collect the tribute required from the people ; but 
 Olave returning, speedily drove away the tax-gatherers, 
 and recalled the natives who had fled to escape the fury 
 of the invaders. 1 
 
 AD. 1229. The unhappy land of Man was not des- 
 tined long to enjoy the blessing of peace. Reginald 
 again, unexpectedly, arrived at St. Patrick's Isle, now 
 called Peel, in the middle of winter, when it was perilous 
 to navigate that boisterous sea, and burnt all the ships 
 belonging to Olave, along with those of the Hebridean 
 chiefs. He made a tour of the Island, pretending to crave 
 forgiveness of his brother, but he ingratiated himself so 
 much with the inhabitants, that he found a party among 
 them so zealous in his cause, that they took an obligation 
 never to desist, even at the peril of their lives, until they 
 had reinstated him in his portion of the Isles. 
 
 The northern men adhering as firmly to Olave, both 
 parties prepared for battle on St. Valentine's day. Olave 
 proceeded to the Tynwald Hill, whither also Reginald 
 advanced with his forces. A keen engagement ensued, in 
 which the men of the southern division were driven from 
 the field, and Reginald was slain by the pursuers, while 
 striving to escape to the coast, although without the 
 knowledge of Olave. Reginald's remains were carried by 
 
 1 Macpherson' s Annals of Commerce, vol. i, p. 387 ; Chalmer's Caledonia, vol. 
 iii, p. 3G9 ; Sacheverell, p. 54 ; Abercromby' s Martial Achievements, edition 1702, 
 p. 395 ; Torfceus's His. Rerum Orcades, edition 1697, p. 161.
 
 118 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 the monks of Rushen to the Abbey of Furness, where 
 they were interred in a place which had, been chosen by 
 himself. 1 Many fell in the conflict ; and to increase the 
 calamity, a band of free-booters landing on the southern 
 coasts of the Island, first pillaged and then left it almost 
 a desert. 2 
 
 Thus fell the tyrant Reginald, a man destitute of vir- 
 tue, treacherous, unjust, and cruel, and ever ready to gain 
 his object by the most dishonourable means. His claim 
 to real valour is greatly diminished by his voluntary ho- 
 mage to king John, and his pusillanimous submission to 
 the Pope. In comparing his character with that of John, 
 his contemporary, there is a striking similarity. Both 
 princes were subtle and adventurous. The English mon- 
 arch gained his crown by the murder of his nephew ; the 
 Manks prince by the exile of his brother ; and as they 
 gained the government of their respective countries by 
 injustice, so they lost them by oppressing their subjects. 
 Both offended the clergy, insulted the nobility, and vio- 
 lated the rights and possessions of the people, while the 
 regal dignity of both was compromised by their submis- 
 sion to the Pope. Yet, we are told by the historians of 
 Norway, that Reginald was the most famous warrior in 
 the western parts of Europe, during his time. It had 
 been the practice of some famous pirates among the old 
 Normans to live for three years without entering a house 
 ivhich emitted any smoke. Reginald had conformed him- 
 self to this custom, and of course became capable of sus- 
 taining great hardships of every kind, which seems to have 
 shaded all his imperfections from the eyes of the Norwe- 
 gians. 3 
 
 A.D. 1230. The Isles were still considered tributary 
 
 1 Johnstone's Celto Nor., p. 151 ; Southwell, ap. Hollinshead, vol. i, p. 404. 
 
 2 Celto Normanicce, p. 151. 
 
 3 Torf anus's Orcades, pp. 146, 104 ; Barry's History of the Orkney Islands, 
 quarto edition, p. 175.
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 119 
 
 to Norway, paying ten gold marks on the succession of 
 each Norwegian king. 1 Olave not having done homage 
 to Haco Hagenson, the reigning sovereign of Norway, pro- 
 ceeded for this purpose to Bergen, where he was kindly 
 entertained at court by the king and all the nobility pre- 
 sent. He there explained to Haco the great power of 
 Allan lord of Galloway, communicating at the same time 
 his boasted intention of not only subduing the ./Ebudse, 
 but even of invading Norway. 2 
 
 According to the Northern writers, there were at the 
 time Olave visited Norway, three other kings of the Su- 
 dereys subject to the Norwegian monarch. 3 These were, 
 Dugal-Scrag, or Shrill-voice, Duncan, his brother, and 
 Somerled, their relation. The king of Norway had con- 
 ferred the title of king on Uspac, 4 whom he termed Haco, 
 and had dispatched him with a powerful armament to dis- 
 place the Sudereyan sovereigns who had ceased to pay 
 tribute to the crown of Norway. Olave being officially 
 informed that Haco Uspac was charged with a royal man- 
 date requiring the co-operation of all Manksmen in sub- 
 duing the refractory kings, after remaining four days at 
 court, set sail, in company with Paul Balkason, for the 
 seat of war, having a fleet of twenty sail which was aug- 
 mented on their touching at Kirkwall, by the present of 
 a large, ship from the Earl of Orkney, called the O.r. 5 
 
 In Norway, Uspac was supposed to have been of mean 
 origin, as he had been long among the Birkebeins, 6 and 
 
 1 Macculloch's Western Isles, London, 1824, vol. iii, p. 47. 
 
 2 Icelandic Anecdotes of Olave the Black, p. 7. 
 
 3 In adverting to this portion of history, Mr. Dillon says, "The old Norwegian chro- 
 niclers are accustomed to confer the title of king on any petty chief, even though he 
 commanded only a single piratical vessel," which accounts for there being four co- 
 temporary kings of the Western Isles. — Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries 
 of Scotland, vol. ii, part ii, edition 1831, p. .">.">.">. 
 
 4 Uspac signifies in the Norwegian language, " restless." 
 
 5 Icelandic Anecdotes of Olave the Black, p. 11. 
 
 6 The Birkebeins, at the time Uspac lived with them, were considered as the dregs 
 of the people, and so poor, that instead of shoes they wore sandals made of the birch 
 trees. Hence their name. — Anecdotes of Olave, p. 3.
 
 120 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 had raised himself by his superior talents to high dignity; 
 but, on his arrival at the Hebrides, he was discovered to 
 be a brother of Dugal-Scrag, and of Duncan, who accord- 
 ingly found what had been intended for their overthrow, 
 turn to their advantage. 
 
 When Olave reached the sound of Isla, 1 he found Haco- 
 Uspac, Duncan, Dugal-Scrag, and Somerled, with their 
 respective fleets, rendezvoused there on friendly terms, as 
 we are told that Duncan slept on board the ship of his 
 brother Uspac. 
 
 On the arrival of Olave, the Sudereyans becoming 
 alarmed at the superior force of the Norwegians, at- 
 tempted to overcome them by stratagem, and having for 
 that purpose plenty of strong wine on board, they invited 
 them to an entertainment ; but the Norwegians suspect- 
 ing their fidelity, declined the invitation. On each com- 
 mander drawing his fleet into close order, a dreadful on- 
 set was made by the Norwegians, which soon scattered 
 the Sudereyan ships. Somerled was slain early in the 
 engagement, while Dugal-Scrag escaped with the remains 
 of the combined fleet. Duncan, who was taken prisoner, 
 was afterwards liberated by his brother Haco-Uspac, 
 whose vessel does not appear to have been engaged in the 
 fight. 
 
 With an united force of eighty ships, Haco-Uspac and 
 Olave the Black steered to the Isle of Bute, where the 
 former was killed in an attack upon a fortress of that 
 Island, as was also Swein the Swarthy, a man of great 
 note, with about three hundred Norsemen. 
 
 As the Norwegians were about to evacuate the Isle of 
 Bute, they received intelligence that Allan, Lord of Gal- 
 loway, lay on the south side of Kintyre with a fleet of 
 one hundred and fifty sail ready to intercept their pro- 
 
 1 According to Camden, " The Isle of Isla was next unto Man, the most favourite 
 residence of the kings of the Isles." — Britannia, p. 215.
 
 NORWEGIAN LTNE OF KINGS. 121 
 
 gress, which induced Olave, on whom the chief command 
 of the armament had devolved on the death of Uspac, to 
 set sail direct for the Isle of Man. 
 
 A party of the natives, commanded by Torkell, the son 
 of Neil, assembled to oppose their landing; but when 
 Olave made himself known no further opposition was 
 offered. The Norwegians remained in Man during the 
 winter, demanding threepence for every head of cattle in 
 the Island for the maintainance of the army. On return- 
 ing homewards they made a descent upon Kintyre ; but 
 when about to return to their ships, they found that the 
 Scots had killed all the servants left on shore to prepare 
 their victuals, and had carried off all their flesh kettles. 1 
 
 Olave remained in Man and resumed possession of his 
 kingdom, agreeing to give the Out-Isles to his nephew, 
 Godred Don, who commenced his career bv murdering 
 Paul Balkason, who, it may be recollected, had put out 
 the eyes of another Godred, at Isla, in the year 1223. 
 A.D. 1233. Godred Don was himself assasinated in Lewis, 
 leaving, besides other issue, one son named Harold. 2 
 
 A.D. 1236. By the death of Godred Don, Olave be- 
 came again sovereign of the Isles. Having received from 
 Heniy III, a safe conduct to come into England, he made 
 a journey to the court of that monarch to do homage for 
 the kingdom of Man and the Isles. Henry, in the same 
 year, bestowed on him, forty marks, one hundred cra- 
 
 1 Icelandic Annals of Olave the Black, p. 21 ; Observations on the Norwegian 
 Expedition against Scotland, ap. Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries, vol. ii, 
 part ii, p. 359. 
 
 2 Chronicles of Man. It would appear that Reginald had two sons, the one named 
 Godred and the other Godred Don ; for it is scarcely to be conceived that the former, 
 who had his eyes put out and was otherwise mutilated by Paul Balkason in 1223, could 
 have been able to assume possession of the Out-Isles ten years afterwards. The 
 more probable version, therefore, is that it was Godred Don, the second son, who 
 divided the Isles with his uncle Olave, and who commenced his reign by murdering 
 Paul Balkason for the cruelties committed on his brother. Johnstone says Paul fell 
 in battle fighting against Godred Don. — Ce/to Normanica> , Account of Haco's Ex- 
 pedition. 
 
 CHAP. V. Q
 
 122 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 mocks of corn, and five tons of wine, with a commission 
 for the defence of the sea coast. The Knight's fee of corn 
 and wine to be paid annually by the Lord Lieutenant of 
 Ireland, at the term of Lent, so long as the service for 
 which it was granted was effectually performed. 1 
 
 On the death of Allan, the last in the male line of the 
 ancient princes of Galloway, the affairs of Man and the 
 Hebrides became again influenced by the unsettled state 
 of the Gallo vidian government. 2 Allan left three daugh- 
 ters, and an illegitimate son, generally called Thomas 
 Mac du Allan. By the marriage of the daughters and 
 their succession to their inheritances, strangers of differ- 
 ent lineages and tongues were introduced into Galloway, 
 to the great annoyance of the natives, who preferred the 
 bastard son of Allan to his legitimate daughters. On 
 Alexander, king of Scotland, refusing, however, to recog- 
 nise the right of Thomas, the Galloway-men broke out 
 into rebellion against the " new race of men" introduced 
 into their country. Ten thousand of the wild Scots of 
 Galloway surrounded the standard of Black Thomas, be- 
 sides a strong detachment of Manks soldiers commanded 
 by their king in person. 3 
 
 This rebellion was put down by the forces of the Scot- 
 tish king. Five thousand of the rebels were slain ; Gib- 
 rodh, the commander of the Irish legion, escaped to Ire- 
 land, as did Olave to Man ; but Somerled, the chief of 
 the Argyllshire-men, was made captive by the Earl of 
 March, and conveyed, with a rope round his neck, to the 
 king ; other chieftains of less note were hanged and quar- 
 tered at Edinburgh. 4 
 
 1 Calendars of Ancient Charters with Rolls and Schedules of Fealties done in 
 the Me of Man, London, 1772, p. 429 ; Rymer's Fcedera, vol. i, p. 342. 
 
 2 Buchanan's History of Scotland, book vii ; Chalmers' Caledonia, vol. iii, 
 p. 369. 
 
 3 Guthrie's History of Scotland, London, 1767, vol. i, p. 381. 
 
 4 Winton's Chron., vii, ix ; Chalmers' Caled,, vol. iii, p. 370 ; Hollinshead, vol. i, 
 p. 396 ; Fordun, ix, xlviii.
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 123 
 
 It has been already stated that Olave Kleining married 
 Affrica, daughter of Fergus, lord of Galloway, 1 and when 
 we add to this, that Thomas the Black, son of x\llan, 
 married a daughter of Godred Don, we may infer that 
 it was probably from these aud other connections that 
 the Galloway family became so much interested in the af- 
 fairs of the Western Isles and of Man, and that Olave was 
 induced personally to engage in striving to establish 
 Thomas Mac du Allan in the principality of Galloway. 
 This was the last public undertaking in which we find 
 him engaged, as he died at Peel Castle a.d. 1237, in the 
 eleventh year of his reign, leaving three sons, Harold, 
 Reginald, and Magnus. 2 
 
 Olave the Black was a prince worthy of a better king- 
 dom and better subjects. Uninfluenced by ambitious 
 views, and solicitous only for the welfare and happiness 
 of his subjects, he was more employed in reforming their 
 savage manners than in showing the magnitude of his 
 power, or in striving to extend the boundaries of his 
 dominions. 
 
 A.D. 1238. On the death of his father, Harold the 
 eldest son of Olave, succeeded to the kingdom of Man and 
 the Isles, although then only in the fourteenth year of his 
 age. In the first year of his reign he set out to make the 
 circuit of his dominions, attended by a numerous train of 
 his nobility, leaving his cousin Lauchlan viceroy in Man 
 during his absence. 3 
 
 In his progress through the Isles, the people received 
 him with every demonstration of joy. In every Island 
 on which he landed, from Arran to Uist, " The heroes 
 gathered to the feast — aged oaks blazed in the wind — 
 and the strength of the shells went round to the health of 
 the king of many isles. 
 
 "4 
 
 1 Chapter iv, p. 91. 
 
 2 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, p. 773, 
 
 3 Icelandic Anecdotes of Olave the Black, p. 19. 
 
 4 Ossian's Fingall, book vii.
 
 124 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 Ill the following autumn he despatched the three sons 
 of Nial, Dugal, Torkel, and Maol Mhuise on a mission to 
 his viceroy in Man. They arrived in the Island on the 24th 
 October, and according to appointment were received by 
 the viceroy, three days afterwards, at the Tynwald Hill, 
 where, on some quarrel arising between them, a skirmish 
 ensued, in which Dugal and Maol Mhuise were killed, 
 along with a person named Joseph. 
 
 A.D. 1239. Next year Harold returned to the capital 
 of his kingdom ; but on his arrival, Lauchlan fled with 
 Godred his foster-son and a retinue of about forty persons 
 who were all drowned on the coast of Wales. 1 
 
 A.D. 1240. Harold having refused to appear at the 
 court of Norway, to do homage for his kingdom, the Isle 
 of Man was invaded by a Norwegian force under the 
 command of Gospatrick, and Gilchrist the son of Mac 
 Kirthanck, who converted the revenues of the country to 
 the services of the Norwegian king. In consequence of 
 this, Harold was forced to proceed to Bergen, where, after 
 performing the desired homage, his possessions were con- 
 firmed to him by a charter, under the great seal of the 
 kingdom ; 2 on which he returned to Man, and was joy- 
 fully welcomed by his people. 
 
 A.D. 1247. In this year, by letters patent from 
 Henry III, dated in the thirty-first year of his reign, 
 Harold was permitted to go to England. On his arrival 
 at the court of St. James, he was honoured with the order 
 of knighthood, a distinction in those days only conferred 
 on persons of high birth and merit, but such a degree 
 could certainly not add to the dignity of a king. 
 
 When Alexander II, king of Scotland, was preparing 
 
 1 Chronicles of Man, ap. Camden; Johnstone's Celto Normanicce, p. 151. 
 
 2 In the Catalogue of Muniments there is a memorandum of a " Charter of the 
 King of Norway over the Island of Bute with certain other grants to the King of 
 Man," but in what year these grants were made does not appear. — Calendars of An- 
 cient Charters with Rolls and Schedules of Fealties done in the Isle of Man, p. 344.
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 125 
 
 to subdue the Western Isles, it would appear that the 
 Manks apprehended that their Island would be the first 
 object of his attack, as there is on record a letter from 
 the inhabitants of Man to that monarch, imploring his 
 mercy, and immediately afterwards follows a communica- 
 tion from " Alexander, king of Scotland, to the Bishop 
 of Soderensis, conceding that he would not go to Man at 
 that time." 1 Before, however, he had effected any thing 
 decisive, it will be recollected that he died at Kerreray. 2 
 When Alexander III. succeeded his father in the Scot- 
 ish throne, he was only eight years of age. Afraid, 
 however, that when he attained majority he might follow 
 out the plans of his father by striving to reclaim the He- 
 brides from Norway, Haco the reigning sovereign of that 
 kingdom neglected no opportunity of strengthening his 
 authority in these islands. On different occasions he 
 entertained Ewen Konongr Gilchrist, the son of Rudri, 
 and Magnus, the powerful Earl of Orkney ; and in order 
 still more to tighten the bands of his authority, he invited 
 Harold the young king of Man, a. d. 1247, to Norway, 
 and gave him his daughter Cecilia in marriage. The 
 ceremony was performed with great pomp, and the re- 
 joicings throughout the kingdom were greater than had 
 been witnessed on any former occasion of a similar nature. 
 In the suite of Harold was Lawrence, then bishop elect 
 of Man, and a numerous train of nobility ; with these and 
 a great many attendants on the young queen from her 
 father's court, Harold left Bergen for the Isle of Man. 
 But on the voyage he was overtaken by a sudden storm, 
 in which the royal party were cast away, and perished on 
 the coast of Rudland — a sad conviction that the highest 
 felicities of life are too often only the forerunners of final 
 
 ruin. 3 
 
 1 Calendars of Ancient Charters, pp. 327, 329. 
 
 2 Abercromby's Martial Achievements, edition 1762, vol. i, p. 396. 
 
 3 Chronicles of Kings of Man, ap, Camden; Southwell, ap. Hollinshcad, vol. i,
 
 126 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 Harold was a prince of distinguished abilities, and pos- 
 sessed many shining virtues. 1 
 
 A.D. 1249. Reginald, the next younger brother of the 
 unfortunate Harold, assumed the government of Man on 
 the 6th of May ; but on the 30th of the same month, he 
 was slain in a meadow near Trinity Church, in Rushen, 
 by a knight called Ivar, who is supposed to be a natural 
 son of king Godred ; if so, the brother of king Reginald 
 who surrendered the Island to the Pope, and therefore 
 grand-uncle to the present Reginald. This unfortunate 
 prince was interred in St. Mary's Church of Rushen, with 
 due solemnity He left only one child, a daughter, named 
 Mary, who will be noticed more particularly in a subse- 
 quent chapter. 
 
 Magnus, the last surviving son of Olave the Black, was 
 the next in succession to the crown of the Isles; but being 
 resident at the time of Reginald's death, in some of the 
 remote Hebrides, with Ewen Konongr, whose daughter 
 he had married, the government was usurped, a.d. 1250, 
 by Harold, the son of Godred Don, 2 who, sensible that he 
 had no right to the crown, banished all the adherents of 
 Harold Olaveson, and promoted his own partizans to every 
 place of honor in the state. 3 
 
 Haco, on hearing of the tragical fate of his daughter 
 and son-in-law, committed to Ewen Konongr, great- 
 grandson of Somerlid, otherwise called John of the Isles, 
 who held large possessions as fiefs or military tenures 
 from the crown of Norway, 4 the administration of public 
 affairs throughout the Ebudes, till one of the blood royal 
 of the former kings should be formally called to the throne 
 
 p. 404 ; Macculloch's Western Isles, vol. iii, p. 48. This unfortunate event happened 
 in the year 1248, according to Torfaeus in his History of the Orcades, p. 104 ; but 
 in the year following, if we believe the Chronicle of the Kings of Man. 
 
 1 Torfams' History of the Orcades, p. 164. 
 
 2 Which signifies Godred the Brown. 
 
 3 Chronicles of Man; Macpherson, p. 290. 
 
 4 Johnttone's Flateyan and Frisian Manuscripts, Edinburgh, 1 782.
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 127 
 
 of Man and the Isles, and at the same time, summoned 
 Harold, the usurper, to Norway, where on his arrival, he 
 was cast into prison. 
 
 A.D. 1256. Without regarding either the instructions 
 of his master or the inclination of the people, John of the 
 Isles, on his arrival in Man, assumed the regal title, and 
 appointed his officers of state ; but the people, provoked 
 at this indignity, rose in a body and drove him and his 
 followers from the Island, and unanimously proclaimed 
 Magnus, the son of Olave, their king. This nomination 
 was confirmed in clue form subsequently by the reigning 
 sovereign of Norway. Disappointed in his ambitious 
 views by the elevation of his son-in-law to the crown of 
 Man, John began to listen to the advantageous offer made 
 to him by the Scottish monarch. 1 * 
 
 Alexander II. had in vain employed the strongest solici- 
 tations and most ample promises to induce him to renounce 
 his allegiance to the king of Norway ; but the conjuncture 
 was now more favourable for Alexander III. John 
 swore fealty to the Scottish king, and consequently did 
 not render Haco the aid required of him at the battle of 
 the Largs. 2 
 
 The situation of the kings of the Isles, however, had 
 now become peculiarly critical. Their territories, though 
 extensive, were not such as to enable them to cope with 
 any of the neighbouring states ; while the power of Nor- 
 way, by which they had been previously supported, was 
 now on the wane. The sovereigns of England too ex- 
 acted allegiance from the kings of Man; and Magnus 
 was knighted by Henry III, as his brother had been, 
 but in the present posture of affairs, that honour availed 
 him little. 
 
 A.D. 1261. Alexander II. had united Galloway, then 
 a powerful maritime county, to his dominions, and had 
 
 1 Torfcpus's History of the Orcades, p. 164. 
 8 Johnstone's Flateyan and Frisian Manuscript.
 
 128 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 begun to take measures for obtaining permanent possession 
 of the Hebrides by expelling the Norwegians. His son, 
 Alexander III, as had been anticipated by the Norwegian 
 king, renewed the negotiations with him for the cession of 
 these Isles, which his father had commenced, but without 
 effect. He was therefore obliged to look to other means 
 than diplomacy for the accomplishment of his object. 
 
 The chiefs of some of the northern of the Hebridean 
 Isles complained to Haco, that Kiarnarch, Earl of Ross, 
 had laid waste their territories, regardless alike of their 
 churches, and of the wives and children of the inhabitants, 
 adding that the kino- of Scotland had declared his resolu- 
 tion not to desist until he was master of all the Western 
 Isles, and Man. 
 
 A.D. 1263. Alarmed by this intelligence for the safety 
 of his insular dominions, Haco, although now in the 
 forty-sixth year of his reign, determined to proceed in 
 person to the Hebrides, with all the troops which his 
 means could supply. 1 He mustered his forces with such 
 despatch, that, on the 11th July, he set sail from the port 
 of Herlover, with the most formidable armament that had 
 ever left the shores of Norway. 2 
 
 The army disembarked at Kirkwall to celebrate the 
 feast of St. Olave, and the principal officers were invited 
 to a splendid banquet on board the king's own ship. 
 Haco now dispatched messengers to the king of Man, and 
 to the other kings of the Sudereys, intimating his arrival 
 
 1 The Flateyan and Frisian manuscripts are the most ancient documents now ex- 
 tant, that contain an account of the life of Haco the Aged, and as such are highly 
 valued by the northern nations. The first belongs to the library of the king of Den- 
 mark, while the latter is deposited in the Magnoan collection. From these docu- 
 ments the expedition of Haco to Scotland, in 1263, was extracted, and printed in the 
 original Icelandic, with a literal English translation by the Rev. James Johnstone, 
 chaplain to the British envoy at the court of Denmark, in 1780. A copy of this little 
 tract is now in the library of the Antiquarian Society of Scotland, from which the 
 remaining part of this chapter is chiefly abridged. 
 
 2 Sturlaga Saga.
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 129 
 
 in the western ocean, and commanding their attendance 
 with all their disposable forces without the least delay. 
 
 Magnus, king of Man, joined the grand armament in 
 the sound of Isla, and Dugall Konongr joined it at 
 Kerreray. Haco had now above one hundred ships, chiefly 
 of large dimensions, and w T ell provided with men and 
 arms. Of these, he placed fifty under the joint command 
 of the king of Man and Dugall Konongr, and despatched 
 them with orders to bring one thousand oxen for the use 
 of the army from the estates of Angus, lord of Isla, and 
 the lands of Murchard, lord of Kintyre. This sweeping 
 order was, however, suddenly rescinded, 1 and the grand 
 armament moved onward to its final destination. 
 
 " The Norse and Danish gallies plied 
 Their oars within the Frith of Clyde ; 
 There floated Haco's banner trim 
 Above Norwegian warriors grim, 
 Savage of heart and large of limb, 
 Threathening both continent and Isle — 
 Bute, Arran, Cunninghame, and Kyle." 2 
 
 According to Scottish historians, Haco on entering the 
 Clyde had a fleet of one hundred and sixty sail. 3 As 
 soon as he had subdued the Isles of Bute and Arran, and 
 had taken the castle of Ayr,* he despatched sixty vessels 
 to Loch Long under the command of the Manks kino- and 
 Dugall Konongr, " When they came to a neck of land 
 they took to their boats and drew them up to a great 
 lake, called Loch Lomond, in which there are many 
 islands well inhabited. These Magnus wasted with fire." 
 "Allan, the brother of Dugall, marched far over into 
 Scotland and killed great numbers of the inhabitants. 
 He took many hundred head of cattle and made, vast 
 
 1 Torf ceus's History of the Orcades, pp. 165, 166. 
 
 2 Sir Walter Scott's Marmion, canto iii. 
 
 3 Buchanan's Hist, of Scotland, book vii ; Heron's History of Scotland, vol. i ; 
 Abercromhy's Martial Achievements of the Scots Nation, edition 1762, vol. i, p: 
 391 ; Torfceus's History of Orcades, pp. 165, 166. 
 
 * Appendix, Note iv, "Castles taken by the Norwegians." 
 
 CHAP. V. R
 
 130 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 havoc, west and east, but lost ten ships at a place called 
 Skipafiord." l 
 
 The Norwegian king unwisely allowed himself to be 
 entangled in negotiations with the wily Scots, who art- 
 fully prolonged them, in hopes that the equinoctial gales, 
 which they daily expected, would drive the foreigners from 
 their shores. In this case they had not calculated wholly 
 without foundation, for on the first of October a dread- 
 ful hurricane arose, which destroyed, as above stated, ten 
 of the foraging vessels in Loch Long. 2 Nor was the grand 
 fleet in the Clyde more fortunate. " The troubled floods 
 swept many fair gallies anchorless before their waves." 3 
 Even the king's ship, which was held by eight anchors, was 
 driven from its moorings and his majesty got on shore to 
 save his life, at great personal hazard. The tempest con- 
 tinuing to rage with unabated violence during the suc- 
 ceeding day, many of Haco's fleet were stranded on the 
 beach near Largs, which was no sooner observed by the 
 Scots than they assembled in numbers, and attacking 
 the stranded ships succeeded in carrying off considerable 
 booty ere Haco, with the remaining part of his army, 
 could render them any assistance. 
 
 When the storm had abated the Norwegians disem- 
 barked, and having taken up a strong position at the 
 side of a hill, prepared to withstand the Scots whom they 
 saw advancing in formidable array. " In the Scottish 
 
 1 Norwegian Account of Haco's Expedition, p. 32. 
 
 2 In the confines of the counties of Argyll and Dumbarton there is a bay, which 
 is now called Loch-Loung, a Gaelic word of the same import with the Skipafiord of 
 the Norse, which, according to Torfaeus, signified the bay of ships. — Macpherson's 
 Dissertations, London, 1768, p. 296. 
 
 3 Saga of Snorro Sturlson, verse loth. This bard accompanied the expedition of 
 Haco to sing " The triumphs of the King." The domestic bard of the Welsh king, 
 in like manner, accompanied the army when they marched into the enemy's country, 
 and as they prepared for battle, he sung an ancient poem, called Unbernriaeth Pry- 
 dain, or the monarchy of Britain. For this service, he was rewarded with the best 
 beast taken on that expedition. — Warrington's History of Wales, London, 1788, 
 
 p. 156.
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 131 
 
 army were one hundred and fifty knights ; all the horses 
 had breastplates and there were many steeds in complete 
 armour, besides a numerous array of foot soldiers." The 
 right wing of the Scottish army was commanded by 
 Alexander Stewart of Dondonald, 1 the left by Sir Patrick 
 Dunbar, and the centre by the king himself. 
 
 A.D. 3rd Oct., 1263. It appears that the Scots com- 
 menced the battle with great impetuosity. Showers of 
 weapons were poured upon the Norwegians, who defended 
 themselves and retired in good order. But when they 
 approached the sea, each one hurrying faster than another, 
 their companions on the beach imagined they were routed; 
 some therefore leaped into the boats and pushed off from 
 the land. Andrew Pott 2 leaped over two boats into a 
 third and so escaped. Many boats went down and some 
 men were lost. 
 
 In the Norwegian list of the slain, Haco of Steini, the 
 
 1 Alexander Stewart of Paisley had a son Alexander, who, for his good services 
 against the Norwegians at the battle of the Largs, had a grant of the lands of Garlis 
 and Glasserton in Wigtonshire, from Alexander III. These lands are yet possessed 
 by that noble family. Garlis is the title of the eldest son of the Earl of Galloway. — 
 Peerage of Scotland, edition 1826, vol. i, p. 311. 
 
 2 Andrew was one of ten barons, whose duty it was to attend the person of the 
 king. His name is frequently mentioned by Torfaeus in his account of Haco's ex- 
 pedition, but by running away, he probably fell into disgrace, as he was not present 
 at the king's death at Kirkwall, which the other barons were. — Flateyan and 
 Frisian MSS., translated by Johnstone. 
 
 How widely different is the Norwegian poet's account of the battle from that given 
 by the Norwegian historian : — 
 
 1 
 
 "The champions of Nordmaera's Lord saluted the stout harnessed barons with 
 the rough music of battle. The train of the supporters of thrones, courageous and 
 clad in steel, marched to the din of clashing swords. 
 
 2 
 
 " At the conflict of corselets on the blood red hill, the gleaming blade hewed the 
 mail of the hostile tribes, ere the Scot, nimble as the hound, would leave the field to 
 the followers of our all conquering king. 
 
 3 
 
 "Where cuirasses rung, our generous youth surrounded the illustrious giver of 
 bracelets. The birds of prey were gluttonously filled with lifeless limbs. What 
 great chieftain shall revenge the fate of the renowned wearer of the belt ?" — Saga of 
 Snorro Sturlson, translated by Johnstone.
 
 132 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAX. 
 
 king's nephew, several barons of the royal household, and 
 three masters of the lights are mentioned, but no account 
 is given of the total number, neither do our Scottish 
 historians agree on this subject. 1 That the slaughter 
 was great, however, on the part of the Norwegians may 
 reasonably be inferred from the circumstance of their 
 having," 7 under a truce, taken five days to bury their dead. 2 
 
 Steering homeward, Haco parted with Dugall Konongr 
 and Allan, his brother, at the Calf of Mull, Magnus, 
 king of Man, having returned previously to his kingdom. 3 
 
 A.D. 1264. Despairing of assistance from Norway, and 
 not being able to resist the power of Alexander single- 
 handed, Magnus met that monarch at Dumfries, when on 
 his way to Man, did homage to him there, and became 
 bound to furnish him with five galleys of twenty oars each, 
 and as many of twelve oars each as often as required. 4 
 Alexander granting him a charter by which he held the 
 Island from the crown of Scotland. 5 
 
 1 " In this battell whilk were faught at Largs, on the third day of October in the 
 year 1263, there were slaine of the Danes and Norwegians 24000, of the Scots 5000." 
 — Hollinshead's Chronicles of Scotla?id, vol. i, p. 403. "The Danes at Largs were 
 utterly routed with the slaughter of twenty-four thousand of their number and not 
 above five thousand Scots." — Burton's History of Scotland, Westminster, edition 
 1813, p. 107. "There were slain at that battle (at Largs) sixteen thousand Nor- 
 wegians and five thousand Scots." — Buchanan's History of Scotland, book vii ; 
 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, London, 1736, p. 423 ; Fordun, book x, cap. xv. 
 
 2 Torfceus, p. 4 — 47. The plains of Largs, on which this battle was fought, was 
 lately denuded, by the hand of agriculture, of those rude obelisks, cairns, stone cof- 
 fins, urns, and bones, with broken weapons buried there. — Heron's History of Scot- 
 land, vol. i, p. 333. " Upone y e northe syde of y e towne ther is a pairt, called by 
 y e vulgar y c prissin fold, quher ther wer a grate number of Danes enclosed and taken 
 prissiners at y e battle of y e Largis." — Pout's Cunninghame Topographized, p. 17, 
 printed from papers in the Advocates' Library, for private circulation, by my friend 
 James Dobie, esquire, of Beith, Ayrshire, a zealous antiquary. 
 
 3 Torfatus, p. 4 — 47 ; Transactions of Soc. of Antiquaries, vol. ii, part ii, p. 386. 
 
 4 Fordun not unaptly calls them piratical vessels. — Hailes's Annals of Scotland, 
 a.d. 1266 ; Heron's History of Scotland, vol. i, p. 334. According to another 
 account the Scotch invaded the Sudereys with an army. They also went south and 
 obliged King Magnus to take the oaths of allegiance. — Observations on the Norwe- 
 gian Expedition against Scotland, ap. Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries 
 of Scotland, vol. ii, part ii, p. 403. 
 
 5 Calendars of Ancient Charters with Rolls and Schedules of Fealties done in
 
 NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 133 
 
 A.D. 12G5. Magnus died in his castle of Rushen, and 
 was buried in the abbey church of St. Mary's, which he 
 had finished and caused to be dedicated. He died with- 
 out issue. 1 
 
 He was the ninth and last of the race of Goddard Cro- 
 van, who ruled in Man. This family had for nearly two 
 hundred years been honoured with the title of king, 
 though, in effect, they were only lieutenants to the crown 
 of Norway. We should have drawn a veil over many 
 parts of their history had our design been only to adorn 
 a tale, and not to delineate with a faithful pencil the por- 
 traiture of men and manners. 
 
 the Isle of Man, London, 1772, p. 344 ; Fordun, ap. Goodal, vol. ii, book x, cap. 
 xviii, p. 101. 
 
 1 Chronicles of Man, ap. Camden.
 
 134 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 APPENDIX.-— Chapter V. 
 
 NOTE I.— Page 109. 
 
 CEREMONY OF CROWNING THE KINGS OF THE ISLES. 
 
 The kings of the Isles were generally crowned in the small Isle of Finlagan, in Isla. 
 In Martin's time (1688) some relics of their grandeur were extant. A stone of seven 
 feet square was to be seen, in which there was a deep impression made to receive the 
 feet of the king during the ceremony of coronation. Reginald, or Donald, was 
 crowned standing on this stone, and swore he would continue his vassals in possession 
 of their lands, and do exact justice to all his subjects ; and then his father's sword 
 was put into his hands. The bishop of the Isles and seven priests anointed him in 
 the presence of all the heads of the clans that were his vassals. — Martin's Account of 
 the Western Isles, London, 1716, p. 240. This custom of crowning the king upon 
 a stone seems to be derived from the practice of the Scandinavians : — ' ' Near the city 
 of Upsal there is a large stone of the field which the inhabitants call Morasten, that 
 hath in its circumference twelve lesser than it, fast set in the ground. In this place 
 the senators, or councillors of the kingdom, used to meet to choose and crown the 
 king, who stood on the centre stone." — Olaus Magnus' s Hist, of the North. Nations, 
 London, 1658, pp. 12, 105. The king was afterwards confirmed by the catholic 
 bishop. This was engrafting Christianity upon Druidism, for, before the introduction 
 of Christianity, the Arch Druid had very probably performed a similar ceremony in 
 the same temple. 
 
 NOTE II.— Page 110. 
 
 GALLOWGLASSES. 
 
 Sir James Ware, in his Antiquities of Ireland, says, " The Gallo-glasses were 
 armed with an iron head-piece and a coat of defence stuck with iron nails, wearing a 
 long sword by their sides, and bearing in one hand a broad axe with an extreme keen 
 edge, after the manner of those ancient Gauls whom Marcellinus mentions."
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. V. NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 135 
 
 " That these foot soldiers, thus armed, were used by the Irish in imitation of what 
 they saw amongst the English, after their first arrival, is pretty manifest from the 
 name Gallo-glass, which signifies no more than an English servitor ; Gall-oylach, 
 in Irish, importing an English servant." Dr. Ledwich treats of them as follows : — 
 " The other foot soldiers of the Irish were Gallo-glasses, these seem to have taken 
 their name from two Irish words — Gal-c/lac, the courageous hand." Spencer thinks 
 the word comes from Gal-ogla, the English servitor. He says, " They were dressed 
 in a long shirt of mail armour down to the calf of the leg, with a broad axe in then- 
 hand. O'Neil's Gallo-glasses in 1562 bore battle-axes." 
 
 It was the opinion of Abraham Lionel Jenkins who assisted Harris in his history of 
 the county of Down, that the Gallo-glasses were originally Scots, hired by the Irish 
 chiefs in their domestic wars. Martin, in his account of the Western Isles, informs 
 us that every chief had an armour-bearer who was called Gallo-glach, and finally, that 
 Moryson always distinguished them from their countrymen who invaded and con- 
 quered the Route and Glins of Ulster — the latter, he calls Scots, the former, Gallo- 
 glasses. 
 
 Shakespear, in Macbeth, brings these soldiers from the Hebrides : 
 
 " The merciless Macdonel from the Western Isles, 
 Of Kernes and Gallo-glasses is supplied." 
 
 NOTE III.— Page 113. 
 
 SURRENDER OF THE KINGDOM OF THE ISLES TO THE POPE. 
 
 "To the most Holy Father and Lord Honorius, by the grace of God, supreme Pon- 
 tiff', Reginald, king of the Isles, kisseth his feet, and sendeth greeting. Be it known 
 to your holy paternity, that we, as being partakers of the benefits derived from those 
 things that are done in the Roman church according to the admonition and exhorta- 
 tion of the beloved Father in God, Peter, Lord Bishop of Norwich, elect chamber- 
 lain, and apostolic legate, have given and offered in the name of the church of Rome, 
 and yours, and of your Catholic successors, our Island of Man, which belongs to us 
 by right of inheritance, and for which we are not bound to do service to any ; and 
 henceforward we and our heirs for ever will hold the said Island as a grant from the 
 church of Rome, and will do homage and fealty to it ; and as a recognition of domi- 
 nion, in the name of a tribute we and our heirs for ever will pay annually to the 
 church of Rome, twelve marks stg., in England, at the abbey of Fumes, of the Cis- 
 tercian order, upon the Feast Purification of the B. V. Mary. And if there should 
 not be any person there on the behalf of you and your successors, the said twelve 
 marks shall be deposited by us and our heirs with the abbot and convent, in the name 
 of the church of Rome. This grant and oblation the said lord legate accepts accord- 
 ing to your will and pleasure ; and after acceptance so made by him, he, the said lord
 
 136 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 legate, gave to me and my heirs the said Island, to be possessed and held in fee for 
 ever, in the name of the church of Rome ; and thereupon invested me in the same 
 by a ring of gold, &c. Done at London, in the house of the Knight's Templars, the 
 22nd September, anno 1219 ; and that no doubt may remain concerning the premises, 
 we have caused this instrument to be made and sealed with our seals." — Seacome's 
 Hist, of the House of Stanley, p. 515. 
 
 NOTE IV.— Page 129. 
 
 CASTLES TAKEN BY THE NORWEGIANS. 
 
 The castle of Ayr was built in 1197 by William the Lion, as a barrier against the 
 men of Galloway. — Hailes's Annals, vol. i, p. 136. It was the most important sta- 
 tion that Haco could have occupied on the frith of Clyde. In 1297, John de Hid- 
 dleston was keeper of the castle of Ayr. — Rymer, vol. 2, p. 730. After the fight of 
 Falkirk, Bruce caused it to be burnt; but it was re-built by the English. When 
 Bruce landed in Carrick, Sir Ingram Umpherville was keeper of the castle of Ayr. 
 After the English were defeated at Loudon-hill, Ralph de Morthumer, Earl of Glou- 
 cester, took refuge here. Bruce blockaded it without success. — Hailes's Annals, vol. 
 ii, p. 20. In 1314, Edward Bruce rendezvoused here 7000 men under Fergus de 
 Ardrossan and Sir Philip Mowbray (Barbour book v). It was taken in 1336 (Life 
 of David ii) ; and again by Lord Randulph Nevelle in 1347 (Abercromby, vol. ii; 
 Echord, book ii, p. 322). Cromwell built the present fort ; but left the castle 
 standing on the N.E. corner (Exploits of the Border, p. 250). The citadel of Ayr 
 was granted by Charles ii. to the Earl of Eglantine who sold it to the Earl of Cassills 
 for £1000. Broadwic castle, also in the Isle of Arran, is still a large edifice ; it was 
 formerly a very strong garrison, and is mentioned by Fordun, the oldest Scots histo- 
 rian (Scotich, lib. ii, cap. x), as belonging to the crown ; it is of unknown antiquity. 
 There was likewise a strong castle in Lamlash, erected by Somerled (Macculloch's 
 Western Isles, London, 1824, vol. ii, p. 28). 
 
 That the castle of Ayr, in consequence of Haco's threatened invasion, was, 
 before his arrival in the Clyde, re-inforced and provisioned for a siege, appears from 
 the following account of Walter, Earl of Menteith, then sheriff of Ayr : — 
 
 " For three dozen of yew boughs bought at the shop of the Balis t arum. 
 
 " Item. The Earl requires to be placed to his credit the custom of eleven score 
 stones of iron for making 1770 querellis, and likewise for the making nine score 
 stones of iron. 
 
 " Item. For salt for the castle, xxs. 
 
 " Item. For ten chalders of oatmeal for the castle, ix. 
 
 "Item. For vi. chalders of corn for the castle, 1. ix. hi*. 
 
 " Item. For corn received from the men of Kyle and Carrick, and which they 
 kept on their farms from the term of St. Martin, xviii. Ii. xvi.s.
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. V. NORWEGIAN LINE OF KINGS. 137 
 
 " Item. For fifty-six cows received for the service of our Lord the King at Bre- 
 wevill, (Fort Barnweill) ix. li. ii'us. 
 
 " Item. For building ships for the King's sen-ice at Ayre, j£60 15 8. 
 
 " Item. For cutting and making seven score of oars, vii. merks. 
 
 "Item. For four men watching the ships of our Lord the King for xxiii week3, 
 xvis. ixd." 
 
 Fordun and Winton, the oldest of our Scottish historians, give a detailed account 
 of Haco landing at Ayr. Buchanan says Haco came to the Ayr and there landed 
 an army of 20,000 men ; that he took Arran and Bute, and went to Largs where he 
 was defeated. Hollinshead says, Haco besieged the castle of Ayr, and spoiled the 
 adjacent country. But the Norwegian account states expressly, that Haco sailed 
 direct up the Frith of Clyde from Lamlash to Fairlie Rond. This statement is 
 strengthened by the following claim made by the Earl of Menteith, as sheriff of Ayr : 
 
 The sheriff requests that there may be placed to his credit " the expence of one 
 hundred and twenty hired soldiers, maintained by him in the castle of Ayr fcr three 
 weeks, for defence of the same, upon the burgesses of Ayr refusing to do so, although 
 required by the king." — Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 
 vol. ii, p. ii, edit. 1831, pp. 387 — 391. 
 
 I am sorry to see so serious an imputation against the loyalty and public spirit of 
 the burgesses of Ayr at that period. 
 
 CHAP. VI.
 
 138 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ENGLISH AND SCOTCH GOVERNMENT, FROM A.D. 1266 TO 1405. 
 
 Retrospective glance at Norwegian History — Death of Haco — The Isle 
 of Man ceded by treaty to Scotland — Death of Magnus the last King 
 of Man of the Norwegian Line — Ivar the Usurper slain in Battle — 
 Man governed by a Lieutenant named Goddard — Succeeded by Allan 
 the instigator of a sanguinary Combat at which he is crushed to death 
 — Animosity allayed by the policy of Maurice kerf air — Brenus, the 
 next Scottish Governor who first taught the Islanders the Art of 
 Fishing, is slain — Succeeded by Donald and Richard de Bur go — 
 Edward's Troops take possession of the Island — Resigned under 
 Seisine to John Baliol — William, Earl of Douglas, called the Hardy, 
 Governor of Man — The Island reverts to the Crown of England — 
 Retaken by Robert the Bruce — Plundered by Richard de Manderille 
 — Mantholine, the Scotch Governor, writes against Witchcraft — The 
 Earl of Salisbury crowned King of Man — Man plundered by two 
 Scotch Earls — The Island sold by Salisbury to Sir William Scroope 
 — Reverts to the King of England, who grants it first to Percy, Earl 
 of Northumberland, and afterwards to Sir John Stanley. 
 
 Haco's unsuccessful descent at Largs was the last at- 
 tempt at conquest made by the Norwegians, who had dis- 
 turbed more than any other nation for a period of five 
 hundred years the peace of Europe, who had given kings 
 to England and Sicily, dukes to Normandy, and nobles 
 to every state in Christendom. Nations like families and 
 individuals have their periods of prosperity and adversity, 
 and Alexander was too good a politician to allow his 
 victory at Largs to pass away unfelt by the Norwegian 
 monarchy. The king of Man, unable longer to support 
 his independence, submitted to his rule, 1 and the most 
 
 1 Letter of the King of Man acknowledging that he held the land of Man from the 
 king of Scotland in Calendars of Ancient Charters, London, 1772, p. 328 ; Hailes's 
 Annals of Scotland, vol. i, p. 177 ; Heron's History of Scotland, vol. i, p. 334 ; 
 Macculloch's Western Isles, vol. iii, p. 52 ; Hollinshead's Chronicles, vol. i, p. 405.
 
 ENGLISH AND SCOTCH GOVERNMENT. 139 
 
 refractory chiefs of the iEbudsD were forced to do so like- 
 wise. 
 
 Haco the aged, called Hagenson, 1 died at Kirkwall in 
 Orkney, a few weeks after he left the Clyde, and was suc- 
 ceeded in the sovereignty of Norway by his son Magnus 
 VI, called by his subjects Lagebetter? Unwilling to part 
 with so manv islands in the western seas, which had been 
 under the control of the Scandinavian government since 
 the days of Magnus Nudipes, Magnus sent two of the 
 great barons of his kingdom, Askatin chancellor, and 
 Andrew the son of Nicholas baron to the court of Alex- 
 ander, to treat for their restoration, but finding that pro- 
 posal rejected, after various negotiations, in which Henry 
 of England undertook to be mediator, a treaty was signed 
 at Perth* in 12(36, ceding Man and the Hebrides to the 
 king of Scotland, " with all right to the episcopacy of 
 Man, and the laws, jurisdiction and liberties of the church 
 of Nidrosien, which the king of Norway possessed," in 
 consideration of 4000 marks sterling of the Roman stan- 
 dard, or of the coin of France, England, or Scotland, in 
 four yearly payments of 1000 marks each ; 3 and also an 
 annual quit-rent of 100 marks sterling for ever, to be 
 delivered to the king of Norway at the church of St. 
 Magnus, in Orkney, yearly, within eight days of the 
 anniversary of St. John the Baptist. 4 
 
 1 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, London, 1 736, table cxc. 
 
 2 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, Khigs of Norway, ut supra. 
 * Appendix, Note i, " Charter." 
 
 3 Observations on the Norwegian Expedition against Scotland, ap. Transactions 
 of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. ii, part ii, p. 396. 
 
 4 Torfaus's History of Norway, vol. iv, part iv, book vi, cap. iii ; Johnstone's 
 Cello Scandica, 1786; Hailes's Annals, vol. i, p. 178; Fordun, 10, 19 ; Heron's 
 Hist, of Scotland, vol. i, p. 334. In the Calendars of Ancient Charters, Scottish 
 Rolls, and Schedules of Fealties done in the Isle of Man, kept in the Tower of Lon- 
 don, appears " A mandate of the king of Norway regarding the restoration of peace 
 — the final conclusion of war between the king of Norway and Scotland— and the 
 Authority of the king of Norway to receive from the king of Scotland 1100 marks 
 for the first year's payment."— Calendar of Ancient Charters, London, 1772, pp. 
 329,344.
 
 140 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 Both parties became bound to fulfil their respective 
 obligations under a penalty of 10,000 marks, to be ex- 
 acted by the Pope ; and in a note to the treaty it was 
 agreed that the conquered should not be made slaves as 
 formerly. 
 
 This treaty was afterwards ratified by Robert I. of 
 Scotland, and Haco V. of Norway, in 1312, and again in 
 1426 by James I. of Scotland, and Eric the VIII. of 
 Pomerania, king of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. 1 
 
 At the death of Magnus, the last of the Norwegian 
 kings of Man, in 1265, the Western Isles had not sub- 
 mitted to Alexander, which left the Manks some room to 
 hope that the young king of Norway would yet prevent 
 their kingdom becoming an integral part of the kingdom 
 of Scotland. Cherishing this hope the widow of the king, 
 a woman of haughty and intriguing spirit, made every 
 exertion in her power to place Ivar the person who mur- 
 dered his brother-in-law Reginald, on the vacant throne 
 of Man. 2 
 
 Ivar, then in the prime of life, and, as it is said, " pos- 
 sessed of virtues enough to save a nation, and vices enough 
 to ruin it," readily embraced the offer of his friend, and 
 was supported by the voice of the people. 
 
 These proceedings having taken place without the con- 
 sent of the Scottish king, Alexander sent an army under 
 the command of Alexander Steuart of Paisley, 3 and John 
 Cumin 4 to reduce the Island to a state of obedience. — 
 These troops disembarked at Derbyhaven on the 7th of 
 
 1 Hist, of the Oreades, edition 1697; Gibson's Camden's Britt. vol. ii, p. 1443. 
 To the duplicate of the original treaty which was to remain in the possession of the 
 king of Norway was appended the seal of the king of Scots, as well as to the dupli- 
 cates of these confirmations which were likewise to remain with king Haquin. — Ro- 
 dertson's Index of Ancient Charters, p. 101. 
 
 2 Scacome's History, p. 533. 
 
 3 This person in Dcbrctt's Peerage of the United Kingdom, is erroneously called 
 Walter (v. ii, p. 5 45). 
 
 4 Hollinshead, vol. i, p. 404 ; Fordun, vol. iii, pp. 468, 471 ; Hector Boetius, 
 book xiii, folio 287 ; Rymer's Foedera, vol. xi, p. 205.
 
 ENGLISH AND SCOTCH GOVERNMENT. 141 
 
 October, 1270, and next morning before sunrise a battle 
 was fought, in which 537 ' of the islanders fell. 8 Among 
 these was Ivar who fought bravely for the expiring liberty 
 of his country. 
 
 The first lieutenant placed by the king of Scotland in 
 Man was Goddard, son of Manus, 3 who, being a person 
 of just and amiable disposition, was highly esteemed in 
 the Island ; but who, it is said, " refusing to have any 
 concern in the murder of the three brothers descended 
 from one of the former kings of Man," was removed from 
 the office after having held the government of the Island 
 four years. 
 
 1274. Goddard Mc Manus was succeeded by Allan, 
 the son of a Scottish earl, 4 whose name I have not as- 
 certained. Cruel and imperious, he studied more the 
 pleasure of his royal master than the happiness of tlie 
 people he was sent to govern. The Manks followed their 
 hereditary kings with cheerful and active obedience, but 
 under Allan their only study seemed how they might 
 legally disobey. This increased his severity to such an 
 extent that they at length grew desperate and rose uni- 
 versally against the Scottish authority with the resolution 
 of either overturning it entirely, or falling in the attempt. 
 By the interposition, however, of bishop Mark, a Scotch- 
 man, who was appointed to the see by Alexander, they 
 agreed to limit the dispute to a combat of thirty on each 
 side. 5 The Manksmen lost the day, all their combatants 
 having fallen, while the Scots lost twenty-five. Allan, 
 called the Thane, who had been the occasion of this 
 
 1 On this event, so fatal to Manks independence, some poetaster composed the fol- 
 lowing distich : — 
 
 "Ten L*s, thrice X, with V and II did fall. 
 Ye Manks take care, or suffer more ye shall." 
 
 Chronicles of Man, ap. Camden. 
 
 * Johnstone's Celto Normanicai, p. 152. 
 3 Hollinshead, vol. i, p. 404. 
 
 * Southwell, ap. Hollinshead' s Chron. of Scotland, vol. i, p. 404. 
 5 Sacheverell, ap. Ward's Ancient Records, p. 10.
 
 142 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 quarrel, was pressed to death by the multitude as he stood 
 a spectator of the combat. This was the last struggle of 
 the Manks against the power of Alexander, who sent to 
 succeed Allan in his government of Man, 1279, Maurice, 
 the grandson of Castelan, by some writers called Okerfair. 1 
 He was a wise and worthy magistrate, in whom the ex- 
 actness of the soldier gave an air of rigour to the laws, 
 and the fineness of the gentleman softened their rigour in 
 execution. By an excellent mixture of moderation and 
 severity he made it his business to allay the animosities 
 of the two factions, and so far succeeded that he caused 
 thirty cross marriages to be celebrated in one day. He 
 died in 1282, equally lamented by the Manks and the 
 Scots. 
 
 1282. He was succeeded by Brenus, 2 who pursued the 
 gentle and moderate principles of his predecessor. He 
 taught the people the art of fishing ; but in the fifth year 
 of his government he was unhappily slain in a rencounter 
 with a party of Highlanders in Lorn. 
 
 1287. He was succeeded by Donald, a person of high 
 reputation, but how long he held the government is un- 
 certain. 
 
 1290. King Edward I. took the kingdom of Man un- 
 der his protection at the special request of its inhabi- 
 tants. 3 
 
 1292. Richard de Burgo was governor of the Island 
 when it was delivered up to the troops of Edward I. 
 
 On that occasion, Edward appointed William Hunter- 
 combe guardian or warden of the Isle ; and in the same 
 year, of his special favour, ordered seisine of it to be 
 given to Baliol, to be held in the same manner as it had 
 been by Alexander III, " reserving his own right and the 
 
 1 Seacome, p. 538 ; Southwell, ap. Hollinshead' s Chron. of Scot., vol. i, p. 404. 
 1 Southwell, ap. Hollinshead' $ Chron. of Scot., vol. i, p. 404. 
 3 Rymer, vol. ii, p. 492.
 
 ENGLISH AND SCOTCH GOVERNMENT. 143 
 
 rights of all others. 1 The name of the person appointed 
 by Baliol to the government of Man is not recorded so 
 far as I can find ; but the following passage seems to 
 throw some light on this dark period of Manks history : 
 
 " William VII, Earl of Douglas, called the Hardie, or 
 Longlegge, died in 1307. It is said that he had the Isle 
 of Man, but whether as heritable possessor, or governor 
 only, is not known. It is well known, however, that this 
 Island belonged to the crown of Scotland, and that the 
 Douglasses had more than ordinary interest there ; Dou- 
 glas Castle, and Douglas Haven, which carry their names 
 to this day, do leave sufficient witness." 2 
 
 William VIII, Earl of Douglas, was governor of the 
 Castle of Berwick in 1295 ; but eight years afterwards, 
 having fallen into the hands of the English, he died in 
 prison. 3 
 
 Alexander III, king of Scotland, had by his queen, 
 Margaret, a family of three children, Alexander, David, 
 and Margaret. David died an infant, and Margaret was 
 married to Eric, king of Norway, in 1281. It was 
 agreed in the marriage contract that if prince Alexander 
 died without heirs, and the king, his father, left no issue 
 male, Margaret, queen of Norway, should succeed to the 
 crown of Scotland, and her children enjoy the same right, 
 in case she died before the king, her father. Shortly 
 afterwards, Alexander having lost his only surviving son, 
 and the queen of Norway having also died, after bringing 
 into the world a daughter called Margaret, he resolved to 
 perform the agreement above mentioned ; for which pur- 
 
 1 Rymer's Fcedera, vol. ii, p. 602, ap. Hailes's Annals, vol. i, pp. 224, 225. 
 About this time many revenue accounts, public writings, and records were delivered, 
 by the direction of Edward, to Alexander Baliol, chamberlain of Scotland, for the 
 use of the Scottish king, among which were " Rolls and Schedules of Fealties done 
 in the Isle of Man." — Calendar of Ancient Charters, pp. 109, 332 ; Tytler's His- 
 tory of Scotland, vol. i, p. 102. See also Coke's Institutes, cap. lxix, p. 284. 
 
 2 Hume of God' scroft's History of the Douglasses, Edinburgh, 1763, p. 20. 
 
 3 Hollinshead's Chronicles of Scotland, vol. i, p. 419 ; Scot. Peerage, Edinburgh, 
 1826, vol. i, p. 121.
 
 144 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 pose he obliged the Scotch barons to swear that, in case 
 he died without male issue, they would acknowledge the 
 young princess of Norway for their queen. 1 King Alex- 
 ander having been killed by a fall from his horse in 1285, 
 and the young princess of Norway having died about the 
 same time, the title to the crown of Scotland was warmly 
 contested by six competitors, all descended from David, 
 Earl of Huntingdon, younger brother of David, king of 
 Scots, and great uncle to the late monarch; but the king 
 of England 2 took upon himself the decision of this title, as 
 he pretended a right of superiority over the Scottish king- 
 dom from his ancestors, 3 and also claimed the sovereignty 
 of the Isle of Man. 4 
 
 On seisine being made of the Isle of Man to John 
 Baliol, Alfrica, daughter of Olave the Black, and sister of 
 Magnus, the last Island king of the Norwegian line, pre- 
 ferred her claim to the sovereignty of Man, and offered to 
 do homage to the king of Scotland for that holding ; but 
 not being able to obtain any redress from Baliol, she next 
 applied to Edward, as lord superior. 5 On this applica- 
 tion, king Edward commanded both the king of Scots, 
 and the claimant Alfrica to appear in the King's Bench, 
 to have the claim in issue decided there. This singular 
 writ, which is yet extant, 6 is directed to the sheriff of 
 Northumberland, who is commanded to deliver the same 
 to the king of Scotland in the presence of witnesses, and 
 thereafter to make a proper return. 7 
 
 The progress of this suit does not appear; but that the 
 right of Alfrica was confirmed, may be inferred from her 
 
 1 Daniel's Collection of the History of England, p. 190, ap. Roll on ike Sale of 
 the Isle of Man, London, 1773, pp. 25, 26. 
 
 2 Hollinshead's Description of Scotland, edition 1577, p. 295, lap. Roll ut supra. 
 
 3 Daniel's Collection of the His. of England, p. 204, 225, 245, ap. Roltut supra. 
 
 4 Roll ut supra. 
 
 n Campbell's Political Survey, vol. ii, p. 5. 
 
 6 De summitione regis Scotiae ex parte austricae consanguinese et heredis Magni 
 quondam regis Manniee pro terra de Man.— Calendars of Ancient Charters, memb. 5. 
 
 7 Rot. Scot. 21 Edward I, m. 4.
 
 ENGLISH AND SCOTCH GOVERNMENT. 145 
 
 having by a deed of gift, dated on the annunciation of 
 the Virgin Mary, a.d. 1305, conveyed her right and 
 interest in the Isle of Man, to her husband, Sir Simon 
 de Montacute, 1 whose son, Sir William, mortgaged the 
 revenues of the Island for seven years to Anthony Beek, 
 bishop of Durham, the patriarch of Jerusalem, to whom 
 the king afterwards made a grant of it for life. 2 
 
 1307. On the death of this crafty and covetous prelate, 
 Edward II. in one year made no less than three separate 
 grants of the Island, to as many favourites : the first was 
 to Piers de Graveston, the second to Gilbert de Mac Gas- 
 call, and the third to Henry de Beaumount, with all the 
 demesnes and royal jurisdiction thereto belonging. 3 These 
 frequent changes threw the Island into great confusion ; 
 but it afforded the Scots another opportunity of wresting 
 that unfortunate state from the grasp of its rival. 
 
 1310. The Scots, impatient of any rest from hostilities 
 until their country should be wholly free from the English 
 yoke, projected a winter invasion of the Isle of Man; but 
 as it would seem, were diverted from the prosecution of 
 that enterprise. Many of the inhabitants of the Isle were 
 already sufficiently hostile to Edward and to Bruce. It 
 
 1 Dodeworth's Collections, vol. xxx, p. 114. 
 
 2 Willis in his History of Cathedrals, vol. i, p. 370, censures an author for saying 
 that this Island was mortgaged to Anthony Beek, yet bishop Godwin says, "this tur- 
 bulent prelate obtained from the king, either by prayers or price, the principality of 
 the Isle of Man, and held it for life." — Richardson's Edition of Prasulibus, p. 743. 
 Had Willis examined the Rot. Scot., 31, Edward I, he would have seen there a 
 " Scire Facias to Anthony Beek, bishop of Durham, to shew cause why he should not 
 render the Isle of Man." Anthony Beek was a prelate whose state was only exceeded 
 by his sovereign. His ordinary personal suite consisted of 140 knights. — Hutchin- 
 son's History of the County Palatine of Durham, p. 239. 
 
 3 Camden's Brittannica, p. 10G0. Gilbert M'Askel is again mentioned as governor 
 of Man in 1310 (Faedera, cap. iii, p. 238) ; and he is further stated to have previ- 
 ously held that office as steward (senescallus) for the bishop of Durham. He 
 appears to have been a commissary for the English army. In the last year of the 
 reign of Edward I, he presented an account of £"1215 3 4, expended by him in 
 defending the Isle of Man against the Scots, and likewise an account of .L 380 17 0, 
 for victuals delivered to the governor of the castle of Carlisle, while defending it 
 against the Scots; both sums were allowed and ordered to be paid. — Seacome, p. 5 11 . 
 
 CHAP. VI. T
 
 146 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 was by their intervention, and in their vessels that provi- 
 sions and military stores were conveyed to the Scots in 
 Galloway, from the western coasts of England. 1 
 
 In 1313 the Scots made a feint of invading Cumber- 
 land to conceal, as it would appear, the design of king 
 Robert Bruce against the Isle of Man. It was from the 
 Hebridean Isles chiefly that he procured the vessels, with 
 which he invaded the Island. 2 
 
 On the 18th of May he landed at Ramsey, and on the 
 Sunday following went to the monastery of Douglas, 
 where he remained all night. Next morning he laid siege 
 to the Castle of Rushen, which was commanded by Dun- 
 gal Macdoual. 3 
 
 But by this individual 4 it was nobly defended from 
 that time "till the Tuesday after the festival of St. Bar- 
 nabas," a period of six months. 5 Macdoual and a number 
 of his followers being then slain in a rencounter, the 
 castle surrendered to king Robert, 6 who ordered it to be 
 demolished along with all the other fortresses of the 
 
 1 Rymer's Fcedera, vol. iii, pp. 223 — 238; Hailes's Annals, vol. ii, p. 172; 
 Heron s History of Scotland, vol. ii, p. 133. 
 
 2 Rymer's Foedera, vol. iii, pp. 230 — 238 ; Anderson's Diplomata, pp. 24, 25. 
 In a charter granted by Bruce, a principal condition on the part of the person in 
 whose favour the deed was executed, was the furnishing a ship with forty oars yearly, 
 for forty days, for the royal service. — Heron's History of Scotland, vol. ii, p. 305. 
 
 3 Johnstone's Celto Normanica, p. 151. 
 
 4 This is probably the same individual, who, at the head of a number of Bruce's 
 Gallovidian enemies, had made his escape to the Isle of Man, (Documents regarding 
 the Arrest of certain Malefactors iy, the Isle of Man ; Calendars of Ancient Charters 
 in the Tower of London, p. 121,) and who is called by Chalmers "the most illus- 
 trious Celtic chief in Galloway." — Caledonia, vol. iii, p. 372. In Dugdale's Mo- 
 naslicon, vol. ii, p. 1051, we find Roland Macdowal in 1190 styled Princeps Gallo- 
 vidae. In the Chronicles of Man subjoined to Camden's Britannica, p. 1057, this 
 person is called Dingdwy Dowil. In the Annals of Ulster, 1313, he is called the Lord 
 Donegal O'Dowill. If he is a Gallovidian, I imagine him to have been that Dun- 
 gall Macdouall, who defeated and made prisoners the two brothers of the king of the 
 Scots, near Lochryan, on the 9th February, 1307. — Chalmer's Caledonia, vol. iii, 
 p. 373; Hailes's Annals of Scotland, vol. ii, p. 39. 
 
 5 Major's History of Scotland, book v, cap. i ; Carruther's ditto, 1826, vol. ii. 
 
 6 Heron's History of Scotland, vol. ii, p. 144.
 
 ENGLISH AND SCOTCH GOVERNMENT. 147 
 
 Island, 1 that they might not again become receptacles 
 for the enemy. 2 
 
 1313. The Island having thus ai>;ain fallen under the 
 dominion of the Scottish monarch, Randolph, earl of 
 Murray, received a grant of it from his uncle, king Robert 
 Bruce, with the title of Lord of Man. 3 Happily an im- 
 perfect idea can only be formed in modern times of . the 
 wretched condition to which nations were often reduced 
 by famine in the middle ages. England was afflicted 
 with such a grievous famine in the year 1315, that, in 
 some instances, bread could, with great difficulty, be ob- 
 tained for the king's table. 4 The Manks were not in a 
 much better state, and the distress of the Island was 
 greatly increased by the rapacity of a band of lawless 
 adventurers, by whom they were assailed. 5 In May 1316, 
 Richard de Mandeville and his brothers, John and Tho- 
 mas, with others of the Irish nobility, at the head of a 
 
 1 According to Fordun, Bruce, within the years 1307 and 1313, had taken and 
 cast down 137 castles and fortalices. — Ap. Goodal, vol. ii, p. 240. So that few 
 strengths now remain that can, on satisfactory grounds, be pronounced older than the 
 reign of this monarch. — Tytler's History of Scotland, vol. ii, p. 381. 
 
 2 Buchanan's History of Scotland, book viii ; Hollinshead's Chronicles, vol. i, 
 p. 436 ; Campbell's Political Survey of Great Britain, vol. ii, p. 564. Dr. Camp- 
 bell says, "The example set by Robert Bruce, in destroying the fortresses of the 
 Isle of Man after he had recovered it out of the hands of Edward I, had a very bad 
 effect, for, being followed by his successors, it left the Islands naked and defenceless, 
 which discouraged industry and made way for general indigence." — Vol. ii, p. 564. 
 By the Calendar j of Ancient Charters in the Tower, it appears there was a large 
 fleet sent from Scotland to the Isle of Man, and there is a document " For the King 
 regarding the fleet of Robert Bruce having moved from the Isle of Man." — London, 
 1772, pp. 121, 122. 
 
 3 Adam de Corrie witnessed a charter of Thomas Randolph, earl of Murray, 
 lord of Annandale and of the Isle of Man, to his nephew, William de Murray, of 
 the lands of Cumlagen and Ruthwell in Dumfriesshire. — Chalmer's Caledonia, vol. 
 iii, p. 67. There is a place near the town of Dumfries, called "The Isle of Man 
 Moss," which probably owes its name to the lord of Annandale being likewise lord of 
 Man . 1 1 is distinctly stated in the ancient MS. , preserved in Castle Rushen , that Edward 
 Bruce, the king of the Scots' brother, conquered the Island, a.d. 1308, but the 
 event is not recorded by any of the historians, whose works I have consulted. — 
 Robertson's Index of Ancient Charters, p. 9. 
 
 4 Hume's History of England, cap. xiv. 
 s Malte Brun, cap. clii.
 
 148 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 body of freebooters, landed at Ronaldswath demanding 
 provisions, cattle, and money from the inhabitants, who 
 were assembled at a distance to oppose their progress into 
 the country. Their request being rejected, the Irish 
 struck up their war-song of Crom-a-boo 1 and began to 
 prepare for battle. They formed into two divisions and 
 advanced towards the Manks till they came to the decli- 
 vity of Barrule, 2 where they united, and the engagement 
 commenced. At the onset about forty of the Manksmen 
 fell, the rest fled and were nearly all cut down by their 
 pursuers. The Irish afterwards plundered the country 
 of every thing valuable, and, at their leisure, dug up much 
 silver, which had been buried under ground, in various 
 places. They stripped the abbey of Rushen of all its 
 furniture, flocks, and cattle. Having spent a month in 
 thus plundering the Island, they stowed their ships with 
 the best effects of the country and steered homeward ; 3 
 but they were interrupted on their landing in Ireland by 
 Edward Bruce, brother of the king of Scotland : the two 
 younger Mandevilles were slain at Down. 4 This descent 
 caused the Scots to fit out a fleet for the defence of the 
 Island. 5 
 
 Thomas Randolph, earl of Murray, as is well known, 
 
 1 The words Crom-a-boo were abolished in Ireland as the name Macgregor was 
 in Scotland. An act was passed in the tenth year of the reign of Henry VII, cap. 
 20, abolishing the words Crom-a-boo, Butter-a-boo, Shanet-a-boo, Gabria-a-boo. 
 It was enacted, " That no person of whatever condition or degree do take part with 
 any lord or gentleman by using these words for the upholding of strife, contrary to 
 the king's laws, under pain of being committed to ward, there to remain without 
 bail or main prize, till they have made fine, after the discretion of the king's deputy 
 in Ireland." — Debrett's Peerage of the United Kingdom, vol. i, p. 9. 
 
 2 This mountain was then called " War-fell." 
 
 3 Johnstone's Celto Normanicce ; Chronicles of Man ; Sacheverell, p. 72. 
 
 4 Ware's Annals of Ireland, Dublin, 1705, p. 58. 
 
 5 Calendars of Ancient Charters, p. 132. In the ratification of the treaty con- 
 cluded at Edinburgh on 17th March, 1327, between king Robert I. and Edward III, 
 it was agreed that " if war should be levied in Ireland against the king of England, 
 or in the Isle of Man against the king of Scotland, neither of these kings should 
 assist the enemies of the other." — Robertson's Index, p. 102. 

 
 ENGLISH AND SCOTCH GOVERNMENT. 149 
 
 rose to be regent of Scotland, died in 1331, and was suc- 
 ceeded in all his honours by his son. The title of Lord 
 of Man continued hereditary in the family, and long after 
 the Island had passed into other hands, they continued 
 the arms of Man in their escutcheons. The first duke 
 of Albany was created in 1398, and yet we find he carried 
 on his shield the arms of the Isle of Man. 1 This circum- 
 stance has erroneously led some authors to suppose that 
 the duke of Albany /was governor of the Isle of Man, 
 which only tends to show how little they were acquainted 
 with the history of Scotland. 2 
 
 1329. When Murray was regent of Scotland, he sent 
 over Martholine, the king's almoner, to take care of reli- 
 gion in the Isle of Man and to reform the manners of the 
 people, who had sunk into a state of great ignorance. 
 Martholine wrote against witchcraft, a practice very fre- 
 quent there in those days, and he also minted a certain 
 copper coin with the king's effigy on one side and a cross 
 on the other. 3 
 
 1333. On the 20th May, Edward ordered possession 
 to be taken of the Isle of Man ; 4 but in the year follow- 
 ing, Edward Baliol presented himself to his liege lord, 
 did homage, and swore fealty for the whole kingdom of 
 Scotland and Isles adjacent. 5 
 
 1335. By a treaty of alliance between Edward Baliol 
 and John, lord of the Isles, it was specially provided that 
 the lord of the Isles should have a right to stand god- 
 father to any of Baliol's heirs. 6 
 
 1340. John de Ergadia, a potent person, having been 
 driven from Man in 1313, when the Island submitted to 
 
 1 Chronicles of Man, ap. Camden ; Grose's Antiquities of Scotland, London 
 edition, 1 797, vol. i, p. 88; Sir Walter Scott' a Prose Works, vol. vii, p. 110. 
 
 2 Sacheverell, p. 72 ; Seacome, p. 542. 
 
 3 Sacheverell, p. 72 ; IIoll ins head, vol, i, p. 405. 
 
 4 Ry»irr's Fwdcra, vol. iii, 558, ap. Hailes's Annals, vol. ii, pp. 1C2, 163. 
 
 5 Scala's Chronicles, ap. Lvland, vol. i, p. 554. 
 
 6 Hailes's Annals, vol. ii, p. 72.
 
 150 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 the Scots, and succeeding afterwards in raising forces in 
 Ireland, returned to the Island and drove out the Scots.* 
 For this brave action, king Edward III. granted him, in 
 1340, a competent maintenance for himself, his family, 
 and soldiers. 1 
 
 1341. It appears that the inhabitants were furnished 
 with documents relative to certain treaties with the 
 Scots. 2 
 
 1343. The Manks had purchasedfrom the Scots a truce 
 for twelve months, which it appears they were about to 
 pay this year in wheat. The vessel in her passage was 
 intercepted by some Irishmen ; but Edward issued a writ 
 to the Lord Justice of Ireland for her restoration. 3 
 
 The reader may perhaps remember that Reginald, 
 who was assassinated in a meadow near Rushen, in 
 a.d. 1249, left a daughter, Mary, 4 who, on the death 
 of Magnus, her uncle, was secretly conveyed to England, 
 " with all the public deeds and charters of the Island," 
 lest, by the intrigues of her faithless aunt, and her para- 
 mour Ivar, her life might be endangered. 5 In England 
 she was married to John de Waldeboef, and had a daugh- 
 ter likewise named Mary, to whom she left all her Manks 
 documents and other claims to the Island. 
 
 Notwithstanding the Scots being then in possession of 
 the Island, this lady presented to Edward III. the docu- 
 ments establishing her right to the sovereignty of Man. 
 That generous prince not only favoured her claim, but 
 prevailed on William Montacute, earl of Salisbury, 
 
 * Appendix, Noteii, " Family of Johnde Ergadia." 
 
 1 Sacheverell. 
 
 2 Calendar of Ancient Charters, p. 192. 
 
 3 Pnjnne's Animadversions on the 4th Institute, cap. lxix, p. 385. 
 
 4 In an ancient MS. preserved in the castle of Rushen, she is designated " Queen 
 of Man and Countess of Strathern." She might have been styled " Queen of Man," 
 in right of her father ; but I have not been able to ascertain accurately the grounds 
 on which the conjoined title of Countess of Strathern was conferred. 
 
 4 Seacome, pp. 21, 25.
 
 ENGLISH AND SCOTCH GOVERNMENT. 151 
 
 son of Sir William Montacute who mortgaged the Island 
 to Anthony Beek, to take her in marriage. 1 Each being 
 in the third degree of descent from Olave the black, 2 their 
 separate claims were thus united ; and Edward wishing 
 to wrest the Island from the Scots, furnished the earl 
 with ships and soldiers to accomplish that object. 
 
 According to Speed, the historian, the earl of Salisbury 
 was magnanimous, generous, and brave. With the troops 
 placed at his disposal, he succeeded in conquering the 
 Island from the Randolph family ; and in the year 1344 
 he was with great pomp crowned king of Man and the 
 Isles. 3 
 
 1357. Peace was concluded between England and 
 Scotland, in which truce the Isle of Man was specially 
 included. 4 
 
 1364. When the Scottish parliament, which met at 
 Perth on the 13th January, deliberated as to the means 
 of a solid peace with England, it was proposed to give the 
 son of Edward III. lands in Galloway, which had been 
 the property of the late Edward Baliol, and also, the 
 Isle of Man, which was valued at 1000 marks; 5 but this 
 proposal was never carried into effect. What authority 
 the Scots had to bestow the Isle of Man on the king of 
 England's son, at the time it was possessed by an English 
 subject in virtue of a grant from the English king, is not 
 explained ; nor have I been able to discover the grounds 
 on which they acted. Conjecture, unsupported by histori- 
 cal evidence, makes but slow progress in convincing the 
 understanding ; and the most plausible species of logical 
 
 1 Gibson's Camden, p. 1059. 
 
 2 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, table 535, p. 795; Antiq. Sarisburiensis , 
 8vo., Easton, 1771. 
 
 3 Daniel Stow, ap. Gibson's Camden; Antiq. Sarisburiensis; Macpherson, pp. 
 304, 305. 
 
 4 Guthrie's History of Scotland, vol. ii, p. G6 ; Robertson's Index, p. 107. 
 
 s Robertson's Par., Rec. 101, ap. Chalmer's Caledonia, vol. Hi, p. 267; Robert- 
 son's Index of Ancient Charters, p. 109.
 
 152 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 dexterity proves only a poor substitute for historical ac- 
 curacy. It was stipulated that if the earl of Salisbury 
 should claim the Isle of Man as his property, an annuity 
 of 1000 marks sterling should be paid to the prince until 
 lands to the same value should be settled on him, provided 
 always that he was willing to hold the same as a sworn 
 vassal of the king of Scotland. This offer was an equiva- 
 lent for the part of the ransom of David II, which 
 remained unpaid. 1 
 
 In 1372, George de Dunbar, earl of March, was Domi- 
 nus Vallis Mannise. 2 
 
 1388. No sooner had the truce between England and 
 Scotland expired than war broke out again with in- 
 creased fury. The earls of Fife and Douglas overran 
 Northumberland and Westmoreland. They afterwards 
 proceeded to Ireland, plundered the town of Carlingford, 
 and loaded fifteen ships, which they found in the harbour, 
 with their booty. From thence they set sail for the 
 Isle of Man, then belonging to the Montacute family, 
 the professed enemies of the Scots, which they plun- 
 dered also, and returned with their spoil to Scotland. 3 
 
 1389. In the truce, concluded between France and 
 England, at Lelingham church, in France, on 19th June, 
 1389, to continue till 16th August, 1392, the allies of 
 both crowns had the liberty of being included. The allies 
 of France, who accepted this offer, were among others, the 
 king of Scotland and the earl of March for the Isle of 
 Man. On the part of England, the kings of Portugal 
 and Arragon, with the earl of Salisbury for the Isle of 
 Man, likewise. From this it may reasonably be inferred 
 that the two earls were at war respecting the Isle of 
 Man — not as subjects of their respective sovereigns, but 
 
 1 Tytler's History of Scotland, vol. ii, pp. 152, 153. 
 
 2 Robertson's Index of Ancient Charters, p. 136. 
 
 3 Hollinshead's Chron. vol. ii, p. 37 ; Guthrie's Hist, of Scot., vol. iii, p. 145 ; 
 Tytler's History of Scotland, vol. iii, p. 49, Edinburgh, edit. 1828.
 
 ENGLISH AND SCOTCH GOVERNMENT. 153 
 
 as independent princes. 1 Kino- Robert Bruce, when on 
 his death bed, recommended that the YEbudse, of which 
 the Isle of Man formed a part, should always be placed in 
 the hands of various persons who should not be permitted 
 to continue long in office ; and it is probably by the acting 
 upon this plan that so little is now known of the govern- 
 ment of the Island from the time of his death till it fell 
 finally into the hands of the English. 
 
 1393. In the year after the expiry of the truce of 
 Lelingham, the earl of Salisbury sold the Island and his 
 crown to Sir William le Scroop, the king's chamberlain. 
 The deed of sale runs thus : — " Sir William le Scroop 
 bought of William Montacute, earl of Salisbury, the Isle 
 of Man, with the title of kino - and the right of being 
 crowned with a golden crown." 2 
 
 1399. Sir William le Scroop, afterwards earl of Wilt- 
 shire, having been attainted and beheaded for treason, the 
 Isle of Man was granted by king Henry IV. to Henry 
 Percy, earl of Northumberland, by the following record : 
 " We, of our special grace, have given and granted to 
 Henry, earl of Northumberland, the Isle, Castle Peel, and 
 lordship of Man, with all such Island and seignories there- 
 unto belonging, as were the property of Sir William 
 Scroop, knight, deceased, whom, in his life, we conquered, 
 and do declare to be conquered, which the said earl, his 
 heirs, and successors are to hold by service of carrying on 
 every coronation day of us and our heirs, either by him- 
 self in person or by some sufficient and honourable deputy, 
 that sword, naked, which we wore when we arrived at 
 Holderness, called the Lancaster sword." 3 
 
 Four years after the earl of Northumberland had 
 obtained this grant, he was attainted and banished ; and, 
 
 1 Guthrie's History of Scotland, vol. iii, p. 151. 
 
 2 Anderson' 's Royal Genealogies, table 535, p. 798. 
 
 3 Continuation of the Chronicles of the Kings of Man, ap. Camden's Bri/annica, 
 vol. ii ; Charter of the Island, cap. xix ; Appendix, Note i. 
 
 CHAP. VI. U
 
 154 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 although the attainder was afterwards taken off, the earl 
 was deprived of the Isle of Man by act of parliament, 
 and it was ordered to be seized for the king's use ; but, 
 in the seventh year of his reign, Henry IV. made a grant 
 of it to Sir John de Stanley, for life. In the succeeding 
 year, Sir John delivered up the grant to be cancelled, and 
 the king, in consideration of the surrender, regranted the 
 Island to him, his heirs, and successors, in as full and 
 ample a manner as it had been granted to any former king 
 or lord, to be held of the crown of England. 1 
 
 1 Rymer's Foedera, viii, 353 ; Hume's History of England, cap. xviii ; Johnstone's 
 Jurisprudence of the Isle of Man, Edinburgh, 1812, pp. 13, 14. The old Manks 
 historian previously referred to in this work, thus speaks of the bravery of Sir John 
 Stanley : " He was so strong that with his sword he could pierce the crest of the 
 fiercest antagonist armed and harnessed for the fray ; and could bring with a blow 
 of his spear both the horse and rider to the ground ; * * * * he never left a 
 field of battle without having smitten off the head of some distinguished foe." — 
 Manks Metrical History, verses 44, 45.
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. VI. 155 
 
 APPENDIX.— Chapter VI. 
 
 NOTE I.— Page 139. 
 
 CHARTER. 
 
 Transaction of the Kingdom of Mann and its Islands between their most serene 
 Majesties, Alexander III, King of Scotland, and Magnus TV, King of Norwag. 
 
 That the certainty of presentiments may give true and certain recollections of by- 
 gone events, it is universally to be known that in the year of grace, 1266, on the day 
 of Venus, next after the feast of the apostles Peter and Paul, in the assembly of the 
 aforesaid brothers, at Perth, this composition and final agreement was entered into 
 with regard to the contentions, complaints, damages, injuries, and discords of the 
 Isles of Man and Sodorensium, and set at rest by that jury, by divine assistance, 
 between the magnificent and illustrious chieftains, lord Magnus IV, under favour of 
 God, illustrious king of Norway, through means of Askatinus, chancellor, and 
 Andrew, son of Nicholas, baron, two of his principal lords, specially and lawfully sent 
 thither and appearing there on one side ; and Alexander III, under the same favour, 
 king of Scotland, with a great number of his nobility, personally appearing there on 
 the other side, under this form, viz : — That the said lord Magnus, king of Norway, 
 as the friend of peace and observer of justice to the revering of God, and cherishing 
 more diligently the observance of the mutual agreement and peace, warding off the 
 dangers of life, and shunning the slaughter of men, at the instance of the said Alex- 
 ander III, king of Scotland, as well as for the Island of Man, with Sodorenses and 
 all the other Isles to the southern and western parts of the Great Haffrius, with 
 every right that himself and forefathers possessed in them for the time past, or ) : 
 self and his heirs may possess in the time to come, through means of the aforesaid 
 Askatinus, chancellor, and Andrew, son of Nicholas, baron, two of the lords of Mag- 
 nus, king of Norway, having from the king full power of placing and granting over 
 them, hath amicably and socially yielded and resigned them for himself and heirs, to 
 be henceforth held and possessed by the said Alexander III, king of Scotland, and by 
 his heirs, with all the rights and privileges belonging to the said Islands, without any 
 restraint, alongst with the episcopacy of Man, the laws, jurisdictions, and liberty of 
 the church of Nidrosien, in everything that he possessed in the episcopacy and 
 church of Man ; and with the exception of the Isles of Orkney and Shetland, which 
 the king of Norway, with his lords, &c, hath specially reserved to himself ; that, 
 likewise, all the inhabitants of the said Islands which are granted and resigned to the 
 said king of Scotland, may be subjected to the laws and customs of the kingdom of 
 Scotland, and that they may be governed and judged from this time henceforth. 
 
 On account of these and future deeds which might henceforth be done whilst they 
 adhered to the said king of Norway, that no person should aspire to his inheritance in 
 these Islands, but peacefully remain in the same, under the dominion of the king 
 of Scotland, as well as tbe other subjects and lieges of the said king of Scotland, who
 
 156 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 should be distinguished by their rejoicing in justice ; but if they acted to the contrary 
 they ought to be justly punished according to the laws and customs of the kingdom 
 of Scotland ; and if in the said Islands and under the dominions of the king of Scot- 
 land they wished to take up their abode, they should dwell in peace ; and if they 
 wished to depart, they should depart free and in peace ; likewise, they should neither 
 be compelled to stay nor to depart against the laws and customs of the kingdom of 
 Scotland and their own will. Also, the aforesaid Alexander, the king of Scotland, 
 an observer of truth and of peace, and his heirs, by yielding and resigning them 
 especially for the sake of peace, and that it might lessen the labours, give and restore 
 henceforth (to the before mentioned king of Norway and his heirs, and assigned to 
 them in future, within eight days of the anniversary of the holy St. John the Bap- 
 tist, in the Orcades, belonging to the King of Norway, in the church of the Saint 
 Magnus, in the hands of Orchadia or Ballivus, specially deputed by the king of 
 Norway, or they should place it in the same church at the service of the king of 
 Norway, under custody of the Canons at that church, if Orchadia or Ballivus should 
 not find them there) 100 merks of good and lawful sterling money of Roman coin 
 and of the coin of France, England, and Scotland, told out yearly : and likewise 
 4000 merks ster., within the next four years, paid him down beforehand in that 
 place and limit, that is to say, 1000 merks within eight days of the anniversary of 
 St. John the Baptist, in the year of grace 1267, and 100 merks of the aforesaid pay- 
 ment, and in each of the following years, 1268, 1269, 1270, 1000 merks and 100 
 merks of the before mentioned payment, and ever after that only 100 merks yearly- 
 
 And to all these and divers affairs, that are before mentioned, faithfully and firmly 
 to be observed, that the said Askatinus, chancellor, and Andrew, baron, in place 
 of Magnus, illustrious king of Norway, and his heirs and assignees, made oath pub- 
 licly in the church of the aforesaid brothers, at Perth, by the inspiration of the Holy 
 Evangelists. And the said Lord Alexander, king of Scotland, per two of his nobility, 
 Adam of Carrick, and Robert of Meyners, solemnly made oath in the presence of 
 these messengers. 
 
 And for the greater security of that affair, both sides obliged themselves to pay 
 10,000 merks stg., plainly and voluntarily, which composition and final agreement 
 was to be henceforth observed in full force. Moreover, Magnus, king of Norway, per 
 his above-mentioned messengers, for himself, his heirs and successors, and Alexander, 
 king of Scotland, for himself and heirs, bind themselves thus to the jurisdiction of 
 the sanctuary of the Apostles, that by the single aforesaid advice, through the sen- 
 tences of excommunication against individuals, no person excepted and interdicted in 
 the kingdom, without a juridical trial, should compel the party to adhere to the 
 before-mentioned composition and final agreement to the full payment of the 10,000 
 merks sterling. 
 
 Therefore, both parties renounced in the deed every exception of fraud and deceit, 
 and all letters between these said kings and their predecessors, hitherto sheltered un- 
 der these pretexts, whatever orders might exist, and all deeds and indulgences of the 
 Apostles, gained by entreaty, and every remedy of the canonic and civil jury, through 
 which the before mentioned concession, resignation, and final agreement may be 
 impeded, deferred, or overthrown, or in any other manner debilitated. Likewise it 
 is added to this agreement, by common consent between the kings and kingdoms of 
 Norway and Scotland, that all transgressions between them and their predecessors, 
 &c, henceforth perpetrated, may be wholly forgiven on both sides, with regard to 
 assemblies, kingdoms, &c, and that the hostages of the said islands henceforth taken 
 and detained, should be restored to full liberty. And if an enemy of one of these, 
 kings of Norway and Scotland should fly into the dominions of the other, he should
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. VI. 157 
 
 not receive him unless by chance, for the time, until he should obtain (if he deserved 
 it) a pardon for him ; and if he could not obtain from his own lord a pardon for his 
 offence, he should not within the next twelve months' fail to send him off from his 
 dominions. Those, however, being excepted who had committed the crime of high 
 treason, whom they should by no means receive. Moreover, if any of the subjects 
 of the king of Norway, who had been absent and should suffer shipwreck on the coasts of 
 the kingdom or dominions of the king of Scotland, or from their vessels being over- 
 turned, they should be allowed freely and quietly to collect, possess, and sell their 
 vessels alongst with any one of the rest of their articles for themselves or others, until 
 they should give them up for lost ; and if any one, contrary to this compact concern- 
 ing affairs or vessels thus exposed, should steal anything fraudulently or violently,- he 
 should thereupon be convicted as a robber and violater of the peace if he should de- 
 serve it, and punished according to custom, whatever being to the contrary having 
 no effect. But if any one was found and convicted as the disturber of that peace and 
 final agreement between the kings and kingdoms aforesaid, and their inhabitants, 
 held and confirmed by that king in whose dominions the depredator was found, that 
 he shall be severely punished, as an example to all others in time to come, to beware 
 of a similar offence. 
 
 And in testimony of this affair, that part of this writing shall be executed in MS., 
 bearing the name of the said king of Norway, the seal of the said king of Scotland, 
 alongst with the seals of the venerable brothers, Gamelinus of St. Andrew's, and 
 John, Dei gratia, of the episcopacy of Glasgow, and of the noble Alexander Cymyn of 
 Buchan, Patrick of Dunbar, William of Man, Adam governor of Carrick, and 
 Robert of Meyners ; and that another part of this writing may likewise be executed 
 in MS. bearing the signature of the said king of Scotland, the seal of his Excellency 
 the said king of Norway, alongst with the venerable brothers Peter of Bergen, 
 Thorgilson, Dei gratia, of the episcopacy of Staragren, and of the nobles Gaietus of 
 Mele, Buccolinus the son of John, Finnius the son of Gaietus, Andrew son of 
 Nicholas, and Askatinus, chancellor, a noble of the said king of Norway. — Calendars 
 of Ancient Charters. 
 
 This treaty is one of the few Scottish documents saved from the destruction 
 brought upon them by Edward I. and Cromwell, being inserted in a book of Re- 
 cords, still kept in the Register Office. 
 
 NOTE II.— Page 150. 
 
 FAMILY OF JOHN DE ERGADIA. 
 
 John de Ergadia was a son of Alaster de Ergadia, lord of Lorn, who had married 
 a daughter of John, called the Red Comyn, slain by Bruce in the Dominican church 
 in Dumfries, and from that circumstance, had become the mortal enemy of that 
 prince. The whole district of Knapdale had been forfeited, and given by Robert 
 Bruce to John de Menteith, who drove out the family of Ergadia from their posses- 
 sions there. From an ancient manuscript genealogy of the Campbells, it appears 
 that so early as L284, Alexander de Ergadia was Thane of Glassrie and Knapdale, 
 and owner of the great castle of Swcrn in Knapdale. — Skene's Hiyhlamlers of Scot- 
 land, part ii, cap. iv.
 
 158 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 KINGS AND LORDS OF MAN OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY, FROM 
 
 A.D. 1406 TO 1637. 
 
 Policy of the former Governments of the Island — The Isle of Man 
 granted to Sir John Stanley by Henry IV, with the title of King — 
 His Son holds a Tynwald Court, which alarms the people — Their 
 grievances partially redressed — The title of King of Man discontinued 
 by Thomas, Earl of Derby — Thomas, the Grandson of the preceding 
 Earl, visits the Isle of Man — Invades Galloway and burns the town 
 of Kirkcudbright — Retaliation of Cutlar Mac Culloch,a Gallovidian 
 Chief — The fifth Earl of Derby makes certain regulations in the 
 Island — Munificence of Edward, Earl of Derby — Mysterious death 
 of his successor, Ferdinand — The Supremacy of the Island disputed 
 at Law — William, Earl of Derby, obtains a new patent for the Isle 
 of Man from James I, which he resigns to his Son, Lord Strange, 
 afterwards called the Great Earl of Derby, and retires to a cottage 
 on the banks of the Dee, where he died. 
 
 In the preceding section I have pursued the history of 
 the unfortunate little kingdom of Man through a long 
 series of vicissitudes rendered interesting by the energy 
 of human character displayed, yet such events gradually 
 lose much of their power over the feelings and imagination 
 by means of the constant recurrence to incidents originat- 
 ing in the same causes, and terminating, with a few varia- 
 tions, in similar issues. Rugged virtues and barbarous 
 crimes fill the early annals of all nations. 
 
 The tyrannical power exercised by the Norwegian 
 and Scottish conquerors over the inhabitants of Man, 
 with the frequent transfers made of the Island by the 
 kings of England to their favourites, who passed it from 
 one hand to the other like an article of traffic, without 
 reference to the wishes or rights of the people, seem at 
 last to have eradicated all traces of a national spirit of
 
 KINGS AND LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. 159 
 
 independence in the breasts of the natives. They sub- 
 mitted with passive obedience to every change in the 
 executive government, the vacillancy of which has been 
 already shown. 
 
 Such was the degraded state of the kingdom of Man 
 when it fell under the dominion of the house of Stanley, 
 whose history becomes, henceforth, deeply interwoven 
 with this sketch of the Island. 
 
 The family of Stanley is of Saxon extraction, and was 
 originally seated at Stonely, in Staffordshire, near the 
 river Trent ;* subsequently their chief seat was, for many 
 ages, at Newton, within the precincts of Wissal in Che- 
 shire. The name was derived from the lordship of Stan- 
 leigh, in the moorlands of Staffordshire, possessed by the 
 lords of Aldeleigh, and given by Adam, son of Lidulph de 
 Aldeleigh, to William de Stanleigh, son of Adam de Stan- 
 leigh, uncle of the said Adam, in exchange for the manor 
 of Thalk on the hill. 2 
 
 The genealogy has been traced in all its branches by 
 Seacome, the family historian, from the above person to 
 Sir John Stanley, king of Man. 3 
 
 Sir John Stanley was, in 1385, appointed by Richard 
 II, lord deputy of Ireland, and in 1389, he was nominated 
 by the same monarch one of the lord's justices of that 
 kingdom, in which office he continued till the deposition 
 of Richard in 1399, when he was appointed by Henry IV. 
 lord justice general of all Ireland. From this situation 
 he was recalled by the king to aid in suppressing the 
 
 1 Trussel's Continuation of Daniel's Coll. of the Hint, of England, p. 22. 
 
 2 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, London, 1735, table 519. 
 
 3 Seacome, in contradiction to Camden and other writers, says, "The family 
 bearing the name of Stanley, settled in England long before the conquest." — Sea- 
 come' s History of the House of Stanley, Liverpool, 1741, p. 2 ; Camden' s Britannia, 
 Staffordshire; Bishop Rutter's MS., anno 1066 ; Speed's History of Staffordshire. 
 An account of the House of Stanley (refered to chap. 12) is contained in some un- 
 couth rhymes written about the year 1562 by Thomas Stanley, bishop of Man, son of 
 Sir Edward Stanley, who, for his valour at Flodden, was created Lord Monteagle. 
 There are two copies of these verses in the British Museum, one amongst Cole't 
 Papers, vol. xxix, p. 104, and the other in the Harleian MSS., 541.
 
 160 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 insurrection of Rutland and other noblemen in England, 
 and that of Owen Glendower in Wales. On quitting 
 Ireland, he left his brother, Sir William, as his deputy, 
 and on his arrival at court was appointed lord steward of 
 the household. 1 
 
 The Isle of Man having reverted to the crown by the 
 forfeiture of the earl of Northumberland, Sir William 
 Stanley was recalled from Ireland and was despatched 
 with a considerable fleet and army to take possession of 
 the Island in his majesty's name. 2 
 
 A.D. 1406. On the sixth of April, in the seventh year 
 of the reign of king Henry IV, letters patent passed 
 under the great seal of England, granting to Sir John 
 Stanley 3 and his heirs for ever the Isle of Man, with all 
 the regalities, franchises, and rights thereto belonging, 
 with patronage of the bishopric, under the title of Kmg 
 of Man, in as full and ample a manner as had been granted 
 to any former lord thereof; which example was afterwards 
 followed by Henry VI, in creating Henry de Beauchamp, 
 duke of Warwick, and crowning him with his own hand, 
 King of the Isle of Wight. 4 
 
 This grant was to be held in fee of the king of Eng- 
 land on payment of a cast of falcons, at the royal coro- 
 nation, 5 and during that ceremony, bearing the Lancaster 
 sword by the left side of his majesty. 6 * 
 
 1 Seacome, p. 18. 
 
 2 Speed's History of Great Britain, pp. 757 — 760. 
 
 3 I cannot find upon what authority Bishop Wilson has founded the statement that 
 John, Lord Stanley, had the Island given him a.d. 1405, by Henry IV., (Ward's 
 Ancient Records, p. 10), Thomas, the great grandson of this John, being the first 
 Baron Stanley. — See Anderson's Royal Genealogies, table 519. 
 
 4 Seacome, p. 19 ; Anderson's Royal Genealogies, table 519; Leland's Itinerary, 
 vol. vi, folio 92 ; ap. Campbell's Political Survey of Great Britain, Dublin, 1775, 
 vol. ii, p. 460. 
 
 6 Gibson's Camden, "There are one eyrie of eagles, and at least two of hawkes 
 in the Isle of Man, of a very mettled kind, for which reason it was that king Henry 
 IV, of England, in his Letters Patent of the grant of this Island to Sir John Stanley, 
 did oblige him, in lieu of all other service, to present him and all his successors upon 
 the day of their coronation with a cast of falcons," — vol. ii, p. 1443. 
 
 6 Seacome's History, p. 20. 
 
 * Appendix, Note i, " Charter of the Isle to Sir John Stanley."
 
 KINGS AND LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. 1G1 
 
 Sir John was made constable of Windsor castle and 
 a knight of the garter, and was again appointed lord 
 deputy of Ireland for the space of six years ; but shortly 
 after his arrival in Ireland, he died at Ardie, on the 6th 
 of January, 1414. 
 
 He is accused by an Irish historian of having been 
 corrupt, rapacious, and oppressive in his government, 
 of misapplying the public revenue, and defrauding the 
 subjects. 1 
 
 A.D. 1414. As Sir John had paid no attention to his 
 Manks subjects, never having visited the Island, his son 
 and successor of the same name by his wife Isabel, the 
 only daughter of Sir Thomas Latham, of Latham in the 
 county of Lancaster, found it necessary to do so in the 
 year 1417, in order to allay the discontents of the inhabi- 
 tants, by checking the mal-administration of his servants. 2 
 
 On his arrival in the Island, he was received with all 
 the marks and insignia of royalty. The avowed object 
 of his visit was to have the laws promulgated, instead of 
 being locked up in the breasts of the Deemsters; although 
 some supposed his real object was to intimidate the mul- 
 titude by a display of regal dignity. 
 
 In June, 1417, John 3 held a Tynwald on the mount 
 of St. John, called in the old language of the Island, 
 Cronk Kceilloirii, but in modern times, Tynwald I 
 surrounded by the dignitaries and commoners of the 
 Island, where some new laws were enacted and many 
 old customary acts confirmed. It was ordained, that 
 even the sanctuary should afford no protection in certain 
 cases ; 4 and it was expressly declared, that the Govern- 
 
 1 P/owden's History of Ireland, London, 1831, vol. i, chap. x. 
 - Seacome, p. 28. 
 
 3 The honour of knighthood did not descend from Sir John Stanley to his son. 
 
 4 " If any ^Ian-slayer have taken Sanctuary, and if within three days after the Sanc- 
 tuary is taken, the Coroner conieth to him and he acknowledged what he hath done, 
 the Coroner shall, by the law of the land, take him out of the Sanctuary ; ami if he 
 will not asknowledge his fault, the Coroner ought to make three profers, — First, 
 
 CHAP. VII. W
 
 162 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 ment of England had no authority in the Isle of Man, 
 nor in any of the ports — the king being himself admi- 
 ral of Man. 
 
 When John returned to England he left Thurstan de 
 Tylderly and Roger de Haysnap as his commissioners in 
 the Island, with instructions to act for the future settle- 
 ment of the state. 1 How long they continued in office is 
 uncertain, but their efforts appear to have been unsuccess- 
 ful. In a court held at Kirk Michael on Tuesday next 
 after the Corpus Christi, a.d. 1422, " The people rose 
 upon John Walton the king's lieutenant with the inten- 
 tion to kill him, and beat and misused his men in the 
 church and in the church-yard." 2 
 
 These tumultuous proceedings caused the speedy return 
 of John to the Island. On his arrival he immediately 
 called a court of " all the tenants and commons of Man, 
 to be holden at Kirk Michael upon the hill of Reneurling, 
 on the Tuesday next after the Feast of St. Bartholomew, 
 in the year 1422 ;" 3 at which the Deemsters decreed, — 
 " That Hawley Mc. Issacke and thirteen other persons, 
 for traitorously rising upon the lieutenant with the intent 
 to kill him, should be first drawne by wild horses and 
 hanged, then quartered, and their heads struck off, and 
 one quarter sett upon the castle tower over the burne, 
 another quarter at Halland towne, and the third quarter 
 to be sett up at Ramsey, and the fourth at Douglas." 4 
 
 whether he will forswear the King and his kingdome, or he will put himself under 
 the Coroner's Yard, viz. obey and come to Jayle and abide the law or grace, or he 
 will abide within the Sanctuary during the space afforesaid ; and if he choose to for- 
 Bwear the King and his kingdome and takes unto a harbour, the Coroners ought to 
 set him in the King's highway and cut him across over the eyes ; and if he holds 
 not the King's highway, and if the Coroner finds him without it, he may arrest him 
 by the King's Yard and bring him to the King's Jayle." — Lex Scripta of the Isle of 
 Man, comprehending the ancient Ordinances and Statute Laws ; published by au- 
 thority, Douglas, 1819, 8vo., p. 11. According to Deemster Parr, this statute was 
 revised in 1417, but was not proclaimed at the Tynwald Hill till 1422. 
 
 1 Sacheverell's Description of the Isle of Man, p. 80. 
 
 - Lex Scripta, pp. 4, 5, 6, 7. 
 
 3 Ibid., p. 5. 
 
 * Ibid.
 
 KINGS AND LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. 1G3 
 
 At this court fealty was paid to the lord, in terms of 
 the laws, by the Bishop of Sodor and Man, the Abbot of 
 Rushen, and the Prior of Douglas. The Abbots of Fur- 
 ness, Bangor, and Saball, and the Priors of St. Beade 
 in Copeland, and Whithorn in Galloway were likewise 
 called to do fealty to the Lord, but being absent, they 
 were allowed forty days to appear, on pain of their tem- 
 poralities being " ceised into the Lord's hands." 1 It was 
 also ordained and proclaimed in court — " That no man, 
 of what condition soever he be, go out of the land with- 
 out special license from the Lord or his Lieutenant, with 
 vessel, upon pain of forfeiting the vessel and all the goods 
 therein." 
 
 A question having occurred respecting the House of 
 Keys, the Deemsters, who were suspected of being in the 
 interest of the Lord Proprietor, gave judgment, " That 
 without the Lord's will none of the Twenty-four Keys 
 be." 2 This decision being deemed an infraction of the 
 ancient constitution of the country, the flame of discon- 
 tent, which had been long smothering, broke out into 
 manifestations of open rebellion, but order was soon re- 
 stored by the executive authorities. The people, how- 
 ever, being still dissatisfied, John, on his return to Eng- 
 land, sent over Henry Byron as his lieutenant, a person 
 of superior talents and great prudence. 
 
 At a Tynwald held at Killabane, in 1429, it was or- 
 dained " That proivess or trial by combat be put down, and 
 in future all such matters be determined by God and the 
 country, instead of prowess." 3 It was also enacted that 
 " Whosoever forsetts the king's highway for any man, 
 either to beat or slay him, forfeitcth his body and goods 
 to the Lord." 4 Also, " Any man who shall beat or smite 
 
 1 Lex Scripta, p. 6. 
 - Lex Scripta, p. 16. 
 8 Lex Scripta, p. 9. 
 * Ibid.
 
 164 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 another man within twenty-four paces of the governor 
 or lieutenant, cither sitting in court or out of court, in 
 his presence, forfeiteth his body and goods to the Lord, 
 and toucheth treason." 1 
 
 It was further enacted that no " Scottishman, Irish- 
 man, or other alien should remain in the Island without 
 paying fealty to the Lord ;" and also, " If any Irishman 
 or Scottishman is found irregular or hath committed any 
 notorious crime, he shall not be committed to the Bishop's 
 prison within the Peele, but to the Moars Tower in the 
 Castle of Rushen." 2 
 
 In order to allay the still existing discontents of the 
 people, Henry Byron caused six representatives to be sent 
 from each of the six sheadings, to attend a court between 
 the gates of the Castle of Rushen, upon Tuesday next 
 after the XXth day of Christmas, a.d. 1430 ; from each 
 of these six individuals he selected four, making up the 
 number of twenty-four, and by that means, if not found- 
 ing, at least re-establishing the House of Keys. 
 
 Assisted by these new representatives of the people, he 
 instituted a strict inquiry into the conduct of all the 
 established authorities; and having convicted John Coates 
 the Comptroller, and several other official persons of gross 
 misconduct, he dismissed them from their stations. He 
 found also that Richard Puller, then bishop, had allowed 
 " The particles ordained for the reliefe of poor scholars, 
 to be dealt into other uses, which charge was established 
 by Gubon Mc. Gubon, his clerk." 3 He likewise relieved 
 the people from certain oppressive ordinances, and settled 
 the government upon a solid foundation. 
 
 John Stanley was steward of the household to king 
 Henry VI, governor of Caernarvon Castle, and one of 
 the judges of the county Chester. 4 He died a.d. 1432, 
 
 1 Lex Scripta, p. 9. 
 
 2 Lex Scripta, p. 9. 
 
 3 Lex Scripta, p. 11. 
 
 * Andervon' s Royal Genealogies, London, 1736, table 519.
 
 KINGS AND LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. 165 
 
 and was succeeded by his son Thomas, who was ap- 
 pointed, like his father, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland for 
 six years. In 1435, at the head of an English army, 
 he engaged the Irish " who invaded the pale," took Neyle 
 O'Donnel prisoner, and slew most of his followers. 1 
 
 He was also included in the commission granted in the 
 twenty-eighth year of the reign of Henry VI, to the Ear] 
 of Wiltshire and others for the custody and defence of 
 the town and castle of Calais and places adjacent for 
 the term of five years. At the expiration of that term 
 he was created Baron Stanley, and made lord chamber- 
 lain of the king's household. 2 He died in 1459. 3 
 
 The Isle of Man was with him only of secondary import- 
 ance. From the tenures of landed property being left 
 in an unsettled state, agriculture was neglected, and the 
 misery of the people consequently increased. Daily re- 
 presentations made to him on these subjects did not re- 
 ceive the attention their importance required. A new 
 law, indeed, was enacted, by which estates were to des- 
 cend from father to son, or failing such son, to the eldest 
 daughter or next of kin ; from which time the people were 
 induced to build and make some small improvements. 4 
 
 A.D. 1459. Baron Stanley was succeeded by his son 
 and namesake Thomas. He commanded the riaht wins 
 of the army under the Duke of Gloucester, afterwards 
 Richard III, against the Scots, when he took the citadel 
 of Berwick by assault. 5 His loyalty to the young king- 
 Edward V, occasioned his imprisonment when Richard 
 usurped the throne, but he was soon afterwards released 
 and made steward of the household, created constable of 
 England for life, and installed a knight of the garter. It 
 
 1 Ware's Antiquities of Ireland, Dublin, edition 1706, p. 73. 
 
 2 Creation dated the 20th January, 1455-6. — Debrett's Peerage of the United 
 Kingdom, vol. i, p. 83. 
 
 3 Anderson, table 519 ; Seacome, p. 31. 
 * Bullock, p. 60. 
 
 6 Hollimhead's Chronicles of Scotland, Arbroath, 1805, vol. ii, p. 109.
 
 166 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 was he who placed the crown on the head of the Earl 
 of Richmond on Bosworth field, and proclaimed him king 
 of England, by the name of Henry VII. 1 By this mon- 
 arch he was created Earl of Derby on 27th Oct., 1485, 
 and constable of England with a fee of £100 per annum. 
 He was constituted one of the lords commissioners for 
 executing the office of lord high steward of England at 
 the coronation of Henry VII ; and on the coronation of 
 his queen, three years afterwards, he filled the same office. 
 He was also one of the godfathers to prince Arthur, their 
 first-born. The munificence of this nobleman was equal 
 to his wealth. According to his kinsman and namesake 2 
 he voluntarily paid out of his own funds, the tax of " a 
 fifteenth, 1 ' imposed by Henry VII, on the inhabitants of 
 Chester and Lancashire ; and by the erection of a bridge 
 over the Wire at Garstang, and another at Warrington, 
 he conferred a public boon. He founded also a cloister 
 at Paul's Chyne, and built the castellated mansion of 
 Latham, which was so nobly defended by the Countess of 
 Derby during the civil wars. He married Margaret, 
 daughter of the Duke of Somerset, and dowager Duchess 
 of Richmond. This lady was the mother of king Henry 
 VII ; but by her he had no issue. He died in the year 
 1505, in the forty-fifth year of his reign as king of Man, 
 being the first earl of Derby and fourth lord of the Island. 
 During the latter part of his reign, Henry Radcliffe, 
 Abbot of Rushen, held also the office of deputy governor 
 of the Island, situations of a very opposite nature. 3 
 
 1 Anderson's Genealogies, 1736, p. 774, table 519 ; Hume's History of England, 
 cap. xxiii ; Debrett's Peerage, vol. i, p. 83. 
 
 2 Thomas Stanley, " by the permission of God, Bishop of Man alias Sodor, in the 
 year of our Lord 1562," who records in his " right, true, and most famous chro- 
 nicle," ap. Seacome's History of the House of Stanley, p. 474, " that when Earl 
 Thomas was disposed to ride for pleasure or to visit his friends or neighbours, whose 
 house soever hee went into, hee sent his officers before, who made provision, all at 
 his cost, as tho' hee had been at his own house, and at his departure the surpleesage 
 was left to the use of the house where he had lodged ! I report niee is this not too 
 honorable to be put into oblyvion ?" 
 
 3 Seacome's History of the House of Stanley, p. 609.
 
 KINGS AND LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. 1G7 
 
 A.D. 1505. Thomas, his grandson, succeeded to the 
 title of earl of Derby and king of Man ; but preferring, 
 as is stated by a subsequent Earl in a letter to his son, 
 " to be a great lord rather than a petty king," he relin- 
 quished the royal designation and thereafter assumed only 
 the title of Lord of Man* Seacome, in speaking of this 
 resignation, observes that lord Derby seems to have been 
 farther induced by certain considerations of policy : — - 
 " The grant of the Isle to his ancestor having originated 
 in the house of Lancaster, it was doubtless both prudent 
 and politic to drop a title which might have given offence 
 now that the posterity of the house of York, were estab- 
 lished on the throne." 1 But a more accurate idea might 
 perhaps be formed of the motives which dictated this 
 resignation, when it is considered that it was by the union 
 of the houses of York and Lancaster, that Henry claimed 
 the crown of England, and that during his whole reign 
 he was so extremely jealous of the least appearance of 
 predominance in the house of York, as thereby frequently 
 to allow the interruption of his domestic peace. 2 
 
 Earl Thomas visited his Manks subjects in May, 1507, 
 with the avowed object, as usual, of allaying the discon- 
 tents of the people ; but it does not appear from the sta- 
 tute book, that many ordinances were promulgated during 
 his reign : some old customary laws, indeed, were revised 
 and amended, particularly such as related to the interest 
 of the lord superior ; one of these bears reference to what 
 was termed " Floutsum and Jutsom spoil :" If a vessel 
 chanced to be embayed within the heads of Man, whether 
 above or below high-water mark, it fell by right, with all 
 goods on board, to the lord of the Isle ; if there was no 
 person alive in the vessel, and the wreck was found at sea, 
 outside the heads, with the wind or tide in such a direc- 
 
 * Appendix, Note ii, " Reasons for resigning the Title of King." 
 
 1 Seacome' 's History of the House of Stanley, p. 44. 
 
 2 Hume's History of England, cap. xxiv.
 
 168 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 tion as to infer she might have drifted from the shores of 
 the Island, then the persons taking such wreck either to 
 the castles of Rushen or Peel, were entitled to a moiety of 
 the value either in kind or cash as the lord had need for 
 the same in his stores. 1 By another of these laws it was 
 enacted that no baron could take enquest of the lords 
 tenants or commit any of them within his liberty, without 
 the governor's privity, upon pain of life and limb, such 
 being the lord's prerogative. 2 
 
 More examples might be given, if necessary, to show 
 that the enactments of the second earl Thomas were all 
 of a feudal tendency, and little calculated to satisfy his 
 subjects. He diverted their attention, however, by turn- 
 ing his arms on the Gall o vidians, against whom they 
 cherished feelings of the deepest animosity. Whether it 
 was that the domineering lords of Galloway had broken 
 the spirits of the people, or that the Manks armament had 
 surprised them unawares, is uncertain, yet it would 
 appear that the inhabitants of Kirkcudbright offered little 
 resistance. See verse 50 — 52, Traditionary Ballad, p. 50. 8 
 
 This incursion of the Earl with the golden crupper was 
 severely revenged. The Mac Cullochs, then a powerful 
 family in Galloway, had at that time a chief of courage 
 and activity, named Cutlar Mac Culloch. Being an 
 excellent seaman, he speedily equipped a predatory 
 flotilla, with which he made repeated descents on the 
 northern shores of the Isle of Man, carrying off all that 
 was not, in the border phrase, " too hot or too heavy 
 
 "4 
 
 1 Statute Book, anno 1519, " Water-bailiff." 
 
 2 Statute Book, anno 1520, " Baron." 
 
 '•* James IV, in 1508, with consent of parliament, granted to the inhabitants of 
 Kirkcudbright, as a reward for their services, the old castle and mains of that burgh, 
 •which had previously belonged to the lords of Galloway, when that province was a 
 regality, independent of the kingdom of Scotland. — Grose's Antiquities of Scotland, 
 London, 1797, vol. ii, p. 187. 
 
 4 The following is the deposition of John Machariotic concerning the losses he had 
 suffered by this sea king and his Galloway men. It is dated at Peel Castle. " Taken 
 by Collard Mac Culloch and his men by wrongous spoilation Twa box beddes and
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. 169 
 
 This active rover rendered his name so formidable to the 
 inhabitants of the northern coast, that they used to eat 
 the sodden meat before they supped the broth, lest they 
 should be deprived of the more substantial part of the 
 meal, should they delay it for a second course. They 
 also remembered him in their prayers and graces, as : — 
 
 " God keep the house and all within, 
 From Cut Mac Culloch and all his kin." 
 
 or, as I have heard it recited : — 
 
 " God keep the good corn, the sheep, and the bullock, 
 From Satan, from sin, and from Cutlar Mac Cullock." 
 
 It is said that on one occasion as the master of the 
 house had uttered one of these popular benisons, Cutlar, 
 in person, made his appearance, with this reply: — 
 
 " Gudeman, gudeman, ye pray o'er late, 
 Mac Culloch's ship is at the Yate." i 
 
 The incursions of this Gallovidian rover caused the 
 services of watch and ward to be maintained with great 
 strictness for a long time afterwards. The male popula- 
 tion between the ages of sixteen and sixty, then consti- 
 tuted their insular armed militia. Fighting and fishing 
 were their chief employments. Agriculture languished 
 for want of encouragement. 
 
 A.D. 1508. On a treaty of marriage between the 
 prince* Mary, third daughter of king Henry VII, and 
 the prince of Spain, the king bound himself to the emperor 
 Maximilian in 250,000 crowns, for the performance 
 
 aykin burdes, a feder bouster, a cote mailzie, a mete burde, twa kystis, five barrels, 
 a gyle fat, xx pipes, twa gunys, three bolls of malt, a querne of rosate extendin to ic 
 load of petes (peats), viii boll of corn, xi knowte." — Challerson, London edition, 
 1653, p. 47. 
 
 1 The Yaite is a well known landing place on the north side of the Isle of Man. 
 This account of the Manks incursion into Galloway is extracted from the old Manks 
 Traditionary Ballad, to which I have occasion so often to refer in the course of this 
 work. I sent both the original and a translation to Sir Walter Scott, as mentioned 
 in the 29th volume of the Waverley Novels, pp. 1/4, 175. 
 
 CHAP. VII. X
 
 170 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 thereof; and Thomas, Earl of Derby, with other noble- 
 men, were also held bound in 50,000 crowns. 
 
 A.D. 1514. The Earl of Derby attended king Henry 
 in his expedition to France; and when the emperor 
 Charles met his majesty at Dover, the earl rode between 
 the two monarchs from thence to Canterbury with the 
 sword of state in his hand. 1 He was one of the peers 
 who sat upon the trial of the Duke of Buckingham. 2 
 
 Like many of his ancestors, the second Earl, Thomas, 
 was a brave soldier. He fought valiantly under Henry 
 VIII, at the taking of Terouane and Tournay. He 
 afterwards retired to his estate of Colham, in the county 
 of Middlesex, where he died in the year 1522, 3 and was 
 buried in the monastery of Sion. 4 
 
 Edward, his son and successor, being then only in the 
 fifteenth year of his age, his affairs were, in terms of his 
 father's will, placed under the management of the Bishop 
 of Sodor and Man, the Lieutenant-Governor of the Isle 
 of Man, the Archbishop of York, the Chancellor of Eng- 
 land, and several other eminent persons, till he should 
 attain the age of majority. 
 
 His mother was Ann, daughter of Edward Lord Hast- 
 ings, and sister of George, the first Earl of Huntington. 
 By this lady, Thomas, Earl of Derby, received, on his 
 marriage, a fortune of four thousand marks ; but from 
 what cause does not appear, he made no provision in his 
 will for her future support. The trustees, appointed to 
 manage the affairs of her son, having, consequently, no 
 power to place any part of the revenues of the Isle of 
 Man at her disposal, she applied, in the year 1522, to 
 king Henry VIII. to be allowed a dowry out of her hus- 
 
 1 Speed, pp. 979, 990, 991, ap. Rolt. cap. ii. 
 
 2 Stowe, p. 513 ; Hollinshead, p. 826, ap. Hume's History of England, cap. 
 xxviii. 
 
 3 Hume's History of England, cap. xxvii. 
 
 * Seacome's History of the House of Stanley, p. 44.
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. 171 
 
 band's estate. But, according to Kelwin's report, it was 
 found, by the king's council, that the Isle of Man being 
 no part of England, and not being governed by English 
 laws, it was out of the power of chancery to interfere in 
 her behalf, by granting her a dowry out of the revenues 
 of the Island. This decision formed the precedent in 
 another trial in the reign of queen Elizabeth, which was 
 confirmed by the lord-keeper Egerton. 1 
 
 If the Countess of Derby, however, was neglected by 
 her husband, the interests of her son had been more 
 strictly attended to. The earl directed, by his will, that 
 during the minority of Edward, all the constituted autho- 
 rities and officers of the Island should retain their respec- 
 tive ranks and stations ; and to ensure their fidelity, he 
 confirmed to them for life the salaries which they then 
 enjoyed, doubling their annual amounts from the time of 
 his decease till his son arrived at the age of majority. 2 
 
 A.D. 1522. Edward, the sixth lord of Man, was a 
 knight of the garter, and occupied places of the greatest 
 trust and highest honour in the reigns of Henry VIII, 
 Edward VI, queen Mary, and queen Elizabeth. Discord 
 having arisen, to a great height, between the clergy and 
 the temporal inhabitants of the Isle of Man, respecting 
 mortuaries or coispresents, he issued a commission, under 
 his seal, dated at his manor of Colham, 26th June, 
 1532, to inquire into the wrongs complained of, on the part 
 of the people ; and in 1561 he appointed five commis- 
 sioners to examine into, and establish regulations for, pre- 
 venting " the great waste that hath been in the Castle 
 and in the Peel, in bread, fuel, candles, and other things," 
 to fix the fees of certain officers, and the amount of cer- 
 tain officers, and the amount of fines and amercements 
 
 1 Seacome's History of the Isle of Man, Liverpool, 1741, p. 17 ; Sacheverell, ap, 
 Ward's Ancient Records, London edition, 1837, p. 17. 
 
 2 Seacome's History of the Hotise of Stanley, p. 45.
 
 172 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 due to the Lord of the Isle, for infringement of the laws. 3 
 He departed this life, at Latham, on 24th October, 1572, 
 where his body lay in state till the 4th December follow- 
 ing, during which time preparations were being made for 
 the great pomp and solemnity displayed at his funeral.* 
 
 His establishment was maintained with such splendor 
 and magnificence, that it was a saying of queen Elizabeth 
 that he and lord Bedford outdid all other noblemen in 
 the kingdom by their liberality. " He had two hundred 
 and twenty servants in a cheque-roll for forty-two years ; 
 and twice a day sixty old and decrepit persons were fed 
 at his house. On every Good-Friday, for thirty-five 
 years, he fed two thousand seven hundred persons with 
 meat and drink, and gave them money. Every gentleman 
 in his service had a man and horse to attend him. His 
 house was styled " The Northern Court." 2 
 
 During his time, Sir Thomas Stanley was lieutenant 
 of the Island, and Henry, William, and George Stanley, 
 were captains-general of the Manks forces. 
 
 A.D. 1572. Henry, the fourth Earl of Derby, and 
 seventh Lord of Man, succeeded his father. He took his 
 seat in the House of Peers in 1573. He was one of the 
 forty commissioners who sat on the trial of Mary Queen 
 of Scots, in the Castle of Fotheringay, 3 and was one of 
 the stern enemies of that unfortunate princess.* He was 
 lord high steward of England, and sole judge on the trial 
 of the Earl of Arundel for treason. 
 
 Seacome, the biographer of the family, says that Henry 
 did not visit the Isle till after the year 1588 ; 4 but this 
 statement is incorrect, as appears from the statute book 
 
 1 Lex Scripta, pp. 38, 45. 
 
 * Appendix, Note iii, " Funeral of Edward, Earl of Derby." 
 
 2 Seacome's History of the House of Stanley, Liverpool, 1741, quarto, p. 63. 
 
 3 Hume's History of England, cap. xlii ; Rapin's Hist, of Eng. vol. ii. 
 
 * Appendix, Note iv, " Mary Queen of Scots." 
 
 4 Seacome, p. 65.
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. 173 
 
 of the Island, — " Whereas it was observed by the Right 
 Honourable Henry Earl of Derby, at a Tynwald court 
 held with his council, on the 24th June, 1583, that eating 
 salmon or salmon-fry in kipper-time, was noxious in 
 breeding leprosy and other noisome diseases, it was there- 
 fore proclaimed, that none should be permitted to fish for 
 salmon from the Nativity of the Virgin Mary till St. 
 Marthr's day ; nor for salmon-fry from April till Mid- 
 summer ; and that no person should kill a salmon under 
 sixteen inches, and no trout under eight inches length of 
 clean fish, under pain of having his nets and engines burnt 
 and himself imprisoned." 1 At this Tynwald an ancient 
 prerogative was also renewed, — " That no Scotchman, 
 Irishman, or any other alien should take up his abode in 
 the Island without paying a certain sum to the Lord for 
 acknowledgment of his freedom; 2 and a still more sin- 
 gular enactment was made, — " That no person killing a 
 sheep sell the skin till after the flesh is eaten." 3 
 
 That Earl Henry also visited the Island in 1588 is 
 certain ; for his presence was imperiously demanded to 
 restrain the impositions of his officers and to revive the 
 drooping spirits of his subjects. From the words of the 
 statute, 4 passed in consequence of this visit, one might be 
 led to suppose that a more liberal spirit had begun to 
 show itself in the lord's enactments ; yet they were on 
 the whole of little importance, save in strengthening the 
 hands of the executive government. Additional fines 
 were imposed for disobedience to any of the constituted 
 
 1 Statute Book, p. 116, " Salmon," Statute 1583, 158G. 
 
 2 Statute Book, pp. 5, 7, "Alien Statutes," 1582, 1583, 1596, 1606. 
 
 3 Statute Book, " Felons," Statute 1583. 
 
 4 The words in the Statute Book are " Forasmuch as heretofore by misrule and 
 governance of the officers, the law of Man hath been misgoverned to them that they 
 hate vigorously and to them they did like over favourably, so that by this misgovern- 
 ment the people have been wronged and profit taken to the lord, otherwise than the 
 lord would, and where profit should be taken, not done for favour. It is ordered, 
 therefore, that the officers should be true, principally to the lord, and that the laws 
 of the Isle be enforced without fraud or choler." — Statute Book, p. 12.
 
 174 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 authorities, from the governor down to the runner of the 
 moar ; but these, with others relating to Malt and Bar- 
 gains, will be treated of elsewhere. 
 
 Several regulations were made as to the distribution of 
 charity. " If a beggar of the Isle is found straggling, he 
 is to be whipped to his own parish." There he might re- 
 ceive alms at the bell, but no poke or bag was to be allowed. 1 
 Coroners were restrained, by law, from distraining the 
 only pot or pan of an householder, or a woman's Sunday 
 blanket, because that ought to descend as a corbe to the 
 next heir. 
 
 From the Isle of Man, earl Henry retired to Latham 
 House, the family seat, in Lancashire, where he died on 
 the 25th September, 1594. It may be proper here to 
 remark that the honourable William Stanley, afterwards 
 earl of Derby, was captain general of the Isle of Man in 
 1593, only a year before his father's death. Randolph 
 Stanley was governor in 1594. 2 Henry left two sons, 
 Ferdinand and William. 
 
 Ferdinand succeeded his father in all his titles and 
 estates; but he died in April, 1595, as was suspected 
 from poison, administered to him by the treachery of his 
 master of the horse, or, according to others, by witchcraft, 
 a story being told of a waxen image, found in his 
 chamber, immediately after his death, with hair, the colour 
 of his, on certain parts of it. 3 
 
 A.D. 1595. Ferdinand had no male issue, but left three 
 daughters under the guardianship of four bishops and 
 four temporal lords. Seacome says that William having 
 been so long abroad at the time of his brother's death 
 and so little being known of his existence, the guardians 
 
 1 Statutes, anno. 1588, 1664. 
 
 2 Seacome's History of the House of Stanley, Preston edit., 1793, page 613 ; Lex 
 Scripta, Douglas, 1819, p. 72. 
 
 3 Baker's Chronicles of the Kings of England, p. 383 ; Gentlemen's Magazine, 
 vol. xxi, for 1751, pp. 269, 389.
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. 175 
 
 took possession of all Ferdinand's property for their wards, 
 and when the heir-at-law returned, he found some difficulty 
 in getting his person identified. 1 
 
 It must be obvious to the most superficial observer 
 that if William was captain-general of the Island within 
 a year of his brother's death, this account of his absence 
 must be highly apocryphal. It is equally evident that 
 when Ferdinand placed his daughters' affairs under the 
 management of so many guardians, he did so with a 
 view of claiming the Island for them, as having a priority 
 of right to the male heir. 
 
 While the cause between the parties was under litiga- 
 tion, a new question arose as to the validity of the origi- 
 nal grant. It appeared that Henry IV having granted 
 the Island to the earl of Northumberland, resumed the 
 gift on that earl's rebellion, and bestowed it on Sir John 
 Stanley, first for a year, and then for life ; but Northum- 
 berland having fallen in battle, his titles were neither 
 attainted by parliament, nor his possessions confiscated 
 at the time of the first grant, and the king's subsequent 
 grant in perpetuity being founded on the original one for 
 a year, made before his majesty was legally entitled to 
 bestow it, could not be of any validity. 
 
 A.D. 1595. The queen, however, out of regard to 
 the claimants, whose ancestors had rendered many signal 
 services to the crown of England, waived the question of 
 right, and that justice might be done to both parties, 
 appointed as referees and arbiters, Cecil, her chief secre- 
 tary, Buckhurst, lord high treasurer, and several noble- 
 men equally friendly to both the contending parties. 
 
 1 Seacome, Liverpool, 1741, p. G7. This latter authority, p. 69, says, "The 
 early manhood of this nobleman had been spent in pursuit of adventures in foreign 
 countries, which became the subject of many a romantic tale and pathetic ballad 
 popular in his day." Sir William Stanley's Garland, containing his twenty-one years' 
 travels through most parts of the world was re-printed in octavo, at Leeds, in the 
 year 1814. His absence and return very much resembles that of Sir William Wor- 
 thy, in Allan Ramsay's Pastoral Comedy of the Gentle Shepherd.
 
 176 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 Unfortunately, however, Elizabeth died before a sentence 
 could be obtained, and the claimants were forced to have 
 recourse to the courts of law at Westminster. 
 
 In order to prevent the Spaniards or Scots from taking 
 advantage of the disputed claims to the sovereignty of 
 Man, by landing troops there for the purpose of invading 
 England, Elizabeth assumed the reigns of government into 
 her own hands, and also appointed Sir Thomas Gerrard, 
 captain-general of the Island. 1 
 
 A.D. 1608. King James does not seem to have been 
 actuated by such friendly feelings towards the Derby 
 family as his predecessor Elizabeth. By letters patent, 
 dated 14th August, in the fifth year of his reign, he granted 
 the Isle of Man to the earls of Northampton and Salis- 
 bury and their heirs, on their rendering the usual honorary 
 service of two falcons at the coronation of the kings of 
 England. 
 
 In the seventh year of the same monarch's reign, how- 
 ever, there appears an indenture, enrolled on the 18th of 
 June, entered into between him on the one part, and the 
 said earls of Salisbury and Northampton and the earl of 
 Derby and others, on the other part (but not acknowledged 
 by these second parties), whereby the Island is resigned 
 to the king and his heirs. And again on the 28th June 
 in the same year, appear letters patent, granting to 
 
 1 Seacome's History of the House of Stanley, p. 69. By the act 5, Geo. Ill, cap. 
 xxvi, p. 489, we are told, "That whereas on the death of Ferdinando earl of Derby, 
 cousin and heir male of Sir John de Stanley, which happened about the thirty-sixth 
 year of queen Elizabeth, a controversy arose concerning the inheritance of the Isle 
 of Man, between the daughters and coheirs of the said Ferdinando earl of Derby on 
 one part, and William earl of Derby, his surviving brother, on the other part ; which 
 controversy was, by her majesty's command, referred to the lord keeper of the great 
 seal, and other of her majesty's privy council, together with the chief justices of the 
 court of Queen' s- Bench and common-pleas, and the chief baron of the court of ex- 
 chequer ; and till the controversy, and certain other doubts which arose on the 
 letters patent should be determined, the said Island, Castle, Pele, and Lordship of 
 Man, with the appurtenances, and all the other premises in the letters patent men- 
 tioned, were taken into the hands of her said majesty, in right of the crown of 
 England."
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. 177 
 
 Robert, earl of Salisbury, and Thomas, earl of Suffolk, a 
 lease of the Island from the preceding term of Michaelmas 
 for twenty-one years, at a rent of twenty shillings per 
 annum. 1 In the same year, John Ireland and John 
 Birchal were appointed by king James joint governors of 
 the Island. Till this period the situation had always 
 been held by a single individual, nominated by the lord 
 proprietor, except in the case of the interim governor, Sir 
 Thomas Gerrard, already mentioned. 
 
 After a litigation of many years, it was at length found, 
 by the judges of the several benches, that the grant of the 
 Island toSir JohnStanley was warranted in common law and 
 that the heirs general, the daughters of Ferdinand, should 
 succeed before their uncle. 2 Earl William was therefore 
 constrained to come to a treaty with them for their claims 
 and interest in the Island, and within a year after the 
 grant to Salisbury and Suffolk, for twenty-one years, it 
 was confirmed to him by an " act for assuring and estab- 
 lishing the Isle of Man in the name and blood of William, 
 earl of Derby."* 
 
 In 1610, earl William resumed his right of nominating 
 by appointing John Ireland, his lieutenant and captain- 
 general; but whether he visited his Manks dominions 
 personally, or took any concern in their internal affairs, 
 does not appear either from the records of the Island or 
 the pages of its historians : neither do I find the circum- 
 stance of his countess having publicly assumed the govern- 
 ment of the Island, in her own name, twenty-nine years 
 before her husband's death, anywhere alluded to, save in 
 one of the statutes. 3 This lady, who was a daughter of 
 
 1 Introduction to the Act 5, Geo. Ill, cap. 26, ap. Mills's Ancient Ordinances, 
 Douglas, 1821, p. 528. 
 
 2 Seacome's History of the House of Stanley, p. 72. 
 * Appendix, Note iv, " Act of Confirmation." 
 
 3 " Whereas the right honourable lady, the lady Elizabeth, countesse of Derby, 
 was trulie advertised, that because of the great imposicon by an anncyent statute of 
 this Isle, for paying of custom heyrings (called Castle Mazes) in tynie of heyringe 
 
 CHAP. VII. Y
 
 178 HISTORY OP THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 Edward, earl of Oxford, died previous to 1637, and the earl 
 desirous of retiring from the fatigue of public life, in that 
 year made out a deed of gift to his son James, Lord 
 Strange, placing him in full possession of all his lands and 
 property, including the Isle of Man, reserving to himself 
 only £1000 per annum. He then retired to a small seat on 
 the banks of the Dee, near Chester, where he died in 1642. 1 
 
 fishinge, not onelie strangers have refrayned to come to the late fishinge of tliis Isle, 
 Luc also the Islanders being thereby discouraged, did not shewe their willinge 
 minds, nor consequentlie use their industrious paynes in and about the fishinge as 
 otherwise they would have done, being reasonably dealt withall for the said Castle 
 Mazes. And in regard thereof, the said Countesse both honourablie tendringe the 
 £-«<->d of the poore inhabitants of the Isle, and desirous to have strangers well used 
 and to bring entercourse of trafficke betwixt them and the Islanders, hath, by her 
 honourable direccons in her letters, dated the seventh day of September last past, 
 [1613] appointed us the captain and officers to sett downe and limitt what pro- 
 poicons of heyrings we in our discrecons should meet, and sittinge both for strangers 
 and countrimen (notwithstanding the statute) to be paid for Castle Mazes during the 
 tj iii3 of this next heyring fishinge, which we hope God, as he has begonne, will blesse 
 and continue amongst us." — Lex Scripta, Douglas, 1819, p. 100. 
 
 1 The Deed of Resignation is dated 11th August, 1637. — Seacome's History of the 
 House of Stanley, 1741, p. 74.
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. VII. 179 
 
 APPENDIX.— Chapter VII. 
 
 NOTE I.— Page 160. 
 
 CHARTER OF THE ISLE TO SIR JOHN STANLEY. 
 
 The King to all whom &c. greeting, 
 
 Know ye that, whereas we, on the nineteenth day of October, in the first 
 year of our reign, by our special favour, and with our certain knowledge, gave and 
 granted to Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, the Island, Castle, Peel, and 
 Lordship of Man, and all the Islands and Lordships to the same Island of Man per- 
 taining, which were possessed by Sir William Scroop, deceased, whom lately, during 
 his life, we confiscated, and him thus confiscated decreeted, and which (properties) 
 in right of that confiscation, we took as confiscated into our hand, which decreet and 
 confiscation, moreover, were affirmed in Parliament, and in the said first year of our 
 reign, with consent of the Lords Temporal in the same Parliament, as to the person 
 of the aforesaid William, and all his lands and tenements, goods and chattels, as well 
 within our said kingdom as out of it, for the good of the community. 
 
 To be had and held by the said Earl and by his heirs, all the Islands, Castle, Peel, 
 and Lordship aforesaid, along with the Royalties, Regalities, Franchises, Liberties, 
 parts of the sea, and ail things to a part, rightly and properly pertaining, homages, 
 fealties, wardships, carriages, releafs, escheats, forfeitures, waifs, strays, courts of 
 barons, views of frankpledge, leet, hundred, wapentake, wreck of the sea, mines of 
 lead and iron, quarries, markets, tolls, customs, pastures, woods, parks, chases, 
 lands, warrens, asserts, purprestures, paths, fisheries, mills, moors, marshes, standing 
 waters, ponds, ways, passages, commons, and other profitable commodities, emolu- 
 ments, and appurtanences whatsoever, to the Island, Castle, Peel, and Lordship 
 aforesaid, in any way pertaining or belonging ; along with the patronage of the 
 Bishopric of the said Island of Man. And furthermore, knight's fees, advowsons, and 
 patronages of abbeys, priories, hospitals, churches, vicarages, chapels, choirs, and 
 other ecclesiastical benefices whatsoever, to the said Island, Castle, Peel, and Lord- 
 ship in like manner pertaining, of us and our heirs for ever, for the service of carry- 
 ing on coronation days of us and our heirs, at our left shoulder, and the left shoul- 
 ders of our heirs, by himself or a sufficient and honourable deputy, that sword of 
 his, unsheathed, with which we were girded when we landed at the ports of Ilolder- 
 nesse, called the sword of Lancaster, during the procession, and the whole time of 
 the coronation ceremonies aforesaid, as fully, freely, and entirely (the foresaid ser- 
 vice excepted) as the foresaid William or any other Lord of the said Island held or 
 might have held the said Islands, Castle, Peel, and Lordship during all the foresaid 
 past times. 
 
 And Lord Richard the Second, lately King of England after conquest, by his 
 letters patent, (which were confirmed by us on the third day of November, in the 
 first year of our reign,) did, by his special favour, with the consent of his council, 
 grant to his well beloved and faithful knight, John Stanley, for the payment of an
 
 180 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 hundred merles yearly, at the terms of Pasche and Michaelmas, in equal portions, 
 during the whole life of the said John ; and laterly, as well by the letters of him 
 lately king, as by our letters of confirmation, recorded in our chancery, we have 
 granted to the said John, the Castle, Peel, and Lordship aforesaid, and all the 
 Islands and Lordships to the said Island of Man belonging, which where possessed 
 by the foresaid Earl (who against us and our allegiance trattorously rose up), and 
 which belong to us as confiscated, in right of the forfeiture of the said Earl. 
 
 To be had and held by the said John, during the term of his life, all the Islands, 
 Castle, Peel, and Lordships aforesaid, along with the royalties, regalities, franchises, 
 liberties, fees, advowsons, and patronages, and others aforesaid, to the said Islands, 
 Castle, Peel, and Lordships, in like manner pertaining, as fully, freely, and entirely 
 as the foresaid Earl, or any other Lord of the said Island of Man held or might have 
 hald the said Island, Castle, Peel, and Lordship in the times foresaid, as in our letters 
 to the said John, concurring the foresaid Islands, Castle, Peel, and Lordship hereby 
 granted is more fully contained. 
 
 And now, seeing that the said John has restored to us the said letters recorded in 
 our said chancery, we, by our special favour, and with an perfect knowledge, have 
 given and granted to the said John, the Island, Castle, Peel, and Lordship afore- 
 said, and all Hie Islands and Lordships to the same Island of Man belonging, which 
 do not exceed the value of four hundred per annum, to be had and held by the said 
 John and his heirs and assigns, all the Islands, Castle, Peel, and Lordships aforesaid, 
 along wifh royalties, regalities, franchises, liberties, ports of the sea, and all things 
 rightly and properly pertaining to a part, homages, fealties, and all others aforesaid, 
 of us and our heirs for ever, for the homage, allegiance, and service of rendering to 
 ms two Falcons on one occasion only, videlicet, immediately after doing homage of 
 the aforesaid kind, and of rendering to our heirs, the Kings of England, two Fal- 
 cons on the days of coronation of our said heirs; and this for all other customs, ser- 
 vices, and demands, as freely, fully, and entirely as the foresaid William or any other 
 Lord of the aforesaid Island was accustomed rightfully to have or to hold the said 
 Island, Castle, Peel, and Lordship, with things pertaining thereto, as aforesaid ; the 
 said homage, allegiance, and rendering of falcons always excepted. We willing and 
 granting that whensoever the foresaid John, or his heirs or then - assigns, shall happen 
 to die, whether their heirs be of full age or under age, then the said heirs, immediately 
 after the death of the said John, his heirs, or their assigns, or after the death of the 
 heirs or assigns of such heirs or assigns, from time to time, for ever, shall succeed, 
 viz. : Whoever of them, immediately after the death of the person, to whom by here- 
 ditary right or any other way, shall succeed to the Islands, Castle, Peel, and Lord- 
 ship aforesaid, with their pertinents, along with royalties, regalities, and others 
 foresaid, shall successively enter upon and peacefully hold these possessions for them- 
 selves, their heirs, and assigns, of us and our heirs for the homage, allegiance, and 
 the said service of rendering two falcons on the said days of our coronation only, 
 and that for all other customs, services, and demands, without any seizure or seques- 
 tration thereof, into the hands of us and our heirs, in right of the foresaid homage, 
 or on account of any other lands and tenements which the foresaid John elsewhere 
 holds of us, whether himself, his heirs, and assigns aforesaid, hold or shall hold of us 
 or our heirs, or by reason of the minority of the same or the minority of any one of 
 the same, and without any other profits, commodities, exactions, customs, or de- 
 mands by us or our heirs aforesaid, from him, the said John, his heirs, or assigns, 
 by way, occasion, pretext, or colour of homage or homages, for the Islands, Castle, 
 Peel, and Lordship aforesaid, from this time, to be taken, exacted, or in any way 
 challenged for ever, without us or our heirs having taken marriage of or from the
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. VII. 181 
 
 heirs or heir of the said John, or of their heirs, on any occasion pretext, or reason, of 
 the said Castle, Peel, Lordship, Homage, Rent, or our heirs, in future, having it in 
 any way. Further, the said John Stanley possesses for the term of life, by gift 
 and grant of our most beloved first-born, Henry, Prince of Wales, the Keepership 
 of the Forrest of Macclesfield de la Mare and Moudrem, with the fees and profits to 
 the same Keepership pertaining, to the value of a hundred merks per annum and 
 twenty pounds per annum, for the term of his life, to be paid out of the Eilibus and 
 Psftcuis of the city of Chichester, by the grant of our predecessor, Lord Richard, 
 lately King of England, notwithstanding. 
 
 In cujus, &c, T.R. at Westminster, sixth day of April. 
 •§>- B're of the Privy Seal. 
 
 NOTE II.— Page 107. 
 
 REASONS FOR RESIGNING THE TITLE OF KING. 
 
 The following is an extract from a letter from James, earl of Derby and tenth lord 
 of Man, immediately before his execution at Bolton in 1051, to his son lord Strange: — 
 " Some might think it a mark of grandeur that the lords of the Isle have been called 
 Kings, and I might be of that opinion if I knew how this country might main- 
 tain itself, independent of other nations, and that I had no interest in any other place 
 than herein. I agree with our wise ancestor, Thomas, second earl of Derby, that to 
 be a great lord is more honourable than to be a petty king. 
 
 " Nor doth it please a king that any of his subjects should affect that were it but 
 to act it in a play, witness the scruples raised and objections made by my enemies in 
 his majesty's councU, of my being too near allied to royalty to be trusted with too 
 great power, whose jealousies and vile suggestions have proved of very ill consequence 
 to his majesty's interest and my service of him. 
 
 " Take it for granted therefore that it is your honour to give honour to your 
 sovereign, it is safe and comfortable, therefore, in all your actions let it visibly appear, 
 in this Isle let him be prayed for duly, let all writings and oaths of officers and 
 soldiers have relation of allegiance to him." — Seacome's History of the House of 
 Stanley, Preston, edition 1793, p. 356. 
 
 NOTE III.— Page 172. 
 
 FUNERAL OF EDWARD, EARL OF DERBY. 
 
 The funeral obsequies of Edward, Earl of Derby, were conducted with great pomp. 
 His lordship, as stated in the text, died at his manor of Latham, in Lancashire, and 
 was buried in the parish church of Ormskirk, in the same county, on 4th December, 
 1572, where he had caused a tomb, enclosing a vault, to be erected in a style suited
 
 182 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 to the rank and dignity of his family. A very minute and circumstantial account of 
 the funeral is given by Seacome, the historian of the House of Stanley, from which 
 is drawn the following abbreviated account of the ceremonies observed on the 
 occasion : 
 
 After Lord Edward died, his body was wrapped in searcloth, then in lead, and 
 afterwards chested. The chapel, the house, and the two courts, were hung with 
 black cloth, garnished with escutcheons of his arms. The body lay in state in the 
 chapel, where it was covered with a pall of black velvet garnished with escutcheons; 
 and on it were set his helmet, crest, sword, and target, while around it were placed 
 the standard, great banner, and six bannerets. 
 
 The steward, treasurer, and comptroller of the household stood by the corpse with 
 white staves, while Clarencieux, king at arms, richly attired for the occasion, with a 
 loud voice published this thanksgiving : — " All honor and praise to Almighty God, 
 who, through his divine goodness, hath taken out of this transitory world, to his 
 eternal joy and bliss, the Right Honorable Edward Earl of Derby, Lord Stanley and 
 Strange, Lord of Man and the Isles," &c. The coffin being placed in the hearse, the 
 funeral procession moved in the following order : — Two yeomen conductors, with 
 black staves in their hands to lead the way ; one hundred poor men, in gowns ; then 
 the choir and singing men to the number of forty ; next the standard bearer, with his 
 hood on his head, and his horse trapped to the ground, garnished with a shaffron of 
 his arms within the garter on his forehead, and four escutcheons of buckram metal, 
 two on each side ; then the defunct's gentlemen, to the number of eighty, in gowns, 
 with their hoods on their shoulders, mounted on comely geldings ; his lordship's 
 secretaries, chaplains, and officers of the household went next, with knights and 
 esquires to the number of fifty, all with their hoods on their shoulders, their horses 
 trapped and garnished according to their different degrees ; these were followed by a 
 herald bearing his lordship's helmet of steel, pannel gilt, with mantle of black velvet, 
 the knots gilt, and on a wreath his crest curiously carved, painted, and wrought in 
 gold and silver ; next a king-at-arms, richly dressed, having his horse garnished, 
 bearing the defunct's shield, garter, and coronet ; another king-at-arms followed, 
 decorated in like manner, bearing his lordship's sword with the pummel upwards, the 
 hilt and chape gilt with a scabbard of velvet. The hearse which conveyed the body 
 moved next in order, on each side of it rode six escpiires, with their hoods on their 
 heads and their horses trapped, each bearing a banneret of the deceased nobleman, as 
 well as of the houses of which he was descended ; next after the chariot proceeded 
 the chief mourner, Henry, Earl of Derby, in mourning robes, and having on either 
 hand a gentleman usher with a white rod in his hand, his hood on his head, and his 
 horse trapped ; these were followed by Ins lordship's yeomen, two and two, to the 
 number of five hundred. 
 
 The stately hearse was drawn by eight horses, trapped in black ; and on each 
 horse sat a page in a black coat with his hood on his head. This hearse, whicb was 
 built for the occasion, was thirty-five feet in height, twelve feet in length, and nine in 
 breadth — double-railed and garnished as follows : — The top part and the rails were 
 covered with black cloth, the valence and principals being covered with black velvet. 
 From the valence hung a fringe of silk, the majesty being of taffety, having thereon, 
 most curiously wrought in gold and silver, the achievements of his lordship's arms, 
 with helmet, crest, supporters and motto, and six great burial eschutcheons, one at 
 each corner, and two at the upper part. 
 
 At the altar where mass was performed for the dead, the chief mourner offered up 
 a piece of gold, and received in return, as offerings from the respective mourners, the 
 emblematical achievements of his father.
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. VII. 183 
 
 As soon as the corpse was lowered into the grave, the steward, treasurer, and 
 comptroller, with two gentlemen ushers, and two yeomen ushers, .ill kneeling, with 
 weeping and tears, broke their white staves and rods over their heads, and threw the 
 shivers into the grave. Meanwhile the bannerets and other achievements of the 
 deceased were placed round him in the tomb. 
 
 On the conclusion of these ceremonies, new wands of office were delivered by Earl 
 Henry, at Latham Hall, to his officers and dependants. — Seacombe's History of the 
 House of Stanley, Liverpool, 1741, quarto, pp. 55 — 62. 
 
 NOTE IV.— Page 177. 
 
 AN ACTE FOR THE ASSURINGE AND ESTABLISHING OF THE ISLE 
 OF MANN IN THE NAME AND BLUDE OF WILLIAM, EARL OF 
 DERBIE.— A.D. 1610. 
 
 In all humblenes we beseeche your most excellent Ma tie yo r loyall and faithful sub- 
 jects, William, Earl of Derbie, the Lady Elizabeth, his wife, James, Lord Stanley, 
 sonne and heire apparant of the said Earle, and Robert Stanley, second sonne of the 
 said Earle, that whereas the said Earle and his ancesto rs have, for many ages past, ever 
 since the seaventh yere of the raigne of King Henry the fowerth, held and enjoyed 
 the Isle, Castle, Peele, and Lordshipp of Mann, w th all their rights, members, and 
 apptnncs as their owne proper inheritance ; and bene reputed and taken to be the 
 true and undoubted owners and Lords of the same, and forasmuch as the said Isle 
 and Lordshipp of Man hath long continued in the name and bloud of the said Earle, 
 and to the end that the same may continewe still, by your Highness' princely favor 
 and gracious allowance, in his name and bloud so long as it shall please Almightie 
 God. Maie it please y r Ma ,ie that it may be enacted by yo r Highness, w th the assent 
 of the Lords, spirituall and temporall, and the Comons in this p'sent Parliam' 
 assembled, and by the authoritie of the same. And be it enacted, ordayned, and 
 established by yo r Highness, the Lords, spirituall and temporall, and the Comons in 
 this p'sent Parliam' assembled, and by the authoritie of the same, that yo r said sub- 
 jects, William, Earle of Derbie, and the said Lady Elizabeth, his wife, for, and 
 during their lyves, and the longer liver of them ; and after their deaths the said 
 James, Lord Stanley, the heires males of his body, lawfully begotten, and to be 
 begotten ; and after his death w lh out such issue, the heires males of the body of the 
 said William, Earle of Derbie, lawfully begotten and to be begotten, and for default 
 of such issue, the right heires of the said James, Lord Stanley, shall, and may for 
 ever hereafter, have, hould, and quietly enjoye, freely and cleerly, against yo r Ma- 
 jesty, yo r heires and successors, for vnder and vpon the tennres, rents, and seiwices 
 hereafter menconed, to be reserved against Thomas, Lord Ellesmere, Lord Chancell r 
 of England, the Lady Alice, Countesse of Derby, his wife, late the wife of Ferdi- 
 nands, late Earle of Derbie, deceased, and against Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, and 
 the Lady Elizabeth, Countesse of Hunt in y don, his wife ; Grey, Lord Chandoys, 
 and the Lady Anne, his wife, Sir Eyerton Knight, sonne and heire male apparent of 
 the said Thomas, Lord Ellesmere, and the Lady Frances, his tvife; and the heires of 
 the said Elizabeth, Anne, and Frances, w ch said Ladies, Elizabeth, Anne, andFran^rs, 
 are the only daughters and sole heires of the said Ferdinando, late Earle of Derbie,
 
 184 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 deceased, to w ch said daughters and th r husbands the said William, Earle of Derbie, 
 hath paid dyvers somes of money for their clayme, right, and title to the said Isle, 
 Castle, Peele, and Lordship of Mann, as appeareth by their deed thereof made and 
 now showed forth in your Highness' highe court of Parliament, bearing date the 
 fowerteenth day of February, in the yeres of the raigne of yo r Ma tie — that is to say 
 of England, France, and Ireland — the sixth, and of Scotland the two-and-fortieth, 
 wherein and whereby they have agreed to geue their consent for the passing of an act 
 of P'liament for the giving and extinguishing of such right, title, and interest as there 
 pretend to the said Isle of Mann ; and against the heires of the said Ferdinando, late 
 Earle of Derbie, and against Thomas Ireland, Esquire, his executo" , administrator, 
 and assignees, all the said Isle, Castle, Peel, and Lordship of Man, with the rights, 
 members, and app r tenance s , and all the now or late monastery and priory of Rushinge 
 and Douglas, and the Fryers Myno"' commonly called the Grey Fryers of Brimakyn 
 als Bymakyn, and of every of them, w th their rights, members, and appurtenncs, in 
 or within the said Isle of Mann ; and the howses, scytes, circuits and precincts now, 
 or sometimes, to the said monastery and priory of Rushinge and Dowglass, and 
 Fryers Myno ls , every or any of them, w th all their app r tenncs in or w th in the said 
 Isle of Manne belonging ; and sometymes Peell, of the possessions thereof, and all 
 those rectories and churches of Kirkechriste, in Shelding and Kirkelovan, w ,h their 
 app r tenncs, whatsoever, in the said Isle of Manne, sometyme to the said monastery of 
 Rushinge belonging and apperteyning, and Peell, of the possessions thereof, some- 
 times being, and all Islands, Lordships, Peeks, Castles, Monasteries, Abachies, 
 Prioryes, Nunneries, Mano™' Farms, Messuages, Lands, Tenem ,s ' and Hereditaments, 
 whatsoever, to the said Isle of Manne belonging, or in, or w th in the same scituate, 
 lying and being, w th all and singular, their rights, members, and app r tenncs ; and the 
 patronage of the Bishopprick of the said Isle of Manne, and of the Bishopprick of 
 Sodorences, and of the Bishoppricks of Sodorences and Manne; and, also, the tem- 
 poralities of the Bishopprick of the said Isle of Manne, and of the Bishopprick of 
 Sodorences, and of the Bishoppricks of Sodorences and Mann, so often as the said 
 Bishoppricks shall happen to become voyd ; and, also, the archdeaconries, rectories, 
 advowsons, donacons, and rights of patronage of, all singular, the hospitalls, churches, 
 vicaridges, chappels, and all other ecclesiastical benefices, tithes, as well great as 
 small, of what kindesoever ; oblacons, obventions, fruits, profits, pencons, porcons, 
 emoluments and hereditam ,s > with, all and singular, their apptenncs of, in or w 11 " the 
 said Isle, Castle, Peele, and Lordship of Man, and p. misses, or any of them, and, 
 all and singular, forestes, parkes, chases, lawnds, warrens, asserts, purp r stures, fish- 
 ings, fishing places, royalties and regalities, franchesies, liberties, seaports, and all 
 things to ports duly apperteyning, lands now, or heretofore, overflown w th the water 
 of the sea, w cb are now gayned from the sea and reduced to dry ground lands w ch the 
 sea now overfloweth, which, hereafter, shall be gayned and brought to dry ground, 
 lying, or being in or near to the said Isle of Mann, villages, towns, granges, mills, 
 rents, services, rents of assize, rents and services, as well as of free as customary 
 tents, works of tents, deodands, fynes, ainercem ,s > ancorage, groundage, wrecks of the 
 sea, knight's fees, escheats, forfeitures, goods and chattells, waved goods and chattells, 
 as well of fellons, of themselves, as of other fellons, fugitives, outlaws, attainted, con- 
 demped and put in Exigent courts, admirall courts, portmote courts, leets, view of 
 frankpledge, and all forfeitures, penalties, feels, profits, casualties and advantages, 
 whatsoever, incident, happenning, or belonging to the said courts, mynes of lead, and 
 iron quarries, faires, markets, toles, customs, free customs, imposts, profits, emolu- 
 ments and hereditam"- whatsoever, as well spirituall as temporall, of whatsoever 
 kynde, nature or qualitie, or by whatsoever name or names there are known, esteemed,
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. VII. 185 
 
 called, or named, scittuate, lying, or being comying, growing, renewing, or happen- 
 ing of, in, or w th in the foresaid Isle, Castle, Peele, and Lordshipp of Mamie, or 
 w th in the sea to the said Isle, adjacent or belonging, or in, or w :ll in any other Islands, 
 Lordshipj>es, Manors, Castles, Peeles, Farmes, or Lands to the said Isle of Man 
 belonging and appteyning, or into, or out of the same, or any of them whatsoever, 
 or howsoever incident or belonging, or as members, p.tes, or p.cellsof the same, or 
 of any of them, or of any pt. or p. cell of them, at any time heretofore, had, knowne, 
 accepted, occupied, vsed, enioyed or demised, letten or reputed. And the revercon, 
 and the revercon's remainder, and remaynders of, all and singular, the p.mises, and 
 of eucrie, or any pte thereto ; and the rents, duties, customes, and services thereunto 
 incident, due, or appertyning ; and all liberties, franchises, priviledges, jurisdiccpns, 
 forfeitures, depredaries, immunities, econeracons; acquittals and hereditaments, what- 
 soever, granted, or mencioned to be granted by yo r most excellent Ma'™, by yo r Hig- 
 ness several l'res patents, the one bearing date the seaventh day of July, in the yeres 
 of yo r Highness' raigne, of England, France, and Ireland, the seaventh, and of Scot- 
 land, the two-and-fortith, made to the said William, Earle of Derby, and the said 
 lady Elizabeth, his wife, for, and during their lyres, and the longer lyver of them ■ 
 And, after their deaths, to the said James, Lord Stanley, and to his heires, thother 
 bearing date the second day of May, in the yeres of your Highnes' raigne of England 
 France, and Ireland, the eighth, and of Scotland the three-and-fortith, made to the 
 said Williatn, Earle of Derbie, and the said Lady Elizabeth, his wife, and the heires 
 of the said William, Earle of Derby, to hould the said Isle, Castle, Peele, and Lord- 
 shipp of Manne ; and, all and singular, the premisses of yo r highness, yo r heires, 
 and successor respectively, and under the sevrall tenures, rents, and services, in and 
 by the said several letters patents, severally and respectively reserved, w ch said last 
 mentioned l'res patents were made and granted during this p. sent session of Parliament. 
 And be it further enacted by your Hignes, the Lords, spiritual and temporall, 
 and the Comons in this p. sent Piam. assembled, and by the authoritie of the same, 
 That neither the said James, Lord Stanley, nor any of the heirs males of his body 
 lawfully begotten or to be begotten, nor the said Robert Stanley nor any of the heires 
 males of his body lawfully begotten or to be begotten, nor any of the heires males 
 of the body of the said William, Earle of Derbie, lawfully begotten or to be begotten 
 shall have any power, authoritie, or libertie to give, graunt, alien, bargaine, sell, 
 convey, assure, or do away the said Isle, Castle, Peele, and Lordship of Manne, 
 messauges, lands, tents, tithes, hereditam' and other the premises in this act men- 
 tioned to be enjoyed as aforesaid, or any part or p. cell thereof from his or their issue 
 or i-sues or other persons appoynted by this act to enjoy the same ; but that the same 
 shall remayne and continue to the said James, Lord Stanley, and the heires males of 
 his body lawfully begotten and to be begotten ; and for default of such issue to Robert 
 Stanley, and to the heires males of his body, lawfully begotten and to be begotten ; 
 and for default of such issue to the heires males of the body of the said William, 
 Earle of Derbie, lawfully begotten and to be begotten; and for default of such issue 
 to the right heirs of the said James, Lord Stanley, as before by this act is appointed, 
 and that all gifts, grants, alienacons, bargaynes, sales, conveyances, assurances, and 
 acts done, or to be done, or made to the contrary, shall be utterly void, frustrate, and 
 of no effect. Savinge, neverthelesse, that it shall and may be lawfull for them, and 
 euery of them, to make such estates of such severall parts thereof as by the lawes 
 and customes of the said Isle is vsual, and to make such leases and demises of such 
 parts and p. eels thereof as tenante in taile, by the statute made in the two-and-thirtith 
 yere of the raigne of King Henry the eight, may lawfully doe within this yo r High- 
 ness' realme of England. And be it also further enacted by the authoritie aforesaid, 
 
 Y*
 
 186 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 That neither this act nor anything herein conteyned shall in anywise extend, or he 
 construed to avoide, frustrate, abridge, impaire, diminishe, or p.iudice the state, 
 interest or terme of yeres of Sir Thomas Leigh, Knight, and Thomas Spencer, Esquire, 
 their executors, administrators, and assignes of the messaugs, lands, tenements, 
 tithes, profits, hereditaments, and other things in the said Isle of Manne, made, 
 demised, and granted by yo r Ma tie , vnder yo r highness' l'res patents, bearing date the 
 seaventeenth day of Marche, in the yeares of your highness' raigne of England, 
 Frannce, and Ireland, the third, and of Scotland, the nyne-and-thirtith for the^terme {\ 
 of forty yeares. And that the said Sir Thomas Leighe, and Thomas Spencer, their / 
 execute" and administrate"' and assigns, and every of them shall ^nd may from 
 henceforth, peaceably and quietly, during the said terme of forty yeres, have, hould, 
 occupie, and enjoye the said messauges, lands, ten ,s > tithes, profitts, hereditam ts > and 
 other things in the said last mentioned l'res patents demised from, vnder, and vpon 
 such yerely rents, reserv'cons, coven' ts, provisoes and agreements as are mencioned 
 and expressed in the said l'res patents against yo r Ma tle , your heires, and successors, 
 and all and every other p. son and p. sons, and their heires, having or claiminge any 
 estate, right, title or interest vnto the said demised p. misses by force and virtue of 
 this act, savinge to the archbishopp of York and his successors, all metropolitical 
 jurisdiccon in all points, and to all purposes and effects of the bushopricks and diocese 
 of Manne, in the said Isle of Manne, as it geven, united, lymitted, and appoyntedto 
 the province and archbushopprick of Yorke, accordinge to an act of Parliament made 
 and provided in the three-and-thirtith yere of the raigne of King Henry the eigthe, 
 king of England. Savinge, also, to, all and singular, p. son and p. sons, bodies, polli- 
 tique and corporate, their heires and successors, and the heires and successo" of every 
 of them, and the execute"' admi'str"' and assignes of every of them (other than yo r 
 hignes, yo r heires and successors, and the said Thomas. Lord Ellesmere ; and the said 
 Lady Alice, Countess of Derby, his wife ; and the said Henry, Earle of Huntingdon; 
 and the said Elizabeth, Countess, his wife ; Grr.ye, Lord Chandoys ; and the said 
 Lady Anne, his wife ; the said Sir John Egerton, and the Lady Frances, his wife ; and 
 the heires of the said Elizabeth, Anne, and Frances ; and the heires of the said Fer- 
 dinando, late Earle of Derbie ; and the said Thomas Ireland, Esquire, his execute" 1 
 administrate"' and assignes (the tenures, rents, and services reserved to yo r Majesty, 
 yo r heires, and successo"' alwaies reserved) ; all such, and every, and the same estate 
 and estates, lease and leases, rights, titles, interest, rents, services, tenures, juris- 
 diccons, privdedges, liberties, possessions, revercons, remaynders, anuities, pencons, 
 profitts, comodities, accons, entres, condicons, claymes and demandes, w th theie, 
 or any of them now lawfull have, or hereafter shall, or maie lawfully have a clayme, 
 of, into, out of, or for the said Isle, Castle, Peele, and Lordship of Manne, mano"» 
 messaugs, lands, tenem ,s < and p.mises ; or, of, into, out of, or for any of them in 
 such, in the same manner and forme, to all intents, construccons and purposes, as if 
 this p. sent had never been, had or made, this act, or anything herein conteyned to the 
 contrary in any wise notwithstanding ; and yo r said subjects, according to their most 
 bounden duties, shall, and will daily pray for yo r hignes long, happie, and prosperous 
 raigne over us. 
 
 (Sign d ) George Rose, Cler. Parliamenter.
 
 LORDS OF THB HOUSE OF STANLEY. 187 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY, FROM A.D. 1637 TO 1736. 
 
 Retrospective Sketch of the Proceedings of Lord Strange — His enact- 
 ments against Regraters — Bloodwipes and Battery — Succeeds his 
 Father as Earl of Derby — His connection tvith the Civil Wars of 
 England — Takes up arms in behalf of Charles I. — His treatment 
 from that Monarch — Overture from the Parliamentary Party — 
 Recalled to Man — Discontents of the People — The exactions of 
 Plough-dues, Smoke-pennies, Corpse-presents, fyc. adjusted — Siege of 
 Latham House — The Earl of Derby rejects offers made to him by 
 Fairfax and Ireton — He joins the King's army — Is taken Prisoner, 
 and beheaded — The Isle of Man surrendered to the Parliamentary 
 Army by Christian — The Sovereignty of the Island granted to Lord 
 Fairfax — Transferred at the Restoration of Charles II, to Charles 
 Earl of Derby — Trial and Execution of Christian — Enactments by 
 William Earl of Derby — James Earl of Derby stranded on King 
 Williams Bank — Act of Settlement — Dynasty of the Stanleys ter- 
 minates in Man. 
 
 Lord Strange was called to Parliament in 1627 by the 
 title of Sir James Stanley, knight of the Bath, and che- 
 yalier de Strange, without, any local place, and sat as 
 such in the house of Peers, 1 notwithstanding his father 
 being alive. He appears to have first visited the Isle of 
 Man in the year 1628, and to have taken upon himself 
 the direction of affairs, as in that year he appointed 
 Edward Christian his lieutenant and captain-general. — 
 Referring to this circumstance, he afterwards writes to 
 his son : — " While I was here (on the Island) I became 
 acquainted with one Captain Christian, who I observed 
 had abilities to serve me. He was a Manksman born, 
 and had made himself a good fortune in the Indies ; and 
 
 1 Journal of the House of Lords, a.d. 1627. 
 
 cHAr. viii. Z
 
 188 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 he offered himself on these terms, that he would be con- 
 tent to hold the staff of government till I made choice of 
 another, and would then willingly resign; and as for pay, 
 he valued that so little, that he would do the service 
 without any, or what I pleased. He was an excellent 
 companion, and as rude as a sea-captain ought to be." 1 
 
 Although William, Earl of Derby, did not resign the 
 Isle of Man to his son till 11th August, 1637 ; yet Lord 
 Strange, as lord-superior of the Island, confirms a mis- 
 cellaneous act of Tynwald, passed in June, 1629. In the 
 year 1636 he styled himself " Sovereign Liege Lord of 
 the Island," and issued orders and directions respecting 
 the midcture, toll, and soken due to the Lord, and also 
 respecting the exportation of corn, with the manner in 
 which the moneys collected for his use were to be se- 
 cured. In the same document he fixed the fees of the 
 mows, coroners, and deemsters, ordered all breast-laws to 
 be committed to writing, and made several alterations in 
 the laws of the ecclesiastical courts. 2 
 
 In 1635, Lord Strange thought proper to supersede 
 Edward Christian in the government of Man. His rea- 
 sons for doing so are curious : — " While he governed for 
 some years he pleased me very well, for whatever I bid 
 him do he would perform, and if it succeeded ill he would 
 take the blame upon himself, and if otherwise give me all 
 the credit. This he did while I continued to favour him; 
 but I observed, the more I gave the more he asked, and 
 such things at last that I could not grant, without pre- 
 judice to myself and others; so after a while when I re- 
 fused him, we fell out, making good the observation, that 
 when a prince hath given all, and the favourite can well 
 devise no more, then both grow weary of one another." 3 
 
 1 Seacome's History of the House of Stanley, Liverpool edition, 1741, p. 91. 
 
 2 Lex Scripta, pp. 102—110. 
 
 3 Memoirs of the Earl of Derby, aj>. Seacome, p. 91.
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. I SJ) 
 
 Lord Strange was the most active law-giver' that had 
 held the sovereignty of Man, from the days of King 
 Orree. Desirous that all the customary decisions should 
 be remodelled and placed upon record, in place of being 
 locked up in the breast of the Deemsters, he presented, 
 on the 24th June, 1637, for the sanction of the Tynwald 
 assembled at St. John's, certain regulations "for allaying 
 the complaints made by the commons against engrossers 
 and regraters, for quieting men's estates, and for punish- 
 ing bloodwipers and battery" all which were adopted as 
 " wholesome lawes for the weale publicise ;"* a proof that 
 habit, more than reason, is frequently the governing prin- 
 ciple of mankind. 
 
 In 1640, his lordship appointed Captain Greenhalgh 
 governor of the Island ; and in a letter to his son gives 
 the following reasons for doing so : — " First, that he was 
 a gentleman, well born, and such usually would not do a 
 base action. Secondly, that he had a good estate of his 
 own, and therefore needed not to borrow of another, which 
 had been a fault in that country, for when governors 
 had wanted money and had been forced to be beholden 
 for it to those who might be the greatest offenders against 
 the Lord and the country, in such case the borrower 
 became servant to the lender, to the stoppage, if not the 
 perversion, of justice. 2 
 
 It would be foreign to the design of this work to de- 
 tail all the various parts that were acted by Lord Strange 
 in the civil wars of England, but I cannot refrain from 
 referring, briefly, to the principal events in which he was 
 engaged. 
 
 When Charles I. ascended the throne of his fathers, 
 it was under peculiar circumstances of pecuniary diffi- 
 
 1 Lex Scripta, pp. 110 — 117. These laws were compiled by Lord Strange, and 
 were comprised on nine sheets of paper. Certain blanks were left to be rilled up at the 
 Tynwald court, which was done by the comptroller, with the consent of the court. 
 
 - Holt, p. 58.
 
 1 90 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 culty. This being taken advantage of by the Commons, 
 to reduce the power of the sovereign, led to many scenes 
 of confusion and bloodshed. Lord Strange had been an 
 early personal friend of the king ; and when the day of 
 adversity arrived, Charles found in him a loyal and de- 
 voted adherent to the royal cause. 
 
 When preparations were in progress for the commence- 
 ment of the civil war, lord Strange, who had then suc- 
 ceeded his father, as Earl of Derby, equipped at his own 
 expense a force of three thousand men for the service of 
 the king, and, in addition to this, collected twenty thou- 
 sand volunteers to join the royal standard at Warrington. 
 His enemies, however, jealous of such a display of power, 
 prevailed on his majesty to erect his standard at Notting- 
 ham instead of Warrington, as had been intended ; and 
 not only to divest the Earl of the lieutenancy of Cheshire 
 and of North Wales, but even to join lord Rivers in the 
 commission for Lancashire. 1 
 
 It was urged that this Earl was a popular man, and 
 that his numerous musters were indications of ambitious 
 designs — that it was dangerous trusting him with great 
 power in his hands, who too well knew his alliance so near 
 to the crown, that his ancestor the Lord Stanley, though 
 he appeared with Richard III, and gave his son George, 
 Lord Strange, as a pledge of his loyalty, yet, turned the 
 battle against him, and put the crown upon the head of 
 Henry VII. 2 
 
 A.D. 1642. Notwithstanding of this ill-treatment, 
 the patriotic earl of Derby again raised from among his 
 tenants and relations, three regiments of foot, and three 
 troops of horse, all of which he clothed at his own 
 expense, and armed from his own magazine. At the 
 head of these troops, he presented himself before the king, 
 
 1 Seacome's History of the House of Stanley, p. 79 ; Bullock, p. 85. 
 
 2 Rolt, p. 54.
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. 191 
 
 at Shrewsbury ; l but, by the special order of Charles, his 
 forces were placed under the command of colonel Gerrard, 
 and himself sent to relieve Manchester, then in the hands 
 of the rebels. 
 
 So soon as this siege was raised, the Earl resumed the 
 command of his troops, and, by forced marches, quickly 
 rejoined the king's army, not doubting that he should be 
 permitted to retain the command of his own brigade ; but, 
 under the pretence " that it was necessary for his lord- 
 ship to attend to his charge in Lancashire," his soldiers 
 were again placed under the control of other officers. 
 Disgusted at receiving- such treatment from the hands of 
 his sovereign, he relinquished all personal connection with 
 the court, and employed himself in fortifying his house at 
 Latham, where he maintained a troop of horse, and two 
 companies of foot soldiers. 
 
 Aware of how the earl's services had been rewarded 
 by the king, the parliamentary party now made overtures 
 to him of the most flattering description, thinking thereby 
 to enlist him in their interests. These proposals he 
 rejected with disdain, and marching out to meet a strong 
 detachment destined to besiege his little garrison, he put 
 them to flight, having taken their captains prisoners. 
 He, also, within three days, took both Lancaster and 
 Preston by storm. While preparing for a similar enter- 
 prise, he received an express from the king purporting 
 that his enemies had formed a project for seizing the Isle 
 of Man by means of a confederate party there, and that, 
 without his speedy care, the Island was in danger of 
 being taken. A.D. 1643. He likewise received letters 
 from the Island intimating the probability of a revolt 
 among the people — that, following the example of Eng- 
 land, groups had assembled in a tumultuous manner, de- 
 
 1 Lord Clarendon's History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars of England, Oxford 
 edition, 1826, vol. iii, p. 252.
 
 192 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 manding new laws, refusing to pay tithes, and liberating 
 from prison persons who had been committed by the 
 governor for insolence and contempt of his authority; 
 and that a ship of war which his lordship had stationed 
 there for the defence of the Island, had been taken by 
 the parliamentary ships. 1 This intelligence, which proved 
 true, hastened the Earl's departure for Oxford, where the 
 king and queen then were. Thence, by the advice of her 
 majesty and her friends, he returned to Latham ; and 
 having secretly made what provisions he could of men, 
 money, and ammunition for the defence and protection of 
 his wife and children against the insolence and affronts 
 of the enemy, prepared for his speedy voyage to the Isle 
 Man, 2 " with such men and materials as might answer the 
 end he was about." He was obliged, however, to leave 
 his wife and family at Latham House. 
 
 At a period prior to this the Earl of Derby's officers in 
 the Isle of Man had imprudently agitated the question 
 respecting the rights by which the inhabitants held their 
 lands. They pretended that they had discovered old re- 
 cords which proved that the lord had an undefeasible and 
 absolute right in the landed property of the Island, 
 founded on the conquest of Goddard Crovan, who, when 
 he took possession of Man, divided the whole among his 
 followers — not as an absolute gift, but by grants to them 
 
 1 Seacome's History of the House of Stanley, p. 86 ; Rapin's Hist, of England, 
 vol. ii, p. 477. 
 
 2 In justification of this step, the Earl writes to his son : — " I have digressed to 
 take off that objection often asked, that when every gallant spirit had engaged him- 
 self for the king and country, why I left the nation, deserted his majesty's service and 
 cause, and became a neuter ? with many such invidious and malicious suggestions to 
 my prejudice ; but I bless God I am fully satisfied of my own conduct and integrity 
 of heart, well remembering all those circumstances as well as the wicked insinuations 
 of my implacable and restless enemies. How others may be satisfied herewith, I 
 know not — but think this short narration, for want of time to set things in a fuller 
 light, may rather puzzle the minds of the readers, if any should chance to see it but 
 yourself; but you, my son, are bound to believe well of your father, and I to be 
 thankful to almighty God that you so well understand yourself and me. As for 
 others, I am unconcerned whether they understand me or not." — Scacome, p. 87.
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. [Q3 
 
 as tenants at will. And that as the sovereignty, when 
 bestowed on Sir John Stanley, invested him with as full 
 rights, claims, and authorities as any former king had 
 possessed, it followed that his original title in the land 
 was equal to that of the conqueror. 1 
 
 On this alarm being spread, the people became greatly 
 agitated ; but it was not difficult to persuade them to 
 accept of the compromise subsequently offered ; namely, 
 that they should make a voluntary resignation of their 
 landed property respectively, on condition of receiving it 
 back on a lease for three lives. To this measure they 
 were the more easily seduced by the example set them 
 by one of their deemsters, who was the first to deliver up 
 his estate, but who no sooner had his countrymen into 
 the trap which had been set for them, than he obtained 
 an act of Tynwald reinstating him in his former posses- 
 sions. By the shameless avowal of his perfidy, the eyes 
 of the natives were opened to the treachery by which 
 they were misled. 2 
 
 A violent aversion too was engendered against the 
 clergy by their interfering in certain temporal concerns, 
 by no means coming properly under their cognizance. 
 They arrogated to themselves the exclusive right of 
 making wills ; and refused to register those that were not 
 drawn up by a clergyman. When any person died intes- 
 tate, the ecclesiastical officers seized the property, and 
 made such distribution of it as they pleased. They also 
 claimed a tithe of all ale brewed, of goods or money given 
 as a marriage portion, and of the clothes of every person 
 deceased. 3 To these were added corpse-presents, mortua- 
 ries, plough-dues, and smoke-pennies, with many other 
 
 1 Bishop Wilson, ap. Ward's Ancient Records, pp. 17, 18. 
 
 2 Bullock, p. 94. 
 
 3 It was likewise a canon of the church that " all fabricators, smiths, carpenters, 
 builders, &c, give a tithe of their wages ; the payment of which shall be Kit to their 
 oath."— Canons established at a Convocation of the Clerrjy at Kirk- Braddan, a.d. 
 1291, ap. Ward's Ancient Accords, p. 135.
 
 194 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 oppressive exactions. Those who refused to comply were 
 excluded from the communion at Easter. 1 
 
 These iniquitous proceedings had raised the indignation 
 of the people against their oppressors to a height which 
 only the opportune arrival of the earl of Derby was able 
 to remedy. In a letter to his son, he says, — "My coming 
 to the Isle of Man proved in good time, for it was believed 
 by most people that a few days' longer absence would have 
 ended the happy peace which the Island had so long 
 enjoyed. When the people knew of my coming, they 
 were much affected with it. I found on my arrival that 
 my lieutenant, captain Greenhalgh, had wisely managed 
 the business by patience and good conduct, and, observing 
 the general disorder, had wisely considered that the people 
 were to be won as tame icild beasts, and not by violent 
 wrestling, lest they should turn upon you, and thereby 
 know their own strength. The captain before my coming 
 had imprisoned a saucy fellow in the face of the rabble, 
 who cried aloud that they would all fare as that man did, 
 which he warily seemed not to fear, and only threatened 
 to lay every man by the heels that continued to behave 
 in the same manner he had done ; well knowing that if 
 he punished him at that time the rest would have rescued 
 him, which would have let them see their own power, and 
 how little his staff of office could annoy or hurt them. 
 He then adjourned the court to another time, and wished 
 them for the future to put their complaints in writing, 
 and with good words promised to redress all their just 
 grievances, and for that purpose would send over for me, 
 without whom, he told them, no law could be changed, 
 with which they were well pleased, and so departed." 2 
 
 A.D. 1643. Soon after the Earl's arrival in the Island, 
 whither he was attended by a large train of gentlemen 
 
 1 Lex Scripla, pp. 31, 51 — 56. 
 
 2 Memoirs of James, Earl of Derby, ap. Seacome, p. 88.
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. 195 
 
 and a considerable retinue of servants, he appointed a 
 Tynwald to be liolden at Cronk Keeillow'n for the hear- 
 ing of grievances. On that occasion he appeared in great 
 state, being surrounded by all his officers of state, and by 
 a strong body-guard. 1 His policy appears best from his 
 own words : — " I appointed a meeting in the heart of 
 the country, where I wished every man to tell his own 
 grievance, and I would give him the best remedy I could ; 
 by which I thought those that had entered into any evil 
 design against me or the country might have time to 
 find some excuse for themselves, by laying the blame and 
 charge upon others. I chose rather to give them hopes, 
 to prevent their falling into violent courses before I was 
 prepared to meet them ; and indeed I feared many were 
 engaged by oath and covenant after the new way in Scot- 
 land, 2 and that it would not be easy to make them sensible 
 of their error. Nevertheless matters were not so ripe as 
 I could have wished ; but I made one step in dividing the 
 faction, remembering the old proverb — ' divide and con- 
 quer.' Upon each parish giving me a petition of their 
 grievances, I gave them good words, promising to take 
 the same into consideration, upon which they appeared 
 easy and departed." 3 
 
 The next meeting of all the " officers spiritual and tem- 
 poral, with the twenty-four Keys, and four deputies from 
 each parish," took place at Peeltown, on 24th July, 1643. 
 It was there agreed " that his Lordship should chancel- 
 larise, order, and decide all the matters of complaint," 
 for which purpose he ordered a grand jury of twenty- 
 four persons to be chosen, twelve out of the House of 
 Keys, and a like number out of the parish representatives, 
 who were sworn to present every cause of the people's 
 discontent, fairly to his lordship. 
 
 ' Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, cap. viii, edit. 1779. 
 2 Rapin's History of England, vol. ii. 
 5 Seacome, p. 90 ; Peck, cap. ix. 
 
 CHAF. VIII. 2 A
 
 196 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN, 
 
 The complaints thus made were chiefly against the 
 clergy and proctors for collecting tithes and dues for the 
 church, contrary to the known laws of the Island. On 
 considering these, the Earl allowed the parties accused to 
 make defence against the charges preferred. The clergy 
 and proctors having done so, he called another Tynwald 
 at the Castle of Rushen 1 on 30th October following, 
 where all the grievances of the people, whether as to 
 tithes, ivills, or corse-presents, were amicably adjusted, 2 and 
 commissioners appointed to treat with them respecting 
 the pretended " tenure of the straw." 
 
 Of the meeting at Peeltown, the Earl of Derby says — 
 " I expected wrangling, and met it ; but I provided for 
 my own safety, and if occasion required, to curb the rest, 
 Many busy bodies spoke Manks only, whom some offici- 
 ously said should be commanded to hold their peace, to 
 which I objected, knowing, by good experience, that by 
 giving themselves liberty to put themselves out of breath, 
 they would the sooner be quiet, and would be more con- 
 tented after speaking than if you prevented it." 
 
 According to the Earl's own account, he placed spies 
 amongst the people to cajole and divide them, and having 
 ascertained from his governor what councillors ought to 
 be present at the meeting, he took care that those who it 
 appears were in the interests of the people should be 
 " sent out of the way about other matters." 
 
 The person referred to as officiously commanding the 
 " busy-bodies" to hold their peace, appears to have been 
 Edward Christian, the late governor, who, at the close of 
 
 1 In the ancient Statute Bonk of the Island, the names of all the persons who 
 .itlcnili (I tliis Tynwald arc inserted with this remark: — " The said 30th Oct., 101.'?, 
 proved such a tempestuous day of raine and winde that many could not travel without 
 hazard, therefore the names of those that were absent are not set down." 
 
 ' Peck, cap. ix ; Seacome, p. 90 ; Rolf, p. 59. The Manks clergy exercise still the 
 vested authority of granting probates of wills, subject, however, to the cognizance of 
 the Archbishop of York. — See case of Thomas Dixon, of Douglas, in March, 1838.
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. 1.'>7 
 
 the meeting, having attempted disturbance, was seized 
 and committed, along with many others, to Peel Castle, 
 where he remained till his death, which is said to have 
 happened in 1GG0. 1 Thus died he whom the Earl had 
 before characterized as "an excellent companion and a 
 rude sea-captain." History leaves us without any re- 
 cords of his private character, but we are led to believe 
 from the act which caused his imprisonment that lie was 
 ambitious of power. If we may credit tradition, how- 
 ever, he was amiable, patriotic, honourable, and good in 
 all the relations of life — resembling only in one particu- 
 lar, his unconquerable courage, that remarkable character 
 in the novel of Pcveril of the Peak, which the gifted 
 author has chiselled out in such bold relief. 2 
 
 Before leaving England, the Earl of Derby had received 
 private intelligence that a commission had been issued 
 by parliament to reduce Latham House. He therefore 
 caused the fortress to be secretly provided with an abun- 
 
 1 Peck, chap. ix. This date is either an error, or the following memorandum in 
 the register of the parish of Kirk Maughold, commencing in 1647, is not correct : — 
 "Edmund Christian, who was sometime Captain at sea and afterwards for a time 
 Governor of the Isle of Man, he departed this life in Peele Castle, being a prisoner 
 there for some words spoken concerning the King, when the great difference was 
 between the king and the parliament. He was committed by James, Earl of Derby, 
 who was then in this Isle. Edmund Christian was buried Jan. 22, 10G0, in Kirk 
 Maughold church, wherein he was baptised." 
 
 2 In Bullock's History of the Isle of Man, p. 101, and in several other publications 
 on the same subject, this captain Christian is stated to be the same person who 
 afterwards suffered for alleged treason against the Countess of Derby and her family. 
 Captain Christian's name was Edward : he was lieutenant-governor of the Island 
 from a.d. 1028 to l(j;j.">, and, as we see, died in prison. The name of the person 
 who afterwards suffered for treason against the Countess of Derby was William 
 Christian, who rose only t.> the rank of receiver-general of the Island. — Historical 
 Notices, p. 21. Edward Christian was the younger son of William Christian, of 
 Knockrushen ; while William Christian was son of Ewen Christian, of Ronaldsway. 
 Sir Walter Scott has, likewise, fallen into the error of blending these two persons 
 into the same individual. — See Introduction to Pereril of the Peak. The Minks- 
 men are somewhat offended, says Lord Teignmouth, by the manner in which Sir 
 Walter Scott has spoken of Christian, in his novel of Peveril of the Peak, but 
 without reason, for his character is represented as blameless, except in regard to tin- 
 single act of rebellion, of which the house of Derby could entertain but one opinion. 
 — Sketches, vol. ii, p. 194.
 
 198 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 dance of provisions and warlike stores ; greatly augment- 
 ing at the same time the military force within its walls. 
 By these means his heroic lady 1 was enabled to maintain 
 that remarkable defence against the parliamentary army 
 which baffled the skill of many of their most distinguished 
 captains. 2 
 
 A.D. 1644. In order to relieve his lady and family 
 from their perilous situation, Lord Derby repaired to 
 England, and with the king's consent succeeded, through 
 the assistance of prince Rupert, who had just entered 
 Lancashire with a considerable force, 3 in compelling 
 Rigby, the commander of the army before Latham House, 
 to raise the siege. For this service he distributed three 
 thousand pounds among the prince's soldiers. 4 
 
 Rigby had conducted the siege with all the barbarity 
 of a Turkish general, and the Earl highly irritated at the 
 insults which had been offered to his lady and family, ob- 
 tained leave from prince Rupert to attack him with a 
 chosen band at Bolton, where he had concentrated all 
 his forces. After a sharp conflict his lordship entered the 
 town at the head of two hundred of those faithful soldiers 
 whom he had been so ungraciously deprived of at Wor- 
 cester. This victory was followed up by the prince, and 
 Rigby was put to flight, although, not till nearly two 
 thousand of his troops were slain. 
 
 1 This Countess of Derby was daughter of Claude de Tremouille, Duke de Tre- 
 mouille and Travers, in France. — Seacome, p. 74. A contemporary publication, the 
 Mercurius Aulicus, by John Birkenhead, says, — " The Countess, it seems, stole the 
 Earl's breeches when he fled into the Isle of Man, and hath in his absence, played 
 the man at Latham House." 
 
 2 Latham House was most gallantly and bravely defended for full two years 
 against all the contrivance and force of the parliamentary army, wherein, by their 
 own confession, they lost at least six thousand men, and the garrison about four 
 hundred. — Seacome' 's History of the House of Stanley, p. 115. In its defence the 
 Countess acted like a Zenobia or a Boadicea. She preserved her residence to the 
 disgrace of her besiegers and the honour of her sex. — Rolf, p. GG. 
 
 3 Hume's Hist, of England, cap. 57 ; Rushivorth, vol. vi, p. 638. 
 
 1 This sum was raised on Lady Derby's jewels, conveyed to her husband out of 
 Latham House by means of a sally. — Seacome, p. 108.
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. ] 99 
 
 After remaining a few days with prince Rupert, amid 
 the ruins of Latham House, Lord Derby retired for se- 
 clusion to the Isle of Man, now his only property, the 
 parliament having confiscated all his English estates. 
 
 In the spring of 1645 a band of Scottish pirates landed 
 at Ramsey, and plundered the town ; the Earl of Derby, 
 however, received from the Scottish parliament reparation 
 for the loss sustained. But to protect the town in future 
 from foreign enemies, he, about the year 1648, built a 
 fort there, and called it Fort Loyal. 1 In the same year 
 a fort was also begun to be built on the Horsehill near 
 the town of Peel, opposite the castle, by the advice of 
 Sir Arthur Ashton, to stop any relief that might be 
 brought by boats in case the castle should either rebel or 
 be besieged. 
 
 A.D. 1646. Encouraged by an act of parliament, ap- 
 pointing a committee to compound with delinquents, 
 whose estates had become forfeited, the children of the 
 Earl of Derby, six in number, procured a pass from Sir 
 Thomas Fairfax, enabling them to proceed to England 
 with the view of applying for maintenance. Their peti- 
 tion was listened to, and they were allowed one-fifth of 
 the annual produce of their father's estates in Lancashire, 
 with permission to occupy the mansion-house of Knows- 
 ley. They had only, however, remained there a few 
 months, when they were all made prisoners by Colonel 
 Birch, governor of Liverpool, on account, it was alleged, 
 of their father holding the Isle of Man in opposition to 
 the parliament. 
 
 These juvenile sufferers having represented their case 
 to General Fairfax, that officer sent a communication to 
 their father to the effect that if his lordship would deli- 
 ver up the Isle of Man to the parliament, his children 
 should be set at liberty, and himself allowed to return 
 
 1 Feltham, p. 162 ; Rolt, &c.
 
 200 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 to England to enjoy a moiety of his estates. To this 
 proposal his lordship replied : — " That he was greatly 
 afflicted with the sufferings of his children — that it was 
 not the course of great or noble minds to punish innocent 
 children for their father's offences — and that it would be 
 clemency in Sir Thomas Fairfax either to send them back 
 to him or to their relations in Holland or France ; but if 
 he could do none of these, they should never be redeemed 
 by his disloyalty." 1 
 
 A.D. 1G49. A similar proposition was made to Lord 
 Derby, about the same period, by Commissary-general 
 Ireton, son-in-law of Oliver Cromwell, in name of the 
 presiding parliament, 2 to which his lordship returned the 
 following answer : — 
 
 " Castletown, 12th July, 1649. 
 "Sir, — I received your letter with indignation and scorn, and return you this answer, 
 — that I cannot but wonder whence you can gather any hopes from me that I should, like 
 you, prove treacherous to my sovereign, since you cannot but be sensible of my former 
 actings in his late majesty's service, from which principles of loyalty I am no ways 
 departed. I scorn your proffers, disdain your favor, and abhor your treason ; and 
 am so far from delivering up this Island to your advantage, that I will keep it to the 
 utmost of my power, and your destruction. Take this final answer, and forbear all 
 further solicitations ; but if you trouble me with any more messages, I will burn the 
 paper and bang the bearer. This is the immutable resolution, and shall be the un- 
 doubted practice of him who accounts it his chiefest glory to be 
 
 " His majesty's most loyal and obedient servant, 
 (Signed) Derby." 3 
 
 A.D. 1651. At this period the inhabitants of the Island 
 subscribed £500 in support of the royal cause, a sum 
 which at that time must have formed a large proportion 
 of the circulating specie. 4 As an acknowledgment 5 of 
 his services, the Earl received the order of the garter from 
 
 1 Seacome's History of the House of Stanley, Liverpool, 1741, p. 129. 
 
 2 Rapin's England, vol. ii, p. 578 ; Howell, p. 223 ; Life of Oliver Cromwell, 
 p. 18. 
 
 :t Hume's Hist, of England, cap. lx, note v. 
 
 4 Jeffenfs Account of the Isle of Man, page 120. According to Lord Teign- 
 mouth, the Islanders, " in the time of Lord Protector Cromwell, subscribed two 
 sums of .£'500 each, towards the royal cause." — Sketches, cap. xx. 
 
 ■ Coleridge's Worthies of Yorkshire and Lancashire, ap. Wood's Ancient Re- 
 cords, p. 10i5.
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. 201 
 
 the young kino - , who was about to enter England tit the 
 head of a Scots army, commanded by Presbyterian 
 preachers. It is well known to the reader of English 
 history, that in August, 1651, the Earl of Derby left the 
 Isle of Man with a company of three hundred volunteers 
 to join king Charles, then in Lancashire, 1 on his march 
 from Scotland to the south ; but his majesty had passed 
 through that country before his lordship could overtake 
 him. He had, however, left major-general Massey to 
 await his arrival at Warrington, where he met him with 
 some of the principal persons of the Presbyterian party, 
 who had accompanied the king from Scotland. The 
 Presbyterian minister insisted that Lord Derby would put 
 away from him all the Papists he had brought from the 
 Isle of Man, and that he himself would take the covenant 
 when they would all join with him. His lordship ex- 
 pressed a hope that this was not their general opinion, but 
 was told that his British majesty had taken the covenant, 
 and thereby given encouragement to all his subjects to do 
 the same, and that if his lordship would not comply with 
 their request they could not join him. Lord Derby re- 
 plied that upon these terms he might have been long 
 since restored to his whole estate — that he did not come 
 to dispute, but to fight for his majesty's restoration ; and 
 would, upon the issue of the first battle, submit to the 
 direction of his majesty on that point — that he would 
 refuse none, of any persuasion whatsoever, who came 
 cheerfully to serve the king ; and hoped they would give 
 him the same freedom and latitude to engage whom he 
 could for his majesty's preservation ; and that lie was 
 well assured all those gentlemen he brought with him 
 were sincere ami honest friends to the person and interest 
 of the king. Major General Massey seconded his lord.- 
 
 1 King diaries II, resolving to march into England by way of Lancashire, sent an 
 express to the Isle of Man, to the Earl of Derby to meet his majesty in Lancashire. 
 — Clarendon, vol. vii, p. 491
 
 202 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 ship to the same effect, and exhorted them to unite heartily 
 in manifestation of their own duty and loyalty, and the 
 vindication of themselves from all suspected intentions of 
 usurpation which then lay upon them. But the whole 
 party insisted peremptorily on their demands, as already 
 expressed ; perceiving which, and that it was in vain to 
 press them further on the subject, Lord Derby only added 
 at their departure, — " If you will be persuaded to join 
 with me, I make no doubt but in a few days to raise as 
 good an army to follow the king as that he has now with 
 him, and, by God's blessing, to shake off the yoke of 
 bondage resting both upon you and us ; if not, I cannot 
 hope to effect much : I may, perhaps, have men enough at 
 my command, but all the arms are in your possession, 
 without which I shall only lead naked men to slaughter. 
 However, I am determined to do what I can with the 
 handful of gentlemen now with me for his majesty's ser- 
 vice, and if I perish, I perish ; but if my master suffer, 
 the blood of another prince, and all the ensuing miseries 
 of this nation, will lie at your doors." 
 
 His lordship then departed, having with him only the 
 volunteers who had accompanied him from the Isle of 
 Man, and a few of the royal adherents who had joined his 
 standard at Warrington; 1 but ere he reached the royal 
 army he was attacked at Wigan by a squadron of the 
 parliamentary troops, and notwithstanding a gallant 
 defence, he was defeated with great loss, and narrowly 
 escaped being taken prisoner. 
 
 Although severely wounded, he made his way to Wor- 
 cester, and was present with the king during the engage- 
 ment on the disastrous Third of September. He after- 
 wards conducted his sovereign to Boscobel, the house of 
 n friend, in Staffordshire, since renowned as the place 
 where Charles concealed himself in an oak tree. 2 
 
 1 Holt, edit. 1773, pp. 70, 71 ; Seacome, edit. 1793, pp. 294—298. 
 
 2 Heathe's Chronicle, p. 301 ; Hume's History of England, cap. lx.
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. 203 
 
 Returning to Lancashire, the Earl was intercepted by 
 a detachment of the rebel army, which he tried to'evade, 
 but was pursued and taken prisoner. 1 This unfortunate 
 affray placed him in the hands of Rigby and Birch, his 
 personal enemies, who prevailed on Cromwell to grant a 
 commission to try him by a council of war, at Chester, 
 where he was held prisoner. 2 While preparations were 
 being made for this purpose, the Earl addressed a letter 
 to his Countess, then with her family in the Isle of Man, 
 from which the following is an extract : — " Colonel 
 Duckenfield, governor of this town, (Chester) is going, 
 pursuant to his orders from the parliament and general 
 Cromwell, to the Isle of Man, where he will make known 
 to you his business. I have procured Baggerley ,who was 
 prisoner in this town, to come over to you with my letter. 
 I have told him my reasons, and he will tell you them, which 
 done may save the spilling of blood in that Island, and, it 
 may be, of some here dear to you ; but of that take no 
 care, neither treat at all, for I perceive it will do you 
 more hurt than good. * * * As matters go, it will 
 be best for you to make conditions for yourself, children, 
 and friends, in the manner we have proposed, or as you 
 can further agree with colonel Duckenfield, who being so 
 much a gentleman born, will doubtless, for his honour, 
 deal fairly with you. You know how much that place is 
 my darling, but since it is God's will to dispose in the 
 manner it is, there is nothing further to be said of the Isle 
 of Man, but refer all to the will of God, and to procure 
 the best conditions you can for yourself, and poor family, 
 and friends there, and those that went over with me." 3 
 
 A.D. 1651. Lord Derby was charged with having 
 borne arms for Charles Stuart against the parliament, 
 with being guilty of a breach of an act of parliament of 
 
 1 Clarendon, vol. vii, pp. 502, 503. 
 
 2 Clarendon, vol. vi, p. 411 ; Parliam. Hist. vol. xx, pp. 53—5/ ; Whillock, 185. 
 
 3 Seacome, p. 134 ; Roll, pp. 74, 75. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 2 B
 
 204 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 the twelfth of August, 1651, prohibiting all correspon- 
 dence with Charles Stuart or any of his party ; with 
 having fortified his house at Latham ; and with holding 
 the Isle of Man against the will of the Commons. — 
 In his defence, the Earl maintained that quarter was 
 granted for life when he submitted to Major Edge, 
 and this being an ancient and honourable plea amongst 
 military men, was never violated, and should there- 
 fore be held a sufficient bar against his trial by a court 
 martial. He urged too, in support of his plea, that the 
 judgment given in the case of the Earl of Cambridge, 
 which was in every way similar to that for which he stood 
 arraigned, should be taken as a precedent. But his de- 
 fence was overruled by the court, and he was sentenced 
 to be executed at Bolton on the fourth day afterwards. 1 
 
 The brief space thus allowed for carrying the sentence 
 of the court into execution was fixed on in order to afford 
 the Earl no opportunity of appealing to parliament ; but 
 Lord Strange had been prepared with a relay of horses, 
 and rode to London in twenty-four hours, carrying with 
 him a petition from his father to parliament, praying 
 to be protected by the established usage of civilized 
 warfare. Several members supported the plea of the 
 unfortunate earl ; but when Lenthel, the speaker of the 
 Commons, was about to put the question to a vote, Crom- 
 well and Bradshaw, with several other members in their 
 train, quitted the house, and thereby reducing the remain- 
 ing members to a number inadequate to constitute a 
 "house," obtained their object. The petition was laid 
 on the table, 2 and the Earl of Derby was beheaded at 
 Bolton on the 15th October, 1651.* 
 
 1 The same night one of those who were amongst his judges, sent a trumpet to the 
 Isle of Man, with a letter directed to the Countess of Derby, by which he requested 
 her to deliver up the castle and Island to the parliament. — Clarendon, vol. vii, pp. 
 517,518. 
 
 2 Seacomc's History of the House of Stanley, p. 319. 
 
 * Appendix, Note i, "Trial of the Earl of Derby, and his Deportment at the 
 place of Execution."
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. -JO.', 
 
 With this nobleman it has been said "the sun of the 
 house of Stanley set in clouds and darkness." Sir Wil- 
 liam Dugdale, in his Chronicle, characterizes him as a 
 person highly accomplished in learning and the fine arts, 
 brave, benevolent, and generous, and though descended 
 from a long line of ancestors, yet worthy of being distin- 
 guished by the title of "The Great Earl of Derby." 1 
 Lord Clarendon says, " He was a man of great honour 
 and clear courage, but all his misfortunes and defects 
 proceeded from his having lived so little among his equals 
 that he knew not how to treat his inferiors, which was 
 the source of all the ills that befel him, having thereby 
 drawn such prejudices against him from persons of inferior 
 quality, who yet thought themselves too good to be con- 
 demned, that they pursued him to death." 2 
 
 The life, however, of this eminent individual was not 
 considered a sufficient atonement for his offences against 
 the reigning powers. Colonel Duckenfield, governor of 
 Chester, and Birch, were dispatched with a fleet of ten 
 sail and a considerable land force to reduce the Isle of 
 Man. 3 Sir Philip Musgrave was then governor of the 
 Island, Sir Thomas Armstrong governor of Castle Rushen, 
 and his brother governor of Peel. The insular infantry 
 was placed under the command of William Christian, 
 who had held the office of receiver-general since 1648. 4 
 Christian had been from infancy a protege of the House 
 of Stanley, and the Earl of Derby had such confidence in 
 
 1 Seacome, p. 76. 
 
 2 History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars of England, vol. vii, book xiii. 
 
 3 Among the places that fell this year (1651) into the possession of the Parliament, 
 was the Isle of Man, for reducing which, three foot regiments were shipped at Ches- 
 ter and Liverpool, on the 16th day of October, and although they were driven into 
 Beaumaris by contrary winds on the 18th, yet, sailing from thence, on the 28th day 
 of the same month they had assurance of an Islander of landing in Man, without 
 m,,/ opposition, all being secured for their reception.— History of the World, by 
 Dionysius Petavius, London, 1659, fol. 514. 
 
 4 Historical Notices of two Characters in Peveril of the Peak, p. 19.
 
 206 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN 
 
 bis fidelity and attachment to his family, that, on his de- 
 parture for England to join king Charles, he left his heroic 
 wife and children under his especial care. 
 
 On the fall of her husband, the widowed patroness of 
 Christian should have become more the object of his pecu- 
 liar care. In opposition, however, to her interest, he 
 was charged with having secretly entered into correspon- 
 dence with Major Fox and the parliament, with receiv- 
 ing their authority to raise the country, and with having 
 placed himself at the head of an association, the members 
 of which were bound by a secret oath 1 " to withstand the 
 Lady of Derby in her designs, until she had yielded or 
 condescended to their aggrievances." This secret associa- 
 tion broke out into open insurrection within eight days 
 after the execution of her lord. Receiver-general Chris- 
 tian had the hardihood to carry to the Countess of Derby 
 the clamorous claims of the deluded populace, whom he 
 had been instrumental in seducing from their allegiance. 
 
 Lady Derby, although she had been so inclined, was 
 not in a situation to resist demands made in the name of 
 the people, however unreasonable they might have been. 
 One chief cause of this popular dissatisfaction appears to 
 have been produced by the keeping up of a troop in the 
 Island at free quarterage. 2 These she ordered to be dis- 
 banded, and permitted M. Trevash, her secretary, to agree 
 in her name to all the claims made by Christian. 3 
 
 When the transports under the command of Ducken- 
 field appeared under full sail standing in for the Island, 
 one of the insurgents boarded the commander's ship off 
 Douglas " to give intelligence of the state of the country," 
 and when the fleet anchored in Ramsey bay, a deputation, 
 consisting of John Christian, Ewan Curphey, and William 
 Standish, went on board to negotiate for the surrender of 
 
 - Historical Notices of two Characters in Peveril of the Peak, p. 26. 
 
 1 Tbid. 
 
 2 Ibid, p. 29.
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. 207 
 
 tbc Island ; " the only stipulation made on the part of 
 the Islanders being that they might enjoy their lands and 
 liberties as they formerly had." 1 
 
 While these matters were passing, Sir Philip Musgrave 
 marched towards Ramsey with all his disposable forces, 
 in order to oppose the landing of the enemy ; but before 
 his arrival, Fort Loyal had fallen into their hands, and 
 the commander been made prisoner. It has often been 
 repeated, and not yet satisfactorily contradicted, that 
 Christian treacherously seized Lady Derby and her family 
 at midnight, and next morning conveyed them prisoners 
 to Duckenfield, 2 who informed her ladyship that the 
 Island had been surrendered by the receiver-general, on 
 terms which he permitted her to read. Observing that 
 the little islet of Holm, on the coast of Man, was not in- 
 cluded in the treaty, she solicited liberty to retire with 
 her children to the castle of Peel situated on that rocky 
 islet, but her request was refused, and she was thenceforth 
 closely confined in the castle of Rushen, till the period of 
 the restoration. 3 
 
 A.D. 1652. On the forfeiture of the Earl of Derby, 
 the lordship of the Isle of Man was granted by parlia- 
 ment to Lord Fairfax, who appointed commissioners, 
 having power to direct the affairs of the insular state. — 
 This change took place without exciting any extraordi- 
 nary sensation in the minds of the natives, who, probably, 
 so long as they were governed by their ancient laws, were 
 indifferent by whom these laws were administered. 
 
 Episcopacy having now been abolished, Lord Fairfax, 
 with his characteristic generosity, applied the revenues of 
 the suppressed see to the support of the ministers of the 
 
 1 Appendix to Introduction to Peveril of the Peak, Edin., 1831, No. i. 
 
 2 Rolfs History of the Isle of Man, p. 89 ; Seacome, p. 382. 
 
 3 The march of Sir Philip Musgrave perhaps induced Mr. Hume to say, — '' The 
 Countess of Derby defended the Isle of Man, and with great reluctance yielded to the 
 necessity of surrendering to the enemy." — Cap. lx.
 
 208 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 gospel, and the maintaining of free-schools at Castletown, 
 Douglas, Peel, and Ramsey. 1 
 
 William Christian, the receiver-general, had got into 
 such arrears with the exchequer, that commissioner 
 Chaloner found it his duty to sequestrate his estates and 
 to imprison his brother John for aiding him in his escape 
 from the Island. 2 The whole country, at this period, was 
 in such a miserable condition, that Mr. Chaloner con- 
 cludes his account of it by saying, " the poverty of this 
 Island is its greatest security." 3 
 
 In the year 1655, as appears by the exchequer-book 
 of the Island, certain orders and acts were prepared and 
 ordained by Lord Fairfax, relating to trespass, choice 
 children, yarding, and juries of servants ; but after the 
 Restoration these laws were, by an act of Tynwald, re- 
 puted to be invalid, having been enacted by the usurped 
 government, and were therefore cancelled. 4 
 
 A.D. 1660. Lord Fairfax held the sovereignty of Man 
 till the restoration of Charles II, when it was granted to 
 Charles, the son of the late unfortunate Earl, 5 in consi- 
 deration of whose loyalty and sufferings both houses of 
 parliament unanimously passed an act restoring all the 
 forfeited estates of that nobleman in England to the heir 
 at law. To this act of justice, however, Charles, in whose 
 and in his father's behalf so much blood and treasure had 
 been expended by the house of Stanley, ungratefully re- 
 fused to give his assent. 6 
 
 1 Isle of Man Charities, drawn up by order of government, printed in 1831, p. 21 ; 
 Historical Notices ,■ Introduction to Peveril of the Peak. 
 
 2 Historical Notices, page 21. 
 
 3 Campbell's Political Survey of Great Britain, vol. ii, p. 539. 
 
 4 Lex Scripta, pp. 140, 141. 
 
 5 Camden's Britannica, vol. ii, p. 1443. 
 
 6 The truth of this relation has been denied by Mr. Pennant and others (Bullock, 
 p. 130) ; if incorrect, why did the Earl, who rebuilt Knowsley House in memory of 
 the unkind and ungenerous treatment of his father and grandfather, by King Charles 
 II, cause the following inscription to be cut in stone on the front of it : " James, 
 Earl of Derby, Lord of Man and the Isles, grandson of James, Earl of Derby, by
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. 209 
 
 On being liberated from her confinement in Castle 
 Rushen, the heroic Countess of Derby retired to 
 Knowsley House, in Lancashire, where she died in 1GG4, 
 satisfied from painful experience of the wisdom of him 
 who first said " put not your faith in princes." Charles, 
 Lord Strange, succeeded his unhappy father as the eighth 
 Earl. He married Dorothea Helena Rupa, daughter of 
 Baron Rupa, in Germany, an honourable family, but of 
 small fortune. 1 
 
 Of Charles little is recorded, even by the historian of 
 the family. His father wrote aphorisms for his obser- 
 vance in life, and maxims for his governing the Isle of 
 Man ; but in no instance did he present his lady, in her 
 distress, with the consoling hope of her son's duty and 
 affections, nor did he even recommend to him the care of 
 the younger children. Lord Strange was at large when 
 his sisters were suffering in confinement, and while his 
 father was contending for his king and country, he re- 
 mained in a state of inaction, which, at this distance of 
 time, cannot be accounted for. 
 
 After the restoration the insular legislature found it 
 expedient, for the peace and good order of the Island, to 
 enact at two Tynwalds " certain necessary orders" with- 
 out the usual confirmation of the lord superior ; and the 
 laws so passed at the Tynwald held on 24th June, 1664, 
 did not receive his assent till 16th June, 1665 ; 2 a cir- 
 cumstance implying a want of due regard for his Manks 
 subjects on the part of the lord superior. 
 
 In one instance, however, he seemed actuated by a 
 sense of the wrongs which his parents had sustained. By 
 
 Charlotte, daughter of Claud, Duke of Tremouille, whose husband was beheaded at 
 Bolton, the fifteenth day of October, mdcli, for strenuously adhering to King 
 Charles II, who refused a bill, unanimously passed by both houses of parliament, for 
 restoring to the family the estates lost by his loyalty to him, mdccxxxii." — 
 Seacome's History of the House of Stanley, p. 108 ; Holt. 
 
 1 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, London, 1770, p. 771. 
 
 2 Lex Scripts, pp. 135 — 152.
 
 210 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 a mandate, dated at Latham, in September, 1662, pro- 
 ceedings were ordered to be instituted, forthwith, against 
 William Christian for all his illegal actions, while con- 
 nected with the government of the Isle of Man, on, before, 
 or after the year 1651. The indictment charged him with 
 having been at the head of an insurrection against the 
 Countess of Derby in the last mentioned year, and of 
 then assuming, in his own person, the sovereign power of 
 the Island, thereby depriving the Countess and her heirs 
 of their invested rights. 1 It had been an ancient cus- 
 tomary law of the Island that any person accused of trea- 
 son might, without trial, be sentenced to be drawn by wild 
 horses, then hanged, and his head cut off and stuck upon 
 the tower of the Castle of Rushen, while his body was 
 afterwards quartered and exposed to public view at each 
 of the four chief towns of the Island. 
 
 When the evidence had been taken in the case of Wil- 
 liam Christian, it was put to the Keys, assembled on his 
 trial, whether the prisoner came within the statute of 
 1422, and should therefore be sentenced " without quest" 
 or whether he should have the benefit of a trial by the 
 ordinary course of law ? The answer of the Keys was, 
 that he should be tried by course of law. When the 
 case, therefore, was brought before the supreme court of 
 the Island, Christian was called on for his defence. It 
 appeared from the depositions of the witnesses who had 
 been adduced in support of the indictment, that the insur- 
 rection had been brought about chiefly at his instigation, 
 and that the insurgents had acted chiefly under his direc- 
 tions. To this was added his surrender of the Island to 
 Duckenfield, which it appeared had taken place without 
 the consent of the Countess of Derby, of the governor, or 
 indeed of any of the military authorities, and which it was 
 alleged, was in itself sufficient to constitute an act of 
 treason. 
 
 1 Historical Notices of tivo Characters in Peveril of the Peak, p. 22.
 
 LORDS OF Till: HOUSE OF STANLEY. 211 
 
 To none of these charges does Christian appear to have 
 offered any defence ; pleading, however, the virtue of the 
 royal act of general pardon and indemnity as a bar against 
 all proceedings libelled against him. This plea the ma- 
 jority of the court, on the other hand, refused to concede, 
 holding it of no efficiency in the case of treason against a 
 member of the reigning family. On this occasion Edward 
 Christian, one of the deemsters and nephew of the pri- 
 soner, having dissented from the voice of the court, with- 
 drew, and proceeded with all possible dispatch to Lon- 
 don, where he found means to represent to his majesty 
 the affair as it was agitated at his departure from the 
 Island. A royal order was immediately forwarded to 
 Henry Howell, the lieutenant-governor of the Island, 
 staying all proceedings or suspending any sentence that 
 might have been passed against Christian, until further 
 directions were received from his majesty. 
 
 In the meantime another deemster had been appointed 
 in room of Edward Christian, and the court, although the 
 prisoner urged his right of appeal to the king in council, 
 precipitately came to the decision : — " That William 
 Christian of Ronaldsway be shot to death, that thereupon 
 his life may depart from his body." This sentence was 
 accordingly carried into execution at Hango Hill near 
 Castletown, on the 2d January, 1G63. Christian made a 
 speech to the populace,* and met his death with great 
 fortitude. 1 
 
 * Appendix, Note ii, " Dying Speech of William Christian." 
 1 The soldiers wished to bind him to the spot on which he stood. He said 
 " Trouble not yourselves for me, for I that dare face death in whatever shape he 
 comes, will not start at your fire and bullets ; nor can the power you have deprive 
 me of my courage." At his desire, a piece of white paper was given to him, which, 
 with the utmost composure, he pinned to his breast, to direct them where to aim ; 
 and, after a short prayer, addressed the soldiers thus, " Hit this, and you do your own 
 and my work." And presently after, stretching forth his arms, which was the signal 
 he gave them, he was shot through the heart, and fell." — Historical Notices, p. 35. 
 In the Parish Register, at Kirk Malew, is the following memorandum, sivmingly 
 written at the time the event occurred : — "Mr. William Christian, of Ronaldsway, 
 
 CHAF. VIII. 2 C
 
 212 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 A.D. 1664. On the presentation of an appeal to the 
 king against " the illegal sentence of the Manks legisla- 
 ture, in reference to William Christian," an order was 
 issued at Whitehall and a sergeant-at-arms dispatched 
 to bring the governor, deemsters, and three members 
 specified as forming the pretended court before the privy 
 council. There, on the 5th of July, all parties were 
 heard at full length, in presence of his majesty ; and on 
 the 5th of August following a judgment was extended to 
 the following effect : — " His majesty being deeply sensible 
 of the violation of his act of general pardon in the case of 
 William Christian, did, by, and with the advice of his 
 council, order that all persons in any way connected in 
 the seizure of the estate of the said William Christian, 
 deceased, or instrumental in the ejection of his widow or 
 children out of their houses and fortune, do take care that 
 entire restoration is to be made of all the said estates, as 
 well real as personal."* By the same judgment, it was 
 ordered that all expenses incurred in the prosecution of 
 these claims were likewise to be paid by the deemsters 
 and members of the said court of justice ; and the deem- 
 sters were further ordered to be confined to the prison of 
 the King's Bench, in order that they might be proceeded 
 against in the ordinary course of justice. Edward Chris- 
 tian, also, was reinstated in his office of deemster ; and 
 the governor who had been charged with having received 
 the order, suspending the sentence of Christian, a day 
 prior to his execution, was reprimanded for withholding 
 the same. 
 
 On a full consideration of the circumstances connected 
 with the case of Christian, it must appear, I think, clearly 
 evident that his execution was an unjustifiable stretch of 
 
 late Receiver, was shott to death at Ilango Hill, 2nd January, 1G62. He died most 
 penitently and most curragiously — made a good end — prayed earnestly — and, next 
 day, was buried in the chancel of Kirk Malew." 
 * Appendix, Note iii, " Orders of the King in Council."
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. 213 
 
 feudal power, on the part of the Countess of Derby and 
 her son, and when brought in opposition to the royal 
 act of indemnity, that it was totally at variance with the 
 ostensible clemency of the king, and in all probability was 
 the true cause of his majesty's refusing to restore the for- 
 feited estates of the Earl. On the other hand, I think it 
 is equally evident that all the attempts that have been 
 made to depict William Christian as an amiable and jus- 
 tifiable character have been far from overturnino; the ante- 
 cedent presumption of his moral and political guilt. The 
 character which he bears with his countrymen of the pre- 
 sent day is perhaps more indebted for its favourable hue 
 to some existing records in rhyme, expressive, it may be, 
 of the momentary feelings of popular commiseration at his 
 fate, than to any genuine qualities of head and heart which 
 could claim a merited sympathy in the affections of his 
 countrymen. 
 
 Charles, Earl of Derby, appears at length to have 
 effected a reconciliation with his sovereign, for by letters 
 patent in the 19th year of king Charles's reign, the royal 
 mines of gold and silver in the Isle of Man, are granted 
 to him and the heirs male of his body for ever. 1 He died 
 in 1672, and was succeeded by his son William, who 
 married Elizabeth, daughter of the Earl of Ossary and 
 sister to the Duke of Ormond. 
 
 According to Waldron he lived for some time in the 
 Castle of Rushen; 2 and by the statute-book of the Island 
 he appears to have been present at the Tynwald held at 
 St. John's, on the 30th July, 1691, where it was enacted 
 that none should take above six per cent, for the loan of 
 money, and that " cotlers, intackholders or persons shall 
 
 1 Mills's Ancient Ordinances, Douglas, 1821, p. 529. — This grant expired in 
 1735, on the failure of heirs, male, of Earl Charles, whereby the right of these gold 
 and silver mines reverted to the king of Great Britain. 
 
 2 Waldron's Description of the Isle of Man, p. 96.
 
 214 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 not keep any more cattle, horses, or sheep than what they 
 have sufficient grass and winter provision for." 1 
 
 At the midsummer Tynwald of 1696, 2 the customary 
 statute of 1429, which declared — "that noe Scottish- 
 man, or any other aliens, be resident in the land of Man," 3 
 was repealed ; and it was enacted, " that all and every 
 person or persons, whether subjects of the kingdoms of 
 Scotland or Ireland, or any foreigners or strangers of any 
 other kingdom or nation, whose prince is at peace with 
 the crown of England, coming into this Isle to reside, 
 shall for the future have and enjoy the immunitys, privi- 
 ledges, and advantages, that any of the subjects of Eng- 
 land have, or hereafter may have or enjoy, by the laws 
 and customs of this Isle." 4 The law thus repealed ap- 
 pears to have originated in a wish to check the intrusion 
 of strangers who might come under the guise of friendship 
 with a hostile intent, as was often the case in olden 
 times. The Manksmen were especially suspicious of the 
 Scots, whom they designated, "our enemies the Red- 
 shanks" 5 The abrogation of this narrow system of policy, 
 produced important changes in the affairs of the Island. 
 To escape from the devastations of the civil-war in Ire- 
 land, many thousands of the Protestants of that country 
 
 1 Lex Scripta, pp. 172 — 175. 
 
 2 Lex Scripta, p. 183. 
 
 3 Ibid, p. 9. 
 
 4 Ibid, p. 183. 
 
 6 Ibid, p. 98. This was a common nick-name for a Scotch highlander, one of 
 whom is thus described by Colvill, in his poem, The Whig's Supplication, Edin- 
 burgh, 1711, p. 80:— 
 
 " One man quoth he oft times hath stood, 
 And put to flight a multitude, 
 Like Sampson, Wallace, and Sir Bewis, 
 And Finmacoul beside the Lewis, 
 Who in a certain time of year. 
 Did rout and chase an hundred deer, 
 Till he behind, and they before, 
 Did run an hundred miles and more, 
 Which, questionless, prejudged his toes, 
 For Red-shankt then did wear no shoes !"
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. 215 
 
 removed to the Isle of Man, 1 as did, also, many English 
 merchants, for the purpose of carrying on the contraband 
 trade, 2 which will be fully detailed in a subsequent section 
 of this work. 
 
 This important Act of Tynwald was confirmed by Earl 
 William, who seems to have taken considerable interest 
 in his Manks dominions. He conferred another impor- 
 tant benefit on the Island by the appointment of Wilson 
 to the bishopric. Unambitious of preferment at court 
 he lived much in retirement, and died at Chester in the 
 year 1702. He was interred at Ormskirk in the reposi- 
 tory of his family. 3 
 
 Lord Strange, the only son of Earl William, died at 
 Venice in 1700, and was succeeded by his brother James, 
 then a brigadier-general in the army, who thereby became 
 the tenth Earl of Derby and Lord of Man. 
 
 A.D. 1702. James had from his youth been trained 
 to military discipline and the perils of war, under his 
 heroic relation, William Prince of Orange, afterwards 
 king of England. He had the command of one of the 
 battalions of Dutch Guards destined to accompany the 
 stadtholder to England, and embarked at Helvoet-sluys on 
 21st October, 1688, 4 on board the admiral's ship along 
 with the Prince of Orange, but in the tempest by which 
 that armament was overtaken at sea, the flag-ship struck 
 on a sand bank on the coast of Man, near the entrance 
 of Ramsey bay, and all on board were exposed to the 
 most imminent danger. These sands, although seven miles 
 in length, were not then laid down in any chart of the 
 
 1 SacheverelV a Account of the Isle of Man, London, 1702. See Introduction; 
 Waldron, p. 153. 
 
 2 Bullock's Hist, of the Isle of Man, London, 1816, p. 190. 
 
 3 Seacome's History of the House of Stanley, p. 406. 
 
 4 In this year William Sacheverell, governor of the Isle of Man, was employed in 
 an attempt to recover the stores of the Florida, one of the great vessels of the Span- 
 ish Armada, which was blown up and sunk in the harbour of Tobermoray. — 
 Sachevere/l's Account of the Isle of Man, London, 1702.
 
 216 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 channel, but from the circumstance alluded to, it has 
 since been called King William's Bank. 1 
 
 In Ireland as well as in Flanders colonel Stanley com- 
 manded under his royal relative with signal bravery ; but 
 quitting the army on his elevation to the peerage he 
 generously bestowed his regiment on an old friend and 
 brother officer. 2 
 
 At the accession of James to the lordship of Man, 
 many of the leases, which had been granted for a term of 
 three lives in the time of his grandfather, had expired, 
 while others were on the eve of expiring, without any 
 provision being made for their renewal. Agriculture, in 
 consequence, became so much neglected that several sea- 
 sons of scarcity, approaching to famine, had occurred, 
 whilst the people continued to be chiefly engaged either 
 in the fishery or in following the more pernicious employ- 
 ment of smuggling, depending on the opposite coasts for 
 such a supply of corn as was necessary for their mainten- 
 ance. The revenue of the Island had, on these accounts, 
 fallen so low that Lord Derby farmed it to a merchant in 
 Liverpool for the sum of £1000 per annum. 3 
 
 A.D. 1703. During the time of the late earl, commis- 
 sioners had been dispatched by the Islanders to England, 
 in order to negotiate with his lordship for a redress of the 
 various grievances, but his death occurred before the ob- 
 ject had been finally accomplished. On the accession of 
 the present earl, therefore, these negotiations were re- 
 newed, and chiefly through the influence of Bishop Wilson 
 the act of settlement was obtained, which passed into a 
 law on the 4th February, 1703.* This statute is justly 
 considered the Maiiks Magna Charta, as by it the land- 
 holder was finally established in his holding, and the des- 
 
 1 Hume's Hist, of England, cap. 71 ; Waldron, p. 190. 
 
 2 Seacome, p. 406. 
 
 3 Parliamentary Report of 1805 ; Speech of Sir William Young in reply to the 
 Duke of Atholl's Petition. 
 
 * Appendix, Note iv, " Act of Settlement."
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. 217 
 
 cent arranged in perpetuity on payment of certain fixed 
 fines, rents, and duties to the lord. 1 
 
 By the act of settlement, however, the inhabitants were 
 not exempted from giving their best assistance in the de- 
 fence of the Island during the time of war or imminent 
 danger, but were bound to afford such and in the way 
 agreed on by the governor and twenty-four keys, for the 
 time being. 2 
 
 From this auspicious epoch in its history, the improve- 
 ment of the Island is stated to have steadily advanced ; 
 but its illicit trade continued unabated ; yet, thirty years 
 afterwards we find the Manks legislature complaining of 
 and providing against a scarcity of corn, by " An act 
 to prevent petty tippling houses," passed at a Tynwald 
 held on the 16th July, 1734. It being found that the 
 great consumption in those sort of houses often occasioned 
 scarcity of corn and other provisions, thereby reducing 
 the Island to supply itself from abroad ; while they 
 also wastefully destroyed what would not only have been 
 profitable, but would have brought " money and other 
 necessaries" into the Island, " which the commonality 
 could not want," 3 It was enacted — That no person 
 should keep a public-house, unless recommended for that 
 purpose by the minister and captain of the parish, the 
 coroner of the sheading, and four of the grand inquest 
 of each parish yearly, and approved of by the governor. 
 Every person receiving such licence being required to pay 
 two shillings and six pence for the same — to be divided — 
 fourteen pence to the governor's clerk, seven pence to the 
 comptroller, and the remaining nine pence to the House 
 of Keys " for reparation of their houses and to find neces- 
 saries at the time of their meetings." 4 
 
 1 Statute, anno 1703 ; Lex Scripta, p. 190. Mr. Ewan Christian disbursed the 
 sum of i.160 in obtaining the act of settlement, for which the landed property of tin- 
 Island was assessed in 1707. — Lex Scripta, p. 213; Stowell's Life of Bishop Wilson 
 
 8 Johnson's Manks Jurisprudence, p. 111. 
 
 3 Statute, anno 1731 ; Lex Scripta, pp. 251, 255. 
 
 1 Lex Scripta, p, 256.
 
 218 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 On the same occasion it having been represented to his 
 lordship that several vicarages in the Island had not for 
 ages past had a house on them, for the residence of the 
 incumbents, and that others were in a ruinous state for 
 want of proper means of keeping them in repair, he sanc- 
 tioned an act of Tynwald, of same date, for the encourage- 
 ment of any rector or vicar to repair or build a dwelling 
 house on any church glebe within the Isle of Man. 1 
 
 These were the last public acts of the Stanleys in 
 Man, that family having now in a direct line governed 
 the Island for upwards of three hundred years.* James, 
 the tenth Earl, and thirteenth in the Manks dynasty, died 
 at Knowsley, 1st February, 1735—6, at an advanced age, 
 having been born 3rd July, 1664. He married Mary, 
 only daughter and heiress of Sir William Morley, of Hal- 
 nacar, in Sussex, by whom he had only one child, who 
 died young — thus leaving him childless at his decease. 
 
 The lordship of Man consequently devolved, by the 
 female line, on James Murray, second Duke of Atholl, 2 
 in right of his grandmother, Lady Amelia Sophia Stanley, 
 daughter of James, the great Earl of Derby. The earl- 
 dom of Derby, on the other hand, passed, in the male 
 line, to Sir Edward Stanley, descended from Thomas, 
 the first Earl, who placed the crown on the head of 
 the Earl of Richmond in Bosworth field on the 22nd of 
 August, 1485, and proclaimed him King of England by 
 the title of Henry VII. 
 
 While under the dominion of the house of Stanley, the 
 Manks people enjoyed all the privileges of their ancient 
 constitution ; and while the best blood of the surrounding 
 
 1 Lex Scripta, p. 257. 
 
 * Appendix, Note v, " Succession of the House of Stanley." 
 
 2 In Bullock's History of the Me of Man, p. 140, it is stated that by the death 
 of James, Earl of Derby, in 1736, the lordship of Man devolved on James Murray, 
 first Duke of Atholl, son and heir of the Marquis of Atholl ; and other writers 
 on the same subject have fallen into a similar error, as will be clearly pointed out in 
 the next chapter.
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY. 219 
 
 nations was spilling in fearful profusion, the sword was 
 sheathed in Man ; but when the people departed from 
 their pastoral pursuits by becoming the promoters of a 
 trade hostile to the interests of Great Britain, they took 
 the first step towards the overthrow of the independency 
 of their little enfeebled kingdom. 
 
 On the accession of Sir John Stanley to the sovereignty 
 of the Island he found the inhabitants living in mud 
 huts, without doors or windows, and constructed with the 
 single purpose of protecting them from the inclemency of 
 the weather. The nobility of the little state were dis- 
 persed, and scarcely an individual remained in the country 
 above the rank of a peasant. 1 From this primitive state 
 the Islanders seem to have advanced slowly under the 
 rule of Sir John's successors. The exactions made by the 
 clergy from the scanty gains of the people were always 
 oppressive, as were, in most instances, " the suits and ser- 
 vices" required for the support of the civil and military 
 government of the Island ; consequently, the clear revenue 
 received by the lord superior was insignificant, in compari- 
 son with the princely income derived from his possessions 
 in England and Wales, and the affairs of the little Island 
 seem to have occupied only a corresponding part of his 
 attention. The Islanders, however, enjoyed the blessings 
 of peace under the rule of the house of Stanley ; and 
 when, at length, certain restrictions on commerce were 
 removed, and their " estates made descendible from ances- 
 tor to heir," they were politically placed on a footino- of 
 equality with the inhabitants of the surrounding coun- 
 tries. Referring to the period in question, Bishop Wilson 
 remarks, — " As no people are more blessed, so none are 
 more happy and content than the Manks under their 
 venerable laws, and simple, primitive, I had almost said 
 patriarchal constitution/' 2 
 
 1 Bullock's History, p. 48. 
 
 '-' Ward's Ancient Records, p. 2 1 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 2 D
 
 220 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 APPENDIX.— Chapter VIII. 
 
 NOTE I.— Page 204. 
 
 TRIAL OF THE EARL OF DERBY, AND HIS DEPORTMENT AT 
 THE PLACE OF EXECUTION. 
 
 His lordship was brought to his trial, before a court martial at Chester, composed 
 of twenty sequestrators and committee-men. General Mackworth was president, 
 assisted by the colonels Mitton, Duckenfield, Bradshaw, Croxton, and Twistleton ; 
 the lieutenant- colonels Birkenhead, Finch, and Newton; with the captains Stopford, 
 Smith, Doivns, Delves, Griffith, Partington, Alcock, Powel, Grahtham, Scolfax, 
 and Corbet. 
 
 His lordship was allowed neither counsel nor books in court for his assistance : 
 therefore he addressed the president in manner following : 
 
 " Sir, — I understand myself to be convened before you, as well by a commission 
 from your general, as by an act of parliament of the twelfth of August last. — To the 
 articles exhibited against me, I have given a full and ingenuous answer. — "What may 
 present itself for my advantage, I have gained liberty to offer and urge by advice : 
 and I doubt not, but in a matter of law, the court will be to me, instead of counsel in 
 court." 
 
 " Sir, — First I shall observe to you, the nature and general order of a court-mar- 
 tial, and the laws and actions of it, as far as concerns my case ; and then shall apply 
 my plea to such orders. — Therefore I conceive, that the laws of courts -martial areas 
 the laws of nature and nations, equally binding all persons military, and to be invio- 
 lably observed. — So it is that if a judgment be given in one court-martial, there is 
 no appeal ; of which law martial, the civil law gives a plentiful account. But 
 because it is one single point of martial law, which I am to insist upon for my life, 
 I shall name it, and debate the just right of it ; as quarter for life given by captain 
 Edge ; which I conceive to be a good bar to a trial for life, by a council of war. — 
 That you are a council of war, will be admitted ; and being so, that you must judge 
 and proceed according to the law of tear, and no otherwise, cannot be denied. — That 
 quarter was given me, if scrupled, I am ready to prove; and that it is pleadable, is 
 above dispute. — I shall only remove one objection ; which is, that although this be a 
 court-martial, yet the special nature of it is directed by parliament. — To this I 
 answer : though the parliament directed the trial as it is, yet it is to be considered 
 as a court-martial, which cannot divest itself, nor is divested of its own nature, by 
 any such direction. For to appoint a court-martial, to proceed by any other laws than 
 a court-martial can, is a repugnancy in the nature of things. Therefore as such a 
 court-martial retains its own proper laws and jurisdiction Yor the support of itself; 
 so the pleas and liberties incident to it cannot be denied the prisoner. — That quarter, 
 and such quarter as I had given to me, is a good plea for life to a council of war, I 
 shall Dot endeavour so much to evince by authors, that being the proper work of the 
 learned in the civil fan- . but by such way as that which we call the right of mankind,
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. VIII. 2'2 I 
 
 is proved by common practice and strong reasons. — For the first ; I shall not need to 
 bring foreign instances ; being before you, whose experience hath made this practice 
 familiar to you. And, I believe, ye will agree with me, that I am not only the first^;eer, 
 but the first man, tried by a court martial after quarter given ; unless upon some 
 posterior fact. — It is a rule in war, that quarter hath as much force, when given in 
 action, as articles in a cessation ; both irreversible by military power. And though it 
 be a maxim in politics, that no concession of any general or soldier shall prejudice the 
 state interest ; yet they must be bars to their power. — I confess, I love the law of 
 peace more than that of war : and I would only know whether quarter was given me 
 for a benefit, or for a mischief: if for a benefit, I am now to have it made good : if 
 for a mischief, it destroys the faith of all men in arms : and I have read this for a 
 maxim in war, that promises made by kings and state commanders, ought to be 
 inviolably observed. — The profession of a soldier hath danger enough in it ; and he 
 need not to add anything to it, to destroy the right of arms. — I am before ye, as a 
 court-martial. It may be some of ye have received quarter for your lives : then, 
 would it not be hard measure, that any court-martial should try ye afterwards. — If 
 this quarter be foiled, all the treaties, articles, terms, or conclusions, since the war 
 began, may be examinable by any subsecpient court-martial. — As to levying forces in 
 the Isle of Man, and invading England, I might truly be a stranger to all the acts 
 for treason, and particularly to the acts of the twelfth of August : and that the Isle 
 of Man is not particularly named in any of the acts touching treason ; and being 
 not particularly named, those acts reach it not ; nor bind those of that Island : 
 especially, as I was not in that Island, when the last act was made." — His lordship 
 further said : "I do, as to your military power, earnestly plead epiarter, as a bar to 
 your further trial of me ; and doubt not but you will deeply weigh a point so consi- 
 derable both to your consciences and concernments, before ye proceed to sentence, 
 and admit my appeal in this point." 
 
 The sequestrators over-ruled the court against his lordship, whose crimes were 
 summed up in the following articles ; " that he had traiterously borne arms for 
 Charles Stuart against the parliament : that he was guilty of a breach of an act of 
 parliament of the 12th of August, 1651, which prohibited all commerce with Charles 
 Stuart, or any of his party : that he had fortified his house at Latham against the 
 parliament : and that he then held the Isle of Man against them." 
 
 Therefore, they gave sentence of death against him, and appointed his execution to 
 be at Bolton, within four days, that his Lordship might not have time to appeal to 
 Parliament. Lord Strange made incredible speed to London, and returned in 
 time to acquaint his father that Cromwell and Bradshaw were determined to take 
 away his life. 
 
 The Earl of Derby tenderly embraced his son, called for his favourite attendants, 
 and prepared for death with great resignation and amazing fortitude. He discoursed 
 with the reverend Mr. Humphrey Baggerley concerning the Isle of Max, and the 
 surrender of it by his lady, whose virtues he highly commended, and expressed the 
 greatest affection for her children. The discourse was suddenly interrupted by lieu- 
 tenant Smith, who told his lordship it would be well if he would appoint his own 
 executioner : to which his lordship answered, "Nay, sir, if those men who will have 
 my head, will not find one to cut it off, let it stand where it is." 
 
 His lordship then wrote his last letter to his lady ; as also that to his children, in 
 the Isle ov Man. 
 
 Mr. Baggerley' 8 narrative of this melancholy affair is very affecting, but too long 
 to be here given entire. His lordship delivered his letter for the Island to that 
 reverend gentleman, to whom he said, " deliver these, with my most tender affection
 
 222 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 to my wife and children : the great God of Heaven direct you, and comfort them, in 
 this their day of deep affiction and distress." 
 
 His lordship took leave of Sir Timothy Feather stone, and some other gentlemen, 
 under the same calamitous circumstances, who kissed his hand*, and wept at taking 
 leave. The Earl of Derby said, "Gentlemen, God bless and keep ye : I hope 
 now, my blood will satisfy for all that were with me ; and that ye will soon be at 
 liberty : but, if the cruelty of these men will not end there, be of good comfort ; for 
 ye shall hear that I die like a christian, a man, a soldier, and an obedient subject to 
 the most just and virtuous of princes." 
 
 The Earl of Derby, on the road, met with his two daughters, the ladies Catherine 
 and Amelia, of whom he took a most affectionate leave, and arrived that night at 
 Leigh near Winwick. His lordship desired Mr. Baggerley, " when he should come 
 at the Isle of Man, to commend him to the arch-deacon there, and tell him he well 
 remembered the several discourses that passed between them concerning death, and 
 the manner of it : that he had often said the thoughts of death could not trouble him 
 in fight, or with a sword in his hand : but that he feared it would somewhat startle 
 him, tamely to submit to a blow upon the scaffold ; yet tell the arch-deacon that I 
 find in myself an absolute change as to that opinion ; and I bless my God for it who 
 hath put these comforts and this courage into my soul." 
 
 His lordship passed that night upon his bed, from between ten and eleven until six 
 the next morning; when he arose and called for lord Strange to put on his order of 
 the garter ; after which the Earl told his son, " I will send you this by Baggerley, 
 and pray reljurn it to my gracious sovereign when you shall be so happy as to see 
 him ; and say, I sent it in all humility and gratitude, as I received it, spotless and 
 free from any stain, according to the honourable example of my loyal ancestors." 
 
 When they were ready to go, his lordship drank a cup of beer to his lady, his 
 children, Mr. Arch-deacon, and all his friends in the Isle of Man ; and charged his 
 chaplain to remember him to them all. Under pretence that the people might rescue 
 him, he was not permitted to ride that day upon his own horse, but was set on a 
 little galloway. 
 
 About noon, on the 15th October, 1651, the Earl of Derby came to Bolton, 
 guarded by two troops of horse, and one company of foot ; the people every where 
 praying and weeping as he went, even from his prison at Chester to his scaffold at 
 Bolton, which was not then finished ; for the people of the town refused to give the 
 least assistance; many of them saying, "that since the war begun they had suffered 
 great losses, but none so great as this : it was the greatest that ever befel them, that 
 the Earl of Derby', their lord and patron, should lose his life there, and in such a 
 barbarous way." 
 
 His lordship was conducted to a house near the cross, and was allowed until three 
 o'clock to prepare himself for execution. He prayed some time with his friends and 
 servants ; gave some paternal instructions to his son Lord Strange ; then desired to 
 be private ; and soon recalled his friends. After taking an affectionate leave of Iris 
 son, he called for an officer, and told him he was ready. His lordship was then led 
 to the scaffold, which he sedately ascended, among the prayers and lamentations of 
 the people, whom he thanked for their concern and desired them to pray for him to 
 the last. 
 
 His lordship walked awhile upon the scaffold, then settled himself at the east end 
 
 of it, and made a pathetic address to the spectators, to the following purport : 
 
 ' That he was come, and was content to die in that town : That he loved mon- 
 
 * As King of Man.
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. VIII. 223 
 
 archy, and his master Charles II, whom he had proclaimed in that country to be 
 king. That he confessed, he always fought for peace, and he had no other reason ; 
 for he wanted neither estate nor honour ; nor did he seek to enlarge either at the 
 expence of others lives and fortunes, or the invasion of the king's rights and pre- 
 rogatives. That his predecessors were for their duty, loyalty, and good services, 
 raised to a high condition of honour and fortune, as was well known to that country ; 
 and it was as well known that he was condemned to die by his majesty's enemies, 
 by new and unknown laws. That truly he died for God, the king, and the laws ; 
 which made him not ashamed of his life, nor afraid at his death." 
 
 At which words — " king and laws," a trooper said, "We have no king, and 
 we will have no lords." His lordship was then interrupted by the soldiers, some 
 of whom cut and wounded several people with their swords. When his lordship 
 perceived he was not permitted to speak freely, he turned to his servant, and gave him 
 his papers, commanding him to let the world know what he had to say, had he not 
 been interrupted and disturbed ; which was in the following words, written with his 
 lordship's own hand : 
 
 "My sentence, upon which I was brought hither, was by a council of war, which 
 council I had reason to expect would have justified my plea of quarter for life, that 
 being an ancient and an honourable plea among soldiers, and not violated, that I 
 know of, till this time ; for I am made the first precedent in this case, and I wish 
 that no others suffer in the like manner. Now I must die, and am ready to die, I 
 thank God, with a good conscience, without malice to any ; though others would 
 not find mercy for me upon just and fair grounds : but I forgive them, following the 
 example of my Saviour, who prayed for his enemies ; and so do I pray for 
 mine. As for my faith and religion, thus much I would have to say at this time : I 
 profess my faith to be in one only God, and in Jesus Christ his only son, who died 
 for me and all mankind, and from whom I look for my salvation — that is, in and 
 through his only merits and suffering ; and I do die a dutiful son of the church 
 of England as it was established in my late master's reign ; and as it is yet 
 professed in the Isle of Man, which is no small comfort to me. I thank my God 
 for the cmiet of my conscience at this time, and for the assurance of those joys 
 which he hath promised, and are prepared for all those that love, adore, and fear 
 him. Good people, pray for me: I do for you : the God of Heaven bless you all, 
 and send you peace and prosperity ; that God, who is truth itself, bless you with 
 peace and truth. Amen." 
 
 His lordship then gave directions to the executioner, who performed his office at 
 one blow. When the body of this illustrious nobleman was laid in his coffin, the 
 following lines, were thrown into it, by an unknown hand : — 
 
 " Wit, bounty, courage, all three here lie dead, 
 
 A Stanley's hand, Vere's heart, and Cecil's head." 
 
 The next day his remains was carried from Bolton to Ormskirk, and there deposited 
 with those of his noble ancestors. 
 
 An elegy of considerable length, entitled, " To the glorious memory of that blessed 
 Martyr, James Earl of Derby, ," was written on the death of his lordship, by the 
 Reverend Samuel Rutter, who was then Archdeacon, and afterwards Bishop of Man, 
 but its merit is not such as to warrant its insertion here. — Extracted from the Journal 
 of the Reverend H. Baggerley, his lordship's chaplain who attended him to the 
 scaffold ; ap. Seacome's History of the House of Stanley , Roll, Sfc.
 
 224 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 NOTE II.— Page 211. 
 
 DYING SPEECH OF WILLIAM CHRISTIAN, WHO WAS EXECUTED 
 
 2nd JANUARY, 16G3. 
 
 " Gentlemen, and the rest of you who have accompanied me this day to the gate 
 of death, I know you expect that I should say something at my departure ; and, 
 indeed, I am in some measure willing to satisfy you, having not had the least liberty 
 since my imprisonment, to acquaint any with the sadness of my sufferings, which 
 flesh and blood could not have endured without the power aud assistance of my 
 most gracious and good God, into whose hands I do now commit my poor soul, not 
 doubting but that I shall very quickly be in the arms of his mercy. 
 
 " I am, as you now see, hurried hither by the power of a pretended court of jus- 
 tice, the members whereof, or at least the greater part of them, are by no means 
 qualified, but very ill befitting their new places. The reasons you may give yourselves. 
 
 "The cause for which I am brought hither, as the prompted and threatened jury 
 has delivered, is high treason against the Countess Dowager of Derby : for that I did, 
 as they say, in the year fifty-one, raise a force, against her, for the suppressing and 
 rooting out that family. How unjust the accusation is, very few of you that hear me 
 this day but can witness ; and that the then rising of the people, in which after- 
 wards I came to be engaged, did not at all, or in the least degree, intend the prejudice 
 or ruin of that family, the chief whereof being, as you well remember, dead eight 
 days, or thereabout, before that action happened. But the true cause of that rising, 
 as the jury did twice bring in, was to present grievances to our honourable lady, 
 which was done by me, and afterwards approved of by her ladyship, under the hand 
 of her then secretary, M. Trevach, who is yet living, which agreement has since, to 
 my own ruin, and my poor family's endless sorrow, been forced from me. The Lord 
 God forgive them the unjustness of their dealings with me, and I wish from my heart 
 it may not be laid to their charge another day. 
 
 " You now see me here a sacrifice ready to be offered up for that which was the pre- 
 servation of your lives and fortunes which were then in hazard, but that I stood be- 
 tween you and your (then in all appearance) utter ruin. I wish you still may, as 
 hitherto, enjoy the sweet benefit and blessing of peace, though, from that minute 
 until now, I have still been prosecuted and persecuted, nor have I ever since found a 
 place to rest myself in ; but my God be for ever blessed and praised who hath given 
 me so large a measure of patience ! 
 
 " What services I have done for that noble family, by whose power I am now to 
 take my latest breath, I dare appeal to themselves whether I have not deserved better 
 things from them, than the sentence of my bodily destruction, and seizure of the 
 poor estate my son ought to enjoy, being purchased and left him by his grandfather. 
 It might have been much better had I not spent it in the service of my honourable 
 Lord of Derby and his family : these tilings I need not mention to you, for that 
 most of you are witnesses to it. I shall now, beg your patience while I tell you here, 
 in the presence of God, that I never, in all my life, acted anything with intention to 
 prejudice my sovereign lord the king, nor the late Earl of Derby, nor the now 
 Earl ; yet notwithstanding being in England at the time of his sacred majesty's happy 
 restoration, I went to London with many others to have a sight of my gracious king, 
 whom God preserve, and whom, until then, I never had seen. But I was not long 
 there when I was arrested upon an action of twenty thousand pounds, and clapped
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. VIII. 225 
 
 up into the Fleet ; unto which action, I, being a stranger, could give no bail, but was 
 there kept nearly a whole year. How I suffered, God, he knows ; but at last, hav- 
 ing gained my liberty, I thought good to advise with several gentlemen concerning 
 his majesty's gracious act of indemnity that was then set forth, in which I thought 
 myself concerned ; unto which they told me there was no doubt to be made but that 
 all actions committed in the Isle of Man relating in any kind to the war, were par- 
 doned by the act of indemnity, and all other peaces within his majesty's dominions 
 and countries. Whereupon, and having been forced to absent myself from my poor 
 wife and children near three years — being all that time under persecution, I did with 
 great content and satisfaction return into this Island, hoping then to receive the com- 
 fort and sweet enjoyment of my friends and poor family. But alas ! I hsrve fallen 
 into the snare of the fowler ; but my God shall ever be praised— though he kill me, 
 yet will I trust in him. 
 
 I may justly say no man in this Island knows better than myself the power the 
 Lord Derby hath in this Island — subordinate to his sacred majesty — of which I have 
 given a full account in my declaration presented to my judges, which I much fear 
 will never see light, which is no small trouble to me. 
 
 It was his majesty's most gracious act of indemnity gave me the confidence and 
 assurance of my safety, on which an appeal I made to his sacred majesty and privy 
 
 council from the unjustness of the proceedings had against me, I did much rely 
 
 being kis majesty's subject here— and a denizen of England both by birth and fortune. 
 And in regard I have disobeyed the power of my Lord of Derby's act of indemnity, 
 which you now look upon— and his majesty's act cast out as being of no force— I 
 have with greater violence been persecuted ; yet, nevertheless, I do declare that no 
 subject whatever can or ought to take upon them acts of indemnity, but his sacred 
 majesty only — with the conformation of parliament. 
 
 " It is very fit I should say something as to my education and religion : I think I 
 need not inform you, for you all know, I was brought up a son of the Church of 
 England, which was at that time in her splendour and glory ; and, to my endless 
 comfort, I have ever since continued a faithful member — witness several of my actions 
 in the late times of liberty. And as for government, I never was against monarchv, 
 which now, to my soul's great satisfastion, I have lived to see settled and estab- 
 lished. I am well assured that men of upright life and conversation may have 
 the favourable countenance of our gracious king, under whose happy government, 
 God, of his infinite mercy, long continue these his kingdoms and dominions. And 
 now I do most heartily thank my good God that I have had so much liberty and time 
 to disburden myself of several things that have laid heavy upon me all the time of 
 my imprisonment, in which I have not had time or liberty to speak or write any of 
 my thoughts. And, from my soul, I wish all animosity may, after my death, be 
 quite laid aside, and my death by none be called in question, for I do freely forgive 
 all that have had any hand in my persecution. And may our good God preserve 
 you all in peace and quiet the remainder of your days. 
 
 "Be ye all of you, his majesty's liege people, loyal and faithful to his sacred 
 majesty ; and according to your oath of faith and fealty to my honourable Lord of 
 Derby ; do you likewise, in all just and lawful ways, observe his commands ; and 
 know that you must one day give an account of all your deeds ; and now the blessing 
 of almighty God be with you all, and preserve you from violent death, and keep you 
 in peace of conscience all your days. 
 
 " I will now hasten, for my flesh is willing to be dissolved, and my spirit to be 
 with God who hath given me full assurance of his mercy, and pardon for all my sins- 
 
 of which his unspeakable goodness, and loving kindness my poor soul i^ exceedingly 
 
 satisfied."
 
 226 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 Here he fell upon his knees and passed some time in prayer, then rising exceedingly 
 cheerful, he addressed the soldiers appointed for his execution, saying, " Now, for 
 you who are appointed by lot my executioners, I do freely forgive you." He 
 requested them and all present to pray for him, adding, " There is but a thin veil 
 betwixt me and death : once more I request your prayers, for now I take my last 
 farewell." 
 
 NOTE III.— Page 212. 
 
 ORDER OF THE KING IN COUNCIL. 
 
 No. 1. 
 
 At the Court at Whitehall, the bth August, 1663. 
 
 George Christian, sod and heir of William Christian, deceased, having exhi- 
 bited his complaint to his Majesty in Council, that his father, being at a house of his 
 in his Majesty's Isle of Mann, was imprisoned by certain persons in that Island, pre- 
 tending themselves to be a Court of Justice ; that he was by them accused of high 
 treason, pretended to be committed against the Countess Dowager of Derby, in the 
 year 1651 ; and that they thereupon proceeded to judgemnt, and caused him to be 
 put to death, notwithstanding the Act of General Pardon and Indemnity, whereof he 
 claimed the benefit ; and his appeal to his Majesty, and humbly imploring his Ma- 
 jesty's princely compassion towards the distressed widow and seven fatherless children 
 of the deceased : His Majesty was graciously pleased, with the advice of his Council, 
 to order that Thomas Noris and Hugh Cannell, the two judges, (by them in that 
 Island called deemsters,) and Richard Stevenson, Robert Calcot, and Richard Tyl- 
 desley, three of the members of the pretended Court of Justice, and Henry Howell, 
 deputy of the said Island, should be forthwith sent for, and brought up by a sergeant- 
 at-arms here, before his Majesty in Council, to appear and answer to such accusa- 
 tions as should be exhibited against them. Which six persons being accordingly 
 brought hither the fifteenth day of July last appointed for a full hearing of the whole 
 business, the Earl of Derby then also summoned to appear, and the Lord Chief Jus- 
 tice of the King's Bench, and the Lord Chief Baron of his Majesty's Exchequer, 
 with the King's Council, learned in the laws, required to be present, and all the 
 parties called in with their council and witnesses, after full hearing of the matter on 
 both sides; and the parties withdrawn, the said judges being desired to deliver their 
 opinion, did, in presence of the King's Council, learned in the laws, declare that the 
 Act of General Pardon and Indemnity did, and ought to be understood to, extend to 
 the Isle of Mann, as well as into any other of his Majesty's dominions and planta- 
 tions beyond the seas ; and that, being a publique General Act of Parliament, it 
 ought to have been taken notice of by the Judges in the Isle of Mann, although it 
 had not been pleaded, and although there were no proclamations made thereof. — 
 His Majesty being therefore deeply sensible of this violation of his Act of General 
 Pardon, whereof his Majesty hath always been very tender, and doth expect and re- 
 quire that all his subjects in all his dominions and plantations shall enjoy the full 
 benefit and advantage of the same. And having this day taken the business into
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. VIII. 227 
 
 further consideration, and all parties called in and heard, did, by and with the advict 
 of the Council, order, and it is hereby ordered, that all persons any way concerned 
 in the seizure of the estate of the said William Christian, deceased, or instrumental 
 in the ejection of the widow and children out of their houses and fortune, do take 
 care that entire restitution is to be made of all the said estate, as well real or personal, 
 as also all damages sustained, with full satisfaction for all profits by them received 
 since the said estate hath been in their hands ; and that, whereas the said William 
 Christian, deceased, was one of the two lives remaining in an estate in Lancashire, 
 that the detriment accruing by the untimely death of the said William Christian, 
 therein, or in like cases, shall be estimated, and in like manner fully repaired. That 
 in regard of the great trouble and charges the complainants have been at in pursuit 
 of this business, ordered, that they do exhibit to this Board a true account, upon 
 oath, of all expences and damages by them sustained in the journies of themselves 
 and witnesses, and of all other their charges in the following of this business. 
 
 And whereas Ewan Curghey, Sammual Radcliffe, and John Casar, were by the 
 same Court of Justice imprisoned, and had their estates seized and confiscated, with- 
 out any legal trial, it is ordered, that the said Ewan Curghey, Sammual Radcliffe, and 
 John Casar, be likewise reinstated to all their estates, real and personal, and fully 
 repaired in all the charges and expences which they have been at since their first 
 imprisonment, as well in the prosecution of this business, as in their journey thither, 
 or any other way whatsoever thereunto relating. The which satisfaction, expences, 
 and all the sums of money to be raised by virtue of this order, are to be furnished by 
 the Deemsters, Members, and Assistants of the said Court of Justice, who are 
 hereby ordered to raise all such the said sums, and thereof to make due payment, and 
 give full satisfaction unto the parties respectively hereby appointed to receive it. 
 
 And to the end, the guilt of blood which hath been unjustly spilt, may in some sort 
 be expiated, and his Majesty receive some kind of satisfaction for the untimely loss 
 of a subject, it is ordered that the said Thomas Norris and Hugh Cannell, who de- 
 creed this violent death, be committed, and remain prisoners in the King's Bench, to 
 be proceeded against in the ordinary course of justice, so to receive condign punish- 
 ment according to the merit of so heinous an act. 
 
 That Richard Stevenson, Robert Calcot, and Richard Tyldeslay, be discharged from 
 farther restraint, giving good security to appear at this Board whensoever summoned, 
 and not depart this city untd full satisfaction be given, and all orders of this Board 
 whatsoever relating to this business fully executed in tin- Island. And in regard, 
 that upon the examination of this business, it doth appear, that Edward Christian, 
 being one of the Deemsters or Judges in the Isle of Man, did, when the Court re- 
 fused to admit of the deceased William Christian's plea of the Act of Indemnity, 
 make his protestation against their illegal proceedings, and did withdraw himself, and 
 come into England to solicit his Majesty, and implore his justice, it is ordered, that 
 the Earl of Derby do forthwith, by commission, in due and accustomed manner, 
 restore, constitute and appoint the said Edward Christian, one of the Deemsters or 
 Judges of the said Island so to remain and continue in the due execution of the said 
 place. 
 
 And lastly, it is ordered that the said Henry Howell, Deputy-Governor, whose 
 charge hath been the not complying with, and yielding due obedience to, the orders 
 of his Majesty, and this Board sent into this Island, giving good security to appear 
 at this Board whensoever summoned, be forthwith discharged from all further re- 
 straint, and permitted to return into the Island; and he is hereby strictly commanded 
 to employ the power and authority he hath, which by virtue of his commission he 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 2 E
 
 228 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 hath in that Island, in performance of, and obedience to, all commands and orders of 
 his Majesty and this Board in this whole business, or any way relating thereunto. 
 
 (Signed by) 
 
 Lord Chancellor. Earl of Carberry. 
 
 Lord Treasurer. Lord Bishop of London. 
 
 Lord Privy Seal. Lord Wentworth. 
 
 Duke of Albemarle. Lord Berkeley. 
 
 Lord Chamberlain. Lord Ashley. 
 
 Earl of Berkshire. Sir William Crompton. 
 
 Earl of St. Alban. Mr. Treasurer. 
 
 Earl of Anglesey. Mr. Vice Chamberlain. 
 
 Earl of Sandwich. Mr. Secretary Morice. 
 
 Earl of Bath. Mr. Secretary Bennett. 
 Earl of Middleton. 
 
 Richard Browne, 
 > Clerk of the Council. 
 
 ORDER OF THE KING IN COUNCIL. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 The 
 Lord Chancellor. 
 Lord Treasurer. 
 Lord Privy Seal. 
 Duke of Buckingham. 
 Duke of Albemarle. 
 Lord Chamberlain. 
 Earl of Berkshire. 
 Earl of St. Alban. 
 Earl of Sandwich. 
 Earl of Anglesey. 
 Earl of Bath. 
 
 At the Court at Whitehall, August \Ath, 16G3. 
 
 Present, 
 King's most Excellent Majesty. 
 ♦ Earl of Middleton. 
 
 Earl of Carberry. 
 Lord Bishop of London. 
 Lord Wentworth. 
 Lord Berkeley. 
 Lord Ashley. 
 Sir William Crompton. 
 Mr. Treasurer. 
 Mr. Vice Chamberlain. 
 Mr. Secretary Morice. 
 Mr. Secretary Bennett. 
 
 To the end that the world may the better take notice of his Majesty's royal inten- 
 tion, to observe the Act of Indemnity and General Pardon inviolably for the pub- 
 lique good and satisfaction of his subjects — it was this day ordered, that a copy of 
 the order of this Board of the 5th inst., touching the illegal proceedings in the Isle 
 of Mann, against William Christian, and putting him to death contrary to the said 
 Act of General Pardon, be sent unto his Majesty's printer, who is commanded forth- 
 with to print the same in English letters, in folio, in such manner as Acts of Parlia- 
 ment are usually printed, and his Majesty's Arms prefixed. 
 
 Richard Browne.
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. VIII. 229 
 
 NOTE IV.— Page 216. 
 
 ACT OF SETTLEMENT. 
 Anno 1703. 
 
 An Act for the perfect Settleing and Confirmation of the Estates, Tenures, Fines, 
 Rents, Suites, and Services of the Tennants of the Right Honourable James Earl 
 of Derby, within his Isle of Man, passed at a Tynwald Court, holden at St. 
 John's Chappel, within the said Isle, the Ath Day of February, in the Year of 
 our Lord 1703, by the said James Earl of Derby, Lord of the said Isle, Robert 
 Mawdesley, Esquire, Governor, and the rest of his said Lordship's Officers, and 
 24 Keyes, the Representatives of the said Isle. 
 
 Whereas severall Disputes, Questions, and Differences have heretofore arisen and 
 been contested between the Lords of the said Isle and their Tennants, touching their 
 Estates, Tenures, Fines, Rents, Suites, and Services, to the great Prejudice of the 
 Lords, and Impoverishment of the Tennants and People there, who by that Means 
 have been discouraged from making such Improvements as their Estates were and 
 are capable of ; for the absolute and perpetual ascertaining whereof, and the avoiding 
 all Ambiguitys, Doubts, and Questions, that may or might at any Time hereafter 
 arise or grow touching or concerning the same, Proposals were made unto the said 
 James Earl of Derby, now Lord of the said Isle, at Lathome, the 8th Day of Sep- 
 tember last past, by Ewan Christian of Unerigg, in the County of Cumberland, Es- 
 quire, John Stevenson of Balladoole, and Ewan Christian of Lewaige within the said 
 Isle, Gentlemen, who, by an Instrument under the Hands of the 24 Keyes now 
 remaining upon Record, were impowered to treat concerning the same, as well for 
 and on the Behalf of themselves as all and every the Tennants within the said Isle, 
 in Manner following : 
 
 First, — That in case his Lordship would be pleased to declare and confirm unto his 
 Tennants their antient customary Estates of Inheritance in their respective Tene- 
 ments, descendable from Ancestor to Heir, according to the Laws and Customes of 
 the said Isle ; that then the said Tennants should, in consideration thereof, advance 
 and pay unto his said Lordship the same Fines which they severally and repectively 
 paid for their several and respective Tenements at the Generall Fining, which was in 
 or about the Year of our Lord one thousand sis hundred and forty three ; (except 
 where any Tennant or Tennants have or hath one or more Life or Lives in being, 
 and that then and in such Case, he or they should severally and respectively pay 
 Two-thirds only of the said generall Fine for their respective Tenements. 
 
 Secondly, — That upon the change of any Tennant by Death or Alienation, the 
 next and succeeding Heir or Alienee should pay unto the Lord of the said Isle, for 
 the Time being, the third Part of the said intire Sum which was paid for a Fine at 
 the said Generall Fineing, in manner following : that is to say, in case of the change 
 of a Tennant by Death, then the said Fine should be paid within twelve Months 
 after the Death of such Tennant; and in case of the change or removal of a Tennant by 
 Alienation, then the same should be paid immediately after such Alienation, made 
 proportionally to the Lands and Tenements which should descend or be aliened, and 
 this to continue for ever hereafter as a fixed and certain Fine upon every Descent 
 and Alienation; provided, nevertheless, that all Intacks, Cottages, and Milnes, which
 
 230 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 by the Laws and Customes of the said Isle were and are reputed Chatties, might be 
 chargeable with Debts, and visable by Gift, Grant, Will, or Assignment, as for- 
 merly accustomed, paying such Fines respectively as were paid at the Generall Fine- 
 ing afforesaid, to wit, the whole Fine where there were no Lives in being, and two 
 Parts thereof only where there were, and still are one or two Lives in being, and a 
 third Part of the said Generall Fine for ever hereafter upon every Descent or Aliena- 
 tion as afforesaid. 
 
 Thirdly, — That the Tennants of the Abbey Lands, as well as the Lord's Tennants, 
 should be included in the said Proposals, they and every one of them paying the same 
 Fines that were agreed for upon their late Compositions or Leases made in or about 
 the Year of our Lord one thousand six hundred sixty and six, (except such as have 
 one or more Life or Lives yet in being to pay two Parts only of the said Fine now, 
 and a third Part thereof always afterwards, upon the Admittance of any new Tennant, 
 either upon Death or Alienation, as afforesaid :) and also yielding, paying, perform- 
 ing, and doing the annuall Rents, Customes, Suites, and Servises as formerly and 
 anciently accustomed : And that the Tythes arising out of the Abbey Demeasnes, 
 and reserved by James late Earl of Derby upon the Compositions by him made in 
 the Year one thousand six hundred fourty and three, and afterwards by Charles late 
 Earl of Derby, granted to Bishop Barrow (since deceased) and his Successors for 
 the Use of the Clergy of the said Isle, should be reserved and for ever hereafter 
 payable to them. 
 
 Fourthly, — That the double Rents of the Quarterlands as they were then payable, 
 together with all other Rents, Suites, and Servises, payable out of those, or any 
 other Estates within the said Isle, should be reserved and payable for ever hereafter 
 as formerly to the said James Earl of Derby, his Heirs and Assignes, or to such 
 other Person or Persons as for the Time being should be Lord of the said Isle ; and 
 that the antient Boons and Carriages payable by the respective Tennants should be 
 considered at a Tynwald Court. 
 
 Fifthly, — That if any Tennant should then after pass away any part of his Estate, 
 either to any of his Children, or other Person whatsoever, by Gift, Grant, Assign- 
 ment, or any other Deed or Contract whatsoever, whereby to divest himself of the 
 Premises, that the same should be esteemed and accounted as an Alienation within 
 the Intendment of the said Proposals ; or if any Tennant who then had mortgaged, or 
 should thenceafter mortgage, all or any part of his Messuages, Lands, Tenements, 
 Milns, Cottages, Intacks, or other Hereditaments, unto any Person, and should not 
 actually redeem the same to his own proper Use within the Space of five Years next after 
 the Commencement of the said Mortgage, that then such Mortgage should be likewise 
 looked upon and reputed as an Alienation, and the Mortgagee should be admitted 
 Tennant, and his name entered into the Court Rolls, and should pay the third Part 
 of the general Fine charged and chargeable upon the said Messuages, Lands, Tene- 
 ments, Milns, Cottages, Intacks, and Heredittaments, so mortgaged or to be mort- 
 gaged as aforesaid : Provided nevertheless, that the Mortgagor shall have the Power 
 or Liberty of Redemption still remaining in him, and is to be restored to the Posses- 
 sion of the Premises by Law or Order of the Court of Chancery as the matter will 
 appear in Equity, so that the same be done within the Space of one-and-twenty 
 Years from the Date of the said Mortgage , and not otherwise : And that all Bills of 
 Mortgage already made, or hereafter to be made, shall be entered into the Records 
 within six Months after the passing of the said Proposals into a Law, or within six 
 Months next after such Bills of Mortgage were execute J, otherwise such Bills to be 
 of no Effect in the Law. 
 
 Sixthly, — That all new Intacks or Inclosurcs taken out of the Commons, and all
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. VIII. 231 
 
 Milns erected since the Year one thousand six hundred fourty and three, that had not 
 paid any Fines, should have a reasonable Fine set upon them by the Governor, three 
 of the Lord's Officers, and three of the twenty-four Keyes, to be appointed for that 
 Purpose ; and that the Fines so set by them should be paid within six Months next 
 after the setting thereof ; and that the third Part of the said Fine so to be set as 
 afforesaid should for ever hereafter be paid upon the Change of every Tennant by 
 Death, Alienation, or Mortgage as afforesaid. 
 
 Seventhly, — That all Intacks or Milns which should then after be enclosed or 
 erected should pay such Fine and Fines as should be agreed on by the Governor and 
 Lord's Officers, and that to be likewise a fixed and certain Fine to be for ever here- 
 after paid by the Tennants of the same upon every Descent or Alienation in Manner 
 as afforesaid. 
 
 Eighthly, — And that all such Intacks and Cottages as had been taken out of the 
 Highways adjoining to the Quarterlands, or other Estates, but not belonging to the 
 same, should not, nor were not, intended to be included in the said Proposals ; but 
 that such Intacks and Cottages (being complained of as great Nuisances) should be 
 referred to the consideration of a Tynwald Court to determine where the Rents and 
 Fines of and for such Intacks and Cottages might most conveniently be fixed. 
 
 Ninthly, — That whereas the Fine lately paid out of the Estate called Loughmollo 
 and dry Closes was not compromised in the General! Fineing in the said Year one 
 thousand sLx hundred fourty and three, the same being since that Time leased by the 
 Right Honourable Charles late Earl of Derby ; it was therefore (upon special con- 
 sideration had) proposed, that the said Estate should only pay one hundred and 
 twenty Pounds for the present Fine ; but if any of the Lives nominated in the last 
 Lease made thereof by the said late Earl Charles should be found to be still in being, 
 then only two third Parts of the said one hundred and twenty Pounds should be paid 
 as a present Fine, and a third Part of the said one hundred and twenty Pounds should 
 for ever after be paid as a fixed and certain Fine upon the Change of any Tennant by 
 Death, Alienation, or Mortgage as afforesaid. 
 
 Tenthly, — That the present Fines should be accepted and received according to 
 the Currency of Money then within the said Isle, and that one third Part thereof 
 should be paid within six Months next after the passing of this Act, another third 
 Part should be paid at the end of twelve Months now next ensuing, and the last 
 Payment to be made within six Months then next following ; so that the whole 
 should be paid within eighteen Months next after the passing of this Act. 
 
 Eleventhly, — That the antient Rents (except only of such Lands as were then in 
 the Lord's Hands) should for the future be preserved by the Setting Quest, and that 
 the Tennants' Names should be entered in the Court Rolls as formerly ; and that 
 when any Tennant should come to any Estate by Death, Alienation, or Mortgage, 
 such Tennant should be obliged to give Notice thereof to the Setting Quest of the 
 Parish where such Estate lay some Time before the next Sheading Court that should 
 be holden after he became Tennant to the said Estate, to the Intent that the said 
 Enquest might present the said Tennant's Name to the Court, (which they should 
 upon Oath be obliged to do at every Sheading Court as oft as any such should hap- 
 pen,) to the End that such Tennant's Name might be entered upon Record either 
 by himself, or some other Person in his behalf, whereby the Lord's Fines might be 
 had and received at such Time, and in such Manner as are hereinbefore for that pur- 
 pose limitted and appointed, without Fraud or Concealment ; and if the said Tennant 
 should refuse or fade to have his Name entered accordingly at the said Court, thai 
 then such Tennant so refusing or neglecting should be fined in three Pounds to the 
 Lord for the Time beiny ; and that upon the Change of any Tennant by Death,
 
 232 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 Alienation, or Mortgage, one single Person, and no more, should be admitted, unless 
 he became Tennant in the Right of his Wife, and not otherwise. 
 
 And lastly, — That all the before -mentioned Proposals, and every Matter and 
 Thing therein contained, should forthwith be passed into a Law, and confirmed by 
 the Authority of a Tynwald Court, (saving always to the Lord all such Royaltys and 
 Regalitys in and concerning the Premisses as were invested by his Lordship by virtue 
 of his Prerogatives within the said Isle ;) and the said James Earl of Derby, out of 
 his great Zeal and Care for the Welfare and Quiet of liis People, and to the End that 
 such an Establishment might be treated and agreed upon as might compleat and for 
 ever confirm a constant mutual Love and Friendship between the Lords of the said 
 Isle and their People, did nominate and appoint the afforenamed Robert Mawdesley, 
 Thomas, Lord Bishop of Sodor and Mann, and Nicholas Starkie, Esquire, Commis- 
 sioners, to treat and consult with the said Ewan Christian, John Stevenson, and 
 Ewan Christian of Lewaige, concerning the said Proposals, which were consented 
 and agreed unto by all Partys commissionated for that purpose, as in and by the said 
 Proposals, inrolled and remaining on Record in tb$ Comptroller's Office within the 
 said Isle, more at large it doth and may appear : And the said Right Honourable 
 James Earl of Derby, and all and singular the Tennants and Inhabitants within the 
 said Isle, and Members of the same, are contented and well pleased that the said 
 Proposals, and all Things therein contained, should be ratifyed and confirmed by an 
 Act of Tynwald Court : May it therefore please your Lordship that it may be 
 enacted, and be it enacted by the said James Earl of Derby, now Lord of the said 
 Isle, (by and with the Advice and Consent of the said Governor, and the rest of his 
 said Lordship's Officers, and by the twenty-four Keyes, in this present Tynwald 
 Court assembled, and by the Authority of the same,) That the said Proposals, and 
 every Clause, Article, Sentence, Matter, and Thing in the same contained, shall 
 stand and be ratifyed, allowed, approved off, and confirmed by the Authority of this 
 present Tynwald Court ; and that the said Proposals shall stand and be of force to 
 bind and conclude as well the said James Earl of Derby, his Heirs and Assigns, 
 and all Persons claiming, or to claime, from, by, or under him or them, or to his Use 
 or in Trust for him, as the said Ewan Christian, John Stevenson, and Ewan Chris- 
 tian of Lewaige, and all and singular other the Tennants and Inhabitants within the 
 said Isle, their and every of their Heirs and Assigns, and all Persons claiming, or to 
 claime, from, by, or under them, or any of them, or to or for their Use, or in Trust 
 for them, or any of them, in all Things, according to the Purport, Effect, and true 
 Meaning of the said Proposals; and that every Clause, Article, Sentence, Matter, 
 and Thing in the said Proposals contained, shall for ever hereafter stand, be, and 
 remain, and be adjudged and taken to be of such and the same Force and Effect to 
 all Intents and Purposes as if the said Proposals, and every Clause, Article, Sentence, 
 Matter, and Thing therein contained, were especially and particularly herein again 
 expressed and repeated, and by the Authority of this present Court enacted. And 
 be it further enacted, ordained, and declared by the Authority aforesaid, That all 
 Estates made or to be made of any Messuages, Lands, Tenements, and Heredita- 
 ments within the said Isle, or Members of the same, to any Person or Persons, and 
 his and their Heirs, shall be, and shall be adjudged, esteemed, and taken, from the 
 making or granting of such Estates, to be good and perfect customary Estates of 
 Inheritance, descendable from Ancestor to Heir according to the Laws and Customs 
 of the said Isle, (except such as are reputed Chatties as is before mentioned ;) and 
 that all and every such Person and Persons to whom any such customary Lands, 
 Tenements, or Hereditaments are or shall be granted to him and his Heirs according 
 to the Laws and Customs of the said Isle, shall be, and shall he adjudged, esteemed, 
 
 ;
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. VIII. '233 
 
 anil taken, and arc hereby declared to be seized thereof as of good and perfect cus- 
 tomary Estates of Inheritance to them and their Heirs, descendable from Ancestor 
 to Heir according to the Customes of the said Isle. 
 
 And that all and every the said Tennants of and within tbe said Isle, and Members 
 of the same, as well all Tennants in Possession as in Reversion and Remainder, par- 
 ticularly or generally named, mentioned, or intended to be Partys to the said Pro- 
 posals, and not thereby excluded, their and every of their respective Heirs and 
 Assigns, shall and may from henceforth for ever cpiietly and peaceably have, hold, 
 and enjoy all their several and respective Messuages, Lands, Tenements, and Here- 
 dittaments, with their and every of their Appurtenances, to them and their Heirs 
 severally and respectively, as customary Tennants of and within the said Isle, against 
 the said James Earl of Derby, his Heirs and Assignes, and against all and every 
 other Person or Persons claiming, or to claime, from, by, or under him, them, or 
 any of them, all and singular the Tennants within the said Isle, and Members of 
 the same, their Heirs and Assignes, and all and every other Person and Persons 
 claiming, or to claime, from, by, or under them, or any of them, respectively and 
 severally yielding, paying, performing, and doing unto the said James Earl of Derby, 
 his Heirs and Assignes, and all and every other the Lords of the said Isle for the 
 Time being, such yearly Rents, Boons, Suites, and Services, as herein-before are 
 mentioned, and which now are or heretofore have been usually paid and performed ; 
 and also paying unto the said James Earl of Derby, his Heirs and Assignes, such 
 generall and other Fines certaine, as in the said Proposals are also for that Purpose 
 particularly mentioned and expressed, (saving always unto the said James Earl of 
 Derby, his Heirs and Assigns, and unto all and every other Person and Persons that 
 shall at any Time hereafter become Lords of the said Isle, all such Royaltys, Regalia, 
 Prerogatives, Homages, Fealtys, Escheats, Forfeitures, Seizures, Mines and Mineralls 
 of what Kind or Nature soever, Quarrys and Delfs of Flagg, Slate or Stone, Fran- 
 chises, Libertys, Priviledges, and Jurisdictions whatsoever, as now are or at any 
 Time heretofore have been invested in the said James Earl of Derby, or in any of his 
 Ancestors Lords of the said Isle ; and saving nevertheless to all and every Person 
 and Persons, Bodys Politick and Corporate, their Heirs and Successors, (other than 
 the said James Earl of Derby, his Heirs and Assignes,) all such Actions, Estate, 
 Right, Title, Interest, Use, Trust, Claime, and Demand whatsoever, in Law or Equity, 
 as they or any of them have, may, should, or ought to liave, of, in, to, or out of the 
 said Isle, or any Part thereof, (and in such Sort and Manner as if this Act had never 
 been made ;) provided that such Person or Persons, their Heirs, Executors, and 
 Administrators, do yield, pay, perform, and do unto the said James Earl of Derby, 
 his Heirs and Assigns, and to all and every other the Lords of the said Isle for the 
 Time being, the severall yearly Rents, Boons, Suits, and Servises, that have been 
 accustomary and usually paid for the Estates which they, or any of them, shall or 
 may make any Claime or Title, and do also pay unto the said Lord and Lords of the 
 said Isle for the Thin: bring all such Fines certain for the same, and in such Manner 
 and Form as in the said Proposals are particularly mentioned and agreed unto, and 
 not otherwise : And it is further provided, That nothing in the said Saving shall 
 impeach, or be prejudicial to, or be construed or taken to impeach or be prejudicial 
 to the Settlement of the Nature and Quality of the Estates, Tenures, Fines, Rents, 
 Suits, and Servises, which hereby and by the said Proposals are agreed upon and 
 intended to be enacted, granted, and confirmed, any Thing in the said Saving to the 
 contrary notwithstanding. 
 
 Note, — That it is agreed and consented unto by the Governor, Officers, and 
 twenty-four Keyes aforesaid, at the Signing hereof, that this Act shall be no
 
 234 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 construed and taken to free and discharge the Tennants and Inhabitants of this Isle 
 from giving their best Assistance or Supply for the Defence of the Isle in Time of 
 Warr, or iminent Danger, in such manner as shall be agreed upon by the Governor, 
 Officers, and twenty-four Keyes of the Island for the Time being, as Occasion and 
 Necessity will require. 
 
 Robert Mawdesley, 
 
 Tho. Sodor and Mann, Chris. Parker, 
 
 John Parr, "l Deemsters J. Rowe, 
 
 D. Mylrea, J Ce S Will. Ross, 
 
 John Bridson, 
 
 Tho. Stevenson, Robert Christian, 
 
 Ewan Christian, Robert Curghey, 
 
 John Wattleworth, James Banks, 
 
 Sill. Ratcliff, Tho. Corlett, 
 
 Cha. Moor, James Oates, 
 
 Nicho. Christian, Nicho. Thompson, 
 
 Will. Christian, Robert Moore, 
 
 Tho. Christian, Dan. Lace, 
 
 John Bridson, John Harrison, 
 
 John Oates, John Wattleworth, 
 
 James Christian, John Curghey. 
 
 I do hereby declare my full and free Consent to this Act of Settlement, (saving 
 and except so much thereof as relates to the Tythes arising out of the Abbey De- 
 measnes therein mentioned, to be sold by Charles late Earl of Derby to Bishop Bar- 
 row, and the several Rectorys of Kirk Christ Lezayre, Kirk Marown, Kirk Lonnan, 
 Kirk Conchan, Kirk Malew, Kirk Maughold, Kirk Arborey, Kirk Christ Rushen, 
 Kirk Michael, and Kirk Santan, with their and every of their Appurtenances, and 
 all Tenths and Tythes renewing, growing, within or belonging to the said Rectorys, 
 and all Oblations, Obventions, Pentions, Rights, and Dutys thereunto belonging or 
 appertaining, which were by Indenture bearing Date the first Day of November one 
 thousand six hundred sixty-six, made between the said Charles Earl of Derby of the 
 one Part, and Isaac Lord Bishop of Sodor and Mann, and Jonathan Fletcher, Arch- 
 deacon of the said Isle, of the other Part, granted, bargained, and sold to the said 
 Bishop and Archdeacon, their Executors and Assignes, for ten thousand Yeares, at 
 the severall yearly Rents, and upon the Trusts therein mentioned, and such Estate, 
 Right, Title, Interest, Claime, and Demand, as I have, or may or can claime or 
 demand of, into, or out of the same, as if this Act had never been made or passed : 
 And I do hereby confirm this Act (save and except as afforesaid) according to my 
 undoubted Prerogative within the said Isle, and require that the said Act be published 
 at the next Tynwald Court in usual manner. Derby. 
 
 At a Tynwald Court holden at St. John's Chappell the 6th Day of June, 
 
 Anno Domino 1704. 
 
 The beforcgoing Act of Settlement being confirmed by our Honourable Lord in 
 Manner as afforesaid, was this Day Publickly proclaimed upon the Tynwald Hill, 
 iccording to antient Forme and Custome; as witness our Hands the Day and Year 
 above written. [Signed as above.]
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. VIII. 
 
 235 
 
 NOTE V.— Page 218. 
 
 NUMBER AS 
 
 L'»rd Karl "I 
 
 of .Man 
 
 Derby. 
 
 1 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 5 
 
 9 
 
 C 
 
 10 
 
 7 
 
 11 
 
 8 
 
 12 
 
 9 
 
 13 
 
 10 
 
 • • 
 
 
 SUCCESSION OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY, 
 
 Began 
 to 
 
 A.D. 
 
 Sir John Stanley received a grant of the Island . . 
 
 John Stanley succeeded his father 
 
 Thomas succeeded his father 
 
 Thomas, 1st Earl, succeeded his father 
 
 Thomas succeeded his grandfather 
 
 Edward succeeded his father 
 
 Henry succeeded his father 
 
 Ferdinand succeeded his father 
 
 William succeeded his brother 
 
 James succeeded his father 
 
 James beheaded 
 
 Charles succeeded his father 
 
 William succeeded his father 
 
 James, the last Lord of Man, succeeded his brother 
 And died . . • . 
 
 1407 
 1414 
 1432 
 1459 
 L505 
 1521 
 1572 
 1594 
 1595 
 1642 
 1651 
 1660 
 1672 
 1702 
 1736 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 2 F
 
 236 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LORDS AND GOVERNORS OF MAN OF THE HOUSE OF ATHOLL, 
 
 FROM A.D. 1736 TO 1830. 
 
 Genealogical Sketch of the Family of Tullibardine — John second Duke 
 of Atholl succeeds to the Lordship of Man — Visits the Island — His 
 enactments — The Lords of the Treasury empowered by Parliament to 
 purchase the Royalties of the Island — JVegotiations on that subject 
 long protracted — Sale of the Island by John the third Duke — Act of 
 Revestment — Royal Proclamation — Consequences of the Revestment 
 — Exertions of the Duke of Atholl to obtain further Remuneration 
 in lieu of his vested Rights — Commissioners appointed by Parliament 
 to enquire into the validity of the Duke's claims — Obtains a grant by 
 Act of Parliament — The Manks become loyal subjects of Great 
 Britain — The Duke of Atholl accepts the office of Captain General 
 of the Island — Becomes unpopular — His measures strongly opposed 
 by the People — Finally disposes of all his interests in the Island. 
 
 From an early period of Scottish History the family of 
 Murray is found to have possessed great feudal influence 
 in the North of Scotland. They derive their origin from 
 Friskin, who lived in 1123, and was a descendant of the 
 old Moravij. 1 Friskin was the great grandfather of Wil- 
 liam de Moravia, who was Baron of Tullibardine in 1292. 
 The Jure Uxoris, ancestor of William Murray, of Tulli- 
 bardine, who died in 1509, whose son William was great 
 grandfather of Sir John Murray, created Earl of Tulli- 
 bardine, anno 1G04. William, the son of this peer, in 
 1G29, obtained the ancient title of Earl of Atholl, in right 
 of his wife, Lady Dorothea Stewart, in whose father it 
 had become extinct. William was a zealous royalist, as 
 was his son John, the second Earl of Atholl, who raised 
 a body of two thousand men for the service of Charles I. 
 In 1G42, John was succeeded by his son, who added 
 
 1 Anderson 1 s Royal Genealogies, p. 804.
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF ATHOLL. 237 
 
 greatly to the power of his family by marrying Lady 
 Amelia Sophia Stanley, third daughter of James, the great 
 Earl of Derby, who, by her mother Charlotte dc la Tre- 
 mouille, 1 was related to most of the reigning 2 families of 
 Europe. When only eighteen years of age he took up 
 arms in defence of Charles II, and proved of such advan- 
 tage to the royal cause that his majesty, after the resto- 
 ration, made him justice-general, lord privy-seal, captain 
 of his guard, and one of the extraodinary lords of session, 
 creating him, also, Marquis of Atholl. He died in 1703, 
 and was succeeded by his son John, who in the same year 
 was created first Duke of Atholl. 
 
 In 170G, when the twenty-two articles of the proposed 
 union between England and Scotland came to be debated, 
 John, Duke of Atholl, protested against the number of 
 representatives to be allowed for Scotland in the parlia- 
 ment of Great Britain as being quite insufficient and 
 unreasonable. 3 
 
 By his wife, Lady Catherine Hamilton, daughter of 
 William, Duke of Hamilton, he had six sons and one 
 daughter. The eldest, who was Marquis of Tullibardine, 
 was a colonel in the Dutch service, and fell at the battle 
 of Malplaquet, in 1709. The second son, William, who 
 succeeded his brother as Marquis of Tullibardine, was 
 attainted in 1716 for being a party in the rebellion of that 
 period ; and being taken again in the rebellion of 174G, 
 was sent to the tower of London, where he died in the 
 following year. James, the third son, on the death of his 
 
 1 Charlotte de la Tremouillc, as already mentioned, was daughter of Claude de 
 Tremouille, Duke de Tremouillc and Trovers, by Charlotte his wife, daughter of 
 Count William of Nassau, Prince of Orange, by his wife Charlotte de Bourbon of 
 the royal house of France, by which marriage he stood allied to the kings of France, 
 Naples, Sicily, and Spain, the princes of Bourbon and Conde, to the arch-duke of 
 Austria, to the dukes of Savoy, Angou, and Milan, and other sovereign princes of 
 Europe. — Seacome's History of the House of Stanley, p. 379. 
 
 8 Debrett's Peerage of the United Kingdom, vol. ii, p. oil. 
 
 3 Smollett's History of England, cap. viii.
 
 238 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 father in 1724, succeeded to the family titles and estates; 
 and twelve years afterwards he also became Lord of the 
 Isle of Man, in right of his grandmother, on the decease 
 of James, tenth Earl of Derby, 1 as stated at 'the close of 
 the preceding chapter. 
 
 A.D. 1736. Soon after his accession to the lordship of 
 Man, the Duke visited the Island with a numerous suite 
 of gentlemen, and was joyously received by the natives. 
 His first public edict is dated Castle Rushen, 12th Aug., 
 1736, by which he gives his assent to no less thAn fourteen 
 acts of Tynwald. 2 
 
 From a regard to the happiness of his people, as stated 
 in the preamble of these acts, he allowed many of the 
 old laws to be revised, and some which had become obso- 
 lete, to be completely abrogated. One credible witness 
 was thenceforth to be considered sufficient to convict a 
 malefactor of Larceny ; but the punishment of " burning 
 in the hand, or whipping in the different market towns," 
 for that offence, was continued. 
 
 Former restrictions as to the holding of fairs and mar- 
 kets were repealed ; and " for the better enabling the 
 people to pay their rents, dues, and fines to the Lord," 
 all fairs and markets were to be " as free to strangers as 
 to natives to buy, sell, or barter." For preventing, also, 
 " the many notorious instances of discord and animosity 
 
 1 Peerage of Scotland, edition 1826, vol. i, p. 137. 
 
 2 This assent of the Lord of the Isles was given in these words, at Castle Rushen, 
 12th August, 1736 : — " I do allow and confirm the fourteen acts before written, ac- 
 cording to my prerogative within my Isle of Man, and do order that the said acts 
 be published at the next Tynwald Hill, according to the ancient form and custome 
 of my said isle. (Signed) " Atholl." 
 
 Which was, as usual, docketed in the following words : — " At a Tynwald Court 
 holden at St. John's Chappell, the 24th day of June, anno Domini 1737, the before 
 written fourteen Acts were this day publickly proclaimed on the Tynwald Hill, ac- 
 cording to the ancient form and custome of this Isle ; as witness our hands, this day 
 and year above written." Then follow the signatures respectively of the Deemsters, 
 Governor, members of the Council, and of the House of Keys. — See Lex Scripta, 
 pp. 263, 281. The Bishop appears to have been absent on this occasion.
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF ATHOLL. 239 
 
 among the people, occasioned by slanderous words and 
 defamation," the old law of gagging and whipping in the 
 stocks was deemed insufficient, and it was accordingly 
 repealed, and one of greater severity imposed. The 
 statutes of 1422 and 1664 anent persons leaving the 
 Island without license, were repealed, or, at least, the 
 penalty against masters of vessels taking such persons 
 was restricted to ten pounds. All goods of the growth, 
 product, or manufacture of the Island, were permitted to 
 be exported free of duty ; but as the former impost added 
 ten pounds per annum to the revenue of the lord, certain 
 other dues were to be raised : and it was therefore " pro- 
 vided and reserved that if the duties advanced did not 
 amount to ten pounds per annum, the same should be 
 made good on the part of the people to the lord and his 
 successors." Wheat and barley were allowed to be im- 
 ported under certain restrictions ; " but the importation 
 of malt was prohibited to all intents and purposes." 
 
 By the same set of enactments it was provided that 
 " any person prosecuted in this Island for a foreign debt 
 by any act of arrest in the Court of Chancery, shall for 
 the future be held to bail only for his personal appearance 
 to such action, and for the forthcoming of what effects he 
 hath within this Island, to answer the judgement of the 
 same." ' This was the law which rendered Man for nearly 
 a century afterwards, the sanctuary of the unfortunate 
 and profligate of the surrounding nations, who flocked 
 thither in such numbers as to make it a common recep- 
 tacle for the basest of their kind. 
 
 It had ever been the true political interest of Great 
 Britain to render every part of the empire as flourishing 
 as possible, without omitting any means which might con- 
 tribute to turn the industry of the inhabitants to the ad- 
 vantage of the state. With a view therefore of bringing 
 
 1 Statutes, anno 1736; Lex Scripta, pp. 2C5, 266, 268, 272, 278, 279.
 
 240 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 the Isle of Man into closer connection with the general 
 system of our government, and for the purpose of curbing 
 the pernicious practice of smuggling in which the natives 
 were engaged, an act was passed by the British Govern- 
 ment so early as the year 1 726, authorizing the Earl of 
 Derby to dispose of his royalty and revenue of the Isle of 
 Man, and empowering the Lords of the Treasury to treat 
 with him for that purpose. 1 
 
 Many proposals had been made to Lord Derby and to 
 his successor, the Duke of Atholl, by the Lords Commis- 
 sioners of the Treasury appointed by Government ; but 
 various obstacles continued to be thrown in the way of 
 effecting the purchase, and the object of government was 
 in consequence not attained for many years. 
 
 The Duke of Atholl, evidently with the intention of 
 putting off the sale to a distant day, conveyed the entail 
 to trustees by a deed of feoffment executed on the 6th of 
 April, 1756, whereby they were empowered to make an 
 absolute sale of the Island after his death, with the con- 
 sent of the lord proprietor — his heir. The money arising 
 out of this sale was to be laid out in the purchase of lands 
 in Scotland, which were directed to be entailed in the 
 strictest manner according to law, on the heirs male of 
 his body, whom failing, to the line of Murray, in prefer- 
 ence to the line of heirs from James, seventh Earl of 
 Derby. 2 
 
 In fulfilment of the tenure by which the Island had 
 for upwards of three centuries been held by the chiefs of 
 the house of Stanley, the Duke of Atholl appeared at the 
 coronation of George III, 22nd Sept., 1761, in the sta- 
 tion assigned to the Kings or Lords of Man on similar 
 occasions, at his Majesty's left shoulder holding the sword 
 of Lancaster ; and by presenting to the King two falcons 
 
 1 Statute, 12th George I, cap. 28, sec. 25. 
 
 2 Statutes at Large, vol. x.
 
 LORDS OP THE HOUSE OF ATHOLL. 241 
 
 at the close of the ceremony, he did liege homage for the 
 franchise, liberties, avowsons, and patronages of the Isle 
 and lordship of Man. These personal services being 
 accepted by the King, the Duke thereby became entitled 
 to hold and exercise all the rights, and receive all the 
 immunities thereto pertaining, as fully and freely as any 
 former Lord of Man did, or might have done. 1 
 
 In 1764, James, Duke of Atholl, died, leaving only one 
 child, Charlotte, Baroness Strange, 2 who was united in 
 marriage with her cousin John, the male heir of the duke- 
 dom, who, in right of his wife also became possessed of 
 the Isle of Man. Scarcely, however, was he settled in 
 his new possessions when the question of the revestment 
 was again revived by the Lords of the Treasury. 
 
 On 25th July, 17G4, they wrote to his Grace in the 
 following terms : — 
 
 " My Lord, — We think proper to inform your Grace that in pursuance of the 
 powers vested in us by the 12th Geo. I, Cap. 28, we are willing to treat with you for 
 the purchase of the Isle of Man, or by such parts of the rights as are claimed by your 
 Grace, in the same Island, as shall be found expedient to vest in the crown for pre- 
 venting the illicit and pernicious trade, which is at present carried on between that 
 Island and other parts of his Majesty's dominions, in violation of the laws and to the 
 diminution and detriment of the revenues of this kingdom. But if your Grace is not 
 inclined to enter into treaty with us upon the subject, we beg to be informed of it 
 that we may pursue such other methods as we shall think our duty to the public 
 requires." 
 
 On the 20th of August following the Duke returned for 
 answer : — 
 
 " My Lords, — I have the same idea with regard to the sale of the Island with 
 the late Duke, who always declared that no temptation of gain could induce him to 
 
 1 See these particulars more fully detailed in the Scots Magazine for the year 1765, 
 pp. 77 — 79. 
 
 2 He having died on 8th January, 1704, the usual accustomed writs, according to 
 the laws of the Isle of Man, dated at Dunkeld on 9th January, were issued in the 
 name of Charlotte, Baroness Strange, Lady of Man and the Isles, and her husband 
 for proclaiming her accession and for continuing in office the Governor and all other 
 officers of the Island till further orders, which writs were dispatched by express, and 
 published at Tynwald Hill, according to custom, and entered in the public records of 
 the Island. — Scots Mayazinc for February, 1701.
 
 342 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 give up so ancient, so honourable, and so noble a birth-right — such as no subject of 
 the crown of England now has, or ever had, and which has been in our family for 
 four centuries ; and that he thought nothing could be an equal equivalent to one of 
 his rank and circumstances, for so great a patrimony. At the same time, my duty 
 and attachment to the king obliges me to say, that if it were esteemed, upon a full 
 consideration, an important pomt for his Majesty's service, and for the good of the 
 public ; in that event, I am willing to enter into treaty for the disposal of it, but 
 these are the only reasons that could induce me to do the same. 
 
 ' ' I have been but a few months in possession of the Isle of Man, and never in the 
 least turned my attention towards the sale of it, therefore it is impossible for me, 
 uninformed as I am, to fix upon what I should think an adequate price ; but I will 
 always be ready to receive, with respect, any proposal that may come from your 
 Lordships." 
 
 On the Duke still refusing to point out the amount of 
 the compensation that would be required, a bill was 
 brought into Parliament in January, 1765, "for more ef- 
 fectually preventing the mischiefs to the revenue and com- 
 merce of Great Britain and Ireland from the clandestine 
 and illicit trade carried into and from the Isle of Man." 1 
 A petition was presented against the bill by the Duke 
 and Duchess of Atholl, who, receiving intimation that a 
 treaty might still be entered into for the purchase of their 
 chartered rights, resolved, lest they should be stripped of 
 the whole without any remuneration, to accept of the sum 
 of £70,000 sterling, as a compensation for an absolute 
 surrender " of the Island, Castle, and Peel of Man, 
 with all the Lordships thereto belonging, together with 
 the royalties, regalities, franchises, liberties, and sea-ports 
 appertaining to the same, and all other hereditaments 
 and premises therein particularly described and mentioned 
 as holden under the several grants thereof, or any other 
 title whatsoever, reserving only their lands, inland waters, 
 fisheries, mines, mills, minerals, and quarries according to 
 their present right therein, felon goods, deodands, waifs, 
 estrays, and wrecks at sea, together with the patronage 
 of the bishopric and of the other ecclesiastical benefices 
 in the Island, to which they were entitled/' 
 
 1 Campbell's Annals of Great Britain, edition 1811, vol. i, p. 124.
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF ATHOLL. 243 
 
 The purchase of the Island was consequently concluded, 
 and the sum of £70,000 was paid into the Bank of Eng- 
 land in the names of the Duke and Duchess of Atholl ; 
 but in consideration of the Duke's retaining the holdings 
 just enumerated, the honorary service of his rendering to 
 his Majesty and his successors two falcons at every coro- 
 nation was perpetuated, and he was requested to pay 
 likewise a yearly rent of £101 15s. 2d. for the Abbey 
 lands, and^£20 17s. in lieu of mines and quarries. 1 * 
 
 In addition to the purchase money the Duke and 
 Duchess of Atholl were to receive an annuity of £2,000 
 per annum, to be paid out of the Irish revenue, which 
 had suffered as well as Great Britain by the clandestine 
 trade with the Isle of Man. It was, therefore, judged rea- 
 sonable, that some compensation should be made by Ire- 
 land, since both kingdoms were to be alike benefited by 
 the suppression of the growing evil. 2 
 
 A royal proclamation, founded on the Act of Revest- 
 ment, was issued at St. James's announcing the appoint- 
 ment of a new governor and captain-general of the Island, 
 and continuing in office the clerk of the rolls, the attorney- 
 general, deemsters, and all other persons duly vested in 
 any civil employment ; but excepting therefrom such offi- 
 
 1 Johnston's Jurisprudence of the Isle of Man, p. 13 ; Mills' s Ancient Ordinances, 
 Douglas, 1821, p. 530. 
 
 * Appendix, Note i, " List of Public Acts of the British Parliament and private 
 Deeds relative to the Isle of Man." 
 
 2 Campbell's Political Survey of Great Britain, vol. ii, p. 546. In a case respect- 
 ing the validity of the sale of the Isle of Man, as made by the Duke of Atholl, and 
 laid before council in 1788, it is stated " that the sum of i. 70,000 was paid only for 
 such regalities and other branches of this royal fief as appeared to be convenient for 
 the public, that what was reserved for the Duke did not comprise one-fourth of the 
 yearly revenue of the Island, and that his family by.it lost at the rate of ,£4,000 or 
 £5,000 a-year for twenty-three years successively ; such being nearly the difference 
 between the net revenue from the Island for ten years preceding the sale, the pur- 
 chase-money and the reserved parts of the Island put together. It consequently 
 became a question, how far Duke James was competent to dispose of the Island at 
 his pleasure, and overturn the order of succession, granted by James I, under which 
 he himself derived." See printed opinion of Mr. Ilargrave on this case.— Gouy/i's 
 Camden, vol. iii, p. 700. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 2 G
 
 244 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 cers as were appointed by the late proprietor to collect 
 his revenues.* Under the Lords of Man all the civil offi- 
 cers had been entitled to certain fees from the inhabitants 
 as a compensation for the performance of their official 
 duties. The Lord himself had various perquisites, amongst 
 which was a fee for every action at law. 1 In the estimate 
 of the revenue of the Island made out by the Duke of 
 Atholl for the Lords of the Treasury, no deduction was 
 made for the support of the established government. The 
 deemsters alone received a small salary of £13 6s. 8d. 
 from the Lord. In some instances also the Lord superior 
 himself received from official persons a certain fee called 
 office silver. 
 
 When Sir John Stanley received a grant of the Island 
 from Henry IV, the whole revenue did not exceed £400 
 per annum. 2 In the time of the last Earl of Derby, who 
 was Lord of Man, the customs were farmed to an Eng- 
 lish merchant at £1000 per annum. 3 The Duke of 
 Atholl, however, annually received a surplus revenue of 
 nearly £6,000, as appears in the schedule to the act 
 5th Geo. Ill, cap. 26. 4 
 
 When the sovereignty of the Island became vested, by 
 act of Parliament, in the British King, the inhabitants 
 were so much alarmed at the change of affairs, which they 
 considered must necessarily ensue, that the ruin of all 
 
 * Appendix, Note ii, " Royal Proclamation." 
 
 1 Postlethwaite says, "The revenues of the Duke of Atholl arise, for the most part, 
 from small duties and customs paid upon goods entered in the Isle of Man, and 
 afterwards smuggled into England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland." — Commercial 
 Dictionary, article " Man." 
 
 2 Milk's Ancient Ordinances, p. 528, act 5th, Geo. Ill, cap. 26. 
 
 3 Bullock, p. 197. 
 
 4 Act 5th Geo. Ill, cap. 20, ap. Statutes at Large, vol. x. The Act of Revestment 
 received the royal assent on 10th May, 1765 ; the price paid being far from extrava- 
 gant, if it be considered the advantages the public were to derive from such a pur- 
 chase. The clear revenue given up by the Duke amounted to ,£5,604 per annum, 
 " so that the proprietor has not full thirteen years' purchase, whereas a landed estate 
 of that yearly rent would now have sold at thirty years' purchase, amounting to near 
 .£'170,000 iterliog of principal money." — Scots Magazine, vol. xxviii, p. 304. 
 
 /
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF ATHOLL. 245 
 
 classes was prognosticated. Insular property sunk to a 
 very low state of depreciation ; and many, who had the 
 means of removal, left the Island. Nor was the appear- 
 ance of Lord John Murray's Freicudan Dim, or Black 
 Watch, as the 42nd regiment was then called, who were 
 sent by the British government to maintain the peace, 
 much calculated to allay the discontents of the people, 
 who found their houses and magazines, which had been 
 let for the purposes of smuggling, left empty on their 
 hands, and themselves subjected to other inconveniences 
 necessarily resulting from a revolution so sudden. 
 
 John, third Duke of Atholl, died on the 5th of Novem- 
 ber, 1774, in the forty-fifth year of his age, and was suc- 
 ceeded in his titles and estates by his son of the same 
 name, born 30th June, 1755. His claims in the Island 
 being no longer backed by sovereign authority were re- 
 sisted by every species of opposition, till he was induced 
 in 1781, to present a petition to parliament stating, among 
 other complaints, " that many parts of the act, 5th Geo. 
 Ill, cap. 26, required explanation and amendment, and 
 that proper remedies or powers were omitted to be given 
 thereby to the Duke and Duchess of Atholl, their heirs, 
 or assigns, seneschals, or stewards, and moars, and bailiffs, 
 for obtaining of their several rights and interests, or for 
 the exercise or enjoyment of such as were intended to be 
 reserved, and therefore prayed that leave might be given 
 to bring in a bill to explain and amend the said act, to 
 enable him and his heirs to exercise certain powers." 1 
 
 He alleged, that prior to the investment, the revenues 
 had not been fairly collected ; * and that the annual 
 amount, to which the purchase-money had been propor- 
 tioned, had consequently been too small ; that with the 
 consent of the council and keys his father had the power 
 
 1 Journal of the House of Commons, vol. xxxviii. 
 * Appendix, Note iii, " Re\enue at the Revestment."
 
 246 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 of increasing the duties, and that some rights, not intended 
 to be so, were vested in the crown, such as herring-cus- 
 tom, salmon-fisheries, and treasure-trove. While others 
 meant to be retained, have, by the operation of the act 
 of 1765, been rendered nugatory by being left in a muti- 
 lated and unprotected state, the protection which they 
 enjoyed under the former government of the Island having 
 been destroyed, and no new or adequate protection sub- 
 stituted in their room. 1 
 
 A counter petition, from John Cosnahan of the House 
 of Keys, as agent for that body, was laid before parlia- 
 ment against the passing of this bill, on the ground that 
 it contained many provisions opposed to the constitution 
 of the Island, and injurious to its inhabitants. Counsel 
 having been heard on both sides, the bill, somewhat 
 amended, passed the House of Commons. In the House 
 of Lords it was opposed by the Lord Chancellor, who 
 stated in his speech, that what the public had purchased 
 of the late Duke of Atholl seemed to him of very little 
 importance, no more, in his apprehension, than certain 
 rights and privileges incident to the proprietor for the 
 time being, as first magistrate and lord of the soil, and 
 which his majesty's servants in the year 1765, very 
 wisely deemed " to be improper to be longer vested in the 
 hands of a subject who exercised those rights independent 
 of, and uncontrolled by, the British parliament. There 
 were many instances to prove that the Lords of Man and 
 the inhabitants were amenable and controllable by the 
 British legislature. One instance only he should men- 
 tion. In the reign of Henry the Eighth an act of parlia- 
 ment passed for abolishing all monasteries and abbeys, 
 and vesting the lands which belonged to them in the 
 crown. In this bill were included those of Man ; and 
 the Earl of Derby so far from exclaiming against the 
 
 1 See Memorial to the King, in Debrett's Parliamentary Register.
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF ATIIOLL. 247 
 
 usurpation, or complaining against the injustice or oppres- 
 sion of such a stretch of foreign power, actually became 
 a lessee for them under the king. Much had been said 
 about manorial rights, whereas they appeared to have no 
 real foundation Avhatever ; these rights, which had been 
 thus claimed, having at different times and upon various 
 occasions been granted to the lord of manors, and, of 
 course, divested out of the lord-paramount." 
 
 The Duke of Atholl wished to have every paragraph 
 examined by their lordships with the minutest attention, 
 being persuaded that the more pains there were taken to 
 develope the real purport of the object of the bill, the 
 more supporters it would have. 1 The measure, however, 
 was lost by a great majority. 
 
 The Duke, dissatisfied with this result, renewed his 
 application in 1790; but, after a spirited discussion in 
 the House of Commons, it met with a similar fate. Still 
 unwilling to relinquish his object, he, in 1791, presented 
 a petition to the privy council, containing such strong 
 allegations, that it was deemed prudent to appoint com- 
 missioners to visit the Island, and make a thorough in- 
 vestigation, not only as to the particulars in dispute, but 
 also into the general state of the revenue and commerce 
 of the Island. 
 
 This commission, appointed by parliament in 1792, 
 consisted of five persons ; a commissioner of the English 
 board of customs, a commissioner from the board of cus- 
 toms at Edinburgh, two eminent English barristers, and 
 a member of parliament. On their arrival in the Island, 
 these gentlemen were voluntarily assisted in their investi- 
 gation by a committee of the House of Keys, whose aid 
 they warmly acknowledged in their report to parliament. 
 
 By the act 7th Geo. Ill, cap. 45, sec. 8, any quantity of 
 British spirits, not exceeding 50,000 gallons, was allowed 
 
 1 Parliamentary Register, Debrett, vol. iv, pp. 350, 351.
 
 248 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 to be imported annually at a duty of one shilling the gal- 
 lon ; but brandy and Genevas could only be imported on 
 payment of the English duties. The commissioners found 
 that no part of the British spirits had been imported since 
 the year 1784, that brandy and Geneva were in common 
 use, and that smuggling into the Island was carried on to 
 a great extent, although revenue cruisers were stationed 
 on the coasts. 
 
 With a view to prevent this illicit traffic, the commis- 
 sioners recommended that a limited quantity of British 
 spirits should be allowed to be imported on payment of 
 moderate duties. This recommendation was adopted, and 
 an act was passed 38th Geo. Ill, cap. 63, to regulate the 
 trade of the Island, in the spirit of which all the subse- 
 quent acts, respecting the trade of the Island, have been 
 made. 
 
 For the convenience of the inhabitants, as well as to 
 encourage them to engage more extensively in legal com- 
 merce, the commissioners likewise recommended that a 
 government warehouse should be erected at Douglas for 
 the reception of foreign European goods ; but this plan 
 seemed to the king's government so big with innovation 
 that it was not deemed expedient to adopt it, though the 
 testimony of the revenue officers tended to establish the 
 fact that illicit practices continued to prevail to a great 
 extent, by running into Great Britain and Ireland, articles 
 either wholly prohibited or which had received bounty or 
 drawback on exportation, or were liable to duty, without 
 payment of the same. 1 
 
 The commissioners stated the loss to the king's revenue 
 by this illicit trade to amount to about £350,000 per an- 
 num, and the value of seizures made on the coast of Ire- 
 land from the Island to be about £10,000 annually. 
 
 The result of this inquiry tended to prove that a great 
 
 ' See Parliamentary Commistionert' Report, " Illicit Practices."
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF ATHOLL. 249 
 
 part of the Duke's allegations were well founded, the com- 
 missioners finding that the sum given for the cession of 
 the Island had been proportioned to a revenue ill managed 
 and partially collected, and consequently falling much 
 short of what, under a better system, might have been 
 produced. 
 
 During the administration of Lord Sidmouth in 1802, 
 the Duke presented a memorial to his majesty, which was 
 referred to the privy council. After consulting the law 
 officers of the crown, they came to the unanimous conclu- 
 sion that no grounds existed for conceiving the former 
 compensation inadequate. Soon after the change in the 
 administration, however, a similar petition was again pre- 
 sented to the privy council, and they came to a conclusion 
 exactly the reverse of the former. 
 
 In consequence of this favourable opinion, another bill 
 was presented to parliament by the Duke in 1805, on 
 which the former contentions were renewed in both houses, 
 but being supported by government, the affair was at 
 length decided by an additional grant of £3,000 per an- 
 num to the Duke and his heirs for ever, out of the conso- 
 lidated fund. 1 The revenue, however, continuing to in- 
 crease, a definitive sum was at length paid by government 
 for this commuted annuity. 
 
 The first act of Tynwald passed after the revestment 
 was in 1776. From the records of that mcetino; we learn 
 that his majesty had been pleased to grant permission to 
 the customary legislature of the Island to enact such 
 laws as might be found necessary for the interior good 
 government and police of the Isle. Every enactment of 
 the Insular legislature must now be sanctioned by the 
 king, before it can be published at the Tynwald court as 
 the statute law. And to show what scrutiny these Insular 
 enactments undergo in London, before receiving the royal 
 
 1 Parliamnntary Debater, vol. v, 1805.
 
 250 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 assent, I shall transcribe a letter on that subject to the 
 Duke of Atholl, who, in 1793, had accepted the office of 
 captain-general and governor-in-chief of the Island : — 
 
 "Whitehall, 15th July, 1796. 
 " To the Duke of Atholl. 
 " My Lord, — I have had the honour of receiving your Grace's letter of the 8th 
 inst., transmitting me three different acts passed by the legislature of the Isle of Man, 
 entitled, ' An Act for the better regulation of the Courts of Common Law,' ' An 
 Act for the better regulation of the Herring Fishery,' and ' An Act for the punish- 
 ment of Forgery and Perjury, and Swindling Practices;' and having laid the same 
 before the king, I am directed to inform your grace that the said acts have been 
 taken into consideration : that the two former are thought well calculated to promote 
 the interests of the Island, as well from their contents as from the sanction given to 
 them by his majesty's attorney general and solicitor general. I am therefore directed 
 to return the said acts to your grace, and to signify to you his majesty's approbation 
 thereof; but it appearing to his majesty's law officers in this country, that the last 
 mentioned ' Act for the punishment of Forgery and Swindling Practices' is conceived 
 in terms so general, that persons acting without any criminal intent may be liable to 
 criminal persecution, and punished by fine, imprisonment, and corporal punishment, 
 attended in some cases with personal disabilities : and particularly it is observed, 
 that the unlawful disposing of the goods of other persons, without authority so to do, 
 is liable to such punishment without any distinction, whether the act is done with a 
 criminal intention, or is a mere civil trespass. It will therefore be necessary to give 
 the said act a more serious attention before his majesty can be advised to give his 
 consent thereto. 1 Portland." 
 
 Since the British government acquired the power of 
 enacting laws for the government of the Isle of Man, those 
 enacted laws have hitherto been confined to the customs 
 or port-dues, and the regulation and prohibition of the ma- 
 nufacture of articles which might affect the revenue. The 
 
 1 Lex Scripta, pp. 448, 449. This nice discrimination of the laws, so necessary to 
 the dispensation of justice, forms a striking contrast to the power exercised by the 
 preceding Lord of Man over his vassals in Perthshire. The lord president Forbes, 
 travelling from Edinburgh to his seat at Culloden, dined, on his way, at the Castle of 
 Blair Atholl, with the Duke of Atholl. In the course of the evening a petition was 
 delivered to his grace ; having read which, he turned round to the president, and said, 
 " My lord, here is a petition from a poor man whom my baron-bailie has condemned 
 to be hanged, and, for various reasons, I am inclined to pardon him." " But your 
 grace knows," said the president, " that, after condemnation, no man can pardon 
 but his majesty." " As to that," replied the duke, "since I have the power to pun- 
 ish, it is but right that I should have the power to pardon ; " and calling on his ser- 
 vant who was in waiting, " go," said he, " send an express to Logierait, and order 
 Donald Stewart, presently under sentence of death, to be instantly set at liberty." — 
 Stewart's Sketches of the Highlanders, edition 1825, vol. i, p. 52.
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF ATIIOLL. 251 
 
 act 25th Geo. Ill, grants to the House of Keys the dis- 
 cretionary power of permitting the importation of cured 
 herrings in times of scarcity, thereby acknowledging the 
 House of Keys in a British act of parliament. 
 
 The Manks, ere long aware of the absurdity of the fears 
 which they had entertained at the investment of the Is- 
 land, at length became loyal subjects of Great Britain. 
 In 1 796, an act of Tynwald was passed, whereby persons 
 circulating seditious books or speaking seditiously are sub- 
 jected to a penalty of £100 and one year's imprisonment. 1 
 During the late French war, the Island furnished two 
 battalions of fencibles, which served with credit in Ireland 
 during the rebellion in 1798, besides a corps of volunteers 
 and a squadron of yeomanry. At the close of the eigh- 
 teenth century, too, when subscriptions were set on foot 
 in every part of the empire to assist in carrying on the 
 war against France, the House of Keys manifested their 
 attachment to the British Government by subscribing one 
 hundred and seventy five pounds, which was sent to the 
 Treasury with the following neat observation : — 
 
 " House of Keys, March 13. 1798. 
 "My Lord, — The Keys of the Isle of Man, the constitutional representatives of 
 the people, warmly attached to them and to the constitution of Great Britain, offer 
 this, their mite in aid of their cause ; and they feelingly regret that, in tendering so 
 small a sum, there is so great a disproportion between their wishes and their abilities — 
 having no public funds at their disposal." 2 
 
 In 1793, 1 have said, the Duke of Atholl had accepted 
 the office of captain-general and governor-in-chief of the 
 Island. The acceptance of this situation, considered so 
 far below his former rank in the Island, together with his 
 subsequent defeat in parliament, induced the islanders to 
 consider him a fellow-sufferer with themselves, by the act 
 of investment, and trusting that his interest would still be 
 exerted in behalf of his natural dependants, they, on his 
 
 1 Lex Scripta, p. 1 12. 
 
 " Jeffery's Account of the Isle of Man, p. 121. 
 
 CHAF. IX. - 1 H
 
 252 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 arrival at Douglas, to enter on his new office, nocked 
 around him, and taking the horses from his carriage drew 
 him to his usual place of residence, amidst the loudest 
 acclamations.* These friendly demonstrations, on the 
 part of the people, were evidently aided by their belief, 
 that the Duke, after his recent defeat, would not again 
 think of renewing his manorial claims in parliament ; for 
 when the purport of his memorials to the king, the 
 privy council, and to parliament became successively 
 known in the Island, his popularity declined, and the 
 former grudge of the islanders against the House of Atholl 
 was kindled anew.' Even the clamorous odium which 
 the Duke had incurred in the year 1783, of having sold 
 the Atholl highlanders, a regiment raised by him, to the 
 East India Company, after the term of their service had 
 expired,' 2 was now revived against him ; and in addition 
 to this, the maintenance of his private rights, by the ex- 
 ercise of his power as governor, in appointing to all the 
 different departments, to which either his patronage or 
 influence could extend, persons connected with or depend- 
 ing on his family, generally to the exclusion of the na- 
 tives, furnished a theme of jealousy and indignation for 
 the islanders at large. 
 
 In the year 1814, it was enacted that debts contracted 
 in Great Britain or Ireland became recoverable in the 
 Isle of Man, in like manner, to all intents and purposes, 
 as if such debts had been contracted between the same 
 parties within the limits of the said Isle. 3 The Protec- 
 tion Act, as it was termed, being thereby repealed, the 
 stigma thrown on the Island, as being an asylum for 
 unprincipled fugitives, was wiped away ; but the protec- 
 
 * Appendix, Note iv, " Loyalty of the Manks People." 
 
 1 Bullock, p. 199. 
 
 2 Stewart's Sketches of the Highlanders, Edinburgh edition, 1825, vol. ii, pp. 
 478—480. 
 
 3 Lex Scripta, pp. 184, 485. Mills, p. 424.
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF ATHOLL. 253 
 
 tion afforded to such individuals being removed, many- 
 withdrew from the Island to seek protection elsewhere, 
 carrying with them unjustly acquired wealth which other- 
 wise might have found its way into the pockets of the 
 Islanders. As this was an event which had been totally 
 unexpected, a sudden panic struck the greater part of 
 the native inhabitants, and a stagnation of trade followed, 
 similar to that which took place at the investment ; all 
 indulged in the most gloomy apprehensions as to the 
 future prospects of the community. 
 
 Although the Non-Protection Act had been passed by 
 the insular legislature at the instigation of the British 
 government, the Duke of Atholl was blamed by the 
 Islanders for being the chief promoter of the unpopular 
 enactment. All his measures were viewed with great 
 suspicion by the insular legislature, and by the people at 
 large ; and most of them experienced considerable op- 
 position, on the ground of their being calculated to pro- 
 mote the interest of his family at the expense of the 
 Islanders. 
 
 On the promulgation of a law in 1821, restraining 
 the importation of foreign corn, the population of Peel 
 rose and fairly drove out of the town a troop of yeomanry 
 whom the deemster had sent from Castletown to quell 
 the riot. 1 In Douglas, also, disturbances occurred, and 
 great depredations were committed on the property of 
 the dealers in corn. 
 
 In 1823, popular feeling ran so high against the duke 
 and his nephew, the Honourable George Murray, then 
 Bishop of Sodor and Man, as to render abortive a plan 
 concocted by them for raising £6,000 annually from the 
 Island in lieu of tithes. In 1825, the bishop having fully 
 established his claim, before the king in council, to a 
 tithe of all green crops in the Island, attempted, to col- 
 
 1 Lord Teignmouth's Sketches, vol. ii, p. 2G9.
 
 254 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 lect the tithe of potatoes, but it created so much dis- 
 satisfaction, that tumults prevailed throughout every part 
 of the Island, and so numerous were the assemblages of 
 the people, that the regular troops then quartered there 
 were unable to disperse them ; and the disturbances and 
 conflagrations that ensued induced the bishop to abandon 
 his claim. 
 
 Finding, at length, that the strongest marks of aver- 
 sion were openly manifested, not only to his own person, 
 but also to his dependants, the duke formed the reso- 
 lution to dispose of all his remaining interest in the 
 Island : and having signified his intention to his majesty's 
 ministers, an act was passed in 1824, " empowering the 
 lords of the treasury to purchase all the manorial rights 
 of the Duke of Atholl in the Isle of Man." To ascertain 
 the true value of these sovereign rights and possessions, 
 persons eminently qualified for the purpose were sent by 
 the lords of the treasury to the Island ; and from reports 
 made by these gentlemen, after long negotiations on the 
 subject, they succeeded in bringing the business to a 
 close in 1829, by paying the duke a further sum for a 
 complete surrender into the hands of government, of all 
 his rights " in and over the soil, as lord of the manor, with 
 all his landed property, courts baron, rents, services, and 
 other incidents to such courts belonging ; their waters, 
 commons, and other lands ; inland waters, fisheries, and 
 mills ; and all mines, minerals, and quarries, according 
 to their present rights therein ; felons' goods, deodands, 
 waifs, estrays, and wrecks at sea; together with the 
 patronage of the bishopric, and of the other ecclesiastical 
 benefices in the said Island, to which they were entitled ; 
 and which they had, since 1765, continued to hold of the 
 crown." The items of the sum paid by government were 
 in round numbers, as follows : —
 
 LORDS OF THE HOUSE OF ATHOLL. 255 
 
 Customs Revenue ,£"150,000 
 
 Tithes, Mines, Quarries, Demesnes, Lands, &c 132,111 
 
 Patronage of the Bishopric and of fourteen Advowsons 100,000 
 Quit-rents and Alienation Fines .. -> 31,000 
 
 £416,114 
 
 Thus, whatever privileges were conveyed to the Stanley 
 family by the patent of the 7th Henry IV, and confirmed 
 by subsequent patents, on the ratification of this long pro- 
 tracted negotiation, which had lasted for upwards of a 
 century, became unalienably vested in the British crown, 
 and the interest of the house of Atholl in the Island 
 ceased and determined. 
 
 The last honorary service of presenting two falcons to 
 the king was rendered on the 19th July, 1821, by the 
 Duke of Atholl, in person, at the coronation of George 
 IV. His grace was an active, liberal, and enlightened 
 nobleman: he possessed considerable interest at court, 
 which he uniformly employed in advancing the real 
 interests of his Island. After a long reign of 50 years, 
 he died at Dunkeld, on the 29th September, 1830, in the 
 76th year of his age. 

 
 256 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 APPENDIX.— Chapter IX. 
 
 NOTE I.— Page 243. 
 
 LIST OF PUBLIC ACTS OF THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT, AND PRIVATE 
 DEEDS RELATIVE TO THE SALE OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 An Act of 12th George I, enabling the Lords of the Treasury and James Earl of 
 Derby and others, to contract for the purchase or sale, for the use of his Majesty, of 
 all or any of the Estates, &c, of the said Earl or others, then had or claimed to the 
 said Island, &c. 
 
 Also, That James late Duke of Atholl, as right heir of James Lord Stanley, on 
 failure of heirs male of said William Earl of Derby, by the death of James then late 
 Earl of Derby, became seized to him and his heirs of the said Island, &c, (except the 
 said Mines Royal) revested in the Crown as aforesaid. 
 
 Also, A Feoffment, dated 14th November, 1737, and grant to Lord Mansfield and 
 others, of said Island, &c, (except as aforesaid) upon certain Trusts, with power of 
 revocation. 
 
 Also, An Indenture, dated 4th May, 1748, being a revocation of the Trusts in said 
 Feoffment, and a new appointment — with power of revocation and of new appoint- 
 ment. 
 
 Also, A Feoffment, dated 6th April, 1 736, revoking said former Trusts, and mak- 
 ing appointment of said Island upon Trust, to convey the said Island, &c, to his 
 Majesty, his heirs and successors, as therein mentioned. 
 
 Also, A Feoffment, dated 21st November, 1761, being an appointment of new 
 Trustees in the stead of the Duke of Argyle, and John Sharpe, deceased, upon the 
 Trusts in the Indenture of 6th April, 1756, mentioned — with further powers of 
 revocation. 
 
 Also, The death of James Duke of Atholl, on 8th January, 1764, leaving Char- 
 lotte, the wife of John Duke of Atholl, and Baroness Strange, his daughter and only 
 child, whereby they became entitled to the said Isle. 
 
 Also, A Treaty between the Lords of the Treasury and the said Duke and Duchess 
 of Atholl, for the purchase and sale of the said Island. 
 
 Also, A Contract with the Commissioners of the Treasury, dated 7th March, 1765, 
 for the purchase of the said Isle, which enacts, that, upon payment by his Majesty, 
 into the Bank, of a sum of ,£70,000, in the names of the Duke and Duchess of Atholl, 
 Sir Charles Frederick and Edmund Hoskins, the Isle of Man, &c, to vest, unalien- 
 ably, in the Crown. The Cashier's receipt testifying the payment of the said sum 
 to be a sufficient discharge to his Majesty. 
 
 The said sum, or the Lands purchased therewith, pursuant to trusts expressed in 
 Deed of Feoffment of 6th April, 1756, are to be subject to the same Estates, &c, as 
 the said Island, &c. 
 
 Reservation of the Bishopric, and other rights not vested in the Crown, but to be 
 held by the usual honorary service of rendering two falcons on the Coronation, and 
 the yearly rem «i L KM L5b. 2d
 
 APPENDIX, CHAT. IX. '2^)7 
 
 NOTE II.— Page 244. 
 
 ROYAL PROCLAMATION. 
 
 Douglas, Tsle of Man, Ibtk July, 17G5. — The English colours have been hoisted 
 on the Castle of Rusheu, and wc have a great many troops here from Ireland, so 
 that we are acting in a scene quite different to our customary one. Yesterday his 
 Majesty's Proclamation was read at the Market-place, amidst a prodigious concourse 
 of people; several regiments of regulars as well as militia were drawn up, and fired 
 several volleys, which were answered by the guns from the battery. The day was 
 spent in great mirth, and the evening concluded with illuminations and fire-works. 
 After reading the Proclamation, Governor Wood made a speech on taking possession 
 of the Island for the King of Great Britain. — Scots Magazine for 1765, pp. 398, 39'J. 
 
 Of the Royal Proclamation, " For continuing Officers in the Isle of Man," the 
 following is a copy : — 
 
 George R. 
 
 Whereas, by an Act made in the last Session of Parliament, intituled, " An Act 
 for carrying into execution a contract made, pursuant to the Act of Parliament of the 
 twelfth of his late Majesty King George the First, between the Commissioners of his 
 Majesty's Treasury, and the Duke and Duchess of Atholl, the proprietors of the Isle of 
 Man, and their Trustees, for the purchase of the said Island and its dependencies, 
 under certain exceptions therein particularly mentioned." It is enacted, That from 
 and immediately after the payment into the Bank of England, by us, our heirs or 
 successors, in the names of John Duke of Atholl, and Charlotte Duchess of Atholl 
 his wife, Baroness Strange, Sir Charles Frederick, Knight of the most honourable 
 Order of the Bath, and Edmund Hoskins, Esq., or the survivors or survivor of them, 
 of the sum of seventy thousand pounds, on or before the first day of June, in the 
 year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and sixty -five, the Island, Castle, Peel, 
 and Lordship of the Isle of Man, and all the Islands and Lordships to the said 
 Island of Man appertaining, together with the royalties, regalities, franchises, liberties, 
 and sea ports to the same belonging, and all other the hereditaments, and premises 
 therein particularly described and mentioned (except as therein is excepted) should 
 be, and they were thereby unalienably vested in us, our heirs and successors, freed 
 and discharged and absolutely acquitted, exempted and indemnified, of, from, and 
 against all estates, uses, trusts, entails, reversions, remainders, limitations, charges, 
 incumbrances, titles, claims and demands whatsoever : and whereas we have caused 
 to be paid into the said Bank of England in the names of the said Duke and Duchess 
 of Atholl, Sir Charles Frederick and Edmund Hoskins, the said sum of seventy thou- 
 sand Pounds, on the seventeenth day of May last passed ; whereby, and by virtue of 
 the said Act of Parliament, the immediate care of our said Island, and of our loving 
 subjects therein, is now devolved upon us. And whereas by our commission, bearing 
 even date with these presents, we have constituted and appointed our trusty and well- 
 beloved John Wood, Esq., to be our Governor-in-Chief, and Captain-general, in and 
 over our said Island, Peel, and Lordship of Man, and all the islands, forts, castles, 
 and lordships thereunto appertaining. We, being desirous to provide for the due 
 and regular administration of justice within our said Island of Man, and the territo- 
 ries and dependencies to the same appertaining, and to secure the peace and good
 
 258 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 order thereof, and to promote, to the utmost of our power, the happiness and pros- 
 perity of all our loving subjects residing within the same, have thought fit, with the 
 advice of our Privy-council to issue this our Royal Proclamation, hereby strictly 
 commanding and requiring all manner of persons whatsoever, to pay due regard and 
 obedience to the said Act of Parliament, and our said Royal Commission, and cheer- 
 fully and dutifully to submit themselves to our said Governor so appointed by us, as 
 aforesaid, and to be aiding and assisting to him, and all other our magistrates and 
 officers, in the lawful discharge of their authorities, to them committed and intrusted, 
 as they will answer the contrary at their perils. And our will and pleasure is, that 
 all officers and ministers who now are, or at the time of the publication of this our 
 Royal Proclamation, within the Administration of Justice within our Island of Man, 
 shall be concerned in our Island aforesaid, and particularly our Clerk of the Rolls, 
 Attorney-general, and two Deemsters, and all other persons whatsoever, who, at the 
 times aforesaid, are or shall be duly and lawfully possessed of, or invested in, any 
 civil employment, (except only the officers appointed and employed by the late pro- 
 prietors of our Island of Man, in collecting and receiving the revenues arising within 
 our said Island, and the territories and dependencies of the same) shall from hence- 
 forth hold their respective offices, places and employments, of, from, and under us, 
 our heirs and successors, and shall continue in the exercise thereof, and shall enjoy 
 the same, with such salaries, fees, profits and emoluments, as have hitherto belonged 
 to the same respectively, until our royal pleasure in this behalf shall be further known : 
 and we do strictly command and enjoin all and every the said persons, of whatsoever 
 rank, condition, or degree, to proceed in the execution of their said respective offices, 
 and to perform all the duties thereunto belonging, upon pain of our highest displea- 
 sure : and we do further charge and command all and every our said magistrates, 
 officers, and ministers, and all persons whatsoever, who shall hold any office, place or 
 employment, ecclesiastical, civil or military, within our said Island of Man, and the 
 territories and dependencies of the same : that within the space of one calendar 
 month from and after the publication of this our proclamation within our said Island, 
 they do take the oaths appointed to be taken by an Act of Parliament passed in the 
 first year of the reign of his late Majesty King George the First, intituled, " An Act 
 for the further security of his Majesty's Person and Government, and the Succession 
 of the Crown in the heirs of the late Princess Sophia, being Protestants ; and for ex- 
 tinguishing the hopes of the pretended Prince of Wales, and his open abettors." — 
 And also make and subscribe the declaration mentioned in an Act of Parliament, 
 made in the twenty-fifth year of the reign of King Charles the Second, intituled, "An 
 Act for preventing dangers which may happen from Popish Recusants," in the pre- 
 sence of our said Governor, his Lieutenant or Deputy, or in the superior Court or 
 Courts of Record in our said Island, upon pain of our highest displeasure, and as 
 they will answer the contrary at their utmost peril. And our will and pleasure fur- 
 ther is, that all jurisdictions and authorities whatsoever, which were heretofore carried 
 on and exercised in the name of the Lord of our said Island of Man for the time 
 being, or of any other person or persons whatsoever, and which are now vested in us, 
 our Heirs, and successors, by virtue of the said Act of Parliament, shall be henceforth 
 carried on and exercised in the name of us, our heirs and successors, only. And 
 that all writs, precepts, processes, orders, injunctions, and all other forms of law and 
 justice, and all acts of state and policy, for the due ordering and government of our 
 -aid [gland, and tlie territories and dependencies thereunto belonging, shall be issued 
 and executed in the name, and by the authority of us, our heirs, or successors, or our 
 Governor or Lieutenant, or Deputy Governor, for the time being, appointed or to be 
 appointed by us, our heirs and successors, and in no other name, and by no other
 
 ArPENDIX, CHAP. IX. 
 
 259 
 
 authority whatsoever. And wc do hereby strictly command and enjoin our said 
 Governor, and all other our Magistrates and Officers, within our said Island, and the 
 territories and dependencies to the said belonging, to see this our Royal Proclamation 
 duly carried into execution ; and to cause the same to be publicly read in all princi- 
 pal towns of the said Island, between the hours of eleven in the morning, and two in 
 the afternoon ; and printed copies thereof to be affixed in the most public places of 
 the same, and to be distributed to all the Ministers of Churches, Chapels, and other 
 places of religious worship, within our said Island, and the territories and dependen- 
 cies thereunto belonging. And we do hereby lastly charge and command all Minis- 
 ters of Churches, Chapels, and other places of religious worship aforesaid, publicly 
 to read this our Royal Proclamation therein, on the next Lord's-day after they shall 
 receive the same, during the time of divine service, immediately before the homily or 
 service, upon pain of our highest displeasure. 
 
 Given at our Court at St. James's, the twenty-first day of June, 1765, in the fifth 
 year of our reign. 
 
 GOD SAVE THE KING. 
 
 NOTE III.— Page 245. 
 
 AMOUNT OF REVENUE AT THE REVESTMENT. 
 
 An abstract of the clear Revenue derived from the Island by the Lord for the ten 
 years beginning with 1754, and ending with 1763, drawn up previously to the sale, 
 states the Average Annual Amount to be £7,293 Os. 6d., arising as follows : — 
 
 REVENUE OF THE ISLAND. 
 
 Land Revenue 
 
 Clear Revenue of the Customs 
 
 Clear Revenue for Herrings 
 
 Felons' Goods, Waifs, Strays, Forfeitures, "I 
 
 Wrecks, Fines, Perquisites, &c J 
 
 Clear Revenue of the Impropriated Tithes . . 
 < Hear Revenue of the Abbey Temporalities . . 
 Income of Land in the hands of the Lord 1 
 
 of Man J 
 
 Manks. 
 British. 
 
 Income for 
 Ten Years 
 
 I-HE 
 
 Average Income 
 per Annum. 
 
 £1,398 2 5 
 6,421 14 0\ 
 125 16 11 
 
 JL 13,981 
 
 64,217 
 
 1,258 
 
 4 
 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 5t 
 10 
 
 1,042 
 
 3 
 
 31 
 
 104 4 4 
 
 2,305 
 1,217 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 230 10 01 
 121 15 
 
 1,063 
 
 19 
 
 5^ 
 
 106 7 11 
 
 £85,085 
 
 6 
 
 6* 
 
 £8,508 10 8 
 
 172,930 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 £7,293 6* 
 
 * Sec Schedule to the Act 5th George III, cap. 26. 
 
 The revenues given up to England for the sum of seventy thousand pounds British 
 were only those of the second and third heads, amounting to £5,612 3s. 8d. British, 
 per annum. 
 
 In the year 1798, the revenue of the Island amounted to £6,000 ; but, in 1805, 
 it amounted to upwards of £16,000. — For debates on the Duke of Atholl's claims 
 vide Parliamentary Register, Debrett, vol. xxvii, pp. 307, 315, 383, 561. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 2 I
 
 260 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 The Gross Amount of Revenue from 1764 to 1790, both years inclusive, was 
 
 £75,576 Is. 3M. 
 
 AMOUNT OF REVENUE 
 
 AMOUNT OF REVENUE 
 
 AMOUNT OF REVENUE 
 
 FOR YEARS 
 
 FOR YEARS 
 
 FOR YEARS 
 
 1791. ...£3016 8 11| 
 
 1798 £4392 8 
 
 1805.... £9949 9 4 
 
 1792.... 3146 11 10 
 
 1799.... 5566 9 7 
 
 1806.... 10,916 11 1 
 
 1793.. .. 4037 2 11} 
 
 1800 7113 4 2 
 
 1807.... 13,765 1 5 
 
 1794.... 4338 1 5^ 
 
 1801 7417 8 11 
 
 ! 1808.... 13,576 9 
 
 1795 4101 2 9 
 
 1802.... 12,579 11 2 
 
 ! 1809.... 14,250 17 1 
 
 1796.... 6502 4 2 
 
 1803 11,683 3 
 
 1810.... 17,142 7 9 
 
 1797 4151 5 10 
 
 1804 10,473 5 3 
 
 1811.. .. 14,167 1 1 
 
 It may be here observed, that when the Parliamentary Commissioners 
 
 visited the Island in 1791, the gross amount of the Revenue was. . £3016 
 The disbursement for the same year £3272 2 
 
 8 Ui 
 
 Since the passing of the Acts 3d and 7th William IV, cap. 60, the 
 
 Annual Revenue has amounted to £25,000 
 
 The Annual Expense of the Government, Custom-house Establish- 
 ment, &c £10,000 
 
 Net Revenue paid into the British Treasury £15,000 
 
 The progressive Increase of the Revenue tends to show the wisdom of the recom- 
 mendation made by the Parliamentary Commissioners for the prevention of smuggling. 
 
 NOTE IV.— Page 252. 
 
 LOYALTY OF THE MANKS PEOPLE. 
 
 In no part of the British dominions was the coronation of Queen Victoria cele- 
 brated with greater demonstrations of loyalty than in the Isle of Man, 28th June, 
 1838. The morning was ushered in by the firing of cannon ; and by sunrise, every 
 vessel in the harbours and roadsteads of the Island, was decorated with a variety of 
 flags. There is no peal of bells in the Island, but the church bells were rung at 
 intervals during the day ; and the members of the various societies walked in proces- 
 sion through the streets of the different towns, in some instances accompanied by the 
 clergymen of the neighbourhood in their sacerdotal robes, and by the constituted 
 authorities, captains of parishes, coroners, moars, and sumners, bearing their various 
 badges of office. 
 
 In Douglas, upwards of fifteen hundred children of the different Sunday-schools 
 of the town walked in procession, and were regaled in tents, erected for the occasion, 
 on the green lawn of Castle Mona ; while two hundred gentlemen fared plenteously 
 m the Castle Hotel. The principal inhabitants of the town dined in parties at the
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. IX. 261 
 
 different hotels. Two hundred and fifty Odd Fellows dined in the large room over 
 the New Market ; nor were the immediate wants of the poor overlooked on that 
 joyous occasion ; nearly £120 having been collected by voluntary subscription in 
 Douglas and its vicinity. From a full fraught cornucopia upwards of six hundred 
 indigent persons partook of a substantial and plentiful dinner at the Soup Dispensary ; 
 and about sixty inmates of the House of Industry were entertained in a similar man- 
 ner. Sir William Hillary, Bart., feasted all the sailors of the Lifeboat establishment ; 
 and the Governor gave an excellent dinner to all the prisoners confined in Castle 
 Rushen. Fireworks and balls, in the evening, terminated these animated festivities. 
 
 In the procession at Douglas, what most attracted the attention of the vast com- 
 pany, was the novel sight of a printing press, which Mr. Quiggin had erected on a 
 cart, in full operation, striking off the national anthem of " God save the Queen," 
 many hundreds of which were distributed gratuitously to the gazing multitude. 
 
 It may be remarked that the Mona's Me, Royal Mail Steam Packet, illuminated 
 with upwards of six hundred variegated lamps, tastefully arranged, presented a grand 
 and imposing spectacle, as she lay at anchor in the Bay of Douglas.
 
 262 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN., 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS. 
 
 Dormitories of the Dead — Ancient Custom of Burying eminent Persons 
 who fell in Battle — Cromlachs, Cairns, standing Stones, and other 
 Sepulchral Monuments — The green Moats of Galloway alluded to — 
 Tynivald Hill — Origin of the Name — Formalities of the Tynwald 
 Court — Fortlets and Blockhouses enumerated — Fortified Camp des- 
 cribed — Great Antiquity of the Fort of Douglas — Peel Castle described 
 — Occupied as a state Prison — Castle of Rushen described — Besieged 
 by King Robert, the Bruce — The Garrisons built and maintained in 
 repair by Suits and Services called Carriages — Quarterlands taxed to 
 supply the Castle Larder — Carriage Troves — Castle Mazes — Setting 
 Corn — Duties of the Garrison Officers — Soldiers' Qualifications — 
 Insular Militia — Commanded by Majors and Captains of Parishes 
 — Dress — Watching and Warding, a Duty of great Importance — 
 Male Population may be called to Arms — All Military Appointments 
 now vested in the Crown of England. 
 I 
 
 Several of the large conic tumuli with which the Isle of 
 Man abounds have been found, upon opening, to be dormi- 
 tories of the dead. 1 The significant names of some of 
 these mounds might have prompted curiosity to make this 
 discovery. One of the largest in the Island is called 
 Cronck-ny-marroo, — " The hill of the dead." That the 
 carnage of war has tenanted these moats, may be inferred 
 
 1 Many sepulchral tumuli, or burial places, are yet remaining. The urns which 
 have been taken out of them are well burnt, and of so hard a clay that it is scarcely 
 possible to break them. They are full of bones. — Camden's Britannia, vol. ii, p. 1455. 
 In 1G58, M. Chaloner, who was then governor under Lord Fairfax, caused a bar- 
 row, near Bishop's Court, to be opened, and found in it fourteen urns, or earthen 
 pots, placed with their mouths downwards : one of them, of finer workmanship than 
 the rest, was imbedded in fine white sand, but contained nothing more than a few 
 brittle bones which had evidently passed through the fire. — Wood's History of the 
 Isle of Man, p. 156. " Some of the urns arc enclosed by large stones placed edge- 
 ways in the earth, and some arc found in stone coffins, one coffin containing many 
 urns."— Feltham's Tour in the Me of Man, in 1797, 1798, p. 180.
 
 MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS. '203 
 
 from the many sanguine conflicts which have deluged the 
 Island in blood. 1 
 
 It was a custom of the Danes, when a battle was fin- 
 ished, for every soldier to bring a helmet-full of earth 
 towards raising a monument over the slain ; and when a 
 distinguished Caledonian fell in battle, the soldiers set his 
 remains upright, with his spear in his hand, 2 which, by 
 law, was required to be eighteen feet long, and then banked 
 him up with earth till the top of his spear was covered. 3 
 These circumstances may account for the sepulchral mounds 
 in the Isle of Man being so large and numerous. 
 
 Cronck-ny-marroo is a fine specimen of the sepulchral 
 barrow ; 4 it stands on the sea-cliff, near the creek of 
 Grenach : it is an oblong and regularly-formed turf 
 mound, forty feet long, twenty broad, and upwards of 
 twelve feet in height, placed across the isthmus of a small 
 insulated crag which overhangs the beach. 
 
 The largest mound in the Island, is Cronk-?ia-moar, or, 
 " The large hillock," commonly called by the inhabitants, 
 " The fairy hill." 5 It stands in a morass near Kirk Christ 
 
 1 The largest sepulchral barrow raised in modem times, is that to the memory of 
 Kosciuszko, the great Polish patriot, commenced in 1820, at Warsaw. " In raising 
 this immense mound, almost every inhabitant of that nation, male and female assisted." 
 — Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 2G0. 
 
 2 Borthwick's British Antiquities, Edinburgh, 1776, p. 125. 
 
 3 By act of the Scottish parliament, " All spears to be six elns in length, under pain 
 of escheat of the spears, and the maker or home bringer to be in the king's will." — 
 James III, Parliament G, cap. 4-1, p. 110. "At this time, the Annandale and Lid- 
 dcsdale men carried spears two elns longer than the rest of their countrymen." — Sir 
 Walter Scott, quoted in Logan's Scottish Gael, vol. ii, p. 308. 
 
 4 Monuments of the ancient inhabitants are often found in the form of little green 
 round hills. It is the received opinion, that these are the graves of giants, and, 
 indeed, bones larger than the human size are often found in them ; but we must re- 
 member, that as the ancients durst not approach the palace of Odin on foot, their 
 horses were buried with them : it is therefore very probable that the bones of these 
 animals are often mistaken for those of men. — Mallet's Northern Antiquities, vol. i, 
 cap. xii. 
 
 5 The names given by the Druids to their favourite mounds, or tumuli, were of the 
 most venerable kind ; SioiUium, or " mounts of peace," were the most common. 
 The idea that the vulgar retain to this day of these mounts, is, that they are inhabited 
 by those inferior kind of genii denominated fairies. — Smith's Gaelic Antiquities, 
 Edinburgh, 1780, page 30.
 
 264 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 Rushen ; it is a truncated cone nearly forty feet high, and 
 upwards of four hundred feet in circumference at the base. 
 Its summit forms an area of twenty-fire feet in diameter, 
 surrounded by elevated edges in the form of a parapet 
 five feet high. At its base, are the remains of a deep and 
 wide fosse, more particularly towards the eastern side, 
 where it divides the cronck from a low embankment 
 extending from the edge of the morass. Opposite to this 
 terrace, the ascent to the summit of the hill is less pre- 
 cipitous than on the other sides, and is in some measure 
 divided into lodgments or platforms, apparently of the 
 original formation. The Fairy-hill is composed of gra- 
 velly soil similar to that of the adjoining bank, and ac- 
 cording to tradition, was raised over the remains of King 
 Reginald who was murdered there by his uncle Ivar, on 
 the third of the Kalends of June, 1249 ; but according 
 to the most authentic account, Reginald was interred in 
 the Church of St. Mary, of Rushen. 1 The structure of 
 this mound bears evidence of its having been a fortified 
 possession. 
 
 Near Kirk Andreas Church, is seen Cronk Ballavarry ; 
 and about a mile and a half nearer the shore, is Cronk-e- 
 dooney ; about half a mile from Ramsey, on the Kirk 
 Andreas road, stands Cronk Aust ; all of which, with 
 many others of a similar description, scattered over the 
 Island, have evidently been erected for similar purposes. 
 
 The ancient inhabitants of every region have raised 
 memorials to the illustrious dead, that have outlasted the 
 transactions they were intended to perpetuate. The 
 Greeks incinerated their dead, and placed in the apex of 
 the tumuli, conical pillars or images of various kinds. 
 The Jews, from an early period of their history, raised 
 
 1 Johnstone's Chronicles of Man, p. 151, and Chronicles of Man, in Camden's 
 Britannica,- Sacheverell's Account of (he Me of Man, 1703, p. 13. A cross stood 
 formerly at the place where this prince was slain, called, "Cross Ivar." — Johnstone's 
 Celto Normanicce, Copenhagen, 1786, Appendix.
 
 MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS. 2G5 
 
 cairns over the ashes of their departed friends, to com- 
 memorate their actions. Ossian, in describing the tombs 
 of his heroes, says, " Raise high the mossy stones of their 
 fame, that the children of the north hereafter may behold 
 the place where their fathers fought." In Gaelic, the 
 solemnities of the funeral is called Foiradh, that is, the 
 heaping of the stones — the making of the cairn over the 
 dead. 1 In early times, the same mode of inhumation 
 appears to have been followed in the Isle of Man, varied 
 only according to circumstances. The barrow composed of 
 stones of an irregular size, carelessly heaped together, are 
 generally found in the mountains and on the eastern side 
 of the Island, while those composed entirely of mould, are 
 mostly found in the low grounds adjoining the northern 
 and southern shores. A group of small barrows may be 
 seen regularly ranged on Lammal-hill, and several more 
 widely scattered on the mountains of Archallaghan. 
 Many single barrows remain very entire in the neighbour- 
 hood of Bishop's Court, in the parishes of Andreas, Bride, 
 Jurby, German, and Rushen. In the parish of Patrick, 
 near the- Niarbyl or Dalby Point, or hill called Cronck- 
 cyrcy-yn-laa, is a large cairn which, according to tradition, 
 was the cemetery of several of the ancient Kings of Man. 2 
 Cromlachs 3 and cairns of large dimensions are fre- 
 quently met with in the Island, one of which, opened 
 by my friend Dr. Oswald, of Douglas, contained three 
 small urns placed on a kind of tassellated pavement of 
 pebbles, surrounded by some chips of charcoal of the oak, 
 and the central earth was evidently loaded with carbona- 
 ceous matter. 
 
 1 Lord Teiynmouth's Sketches, vol, i, p. 199. 
 
 2 Haininy's Historical Sketches, pp. 134, 135. 
 
 3 " In the Celtic language, Cromlach signifies a ' crooked stone ;' so denominated 
 not from being crooked in its figure, but from the standing position in which it was 
 generally erected, the roof stone being an inclined plane, in order to let the blood of 
 the victim flow the readier from it, that by tracing the different meanderings of the 
 sanguine stream in its descent, the priest might draw his auguries for good or evil." 
 — Toland's History of the Druids, London, 1726, p. 96.
 
 2CG HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 The Kist Vaen of the Cairns, which are, for the most 
 part, raised on the high ground, is sometimes the deposi- 
 tory of a skeleton laid in the usual manner, with the thigh 
 bones folded upon the breast, and some of them of an 
 extraordinary size. One of these, called Cairn Vial, of 
 large dimensions, is seen in the parish of Kirk Michael. 
 It is, also, by no means uncommon to meet with the Kist 
 Vaen containing calcined bones, from which we may infer 
 that interment after this fashion was used, if not before, 
 at least during the time of the Romans in Britain. 1 
 
 Rude monumental stones, similar to those so frequently 
 met with in Galloway, are also to be seen in the Isle of 
 Man. Many of these rude blocks without inscriptions, 
 are undoubtedly of Norwegian origin. They often stand 
 alone; but more frequently two are seen not far apart. At 
 Ballachrink, near Kirk Santon, rises above a few others 
 of less dimensions, one of these masses of micaceous quartz 
 ten feet high. Two stand in the valley immediately 
 north of Mount Murray and are very conspicuous objects. 
 Between Port Erin and Port-le-Murray stand also two 
 blocks called the " the giants' quoiting stones," the altitude 
 of each being ten feet. Ossian frequently says that "two 
 grey stones mark the tombs of his heroes," hence it may 
 be inferred that these standing stones are memorials of 
 the mighty of other times ; but having generally outlasted 
 all tradition respecting their origin ; Mr. Chalmers thinks 
 they might as well not have been set up. 2 But the pur- 
 port of the monument was known to the Norwegians 
 by the formation of the stone. " These stones raised in 
 many places, are from ten to thirty feet high, notably 
 situated, and placed in wonderful order, with some nota- 
 ble character. They signify, when of right long order, 
 
 1 liallacarnane-moar and Ballacarnane-heg , both in the parish of Michael, derive 
 their names respectively from a large and small cairn. 
 - Chalmers's Caledonia, vol. iii, p. 233.
 
 MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS. 267 
 
 the battles of champions : by a square order, troops of 
 warriors : by a round order, the burials of families : and 
 by a wedge form, they show that near that place an army 
 of foot and horse had fortunately prevailed." 1 
 
 It is equally certain, I think, that the many represen- 
 tations of living creatures and of imaginary monsters 
 which adorned some of these obelisks, had, in like man- 
 ner, distinct significations or heraldic meanings. 
 
 The sepulchral monument, called " The Cloven Stones," 
 situated near Laxey Bay, which, according to tradition, 
 commemorates the death of a Welsh prince who was slain 
 there, is formed after the rudest style of the Norwegian 
 order, without an inscription. The two stones forming it 
 are each six feet high, and one of them is cloven from top to 
 bottom. In the same locality is a circle of standing 
 stones, hitherto considered by many to be a Druidical 
 temple ; but on the enclosed space being recently opened, 
 the following facts were discovered, from personal obser- 
 vation. The excavation laid open a tumulus of about 
 two hundred feet in diameter, exposing on two opposite 
 sides of it the base of an arch, which, in rough stone work, 
 was formerly sprung over the spot, enclosing an interior 
 vault of fifteen feet square. Near the centre of the vault is a 
 tomb of most singular and unique construction. Two large 
 convex stones form the sides of this tomb. They measure 
 nine and a half feet in length by six feet broad and eight 
 inches in thickness. They evidently bear the marks of 
 detached pieces of stone, worn by the action of water, 
 into a flat ovate form, and made convex and concave not 
 unlike the form of a clam shell. These are placed upon 
 one edge, about three feet apart at the bottom, and inclin- 
 ing towards each other as they rise, leaving a small aper- 
 ture at the top of a foot or eighteen inches in width. 
 
 1 History of the Northern Nations, by Olaus Magnus, Bishop q/Upsal, London, 
 folio, 1658, p. 11. 
 
 CHAP. X. 2 K
 
 268 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 Over this, in all probability, a thin cover stone had been 
 laid, but which had been broken to pieces in the course of 
 time ; so that the tomb originally was a case of concave 
 stones, like three clam shells so placed as to form an ovate 
 space within their cavities. Within the vault human 
 bones and teeth in considerable quantities have been found. 
 From these discoveries it has been inferred that such 
 stones are the remaining memorials of an ancient cemetry, 
 whose history is lost in the revolutions of time, and that 
 the interments were made in a remote period of antiquity, 
 and among a people to whom the use of the chisel and 
 dressing hammer were unknown. 
 
 In no district of the British Isles, of equal extent, are 
 there so many artificial mounds as in Galloway. Besides 
 barrows, hillforts, and cairns, there is a green mound* im- 
 mediately adjoining almost every parish church through- 
 out the Whole extent of this ancient province. 
 
 The Druids had their high places or eminences in sight 
 of the sun, on which many of their religious ceremonies 
 were performed, and where their courts of justice were 
 held. 1 And it is, to this day, a prevailing opinion that 
 when they were driven from these Mutes or Moats, 2 as 
 they are yet called, they were taken possession of by the 
 primitive Christians. Each pastor went up to his own 
 holy hill of Sion, and spoke to the people in the presence 
 
 * Appendix, Note i, " Green Mounds of Galloway." 
 
 1 Smith's Gaelic Antiquities, Edinburgh, 1780, p. 31. 
 
 2 In Gaelic, moid, from which the Saxon word moat, and Swedish word mote or 
 mute, are derived, signifies "a court or place of meeting" — Macpherson' s Dissertation 
 on the Government of the Western Isles, p. 140. Such was the Mute hill of Scone, 
 which Malcolm Canmore, after having given away all the other lands of his kingdom, 
 reserved to himself. — Guthrie's History of Scotland, vol. i, p. 227. At the village 
 of Minnygaff, situated near the foot of Polkill, in a low ground hard by the church, 
 there is an artificial moat which, by tradition, hath been handed down to posterity as 
 being at first contrived for sacrificing to Jupiter and the Heathen Gods ; and when 
 Christianity obtained it, was used for that purpose, and as a mercat place for the 
 inhabitants to meet and do business. — Macfarline's MSS., vol. i. p. 517, Advocates 
 Library, Edinburgh ; ap. Symson's Description of Galloway, written in 1684, 
 Edinburgh 1823, p. 13
 
 MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS. 269 
 
 of the Lord, as did the expounders of the law in all 
 nations of antiquity. In Ireland, the Brehon judges sat 
 in the open air " that magic might have less power over 
 them." The Manks judges did the same. 1 
 
 Churches were built, and age after age successively 
 passed away ; yet so deeply rooted was the opinion in 
 the minds of the people that supplications to the Deity 
 could not be offered in any place so appropriate as from 
 an eminence in the open air, that down to the close of the 
 eighteenth century, a numerous sect prevailed in the south 
 of Scotland, called Mountaineers or Hill Folks, from their 
 convening on the hills to perform their devotional exercises 
 after the manner of their forefathers, under no other 
 canopy than that spread out by the hand of nature. 
 
 Galloway being only sixteen miles distant from the Isle 
 of Man, 2 there can be no doubt that the religious tenets 
 of the inhabitants of both places were exactly similar, and 
 that consequently the mounds adjoining the churches in 
 Man were used for the same purposes as those in Galloway 
 at the period alluded to. The green mount adjoining the 
 cathedral church at Peel is one of this description. It is 
 of a pyramidical form, terminating obtusely and flanked 
 on three sides by a fosse and corresponding walls or 
 mounds. The mound is about twelve feet high. The 
 sides measure about seventy yards each and respectively 
 face one of the cardinal points of the compass. Grose, 
 in his Antiquities, supposes it to have been a place from 
 which the commanding officer of the garrison harangued 
 his troops or distributed his orders. 3 If so, of what 
 use were the ditch and circumvallations ? They could 
 only be meant for defences to cover the besieged from at- 
 
 1 Macculloch's Description of the Highlands and the Western Isles, London, 
 1824, vol. iv, pp. 452, 453. Amongst the Saxons, " The wittenagamote" was the 
 name given to their popular assemblies. 
 
 2 Table of Bearings and Distances, chap, i, page 35, of this work. 
 
 3 Grose's Antiquities of England, vol. iv.
 
 270 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 tacks by missile weapons from the neighbouring hill which 
 surmounts the area of the castle. Had this celebrated 
 antiquary supposed this eminence to have been raised a 
 thousand years before a stone of the garrison of Peel 
 was built, in my opinion the conjecture would have been 
 nearer the fact. 
 
 It has been adverted to in another part of this work, 
 on the authority of the Chronicles of Man, that a sangui- 
 nary conflict took place at Santwart, in 1098, 1 between 
 the inhabitants of the northern and southern divisions of 
 the Island; and that Magnus Barefoot landed at St. 
 Patrick's Isle, and surveyed the field of battle before the 
 slain were interred. 2 
 
 In the Suio-Gothic or ancient Scandinavian language, 
 Santwart signifies Saint-hill; and as St. Patrick's Isle 
 was the ancient name of the islet on which the Saint-hill 
 of the Islanders stands, it is, therefore, evident that the 
 battle in 1098 was fought at the mound alluded to by 
 Mr. Grose. After having been used in the early ages 
 of the world for Pagan purposes, it may be reasonably 
 supposed that this singular mound, on the introduction of 
 Christianity into the Island, became a place of Christian 
 worship, and thence received the name of Saint-hill, which 
 the Norwegians, when they became masters of Man, con- 
 verted in their own language, to Santwart. 
 
 Sacred hills of the same description abound in Orkney 
 and Shetland ; and as these were converted by the first 
 northern adventurers, in their progress through these 
 Islands, into duns or places of defence, it may also be 
 inferred that the fosse, by which Santwart is surrounded 
 was constructed, by Norwegian hands in order to convert 
 the mound from a place of worship into a place of war. 
 This earthen fortification in the Saxon language is called 
 
 1 Chronicles of the Kings of Man, ap. Camden. 
 
 2 Johnstone's Celto Normanicce, Copenhagen, 1786, p. 150.
 
 MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS. 271 
 
 Peel. 1 They are of frequent occurrence in Galloway, 2 
 and indeed there are many similar tumuli of unknown 
 antiquity in different parts of Scotland, bearing the same 
 name to this day. As I can not find the appellation of 
 Peel given to any place in Man before the Scottish con- 
 quest of the Island, I am of opinion that it was first 
 applied by these conquerors solely to the mound in ques- 
 tion ; although it has since been extended not only to 
 St. Patrick's Isle, but also to the village on the adjoin- 
 ing mainland, then called Halland Towne. 3 
 
 In the parishes of Onchan, Patrick, and German, res- 
 pectively, there is an estate called Ballaqaayle, which 
 evidently derived its name from being, " A court or place 
 where justice or judgment was administered." 
 
 Sir John Stanley held a court on the hill of Reneurling, 
 in 1422 ; and Henry Byron, as the king's lieutenant, held 
 a court on the top of Cronk Urleigh, 4 in 1429. 
 
 But the most celebrated emi- 
 | nence in the Island is Cronk 
 UK gjjjj Keeilloum, 5 now called the Tyn- 
 lj wald Hill, which stands upon 
 \ the lawn called St. John's green, 
 gS near the church of that name, 
 W> three miles from Peel, on the 
 main road to Doudas. This ancient mound is of a cir- 
 cular form. It was formerly surrounded by a wall about 
 a hundred yards in circumference. The approach to the 
 top is by a flight of steps, directly facing the ancient 
 
 1 Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary, Edinburgh, 1818. 
 
 2 " I have observed several green hillocks, one on the west side of the river Blad- 
 noch, another at the Kirk of Mochrum, another at the Place of Myrton, and one near 
 the house of Balgreggan, in the parish of Stoneykirk, all of which have trenches 
 about them, and have been all artificial." — Symsoris Description of Galloway, 
 written a.d. 1684, printed at Edinburgh, 1823, p. 94. 
 
 3 Lex Scripta, p. 5. 
 
 4 That is—" The Hill of the Eagle." 
 
 s Which signifies—" The Hill of St. John's Church."
 
 272 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 chapel of St. John's, to which there is a spacious road of 
 approach from the foot of the mound. There are three 
 circular grass seats or benches below the summit, which 
 are regularly advanced three feet above each other. — 
 The circumference of the lowest is about eighty yards ; 
 there is a proportionable diminution of the circumference 
 and width of the two higher; the diameter of the top is 
 six feet. From its great antiquity, and the many histori- 
 cal events with which its name is associated, the Tynwald 
 Hill must always be considered an interesting object. 1 
 
 In the year 1229, a great battle was fought at the 
 Tynwald Hill, which decided the contest between Regi- 
 nald and Olave, the sons of king Goddard, for the crown 
 of Man ; and in 1238, Dugal, Maol Mhuise, and Joseph, 
 deputies of king Harold, were slain there, in a contest 
 with Lauchlan, the king's viceroy ; but it derives its prin- 
 cipal celebrity from being the place where the laws of the 
 Island have been promulgated from an unknown period 
 of antiquity. 2 
 
 Various opinions have been entertained and different 
 conjectures hazarded regarding the true etymology of its 
 name. At first view, this might seem of little moment ; 
 but when it is considered that investigations of this nature 
 enable us to trace the antiquity of places with more cer- 
 tainty than could otherwise be obtained, it certainly be- 
 comes an object of importance. Many persons will be 
 aware that thing, in Scandinavian, means an assembly of 
 the deputies of the people. 3 Wold is an old Saxon word, 
 
 1 According to Grose, the Moat of Urr, in Galloway, " greatly resembles the Tine- 
 wald, in the Isle of Man." " When Galloway was an independant state, this was 
 where the reguli or petty kings of that district held their councils and promulgated 
 new laws. It was also their seat of judgment, where their doomsters or judges tried 
 capital offences. The Tinewald is appropriated to the same uses." — Antiquities of 
 Scotland, London, edition 1797, vol. ii, p. 183. Sec, also, Nimmo's History of 
 Stirlingshire. 
 
 2 Chronicles of the Kings of Man, ap. Camden's Britannica. 
 
 3 Repp's Wager of Law, Edinburgh, 1833, p. 45.
 
 MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS. *1~'.\ 
 
 signifying a woody place; 1 we have, therefore, the com- 
 pound word Thingwald, expressing in the original signi- 
 fication, — " The court in the wood." By the Tynwald 
 Hill in Man is now understood "the judicial hill." 2 
 
 There can be no doubt that this court was of ancient 
 British origin ; although such was not confined to the 
 capital of the Sodorenses. The barons of the Western 
 Isles* held courts on a hill top, called Cnoc-an-eric, or 
 " the hill of pleading," long after the Norwegian authority 
 had ceased to be acknowledged there. 3 
 
 Tingwald seems equivalent to the Saxon Husting. It 
 is a Court of Leet or Baron, settling all matters in dispute 
 between the Lord and his tenantry ; a general assize 
 
 1 Chalmers's Caledonia, vol. iii, p. 118. 
 
 2 The word Tinwald, yet retained in many parts of Scotland, signifies Vallis 
 Negotii, and is applied to those artificial mounds which were, in ancient times, 
 assigned to the inhabitants for holding their Comitia. — Sir Walter Scott, ap. Peveril 
 of the Peak, chap, v, note ii. — Tingwall in Shetland, and Dingwall in Ross-shire, 
 with Tinwald in Dumfriesshire, have the same meaning as Tynwald in Man. — Mac- 
 culloch's Description of the Western Isles, vol. iii, p. 246. Thing signifies, in the 
 ancient language of the North, to. speak, and hence a popular assembly is called Al- 
 thing. The general convocation of the nobles is called Alls-herjar-things. The 
 national diet of Norway still retains the name of Stor-thing, or great assembly ; 
 its two divisions are the Sag-thing, or upper chamber, and the Odels-thing, or lower 
 chamber. — Pulgrave, vol. i, cap. iii ; ap. Scandinavia, by Crichton, vol. i, cap. iv. 
 
 * Appendix, Note ii, " Danish Tingwall Courts." 
 
 3 Macqueen's Dissertations on the Government of the Western Isles, edition 1774, 
 ap. Feltham, p. 144. " There were in this land," says the learned antiquary cpioted 
 below, " about one hundred superior kings of the British blood, who governed suc- 
 cessively, yet notwithstanding, there were under them divers other princes that had 
 the title of kings also, though they served and did belong to the superior kings, that 
 was, to the king of Alban or Prydyn, or Scotland, the king of Kymbery or Wales, 
 the king of Girneydd or Venedotia. And the same laws and government were used 
 in the dominion of every prince as was in the dominions of the superior kings. And 
 every inferior king had to execute the law on all transgressors that offended in his 
 dominion ; but when he could not attend in person, he appointed a deputy. The 
 highest degree was a Brenin or Teyen, who had his Egnat Komot or County Judge 
 and two lilting ill or Sergeants. All these assembled at a mound cast up for the pur- 
 pose, upon which was placed the judgment seat, so as the King or Brenin, when 
 seated in it, might have his back to the sun or weather. Some of these mounds 
 were square and some round, but both round and square were called Gorseddevy 
 Dadle, that is ' the mount of pleading.' These Gorsedde are yet seen in our country 
 and ever will if they be not taken down by men's hands."— Toland's History oj 
 Druids, London, edition 1726, pp. 191, 203.
 
 274 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 where all suits respecting property are adjudged ; a gene- 
 ral court of gaol delivery, in which all criminal prosecu- 
 tions are determined. Thus every affair respecting the 
 public is openly transacted in the view of the people ; yet 
 with profound silence and all possible decorum. 1 
 
 The fortifications of the Island fall next under our 
 notice. The fortlets or beacon stations are generally 
 raised on the summits of hills or places difficult of access, 
 and are similar to the strengths of the first people, which 
 are still to be seen in various parts of Scotland and Ire- 
 land. They were probably the only safeguards of the 
 aboriginal inhabitants, many centuries before the invasion 
 of any foreign people ; such was Cronk-narrai-shage, 
 " the hill of the watch by day," a commanding eminence 
 near Lhen Mooar ; that on Jurby Point is called Cronk 
 Mooar ; the next in the line is on the heights above Orris- 
 dale ; and there are several others along the coast to Peel 
 Castle, and thence southward by the watch-hill of Knock- 
 aloe, and eastward by some cronks in the neighbourhood 
 of St. John's. In Kirk Christ Ru'shen, there are several 
 apparently connected with the large mound called " The 
 Fairy Hill," and communicating with the interior, which 
 are so situated as to complete the chain from north to 
 south. Some of these bear evident marks of fire having 
 been frequently kindled on them. 
 
 On the west side of Mount Murray there is another 
 fortlet of the first people, three hundred and sixty feet in 
 circumference. It is surrounded by a rampart and fosse; 
 the outer ditch being twenty- four feet wide. 
 
 On the peninsula of Langness, there is another specimen 
 of these ancient defensive stations. The rock, on which 
 it stands, is somewhat higher than the neighbouring shore 
 and is insulated by the highest spring tides only. From 
 
 1 Lord Coke's Wi Institute, cap. xix ; Willis's History of Cathedrals, vol. i, 
 p. 369.
 
 MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS. 
 
 275 
 
 the beach on the land side, is cut in the rocks a flight 
 of steps, which leads to the top in a winding manner. 
 The ruins of old buildings may still be traced in the neigh- 
 bourhood. Above Port Greenock, on the opposite side of 
 the bay, are two old fortifications, which were probably 
 used as posts of observation. In the records of the Duchy 
 of Lancaster, the adjoining lands are called Torkilstadt, 
 supposed to be derived from the celebrated sea-king Torkel. 
 
 The highest point of South Barrule is enclosed by the 
 ruins of a wall of most unusual masmitude. It seems to 
 have consisted of a perpendicular face, externally banked 
 up with earth, so as to give it at present the form of a 
 mound. It encloses a space of one hundred and fifty 
 yards in diameter, forming an irregular circle from the 
 nature of the ground. On the steepest and most inacces- 
 sible side of the hill, the wall is weak ; but on the north 
 side, where the ascent is easy, the base of the ruin is nine 
 yards in thickness. 
 
 Castleward, one of the most entire remains of a Nor- 
 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 2L
 
 276 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 wegian station that has reached our times, is situated 
 in a valley, on the banks of the river Glass. 
 
 At Ballacurry there is a fine old fortified camp. It is 
 not older than the time of the civil wars, and was pro- 
 bably erected by Duckenfield in the time of the Common- 
 wealth. It is thus described by Colonel Townley : — " It 
 is more complete than any I have seen in England of that 
 time ; the situation of it is most eligible, being formed on 
 a small natural eminence in a very level district. The 
 internal square, on which the troops encamped, is a level 
 piece of ground, sunk so much below the bastions and 
 curtains as effectually to secure the troops within from 
 any attack of fire-arms from without; this space is one 
 hundred and fifty feet long, and one hundred and twenty 
 feet broad ; the fosse is twenty feet wide, and the outer 
 rampart is twelve feet high. There are four noble bas- 
 tions, one at each corner, sixty feet in diameter. There 
 is no breach in any part of the works, which favours the 
 supposition that the troops retained peaceable possession 
 of their fortified camp. 1 " 
 
 When Queen Elizabeth, as previously noticed, 2 tempo- 
 rarily assumed the government of the Island, she was 
 apprehensive that the disputed claims to the sovereignty 
 might induce the Spaniards or Scots to land troops there 
 for invading her territories. With a view to prevent 
 which, she caused a circular fort to be erected on an islet, 
 called St. Mary's, at the entrance of Derbyhaven. The 
 walls of this fort are eight feet thick ; and the figures 
 1603, over the door-way, point out the date of its erec- 
 tion. 3 
 
 The harbour of Ramsey was also formerly protected 
 by a fortification, built by James Earl of Derby, about 
 
 1 Townley's Journal kej>t in the Isle of Man, Whitehaven, 1791, vol. i, p. 160. 
 
 2 Vide ante, p. 176. 
 
 1 Seacome's History of the House of Stanley, p. 72.
 
 MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS. 
 
 277 
 
 the year 1648, and named by him Fort Loyal, but no 
 
 vestige of it now remains. 1 
 
 At the bight of 
 the Pollock Rock, 
 the original en- 
 trance to the har- 
 bour of Douglas, 
 there also stood an 
 old fort, not many 
 years ago taken 
 down. This Gothic act deprived the Isle of Man of a 
 structure perhaps more ancient than any other in the 
 British dominions. The Romans, Saxons, and Danes built 
 circular towers or raihs of large masses of unhewn stone, 
 cemented with lime obtained by burning shells from the 
 sea-shore. The roof was formed of an arch, made of the 
 same materials : and the battlements crowned the sum- 
 mit of the walls all round. 2 The Pictish tower was still 
 more ancient, and was only distinguishable from the rath 
 by a small turret that rose from the centre a little above 
 the battlements. The old fort of Douglas had this dis- 
 tinguishing mark, 3 and was evidently of very high anti- 
 quity. If we can credit Waldron's report, — " The great 
 Caratake, brother of Boadicea, Queen of Britain, con- 
 cealed here his nephew from the fury of the Romans, who 
 were in pursuit of him, after having vanquished the queen 
 and slain all her other children. There is, certainly, a very 
 strong secret apartment under ground in it, having no pas- 
 it but bv a hole which is 
 
 sage to 
 
 covered with a large 
 
 1 Felt ham, p. 163. 
 
 2 The tower of Orchardton, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, on the property 
 of Colonel Maxwell, is a fine specimen of the Danish rath. It is forty feet high ; 
 the wall, which is circular, is six feet thick ; and the inside diameter is fifteen feet, 
 thereby corresponding with the form, and nearly with the dimensions of the Old 
 Fort of Douglas. 
 
 3 See Bleau's Map of the Isle of Man, published at Amsterdam, 1658.
 
 278 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 stone, and is called to this day, — ' The Great Man's 
 Chamber." 1 
 
 This venerable remnant of antiquity, as already men- 
 tioned, was recklessly thrown down several years ago. — 
 The Bay of Douglas is now defended by a small fort of 
 modern erection, mounting two eighteen-pounders. The 
 Calf, too, was formerly defended by a good garrison, 
 although little trace of it is now to be seen. 2 
 
 Peel Castle, the palace of the Stanleys, 3 is situated on 
 
 a rocky islet, of about two hundred yards diameter, 4 
 formed at the north-east termination of Peel Hill, from 
 which it is separated by a narrow creek. Adjoining the 
 harbour, this space has been filled up by a strong stone 
 wall, of modern erection, broad at the bottom and bevelled 
 towards the top, till contracted into the breadth of a mo- 
 derate foot-path, along which the visitant may proceed to 
 the main gate of the Castle, at the southern point of the 
 rock. Before the erection of this breakwater, a person 
 wishing to visit the Castle, could only approach it by 
 
 1 Walrlron, p. 152. 
 
 2 Camden's Britannia, vol. ii, p. 1440. 
 
 3 Ward's Ancient Records, p. 27. 
 
 * Grose's Antiq. of England, vol. iv.
 
 MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS. 279 
 
 sailing or wading, according to the state of the tide, 
 across the streamlet which forms the harbour of Peel, 
 and separates the garrison from the mainland. 
 
 The ascent to the garrison was by a flight of steps cut 
 in the rock, and strongly cramped with iron ; but they 
 are now so much worn as to be of little use to the visit- 
 ant, who is obliged to clamber up the rocky steep. From 
 the point where the first flight of steps terminates, others, 
 turning to the left, lead through an arched gateway in the 
 side of a square tower, which surmounts on the right the 
 dark vaulted guard-room of " Mauthe Doog" celebrity.*' 
 
 Proceeding through this passage of " dim light and 
 dark fame," you emerge into the castle-yard, from the 
 centre of which may be distinctly seen the battlemented 
 walls in the form of an irregular polygon, built of coarse 
 grey stones, coigned and faced in many parts with a red 
 grit found in the neighbourhood ; the whole enclosing 
 an area of five acres. Upwards of a century's decay has 
 materially altered the lofty description by Waldron : — 
 " Though now, no more than a garrison in ruins, you can 
 not enter it without being struck with a veneration which 
 the most beautiful buildings of later years cannot inspire. 
 The largeness and loftiness of the rooms — the vast echo 
 resounding through them — the many winding galleries — 
 the prospect from the sea — and the ships, which, by rea- 
 son of the height of the place, seem like buoys floating 
 on the waves below, make you fancy yourself in a supe- 
 rior orb to what the rest of mankind inhabit." 2 The 
 pillar tower is of high antiquity.* 
 
 Having passed the first, you have other stairs of nearly 
 
 * Appendix, Note iii, " Legend of the Moddey Doo." 
 
 1 Mauthe Doog is erroneously given by Waldron as the Manks for " Black Dog," 
 which I have taken the liberty of correcting. 
 
 2 Waldron, p. 109. 
 
 * Appendix, Note iv, " Round Towers."
 
 280 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 half the number with the former to mount, before you 
 come at the second wall. This, like the other, is full of 
 port-holes for cannon, which are planted on stone crosses, 1 
 — a singular kind of carriage for heavy ordnance. 
 
 The death of Olave, king of Man, which took place at 
 Peel in the year 1237, is the first mention I find made of 
 this fortress, although it is supposed to have been a place 
 of defence long before that time. Previous to the inven- 
 tion of fire-arms the Castle of Peel was considered to be 
 one of the strongest in the British Isles ; and this cir- 
 cumstance, added to its isulated situation, caused it fre- 
 quently to be occupied as a state prison. 2 
 
 In 1397, Thomas, Earl of Warwick, who was one of 
 the Duke of Gloucester's party, was convicted of high 
 treason, but on account of his submissive behaviour, his 
 life was spared, and his sentence commuted to perpetual 
 banishment in the Isle of Man, where he was committed 
 to Peel Castle, but was afterwards recalled, and his ac- 
 cuser, Lord Scrope, Earl of Wiltshire, was beheaded 
 without any formal trial. 3 
 
 In the year 1447, Eleanor Cobham, spouse of Hum- 
 phrey, Duke of Gloucester, uncle of king Henry VI, and 
 lord protector of England, was, through the malice of the 
 Duke of Suffolk and the Cardinal of Winchester, accused 
 of associating with witches and wizards 4 to circumvent 
 the life of the king, and obtain the crown for her husband; 
 
 1 Waldron, p. 104. 
 
 2 Banks's Universal Geography, folio 936 ; Camden, vol. ii. p. 1447. 
 
 3 Terrell, vol. iii, part ii, p. 968 ; Trussel's Continuation of Daniel's Collection 
 of the History of England, p. 22. 
 
 4 " In the reign of Henry VI, among other friends of Humphrey, Duke of Glou- 
 cester, his Duchess, dame Eleanor, was arrested. Roger Bolyngbroke, a man expert 
 in nycromancye, and a woman called Margery Jourdemain, surnamed the Witch of 
 Eye, were charged with having, at the request of the Duchess of Gloucester, devysed 
 an ymage of wax lyke unto the kynge, the whych ymage theye dealt so with that by 
 theyr devyllish sorcery, they intended to brynge the kynge out of lyfe, for the whych 
 reason they were adjudged to die." — Falgan Chronicle, 394 ; vide also Grafton's 
 Chronicle, p. 587.
 
 MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS. 281 
 
 and having been found guilty, she was banished to the 
 Isle of Man, and confined in Peel Castle. 1 She was very 
 turbulent and impatient under confinement ; and, although 
 many attempts were made to get her away, she was 
 never liberated. 2 
 
 It was in Peel Castle that Edward Christian, deputy- 
 governor of the Island in 1628, and uncle of the cele- 
 brated but unfortunate William Dhonc, was confined for 
 a conspiracy against the Earl of Derby. 3 
 
 In the year 1648, a fort was begun on the mainland, 
 opposite the castle, under the superintendence of Sir 
 Arthur Ashton, to stop any relief that might be brought 
 by boats in case the castle should rebel or be besieged. 4 
 But had the walls of the fortilage on Horsehill been suf- 
 ficiently strong, the castle could not have sustained a long 
 siege, with the enemy in possession of that commanding 
 eminence. 5 
 
 Before the British government purchased the royalty 
 of the Island, Peel was garrisoned by troops in the 
 pay of the Lord of Man. At the time of the sale of 
 the Island, there were removed from the armoury many 
 matchlocks, muskets, and other ancient fire-arms. 6 There 
 were, also, in the cellar of a wine-merchant in Peel, 
 
 1 Shakspeare, in the second part of his Henry VI, act ii, scenes 3rd and 4th, intro- 
 duces Sir John Stanley as the conductor of the Countess to the place of her confine- 
 ment, although the last Sir John Stanley died in 1 132, and this play only comprises 
 the ten years between 1445 and 1455. 
 
 2 " They tell you," says Waldron, " that ever since her death to this hour a per- 
 son is heard to go up and down the stone stairs of one of these little houses on the 
 walls constantly every night as soon as the clock strikes twelve. The conjecture is 
 that it is the troubled sprite of this lady, who died as she lived, dissatisfied and 
 mourning her fate." — Descriplmi of the Isle of Man, folio 110. 
 
 3 Vide ante, p. 197. 
 
 * Feltham's Tour, p. 210. 
 
 5 In Grose's Antiquities of England, 4to edit., vol. iv, there is a view of Peel 
 Castle, a view and plan of St. German's Cathedral, a view of the ruins of St. Patrick's 
 Church, a view of Rushes Abbey, and two views of Castle Rushen, taken in 1771, 
 with short descriptions, occasionally referred to in this work. 
 
 6 Wood's Histori/ of the Isle of Man, p. 153.
 
 282 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 in 1776, several very ancient guns, the bores of which 
 measured each a foot in diameter ; they were formed of 
 a number of bars, hooped with thick iron rings, similar to 
 those of Mons Meg, in the Castle of Edinburgh. 1 Se- 
 veral of these guns had no breach, and seemed to be of 
 the petard kind, loading from behind, with a chamber. 
 In Grose's time, many other unserviceable guns, made 
 about the time of Henry VIII, were lying up and down 
 the castle. 2 
 
 The garrison of Peel is surrounded by a platform, en- 
 closing a space of about five acres, 3 and was formerly well 
 fortified. Within this circuit stand also the ruins of 
 the cathedral dedicated to St. German; the ruins of 
 another church dedicated to St. Patrick ; the ruins of the 
 palace of the Bishop of Sodor and Man; the ruins of the 
 palace of the Stanleys ; and other remains of antiquity, 4 
 which will be fully described in a subsequent chapter. 
 
 The Castle of Rushen, situated at Castletown, in the 
 southern division of the Island is one of the finest spe- 
 cimens of a Gothic fortification that can now be seen 
 in Europe. The castle of Elsinore is said to be an exact 
 resemblance of it. Rushen Castle, which was finished in 
 
 1 This celebrated piece of ordnance is formed of a number of thick iron bars held 
 together by fifteen strong iron rings. The bore of this extraordinary cannon is 194 
 inches in diameter, and its length is 13 feet ; its weight is 6j tons, and that of the 
 carriage on which it is placed is 3| tons. According to a still existing local tra- 
 dition, quoted by Symson, who wrote his Description of Galloway in 1684, Mons 
 Meg was made at a place called " The three thorns of Carlinwark," near Castle 
 Douglas, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, to level the Castle of Threave, in that 
 neighbourhood, then possessed by James Douglas, Lord of Galloway, who had 
 rebelled against King James II. Vide my communication on this subject in History 
 of Galloway, Kirkcudbright, 1841, vol. i, note M. 
 
 2 Grose's Antiquities of England, vol. iv, " Isle of Man." 
 
 3 Since the Revestment in 1765, the officers of the crown have taken possession of 
 this island, which was held as a perquisite by the Governor, It was occupied by the 
 High-bailiff of Peel, who used it as a sheep-walk, and annually paid a lamb or some 
 6mall consideration to the governor, by way of acknowledgment. — Feltham, p. 210. 
 
 4 Roll's History of Ike Isle of Man, London, 1773, p. 103 ; Ward's Ancient and 
 Authentic Records of the Diocese of Sodor and Man, London, 1837, p. 27.
 
 MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS. 283 
 
 960, was built by Guthred, son of Gorree, the first Manks 
 king of the Danish line. 
 
 In the year 1313, this castle sustained a siege of six 
 months, notwithstanding all the force which Robert the 
 Bruce, King of Scotland, could bring against it; but it 
 was at last reduced : and in order to prevent its again be- 
 coming a receptacle to the enemy, 1 he demolished it, as ivell 
 as all the other strongholds in the Island. Of Rushen 
 Castle I find no further mention during a period of nearly 
 three hundred years, until the Earl of Derby, by an order, 
 issued at Latham, dated 18th February, 1593, " thought 
 fit to erect again his two garrisons of the Castles of Rushen 
 and Peeled 
 
 This order appears to have been given in consequence 
 of a claim to the Island being urged by the king of Scot- 
 land in an agreement with the king of Norway (although 
 it had been granted by Henry IV to Sir John Stanley) 
 thus forcing the lords of Man to keep a constant standing 
 army and garrisons for its defence, till the reign of James I, 
 of England. 3 
 
 By the mandate in question, it was farther ordered, 
 that " all the setting corne of the parishe of Kirk Patrick 
 shall be presently brought to the Castle of Rushen, and 
 not inned at the Peele, but upon special necessity." This 
 we might consider an additional proof of the latter gar- 
 rison not being in a proper state of defence, were it not 
 mentioned in another place, that all the quarterland cus- 
 tom cattle were to be sent to the Castle of Peel. 4 
 
 Rushen Castle is built on the margin of the Great River, 
 the rocky bed of which is nearly dry at low water. Be- 
 
 1 Buchanan's History of Scotland, vol. i, book viii; Major, b. v, cap. i; Hol- 
 linshead's Chronicles, vol. i, p. 43 i ; Campbell's Political Survey of Great Britain, 
 1775, vol. 2, p. 564 ; Fordun, ap. Goodal, vol. ii, p. 240; Tytler, vol. ii, p. 207. 
 
 2 Lex Scripta, Douglas, 1818, p. 8G. 
 
 3 Camden's Britannia, folio edition, 1695, p. 1052 ; Ward' s Ancient Records, p. 10. 
 
 4 Lex Scripta, p. 88. 
 
 CHAP. X. 2 M
 
 284 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 fore the invention of artillery, the garrison was considered 
 
 impregnable. 
 
 The main build- 
 
 of Rushen 
 | Castle is a square 
 jmass, with towers 
 | of the same form 
 on its four sides, 
 of an irregular al- 
 titude, and rising 
 in some parts to 
 the height of 80 
 feet. The ram- 
 parts are twenty- 
 four feet high, and nine feet thick, battlemented all round 
 by a covered way on the top, and defended by machico- 
 lated towers, a ditch, and glacis of an irregular form, 
 supposed to have been built by Cardinal Wolsey, who 
 was one of the curators of Edward, the sixth Lord of Man, 
 during his minority. In the roof of the keep, there is 
 some very large timber, which, according to tradition, 
 was brought from the Isle of Anglesey. 1 
 
 At the entrance of the castle, there stood formerly a 
 lame stone chair for the governor, 2 and two lesser ones for 
 the deemsters. 3 When you pass the gate, you enter into 
 a long winding passage between two high walls, resem- 
 bling the description of Rosamond's labyrinth, at Wood- 
 stock. In case of an attack, ten thousand men might be 
 destroyed by a very few in attempting to enter. 4 The 
 
 1 Grose's Antiquities of England, vol. iv, " Isle of Man." 
 
 2 King David I, of Scotland, " on certain days sat at the gate of his palace to hear 
 and decide the causes of the poor." — Hailes's Annals of Scotland, vol. i, p. 109. 
 
 3 Henry Byron, lieutenant of the Island, held a court of all the commons betwixt 
 the gates of the Castle of Rushen, on " the Tuesday next after the XX day of 
 Christmas, in the year 1430." This court, which was called " The Great Enquest," 
 was subsequently held twice a year by the governor and deemsters. 
 
 4 Waldron, p. 97.
 
 MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS. 285 
 
 barracks and debtors 1 rooms are in the inner part of the 
 castle. The prison room for criminals is damp, dark, and 
 wretched. It was to this cell, on 29th June, 1722, that 
 Bishop Wilson was committed for non-payment of fifty 
 pounds awarded against him. He was closely confined 
 there for some weeks ; as were, also, his two vicars-general, 
 for smaller sums. 1 Under the criminal cell is another for 
 outrageous prisoners, who are let down into it by means of 
 ropes. Not a ray of light is admitted to this miserable 
 place except what makes its way through the chinks of 
 the trap door or covering. When the interior of the cas- 
 tle was undergoing considerable repairs in 1816, a dark 
 cell was discovered in one of the inner towers, which had 
 been previously unknown to any person then alive.* The 
 stone work of the inner part of the castle is of limestone, 
 similar to that found in the neighbourhood, and not of 
 freestone as stated by Waldron? The internal area is fif- 
 teen feet in diameter, surrounded by walls two stories high, 
 and appears at one time to have been covered in. The 
 under story might be about fifteen feet high, but is partly 
 filled up with rubbish. There is a sally-port towards the 
 harbour, and the appearance of others which have opened 
 into the ditch. The upper story seems to have had two 
 entrances independent of those below. One leads ob- 
 liquely through the wall towards the fosse; and the other, 
 which is built up, passed in a narrow zig-zag through 
 the opposite side of the wall to the defences on the ex- 
 terior, which rise high against the redoubt at this front. 
 Like most other old buildings, Rushen had its stalking 
 spectre, which appeared nightly to the inmates, dressed in 
 black* 
 
 1 Bullock, p. 174 ; Wood, p. 126. 
 
 • * This recals to my recollection one of the marvellous narratives of Waldron, 
 which I give in the Appendix to this Chapter, Note v, under the head — " The 
 Home of the Spell-bound Giants." 
 
 2 Description of the hie of Man, London, 1751, p. 101. 
 
 * Appendix, Note, vi, " The Black Lady of Castle Rushen."
 
 286 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 GROUND PLAN OF CASTLE RUSHEN. 
 
 REFERENCES. 
 
 I. Inner Keep with Battlemented walls. 
 II. Ditch or Fosse. 
 
 III. Modern Glacis, with ancient Re- 
 doubts. 
 
 IV. The Harbour, 
 
 1 Inner Court of the Keep. 
 
 2 Inner Portcullis. 
 Outer Portcullis. 
 Ancient Barrier. 
 Modern outer Barrier. 
 Site of the ancient Gate of the Keep. 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 G 
 
 7 A modern Entrance formed through 
 
 the Glacis from the Market-place. 
 
 8 Modern House, dated thus :— 
 
 D 
 I C 
 
 1644 
 
 9 Highest Tower, height fifty feet. 
 
 10 Dark Cell, discovered in this solid 
 
 Tower during the repairs in 1816. 
 
 11 Towers which are solid one story high.
 
 MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS. 287 
 
 As the stranger rambles about its ruins, he has pointed 
 out to him, the kitchen, known by its large fire-place — 
 the banquetting hall — and various other apartments which 
 were all required when the kings and lords of Man resided 
 there. It was the chief residence of the kings of the 
 race of Gorree, who generally dwelt on the Island ; and 
 the occasional residence of the Stanleys. James, the 
 seventh Earl of Derby, resided there from 1G43 to 1651 ; 
 and, " besides the garrison soldiers, he kept a troop at 
 free quarterage." 1 His heroic lady, who was resident 
 with her family in Castle Rushen at the time when the 
 Island surrendered to Duckenfield, was detained prisoner 
 there till the restoration. 2 
 
 James, the tenth Earl of Derby, resided in the Castle 
 of Rushen during the winter of 1712. 3 He was the last 
 of the Derby Lords of Man. 
 
 The garrisons were built and kept in repair by a kind 
 of statutory labour of suits and services called carriages. 
 Four carriages were required for every quarterland, and 
 one for every cottage or intack holding, and had to be 
 performed either by labour of horses or by service of men, 
 as the governor might think fit to order. 4 
 
 As it was an ancient law of the Island that the inhabi- 
 tants should do their duties and services at the building 
 and repairing of the forts and garrisons, either by service 
 of themselves in person, or by the service of some sufficient 
 and able labourer in their behalf ; and as many of the 
 better sort of farmers were in the habit of sending boys 
 and children to such work, thereby throwing the burden 
 on the poor people who were constrained to serve in their 
 persons, 5 it was enacted that "notwithstanding these 
 
 1 Roll's History of the Isle of Man, p. 89. 
 
 2 Seacome, p. 383. 
 
 3 LexScripta, pp. 229, 235. 
 
 * Ibid, p. 202. 
 
 * The number of quarterlands in the Island is 759.— Quayle's Agriculture of the
 
 288 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 works were for the honour and security of the country, 
 thenceforth any person so offending should forfeit a sum 
 of sixpence to the Lord, for every such offence." 1 
 
 The materials of stone, slate, and lime, used for such 
 purposes, were produced on the Island, and a part of the 
 wood imported — called custom timber — was retained for 
 the Lord's use. 2 
 
 The castles were also supplied with provisions and fuel 
 in a similar manner : " Whereas, heretofore every quar- 
 ter of land hath been accustomed to pay every year a 
 beefe into the Castle and Peele, which is above six hun- 
 dred beeves a year. It is my desire that one hundred of 
 the poor sort shall be spared every year, at the discre- 
 tion of my captaine and the rest of my chief officers, and 
 so to pay yearly 500 beeves, if the country like well of 
 this my order, or els to pay as they have been accustomed 
 heretofore, and I to be answered which of these ways the 
 country will make choice of ; provided always, that this 
 shall not in any ways hinder or be prejudiciall, if any oc- 
 casion of wars, or other causes, whereby I shall have 
 occasion to send more number than my ordinary garrison 
 for defence of the said Island ; but that then provision 
 may be according to the ancient lawes of my said Island, 
 to have what is necessary. 
 
 "3 
 
 Isle of Man, London, 1812, p. 134. — When money was substituted for labour, for 
 every quarterland, two shillings, and for every intack, sixpence was required in lieu 
 of carriage services. " This has fallen into disuse since 1773, when people began to 
 refuse payment : and since the death of General Wood, about 1777, it does not appear 
 to have been demanded." — Feltham, p. 179. "In 1776, an act was passed to provide 
 for the repairing of highways by statutory labour, founded on the old law for repairing 
 the garrisons : thus the proprietor of each quarterland might be called to find the 
 labour of twelve men to the roads in each year. The number of inferior holdings 
 called cottages and intacks, paying quit-rent to the several lords of manors, was about 
 2,700. In proportion to the amount of quit-rent paid, the proprietor or occupier 
 might be called upon for three, six, or twelve men each." — Lex Scripta, pp. 392 — 
 395. 
 
 1 Statutes 1645—1703; Lex Scripta, pp. 130, 202. 
 
 - Statute 1593 ; Lex Scripta, p. 88. 
 
 3 Statates 1645 ; Ordinance of 1593 ; Lex Scripta, p. 88.
 
 MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS. 289 
 
 A clerk was appointed to sit within the gates of the 
 castle with the porters and one of the hall-keepers, to 
 receive the carriage, turfF, and ling, and to mark the num- 
 ber received into the turfF book, which was to be examined 
 weekly by the comptroller : " that those who make de- 
 fault by bringing not the said turfF, may for every carriage 
 pay fourpence." A carriage consisted of "fifty two truves, 
 one cubit long each, and three inches square in the mid- 
 dest." 1 
 
 At the accession of the House of Stanley to the sove- 
 reignty of Man, an ancient custom was given for law : 
 " That for every fishing-boat on the coast, whether belong- 
 ing to landholders, barons, officers, or soldiers, a castle 
 maze should be paid out of every five maze, and so in pro- 
 portion as such boat went to sea ;" but by an act of Tyn- 
 wald, in 1613, the tax was commuted to four mazes, from 
 a countryman who kept a scowte, for the fishing season ; 
 strangers, however, were required to pay two mazes out 
 of the first night's fishing, and a like number weekly ; but 
 for smaller boats only half that quantity was required. 2 
 
 Every parish had, likewise, to pay setting corn to the 
 castles. There were required to be kept in each castle, 
 " xi bowles of maut ground, and xi bowles wheate, the 
 maut to be laid upon the floor, and the wheate to be put 
 into pipes;" and it was ordered, "that thirty cast of 
 bread be made out of one bowle of wheate, and ten hogs- 
 heads of beer from nine bowles of maut ; and that no 
 chessel, brand, or grain go forth of the castle into any man's 
 house before said brand be seen by the butler and two of 
 the hall-keepers, nor till the bread be brought into the 
 pantrie." 
 
 The receivers, stewards, cooks, and slaughtermen were 
 
 1 Statutes 1561—1593 ; Lex Scripta, pp. 40, 86. 
 
 2 Statutes 1422, 1613; Lex Scripta, pp. 4, 101. These statutes relative to the 
 payment of herrings and turf to the castles, having become obsolete, were repealed in 
 1777.— Lex Scripta, p. 406.
 
 290 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 also required to see, " that the beeves be brought into the 
 castles, killed and salted, between Michaelmas and St. 
 Andrew's day, so many as they shall need at the said 
 castles till St. Andrew's day come again, except every 
 week one beefe to be spent through the year ; and the 
 said beeves left unkilled of the stores, to remain in the 
 hands of the richest men, and best farmers ; and that they 
 be charged to keep them upon double value of said beeves, 
 until they be called for to the use of the said castles." 1 
 
 The receiver was neither to sell nor exchange hides 
 without consent of the captain or comptroller, or his 
 deputy and other officers ; and the hides so sold or ex- 
 changed were to be examined by six of the soldiers, that 
 the number of ox hides, and the number of cow hides 
 might be ascertained ; and the same was to be entered by 
 the comptroller or his deputy, at the week's end, in the 
 household books ; and all hides exchanged for wares were 
 to be examined in like manner. 
 
 No salt was to be received into the castles except by 
 indenture between the receiver and the steward, and the 
 same was to be delivered at the audit, with other accounts. 2 
 When a vessel arrived with merchandise, the constituted 
 authorities and the military were supplied with the various 
 articles required, before any purchase could be made for 
 the use of private individuals : " The comptroller was to 
 consult what was needful for the castles, and then to send 
 
 1 Statutes 1422, 1561, 1593 ; Lex Scripta, pp. 18, 40, 41, 86. Besides receiv- 
 ing provisions for the garrison, it was enacted, " That our honourable Lord be vic- 
 tualled when he is here himself for as much as shall need to larder or expences to 
 take, that is to say a cow or beefe, price iiijs., at two head courts in the yeare of 
 every sheading, two martes, the price of every mart iijs. iiijd. ; and when the lieu- 
 tenant is here, a mart every week, with other victualls, that is to say the price of a 
 mart, iiijs ; a mutton, vjs ; a porke, iiijs ; a lamb, jd ; a kid, ob ; a pig, jd ; a 
 goose, ob from Easter to Midsummer, and from Midsummer, jd ; and this is by use 
 and custome ; and if you need more take more." — Lex Scripta, p. 1G. The place 
 of delivery was at Baltavaaish, in the parish of German, and hence its name, " the 
 place of the cattle," and from their being slaughtered there, " the place of death." 
 
 ' l Old customary law first committed to writing in 1422 ; ap. Lex Scripta, p. 24.
 
 MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS. 291 
 
 for the receivers of both places, and have their farther ad- 
 vices, that my lord might have what was necessary or was 
 his pleasure before any man." 1 
 
 The comptroller was also required, every Saturday, at 
 Peel, "to take the steward, the cook, the brewer, and the 
 butler, and charge them on their oaths, to give each a 
 true account of the expences for the week past, upon 
 pain of forfeiting his fees ; and in like manner every 
 Sunday at Castle Rushen," and all receipts were to be 
 laid before the benchquire every Monday. 2 
 
 By a regulation dated at Castle Rushen on the vigil 
 of St. Mary, anno 1422, the following allowances were 
 granted to the officers and soldiers of the garrison : — " It 
 is ordained that the lieutenant have one loafe of breade 
 and one gallon of ale, two candles in summer, and three 
 in winter, and reasonable fuel every night from All Hallow- 
 day till Easter, and iii men and one page, iii horses at hay, 
 with xx bowles of oats at the lord's price. And the 
 receivers to have a pottle of ale, half a loafe of breade, 
 one candle in summer and ii in winter, and reasonable 
 fyre in the same manner ; and one man ii horses at hay 
 and xii bowles of oats. The clerk of the rowles to have 
 one quarto of beere, one candle in summer and ii in win- 
 ter, and vi bowles of oats. The comptroller one quarto of 
 beere, one candle in summer and ii in winter, one horse 
 at hay, and six bowles of oats, with one page. The con- 
 stables of both places a quarte of beere, half a loafe of 
 breade, ii candles, fuel in winter reasonable, and ii t ruves 
 a night in summer to search the watch ; and the water- 
 bayliffe to have as the receivers aforesaid, and no more 
 liveries without special warrant from the lord." Item, 
 
 1 Statutes 1523, 1561 ; Lex Scripta, pp. 36, 40, 42. 
 
 2 Statute 1422 ; Lex Scripta, pp. 18, 24. " The comptroller to sitt by and see 
 the delivery of the money, and write it ; and when the payments are done, take the 
 money and put it in a pagge and the lieutenant to seal it and put it into the chest 
 that the books are in." 
 
 CHAP. X. 2 N
 
 292 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 " That there be no breakfasts allowed but to the captaine, 
 receivers, comptrollers, hall-keepers, porters, and to the 
 brewers, twice in the week at the discretion of the officers, 
 and the said breakfast to be had within the house, but the 
 reversion to be put into the almes tubb." Item, " That my 
 lord's almes be distributed at the gates, and that no pookes 
 nor bagges be allowed." Item, " That no man sit at the 
 high table, but those that have gentlemen's wages, save 
 the comptroller." Item, " That no soldier have meat or 
 drink but at the Bell, except he hath been in my lord's 
 service." Item, " That at the drinking bell there be 
 noe Cannes of drink allowed but to the porters, two at 
 the afternoon, and that they convey not the same out of 
 the castle, upon paine of their office ; and the watchmen 
 to have a canne of beere to the watch." Item, " That 
 none of the soldiers or officers shall have any liveries or 
 allowances forth to their houses att any time from hence- 
 forward, except they be visited with sickness at least two 
 days before, and so known to the head officers, and then 
 by their discretion, to allow them honestly for a day, the 
 third part of a tyld of beef, one mess of mutton, one canne 
 of beere of two quarts, one loafe of breade for dinner, and 
 the third part of a tyld of beefe, and a canne of beere 
 of two quarts for supper." Item, " That no soldier of 
 either castle have any truves allowed to their chambers 
 out of my lord's stores, but if they have any, to buy 
 them." Item, " It is ordained that no soldier be taken 
 into any of the castles or any place, or put out without 
 the lorde's knowledge. Also, that no soldier be received 
 being of the one castle into the other, on pain of forfeiture 
 of his fee, meat, and drink." 1 
 
 No person could be admitted as a soldier into either of 
 the castles, till he had provided himself with a bow and 
 arrows, with a sufficient doublet or habergeon, a sword, 
 
 Statutet H22, 1561 ; Lex Scripta, pp. 22, 23, 25, 39, 43.
 
 MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS. 293 
 
 and buckler, spurs, and a saddle. In after-times, only a 
 musket or caullicr, either with firelock or matchlock, 
 was required. 1 
 
 Every soldier on his enlistment or admittance, was re- 
 quired to take an oath of allegiance to the king of Eng- 
 land, an oath of faith, fidelity, and service to the right 
 honourable the Earl of Derby ; an oath of duty to the 
 governor of the Island ; and an oath of obedience to the 
 constable of the castle, in all things lawful ; and it was 
 intimated to him, that on his dismissal, or at his death, 
 his armour would become the property of the state, for 
 the better defence of the Island. There being neither 
 mayor, aldermen, nor recorder in any town in the Island, 
 a delinquent, who had violated the law, was liable to be 
 apprehended by the lord's officers and sent to any of the 
 garrisons, blockhouses, or sconces under a guard of sol- 
 diers, 2 whose services on such occasions were remunerated 
 as follows : — For taking a delinquent from the court of 
 guard to prison four pence, for bringing any person (except 
 moars) before the governor or deemster's court, if within 
 three parishes, one shilling, with four pence additional for 
 every parish they had to pass through afterwards. 3 If a 
 soldier either beat or took more fees from a prisoner than 
 was allowed by law, he was tried for that offence by the 
 constable of the castle, and not by the deemster, as in 
 similar cases. 4 No person was permitted to leave the 
 castle without permission from the constable. 5 
 
 No soldier was permitted to traffic without permission 
 from the lord of the Island; 6 nor to keep a leman within 
 
 1 The soldiers of Scotland were in like manner required to provide their armour ; 
 and when called into active service, to carry provisions sufficient to serve them forty 
 davs. — Abercromby's Martial Achievements of the Scots' Nation, Edinburgh edition, 
 1702, vol. i, p. 211. 
 
 2 Camden s Britannia, fol. 1695, p. 1062. 
 
 3 Statute, anno 1734; Lex Scripta, p. 261 ; Mills's Ancient Ordinances, p. 232. 
 
 4 Statutes 1422, 1561, 1594 ; Lex Scripta, pp. 17, 42, 75, 97. 
 6 Statute 1422 ; Lex Scripta, p. 23. 
 
 8 Statutes 1422, 1610 ; Lex Scripta, p. 23, 98, 99.
 
 294 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 a mile of the castle, upon pain of forfeiting his fee. " Alsoe 
 no soldier shall make any deputy within either castles, 
 upon paine of forfeiting his fee, imprisonment of his body, 
 and to make fine and ransome to the lord." 
 
 Either the master-gunner or his apprentice was required 
 to remain nightly in the castle throughout the year, and 
 as it was customary for the soldiers to ward the castle 
 gates, each one day in the week, those of Castle Rushen 
 were permitted to lie within the house the night before 
 their warding day, and the soldiers of the Castle of Peel, 
 to lie within the night before and the night after, " in 
 respect of the tide Hilling out uncertainly, and for more safe 
 guard of the castle, it being nearer our enemies, the Gob- 
 Ian Marrey or Red Shanks." 
 
 When the night bell was rung at sunset, it was the 
 duty of the constable to proceed with the wardens to the 
 gates of the castle and see them locked by the porter, 1 
 and the arreyder or watch forthwith set ; after this, the 
 gates were not allowed to be opened, except to the gover- 
 nor, till the watchman rung the day bell, which was to be 
 done so soon as they could properly discern the landmarks 
 bounded within a mile and a half of either castle. If no 
 danger was apprehended, the gates were then opened, and 
 the night sentinels relieved. 2 
 
 When the alarm bell was rung, or the alarm drum 
 
 1 These officers received fees for the detention of prisoners subject to the following 
 regulations: — "If a man be brought to prison, the constable is to have no duty 
 without he be arraigned at the bar ; and the porter is to have no duty unless he have 
 irons on — except servants, and then his duty is to have a groat of every such offen- 
 der." — Lex Scripta, p. 38. 
 
 2 Statutes 1422, 1610 ; Lex Scripta, pp. 26, 98. In time of war, a sentinel con- 
 stantly stood on the battlements : his business was to cry aloud at certain intervals, 
 so as to convince the enemy without that the garrison was not to be taken by sur- 
 prise. The Norwegians called this sentinel Gok-man. He was obliged by the rules 
 of his office to deliver all he had to communicate in extemporary rhymes. — Mather- 
 son's Dissertations, Edinburgh edition, p. 325. A large horn full of spirituous 
 liquor stood always beside him to strengthen his voice and keep up his spirits. 
 Torfams says this practice was continued down to a late period in the Western Isles. — 
 History of the Orcades, p. 8.
 
 MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS. 295 
 
 sounded, every soldier was to make his appearance at the 
 castle gate, in readiness to receive his orders. It was the 
 duty of the comptroller " to call them forth suddenly to 
 muster." They were paid quarterly by the receivers who 
 deposited the remaining money in a chest, and locked it 
 with four keys, of which one was kept by the lieutenant, 
 one by each of the receivers, and the fourth by the 
 comptroller. 1 These soldiers were named Feedmen ; and 
 in the time of peace generally numbered about two thou- 
 sand men. 2 
 
 It was also enacted in 1422, " that all officers governe 
 their offices, as their charge is that noe pride nor presump- 
 tion make dissencon amongst them and their service the 
 worse done, but all draw one way, to that which should 
 be profitt to the lord, and all dissencon left from thence- 
 forth upon paine of forfeiture of their fee and discharging 
 of their office." 3 
 
 Beside the garrison soldiers, there was a militia con- 
 sisting of four men from every parish, and a troop of paro- 
 chial yeomanry — a force yet enrolled agreeably to ancient 
 form. Every male inhabitant, between the age of sixteen 
 and sixty, was liable to serve in the militia, with the ex- 
 ception of the twenty-four Keys, the moars and their run- 
 ners, the coroners, lockmen, customers and searchers, with 
 one chief miller, and one smith, in every parish ; but when 
 invasion was apprehended, even these persons were not 
 exempted from " the duty of watch and ward." 4 
 
 An officer of the rank of major-general, had the imme- 
 diate superintendence of the militia: he had under his 
 command three majors and seventeen officers, denominated 
 captains of parishes, who were appointed by the governor, 
 
 1 Lex Scripta, p. 26. 
 
 2 Challoner's Description, cap. vi; SacheverelVs Account of the Isle of Man, 
 pages 82, 83. 
 
 3 Lex Scripta, pp. 17, 18. 
 
 4 Statute 1595 ; Customary Statutes, folio 10, 46, 51.
 
 296 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 himself captain-general and commander-in-chief of all the 
 forces in the Island. 1 
 
 The pay of the sidoor or regular soldier was five pounds 
 per annum ; the militia did not receive any pay, and they 
 were commonly armed and clothed at their own ex- 
 pense.* 2 The dress of the Manks soldiery in the time of 
 the English commonwealth, was a green jerkin, without 
 a collar or cape; 3 but it was afterwards fashioned accord- 
 ing to the military costume of England. 4 In the time of 
 Sacheverell, who was governor from 1692 to 1696, the 
 armed militia of the Island amounted to two thousand 
 men, independent of the regular feed-soldiers maintained 
 for the two garrisons. 5 
 
 Waldron thus speaks of the military, in his time, 
 (1712 — 1730) : — "The officers and soldiery, who receive 
 their commissions and pay from the Lord of Man, are 
 extremely courteous, rather endeavouring to do all good 
 offices they can, than in the least exerting any authority. 
 'Tis owing to their compassion that the poor criminals 
 sentenced by the spiritual court to that loathsome dun- 
 geon under the chapel of Peel have generally the liberty 
 
 1 Sacheverell' s Account of the Isle of Man, edit. 1702, p. 2. 
 
 * Appendix, Note vii, " Fire Arms Hereditary." 
 
 2 Feltham's Tour, pp. 43, 44 ; Seacome's History, 1741, p. 604. 
 
 3 A portrait of William Christian, who was executed for treason, is still preserved 
 in the family of Watterson, of Ballanahow, of Kirk Christ Rushen. He is repre- 
 sented in the military dress of his time, as above described. The late Mr. J. 
 M'Crone. her Majesty's commissioner for woods and forests in the Isle of Man, 
 kindly favoured me with an account of this portrait, which I forwarded to Sir Walter 
 Scott, by whom it was afterwards given to the public. — See Waverley Novels, vol. 
 xxviii, p. 200. 
 
 4 " The English soldiers were distinguished by the armorial bearings of their leaders. 
 The general colour of their dresses appears to have been white, though in 1544, a 
 part of the forces of Henry VIII were ordered to be dressed in blue coats guarded 
 with red without badges, the right hose to be red and the left blue. In 1584, 
 Elizabeth ordered the cassocks of the soldiers sent to Ireland to be of a sod green or 
 russet, though the cloaks of the cavalry were red. In 1693, the dresses of the soldiers 
 were grey, and those of the drummers purple. The red uniform was adopted in the 
 reign of Queen Anne." — History of British Costume, 1834, p. 327. 
 
 * Oswald, p. 19.
 
 MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS. 297 
 
 of the castle. In fine, they are not only the best bred 
 and most conversable men in the Island, but likewise, 
 generally speaking, the least vicious, in spite of the little 
 respect they pay to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction." 1 
 
 During the wars of the French revolution, the mili- 
 tary establishment of the Island consisted of a volunteer 
 corps, with two battalions of native fencibles, 2 raised by 
 voluntary enlistment, and paid at the rate of British 
 soldiers. 
 
 Surrounded as Mona formerly was by enemies ready to 
 seize every opportunity of making inroads to carry off or 
 destroy whatever fell in their way, the duty of watch and 
 ward was of the highest importance. It was therefore 
 enacted that in cases of actual invasions, or, " as oft as 
 appearance be of any ship or pirates, or any other invasion 
 of enemies, every person or persons within this Isle, shall, 
 upon the alarm of the drum, or the setting of the colours 
 on the castle, appear to encounter the enemy upon pain 
 of present death ;" and when it became necessary to guard 
 the coast, it was ordered, " that all watches and wardes 
 upon the poastes and coasts of the sea be well and duly 
 kept, and whosoever fails the fust night, forfeiteth a wed- 
 der to the warden, and the second night a cow, and the 
 third night life and lyme to the lord." 3 
 
 Such were the military establishments and laws of 
 the Island at its investment. Since that period, her 
 Britannic Majesty has the appointment of all the officers. 
 
 1 Description of the Isle of Man, folio 141. 
 
 2 The first was raised in February, 1793, and consisted of 300 rank and file. The 
 second was raised in 1796, and consisted of ten companies. The uniform of both 
 these regiments was red, with blue facings. — Feltham, p. 21. The latter regiment 
 served in Ireland during the rebellion of 1798. It was observed during the late war 
 that while the Manks soldier was surpassed in height by the British and Irish troops, 
 any company of the Manks fencibles covered a greater space of ground than the same 
 number of men belonging to other regiments. — Encyclopaedia Britannica, article 
 " Isle of Man." 
 
 3 Statutes 1422, 1594 ; Lex Scripta, pp. 2, 5, 17, 71, 73, 74, 76.
 
 298 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 John Duke of Atholl was governor from the year 1793, 
 till his death in 1830. In his absence, the lieutenant- 
 governor was vested with his authority, and performed the 
 duties of his office.* 
 
 Since the death of the Duke of Atholl, no appoint- 
 ment of a governor-in-chief has been made. General John 
 Ready is at present lieutenant-governor, and is invested 
 with all the rights and privileges, whether respecting 
 his civil authority or military command, which were for- 
 merly possessed by any governor-in-chief. In his civil 
 capacity he is the staff of government, and as such presides 
 in all the legislative courts. In his military office he is 
 captain-general of all the troops and constabulary force 
 in the Island. 
 
 * Appendix, Note viii, " Defence of Island and List of Governors."
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. X. 299 
 
 APPENDIX.— Chapter X. 
 
 NOTE I.— Page 268. 
 
 GREEN MOUNDS OF GALLOWAY. 
 
 The following is an extract from a communication which I made to Sir Walter 
 Scott, on this subject, dated Castle Douglas, 13th April, 1831. "There are eight 
 farms in this quarter named Ingleston, situate in the following parishes, two in New 
 Abbey, two in Kelton, one in Irongray, one in Twynholm, one in Borgue, and one 
 in Glencairn. On each of these farms there is a moat, under the top surface of which 
 I have recently found a stratum of charred oak. From this I am convinced that each 
 of these farms has derived its name from the mound, as Ingleston in the Gaelic sig- 
 nifies ' the place of the fire.' Beacons, you know, were frequently kindled along the 
 shores of Galloway in times of danger (Caledonia, vol. hi, p. 242) ; but the Ingleston 
 moats are generally so secluded as not to warrant even a conjecture that the fires 
 kindled on them were for the purpose of alarming the country. Is it not more likely 
 that these fires were kindled annually on the first of May in honour of the Scandina- 
 vian God Baal?" 
 
 " Amongst the Saxons, the Wittenagemote was the name given to their popular 
 assemblies. The mote was of the same use with them as the hof and ting were to 
 the Northmen of the Orkneys and the Isle of Man." — Antiquities of Ireland, Dublin, 
 1832. 
 
 NOTE II.— Page 273. 
 
 DANISH TINGWALL COURTS. 
 
 One of these ancient courts is thus described by Martin : — " Holm is in the parish 
 of Tingwall in the maiidand. This holm is an island in the middle of a freshwater 
 lake. It is to this day called the Saw-ting ; and the parish, in all probability, had 
 its name from it. The entrance to the holm is by some stones laid in the water, and 
 in the holm there are four great stones, upon which sat the judge, clerk, and other 
 officers of the court. The inhabitants, who had lawsuits, attended at some distance 
 
 CHAP. X. 2
 
 300 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 from the holm on the other side of the lake, and when any of them was called by the 
 officer, he entered by the stepping stones. This was the custom of the Danes. The 
 inhabitants have a tradition amongst them that after one had received sentence of 
 death upon the holm, he obtained a remission, provided he made his escape through 
 the crowd of people on the lake side and touched the Tinwall stone before any could 
 lay hold of him." — Martin's Description of the Western Istes of Scotland, London, 
 1703, p. 383. 
 
 NOTE III.— Page 279. 
 
 LEGEND OF THE MODDEY DOO. 
 
 This castle is the scene of a strange tradition, which, as it may amuse the reader, 
 I give in the author's own words. " There was formerly a passage to the apartment 
 belonging to the captain of the guard ; but it is now closed up : the reason they give 
 you for it is a pretty odd one. They say that an apparition, called in the Manks 
 language, the Moddey Boo, in the shape of a large black spaniel, with curled shaggy 
 hair, was used to haunt Peel Castle ; and has been frequently seen in every room, 
 but particularly in the guard-chamber, where, as soon as the candles were lighted, it 
 came and lay down before the fire, in presence of the soldiers, who at length, by being 
 so much accustomed to the sight of it, lost great part of the terror they were seized 
 with at its first appearance. They still, however, retained a certain awe, as believing 
 it was an evil spirit, which only waited permission to do them hurt ; and, for that 
 reason, forbore swearing, and profane discourse, while in its company. But though 
 they endured the shock of such a guest when altogether in a body, none cared to be 
 left alone with it. It being the custom, therefore, for one of the soldiers to lock the 
 gates of the castle at a certain hour, and carry the keys to the captain, to whose 
 apartment the way led through the church, they agreed among themselves that who- 
 ever was to succeed the ensuing night his fellow in this errand, should accompany 
 him that went first, and by this means no man would be exposed singly to danger : 
 for I forgot to mention, that the Moddey Doo was always seen to come out from 
 that passage at the close of day, and return to it again as soon as morning dawned ; 
 which made them look on this place as its peculiar residence. One night a fellow 
 being drunk, and by the strength of his licpuor rendered more daring than ordinarily, 
 laughed at the simplicity of his companions ; and although it was not his turn to go 
 with the keys, would needs take that office upon him, to testify his courage. All the 
 soldiers endeavoured to dissuade him ; but the more they said, the more resolute he 
 seemed, and swore that he desired nothing more than that the Moddey Doo would fol- 
 low him as it had done the others, for he would try whether it were dog or devil. 
 
 "After having talked in a very reprobate manner for some time, he snatched up 
 the keys, and went out of the guard-room. In some time after his departure, a 
 great noise was heard, but nobody had the boldness to see what occasioned it, till, 
 the adventurer returning, they demanded the knowledge of him ; but as loud and 
 noisy as he had been at leaving them, he was now become sober and silent enough; 
 for he was never heard to speak more : and though all the time he lived, which was
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. X. 301 
 
 three days, he was entreated by all who came near him to speak, or if he could not 
 do that to make some signs, by which they might understand what had happened 
 to him, yet nothing intelligible could be got from him, only that, by the distortions 
 of his limbs and features, it might be guessed that he died in agonies more than is 
 common in a natural death. The Moddey Boo was however, never after seen in the castle, 
 nor would any one attempt to go through that passage ; for which reason it was closed 
 up, and another way made. This accident happened about three-score years since." 
 That is about the year 1650. — Waldron's Description of the Isle of Man, 1731. 
 
 This tale is alluded to by Sir Walter Scott, in his Lay of the Last Minstrel. 
 
 "But none of all the astonished train 
 Were so dismayed as Deloraine; 
 His blood did freeze, his brain did burn, 
 'Twas feared his mind would ne'er return ; 
 For he was speechless, ghastly, wan, 
 Like him of whom the story ran, 
 That spake the spectre hound in Man." 
 
 Peel Castle derives much of its present celebrity from the publicity given by Sir 
 Walter Scott to Waldron's story of the spectre hound and to other legends, of which 
 this ancient garrison is supposed to have been the scene. The old military invalid, 
 who conducted me to these rains, had no sooner entered their venerable precincts 
 than he thus began : — " Perhaps you may have heard of a great writer who has lately 
 gone the way of all living, his name was Sir Walter Scott : although he resided some- 
 where in Scotland, people say he knew as much about this here old garrison as if he 
 had been born within its ramparts. Hundreds of persons come here yearly from all 
 parts of the world, who call impatiently to be shewn the Earl of Warwick's chamber, 
 the Duchess of Gloucester's dungeon, and more particularly the haunted guard-room 
 mentioned by Sir Walter Scott." I then asked him for what purpose so many sod 
 tables and benches were made and arranged like the seats of a tap-room, throughout 
 the castle yard. He said these seats were erected by himself for the accommodation of 
 pleasure parties who, while they employed their glasses, drank to the memory of Sir 
 Walter Scott, in which he most heartily joined, " having received many a shilling on 
 account of pointing out the place alluded to by that great man." I might have 
 shortened the old man's narration by telling him I knew all he could mention of Sir 
 Walter Scott and the Castle already ; but adopted on this occasion the recommenda- 
 tion of Sir Walter himself to his companions when about to visit the famous chapel 
 of Rosslyn, " I allowed the old cicerone to proceed in his usual way, otherwise he 
 would have been unhappy." — See Lockhart's Life of Scott, first edition, vol. i, 
 page 362. 
 
 As might have been expected, Peel Castle and its associations have been the sub- 
 ject of many pleasing poetical effusions. I conclude this note by an extract from 
 Lines, on this subject, by Mr. G. II. Wood : — 
 
 " There is not a spot in Mona's Isle 
 
 Has purer charms for me, 
 Than yonder lonely, mouldering pile, 
 Which beams in the bright sun's parting smile, \ 
 
 Ere he sinks to the Western sea. 
 'Tis a hallowed spot, with its turrets of light 
 
 That gleam on the glassy wave, 
 Where its image is mirror'd so calm and bright, 
 You would think it the work of Enchanter's might > 
 
 Rais'd up from the ocean's grave.
 
 302 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN, 
 
 " But roofless now is that holy pile, 
 
 And its arches are rent and riven ; 
 Yet, I love to tread its lonely aisle, 
 Where the footfall only is heard the while, 
 
 And muse on the things of heaven. 
 I love to stray in the holy fane, 
 
 Where rest the sleeping dead, 
 Where they for ages long have lain, 
 And slept the sleep that knows no pain, 
 
 Each in his grassy bed ! 
 
 " I love to explore the ruins around, 
 
 And the Castle's lone dungeon cells, 
 Where the royal lady 1 lay fetter'd and bound, 
 (Till lingering death her chain unwound,) 
 
 Accus'd of dark magic spells ; 
 And the room near the dim portcullis door, 
 
 Where the night-watch oft was scar'd 
 By the ' Spectre Hound,' so fam'd of yore, 
 As told in his Lay of Minstrel lore, 
 
 By Scotia's brightest bard." 
 
 1 Duchess of Gloucester. 
 
 NOTE IV.— Page 279. 
 
 ROUND TOWERS. 
 
 The round pillar towers of Ireland, amounting to upwards of fifty, continue to 
 attract alike the attention of the curious and the dissertations of the learned : they 
 have survived all historical evidence as to the date of their erection, or the primitive 
 use to which they were designed. Tradition, however, ascribes the erection of the 
 round tower of Antrim to Gobban Saer, or " Gobban the Builder," who is supposed 
 to have flourished in the sixth century. — Dublin Journal, 1833. The round towers 
 of Abernethy and Brechan, in Scotland, are ascribed to the Picts, {Gordon, ap. 
 Grose's Antiquities of Scotland, edition 1797, vol ii, pp. 251, 252, 262, 263) and the 
 round pillar tower of Holme Peel, being of similar construction and of the same style of 
 architecture, may justly be supposed to be, likewise, of Danish origin. It is supposed 
 to be much older than any of the other towers of Peel Castle, except the parapet, 
 which seems to have been built at the same time with the Castle. It has really the 
 appearance of having been constructed for a watch-tower, notwithstanding such an idea 
 being thus scouted by the editor of an Irish periodical, as appUedto the round towers 
 of Ireland: — " That our pillar towers were watch-towers or fire-temples are the 
 whimsies of disordered minds or the vile theories of those, who, from singularity, affect 
 superior knowledge." 
 
 The round tower of Peel, like those of Ireland and Scotland, being erected near 
 an ancient place of worship, may have served the twofold purpose of religion and 
 defence, as supposed by Mr. Petrie in his " Essay on the round towers of Ireland,"
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. X. 303 
 
 for which he received £b0 and a gold medal from the Royal Irish Academy in 1832 ; 
 .£20 was likewise awarded to Mr. Henry O'Brien for his work on the same subject, 
 published by Whittaker and Co., London. Before closing this note, it may not be 
 far out of place to mention the extraordinary ruins so frequently met with in the 
 highlands of Scotland and in Galloway, which have received the appellation of " vitri- 
 fied forts," and which are no where to be observed in the Isle of Man. If they had 
 been constructed for the purpose of watch and ward, as supposed by Sir George 
 McKenzie, Dr. Hibbert, and others, or if they " had been beacons where great signal 
 fires were lighted on occasion of alarm," certainly some traces of them would be yet 
 discernible along the line of the alarm stations of the Isle of Man, as it was more 
 exposed to the inroads of foreigners than either the highlands of Scotland or Galloway ; 
 but these remains of former ages, having survived all history and tradition, toem even 
 to defy all conjecture as to the period of their erection or the object for which they 
 were designed. 
 
 NOTE V.— Page 285. 
 
 THE HOME OF THE SPELL-BOUND GIANTS. 
 
 "There is an ajmrtment," says Waldron, "in the Castle of Rushen, that has 
 never been opened in the memory of man. The persons belonging to the cas- 
 tle are very cautious in giving any reason for it ; but the natives unconnected with 
 the castle, assign this, that there is something of enchantment in it. They tell you 
 that the castle was at first inhabited by fairies, and afterwards by giants, who con- 
 tinued in the possession of it till the days of MerUn, who, by the force of magic, dislodged 
 the greatest part of them, and bound the rest of them in spells, indissoluble to the 
 end of the world. In proof of this they tell you a very odd story : They say there 
 are a great many fine apartments under ground, exceeding in magnificence any of 
 the upper rooms. Several men of more than ordinary courage have, in former times, 
 ventured down to explore the secrets of this subterranean dwelling place, but none of 
 them ever returned to give an account of what they saw. It was therefore judged 
 expedient that all the passages to it should be continually shut, that no more might 
 suffer by their temerity. About some fifty or fifty-five years since, a person possessed 
 of uncommon boldness and resolution begged permission to visit these dark abodes. 
 He at length obtained his recpiest, went down, and returned by the help of a clue of 
 packthread which he took with him, which no man before himself had ever done, and 
 brought this amazing discovery : — ' That after having passed through a great num- 
 ber of vaults, he came into a long narrow place ; which the farther he penetrated, he 
 perceived that he went more and more on a descent : till having travelled, as near as 
 he could guess, for the space of a mile, he began to see a gleam of light, which, 
 though it seemed to come from a vast distance, was the most delightful' object he 
 ever beheld. Having at length arrived at the end of that lane of darkness, he per- 
 ceived a large and magnificent house, illuminated with many candles, whence pro- 
 ceeded the light which he had seen. Having, before he began the expedition, well 
 fortified himself with brandy, he had courage enough to knock at the door, which on
 
 304 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 the third knock, was opened by a servant who asked him what he wanted? I would 
 go as far as I can, replied our adventurer : be so kind therefore as to direct me how 
 to accomplish my design, for I see no passage but that dark cavern through which 
 I came. The servant told him he must go through that house ; and accordingly 
 led him through a long entry, and out at a back door. He then walked a consider- 
 able way, till he beheld another house more magnificent than the first ; and, all the 
 windows being open, discovered innumerable lamps burning in every room. 
 
 Here also he designed to knock, but had the curiosity to step on a little bank 
 which commanded a view of a low parlour, and, looking in, he beheld a vast table in 
 the middle of the room, and on it extended at full length a man, or rather monster, 
 at least fourteen feet long, and ten or twelve round the body. This prodigious fabric 
 lay as if sleeping with his head upon a bool, with a sword by him, answerable to the 
 hand which he supposed made use of it. This sight was more terrifying to our tra- 
 veller than all the dark and dreary mansions through which he had passed. He re- 
 solved, therefore, not to attempt an entrance into a place inhabited by persons of 
 such monstrous stature, and made the best of his way back to the other house, 
 where the same servant who reconducted him informed him that if he had knocked at 
 the second door he would have seen company enough, but could never have returned. 
 On which he desired to know what place it was, and by whom possessed ; the other 
 replied that these things were not to be revealed. He then took his leave, and by the 
 same dark passage got into the vaults, and soon afterwards once more ascended to the 
 light of the sun.' Ridiculous as the narrative appears, whoever seems to disbelieve 
 it, is looked on as a person of weak faith." — Description of the Isle of Man, 
 London edit., folio, 1731, pp. 98—100. 
 
 NOTE VI.— Page 285. 
 
 THE BLACK LADY OF CASTLE RUSHEN. 
 
 ' ' A mighty bustle they make of an apparition which they say haunts Castle Rushen 
 in the form of a woman, who was, some years since, executed for the murder of her 
 child. I have heard not only persons who have been confined there for debt, but 
 also the soldiers of the garrison, affirm they have seen it at various times ; but what 
 I took most notice of, was the report of a gentleman of whose good understanding, as 
 well as veracity, I have a very great opinion. He told me, that happening to be 
 abroad late one night, and catched in an excessive storm of wind and rain, he saw a 
 woman standing before the castle gate, where, being not the least shelter, it something 
 surprised him, that anybody, much less one of that sex, should not rather run to some 
 little porch or shed, of which there are several in Castletown, than chuse to stand 
 still, exposed and alone to such a dreadful tempest; his curiosity exciting him to 
 draw nearer, that he might discover who it was that seemed so little to regard the 
 fury of the elements ; but as he proceeded, she retreated, and at last he thought she 
 went into the castle, though the gates were shut. This obliging him to think he had 
 seen a spirit, he went home very much terrified ; but next day, on relating his adven-
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. X. 305 
 
 ture to some people who lived in the castle, and describing as near as he could the 
 garb and stature of the apparition, they told him it was that of the woman above 
 mentioned, who had been frequently seen by the soldiers on guard to pass in and out 
 of the gates of the castle, though they were locked and bolted, as well as to walk 
 through the rooms, though there was no visible way of entering. But though she is 
 so familiar to the eye of the inmates of the castle, no person has, yet however, had 
 the courage to speak to her ; and as they say a spirit has no power to reveal its 
 mind without being conjured to do so in a proper manner, the reason of her being 
 permitted to wander is unknown." — Waldron, pp. 136, 137. 
 
 NOTE VII.— Page 296. 
 
 FIRE-ARMS HEREDITARY. 
 
 Warlike weapons were heritable in the year 1419. It was given for law that 
 the son should inherit his father's jack and sallet, his bowe and arrows, and his 
 sword and buckler. But in the year 1747, it was enacted " That from henceforth it 
 shall be lawful for all landholders, being protestants, to purchase themselves fire-arms, 
 and each to keep a fire-lock, as well for the protection of their own houses and families, 
 as for the service and defence of then - country upon all emergent occasions, provided 
 always they kept them clean and in good order at the sight of the captains of the 
 respective parishes and towns in their several divisions, who for that end and purpose 
 are to call them forth with their arms, at least four times a year and report their 
 condition to the governor : and that the said arms shall go and descend to their heirs 
 and assigns in place of the ancient weapons of war called corbes, mentioned in the 
 statute provided in that behalf, and be deemed full recompense and satisfaction for 
 the same." — Statute 1747; Lex Scripta, p. 319. 
 
 NOTE VIII.— Page 298. 
 
 DEFENCE OF THE ISLAND AND LIST OF GOVERNORS. 
 
 On this subject a recent writer remarks " It is a curious fact that during the long 
 period of the late war, when a single privateer might have ravaged the Island or laid 
 either of the towns in ashes, before any assistance could be afforded from England, 
 yet no care was taken to organize those means of defence which were easily within 
 reach of the inhabitants. It is true that at every commanding point there were 
 cannon ; but they lay dismounted and useless, though at the same time Government 
 was paying an ordnance keeper. Immediately, however, at the conclusion of peace,
 
 306 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 an engineer was sent over to build batteries, mount cannon, and arrange stores 
 and ammunition, as if it was apprehended that when all the rest of Europe was 
 restored to tranquillity, the arms of the united potentates would be turned against 
 the little Isle of Man. — Bullock's History of the Isle of Man, pp. 355,356. Feltham, 
 who visited the Island in 1797, forms a somewhat different opinion. He says — 
 Ramsey was then protected from foreign enemies by a fort and several pieces of 
 cannon. — Tour through the Island of Man, p. 162. 
 
 At the beginning of the following catalogue, which is transcribed from a record in 
 the Rolls' Office of the Castle of Rushen, I have inserted in italics the name of 
 Michael Blundell, who was Governor of the Island in 1407, although I bave not 
 found his name given in any published list. Camden, however, distinctly states that 
 he was appointed Governor by Sir John Stanley, when he received a grant of the 
 Island from king Henry IV, and he gives a detail of his government (See Britannia, 
 edition 1695, p. 1065) he is also mentioned in the Lex Scripta (p. 17) as being the 
 first who committed the laws of the Island to writing. He will be again referred to 
 in chapter xix. 
 
 A CATALOGUE OF THE GOVERNORS OF THE ISLE OF MAN, 
 
 FROM THE ACCESSION OF THE HOUSE OF STANLEY TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
 
 Michael Blundell, Lieut A.D. 1407 
 
 John Letherland, Lieut 1410 
 
 John Fasakerly, Lieut 1418 
 
 John Walton, Lieut 1422 
 
 Henry Byron, Lieut 1428 
 
 Peter Dutton, Lieut 1496 
 
 Henry Radcliff, Abbot of Rushen, "1 , ,„* 
 
 Deputy J 
 
 Randolp Rushton, Captn 1505 
 
 Sir John Ireland, Kt. -Lieut 1508 
 
 John Ireland, Lieut 1516 
 
 Randolp Rushton, Captn 1517 
 
 Thos. Denisport, Captn 1519 
 
 Richard Holt, Lieut 1526 
 
 John Fleming, Capt 1529 
 
 Thos. Sherbourn, Lieut 1530 
 
 Henry Bradley, Deputy-Lieut. . . 1532 
 
 Henry Stanley, Capt 1533 
 
 Thos. Stanley, Kt. -Lieut 1537 
 
 George Stanley, Capt 1539 
 
 Thos. Tyldesley, Deputy 1540 
 
 Wm. Stanley, Deputy 1544 
 
 Henry Stanley, Capt 1552 
 
 Thos. Stanley, Kt. -Lieut 1562 
 
 Richard Ashton, Capt 1566 
 
 Thos. Stanley, Kt.-Lieut 1567 
 
 Edward Tarbock, Capt 1569 
 
 John Hanmer, Capt 1575 
 
 Richard Sherburn, Capt 1580 
 
 :} 
 
 Richard Aderton was admitted and 
 sworn Lieut, under the Capt., 
 by my Lord's directions, for all 
 martial affairs 
 
 Cuth. Gerrard, Capt 
 
 Thomas Mortimer, Deputy 
 
 The Hon. Wm. Stanley, Capt., "I 
 afterwards Earl of Derby .... J 
 
 Randolph Stanley, Capt 
 
 Thos. Gerrard, 1 Knt.-Capt "1 
 
 Cuth. Gerrard, Deputy. ....... J 
 
 Thomas Gerrard, Kt.-Capt 
 Robt. Molineux, Deputy . 
 
 Cuth. Gerrard, Capt 
 
 Robt. Molineux, Deputy . 
 
 Robt. Molineux, Capt 
 
 John Ireland, 2 Lieut, and Capt. . 
 
 Robt. Molineux, Capt 
 
 Edw. Fletcher, Deputy 
 
 Edw. Fletcher, Governor , 
 
 Sir Fred. Liege, Kt.-Capt 
 
 Edw. Fletcher, Deputy , 
 
 Edw. Homewood, Capt 
 
 Edw. Fletcher, Deputy 
 
 Edw. Christian, Lieut, and Capt 
 
 Evan Christian, Deputy 
 
 Sir Chas. Gerrard, Knt.-Capt. . 
 
 John Sharpies, Deputy 
 
 Radcliffe Gerrard, Capt , 
 
 1591 
 
 1592 
 
 1593 
 1594 
 1596 
 
 1597 
 
 1599 
 
 1600 
 
 1610 
 
 1612 
 
 1621 
 
 1622 
 
 1623 
 
 1625 
 
 1626 
 
 1627 
 
 1628 
 
 1634 
 
 1635 
 
 1636 
 
 1639 
 
 1 Peter Legh was appointed Governor, by Queen Elizabeth, in the absence of Sir T. Gerrard. 
 
 2 In 1609, John Ireland and John Birchall were Governors, jointly, by patent, from King 
 James I.
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. X. 
 
 307 
 
 John Greenhalgh, Governor .... 1640 
 
 Philip Mulgrave, Knt. and Bart. 1 1651 
 
 Saml. Smith, Deputy-Governor . . 1652 
 
 Note. — My Lord Fairfax made\ 
 
 commissioners for the governing 1 7th 
 
 the Isle this year — James Chal- ^Aug. 
 
 loner, Robt. Dinley, Esquires, 1652 
 
 Jonath. Wdton, clerk 
 
 Mathew Cadwell, Governor .... 1653 
 William Christian, Governor .... 1656 
 James Challoner 1659 
 
 AFTER THE RESTORATION. 
 
 Rodger Nowell, Governor. ..... ~[ 
 
 Richd. Stephenson, Deputy .... J 
 
 Henry Nowell, Deputy for one"] 
 
 part of the year, and Thomas y 1663 
 
 Stanley for the other part 
 Bishop Barrow, Governor. . 
 Henry Nowell, his Deputy 
 Henry Nowell, Governor . 
 Henry Stanley, Governor . 
 Robert Heywood, Governor 
 Roger Kenyon, Esq., Governor 
 Will. Sacheverell, Governor. . . . 
 
 Col. Nicholas Sankey, Governor 1696 
 
 Hon. Capt. Cranston, Governor. . 
 
 Robt. Mawdesley, Esq., Governor") 
 
 John Rowe, Deputy 1 1 / 03 
 
 Capt. Alex. Home, Governor.. .. 1/14 
 
 Major Floyde, Governor 
 
 Thomas Horton, Governor..... 1726 
 
 James Horton 1734 
 
 James Murray, Esq., first Gover- 1 . „„, 
 
 nor under the Duke of Atholl.. J 
 
 Patrick Lindsay 1741 
 
 Basil Cochrane, Esq., Governor... 1753 
 
 Capt. John Wood, Governor 1763 
 
 The Island sold to the Crown, .. "1 
 
 J. Hope, Deputy-Governor J 
 
 Richard Dawson, Lieut. -Governor 1776 
 
 Edw. Smith, Esq., Gov. -in-Chief T „_,._ 
 
 > 1 777 
 Richard Dawson, Lieutenant J 
 
 Alexander Shaw, Esq., Lieutenant 1791 
 
 His Grace the Duke of Atholl, "I i-q-i 
 
 Go vernor-in- Chief J 
 
 Col. Cornelius Smelt, Lieutenant.. 1805 
 
 General John Ready, Lieutenant.. 1832 
 
 1 In 1651 and 1652, Col. Robert Duckenneld was Governor, 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 I
 
 308 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY FROM A.D. 76 TO 839. 
 
 Introduction of Druidism into Britain — The Druids leave Stonehenge 
 and settle in Anglesea — On their Altars being overturned and their 
 Groves being cut down by the Romans, they retire into the Isle of 
 Man — Office, Dress, and Power of the Arch-Druid — Their Places 
 of Worship and Ceremonies — Anniversary of Bal or Baal and other 
 superstitious Observances — Persecution of the Christians — Arrival 
 of St. Patrick in the Isle of Man — Converts the Inhabitants to 
 the Christian Faith — Succeeded by St. Germain — Maughold, a 
 Leader of Irish Banditti, becomes Bishop of Man — St. Bridget, 
 one of the tutelar Saints of Ireland, receives the Veil of Virginity 
 from St. Maughold — Scottish Princes educated by St. Conan, 
 Bishop of Man — An Irish Prince nearly starved to death — Singular 
 Adventure of Orlygus. 
 
 The first Celtic colony that settled in Britain is repre- 
 sented to have come from Asia, and to have introduced 
 Druidism into our Island. 1 After the irruptions of the 
 Belgse and the farther encroachments of the Romans, the 
 Druids retired from their magnificent seat at Albury and 
 from their circular uncovered temple at Stonehenge, on 
 Salisbury plain, to the Isle of Anglesea, 2 where their 
 altars being overturned and their groves cut down by the 
 victorious Romans, they took refuge in the Isle of Man. 3 
 The well known aversion of the Druids themselves to 
 written records and the prejudices entertained against 
 them by ancient authors, to whom alone we are now 
 
 1 Plowden's Dissertation on the Antiquity of Irish History, London, 1831, p. 47. 
 
 2 Davis 1 8 Antiquity of the Druidical Order among the Celtae, pp. 139, 197; 
 Buck's Theological Dictionary, London, 1827. 
 
 3 Hollinshead's Chronicles of Scotland, edition 1805, vol. i, page 60 ; Bathius's 
 History of Scotland, folio 22 ; Spottisivood's History of the Church of Scotland, 
 page 3.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 309 
 
 indebted for any information regarding their institutions 
 and ceremonies, render our relations but partial and 
 unsatisfactory. 
 
 All writers on the subject agree as to the supreme au- 
 thority which they exercised over all men among whom 
 they obtained an establishment, and the exclusive rights 
 they assumed. They were exempt from bearing arms or 
 contributing in any way to the exigencies of the state, 
 and their persons were reputed sacred and inviolable. 1 
 These privileges allured many to enter their fraternity 
 and to take upon themselves the performance of their 
 sacred duties. 
 
 There were several orders or degrees of the priesthood, 
 to obtain the highest of which required twenty years study. 2 
 The first was Disgibliysbas, and was given after three 
 years study in the arts of poetry and music, if the person 
 by his capacity and diligence merited such an honour. 
 The second degree was Disgibldisgybliaidd, and was con- 
 ferred on the professors of learning after six years addi- 
 tional study, if they deserved it. The third degree, with 
 another long name, required nine years more ; and the 
 fourth or highest degree with a name signifying " doctor," 
 was only bestowed two years afterwards on the comple- 
 tion of the study of the whole twenty years. 
 
 Each order was distinguished by a particular habit, 
 some reaching the calf of the leg, and others somewhat 
 lower. The bards wore a coloured robe of sky blue as 
 emblematical of peace. The Welsh bard, Cynddelw, in 
 his ode on the death of Cadwallon, calls them " wearers 
 of long blue robes." 3 
 
 The professors of astronomy and medicine wore green 
 as a symbol of learning, and as being the colour of the 
 
 1 Camden's Britannia, folio, edition 1G95, p. 14. 
 
 2 Toland's History of the Druids, London, 1726, pp. 11, 190, 191. 
 
 3 Oven's Elegies of Llywarch Hen, ap. History of British Costume, London, 
 1834, pp. 11, 12; Buck's Theological Dictionary ■, London, 1827; see Druid.
 
 310 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 clothing of nature. The disciples of the orders wore 
 variegated dresses of the three colours, blue, green, and 
 red ; l and the dress of the sacerdotal order was white, 
 the emblem of holiness and truth. The Welsh bard, 
 Taliesin, calls it, "the proud white garment which 
 separated the elders from the youth." The chiefs of the 
 order were the only exception from the rule, they always 
 wore short hair, whilst other people had theirs long, and 
 on the contrary they wore long beards, while the laity 
 preserved only the hair on the upper lip. 2 
 
 Among this race of men, one person was commonly 
 chosen with the title of Arch-Druid, to whom the supreme 
 government of the fraternity was committed. 3 He wore 
 on his head an oaken garland surmounted by a tiara of 
 gold, while on his breast was suspended the fabulous 
 adderstone 4 amulet, enchased in gold. When at the altar 
 he wore a white surplice fastened on the shoulder by a 
 golden brooch. 6 He had also the privilege of wearing 
 six colours in his robe or breacan, 6 whereas the king and 
 queen might only wear seven, the lords and ladies five, 
 governors of castles four, chieftains and officers of the 
 army three, common soldiers and common people only 
 
 1 A disciple about to be admitted a graduate, is called by the bards, " A dog with 
 spots of red, blue, and green." — Meyrick's Original Inhabitants. 
 
 2 Ap. Planche's History of British Costume, London, 1834, p. 11. 
 
 3 Camden's Britannia, p. 19. 
 
 4 The virtues of the Adderstone were supposed to be connected with the popular 
 credulity of its origin from serpents — those mystical animals holding such a noted 
 place in ancient mythology. " That not only the vulgar, but even gentlemen of 
 good education, throughout all Scotland, were fully persuaded that snakes made 
 them." It is remarked by an English visitor in the year 1699, " That the adder • 
 stone was suspended from the neck, for the hooping-cough and other distempers in 
 children. It was esteemed a charm to ensure prosperity, and a repeller of evil 
 spirits. The owner kept it in an iron box as a security from fairies, which were 
 supposed to have a peculiar aversion to it." — Daly ell's Darker Superstitions of 
 Scotland, Glasgow, 1835, page 140. One of these magical gems is in my possession. 
 
 " Archaologia, vol. iv ; King's Munimenta Antiqua Collectanea de Rebus Hiber- 
 nius, vol. iv; ap. British Costume, London, 1834, pp. 12, 13. 
 8 M' Alpine's Gaelic Dictionary, Edinburgh, 1833, p. 45.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 113 
 
 one. 1 But in process of time, particularly in the highlands 
 of Scotland, the admixtures of colours, served only to 
 denote the family of the wearer of the parti-coloured gar- 
 ment. The Arch-Druid, or as he is called in Manks, the 
 Ard-Druaight, is always represented with a golden bill- 
 hook in his hand, an implement which he used in tearing- 
 down the mistletoe from the oak. 2 
 
 So highly were the Manks Druids distinguished for their 
 knowledge of astronomy, astrology, and natural philoso- 
 phy, that the kings of Scotland sent their sons to be edu- 
 cated by them. About the year A.D. 76, Dothan, son of 
 Duntus, the eleventh king of Scotland, left his three sons, 
 Lisimories, Gormachus, and Edenus, to be educated by 
 the Druids in the Isle of Man. 3 
 
 In the year 81, Corbed Gald, 4 son of Corbed'I, king of 
 Scotland, was likewise educated by the Druids in the Isle 
 of Man. But notwithstanding all their pretensions to 
 scientific knowledge, no species of superstition was ever 
 more terrible, and no idolatrous worship ever gained such 
 an ascendency over mankind as that of the Druids. 
 
 The usual dwelling place of the contemplative Druid, 
 when his oak could not shelter him from the storm, was a 
 little stone building capable of holding himself only ; yet 
 some of larger dimensions are to be seen in the Isle of 
 Skye and in Ireland, where they are called by the natives, 
 Tinan Drtt'nnch, or Druids' houses. 5 In the romantic 
 recess of a rock at the bold promontory of Spanish Head, 
 may still be traced the remains of the dwelling " of a 
 lonely Druid, who probably fixed his hermitage there on 
 account of the sublimity of the situation." 6 
 
 1 Toland's History of the Druids, London, 1736, p. 21. 
 
 2 Pomponius Mela, lib. iii, cap. ii ; Ammianus, book xv. 
 
 3 Buchanan's History of Scot/and, vol. i, book iv ; Hollinshead's Chronicles of 
 Scotland, edition 1803 ; Anderson's Royal Genealogies, London, 1735, p. 735. 
 
 4 Abercromby' s Martial Achievements, edit. 17G2, vol. i, p. 60. 
 
 5 Toland's History of the Druids, London, 1726, p. 107. 
 
 6 Oswald's Guide to the Isle of Man, p. 92.
 
 312 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN 
 
 In the Isle of Man, their sacred groves and consecrated 
 fountains are yet marked out by their Celtic names, of 
 which the sequestered valleys of Druidale — Glen-darragh, 
 the vale of oaks — Cabbal Druaig — Lhiarghey-mj-howne, 
 the mark of the stream — and Thallov-ny-charne, the place 
 of the stones, may be named as clearly pointing out their 
 Druidicai origin ; and Kion-druaight, in the parish of 
 Kirk Michael, which, in the Manks language, signifies 
 Chief-Druid, probably still retains that name from having 
 been the residence of the Arch-Druid of the Island. 
 
 The Druid temple was composed of large stones placed 
 erect at an equal distance, so as to form a circle, generally 
 between twenty and thirty feet in diameter, with a flat 
 stone in the centre, on which the sacrifice was offered up. 
 In the parish of Arbory some of these circles are yet 
 seen ; many of the stones are of great size, but are now, 
 in several instances, nearly covered with moss. 
 
 Occult qualities were always assigned by the Druids to 
 odd numbers. The stones of their temples varied between 
 nine and nineteen ; and similar numerical observances 
 were attended to in all their ceremonies and oblations. 
 In these inexplicable superstitions, they perhaps only 
 imitated some of the sacred writers. " Balaam said unto 
 Balak, build me here seven altars, and prepare me here 
 seven oxen and seven rams ; and God met Balaam, and 
 said unto him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have 
 offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram." 1 
 
 It was a peculiar principle of the Druids, which en- 
 joined that no temple or covered building should be erected 
 for public worship : for the sun being the grand medium 
 rather than the object of their adoration, to have shut out 
 that luminary during their religious service, would have 
 been inconsistent with their object. 2 Near the temple, 
 
 1 Numbers, chapter xxiii, verses 1, 4. 
 
 2 CAalmer's Caledonia, vol. i, book ii.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 313 
 
 was the sacred mount, and a stone table, on which the 
 sacrifice was performed before it was laid upon the altar 
 which stood in the centre of the temple. These were " the 
 awful stones of power," so often mentioned in the poems 
 of Ossian. 1 
 
 A few yards distant from the temple, was generally 
 placed an erect stone, at which it is supposed the priest 
 performed some ceremony while the sacrifice was burning 
 at the altar. 2 They pretended to divine future events from 
 the flowing of the blood, as well as from the posture and 
 appearance of the entrails of their victims ; 3 
 
 " And leaning o'er the victims as they died, 
 Explored the future in the gushing tide. 
 Oft as the blood, impelled with various force 
 To right or left, directs its headlong course, 
 They saw some bless'd event, or traced with skill 
 Divine, some signal of impending ill." 4 
 
 The peculiar doctrines of fraudulent priests have been 
 traced back to the time of the post-deluvian patriarchs ; 
 but the craft of the Druids exceeded that of Zoroaster, 
 and all the eastern policy of the ancients: they were 
 magicians, as their name in the Manks language signifies. 5 
 By their cabalistic arts, they deceived the people, and like 
 all other conjurors, the Arch-Druid had his magical staff. 
 It is not difficult to trace this superstition of the conjuror's 
 wand to the caduceus of Mercury, the rod of Moses, and 
 the staff of Elisha. 6 
 
 In the primitive ages, there seems to have been an 
 agreement among mankind — as well in faith as in the 
 practice of religion — much in the same manner as there 
 
 1 Brand's Western Isles, p. 44 ; Pennant's Tour in Scotland, vol. ii, page 33. 
 
 2 Toland's History of the Druids, p. 99. 
 
 3 Strabo, book vii. 
 
 4 Fane of the Druids, quarto, London, 1787, p. 23 ; Camden's Britannia, folio 
 edition, 1695, p. 674. 
 
 5 M l Alpine's Gaelic Dictionary, edition 1833, p. 113. 
 
 6 Da/yell's Darker Si/pcrstitions of Scotland, p. 384.
 
 314 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 was a similarity in their language as derived from a com- 
 mon stock. 
 
 Besides the cromlachs and cairns, the rocking-stones 
 added much to the mystical celebrity of the Druids. 
 They were generally of a round form, of vast size, and so 
 artfully poised on flat stones as to be moved by the slight- 
 est touch, to the great astonishment of the beholders ! l 
 By this pretended miracle, they either condemned or 
 acquitted persons at pleasure. 
 
 Druidical cairns were so numerous in the uplands of the 
 Isle of Man, that an author on the subject remarks, that 
 " The tops of the mountains are nothing but the rubbish of 
 nature, thrown into barren unfruitful heaps." 2 These 
 cairns were dedicated to the sun : on the first day of May, 
 which was the commencement of the Celtic year, they 
 kindled fires on them, in honour of Beil, their Deity, in 
 whose praise they sung a particular kind of music, called 
 cairn tunes. These ceremonies were attended by nearly 
 the whole population. 
 
 Many ceremonies were performed and sacrifices offered 
 up to Beil, at these sacred fires. In Ireland, every mem- 
 ber of a family was required to pass through the fire, as 
 that was deemed necessary to ensure good fortune through 
 the succeeding year. 3 
 
 The Druidical anniversary of Beil or Baal is still cele- 
 brated in the Isle of Man. 4 On the first of May, 1837, 
 the Baal fires were, as usual on that day, 5 so numerous as 
 
 1 Sir Robert Sibbald, in his History of Fife, speaking of a rocking-stone near Bal- 
 vard, says, " When this stone was broken by Cromwell's soldiers, it was discovered 
 that its motion had been performed by a yolk extuberant in the middle of the under 
 surface of the upper stone, which was inserted in a cavity of the lower stone, and 
 concealed the mechanism of the motion. The better still to impose, there were two 
 or three surrounding flat stones, though that only in the middle was concerned in the 
 feat."— Toland's History of the Druids, pp. 105, 106. 
 
 2 Sacheverell's Account of the Isle of Man, London, 1702, page 13. 
 
 3 Toland's History of the Druids, pp. 75, 102. 
 
 * WaldronJs Description of the Isle of Man, p. 154. 
 " This Pagan ceremony of lighting these fires in honour of the Asiatic God Belus,
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 315 
 
 to give the Island the appearance of a general conflagra- 
 tion.* This festival was likewise observed to a recent 
 date in the Highlands of Scotland and Western Isles by 
 kindling fires on the hills on May-day, at which the herds- 
 men made offerings of their corn and flocks. 1 One of 
 them personified the Druid, by holding in his hand a piece 
 of bread spread over with a custard of eggs, milk, and but- 
 ter ; with his face towards the east, he broke it, and 
 throwing a piece over his shoulder, cried, " This I give to 
 thee, Storm,' 2 that thou mayst be favourable to our 
 corn and pastures ; and this I give to thee, Eagle, and 
 this to thee, Fox, that thou mayst spare our lambs and 
 kids. 3 When the ceremony was over they dined on the 
 caudle ; and after the feast was finished, what was left 
 was carefully hid in the earth, by two persons appointed 
 for that purpose ; but on the next Sunday they re-assem- 
 bled, and finished the relics of the entertainment. 
 
 Another of these periodical fire-meetings was held on 
 the first of November. Every fire in the country was 
 
 gave its name to the entire month of May. Dr. Reating, speaking of this fire to 
 Beal, says that the cattle were drove through it and not sacrificed; and that the chief 
 design of it was to keep oft" all contagious disorders from them for that year. He says, 
 also, that the inhabitants cpaenched their fires, and kindled them from the Beltane 
 blaze." — O'Bren's Irish Dictionary ,- Valencey's Essay on the Antiquity of the 
 Irish Languaye, 8vo, Dublin, edition 1772, p. 19 ; Macpherson's Critical Disser- 
 tations on the Ancient Religion of the Caledonians. 
 
 * Appendix, Note i, " Burnings of Fairies and Witches at Beltane." 
 
 1 Pennant's Tour in Scotland, 1769, p. 98; Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary, see 
 "Beltane." 
 
 2 " The Irish, too, worshipped the sun, the moon, and the winds." — Ware's Anti- 
 quities of Ireland, Dublin, 1705, p. 11. 
 
 3 Stewart's Sketches of the Character and Manners of the Highlanders of Scot- 
 land, 3d edit., vol. i, p. 9 ; Statistical Account of the Parish of Logierait. 
 "Another ceremony at Beltien is worthy of special notice: When the Highland 
 youths cast a trench in some sequestered spot among the hills, a fire was kindled, a 
 cake made, and cut in pieces. One of these was blackened and put into a bonnet 
 alongst with the rest. Each of the youths then present drew forth a portion, and he 
 to whose lot the blackened piece chanced to fall, was held devoted to Bael-tine or 
 Bael-fire, as a sacrifice. The victim leaped three times through the fire that had 
 been prepared for the ceremony." — Dalyell's Darker Superstitions of Scotland, 
 page 1()8. 
 
 CHAr. XI. 2 Q,
 
 316 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 extinguished on the preceding night, in order to be sup- 
 plied next day with a portion of the holy flame that was 
 kindled and consecrated by the Druids. No person who 
 chanced to be in arrear of the dues required by the priests, 
 or who had infringed the law, was permitted to light his 
 torch at the sacred fire until due reparation was made. 
 If he refused to comply in the most submissive manner, 
 sentence of excommunication was instantly pronounced 
 against him ; and no person was allowed to give him shel- 
 ter, food, or fire, a severe punishment in a cold country, 
 on the approach of winter. 1 
 
 The dread of that portentous day is not yet wholly 
 extinguished in some parts of the Highlands of Scotland. 
 On the preceding evening, generally designated " Hal- 
 lowe'en," immediately after dusk, large fires are kindled 
 without, on conspicuous places, 2 and the peasantry carry 
 blazing faggots round their steadings, to prevent the ap- 
 proach of bogles or wirrey-coivs, which they believe to be 
 abroad that evening after sunset, bent on the destruction 
 of mankind. Should any family, through negligence, 
 allow their fires to go out on that dreaded night, they 
 would find it difficult to get a supply from their neigh- 
 bours next morning;. 3 
 
 The Manks, likewise, place great reliance on fire pro- 
 tecting them from the influence of evil spirits. " Not a 
 family in the whole Island, of natives, but keeps a fire 
 constantly burning ; no one daring to depend on his neigh- 
 bour's vigilance in a thing which he imagines is of so 
 much consequence ; and every one firmly believing that if 
 it should ever happen that no fires were to be found 
 throughout the Island, the most terrible revolutions and 
 mischiefs would immediately ensue." 4 Almost down to 
 
 1 Smith's Gaelic Antiquities, Edinburgh, 1780, p. 31 ; Toland's History of the 
 Druids, p. 70. 
 
 2 Stewart's Sketches of the Highlanders, 3d edition, p. 9. 
 
 3 Smith's Gaelic Antiquities, p. 31. 
 
 * Wa/dron's Description of (he Isle of Man, folio 101.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 317 
 
 the present time, no native of the Isle of Man will lend any- 
 thing on either of the great Draidical festivals, just des- 
 cribed, which shows the origin of the custom, so hard is 
 it to eradicate from the minds of a people the remains 
 of superstition, however ridiculous or absurd may be its 
 tenets. 
 
 Besides these two great festivals, the Druids had others 
 which were regulated by the age of the moon, and many 
 of which appear to have reached our times. The move- 
 able feasts are regulated by the age of the moon. " Easter 
 is the first Sunday after the first full moon that happens 
 after the twenty-first day of March." 1 The greater part 
 of the fairs in Scotland depend on the moon in a similar 
 manner, and are undoubtedly of Druidical origin. 
 
 The Druids observed the full moon, and on the sixth 
 day of its age, they gathered the mistletoe ; 2 but the de- 
 votion paid to the new moon has been more lasting in 
 Scotland, 3 in Ireland, 4 and in the Isle of Man. 
 
 Most of the religious services of the Druids were begun 
 
 C © 
 
 and ended with the ceremony of going thrice round in the 
 course of the sun. As these circumvolutions began at 
 the east point and followed the course of the sun south- 
 ward, they were called deas-hd, or the way to the south. 5 
 This ceremony they considered as consistent with the 
 will of God. On the contrary, the car-tuia-iul, or going 
 
 1 Lex Scripta, 1819, p. 329. 
 1 Pliny, book xvii, chap. xvii. 
 
 3 They assemble to pay homage to the new moon. Young women, when they first 
 see it, pull a handful of grass, saying, 
 
 " New moon, true moon, tell me if you can, 
 If I have a hair, like the hair of my gudeman." 
 
 — Chambers's Popular Rhymes of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1826, p. 284. 
 
 4 " The Irish, at sight of each new moon, bequeath the cattle to her protection, 
 humbly imploring the pale-faced lady of the night that she will leave their bestial in 
 as good plight as she found them ; and if sick, scabbed, or sore, they solicit her 
 maiden-faced majesty to restore them to their health." — Lithgow's Travels in Ireland 
 in the year 1619, Leith, edition 1814, p. 341. 
 
 5 Smith's Gaelic Antiquities, p. 37.
 
 318 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 round northward, was held disastrous even to a proverb ; 
 so that the Druid could not pronounce on any person a 
 greater imprecation 1 than an order to perforin its course. 
 When a person died, a portion of earth and salt was 
 immediately laid on the breast of the corpse ; the one as 
 an emblem of the corruptibility of the body, the other of 
 the incorruptibility of the soul. 
 
 This ceremony is still continued by many persons in 
 the Isle of Man, who can give no reason for its perform- 
 ance. The character of the deceased was examined by a 
 sacred court, in order to determine what funeral honours 
 should be paid to the departed. When the sentence was 
 unfavourable, the greatest sorrow was manifested by the 
 relations; but when otherwise, the most extravagant 
 rejoicings instantly commenced. On these occasions, the 
 nearest relation was usually the first to lead both the 
 dance and the song, a custom yet scarcely extinct in the 
 Western Isles, and in Ireland. 2 
 
 The power of these priests, which at one time extended 
 over France, Flanders, the Alpine regions, Lombardy, and 
 the British Isles, was at length confined within the narrow 
 limits of the Isle of Man. There the blood of the last 
 victim was shed, and there the last temple of their idola- 
 try was overthrown. 3 Whatever may have been the 
 speculative tenets of Druidism, its professors taught the 
 duties of moral virtue, and enforced the precepts of natural 
 religion, with a strong desire for liberty, and an ardent 
 love of their country. 4 
 
 As the light of Christianity overspread our northern 
 
 1 The inhabitants of Colonsay, before any enterprise, passed sunways round the 
 church, and rowed their boats sunways, as is still done in the Orkney Islands. — Mar- 
 tin's Western Jsles, ap.DalyelVs Darker Superstitions, p. 450; Nor do theManks 
 fishermen of the present day consider it safe to put their boats about except in the 
 course of the sun ; an opposite course was, in Scotland, called Widderschynnes. 
 
 2 Smith's Gaelic Antiquities, p. 56. 
 
 3 Toland's History of the Druids, p. 17. 
 Chalmers's Caledonia, vol. i, book ii.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 319 
 
 hemisphere, the clouds of Paganism disappeared ; but the 
 early ages of the Christian era were characterised by per- 
 secution and bloodshed. 
 
 The tenth persecution of the Christians, raised by the 
 emperor Dioclesian, was supported in England by his 
 relation Constantius Chlorus, which caused many of the 
 Britons to flee into Scotland. 1 Crathlint, the Scottish 
 monarch, from his ascension to the throne in a.d. 286, 
 supported the new religion with the utmost zeal. When 
 the persecuted Britons threw themselves on his protec- 
 tion, he received them with the greatest humanity and 
 kindness. 2 Having previously destroyed the temples of 
 the Druids in the Isle of Man, 3 he built there a stately 
 church for the accommodation of the pious refugees, and 
 called it, Sodorense Tanum, 4, or " The temple of our 
 Saviour." 
 
 Hector Boetius and Bishop Spotswood have both been 
 incorrect as to the date of Crathlint ascending the throne 
 of Scotland, and as to the persecution of Dioclesian in 
 England. This has caused some writers to doubt the 
 whole of their statement respecting the first Christian 
 settlement in the Isle of Man. Dr. Tanner, in his ela- 
 borate work, says, " The Scotch writers contend that the 
 Isle of Man was converted to Christianity by the care of 
 Crathlint, king of Scotland, and that he made Amphi- 
 balus bishop there, about a.d. 360. But the more gene- 
 rally received and better opinion is, that Christianity was 
 planted there by St. Patrick, and the episcopal see erected 
 
 1 Hollinshead's Chronicles of Scotland, vol. i, p. 130. 
 
 * Carruthers' History of Scotland, edition 182G, vol. i, p. 75. 
 
 3 Petrie's History of the Catholic Church, Hague, edition 16G2, pp. 55, 56 ; 
 Mackenzie's De Rcgali Scotorum Prosapia, cap. viii, p. 119. 
 
 4 Spotsivood's History of the Church of Scotland, book i, folio 3 ; Rowland's 
 Monastic Antiquities, p. 108 ; Warring ton's History of Wales, London, 1788, page 
 540. Buchanan, in his preface to Knox's History of the Reformation of Religion 
 within the Realm of Scotland, printed in folio, at Edinburgh, 1732, says, "The 
 town near the church was called Sodora."
 
 320 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 by him a.d. 447." ' Greater accuracy might have been 
 expected of the learned doctor, and more particularly 
 in a passage where he strives to set aside the authority of 
 " the Scotch writers." According to Gildas and Polydore 
 Virgil, Amphibalus suffered martyrdom in 305, 2 and 
 Crathlint died in 31 0. 3 Angiisian, the third in descent 
 from Crathlint, was king of Scotland in 360. 
 
 During the peace enjoyed in consequence of the disor- 
 ganised state of the Roman empire, after the death of the 
 emperor Dioclesian, the Christian religion was greatly 
 promoted in Scotland. Men of learning and piety took 
 up their abode in the most solitary places, and gained 
 such reputation for sanctity, that, when they died, their 
 cells were changed into kirks : hence the origin of placing 
 the word kirk before the name of a person, so common in 
 the Isle of Man, and in Scotland. 4 
 
 From the death of Amphibalus, till the accidental 
 arrival of St. Patrick, the Manks church appears to have 
 declined. The tutelary saint of Ireland, when on a voyage, 
 a.d. 444, from Liverpool to Ireland, accompanied by thirty 
 religious persons, 5 was, in a violent tempest, cast ashore 
 at a place that still bears his name. 6 He found the people 
 still adhering so much to the Pagan theology, and so 
 addicted to practising the magical art, that he remained 
 amongst them three years. During that time, by his 
 unceasing labours, his powerful eloquence, and the aston- 
 ishing miracles which he wrought, he so convinced the 
 inhabitants of the truth of the Christian faith, as to leave 
 little doubt in his mind of their sincerity. 7 
 
 1 Notitia Monastici, Cambridge edition, 1787, article " Man ;" Petrie's History 
 of the Catholic Church, p. 276. 
 
 - Seacome's History of the Isle of Man, Liverpool, 1741, p. 40. According to 
 Mathew Paris, his body was discovered at Radburn, near St. Albans, in the year 1 178. 
 
 3 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, London, folio 1736, p. 756. 
 
 * Grose's Antiquities of Scotland, vol. i, p. 5. 
 
 s Sacheverell's Account of the Isle of Man, London, 1702, p. 18. 
 
 8 Bleau's Map ; Feltham's Tour, p. 60; Haining's Guide, p. 9 ; Rapin, vol. i, p. 29. 
 
 7 Memoirs of Bishop Hildesley, p. 286, ap. Manks Charities, p. 52.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 321 
 
 St. Patrick is said to have driven Mmnian-Bfiq-Mac-y- 
 Leirr from the Island, who, according to the Irish chroni- 
 cles, was slain at Mogeullin, in the county of Galway; 1 
 and he is also reported to have delivered the Island from 
 three plagues : venomous beasts, magicians, and invisible 
 devils. 2 
 
 At his departure, he left St. Germain his successor in 
 the ministry ; and hence this person has been placed in the 
 list of the bishops of Man ; 3 but the authority produced 
 does not seem sufficient to confirm the supposition. He 
 was bishop of Auxerre, and came to Britain with Supus, 
 bishop of Troyes, 4 (afterwards the patron saint of Kirk 
 Braddan) at the request of the British clergy, to endeavour 
 to suppress the Pelagian heresy which at that time dis- 
 tracted the British church. 5 His stay in the Isle of Man 
 appears to have been of short duration, as in the following 
 year he was engaged in the battle fought between the 
 Britons and the Saxons, in Wales, at Maes Gramon, in 
 Flintshire, where, by raising the cry of A llelujah through- 
 
 1 O' Flaherty's Ogygia, part iii, chap, xiv, p. 179. Jocelin, in his Life of St. 
 Patrick, tells us that one Melinus, i.e., Mac Lea, a master magician, was in the Isle 
 of Man at the time of St. Patrick's arrival there. " This Melinus, in his magical 
 arts, emulated Simon Magus, and aspired to the reputation of a god, and did fly in 
 the air ; but he came down fluttering at the prayers of St. Patrick." — MS. History 
 of Man, quoted in Townley's Journal, Whitehaven, 1791, vol. ii, p. 71. The Manks 
 magician had little chance of resisting the power of St. Patrick, who obtained "fire 
 from heaven to consume nine wizards, clothed in white vestments, feigning themselves 
 to be saints." — Proprium Sanctorum, fol. 71, ap. Dalyell's Darker Superstitions of 
 Scotland, p. 239. 
 
 2 Manks History, ap. Toirnley, vol. ii, p. 74. 
 
 3 Le Neve's Fasti Ecclesim Angli., p. 356; Keith's Catalogue of Scottish Bishops, 
 Edinburgh, 1824, p. 295 ; Sacheverell, ap. Ward's Ancient Records, p. 23 ; MS. 
 Record, preserved in the Castle of Rushen. 
 
 4 Another account says — " St. Patrick appointed Germanus, a canon of Lateran, 
 one of his owne disciples, to rule over the infant church in Man, and he placed the 
 episcopal seat on a certain promontory, which is to this day called Patrick's Isle. 
 He introduced the liturgy of the Lateran, and so settled the banners of religion, that 
 the Island never afterwards relapsed." — Jocelinus in Vita Patricii, ap. f'slier's 
 Annates . 
 
 5 Warrington's History of Wales, London, 1788, p. 544.
 
 322 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 out the British camp, just at the moment of the onset, he 
 so terrified the Saxons that they fled in every direction. 1 
 
 After returning to his own country, this sivord-bishop 
 gave way to every kind of concupiscence ; 2 yet for having 
 wrought the miracle at Maes Gramon, he was canonized 
 at Rome, and the cathedral church of the Isle of Man, 
 within the precincts of Peel Castle, was dedicated to him. 
 According to the ancient Manks history, before referred 
 to, " His corpse was laid beneath a great bank, with a 
 stone cross at his feet, within his own church in Peel 
 Castle ; 3 but this is at variance with the account given by 
 other historians. 
 
 According to Le Neve, the next bishop of Man was 
 Conindicus who was succeeded by Romulus, both of whom 
 were consecrated by St. Patrick ; but nothing farther is 
 recorded of them. 4 Abbot would, perhaps, be a more 
 appropriate name for these early ecclesiastics, as the 
 bishops were then chosen by the people ; but it is stated 
 that the bishops usurped that privilege by retaining the 
 right of appointment from amongst themselves. 5 That St. 
 Patrick should have set aside the rights of the people in 
 such a manner is somewhat doubtful, indeed the chronicle 
 of the early bishops throughout appears to be very defec- 
 tive. " The monks, who were the only annalists during 
 those ages, were strongly infected with credulity, with 
 love of wonder, and with a strong propensity to imposture." 6 
 
 The next bishop on the list is Maughold, 7 an Irish 
 
 1 Warrington's History of Wales; Hollinshead's Scottish Chronicles, v. i, p. 187. 
 
 2 Chronicles of Scotland by Hollinshead, 1805, vol. i, p. 187. 
 
 3 History of the Isle of Man, verse 16, p. 51 of this work. 
 
 4 Fasti Ecclesiastics Anglicance. 
 
 fi Pinkertori 1 s Enquiry into the Early History of Scotland, vol. ii, part vi. In 
 Ireland, the appointment of bishops was more irregular. See Appendix, Note ii, 
 " Succession of Bishops." 
 
 11 Hume's History of England, vol. i, chap. i. 
 
 7 Maughold is, by some writers, called Macfield ; by Heylin, Machilla, in the Annals 
 of Ulster; by Keith, in his Catalogue of Scottish Bishops, Machatus. I have fol- 
 lowed Keith, as appearing to me to be the most correct.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. o23 
 
 prince who had been the chief of a band of kerns or idle- 
 men, 1 over whom he had exercised an authority as abso- 
 lute as "the old man of the mountain ;" 2 but having in- 
 cautiously descended too far into the low country, in 
 search of plunder, he was taken prisoner. Having been 
 converted and baptised by St. Patrick, he resolved now to 
 avoid temptations by abandoning the world. Without 
 having any particular place in view wherein to fix his 
 retreat, he embarked in a wicker boat,* which drifted 
 before the north wind towards the Isle of Man, where 
 he was cast ashore at the headland, still known by his 
 name, near the place where a city 3 is said once to have 
 stood, but of which there are now no remains visible. 4 
 
 Being released from his perilous situation, he retired 
 into a cave in the mountains, where, by the austerity of 
 his manners, having the bare ground for his bed and a 
 stone for his pillow, and partaking only of roots and w T ater, 
 he became so eminent for piety that he was, with the unani- 
 mous consent of the Manks people, elected bishop, a.d. 
 498 ; and so highly was he reputed as a father of the 
 church, that he was visited by many pious persons even 
 from other countries. Among the most celebrated of 
 these foreign visiters was St. Bridget, one of the tutelary 
 saints of Ireland, who made a voyage from that country 
 to receive the veil of virginity from his hand, when she 
 was only fourteen years of age.* 
 
 St. Germain had caused a chapel to be erected for every 
 four quarterlands throughout the Island ; but Maughold 
 
 1 Ware's Antiquities of Ireland, Dublin, 1705, p. 31. 
 
 2 Hume's History of England, vol. i, chap. x. 
 
 * Appendix, Note iii, " Wicker Boats." 
 
 3 "There was formerly a city in the Island, of no small extent, the remains of which 
 are yet to be seen, and called by his (Maughold's) name. And these air tacts," 
 says Usher, "which we find handed down to us, concerning the succession of the 
 first bishops of Man."— Ward's Ancient Records, London, 1837, p. 25. 
 
 4 Felt//am, page ICO. 
 
 * Appendix, Note iv, " Account of St. Bridget." 
 
 CHAP. XI. 2R
 
 324 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 finding them too numerous divided the Island into parishes 
 and caused a church to be erected in each. 1 
 
 Maughold died in a.d. 553, and, according to tradition, 
 was buried in the church in Man that still bears his name, 
 where his shrine was kept till the time of the reformation. 
 He is mentioned in the calendars of England, Scotland, 
 and Ireland. The church of Wigtown, in Galloway, and 
 the church of Lesmakago, in Lanarkshire, were both dedi- 
 cated to him. Mr. Chalmers says he was of British origin, 
 and died in a.d. 554. 2 His festival was celebrated on the 
 twenty-fifth of April and fifteenth of November. 3 
 
 St. Conan, son of Eugene, king of Scotland, was the 
 next Bishop of Man : he was a person of such great learn- 
 ing, that Eugenius, fourth king of Scotland, sent his three 
 sons, Ferquhard, Fiacre, and Donald, to be educated by 
 him ; 4 but they did not all follow his holy precepts. Upon 
 Ferquhard ascending the throne of his father in a.d. 622, 
 murder and burning overspread the realm, which was sup- 
 posed to have been instigated by the king, to weaken the 
 power of his nobles. He was publicly charged with hav- 
 ing committed crimes, and being unable to vindicate him- 
 self, he was cast into prison by his subjects, where he put 
 an end to his existence. 5 Fiacre, having taken holy 
 
 1 Metrical History of the Isle of Man, verses 14 and 18, p. 51 of this work. 
 The Island was originally divided into 600 quarterlands. — Wood's Account of the 
 Isle of Man, p. 246. When Feltham made his tour of the Island, in 1797, the 
 number of quarterlands amounted to 759, p. 47. Mr. Quayle, in his General View 
 of the Agriculture of the Isle of Man, 1811, p. 134, with greater accuracy states the 
 number of quarterlands to be 771. Keith's Historical Cat. of Scottish Bishops, 
 Edinburgh, 1824, p. 379. This author says he sat bishop anno. 498 and 518. 
 According to the Annals of Ulster, he died in 488 ; but it is stated by Dr. Heylin, 
 that he was bishop in 578. — Ap. Ward's Ancient Records, p. 26. 
 
 2 Caledonia, vol. hi, p. 424. 
 
 3 Butler's Lives of the Fathers and Martyrs and other principal Saints, Paris, 
 1833, vol. iii, p. 206 ; Colgan's Lives of the Saints of Ireland, under " 25th April;" 
 Keith's Historical Catalogue of Scottish Bishops, Edinburgh, 1824, pp. 295, 379. 
 
 4 Bathius's History of Scotland, p. 350 ; Hollinshead's Scottish Chronicles, 
 edit. 1805, vol. i, p. 213. 
 
 6 Hollinshead's Chronicles of Scotland, 1805, vol. i, p. 215.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 325 
 
 orders in France, refused, upon the death of his brother, to 
 accept of the vacant throne ; whereupon Donald, the 
 third son of Eugenius, was, by common consent of the 
 people, chosen king, and was accordingly brought from 
 the Isle of Man with Bishop Conan, his preceptor, and 
 crowned with great solemnity and pomp. 1 
 
 Prior to the time of Conan, Eugenius II, Conall II, 
 and Kinatellus, kings of Scotland, 2 were educated in the 
 Isle of Man, under the government of certain instructors, 
 who trained them up in learning and virtuous discipline ; 
 " according to an ancient ordinance thereof, made and 
 enacted," it passed into a law that the princes of Scot- 
 land should be educated in this Island. 3 But the Manks 
 seminary does not seem to have been devoted exclusively 
 to the instruction of the Scottish princes, nor does it ap- 
 pear that corporeal aliment was as liberally bestowed as 
 nutriment for the mind. It is related that Eyrind the 
 Ostman, a relation of Frodius, king of the Goths, having 
 married Raforta, a daughter of Kiarval, one of the kings 
 of Ireland, retired with his princess to the Isle of Man, 
 where she bore him a son. At their departure from the 
 Island, they left young Helgius there to be educated ; but 
 having returned to see him some time afterwards, great 
 was their surprise when, instead of the fine fat child whom 
 they had left behind, they found a boy with fine eyes, yet 
 almost without flesh, for he had been nearly consumed 
 by hunger ; he was, therefore, named Helgius the Lean. 4 
 
 1 Guthrie's History of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1767, vol. i, p. 121 ; Life of St. 
 Fiacre and Brevery of Lisnoges, ap. Butler's Lives of the Fathers, fyc, Paris, edit. 
 1833, vol. i, p. 320. " This appears to be the same person who is called by Seacome 
 and some other writers, St. Lonan, to whom one of the parish churches in the Island 
 is dedicated. " He was the son of Tygrida, one of the three holy sisters of St 
 Patrick." — Seacotne's History, 1741, p. 52. 
 
 2 Hollimhead's Chronicles of Scotland, vol. i, p. 185; Carrutliers' s History of 
 Scotland, vol. i, b. ii; Seacome' s History, Liverpool, 1741, page 4. 
 
 3 Bcethius, ap. Sac/ievcrcll. 
 
 * Johnstone's Antiquities of Scandinavia, Copenhagen, edition 1786, pp. 23, 24.
 
 320 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 Bishop Conau died in 648. The honours of the church 
 were paid to him on the 26th of January, throughout the 
 Hebrides, down to the time of the reformation. 1 His suc- 
 cessors, in due gradation, were St. Contentus, 2 St. Bald us, 
 and St. Malchus, whose names only have been handed 
 down to us by historians. Torkinus, who lived in 889, 
 is styled Episcopus Soclorensis, as, indeed, all the preced- 
 ing bishops were ; he is supposed to be the patrician 
 bishop, alluded to in the following account of Orlygus, 
 the son of Rappus, a Norwegian chief, who was brought 
 up in the Isle of Man. 
 
 Orlygus, the grandson of Biron Burias, who was edu- 
 cated at St. Patrick's church, in the Isle of Man, wishing 
 to visit Ireland, where many of his relations had acquired 
 large possessions, obtained permission from the patrician 
 bishop, under whose charge he had been placed, on condi- 
 tion that he should build a church on his arrival in Ireland. 
 Before embarking, the bishop gave him a quantity of iron 
 materials, destined for its construction, with consecrated 
 earth, which he was to place at the angular pillars, in or- 
 der to consecrate the building. At parting he said, "where 
 three mountains will present themselves to you, looking 
 from the sea, you will find near the one on the south a 
 valley destitute of trees, with three large stones in it, 
 standing erect. There build your temple, and dedicate 
 it to St. Columba." 
 
 Orlygus committed himself to the ocean, accompanied 
 by his friend Kollus ; but they were overtaken by a vio- 
 lent storm, as they approached the Irish coast, and their 
 vessel, with great difficulty, reached the harbour of 
 Orlygshofir, where they remained during the winter. 
 
 1 Butler's Lives of the Fathers, Paris, edition 1833, vol. i, page 320 ; Leslie's 
 'History of Scotland. 
 
 2 This person is called in ancient Manks history, Connaghan ; his successor is said 
 to be Marooney ; and that Conan, Connaghan, and Marooney were all buried at Keil 
 Alarown. — See Metrical History, verse 20, page 51 of this work.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 327 
 
 Orlygus, however, was much discomfited on account of 
 having lost, during the storm, the consecrated iron, com- 
 mitted to his care by his foster-father, the bishop. On 
 the following spring Orlygus refitted his vessel, and passed 
 along the Irish coast, till he recognised the three moun- 
 tains, and on the south, the valley with the three erect 
 stones, referred to by the bishop. There he landed, and 
 to his great surprise, perceived on the beach, the bundle 
 of consecrated iron, which had been cast, by Kollus, into 
 the sea at the commencement of the storm. In that 
 valley he built a temple, and dedicated it to the patron 
 saint of Iona. 1 This story may be regarded as a specimen 
 of the propensity of the monks to ingraft tales of wonder 
 into incidents of the most ordinary occurrence. 
 
 1 Johnstone's Antiquities of Scandinavia, Copenhagen, 1786, pp. 14 — 16.
 
 328 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN, 
 
 APPENDIX.— Chapter XI. 
 
 NOTE I.— Page 315. 
 
 BURNING OF FAIRIES AND WITCHES AT BELTANE. 
 
 Referring to this singular custom, as practised on the 1st May, 1837, the editor 
 of one of the Manks newspapers says — " On May-day the people of the Isle of Man 
 have, from time immemorial, burned all the whin bushes in the Island, conceiving 
 that they thereby burn all the witches and fairies, which they believe take refuge there. 
 After sunset, the Island presented the appearance of a universal conflagration, and to 
 a stranger, unaccpiainted with our customs, it must appear very strange to see both 
 old and young persons gathering particular herbs and planting them at their doors 
 and in their dwellings, for the purpose of preventing the entrance of the witches." — 
 Mona's Herald of May 5, 1837. In former times small crosses were also made of 
 twigs of the mountain ash, called in Manks crosh keirn, and were disposed in- 
 dividually over the door of every dwelling-house, stable, and sheep-fold, with a piece 
 of iron, of any description, as well as made fast to the tail of every cow. 
 
 The May-fires, which last in the Island from the first to the fourteenth day, are an 
 interesting instance of the continuance of the ancient druidical custom of kindling 
 fires in the open air on May-eve, in honour of the god, Beal or Bealan. On May-day 
 the Druids drove all their cattle through the fire, to preserve them from disorders 
 during the ensuing year. — General Vallancey's Antiquities, p. 19. The Romans, 
 annexing the Latin termination, called him Belinus, by which name the Gauls and 
 their colonies understood the sun. — Toland's History of the Druids, p. 67. The 
 Scotch, Irish, and Manks call the first day of May Bealtein or the day of Beal's fire. 
 — Ploivden's Dissertation on the Antiquity of Irish History ; Jamieson's Scottish 
 Dictionary. From the progress of education and the increase of religious knowledge, 
 a great change has taken place in the opinions and customs of the Manks people. 
 A few may, from superstition, be still wedded to ancient customs and may prefer 
 the marvellous to the more sober dictates of reason. But the lighting of fires on the 
 first of May is now only practised for the amusement of the young, not from the 
 absurd notion that by burning all the whin bushes in the Island that they thereby 
 burn all the witches and fairies that take refuge in them. The natives have learned 
 to employ the whins more usefully ; and by comparing the past and the present, we 
 perceive that superstition is giving place to more rational opinions. 
 
 The superstitious practice of strewing herbs, as described in the preceding extract, 
 I think analogous to the custom, formerly existing in Scotland, of placing rowan tree 
 branches over the doors of the houses, in order to protect the inhabitants from the 
 power of eye-biting and maledictions. Juniper was burned by the Highlanders of 
 Scotland as a propitiatory charm for the protection of their cattle. The hawthorn 
 was considered a mystical plant, and the houses and gardens of our ancestors were 
 t aid to be protected by the elder. In Britanny, as in Man, it is the custom on May-
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. XL 329 
 
 eve to kindle fires on the hills and to pass a plant of the sedum or houseleek through 
 the sacred flame. — Macculloch's Western Isles, vol. iv, p. 346. It was formerly- 
 believed in England, "That if the house -leek or spiff reen do grow on the house-top, 
 the same house is never stricken with lightning or thunder." — Hill's Natural Con- 
 elusions, London, 1670, ap. Ellis's Popular Antiquities, vol. iii, " Rural Charms." 
 The mysterious house-leek may still be seen growing over the door of almost every old 
 cottage in the Island, being planted there to prevent the entrance of the witches. 
 
 All the absurd enactments of former times are yet in force relating to witchcraft. 
 When Mr. Mc. Hutchin, the present Clerk of the Rolls, held the office of deemster, 
 he was applied to for a warrant against a witch, on the charge of depriving cows of 
 their milk, and causing them to sicken. The prudent judge applied to a horse-doctor 
 for a remedy to the disorder of the cattle, and thus put a stop to the prosecution. 
 — Teignmouth's Sketches, cap. xx. But "a case of sorcery was recently brought 
 into and gravely heard in one of the courts of law." — Manx Sun of Jan. 5, 1838. 
 
 NOTE II.— Page 322. 
 
 SUCCESSION OF BISHOPS. 
 
 " In Ireland, the appointment of bishops was more irregular. Celsus, Bishop of 
 Armagh, who died a.d. 1129, immediately before his demise, being solicitous that 
 Malachy Moargain, then bishop of Connar, should succeed him in the see of Armagh, 
 sent him his staff by way of establishing him as his successor." But according to 
 Bernard, " One Maurice, son of Donald, for five years, by secular power, held that 
 church in possession : for the ambition of some in power had at that time introduced 
 a diabolical custom of pretending to ecclesiastical sees hy hereditary succession, nor 
 suffering any bishops but the descendants of their own family. Fifteen generations 
 had succeeded in that manner, and so far had that evil and adulterate generation con- 
 formed to the wicked course, that sometimes though clerks of their blood might fail, 
 yet the bishops never failed. In fine, eight married men without orders were prede- 
 cessors of Celsus, as Bishop of Armagh." — Ware's Commentary on the Prelates of 
 Ireland, Dublin, 1704, page 9 ; John XIX, a layman, was made Pope a.d. 1003. — ■ 
 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, page 355. 
 
 NOTE III.— Page 323. 
 
 WICKER BOATS. 
 
 The ancient Irish used wicker boats covered with ox hides, not only in rivers, but 
 on the open sea. These were called in Irish, corraffhs, possibly from the British 
 corwg, which signifies, a boat covered with leather. " Mac-Fil, or Mac-Cuil, (other
 
 330 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 names for Maughold) afterwards Bishop of Man, being at sea in a leathern boat, was 
 driven by a north wind into an Isle of the Eubonia." — Ware's Antiquities of Ireland, 
 Dublin, 1705, page 45. St. Columba made a similar voyage from Ireland to Iona, 
 in a.d. 563. " Accordingly he set out in a wicker boat covered with hides, accom- 
 panied by twelve of his friends and followers, and landed in the Isle of Hi or Iona, 
 near the confines of the Scottish and Pictish territories." — Smith's Life of St. 
 Columba, Edinburgh, 1798, page 13. It would appear that all religious devotees 
 leaving Ireland, went to sea in these wicker boats. " Dufstane, Macbeth, and 
 Magulmumen, three Scotsmen, desiring to lead the lives of pilgrims for the Lord's 
 sake, taking with them provisions for one week, went secretly out of Ireland in a boat 
 made but of two skins and a half, without sails or oars, and in seven days landed in 
 Cornwall." — Ware's Antiquities, page 46. It is a singular fact, that boats of this 
 primitive description are plied in the present day on the Euphrates. — See Skinner's 
 Overland Journey to India, edition 1837, vol. ii, pp. 117, 118. 
 
 NOTE IV.— Page 323. 
 
 ACCOUNT OF ST. BRIDGET. 
 
 SacheverelVs Account, p. 23. The following are a few particulars in the life of 
 this illustrious and immaculate lady. She was born at Fochard, about a.d. 453, in 
 the county of Louth, and lived mostly at Kildare, where, in 484, she founded a nun- 
 nery. A perpetual fire was kept burning there for many ages, till ordered to be extin- 
 guished a.d. 1220. — Plow den's Dissertation on the Antiquity of Irish History, 
 London, 1831, p. 43. This fire was attended by virgins, called Inyhean na Dayha, 
 or daughters of fire. — Logan's Scottish Gael, vol. ii, p. 327. St. Bridget was so 
 eminent for working miracles, that when she touched the altar in testimony of her 
 virginity, it " grew green and nourished." — Ware's Antiquities of Ireland, page 150. 
 She is reputed to have obliged posterity with twelve books of her revelations, which 
 an angel dictated, as St. Bridget prayed, and a scribe took notes. — Camorensis de 
 Muamitibus, book ii, chap, xxxix, in If 'are's Irish Writers, book i. Under the same 
 roof with the nunnery at Kildare, was a monastery, and St. Bridget presided over both 
 the nuns and monks of these establishments till her death, which, according to her 
 nephew Cogitosus, happened in 521, and according to the Annals of Ulster, in 525. 
 
 There are many churches dedicated to St. Bride throughout Scotland, England, 
 Germany, and France. Her festival was celebrated on first February. Her remains 
 were found a.d. 1185, with those of St. Patrick and St. Columba, in a triple vault 
 in the town of Downpatrick, and were taken to the cathedral of the same town. The 
 tomb in which they were enclosed was destroyed in the reign of Henry VIII. The 
 head of St. Bridget is kept to this day at Lisbon, in the church which belonged to 
 the Jesuits." — Butler's Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and other principal Saints, 
 Paris, edition 1833, vol. i, page 463. According to the Flowers of the Lives of 
 the most renowned Saints, St. Briditt's day, the Virgin of Kildare, was February 
 the 1st. — Rierome Porter, 4to. Doway, 1632, p. 118; Vallancey's Essay on the 
 Antiquity of the Irish Lanyuage, 8vo. Dublin, 1772, p. 21.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 3.'JI 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY FROM A.D. 838 TO 1839. 
 
 Bishopric of Sodor founded by Pope Gregory IV — Wimund consecrated 
 
 by the Archbishop of York — Norwegians, Scots, and Englishmen 
 admitted to the See of the Isles without any distinction as to country 
 — Lawrence consecrated Bishop of Man by the Archbishop of 
 Drontheim — The Monks laid under an Interdict for having banished 
 the Bishop — The Smoke-penny Tax imposed, as a Punishment for 
 that Offence — William consecrated Bishop of Man at Avignon, by 
 Pope Clemen, ' I'll— The Bishopric of the Isles separated from that 
 of Sodor and Man — The Earl of Derby confirms to Iluan and his 
 Successors all the Privileges anciently possessed by the Bishops of Man 
 
 — The singular Title of "Sword Bishop" borne by John Meyrick 
 — Earl oj Derby's opinion as to the choice of a Bishop — Patriotic 
 Exertions and Bequests of Bishop Barrow — Account of Bishop Wilson 
 
 — The Scriptures translated into the Manks Language — The People 
 resist certain Claims of Tithes made by the Bishop — The See of 
 Sodor and Man to be united to that of Carlisle — That Act repealed — 
 A Bill passed by the House of Keys for the Commutation of Tithes. 
 
 Though the Bishopric of Sodor was not constituted till 
 a.d. 838, by Pope Gregory IV; there is evidence to prove 
 that two centuries before that time the bishop was styled 
 "Bishop of Sodor and Man." 1 
 
 St. Brandan, to whom the church of Kirk Braddan was 
 dedicated, was bishop in the eleventh century ; 2 at which 
 time, according to Mathew Paris, the bishopric was 
 termed Sodor and Man. 
 
 Prior to the reign of Goddard Crovan, Rolwer was 
 consecrated Bishop of Sodor and Man. Rolwer was in- 
 terred in the church of Kilmachow, and was succeeded 
 
 1 Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. i; Camden; Spotswood; Seacomc's History of 
 the Isle of Man, Liverpool, edition 1741, page 40. 
 
 2 Butler's Lives of the Fathers, Paris, edition 1833, vol. p. 33. 
 
 CHAr. xii. 2 S
 
 332 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 by William ; and William by Aumond M'Olay, who 
 held the see in the days of the Norwegian conquest. 1 
 
 Wimund, son of Jole, a Manksman, 2 was bishop in 
 1113. He is supposed to be the same with Remar, men- 
 tioned by Torfasus ; 3 but a more correct historian than 
 either, says, he was an Englishman of obscure birth. 
 Having in his youth gained great proficiency in penman- 
 ship, he gained a livelihood for a considerable time by 
 transcribing old writings in monasteries. He afterwards 
 became a monk of the Abbey of Furness, where he 
 applied himself to his studies with such diligence, that he 
 was soon distinguished above all his fellows. Having 
 been sent to the Isle of Man with some other monks, his 
 persuasive eloquence, and, as the historian says, "his 
 portly figure," 4 so charmed the people, that they made 
 him their bishop. He was consecrated by the Archbishop 
 of York, and is supposed to be the first Bishop of Man 
 that became a suffragan of that province. 5 
 
 After Wimund was raised to the episcopal dignity, he 
 married a daughter of Somerled, 6 the powerful Thane of 
 Argyle ; but aspiring to greater things, he pretended to be 
 son of Angus, Earl of Murrav, who was slain at Stricka- 
 throw, in 1130. 7 The Manks knew nothing of his pedi- 
 gree, and not doubting the veracity of their favourite 
 bishop, many brave men espoused his cause, and resolved 
 to assist him in vindicating his rights to the estates of his 
 ancestors. Collecting together, therefore, some vessels, he 
 made piratical excursions into the neighbouring Islands, 
 and even, invading the Scottish coasts, slew many of the 
 inhabitants, and pillaged the country. He maintained 
 
 1 Johnstone's Ckronicon Mannice. This bishop is not mentioned either by Keith 
 in his Cataloyue of Scottish Bishops, or by Sacheverell. 
 
 2 Seacome's History of the Isle of Man, Liverpool, edition 1741, page 97. 
 
 3 Le Neve's Fasti, page 356. 
 
 11 William of Newbury , v. i, c. i, c. xxiv. 
 
 5 Willis's Survey of Cathedrals, vol. i, p. 369. 
 
 6 Haile's Annals of Scotland, London, 1776, vol. i, p. 87 ; Fordun, c. viii, p. 2- 
 
 7 Haile's Annals of Scotland, vol. i, p. 88.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 333 
 
 this predatory warfare with such success, that David, the 
 Scottish monarch, was at last obliged to enter into terms 
 of accommodation with the daring and crafty adventurer ; 
 but he was at last taken prisoner and confined in the 
 Castle of Roxburgh.' 
 
 After a tedious confinement, he was pardoned by the 
 king of Scotland, and, according to one historian, 2 retired 
 to the Abbey of Biland, in Yorkshire, where, although 
 then blind, he took great delight in relating his adventure 
 to the friars. But the better and more generally received 
 opinion is, that he returned to the Isle of Man, for he was 
 bishop there in 1151. 3 
 
 Wimund's piratical excursions into Scotland with his 
 Manks troops were made in the absence of Godred II, 
 then king of the Isles; 4 but who, from the disorganised 
 state of his dominion, had not the power of chastising the 
 prelate and his followers till his return from Ireland ; 
 when, seeing none able to oppose his dictates, he began to 
 grow tyrannical to his troops, and even to his vassals, some 
 of whom he dispossessed, and others he degraded from 
 their dignities. 8 Among these it is highly probable that 
 the bishop, for his former offences and his insolence, was 
 deprived of his sight, and expelled. 6 He was interred in 
 the cathedral church of St. Germain, 7 where a tomb 
 supposed to be his, may be seen. 
 
 According to Mathew Paris, 8 Wimund was succeeded 
 by John, another monk, of Sais, in Normandy. I do not 
 
 1 Heron's History of Scotland, Perth, 1794, vol. i, p. 288. 
 
 2 William of Newbury, vol. i, p. 81. 
 
 3 Mathew Paris' s History Angl. p. 60. 
 
 4 Macculloch's Description of the Western Isles, London, 1824, vol. iii, p. 43. 
 6 Johnstone's Celto Normanicai, Copenhagen, 1786, p. 151. 
 
 6 Mathcxr Paris, ad annum, 1151. 
 
 ' Willis's Survey of Cathedrals, vol. i, p. 369. 
 
 8 Keith's Catalogue of Scottish Bishops, Edinburgh, 1824, p. 297. The bishop's 
 statements are generally defective, and often incorrect. He takes no notice either of 
 Wimund's marriage, his piratical excursion, or of his imprisonment in Roxburgh 
 Castle, although these circumstances are detailed by writers of high veracity.
 
 334 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 find when this prelate died, only he was buried at the 
 cathedral church of St. Germain. 1 He is omitted by Mr. 
 Sacheverell, in his list of the Manks Bishops. 
 
 Heldebert, Archbishop of Tours, writes, (epist. 55) : 
 That, while he was Bishop of Mail, the canonries or pre- 
 bends of the church of Clement were transmitted heredi- 
 tarily, so that there the canons were born such, and not 
 instituted ; and for this they pleaded custom in their 
 favour, alleging that there was no need of electing any 
 clergy excepting bishops, and perhaps abbots. 2 I have 
 not found this prelate's name in any list of Manks Bishops; 
 but as he was Archbishop of Tours, a.d. 1127, 1 think he 
 probably succeeded John, as Bishop of Sodor or Man, 
 about 1151. 
 
 Gamaliel, an Englishman, is said to have been conse- 
 crated Bishop of Sodor by Roger, Archbishop of York, 
 who was promoted to that see anno 1154 and died 1181. 
 The time of Gamaliel's death is not mentioned, only we 
 are informed that he was buried in the Abbey of Peter- 
 borough. 
 
 Reginald, a Norwegian, is the next Bishop of the Isles 
 that occurs : to him was given a grant of the third part 
 of the tithes of Man, that in after times the inferior clergy 
 might be freed from all farther demands by the bishop. 3 
 
 He was succeeded by Christian Archadiensis, inter- 
 preted by an English author to be a " native of Orkney ;" 
 but, in my opinion, it seems rather to signify " a native 
 of Argyllshire," which is called in old writs Argadia or 
 
 1 Keith's Catalogue of Scottish Bishops, 1824, p. 297. 
 
 2 Preliminary Dissertation on the Culdees, prefixed to Keith's Catalogue, p. 51. 
 
 3 Johnstone's Chronicon Mannia. From the time of the Norwegian conquest, a.d. 
 1098, the Bishops of Man were elected by the Monks of the Abbey of Furness, in 
 Lancashire. In a MS. taken from that abbey, and now in the office of the Duchy of 
 Lancashire, is the following bull of Pope Celestine III, in 1198 : — " In electing the 
 Bishop of the Isles, wc have confirmed to you, by our holy authority, the right which 
 the kings thereof, of good memory, Olave and Godred, his son, held in your monas- 
 tery, so as the same may be held in right of them. Given at Rome, the 10th of the 
 calends of July, in the 1th year of our pontificate." — Ward' s Ancient Records, p. 31.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 335 
 
 Archadia. This bishop died in Ireland and lies buried 
 in the monastery of Benchar. 
 
 Michael, said to have been a native of the Isle of Man, 
 succeeded Christian ; being a monk, he was, for his mild- 
 ness, gravity, and eminent qualities, raised to the. episco- 
 pal dignity. He died at a very advanced age at Foun- 
 tain's Abbey in Yorkshire and was buried there about 1203. ! 
 
 He was succeeded by Nicholas de Meaux, of Furness, 
 in Lancashire, who was made bishop anno 1203. It is 
 reported that he went to Ireland to visit the monastery of 
 Benchar, and that dying there anno 1217, was buried in 
 that place ; but it is more probable that he only there 
 resigned his bishopric, for he is afterwards (anno 1227) 
 mentioned as witness to a charter, granted to the priory 
 of Stamford. 2 This bishop is mentioned by Torfaeus 3 
 anno 1215, under the name of Kolas, being the last two 
 syllables of his name. Nicholas died at Ulster anno 1217, 
 and was buried in the religious house of Benchar. 4 
 
 The next bishop was Reginald, nephew of Olave, sur- 
 named " The black King of Man." He made a circuit of 
 the Isles for the purpose of visiting all the churches in 
 his diocese. Olave was then in the Island of Lewis, 
 which had been allotted him by his brother Reginald : 
 "happy to see his sister's son, he received the bishop 
 with much cordiality and ordered a banquet to be pre- 
 pared. 'I will not partake with thee, friend,' said the 
 prelate, 'till the church hath annulled thy illicit marriage; 
 art thou not sensible that thou wert formerly wedded to 
 
 1 How the Bishops of Man were elected at this period, we find from a bull of Pope 
 Celestine III, dated at Rome, 1195 : " We do, by our apostolic authority, confirm 
 the liberty which the Kings of the Isles, Olave and Goddard, his son, granted to the 
 Monastery of Furness, of appointing the Bishops of Man, as fully empowered in their 
 original grants. Granted at Rome, on the 10th of the kalens of July, in the fourth 
 year of our pontificeu." — Camden's Britannia, page 1450. 
 
 2 Monastic Antiquities, vol. i, p. 506. 
 
 3 Torfccits, page 154. 
 
 ^Chronicles of Man, in Camden's Britannia.
 
 336 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 the cousin of the woman who is now thy consort.' Olave 
 admitted that he had long kept the cousin of his present 
 wife as a concubine. The bishop thereupon convened 
 the clergy and divorced Joan (who was the daughter of 
 a nobleman of Kintyre) from her husband." 1 Reginald 
 was a prelate of exemplary piety. He died in 1225, and 
 was interred in the Abbey of Rushen. 
 
 According to some English historians, he was succeeded 
 by John, son of Harfare, anno 1226, who, by a melancholy 
 accident, arising from the negligence of his servants, was 
 burnt to death. He was buried at Jerewas, by some 
 thought to be Jervaulx Abbey in Yorkshire, and by others 
 Jurby in the Isle of Man, Keith, 2 however, says he was 
 buried at Yarro-mouth in England ; 3 but, be this as it 
 may, he enjoyed only for a short time the dignity of a 
 prelate, as Simon, episcopus Sodorensis, is said, by Torfseus, 
 to have been consecrated bishop there anno 1226. In 
 1229, he published the statutes of the constitution of the 
 diocese of Sodor in the Isle of Man, printed in Monasticon 
 Anglicanum, vol. i, p. 711. He is witness to a charter, 
 dated 9th January in the seventeenth year of the reign 
 of Alexander II, a.d. 1231. 4 In 1239 he held a synod, 
 whereat he made thirteen canons.* He died at his palace 
 of Kirk Michael, in the Isle of Man, 5 and was buried in 
 St. Patrick's Isle, and within the cathedral church of St. 
 Germain, which he had begun to build. He was eighteen 
 years bishop, 6 and lived to a very advanced age. 
 
 After his decease, Lawrence, Archdeacon of Man, was, 
 by the approbation of the chapter of Man, chosen to 
 
 1 Johnstone's Celto Normanicce. 
 
 2 Keith's Catalogue of Scottish Bishops, Edinburgh, 1824, p. 299. 
 
 3 Johnstone' s Chronicon Mannice. 
 
 4 Chronicles of Arbroath. 
 
 * Appendix, Note i, " Canons of the Manks Church." 
 
 * Wilkinsii Com.; Statutes, vol. i, p. 664. 
 
 <• Johnstone's Chronicon Mannice, Copenhagen, 1786, p. 151 ; Keith' $ Catalogue 
 of Scottish Bishops, p. 299.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 337 
 
 fill the vacant see. On his election, he immediately 
 set out for Norway, to pay his respects to Harold, the 
 reigning king of Man, who was, at that time, residing 
 at the court of Ilaquinus IV, and to the Archbishop of 
 Drontheim, for the purpose of being regularly consecrated ; 
 but Harold, from some accounts which he received from 
 Man, would not assent to the election of Lawrence. 1 
 Keith says he was consecrated by the Archbishop of 
 Drontheim ; 2 but unluckily was drowned on his return 
 home, and consequently never got possession of his dignity. 
 This was afterwards conferred on Stephen, who appears 
 to have been Bishop of the Isles anno 1253, as in that 
 year he confirms to the monastery of Paisley all the 
 churches and lands held in that establishment, within his 
 diocese, and several other donations made to them by the 
 lords of the Isles. 3 This bishop is omitted by Le Neve, 
 Sacheverell, and other historians ; but his existence is 
 confirmed by the chart ulary of Paisley. If Lawrence was 
 drowned in 1247, the see may have been held by Stephen 
 till 1253. In this year Richard, Bishop of the Isles, 
 dedicated to St. Mary the abbey church of Rushen, which 
 had been one hundred and thirty years in building. He 
 was consecrated at Rome by the archbishop of Drontheim. 4 
 He died anno 1274 at Laugalyner, in Copland, on his 
 return from a general council, and was buried in the 
 Abbey of Furness. In this bishop's time, Alexander III 
 
 1 Johnstone's Chronicon Manniae, anno 1248. 
 
 2 Keith's Catalogue of Scottish Bishops, p. 299 ; Seacome says, in his History, 
 page 44, " That after great disputes, Lawrence was consecrated bishop by the Arch- 
 bishop of Drontheim, and that after his death the bishopric of Man remained vacant 
 six years. The archiepiscopal see of Trondheim, now called Drontheim, included the 
 native colonies in Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Isles, the Orkneys, Hebrides, and 
 Isle of Man. — Crichton's Scandinavia, vol. i, cap. v." 
 
 3 Chart ulary of Paisley. 
 
 4 Torfaus, page 1C5, says, Richard was consecrated bishop, at Rome, in 1252; 
 but this is evidently a mistake, as it is in direct opposition to all other accounts of 
 that period. Keith, upon the authority of Torfaeus, in his Catalogue, places a 
 Richard, bishop in 1252, in the list before Stephen; but as I have been unable to 
 find any other mention of h'm, I have omitted him altogether.
 
 338 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 conquered the Isles and obtained for himself and his heirs 
 all rights and privileges belonging to the said Islands, 
 without any restraint, together with the right of the epis- 
 copacy of Man, the laws, jurisdiction, and liberty of 
 the church of Nidrosien, in every thing that he pos- 
 sesses in the church of Man, and with the exception of 
 the Isles of Orcades and Shetland, which the king of Nor- 
 way reserved to himself. 1 In 1275, Mark, a native of 
 Galloway, was promoted to the see by Alexander III, 
 king of Scotland. He is styled Episcopus de Man, in the 
 treaty made by king Edward I, with the Scots, about 
 the marriage of prince Edward, his eldest son, with Mar- 
 garet, the infant queen of Scotland (Foed Angliae). 
 Bishop Mark, being an excellent negotiator, was much 
 employed in foreign treaties, in the contest betwixt Bruce 
 and Baliol, and at the same time he is said to have filled the 
 office of Lord High Chancellor of Scotland. 2 In March, 
 1291, he held a synod at Kirk Braddan, where thirty-nine 
 canons were enacted. In June of the same year, the 
 competitors for the crown agreed that seisine of the king- 
 dom of Scotland should be given to king Edward ; and 
 the Scottish regent having accordingly made out a solemn 
 surrender of the kingdom into the hands of the English 
 monarch, swore fealty to him, along with many of the 
 barons. The only ecclesiastic who performed this dis- 
 graceful ceremony was Mark, Bishop of Sodor and Man ; 3 
 but for the inconsistent part, which he afterwards acted, 
 
 1 Johnstone's Chronicon Mannice, Copenhagen, edition 1786, pp. 52, 53. 
 
 -Keith's Catalogue of Scottish Bishops, Edinburgh, 1824, page 301. Bishop 
 Mark is altogether omitted by Crawford, in his Lives of the Scottish Bishops, and, 
 indeed, I have found him nowhere else so designated. Perhaps he succeeded William 
 Frazer, Bishop of St. Andrews, who resigned the office of Lord Chancellor anno 1280, 
 as the immediate successor of that prelate is not mentioned.— Keith's Catalogue, 
 "See of St. Andrews." 
 
 3 Dalrymple's Annals of Scotland, vol. i, p. 207 ; Fcedera, b. xi, p. C15. " The 
 letter from the community of Scotland, directed to Edward I, from Brigham, is 
 important and curious. It contains the names of all the Bishops of Scotland, among 
 which is Marc Evesque de Man." — Tytler's History of Scotland, vol. i, p. 431.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 339 
 
 he was seized by Edward, and sent prisoner to London. 
 He was, also, formally banished by the Manks ; but for 
 this act, the Island remained for three years under an in- 
 terdict, when Mark was recalled, the inhabitants, by way 
 of penance, agreed to make payment to him of a penny for 
 every house that contained a fire-place. This tax was 
 called the smoke penny, and continued to be paid to many 
 succeeding prelates. 1 Keith says, he suffered much for 
 his fidelity to his country, and loyalty to his prince, 
 
 " Happy when evil Lights on such alone." 
 
 He died anno 1303, having been for some time blind, and 
 was buried in the cathedral church of St. Germain. 
 
 Next to him, our church historians place Allan, by some 
 writers called Ornac, a native of Galloway,* who became 
 Bishop of the Isles anno 1305. He was one of the Scotch 
 clergy who recognized the title of Robert Bruce to the 
 crown, in 1309 ; and his name is mentioned that year in 
 another writ. 3 He ruled the church with great approba- 
 tion till the time of his death, on 15th February, 1321. 
 He was buried at Rothsay, in the Isle of Bute. 
 
 To him, Gilbert Mc. Clellan, also a native of Galloway, 
 
 1 Johnstone's Chronicon Mannia. This tax appears to have been only the annual 
 tribute of one penny collected out of every family at the feast of St. Peter, and hence 
 was called in Britain, Peter-pence, which imposition was continued till the time of 
 Henry VIII, when it was enacted, " that henceforth no person shall pay any pension, 
 Peter-pence, or other imposition, to the use of the bishop and see of Rome. — Buck's 
 Theological Dictionary ; see letter P. 
 
 2 In the Ancient Rolls of Scotland is inserted this memorandum: " Allan, of 
 Wigtown, holds letters of presentation to the church of Saint Carber, (now Kirk 
 Arbory,) in Man." As this register extends only from a.d. 1290 to 129j, Allan's 
 appointment to the church of St. Carber must have taken place during that period, 
 as the last-mentioned date was ten years before his appointment to the see of Sodor 
 and Man. Another memorandum is " respecting the office of Chancellor of Scot- 
 land, committed to the dignitary Allan, of Dumfries ;" again, " regarding deer given 
 to Allan, of Dumfries, Chancellor of Scotland." — Calendars of Ancient Charters, 
 London, 1772, p. 105. Alani Episcopi Sodorcnsis was witness to a proclamation 
 issued by King Robert I, dated at the monastery of Cambuskenneth, 6th November, 
 1314, calling on his subjects to return to their allegiance after the battle of Ban- 
 nockburn. — Sir Walter Scott's Lord of the Isles, canto vi, note wiv. 
 
 3 Anderson's Independency , appendix, No. 1 1. 
 
 CHAP. XII. 2 T
 
 340 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 succeeded in 1321. Sacheverell and other historians say 
 that he died in 1323 ; but this must be a mistake, for he 
 is found witness to several charters in the 19th, 20th, and 
 21st years of the reign of Robert I, 1 which coincide with 
 the years 1325, 1326, and 1327. He was also buried at 
 Rothsay, in the Isle of Bute, and was, as some writers 
 say, succeeded by Bernard, abbot of Kilwinning, anno 
 1324, who held the bishopric for nine years, and was 
 buried in the abbey church of Kilwinning, Ayrshire. 2 
 Keith, however, is of opinion that he has been mistaken 
 for Bernard de Linton, the famous abbot of Arbroath. 
 This man seems to have been a native of the south of 
 Scotland, and to have been bred to the church. He is 
 designated rector of Mordington, both by Prynne and 
 Rymer, anno 1296. He was made Abbot of Arbroath in 
 1311, and Chancellor of Scotland by King Robert I. 
 By a charter in the charturlary of Arbroath, dated 30th 
 April, 1328, it appears that Bernard was at that time 
 Bishop-elect of the Isles. It is there stated, " That as 
 Bernard, Abbot of Arbroath, for the space of seventeen 
 years, had been elected to the see of Sodor, the lords 
 of the kingdom of Scotland, as well for a reward for his 
 former services as to defray the expense of the said elec- 
 tion, grant to him all the fruits of the church of Aberne- 
 thy and chapel of Dumblane, till the end of seven years 
 from the feast of the passover a.d. 1328." 
 
 "Barnardus episcopus Sodorensis," is written to a char- 
 ter granted by Robert I, to the city of Glasgow, anno 
 1329. A fragment of a poem written by him, is printed 
 in Fordun, vol. ii, p. 248. He died in 1333, and was 
 buried at Arbroath, where he had been so long abbot. 3 
 
 Thomas, a native of Scotland, is next met with as 
 
 1 Reyist. Chart., Arbroath, Cambuskenncth, and Scone, in Keith's Catalogue, 
 page 302. 
 
 2 Sacheverell' s Account of the Isle of Man, London, 1702, p. 111. 
 
 3 K*ilh's Ca/aloyxe of Scottish Bishops, page 303.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 341 
 
 Bishop of the Isles, anno 1334. He was the first bishop 
 who enacted twenty shillings as a procuration from the 
 churches of Man. He was, also, the first who demanded 
 a tenth part of all taxes paid by foreigners employed in 
 the herring fishery. 1 He filled the see of Sodor and Man 
 for eighteen years. Having visited Scotland in 1348, he 
 died there on the 20th September, and was buried at 
 Scone. 
 
 William Russel, Abbot of Rushen, said to be a native 
 of the Isle of Man, succeeded next to the see. He was 
 consecrated at Avignon, by Pope Clement VI, anno 1348. 
 He held a synod at St. Michael's, anno 1350, at which 
 five additional canons were made. 2 In 1373, he founded 
 at Biekmachen or Beemachan, in Kirk Arbory parish, a 
 house of minor friars. 3 
 
 He had been eighteen years Abbot of Rushen, and was 
 twenty-six years Bishop of Man, when he died at Rams- 
 head, 21st April, 1374, and was buried in the monastery 
 of St. Mary, of Furness. 
 
 His successor was John Dunkan, another Manksman. 
 He was elected Bishop of Man, by the clergy of the dio- 
 cese of Sodor, on the last day of May, 1374. 
 
 On the ensuing festival of St. Leonard, he was confirmed 
 at Avignon, by Pope Gregory XI ; and on the follow- 
 ing festival of St. Catherine, he, along with eight other 
 bishops, was solemnly consecrated in the monastery of the 
 mendicant friars, by Cardinal Praestine, some time Bishop 
 of Cracoviacum. 4 Returning home, however, he was 
 
 1 Johnstone's Chronicon Mannia>. 
 
 " Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. i, page 711. 
 
 9 Willis's Survey of Cathedrals, vol. i, p. 664 ; Speed's Map. According to Mr. 
 Ward, Wm. Russell went to Avignon, in 1318, to be consecrated by the Pope, in 
 consequence of the Archbishop of Drontheim having been supposed to have lost his 
 spiritual jurisdiction when the King of Norway lost the Island. — Ancient Record*, 
 page 32. This could not be the reason, as the King of Norway did not resign hi6 
 right to the Isle of Man till the year 1366. 
 
 4 Johnstone's Chronicon Mannia, Copenhagen, 1786.
 
 342 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 made prisoner, and lay in irons for two years at Bologna, 
 in Picardy, whence he was obliged to ransom himself by 
 the payment of five hundred merks, at that time considered 
 a large sum. 1 
 
 Immediately after his return to his native Isle, on the 
 festival of the conversion of St. Paul, a.d. 1376, and in 
 the third year of his consecration, he was solemnly 
 installed in his own cathedral church, at Peel, on which 
 occasion he received many great offerings. 2 He died in 
 1380. 3 
 
 Whether the inhabitants of Icolmkill and the other 
 Western Isles submitted to the authority of the two last- 
 mentioned Bishops of the Isle of Man, which, from the 
 year 1341, had been in the hands of the English, or estab- 
 lished a separate bishop of their own, is uncertain ; but it 
 is evident that on the death of John Dunkan, this bishop- 
 ric was divided into two dioceses. The clergy of Iona, 
 and the Western Isles elected as their prelate a person 
 named John, while, at nearly the same time, the clergy of 
 Man elected as the successor of Dunkan, Robert Waldby, 
 who was afterwards Archbishop of Dublin. 4 
 
 Bishop Waldby held the see of Man twenty-two years, 
 and was succeeded by John Sprotton, the first bishop men- 
 tioned in the Manks records, and the last before the 
 patronage of the bishopric devolved to the house of Stan- 
 ley. He was appointed in 1396. 
 
 By letters patent of 7th April, 1407, the king granted 
 to Sir John Stanley and his heirs, for ever, the patronage 
 
 1 Sacheverell's Account, 1702, p. 11G. 
 
 -Johnstone's Chronicon Mannice, Copenhagen, 178G, p. 47. 
 
 3 Keith's Catalogue, edition 1824, page 304. 
 
 4 Keith's Catalogue of Scottish Bishops, Edinburgh, 1824, p. 304. " After the 
 Isle of Man was subdued by the English, the bishopric of Sodor was divided into 
 two ; that which was erected in the principal Island, and confined to it, fell under the 
 jurisdiction of the Archbishop of York ; the other, which comprehended all the 
 Ebudes of Scotland, fell under the Archbishop of Glasgow." — Macpherson's Critical 
 Dissertation on the History of the Norwegian Principality, commonly called the 
 Kingdom of Man, Edinburgh, edit, quarto, 1768, p. 286.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 343 
 
 of the bishopric of Sodor and Man, with the parsonages 
 and vicarages within that diocese. 1 
 
 The Bishop of Man was afterwards nominated by the 
 Lords of Man, and appointed by the king of England, 
 but without a seat in the British parliament. 2 " How- 
 ever, as in case of treason, the Island should become for- 
 feited to the crown, the bishop then, as holding his see 
 from the king, would have a vote as well as a seat." 
 
 It appears, also, that the bishop in some measure de- 
 pended on the lord for his salary, as the lord's share of the 
 tithes accrued to him, 3 " cither as lord or abbot." 
 
 Richard Pulley was bishop a.d. 1429, as appears from 
 the following extract from the public records of the Island: 
 " At a court of all the commons of Man, holden at the 
 Castle of Rushen, between the gates, on Tuesday next, 
 after the 20th day of Christmas, 1430, Finlo M'Key, with 
 the rest of his fellows, were called to answer, upon divers 
 articles presented by Gubon M'Gubon, clearke commissary 
 to Richard Pulley, Bishop of Sodor, in his visitacon, holden 
 at Hollandtowne, (i.e. Peel) in the year 1429. Among 
 other, the particles ordained for the relief of the poor 
 shollers are now dealt unto other uses by the fault of the 
 bishop. And the said Finlo and Jenkin Lucason, with 
 their fellows, say they will not pay the debts of holy 
 church till this be corrected." 4 
 
 The name of this prelate is not mentioned, nor is 
 allusion made to him in any catalogue or account of the 
 Bishops of Man that I have hitherto seen. 
 
 1 Seacome's History of the House of Stanley, Liverpool, 1741, p. 19. 
 
 2 Venerii Antiquities Eccles. Britain, folio 33-1 ; Willis's Survey of Cathedrals, 
 vol. i, p. 3G9 ; Jefferey's Account of the Isle of Man, p. 111. 
 
 3 " There was a Bishop of the Isle called Episcopus Sodorensis, when the jurisdic- 
 tion of all the Hebrides belonged to him, whereas now he is but a bishop's shadow, 
 for albeit that he bears the name of Bishop of Man, yet have the Earls of Derby, as 
 is supposed, the chief profit of the see. Save that they allow him a little to nourish, 
 he has not wherewithal to maintain his countenance." — HollinsheacVs Chronicles of 
 England, folio, vol. i, pp. 38, 140. 
 
 4 Lex Scripta of the Isle of Man, printed at Douglas, 1819, page 11.
 
 344 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 Thomas Grene, vicar of Dunchurch in Warwickshire, 
 was appointed to the bishopric of Sodor and Man in 1488, 
 How long he held it, is uncertain ; but he was succeeded 
 by Thomas Burton, who died in 1458. Thomas, formerly 
 Abbot of Vale Royal in Cheshire, held the bishopric in 
 1480 and was succeeded by Thomas Oldham, which is 
 all that is known of the ecclesiastical history of the Island 
 during that stormy period. Huan Husketh was promoted 
 to the bishopric of Sodor and Man in 1487. In 1505, 
 Thomas, Earl of Derby, confirmed to him and all his suc- 
 cessors all the lands and privileges anciently belonging to 
 the Bishops of Man. This deed of confirmation, which 
 has been happily preserved by Sir William Dugdale, is 
 for the first time translated, and inserted at length in the 
 appendix to this chapter.* 
 
 In the Lex Scripta of the Island, an " indenture" 
 appears to have been made on the last day of July, a.d. 
 1532, "between the Right Reverend Father in God, John, 
 Bishopp of Sodorensis and the Isle of Man, and the Right 
 Honourable Edward, Earl of Derby, Soveraigne and Liege 
 Lord of the same Isle." This John has not been included 
 in any catalogue of the Bishops of Man, hitherto published. 
 His name is not even mentioned in the MS. list of Manks 
 Bishops in the British Museum, which, Mr. Ward says, 
 he examined more carefully than the subject might seem 
 to require. 1 
 
 By virtue of the act 27th Henry VIII, cap. 28, for the 
 general dissolution of monasteries and other religious 
 establishments, 2 the monastery of Rushen, the priory of 
 
 * Appendix, Note ii, " Charter of the Bishopric." 
 
 1 Ancient Records, pp. 30, 98. 
 
 2 Some idea of the extent of the operations of King Henry's ecclesiastical act may 
 be formed from the following circumstance : In the House of Commons, on the 12th 
 April, 1838, " Colonel Sibthorp moved for a return of the present valuation, as far 
 as can be ascertained, of all the property, in lands, manors, forests, and liberties, 
 which originally belonged to the several monasteries, abbeys, chapelries or other 
 religious houses, which for other purposes, than those for which they were established 
 and endowed, have been alienated from the service of the church; also a return of the
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 345 
 
 Douglas, and the Friar's Minors, commonly called the 
 " Gray Fryars of Bimakin," were vested in the crown of 
 England. The cathedral church of St. Germain, which had 
 been commenced in 1230 by Bishop Simon, and which was 
 the resting place of many of his successors in the see, 
 before it was completed, and the abbey church of Rushen, 
 which had been an hundred and thirty years in building, 
 were, by one dash of a sacrilegious hand, reduced to ruins. 1 
 
 The revenue of the Manks church was apportioned 
 after the most ancient and apostolic manner. One third 
 of all the tithes was allowed to the bishop for his main- 
 tenance, another third to the parochial priests for their 
 subsistence, and the remaining third to the abbey of 
 Rushen for the education of youth and the relief of the 
 poor. 2 But when the abbey was destroyed in the " devour- 
 ing reformation," 3 its charitable possessors driven forth 
 into the world, its lands sold, its churches and the resting 
 place of kings and bishops rudely desecrated, the Lord of 
 the Isle seized upon that portion of the tithes which had 
 been held by the monks for the public good. 4 
 
 It was enacted by the insular government, in the year 
 
 names of the individuals to whom, and the period at which such were granted, and by 
 whom they are now severally enjoyed." "The Attorney General said he could hardly 
 think that the motion was made seriously ; but, at all events, that it was impracti- 
 cable, as it would require the issuing of fifty-thousand orders, and the examination 
 of perhaps one million of titles." The motion was negatived without a division. 
 
 1 From the following passage it appears that Bishop Ward intended to rebuild these 
 edifices, had his life been prolonged : " The bishop does not despair of either restor- 
 ing the ancient cathedral of St. Germanus, now in ruins, or of laying the foundation 
 of a new one. The lands and ruined walls too of Rushen Abbey, at present offered 
 for sale, do not stand unnoted." — Ward's Ancient Records, p. 04. This venerable 
 prelate, in the course of nine years, succeeded in raising funds for budding and 
 rebuilding eleven churches and chapels ; and, it seems, had, at the time of his death, 
 funds in his hands for building two more. — Ancient Records, p. 61. 
 
 - Ward's Ancient Records, London, 1837, p. 91. 
 
 3 Sacheverell, Dedication to Bishop Wilson. For the extent and subsequent dis- 
 tribution of church-lands, see cap. xiv, Appendix, Note vi. 
 
 4 Ward's Ancient Records, p. 38. On 9th February, 1545, Malcolm, eommen- 
 dator of Whithorn, in Galloway, petitioned the privy council of Scotland to have a 
 tax with which he was charged, remitted, on account of his bavins: lost the fruits of 
 <-wo kirks, in the Lie of Man.— Cnfrdnnin, vol. iii, y. Il<>.
 
 346 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 1541, "That the bishop hath no power to present any 
 person to the vicarage or to any living, except the four 
 which are in his own gift, without the lord's own special 
 presentation, or take any church into lapse, for it is the 
 lord's prerogative royal, as he is the immediate metropo- 
 litan of the holy church within the Isle." 1 The livings 
 in the gift of the bishop are those of Patrick, German, 
 Jurby, and Braddan. 2 
 
 Thomas Stanley was Bishop of Man in 1542. In that 
 year, the act 33rd Henry VIII, cap. 31, came into ope- 
 ration, for severing the bishopric of Sodor and Man from 
 the province of Canterbury and making it part of the 
 province of York. It may be inferred that previous to 
 the enactment of that statute, the Bishop of Man had 
 been consecrated by the metropolitan Bishop of England, 
 as he was, at the date of the above act, suffragan of that 
 see. These measures of the English monarch appeared 
 to Bishop Stanley an undue extension of the prerogative 
 of his crown, and were, therefore, opposed by him ; but 
 this collision was settled in the year 1545 by the deposi- 
 tion of the bishop from his diocese. 3 
 
 When we recollect that king Olave, in 1102, then a 
 tributary of Norway, granted part of his lands in Man 
 towards building the abbey of Rushen, enriched the 
 estate of the church with revenues, and endowed it "with 
 great liberties," and that Henry IV, when the Island 
 had fallen into the possession of the English, assigned it to 
 John Stanley, with all the royalties and patronage of the 
 bishopric, it is not easy to discover the grounds upon 
 which Henry VIII acted, in assuming the vested rights 
 and property of the church, and placing the same at his 
 own disposal. 
 
 1 MS. Statute Book, anno 1541 ; Tit. Spiritual Men. 
 
 2 Isle of Man Charities, printed 1831, p. 58. 
 
 * Bishop Hildeslei/s Manuscript in the British Museum, ap. Ward's Ancient 
 Records, p. 89.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 347 
 
 Bishop Stanley was succeeded by Robert Ferrar, who, 
 in the year 1555, was translated to St. David's. The 
 successor in the bishopric of Sodor and Man, was Henry 
 Man, who did not long enjoy his office, as he died in 
 1556. In the same year, Thomas Stanley, the bishop 
 who had been deposed, was restored by Queen Mary, and 
 at the same time, appointed governor of the Island, thus 
 becoming what is termed a sword bishop. 1 
 
 Besides wielding the sword and the crosier, Bishop 
 Stanley found time, also, to woo the muses. Seacome, 
 the historian of the house of Stanley, has inserted in his 
 work at length, a doggerel poem, with this copious title, 
 " A right true and most faithful Chronicle, setting forth 
 without any fraud or adulterating flatterage, the noble 
 and notable acts of the Stanleys (ungentlye to be left out 
 of other chronicles) ; it declareth, also, the Stanley's des- 
 cent, and how they came, and by what means, by the 
 name of Stanley, and commencement thereof, good and 
 perfect, agragated and compiled by Thomas Stanley, by 
 permission of God, Bishop of Man, alias Soder, in the 
 year of our Lord God, 1562. 2 " 
 
 Mr. Ward, on the authority, I presume, of the manu- 
 script which he examined in the British Museum, asserts 
 that Thomas Stanley died in possession of the bishopric of 
 
 1 Sword-bishop is tantamount to governor-bishop, or military commander of the 
 priestly order. When the governor goes in procession to the Tynwald, the sword of 
 state is carried before him. The term sword-bishop is probably derived from the 
 ceremony observed when the offices of governor and bishop were united in the same 
 person, a custom that appears to be of northern origin. The Bishop of Riga, him- 
 self a sword-bishop, instituted, in the year 1201, the military order of the "militia 
 of Christ," composed solely of ecclesiastics. Pope Innocent III gave this new i 
 
 the rule of the templars, and directed them to wear the badge of the cross and sword 
 embroidered on their tunics. — Crich ton's Scandinavia, vol. i, cap. vi. At a much 
 later period, Scotland had a civilian bis/top. In the Grey-Friars church-yard, Edin- 
 burgh, is a tombstone bearing the following inscription : — " Here lyes Lord Adam 
 Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney and Zetland, Senator of College of Justice, and one of 
 the lords of his majesty's privy council, who died 23rd August, 1593, in the t "> 7 1 1 1 
 year of his age." — Monumental Inscriptions, Glasgow, 1834, p. 30. An equally sin- 
 gular combination of offices in the same person. 
 
 2 Seacome's History of the House of Stanley, pp. 173, 174. -Nat (all's edition. 
 
 CHAP. XII. 2 \
 
 348 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 Man. 1 This does not agree with the statement of 
 Seacome. 
 
 Edward Stanley, who, for his valorous actions, was 
 created, by his sovereign, Lord Monteagle, married a 
 daughter of Sir Anthony Brown, governor of Calais, and 
 by her had a son named Thomas, who was some time 
 Bishop of the Isle of Man, but on the death of his father, 
 becoming Lord Monteagle, he resigned that see. 2 
 
 On the resignation of Lord Monteagle, John Salisbury 
 succeeded to the bishopric of Man. 
 
 "At a Tynwald, held on 13th July, in the year 1577, 
 near the chapel of St. John's, before the Right Honour- 
 able Henry Earl of Derby, his barons and clerks, council 
 and assembly of the Island, John Merix (Merrick) was 
 called in and sworn bishop, according to law ;" 3 and was 
 also appointed governor of the Island. Bishop Merrick 
 drew up the account of the Island, published in Camdetis 
 Britannia. 
 
 Three years afterward, George Lloyd filled the bishop- 
 ric, and upon being translated to the see of Chester, in 
 1605, was succeeded by William Foster, of whom, al- 
 though he appears to have held the see of Man for thirty 
 years, nothing further is known. 4 
 
 The history of the Saxon Heptarchy is not more barren 
 of events than the accounts handed down to us of the early 
 Bishops of Man. Their non-residence in the Island, with 
 other causes referred to in the following extract from a 
 letter, written by James Earl of Derby, to his son, a few 
 years later than we are here treating of, may partly ac- 
 count for so little being known of them at the present 
 
 1 Ward's Ancient Records, pp. 36, 89. 
 
 2 History of the House of Stanley, Liverpool, 1711, p. 49. 
 
 3 MS. Statute Book of the Island; Tit. Spiritual Men. 
 
 * Ihdlock's History of the Isle of Man, p. 148. In some catalogues of the Manks 
 Bishops, Foster i> placed after Phillips, but as only his name has reached our times, it 
 is a matter of little consequence.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 349 
 
 time: — " Choose for your bishop a reverend and holy man, 
 who may carefully see the whole clergy do their duty ; 
 but not any person already beneficed in England ; and 
 oblige him you choose to reside in the Island. 1 By the 
 law and custom here, the bishop might lease any part of 
 the bishopric for twenty-one years, or for lives, or for 
 farther time, as it is at present ; by which, you see, few 
 bishops have enjoyed the full benefice of their see, having 
 contented themselves with having been called Lords, 
 without due regard to their revenues or any obligation 
 of residence ; but in a few years the leases will be all ex- 
 pired, and then the bishopric will be worth having ; and 
 considering the cheapness of the place, I know few bishops 
 in England who can live better than he. And I herein 
 consider this, that if the greatest part of the bishopric be 
 leased, you will find few worthy men will accept the 
 place ; and if men are beneficed already, they will not care 
 to live in the Isle, which all the clergy ought to do. Have 
 great care that the bishops be not of a factious disposi- 
 tion, and let him be of your own choosing rather than by 
 recommendation, so he will show greater obligation to 
 you, and be noways dependant on any other, no, not even 
 of York." 2 
 
 The next bishop on record is John Phillips, who was 
 consecrated in 1635. It is said, that being a native of 
 North Wales, he was so much master of the Gaelic lan- 
 guage as to translate into Manks the common prayer- 
 book, and, according to Mr. Challoner, 3 the bible also, 
 although the latter is not now extant. Mr. Camden 
 says, also, that " the bible was translated into the Manks 
 
 1 At a Tynwald, held 7th December, 1696, it was enacted, "That every bishop, 
 archdeacon, parson, vicar or curate, or person holding any personal office in the 
 Island, who absented himself from his charge more than four months in any year, 
 forfeited one half-year's amount of his stipend or salary, the first time, and the second 
 time, a year's stipend or salary." 
 
 - Rolfs History of the Isle of Man, edition 1773, p. 63. 
 
 3 Ap. Seacome, Liverpool edition, p. 47 ; Bullock's History, p. 148.
 
 350 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 tongue by Dr. Phillips, Bishop of Man, but by reason of 
 his death, it never came to the press, so that the ministers 
 read the scriptures to the people in the Manks language, 
 out of the English bible." 1 This, however, seems to be a 
 mistake, as no translation of the scriptures into Manks 
 took place till long after the time of Phillips.* 
 
 According to Waldron, " The clergy held a tyrannical 
 jurisdiction over the Manks people, and they take care to 
 maintain their authority by' keeping the laity in the most 
 miserable ignorance, not that this is altogether policy, for 
 he cannot well instruct who wants to be taught himself. 
 Books written in the Manks tongue, they have none, 
 except a catechism and instructions for youth, with some 
 prayers, not many years since compiled." 2 
 
 The writer of this extract held an official situation 
 under government, during the reign of king George I, in 
 the Isle of Man, which was a century subsequent to the 
 time of Phillips, and even then the common prayer-book 
 had not been many years translated into the Manks 
 lainmage. 
 
 Bishop Phillips was one of the most celebrated preachers 
 of his time, and was highly eminent for the amiable quali- 
 ties of his nature. He died the same year in which he 
 was consecrated, and was succeeded by Dr. Richard Parr, 
 who was inducted in 1G37. He was a native of Lancashire, 
 and a cotemporary with governor Challoner at Brazen Nose 
 College, in Oxford, who speaks highly of him in his concise 
 Description of the Isle of Man. During his time, many 
 ordinances and practices of the clerky were reformed in 
 consequence of the great resistance of the people 3 and the 
 interference of James, Earl of Derby, who, in the opinion 
 of that nobleman, were on the eve of a general rebellion, 
 
 ' Britannia, folio edition, 1095, p. 1069. 
 
 * Appendix, Note iii, "Translation of Scriptures into Manks." 
 
 2 Waldron's Description of the Isle of Man, folio 1731, pp. 7, 112. 
 
 3 Bullock's History, London, 1816, page 148.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 351 
 
 when be landed in the Island. 1 Many small tithes were 
 required to be paid at the church on Easter Sunday, on 
 pain of exclusion from the communion. These were com- 
 muted and the lesser excommunications abolished, which 
 was considered a great boon by the people. What a 
 deo-radino- scene the collecting of these tithes must have 
 been ? The words of the statutes are " Whereas it is a 
 great complaint of the country that by the spiritual laws 
 here, they are forced to pay tithe butter and tithe cheese 
 on the sabbath day, upon the altar, in the church, where 
 there often falls out great contention betwixt the ministers 
 and the proctors, on the one part, and the people who are 
 to pay the same, on the other part ; and sometimes the 
 people who are to pay are put upon their oath for such 
 trivial matters." "His lordship therefore orders, that from 
 henceforth, no more tithe butter or cheese shall be paid 
 in manner aforesaid, but, in lieu thereof, farmers, cotters, 
 and all others who ought to pay such tithe, shall, at Easter, 
 when they account for their other duties to the church, pay 
 four pence for every cow that had a calf that year, and 
 two pence for every fallow cow, and one penny for every 
 four milk sheep, and one penny for every two milk goats." 2 
 The character of the bishop was not much calculated to 
 allay the discontents of the people ; he was a notorious 
 gamester, but not always fortunate. Ewan Christian, 
 one of the deemsters of the Island, won five hundred 
 pounds from him at play, with which he purchased the 
 manor of Ewanrigg, in Cumberland, still possessed by 
 that family. 3 
 
 After the see having been seventeen years vacant, 
 Samuel Rutter, who had been tutor to Charles, Lord 
 Strange, and long Archdeacon in the Isle of Man, suc- 
 
 ' Seacome's History of the House of Stanley, Liverpool, 1741, p. 87. 
 
 2 Apud Castrum de Rushen, 30th October, 1643. 
 
 3 Historical Notices of Edward and William Christian, page 17.
 
 352 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 ceeded to the bishopric in 1661. He was a friend and 
 companion of the great Earl of Derby, who, in his letters 
 to his son Lord Strange, expresses a high opinion of the 
 prelate. 1 He wrote poetry for the earl's amusement, which 
 down to a late period, was popular in the Island. Bishop 
 Rutter governed the church with exemplary goodness and 
 piety till the time of his death in 1663. 2 After his de- 
 mise, Dr. Isaac Barrow was consecrated bishop in 1663, 
 and at the same time appointed governor of the Island, 
 thus uniting in his person the two highest offices in the 
 state. When king Charles II advanced Dr. Barrow to 
 the dignity of master of Trinity College, Cambridge, his 
 majesty was pleased to say " He had given it to the best 
 scholar in England ;" and he spoke from his own know- 
 ledge, the doctor being his majesty's chaplain. The king, 
 when often conversing with Dr. Barrow, used, in his 
 humorous way, to remark that he was an unfair preacher 
 "because he exhausted every subject and left nothing for 
 any other after him to say." 
 
 The services of this eminent divine to the cause of reli- 
 gion, during the short time he held the see of Sodor and 
 Man, has caused his memory to be revered by every class 
 of the Manks people, but the clergy, in particular, owe 
 much to his exertions in their behalf. 
 
 In an indenture, dated first November, 1666, made 
 with the Earl of Derby, he thus describes the situation 
 
 1 Seacome's History, — Earl of Derby's second Letter to Lord Strange. 
 
 2 Among the inscriptions in the cathedral, was the following singular one, on a 
 brass plate, over the tomb of Bishop Rutter, written by himself; the plate was a few 
 years since stolen and carried away — it is supposed by some casual visitors ; such a 
 daring and criminal act ought to meet with a very severe punishment : 
 
 "In hac domo, quam a vermiculus 
 Mutuo accepi confratribus meis ; 
 Sub spe resurrectionis ad Vitam, 
 Jaceo Saml. pcrmissione divina 
 Episcopus hujus Insulac : Siste, lector, 
 Vide ac ride, palatium Episcopi ! 
 Ob. 30mo. die Mcnsis Maii, 1663," 
 
 —Felt ham'* Tour, p. 212.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 353 
 
 of the Manks clergy : — " The maintenance for the minis- 
 ters of the gospel, settled within this Isle, is very small 
 by reason whereof many of the ministers are forced to 
 live in mean condition, far unbecoming their callings, and 
 likewise are necessitated for the gaining and obtaining of 
 a livelihood for themselves and their families, to betake 
 themselves to mean and inferior employments to the dimi- 
 nution of the honour of their function and profession." 1 
 
 For the better support of these poor vicars, he set a 
 subscription on foot in England, where he raised, chiefly 
 by liberal contributions from the dignified clergy, the sum 
 of £1,041 8s. 4d., and by his personal influence with the 
 king, he obtained a grant of £100 per annum to be paid 
 out of the revenue of excise for ever. 2 * These sums 
 amounted together, in the year 1670, to £1,341 8s. 4d. 
 
 The Earl of Derby, either as lord or abbot, was entitled 
 to one third part of the whole tithes of the Island. A 
 part of these he disposed of, upon a lease of ten thousand 
 years, to Bishop Barrow, for the sum of £1,100, leaving 
 a balance of £241 8s. 4d. at the bishop's disposal, which, 
 was, with other benefactions by Bishop Wilson, 3 applied 
 towards erecting a free school at Castletown. This has 
 been called the " Academic Master's Fund." 4 
 
 By his will, dated seventh July, 1668, Bishop Barrow 
 says, " I give my lease of £20 per annum, which I pur- 
 chased from the Earl of Derby, of the lands, known by 
 
 1 List of the Isle of Man Charities, printed 1831, page 9. 
 
 2 By the statute 27th George III, the sum of .£2,000,000 sterling was to be 
 raised by a tax of twenty per cent upon income, in the year 17s 7, which extended to 
 the Isle of 'Man. But the 106th section of that act provided that, " This enactment 
 shall not charge the pension of ,£100 per annum, granted by King Charles II, to the 
 poor clergy of the Isle of Man." 
 
 * Appendix, Note iv, " Royal Bounty." 
 
 3 Bishop Wilson's Works, published by Cruttwell, page 150. 
 
 4 Manks Charities, 1831, p. 21. — The old chapel at Castletown, dedicated to the 
 Virgin Mary, and consecrated a.d. 1250, was long occupied as a public seminary, 
 called "The Barrow Institution."
 
 354 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 the name of Ballagilly and Hango Hill, 1 towards the 
 maintenance of three boys at the academic school, when 
 it shall be settled : my intention is that these boys, by 
 their education, be qualified to supply the clergy of this 
 Island upon a vacancy in any living, and Jlthat, therefore, 
 no boys shall be taken into any of these places, till secu- 
 rity be given by his friends that, upon the call of the bishop, 
 he shali immediately return to the Island, take holy orders, 
 and supply the vacant living or pay back such monies 2 as 
 he hath received of their gift." The benefaction is now 
 called "The Academic Student's Fund." 
 
 These great designs were all accomplished during the 
 short time that Bishop Barrow held the see of Man. To 
 the great loss of the Island, he was translated to the see 
 of St. Asaph ; but the exact year appears uncertain. 3 
 
 Dr. Henry Bridgeman, dean of Chester, succeeded 
 Bishop Barrow in the see of Man, after whom John Luke 
 filled that high office, but was translated to Bristol in 1684, 
 and next year to the see of Chester. He was one of the 
 six bishops imprisoned for a libel against king James II. 4 
 
 1 On 5th July, 1836, a bill was brought before the Tynwald court, to enable the 
 trustees of Bishop Barrow's charities, to sell, upon building leases, plots of the trust 
 estate. 
 
 2 Isle of Man Charities, p. 35. 
 
 3 " From the year of our Lord 1664 to the present year 1670, Isaac Barrow, being 
 Bishop of the Island." Again, "At the translation of that bishop from that 
 bishopric unto St. Asaph, in the year 1670." — Isle of Man Charities, 1831, p. 4. 
 Dr. Oswald, in his Isle of Man Guide, p. 40, says, " Isaac Barrow was Bishop 
 of Man from 1663 to 1671." "Isaac Barrow only sat two years Bishop of Man." 
 — Bullock's History of the Isle of Man, page 149. But by an extract from the 
 Exchequer Book, a.d. 1668, "I hereby acknowledge to have received from the 
 Right Reverend Dr. Isaac Barrow, the present Bishop of St. Asaph." — Isle of Man 
 Charities, 1831, page 24. It thus plainly appear that some of these quotations 
 are not correct. 
 
 4 When James II published a second declaration of indulgence, in 1688, Luke, 
 Bishop of Chichester, and five other prelates met privately with the primate, and 
 concerted a petition to the king, representing that as this declaration was founded on 
 a prerogative formerly declared illegal by parliament, they could not, in prudence, 
 honour, or conscience, make themselves parties to its distribution over the kingdom. 
 —Humes History of England, cap. 70.— After William succeeded to the crown, 
 Bishop Luke refused to take the oath of allegiance, and was therefore deprived.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 355 
 
 Baptist Levengc, who died in 1G93, was the next prelate 
 of Sodor and Man. Contrary to the usual custom, he 
 appears to have sat in the House of Lords in his episco- 
 pal robes, 1 where a seat was erected for him immediately 
 above the bar. 2 After remaining four years vacant, the 
 see was filled by the pious and venerable Thomas AVilson, 
 whose life is intimately connected with the history of the 
 Island for a period of nearly sixty years, during which 
 period nearly all the energies of his capacious mind were 
 devoted to the spiritual welfare of the flock over which he 
 presided. 
 
 Bishop Wilson was born at Burton, in the county Pala- 
 tine of Chester, in 1663, and finished his studies for the 
 church at Trinity College, Dublin. On his return to Eng- 
 land, he was licensed curate of New Church, in the parish 
 of Winwick, Lancashire, where he became known to the 
 Earl of Derby, who, in 1692, appointed him his domestic 
 chaplain and tutor to Lord Strange. In 1697, he pro- 
 moted him to the bishopric of Sodor and Man; and he was 
 enthroned in the cathedral, in Peel Castle, on 11th April, 
 1698. When he first took possession of this see, he found 
 the residence appropriated to him, in ruins, 3 the churches 
 throughout the diocese in a falling state, the clergy sunk 
 into ignorance and vice,* and the inhabitants in general 
 greatly debased by the illicit trade which they followed. 
 To correct these fundamental errors, by directing their 
 attention to agricultural pursuits, he, in conjunction with 
 the House of Keys, prevailed upon the Earl of Derbv, 
 to grant the Act of Settlement, passed in 1703. 
 
 1 Jeffery's Account of the Isle of Man, page 141. 
 
 2 Wood's History, p. 85. 
 
 3 On rebuilding this palace, Bishop Wilson probably gave it the modern name of 
 Bishop's Court. At a very early period, it was called Herinstad, (Johnstone's Celto 
 Normanicce, Copenhagen, 1786, appendix), and by a later historian, Bali-Curi, 
 (Gibson's Camden Britannia, vol. ii, p. 1441), which we are of opinion was its name 
 when Bishop Wilson took possession of the see. 
 
 * Appendix, Note v, " Account of the Manks Clergy." 
 
 CHAP. XII. 2 YY 
 
 '
 
 356 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 He caused the churches to be repaired, and gave suita- 
 ble directions to his clergy for the discharge of their pas- 
 toral duties. By the neglect of former incumbents, the 
 tithes had been suffered to lapse ; and a practice had crept 
 in of excluding the estates of the principal civil officers 
 from that species of taxation which at length came to be 
 set up as an indefeasible right. The impoverished state 
 of the church revenues was a sufficient warrant for Bishop 
 Wilson to annul these usurped privileges, but he found 
 much opposition ; and in the prosecution of this matter, 
 much animosity was engendered on both sides. 
 
 The Clerk of the Rolls refused to pay the sum charged 
 against him as tithes, whereupon the bishop issued his 
 precept, and committed him to the dungeon of Kirk Ger- 
 man ; and when the prisoner prayed to be heard in his 
 own defence, the bishop wrote on the back of the petition 
 with his own hand, " That such hearing was not custo- 
 mary, and would not be allowed." 1 
 
 Although, according to the ecclesiastical law of the Isle 
 of Man, a process may be commenced in the Bishop's Court, 
 which does not even require a hearing on both sides, or a 
 notice to the defendant, we are naturally shocked at the 
 idea of a claim, however well founded, being arbitrarily 
 enforced. Well might the lord-chancellor King say 
 of the ecclesiastical code, framed by Bishop Wilson, in 
 the year 1703, "If the ancient discipline of the church 
 Avas lost elsewhere, it might be found in all its pomp in 
 the Isle of Man." 2 * He manifested an attachment ap- 
 
 1 Bullock, page 166. 
 
 2 At a convocation of the clergy, at Bishop's Court, on 3rd February, 1703, 
 ' ' It was constituted to oblige men to submit to the discipline of the gospel, that if 
 any person incur the censure of the church, and after having done penance, offend 
 again , he shall not presume to come within the walls of the church, but he shall be obliged 
 to stand at the church door every Sunday and holy day, the whole of the morning and 
 evening service, till, by his penitent behaviour, he procures certificates from the min- 
 ister and churchwardens, which if he docs not obtain within three months, he shall be 
 excommunicated ; and no one shall converse with him, upon pain of being partaker 
 with him in his sin and punishment." — Lex Scripta of the Isle of Man, p. 186. 
 
 * Appendix, Note vi, " Discipline of the Manks Church formerly."
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 357 
 
 proaching to bigotry to the crown and the church. He 
 shrunk from every question that tended to disturb the faith 
 either of himself or of his flock, and even excluded discus- 
 sion on such points. He suspended a clergyman in the 
 Island for hazarding a doubt in one of his discourses — 
 whether the power of granting absolution for sin had 
 really devolved from the apostles to their successors in 
 the ministry.' 
 
 Of the disinterested purity of the bishop's motives in 
 making these offensive claims, there is no reason to doubt ; 
 but he appears to have often exercised his pastoral 
 authority with a tyrannical hand; and he was undoubtedly 
 a foe both to civil and religious liberty, which involved 
 him in difficulties, with which, as a pastor, he should have 
 had no concern. 
 
 He caused a copy of The Independent Whig to be 
 carried off from a public library, because he supposed it 
 to be inimical to the true government of the church ; but 
 the governor, captain Home, in opposition to the bishop, 
 imprisoned the person who had acted under the prelate's 
 authority, till the book was restored. This led to more 
 serious disputes between the governor and the bishop. 
 Mary Hendrick, of Douglas, was presented by the church- 
 wardens on the 29th May, 1715, for having committed 
 adultery with Isaac Allgood, of the same place, and on 
 the 5th day of June following, was legally convicted of 
 that crime by the ecclesiastical court. But from this 
 decision she appealed to the governor, as representative 
 of the Earl of Derby in the Island, who, by an order of 
 
 1 Bullock's History of the Isle of Man, pp. 1GG, 167. The punishment for a 
 minor offence is thus described by Bishop Wilson : — " The penitent, clothed in a 
 white sheet, is brought into the church, mediately before the litany, and there con- 
 tinues, standing upright, till the sermon be ended ; and after a proper exhortation 
 from the pastor, the congregation are desired to pray for him, thus he is dealt with, 
 every Sunday, till received again into the church. — Ward's Ancient Records, p. 58. 
 Dr. Knox condemns the bishop's zeal for ecclesiastical discipline, as intemperate and 
 severe. — Winter Evenings, vol. i. See Essay on Bis/top Wilson and his Writings.
 
 358 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 30th July, 1717, appointed the 23rd December following 
 to hear this appeal, and officially intimated the same to 
 the bishop, that he might either attend himself to defend 
 his case or give directions to one of his vicars-general or 
 other official person to do so ; but notwithstanding such 
 intimation, neither the bishop nor any person for him 
 attended at the time and place appointed to give the 
 information required by the governor ; whereupon, " At 
 Castle Rushen, on the 19th February, 1718, in a court 
 held before the governor, deemsters, and officers, the 
 bishop, for disobedience and contempt of the governor's 
 said order and of the prerogative of the lord of the Isle, 
 was fined and discerned in the sum of ten pounds." 
 
 It appears, however, that the governor insisted on 
 having, by his office, authority to call the bishop, person- 
 ally, to account for what might seem to him an infringe- 
 ment of the lord's prerogative. 
 
 " At Peeltown, 3rd October, 1718. — The governor hav- 
 ing this day called the bishop before us to give his reasons 
 why my Lord Derby's order was not complied with, in 
 relation to the hearing of the appeal of Mary Hendrick 
 before his lordship. The bishop's answer was, that there 
 was no appeal in that case. 
 
 (Signed) J. Rowe, Clerk of the Rolls." 
 
 On following up the records, I find by an entry 1 dated 
 7th August, 1719, that the fine of ten pounds, awarded 
 against the bishop, was remitted by the Earl of Derby. 
 
 Mrs. Home, the governor's lady, had falsely defamed a 
 lady of her acquaintance, and because she refused to ac- 
 knowledge her crime, was interdicted by the bishop from 
 receiving the communion. The governor's chaplain, how- 
 ever, admitted her to receive the sacrament ; but for this, 
 he was suspended from his office by the bishop. This so 
 
 1 The particulars of this case, which I understand has not hitherto appeared in 
 print, were extracted for this work from the original Records of the Island, kept in 
 Castle Rushen, by my friend Dr. Underwood, of Castletown.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 350 
 
 irritated the governor, that he obtained an order of Tyn- 
 wald, fineing the bishop in the sum of £50, and his two 
 vicars each in the sum of £20, for illegal and extra-judicial 
 proceeding in suspending Archdeacon Horrobin. For 
 refusing to pay these penalties, they were all committed to 
 the dungeon of Castle Rushen, by order of the governor, 
 where, for two months, they were in every respect treated 
 like persons confined for high treason. 
 
 Meanwhile the case was fully stated by the bishop in a 
 petition to the king in council. It was rejected on the 
 grounds of informality, as the application for redress, on 
 the part of the prisoners, should have been made to the 
 Earl of Derby. When the matter was referred to that 
 nobleman, he replied, " That not having had any previous 
 intimation of the proceedings from any of the constituted 
 authorities of the Isle of Man, he could give no answer to 
 the complaint; but that he believed the persons complained 
 of to be well-meaning men, and no doubt the matter in the 
 bishop's petition was misrepresented." 
 
 The result of this business, after two years' prosecution, 
 was that the whole proceedings were declared illegal, and 
 the fines were of course reversed ; but for recovery of 
 damages from the governor, or even the costs of suit, no 
 provision was made. The suspension of the Archdeacon 
 Horrobin was cancelled by the bishop; 1 but whether 
 governor Home submitted to the terms, I have not been 
 able to ascertain. 
 
 The expenses of this long protracted suit fell heavily 
 on the bishop, having amounted to upwards of £500, of 
 which he received £300, raised by subscription to assist 
 him in carrying on the cause. 2 
 
 1 The Reverend Robert Horrobin resigned bis charge in the Isle of Man, as appears 
 by an instrument, in his own hand writing, dated 16th May, 1727. He removed to 
 the living of Winfrith, in Dorsetshire, where he died in 1729. — CnittwcH's Life of 
 Bishop Wilson. 
 
 2 Bullock's History, page 177.
 
 360 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 In the year 1730, the Rev. Dr. Wilson proposed to his 
 father, the bishop, to establish a fund for the support of 
 clergymen's widows and children in the Isle of Man, which 
 was the more necessary, as, from the smallness of the 
 livings, few were able to make a living for their families. 
 To this the bishop readily agreed, and by the assistance 
 of Mrs. Crow, Mrs. Leving, the late bishop's widow, Lady 
 Elizabeth Hastings, and others, a sum of money was raised 
 and placed in the English funds, the interest of which, 
 amounting to £12 a year, was appropriated to that pur- 
 pose. Some years after, the benevolent proposer of this 
 institution, assisted by some of his friends, considerably 
 enlarged it, by purchasing of the late Duke of Atholl, the 
 thirds of the living of Kirk Michael, which he made over 
 to trustees for the use of that charity for ever. 1 
 
 In the year 1739, the clergy of Man were threatened 
 to be deprived of their means of subsistence, which con- 
 sisted of a third of the impropriations originally purchased 
 from the Earl of Derby by Bishop Barrow, these being 
 claimed by the Duke of Atholl as an inseparable appendage 
 to his estate and royalty.* The deeds of conveyance 
 could not be found, and the clergy were in danger of losing 
 the benefit of the impropriations altogether ; but Bishop 
 Wilson, and his son Thomas, who was prebendary of 
 Westminster, 2 did not cease their researches until the 
 deeds were discovered in the Rolls' Chapel, London ; and 
 being exemplified in 1745, under the great seal of England, 
 
 1 By a copy of an account of this fund, audited and balanced before the vicars- 
 general, and James M'Crone, agent, in May, 1825, the interest of it amounted to 
 £110 3s. — Isle of Man Charities, printed 1831, p. 48. 
 
 * Appendix, Note vii, " Stipend of the Clergy." 
 
 2 " One of the first acts performed by George III, after his accession to the throne, 
 was to issue an order prohibiting any of the clergy who should be called to preach 
 before him, from paying any compliments in their discourses. His majesty was led 
 to do this from the fulsome adulations which Dr. Thomas Wilson, prebendary of 
 W i-tminster, thought proper to deliver in the Chapel Royal, and, for which, 
 instead of thanks, he received a severe reprimand." — Court Anecdotes, London, p. 10.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 3(51 
 
 the security of the impropriations was established to the 
 great relief of the parties concerned. 
 
 On account of a great scarcity of corn in 1740, an 
 embargo was laid on the ports of Great Britain against 
 the exportation of grain, which occasioned great distress in 
 the Isle of Man, where the corn raised was always inade- 
 quate in amount, even in the best seasons, to the con- 
 sumption of the Island. To alleviate the sufferings of 
 the people, the good bishop distributed his own grain gratis, 
 to the most needy, and sold a large quantity which he had 
 purchased, far below the original cost. To increase the 
 calamity, an epidemic disease broke out, and the bishop 
 being the only physician in the Island, his bodily fatigue 
 in visiting the sick, was incessant. He caused a petition 
 to be presented to the king, praying for a removal of the 
 embargo, so far as regarded the Isle of Man, and received 
 a supply of corn just in time to save many of the people 
 from the last effects of famine. 
 
 Nothing could more strongly evince his paternal care of 
 his favoured people, than the various exhortations delivered 
 by him to the clergy. He required of them the most 
 scrupulous regard to their own character and conduct, as 
 the only means of giving efficacy to their doctrine. He 
 insisted on the duties of visiting and catechising the unin- 
 formed, and furnishing each parish with books of devotion 
 and instruction. His own words are, " By the encourage- 
 ment and assistance of my worthy friend, Dr. Bray, and 
 other benefactors, in 1699, I began a foundation of paro- 
 chial libraries in my diocese, which, by the blessing of 
 God, I have ever since been improving with books, practi- 
 cal and devotional." 1 These libraries were afterwards 
 protected by an act of Tynwald.* 
 
 The annual return of the episcopal revenues of Bishop 
 
 1 Life of Bishop Wilson, p. 58 ; Isle of Man Charities, p. 135. 
 * Appendix, Note viii, "Parochial Libraries."
 
 362 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 Wilson, in money, did not exceed £300. The rest was 
 received in corn, a great part of which he bartered for 
 cloth or yarn, to supply the wants of the poor in the Island. 
 Tailors and shoemakers were kept constantly at work in 
 his house, to make clothes and kerrans of the cloth and 
 leather which his corn had purchased. These were dis- 
 tributed in gifts or at low prices, according to the extent 
 of their wants, to all who applied for them. He kept a 
 register of all the poor in his diocese, in which he entered 
 the names and circumstances of his pensioners. This he 
 called his Marticula Pauperum. 1 The first book ever 
 printed in the Manks language, entitled, The Principles 
 and Duties of Christians, was published in 1699 by Bishop 
 Wilson. 2 
 
 During his long pastoral life, he never, unless visited by 
 sickness, omitted to perform some part of the church duty 
 on every Sabbath day. He was offered an English 
 bishopric by Queen Anne, but declined accepting it, as he 
 thought he could be more useful in the Isle of Man than 
 elsewhere. In 1744, he purchased some land, which he 
 added to the living of Jurby. In 1755, his solicitations 
 added to those of his son, obtained the renewal of the 
 royal bounty to the clergy, which had been suspended for 
 several years. 
 
 This excellent prelate was an eminent theological writer, 
 his works consist of religious tracts, sermons, and a short 
 account of the Isle of Man. 3 
 
 1 " If we even view him as a farmer," says one of his biographers, " we find that, 
 by judicious cultivation, he improved the ecclesiastical demesnes, so that in a few 
 years, he fed and clothed the poor from lands that, before his coming, produced 
 almost nothing. His coffin was made of one of the elm trees planted and cut down 
 by himself."— Ward's Ancient Records, pp. 51, 52. 
 
 2 Slowell's Life of Bishop Wilson, ap. Lord TeignmoutKs Sketches, chap. xx. 
 
 3 Bishop Wilson's Life was translated into French, by the Rev. Mr. Bourdilon, but 
 was not published. His works were first published in two vols. 4to. Then in two 
 vols, folio, in numbers. Then in eight vols. 8vo. The Sermons have had six editions. 
 1 1 ia complete works four editions ; out of every edition of the works complete, twenty
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 363 
 
 Mr. Moore, of Douglas, was once witness to a pleasing 
 and singular instance of the bishop's attention to some 
 aged poor people of the Island : As he was distributing 
 spectacles to some whose eyesight had failed them, Mr. 
 Moore expressed his surprise, as he knew not one of them 
 could read a letter ; " No matter," said the bishop, with a 
 smile, "these spectacles will help them to thread a needle, 
 to mend their clothes, or, if need be, to keep themselves 
 free from vermin." 1 He had commenced a translation of 
 the scriptures into the Manks language, 2 when his pro- 
 gress was arrested by death, on the 5th March, 1755, in 
 
 pounds were paid by direction of the late Rev. Dr. Wilson, to the fund for support- 
 ing the widows of the clergy. These works may be had in the following forms : 
 
 In eight volumes, 8vo., his works complete, with his life, compiled from his own 
 MSS. and other authentic papers, by the Rev. C. Cruttwell. Price £2 8s. in boards. 
 
 The four volumes of Sermons, each containing twenty-five Discourses, may be had, 
 price ,£1 4s. in boards. 
 
 The Bishop's Life and Tracts may also be had in four volumes. 
 
 Vol. 1. The Bishop's Life, and History of the Isle of Man. 
 
 Vol. 2. Instruction for the better Understanding of the Lord's Supper ; and Sacra 
 Privata. 
 
 Vol. 3. The Knowledge and Practice of Christianity made easy to the meanest 
 Capacities ; Observations for reading the Historical Books of the Old Testament, &c. 
 
 Vol. 4. Parochialia, or Instructions for the Clergy ; Maxims of Piety and Chris- 
 tianity, &c. 
 
 In two volumes, 12mo., thirty-three Sermons of Bishop Wilson, selected by the 
 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 
 
 Also, in three vols, royal 4 to., a most elegant edition of The Holy Bible, with the 
 Notes of Bishop Wilson ; and the variations of all the English translations, collected 
 by the Rev. C. Cruttwell. 
 
 IN SEPARATE TRACTS. 
 
 1. Sacra Privata; — The Private Meditations and Prayers of Bishop Wilson, ac- 
 commodated to general use. 
 
 2. Parochialia; or, Instructions for the Clergy in the Discharge of their Duty. 
 
 3. Maxims of Piety and of Christianity, alphabetically arranged. Also reprinted 
 for the Use of Sunday Schools. 
 
 4. The Principles and Duties of Christianity; being a further Instruction for such 
 as have learned the Church Catechism, &c. 
 
 1 Encyclopedia Britannica, fourth edition, vol. xx. 
 
 2 It appears that down to the year 1775, there was only one book printed in the 
 Manks language. "The Manks tongue is the only one spoken by the common peo- 
 ple, who are natives. The clergy preach and read the Common Prayer in it ; how- 
 ever, a short Catechism, carefully taught in the schools, is the only printed book they 
 have." — Campbell's Political Survey of Great Britain, Dublin, edit. 1775, vol. ii, 
 page 538. 
 
 CHAP. XII. 2 X
 
 364 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 the ninety-third year of his age, and fifty-eighth of his 
 ministry. 1 
 
 The tenants about his demesnes were the persons 
 appointed to bear the bishop to his grave ; and each had 
 a mourning coat given him for the occasion. But, from 
 his palace, he was attended to his last resting place, in 
 the church-yard of Kirk Michael, by nearly the whole 
 population of the Island, so great was the anguish of his 
 flock when deprived of their beloved pastor. 
 
 A plain tombstone, with a modest inscription, marks 
 the spot where the remains of this venerable prelate are 
 laid. Many of the good bishop's benefactions appear in 
 the list of Manks charities drawn up by order of the 
 British government. In the year 1714, he founded a 
 church in the parish of Kirk Patrick, which, for many 
 ages, had been destitute of a regular place of worship, 
 and he expended the sum of £112 in the purchase of a 
 glebe for the vicar. He also purchased a glebe for the 
 vicar of Kirk German, as appears by a deed, recorded in 
 the Seneschal's Office, dated 30th April, 1739. He 
 endowed the vicarage of Braddan with the lands of Bal- 
 lacretney, and he purchased a glebe for the vicar of Kirk 
 Michael, as appears from a deed, dated October, 1743. 
 He likewise founded a school at Peel for the education of 
 Is, with a suitable endowment for the maintenance of a 
 female teacher. Parochial libraries were also established 
 by him throughout the Island. 2 
 
 ' Bishop Wilson was assisted in his translation of the scriptures into the Manks 
 language by a gentleman, to whose memory a marble monument is erected in the 
 chancel of the old chapel of Kirk Braddan, with this inscription : — " Sacred to the 
 ■>ry of the Rev. Philip Moore, Rector of Kilbride. His education was completed 
 under the auspices of the good Bishop Wilson, and he made a grateful return for this 
 singular advantage. He was principally concerned in revising the memorable trans- 
 lation of the Holy Scriptures into the Manks language. He was born at Douglas, 
 I 70."., and died there January, 1 783." The first book ever published in the Manks 
 was published b >p Wilson in 1699, entitled The Principles and 
 
 Duties ';/' Chi \v Life of Bishop Wilson. 
 
 ■ Charities, printed 1831, pp. . r >7. 64, 71, 112.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 865 
 
 On the demise of Bishop Wilson, the Duke of Atholl, 
 in whose person the patronage of the see was vested, 
 waived his right of nomination and referred it to the 
 bench of English Bishops to point out a man worthy of 
 wearing the mitre, which the late prelate had so much 
 adorned. Doctor Mark Hildesley, rector of Hitchin, in 
 Hertfordshire, was unanimously recommended by the 
 English Bishops, as a person, in every respect, eminently 
 qualified to fill the vacant see. He was consequently 
 consecrated Bishop of Man on the 25th of March, 1755. 
 
 Immediately on his appointment, Doctor Hildesley set 
 about completeing the translation of the scriptures into 
 Manks, begun by his predecessor in office, who, at his own 
 expense, had printed the gospel of St. Matthew. With 
 the assistance of the clergy, therefore, he completed the 
 other Evangelists and the Acts of the Apostles. 
 
 So deeply interested was he in the accomplishment of 
 this design, that he was often heard to say, " He only 
 wished to live to see it finished, and then he would be 
 happy." 
 
 By the aid of the Society for Promoting Christian 
 Knowledge, he succeeded in printing in the Manks lan- 
 guage the Neiv Testament, the Book of Common Prayer, 
 and Bishop Wilson's Form of Prayer for the use of fish- 
 ermen. On Saturday, 28th November, 1772, he received 
 the last part of the translation of the bible. On Monday 
 following, he was seized with a stroke of palsy, which 
 deprived him of his intellectual powers, and he calmly 
 expired on the 7th December, deeply regretted by the 
 inhabitants of his diocese, to whom he was greatly en- 
 deared by his amiable manners and active benevolence. 1 
 
 1 Hartivell Home's Introduction to the Critical Study of the Scriptures, London, 
 1822, ral ii, p. 07. 
 
 When Bishop Hildesley was at Scarborough in 1764, the following lines were 
 stuck up in the Spa room, and were taken down by him ; and after his death, found
 
 366 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 Among many other charitable benedictions by Bishop 
 Hildesley was a school at Kirk Michael, where about 
 thirty scholars are taught. 1 Sunday-school instruction 
 originated with Bishop Hildesley in the Isle of Man, 
 where this great work of christian charity was practised 
 with peculiar success, before it was commenced elsewhere. 
 Down to the time of Bishop Hildesley, the Bishops of 
 Man were approached on the knee ; but he abolished that 
 obsequious and degrading custom ; when addressing his 
 flock, he generally did so from the rostrum, although there 
 is a throne for the bishop in almost every parish church 
 in the Island. 
 
 The three next Bishops of Man, in succession, were Dr. 
 Richmond, Dr. Mason, and Claudius Cregan. The first, 
 it seems, was only remarkable for his unbending haughti- 
 ness. The second was disgraced by a derangement in 
 his circumstances, utterly inconsistent with his station. 
 And the last, from the absence of all energy of mind, 
 could not sustain the dignity of his office. 2 
 
 (in 1773) by his sister among his Scarborough bills, with this memorandum : that 
 he preserved it only on surmise, that it was done by way of banter : — 
 
 *' If to paint Folly, till her friends despise, 
 And Virtue, till her foes would fain be wise ; 
 If angel-sweetness — if a godlike mind 
 That melts with Jesus over all mankind ; 
 If this can form a bishop — and it can, 
 Tho' Lawn was wanting— Hildesley's the man." 
 
 Under which was written by the bishop : — " From vain glory in human applause, 
 Deus me liberet et conservet." Some notices of him may be seen in the Life of 
 Bishop Wilson, by the Rev. Mr. Cruttwell. 
 
 1 Isle of Man Charities, 1831, p. 74, 
 
 2 Bullock, p. 186. At that time, the inferior clergy do not seem to have been 
 more popular than the bishops. " There was a prodigious outcry in Douglas, last 
 evening, against the two vicars-general drawing together at Kirk Michael, a vast 
 concourse of people, from every part of the Island, to one of their spiritual court- 
 meetings for the probate of wills and debts, and then deserting them, after fingering 
 a good deal of cash, under an excuse that they must dine with the bishop, but would 
 only stay an hour, and then would return and finish the business of the day. Under 
 that pretext, they kept the people starving and waiting for several hours, and then 
 sent a message that no more business could be transacted that day. It is said his 
 [Ordship gives his guests most excellent wine. Many very old persons had fourteen
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 367 
 
 The honourable George Murray, son of Lord George 
 Murray, Bishop of St. David's, and nephew of the Duke 
 of Atholl, succeeded Claudius Cregan ; but at the death 
 of that prelate, the bishop-elect being under the age, at 
 which, by the canons of the church, he could receive the 
 pall, the see remained vacant till 1813, when he was 
 consecrated Bishop of Man. The young bishop became 
 very unpopular in his diocese, by attempting to commute 
 the tithes of his see for a fixed annual revenue of £6,000, 
 and when that project failed, by striving to enforce the 
 collection of a tithe of all the green crops, 1 which had 
 been in disuetude since the time of Bishop Wilson. 
 
 Having obtained a judgment in his favour, before the 
 king and council, he proceeded to collect a tithe of pota- 
 toes, " which produced so much alarm and dissatisfaction, 
 that in November, 1825, menacing tumults and assem- 
 blages of the country people, amounting, on several occa- 
 sions, to many hundreds, became general throughout the 
 Island. They were too numerous and too powerful for 
 the small body of troops, stationed there, to control, and, 
 on more than one occasion, they proceeded to violence 
 and fire raising. The disorders eventually became so 
 alarming, that the bishop deemed it prudent to waive his 
 claim." To the measures, which thcv had thus so unani- 
 mously resisted in 1825, the inhabitants voluntarily 
 submitted in 1837. 2 
 
 or fifteen miles to travel after that late notice — shame on such behaviour. Another, 
 James Earl of Derby is wanting to keep such ecclesiastics within their proper bounds, 
 and prevent them from tyrannising over, and fleecing, unmercifully, poor ignorant 
 people, under the stale idle pretence of reforming their morals." — Toivnley' s Journal 
 in the Isle of Man, vol. ii, p. 171. 
 
 1 Bishop Murray appears to have had a right to do so : the words of the 8th sec. 
 of the canons, enacted in 1291, by Bishop Mark, are, " We enact that all our dio- 
 cesans, under pain of excommunication, pay tithes of every sort of bladus, pulse- 
 onions, and fruit, whether growing in gardens or in fields." — Dugdalc's Monasticon 
 Anglicanum, vol. i, p. 712. 
 
 2 On 13th December, 1837, a bill for the commutation of tithes, framed upon the 
 principle of the tithe act established in England, was introduced in the House of Keys.
 
 368 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 In 1827, Lord Goderich, then prime minister, deeming 
 it, perhaps, for the interest of the church, that the con- 
 tending parties should be separated, translated Bishop 
 Murray to the see of Rochester, and appointed as his suc- 
 cessor in the see of Sodor and Man, Dr. William Ward, 
 rector of Great Hawkesley, in Sussex ; " because," said his 
 lordship, in afterwards alluding to the appointment, " he 
 knew his zeal, his acquirements, and his determination to 
 discharge to the utmost, the sacred duties of the episco- 
 pal office." 1 
 
 The established church of the Island has for a long time 
 past been well supported by qualified ministers, yet, not- 
 withstanding this, an extraordinary number of dissenters 
 are to be found in the Island. 2 Soon after the reforma- 
 tion, the followers of William Penn gained some footing in 
 Man ; but they were ultimately banished, and their pro- 
 perty was confiscated. Not deterred by the failure of the 
 Quakers, John Wesley sent one of his preachers to the 
 Island, in 1775, to teach the inhabitants the doctrine of 
 "salvation by faith ;" and, in 1777, with the same object 
 in view, he visited the Island himself. From that time 
 the Methodists have increased to such a surprising degree, 
 that they can now number forty-five insular chapels. 
 
 At the accession of Bishop Ward to the see of Sodor 
 and Man, the want of church accommodation was much 
 felt, and is generally supposed to have been the principal 
 cause of the great increase of dissenters. To counteract 
 this growing evil, " the bishop, by his personal exertions in 
 
 1 Speech of the Earl of Ripon, in the House of Lords, on 14th December, 1837. 
 
 2 According to Mr. Mc. Hutchin, Clerk of the Rolls, in a statement made at the 
 request of Lord Teignmouth, the number of methodists in the Island, in the year 
 1836, was 3 I 13. They have ninety-two local gratuitous preachers, and six English 
 travelling preachers, supplied by the members with a salary according to the number 
 of each of their families, from £100 to £160 per annum. — Sketches, vol. ii, cap. xx. 
 In aid of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, there was collected in Douglas, in July, 
 1838, £0.'>. in Ramsey, £36, in Castletown, £28, and in Peel, £12 14s.— Mission- 
 ary /\'ij,<>< /.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 309 
 
 appealing to the benevolence, piety, and charity of his 
 friends in England, succeeded in raising between £8,000 
 and £9,000, and in the Island, nearly £4,000."* By 
 means of this sum, eight new churches have been erected, 
 some have been enlarged, and others which were in a state 
 of dilapidation, have been substantially repaired. All 
 this has been accomplished by the unremitting assiduity 
 and perseverance of Bishop Ward; 2 yet, according to the 
 words of a recent tourist, " he is scarcely thanked in the 
 Island for what he has done." 3 
 
 The Bishop of Sodor and Man has always, through 
 courtesy, been allowed a seat in the House of Lords, 
 although, by reason of his holding his barony from a sub- 
 ject, he was not permitted to vote. The patronage of the 
 bishopric being now transferred, by purchase from the 
 Atholl family to the crown, Bishop Ward held his barony 
 of the sovereign, and had, consequently, the same right to 
 vote in the upper house as any of the English bishops. It 
 
 1 Speech of the Earl of Ripon, in the House of Lords, on 14th December, 1837. 
 
 '-' It may, perhaps, be interesting to the Manks anticpiary to learn something of the 
 structure of a few of the most ancient of the parish churches of the Island at the close 
 of the last century, and to the general reader to see the wide field Bishop Ward hail 
 for his exertions. Kirk Bride — "This church is seemingly very old and is plain 
 in its construction, having only a few small windows on one side." Its dimensions 
 are 54 feet by 16. Ballaugh — " This church is covered with slate, as most of the 
 other churches are, there being plenty of that material in the Island." It is 79 feet 
 by 19. Kirk Christ Lezayre — "The roof of this church is plastered inside, and it 
 is 86 feet by 20." Kirk Maughold — " This church is 72 feet by 17, an inequality 
 of dimensions that prevails generally in the Island." Kirk Andreas — "This is one 
 of the oldest churches in the Island and is too primitive for modern comfort." It is 
 55 feet in length and 18 in breadth. Kirk Lonan — " This church was built in 1 733 
 under the authority of an act of Tynwald, (Mills, p. 214) the old church being too 
 small by one third for the congregation, and yet its dimensions are only 54 feet by 
 18." Kirk Michael — "There is no record to shew at what period this church was 
 built, but it is very small to be in the immediate residence of the bishop, being only 
 60 feet by 16. Kirk Onchan i* another very small church of unknown antiquity; it 
 is only 56 feet by 15." The average height of the side walls of these churches is 
 about seven feel and a half. One of the gables of each church is generally sur- 
 mounted by a small stone cross. — Fell/tarn's Tour through the Island of Man 
 the years 1797 and 1798. These diminutive edifices hav< nearlj (replaced 
 
 •by large substantial structures, built chiefly in the Gothic style. 
 3 Six Days' Tour in the Isle of Man, in 1836, p. 169.
 
 370 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 is supposed this privilege has not been acted on in conse- 
 quence of the steps taken by government to suppress the 
 bishopric. 
 
 The commissioners appointed by parliament, in 1835, 
 "to consider the state of the established church in England 
 and Wales," gave it as their opinion, " that the number of 
 parishes in the Isle of Man were too few, and the whole 
 population too small to justify the continuance of a bishop 
 there." While a bill founded on this report was in pro- 
 gress through parliament, Lord Melbourne, in a speech 
 delivered in the House of Lords, on 1st August, 1836, 
 expressed himself in these terms : — " As to the govern- 
 ment and constitution of the Isle of Man, he thought they 
 would go on as well without the presence of the bishop as 
 with it ; and with regard to the charitable trusts, there 
 would be always found a sufficient number of persons to 
 manage them, whether ex-officio members or not. With 
 respect to the revenues of the see, he proposed that it 
 should be devoted to the augmentation of the benefices 
 and support of the inferior clergy 1 of the Island; this he 
 thought would be a more advantageous distribution of 
 the property than had hitherto existed." 
 
 It was finally agreed to and established by the act 6th 
 and 7th William IV, cap. 77, that the measures recom- 
 mended by the parliamentary commissioners should take 
 effect on the death or promotion of Bishop Ward, by 
 uniting the " Sees of Carlisle and Sodor and Man, to be 
 called 'the united see of Carlisle and Man.' " 2 
 
 1 From the account of the Island chanties, drawn up in 1827, for the consideration 
 of govcrnmeut, it appears that out of the seventeen parishes into which the Island is 
 di\iiled, ten of the livings are not more than ^90 per annum, including fees, and 
 only three exceed £200. Four of the livings are in the gift of the bishop, and thir- 
 teen in the gift of the crown. The sovereign is not only patron, but, also, lay impro- 
 priator of the great tithes, which amount to upwards of i. J 800 per annum. The Earl 
 of Etipon, in a speech in the House of Lords, to which I have already alluded, 
 recommended that i.'518 of this sum should be applied in raising to i.150 per annum 
 I he incomes of the poor vicars of the parishes for which the crown was patron. 
 
 " Statute 6th and 7th William IV, cap. 77, sec. 1, entituled, " An act for carry-
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 371 
 
 Although a considerable time elapsed between the lay- 
 ing of the commissioners' report before parliament and the 
 passing of the act, not a single petition was presented 
 from any quarter against the bill in its progress through 
 either house of parliament. But no sooner had it received 
 the sanction of the legislature than the subject was taken 
 up by the clergy of Chester, Wells, Winchester, Ripon, 
 and Norwich. At the same time also, as if stimulated by 
 the movement in England, the Manks clergy, the practi- 
 tioners at the Manks bar, and a scantling of the other in- 
 habitants, forwarded petitions against the adoption of 
 the measure, with subscriptions amounting to about six- 
 teen hundred. 1 
 
 These manifestations of public feeling, as well in Eng- 
 land as in the Isle of Man, 2 which had been produced 
 chiefly through the instrumentality of Bishop Ward, were 
 presented in the House of Lords by the Earl of Ripon, 
 who, on the 14th December, 1837, obtained leave to bring 
 in a bill to repeal so much of the act 6th and 7th Wilm. 
 IV, cap. 77, as related to the see of Sodor and Man. 
 
 The Archbishop of Canterbury, as one of the ecclesias- 
 
 ing into effect the reports of the commissioners appointed to consider the state of the 
 established church in England and Wales, with reference to ecclesiastical duties and 
 revenues, so far as they relate to episcopal dioceses, revenues, and patronage." 
 
 1 Referring to these petitions, one of the Manks periodicals says : — " There have 
 been some petitions got up in England to keep up our ancient bishopric ; but the 
 question of an abolition creates no sensation here. The bishop's friends have been 
 trying to do so, but their efforts have terminated in a miserable failure. The people 
 see plainly the object in view is not to benefit the church, but to kin]) up the enor- 
 mous revenue of the see in the hands of a succession of political bishops who will 
 never reside in this diocese, for the simple reason that a residence in the metropolis — 
 a dancing attendance anywhere save in the Isle of Man, may lead to the ultimate 
 object of their wishes — -a translation to the English bench." 
 
 2 In their first report, the ecclesiastical commissioners recommended that the see- OJ 
 Bristol and Landaff should be united under one bishop ; but the representations made 
 by the inhabitants of Bristol against carrying that proposition into effect, operated so 
 strongly on the minds of the commissioners, as to induce them, in their second report, 
 " to relinquish the plan." Those friendly to the continuance of the Bishopric <>t' 
 Sodor and Man were thereby induced to follow the example set by the people of 
 Bristol. 
 
 CHAP. XII. 2 Y
 
 372 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 tical commissioners, appeared, on the introduction of the 
 bill, to be hostile to any interference with a measure which 
 had been already settled by an act of parliament ; but, on 
 the second reading of the bill, 20th February, 1838, he 
 stated in the house that he had received a communication 
 from the governor and legislature of the Isle of Man, 
 expressing a strong desire that the bishopric should be 
 retained. One object, he said, entertained by the church 
 commissioners, in proposing the suppression of the 
 bishopric of Man was, the means that would be thereby 
 afforded of making competent provision for the inferior 
 clergy, many of whom were very poor. This object had, 
 however, been met by a proposition of the governor and 
 legislature to adopt such a plan of commutation of the 
 tithes of the Island as, while it would meet the wishes of 
 the commissioners in regard to the clergy, would leave a 
 perfectly adequate income for the maintenance of the 
 bishop. He therefore supported Lord Ripon's bill, as 
 did also the Bishops of London and Exeter. Petitions 
 were presented to the same effect by the Duke of Wel- 
 lington from the chancellor and masters of the university 
 of Oxford, and by the Earl of Brecknoch from the chan- 
 cellor and masters of the university of Cambridge. 
 
 Lord Melbourne expressed his regret that it should 
 have been found necessary, owing to the peculiar circum- 
 stances of the bishopric of Man, to break up the arrange- 
 ment which had received the sanction of both houses of 
 parliament and of the king ; but he hoped that a similar 
 instance might never again arise. He consequently gave 
 his assent to the bill, and it met with no further opposi- 
 tion on its progress through the House of Lords. In the 
 House of Commons it was opposed by Mr. C. Lushington, 
 member for Ashburton, on the grounds that a sufficient 
 reason had not been made out for the house contravening 
 its former resolution on that subject. But the purport
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 373 
 
 of the bill being ably supported by Lord John Russell, it 
 was finally carried by a majority of sixty-four. 
 
 The venerable Bishop Ward did not live to see the ac- 
 complishment of this great object, which he had so much 
 at heart. He died at his rectory of Great Hawkesley in 
 Essex, on 26th January, 1838, in the seventy-sixth year 
 ofTlTs "age. 
 
 His history is that of a man blessed with quiet but 
 unvarying prosperity from first to last. His first step in 
 his profession was under the celebrated Bishop Porteus, 
 who appointed Mr. Ward reader and alternate preacher 
 at Curgen Chapel, and soon afterwards he was appointed 
 chaplain to the Duke of St. Alban's. About this time, 
 Lord Grantham died, and left Bishop Porteus the guar- 
 dian of his three sons. The bishop immediately appointed 
 Mr. Ward to be their tutor. After a few years spent in 
 the faithful discharge of this trust, he was appointed by 
 the Countess de Grey, aunt of one of his pupils, to the 
 rectory of Mayland, near Colchester, and at a subsequent 
 period to the more lucrative benefice of Great Hawkesley. 
 
 Through the interest of other friends, Mr. Ward ob- 
 tained the rectory of Alphamstone, in the county of Essex; 
 and from his own friend, Bishop Fisher of Salisbury, a 
 stall in that cathedral church. In the year 1827, the 
 Earl of Ripon, then Viscount Goderich, one of the sons of 
 Lord Grantham, being first lord of the treasury, recom- 
 mended the Rev. William Ward, his old tutor, to his 
 majesty, to fill the vacant see of Sodor and Man. 
 
 Bishop Ward, although far advanced in years, when 
 placed at the head of the Manks church, discharged the 
 duties of his diocese with zeal, activity, and benevolence. 
 
 The Earl of Ripon, in the House of Lords, 23rd Feb- 
 ruary, 1838, passed a high eulogium on the virtues and 
 liberality of Bishop Ward. According to that nobleman s
 
 374 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 statement, the late prelate of Sodor and Man had, in the 
 course of ten years, expended out of his limited income, 
 upwards of £1,200 in promoting religious education, and 
 in improving the condition of the inferior clergy in the 
 diocese. Thus considering the duty to his flock superior 
 to his duty to his family, he consequently died poor.* 
 
 As secretary of state for the home department, Lord 
 John Russell notified to the insular legislature, that as 
 soon as the tithe commutation question, which had been so 
 long under their consideration, was settled, a successor to 
 the late bishop would be appointed by her majesty. After 
 much able discussion on the subject, in which nearly every 
 member in the House of Keys is said to have taken a 
 part, the bill was passed by the Keys; and after receiving 
 the sanction of the council, 2nd May, 1838, was directly 
 forwarded to the Home Secretary for its final adoption. 
 
 As the basis of this commutation, the average price of 
 grain is to be deemed of the value of such quantities of 
 Wheat, Barley, and Oats, as the same would have pur- 
 chased in case one-third part thereof had been invested 
 in the purchase of AY heat at seven shillings and a farthing 
 per imperial bushel, one-third part thereof in the purchase 
 of Barley at three shillings and eleven pence half-penny 
 per imperial bushel, and the remaining one-third part 
 thereof in the purchase of Oats, at two shillings and nine 
 pence per imperial bushel, and to be regulated, increased, 
 or diminished, from year to year, according to the average 
 prices of Wheat, Barley, and Oats, as advertised in the 
 London Gazette, by the comptroller of the corn returns 
 for the time being, or such other person as may, from 
 time to time, be in that behalf authorised by the Privy 
 Council, in the month of January in every year, accord- 
 ing to the provisions of an Act of Parliament passed in 
 
 * Appendix, Note ix, " Bishop Ward."
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 375 
 
 the sixth and seventh years of his late Majesty King 
 William the Fourth, intituled " An Act for the Com- 
 mutation of Tithes in ' England and Wales.' " ' 
 
 It is generally expected in the Island, that this measure 
 will prove very beneficial both to the churchman and to the 
 landholder. All the difficulties that stood so long between 
 the interests of the pastor and his people, are thereby 
 removed, while at the same time the bill affords a more 
 comfortable provision for the heretofore low paid clergy. 
 Twenty, and in some instances, thirty pounds may be 
 added to the amount of each of the lowest class of com- 
 puted stipends, as the annual value of the parsonage and 
 glebe; and if the free occupation of a palace with nearly 
 five hundred acres of the best land in the Island attached 
 to it, be in like manner added to the bishop's stipulated 
 revenue, it will be found yet 2 a tolerable compensation, 
 as a late tourist says, " for the care of all the churches." 
 
 Another benefit conferred on the Island by this judi- 
 cious bill, is the appropriation of the impropriate fund, in 
 future, solely for the benefit of the parochial schools. 
 
 By the bill, forwarded to the Home-office, the tithe-rent 
 was to be collected from the rate-payers by the moars 
 and baronial sergeants ; but the arrangement not meeting 
 with the approbation of the law officers of the crown, it 
 was recommended, that the collection of the tithes should 
 be placed in the hands of the clergy themselves. The 
 bill, thus amended, was returned to the Island, and in 
 due form brought under the consideration of the Tynwald 
 court. Much discussion ensued in that assembly on 
 the 5th July, 1838, as to the alterations recommended by 
 
 1 See Tithe Commutation Act, section xvi. 
 
 2 The annual return of the episcopal revenues in Bishop Wilson's time, did not 
 exceed £300— Life of Bishop Wilson, ap. Bullock, p. 160. But in the year 1836, 
 according to a recent writer, the income of the see amounted to X3.000. — Illus- 
 trated Guide, p. 30. It may be remembered that Bishop Murray, in the year 1823, 
 required £6,000 as a commutation for the tithes of the bishopric.
 
 376 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 Lord John Russell ; but they were at length agreed to y 
 by a majority of the insular legislature. On the 23rd 
 of the same month, the clergy presented a memorial to 
 the Keys and Council, praying to be exonerated from the 
 collection of the tithe-rent, that measure being calculated 
 to bring them into collision with their parishioners. After 
 taking this petition into consideration, the legislature 
 agreed to allow the clergy fifty pounds per annum, to be 
 expended in collecting the tithe-rent, in any way they 
 might find most agreeable. 
 
 In 1839 the insular legislature passed this bill to com- 
 mute the tithes of the Island for £5050, apportioned as 
 follows : — 
 
 To the Lord Bishop of Sodor and Man £1515 
 
 To the Vicar of the Parish of Patrick 141 8 
 
 To the Vicar of the Parish of German 141 8 
 
 To the Vicar of the Parish of Marown 141 8 
 
 To the Vicar of the Parish of Michael 141 8 
 
 To the Rector of the Parish of Ballaugh 303 
 
 To the Vicar of the Parish of J urby 141 8 
 
 To the Rector of the Parish of Andreas 707 
 
 To the Chaplain of a Chapel of Ease in the 
 
 said Parish of Andreas 101 
 
 To the Rector of the Parish of Bride 303 
 
 To the Vicar of the Parish of Lezayre 141 8 
 
 To the Vicar of the Parish of Maughold 141 8 
 
 To the Vicar of the Parish of Lonan 141 8 
 
 To the Vicar of the Parish of Conchan 141 8 
 
 To the Vicar of the Parish of Braddan 141 8 
 
 To the Vicar of the Parish of Santon . .'. 141 8 
 
 To the Vicar of the Parish of.Malew 141 8 
 
 To the Vicar of the Parish of Arbory 141 8 
 
 To the Vicar of the Parish of Rushen 141 8 
 
 To the Trustees nominated in conveyance of the 
 
 Impropriate Tithes of Michael, made by 
 
 Dr. Thomas Wilson, for the benefit of 
 
 Clergymen's Widows 141 8 
 
 These sums are independent of the lands attached to 
 the see, the yearly rental of which is about £500, and
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 377 
 
 the glebes belonging to the vicarages. The crown tithes 
 were also commuted by the same act for £550. 
 
 These preliminary matters being adjusted, the Reverend 
 James Bowstead, chaplain to the Bishop of Ely, and 
 rector of Rettenden, in the county of Essex, was, by 
 letters patent, passed under the great seal, " appointed 
 to the bishopric of the Isle of Man and Sodor." By royal 
 mandate, he was honoured by the senate of the university 
 of Cambridge with the degree of doctor in divinity, and 
 was consecrated at Lambeth Palace by the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury. The Bishops of Ely, Hereford, and Lincoln 
 assisted at the ceremony, and he had, afterwards, an 
 audience of the queen, in the royal closet, to do homage 
 for his appointment to that see. Lord John Russell and 
 the dean of Hereford, clerk of the closet in waiting, being 
 in attendance, officiated at the ceremony there performed. 
 
 On the 22nd of August, Bishop Bowstead landed at 
 Douglas, and was warmly greeted by the inhabitants. 
 He entered on his official duties by preaching a charity 
 sermon 1 there, and next day proceeded to the episcopal 
 palace of the diocese. At Ballacraine, eight miles distant 
 from his future residence, he was met and escortedon his 
 way by a mounted deputation of gentlemen ; and at the 
 village of Kirk Michael, the horses were taken from his 
 carriage by the populace, and by them drawn thence to 
 Bishop's Court, amidst the deafening acclamations of the 
 assembled multitude. 
 
 The provincial mandate of the Archbishop of York, 
 confirming the crown appointment of Dr. Bowstead, to 
 the see of Sodor and Man, being received, it was publicly 
 announced that his installation would take place at Cas- 
 tletown, agreeably to ancient custom. The clergy and 
 
 1 This was one of the anniversary sermons preached usually in St. George's Church, 
 in aid of the " Daily and Sunday Schools ;" the collection made at the church doors 
 on this occasion amounted to £71 5s. lOd. — Manx Sun, 31st August, 1838.
 
 378 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 constituted authorities, 5th September, 1838, accord- 
 ingly assembled in the Castle of Rushen, and walked in 
 procession thence to the chapel of St. Mary. At the 
 entrance of the church, they were met by the episcopal 
 registrar, who read there aloud "the mandate of the spirit- 
 ual overseer 1 of the province of York," and then con- 
 ducted Bishop Bowstead to the episcopal throne. After 
 the rituals of the crowning were performed by the chaplain 
 in ordinary, his lordship read the communion service, and 
 dismissed the congregation with an appropriate address. 
 On the service of the day being concluded, the procession 
 returned to the castle, where the oaths of office were 
 administered to his lordship by the Clerk of the Rolls. 2 
 Addresses of congratulation were then presented to the 
 bishop, on his accession, to the " cure of the Manks 
 church," from the clergy of the diocese, and from the 
 inhabitants of Castletown. 
 
 These friendly manifestations were kindly received and 
 feelingly replied to by his lordship, as were similar con- 
 gratulatory offerings from the masters and students of 
 King William's College, from the inhabitants of Ramsey, 
 and from almost every other community in the Island. 
 
 Bishop Bowstead established the Diocesan Society to 
 raise funds to endow the newly erected chapels of ease, 
 and he intended to increase the salaries of the parochial 
 schoolmasters, and to appoint men better qualified for that 
 office, that the benefits of education might be extended to 
 all classes in the community ; but to the great reo-ret of 
 the inhabitants, he was translated to the see of Lichfield, 
 and left the Island on the 7th of January, 1840. 
 
 He was succeeded by Dr. Henry Pepys, brother to 
 the then Lord Chancellor Cottenham. He was conse- 
 crated at Whitehall, on Sunday 1st March, 1840; and 
 
 ' Want's Ancient Records, p. Ifi7. 
 
 - Sec the words of the oath taken by the Bishop of Man at his installation, cap. 19.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 379; 
 
 arrived at Douglas on Monday, 27th April ; and was 
 installed at St. Mary's, Castletown, on the 8th May. He 
 was soon after appointed to the see of Worcester, and 
 quitted the Island on the 4th May, 1841. His episco- 
 pate was but of short duration. 
 
 His successor, Thomas Vowler Short, D.D., Rector of 
 Bloonisbury, London, and one of her majesty's chaplains, 
 was consecrated at the Chapel Royal, Whitehall, on Sun- 
 day, 6th June, 1841, by the Archbishop of York, assisted 
 by the Bishops of London and Ripon. He arrived at 
 Douglas on the 15th July, 1841, and was installed at 
 Castletown, on Monday, 25th of the same month. 
 
 The antiquated method of collecting the revenues of 
 the insular church, which, from the time of its institution, 
 continued to be frequently the grounds of rancorous dis- 
 putes between the clergy and the laity, being happily no 
 longer sanctioned by law ; and the rights of the people 
 being now better defined, the bishops, in future, will not 
 have those obstacles to surmount which stood in the way 
 of their predecessors. The good works of some of these 
 eminent divines,* must be held in grateful remembrance 
 by the Islanders, " so long as any sense of piety remains 
 among them." 
 
 Having shown that the see of Sodor and Man is nearly 
 coeval with the church itself, that its bishops maintained 
 their jurisdiction through a great variety of changing cir- 
 cumstances in the government and possession of the Island, 
 and that it is still to remain an independent bishopric, I 
 will, in the next chapter, advert to the peculiarities of its 
 constitution. 
 
 * Appendix, Note x, " List of Bishop 
 
 CHAP. XII. 2 £
 
 380 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 APPENDIX.— Chapter XII. 
 
 NOTE I.— Page 336. 
 
 ANCIENT CANONS OF THE MANKS CHURCH. 
 
 These synodical statutes were enacted by Bishop Simon in a.d. 1239, by Bishop 
 Mark in 1291, and by Bishop Russell in 1350. Sir William Dugdale, in his Monas- 
 ticon Anglicanum, from which work these constitutions are extracted, after describing 
 the Abbey of Rushen, adds, — " Certain very ancient constitutions of the Bishop of 
 Sodor, in the Isle of Man, passed in synod, and never before committed to print, 
 which, although they be foreign to the direct purpose of this work, yet, for antiquity's 
 sake, and as a monument under that title sufficiently remarkable, I have determined 
 in this place to bring them to light." Dugdale copied these documents from the 
 original MSS., then the property of John Selden, the celebrated antiquary, who died 
 in 1654. These are now in the Seldenian collection of ancient records, in the British 
 Museum : — 
 
 " I. — We enjoin that all chaplains bear their guard against going to taverns, or 
 keeping taverns in their houses, in order that they may not be drunken — luxurious, 
 litigious, but ready by word and work to afford the example of a good life and praise- 
 worthy conversation to those under them, &c. 
 
 " II. — We order, also, that persons in holy orders are never to eat at inns, but in 
 case of travelling or other urgent necessity, nor stand and drink beyond a single 
 draught, nor tarry and join themselves in public clrinkings or companies, nor use 
 other levities in public places, under pain of suspension from office. 
 
 " III. — We ordain that all chaplains use close capce and other part of dress suit- 
 able to their order, but we altogether prohibit them using a mantle ; and we direct 
 that all chaplains, on festivals and solemn days especially, wear close capce, and also, 
 when they come to the chapters or to the synod. But if they do otherwise, that any 
 other prohibited garment which they wear, shall, without any redemption, be applied 
 to the fabric of the church of Saint German. 
 
 «' IV. — We enact, likewise, that all chaplains, deacons, and other ministers of the 
 > go to divine service discreetly and devoutly, not whispering, not wearing hoods 
 on their heads, nor Una:, nor with caps, nor with cirecethi in their hands, nor spurs 
 on their feet ; with a decent tonsure and coronal, according to the degree of their rank. 
 " V. — We forbid all laymen or clergymen to presume to carry arms in the churches 
 of our diocese, or to make any tumult or disturbance, especially during the celebra- 
 tion of mass ; and if any, after the third warning, shall be found incorrigible in this 
 offence, he shall be punished with such ecclesiastical censure as to us shall seem fit. 
 
 " VI. — \\ r e order that the altar of each parochial church shall be garnished with a 
 book aii'! lights, with a cap, not wooden, not glass, not brazen, but only of silver or gold,
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. XII. 3tfJ 
 
 or, in case of urgent necessity, of pure tin, and afterwards consecrated by the bishop. 
 Let the churches and all the ornaments thereof, whether books, robes, fonts, orchris- 
 matories, be kept clean and seemly. The place in which the sacrament is deposited 
 to be diligently watched by the vicar of the church, who is also to take charge of the 
 lights for the purification of the blessed Mary ; respecting which lights, we will that 
 two of wax, with decency, be supplied to each church, in the celebration of masses, 
 and be used at the elevation of the sacrament of the altar ; and also one of wax for 
 Easter. 
 
 "VII. — We ordain that all and each female parishioner, and male also, thrice 
 every year make an offering of an obolus, viz., at the feast of the Lord's nativity, at 
 Pasch and Pentecost, or at the feast of the dedication of the church ; and that each 
 and every one having a dwelling house and certain effects, shall pay two denarii and 
 an obolus, on Quadragesima Sunday, for the lights of the church ; but if they lodge in 
 other houses, and yet have effects to the value of six solidi, they shall pay two denarii, 
 according to the custom of the neighbouring provinces. 
 
 "VIII. — Likewise, we enact that the archdeacon, like the apostle, in his visitation, 
 be not in quest of his own, but look after the things of Jesus Christ ; that the canon 
 of the mass may be improved, and that priests may understand properly to pronounce 
 the words of the canon, and the service of baptism, and teach the laity according to 
 what form they ought to baptise in a case of necessity, at least they should know to 
 do this in their own tongue. The archdeacon must also have in writing, all the 
 ornaments of the churches, utensils, vestments, and books, and cause them to be pre- 
 sented to his view every year, that he may see what has been added by the care of the 
 parishioners, or what in the interval, through the negligence or evil design of the 
 vicars, have been plundered, or, through their misconduct, diminished, what by the 
 clerks, and what by the laity. 
 
 " IX. — We enact that the bellman of the churches, when a bishop approaches the 
 church or passes near it, shall ring the bells, which if he do not, the clerks shall be 
 punished at the discretion of the bishop. 
 
 " X. — We order that the rights of the church be celebrated with suitable reverence» 
 as handed down in writing by the holy fathers. Let none adventure any novel 
 change, and let all give special heed that wine, wherewith the sacrament is celebrated, 
 be not corrupt, nor soured to vinegar, and that it be red rather than white. Never- 
 theless in white wine the holy rite is administered duly, but not with vinegar, since 
 when changed into vinegar, it has lost all its potential properties of wine. Let the 
 water be added in so moderate a quantity that not the wine in the water, but the water 
 in the wine may be absorbed. Let the host be of meal, round and entire, and 
 without spot, as the lamb was without spot. 
 
 " XI. — We strictly prohibit any priest from celebrating the mass twice in one day, 
 except at Easter and Christmas, and in the burial of the dead — that is when the body 
 of any deceased person shall that day require to be buried in the church ; and if this 
 shall happen on Sundays or festival days, then the priest must be careful after rinsing 
 his hands and the cup with water and wine, after the communion, not to take the 
 ablution, but set it aside in a clean vessel till the end of the second mass, and then he 
 shall take both ablutions, because, on account of the reverence due to the sacrament, 
 no one ought to celebrate it unless he be fasting. If he shall have taken that ablution 
 which is either pure water or pure wine, then he cannot be considered as fasting'. 
 Likewise, we strictly prohibit any priest from presuming to serve two mother churches ; 
 and the priest must take care that, from the beginning till the end of the mass, a 
 waxen candle be burning. 
 
 "XII. — We forbid, under pain of excommunication, that any woman or wife
 
 382 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 suffer their children to be placed beside them in their beds, before they have com- 
 pleted the third year of their age. Let chaplains beware lest through negligence any 
 infant die without baptism ; and, also, under pain of excommunication, we enjoin 
 that no chaplain convert the tunics on christening dresses to any other uses than 
 those of the church, or take it a second time, by changing the tunic or christening 
 dress of one child to another child. 
 
 "XIII. — We direct that all chaplains admonish their female parishioners, and 
 induce them after childbirth to go to their churches, with candles and offerings, at 
 the time appointed for their purification, so that they may be purified within fifteen 
 days, at most. 
 
 "XIV. — We enact that, four times a year, viz., on the Sundays next after the 
 observation of the four seasons, and also, in the synod, there be excommunicated all 
 fortune tellers, sorcerers, church incendiaries, forgers, manifest usurers, and obstruc- 
 ters of evidence lawfully given, laymen invading, detaining, defrauding, and carrying 
 away possessions, or anythings whatsoever, ecclesiastical or liberties ; and all those 
 who shall have obtruded themselves upon an ecclesiastical benefice ; and witnesses 
 knowingly perjured, owing to whom there is lost by any one, his inheritance, or 
 benefice or land ; public and notorious robbers, and all thieves and pilferers, and 
 those who protect or become surety for them when their said cause is brought to light ; 
 likewise all who, in case of matrimony, give false evidence, or make false objections 
 maliciously, or cause them to be made, or, in a case of matrimony, suborn witnesses ; 
 and all those obstructing the ordinaries in their proceedings against the effects of 
 deceased persons intestate, conducted according to the custom of the English church 
 and our own, these we resolve to lay under a sentence of excommunication. Like- 
 wise, we excommunicate all conspirators against their own bishops or foreign ones, or 
 against such prelates ; and all consenting with conspirators, as well as all such there 
 are schismatic and infamous. Likewise, by authority of this, our sacred synod, 
 we excommunicate all those who disturb the peace of the king and the kingdom ; and 
 all those who, through hatred or for the sake of gain, charge false crimes upon others! 
 for which, if judicially condemned, death, banishment, mutilation of members, disin- 
 heritance or confiscation of goods, or the loss of reputation would follow. 
 
 "XV. — We forbid all, and especially chaplains, to have intercourse with all per- 
 sons publicly excommunicated. Of which offence should chaplains be found guilty, 
 they shall be subjected to the severest punishment. 
 
 " XVI. — We exact that every chaplain, once in a year, receive in vessels very 
 clean and well waxed, the holy crimi oil and oil for the sick. Let the host that is to 
 be given to the sick, be new each Lord's day ; and let it be placed in a suitable place, 
 that is, in the pix or in a covered chest, and let it at no time be set by without the 
 chest. 
 
 " XVII. — We enact that all chaplains be prompt in visiting the sick when called 
 upon, lest, by their negligence, that any die without the sacrament of the church. 
 And when they go to them clothed in their surplices, let them reverently carry the 
 Lord's body in a (pixis) box kept for the purpose, the box being covered with a 
 white linen cloth, or one of silk, and a little bell preceding it to the (villa) house of 
 the church. But to places remote, the Lord's body must not be carried except by a 
 chaplain oi the church, it being covered with a close capce; and when they have come 
 in the sick infirm people with it, they shall give them salutary admonition, and per- 
 suade them to true confession and penitence, and the making of their will in due 
 form; nor shall any one receive communion without a wax candle burning. And 
 they shall diligently advise them to leave something for the fabric of the parish
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. XII. 383 
 
 church, according to their means. For collecting and reserving which, two trust- 
 worthy parishioners provided by rectors of parishes, shall be appointed. 
 
 " XVIII. — We direct and exact that any sick person in his last agonies, when he 
 shall wish to make his will, shall call the chaplain of the church and the clerk, and, 
 in their presence, with two or three good and trust-worthy persons, shall declare his 
 will with his own mouth ; and the priest himself shall carefully enquire into his sub- 
 stance, and if he be liable to any creditors or encumbered with debt. Which if he do 
 not, he shall be considered as having died intestate. Which statute we wish all 
 chaplains to publish in their churches. Likewise we enact that whoever shall affirm 
 that he is a creditor of any deceased person, or that any one had entered into a con- 
 tract with him, if he live in the same parish or so near as not to be prevented by 
 infirmity, and yet did not while the man was alive, nor at the time of making the 
 will, nor at the time of the sickness, move in the matter, shall not be heard after the 
 man's death. 
 
 " XIX. — We order and proclaim that the church must have its choice out of all 
 goods of any deceased person, along with all his clothes, and bed and bolster ; but 
 if he has not a bed and bolster, seven denarii must be given for a free man. And by 
 a Gilbogus possessed of goods to the value of a mortuary, a mortuary shall be paid 
 to the church ; but if his goods do not amount to this value, then every fifth denarius 
 shall be paid to the church out of his free effects, in ' good children.' And if it be 
 demanded what is Gilbogus, it must be replied that Gilbogus is any one who has 
 lived a single night, and been appointed to hold possessions, or been actually in 
 possession — if, as has been said, he shall die, then the church shall receive its due. 
 Also, the aforesaid Gilbogus, though he shall have paid a mortuary, besides this, shall 
 satisfy the claims of the presbeter and clerk, as well as those of the church ; and if 
 he shall have paid no mortuary, he must, nevertheless, come to an agreement with 
 them ; and in case of any dead person whomsoever, there must be offerings according 
 to his means, as well in denarii as in candles, for his parish church. And, under 
 pain of excommunication, we forbid any dead person to be taken for burial to any 
 other place, until mass has been said for him in his parish church. 
 
 " XX. — The dues to be paid to the clerk, are these : If a person pay mortuary, 
 the clerk must have the stockings of that man, and shoes, value six denarii, and a hat 
 and cap of more or less value, such as the man himself was accustomed to wear on 
 Christmas day ; likewise a belt, and a purse to the value of one denarius, and a small 
 knife worth one denarius. 
 
 " XXI. — Whereas the discipline of souls is the art of arts, and it is a holy and 
 wholesome office to intercede for the departed, — we first, in the deliberative council 
 of our clergy, have thought well to order, that whensoever any rector, vicar or chap- 
 lain of our church of Mann, or any other person of good report, commended to the 
 intercession of our prayers or to other like intercessions, and wider tie toivards us, 
 shall from life depart, all others him surviving shall, at the place, and on the day of 
 his burial, without pretext or excuse, collect themselves together, and grant meet 
 honour to the body of the departed : and if they, singular and each, can celebrate 
 masses, let them celebrate them together with the other intercessions therewith 
 accustomed. And, from the day forth of the burial, let each of the above named, 
 without let or delay, celebrate, or cause to be celebrated by another, thirty masses ; 
 also, on the thirty days next ensuing, let the office of the dead, with nine lectios and 
 the usual psalms, be steadfastly offered up by each of such survivors, without inter- 
 ruption of days, and with a suitable devotion." These masses were performed on the 
 graves of the dead.— Ward's Ancient Records, p. 127.
 
 384 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OP MAN, 
 
 NOTE II.— Page 344. 
 
 CHARTER OF THE BISHOPRIC. 
 
 A confirmation of the church lands and liberties, given, granted, and made by the 
 most noble Lord Thomas, Earl of Derby, Lord Stanley, and King of the Isle of Mann 
 and of the Islands, to Huan, Bishop of Sodor, and to his successors : — 
 
 " Thomas, by the grace of God, King of Mann and of the Islands, Earl Derby and 
 Lord of Stanley, wishes eternal salvation in the Lord to all the sons of our Holy Mother 
 Church who shall read or hear these letters. We make known to your community 
 that we, for the salvation of our own soul, and of the souls of our predecessors and of 
 all the faithful and departed, have given and granted to our beloved in Christ, the 
 Reverend Father and Lord in Christ, Lord Huan, by divine permission now Bishop 
 of Sodor, as a free and perpetual provision for his episcopal table, all the church lands, 
 tithes, and possessions which our predecessors, the Kings and Lords of Mann, have 
 given, granted, and confirmed to the Church and Bishopric of Sodor, to wit, the cathe- 
 dral church of St. Germain, in Holme, called Sodor or Pile, and the church of St. Patrick; 
 as, also, the forementioned places in which the forementioned churches are situate ; 
 as, also the church of St. Braddan, and the churches of St. Patrick of Jurby, with 
 the church of St. Crococ, with all and every the tithes, first fruits, and emoluments, 
 revenue, liberties, commodities, and everything thereto appertaining, and a third part 
 of all the tithes of all the churches of Mann ; confirming, besides, to them the third 
 of the whole town of Kirkby, near the church of St. Braddan, with the lands of St. 
 Braddan, and a third of the whole town of Kirk Marown, the lands of Cutherty, of 
 Glenfaba, of Floysdeyn, of Balla, of Mary, of the staff of St. Patrick and of Helme- 
 town, with the fisheries, customs, anchorages, and the third of the bailiwick of Knock - 
 croke, and of Ballabrusle, of Jurby, of Balicane, of Bretby, and of Ramsey. Also, 
 the lands of the church of the Holy Trinity in Lezayre, of St. Mary, of Ballaugh, of 
 St. Maughold, and of St. Michael adjacent, and the whole of the land of St. Col- 
 luniba — called Here ; as also, the liberties of every kind formerly granted to the 
 same church, their own jurisdiction of life and limb, theft, murder, and all crimes; 
 and that they may have the power of imprisoning and of releasing the imprisoned, 
 and of a Cross and Gibbet on their own lands. And that both the clergy and laity 
 who reside upon episcopal farms or tenements, plead and answer suits in the court 
 of the lord bishop at the ecclesiastical bar ; and that they be free from all services, 
 secular exaction and demand, forfeiture and fine ; and if any cause be decided betwixt 
 our men and the men of the forementioned bishop, or of our successors, let the fellow 
 fined for the offence, follow the decision of the court. We have, also, given and 
 do confirm to the said bishop, all manner of sea-wreck and land accruing to the 
 bishop and his successors through Mann, together with the village of Kir fieriest, near 
 Ramsey, entirely with the clerical and lay appurtenances, without any reserve, with 
 one moiety of the fishery in Miresoogh. And that the same bishop, his successors, 
 and the clergy and farmers of the episcopal revenues, have free power to sell and 
 dispose of their tithes, and other property of the clergy and laity dwelling on ecclesi- 
 astical lands, whenever they shall deem proper, both in and out of our land of Mann, 
 without our gainsaying, or that of our heirs or successors ; also, the mines of lead or 
 iron which he may discover in any of his lands in Mann, so to be had, held, and pos-
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. XII. '.i*7j 
 
 sessed by the aforesaid Huan and his successors, the Bishops of Mann, for ever, as 
 freely, quietly, and honourably as any other provision that has ever been conferred 
 and appropriated to any episcopal table by any kings or lords whatsoever, to continue 
 to the end of time. In witness whereof, we have caused three presents to be sealed 
 with our seal. Given at Latham, this twenty-eighth day of March, one thousand 
 five hundred and five years." — Dug dale's Monasticon, ap. Johnstone's Jurisprudence, 
 Edinburgh, 1811, pp. 232, 333, 234. 
 
 Some learned writers have contended that the Sodor, conjoined in the title of bishop 
 with that of Man to the present time, was identical with a small cathedral of that 
 name in I-colm-cill, now called Iona ; but in the charter of the bishopric, as seen 
 above, it is plainly stated to have been in Sodor or Pile, (where, to the north of the 
 cathedral, stand the ruins of the bishop's palace in Peel). From this, it is plain that 
 both the cathedral church and the episcopal palace were situated iu the little Isle of 
 Sodor or Peel. 
 
 The etymology of the word Sodor has also given rise to many conflicting opinions. 
 The cathedral of Iona was dedicated to our saviour in Greek Swrj/p, (Soter) and 
 hence, it was supposed, came the word Sodor ; but in the Manks language, Sodor or 
 Sidoor signifies soldier, and Sidooiys, soldiery, which seems to have been construed 
 into Sudereys. — Cregeen's Manks Dictionary. 
 
 Peel was a stronghold from the earliest times ; and so far back as a.d. 1422, no 
 woman was permitted to enter the garrison, "without a special warrant from my 
 Lord." — Lex Scripta, p. 17. The soldiers, when not employed on watch and ward, 
 resided with their families outside the garrison ; and from this circumstance the Isle 
 or town derived the name of Sodor — the dwelling place of the soldiery. Buchanan, 
 in his preface to Knox's History of the Reformation, folio edition, Edinburgh, 1732, 
 says, " The town near the church in Peel Isle, was called Sodora." 
 
 This account of the derivation and locality of Sodor appears the more probable, 
 from the very affinity of its situation to Man ; and when it is recollected, as stated by 
 Pinkerton (Inquiry, vol. ii, part vi, cap. i), that, in the middle ages, " almost every 
 monastery had its bishop, and every bishopric its monastery," it may be seen how 
 such importance came to be attached to the diminutive locality of Sodor, and how 
 natural, from situation alone, came to be, at an early period, the union of the two 
 bishoprics of Sodor and Man. — Matthew Paris, p. 85. Both Hector Boetius (Hol- 
 linshead's Scottish Chronicle, vol. i, p. 130, edit. 1805) and Buchanan seem to have 
 been aware of these facts, and that the first part of the compound title of the Bishop 
 of Man, could not have been derived from the name of the cathedral of Iona. — Hist, 
 of Scotland, book i. According to Boetius and Spottiswood, Amphibalus was Bishop 
 in Man a.d. 300 (Lib. i, folio 3) ; between whom and Torkin, who held the see in 
 889, there were eight prelates who consecutively held this diocese ; and who, accord- 
 ing to Keith, and other ecclesiastical writers, all bore the title of Episcopus Sodo- 
 rensis. — Keith's Catalogue, Edinburgh, 1824, pp. 295, 296. 
 
 All writers of early church history agree as to the arrival of St. Columba at Iona, 
 either in a.d. 5(33 or a.d. 5G5, (Smith's Life of St. Columba, p. 12) ; and that he 
 afterwards built a church there, and dedicated it to our saviour, from the Greek name 
 of which, the Bishopric of Sodor is supposed by some to have arisen, as above men- 
 tioned ; but it plainly appears this title was in existence upwards of two centuries 
 anterior to the see of Iona, and more than seven centuries prior to the period at 
 which the bishopric is supposed to have been first called by the Norwegians, Sudereys, 
 to distinguish it from Nordereys — the metropolitan see of the Archbishop of Dron- 
 theim. — Usher, Camden, Wilson.
 
 386 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 It will also be found that the Bishops of Sodor and Man ivere, in various instances, 
 elected by the whole clergy of Man, and afterwards consecrated by the Pope (Keith, 
 pp. 303, 304), without the interference of either the clergy of Iona, or any of the 
 Isles composing that diocese. 
 
 NOTE III.— Page 350. 
 
 TRANSLATION OF THE SCRIPTURES INTO THE MANKS 
 
 LANGUAGE. 
 
 Seacome and Bullock have evidently been misled by Chaloner, in stating that any 
 part of the Scriptures , or even the Common Prayer Book had been translated into 
 the Manks language, as appears by the following extract from the Report of the 
 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, for the year 1764, p. 115 : — 
 
 " Hatton Garden, No. 9, May 4, 1764. 
 "The present fund for printing the Scriptures in the Manks language amounts to 
 £1 000, in government securities, a considerable part of which is expected to be soon 
 called for, to supply the charges of the press ; and, upon a moderate computation, 
 upwards of .£"1000 more than hath been received will be recpiisite to complete this 
 design, especially if larger numbers be printed in future editions, with a view to extend 
 the distribution so far as that no one person, of the twenty thousand natives of the Isle 
 of Man, may be destitute of a Bible and Common Prayer Book in his native tongue, 
 in which they never appeared before." " To accomplish this undertaking, under the 
 auspicious superintendence of Dr. Mark Hildesley, Bishop of Man." " The Common 
 Prayers of the Church of England are already put into the hands of able clergymen in 
 the said Island, well skilled in the Manks language, to be prepared for the press." — 
 Isle of Man Charities, drawn up for government, printed 1831, pp. 52, 53. It 
 would follow, from these statements, that Chaloner has paid his friend Phillips a 
 compliment that appears now very doubtful. 
 
 It also appears, by the same report, that the society " printed in the Manks lan- 
 guage, and dispersed gratis in the Island, 2000 Catechisms, 1200 Christian Monitors, 
 and 1000 copies of the Acts of the Apostles;" and by the report of 1781, page 12, in 
 addition to these, " they distributed gratis, in the Manks language, 1000 copies of 
 the New Testament in octavo, 2000 copies of Lewis's Exposition, 1550 copies of the 
 Book of Common Prayer, in octavo, and 1000 copies in duodecimo. 
 
 The Book of Common Prayer was first printed in Manks, at London, in the year 
 1 765, by Oliver. The Epistles and Revelations of St. John were printed in Manks, 
 at Ramsey, by Sheppard of Whitehaven. The Prayer for the fishery and Lewis's 
 Catechism were also printed in Manks, at Ramsey, in 1768. The Bible was first 
 printed in 1 vol. 4to, and in 3 vols. 8vo., between the years 1772 and 1776, at 
 Whitehaven, by Ware. In the good work of translating the scriptures into the 
 Manks language, the insular clergy were particularly active ; "each," says the biogra- 
 pherof Bishop Hildesley, "performed his apportioned part with zeal and judgment." 
 —A,,. Wind's Ancient Records, London, 1837, p. 57.
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. XII. 387 
 
 The following is a list of the Clergymen who translated the Scriptures, &c, into 
 the Manks language, and the manner in which they were apportioned : — 
 Geneses — Rev. Wm. Mylrea, Archdeacon, and Rev. Robt. Radcliffe, Vicar-General. 
 Exodus — Rev. Henry Corlett, Vicar of Kirk German. 
 Leviticus — Rev. Nicholas Christian, Vicar of Rushen. 
 Numbers — Rev. William Crebbin, Vicar of Jurby. 
 Deuteronomy — Rev. John Moore, Vicar of Arbory. 
 Joshua — Rev. James Wilks, Vicar of Kirk Michael. 
 Judges & Ruth — Rev. Robert Quayle, Curate of Kirk Braddan. 
 
 1 Samuel — Rev. Samuel Gell, Vicar of Kirk Lonan. 
 
 2 Samuel — Rev. Joseph Cosnahan, Vicar of Kirk Braddan. 
 
 1 Kings — Rev. Thomas Quayle, Vicar of Kirk Onchan. 
 
 2 Kings — Rev. John Christian, Vicar of Kirk Marown. 
 
 1 Chronicles — Rev. Daniel Gelling, Vicar of Kirk Malew. 
 
 2 Chronicles — Rev. John Gell, Vicar of Lezayre. 
 
 Ezra & Nehemiah — Rev. Thomas Cubbon, Vicar of Kirk Santon. 
 
 Esther — Rev. John Crellin, Chaplain of Ramsey. 
 
 Job — Rev. Thomas Corlett, Curate of Kirk Bride. 
 
 p J" Rev. John Gell, Vicar of Lezaye, Rev. Philip Moore, Rector of Kirk Bride 
 
 \ and Chaplain of Douglas, and the Rev. Mr. Teare. 
 
 Proverbs — Rev. Thomas William J. Woods, Vicar of Kirk Maughold. 
 
 Ecclesiastes — Rev. Charles Crebbin, Curate of Douglas. 
 
 Song of Solomon — Rev. William Clucas, Curate of Kirk Marown. 
 
 Minor Prophets — Rev. W. Fitzsimmons, Minister of Episcopal Chapel, Edinburgh 
 
 p „ . f Uncertain by whom ; l but under the direction of Bishop Wilson, 
 
 s \ and Dr. William Walker, his Vicar-General. 
 
 Epistles — Rev. James Wilks, Vicar of Kirk Michael. 
 
 T T J Rev. Matthias Curphey, Vicar-General, Rector of Ballaugh, and 
 
 ihe l,iturgy ^ the Rev Robert Radcliffe) v . G. Vicar of Kirk Patrick. 
 
 Lewis's Catechism, Rev. H. Corlett. — Christian Monitor, Rev. Paul Crebbin. 
 The Rev. Philip Moore and the Rev. J. Kelly revised and corrected the version of 
 the Old Testament. Rev. James Wilks and Rev. Matthias Curphey, the Gospels 
 and the Acts of the Apostles. Rev. Matthias Curphey, the Epistles. Rev. James 
 V\'ilks, the Liturgy. Mr. afterwards Rev. Dr. Kelly, superintended the impression 
 of the Old Testament ; besides the later editions of the New Testament, Prayer Book, 
 and Treatise on the Sacrament. Rev. Thomas Corlett, the Epistles, second edition 
 of the Liturgy, and the Christian Monitor. — Butler's Memoirs of Bishop Hildesley, 
 London, edition 1799, pp. 252 — 256. 
 
 1 The Rev. Thos. Cubbon, Vicar of Kirk Maughold, in a letter to the Rev. Weeden Butler, 
 author of the Memoirs of Bishop Hildesley, dated March 17, 1799, says— " I cannot find in 
 what proportion the rest of the Old and New Testament was divided amongst the gentlemen ; 
 but I believe, and am pretty confident, they did translate the whole. The Rev. Philip Moore 
 and Matthias Curphey, assisted occasionally by the Rev. James Wilks, revised the Pentateuch 
 at Bishop's Court : the remaining part of the Old Testament was revised by the Rev. P. Moore 
 and the Rev. John Kelly only, and by them prepared for the press at Douglas." Unable to 
 trace out from the papers of Mr. Wilks, his father-in-law, any account, when, or by whom, 
 the Gospels were originally translated into Manks, Mr. Cubbon thought the best way was to 
 apply to the Rev. William Crebbin, Vicar of Jurby, and translator of the book of Numbers, 
 who is in his 82d year, and who lived with Bishop Wilson twelve months after his being 
 ordained by him. This gentleman informed Mr. Cubbon, that during his residence with the 
 bishop, the four Gospels, the Acts, and part of the Common Prayer had been translated, as he 
 was assured and understood, by Dr. William Walker, then Viear-Gencral of the Diocese. He 
 is certain, that the copies he saw were in the hand- writing of Dr. Walker; for Bishop Wilson 
 used to give Mr. Crebbin the perusal of them, in order the better to qualify him for translating. 
 
 CHAP. XII. 3 A
 
 388 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 In the course of printing the Manks Bible, a fatal accident had nearly befallen a 
 portion of the translation, which threatened greatly to retard the good work, and is 
 thus related by the Rev. Dr. Kelly ; x — " I began to revise, correct, and transcribe, 
 the Gaelic translation of the Bible on the 1st of June, 1768. The Pentateuch was 
 soon after nearly ready for the press ; and we arrived at Whitehaven, where the work 
 was printed, on the 13th of April, 1770. On our next return from the Island to 
 Whitehaven, the 19th of March, 1771, charged with another portion, from Deuter- 
 onomy to Job inclusive, we were shipwrecked in a storm. With no small difficulty 
 and danger the manuscript was preserved, by holding it above the water for the space 
 of five hours ; and this was almost the only article saved." Bishop Hildesley and 
 the Rev. Philip Moore, whenever the subject afterwards came into conversation, were 
 jocularly pleased to compare the corrector to Cseser ; who, during the sea-fight at 
 Alexandria, is said to have saved his Commentaries by holding them in one hand and 
 Bwimming with the other. — Memoirs of Bishop Hildesley, pp. 230, 231. 
 
 Major Vallancey, author of an Irish Grammar, speaks highly of the Manks trans- 
 lation of the Scriptures. He observes, in one or two instances, " The beautiful ex- 
 pression of the Manks, superior to the Irish translation, is visible to every Celtic 
 Scholar." He further remarks, in a letter to the Rev. Philip Moore, dated Dublin, 
 1780, — " The few leisure moments I could command from public business, I have 
 dedicated to my favourite pursuit, in the study of Celtic dialects and antiquities. 
 In my career, I have perused the Manks Bible and Testament, with great pleasure 
 and much instruction, I admire the simplicity and force of the language, and the 
 beauty of the version, where many vulgarisms have crept into the Irish translation; 
 such as, your cur mian air, for our feuch, 'behold ;' and many others." — Memoirs 
 of Bishop Hildesley, pp. 233, G70. 
 
 1 Dr. Kelly, a native of the Is'.e of Man, was the author of a Manks Dictionary and Gram- 
 mar. The manuscript of the Dictionary was unfortunately destroyed when in the course of 
 being: printed, owing: to the printing- office taking- fire, but was subsequently published; the 
 Grumruar likewise issued from the press, but both these works are now extremely scarce. 
 
 NOTE IV.— Page 353. 
 
 ROYAL BOUNTY. 
 
 An Extract from the Letters Patent of King Charles the second, of ane Annuity , or 
 yearly Sum of one hundred Pounds, towards the Maintenance of such poor 
 Ministers in the Isle of Man as shall stand most in need thereof. 
 
 " Charles the Second, by the grace of God, king of England, Scotland, France, and 
 Ireland, Defender of the faith, &c, — To all to whom these presents shall come, 
 greeting, — Know ye that wc, for diverse good causes and considerations us thereunto 
 moving, of our especial grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion, Have given and 
 granted, and by these presents, for us, our heirs, and successors, given and granted 
 unto our Bt. trusty and Rt. well-beloved cousin William, Earle of Derby, and our 
 trusty and well-beloved Thomas Cholmondeley, of the Vale Royal, in our county of 
 Chester, Esq., and William Bankes, of Winstanley, in our county of Lancr., Esquire, 
 ane annuity or yearly sum of one hundred pounds of lawful money of England, to be
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. XII. 389 
 
 issuing and payable out of all that our revenue of excise of beer, ale, and other 
 excisable liquors which is settled upon us, our heirs, and successors, by the laws and 
 statutes of this our realme, arising within all and every the citties, counties, and 
 places of this our Kingdom of England, Dominion of Wales, and town of Berwick- 
 upon-Tweed, and every or any of them, or by the rents reserved, or to be reserved 
 upon any demise of farm thereof, made or to be made ; to have and to hold, and 
 yearly to receive, perceive, and enjoy the said annuity or yearly sume of one hundred 
 pounds, unto the said William Earle of Derby, Thomas Cholmondeley, and William 
 Bankes, their heirs or asss., from the feast of St. Michael the Archangel, which was 
 in the year of our Lord, one thousand six hundred seventy and three, at the feast of 
 the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Michael the Archangel, by even 
 and equal portions, by the hands of the farmers, collectors, receivers, and commissioners 
 of our said Revenue of Excise arising out of the citties, places, and counties aforesaid, 
 and every of them, for the time being, before the said rents or revenues be paid unto 
 the Ecchequer, by levying tallies or pro., or assignment from time to time in said 
 Ecchequer, for discharge of the persons paying the same or any pt. thereof ; the 
 said annuity or sume of one hundred pounds, and the arrears thereof to be, by the 
 said Earle, Thomas Cholmondeley, and William Bankes, their heirs, and asss., from 
 time to time employed and disposed towards the maintenance of such poor ministers 
 in the Isle of Man, as shall be found to stand most in need thereof. And we do 
 hereby, for us, our heirs, and successors, authorise, require, and command the Ld. 
 High Treasurer, Comissers. of the Treasury, Chancellor, Under Treasurer, Chamber- 
 lains, and Barons of the Ecchequer, of us, our heirs and successors, and all and every 
 the officers and ministers of our said Ecchequer, and of the receipt thereof, now and 
 for the time being, to whom it shall in anywise appertain to give warrt. and directions 
 from time to time, as well, for the payment of the said annuity herein before-men- 
 tioned, from the time and in the manner aforesaid, according to the true intent and 
 meaning of these presents, &c, &c. 
 
 " In witness whereof, we have caused these, our Letters, to be made patent. Wit- 
 ness ourself, at Westminster, the nineteenth day of Aprille, in the seven and twen- 
 tieth year of our reign. By writt of Privy seal, Pigott." 
 
 " Charles R., Right trusty, right well-beloved Cousin, we greet you well. 
 
 " Whereas, upon former and late representations made unto us by the Right Rev. 
 Father in God, Isaac Barrow, Bishop of St. Asaph, and late Bishop of the Isle of Man, 
 of the mean provision of the clergy in that Isle, and the ill effects which necessarily 
 attend upon the same, both in relation to the qualifications of the ministry there, and 
 instructing that people, and educating of their youth, we were pleased to grant one 
 hundred pounds per ann., as of our princely bounty, to be annually paid to them, 
 which, by our Letters patent of the 19th April, in the seven-and-twentyeth yeare of 
 our Reigne, we have ordered to be paid out of the Revenue of Eccise ; and, because 
 the same is in perpetuity, and so could not be settled in the present Bishop of Mann 
 and his successors, upon advice with our learned Council in the Law, we thought fit to 
 appoint you, our Rt. trusty, and Rt. well-beloved Cousin Will., Earle of Derby, and 
 you, our trusty and well-beloved Thomas Cholmondeley and Will. Bankes, Esquires, 
 and your heirs and asss., to be trustees to receive and dispose this, our Royal Charily. 
 And, reflecting upon what was done formerly in disposing thereof, we are willing, by 
 your ease and quiet rest, this, our bounty, be disposed as we herein allot and appor- 
 tion ; and, accordingly, our will and pleasure is, and we do hereby require you, and 
 every of you, and all future trustees for the same, that you and they, and every of 
 you, from time to time, allot and pay to six petty schools in the most convenient 
 places in the 6aid Island, viz., to a petty school in Castletown, to a petty school in
 
 390 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 Douglas, to a petty school in Ramsey, to a petty school in Kk. Andreas, to a petty 
 school in Kk. Bride, and to a petty school in Ballaugh, three pounds annually to each 
 school, amounting in all to eighteen pounds per ann. And we finding, of the seven- 
 teen Parish Churches or Cures in our Island, that there are but three that are of any 
 considerable value, and, of the fourteen remaining, but three worth seventeen pounds 
 per annum ; and, to the end, that the other eleven Parishes or Cures, which are in 
 value less, may be also made seventeen pounds per annnm or thereabouts ; We do, 
 therefore, direct and appoint that there be allowed and paid annually to the respec- 
 tive incumbent for the time being of the several churches hereinafter mentioned, the 
 several yearly sums following : viz., to the incumbent of Kk. German, eight pounds 
 per ann. ; of Kk. Jurby, eleven pounds per ann. ; of Kk. Christ Lezayre, thir- 
 teen pounds per ann. ; of Kk. Maughold, one pound per ann. ; of Kk. Lonnan, 
 five pounds per ann. ; of Kk. Conchan, nine pounds per ann. ; of Kk. Braddan, 
 nine pounds per ann. ; of Kk. Marown, seven pounds per ann. ; of Kk. Santon, 
 nine pounds per ann. ; of Kk. Arbory, one pound per ann. ; of Kk. Christ Rushen, 
 nine pounds per ann. ; all which amounts to eighty-two pounds per ann. (common 
 charges to be deducted in common), which makes the whole one hundred pounds per 
 ann. And our farther will and pleasure is that these, our letters, be registered in our 
 said Island, that our directions herein may be better known and observed ; and for so 
 doing this shall be your warrant ; and we bid you heartily farewell. 
 
 " Given at our Court, at Whitehall, the 15th day of February, 1675, in the 28th 
 year of our Reign. By his Majesty's command, J. Williamson." 
 
 NOTE V.— Page 355. 
 
 ACCOUNT OF THE MANKS CLERGY. 
 
 If the clergy of Man were sunk in ignorance and vice, in Bishop Wilson's time, 
 they seem to have improved slowly. 
 
 Townley, who visited the Island nearly a century after the appointment of Bishop 
 Wilson, relates the following singular story : — 
 
 " Listening to the public cryer under my window this afternoon, I heard it an- 
 nounced (by sound of bell) that the Vicar-General Moore would be here to-morrow, 
 on some mischief, some spiritual prosecution or persecution, I fear ; unless, in imita- 
 tion of his brother Vicar- General, Mr. Christian, he be bringing a cast-away horse to 
 be raffled for. About three weeks ago, the last-named gentleman sent one to be 
 disposed of in that gambling way, at the rate of fifteen guineas. In order to induce 
 gentlemen to become adventurers in the clerical lottery, a friend to the church offered 
 to give ten guineas for him to the lucky person if wishing to part with his valuable 
 prize ; so we will suppose there was only a modest craving of five guineas, from the 
 laity, for a poor parson. 
 
 "The Bishop's son proved fortune's favourite in that lottery, so the horse was sent 
 into better quarters at Bishop's Court ; but not proving suitable for a carriage horse, 
 III inker was sent back to Douglas, to be disposed of in the same manner, and upon 
 the very same conditions. Mr. Cosnahan then proved the fortunate thrower. I have 
 since heard that gentleman say the horse was not a suitable one for his use, therefore 
 he had thoughts of pushing him off in the same way. What a pretty convenient system 
 of gambling has been introduced into Douglas, under church authority ! ! "
 
 APPENDIX, CHAr. XII. 391 
 
 "The following very curious and most extraordinary presentments which have also 
 fortunately fallen into my hands, will. I trust, justify the fears above alluded to, and 
 clear me of forming any incandid apprehensions with respect to one of the first dig- 
 nitaries of the Manks church. Let the presentments speak for themselves : 
 
 " St. Ann's presentments: — 8th Nov., 1789, Charles Crebbin, vicar, upon the 
 information of William M'Gloriory, one of the chapter quest, the church -wardens 
 present John M'Borie, for cursing one of his own cattle in these words, ' God damn 
 you.' Upon the questman's information, they present Thos. Harman, for swearing 
 by his conscience and making use of the word ' Devil,' in his common talk. Upon 
 the information of Thomas Quivite, one of the chapter quest, they present Thomas 
 Caine, for not attending divine service on the Sabbath day, and for cursing Elizabeth 
 Callister, in these words, ' plague on thee.' Upon the information of the said quest- 
 man, they present Elizabeth Callister, for cursing Thomas Caine in the same words as 
 he cursed her, viz., ' plague on thee.' Upon the information of the said questman, 
 they present Elizabeth Hinley, wife of W. Hinley, jun., for swearing by her soul. 
 On the same, they present Thomas Faggart, forswearing by his conscience, and Philip 
 Hinley for swearing by his soul. Upon the information of John Farger, one of the 
 chapter quest, they present Margaret Creer, for not attending divine service on the 
 Lord's day. 
 
 "At a chapter court, held at Castletown, on the 12th November, 1789, the said 
 John M'Borie, Thomas Harman, Thomas Caine, Elizabeth Callister, Elizabeth 
 Hinley, Thomas Faggart, Philip Hinley, and Margaret Creer, having not appeared 
 in court, according to summons, we tine 2s. Cd. each, for their contempt ; and they are 
 to be admonished by their pastor, for their said offences. 
 
 John Moore. 
 Evan Christian. 
 Examined by J. Crellix, Epis. Beg. 
 
 To the Vicar of St. Ann's, these to publish plena ecclcsid." 
 — Townley's Journal in the Isle of Man, Whitehaven, 1791, vol. ii, p. 46. 
 
 NOTE VI.— Page 356. 
 
 DISCIPLINE OF THE MANKS CHURCH, FORMERLY. 
 
 " The discipline of the church being perpetually dinned in the ears of the laity, and 
 the indispensable obligation of submitting to it, the abject creatures are drove to 
 prison like sheep to a fold, and from thence to public penance as quietly as those 
 beasts are to the slaughter; deterred on the one hand from murmuring by the 
 threatenings of severer punishments, and persuaded on the other, that patient sub- 
 mission to the inflictors is the supremest merit in the eyes of heaven. These doc- 
 trines the spiritual pastors thunder out as the pope does his bulls, with an anathema 
 tacked to them, and enforced by a strong argument called Kirk Jarmyns, on all who 
 are disobedient or unbelieving; for proof of which, I appeal to nn English gentleman, 
 who, not long since, was sentenced to that horrid prison which is under the bishop's 
 chapel in Peel Castle, by a spiritual court, for barely seeming to supposo that oue of
 
 392 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 the brotherhood was not overstocked with learning. A summons was served on the; 
 gentleman before the sentence was registered (nor indeed is it yet), and he had cer- 
 tainly been sent to prison and ordered to do penance, but that he declared he 
 appealed to the metropolitan, or challenged his antagonist to disprove his assertion 
 before the best judges of learning his country could produce. Upon this., the minis- 
 ter, by the advice of his brethren, conscious of the weakness of his cause, dropt the 
 prosecution ; and has ever since sat down under the character of an illiterate bully. 
 
 " How little the methods taken by this court to prevent fornication have succeeded, 
 may be known by the great number of offenders, which are every Sunday doing pen- 
 ance in their churches ; and, in my opinion, draw on a more pernicious evil than that 
 which they design to avoid. If the least familiarity is observed between persons of 
 a different sex, they are immediately summoned to the communion table, and there 
 obliged to swear themselves innocent, or endure the shame and punishment ordained 
 for the crime of fornication. This they call purging ; but it is so far from being 
 worthy of that name, that many, to avoid public disgrace, add the sin of perjury to 
 the other, and take the most solemn oath that can be invented to a falsehood. In- 
 numerable are the instances I could give of this truth ; but, to avoid being tedious, 
 I shall repeat one only, but that being of so dreadful a nature, as may very well serve 
 to convince my reader, that too much severity, as well as too much lenity, is of a dan- 
 gerous consequence : 
 
 " A widow, of Douglas, being of a light behaviour, was frequently suspected to be 
 guilty of fornication, and accordingly was summoned to the communion table, and 
 took the oath of purgation, (how truly the sequel will prove). As she was one evening 
 going home, she was accosted by a stranger, I think he was of Wales, the master of 
 a vessel; what discourse passed between them is unknown, nor is it of much conse- 
 quence, farther than they agreed to go together to her lodgings, where, having made 
 him very drunk, she rifled his pocket of ten guineas, and then made a pretence to 
 get him down stairs ; but he no sooner came into the air than it deprived him of all 
 the little sense the liquor had left him, and being unable to reel any farther, lay down 
 at the door, and fell into a profound sleep. When waked, he missed the money, and 
 remembering the encounter he had with the woman, related the story to his landlady, 
 who persuaded him to make his complaint, and procure leave to search the lodgings 
 of this woman. The advice was followed ; and the officers being very diligent in 
 their scrutiny, found in her bosom one guinea, under a heap of ashes a second, and 
 a good part of the change of another. As she, was extremely poor, and had nothing 
 to subsist on but what she got by her daily labour from house to house, it was easy 
 to believe this was none of her own money, they therefore doubted not but that they 
 should find the remainder of what the captain had lost, which indeed they did, and 
 with it a much more shocking discovery. In turning up a bed, there lay under it a 
 parcel of small bones, which seemed to be human; they sent immediately for two 
 doctors, the one named Jenkinson, the other Ball, who, on joining them together, 
 made the perfect anatomies of three children. The back-bone of one of them had 
 been cleft through, as it seemed, with a hatchet. Every one was struck with the 
 utmost horror at this sight, except the inhuman mother and murderess, who impu- 
 dently owned they were all her own children, which she had been delivered of in pri- 
 vate to avoid punishment; but pretended, in her defence, they were still-born. She 
 was then asked why she did not bury them, to which she answered, that was not the 
 business of anybody, they were her own, and being dead, she might dispose of them 
 m she pleased. Perhaps, added she, I had a mind to keep them by me, for the sake 
 •f those that begot them. 
 
 " She was, however, curried to prison under the double indictment of theft and
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. XII. 393 
 
 * 
 
 murder, and being unable to allege anything in her justification, was condemned to 
 death, and accordingly executed." 
 
 The narrator continues, " It was remarkable that this wretch, when under sen- 
 tence, being asked why she had not buried the children, since she might easily 
 have had an opportunity, told the person who made this demand, that designing to 
 throw them into the river, she took up the bones in her apron one night, but as she 
 was going, was met by a tall black gentleman, who bade her go back ; adding she wa3 
 safe while she kept them at Lome, but that if she attempted to conceal them, either 
 in earth or water, she would certainly be discovered. Whether this miserable crea- 
 ture saw any such apparition or not, or whether it was the will of God that she 
 should imagine she saw and heard what in effect was nothing, I will not pretend to 
 determine ; but it is plain that Divine Justice, who seldom suffers murder to go 
 unpunished, even on earth, was very visible in compelling this woman to take the 
 only means by which she could be detected." — Waldroris Description of I he Isle of 
 Man, London, edition 1731, folios 117—121. 
 
 NOTE VII.— Page 360. 
 
 STIPEND OF THE CLERGY. 
 
 "On the death of James, Earl of Derby, in the year 1735, James, Duke of Atholl, 
 took possession of the lordship of Man and of the rectories and tithes comprised in the 
 said indenture of the 1st November, 1G6C, claiming the same as heir-at-law of James, 
 Lord Stanley. Whereupon Thomas Wilson, Lord Bishop of Sodor and .Alan, and John 
 Kippax, Archdeacon, in the month of November, 17-12, exhibited their bill in the High 
 Court of Chancery against Edward, then Earl of Derby, James, Duke of Atholl, and 
 Isaac Clopton, the personal representative of Bishop Barrow, praying, on behalf of 
 the clergy and schoolmasters, that they might be decreed to have the benefit of the 
 said collateral security. And the said Edward, Earl of Derby, filed his cross-bill to 
 establish his title to the said Isle, rectors, and tithes: which causes were heard 
 before Lord Chancellor Hardwick on the 12th, 13th, and loth days of July, 1751, 
 who dismissed the cross-bill, so far as it sought to impeach the Duke of Atholl's title 
 to the Isle of Man and to establ Lease for ten thousand years, made on the 1st 
 
 November, KiOO. And as for the relief, sought for by Lord Derby's bill, touching 
 the estate and lands in Lancashire, comprised in the collateral security, and as to 
 the demand made by the clergy against the said collateral security in the original 
 bill, it was referred to a master to enquire, the clergy were evicted of the 
 
 tithes in question by the Duke of Atholl, and from what time they ceased to receive 
 the rents and profits thereof. And the Master was to take an account of the tithes 
 which had accrued since the eviction of the clergy ; and also to take an account of 
 the rents and profits of the estate in Lancashire comprised in the collateral security ; 
 and to compute the annual value of the rectories and tithes for the time to come; 
 and so much as the Master should compute the value thereof, should be paid by 
 Lord Derby, for the time to come, to the Bishop and Archdeacon yearly, upon the 
 trusts in the said demise, with liberty to apply to the court to enforce payment 
 thereof.
 
 394 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 " In pursuance of the said decree, Master Eld made his report, dated 7th July, 
 1757. And by a subsequent order made in the said causes (11th May, 1758) it was 
 ordered, that upon the Earl of Derby's consenting to pay to Hugh Hammersley, 
 gent., by the consent of the Bishop and Archdeacon, to be disposed of and paid by 
 them according to [.the directions of the said decretal order, the sum of £1,132 lis. 
 sterling, the clear amount settled by the said Master's report, of the damnification 
 sustained by the clergy down to Easter, 1751 ; (after deducting the sum of £1442 
 15s. 9Jd., before paid by the said Earl of Derby, pursuant to an order made the 2nd 
 August, 1750), and also the sum of £1,087 Is. lOfd. stg., the amount of the clear 
 yearly value of the said rectories and tithes for five years from Easter 1751 to Easter 
 1756, at the rate of £217 8s. 4£d. a year ; and also the farther sum of £430 15s. 9d. 
 6tg., being the amount of the clear yearly value of the said rectories and tithes for the 
 two succeeding years, from Easter 1756 to Easter 1758, at the yearly rate of £219 
 7s. 10§d. ; and upon the said Earl of Derby's undertaking to pay to the Bishop and 
 Archdeacon of the said Isle the yearly sum of £219 7s. lOfd. stg. on every Easter Mon- 
 day, at the Town-hall in Liverpool, the said Earl of Derby shall be continued in the 
 possession of the said manor and farm, called Bispham and Methop, subject to the 
 further order of the Court." — Isle of Man Charities, printed 1831, pp. 12, 13. 
 
 NOTE VIII.— Page 361. 
 
 PAROCHIAL LIBRARIES. 
 
 "And whereas several well-disposed persons have given a number of useful and 
 practical books to the several parishes of this Isle. In order to preserve the same 
 from embezzlement, and that all future benefactors may be satisfied that their pious 
 intent shall not be frustrated, Be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that 
 every rector, vicar, or curate, or their executors or administrators shall be accountable 
 for such books as are already remaining, or shall hereafter be given, to the full value 
 of the same ; and every rector, vicar, or curate, shall, immediately after his induc- 
 tion or lycence, make a new catalogue of all the books belonging to their respective 
 churches, and shall deliver the same to the episcopal register, to the end that the 
 said books may be accounted for and made good, according to the purport of this 
 act." — Act of Tijmrahl, a.d, 1734, Lex Scripta, pp. 258, 259. The following memo- 
 randa from the parochial register, may serve to show what many of the parochial 
 libraries are at present: — "The Rev. Hugh Stowell entered on the vicarage of Kirk 
 Lonan, April 18, 1802, and found the parochial library in a most ruinous and tattered 
 state. The only entire books were, Law's Christian Perfection, A Brief Exposition 
 of the Church Catechism, part of Sherlock on Providence, part of Pearson on the 
 Creed, with several leaves and fragments of old books. 
 
 " N.B. — Recovered three volumes of Bishop Wilson's Annotations on the Bible." 
 
 " The Rev. D. Harrison, instituted to the said vicarage at Easter, 1817, found only 
 the following books belonging to the parochial library, viz,, LauSs Christian Perfec- 
 tion, in had order, and Bishop Wilson's Bible, greatly abused. D. H." 
 
 " The Rev. Joseph Qualtrough was instituted to the vicarage of Lonan, at Easter, 
 1821, and found no trace of a parochial library, except Bishop Wilson's Bibk, and 
 rven that required a new binding." — Isle of Man Charities, pp. 136, 137.
 
 APPENDIX, CHAP. X. 395 
 
 NOTE IN. -I'hi. 874. 
 
 BISHOP WARD. 
 
 This prelate being more particular than some of his predecessors, in the collection 
 of tithes, ami more frequent in his application and exactions for the erection of 
 churches, u us, inconsequence, not much beloved by many of tin- Manks people — 
 few of whom were inclined to believe that he really possessed the unbounded liberality, 
 ascribed t<> liim by tlic Earl of Ripon. They say he might well be liberal in support 
 of the church, having- received a large sum for thai purpose, under the following 
 singular circumstances: — 
 
 Mr. George Davenport, of Lime Street, London, a gentleman ofgreal wealth, ima- 
 gining, as may be supposed in a lit of lunacy, that his Satanic majesty was about to 
 take sole possession of Great Britain, and that the Isle of .Man was the only spot in 
 the universe not subject to the dominion of the arch fiend ; under tin' influence of 
 this hallucination, he hurried away with his family and suite, to the place of his fan- 
 cied security, where he soon became intimately acquainted with Bishop Ward, to 
 
 whom he conveyed £6,1 II II I of liis property for the n -e of the insular church, of which 
 he wished to he ordained a minister, that being, in his opinion, the only protection 
 to be obtained on earth, against the machinations of the great enemy of mankind. 
 
 It became, at length, necessary to place Mr. Davenport under the charge of a 
 keeper, and, for the sake of his family, to examine into the state of his affairs. In 
 February, L838, under a commission ofh nacy, an investigation took placi in London, 
 which occupied twelve days. Enquiry was made into the state of some of his 
 vious transactions, particularly into the transfer of stock made to Bishop Ward. — 
 After a patient investigation into all the circumstances connected with that tral 
 tion, the jury returned a verdict to the effect, thai Mr. Davenport was then of mi. 
 Bound mind. This opinion was strengthened by his having, in the course of a few 
 months, in addition to that sum, given away £15,700, for religious purposes. 
 
 The illiberal charge made against Bishop Ward by some of the Manks people was 
 quite unfounded, as he did not bee.. me acquainted with Mr. Davenport, till Sep- 
 tember. L836; nor did he wish to keep the circu] of his having received the 
 donation from Mr. Davenport, secret, or to apply it to any other purpose than that 
 intended by the donor. In the House of Lords, on 1 it!, December. L837, the Earl of 
 Ripon thus adverts to the subject: — " There are resources at the bishop's command 
 which he would be ready to apply, for the benefit of the church, if the bishopric be 
 spared, A considerable sum, amounting to several thousand pounds, has been placed 
 by a benevolent individual at the bishop's disposal, for purposes of this kind. The 
 bishop is not bound to apply any part of this money to Mann; it is entirely in his 
 discretion to apply it either there or eBewhere ; hut his wish would be to -he to the 
 Isle of Man, in whose welfare he feels so deep an interest, tin- benefit of this muni- 
 Li donation, together with any additions which his friends in England, maj he 
 disposed to make to it." 
 
 In the examination, the part which the executors of Bishop Ward took to establish 
 
 tation of £6,000, is said to have cost them 61,200! ! Amon \ the papers of 
 
 Mr. Davenport, it is also said, that a letter or copy of one, was found addressed to 
 the bishop, dated six days after the conveyance, representing that Mr. Davenporfs 
 family were averse, and objected to such a large amount of property being made away 
 with. Whether the letter was actually sent, is not stated.
 
 396 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 NOTE X.— Page 379. 
 
 LIST OF THE BISHOPS OF SODOR AND MAN, FROM THE 
 FOUNDATION OF THE SEE TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Amphibalus, (doubtful) 360 
 
 Saint Patrick 444 
 
 Saint German 447 
 
 Conindicus 
 
 Romulus 
 
 Saint Maughold 498 
 
 Saint Conan 648 
 
 Saint Contentus 
 
 Saint Baldus. . . , 
 
 Saint Malchus 
 
 Torkins 889 
 
 Roolwer 
 
 William 
 
 Anmemd Mc. Olay 1093 
 
 Saint Brandan 1098 
 
 Wimund 1113 
 
 John, (about) 1 130 
 
 Heldebert, (about) 1151 
 
 Gamaliel (about) 1180 
 
 Reginald 
 
 Christian Arcbadiensis 
 
 Michael 1203 
 
 Nicholas 1203 
 
 Reginald 1217 
 
 John 1226 
 
 Simon 1226 
 
 Laurence 1249 
 
 Stephen 1233 
 
 Richard 1257 
 
 Mark 1275 
 
 Allan 1305 
 
 Gilbert Mc. Clellan 1321 
 
 Bernard da Liuton 1324 
 
 Thomas 1334 
 
 William Russel 1348 | 
 
 It is thus shown that Sodor and " Man never lost the regular succession of its 
 
 Bishops, being the only diocese in the British church of which that can be said." 
 — Ward's Ancient Records, p. 89. 
 
 END OF VOL. T. 
 
 Year. 
 
 John Dunkan 1374 
 
 Robert Waldby 1381 
 
 John Sprotton 1396 
 
 Richard Puller 1429 
 
 John Grene 1452 
 
 Thomas Burton 1458 
 
 Richard 1483 
 
 Huan Husketh 1487 
 
 John 1532 
 
 Thomas Stanley 1542 
 
 Robert Farrier 1555 
 
 Henry Mann k 1556 
 
 Thomas Stanley, (restored) 1556 
 
 John Salisbury 1570 
 
 John Merrick 1577 
 
 George Lloyd 1600 
 
 William Foster . . r 1605 
 
 John Phillips 1635 
 
 Richard Parr 1637 
 
 Samuel Rutter 1661 
 
 Isaac Barrow 1663 
 
 Henry Bridgeman 1671 
 
 John Lake 1682 
 
 Baptest Levinze 1684 
 
 Thomas Wilson 1697 
 
 Mark Hildesley 1 755 
 
 Doctor Richmond 1773 
 
 George Mason 1 780 
 
 Claudius Cregan 1784 
 
 George Murray 1814 
 
 William Ward 1827 
 
 James Bowstead 1838 
 
 Henry Pepys 1840 
 
 Thomas Vowler Short ] 841 
 
 DOUGLAS: Printed by J. Quiggin, Custom House Quay.
 
 INDEX, VOL. 1. 
 
 •JD7 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 VOLUME THE FIRST. 
 
 Acts, list of, relating to the sale of the 
 Island, 256. 
 
 Act of Settlement, 229. 
 
 Aidon conquers the Isle of Man, 45. 
 
 Alexander II, letter of, to the Bishop of 
 Man, 125 ; succeeded by his son, 125. 
 
 Alexander III, family of, 143 ; his 
 death, 144. 
 
 Allan, tyranny and death of, 141. 
 
 Alfrica, daughter of Olave the Black, 
 claims the sovereignty of Man, 144. 
 
 Antiquities, Roman. 55. 
 
 Anarawd succeeds his father, Rodric 
 Maur, in the sovereignty of Man, 48 ; 
 dies, 49. 
 
 Armorial bearing of the Island, 67. 
 
 Atholl, John Duke of, succeeds to the 
 Lordship of the Isle of Man, 238 ; he 
 visits the Island, 238 ; his enactments, 
 238 ; disposes of the Island to the 
 British government, 243 ; exertions to 
 obtain further remuneration in lieu of 
 these rights, 245 ; commissioners ap- 
 pointed by parliament to inquire into 
 the validity of these claims, 247 ; the 
 duke obtains a further grant, 249 ; he 
 accepts the office of captain-general of 
 the Island, 250 ; and becomes very 
 unpopular, 253 ; his measures strongly 
 opposed by the Manks people, 254 ; 
 finally disposes of his remaining in- 
 terest in the Island, 25."). 
 
 Ayre, Point of, current of tide there, 4. 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 B 
 
 Ballad, an historical, 50. 
 
 Barrule, Mountain of, 2. 
 
 Barrow, Dr. Isaac, 352. 
 
 Battles between Rhun and Aidon, 45 ; 
 Barred O'Kivan and the Danish pirates, 
 48 ; Norwegian pirates and Goddard 
 king of Man, 67 ; Fingall defeated by 
 Goddard Crovan, 77 ; the Isle plun- 
 dered by Magnus Barefoot, 80 ; the 
 conflict of Gantivart, 84 ; Goddard, 
 king of Man, engaged at the storming 
 of Dublin, 97; Somerled victorious on 
 the coast of Man, 99 ; Godred de- 
 feated by Milo Cogan, 106 ; Eac Mar- 
 cat, on raising the standard of rebellion, 
 is slain, 107 ; Reginald defeated at 
 Rathcastle, 110; Angus, the son of 
 Somerled, slain at the head of a legion 
 of Kitterans, 111; the Island plun- 
 dered by the Lord of Galloway, and 
 Reginald slain, 117; the fray of the 
 Tynwald Hill, 124; the Manks and 
 Danes defeated at Largs, 131 ; Death 
 of Ivar, 141 ; battle of Barrule, 148 ; 
 the inhabitants oppose the Irish under 
 Sir Richard de Mandeville, 148; the 
 people rise against the king's lieute- 
 nant with intent to kill him, 162. 
 
 Balkason, Paul, puts out the eyes of 
 Olave, 115 ; joins the armament of 
 Haco, 119 ; murdered by Godred 
 Don, 121. 
 
 Baliol, seisin made of the Isle of Man 
 
 3B
 
 308 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 to him, 144 ; summoned to appear 
 before the king of England, 144 ; did 
 homage for the Island, 149. 
 
 Beck, Anthony, Bishop of Durham, ob- 
 tains a grant of the Island, 145. 
 
 Beltane, singular observance at, 315, 325. 
 
 Birds of the Island, 23, 26. 
 
 Bishops, list of, 396 ; succession of, 322, 
 229 ; Amphibalus suffered martyrdom, 
 
 320 ; St. Patrick converts the Manks, 
 
 321 ; St. Germain and the pelagian 
 heresy, 321 ; Maughold elected bishop 
 of Man, 325 ; death of bishop Conan, 
 326 ; Wimund consecrated by the 
 archbishop of York, 332 ; his piratical 
 excursion, 332 ; Laurence consecrated 
 by the archbishop of Drontheim, 337 ; 
 Mark banished, 338 ; smoke-penny 
 tax imposed, 339 ; William Russell 
 consecrated at Avignon by the pope, 
 341 ; the patronage of the bishopric 
 granted to Sir John Stanley, 342 ; 
 HuanHusketh confirmed in the bishop- 
 ric by the Earl of Derby, 344 ; Tho- 
 mas Stanley, sword bishop, 346 ; 
 bishop Phillips, a celebrated preacher, 
 350 ; Isaac Barrow, the great benefac- 
 tor of the Island, 352 ; episcopacy of 
 bishop Wilson, 355 — 64 , bishop Mur- 
 ray, 367 ; bishop Ward, another bene- 
 factor of the Island, 368—76. 
 
 Bishopric, charter of, 384 ; by act of 
 parliament to be united to the bishop- 
 ric of Carlisle, 371 ; act rescinded, 
 373 ; founded, 331. 
 
 Black cattle, singular mode of feeding, 18. 
 
 Black lady of Castle Rushen, 304. 
 
 Botanical productions of the Island, 27. 
 
 Borom, Brian, opposed by the Manks- 
 Danes, 68. 
 
 Boyne, a hostile fleet from Man enters 
 the river of, 48. 
 
 Brennus, Thane of Man, 45. 
 
 I taught the Manks the 
 , slain at Lorn, 142. 
 
 Bridget, Saint, receives the veil from St. 
 Maughold, 330. 
 
 Brace, Robert, king of Scotland, lands 
 with an army in Man, 146 ; takes the 
 Castle of Rushen and subdues the 
 Island, 147. 
 
 Cadwallan becomes sovereign of Man, 46. 
 Cat, rumpy, 20 
 
 Caittil Fin defeated by Amlaf, 60. 
 Castle Rushen, 282 ; ground plan of, 
 
 286 ; black lady of, 304. 
 Cambrian kings, court forms of the, 56. 
 Carrick, a sunken rock, 6. 
 Castles taken by the Norwegians, 136. 
 Ceremony of crowning the kings of the 
 
 Isles, 134. 
 Chickens, sunken rocks so called, 6. 
 Charter between Alexander III and 
 Magnus IV, 155 ; of the Island to 
 Sir John Stanley, 179. 
 Christians persecuted, 319. 
 Christian, William, 207; his. estates 
 sequestered, 208 ; is prosecuted for 
 treason, 210 ; condemned and execu- 
 ted, 210 ; his estates restored to his 
 family, 212 ; his dying speech, 224 ; 
 orders of the king in council, 226. 
 Church, grants to the, 104 ; by Godred, 
 
 107. 
 Combat, trial by, to be put down, 163. 
 Commutation of tithes, 374. 
 Court, Tynwald, the first on record, 161 ; 
 
 forms of court, 56. 
 Crimes committed by the Scots and 
 
 Irish, 164. 
 Crovan, Goddard, arrives in Man, 76 ; 
 defeats Fingall, 77 ; apportions the 
 Island, 78 ; subdues Dublin and brings 
 the Scots under subjection, 79 ; his 
 death, 81 ; kings of his line, 102. 
 Crown laid at the feet of Reginald, 109. 
 Curragh of Ballaugh, fossil elk found 
 there, 7 ; bog timber, 10. 
 D 
 Dead, dormitories of the, 262. 
 Deemsters, decision of the, respecting 
 
 the Keys, 163. 
 Deer, the Calf of Man formerly stocked 
 
 with, 22. 
 Defence of the Island, 305. 
 Derby, Thomas Earl of, concpiers Kirk- 
 cudbright, 168 ; James, Earl of, takes 
 part in the civil war of England, 193 ; 
 siege of Latham House, 198 ; retires 
 to the Isle of Man, 199 ; his letter to 
 Ireton, 200; joins king Charles, 201 ;
 
 [NDEX, VOL. I. 
 
 399 
 
 taken prisoner, 203 ; tried and con- 
 demned to death, 204 ; Iris trial and 
 deportment at the place of execution, 
 220 ; Charlotte, Countess of, taken 
 prisoner and confined with her family 
 in Castle Rushcn, 20(5 ; dies at Latham, 
 209 ; Charles, Earl of, recovers the 
 Isle of Man, 209 ; prosecutes William 
 Christian for treason, 211 ; William, 
 Earl of, grants free trade to the Island- 
 ers, 214 ; James, Earl of, grants the 
 act of settlement, 216 ; dies without 
 issue, 219. 
 
 De Courcy, John, assisted by Reginald, 
 king of Man, 110 ; defeated by Walter 
 de Lacy, 110. 
 
 Douglas, William, Earl of, governor of 
 Man, 143. 
 
 Douglas, fort of, 277. 
 
 Donald, governor of the Isles, expelled 
 and cast into prison, 89. 
 
 Druids, Finnan, founder of the, in the 
 Isle of Man, 41; their office, dress, 
 learning, and power, 309 ; places of 
 worship and ceremonies, 313; anni- 
 versary of Baal, 314 ; superstitious 
 observances, 317. 
 
 Duckenfield, Colonel, takes possession of 
 the Isle of Man, 205. 
 E 
 
 Eagle, the, his eyrie in Snafield, 23. 
 
 Elk, a large fossil, found inthe Curragh, 7. 
 
 Edward I. takes the Isle of Man, and 
 appoints William Huntercombe war- 
 den of it, 142. 
 
 Entomology, 29. 
 
 Ergadia, John, account of, 149. 
 F 
 
 Fairfax, Lord, the Isle of Man granted 
 by parliament to, 207 ; he applies the 
 revenue to the support of the clergy, 
 208 ; the Island restored to Charles, 
 Earl of Derby, 208. 
 
 Falko de Cantelupe plunders Man. 111. 
 
 Fire-arms, hereditary, 305. 
 
 Fiery ordeal, 102. 
 
 Fish, various kinds of, 29. 
 
 Flatnefr, Kettil, appointed lieutenant of 
 the Isles, 60. 
 
 Fortlets and Blockhouses, 275 — 77. 
 
 Funeral of Edward, Earl of Derby, 181. 
 
 Galloway, a party of Maak>men defeated 
 in, 95 ; a strong armament defeated in 
 Man, 117; Allan, Lord of Galloway, 
 commands a large fleet, 121 ; Olave 
 the Black defeated, 122; green moats 
 of Galloway, 268, 299. 
 
 Gallowglasses, 134. 
 
 Grant of the Island made by Edward 1 1 , 
 145. 
 
 Garrisons kept in repair, 288 ; soldiers 
 of, 296 ; quarterlands taxed, 289 ; 
 carriage truve9, 292. 
 
 Gilbert, Lord of Galloway, takes refuge 
 in Man, 107. 
 
 Godred Kleining called to the throne, 96 ; 
 elected king of Dublin, 97 ; opposed 
 by Somerled, 98 ; divides the kingdom, 
 99 ; his death, 108. 
 
 Godred called the dragon of the Isles, 115. 
 
 Godred Don assassinated in Lewis, 121. 
 
 Gorree lands in Man, 63; founds the 
 House of Keys, 64 ; establishes ' Watch 
 and Ward,' 65. 
 
 Governors, catalogue of, 306. 
 
 Guthred succeeds Gorree in the govern- 
 ment of the Island, 65. 
 
 Grafeld, Harold, king of Norway, sacri- 
 fices his sons to the devil, 65. 
 H 
 
 Hacon attends king Edgar on the Dee, 66. 
 
 Haco, at the head of a Norwegian and 
 Manks army, defeated, 130. 
 
 Havens of the Island, 5. 
 
 Hares, remarkably large, 22. 
 
 Harold Harfagr succeeds to the govern- 
 ment of Norway, 60 ; plunders the 
 Isle of Man, 61. 
 
 Harold, king of Man, dies in Ireland, 70. 
 
 Harold succeeds his father Olave the 
 Black, 123; makes a tour of the Isles, 
 124 ; does homage to the king of Nor- 
 way and to the king of England, 121; 
 lost at sea, 125. 
 
 Hildesley, Dr. Mark, translation of the 
 scriptures by, 365, 386. 
 
 Horses, breed of Manks, very small, 1 7 • 
 law respecting them, 17. 
 
 Howel, son of Roderic Moelwynoc, takes 
 refuge in Man, 47. 
 
 House-leek, a mystical plan
 
 400 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 I 
 
 Iago succeeds his father Beli, 45, 
 
 Ingeinund slain in Lewis, 90. 
 
 Inhabitants of the Isle of Man, language 
 of the, 32. 
 
 Island, geographical structure of the, 6 
 dimensions, 33 ; various names, 37 
 soil, 13 ; quadrupeds and birds, 16, 26 
 plants, 27 ; entomology, 29 ; fishes, 
 29 ; population, 31, 36; parishes and 
 other divisions, 31. 
 
 Ivar usurps the throne of Man, and is 
 slain in battle, 141. 
 K 
 
 Keys, House of, founded, 64 ; re-estab- 
 lished, 164. 
 
 Kings, Welsh line of Manks, 58 ; race 
 of Ketill and Gorree, 74 ; Goddard 
 Crovan and other kings of his line, 
 103 ; Norwegian line of kings, 105, 
 135 ; kings of the House of Stanley, 
 158, 167 ; grant by English kings, 151. 
 
 Konga, Fylkis, or petty princes, 60. 
 
 Konungr, Aura, opinion respecting, 59. 
 L 
 
 Lagman, son of Goddard Crovan, 88. 
 
 Legend of the moddey doo, 300 ; of the 
 spell-bound giants, 303 ; of the black 
 lady, 301. 
 
 Lodbrog, Regnar, the Vikingr, 59. 
 M 
 
 Mac Culloch, Cutlar, the sea rover, 168. 
 
 Maelgwyn conquers the Island, 44. 
 
 Maur, Rodri, succeeds to the sovereignty 
 of Man, 48. 
 
 Magnus succeeds to the throne, 126 ; is 
 knighted by the king of England, 127. 
 
 Magnus, king of Man, joins the great 
 armament of Haco against the Scots, 
 129; dies in Man, 133. 
 
 Magnus Lagebetter succeeds his father, 
 139 ; cedes the Western Isles to the 
 king of Scotland, 140. 
 
 Magpies, the introduction of, into the Isle 
 of Man, 24. 
 
 Manks ruled by Brule, a Scot, 43. 
 
 Mannanan-Beg-Mac-y-Leirr supposed to 
 be the first legislator of the Island, 39 ; 
 conjectures concerning him, 40, 50; 
 his warlike character, 12 ; historical 
 "of, -.o 
 
 Manus, Goddard, Mc, removed, 141. 
 Mandeville, Sir Richard, plunders the 
 
 abbey of Rushen, 148. 
 Manks church, 356 ; grants to the, 104 ; 
 
 ancient canons of the, 380. 
 Manks clergy, account of, 350, 390. 
 Manks people, loyalty of the, 260. 
 Martholine, governor of Man, writes 
 
 against witchcraft, 149. 
 Maughold, St., the leader of an Irish 
 
 banditti, becomes bishop of Man, 323 ; 
 
 lands in the Island at a place that bears 
 
 his name, 4, 51. 
 Mervyn Vrych succeeds to the sovereignty 
 
 of Man, 47 ; is slain, 48, 56. 
 Moarmor, 104. 
 Mines, lead, 8 ; copper, 9. 
 Montacute, Sir William, mortgages the 
 
 revenue of the Island, 145. 
 Mintage, the first, struck by Mantholine, 
 
 149. 
 Murray, Randolph, Earl of, created Lord 
 
 of Man, 149. 
 
 O 
 Olave put to death by Harold, king of 
 
 Norway, 65. 
 Olave, a predatory sea rover, lands in 
 
 Man, and institutes warlikes exercises, 
 
 67. 
 Olave Kleining called to the throne, 90 ; 
 
 crowned at Drontheim, 92 ; slain by 
 
 Reginald his nephew, 93. 
 Olave, called the Black, excluded from 
 
 his inheritance, 109 ; treachery of 
 
 Reginald, 112 ; recalled to the throne, 
 
 116 ; visits Norway and assists Haco, 
 
 1 20 ; does homage to the king of 
 
 England, 121 ; defeated in Galloway, 
 
 122 ; died in Peel Castle, 123. 
 Okerfair, Maurice, his government and 
 
 death, 142. 
 Orkney, Sigurd, Earl of, conquers the 
 
 Isles, 68. 
 Orlygus, singular adventure of, 326. 
 
 P 
 Patrick, St., his arrival in the Island, 
 
 320 ; banishes Mannanan-Beg-Mac-y- 
 Leirr, 51 ; succeeded by St. Germain, 
 
 321. 
 Peel, green mound of, 270; castle of, 
 
 278 ; the moddey doo, 300.
 
 INDEX, VOL. I. 
 
 KM 
 
 Perennial springs descend from the 
 mountains, 3. 
 
 Pope, surrender of the Island to the, 135. 
 
 Princes educated in the Island, 325. 
 
 Proclamation, royal, 257. 
 
 p urr, a species of the wild hoar, 16. 
 R 
 
 Reginald, a reputed magician, 65. 
 
 Reginald assists John de Courcy with a 
 strong army, and is defeated in Ireland, 
 110; surrenders the Island of Lewis 
 to his brother Olave, 113 ; deposed by 
 his subjects, 116 ; invades Man with 
 a hostile army and is slain, 117. 
 
 Reginald, the brother of Harold, assumes 
 the government of Man, and the same 
 year is slain by a knight named I var, 126 
 
 Revestment, act of, 244 ; revenue at, 
 259 ; royal proclamation, 257. 
 
 Rhun, son of Maelgwyn, succeeds to the 
 sovereignty of Man, 44. 
 
 Romans in the Isle of Man, 43, 55. 
 
 Round towers, 303. 
 
 Royal bounty, :>88. 
 
 Rushen Castle, building of, began, 65. 
 
 Rumpy cat, 21. 
 
 S 
 
 Salisbury crowned king of Man, 151; 
 sells the Island to Sir William de 
 Scroop, 153. 
 
 Scriptures translated into the Manks 
 language, 386. 
 
 Scots, the, sell the Manks a truce, 150. 
 
 Sepulchral monuments, 266. 
 
 Settlement, act of, 229 
 
 Sheep, a peculiar breed of, 18. 
 
 Sheadings similar to the Godirics of the 
 Icelanders, 64. 
 
 Shoals of Strumakili, &c, 6. 
 
 Sitric, king of Dublin, takes refuge in 
 Man, 70. 
 
 Snafield, the highest mountain in the 
 Island, 2. 
 
 Soldiers, 296 ; none permitted to traffic 
 without leave, 293. 
 
 Somerled, thane of Argyll, obtains part 
 of the kingdom of the Isles, 98 ; re- 
 turns to Man with a hostile fleet, 99 ; 
 his son plunders the church of St. 
 Maughold, 110; slain in battle, 101. 
 
 Stanley, Sir John, obtains a grant ol 
 Isle of Man, 54, 1") 1 , 1 V.) ; succeeded 
 by his son, 161 ; his death, 1C4 ; suc- 
 ceeded by Thomas, who is created 
 Baron Stanley, (see Derby), 165. 
 
 Stanley, succession of the House of, 235. 
 
 Suibne reigns over the Isles, 70. 
 T 
 
 Thorstein, the Red King, assumes the 
 title of king of the half of Scotland, 62. 
 
 Timber, 10. 
 
 Tingwald Courts, Danish, 299. 
 
 Towns, chief, of the Island, 32. 
 
 Treasury, the Lords of the, empowered 
 by parliament to purchase the royalties 
 of the Isle of Man, 243 ; purchase 
 concluded, 24 1. 
 
 Treens, an ecclesiastical division, 13. 
 
 Truce between the Scots and Manks, 14. 
 
 Tullibardine, genealogical sketch of the 
 family, 236. 
 
 Tynwald Hill, 271 ; origin of the name, 
 273 ; formalities, 299. 
 U 
 
 Upsac, Haco, a protege of the king of 
 Norway, 119. 
 
 V 
 
 Vikingr, northern, Gorree, &c, 59. 
 W 
 
 Ward, bishop, builds eight new churches 
 in the Island with funds raised by his 
 exertions for that purpose, 369 ; his 
 strenuous exertions in support of the 
 bishopric, 371 ; his death and charac- 
 ter, 373. 
 
 Wicker boats, 329. 
 
 Wilson, Dr. Thomas, the last bishop of 
 Sodor and Man enthroned in the 
 cathedral of Peel, 355 ; he frames an 
 ecclesiastical code, 356 ; commits the 
 clerk of the rolls to the ecclesiastical 
 prison, 356 ; is himself committed to 
 the dungeons of the castle by the go- 
 vernor, 359 ; his great exertions to 
 alleviate the sufferings of his people, 
 361 ; list of his publications, 363 ; 
 death and character, 361. 
 
 Wimund, his piratical excursions, 333. 
 
 Witches at Beltane, 328.
 
 ERRATA IN VOL. I. 
 
 Page 2, sixth line from top, for salmon's read saline. 
 
 3, first line, for ingenial read ungenial. 
 
 6, at the end of the thirteenth line add the. 
 
 16, seventh line, for loosing read losing. 
 
 18, 19, 22, 26, and 33, for the word Appendix, where it occurs in the notes, 
 
 read apud. 
 
 21, seventh line, for crossed read cross. 
 
 42, third line from bottom, for Respan read Rispan. 
 
 73, ninth line, between the words cross used insert being. 
 
 87, sixth line from bottom, for is read his. 
 
 89, fourteenth line from top, for reigns read reins. 
 
 115, note ii, for 258 read 256. 
 
 DOUGLAS: Printed by Mary A. Quiggin, 52, North Quay.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below 
 
 9 - 1937 
 
 21 
 
 HUN 1 , 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
 MAR 8 1956 
 
 G 
 
 : 
 
 n 
 
 umri 
 
 rtlH 
 
 JUL i 5 
 DISCHARGE 
 
 MAY 2 3 
 
 r t,. 9-1. 5)^-7, '35 
 
 URL 
 
 1980 
 
 URL 
 
 1981 
 
 rY of CALIFORNIA 
 AT 
 LOS ANGELES 
 LIBRARY
 
 fill! „,„„, 
 
 3 1158 00602 8525 
 
 W**- 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 AA 000 400 262 2