Maccus mac Arailt (fl. 971–974), or Maccus Haraldsson, was a tenth-century King of the Isles. Although his parentage is uncertain, surviving evidence suggests that he was the son of Harald Sigtryggson, also known as Aralt mac Sitriuc, the Hiberno-Norse King of Limerick. Maccus' family is known as the Meic Arailt kindred. He and his brother, Gofraid, are first recorded in the 970s. It was during this decade and the next that they conducted military operations against the Welsh of Anglesey, apparently taking advantage of dynastic strife within the Kingdom of Gwynedd.

The Meic Arailt violence during this period could account for Maccus' participation in a royal assembly convened by Edgar, King of the English. Maccus may have been regarded as a potential threat by not only the English and Welsh kings, but also the rulers of the Kingdom of Strathclyde. Perhaps as a consequence of this convention, the Meic Arailt thereafter turned their attention to Ireland. In 974, Maccus defeated and captured Ímar, King of Limerick. Gofraid resumed the family's campaigning against the Welsh before the end of the decade. In 984, the Meic Arailt appear to have formed an alliance with the family of Brian mac Cennétig, King of Munster. Whether Maccus was alive by this date is unknown. He does not appear on record after this date, and seems to have been succeeded by his brother. Gofraid is the first King of the Isles to be identified as such by Irish sources.

Family

Maccus was a member of the Meic Arailt kindred,Duffy (2013) ch. 3. although his exact parentage is uncertain.Clarkson (2014) ch. 7 ¶ 12; Woolf (2007a) p. 206; Williams, DGE (1997) p. 141. Surviving evidence suggests that Maccus' father was probably Aralt mac Sitriuc, King of Limerick.Wadden (2016) p. 171; McGuigan (2015b) p. 107; Wadden (2015) pp. 27, 29; Clarkson (2014) ch. 7 ¶ 12; Charles-Edwards (2013) p. 539, 539 n. 12, 540–541; Downham (2013b) p. 86; Downham (2007) pp. 186–192, 193 fig. 12, 263; Etchingham (2007) p. 157; Hudson (2005) p. 65; Etchingham (2001) pp. 172, 187; Thornton (2001) p. 73; Sellar (2000) p. 190 tab. i; Williams, DGE (1997) p. 141; Jennings, A (1994) pp. 212–213; Meaney (1970) p. 130 n. 161. Such a relationship would mean that Maccus was a member of the Uí Ímair.Jennings, A (2015); Wadden (2015) p. 27; Charles-Edwards (2013) p. 539, 539 n. 12, 540–541; Jennings, AP (2001). Alternate possibilities—lacking specific evidence—are that Maccus was a son of Hagrold, a Danish warlord active in Normandy;McGuigan (2015b) p. 107; Wadden (2015) p. 27; Abrams (2013) p. 60 n. 89; Beougher (2007) pp. 91–92, 92 n. 150; Downham (2007) pp. 186–191; Woolf (2007a) p. 207; Hudson (2005) pp. 68–69, 77, 130 fig. 4. or a son of Haraldr Gormsson, King of Denmark.McGuigan (2015b) p. 107; Wadden (2015) p. 27; Woolf (2007a) p. 206; Hudson (2005) p. 65; Sellar (2000) p. 189 n. 9.

Maccus appears to have been an elderForte; Oram; Pedersen (2005) p. 218. brother of Gofraid mac Arailt.Jennings, A (2015); Wadden (2015) p. 27; Sheehan (2010) p. 25; Downham (2007) p. 192; Woolf (2007a) pp. 206, 298; Macniven (2006) p. 68; Forte; Oram; Pedersen (2005) p. 218; Hudson (2005) p. 130 fig. 4; Woolf (2004) p. 99; Etchingham (2001) p. 171; Thornton (2001) p. 73; Sellar (2000) p. 190 tab. i. A sister of Maccus and Gofraid,Woolf (2007a) p. 216 n. 54. or perhaps a daughter of the latter, may have been Máel Muire, wife of Gilla Pátraic mac Donnchada, King of Osraige.Hudson (2005) p. 61. Specific evidence of a familial relationship between Máel Muire and the Meic Arailt may be preserved by the twelfth-century Banshenchas, a source that identifies the mother of Gilla Pátraic's son, Donnchad, as Máel Muire, daughter of a certain Aralt mac Gofraid. One possibility is that this source has erroneously reversed the patronym of Maccus' brother.Hudson (2005) p. 61; Dobbs (1931) pp. 189, 228. Another brother of Maccus may have been Eiríkr Haraldsson, a Viking who ruled the Kingdom of Northumbria in the mid part of the tenth century.Downham (2007) p. 120 n. 74; Woolf (2004) p. 99. Although non-contemporary Scandinavian sources identify this figure with the like-named Norwegian royal Eiríkr blóðøx, there is reason to suspect that these sources have erroneously conflated two different individuals,Naismith (2017) p. 281; Jakobsson (2016) p. 173; McGuigan (2015a) p. 31, 31 n. 48; Downham (2013); Downham (2007) pp. 115–120, 120 n. 74; Woolf (2007a) pp. 187–188; Woolf (2002) p. 39. and that the former was a member of the insular Uí Ímair.Naismith (2017) pp. 281, 300–301; McGuigan (2015a) p. 31, 31 n. 48; Downham (2013); Downham (2007) pp. 119–120, 120 n. 74; Woolf (2002) p. 39.

There is uncertainty surrounding Maccus' name.Woolf (2007a) p. 190 n. 27. Although the nineteenth-century edition of the seventeenth-century Annals of the Four Masters refers to him as , suggesting that the Gaelic is a form of the Old Norse Annals of the Four Masters (2013a) § 972.13; Annals of the Four Masters (2013b) § 972.13; Thornton (2001) p. 72 n. 95; Thornton (1997) pp. 76–77.—itself a borrowing of the Latin Thornton (1997) p. 73.—the oldest manuscript forms of this source show that the recorded name was actually an abbreviated form of Maccus. Besides this mistranscription, Maccus is not accorded the name by any historical source,Thornton (1997) p. 77. and his name is unlikely to refer to it.Woolf (2007a) p. 190 n. 26; Thornton (2001) p. 72; Sellar (2000) p. 189 n. 8; Fellows-Jensen (1989–1990) p. 47. Maccus' name may instead be of Gaelic origin.Wadden (2015) p. 29; Downham (2013a) p. 205; Downham (2007) p. 186; Thornton (2001) p. 72; Williams, DGE (1997) pp. 141–142; Thornton (1997); Fellows-Jensen (1989–1990) p. 47.

Irruption into the Irish Sea region

The Meic Arailt first appear on record in the Irish Sea in the 970s.McGuigan (2015b) p. 107; Wadden (2015) p. 27; Downham (2013b) p. 86; Woolf (2007a) p. 298. The power of the family seems to have been centred in the Isles,Wadden (2016) p. 171; Wadden (2015) p. 27; Charles-Edwards (2013) pp. 540–541; Forte; Oram; Pedersen (2005) p. 218; Oram (2000) p. 10. and may have been based upon control of the important trade routes through the Irish Sea region.Forte; Oram; Pedersen (2005) p. 218; Oram (2000) p. 10. If the Meic Arailt were indeed centred in the Hebrides, the family's apparent ambition to secure control of Mann could account for its campaigning against the Welsh on Anglesey.Charles-Edwards (2013) pp. 540–541. The latter island was the traditional seat of the kings of Gwynedd,Charles-Edwards (2013) p. 526. and control of it may have been sought by the Meic Arailt as a way to further ensure the control of the surrounding sea-lanes.Downham (2007) p. 222.

According to the "B" version of the eleventh- to thirteenth-century Annales Cambriæ, an unidentified son of Aralt wasted this island off the north-west Welsh coast.Gough-Cooper (2015a) p. 43 § b993.1; Williams, A (2014); Downham (2007) pp. 124–125, 221; Woolf (2007a) p. 206; Williams, A (2004); Etchingham (2001) pp. 171–172; Davidson (2002) p. 151; Thornton (2001) p. 72; Jennings, A (1994) p. 215. The thirteenth- and fourteenth-century texts Brut y TywysogyonClarkson (2014) ch. 7 ¶ 12; Williams, A (2014); Charles-Edwards (2013) p. 539; Downham (2007) pp. 124–125, 221; Woolf (2007a) p. 206; Williams, A (2004); Etchingham (2001) pp. 171–172; Thornton (2001) p. 72; Davies, JR (1997) p. 399; Williams, DGE (1997) p. 141; Jennings, A (1994) p. 215; Maund (1993) p. 157; Rhŷs; Evans (1890) p. 262; Williams Ab Ithel (1860) pp. 24–25. and Brenhinedd y Saesson corroborate this record and identify the attacker as Maccus himself.Charles-Edwards (2013) p. 539; Downham (2007) pp. 124–125, 221; Thornton (2001) p. 72; Davies, JR (1997) p. 399; Williams, DGE (1997) p. 141; Maund (1993) p. 157; Jones; Williams (1870) p. 658. Maccus' assault targeted Penmon on the eastern coast of the island.Jennings, A (2015); Charles-Edwards (2013) pp. 539, 546; Woolf (2007a) p. 206; Etchingham (2001) pp. 171–172; Ó Corráin (2001) p. 100; Davies, JR (1997) p. 399; Williams, DGE (1997) p. 141; Carr (1982) p. 13. Several near-contemporary engraved crosses at Penmon indicate that it was a significant ecclesiastical site with important patrons. Both Brut y TywysogyonDownham (2007) pp. 221–222, 221 n. 132; Woolf (2007a) p. 206; Redknap (2006) p. 33 n. 77; Jennings, A (1994) p. 215; Maund (1993) p. 157; Rhŷs; Evans (1890) p. 262; Williams Ab Ithel (1860) pp. 24–25. and Brenhinedd y Saesson further reveal that Gofraid attacked Anglesey the next year, and thereby brought the island under his control.Downham (2007) pp. 221–222; Maund (1993) p. 157; Jones; Williams (1870) p. 658. At the time of the Meic Arailt kindred's attacks, the Kingdom of Gwynedd was in the midst of a vicious civil war triggered by the death of Rhodri ab Idwal Foel, King of Gwynedd in 969, a fact which could indicate that the Meic Arailt purposely sought to capitalise on this infighting.Downham (2007) pp. 192, 221.

Amongst an assembly of kings