 This anachronistic portrayal of the struggle between King Haakon IV of Norway and the Scottish crown for overlordship of the western seaboard of Scotland , giving Domhnall such a senior role , does not fit with the contemporary evidence . When it was written down , Denmark ruled Norway and the MacDonalds were well established as the rulers the Isles . However , during most of his life Domhnall was probably subordinate to his older brother , Ruaidhri mac Raghnaill , and as Alex Woolf has said " there is little or no explicit contemporary evidence that Domhnall was a significant figure during his lifetime " . 
