Vestigia insulae manniae antiquiora, or, A dissertation on the armorial bearings of the Isle of Man : the regalities and prerogatives of its ancient kings, and the original usages, customs, privileges, laws, and constitutional government of the Manx people / by H.R. Oswald.

  • Oswald, H. R.
Date:
1860
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Vestigia insulae manniae antiquiora, or, A dissertation on the armorial bearings of the Isle of Man : the regalities and prerogatives of its ancient kings, and the original usages, customs, privileges, laws, and constitutional government of the Manx people / by H.R. Oswald. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of the Duchy of Lancaster there is a charter commencing, “ G. dei gratia Rex irmdarumR In Camden’s time the same charter was intact, and had attached uninjured, a ship in ruff sables, with the motto, “ Rex mannia et itmilarum.” Dr Oliver says “When I saw it the seal was gone; the charter and seal-tye were intact.” In the charter of King Olave, which is the very first deed recorded in the Lancaster archives, 1134, that monarch styles himself “ King of the Isles” only, and not king of Man and the Isles. Among the Cottonian manuscripts are two charters of Harold, king of Man, 1245 and 1246, having the remains of a seal attached to them, (Frontispiece), with the galley on the obverse, and on the reverse the figure of a beast, which appears from the form of its tail to be a lion; the same seal has on other specimens the motto of “Rex manniee et inszdarnm.” Such appeai-s to have been the case with the arms of IMan and the Isles in 1265, when Magnus, the last of the race of Godred Cronan, died, leaving everything in confusion. On the com- pletion of the treaty between Alexander III. of Scotland and of Alaguus IV. of Norway, the chiefs of Man and the western isles, shorn of much of their dignity and importance, sub- mitted after a short time, and i^uietly returned to their family estates; most of them continued to bear the galley as their armory ; only a few of them quartered the three legs with the galley, thus preferring to symbolise their connection with the Isle of Man even after they had been separated from it. But this acquiescence in the conduct of the Norwegian and Scottish kings was not the ease in the Isle of Man. Magnus having returned to Castle Rushen during the negotiation, does not appear to have been treated with any consideration by the contracting parties, and he died in the same year in disgust. The people of the Isle of Man also demurred to the annexation of their country to Scotland for a sum of money, rose m defence of their constitutional rights, and maintained that they had a vote, or an acquiescence in the nomination ot their sovereign. Even during the despotic period of Godred