Olaf the Black (1173-1237) was Count of Mann from 1229 to 1237, succeeding Rognvaldr Gudrodarson and preceding Haraldr Olafsson.
Biography[]
Olaf Gudrodarson was born in 1173, the son of Count Gudrodr Olafsson of Mann and the half-brother of Rognvaldr Gudrodarson. He was his father's favorite son, but, on his father's death in 1187, the people of Mann chose Rognvaldr as king instead. Olaf was imprisoned by the King of Scotland after demanding a larger stake in his brother's kingdom, and he was released in 1214 and reconciled with his brother after a pilgrimage to Compostela. In 1223, after Olaf married into the Scottish nobility, Rognvaldr's son Gudrodr Rognvaldsson attacked Olaf in the Hebrides and drove him back to Skye, but Olaf defeated and blinded Gudrodr at Skye. He then slew Rognvaldr in battle in 1229 and usurped Mann from him. However, in 1230, Alan of Galloway ousted Olaf from power and forced him to flee to Norway, provoking King Haakon IV of Norway into launching an expedition to the British Isles. Olaf took command of the Norwegian fleet and secured his position on the Isle of Man, and the blind Gudrodr was named King of the Hebrides as a peace offering. In 1231, after the Norwegian fleet left the isles, Gudrodr was killed, and Olaf took the Isles for himself. He died in 1237.