Gofraid ua Ragnaill, King of Dublin

Gofraid mac Amlaíb meic Ragnaill
King of Dublin
The remains of Skuldelev II may be evidence that Gofraid aided Anglo-Danish forces against the Norman King of England.
Reign	1072–1075
Predecessor	Toirdelbach Ua Briain
Successor	Domnall mac Murchada
Died	1075
House	probably Uí Ímair

Gofraid mac Amlaíb meic Ragnaill (died 1075) was a late eleventh-century King of Dublin. Although the precise identities of his father and grandfather are uncertain, Gofraid was probably a kinsman of his royal predecessor, Echmarcach mac Ragnaill, King of Dublin and the Isles. Gofraid lived in an era when control of the Kingdom of Dublin was fought over by competing Irish overlords. In 1052, for example, Echmarcach was forced from the kingdom by the Uí Chennselaig King of Leinster, Diarmait mac Maíl na mBó. When the latter died in 1072, Dublin was seized by the Uí Briain King of Munster, Toirdelbach Ua Briain, a man who either handed the Dublin kingship over to Gofraid, or at least consented to Gofraid's local rule.

Gofraid appears to have had little independence from his Uí Briain overlord, as evidence by surviving correspondence between him, Toirdelbach, and Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury. Gofraid's reign came to an end in 1075, when Toirdelbach drove him overseas from Ireland, perhaps to the Kingdom of the Isles, after which he died within the year. On one hand, it is possible that Gofraid was ejected for involving himself in the Anglo-Danish insurrection against the recently established Norman regime of the Kingdom of England. On the other hand, another possibility is that Gofraid was plotting with the Uí Chennselaig against their Uí Briain overlords. Whatever the case, Gofraid was succeeded in Dublin by Domnall mac Murchada, an Uí Chennselaig dynast. Whether the later ruled with Toirdelbach's consent is likewise uncertain. There is reason to suspect that Gofraid may be identical to Gofraid mac Sitriuc, King of the Isles.