Olaf I Godredsson

Óláfr Guðrøðarson (died 1153) was a mid twelfth-century King of the Isles. As a younger son of Gofraid Crobán, King of Dublin and the Isles, Óláfr witnessed a vicious power struggle between his two elder brothers in the aftermath of their father's death. At some point, the young Óláfr was entrusted to the care of Henry I, King of England; and like contemporaneous Scottish rulers, Óláfr appears to have been a protégé of the English king. As King of the Isles, Óláfr contracted marital alliances with neighbouring maritime rulers; he appears to have conducted successful military operations to reclaim the northern-most territories once controlled by his father, but may have witnessed the loss of lands in Galloway as well. Óláfr was a reformer and moderniser of his realm, but his four-decade reign ended in abrupt disaster when he was assassinated by three nephews in 1153. Following the ensuing power struggle, Óláfr's son Guðrøðr overcame the kin-slayers, and assumed the kingship of the Kingdom of the Isles.