region, The identity of Echmarcach's father is uncertain. One possibility is that Ragnall was a member of the dynasty that ruled the Norse-Gaelic enclave of Waterford in tenth- and eleventh centuries. If so, Echmarcach may have been the son of one of two Waterfordian rulers: Ragnall mac Ímair, King of Waterford, or this man's apparent son, Ragnall ua Ímair, King of Waterford. Another possibility is that Echmarcach belonged to a family from the Isles, and that his father was Ragnall mac Gofraid, King of the Isles, son and possible successor of Gofraid mac Arailt, King of the Isles. As a descendant of either of the aforesaid families, Echmarcach would appear to have been a member of the Uí Ímair, a royal dynasty descended from the Scandinavian sea-king Ímar. Echmarcach and the imperium of Knútr Sveinnsson Knútr and the three kings Echmarcach appears to first emerge in the historical record in the first half of the eleventh century, when he was one of the three kings who met with Knútr Sveinnsson, ruler of the Anglo-Scandinavian Empire comprising the kingdoms of Denmark, England, and Norway. The event itself is noted by Knútsdrápa, a contemporary drápa composed by Sigvatr Þórðarson, an eleventh-century Icelandic skald. Although Sigvatr's composition fails to identify the three kings by name, it does reveal that Knútr met them in Fife. The ninth- to twelfth-century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle also notes the meeting. The "D" version of the chronicle records that Knútr went to Rome in 1031, and soon after travelled to Scotland where he received the submission of an unnamed Scottish king. The later "E" version provides more information, stating that, after his return from Rome in 1031, Knútr went to Scotland and received the submission of three kings named: "Mælcolm", "Mælbæþe", and "Iehmarc". The latter name appears to be a phonetic form of the Gaelic Echmarcach, a relatively uncommon name. The three men almost certainly refer to: Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, King of Scotland, Mac Bethad mac Findlaích, and Echmarcach himself. Of the three kings, Máel Coluim appears to have been the most powerful, and it is possible that Mac Bethad and Echmarcach were underkings or clientkings of his. Mac Bethad appears to have become Mormaer of Moray in 1032 after the slaying of his kinsman, Gilla Comgáin mac Máel Brigti, Mormaer of Moray. Previous rulers of Moray are sometimes styled as kings by various Irish annals, a fact which