THE NORSE OCCUPATION. 19 



were they by his onslaught, that they were forced to 

 submit to his decree which, if the Manx tradition is to 

 be believed, provided that no Scot should build a boat 

 above three streaks high ; or, according to Camden's 

 version, should drive more than three nails in any boat. 

 By this means, the islands were secured against the attacks 

 of the mainlanders. 



In the year 1093 occurred the first of the three ex- 

 peditions of Magnus Bareleg, King of Norway, to the 

 Hebrides and Man. The confusion in the accounts 

 of the first two expeditions (the second of which took 

 place in 1098) and of the events which succeeded them, 

 is so great as to render almost hopeless any attempt to 

 reconcile them. But it is possible by a process of selec- 

 tion to arrive at least approximately at the main facts 

 in their chronological order. The third expedition of 

 Magnus in 1103, in the course of which he met his death, 

 was directed against Ireland, and has only an indirect 

 connexion with the Hebrides. But it was otherwise with 

 the two which preceded it. 



It is evident that Godred Crovan had renounced, if he 

 had ever acknowledged, the claims of Norway to the 

 suzerainty of Man and the Hebrides. The time came 

 for Magnus to enforce his claims, and compel the Isles- 

 men to submit to his authority. This he did in the usual 

 drastic manner of the Norse Kings. Proceeding to the 

 Long Island, he encountered little or no resistance there. 

 Lagman fled before him, thinking to reach Ireland, where 

 alone there was a chance of safety. He was caught on the 

 coast of Skye and loaded with chains. Magnus then pro- 

 ceeded to the South Isles, bringing them under subjection, 

 and finally the Isle of Man was reached. But the terror of 

 his arms had preceded him : the inhabitants had fled to 

 Galloway ; and when the Norwegians landed, unopposed, 

 they found the island almost deserted. Godred Crovan 

 disappears from history at this point. From the Irish 

 Annals, we learn that he died of the plague, in Islay, in 

 1095. 



