American revolutionary and orator, brother-in-law of William Christian of Milntown. The Virginia connection — the Christians of Lezayre had cousins in the American colonies who became founding figures of the Republic. His famous 'Give me liberty, or give me death' speech came from a family that understood what it meant to lose sovereignty.
King of the United Kingdom and Lord of Mann. He never visited the Isle of Man. His reign continued the pattern of Crown indifference that followed Revestment — the lord ruled but did not come.
The Duke who sold the lordship of Mann to the Crown in 1765. Distinct from the 2nd Duke (who held the lordship through most of the mid-century period) and the 4th Duke (who pursued further compensation). He inherited a lordship under siege from Westminster and accepted the forced purchase rather than face confiscation.
Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. His forces seized the Isle of Man from the Stanley lordship during the Civil War. James Chaloner served as his governor. The Parliamentarian period brought the first external military occupation of the Island.
King of England restored to the throne in 1660. His Restoration returned the Derby lordship of Mann after the Parliamentarian interregnum. The Act of General Pardon 1660 was supposed to settle the Illiam Dhone affair — but the Countess found a way around it.
Eldest son of Henry VII. Thomas Stanley stood as his godfather — a mark of the intimate connection between the Tudor monarchy and the Lord of Mann after Bosworth.
George Stanley, Thomas Stanley's son and heir. Taken hostage by Richard III at Bosworth to compel his father's loyalty. The gamble failed — Stanley chose Henry Tudor despite the threat to his son's life.
Thomas Stanley's brother. At Bosworth, he intervened with three thousand men and killed Richard III's charge, deciding the battle. His action secured the Tudor dynasty — and preserved the Stanley lordship of Mann.
Mother of Henry Tudor. Her marriage to Thomas Stanley connected the Lord of Mann to the Lancastrian claim to the English throne. Through her, the Stanley lordship of Mann became entangled with the highest politics in England.
King of England killed at the Battle of Bosworth, 22 August 1485. He took Thomas Stanley's son Lord Strange hostage to ensure Stanley's loyalty, but Stanley held the balance and chose Henry Tudor. Richard died in the charge against Henry's position.
King of England who dissolved Rushen Abbey in 1540, ending four centuries of Cistercian monasticism on the Isle of Man. The Percy Folio poem quotes him calling Thomas Stanley 'king of Man, the Honnorable Thomas Erle of Darbye.'
Henry Tudor, whose claim to the throne was secured at the Battle of Bosworth on 22 August 1485. Thomas Stanley placed the crown on his head. He rewarded Stanley by creating him Earl of Derby. Thomas Stanley stood as godfather to Henry's eldest son Arthur.
King of England who granted the lordship of Mann to Sir John Stanley in 1405, establishing the Stanley dynasty that would govern the Island for over three centuries.
Brother of William le Scrope. Proclaimed heir-apparent at the 1393 Tynwald in the tanist tradition — the Manx succession custom — rather than by English primogeniture.
English nobleman who received Edward III's grant of the lordship of Mann. He rebuilt Castle Rushen after the damage inflicted by Robert the Bruce's invasion.
King of England who formally renounced royal claims to the Isle of Man and granted the lordship to William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury. This grant established the pattern of feudal lordship separate from the English Crown that would persist for centuries.
Norse King of Mann who invited Savignac monks to cross from Furness Abbey and found Rushen Abbey in 1134. His patronage of the monastery established the most powerful religious institution on the Island.
King of Scots who invaded the Isle of Man in 1313. Castle Rushen fell to his forces and the Island was ravaged. His invasion marked a violent interruption in the Norse-Manx political order.
Irish missionary whose influence reached the Isle of Man. The keeill at Kirk Andreas was dedicated to Columba, connecting the Island to the Iona-centred monastic network.
Irish saint whose feast day, Laa'l Breeshey (1 February), is one of the quarter days in the Manx calendar. The crossing point between Celtic goddess and Christian saint — rushes gathered, the invitation spoken at the threshold. One of the deep-rooted Manx traditions connecting the Island to the wider Celtic world.
Irish saint said to have arrived at the northeast coast of the Isle of Man in a coracle. Patron of Kirk Maughold parish. His story connects the Island to the Irish monastic tradition.
Traditionally associated with the arrival of Christianity on the Isle of Man. St Patrick's Isle at Peel bears his name, and the earliest Christian settlements on the Island are connected to his mission in the Irish Sea region.
