Yeah, the silk is 4th-7th century silk from rhodes or syria, so there has to be a middle-eastern connection either way.
At this point everything else is speculative, but what gets my attention is that this flag has apparently always had magical powers attributed to it. So imagine this guy manages to survive stamford bridge and takes this banner along (sources disagree about whether harald had it with him when the english found him). he crosses what is today north england/southern scotland and gets over to Man where his family is, and gives the banner as a gift, or has to describe it. Hardraada allegedly said that with that banner he could not be defeated (not sure if this appears in norse kings saga or other source) but over generations the actual ownership of the flag will vanish, but the reputed powers of the flag will stick around in some mangled fashion.
I do wonder if any ancient repair work on the flag still is extant, if so the presence of thread from ‘xx’ place/date range would possibly address this conclusively.
If true (hardraada), it is certainly the closest I have ever been to a personal object owned by an 11th century monarch
Thanks WoofDog123!
What an amazing bit of history! Thanks for describing it. The castle itself looks quite impressive, as well.