Battle of Skyhill 1079
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1079 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | Isle of Man | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| Coordinates | 54.3190, -4.4080 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Scacafell or Skyhill took place about one mile (1.5 km) west of Ramsey, Isle of Man in 1079. This was during the third and final time that the Norse-Gael warrior Godred Crovan had invaded the island, finally taking it from the ruling king Fingal Godredson.
At the time of the battle, the Isle of Man was part of a larger political entity called the Kingdom of the Sudreys, which consisted of Mann and the Hebrides. According to the Chronicles of Mann Godred Crovan's father was "Harald the Black of Ysland" about whom nothing more is known. Other sources suggest he may have been a brother or son of Ivar Haraldsson who died in 1054.
In 1070 King Godred Sitricson died and his throne was passed to Fingal, but he does not seem to have remained there long. In 1079, Godred Crovan assembled a fleet and an army, probably of Norsemen from the Hebrides, and attacked the island. He was repulsed, but was soon back for a second attempt. Again he was repulsed, but later in the same year Godred Crovan came back a third time, and the chronicles are reasonably clear as to what happened next:
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Skyhill (revision 1370589525), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Browse more: battles in Isle of Man · Europe · Medieval battles