The Kings of the Sea – The Bloody Medieval History of the Isle of Man

I don’t suppose the Isle of Man gets much attention, on a global scale at least.  I suspect (rather despondently) that quite a few people who would describe themselves as Britain would have no idea where it is on a map – and that even more (particularly those who have not lived in the UK very long) might not even have heard it at all.  Most people imagine it as a sleepy, peaceful island in the northern Irish Sea – and don’t spend too long wondering if it was or wasn’t always like that.

Well, it wasn’t – and this short but very informative TED-Ed lesson takes us back to medieval times, when the island’s kings gave the Game of Thrones scriptwriters a definite run for their money.  Family feuds, civil wars, struggles for control of the seaways that surrounded the island – all these and more contributed to a time in history when the times were rather more turbulent (to say the least) than they are today.    In 1223, for example, King Ragnvald ordered his son to murder his uncle Olaf.  Unfortunately, Olaf got wind of the plot against his life, so blinded and mutilated his nephew. Some years later, it was realised that the letter was possibly a forgery, making this familial conflict even more of a tragic waste than it was.  At least they didn’t have dragons – they would probably have fought themselves into extinction had that been the case. Watch the video below.