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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Isle of Man
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(Ellan Vannin in Manx Gaelic, 65,000 in 1981)
Large island (588sq.km/227sq.m) in the Irish Sea, roughly equidistant from Ireland, England and Scotland, with Douglas as its capital. It has mountainous scenery (highest peak Snaefell, 612m/2034ft). The island was much visited from the 6C by Celtic missionaries from Ireland; it was part of the territory of the Viking rulers of Dublin (10–13C); then for nearly a century it was governed from Scotland; and from 1333 it has been linked with England, first as the feudal territory of various great nobles (in particular the Stanley family, the earls of Derby) and since 1765 as the property of the crown.
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But it has never been entirely absorbed within the United Kingdom. It is a self-governing crown dependency and as such retains its own parliament, the *Tynwald. The heraldic device of three running legs, joined at the centre, has been in use since at least the 14C. The island is most widely known for the *TT races and the *Manx cat.
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The Tynwald led the world as the first parliament to give votes to women (in 1881, see *suffragettes), but a century later the Isle of Man was notoriously backward in its legislation; bills to end *capital punishment and to legalize *homosexuality were at last introduced in 1992, but *corporal punishment was also at that time still on the statute book.
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