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Title: The Orkneyinga Saga
Author: Anonymous
Language: English
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THE ORKNEYINGA SAGA
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Printed by R. & R. Clark
FOR
EDMONSTON & DOUGLAS, EDINBURGH.
LONDON HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO.
CAMBRIDGE MACMILLAN AND CO.
GLASGOW JAMES MACLEHOSE.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration: ST. MAGNUS CATHEDRAL
(South Transept and part of Choir)]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE
TRANSLATED FROM THE ICELANDIC
BY JON A. HJALTALIN AND GILBERT GOUDIE
EDITED, WITH NOTES AND INTRODUCTION
BY JOSEPH ANDERSON
KEEPER OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND
EDINBURGH
EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS
1873
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PREFACE.
-------
THE ORKNEYINGA SAGA is the history of the Orkneymen, Earls and Odallers
of Norwegian extraction, who established an Earldom of Norway in the
Northern Scottish Isles a thousand years ago, and whose descendants for
several centuries held sway over the Hebrides and Northern Mainland of
Scotland. Commencing with the conquest of the Isles by Harald Harfagri,
the Saga relates the subsequent history of the Earldom of Orkney under
the long line of its Norse Jarls, and is, for a period of three
centuries and a half, the principal authority for the history of
Northern Scotland. The narrative is mainly personal, and therefore
picturesque, pourtraying the men in person and character, impartially
recording their deeds, and mentioning what was thought of them and their
actions at the time. Occasionally the Saga-writer is enabled to do this
in the words of a contemporary Skald. The skaldic songs, so often
quoted, were the materials from which the Sagas were subsequently
elaborated. In estimating their value as historical materials, it must
be borne in mind that all history has begun in song. When great events
and mighty deeds were preserved for posterity by oral recitation alone,
it was necessary that the memory should be enabled to retain its hold of
the elements of the story by some extraneous artistic aid, and therefore
they were welded by the word-smith’s rhymes into a compact and
homogeneous “lay.” Thus, worked into a poetical setting (as the jeweller
mounts his gems to enhance their value and ensure their preservation),
they passed as heirlooms from generation to generation, floating on the
oral tradition of the people. Snorri Sturluson tells us that the songs
of the skalds who were with Harald Harfagri in his wars were known and
recited in his day, after an interval of nearly four centuries. “These
songs,” he says, “which were sung in the presence of kings and chiefs,
or of their sons, are the materials of our history; what they tell of
their deeds and battles we take for truth; for though the skalds did no
doubt praise those in whose presence they stood, yet no one would dare
to relate to a chief what he and those who heard it knew to be wholly
imaginary or false, as that would not be praise but mockery.” Our
earliest Scottish chroniclers did not disdain to make use of the
lay-smith’s craft, as a help to history, long after the Iceland skald
had been succeeded by the Saga-writer, and the flowery recitative of an
unclerkly age superseded by the terser narrative of the parchment
scribe. The art is as old as Odin and the gods, if indeed it be not
older, and these its creations. But its golden age had passed ere
Paganism began to give way before Christianity, and the specimens we
have in this Saga are mostly of the period of its decadence and by
inferior skalds. Yet it is significant of the esteem in which the art
continued to be held by the settlers in the Orkneys, that we find Earl
Sigurd honouring Gunnlaug Ormstunga with princely gifts, Arnor
Jarlaskald enjoying the special favour and friendship of Earl Thorfinn,
and Earl Rögnvald, the founder of the cathedral, courting for himself
the reputation of an accomplished skald.
But though we can thus trace to some extent the authorship of the
unwritten materials from which the Saga was framed, there is nothing to
show where or by whom it was written. There is proof, however, that it
was known in Iceland in the first half of the thirteenth century. Its
earlier chapters, down to the division of the Earldom between Thorfinn
and Brúsi, are incorporated into the Olaf Saga of Snorri Sturluson, and
are there cited as from the “Jarla Saga,” or Saga of the Earls. It must
therefore have been in existence as a completed work before 1241, the
date of Snorri’s death. The compiler of the Fagrskinna, which is shown
by internal evidence to have been written between 1222 and 1225, also
quotes from it, by the title of “Jarla Sagan.” The closing chapters of
the Orkneyinga Saga, in its present form, recording the burning of
Bishop Adam, could not have been written before 1222; but, as it is
stated in the last chapter that the terrible retribution exacted by the
Scottish King for the murder of the Bishop was still in fresh memory, it
may very well have been completed before 1225. No manuscript of the
Jarla Saga is known to exist, and the original form of what is now
called “The Orkneyinga Saga” is thus matter of conjecture. We know it
only as the substance of its earlier chapters was given by Snorri
previous to 1241, and in the expanded version of the Flateyjarbók, where
it is pieced into the Sagas of Olaf Tryggvi’s son and Olaf the Holy. The
Flateyjarbók, however, is nearly a century and a half later than
Snorri’s work, having been written between the years 1387 and 1394.
The object of the present issue being simply to provide a plain,
readable, and unadorned translation of the Orkneyinga Saga (which has
been hitherto inaccessible to the English reader), it has been deemed
advisable to adhere to the form of the Saga adopted by its first editor
Jonæus, though not to Jonæus’s text, which is by no means free from
corruptions. The Christiania edition of the Flateyjarbók, printed
literally from the manuscript, has afforded the means of rectifying the
text where necessary; and the expanded version of the earlier chapters
given in the Flateyjarbók has also been translated and inserted as an
appendix, for the sake of the fuller details which it supplies of the
earlier history of the Earldom. In one sense it might have been
desirable to have compiled a text which would have given the fullest
history of the Orkney Earls, but this would not have been the
“Orkneyinga Saga.” It would have necessitated the collection and
critical collation of all the passages in all the Sagas and early
writings relating to the history of the Northmen in Scotland—a work
which has long been in progress in abler hands, and under more
favourable auspices.
The Introduction, however, has been compiled with a view to supplement
the Saga narrative, as well as to furnish a continuation of the history
of the Earldom down to the time when it ceased to form part of the
Norwegian dominions. Some account of the islands previous to the Norse
invasion, and a few notices of their antiquities and ecclesiastical
remains, as well as of the existing traces of the Norsemen, seemed
requisite to supplement the notes in illustration of the text.
Chronological and Genealogical Tables have been added to facilitate
reference; and on the maps of Scotland and of the island-groups which
formed the Earldom proper are shown the names of the principal places
mentioned in the Sagas as known to the Northmen.
In conclusion, I have to express my obligations to those kind friends
who have aided me with their advice and assistance. To Dr. John Stuart,
Dr. John Hill Burton, Sir Henry Dryden, Bart., and Colonel Balfour of
Balfour and Trenaby, I am indebted for many valuable suggestions. To the
first-named gentleman I am also under obligations for the use of the
woodcuts of the symbols of the Sculptured Stones. The Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland have generously contributed the woodcuts of the
Bressay Stone, the Saverough Bell, and the Sword and Scabbard-tip; to
the Society of Antiquaries of London I am indebted for the illustrations
of the Stones of Stennis; to Mr. James Ferguson and Mr. John Murray for
those of Maeshow; to Mr. Thomas S. Muir for the Dragon of Maeshow, the
etchings of the churches of Weir and Lybster, and the ground-plans of
the ancient churches; to Messrs. Chambers for the woodcut of Mousa; and
to Dr. Daniel Wilson and Messrs. Constable for those of the Brooch and
Comb, illustrating the burial-usages of the Norsemen. The view of
Egilsey church is from a photograph, for which I am indebted to Mr.
George Petrie of Kirkwall, whose pleasant companionship in a pilgrimage
among the localities described in the Saga is gratefully remembered.
J. A.
NATIONAL MUSEUM
OF THE ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND,
October 1873.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
PAGE
I. EARLIEST HISTORICAL NOTICES OF ix
THE ORKNEYS
II. EARLY CHRISTIANITY OF THE xi
ISLANDS
III. ARRIVAL OF THE NORTHMEN AND xxi
ESTABLISHMENT OF
THE EARLDOM OF ORKNEY AND
CAITHNESS
IV. THE EARLDOM IN THE NORSE LINE, xxiii
872-1231
V. THE EARLDOM IN THE ANGUS LINE, xlvi
1231-1312
VI. THE EARLDOM IN THE STRATHERNE lv
LINE, 1321-1379
VII. THE EARLDOM IN THE LINE OF ST. lxi
CLAIR, 1379-1469
VIII. THE BISHOPRIC OF ORKNEY, lxxi
1102-1469
IX. THE BISHOPRIC OF CAITHNESS, lxxix
1150-1469
X. ANCIENT CHURCHES OF ORKNEY lxxxvii
XI. MAESHOW AND THE STONES OF ci
STENNIS
XII. MOUSA AND THE PICTISH TOWERS cix
XIII. REMAINS OF THE NORTHMEN cxi
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE cxxv
GENEALOGICAL TABLES cxxxii
ORKNEYINGA SAGA. 1-201
APPENDIX 201-212
INDEX 213
------------------------------------------------------------------------
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
-------
ON SEPARATE PAGES.
View of South Transept and part of Choir Frontispiece
of the Cathedral of St. Magnus
Map of Scotland, with Norse names viii
The Bressay Sculptured Stone xvi
The Bressay Sculptured Stone, Reverse of xvii
Symbols on the Sculptured Stones of xix
Scotland
Cathedral of St. Magnus, Kirkwall, lxxxviii
exterior view.
The Church of Egilsey xcii
Chancel Arch of Church of Weir, and xcviii
Chancel Doorway of Church at Lybster,
Reay
Map of the Orkney Islands cxlii
Map of the Shetland Islands Ibid.
Dragon-ship of the Viking period 132
IN THE TEXT.
Page
Square-sided Iron Bell found at xiv
Saverough, Orkney
Ground-plan of Egilsey Church and Tower, xci
Orkney
Ground-plan of Round Church at Orphir, xciv
Orkney
Ground-plan of Church at Weir, Orkney xcvi
Ground-plan of Church at Lybster, Reay, xcvii
Caithness
Ground-plan and Section of Maeshow, cii
Orkney
View of the Chamber in Maeshow, Orkney ciii
Dragon carved on the wall in Maeshow civ
Stone Circle at Brogar, Stennis, Orkney cvi
Stone Circle at Stennis, and Cromlech, cvii
from the northward
Stone Circle at Stennis, from the cvii
westward
Pictish Tower of Mousa (Moseyarborg), cix
Shetland
Norse Sword found at Gorton, Morayshire cxvi
Scabbard-Point found in a Norse Grave in cxvii
Westray, Orkney
Bronze Tortoise Brooch found in a Norse cxxi
Grave in Caithness
Comb found in a Norse Grave in Westray, cxxii
Orkney
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYLLABUS OF INTRODUCTION.
Pages
I. Early Population of the Orkneys—Monuments and ix-xi.
Structural Remains—Saxon Invasion in the 5th
century—The Orkneys under Pictish rule—Dalriad
Invasion in the 6th century—Wasting of the
Orkneys by the Pictish King Bruide.
II. Visitation of the Islands by Irish xi-xxi.
Clerics—Dicuil’s Account of Iceland, the Faroes,
Shetland and Orkney—Irish Christian Settlers
driven away by the Northern Robbers—Indications
of the early Christianity of the Islands—Bells
and Christian Monuments of an early Age found in
the Islands—Art of their early Sculptured
Stones—Symbols of the Sculptured Monuments of
the Scottish Mainland: their probable
Period—Indications of an early Christianity in
the Norse Topography of the Islands.
III. Earliest Notices of Northmen on British Shores: xxi-xxiii.
their first Inroads on the Irish Coasts; they
plunder Iona—Establishment of a Norse Kingdom at
Armagh—Olaf the White, King of Dublin—Harald
Harfagri’s Expedition to the Orkneys—Subjugation
of Orkney, Shetland, the Hebrides, and Man.
IV. Sigurd, first Earl of the Orkneys—Earl Sigurd and xxiii-xlvi.
Thorstein the Red subdue Caithness and
Sutherland—Sigurd’s Death and Burial at
Ekkialsbakki—Thorstein the Red King of “half of
Scotland”—Thorstein slain in Caithness—Duncan,
Earl of Duncansbay—Guttorm Earl—Hallad Earl—Torf
Einar Earl—Thorfinn Hausakliuf Earl—Ragnhild
murders her Husbands—Battle at Skida Myre in
Caithness—Earl Hlödver—Earl Sigurd the
Stout—Earl Finnleik—Battle at Skida Myre—Earl
Sigurd’s Raven Banner—Battle at Duncansbay—Earl
Sigurd marries a Daughter of Malcolm, King of
Scots: is converted to Christianity by King
Olaf, Tryggvi’s Son; falls at the Battle of
Clontarf—Earls Thorfinn, Brúsi, and Einar—Kali
Hundason takes the Kingdom in Scotland—Battles
at Deerness and Baefiord—Rögnvald
Brusison—Battle off Raudabiorg—Earl Thorfinn,
surprised by Rögnvald, escapes from the burning
House—Rögnvald slain on Papa Stronsay—Earl
Thorfinn’s Death—Ingibiorg, his Widow, marries
King Malcolm Canmore—Battle of Stamford
Bridge—Expeditions of King Magnus Barelegs to
Scotland—He carries off the Orkney Earls Paul
and Erlend, and places his own son Sigurd over
Orkney—Earl Hakon Palson—Murder of St.
Magnus—Harald (Slettmali) dies from a poisoned
Shirt—Paul the Silent—Rögnvald Kolson wins the
Orkneys—Earl Paul carried off to Athole by Swein
Asleifson—Harald, Son of Maddad Earl of Athole,
made joint Earl of Orkney—Earl Rögnvald’s
Pilgrimage to Jerusalem—Erlend Ungi besieged in
Mousa by Earl Harald—Earl Rögnvald slain—Earl
Harald at War with King William the Lion—The
Eyarskeggiar—Earl Harald makes Peace with King
Sverrir, and Shetland is taken from him: is
captured by King William the Lion, and
imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle; is released on
his son Thorfinn being given up as a Hostage;
storms a Borg at Scrabster, and mutilates Bishop
John—Penance prescribed for the Mutilation of
the Bishop—Earl John—Burning of Bishop Adam at
Halkirk—Earl John slain at Thurso
V. Magnus, son of Gilbride, Earl of Angus, made Earl xlvi-lv.
of Caithness and Orkney—Gilbride Earl—Magnus,
son of Gilbride—King Hakon Hakonson’s expedition
against Scotland—Battle of Largs—Death of King
Hakon at Kirkwall: his Body lies in State in the
Cathedral; is temporarily interred in the Choir;
is removed to Bergen—Earl Magnus Magnusson—Earl
John—Marriage of King Eirik of Norway with
Margaret of Scotland—Death of Queen Margaret—Her
Daughter Margaret, “the Maid of Norway,” made
Heiress to the Scottish Throne, and betrothed to
Prince Edward of England—The Maid of Norway dies
on her voyage to Scotland—King Eirik marries
Isabella Bruce—Earl John betrothed to their
Daughter Ingibiorg—Appearance at Bergen of “the
False Margaret,” a German woman who gave herself
out as the Maiden of Norway—The False Margaret
burnt at Bergen, and her Husband
beheaded—Magnus, last Earl of the Angus line
VI. Malise, Earl of Stratherne, succeeds to the lv-lxi.
Earldom of Orkney: falls at the Battle of
Halidon Hill—Forfeiture of the Earldom of
Stratherne—Malise the Younger goes to Norway:
marries two of his Daughters to Swedish
Noblemen—Erngisl Suneson, son-in-law of Malise,
made Earl of Orkney—Duncan Anderson’s
Manifesto—Alexander de Ard made Earl of Orkney
for one Year—Resigns his Lands in Caithness—The
Stewarts Earls of Caithness—Sir George Crichtoun
made Earl of Caithness—William St. Clair made
Earl of Caithness
VII. First Notices of the St. Clairs in Orkney—Obscure lxi-lxxi.
Questions connected with the Succession of the
St. Clairs—Henry St. Clair made Earl of Orkney
and Shetland—Malise Sperra slain at
Scalloway—Henry II. Earl of Orkney—Bishop
Tulloch made Commissioner for the King of
Norway—David Menzies made Commissioner: his
oppressions—William St. Clair, last Earl under
the Norwegian Dominion—Impignoration of the
Isles
VIII. Origin of the Bishopric of Orkney—Bishops of lxxi-lxxix.
Orkney consecrated at Hamburg—Bishops of Orkney
consecrated at York—William the Old, “first
Bishop”—William II.—Bjarni—Jofreyr—Henry
I.—Peter—Dolgfinn—William III.—William
IV.—William V.—Henry II.—John—Patrick—Thomas de
Tulloch—William de Tulloch—The See of Orkney
placed under the Metropolitan Bishop of St.
Andrews
IX. Earliest Notices of the Bishopric of lxxix-lxxxvii.
Caithness—Andrew, first known
Bishop—John—Adam—Letter of Pope Honorius
referring to the burning of Bishop Adam—Gilbert
the Saint—William—Walter—Archibald—Alan—Adam—
Andrew—Ferquhard—Nicolas—David—Alan—Thomas—
Malcolm—Alexander—Robert—William.
X. Cathedral of St. Magnus—Removal of the Relics of lxxxvii-ci.
St. Magnus from Christ’s Church in Birsay to St.
Olaf’s Church in Kirkwall: Transference to the
Cathedral—Egilsey Church—Munch’s view of the
Origin of the Name Egilsey—Discussion of the
probable Age of the Church—Church of Orphir
built in imitation of the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre at Jerusalem—Earl Hacon probably its
Founder—Christ’s Church in Birsay the first
recorded Christian Church in the Islands—Remains
of an older Church at the Site of the present
Parish Church—Church of Weir: Bishop Bjarni
probably its Founder—Church at Lybster, in Reay,
Caithness—Church on the Brough of Birsay
probably twin-towered—Church on the Brough of
Deerness: Superstitious Practices at it in last
Century—Old Parish Church of Deerness—Towered
Churches of Shetland
XI. Maeshow, the Orkahaug of the Saga—The ci-cviii.
Hogboy—Description of Maeshow—The Runic
Inscriptions on its Walls—Carved Dragon and
Cross on its Buttresses—The Jorsala-farer
s—Names of Persons mentioned in the Saga carved
on it—The Stones of Stennis—The Ring of
Brogar—The Ring of Stennis, and Cromlech—The
Ring of Bookan—Stennis mentioned in the
Saga—Havard’s teigr—Earl Havard’s Grave-Mound
XII. Mousa and its Tower—Description of cix-cxi.
Moseyarborg—Number and Distribution of the
Pictish Towers—Results of recent Excavations in
them—Condition of the People who lived in
them—Roman Coins found in them—Notices of the
Tower of Mousa in the Sagas
XIII. The Norse Territory in Scotland still cxi-cxxiii.
distinguished by its Norse Place-names—Notices
of the Norse Language in Orkney and
Shetland—Norse Ballads—The Ballad of Hiluge and
Hildina recovered by Low in Foula: Outline of
its Story; its Dialect and Date—Runic Monuments
in Orkney and Shetland—Actual Relics of the
Northmen—Burial Customs of the Pagan Northmen in
Orkney and Shetland—Narrative of an Eye-witness
of the Incremation of the Body of a Norse Chief
of the 10th century—Description of the Funeral
Rites—“The Dead Man’s Angel”—Sacrifice of Oxen,
Horses, etc.—Slaughter of a Female Slave to
accompany the Chief—Burning of the Bodies and
erection of the Grave-Mound—Diversity of the
Burial Usages—Burial in Stone Urns and Cooking
Pots—Brooches of a peculiar Scandinavian type
found with Norse Burials in Scotland—Group of
Norse Graves in Westray, Orkney
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration: SKOTLAND EDMONSTON & DOUGLAS, EDINBURGH.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTRODUCTION.
I. EARLIEST HISTORICAL NOTICES OF THE ORKNEYS.
The historical notices of the Orkneys previous to the Norse occupation
are few in number, and exceedingly obscure. We learn little more from
the allusions of the Roman writers than that scarcely anything was known
to them with certainty of these remote localities. It may be inferred,
however, that the first wave of Celtic population that overspread the
northern mainland of Britain must have gradually extended northward to
the outlying Isles. The correspondence of the early remains found in the
Islands with those of northern Scotland is of itself a striking
testimony to the connection of their early population with the Celtic
stock of the northern mainland of Scotland. We gather from these remains
that the earliest population of the Islands, of which we have any
reliable evidence, lived in the same manner as the natives of the
northern mainland, fought with the same varieties of weapons of stone
and bronze, erected the same forms of defensive structures, practised
the same funereal rites, and constructed similar forms of sepulchral
chambers, over which they piled the great mounds which are among the
most striking features of an Orkney landscape.[1] The number and
magnitude of these monuments and structural remains bear witness in a
most remarkable manner to the activity, intelligence, and social
organisation of the times that have no other record.
It is not until the middle of the 5th century of the Christian era that
the early chronicles begin to cast occasionally a feeble and uncertain
light upon the history of the northern isles. It is stated in the
“Historia Britonum” of Nennius that the Saxon chiefs Ochtha and Ebissa,
who came over with “forty keels” in the year 449, laid waste the Orkney
Islands, and seized a great many regions beyond the Frisic Sea.[2] At
that time, and for a long period previously (according to Nennius), the
Picts had been in possession of the Orkneys. Whatever value may be
attached to these statements as referring to events which took place 400
years before the author’s own time, there can be no reason for
discrediting his testimony when he says that the Picts continued in
possession of the Orkneys in his day.[3]
Adamnan, in his Life of St. Columba, mentions that the saint being on a
visit to Bruide Mac Meilcon, king of the Northern Picts, at his
stronghold on the river Ness, requested the king to recommend to the
_reguli_ of the Orkneys (one of whom was then present, and whose
hostages were then in the king’s hands) that Cormac and the clerics who
had accompanied him on a missionary voyage to the Orkneys should receive
no harm; and it is added that this was the means of saving them from a
violent death. But if the authority and influence of the king of the
Northern Picts extended to these islands in the reign of Bruide, it does
not seem to have been effectual in protecting them from foreign
invasion. Bruide Mac Meilcon died in 584, and some time before his death
the new and rising power of the Dalriadic kings had made itself felt as
far as the Orkneys. In the Annals of Ulster there is a notice under the
year 580 of an expedition against the Orkneys by Aedan, son of Gabran,
seventh king of the Dalriad Scots, who, coming over from Ireland (then
called Scotia) about the year 503, had established themselves in Argyle
and the Western Highlands, and founded the kingdom of Dalriada. From the
date of Aedan’s expedition in 580 we have no mention of the islands in
the native chronicles for a whole century, and the next entry, which
occurs under the year 682, gives colour to the supposition that they may
have been under Dalriadic rule in the interval. The record in 682 is
simply, that the Orkneys were wasted by Bruide Mac Bile, the king of the
Northern Picts, and apparently brought once more under the rule of the
Northern Pictish kings.
II. EARLY CHRISTIANITY OF THE ISLANDS.
It is probable that both the island groups of Orkney and Shetland were
visited at a very early period by wandering clerics of the Irish Church,
whose missionary efforts contributed so much to the diffusion of
Christianity in Scotland. But we have no record of an earlier visitation
than that of the companions of St. Columba, although there are
indications that between that time and the colonisation of the islands
by the heathen Northmen, these Irish clerics were no strangers in any of
the island groups.
The Irish monk Dicuil, who wrote his treatise “De Mensura Orbis
Terrarum” in or about the year 825, states that “thirty years before
that time some clerics had told him that they had lived in an island
which they supposed to be Thule, where at the summer solstice the sun
only hid himself behind a little hill for a short time during the night,
which was quite light; and that a day’s sail towards the north would
bring them from thence into the frozen sea.” This island is obviously
Iceland. He then states that there are many other islands in the
northern British sea, which lie at the distance of two days and two
nights from the northern islands of Britain, in a straight course, and
with a fair wind and a full sail. “One of these,” he says, “a certain
honest monk told me he had visited one summer after sailing a day, a
night, and another day, in a two-benched boat.” These appear to be the
Shetland Islands. Dicuil further states that “there are also some other
small islands, almost all divided from each other by narrow sounds,
inhabited for about a century by hermits proceeding from our Scotia;[4]
but as they had been deserted since the beginning of the world, so are
they now abandoned by these anchorites on account of the Northern
robbers; but they are full of countless sheep, and swarm with sea-fowl
of various kinds. We have not seen these islands mentioned in the works
of any author.” Here the reference to the “small isles separated by
narrow sounds” is distinctive of the Faroes, of which the long narrow
sounds are the peculiar physical feature; while the statement that they
are full of countless sheep, taken in connection with the fact that the
Northmen named them “Sheep-isles” (Fær-eyiar), establishes the identity
of the group which Dicuil describes. The Faroes were colonised by “the
Northern robbers,” led by Grim Kamban, in 825, the very year in which
Dicuil was writing.
The first Norwegian settlement was made in Iceland in 875, by Leif and
Ingulf, who carried with them a number of Irish captives; and the
Landnamabók states that “before Iceland was colonised from Norway, men
were living there whom the Northmen called Papas; they were Christians,
and it is thought they came over the sea from the west, for after them
were found Irish books, and bells, and crosiers, and other things, so
that one could see that they were Westmen: these things were found in
Papey, eastwards, and in Papyli.” Again, in the Islendingabók of Ari
Frodi the same reason is assigned for the departure of the monks as is
given by Dicuil. Ari Frodi also says, speaking of Iceland:—“Christian
men were here then called by the Northmen _Papa_, but afterwards they
went their way, for they would not remain in company with heathens; and
they left behind them Irish books, and bells, and pastoral staves, so
that it was clear that they were Irishmen.”
Thus by the concurrent testimony of Adamnan, the biographer of St.
Columba, himself an abbot of the monastery of Hy; of the Irish monk
Dicuil, writing during the lifetime of the men who had fled from the
Northern robbers; and lastly, of the Icelandic historians themselves—it
is established that the whole of the northern islands were visited by
Christian teachers, and probably, in part at least, converted to the
Christian faith, before they were overrun by the Norwegian invaders, and
the new faith swallowed up in the rising tide of heathenism thrown upon
their shores from the land of Odin and the Aser.
In the absence of all record we cannot expect to ascertain to what
extent these early missionary settlements had succeeded in leavening the
Celtic population of the islands of Orkney and Shetland with the
Christian faith. But it seems probable that during the three centuries
that intervened between the coming of Cormac in his coracle and the
arrival of Harald Harfagri with his fleet of war galleys, the new faith
had been firmly established and widely extended both in the northern
mainland of Scotland and in the remoter isles.
The indications which point to a Christian occupation of the isle, of no
inconsiderable extent and continuance, previous to their occupation by
the Norsemen, are:—The dedications of the early ecclesiastical
foundations; the occurrence of monumental stones sculptured in the style
peculiar to the earliest Christian monuments of the mainland of
Scotland, and bearing inscriptions in the Ogham character; the finding
(as at Saverough and Burrian) of ecclesiastical bells of the
square-sided form, peculiar to the early ages of the Church; and the
occurrence in the Norse topography of the islands of place-names
indicative of the previous settlement of Celtic Christian priests.
[Illustration: SQUARE-SIDED BELL FOUND AT SAVEROUGH, ORKNEY.]
The earliest dedications were probably those to St. Ninian and St.
Columba, St. Brigid, and St. Tredwell. It may be significant that in the
south parish of South Ronaldsay, where in all probability the companions
of St. Columba would make their first landing in Orkney, there were no
fewer than three chapels dedicated to him.[5]
The sculptured monuments furnish us with three collateral lines of
inference, tending to the same conclusion. These inferences are derived
from the inscriptions, the ornamentation, and the symbols of the
monuments.
Two of these monuments bear inscriptions in the Ogham character, a style
of cryptographic writing characteristic of the early inscribed stone
monuments of Ireland, but occurring also in Cornwall, in Wales, and in
Scotland. One of these two was found near the ancient church of
Culbinsbrugh, in the island of Bressay in Shetland. It is a slab of
chlorite slate, 4 feet in length, about 16 inches wide at the top,
tapering to a little less than a foot at the bottom, and about 1¾ inch
thick. It is sculptured on both sides in low relief, and the inscription
is incised on the edges of the stone. On one of its sculptured faces it
bears the Christian emblem of the cross, and among the figures
sculptured on it are those of two ecclesiastics with pastoral staves
(see Plates). The other inscribed stone was found by Dr. William Traill
in the Pictish Tower or “Broch” of Burrian, in North Ronaldsay in
Orkney. The inscription scratched on it has not yet been deciphered. It
also bears the Christian emblem of the cross. The association of the
cross with these Ogham inscriptions[6] points to a period anterior to
the Norse occupation of the islands.
[Illustration: THE BRESSAY STONE. Showing one side and Ogham inscription
on edge.]
[Illustration: THE BRESSAY STONE. Showing the other side and Ogham
inscription on edge.]
In examining the characteristics of the art of these monumental stones,
we are guided to similar conclusions. The Bressay stone bears none of
the symbols peculiar to the Scottish monuments, and in its artistic
features it comes nearer to some of the Irish than to the general style
of the Scottish sculptures. It is sculptured in low relief, while all
the Orkney examples are merely incised. But some of the forms of their
ornamentation are also characteristic of the art of the illuminated
Irish manuscripts of the 7th and 8th centuries, and others are equally
characteristic of the art of the bronzes of what has been styled the
late Celtic period.
The Scottish sculptured monuments scattered over the territory ranging
from the Forth to the Orkneys are characterised by a peculiar set of
symbols of unknown significance, which are often associated with the
Christian emblem of the cross.[7] The symbol which is of most frequent
occurrence, and which may therefore be said to be the most
characteristic of the period of the monuments, is a crescent conjoined
with what has been called a double sceptre, as represented in the first
figure of the accompanying Plate.
[Illustration: SYMBOLS ON THE SCULPTURED STONES OF SCOTLAND.]
This characteristic symbol occurs on a sculptured slab which was found
built into St. Peter’s Church in South Ronaldsay, and which had
evidently formed part of a monument older than the church. It occurs
also on the slab found at Firth, on the mainland of Orkney. Most
singularly, it occurs on the phalangial bone of an ox which was found in
the Broch of Burrian along with the slab previously described as bearing
an Ogham inscription and a peculiar form of cross. It occurs associated
with the same form of cross on the elaborately-sculptured stone at
Ulbster in Caithness. We have this crescent symbol also associated with
the cross on the inscribed stone of St. Vigeans in Forfarshire. This
stone bears the only inscription which is known to have been left to us
in the Pictish language:—[8]
DROSTEN │ IPE │ VORET │ ELT │ FORCUS
“Drost, │son of│ Voret, │of the race of│Fergus,”
and is believed to refer to that Drost, king of the Picts, who fell at
the battle of Blathmig, according to the Annals of Tighearnac, in A.D.
729.
The indications afforded by the Norse topography of the Islands, if
taken in connection with the passages previously quoted from the
Landnamabók and the Islendingabók of Ari Frodi regarding the origin of
the names Papa and Papyli in Iceland, require only to be mentioned. The
most obvious of these are the frequency with which the name Papa[9]
occurs both in the topography of Orkney and Shetland, and the occurrence
of such names as St. Ninian’s Isle in Shetland, Rinansey (Ringan’s-ey,
St. Ninian’s Isle) in Orkney, Daminsey, now Damsey (St. Adamnan’s Isle),
and Enhallow (Eyin-Helga, Holy Isle), given, we must suppose,
intelligently by the Norsemen.
Thus, at the very starting-point of their recorded history, we find
indications of Christianity, with suggestions even of its civilisation
and its art shedding their benign influence over the isles.
III. ARRIVAL OF THE NORTHMEN, AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EARLDOM OF ORKNEY
AND CAITHNESS.
The earliest notice we have of the visits of the Northmen to the shores
of Britain occurs in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under the date A.D. 787:—
“In this year King Beorhtric took Eadburh, King Offa’s daughter, to
wife. And in his days first came three ships of Northmen from
Hæretha-land; and then the reeve rode thereto, and would drive them
to the king’s vill, for he knew not what they were, and they there
slew him. These were the first ships of Danish men that sought the
land of the English race.”
As they came from Hæretha-land, now Hördaland, on the west coast of
Norway, they were Norwegians, not Danes.
The Irish Annals and the Welsh Chronicles agree in representing the
first inroads of the Norsemen on the Irish coasts as having commenced in
the year 795. In 798 they plundered Inispatrick of Man and the Hebrides;
in 802, and again in 806, they ravaged Iona, slaying in the latter year
sixty-eight of the monastic family there. In 807 they established
themselves on the mainland of Ireland; and a few years afterwards we
find a Norseman making Armagh the capital of his kingdom.
In 852, Olaf the White, a chieftain descended from the same family as
Harald Harfagri, conquered Dublin, and founded the most powerful and
permanent of the Norse kingdoms in Ireland.
By the victory of Hafursfiord in 872, Harald Harfagri made himself sole
monarch of Norway. Large numbers of the wealthy and powerful odallers,
whom he had dispossessed of their territorial possessions, fled to the
islands of Orkney and Shetland, which, for a full century previous to
this time, had been well known to the Norsemen as the viking station of
the western haf—the rendezvous of the Northern rovers, who swept the
coasts of the Hebrides and swarmed in the Irish Seas. Being fugitives
from their country, and outlaws of the new kingdom which Harald had
succeeded in establishing in Norway, they settled themselves permanently
in the islands. Then they turned their haven of refuge into a base of
operations for retaliatory warfare, harrying the coasts of Norway during
the summer months, and living at leisure in the islands during winter on
the plunder. At length King Harald, irritated by their incessant
ravages, collected a powerful fleet, and visiting Shetland, Orkney, and
the Hebrides, in succession, he swept their coasts clear of the
plunderers, subduing the whole of the Northern and Western islands as
far south as Man.
In this expedition Ivar, a son of Rögnvald, Earl of Moeri, was
killed.[10] In order to recompense Rögnvald for the loss of his son,
King Harald bestowed on him the territory of the subjugated isles of
Orkney and Shetland, with the title of Earl of the Orkneys. Harald seems
to have dealt similarly with the Hebrides, but his conquest of the
vikings in these remote isles was not so complete as in the Orkneys.
Ketil Flatnef (Flat nose), who, according to the Laxdæla Saga, had
emigrated to the Hebrides because he could not resist King Harald in
Norway, had married his daughter Aud to Olaf the White, the powerful
king of Dublin, and had established himself in a kind of independent
sovereignty in the Hebrides; and though he seems to have migrated from
them to Iceland in consequence of King Harald’s expedition, the
continued hostility to King Harald’s rule is evinced by the fact that
the second earl whom he sent to the Hebrides, AsBjörn Skerablesi, was
slain by two relatives of Ketil Flatnef, his wife and daughter taken
captive, and the latter sold as a slave. Rögnvald, however, returned to
his own Earldom in Norway, and made over his newly-acquired possessions
to his brother Sigurd, the “first earl” of the Saga.
IV. THE EARLDOM IN THE NORSE LINE, 872-1231.
Thorstein the Red, son of Olaf the White, king of Dublin, came then to
the north, and allying himself with Earl Sigurd, they crossed over to
the mainland of Scotland, and subdued Caithness and Sutherland as far as
Ekkialsbakki, and afterwards carried their conquests into Ross and
Moray. In this invasion Earl Sigurd killed Maelbrigd the buck-toothed
(Melbrigda tönn), a Scottish maormor of Ross or Moray; and having tied
his head to his saddle-bow, “the tooth,” which was very prominent,
inflicted a wound on his leg, and the wound inflaming caused the death
of the earl, who was hoy-laid (buried in a mound or cairn) on
Ekkialsbakki.[11] After his death, Thorstein the Red reigned as king
over the conquered districts of Scotland, which at that time, says the
Landnamabók,[12] comprehended “Caithness and Sutherland, Ross and Moray,
and more than the half of Scotland.” The Laxdæla Saga[13] says that in
his engagements with the Scots Thorstein was always successful, “until
at length he became reconciled with the King of the Scots, and obtained
possession of the half of Scotland, over which he became king.” But he
was shortly afterwards slain in Caithness by the treachery of the Scots;
and after his death Aud, his mother, migrated to Iceland. Previous to
her departure she had given Groa, the daughter of Thorstein, in marriage
to Duncan, earl or maormor of Duncansby in Caithness. Thus the Norse
earldom of Caithness passed for a time into the family of one of its
native chiefs. But by the subsequent marriage of Grelauga, the daughter
of Duncan and Groa, with Thorfinn Hausakliuf, son of Torf-Einar, Earl of
Orkney, the Scottish earldom was again added to the earldom of the
Isles.
While Thorstein the Red ruled on the northern mainland of Scotland,
Guttorm, the son of Sigurd Eysteinson, had succeeded to the Orkney
earldom on the death of his father, but after having held it for one
year he died childless.
Meantime, when Rögnvald, Earl of Moeri, heard in Norway of the death of
his brother Sigurd, he obtained a grant of the earldom of Orkney from
King Harald for his own son Hallad. Hallad found the Islands so much
infested by vikings that he soon gave up the earldom in disgust, and
returned to Norway, preferring the life of a farmer to that of an
earl.[14]
Then Rögnvald sent another son, Einar, to take possession of the
earldom. Einar was a man of a different stamp from Hallad. He soon made
his power felt among the western vikings, and freed his possessions
entirely from their ravages. The sons of Harald Harfagri, Halfdan Hálegg
and Guthrod, grew up to be men of great violence. One spring they went
north to Moeri and burnt Earl Rögnvald in his own house with sixty of
his men. Halfdan Hálegg then sailed west to Orkney to dispossess Einar
of the earldom, but having allowed himself to be surprised by Einar, he
was captured in Rinansey, and killed by having a blood-eagle cut on his
back.[15] Harald Harfagri came west, and fined the Orkneys in sixty
marks of gold for the death of his son. Earl Einar offered to the
Bœndr[16] that he would pay the money on condition that he should have
all the odal possessions in the islands—a condition to which they agreed
the more readily, says the Saga, “that all the poorer men had but small
lands, while those who were wealthy said they would redeem theirs when
they pleased.”[17] But the odal lands remained in the possession of the
earl till Einar’s great-grandson, Sigurd Hlödverson, was obliged to buy
the assistance of the odallers against the Scots when hard pressed by
the Scottish earl Finnleik.[18]
When Einar died he left three sons, two of whom, Arnkell and Erlend,
were killed with King Erik Bloodyaxe in England. The third, Thorfinn
Hausakliuf, married Grelauga, daughter of Duncan, earl of Duncansbay,
and thus reunited in the Norse line the two earldoms of Orkney and
Caithness. Earl Thorfinn Hausakliuf left five sons. Arnfinn, the eldest,
who was married to Ragnhild, a daughter of King Erik Bloodyaxe, was
killed by his wife at Myrkhol (Murkle) in Caithness. She then married
Havard, his brother. She soon tired of him, and instigated Einar
Klining, his sister’s son, to kill him. Havard fell in the fray at
Stennis, and was buried there.[19] Ragnhild had promised to marry Einar
if he killed her husband Havard. When the deed was done, however, she
refused to perform her promise, and instigated another Einar, by the
promise of her hand, to slay Einar Klining. This he did, but again
Ragnhild was faithless. Then she married Liot, the third son of Earl
Thorfinn Hausakliffer, and brother of the two husbands whom she had
already had and slain. Meanwhile Skuli, a fourth brother, had gone to
Scotland and obtained an earl’s title for Caithness from the King of
Scots.[20] He was defeated by Liot, and slain in the Dales of Caithness,
and thus Liot became sole earl of Caithness and Orkney. He fell in
battle with a native chieftain, named Magbiód[21] in the Sagas, at Skida
Myre[22] (Skitten) in Caithness, and was succeeded in the earldom by
Hlödver, the last of the five brothers.
Earl Hlödver married Audna, the daughter of the Irish king Kiarval. He
died shortly after his accession to the earldom, and was buried at Hofn
(Huna) in Caithness.[23] His son Sigurd, sometimes called “the Stout,”
succeeded him. He is said to have been a mighty warrior, and to have
driven the Scots completely from Caithness.[24] But he was not left in
undisturbed possession of his Scottish earldom. The Scottish earl or
maormor, Finlay (MacRuari?) invaded Caithness and gave him battle at
Skida Myre, where his uncle Liot had fallen before another Scottish
maormor not long previously. Finlay had so large a force that there were
no less than seven Scotsmen to one of Sigurd’s men, and the Orkneymen
who were with Earl Sigurd were unwilling to fight against such odds.
Then Sigurd offered to restore to the Bœndr their allodial lands, which
they had resigned to Earl Einar, his great-grandfather. By this means,
more than by the charmed raven-banner made for him by his Irish mother,
he obtained the victory. “After this,” says the Njal Saga,[25] “Earl
Sigurd became ruler over these dominions in Scotland, Ross and Moray,
Sutherland and the Dales” (of Caithness), which seem also to include the
old Strathnaver. But his troubles with the Scots were not yet over.
Caithness was invaded by two Scottish maormors, called Hundi and
Melsnati in the Saga.[26] A battle took place at Duncansbay, in which
Melsnati was slain, but Hundi fled, and the Norsemen, learning that
another Scottish earl, Malcolm, was assembling an army at Duncansbay,
gave up the pursuit and returned to Orkney. Afterwards Sigurd became
reconciled to Malcolm, King of the Scots, and obtained his daughter in
marriage.
But the most notable event in the life of Earl Sigurd was that which
befel him as he lay in the harbour of Osmondwall shortly after his
accession to the earldom. Olaf Tryggvason, King of Norway, returning
from a western cruise, happened to run his vessels into the same
harbour, as the Pentland Firth was not to be passed that day. On hearing
that the earl was there he sent for him on board his ship, and told him,
without much parley, that he must allow himself to be baptized, and make
all his people profess the Christian faith. The Flateyjarbók says that
the king took hold of Sigurd’s boy, who chanced to be with him, and
drawing his sword, gave the earl the choice of renouncing for ever the
faith of his fathers, or of seeing his boy slain on the spot. In the
position in which he found himself placed, Sigurd became a nominal
convert, but there is every reason to believe that the Christianity
which was thus forced upon the Islanders was for a long time more a name
than a reality. Nearly twenty years afterwards we find Earl Sigurd
bearing his own raven-banner “woven with mighty spells,” at the battle
of Clontarf, against the Christian king Brian; and Sigurd’s fall was
made known in Caithness by the twelve weird sisters (the Valkyriar of
the ancient mythology) weaving the woof of war:—[27]
“The woof y-woven
With entrails of men,
The warp hardweighted
With heads of the slain.”
An incident which occurred just before he set out for Ireland gives a
striking illustration of the fierce manners of the times. King Sigtrygg,
who had come from Dublin to obtain Earl Sigurd’s aid, was being
entertained at the Yule-feast in Earl Sigurd’s hall in Hrossey (the
Mainland of Orkney), and was set on the high seat, having Earl Sigurd on
the one side and Earl Gilli, who had come with him, on the other. Gunnar
Lambi’s son was telling the company the story of the burning of Njal and
his comrades, but giving an unfair version of it, and every now and then
laughing out loud. It so happened that as, in answer to an inquiry of
King Sigtrygg’s how they bore the burning, he was saying that one of
them had given way to tears, one of Njal’s friends, Kari by name, who
had just arrived in Orkney, chanced to come into the hall. Hearing what
was said, Kari drew his sword, and smote Gunnar Lambi’s son on the neck
with such a sharp blow that his head spun off on to the board before the
king and the earls, so that the board was all one gore of blood, and the
earls’ clothing too. Earl Sigurd called out to seize Kari and kill him,
but no man stirred, and some spoke up for him, saying that he had only
done what he had a right to do, and so Kari walked away, and there was
no hue and cry after him.
The battle of Clontarf, in which Earl Sigurd fell, is the most
celebrated of all the conflicts in which the Norsemen were engaged on
this side of the North Sea. “It was at Clontarf, in Brian’s battle,”
says Dasent, “that the old and new faiths met in the lists face to face
for their last struggle,” and we find Earl Sigurd arrayed on the side of
the old faith, though nominally a convert to the new. The Irish account
of the battle[28] describes it as seen from the walls of Dublin, and
likens the carnage to a party of reapers cutting down a field of oats.
Sigurd is described as dealing out wounds and slaughter all around—“no
edged weapon could harm him, and there was no strength that yielded not,
and no thickness that became not thin before him.” Murcadh, son of Brian
Borumha, was equally conspicuous on the side of the Irish. He had thrice
passed through the phalanx of the foreigners, slaying a mail-clad man at
every stroke. Then perceiving Sigurd, he rushed at him, and by a blow of
his right-hand sword, cut the fastenings of his helmet, which fell back,
and a second blow given with the left-hand sword cut into his neck, and
stretched him lifeless on the field. In the Njal Saga the incidents
connected with Earl Sigurd’s death are differently related. His
raven-banner, which was borne before him, was fulfilling the destiny
announced by Audna, when she gave it to him at Skida Myre, that it would
always bring victory to those before whom it was borne, but death to him
who bore it. Twice had the banner-bearer fallen, and Earl Sigurd called
on Thorstein, son of Hall of the Side, next to bear the banner.
Thorstein was about to lift it, when Asmund the White called out, “Don’t
bear the banner, for all they who bear it get their death.” “Hrafn the
Red!” cried Earl Sigurd, “bear thou the banner.” “Bear thine own devil
thyself,” said Hrafn.[29] Then said the earl, “’Tis fittest that the
beggar should bear the bag,” and with that he took up the banner, and
was immediately pierced through with a spear. Then flight broke out
through all the host.
When the news of Earl Sigurd’s death reached Scotland King Malcolm gave
the earldom of Caithness to Thorfinn, his daughter’s son by Sigurd, then
only five years of age, and Sumarlidi, Brúsi, and Einar, Sigurd’s sons
by his former marriage, divided the Orkneys between them. Sumarlidi soon
died, and Einar got his portion. Einar made himself unpopular by the
violence with which he exacted his services from the Bœndr for his
viking expeditions, and was killed by Thorkel Fóstri (Amundi’s son) at
Sandwick, in Deerness. Brúsi then took possession of the whole earldom
of the Orkneys, as Thorfinn had that of Caithness. Thorfinn, however,
claimed a share of the Islands, and as he had the assistance of his
grandfather Malcolm, the King of Scots, Brúsi felt himself unable to
cope with him. He therefore went to Norway to negotiate with King Olaf
Haraldson for a grant of the whole of the earldom of the Islands.
Thorfinn followed him on the same errand, but the king was more than a
match for them both, and the result was that he gave each a third of the
Islands, declaring the third which had belonged to Earl Einar to be
forfeited to himself for the murder of his friend and henchman Eyvind
Urarhorn, whom Einar had slain in revenge for Eyvind’s helping the Irish
king Conchobhar against him at Ulfreksfiord. After Thorfinn’s departure,
however, he gave Brúsi to understand that he was to have the forfeited
third of the earldom, as well as his own third, to enable him to hold
his own against Thorfinn. An arrangement was afterwards made between
Brúsi and Thorfinn that the latter should receive two-thirds of the
Islands on condition of his undertaking the defence of the whole, as
they were at that time much exposed to the predatory incursions of Norse
and Danish vikings.
When Thorfinn’s maternal grandfather, King Malcolm, died, Kali
Hundason[30] took the kingdom in Scotland. He attempted to exact tribute
from Thorfinn for his dominions in the north of Scotland, and failing in
this he sent his sister’s son, Moddan, into Caithness, giving him the
title of Earl. Thorfinn was supported by the inhabitants, however, and
after an unsuccessful attempt to establish himself in Caithness, Moddan
returned to King Kali with the news that Thorfinn was plundering in Ross
and Sutherland. King Kali embarked a considerable force in eleven ships
at Beruvik (apparently Berriedale on the southern frontier of
Caithness), and sent Moddan northwards by land with another division of
his army, intending to enclose Thorfinn in the north-east corner of
Caithness, and attack him from two sides at once. Thorfinn, however, was
aware of the trap laid for him, and retired to the Islands. There Kali
came up with him off Deerness, in Orkney, and a fierce battle took
place, in which Kali was defeated. He fled southwards, and Thorfinn,
following him, obliged him again to give battle at Baefiord, where he
was again defeated, while Thorkel Fóstri fell upon Moddan at Thurso and
slew him. Then, say the Sagas, Earl Thorfinn overran Scotland as far
south as Fife, burning and slaying, and subduing the land wherever he
went. By these conquests he became the most powerful of all the Earls of
Orkney.
Rögnvald Brusison was in Norway when he heard of his father’s death, and
being odal-born to his father’s third of the Islands, and having
received from King Magnus Olafson a grant of that third which King Olaf
had declared forfeited to himself for Eyvind Urarhorn’s murder, he went
west to the Orkneys, prepared to maintain his rights against the claims
of Thorfinn, who had taken possession of the whole. An amicable
arrangement was made between the kinsmen, and they joined their forces
for viking forays upon the Hebrides, venturing even upon an extensive
foray in England during the absence of Hardicanute in Denmark. After an
eight years’ alliance, however, discord broke out between the kinsmen,
and in a sea-fight in the Pentland Firth, off Rauda Biorg,[31] in
Caithness, Rögnvald was defeated and fled, and Thorfinn reduced the
whole of the Islands. Rögnvald went to Norway, and stayed some time with
King Magnus. Then he came west to the Islands in a single ship, and
surprising Thorfinn in a house on the Mainland of Orkney, he set fire to
it. Thorfinn broke down part of the wall of the house and leapt out,
carrying his wife Ingibiorg in his arms, and escaped through the smoke.
Rögnvald, believing that Thorfinn had perished, took possession of the
Islands. Thorfinn, who had got secretly over to his dominions in
Caithness, returned shortly afterwards, and surprising Rögnvald in a
house on Papa Stronsay, burnt the house and all who were in it, except
Rögnvald, who sprang over the heads of the men who surrounded him, and
got away in the darkness. He concealed himself among the rocks by the
shore, but was discovered by the barking of his dog, and slain by
Thorkel Fóstri. Thus Thorfinn was again sole ruler of the Orkney
earldom, as well as that of Caithness. He went to Norway to make his
peace with King Magnus, who was foster-brother to Earl Rögnvald, and
therefore would seek vengeance for his death. At that time Magnus was at
war with Swein Ulfson, King of Denmark. While he lay with his fleet at
Seley two war-ships rowed up to the king’s vessel, and a man in a white
cloak went straight aboard, and up to the quarter-deck, where the king
sat at meat. Saluting the king, the man reached forth his hand, took a
loaf from the table, broke it, and ate of it. The king handed the cup to
him when he saw that he had broken bread at his table, and then he
learned that it was Earl Thorfinn, who, having broken his bread and
drunk from his cup, was, for the present at least, safe from his
vengeance, according to the ancient laws of hospitality. He deemed it
wise, however, to take his departure without having obtained a formal
reconciliation. King Magnus died shortly afterwards, and was succeeded
by his uncle Harald Hardradi. Thorfinn again went to Norway on hearing
of King Magnus’ death, and effected a reconciliation with King Harald,
so that he was now established in the earldom of Orkney by consent of
the over-lord, the King of Norway.
From Norway he went to Denmark, visiting King Swein at Aalborg, and
proceeded thence through Germany on a pilgrimage to Rome, where he
obtained absolution for all his deeds. After his return from Rome it is
said that he turned his mind more to the government of his dominions and
the welfare of his people than he had previously done in his career of
conquest. He built Christ’s Kirk in Birsay, and established there the
first bishop’s see in the Orkneys. He died in 1064, having been Earl, by
the Saga account, for “seventy winters,” and the most powerful and
wide-landed of all the Earls of the Orkneys. After his death, as the
Saga states, his widow Ingibiorg was married to King Malcolm
Canmore,[32] and became the mother of Duncan, whom, however, the
Scottish historians have always represented as a bastard.
Thorfinn was succeeded by his two sons, Paul and Erlend, who were with
King Harald Hardradi in his unfortunate expedition to England. After the
battle of Stamford Bridge, in which King Harald fell, the Orkney earls
were allowed to go home by the victorious Harold Godwinson, and they
ruled their dominions jointly in great harmony till their sons grew up
to manhood, when there began to be discord between the families. Hakon,
the son of Paul, was of a turbulent and overbearing disposition. He
seems to have had a lingering attachment to the Pagan faith of his
forefathers, for, while in Sweden (which was longer in being converted
to Christianity than Norway), he is said to have sought out the Pagan
spaemen to learn his future from them. Coming to Norway he tried hard to
induce King Magnus Barelegs to undertake an expedition to the Orkneys
and the Western Isles, hoping that the king would conquer the Islands
for the glory of the conquest, and hand them over to him, as Harald
Harfagri had given them to Rögnvald, Earl of Mœri. He was more
successful than he anticipated. King Magnus, fired with the love of
conquest, did make the expedition, but he deposed Paul and Erlend, and
carried them to Norway, placing his own son Sigurd, a mere child, over
the Orkneys.
Although the Saga speaks as if there had been only one expedition by
King Magnus to Scotland, there were in reality three. Fordun[33] states
that when Donald Bane, Duncan, and Edgar, were struggling for the
kingdom on the death of Malcolm in 1093, King Magnus was ravaging the
gulfs of the Scottish seaboard, and it is stated in the Saga[34] that he
assisted Murcertach in the capture of Dublin in 1094. In his second
expedition in 1098 he carried off the Earls Paul and Erlend, and made
his own son Sigurd Earl of Orkney. Munch surmises that the motives of
this expedition were two-fold—to secure his power in the Orkneys, and to
assist his protégé Donald Bane, who had again usurped the crown of
Scotland on the death of Duncan in 1095, and was in 1097 hard pressed by
Edgar with an English army. King Magnus took with him from the Orkneys
Magnus Erlend’s son (afterwards St. Magnus), and proceeded southwards to
the Hebrides, where he ravaged Lewis, Skye, Uist, Tiree, and Mull,
sparing Iona on account of its sanctity. The Saga says that he opened
the door of the little church of Columbkill (St. Oran’s chapel), and was
about to enter, but stopped suddenly, closed the door, forbade any one
to enter, and gave the inhabitants peace. Then he went on to Isla and
Kintyre, and thence to Man and Anglesea, where he fought the battle with
the two Hughs, Earls of Chester and Shrewsbury. On his return northward
he caused his vessel to be drawn across the isthmus of Tarbert, in
imitation of the fabulous sea-king Beite, of whom a similar story is
told. He returned to Norway in 1099, and during the next two years was
occupied with the Swedish war. In 1102 he returned to the west, married
his son Sigurd to Biadmynia, the daughter of Murcertach, and fell in a
skirmish with the Irish in Ulster in 1103. He was buried in St.
Patrick’s church in Down.[35]
Sigurd, the son of King Magnus, remained Earl of the Orkneys until his
father’s death, when he succeeded to the throne of Norway.
Hakon Paul’s son, and Magnus Erlend’s son, then succeeded to the
earldom, and held it jointly until Magnus was murdered in Egilsey by
Hakon on the 16th April, A.D. 1115.[36]
After the murder of Magnus, Hakon became sole earl. He went on a
pilgrimage to Rome and the Holy Land, and after his return became a good
ruler, and was so popular “that the Orkneymen desired no other rulers
than Hakon and his issue.”
Earl Hakon left two sons, Harald and Paul (the silent). Harald, who had
succeeded to the earldom of Caithness, which “he held from the King of
Scots,” was in some way unintentionally put to death by his mother Helga
and her sister Frákork. As the Saga tells the story, he met his death by
insisting on putting on a poisoned shirt which the sisters intended for
his half-brother Paul, who, on Harald’s death, became sole Earl of the
Orkneys.
A new claimant arose, however, in the person of Kali, son of Kol, a
nobleman resident at Agdir, in Norway, who had married a sister of Earl
Magnus the saint. Kali received from King Sigurd the gift of half the
Orkneys, which had belonged to his uncle Magnus, and his name was
changed from Kali Kolson to Rögnvald, because his mother said that
Rögnvald Brusison was the most accomplished of all the Earls of Orkney,
and thought the name would bring her son good fortune.
Rögnvald had many romantic adventures in the prosecution of his attempt
to obtain possession of half of the earldom held by Paul, which are
detailed at length in the Saga. At last he was advised by his father Kol
to make a vow to St. Magnus, that if he should succeed in establishing
himself in the Orkneys he would build and endow a “stone minster” at
Kirkwall, dedicated to St. Magnus, “to whom the half of the earldom
rightly belonged.” The vow was made, and Rögnvald’s next expedition was
successful. He landed in Shetland, and by a dexterous stratagem the
beacons on Fair Isle and in the Orkneys were made to give a false alarm
of his descent upon the Orkneys, so that when he did land there he was
unopposed. Then he secured the intervention of the bishop, and an
agreement that he should have half the Islands was concluded between him
and Earl Paul. Shortly thereafter Earl Paul was captured by Swein
Asleifson, a notable leader at that time in the Islands, and the last
and greatest of the Orkney vikings. Swein carried the earl off in his
vessel, and, landing him on the southern shore of the Moray Firth,
delivered him into the safe keeping of Maddad, Earl of Athole,[37] who
was married to Margaret, a sister of Earl Paul. What became of the earl
is not known, “but this,” says the Saga, “is well known, that he came
never again to the Orkneys, and had no dominions in Scotland.” Swein
Asleifson returned to Orkney, and by the joint consent of Earl Rögnvald,
Bishop William of Orkney, and Bishop John of Athole, Harald, the son of
Maddad, earl of Athole, was made Earl, along with Rögnvald, though he
was at that time a child of only five years old. This arrangement was
afterwards confirmed by a meeting, held in Caithness, of the Bœndr and
chiefs of the Orkneys and Caithness.
The Earls Rögnvald and Harald visited King Ingi by invitation at Bergen,
and there Earl Rögnvald met with Eindridi Ungi, a returned Crusader, and
became possessed by a strong desire to visit the Holy Land. On his
return voyage to Orkney, Earl Rögnvald was shipwrecked at Gulberwick in
Shetland, and narrowly escaped with his life. Bishop William strongly
approved of his project to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and
agreed to accompany him. Accordingly he went back to Norway to organise
the expedition, and returned to the Orkneys followed by a large number
of Jorsala-farers—mostly adventurers of very indifferent character, if
we are to judge by their turbulent and lawless behaviour during their
stay in the Orkneys, where they spent the winter previous to their
departure for the East. Early in the spring of the year 1152 Earl
Rögnvald called a Thing-meeting of the inhabitants of the Islands, and
told them of his purposed voyage, announcing that he was to leave the
sole government in the hands of Harald during his absence, and asking
them all to obey him and help him faithfully as their lawful lord. The
summer was far advanced before he sailed, but he had a prosperous
voyage, the adventures of which are detailed in the Saga; and after
visiting Jerusalem and bathing in the Jordan, he returned by way of
Constantinople, Durazzo, Apulia, and Rome, and so overland to Norway,
the whole expedition occupying about three years.
In the same summer that Earl Rögnvald left the Orkneys on his
pilgrimage, King Eystein came from Norway with a large force, and
seizing Earl Harald Maddadson as he lay at Thurso with a single ship,
made him pay a ransom of three marks of gold, and swear fealty to him
for Orkney and Shetland. Earl Maddad of Athole was now dead, and
Margaret, the mother of Earl Harald, had come to the Orkneys. Erlend,
the son of the Earl Harald (Slettmali), who was killed by the poisoned
shirt, had set up his claim to half the earldom after Rögnvald’s
departure. His cause was favoured by King Eystein, and espoused by Swein
Asleifson, and Earl Harald was obliged to make peace by taking oath to
allow Erlend to remain in possession of the Islands, an arrangement
which was afterwards confirmed by a Thing-meeting of the Bœndr of the
Orkneys, Earl Rögnvald’s claim to his share of the Islands being,
however, reserved. Earl Harald (Maddadson) was thus denuded of all power
in the Islands. He fled across to Caithness, but after a time he
returned to the Orkneys with four ships and a hundred men, and after an
unsuccessful attempt to surprise Erlend[38] he was obliged to abandon
the enterprise for a time. Meanwhile, Erlend had carried off Harald’s
mother Margaret (who seems to have been still a beautiful woman, though
of very indifferent character), and fled with her to the island of Mousa
in Shetland, where they fortified themselves in the old Pictish tower or
borg of Mousa, which about two centuries before had given shelter during
a whole winter to a pair of lovers from Norway, under circumstances
somewhat similar.[39] Harald pursued them, and laid siege to the borg,
which could not be taken by assault, but the two earls came to a mutual
understanding, and the siege was abandoned. Erlend married Margaret, and
the same summer he and Harald went each on a visit to Norway to meet
Earl Rögnvald on his return from the Holy Land.
Erlend succeeded in making an alliance with Earl Rögnvald. Earl Harald
was not aware of this till he returned from Norway, and heard the news
in Orkney. He and Rögnvald met at Thurso, and a skirmish took place
between their respective followers, in which thirteen of Rögnvald’s men
were slain, but by the efforts of their mutual friends the two earls
were brought to an agreement of peace. Erlend and his faithful ally
Swein Asleifson surprised the squadron of the two earls at Scapa, taking
fourteen ships, and putting both the earls to flight. They crossed over
to Caithness during the night, each in a separate boat, and returning
some time after with a fresh force, they surprised Erlend in Damsey, and
slew him. Then they made peace with Erlend’s old ally, Swein Asleifson,
although this was not effected without some difficulty. Harald and
Rögnvald then ruled the two earldoms jointly, and apparently in great
harmony, until the death of the latter in 1158. Rögnvald was slain at
Calder, in Caithness, by Thorbiörn Klerk, the former friend and
counsellor of Earl Harald, who had been made an outlaw by Earl Rögnvald
for a murder committed in Kirkwall, following on a series of acts of
violence.[40]
Earl Harald Maddadson now became sole ruler of the earldoms of Orkney
and Caithness. But by his second marriage he had allied himself with
Hoarflad (Gormlath), daughter of Malcolm MacHeth, the so-called Earl of
Moray, ex-bishop Wimund, and pretender to the Scottish throne, and
consequently there could be no pacific relations between him and King
William the Lion. The events of this period are somewhat confusedly told
in the chronicles, but it seems probable that Harald was one of the six
earls who rebelled against King Malcolm in 1160, in order to place
William of Egremont, grandson of Duncan, on the throne,[41] and that he
also supported Donaldbane, the son of William who aspired to the throne,
and from 1180 maintained himself in Moray and Ross, till he was slain at
the battle of Macgarvey, 1187.[42] When Harald Ungi, son of Eirik
Slagbrellir, by Ingigerd (or Ingirid), daughter of Earl Rögnvald,
appeared as a rival claimant to the earldom of Orkney, having received
from King Magnus Erlingson a grant of his grandfather’s share of the
Islands, King William embraced his interests, and gave him a grant of
half of Caithness, which was thus taken from Earl Harald. Then Earl
Harald became involved in difficulties with his other suzerain, the
reigning King of Norway, through the expedition of the Eyarskeggiar or
partisans of Sigurd, son of Magnus Erlingson, whom they endeavoured to
place upon the throne in opposition to King Sverrir. Sigurd’s cause was
largely espoused by the Orkneymen, and the expedition (which was
organised and fitted out in Orkney) did much mischief in Norway. Earl
Harald was obliged to present himself before King Sverrir in Bergen. He
went from Orkney accompanied by Bishop Bjarni. In presence of a great
assembly in the Christ’s Kirk garth, the earl confessed his fault,
saying that he was now an old man, as his beard bore witness; that he
had bent the knee before many kings, sometimes in closest friendship,
but oftener in circumstances of misfortune; that he had not been
unfaithful to his allegiance, although some of his people might have
done that which was contrary to the king’s interests; and that he had
not been always able to rule the Orkneys entirely according to his own
will; and that now he came to yield up himself and all his possessions
into the king’s power. So saying, he advanced, and casting himself to
the earth, he laid his head at King Sverrir’s feet. The king granted him
pardon, but took from him the whole of Shetland,[43] “which never after
that formed part of the Norwegian earldom of Orkney,” though after the
time of the Saga-writer, Shetland as well as Orkney was granted to Henry
St. Clair in 1379 by King Hakon Magnusson, the second of that name.
Yet though humiliated in this manner, and stripped of a great part of
his dominions, Earl Harald, according to Hoveden, dared to contest the
possession of Moray with King William, instigated no doubt by his wife,
in whose right alone he could have had any feasible claim to its
possession.
Roger de Hoveden, chaplain to Henry II., a contemporary chronicler, thus
records the events that followed:—[44]
“In the same year (1196) William, King of Scots, having gathered a great
army, entered Moray to drive out Harald MacMadit, who had occupied that
district. But before the king could enter Caithness, Harald fled to his
ships, not wishing to risk a battle with the king. Then the King of
Scots sent his army to Turseha (Thurso), the town of the aforesaid
Harald, and destroyed his castle there. But Harald, seeing that the king
would completely devastate the country, came to the king’s feet and
placed himself at his mercy, chiefly because of a raging tempest in the
sea, and the wind being contrary, so that he could not go to the
Orkneys; and he promised the king that he would bring to him all his
enemies when the king should again return to Moray. On that condition
the king permitted him to retain a half of Caithness, and the other half
he gave to Harald, the younger, grandson of Reginald (Rögnvald), a
former Earl of Orkney and Caithness. Then the king returned to his own
land, and Harald to the Orkneys. The king returned in the autumn to
Moray, as far as Ilvernarran (Invernairn), in order to receive the
king’s enemies from Harald. But though Harald had brought them as far as
the port of Lochloy near Invernairn, he allowed them to escape; and when
the king returned late from hunting, Harald came to him, bringing with
him two boys, his grandchildren, to deliver them to the king as
hostages. Being asked by the king where were the king’s enemies whom he
had promised to deliver up, and where was Thorfinn his son, whom he had
also promised to give as a hostage, he replied, ‘I allowed them to
escape, knowing that if I delivered them up to you they would not escape
out of your hands. My son I could not bring, for there is no other heir
to my lands.’ So, because he had not kept the agreement which he had
made with the king, he was adjudged to remain in the king’s custody
until his son should arrive and become a hostage for him. And because he
had permitted the king’s enemies to escape, he was also adjudged to have
forfeited those lands which he held of the king. The king took Harald
with him to Edinburgh Castle, and laid him in chains until his men
brought his son Thorfinn from the Orkneys; and on their delivering him
up as a hostage to the king, Harald was liberated.
“So Harald returned to Orkney, and there remained in peace and quiet,
until Harald the younger, having received a grant of the half of the
Orkneys from Sverrir Birkebein, the King of Norway, joined himself to
Sigurd Murt, and many other warriors, and invaded Orkney. Harald the
elder, being unwilling to engage with him in battle, left the Orkneys
and fled to the Isle of Man. He was followed by Harald the younger, but
Harald the elder had left Man before his arrival there, and gone by
another way to the Orkneys with his fleet, and there he killed all the
adherents of the younger Harald whom he found in the Islands. Harald the
younger returned to Caithness to Wick, where he engaged in battle with
Harald the elder, and in that battle Harald the younger and all his army
were slain. Harald the elder then went to the King of Scots, on the safe
conduct of Roger and Reginald, the bishops of St. Andrews and
Rosemarkie, and took to the king a large sum in gold and silver for the
redemption of his lands of Caithness. The king said he would give him
back Caithness if he would put away his wife (Gormlath), the daughter of
Malcolm MacHeth, and take back his first wife, Afreka, the sister of
Duncan, Earl of Fife, and deliver up to him as a hostage Laurentius his
priest,[45] and Honaver the son of Ingemund, as hostages. But this
Harald was unwilling to do; therefore came Reginald, son of Sumarlid,
King of Man and the Isles, to William, King of Scots, and purchased from
him Caithness, saving the king’s annual tribute.”
Reginald, being supplied with auxiliary forces from Ireland by his
brother-in-law, John of Courcy, overran Caithness, and, returning home,
left the conquered earldom in charge of three deputies. Harald procured
the murder of one of them, and then, coming over from Orkney with a
strong force, landed at Scrabster, where the bishop met him and
endeavoured to mollify him. But Harald had a special grudge against
Bishop John, which added to his rage at what he considered the defection
of his Caithness subjects. The bishop had refused to collect from the
people of Caithness a tax of one penny annually from each inhabited
house, which Earl Harald had some years previously granted to the papal
revenues. Accordingly he stormed the “borg” at Scrabster, in which the
bishop and the principal men of the district had taken refuge, slew
almost all that were in it, and caused the bishop to be blinded and his
tongue to be cut out.[46] The two remaining deputies of King Reginald
fled to the King of Scots, whose first act was to take revenge on
Harald’s son Thorfinn. He was blinded and castrated after the barbarous
manner of the times, and died miserably in the dungeon of Roxburgh
Castle. King William, then collecting a great army, marched north to
Eysteinsdal on the borders of Caithness in the spring of 1202. Though
Harald had collected a force of 6000 men, he felt himself unable to cope
with the king, and was obliged to sue for peace, which was obtained on
the hard condition of the payment of every fourth penny to be found in
Caithness, amounting to 2000 marks of silver.
Earl Harald’s career was now drawing to a close. He died in 1206, at the
advanced age of seventy-three, having had the earldom for twenty years
jointly with Earl Rögnvald, and forty-eight years after Rögnvald’s
death.
His sons John and David succeeded him, and ruled jointly for seven
years, when David died and John became sole Earl of Orkney and
Caithness. The most notable event of his time was the burning of Bishop
Adam at Halkirk in Caithness.
Bishop Adam was a man of low birth. According to the Saga he was a
foundling, and had been exposed at a church door. Previous to his
consecration to the see of Caithness, in 1214, he had been Abbot of
Melrose.[47] He arbitrarily increased the exaction of the bishop’s seat
to such an extent that the populace rose in a body, and proceeding
tumultuously to Halkirk, where he was residing, demanded abatement of
the unjust exactions. Earl John, who was in the neighbourhood at the
time, declined to interfere, and the exasperated populace, finding the
bishop indisposed to treat them more liberally, first killed his
adviser, Serlo, a monk of Newbottle, and then burnt the bishop. In the
quaint language of Wyntoun—
“Thre hundyre men in cumpany
Gaddyrt on hym suddanly,
Tuk hym owt quhare that he lay
Of his chawmyre befor day,
Modyr naked hys body bare;
Thai band hym, dang hym, and woundyt sair
In-to the nycht or day couth dawe.
The monk thai slwe thare, hys falawe,
And the child that in hys chawmyr lay,
Thare thai slwe hym before day.
Hymself bwndyn and wowndyt syne
Thai pwt hym in hys awyn kychyne,
In thair felny and thare ire
Thare thai brynt hym in a fyre.”
The Saga tells that when the tidings of this outrage reached King
Alexander he was greatly enraged, and that the terrible vengeance he
took was still fresh in memory when the Saga was written. Fordun states
that the king had the perpetrators of this deed mangled in limb and
racked with many a torture. The Icelandic Annals are more precise. They
say that he caused the hands and feet to be hewn from eighty of the men
who had been present at the burning, and that many of them died in
consequence.
With this tragic and ill-omened event the chequered history of the line
of the Norse Earls draws to a close. Earl John sought to clear himself
from the guilt of complicity in the murder of the bishop by the
testimony of “good men” that he had no hand in it; but seeing that he
had neither assisted the bishop nor sought to punish his murderers, he
was heavily fined by King Alexander, and deprived of part of his
Scottish earldom. Subsequently he had an interview with the king at
Forfar, and bought back his lands. In the summer of 1224 he was summoned
by King Hakon to Norway, having fallen under suspicion of a desire to
aid the designs of Earl Skule against Hakon’s power in Norway; and after
a conference with the king at Bergen he returned to Orkney, leaving his
only son Harald behind him as a hostage. In 1226 Harald was drowned at
sea, probably on his passage home from Norway. In 1231, Earl John having
become involved in a feud with Hanef Ungi, a commissioner whom King
Hakon had sent over to the Orkneys, Snækoll Gunnason, grandson of Earl
Rögnvald (Kali Kolson), and Aulver Illteit, they attacked him suddenly
in an inn at Thurso, set fire to the house, and slew him in the cellar,
where he had sought to conceal himself.
Thus the ancient line of the Norse Earls, that had ruled the Orkneys
since 872—a period of 350 years—became extinct, and the earldom passed
into the possession of the house of Angus.
V. THE EARLDOM IN THE ANGUS LINE—1231-1312.
On the failure of the line of the Norse Earls by the death of Earl John
in 1231, King Alexander II. of Scotland, in 1232, granted the earldom of
North Caithness to Magnus,[48] the second son of Gilbride, Earl of
Angus. Sutherland, or the southern land of Caithness, was now made a
separate earldom, and given to William, son of Hugh Freskyn, who was
thus the first of the Earls of Sutherland.
Magnus seems to have been confirmed in the earldom of Orkney by the King
of Norway; but from this time the notices of Orkney and its earls in the
Icelandic or Norwegian records are so few and obscure, that but little
is to be gathered from them. The Iceland Annals, however, record the
death of Magnus, Earl of Orkney, in 1239.
In the Diploma of Bishop Thomas Tulloch, drawn up _circa_ 1443,[49] it
is stated that this Magnus was succeeded by Earl Gilbride, to whom
succeeded Gilbride his son, who held both the earldoms of Orkney and
Caithness in Scotland. The Annals only notice one Gilbride, whom they
call “Gibbon, Earl of Orkney.” His death is placed in the year 1256.
According to the Diploma, Gilbride had one son, Magnus, and a daughter,
Matilda. This Magnus is mentioned in the Saga of Hakon Hakonson as
accompanying the ill-fated expedition of that monarch against Scotland
in 1263. “With King Hakon from Bergen went Magnus, Earl of Orkney, and
the king gave him a good long-ship.” Pilots had previously been procured
from the Orkneys, and the fleet, after being two nights at sea with a
gentle wind, put into Bressay Sound in Shetland, where they remained
nearly half a month. Then they sailed for the Orkneys, and lay for some
time in Elwick Bay, opposite Inganess, near Kirkwall. Then they moved
round South Ronaldsay, and lay some time in Ronaldsvoe, while men were
sent over to Caithness to levy a contribution from the inhabitants,[50]
of which the scald sings that “he imposed tribute on the dwellers on the
Ness, who were terrified by the steel-clad exactor of rings.” Ordering
the Orkneymen to follow him as soon as they were ready, the king sailed
south to Lewis and Skye, where he was joined by Magnus, King of Man. The
fleet, which now consisted of more than a hundred vessels, for the most
part large and all well equipped, was divided into two squadrons, one of
which, consisting of fifty ships, plundered the coasts of Kintyre and
Mull, rejoining King Hakon at Gigha. A detached squadron now plundered
Bute, and the fleet cast anchor in Arran Sound, from which King Hakon
sent Gilbert, Bishop of Hamar, and Henry, Bishop of Orkney, with three
other envoys, to treat for peace with the Scottish King. The
negotiations failed, and soon after the fleet was disabled by a storm,
and the power of the Norwegian King utterly broken in the battle of
Largs. King Hakon, gathering together the shattered remnants of his
fleet and army, retired slowly northwards, meeting with no impediment
until they arrived off Durness, in Sutherlandshire, when the wind fell
calm, and the fleet steered into the sound, where seven men of a boat’s
crew, who had been sent ashore for water, were killed by the Scots. In
passing through the Pentland Firth one vessel went down with all on
board in the “Swelkie,” a dangerous whirlpool in certain states of the
tide, and another was carried by the current helplessly through the
Firth, and made straight for Norway. King Hakon laid up his fleet in
Midland Harbour and Scapa Bay. He then rode to Kirkwall, and lay down to
die. He was lodged in the bishop’s palace, and after having been
confined to his bed for some days, he recovered so much that he attended
mass in the bishop’s chapel, and walked to the cathedral to visit the
shrine of St. Magnus. But there came a relapse, and he was again laid
prostrate. He caused the Bible and Latin books to be read to him to
beguile the tedium of the sick bed, until he was no longer able to bear
the fatigue of reflecting on what he heard; and then he desired that
Norwegian books should be read to him night and day—first the Sagas of
the Saints, and then the Chronicles of the Kings, from Halfdan the Black
through all the succession of the Kings of Norway. Then he set his
affairs in order, caused his silver plate to be weighed out to pay his
troops, and received the sacrament. He died at midnight on Saturday,
15th December 1263. On Sunday the corpse, clothed in the richest
garments, with a garland on the head, was laid in state in the upper
hall of the palace. The king’s chamberlains stood round it with tapers,
and all day long the people came to view the remains of their king. The
nobles kept watch over the bier through the night; and on Monday the
royal remains were borne to St. Magnus’ Cathedral, where they lay in
state all that night. On Tuesday they were temporarily interred in the
choir of the church, near the steps leading to the shrine of St. Magnus.
Before his death the king had given directions that his body should be
carried east to Norway, and buried beside the remains of his father and
his relatives in Bergen. In the month of March the corpse was exhumed
and conveyed to Scapa, where it was placed on board the great ship in
which he had sailed on the unfortunate expedition to Largs, and taken to
Bergen, where it was interred in the choir of Christ’s Church.
Magnus Gilbride’s son, who was Earl of Orkney at the time of King
Hakon’s expedition, died (according to the Annals) in 1273.
He was succeeded by a son of the same name. The Annals have the entry
under the year 1276:—“Magnus, King of Norway, gave to Magnus, son of
Earl Magnus of Orkney, the title of Earl, at Tunsberg.” He appears also
as Earl of Orkney in the document, dated 5th February 1283, declaring
Margaret, the Maiden of Norway, the nearest heir to the Scottish
throne.[51] The death of Earl Magnus, Magnus’ son, is recorded in the
year 1284,[52] along with that of Bishop Peter of Orkney and Sturla the
Lawman. The Diploma states that he died without issue, and was succeeded
by his brother John in the earldom of Orkney and Caithness.
John, as Earl of Caithness, appears in 1289 as one of the signatories to
the letter addressed by the nobles to King Edward of England proposing
that the young Prince Edward should marry Margaret, the Maid of Norway.
His name also occurs in the list of those summoned to attend the first
parliament of Balliol. He swore fealty to King Edward at Murkle in
Caithness, in 1297.
King Eirik of Norway in 1281 had married the Scottish princess Margaret,
daughter of Alexander III. She died in 1283, leaving one daughter,
Margaret, “the Maid of Norway,” who became sole heiress to the crown of
Scotland, and in 1289 was formally betrothed to Prince Edward of
England. She died at sea off the coast of Orkney,[53] on her way to
Scotland, in September or October 1290. There is no record of the
circumstances of her death,[54] but we learn from a letter of Bishop
Audfinn of Bergen,[55] written twenty years after the event in
connection with the case of the false Margaret, who was burned at Bergen
in 1301 (as will be detailed hereafter), that her remains were brought
back to Bergen in charge of the Bishop (most probably of the Orkneys)
and Herr Thore Hakonson, whose wife, Ingibiorg Erlingsdatter, was
Margaret’s attendant on the voyage. In 1293 Eirik married Isabel, who is
styled in the Iceland Annals “daughter of Sir Robert, son of Robert,
Earl of Brus.”[56] It appears that on the 24th of July of that year King
Edward gave permission to Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, the father of
Isabella Bruce, to go to Norway,[57] and to remain there for a time; and
Munch, the Norwegian historian, conjectures that he had then brought
over his daughter, and stayed till the marriage took place,[58] and that
King Eirik may have hoped by this alliance to bring the crown of
Scotland once more into the possession of a branch of his own royal
line. In 1297 Isabella bore him a daughter named Ingibiorg. King Eirik
died 13th July 1299, and was succeeded by his brother Hakon (Magnusson).
John, Earl of Orkney, seems to have gone to Norway to take the oath of
allegiance to King Hakon immediately after his accession, for we find in
the Icelandic Annals that he was betrothed to King Eirik’s daughter in
1299. The statement is explicit, and though it may seem strange to us
that an infant scarcely two years of age should be betrothed to a man of
forty, Munch makes the remark that such unlikely contracts were by no
means so unusual in those days as to oblige us to discredit the
statement. In fact, we find this same King Hakon betrothing his own
daughter when an infant of one year to a man who, though he was much
younger than Earl John, was nevertheless a full-grown man. But Earl John
seems to have died shortly after the betrothal, for we find that
Ingibiorg was betrothed anew in 1311, and John’s successor in the
earldom appears on record in 1312, with Ferquhard, Bishop of Caithness,
witnessing the confirmation by King Robert I. and Hakon V. (at
Inverness, 28th October) of the prior treaty executed at Perth, 6th July
1266, between King Alexander III. and Magnus IV. (the son of the
unfortunate Hakon), by which the Kings of Norway ceded for ever the Isle
of Man and all the other islands of the Sudreys, and all the islands in
the west and south of the great Haf, except the isles of Orkney and
Shetland, which were specially reserved to Norway. In consideration of
this the King of Scotland became bound to pay to the King of Norway and
his heirs for ever an annual sum of 100 marks, within St. Magnus’
church, in addition to a payment of 4000 marks to be paid within the
space of four years.
It was about the time of Earl John’s visit to the court of King Hakon,
on the occasion above referred to, that there occurred in Norway one of
the most extraordinary instances of imposture on record. A woman
appeared in Bergen, in 1300, declaring that she was the princess
Margaret, daughter of King Eirik, and heiress to the crown of Scotland,
who was believed by all in Norway and in Britain to have died off the
coast of Orkney some ten years previously. She had come over in a ship
from Lubeck,[59] and her story was that she had been “sold” or betrayed
by her attendant Ingibiorg Erlingsdatter, in the interest of certain
persons who wished her out of the way, and had falsely given her out for
dead. Although her appearance and circumstances were strongly against
the credibility of her story, it seems to have taken a strong hold of
the popular mind, and not a few of the clergy and the higher classes,
possibly influenced by political motives, appear to have given her
countenance. She was a married woman, and was accompanied by her
husband, a German. She is described by Bishop Audfinn as being well up
in years, her hair was greyish, and partially whitened with age, and to
all appearance she was at least twenty years older than the date of King
Eirik’s marriage with Margaret of Scotland, and consequently about seven
years older than King Eirik himself, who was but thirteen when he was
married. “Yet,” says Munch, “though the king’s daughter Margaret had
died in the presence of some of the best men of Norway, though her
corpse had been brought back by the bishop and Herr Thore Hakonson, to
King Eirik, who himself had laid it in the open grave, satisfied himself
of the identity of his daughter’s remains, and placed them in the
Christ’s Kirk by the side of her mother’s;—though this woman, in short,
was a rank impostor, yet she found many among the great men to believe
her story, and not a few of the priests also gave her their countenance
and support. That this German woman, purely of her own accord, should
have attempted to personate the princess Margaret ten years after her
death, and should have ventured to appear publicly in Norway on such an
enterprise, seems hardly credible. It is more likely that she may have
been persuaded to it by some parties perceiving in her a certain
personal resemblance, who schooled her in the story she must tell to
give her personation an air of reality.” King Hakon was away from
Bergen, and no action was taken in regard to her case until he returned
in the early part of the winter of 1301. It was natural that he should
wish personally to see and examine the impostor, and confront her with
the princess’s attendants, especially to hear the testimony of Ingibiorg
Erlingsdatter, before deciding on anything. There is no record of the
trial, but soon after the king’s arrival the “false Margaret” was burnt
at Nordness in Bergen, as an impostor, and her husband was beheaded. As
she was being taken through the Kongsgaard gate to the place of
execution, she is reported to have said—“I remember well when I as a
child was taken through this self-same gate to be carried to Scotland.
There was then in the High Church of the Apostles an Iceland priest,
Haflidi[60] by name, who was the court priest of my father King Eirik;
and when the clergy ceased singing, then Sir Haflidi struck up with the
‘Veni Creator,’ and the hymn was sung out to the end just as I was being
taken on board the ship.” Notwithstanding the manifest nature of the
imposture she was regarded by the multitude as a martyr; a chapel was
erected on the spot where she suffered, and the number of pilgrimages
made to it increased to such an extent that Bishop Audfinn interfered
and forbade them.[61]
Earl John’s successor in the earldom of Orkney and Caithness was his son
Magnus, the fifth of the name, and last of the Angus line. He first
appears on record in 1312 in the treaty between King Robert Bruce and
Hakon Magnusson, concluded at Inverness. In 1320, as Earl of Caithness
and Orkney, he subscribed the famous letter to the Pope, asserting the
independence of Scotland.[62] It seems as if he had been dead in 1321,
for in a document addressed by King Robert Bruce to the “ballivi” of the
King of Norway in Orkney, and dated at Cullen, 4th August 1321, he
complains that Alexander Brun, “the king’s enemy,” convicted of _lese
majestatis_, had been received into Orkney and had been refused to be
given up, though instantly demanded by “our ballivus in Caithness, Henry
St. Clair.” He was certainly dead in 1329, for in that year Katharina,
as his widow, executes two charters in her own name as Countess of
Orkney and Caithness, by which she purchases from the Lord High Steward
(Drottset), Herr Erling Vidkunnson, certain lands in Rögnvaldsey,
including the Pentland Skerries.[63] In one of these documents she
speaks of Earl John as he from whom her husband had inherited his
possessions which he left to her, thus corroborating the statement of
the Diploma that Magnus was the son of John.[64]
VI. THE EARLDOM IN THE STRATHERNE LINE—1321-1379.
The Diploma states that the earldom now passed by lineal succession to
Malise, Earl of Stratherne, Magnus V. having left no male issue. In 1331
Malise, Earl of Stratherne, possessed lands in Caithness,[65] doubtless
in right of his wife, probably a daughter of Magnus V. Malise fell in
the battle of Halidon Hill in 1333, and was succeeded by his son, also
named Malise, who became heir to the three earldoms of Stratherne,
Caithness, and Orkney.
Malise (the younger) styles himself Earl of Stratherne, Caithness, and
Orkney, in a document dated at Inverness in 1334,[66] in which he grants
his daughter Isabella in marriage to William, Earl of Ross, granting her
also the earldom of Caithness failing heirs male of himself and his wife
Marjory.[67]
William, Earl of Ross, succeeded his father Hugh, who fell at Halidon
Hill in 1333, but it is stated that he was not confirmed in the earldom
for three years, on account of his absence in Norway.[68]
It seems that Earl Malise must have passed over to Norway about the same
period, in all probability to obtain formal investiture of the earldom
of Orkney from the Norwegian King Magnus, and William, Earl of Ross, may
have accompanied his father-in-law. There is no record of Malise’s
movements, but we learn incidentally that he had betaken himself to his
northern possessions,[69] when he lost the earldom of Stratherne, which
was declared forfeited by King Edward and given to John de Warrenne,
Earl of Surrey. It is stated that Malise, apparently seeking to preserve
the earldom in a branch of his own family, gave one of his daughters in
marriage to John de Warrenne, and that King David then declared the
earldom forfeited,[70] and bestowed it on his nephew, Maurice de
Moravia,[71] son of Sir John de Moravia of Abercairny, who had married
Malise’s sister Mary.[72]
Malise appears to have made an effort to recover the earldom of
Stratherne in 1334. In that year King Edward, by a letter dated 2d
March, directed Henry de Beaumont, Earl of Boghan, not to allow any
process to be made before him respecting the earldom of Stratherne
forfeited for treason by Earl Malise. He also wrote a letter of the same
date to Edward Balliol, stating that he has heard that Malise, Earl of
Stratherne, claims the county of Stratherne, which he had granted to
John de Warrenne, Earl of Surrey, and requesting Balliol to act with
deliberation.[73]
The Diploma states that Malise was first married to Johanna, daughter of
Sir John Menteith, and that by her he had a daughter Matilda, married to
Wayland de Ard. But there is a record of a confirmation by Robert I.
(1306-1329) of a grant of the lands of Carcathie (Cortachy) in
Forfarshire, and half of Urkwell in the earldom of Stratherne, by
Malise, Earl of Stratherne, to his wife Johanna, daughter of the late
John de Monteith.[74] As Malise the younger only became Earl of
Stratherne on the death of his father in 1333, if the confirmation be
correctly ascribed to Robert I., this must refer to the Malise who was
earl previous to 1333, and who had a daughter Matilda contracted to
Robert de Thony in 1293, “being not yet in her 20th year.”[75]
The Diploma further states that Malise (the younger) was married the
second time to a daughter of Hugh, Earl of Ross, consequently a sister
of William, Earl of Ross, who married Malise’s daughter Isabella. From
the deed of 1334 we learn that Malise’s wife’s name was Marjory. In a
deed of 1350 we find William, Earl of Ross, styling his sister Marjory
Countess of Caithness and Orkney,[76] and with her consent appointing
his brother Hugh his heir in the event of his own death without male
issue. From this it would appear that Malise was then dead. He must have
been dead before 1353, when his son-in-law, Erngils Suneson, obtained
the title of Earl of Orkney from the King of Norway. He is mentioned as
dead in 1357 and 1358,[77] and the Earl of Ross is then said to have
entered to his lands in Caithness, doubtless in right of his wife
Isabella, and in terms of that deed of 1334 previously noticed.[78]
While Malise was in Norway and Sweden two of his daughters had been
married to Swedish noblemen—one to Arngils[79] or Erngisl, son of Sune
Jonsson, and another to Guttorm Sperra.[80] On the death of Malise, or
shortly thereafter, Erngisl Suneson claimed his wife’s share of the
earldom. In the year 1353 we find him executing a deed on the 10th April
as plain Erngisl Suneson, and on the 6th May thereafter his signature
appears to a document drawn up at Vagahuus concerning the queen’s dowry,
occupying the foremost place among the nobles of Norway, and with the
title of Earl of Orkney.[81] Although the Diploma states that he held
only his wife’s share of the earldom, it is plain from this document
that he must have received the title of Earl of the Orkneys from the
King of Norway. He soon became involved with the Swedish party in favour
of King Eirik of Pomern, and in 1357 King Magnus sequestrated his
estates in Norway, and declared his title forfeited. His right to the
earldom would have lapsed with the death of his wife, who died childless
before 1360.[82] Nevertheless he continued to style himself Earl of
Orkney during his lifetime.[83] He died in 1392.
On the sequestration of Erngisl’s rights by the king, a certain Duncan
Anderson, who appears to have been a Scotchman, and probably agent for
Alexander de Ard, the son of Matilda, called the eldest daughter of
Malise, issued a manifesto, notifying to the inhabitants of Orkney that
he has the true and legitimate heir of Earl Malise, the former Earl of
Orkney, under his guardianship; that this heir has now the full and
undeniable right to the earldom; and that, as he has heard that the King
of Norway has recently sequestrated the revenues of the earldom, he
warns the inhabitants not to allow these revenues to be taken furth of
the land till the true heir be presented to them, which will be ere very
long, if the Lord will. The inhabitants, who seem to have been somewhat
disquieted by the missive, sent a representation on the subject to the
court of Norway. It would seem that a representation must have been made
by the court of Norway to the Scottish King regarding the troubling of
the islands by the claimants or their friends in Scotland, for an edict
was issued by King David from Scone, in 1367, forbidding any of his
subjects, of whatever rank or condition, to pass into Orkney, or
frequent its harbours, on any other errand than that of lawful commerce.
In 1375, King Hakon of Norway granted the earldom of Orkney for a single
year till next St. John’s Day to Alexander de Ard,[84] naming him,
however, in the document not as Earl but simply as Governor and
Commissioner for the King, and declaring, in the document addressed to
the Islanders, that this grant is given provisionally until the said
Alexander shall establish his claim to the earldom. He seems not to have
been regarded with much favour by the king, for this grant was not
renewed, and in 1379 Henry St. Clair and Malise Sparre preferred their
claims to the earldom.
Alexander de Ard had succeeded to the earldom of Caithness by the law
and custom of Scotland, in right of his mother as heir to Earl Malise.
In 1375 he resigned the castle of Brathwell (Brawl), and all the lands
in Caithness or any other part of Scotland which he inherited in right
of his mother, Matilda de Stratherne, to King Robert II., who bestowed
them on his own son, David Stewart.
Earl David Stewart appears in 1377-78 as Earl Palatine of Stratherne and
Caithness. King Robert III. gave the earldom of Caithness to his
brother, Walter Stewart, of Brechin, who held it till about 1424. He
then resigned it to his son Alan, who was slain at Inverlochy in 1431.
The earldom reverted to his father, who in 1437 was forfeited for his
share in the murder of King James I. The earldom remained in possession
of the crown till 1452, when it was granted by King James II. to Sir
George Crichtoun, Admiral of Scotland. On his death in 1455 King James
granted the earldom of Caithness to William St. Clair, then Earl of
Orkney, in whose line it has continued till the present day.
VII. THE EARLDOM IN THE LINE OF ST. CLAIR—1379-1469.
The genealogical questions connected with the succession of the St.
Clairs of Roslin to the earldom of Orkney are involved in apparently
inextricable confusion.
So early as 1321 we find a Henry St. Clair acting as the “ballivus” of
King Robert Bruce in Caithness,[85] and in 1364 we also find a Thomas
St. Clair installed at Kirkwall as the “ballivus” of the King of Norway,
an Alexander St. Clair, and a Euphemia de Stratherne, styling herself
one of the heirs of the late Malise, Earl of Stratherne.[86]
The Diploma states explicitly that one of the four daughters of Malise,
Earl of Stratherne,[87] by his wife Marjory, daughter of Hugh, Earl of
Ross, was married to William St. Clair. This must be William St. Clair,
son of the Sir William St. Clair who fell with the Douglas in Spain
fighting against the Saracens in 1330.[88] The Diploma goes on to
narrate that Henry St. Clair, the son of William St. Clair and this
daughter of Malise, succeeded to the earldom of Orkney apparently in
right of his mother. We know from the deed of investiture that his
accession to the earldom took place in 1379.
In a charter of 1391 Earl Henry names his mother Isabella St. Clair. It
is usually said that his father, William St. Clair, married Isabella,
daughter of Malise, Earl of Stratherne. But, as we have seen from the
deed of 1334, Isabella was married to William, Earl of Ross, not to
William, Earl of Roslin. Yet it appears from the deed of 1391 that
Henry’s mother’s name was Isabella, and though he does not style her a
daughter of Malise, the terms of the document imply that she was heiress
to lands in Orkney and Shetland. The Diploma only mentions one of the
Earls Malise, and it may be that the Isabella whom William St. Clair
married was the daughter of the elder and sister of the younger Malise
of Stratherne.
If he had married one of the four daughters of the younger Malise it
seems unaccountable why he did not claim his wife’s portion of the
earldom. We find that the representatives of the other sisters were
claimants, and that one of them, Erngisl Suneson, actually received his
wife’s share, and enjoyed the title of Earl of Orkney, while Alexander
de Ard is said to have succeeded to the earldom of Caithness in virtue
of a similar claim, and had his rights to the earldom of Orkney so far
recognised by the King of Norway on the forfeiture of Erngisl Suneson.
The Earl of Ross, as we have seen, also succeeded to the share falling
to his wife Isabella. But no claim seems to have been made for the
Isabella who is said to have been married to William St. Clair. If she
had been a daughter of the younger Malise it can scarcely be doubted
that such a claim would have been made, and if made, established as
readily as that of the other sisters. William St. Clair was alive in
1358, five years after the claim of the sister married to Erngisl
Suneson had been made good, and one year after Erngisl’s title to the
earldom had been declared forfeited.
But a more fatal objection to the statement of the Diploma, that
William’s wife was a daughter of the younger Malise, arises from the
fact that in the attestation by the Lawman and Canons of Orkney in
favour of James of Cragy (1422) it is expressly certified that Henry
Sinclair was himself married to a daughter of the younger Malise, styled
“Elizabeth de Stratherne, daughter of the late reverend and venerable
Malise, Earl of Orkney,” and that by her he had a daughter, Margaret,
who was married to James of Cragy. The Diploma, on the other hand,
states that Henry was married to Janet Haliburton, daughter of Walter
Haliburton of Dirleton, and by her had a son Henry, who succeeded him.
It is quite possible, however, that both these statements might be true,
the attestation in favour of James of Cragy having no reason to mention
the second wife, and the Diploma having no special reason to mention the
first wife in connection with the succession which it derives through
the mother, making her, moreover, such a remarkable instance of
longevity that she survived her husband, her son, and all her younger
sisters, and all their sons and daughters, and became sole heiress to
the earldom after Earl Henry’s death, although he left a son who ought
to have succeeded him, but who, according to the Diploma, succeeded to
her, his grandmother.
In whatever way these apparently contradictory statements are to be
reconciled, the statement of the Diploma that Henry St. Clair was the
first of the line who enjoyed the title of Earl of Orkney is undoubtedly
borne out by the records. In the summer of 1379 he passed over to Norway
and received formal investiture from King Hakon of the earldom of Orkney
and also of the lordship of Shetland,[89] which, since the time of its
forfeiture to King Sverrir by Earl Harald Maddadson, had been in the
possession of the crown of Norway. The conditions on which he accepted
the earldom are set forth at length in the deed of investiture, and
contrasting them with the semi-independence of the ancient earls a
recent writer has remarked that they left him little more than the lands
of his fathers.[90] Although the Earls of Orkney had precedence of all
the titled nobility of Norway, and their signatures to the national
documents stand always after the Archbishops, and before the Bishops and
nobles, though the title was the only hereditary one permitted in Norway
to a subject not of the blood royal, yet it was now declared to be
subject to the royal option of investiture. The earl was to govern the
Islands and enjoy their revenues during the king’s pleasure, but he was
taken bound to serve the king beyond the bounds of the earldom, with a
hundred men fully equipped, when called on by the king’s message; he was
to build no castle or place of strength in the Islands, make no war,
enter into no agreement with the bishop, nor sell or impignorate any of
his rights, without the king’s express consent; and moreover he was to
be answerable for his whole administration to the king’s court at
Bergen. At his death the earldom and all the Islands were to revert to
the King of Norway or his heirs, and if the earl left sons they could
not succeed to their father’s dignity and possessions without the royal
investiture. At the following Martinmas he was taken bound to pay to the
king 1000 English nobles.[91] It was part of the compact also that
Malise Sperra, son of Guthorm Sperra, should depart from all his claims
to the earldom in right of his mother;[92] and he left with King Hakon,
as hostages for the due fulfilment of his share of the contract, the
following from among his friends and followers:— William Daniel, knight,
Malise Sperra, and David Crichton.
But King Hakon died in the year after Earl Henry’s investiture, and the
events that took place in the Orkneys during the reign of King Olaf, his
successor, are entirely unknown to the Norwegian chroniclers. Earl Henry
seems neither to have courted the favour of his suzerain nor to have
stood in awe of his interference. He built the castle of Kirkwall in
defiance of the prohibition contained in the deed of his investiture,
and seems to have felt himself sufficiently independent to rule his
sea-girt earldom according to his own will and pleasure.
The fact that King Hakon’s investiture of Earl Henry took him bound not
to enter into any league with the bishop nor to establish any friendship
with him without the king’s express consent, shows us that the bishop
was then acting in opposition to the king and the representatives of the
civil power. The likelihood is that Earl Henry found this opposition of
the bishop favourable to his own design of making himself practically
independent, and represented it as the excuse for the erection of the
castle of Kirkwall, contrary to the terms of his agreement with the
crown. Munch attributes the discord to the growing dislike of the
Norwegian inhabitants of the Islands to Scotsmen, whose numbers had been
long increasing through the influence of the Scottish family connections
of the later earls. Whatever may have been its origin, the end of it was
that in some popular commotion, of which we have no authentic account,
the bishop was slain in the year 1382.[93]
Malise Sperra appears to have endeavoured to establish himself in
Shetland[94] in opposition to Earl Henry. He had seized, it is not
stated upon what grounds, the possessions in Shetland which had belonged
to Herdis Thorvaldsdatter, and of which Jón Hafthorson and Sigurd
Hafthorson were the lawful heirs. It seems as if a court had been about
to be held by the earl to settle the legal rights of the parties
concerned. The court would be held at the old Thingstead, near
Scalloway, but a conflict took place, the dispute was terminated by the
strong hand, and Malise Sperra was slain.[95] As a number of his men
were slain with him, it seems probable that he had been the aggressor.
As both he and the earl are among those who were present at the assembly
of nobles at Helsingborg, on the accession of King Eirik of Pomern in
September 1389, and the Iceland Annals place the death of Malise Sperra
in this same year, it is probable that the earl landed in Shetland on
his way home from Norway for the express purpose of seeing justice done
in the cause of the heirs of Thordis. In 1391, by a deed executed at
Kirkwall (and subsequently confirmed by King Robert III.), he dispones
the lands of Newburgh and Auchdale in Aberdeenshire,[96] to his brother
David for his services rendered, and in exchange for any rights he may
have to lands in Orkney and Shetland, derived from his mother Isabella
St. Clair. In 1396 a deed was executed at Roslin by John de Drummond of
Cargyll, and Elizabeth, his wife, in favour of Henry, Earl of Orkney,
Lord Roslyn, “patri nostro,” by which they renounce in favour of the
earl’s male issue, and for them and their heirs, all claims to the
earl’s lands “infra regnum Norvagie.”[97]
The Diploma states that after the death of the first Henry St. Clair,
his mother, the daughter of Malise,[98] came to Orkney, and, outliving
all her sisters and all their sons and daughters, became the only
heiress of the earldom. It is added that of this thing there were
faithful witnesses still living who had seen and spoken with the mother
of Henry the first.
Her grandson Henry, son of the first Henry, succeeded to the earldom,
but there seems to be no record of his investiture by the Norwegian
king. In 1404 he was entrusted with the guardianship of James I., and on
his way to France with the young prince, for whose safety it was judged
necessary that he should be removed from Scotland, he was captured by
the English off Flamborough Head, and retained some time in
captivity.[99] In 1412 he went to France with Archibald Douglas to
assist the French against the English.[100] In 1418 John St. Clair, his
brother, swears fealty to King Eirik at Helsingborg for the king’s land
of Hjaltland, and becomes bound to administer the Norse laws according
to the ancient usage, and it is stipulated that at his death Shetland
should again revert to the crown of Norway.[101] It seems from this that
Earl Henry must have been dead in 1418, though Bower in his continuation
of Fordun says that he died in 1420.[102] A dispensation was granted for
his widow’s marriage in 1418.[103]
Henry was succeeded by his son William, the last of the Orkney earls
under Norwegian rule. But the investiture of the new earl did not take
place till 1434, and for a period of fourteen years the administration
of the Islands was carried on by commissioners appointed by King Eirik.
On the death of Earl Henry, Bishop Thomas Tulloch was appointed
commissioner in 1420. He swore fealty to King Eirik in the church of
Vestenskov in Laland, undertaking the administration of the Islands
according to the Norsk law-book and the ancient usages.[104] On 10th
July 1422 he received as a fief from the king “the palace of Kirkwall
and pertinents, lying in Orkney, in Norway, together with the lands of
Orkney and the government thereof.”[105]
In 1423 the administration of the Orkneys and Shetland was committed to
David Menzies of Wemyss by King Eirik. In 1426 a complaint was sent to
the king by the inhabitants, setting forth that they had been subjected
to oppression and wholesale spoliation during the period of his
administration.[106] Among the accusations preferred against him it was
asserted that he diminished the value of the money by one-half, that he
threw the Lawman of the Islands into prison unjustly, and illegally
possessed himself of the public seal and the law-book of the Islands,
which the Lawman’s wife had deposited on the altar of the Church of St.
Magnus for their security; that he exacted fines and services illegally
and with personal violence, and was guilty of many other illegal acts of
tyrannical oppression.
The government of the Islands seems to have been again entrusted to
Bishop Tulloch[107] until 1434, when the young earl received his formal
investiture.[108]
William, the last of the Orkney earls under Norwegian rule, succeeded to
his father Henry, and received investiture on terms nearly similar to
those imposed upon his grandfather. Moreover, he was to hold for the
king and his successors the castle of Kirkwall, which his grandfather
had built without the king’s consent. He had taken the title before he
received investiture from King Eirik, for in 1426 he appears as Earl of
Orkney on the assize at Stirling, for the trial of Murdoch, Duke of
Albany.[109] In 1435, as Lord High Admiral of Scotland, he had command
of the fleet that conveyed the Princess Margaret to France. In 1446 he
was summoned by the Norwegian Rigsraad to appear at Bergen on next St.
John’s Day,[110] to take the oath of allegiance to King Christopher, the
successor of Eirik of Pomern. In 1460 the king’s commissioners in
Kirkwall certify to King Christian I. that John of Ross, Lord of the
Isles, has for a long time most cruelly endeavoured to depopulate the
Islands of Orkney and Shetland by burning the dwellings and slaying the
inhabitants, and that in these circumstances Lord William St. Clair, the
Earl of Orkney and Caithness,[111] had been prevented from coming to the
king.[112] On 28th June 1461 Bishop William of Orkney writes to the king
from Kirkwall excusing the earl for not having come to take the oath of
allegiance, because in the month of June of that year he had been
appointed one of the regents of the Kingdom of Scotland on account of
the tender years of the prince (King James III.), and therefore was
personally resident in Scotland. The bishop also repeats the complaint
against John of Ross, Lord of the Isles, and the bands of his Islesmen,
Irish, and Scots from the woods, “who came in great multitudes in the
month of June, with their ships and fleets in battle array, wasting the
lands, plundering the farms, destroying habitations, and putting the
inhabitants to the sword, without regard to age or sex.”[113] Tradition
still points in several parts of the Islands to “the Lewismen’s graves,”
probably those of the invaders who were killed in their plundering
expeditions through the Islands.
On the 8th September 1468 a contract of marriage was signed between
James III. of Scotland and Margaret, daughter of King Christian I. of
Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, by which, after discharging the arrears of
the tribute due by Scotland for Man and the Hebrides,[114] King
Christian engaged to pay a dowry of 60,000 florins with his daughter,
stipulating for certain jointure lands (including the palace of
Linlithgow and the castle of Doune), and her terce of the royal
possessions in Scotland if left a widow. Of the dowry 10,000 florins
were to be paid before the princess’s departure, and the Islands of
Orkney were pledged for the balance of 50,000 florins. Only 2000 florins
of the 10,000 promised were paid, and the Islands of Shetland were
pledged for the remainder. The amount for which the whole of the Islands
of Orkney and Shetland were thus impignorated was 58,000 florins of 100
pence each, or about £24,000.
In 1471 King James III. gave William, Earl of Orkney, the castle and
lands of Ravenscraig in Fife in exchange for all his rights to the
earldom of Orkney, and an Act of Parliament was passed on the 20th of
February of the same year annexing to the Scottish Crown “the Erledome
of Orkney and Lordship of Schetland, nocht to be gevin away in time to
cum to na persain or persainis, excep alenarily to ane of the king’s
sonnis of lauchful bed.”
VIII. THE BISHOPRIC OF ORKNEY—1060-1469.
The origin of the bishopric of Orkney is involved in obscurity. Its
early history is complicated by the fact that there were two if not
three distinct successions of bishops, only one of which is recognised
by the Norse writers.
The Saga statement regarding the origin of the bishopric unfortunately
is lacking in precision. It is stated that Earl Thorfinn built Christ’s
Kirk in Birsay, apparently after his return from his pilgrimage to Rome,
and that the first bishop’s see in the Orkneys was established there.
Taking this in connection with the statement that William the Old, who
was bishop in 1115, when St. Magnus was murdered, was the first bishop,
the inference would be that the bishopric was erected in his time. The
statement regarding his tenure of office for sixty-six years is scarcely
credible; but supposing it to be the fact, as he died in 1167, we obtain
1102 as the date of the erection of the bishopric.
On the other hand, Adam of Bremen states[115] that Thorolf was the first
Bishop of Orkney, and that he was consecrated by Adalbert, Archbishop of
Hamburg, in the middle of the 11th century,[116] and that another bishop
named Adalbert succeeded him. Now, as William the Old was not
consecrated before 1102, if there was a bishop in Earl Thorfinn’s time
(the date of his death being 1064), it must have been this Thorolf. If
Thorolf was consecrated in the middle of the 11th century, it was
probably before Earl Thorfinn’s death in 1064. But it seems that the see
was vacant or unoccupied before 1093.
It appears from a letter of Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury
(1070-1089), that Earl Paul of Orkney had sent to him a cleric whom he
wished to be consecrated a bishop, and Lanfranc orders Wulstan, Bishop
of Worcester, and Peter, Bishop of Chester, to go to York and assist the
archbishop there at the consecration. This must refer to the Earl Paul,
son of Thorfinn, who with his brother Erlend was carried to Norway by
King Magnus on his second expedition to the west in 1098, and neither of
them ever returned. The name of this bishop is not given in Lanfranc’s
letter. But the English writers[117] mention that in the end of the 11th
century a cleric named Ralph was consecrated Bishop of Orkney by Thomas,
Archbishop of York. Thomas was archbishop from A.D. 1070 to 1100. It is
mentioned that when the right of the Archbishop of York to consecrate
Turgot Bishop of St. Andrews was asserted in 1109, it was proposed that
he should do it by the assistance of the (English) Bishops of Scotland
and of Orkney. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury (1092-1107), wrote[118]
to Earl Hakon Palson, exhorting him and his people to obey the bishop
“whom now by the grace of God they had.”
A second bishop, named Roger, was consecrated by Gerard, who was
Archbishop of York in the beginning of the 12th century, from 1100 to
1108.
A third bishop, named Ralph, previously a presbyter of York, said to
have been elected by the people of Orkney, was consecrated by Archbishop
Thomas, the successor of Gerard. It is this Ralph who figures in the
accounts of the battle of Northallerton, 1138. Pope Calixtus II. and
Pope Honorius II. addressed letters to the Norwegian Kings, Sigurd and
Eystein, in favour of Ralph.[119] In the letter of Pope Honorius it is
expressly stated that another bishop had been intruded in the place of
Ralph. This must refer to William the Old, whom the Sagas make bishop
from the year 1102.
The explanation of all this seems to be that the Archbishops of Hamburg
and York both tried in vain to secure the right of consecrating the
Bishops of Orkney; the former on the ground that as the successors of
St. Anschar they were primates of the Scandinavian churches, and the
latter on the same ground on which they claimed the right to consecrate
the Bishop of St. Andrews—viz. that their jurisdiction extended to the
whole of Scotland and the Isles. In the appendix to Florence of
Worcester’s Chronicle,[120] written in the beginning of the 12th
century, it is said that “the Archbishop of York had jurisdiction over
all the bishops north of the Humber, and all the bishops of Scotland and
the Orkneys, as the Archbishop of Canterbury had over those of Ireland
and Wales.” Meantime, however, the Norwegians made their own bishops,
and these, having obtained possession of the see, were the real bishops
of Orkney, though the others might enjoy the empty title.
Thus WILLIAM THE OLD was the first of the actual bishops of Orkney of
whom we have distinct record. As the Saga and the Saga of St. Magnus
both state explicitly that he held the bishopric for sixty-six years,
and the Annals place his death in 1168, he must have been consecrated in
1102. The see, which was first at Birsay, where Earl Thorfinn erected
the Christ’s Kirk,[121] was removed to Kirkwall on the erection of the
Cathedral, 1137-52. He went with Earl Rögnvald to the Holy Land in 1152.
When Pope Anastasius erected the metropolitan see of Trondheim in 1154
he declared the Bishop of Orkney one of its suffragans, and Bishop
William’s canonical rights were thus implicitly recognised. He died in
1168; and in 1848, when certain repairs were being executed on the
cathedral, his bones were found enclosed in a stone cist thirty inches
long and fifteen inches wide, along with a bone object like the handle
of a staff, and a leaden plate, inscribed in characters apparently of
the 13th century:—
HIC REQUIESCIT WILLIALMUS SENEX, FELICIS MEMORIÆ,
PRIMUS EPISCOPUS.
The position in which the bones were found in the choir seems to
indicate that they must have been moved from their previous
resting-place. Bishop William’s bones, and the cist which contained
them, were carted away with the rubbish when the church was re-seated in
1856.[122] The leaden plate and bone object which were found in the cist
are preserved in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
WILLIAM II., the second bishop, is only known from the entry of his name
in the list of bishops[123] (1325), and the entry of his death under the
year 1188 in the Icelandic Annals.
BJARNI, son of Kolbein Hruga (who built the castle on the island of
Weir), was the third bishop. His mother, Herborg, was a
great-granddaughter of Earl Paul.[124] Bjarni himself was a famous poet,
and to him is ascribed the _Jomsvikinga-drapa_—the Lay of the Jomsburg
Vikings.[125] A bull of Pope Innocent III., dated at the Vatican, 27th
May 1198,[126] is addressed to him in connection with the refusal of
Bishop John of Caithness to collect an annual tribute in his diocese, as
noticed hereafter.[127] It appears from a deed of his in the Chartulary
of the monastery of Munkalif at Bergen that he possessed lands in
Norway, as well as his patrimonial lands in Orkney and castle in the
island of Weir. By that deed he gives to the monastery, “for the souls
of his father (Kolbein Hruga), his mother, his brother, his relations
and friends,” the lands called _Holand_, near the Dalsfiord, north of
Bergen. It is curious thus to find in authentic records a mortification
of lands to a church in Norway to provide masses for the soul of a man
who is now known in his own former home in Orkney only as _Cobbie Row_,
“the giant,” or “goblin” of the castle, which he built and inhabited.
Bishop Bjarni was present with John, Earl of Orkney, at the great
assembly of nobles at Bergen,[128] in 1223, and died shortly thereafter.
JOFREYR, the fourth bishop, was consecrated in 1223, according to the
Annals. There was a Jofreyr, Dean of Tunsberg, present at the same
assembly in Bergen above referred to, and as the name is a very uncommon
one, it is probable that he is the same who was made Bishop of the
Orkneys. He seems to have been long an invalid, for, by a bull dated at
Viterbo, 11th May 1237,[129] Pope Gregory IX. enjoins Sigurd, Archbishop
of Nidaros (Drontheim), to move Bishop Jofreyr of Orkney, who had been
paralytic and confined to bed for many years, to resign office, or, if
he was unwilling to resign, to provide him with a wise and prudent
helper. Jofreyr retained the see, however, for ten years after this. The
Annals place his death in 1247.
HENRY (I.) was the fifth bishop. A papal dispensation for the defect of
his birth, by Pope Innocent IV., is dated 9th December 1247.[130] He was
then a canon in the Orkneys. He was with King Hakon’s expedition in
1263, and died in 1269.
PETER, the sixth bishop, was consecrated in 1270. A brief of his,[131]
dated at Tunsberg, 3d September 1278, grants forty days’ indulgence to
those in his diocese who contribute in aid of the restoration of St.
Swithin’s cathedral at Stavanger, which had been destroyed by fire. He
died in 1284.
DOLGFINN, the seventh bishop, was consecrated in 1286. Nothing is known
of him but the name. He died, according to the Annals, in 1309.
WILLIAM (III.) was the eighth bishop. He was consecrated in 1310. At the
Provincial Council held at Bergen, in 1320, there were several
complaints made by the archbishop against William, Bishop of
Orkney.[132] Kormak, an archdeacon of the Sudreys, and Grim Ormson,
prebendary of Nidaros, had been sent by the archbishop on a visitation
of the diocese of Orkney, and had reported that William had squandered
the property of the see, that he had bestowed the offices of the church
on foreigners and apostates, that he had compromised his dignity as a
prelate of the church by participation in the boisterous pastime of
hunting and other unseemly diversions, that he had been careless and
lukewarm in the exercise of his spiritual office, and had not sought out
those who practised idolatry and witchcraft, or who were heretics or
followed ungodly ways. Moreover, he had imprisoned Ingilbert Lyning, a
canon of Orkney, whom the archbishop had sent to make inquiry into the
collection of the Peter’s pence, and had deprived him of his prebendary
and all his property. He had also clandestinely appropriated to himself
during fifteen years a portion of the church dues, amounting to the
value of 53 marks sterling, and he had refused to permit the removal of
the corpse of a woman from Orkney, although her will had been that she
should be interred in the cathedral of Trondheim. He was suspended in
the following year (1321) by the archbishop, but in 1324 we find him
assisting at the consecration of Laurentius, Bishop of Hole.[133] By a
deed,[134] dated at Bergen, 9th September 1327, he mortgages his dues of
Shetland to his metropolitan, Eilif, Archbishop of Nidaros, for the
payment of 186 marks sterling, which he should have paid the archbishop
for six years’ teinds. By another document of the same year,[135] Bishop
Audfinn of Bergen requests Bishop William of Orkney to assist his priest
Ivar in the collection of the _Sunnive-miel_—a contribution which the
inhabitants of Shetland had paid from old time to the shrine of St.
Sunniva at Bergen. The date of this bishop’s death has not been
ascertained.
WILLIAM (IV.), ninth bishop, succeeded him, sometime after the year
1328. There is extant an agreement between him and Hakon Jonsson, dated
at Kirkwall, 25th May 1369.[136] The next mention we have of him is the
entry in the Annals, under the date 1382—“Then was heard the mournful
tidings that Bishop William was slain in the Orkneys.”
WILLIAM (V.), tenth bishop, appears only in a record of the time of King
Robert III. of Scotland. Munch supposes that he may have been the
William Johnson who appears as Archdeacon of Zetland, in a Norse deed
dated at Sandwick in Shetland, March 4, 1360.
HENRY (II.), eleventh bishop, according to Torfæus, appears in a record
of 1394.
JOHN, twelfth bishop, appears in the Union Treaty of Calmar in 1397.
PATRICK, thirteenth bishop, appears in an Attestation by the Lawman of
Orkney, two canons of the church of St. Magnus, and four burgesses of
Kirkwall, of the descent and good name of James of Cragy, laird of
Hupe.[137] He is otherwise unnoticed, but as he is there referred to by
his canonical title, and the many losses, injuries, and disquietudes
which he endured at the hands of his adversaries, are specially alluded
to, there seems to be no doubt that he held the bishopric between the
death of John and the incumbency of Thomas de Tulloch.
THOMAS de Tulloch, fourteenth bishop, first appears in existing records
in 1418. He seems to have been previously Bishop of Ross.[138] On 17th
June 1420, at the church of Vestenskov in Laland, he gives his pledge to
King Eirik and his successors, and undertakes that he will hold the
crown lands of Orkney committed to him, for the Kings of Norway,
promising at the same time to give law and justice to the people of
Orkney according to the Norsk law-book and the ancient usages.[139] In
1422 he receives the palace and pertinents of Kirkwall—“thet slot oc
faeste Kirkqwaw liggende j Orknoy j Norghe meth landet Orknoy,” etc.—as
a fief from King Eirik. A record of the set of the threepenny lands of
Stanbuster, in the parish of St. Andrews, executed by him on 12th July
1455, and confirmed by his successor in 1465, is preserved at Kirkwall.
His death took place before 28th June 1461, when we find his successor
in office.[140]
WILLIAM (VI.) de Tulloch, the last bishop during the dominion of Norway
in the Orkneys, was bishop in June 1461, and tendered his oath of
allegiance in 1462.
A bull of Pope Sixtus IV., dated at the Vatican, 17th August 1472,
placed the see of the Orkneys under the metropolitan Bishop of St.
Andrews.
IX. THE BISHOPRIC OF CAITHNESS—1150-1469.
The Bishopric of Caithness appears to have been co-extensive with the
older earldom, comprehending Caithness and Sutherland as far south as
Ekkialsbakki or the Kyle of Sutherland. In later times the cathedral
church was at Dornoch.[141] But it would seem as if the episcopal see
had at one time been at Halkirk (called in the Saga _Há Kirkia_, or the
High Kirk), near Thurso, where we find the bishops frequently residing.
The date of the erection of the bishopric is unknown.
ANDREW is the first bishop who appears in authentic records. About the
year 1153 King David granted to him the lands of Hoctor Comon,[142] and
about the same time he himself gave a grant of the Church of the Holy
Trinity of Dunkeld to the monks of Dunfermline.[143] About the year 1165
he and Murethac, his clerk, are witnesses to a charter of Gregory,
Bishop of Dunkeld, confirming the said gift. About the year 1181 he is a
witness to the grant by Earl Harald Maddadson to the see of Rome of a
penny annually from every inhabited house in Caithness, which brought
his successor, Bishop John, into such trouble.[144] He is also a witness
to the remarkable document engrossed in the Book of Deer, by which King
David I. declares the clerics of Deer to be free from all lay
interference and undue exaction, “as it is written in their book, and as
they pleaded at Banff and swore at Aberdeen.”[145] The Chronicle of
Mailros records his death at Dunfermline on 30th December 1185. He seems
to have been a learned man, and was much about the court of David I. He
is said to have been the author of part of the curious treatise “De Situ
Albaniæ,” attributed to Giraldus Cambrensis.
JOHN, second bishop, succeeded him. He seems to have refused to exact
from the inhabitants the papal contribution of one penny annually from
each inhabited house in Caithness granted by Earl Harald, for in a
bull[146] dated at the Vatican, 27th May 1198, Pope Innocent III.
enjoins Bishop Bjarni of Orkney and Bishop Reginald of Ross to compel
Bishop John to give up his opposition to its collection on pain of the
censure of the Church. About this time also Caithness had been taken
from Harald by King William the Lion, with whom he was involved in
hostilities, and given over to Reginald Gudrodson, the petty king of the
Hebrides. Hence, on Harald’s recovery of his possessions in 1202, he was
so exasperated that he took vengeance on the bishop[147] by blinding him
and cutting out his tongue, and inflicted severe punishments on the
people, whom he held to have been guilty of rebellion. Bishop John
appears to have survived his mutilation till 1213.
ADAM, third bishop, was consecrated in 1214 by Malvoisin, Bishop of St.
Andrews. He was a foundling exposed at a church door, but he had been
Abbot of Melrose previous to his appointment to the see of Caithness. In
1218 he went with the Bishops of Glasgow and Moray on a pilgrimage to
Rome. He seems to have been of an opposite disposition to that of his
predecessor, who suffered martyrdom in the cause of his people. It was
an old custom in Caithness that the husbandmen paid the bishop a _spann_
of butter for every twenty cows. Bishop Adam exacted the contribution
first for every fifteen, and at length for every ten cows. Exasperated
by these exactions, the people rose in a body and came to him at
Halkirk, where in the tumult a monk of Newbottle named Serlo was killed
and the bishop himself burned in his own kitchen. A letter of Pope
Honorius III., dated in January 1222, and addressed to the Scottish
bishops of the time, is extant in the archives of the Vatican,[148] in
which, after commending King Alexander for his promptitude and zeal in
avenging Bishop Adam’s murder, he goes on to tell that, having learned
from their letters what a horrible crime, what a detestable deed had
been committed, his spirit quailed and his heart trembled and his ears
tingled as he realised the daring atrocity of the deed. “Your letters,”
he says, “have informed us that a dispute having arisen between Adam,
Bishop of Caithness, of adorable memory, on the one part, and his
parishioners on the other, concerning the tithes and other rights of the
Church, and these matters having been submitted to the king himself by
the mediation of certain ecclesiastics, with consent of the bishop, and
the king being absent in England, his parishioners, moved with anger
against him because he upheld the cause of his Church against them, fell
on their pious pastor like ravening wolves, on their father like
degenerate sons, and on their Lord Christ like emissaries of the devil,
stripped him of his clothing, stoned him, mortally wounded him with an
axe, and finally killed and burned him in his own kitchen.” The letter
concludes with an injunction to excommunicate all concerned in the
murder. The bishop’s body was interred in the church at Skinnet, and is
said to have been subsequently removed to Dornoch in 1239.[149] The Saga
states that the fearful vengeance taken by King Alexander II. for the
murder of the bishop was still fresh in memory in the writer’s time; and
we learn from the Annals that “the Scottish king caused the hands and
feet to be hewn from eighty men who had been present at the burning, so
that many of them died.”
GILBERT de Moravia, fourth bishop, had been Archdeacon of Moray previous
to his elevation to the see of Caithness in 1223. He built the cathedral
at Dornoch, and his charter of constitution[150] is still extant in the
record-room at Dunrobin Castle. For many years there had been an
intimate connection between the diocese of Caithness and the abbey of
Scone,[151] and in the constitution of his cathedral Bishop Gilbert
named the Abbot of Scone one of the canons. The fourteen churches
assigned to the prebends were those of Clyne, Dornoch, Creich, Rogart,
Lairg, Farr, Kildonan, and Durness, in Sutherland; and Bower, Watten,
Skinnet, Olrig, Dunnet, and Canisbay, in Caithness. Golspie and Loth,
Reay, Thurso, Wick, and Latheron, were reserved to the bishop.
He seems to have been a man of mark in his time. He built the “Bishop’s
Castle” at Scrabster, and was made keeper of the king’s castles in the
north.[152] He seems also to have been the first discoverer of gold in
Sutherlandshire, for Sir Robert Gordon states that he “found a mine of
gold in Duriness, in the lands belonging to his bishoprick.” He died at
Scrabster in 1245, and was afterwards canonised. His relics were
preserved in the cathedral church at Dornoch, and continued to be held
in reverence down to the middle of the 16th century. In a record of the
year 1545 it is stated that the parties compearing before Earl John of
Sutherland in the chapter-house of the cathedral at Dornoch made oath by
touching the relics of the blessed Saint Gilbert. He is the only bishop
of Caithness, except Bishop Adam, whose death is recorded in the
Icelandic Annals. The entry is under the year 1244:—“Death of Gilibert,
bishop in Scotland.”
WILLIAM, fifth bishop, was his successor. In 1250 he appears among the
other Scottish bishops in a document addressed to Alexander III.
concerning the liberties of the Church. He died in 1261 or 1262.
WALTER de Baltrodin, a canon of Caithness, was chosen as his successor.
Pope Urban IV. in 1263 addressed a letter[153] to the bishops of
Dunkeld, Brechin, and Ross, setting forth that his election had not been
proceeded with according to canonical form, but as it had been
unanimous, and in consideration of the poverty of the Church, and the
expense of making such long journeys to distant places, he enjoins them
to prefer the said Walter to the bishopric if they find that he is not
disqualified by defect of birth or otherwise. He died before 1274. On
his death, Nicolas, Abbot of Scone, was chosen as his successor, but
rejected by the Pope.[154]
ARCHIBALD, Archdeacon of Moray, was chosen on the rejection by the Pope
of Nicolas, Abbot of Scone. The Pope’s letter confirming his election
mentions R., the Dean, Patrick, the treasurer, and Roger de Castello,
canon of Caithness, as the parties by whom he was nominated. In his time
Boyamund de Vitia was commissioned by Pope Gregory X. to collect a
special subsidy in aid of the crusade, and his accounts furnish us with
the names of a number of the churches in the diocese of Caithness and
the amounts contributed.[155]
Bishop Archibald must have been dead before 1279, for in that year the
Pope addressed a letter to the Bishops of St. Andrews and Aberdeen,[156]
setting forth that the see of Caithness being vacant, the chapter had
proceeded to the election of R., the Dean of Caithness, and had
constituted Henry of Nottingan[157] (in Caithness) their procurator to
obtain confirmation of the said election, and that the said Henry, in
the Pope’s presence, had confessed that the said dean had a son thirty
years old or more, and that he was said to have another, although he
(Henry of Nottingan) did not believe it; and, moreover, that he had been
stricken with paralysis, and was old and debilitated. The bishops are
enjoined to use their influence to oblige him to resign.
ALAN de St. Edmund, eighth bishop, was an Englishman, elected by the
influence of Edward I. of England. In 1290 he signs the letter addressed
to that king, proposing a marriage between the Maid of Norway and the
young Prince Edward. Alan was a favourite with King Edward, and was made
Chancellor of Scotland in 1291. In that year a writ[158] was addressed
by the king to Alexander Comyn, keeper of the royal forest of Ternway,
in Moray, ordering him to give Bishop Alan 40 oaks suitable for material
for the fabric of the cathedral church of Caithness, which the king had
granted for the souls of Alexander, King of Scotland, and Margaret, his
queen, the sister of King Edward. Bishop Alan died in 1291, and on his
death King Edward ordered the Bishops of St. Andrews and Glasgow to
commit the vacant cure to some cleric in the king’s allegiance.[159] The
fulfilment of this mandate is not on record, but we learn from the
letter of Pope Boniface VIII.[160] addressed to Bishop Adam in 1296,
that on the death of Alan the chapter of Caithness had chosen the
Archdeacon of Caithness, whose name is given as I(oannes?) to be his
successor, but because the election had not been in canonical form it
was not confirmed by the Pope, who preferred to the vacant diocese Adam,
then precentor of the church of Ross.
ADAM, ninth bishop, as we learn from the Pope’s letter above mentioned,
was not elected in the usual way, but preferred by the Pope and
consecrated by the Bishop of Ostia. The letter addressed by the
Pope[161] “to the chapter of Caithness, to the people of the district
and diocese of Caithness, and to our dearest son in Christ the King of
Scots,” in 1296, announces his preferment, and the reasons that led to
it. He died at Sienna very shortly after the date of this letter.[162]
ANDREW, abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Cupar,[163] was now
preferred to the see of Caithness; and because, “on account of the wars
that are imminent in those parts, and the dangers of the way, which is
long and perilous, it is impossible for him to approach the apostolic
seat for consecration,” a mandate was addressed to the Bishops of
Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Ross, to give him consecration.
FERQUHARD, Bishop of Caithness, appears in 1310, among the other bishops
of Scotland, acknowledging Robert Bruce as King of Scotland. In 1312,
along with Magnus, Earl of Caithness and Orkney, he attests the payment
of 100 marks sterling (the annual tribute payable for the Hebrides) by
King Robert Bruce to the King of Norway, in St. Magnus’ Cathedral,
Kirkwall. He was dead and the see vacant in 1328.[164]
NICOLAS, a deacon, was bishop-elect in 1332.[165]
DAVID was the next bishop, but of him we have no record except that he
was dead before 1340.[166]
ALAN, Archdeacon of Aberdeen, was confirmed as Bishop of Caithness in
1341 by Pope Benedict XII.[167] He died in 1342.
THOMAS de Fingask was elected on the death of Alan, and his confirmation
by Pope Clement VI. is dated in November 1342.[168] He is witness to a
writ by William, Earl of Ross, in 1355, declaring the abbey of Ferne
exempt from all the king’s taxes.[169] He appears as witness to a deed
with Ingelram of Caithness, Archdeacon of Dunkeld, in 1359.[170] He died
at Elgin in 1360, and was buried in our Lady’s aisle of the chanonry
church of Elgin, under the bishop’s seat.
MALCOLM is the next bishop of whom we have any authentic account.[171]
His confirmation by Pope Urban V. is dated Feb. 21, 1369.[172] A bull of
Pope Gregory XI., dated at Avignon in March 1376, confirms to Dr.
William of Spynie the chanonry and prebendary of the church of Orkney,
which had become vacant by the preferment of Malcolm to be Bishop of
Caithness.[173]
ALEXANDER appears as Bishop of Caithness in 1389, when, along with
Alexander, Bishop of Ross, and Adam, Abbot of Kinloss, he takes part in
the settlement of a dispute between the Earl and Bishop of Moray.[174]
He appears by proxy at the provincial synod held at Perth in 1420.[175]
ROBERT was bishop in 1434, and his successor WILLIAM, who appears as
bishop in 1449, was still in office at the period of the transference of
the Orkneys from the Norwegian to Scottish rule, in 1469.
X. ANCIENT CHURCHES OF ORKNEY.
“The Cathedral of St. Magnus,” says Worsaae, “is incontestably the most
glorious monument of the time of the Norwegian dominion to be found in
Scotland.” “It is,” says Peterkin, “one of the two cathedral churches in
Scotland remaining entire, and is, therefore, a national monument,
interesting from its antiquity, its beauty, and the rarity of such
relics in this part of the empire.” Nothing conveys to the mind of the
stranger visiting Kirkwall a more vivid impression of the ancient
importance of this quaint little town, which has been the capital of the
Orkneys for at least 800 years, than the grandeur of its cathedral, and
the imposing aspect of the ruins of the palaces of the Bishops and Earls
of Orkney.
The Saga tells how the erection of the cathedral was undertaken by Earl
Rögnvald II. (Kali Kolson), in fulfilment of a vow which he had made to
build and endow a splendid stone minster in Kirkwall in honour of St.
Magnus, his mother’s brother, from whom he derived his right to a share
of the earldom of the Orkneys. He won the earldom in the year 1136, and
the erection of the cathedral was commenced under the superintendence of
his father Kol, in 1137, and carried on until the earl’s means failed.
By agreement with the odallers, a mark for each ploughland in the
islands was contributed for the purpose of carrying on the work, and
this brought in money enough to enable the erection of the church to be
proceeded with.
The cathedral, as it now stands, however, is by no means the work of
Earl Rögnvald’s time, although the portion built by him is still clearly
distinguishable. “The church,” says Sir Henry Dryden,[176] “as designed
and partly built in the time of Kol (father of Earl Rögnvald), was of
the same width as at present, but possibly one bay shorter at the west
end. There can be little doubt that the choir terminated in an apse,
which began about half-way along the great piers in front of the
subsequent altar steps, and extended as far as the line of those steps.
The builders, having laid out the whole church, carried up the choir and
its two aisles and the transepts to the eaves, and built the piers of
the central tower.” The architectural history of the structure, however,
is puzzling. “Though I spent eighteen weeks at the cathedral,” says Sir
Henry in a letter to Mr. Worsaae, “and have thought over the thing many
times, I cannot make out the history of the building to my own
satisfaction. There is no doubt that there is a great deal of copying in
it, _i.e._ of building at one time in the style of another.”[177] The
chief interest of the structure lies in the fact that it was built by a
Norwegian earl, and designed and superintended by the Norwegian Kol, who
had the principal oversight of the whole work. It is significant of
their community of origin that the oldest portions of St. Magnus show
traces of the same peculiarities of style which are found in the nearly
contemporary but somewhat older Norman churches in Normandy, the home of
the Christian descendants of the Vikings who followed Hrólf the
Conqueror, son of Rögnvald, Earl of Moeri.
[Illustration: St. MAGNUS CATHEDRAL, KIRKWALL from the South east]
The cathedral was erected for the express purpose of receiving the
relics of St. Magnus, but we have no record of their transference to the
new church. There is reason to believe that they had been brought to
Kirkwall before the erection of the cathedral was begun, and, though it
is not so stated, it may be inferred that on their removal from Christ’s
Church in Birsay, they were deposited in the church of St. Olaf at
Kirkwall, and remained there for some years until the cathedral was
ready to receive them. It seems probable that it is to the church of St.
Olaf that Kirkwall owes its name of _Kirkiu-vagr_, the Creek of the
Kirk. This name does not occur in the Saga before the time of Earl
Rögnvald Brusison, who is said to have resided there, and it is most
likely that the church of St. Olaf was built by him in memory of his
foster-father, King Olaf the Holy. Earl Rögnvald was in the battle of
Stiklestad (1030) in which the warrior saint of Norway fell, and being
his foster-son he was more likely than any of the subsequent earls to
dedicate a church to his memory. We are told in the Saga[178] that the
relics of St. Magnus were exhumed by Bishop William twenty years after
his death and placed in a shrine at Christ’s Kirk. Shortly thereafter,
says the Saga, St. Magnus appeared in a dream to a man who lived in
Westray, by name Gunni, and ordered him to tell Bishop William that he
(St. Magnus) wished to go out of Birgishérad and east to Kirkwall. Gunni
was afraid to do so lest he should excite the wrath of Earl Paul, whose
father had been the murderer of St. Magnus. The following night St.
Magnus again appeared to him, ordering him to disclose his dream
whatever the consequences might be, and threatening him with punishment
in the life hereafter if he disobeyed. Struck with terror, Gunni went to
the Bishop and told him in the presence of Earl Paul and all the
congregation. Earl Paul, it is said, turned red with anger, but all the
men there united in requesting the bishop to proceed at once to carry
the wishes of St. Magnus into execution. So the bishop went east to
Kirkwall with the relics, accompanied by a great concourse of people,
and “placed them in a shrine upon the altar of the church which then was
there,” and which could have been no other than St. Olaf’s,[179] seeing
that the building of the cathedral was not commenced until after Earl
Paul had been carried off to Athole by Swein Asleifson. The Saga of St.
Magnus adds that there were then few houses in the town, but that after
the relics of St. Magnus had been transferred thither the town rapidly
increased.
[Illustration: EGILSHA S. MAGNUS.]
Earl Rögnvald (II.) himself was buried[180] in the cathedral in 1158. In
the winter of 1263 the remains of King Hakon Hakonson were deposited in
the cathedral previous to their removal to Bergen. Worsaae states that
the remains of the Princess Margaret, the Maid of Norway, were interred
in the cathedral in 1290, and the local tradition is to the same effect,
but there is no authority for the statement. The princess’s remains were
taken back to Norway and buried in the High Church of Bergen by King
Eirik, beside the remains of her mother.[181]
EGILSEY CHURCH, on the little isle of Egilsey, is interesting from the
suggestions of its connection with the earlier Christianity of the
islands previous to the Norse invasion.
The church stands on the highest ground of the island, on the west side,
and is a conspicuous object in the landscape from all sides. It consists
of chancel and nave, but differs from all the existing churches in the
islands in having a round tower rising at the west end of the nave. It
is of small size, the nave being 30 feet long by 15½ feet in breadth
inside, and the chancel 15 feet long by 9½ feet in breadth. The chancel
is vaulted, and the walls are about 3 feet thick. The tower, which seems
to have been built with the nave, is 7 feet diameter inside, and is now
48 feet high, the walls being about 3½ feet thick. It is stated that
about 15 feet were taken off the height to prevent its falling.[182] The
only two windows in the nave that are original are round-headed and 3
feet high, with jambs splaying inwards from 8½ to 33 inches wide, and
having no external chamfer. Two windows in the chancel are exactly
similar but smaller. Over the chancel vault there is a small chamber
lighted by a flat-headed window 18 inches high.
Its original dedication is unknown,[183] and there is nothing to fix the
date of its erection with absolute certainty.
[Illustration: EGILSEY CHURCH, from the South east (from a Photograph)]
“The church of Egilsey,” says Munch, “is shown by its construction to
have been built before the Northmen arrived in Orkney, or, at all
events, to belong to the more ancient Christian Celtic population; both
its exterior and its interior show so many resemblances to the old
churches in Ireland of the 7th and 8th centuries, that we are compelled
to suppose it to have been erected at that time by Irish priests or
_Papas_. As we find no remains of any similar churches on the
islands,[184] we must suppose it to have been the first of the few on
the thinly inhabited isle-group. The island on which it stood might,
therefore, very justly be called ‘Church isle.’ But the Irish word
_Ecclais_ (church), derived from the Latin _Ecclesia_, might easily be
mistaken by our forefathers for Egils, the genitive of the man’s name
Egil.”
If we could unhesitatingly adopt Munch’s view of the origin of the name
Egilsey, it might be safely assumed that this was the church which gave
its name to the island, as no other ecclesiastical site is known within
its bounds. The Norsemen were heathens down to the time of the
Christianising cruise of King Olaf Tryggvason in A.D. 1000, and not very
hearty in their Christianity for a long time after that. The church
could not have been built, therefore, between 872 and the accession of
Earl Thorfinn in 1014. Nor is it likely to have been erected during
Thorfinn’s minority, for he was only five years old when his father fell
fighting under a heathen banner at Clontarf. The Saga tells that
Thorfinn built Christ’s Church in Birsay, and made it the first bishop’s
see in the Orkneys. If he, or any of his successors previous to the
death of St. Magnus, had erected such a notable structure as that of
Egilsey, it would probably have been recorded. There was a church in
Egilsey in 1115 when St. Magnus was murdered, and the only question is
whether it was the present church. Its resemblances to the Irish
churches of the 7th and 8th centuries are not sufficiently definite and
determinative to enable us to assign to it unhesitatingly an Irish
origin; while, on the other hand, the resemblance to the round-towered
churches of Norfolk suggests that it may have been of Scandinavian
origin. But there is nothing in the architecture of the building either
to fix the date of its erection or to determine the questions of Celtic
or Scandinavian origin with any degree of certainty.[185]
[Illustration: ORPHIR.]
The CHURCH OF ORPHIR is one of the few circular churches in Britain,
built in imitation of the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. The
crusades were the means of importing this form into the ecclesiastical
architecture of the west. A few of these round churches remain in
Denmark, and, like those of England, they are mostly of the 12th
century.[186]
All that remains of this interesting structure is merely the
semicircular chancel and about 9 feet of the walls of the circular nave
on either side, as shown in the annexed ground-plan. It is described in
the Old Statistical Account as having been a rotundo, 18 feet in
diameter and 20 feet high, two-thirds of which were taken down to build
the present parish church. The curvature of the part of the walls still
remaining would give a diameter of 18 to 19 feet. The semicircular
chancel is 7 feet wide and a little more than 7 feet deep. The walls are
well built of yellow Orphir freestone. The only remaining window is a
small one in the east end of the chancel, 30 inches high, having a
semicircular head, and the jambs splaying inwards from 10½ inches to 20
inches wide. It has a groove for glass.
The Rev. Alex. Pope of Reay, who visited Orphir in 1758, has given a
description of “The Temple of Orphir, or Gerth House,” but there is
little to be gathered from it, and the measurements as given[187] are
evidently wrong. He states, however, that extensive remains, supposed to
be those of the Earls’ Palace at Orphir, had been discovered in
excavating the foundations of the neighbouring farm-buildings.
Indications of these, and of an extensive refuse-heap, are still to be
seen.
The church of Orphir is first mentioned in the Saga in connection with
Earl Paul Hakonson’s residence at Orphir. The church is there referred
to as a splendid structure, and it is not spoken of as recently erected,
or as having been built by Earl Paul. But Earl Hakon, his father, who
had made a pilgrimage to Rome and the Holy Land, is said in the Saga to
have brought back relics which he would doubtless deposit in the church
at Orphir, where he seems to have resided. The probability is that the
church was built by him after his return from his pilgrimage, perhaps as
an expiatory offering for the murder of his cousin, St. Magnus. Earl
Hakon died in 1122, and three out of the six round churches in Britain
had been built before that time.
CHRIST’S CHURCH in Birsay is the first church of which we have any
record in the Saga, and, so far as we know, the first church erected in
the Orkneys after the conversion of the Norwegian inhabitants to
Christianity. It was built by Earl Thorfinn some time about the middle
of the 11th century. Earl Thorfinn made a pilgrimage to Rome about the
year 1050, and it is likely that Christ’s Church would be built after
his return to Orkney, or between 1050 and 1064, the date of his death.
It was the seat of the bishopric previous to the erection of the
cathedral of St. Magnus, and William the Old, who was the first (actual)
bishop, lived to see the bishopric transferred to Kirkwall some time
after 1137.
It is doubtful whether any recognisable traces of the original Christ’s
Church now remain. Neale says, “The parish church, which contains some
fragments of old work, seems to have been the famous Christ’s Church
built by Earl Thorfinn.” But it does not seem at all likely that any
portion of the existing parish church can be as old as the middle of the
11th century. There are remains of an older church, however, beside it,
which are still known as the Christ’s Kirk, and Mr. George Petrie, who
has made a ground-plan of the structure (of which only part of the
foundation remains), has ascertained that it had an apse at the east
end.
[Illustration: WEIR]
The CHURCH OF WEIR, on the island of the same name, consists of chancel
and nave, the extreme length exteriorly being 36 feet, and the width 18½
feet. The nave is 19 feet by 13 feet inside, and the chancel little more
than 7 feet square. The door is in the west end, having parallel jambs
with no rebate. The doorway has a semicircular head, roughly arched with
thin slaty stones set on edge, the arch being set a little back on the
imposts.[188] There are two windows on the south side of the nave, only
one of which appears to be original. It is flat-headed, 22 inches high
and 8 inches wide, the jambs splaying inwards to a width of 27 inches.
The chancel arch, of which a representation is given in the accompanying
plate, is exactly like the doorway. There is one window in the south
side, which seems to have been round-headed, 27 inches high by 11 inches
wide.
Of this chapel Mr. Muir says,[189] “Excepting that at Lybster, in
Caithness, the entrance to the chancel is the most diminutive, not of
primitive date, I have ever seen, the total height being only 4 feet. In
plan, size, and general expression, Weir and Lybster are remarkably
alike, and in all probability both buildings are the work of the same
period, though Lybster is perhaps fully the older of the two.” Sir Henry
Dryden also remarks the similarity of the chapels of Weir and Lybster,
and adds “Probably Weir is of the 12th or 13th century, but the
characteristics are not decisive enough to approximate more closely to
its date.”
It is most probable that this chapel[190] was built by Bishop Bjarni,
the son of Kolbein Hruga, who built the castle on the island of Weir, as
recorded in the Saga. Bjarni was bishop from 1188 to 1223, and would
probably reside on his paternal estate in Weir when not required by the
duties of the episcopate to be in Kirkwall. This period answers to the
indications afforded by the architectural characteristics of the
building, and we have no record of any other person who was likely to
have erected a chapel on this little island. The fact that it is still
called “Cobbie Row’s Chapel” points to its connection with Kolbein
Hruga’s family.
[Illustration: LYBSTER S. MARY]
The CHURCH AT LYBSTER[191] (Reay), in Caithness, corresponds in style
and plan so closely to the church of Weir that it may be described here
briefly. There is no other church in Caithness of any antiquity which
demands special notice. Ecclesiastical sites of early date are thickly
scattered over the county, but the ruins of the buildings themselves
have suffered so much that there is scarcely an architectural feature
left to guide us to conclusions as to their date. The church at Lybster
is fortunately an exception. It consists of chancel and nave, slightly
larger than Weir, and very rudely constructed. There is a doorway with
inclined jambs in the west end, of which a representation is given in
the accompanying plate; but Mr. Muir notices as a singular feature of
the building that there are nowhere traces of windows, although all the
elevations except the east one, which is broken down to a little below
the gable line, remain nearly entire. The entrance to the chancel is of
the same form as the doorway, having inclined jambs. “With regard to
even the probable age of this building,” says Mr. Muir, “I would not
like to venture an opinion. The diversified shapes and sizes of the
stones, and the primitive form and smallness of the entrances to the
nave and chancel, would suggest extreme earliness of date; whilst, on
the other hand, the refined character of the ground-plan would indicate
a period of time not more remote than the 12th century.”
[Illustration: Chancel-Arch of Church at Weir.]
[Illustration: Doorway in West end of Church at Lybster, Reay.]
ST. PETER’S CHURCH, on the Brough of Birsay, a holm of about 40 acres,
separated from the mainland by a channel about 150 yards wide, and dry
at low water, consists of nave, chancel, and apse, all well defined, and
apparently built at the same time, the material being a grey whinstone.
The total length of the building is 57 feet. The nave is 28 feet by 15½
inside, and the chancel about 10 feet square. There is but one doorway,
in the west end of the church. It has parallel jambs without any rebate
for a door.[192] There are the remains of a window in the north wall, 3
feet high by 10½ inches wide, square-headed, and splaying both
internally and externally to a width of 22½ inches. Only the foundations
of the apse remain. The floor was originally level to the end of the
apse, but subsequently there had been a reredos which blocked off the
apse, and then there were steps to the altar, some portion of which
still remains. A stone projection or “seat,” 14 inches high and the same
in width, runs all round the nave. In the north-east and south-east
corners are two circular spaces, 5½ feet in diameter, in one of which
are the remains of a spiral stone staircase. In all probability the
church was twin-towered, like many of the Scandinavian churches dating
from the 13th century. Barry states that this church was dedicated to
St. Peter, but the dedication seems to have been unknown in the
locality[193] in 1627.
There are the remains of a chapel similarly situated on the Brough of
Deerness, at the east end of the Mainland. The Brough of Deerness is an
outlying rock, nearly 100 feet high, and covered with green sward on the
top. The chapel stands near the centre of the area, and is surrounded by
a stone wall enclosing an area of about 60 feet by 45. The chapel, which
is a smaller and ruder building than that on the Brough of Birsay, is a
simple parallelogram of not more than 17 feet by 10 inside, the walls
being from 3 to 4 feet thick. The doorway is in the west end, and there
are the remains of a window in the east end, but the heads of both are
gone. Around the chapel there are the foundations of about a score of
stone-built huts scattered irregularly over the area of the Brough. They
are irregularly built, with a tendency towards the rectangular form, the
walls being from 2½ to 3 feet thick. Several of them are nearly as long
as the church, but not so wide, the internal area measuring about 18
feet by 6. Low[194] states that in his time, notwithstanding the
difficulty and danger of the access to the Brough, “even old age
scrambled its way through a road in many places not six inches broad,
where certain death attended a slip.” Jo. Ben, in 1529, mentions that
people of all classes and conditions were in the habit of climbing up to
the top of the Brough on their hands and knees to visit the chapel
called the “Bairns of Brugh;” and when they had reached the top, “on
their bended knees and with hands joined they offered their
supplications with many incantations to the Bairns of Brugh, throwing
stones and water behind their backs, and making the circuit of the
chapel twice or thrice.” There is still a fine spring on the Brough,
which doubtless had the reputation of a “holy well” in connection with
these superstitious practices. The Brough was fenced with a strong stone
wall toward the land side in Low’s time, and from this and the remains
of the huts he concludes that it had been a rock fort subsequently
converted into a sanctuary by the ecclesiastics.
The old parish church of Deerness, of which Low has preserved three
sketches (one of which is engraved in Hibbert’s Shetland), had the
peculiarity of being twin-towered, as the church on the Brough of Birsay
seems also to have been, and as many of the Scandinavian churches dating
from the 13th century were.[195] Low describes it as having a vaulted
chancel at the east end, of which the twin towers rose from each corner.
The tower on the south-east corner of the chancel was entered by a
doorway opening from the chancel (in the same manner as the one at
Brough of Birsay), and a spiral staircase led to a small apartment or
vestry between the towers, on the second storey. From this apartment was
the entrance to the other tower.
There were three towered churches in Shetland—St. Laurence in West
Burra, St. Magnus at Tingwall, and Ireland Head, but, like the old
church of Deerness, they have long disappeared, and there is no
description of them more precise than the casual notices of Low and
Brand. It is not even quite clear whether they were single-towered or
twin-towered. If single-towered they may have been examples of the rare
form of which Egilsey is now the only remaining instance.
XI. MAESHOW AND THE STONES OF STENNIS.
Maeshow, the Orkahaug of the Saga, is connected in such an interesting
way with the Norse history of the Isles that it is necessary to notice
briefly its most peculiar features.
It stands about a mile to the north-east of the great stone ring of
Stennis. Its external appearance is that of a truncated conical mound of
earth, about 300 feet in circumference at the base and 36 feet high,
surrounded by a trench 40 feet wide. Nothing was known of its internal
structure till the year 1861, when it was opened by Mr. Farrer,
M.P.,[196] but the common tradition of the country represented it as the
abode of a goblin, who was named “the Hogboy,”[197] though no one knew
why. When excavated, the mound was found to cover a great cairn of
stones, in the centre of which was a chamber about 15 feet square, the
walls of which still remained entire to a height of 13 feet. A long low
passage led from the west side of the chamber to the exterior of the
mound, a distance of about 54 feet, and on the other three sides of the
chamber there were small cells or _loculi_ entered by openings in the
walls about 2½ feet square at a height of about 3 feet above the floor.
[Illustration: Plan and Section of Maeshow.]
Structurally, Maeshow belongs to a class of chambered sepulchral cairns
of common occurrence in the north of Scotland, but to a special variety
of that class which is peculiar to the Orkneys.[198] These chambered
tombs occur in groups in certain places, thus suggesting the probability
that, as in the great royal cemeteries of early times in Ireland, they
may have been for centuries the gathering places of the tribes and the
burying-places of their kings.
But the most interesting fact connected with Maeshow was the discovery
that a large number of Runic inscriptions had been scratched on the
stones of the interior walls of the chamber. It was evident, from the
height at which the inscriptions occurred, as well as from indications
of the weathering of the stones previous to their being inscribed, that
when the runes were cut the chamber was roofless and partially filled up
with rubbish. The form of the letters of which the inscriptions are
composed is that of the later class of Norse Runes, “which,” says
Professor Munch, “are never older than A.D. 1100 at least.” The majority
of the inscriptions are such as men seeking the shelter or concealment
of the “broken how” might scribble from mere idleness. One gives the
Runic alphabet. A number of others are simple memoranda consisting of
the name of a man and the statement that he “hewed this” or “carved
these runes.” But one of the longer inscriptions supplies the important
information that “the Jorsala-farers broke open the Orkahaug in the
lifetime of the blessed earl.” This seems to imply that the inscription
was carved after the death of “the blessed earl” Rögnvald, or subsequent
to 1158. The Jorsala-farers who accompanied him from Norway in 1152
remained a considerable time in Orkney before the expedition was ready,
and as we learn from the Saga their conduct during that time was such as
would naturally result from the enforced idleness of a numerous body of
rough and uncontrolled adventurers. The “breaking of a how” in the hope
of finding treasure was a common exploit among the Northmen. It seems to
have been done sometimes also as a proof of courage, for the bravest
were not altogether void of superstitious fears. From another part of
the inscription we gather that the Jorsala-farers who broke the Orkahaug
were disappointed in the hope of finding treasure, as it had been
previously carried away. In all probability they were not the first who
had been tempted by the magnitude of the monument to try the venture. On
one of the buttresses, long slabs inserted in the corners of the
chamber, is carved a cross, and on another a dragon, similar in style to
that in the tomb of King Gorm the Old at Jellinge in Denmark, and
bearing also some resemblance to one sculptured on the Runic stone dug
up in St. Paul’s Churchyard, London, and to another at Hunestad in
Scania. The tomb of King Gorm is dated about the middle of the 10th
century. Rafn assigns the stone dug up in London to about the middle of
the 11th century; while the Hunestad example is assigned to about 1150,
which is close on the date of Earl Rögnvald’s expedition to the Holy
Land, which brought the Jorsala-farers to Orkney.
[Illustration: View of Chamber in Maeshow.]
[Illustration: RUBBING FROM MAESHOW TUMULUS.]
Among the names thus carved on the stones of Maeshow are those of
Ingibiorg, Ingigerd, Thorer, Helgi, Ingi, and Arnfinn. All these are
names of persons who are mentioned in the Saga as living in Earl
Rögnvald’s time, and several of whom were closely connected with him.
Ingigerd, his daughter, was married to Eric Slagbrellir, and they had a
daughter named Ingibiorg. Helgi was a particular friend of Earl
Rögnvald’s. Arnfinn was taken prisoner by Earl Harald the morning after
he and his men had spent the Yule-feast day at Orkahaug on his way to
surprise Earl Erlend.[199] There is nothing, however, to identify any of
these names with certainty as the names of the persons mentioned in the
Saga. But the fact that the name Orkahaug, which only occurs once in the
Saga, is not known to occur anywhere else except in the inscription
carved on the walls of Maeshow, referring to the breaking open of the
tumulus, is interesting in more ways than one. It shows that the
Norsemen were ignorant of the origin of the tumulus, which they knew
only as the Orka-haug[200] or “mighty how.” In one of the inscriptions
the writer assigns its construction to the sons of Lodbrok, which is
equivalent to saying that its origin was quite unknown[201] to them.
[Illustration: Ring of Brogar, from the south-west.]
About a mile to the south-west of Maeshow, and scattered over the ness
or tongue of land separating the loch of Stennis from the sea, is a
remarkable group of stone circles and tumuli.[202] The largest of the
circles, the “Ring of Brogar,” having a diameter of 366 feet, encloses
an area of 2½ acres. It is surrounded by a trench 29 feet broad and 6
feet deep. Within the enclosure thirteen stones of the great circle
still remain standing, the stumps of thirteen more are visible, and ten
are lying prostrate. The original number of the stones, says Captain
Thomas, on the presumption that they were placed at nearly equal
distances apart, would have been sixty, so that twenty-four have been
entirely obliterated. The highest stone stands almost 14 feet above the
surface of the ground, and the lowest is about 6 feet, the average being
from 8 to 10 feet. It is difficult to realise the amount of laborious
effort expended in the construction of a work like this, which does not
appeal to the eye like the magnitude of the great mounds around it. But
when one reflects on what is implied in the transportation and erection
of these great stones, and the excavation of a ditch round them of 10
yards wide, 2 yards deep, and 366 yards long, it loses none of its
magnificence in comparison with the more imposing monuments.
[Illustration: Ring of Stennis and Cromlech, from the northward.]
The smaller circle, called the “Ring of Stennis,” is more clearly
monumental than the Ring of Brogar, as it contains the remains of a
cromlech within it. It seems to have consisted originally of twelve
stones placed round the circumference of a circle of about 100 feet in
diameter, and surrounded by a deep and broad trench with a
circumscribing mound, now nearly obliterated. Only two stones of the
circle remain standing, and a third lies prostrate. Peterkin states that
some were thrown down and removed by the tenant of the adjoining lands
in 1814. The cromlech is also thrown down, but one of the supports of
the massive capstone is still standing, and the capstone, which lies
beside it, is 9 feet long by 6 feet broad.
[Illustration: Ring of Stennis, from the westward.]
The Ring of Bookan is a circular space 136 feet in diameter, surrounded
by a trench 44 feet broad and 6 feet deep. There are upwards of twenty
tumuli, some of them very large, in the immediate vicinity.
In the Saga of Olaf, Tryggvi’s son, Stennis is mentioned as the place
where Havard, eldest of the five sons of Earl Thorfinn Hausakliuf, was
slain in battle with his sister’s son Einar. The Saga says:[203]—“Havard
was then at Stæinsnes in Hrossey. There it was they met, and there was a
hard battle, and it was not long till the Earl fell. The place is now
called Havard’s _teigr_.” Teigr is an individual’s share, or allotment,
of the tun or town-land, and the expression might be taken to mean
rather that Havard was buried by simple inhumation than that there was a
cairn or tumulus raised over him, in which case it would have been known
as Havard’s How. But the name of Havard was never connected with the
great tumulus known as Maeshow, and if he was buried in a tumulus at
all, it is more likely that his corpse was burnt with the customary
ceremonies of that heathen time and his ashes placed in a great stone
urn. The grave-mounds of the Viking period in Norway prove this to have
been then the common practice. Such a mound, enclosing such an urn, was
opened at Stennis by Mr. Farrer, M.P., in 1853. This tumulus, if not
Havard’s, was apparently Norse, and being the largest in the
neighbourhood of Stennis, must have been that of a person of great
distinction.
The fact that the Norsemen at this early period (about A.D. 970) called
this place Steins-ness, shows that it was known to them, only as it is
to us, as the ness of the monumental stones. If they had had anything to
do with the erection of any of these monuments, in all probability we
should have had some incidental record of the fact in one or other of
the Sagas.
XII. MOUSA AND THE PICTISH TOWERS.
The little island of Mousa (the Mosey of the Saga), lying off the
Mainland of Shetland, is interesting as containing the best preserved
specimen of the “towers of defence,” which were the strongholds of the
native inhabitants previous to the Norse invasion.
[Illustration]
The tower of Mousa, of which a view is here given, consists of a
circular dry-built wall, 15 feet thick at the base, enclosing an area or
circular court 30 feet in diameter, and open to the sky, so as to admit
light to the ranges of windows which open from the galleries towards the
interior. The doorway leading through the wall into this interior court
is the only opening to the outside of the tower. From the court other
openings in the wall give access to small ovoid chambers in the
thickness of the wall on the ground-floor, and to a stair which ascends
to the upper galleries. Above the chambers on the ground-floor the wall
is carried up hollow, or rather there are two concentric walls with a
space of about 3½ feet between them, which is divided into storeys or
galleries by horizontal courses of transverse slabs, which bind the two
walls together. Thus each of these courses of horizontal slabs forms the
roof of the gallery beneath it, and serves as a floor to the one above
it.
These singularly-constructed towers were once thickly planted over the
whole of the northern mainland of Scotland, as well as over the most of
the Northern and Western Isles.[204] A number of them have been
excavated of late years, and the results of these excavations[205]
furnish us with interesting evidences of the conditions of life among
the people who lived in them. The relics that have been obtained from
them have no connection as a class with those that are usually found in
the cisted graves and chambered tombs of earlier times.[206] But judging
from the general character of their included remains, the people who
lived in these towers were possessed of a considerable degree of
civilisation. There is abundant evidence that they were not only expert
hunters and fishers, but that they kept flocks and herds, grew grain and
ground it by hand-mills,[207] practised the arts of spinning and
weaving, had ornaments of gold of curious workmanship, and were not
unskilled workers in bronze and iron. Their pottery was rude, but not
ruder than the pottery manufactured and used for common or domestic
purposes in some of the islands of Scotland within the present century.
It is true that silver denarii of the Roman Emperors Antoninus, Trajan,
and Vespasian, have been found in the outbuildings connected with the
Broch or “Pictish Tower” of Lingrow at Scapa in Orkney; but it is to be
noticed that upwards of 4000 of these Roman denarii have been found in
Scandinavia, where the Romans never were, and found so often associated
with relics of the Viking period as to suggest that they were carried
thither some centuries after their dates.
The Tower of Mousa, Moseyjar-borg, is twice mentioned by the Saga
writers. The earliest notice occurs in the Saga of Egill Skalagrimson,
the warrior-poet, and refers to a period about A.D. 900. It is there
stated that Björn Brynulfson, fleeing from Norway with Thora Roald’s
daughter, because his father would not allow him to celebrate his
marriage with her, was shipwrecked on the island of Mousa, landed his
cargo, and lived in the Borg through the winter, celebrating his
marriage in it, and afterwards sailed for Iceland. The second notice of
Mousa,[208] singularly enough, occurs on an occasion somewhat similar to
this, when Earl Erlend Ungi fled from Orkney with Margaret, the widow of
Maddad, Earl of Athole, and was besieged in the Borg by Earl Harald
(Maddadson), who was displeased at the prospect of having Erlend for a
step-father.
XIII. REMAINS OF THE NORTHMEN.
Turning from the pages of the Saga to the scenes of the events which it
records, we find, both in the topography and traditions of the
localities, and in the customs and characteristics of the people,
abundant evidence of the substantial truth of the narrative.
The range of territory possessed and occupied by the Norsemen may still
be distinguished on the map of Scotland by the prevalence of Norse
place-names. In Shetland and Orkney the topography is altogether Norse.
In Caithness and Sutherland there is a core of Celtic topography in the
central mountain districts, while the Norse names spread out through the
valleys, forming a broad fringe along the seaboard, and occupying the
whole angle of lowland Caithness. But south of Ekkialsbakki they rapidly
thin out, and finally disappear, with a few outlying instances, in
Moray. The permanent dominions of the Northmen in the mainland of
Scotland were limited to the earldom proper, the southern boundary of
which was the Kyle of Sutherland. The Saga says they conquered the
country as far south as Ekkialsbakki; and though they sometimes extended
their power over parts of Ross and Moray, and even made a raid on one
occasion as far south as Fife, they made no permanent lodgment south of
the Moray Firth, and their presence in Ross has but slightly affected
the topography between the Kyle of Sutherland and the Beauly Firth.
In the Hebrides the Norse names, though much disguised by contact with
the Celtic, still form a considerable if not a preponderating element in
the topography, and their old Norse name, “Sudreyar,” still survives in
the title of the Bishop of Sodor and Man. Along the western seaboard of
the Scottish mainland, from Cape Wrath to the Mull of Kintyre, the
Northmen have left their traces more sparsely, but very distinctly, upon
the topography. In Bute, Arran, and the Cumbraes, and on the shores of
the Solway Firth, the topography also shows the influence of the
Northern element, exerted during the existence of the Norse “Kingdom of
Man and the Isles.”
There are many remnants of the older usages[209] in the peculiar local
customs; and in the characteristics of the people of the Northern Isles
there are also, of necessity, many striking resemblances to those of the
Scandinavian race. The elucidation of these, however, would lead into a
field far too wide to be entered on here. The language of the early
colonists, which must have survived as long as the Islands were governed
“according to the Norse law-book and the ancient usages,” seems to have
died out rapidly after they were transferred to Scottish rule. Yet Jo.
Ben found it existing in Rendal in Orkney in 1529; and it is stated[210]
that in 1593 a clergyman, named Magnus Norsk, who was ordained to a
Shetland parish, went to Norway to learn the Norse language, in order to
qualify himself for his ministry, because the Shetlanders at that time
understood no other tongue. Even so late as 1774, Low found people in
Foula who could repeat the Lord’s Prayer in Norse, and he gives
thirty-five stanzas of an old Norse ballad which he took down from oral
recitation. In the Faroe Isles a large number of these ballads and
metrical tales have been collected.[211] There can be no doubt that they
were equally common in the neighbouring island groups, but no literary
antiquary possessed of the requisite knowledge seems to have visited
Shetland and Orkney in time to rescue them from oblivion.
The curious literary fragment, taken down phonetically by Low, who was
completely ignorant of the language, is plainly akin to the old
Scandinavian _Kæmpeviser_. The story is based on the _Sörlathattr_, one
of the scenes of which is laid in the island of Hoy. The main incidents
of the older poem are as follow:—Hedin, a prince of Serkland, had sworn
mutual brotherhood with Hogni, King of Denmark. Nothing occurred to
disturb their friendship until Hogni went on a war expedition. Hedin,
wandering in the woods, fell in with a sorceress, from whom he received
a magic philtre to enable him to win the love of Hilda, Hogni’s
daughter. The result was that he ran off with her in a splendid ship
belonging to Hogni, and made for Serkland. When Hogni came home he set
off in pursuit, and came up with them at the island of Hoy. There they
both landed with their men, and a furious battle commenced. Odin (who
enjoyed a good fight) cast a spell upon the combatants, so that they
were obliged to fight on without ceasing, until a Christian should come
who should have the hardihood to mingle in the fray, of which Hilda was
doomed to be all the time an agonised spectator. At last Olaf Tryggvi’s
son came to the Orkneys, and Ivar Liomi, one of his men who landed in
Hoy, went into the fight and broke the spell, killed Hedin and Hogni,
and bore off the prize.[212]
The story of the Shetland ballad is that Hiluge, a young nobleman at the
court of Norway, made love to the king’s daughter Hildina, and was
rejected by her, though her father supported his pretensions to her
hand. When the king and Hiluge were away at the wars, an Earl of Orkney
came to Norway, and found such favour with Hildina that she consented to
fly with him to the Orkneys. When the king and Hiluge returned and
discovered what had happened in their absence, they set sail, with a
great host, in pursuit of the fugitives. Hildina persuaded the earl to
go unarmed to meet her father, and ask for his pardon and peace. The
king was pleased to forgive him, and to grant his consent to their
union. But now Hiluge, by artfully working on the king’s mind, stirs up
his latent wrath against the earl, and induces him to revoke his
consent. The result is, that he decides that Hiluge and the earl shall
meet in single combat, and fight it out to the death of one or other.
Hiluge was victorious; and, not content with the death of his enemy, he
cut off his head and cast it into Hildina’s lap with taunting words.
Hildina answered his taunts boldly, and conceived a bloody revenge. But
she must now follow him to Norway, where he renewed his courtship. Ere
long she seemed to relent, and gave him her promise, but besought her
father to grant her this boon, that she herself should fill out the
first wine-cup at the bridal. Her request was granted. The guests came,
the feast was set, and Hildina filled up the wine-cups for them. The
wine was drugged, and they were all cast into a deep sleep, from which
nothing could awake them. Hildina now caused her father to be carried
forth, and set fire to the house. Hiluge, awaking in the midst of the
burning, cried out for mercy. Hildina replied that she would give him
the same mercy as he had given to her earl, and left him to perish in
the flames.
[Illustration: sword]
The dialect of the ballad resembles that which prevailed in Norway in
the middle of the 15th century, but presents several peculiarities of
local origin. The allusions in it to St. Magnus show that it cannot be
older than the 12th century in its present form, although the story of
Hedin and Hogni, on which it appears to have been founded, belongs to
the heathen time.
Looking at the number of Runic monuments in the island of Man,[213] and
the beauty of their workmanship, it certainly seems surprising that none
of these characteristic works of northern art should have survived in
the Orkneys.[214] Previous to the discovery of the inscriptions in
Maeshow, the only Rune-inscribed monument known within the bounds of the
ancient earldom was the stone in the churchyard of Crosskirk,
Northmavine, Shetland, described by Low, which reads (according to his
imperfect copy) “Bid pray for the soul of ——,” and consequently belongs
to the Christian time. That there were similar monuments in other
places, however, is shown by the recent discovery of a Runic fragment at
Aithsvoe, Cunningsburgh, Shetland.[215] It is a mere fragment of the
terminal part of a monumental inscription, incised on the edge of the
stone, consisting of the letters KVIMIK, which Professor Stephens reads
as the concluding part of the customary formula, “—— hewed me,” _i.e._
carved this stone.
But perhaps the most interesting and suggestive remains of the Northmen
are those that have been from time to time recovered from the soil which
they made their own—the relics which were actually possessed by the men
and women of the Saga time; the weapons they used, and the ornaments
they wore. In the grave-mounds of the heathen period, the warrior Viking
still lies as he was laid, with his shield at his shoulder, and his
sword ready to his hand.
The sword here figured, which is of a distinctively Scandinavian type,
was dug up in making the railway near Gorton, in Morayshire, and is now
in the museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. It is 35 inches
in length, of excellent workmanship, damascened along the centre of the
blade, and the pommel and recurved guard are beautifully inlaid with
silver. A number of fragments of shield-bosses and broken swords, from
Orkney graves, are also in the museum. The swords are chiefly of the
older form, with straight guard and massive square or triangular pommel.
In one of the interments at Westray the scabbard-tip here figured was
found, and in others the bones of the dog and horse were found along
with the human skeleton, indicating the continuance in Orkney of the
sepulchral rites which prevailed in the heathen time in Norway.
[Illustration: Scabbard-tip]
For at least a century and a half after the establishment of the Norse
earldom in Orkney and Shetland, the heathen Norsemen practised the
burial customs which they had brought with them from Norway. Sigurd,
Eystein’s son, the first Earl of Orkney, was buried in a cairn on
Ekkialsbakki, (and his grave-mound was known as Sigurd’s How
(_Siwardhoch_) in the 12th century,[216]) and Torf Einar caused his men
to rear a cairn over the remains of Halfdan Hálegg, the son of Harald
Harfagri, whom he offered to Odin in Rinansey.
A vivid picture of the ceremonies attending the burial of a Norse chief
of the 10th century is preserved in the narrative of an eye-witness, in
the work of an Arab geographer;[217] and all its details are amply
confirmed by the contents of the grave-mounds of the period. Ahmed Ibn
Fozlan, being in the country on the upper part of the Volga (then
occupied by the Norsemen), as ambassador from the Caliph Al Moktader
(A.D. 907-932), resolved to see for himself whether what he had heard of
their burial customs was true. A great chief among the Norsemen had just
died, and Ibn Fozlan describes, with curious minuteness of detail, the
strange things he witnessed on the occasion. He gives a most
characteristic picture of the drinking habits of the Northmen. “This
nation,” he says, “is much given to wine and drink, by day and night,
and it is not uncommon for one or another of them to die with beakers in
their hands. When a chieftain dies, his family ask his maids
(concubines) and men-servants, ‘Which of you will die with him?’ One of
them will say, ‘I,’ and by this promise he is bound, and cannot revoke
it. If he should desire to do so, he is not permitted.” It is mostly the
maids who are willing to be thus sacrificed, says Ibn Fozlan, and on
this occasion it was one of them who offered to die with her lord. She
was accordingly given in charge to the other servants, who were to
indulge her in every wish till the day of her sacrifice; and he adds,
that “every day she drank, sang, was lively and merry.” Meantime the
dead man had been laid in a temporary grave, and strong drink, fruits,
and musical instruments placed beside him, as if to relieve the tedium
of his confinement until the completion of the preparations for the
funeral rites. A splendid suit of clothing was prepared for him, his
ship was hauled up on the strand, and placed on four posts erected for
the purpose. A bed was prepared in the midst of the deck, with a
tent-like canopy over it, and covered with gold-embroidered cloth. In
the preparation of this bed there comes on the scene an old hag, “whom
they called the dead man’s angel.” It was she who took charge of the
making of the dead man’s clothing and all needful arrangements, and she
it was also who was to put the girl to death. “I saw her,” says Ibn
Fozlan; “she was sallow and stern.” While the “dead man’s angel” was
arranging the bed, the multitude were away at the temporary grave,
disinterring the corpse. They clothed him in the rich garments provided
for the occasion, and then bore him to the ship, where he was laid in
state under the canopy. “So they laid him on the mattress, and stayed
him up with pillows, then brought the strong drink, the fruits, and
odoriferous herbs, and set them by his side, placing bread, meat, and
onions also before him. Then came a man forward with a dog, hewed it
into two portions, and cast them into the ship. So brought they all the
dead man’s weapons and laid them by his side. Then they led forth two
horses, made them run till they were covered with sweat, then hewed them
in pieces with the sword, and cast the flesh into the ship. So also they
brought forth two oxen, hewed them in pieces, and cast them into the
ship. Next they came with a cock and hen, slew them, and cast them also
into the ship.” In the meantime the woman who was to die kept going
backwards and forwards in and out of the tent. At last they led her away
to an object which they had made in the form of the framework of a
door—two posts, with a cross piece on the top, or, as is suggested, a
substitute for a trilithon. “She set her feet on the palms of men’s
hands, stepped up on the frame, and said some words in their tongue,
after which they made her stand down. Then they lifted her up a second
and third time, and she went through the same ceremony. Now they handed
her a hen, the head of which she cut off and cast away, but the body
they cast into the ship. I asked my interpreter what it was that the
woman had said. He answered, she said the first time, ‘Lo! I see my
father and my mother;’ the second time, ‘Lo! here I see seated all my
deceased relations;’ the third time, ‘Lo! here I see my master seated in
paradise—paradise, beautiful and green, my master surrounded by his men
and his menials; he calls for me; bring me to him.’ Thereupon they
conveyed her to the ship. She took the bracelets from her arms, and gave
them to the crone whom they called ‘the dead man’s angel;’ and the rings
from her ankles, and gave them to the two young girls who had attended
her, and who were ‘the dead man’s angel’s daughters.’ Then came men with
shields and staves, and brought her a beaker of strong drink. She sang a
song, and drank it out. Folk said to me that she thereby took leave of
her friends. They reached her a second beaker. She took it, and sang a
long time. The old hag bade her hasten to empty it, and go into the tent
where her dead master was. I watched her; she was out of herself. In
attempting to go into the tent she stuck by the head in the space
between the tent and the ship. The old hag caught hold of her by the
head and dragged her in with her, while the men commenced to beat their
shields with the staves, that her shrieks might not be heard, and so
frighten other girls, and make them unwilling to die with their lords.”
The sequel is too horrible to be given as it stands in the old Arab’s
plain-spoken narrative. A cord was finally wound round her neck, at the
ends of which two men pulled, while the “dead man’s angel” stabbed her
to the heart with a broad-bladed knife. Then the relatives of the dead
man set fire to the pile. A storm that was just beginning to rage fanned
the flames, and drove them aloft to a great height. A Norseman who was
standing by said to Ibn Fozlan “You Arabs are fools. You take the man
whom you most have loved and honoured, and put him down into the earth,
where vermin and worms devour him. We, on the contrary, burn him up in a
twinkling, and he goes straight to paradise.” After the pile was
consumed to ashes they raised a great-mound over the spot, and set up on
it a pillar made of a tree-trunk, on which they carved the names of the
dead man and of their king.
The burial usages, however, were not always the same. Great men were
buried with the pomp and ceremony befitting their rank, while meaner men
were simply reduced to ashes and inhumed in a clay urn, or in a stone
pot, not unfrequently in the stone cooking-kettle that had served them
when in life.[218] This burial in stone urns, or in cooking vessels of
steatite, is of common occurrence in the grave-mounds of the Viking
period in Norway, and is also not unfrequently found in Orkney and
Shetland.
[Illustration: Bronze brooch]
Associated with such burials in Norway there are occasionally found the
peculiar brooches which are characteristic of the later Pagan time.[219]
Although they occur perhaps more frequently with unburnt burials, they
link on with the custom of cremation. Thus they afford a valuable index
to the chronology of these remains in Scotland, because the Pagan period
of the Scandinavian occupation may be said to be limited to the time
between the expedition of Harald Harfagri and the battle of Clontarf
(872-1014). These brooches are found in Scandinavian graves of this
period, in Scotland, England, Ireland, Normandy, Russia, and Iceland—in
short, wherever the heathen Vikings effected a settlement. In Scotland
they have been found in various places—in Sutherland, in Caithness, in
Orkney, in the Hebrides, and even in remote St. Kilda. The specimen here
figured, which is now in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland is one of a pair found in a stone cist on a mound which covered
the remains of a “Pictish Tower” at Castletown in Caithness.[220] They
are usually found in pairs, one near each shoulder of the skeleton. This
corresponds with the statement of an ancient Arab writer, that the Norse
women used to wear such brooches in pairs on their breasts.[221]
[Illustration: Comb]
The most remarkable discovery of these characteristic Scandinavian
interments that has hitherto occurred in Scotland was made in the island
of Westray, Orkney, in 1849, by Mr. William Rendall.[222] A number of
graves were found in the sandy links near Pierowall (the Hofn of the
Saga), in some of which were swords and shield-bosses, indicating that
the skeletons were those of men. But in one a pair of tortoise or
shell-shaped brooches and a trefoil ornament were the only objects found
with the skeleton. In another, a pair of these brooches were found on
the breast, and a pair of combs, of the form here figured, lay on either
side of the neck, apparently as they had fallen out of the hair. In a
third, a pair of brooches, a pair of combs, and a bronze pin, were
found. It appears from these examples that the brooches undoubtedly
belonged to women, and that the warriors were usually buried with sword
and shield and “panoply of war;” and, as we read in Ibn Fozlan’s
account, the dog and the horse of the deceased appear also to have been
sacrificed at the grave, and interred with him, in Orkney as well as on
the banks of the Volga.
But we meet with few memorials of the daily life of the Norsemen beyond
those which have been buried with them in the early period of their
occupation of the Islands. Christianity abolished the custom of burying
such relics with the dead, and for the remains of the Christian period
we must look to the yet unexcavated sites of the _skális_ and homesteads
of which we read in the Saga. It would be equally interesting to the
archæologist, and instructive to the historian, to be able to compare
the relics from such sites as those of Kolbein Hruga’s castle in Weir,
the castle of which Blán was the keeper in Damsey, or the _skáli_ of
Swein Asleifson at Langskail in Gairsay, with the extensive collections
obtained in recent years from the “Pictish Towers” of Orkney, which have
given us such suggestive glimpses of the domestic life of the period
preceding the Norse occupation.
It gives a curious feeling of reality to the ancient legends when we can
thus handle the blades and bucklers of which we read such stirring
stories, and remember that it was because the Norse sword was then the
longest, and the Norse arm the strongest, that we now read the earliest
chapters of the history of northern Scotland in the guise of an Iceland
Saga.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.
A.D.
795. First appearance of the Norse Vikings in the Western Seas. They
plunder the Isle of Rachrin.
798. Invasion of the Isle of Man by the Norsemen. Inispatrick burned.
802. I Columbkill burned by the Norsemen.
806. I Columbkill again plundered by the Norsemen, and sixty-eight men
of the monastery slain.
807. First invasion of the mainland of Ireland by the Norsemen.
815. Turgesius (Thorkel?), chief of the invading Northmen, establishes
himself as king of the foreigners in Ireland, making Armagh the
capital of the kingdom.
824. Bangor, in the north of Ireland, the seat of the monastery of St.
Comhgall, burned, and the bishop and clergy slain by the Northmen.
843. Union of the Picts and Scots under Kenneth M’Alpin, founder of the
Scottish dynasty.
853. Arrival of Olaf the White in Ireland. He seizes Dublin, establishes
himself there as king, makes an expedition to Scotland, and
besieges and takes Dumbarton.
872. Harald Harfagri becomes sole King of Norway; makes an expedition
against the western Vikings, who have established their viking
station in Orkney, drives them from their haunts, and subdues
Shetland, Orkney, the Hebrides, and Man. He gives Orkney and
Shetland, as an earldom of Norway, to Rögnvald, Earl of Mœri,
father of Hrólf (Rollo), the conqueror of Normandy.
875. Earl Sigurd Eysteinson, who had received the earldom of Orkney from
his brother Rögnvald, Earl of Mœri, forms an alliance with
Thorstein the Red, son of Olaf the White, King of Dublin. They
invade the northern mainland of Scotland, and subdue Caithness and
Sutherland as far as Ekkialsbakki. Thorstein the Red is shortly
afterwards killed in Caithness; and Earl Sigurd dies, and is
buried under a cairn at Ekkialsbakki.
893. Einar (Torf Einar) slays Halfdan Hálegg, one of the sons of Harald
Harfagri, and buries him under a cairn in North Ronaldsay.
933. Death of Harald Harfagri. Eirik Bloodyaxe, his son, becomes King of
Norway. About this time the name “Scotia” and “Scotland,”
previously applied to Ireland, is first given to North Britain,
which had formerly been called Caledonia, Pictavia, or Alban.
950. Fall of King Eirik Bloodyaxe, and of Arnkell and Erlend, sons of
Torf Einar, and Earls of Orkney, in battle in England.
963. Thorfinn Hausakliuf Earl of Orkney. The sons of Eirik Bloodyaxe
arrive in Orkney.
980. Sigurd Hlödverson becomes Earl of Orkney.
986. I Columbkill plundered by the Norsemen, and the abbot and fifteen
of the clerics slain.
992. Olaf Tryggvi’s son, while on a roving expedition, is baptized by a
hermit in the Scilly Isles.
995. Olaf Tryggvi’s son becomes King of Norway, and immediately
establishes Christianity by the strong hand. Returning from a
western cruise, on his way to Norway he finds Earl Sigurd
Hlödverson by chance at Osmondwall in the Orkneys, and obliges him
to profess Christianity, and to promise to establish the true
faith in the Orkneys.
1000. Fall of King Olaf Tryggvi’s son at the battle of Swalder in
Norway.
1014. Battle of Clontarf, near Dublin, in which Sigurd Hlödverson, Earl
of Orkney, fell. Thorfinn, his son, is made Earl of Caithness and
Sutherland by Malcolm II., King of Scots, his maternal
grandfather.
1015. Olaf Haraldson (afterwards St. Olaf) becomes King of Norway.
1018. Battle of Ulfreksfiord, in which Earl Einar is vanquished by
Eyvind Urarhorn and King Conchobhar.
1019. Einar (Wrymouth), Earl of Orkney, slain by Thorkel Fóstri at
Sandwick, in Deerness, Orkney.
1020. The Earls Thorfinn and Brúsi acknowledge the suzerainty of King
Olaf the Holy over the Orkneys.
1028. Olaf the Holy driven from Norway by Canute the Great, King of
England and Denmark.
1030. Fall of King Olaf the Holy at the battle of Stiklestad.
1034. Death of Malcolm II., King of Scots. According to the Saga, “Kali
Hundason takes the kingdom,” and according to the Scottish
historians Duncan I. succeeds to the throne in Scotland. Mission
of Einar Thambarskelfir and Kalf Arneson to Russia to offer their
aid to Magnus, son of King Olaf the Holy, to obtain the throne of
Norway.
1035. Magnus the Good, son of Olaf Haraldson (the Holy), succeeds to the
throne of Norway, and Rögnvald Brusison becomes Earl of Orkney.
1039. Duncan I., King of Scots, slain by Macbeth, who becomes king.
1047. Magnus the Good dies in Denmark, and is succeeded by Harald
Sigurdson, surnamed Hardradi.
1050. Einar Thambarskelfir and the sons of Eindridi slain in Norway by
Harald Hardradi.
1054. Macbeth defeated by Malcolm (Canmore), son of Duncan.
1057. Malcolm Canmore crowned at Scone.
1064. Death of Thorfinn Sigurdson, Earl of Caithness and Orkney. He is
succeeded by his sons Paul and Erlend, and his widow, Ingibiorg
(according to the Saga) is married to Malcolm Canmore.
1066. Fall of King Harald Sigurdson (Hardradi) at the battle of Stamford
Bridge, near York, in which Harald Godwinson was victor. His son
Olaf (Kyrre) and the Orkney Earls, Paul and Erlend, who were with
him in the battle, receive peace from the conqueror and liberty to
return to Orkney. Olaf Kyrre succeeds to the throne of Norway.
1067. Malcolm Canmore marries Margaret, sister of Edgar Atheling.
1093. Malcolm Canmore killed at Alnwick. Death of King Olaf Kyrre, and
accession of Magnus Barelegs to the throne of Norway. He makes an
expedition to the west, ravages the Scottish coasts, and assists
Muirceartach in the capture of Dublin.
1098. King Magnus makes a second expedition to the west, seizes the
Earls of Orkney, Paul and Erlend, and sends them both to Norway
(where they died); places his own son, Sigurd, over the Orkneys;
and overruns the Hebrides, Kintyre, and Man.
1103. Magnus, King of Norway, slain in Ireland. His son, Sigurd, goes
from Orkney to Norway, and succeeds to the kingdom jointly with
his brothers Eystein and Olaf. Magnus Erlendson (St. Magnus), and
Hakon, Paul’s son, succeed to the earldom of Orkney.
1106. Accession of Alexander I. to the throne of Scotland.
1107. King Sigurd (Magnusson) sets out on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem,
which occupies him for three years. He is thenceforth called
Sigurd, the Jorsala-farer.
1115. Magnus Erlendson (St. Magnus) slain in Egilsey by his cousin
Hakon, Paul’s son.
1124. Death of Alexander I., and accession of David I., King of Scots.
1130. Death of King Sigurd, the Jorsala-farer, and accession to the
throne of Norway of King Harald Gilli, an illegitimate son of King
Magnus Barelegs, from the Hebrides.
1136. Harald Gilli slain by Sigurd Slembidiakn. Rögnvald (Kali) Kolson
obtains the earldom of Orkney from Earl Páll, son of Hakon, who is
carried off to Athole by Swein Asleifson.
1139. Death of Sigurd Slembidiakn. Visit of Bishop John of Athole to
Orkney. Harald Maddadson, son of Maddad, Earl of Athole, shares
the earldom of Caithness and Orkney with Earl Rögnvald (Kali).
1151. Earl Rögnvald and Erling Skakki leave Norway to prepare for their
pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The Jorsala-farers winter in Orkney.
1152. Earl Rögnvald leaves the Orkneys on his pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
King Eystein comes to Orkney from Norway, and seizing Earl Harald
Maddadson at Thurso obtains from him an acknowledgment of his
suzerainty over the Orkneys.
1153. Death of David I., King of Scotland, and accession of Malcolm the
Maiden.
1155. Earl Rögnvald returns from Palestine. Erlend Ungi receives
Rögnvald’s mother, Margaret, in marriage, and is shortly
afterwards slain by the Earls Rögnvald and Harald.
1158. Earl Rögnvald slain at Calder in Caithness by Thorbiörn Klerk.
Earl Harald becomes sole ruler of Caithness and Orkney.
1165. Malcolm the Maiden dies at Jedburgh, and is succeeded by King
William the Lion.
1168. Death of William the Old, first Bishop of Orkney.
1176. Magnus Erlingson becomes King of Norway. Harald Ungi (son of Eirik
Slagbrellir by a daughter of Earl Rögnvald) receives from King
Magnus the title of earl and half of the Orkneys, and from King
William the Lion half of Caithness, and is subsequently defeated
and slain in Caithness by Earl Harald Maddadson.
1184. Magnus Erlingson, King of Norway, slain by King Sverrir, who
succeeds him.
1188. Death of William II., Bishop of Orkney.
1192. Canonisation of Rögnvald (Kali), Earl of Orkney, who was killed by
Thorbiörn Klerk.
1194. The Eyjarskeggiar collect forces in Orkney, and attempt to place
Sigurd, son of Magnus Erlingson, on the throne of Norway, but are
defeated, and nearly all slain, by King Sverrir at Floruvogr, near
Bergen.
1195. Earl Harald Maddadson, compromised by this expedition, goes to
Norway with Bishop Bjarni, lays his head at the king’s feet,
saying that he is now an old man, and entirely in the king’s
power. He is pardoned by King Sverrir, but on condition of
forfeiting to the crown of Norway the whole of Shetland, which
does not again form part of the domain of the Norwegian Earls of
Orkney till 1379.
1202. King William the Lion marches north to Eysteinsdal on the borders
of Caithness, with a great army, to take revenge for the
mutilation of Bishop John, and the expulsion of the deputies of
Rögnvald Gudrodson from Caithness by Earl Harald. Harald purchases
peace by a payment of 2000 marks.
1206. Death of Earl Harald Maddadson. He is succeeded by his surviving
sons, John and David. Thorfinn, his eldest son, died in Roxburgh
Castle, where he was confined as a hostage, and had been mutilated
by King William the Lion.
1214. Death of King William the Lion, and accession of Alexander II. to
the throne of Scotland. Death of David, son of Harald Maddadson.
His surviving brother John becomes sole Earl of Orkney and
Caithness.
1222. Burning of Bishop Adam at Halkirk in Caithness, by the enraged
peasantry. The King of Scots caused the hands and feet to be hewed
from a number of those who were present at the burning, and many
of them died in consequence.
1223. Death of Bishop Bjarni, and consecration of Jofreyr to the see of
the Orkneys.
1231. Earl John slain at Thurso. The line of the ancient Norwegian Earls
of Orkney having become extinct by his death, King Alexander II.
creates Magnus, son of Gilbride, Earl of Angus, Earl of Caithness,
and separating Sutherland into another earldom, gives it to
William, son of Hugh Freskyn.
1239. Death of Magnus, Earl of Caithness and Orkney.
1243. Death of Gilbert, Bishop of Caithness.
1247. Death of Jofreyr, Bishop of Orkney.
1249. Death of Alexander II., King of Scots, at Kerrera, Argyllshire.
1256. Death of Gilbride II., Earl of Orkney.
1263. Expedition of King Hakon Hakonson, of Norway, to Scotland; he is
defeated at Largs, and dies at Kirkwall.
1266. Cession of the Hebrides and Man to Scotland by treaty between
Magnus IV., King of Norway, and Alexander III., King of Scotland.
1273. Death of Magnus, son of Gilbride, Earl of Orkney.
1276. Magnus, son of Magnus, made Earl of Orkney by King Magnus
Hakonson, at Tunsberg.
1281. Marriage of King Eirik Magnusson to Margaret, daughter of King
Alexander II. of Scotland.
1283. Death of Margaret, Queen of Norway.
1284. Margaret, infant daughter of Eirik, King of Norway, recognised as
heiress to the Scottish throne. Death of Magnus Magnusson, Earl of
Orkney.
1286. Death of King Alexander III. of Scotland.
1289. Betrothal of the Princess Margaret, the Maiden of Norway, to
Prince Edward of England.
1290. Death of Margaret, the Maiden of Norway, off the coast of Orkney,
on her way to Scotland.
1293. Marriage of King Eirik Magnusson of Norway to Isabella, daughter
of Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick.
1300. Appearance at Bergen of the false Margaret, a German woman who
gave herself out as the “Maiden of Norway,” daughter of King Eirik
and Queen Margaret, stating that she had been “sold” by Ingibiorg
Erlingsdatter, and spirited away by parties who had an interest in
her disappearance.
1301. The false Margaret is burnt as an impostor at Nordness in Bergen,
and her husband beheaded.
1310. Death of John, Earl of Orkney.
1312. Treaty of Perth (1266) renewed at Inverness.
1314. Battle of Bannockburn.
1333. Battle of Halidon Hill. Death of Malise, Earl of Stratherne.
1334. Forfeiture of the earldom of Stratherne, and marriage of Isabella,
daughter of Malise, Earl of Stratherne, Caithness and Orkney, to
William, Earl of Ross. Malise goes to Norway.
1353. Erngisl Suneson, son-in-law of Malise, Earl of Stratherne, made
Earl of Orkney.
1375. King Hakon grants the earldom of Orkney for one year to Alexander
de Ard, who resigns all his lands in Caithness to King Robert II.
1379. Henry St. Clair made Earl of Orkney and Shetland by King Hakon
Magnusson, at Marstrand.
1382. Bishop William of Orkney slain.
1389. Malise Sperra slain near Scalloway by Henry, Earl of Orkney.
1392. Death of Erngisl Suneson.
1397. Union Treaty of Calmar, by which Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, were
made one kingdom.
1400 (_circa_). Death of Earl Henry St. Clair.
1418 (_circa_). Death of Earl Henry (II.) St. Clair.
1420. Bishop Thomas Tulloch made commissioner in the Orkneys for the
King of Norway.
1423. David Menzies of Wemyss made commissioner in the Orkneys for the
King of Norway.
1434. William St. Clair made Earl of Orkney.
1468. Contract of marriage between King James III. of Scotland and
Margaret, Princess of Denmark, and impignoration of the islands of
Orkney and Shetland for the Princess’s dowry.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GENEALOGICAL TABLES.
I. THE NORSE LINE OF THE EARLS OF ORKNEY.
IVAR UPPLENDINGAJARL.
Eystein Glumra.
Rögnvald, Earl of Mœri, d. 890.
Gave the earldom of Orkney to his brother. Sigurd, 1st Earl of Mœri,
d. 874.
Guttorm, Earl of Orkney, d. 875.
Ivar, d. 870.
Thórir the Silent, m. daughter of Harald Harfagri.
Hrólf, conqueror of Normandy, d. 931. Hallad, Earl of Orkney.
Hrollaug.
Torf Einar, Earl of Orkney, d. circa 910.
William, Earl of Normandy, d. 942.
Arnkell, Earl of Orkney, d. 950. Erlend, Earl of Orkney,
d. 950. Thorfinn Hausakliuf, Earl of Orkney, d. circa
963; m. Grelauga, daughter of Duncan, Earl of Duncansbay.
Richard, Earl of Normandy, d. 1002.
Richard II., Earl of Normandy, d. 1026. Emma, m. (1) King Ethelred,
(2) King Canute.
(1) Edward, K. of England, d. 1066.
(2) Hardicanute, K. of England and Denmark, d. 1042.
Arnfinn, Earl of Orkney, m. Ragnhild, daughter of Eirik Bloodyaxe.
Havard, Earl of Orkney, m. Ragnhild. Liot, Earl of Orkney, m.
Ragnhild.
Skuli.
Hlödver, Earl of Orkney, d. circa 980.
Sigurd the Stout, slain at Clontarf, 1014; m. (1) unknown, (2)
daughter of Malcolm II., King of Scots.
Richard III., Earl of Normandy, d. 1028. Robert le Diable, d. 1035.
William, the Conqueror of England, d. 1087.
(1) Hundi, d. before 1014.
Sumarlidi, Earl of Orkney, d. circa 1015. Brúsi, Earl of Orkney, d.
1031.
Einar, Earl of Orkney, d. 1026.
(2) Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney, d. 1064; m. Ingibiorg, daughter of
Earl Finn Arnason.
Rögnvald, Earl of Orkney, d. 1046.
THORFINN, EARL, m. Ingibiorg Arnason.
Paul, Earl of Orkney, d. 1098; m. daughter of Hakon Ivarsson.
Erlend, Earl of Orkney, d. 1098; m. Thora, daughter of Sumarlidi
Ospakson.
Hakon, Earl of Orkney, d. circa 1122. Thora.
Herbiörg.
Ragnhild.
Erling, slain in Ireland.
Gunhild, m. Kol, Kali’s son.
Magnus, Earl of Orkney, slain 1115, canonised 1135.
Cecelia, m. Isak.
Ingibiorg Ragna, m. Sigurd of Westness. Sigrid.
Herborg, m. Kolbein Hruga.
Bjarni, Bishop of Orkney.
Rögnvald (Kali Kolson), Earl of Orkney, d. 1158, canonised 1192.
Ingirid, m. Jon Pétrsson.
Harald Slettmali, d. circa 1127.
Ingibiorg, m. Olaf, King of the Sudreyar.
Margaret, m. (1) Maddad, Earl of Athole; (2) Erlend Ungi
Paul, Earl of Orkney, carried off to Athole by Swein Asleifson.
Ingigerd, m. Eirik Slagbrellir.
Harald Ungi, Earl of Orkney, d. circa 1198.
Magnus Mangi, d. 1184.
Rögnvald.
Ingibiorg.
Elin.
Ragnhild, m. (1) Lifolf Skalli, (2) Gunni Andreson.
Snaekoll Gunnison.
Harald Maddadson, made Earl of Orkney 1139; d. 1206; m.
(1) Afreka, sister of Duncan, Earl of Fife; (2) Gormlath, daughter
of
Malcolm MacHeth.
Gudröd, King of Man.
Rögnvald Gudrodson, d. 1229.
Ragnhild, m. Sumarlid of Argyle and the Isles.
Reginald, Dugald, Angus.
(2.) Henry, Earl of Ross.
Hakon.
Helena.
Margaret.
(1.) Thorfinn, d. in Roxburgh Castle 1201.
David, Earl of Orkney, d. 1214.
John, Earl of Orkney, d. 1231, leaving no male issue.
Gunhild.
Herborg.
Langlif.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
II. THE ANGUS LINE OF THE EARLS OF ORKNEY.
GILBRIDE, Earl of Angus, married a sister or daughter of John, Earl
of Orkney, son of Harald Maddadson.
|
+——––––––—————-+————––––––––––––———-+
| |
Magnus II., Earl of Orkney Gilbride I., Earl of
and Caithness, d. 1239. Orkney and Caithness.
|
Gilbride II., Earl of Orkney
and Caithness, d. 1256.
|
+———————–+——————–––————+
| |
Magnus III., Earl of Orkney Matilda.
and Caithness, d. 1275.
|
+——––––——–—-+—––––––––———————+
| |
Magnus IV., Earl of Orkney John, Earl of Orkney
and Caithness, d. 1284. and Caithness, d. circa 1310.
|
Magnus V., Earl of Orkney and
Caithness, m. Katharina, d.
circa 1320.
|
+——————————––––––––––––——-+——–––––––———+
| |
Margaret, m. Simon Fraser, Isabella (?) m. Malise,
who fell at Halidon Hill, 1333. Earl of Stratherne, who fell
at Halidon Hill, 1333.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
III. THE STRATHERNE LINE OF THE EARLS OF ORKNEY.
MALISE, Earl of Stratherne, m. Isabella (?),
daughter of Magnus, Earl of Orkney.
|
+—————————–––––––––––––——––––—————+
| |
Isabella (?) m. to Sir Malise, Earl of Stratherne,
William St. Clair of Roslin. Caithness, and Orkney, m.
(1) Johanna, daughter of Sir
John Menteith; (2) Marjory,
daughter of Hugh, Earl of
Ross; d. circa 1350.
|
+———–––––––––+—––———–––––———+———–––––——+——–––––-+—————-+
| | | | |
Matilda, m. to | Agnetta, m. to Arngils or | Elisabeth,
m. to
Wayland (?), de Ard. | Erngisl Suneson, who was | Henry St.
Clair,
| | made Earl of Orkney 1353. | Earl of
Orkney.
| | |
| Isabella, m. to William, (?) m. to Guttorm Sperra.
| Earl of Ross, in 1334. |
| Malise Sperra, slain at
Scalloway
Alexander de Ard. by Earl Henry St. Clair,
1389.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
IV. THE ST. CLAIR LINE OF THE EARLS OF ORKNEY.
WILLIAM ST. CLAIR of Roslin _m._ Isabella (?),
daughter of Malise, Earl of Stratherne.
_______________________________|____________
| |
David. Henry, made Earl of Orkney 1379; _m._
(1)
Elisabeth, daughter of Malise
(the younger),
Earl of Stratherne, Caithness,
and Orkney;
(2) Janet, daughter of Walter
Haliburton
of Dirleton; and _d. circa_
1400.
_________________________________________________|____________________
| | |
|
Margaret, m. to | Henry, Earl of Orkney, _m._ Egidia
Douglas, John.
James of Cragy. | daughter of Lord William Douglas; _d._
| _circa_ 1418. |
| |
Elisabeth, _m._ to |
John de Drummond. |
|
William, Earl of Orkney, exchanged
his
rights to the Earldom of Orkney
for the
lands of Ravenscraig, 1471.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration: HJALTLAND.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration: ORKNEYAR.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ORKNEYINGA SAGA.
-------
CHAPTER I.
OF THE EARLS.
It is said that the Orkney Islands were colonised in the days of Harald
the Fairhaired,[223] but previously they were a station for
Vikings.[224]
The first Earl of the Orkneys was called Sigurd. He was the son of
Eystein Glumra (the loud-talking), and brother of Rögnvald, Earl of
Moeri.[225]
After Sigurd his son Guttorm ruled one year.
Torf-Einar,[226] son of Earl Rögnvald, succeeded him. He was a man of
great power, and was Earl a long time. Hálfdán Hálegg[227] (high-legs)
made an expedition against Torf-Einar, and drove him from the Orkneys.
Einar returned, and slew Hálfdán in Rinansey.[228] Thereupon King Harald
brought an army over to the Orkneys. Then Einar fled to Scotland. King
Harald made the Orkneymen swear oaths of fealty to him for themselves
and all their possessions. The Earl and King Harald were afterwards
reconciled. He became the King’s man, and held the land as a fief from
him. He had, however, no tribute to pay, as there was much predatory
warfare then in the islands; but he paid the king sixty marks of
gold[229] (once for all). After this, King Harald made a raid on
Scotland, as is told in the Glumdrapa.[230]
After Torf-Einar, Arnkell, Erlend, and Thorfinn Hausakliuf
(skull-splitter), his sons, succeeded him. In their days Eirik
Blódöx[231] (bloody axe) came over from Norway, and the Earls were his
vassals. Arnkell and Erlend fell in battle,[232] but Thorfinn governed
the land and became an old man. His sons were Arnfid, Hávard, Lödver,
Ljót, and Skúli; their mother was Grélaug, daughter of Earl Dungad
(Duncan) in Caithness.[233] Her mother was Gróa, daughter of Thorstein
the Red.
In the days of Earl Thorfinn the sons of Eirik Blódöx arrived from
Norway, when they had fled from Earl Hákon, and they did many deeds of
violence in the islands. Earl Thorfinn died on a sickbed, and his sons,
of whom there are extensive histories, succeeded him. Lödver survived
his brothers, and ruled the land alone. His son was Earl Sigurd the
Stout; he was a powerful man, and a great warrior.
In his days Olaf, Tryggvi’s son, returning from a viking expedition to
the west, came to the Orkneys with his men, and seized Earl Sigurd in
Rörvág,[234] as he lay there with a single ship. King Olaf offered the
Earl to ransom his life on condition that he should embrace the true
faith and be baptized; that he should become his man, and proclaim
Christianity over all the Orkneys. He took his son Hundi or Hvelp
(whelp) as a hostage, and left the Orkneys for Norway, where he became
King; and Hundi stayed with him some years, and died there.
After that Earl Sigurd paid no allegiance to King Olaf. He married the
daughter of Malcolm, King of Scots,[235] and their son was Earl
Thorfinn; his elder sons [by a former marriage] were Sumarlidi, Brúsi,
and Einar.
Five years after the death of King Olaf, Tryggvi’s son,[236] Earl Sigurd
went to Ireland. He set his elder sons over his domains, and sent
Thorfinn to the King of Scots, his mother’s father. While on this
expedition Sigurd was killed in Brian’s battle;[237] and as soon as the
news came to the Orkneys his sons Sumarlidi, Brúsi, and Einar, were
accepted as Earls, and they divided the islands among them, each taking
one third.
Thorfinn was five winters old when their father fell. When the King of
Scots heard of the Earl’s death he bestowed Caithness and Sutherland
upon his grandson, with the title of Earl, and gave him men to rule the
domain along with him. Earl Thorfinn was very precocious in the maturity
of all his powers. He was of large stature and strong, but ungainly. As
he grew up it soon became apparent that he was avaricious, harsh, and
cruel, yet a very clever man.
The brothers Einar and Brúsi were different in their dispositions. Brúsi
was clever and fond of company, eloquent and beloved. Einar was stubborn
and taciturn, disagreeable and avaricious, yet a great warrior.
Sumarlidi was like Brúsi in his disposition. He was the eldest, and the
most short-lived of the brothers. He died on a sickbed.
After his death Thorfinn demanded his share of [Sumarlidi’s portion of]
the Orkneys, although he already had Caithness and Sutherland which had
belonged to his father Sigurd. This Einar considered to be much more
than a third of the Orkneys, and he would not give up any part of them
to Thorfinn. Brúsi, however, consented to give up his share [of the
portion belonging to Sumarlidi], saying that he did not covet more of
the land than his own proper third. Then Einar took possession of two
shares of the islands. He became then a powerful man, and had a large
number of retainers. In the summer he made war expeditions, calling out
great levies of his men from their homes; but these expeditions were not
always successful, and the Bœndr[238] began to grow tired of them, but
the Earl exacted all his services with violence, and did not suffer any
one to speak against them. He was indeed a man of the greatest violence.
Then there arose great scarcity in the islands on account of the labour
and large expense to which the Bœndr were thus subjected. However, in
the parts belonging to Brúsi there were good seasons and easy life, and
he was greatly liked by the Bœndr.
CHAPTER II
OF AMUNDI AND THORKEL.
THERE was a powerful and wealthy man, by name Amundi, who lived in
Hrossey,[239] at Sandvik on Laufandaness. He had a son, by name Thorkel,
who was the most accomplished man in all the Orkneys.
One spring the Earl called out the Bœndr as usual, but they murmured
greatly, and brought their grievances before Amundi, and asked him to
say a good word for them to the Earl. He replied that the Earl was not
disposed to listen to advice, and it would be of no avail to ask him to
do this, as he and the Earl were such good friends; he further said
that, from what he knew of his own temper and that of the Earl, there
was great danger that they might become enemies, and he would have
nothing to do with the matter. Then they asked Thorkel, and he was very
reluctant, although at last he yielded to their solicitations, but
Amundi thought he had been too rash to promise.
When the Earl held a meeting (Thing)[240] Thorkel spoke on behalf of the
Bœndr. He begged the Earl to spare the people, and told him of their
distress. The Earl answered blandly, and said he would give great weight
to Thorkel’s words. “I had intended,” he said, “to take out six ships,
but now I shall not take more than three; but thou, Thorkel, do not ask
this of me a second time.”
The Bœndr were very grateful to Thorkel for his assistance, and the Earl
made an expedition during the summer, and again in the autumn.
Next spring the Earl again called out his men, and held a meeting with
the Bœndr. Thorkel spoke again on their behalf, and begged the Earl to
spare them. The Earl became wroth, and said that for his speech the lot
of the Bœndr should be far worse than before. Then he became so mad with
rage, that he said that one or other of them should not leave the
meeting unhurt, and immediately dissolved the meeting.
When Amundi heard what Thorkel and the Earl had said to each other, he
bade his son go abroad, and Thorkel went to Earl Thorfinn in Caithness.
He stayed there a long time, and became foster-father to the Earl, who
was still young. From that time he was called Thorkel Fóstri, and became
a man of great repute. Other men of note and influence fled from the
Orkneys on account of Earl Einar’s violence; some to Earl Thorfinn, some
to Norway, and some to other countries.
When Earl Thorfinn came to man’s estate, he sent to his brother Einar,
and demanded from him what he considered his share of the Orkneys. Einar
was not inclined to divide his possessions: so, when Earl Thorfinn heard
this, he called out men from Caithness, and set out for the Orkneys.
When Earl Einar had news of this, he collected an army, with the intent
to defend his possessions. Earl Brúsi also collected an army, and went
to meet them, and tried to reconcile them; and peace was made on
condition that Thorfinn should have one-third of the Orkneys as his own
proper share.
Then Brúsi and Einar joined their portions, on the footing that the
latter should rule them and defend them for both, and that he who
survived the other should inherit his portion. But this compact was
thought unfair, as Brúsi had a son, by name Rögnvald, and Einar had no
son. Thorfinn appointed his own deputies to manage his possessions in
the islands, but he himself lived for the most part in Caithness.
In the summer Einar went on expeditions to Ireland, Scotland, and
Bretland (Wales). One summer, when ravaging Ireland, he fought in
Ulfreksfiord[241] with Konufögr,[242] an Irish king, and was defeated,
with a heavy loss of men. The next summer Eyvind Urarhorn[243] (bull’s
horn) came from Ireland on his way to Norway, and being overtaken by a
violent gale, he turned his ships into Asmundarvag,[244] and lay there
for a while. When Earl Einar heard this, he went thither with many men,
seized Eyvind, and caused him to be killed, but gave quarter to most of
his followers. They went to Norway in the autumn, and when they met King
Olaf,[245] they told him of Eyvind’s murder. He said little about it,
but it was afterwards found that he considered this a great loss and a
serious offence against himself, though he never said much about things
with which he was displeased.
Earl Thorfinn sent Thorkel Fóstri to collect his revenues, but Earl
Einar regarded it as chiefly owing to Thorkel that Earl Thorfinn had
come into [his possessions in] the Islands. Thorkel left the islands
suddenly, and went to Ness (Caithness). He told Earl Thorfinn that he
had become aware that Earl Einar had intended to kill him, if his
relatives and friends had not given him warning. “And now,” he added, “I
will avoid the risk of having such a meeting with the Earl as shall
bring matters to a crisis between us, and I will go farther away, where
his power does not reach me.”
Thorfinn persuaded him to go to King Olaf, in Norway, and spend the
winter with him in great friendship; “for you will,” he said, “be highly
esteemed wherever you come among noble men; but I know your temper and
that of the Earl to be such that you will not long refrain from
hostilities.”
Thorkel then prepared for his departure, and in the autumn he went to
Norway to visit King Olaf, and spent the winter with him in great
friendship. The King often sought Thorkel’s advice, because he
considered him a wise man and a weighty counsellor, and such was the
truth. In telling of the Earls, the King found that he was very partial,
a great friend of Thorfinn, and an enemy of Earl Einar. Early in the
spring the King sent a ship with a message to Earl Thorfinn, asking him
to come and see him; and the Earl did not put off the journey, for
protestations of friendship had accompanied the message.
CHAPTER III
THORKEL SLAYS EARL EINAR.
THORFINN went east to King Olaf in Norway, where he was well received,
and spent the summer there; and when he prepared to go westward again,
King Olaf gave him a large and excellent war-ship, fully equipped.
Thorkel Fóstri went with the Earl, who gave him the ship in which he had
come from the west in the summer. The King and the Earl parted great
friends.
In the autumn Earl Thorfinn came to the Orkneys. When Earl Einar heard
of it, he stayed with many men in his ships. Brúsi went to meet the two
brothers, and tried to reconcile them; and once more they made peace and
confirmed it with oaths. Thorkel Fóstri should be pardoned, and be a
friend of Earl Einar, and each of them should give the other a banquet,
and the Earl should first come to Thorkel at Sandvik.[246]
When Einar came, he and his men were most sumptuously treated, yet the
Earl was not cheerful. The banqueting hall was a large one, with doors
at each end. When the Earl was going away, Thorkel was to accompany him,
and he sent men to examine the way by which they were to go. When they
returned, they said they had discovered three divisions of armed men in
ambush, and were certain that foul play was intended. Upon hearing this,
Thorkel delayed starting, and called his men together. The Earl asked
him to make himself ready, and said it was now time to go. Thorkel
replied that he had many things to see to, and kept going out and in.
There were fires on the floor, and Thorkel walked about, and once when
he entered by one of the doors he was followed by an Icelander, by name
Hallvard, from the east of Iceland, who shut the door after him. As
Thorkel passed between the fire and where the Earl sat, the latter said:
“Are you ready now?”
Thorkel replied: “I am ready now,” and struck the Earl a blow on the
head, so that he fell forward on the floor.
Hallvard said: “I never saw people with so little presence of mind as
you who are here. Why do you not take the Earl out of the fire?”
With his axe he again struck the Earl on the back of the head, and
pulled him towards the bench. Then Thorkel and his men walked out
quickly by the door opposite to that by which he had entered, and there,
outside the door, were the rest of his men fully armed.
The Earl’s men took hold of their master and found that he was dead.
They were too much stupified to take revenge, as the thing was done so
suddenly, and no one expected such a deed from Thorkel; besides, the
Earl’s men were mostly without arms, and many of them were good friends
of Thorkel’s before. Thus Thorkel had to thank his good fortune that he
enjoyed a longer life.
The Earl’s men went away, and Thorkel to his ship. In a few days,
shortly after the beginning of the winter, he left for the east, and
arrived safely in Norway. He went immediately to see King Olaf, who
received him very graciously, and felt much pleasure at his deed; and
with him Thorkel spent the winter.
CHAPTER IV
OF EARL BRÚSI.
AFTER the death of Earl Einar, Earl Brúsi took possession of that
portion of the domain which had belonged to his brother (Einar), for
there had been many witnesses to the compact which they had made.
Thorfinn thought it right that they should each have one-half of the
Islands, yet Brúsi had two-thirds that year. Next year Thorfinn demanded
one-half, to which Brúsi did not consent, and they had many meetings
about it. Their friends tried to settle matters between them, but
Thorfinn would not take anything less than half of the Islands.
Brúsi said: “I was satisfied with that third part which I inherited from
my father, and no one claimed it from me, and I have inherited a second
third after my brother according to a lawful agreement; and although I
am unable to contend with you, brother, I will have recourse to other
means than giving up my lands and title at present.”
Thus the meeting ended. But Brúsi saw that he had no strength to hold
his own against Thorfinn, because he had much larger possessions, and,
besides, some hope of assistance from his grandfather, the King of
Scots. He therefore resolved to go to Olaf, King of Norway, taking with
him his son Rögnvald, who was then ten years old. The King received him
well, and he told him his business and explained to him how matters
stood between him and his brother, and begged his assistance to keep his
possessions, offering in return his full friendship.
The King replied by stating that Harald the Fairhaired had reserved to
himself all odal rights[247] in the Orkneys, and that the Earls since
that time always held those lands as fiefs, and never as their own.
“It is a proof of this,” he said, “that when Eirik Blódöx and his sons
were in the Orkneys, the Earls were their vassals; and when Olaf,
Tryggvi’s son, my kinsman, came there, your father, Earl Sigurd, became
his man. Now, I have succeeded to the entire heritage of Olaf, Tryggvi’s
son. I will give you the islands as a fief, on condition that you become
my man, and then I will try whether my help will not be of more avail to
you than the aid and assistance of the King of Scots to your brother
Thorfinn. But if you will not accept these terms, I will try to recover
the possessions and dominion which my kinsmen have inherited and
possessed there in the west.”
The Earl considered these words thoughtfully, and sought the advice of
his friends as to whether he should consent to King Olaf’s terms and
become his man. “I do not see,” he said, “how matters will go with me at
our parting if I refuse, because the King has made an unequivocal claim,
and regards the Islands as his property. Now, considering his great
power, and the circumstance that we are here, he will have no scruples
in making my case such as he likes.”
Thus, although the Earl had objections to both alternatives, he resolved
to give up all, himself and his dominions, into the King’s power. Then
King Olaf asserted his suzerainty over all his hereditary possessions,
and the Earl became his man, and confirmed this compact with oaths.
Earl Thorfinn heard that his brother Brúsi had gone east to King Olaf to
solicit his assistance; but as he had himself seen the King before, and
secured his friendship, he thought that his case had been well prepared
there, and he knew that many would advocate his cause. Nevertheless, he
resolved to prepare to go to Norway as quickly as possible, intending
that he should arrive there very nearly at the same time with his
brother, so that he might see the King himself before his brother had
concluded his business. This, however, turned out otherwise than the
Earl intended, for he did not see King Olaf until the treaty between
Earl Brúsi and the King was fully concluded; and he did not know that
Earl Brúsi had given up his dominions until he came to the King.
At their first interview the King made the same claim to the dominion of
the Orkneys which he had made before to Earl Brúsi; and he made the same
request of Thorfinn—namely, that he should acknowledge the King’s
suzerainty over his portion of the islands.
The Earl gave a courteous answer to this demand, saying: “I consider
your friendship of great importance; and if you think you require my
assistance against other chiefs, you have well deserved it; but I cannot
well pay you homage, as I am already an Earl of the King of Scots, and
his vassal.”
But when the King found from these words that the Earl wished to avoid
the claims which he had put forward, he said: “If you will not become my
man, there is the other alternative—viz., that I place that man over the
Islands whom I choose. But I wish you to promise me with oaths not to
claim those lands, and to leave him in peace whom I place over them.
Now, if you will not accept any of those conditions, he who governs the
land will say that hostilities may be expected from you, and in that
case you must not think it strange if a dale meets a hill.”[248]
The Earl answered by requesting time to consider these matters. The King
gave him time, and permission to consult with his friends; but then the
Earl asked the King for a further delay to the next summer, so that he
might go home; “for,” said he, “my counsellors are at home, and my
judgment is not yet mature on account of my age.” The King told him to
make his choice.
Thorkel Fóstri was with the King at the time, and he sent a message to
the Earl secretly, telling him that whatever else his intentions were he
should not think of parting with the King without being reconciled to
him for the present, as he had got him in his power. Now the Earl
thought there was no alternative but to let the King have his will,
although he did not consider it by any means a desirable thing to
relinquish all hope of his patrimony, and to promise with oaths to leave
those in undisturbed possession of his dominions who had no hereditary
right to them. But because he was not certain about his departure (if he
refused), he chose to submit to the King, and to become his man, as
Brúsi his brother had previously done.
The King perceived that Thorfinn was a man of much stronger will than
Brúsi, and distrusted him therefore more. He saw that Thorfinn would
think himself sufficiently powerful, with the aid of the King of Scots,
though he broke this treaty; and the King was sagacious enough to
perceive that, while Brúsi agreed to everything sincerely, and made only
such promises as he intended to keep, Thorfinn agreed cheerfully to
everything, while at the same time he had resolved within himself what
course he would take; and though he made no objections to anything which
the King proposed, yet the King suspected that he intended to act upon
their agreements afterwards in his own way.
CHAPTER V
OF THE EARLS BRÚSI AND THORFINN.
WHEN King Olaf had considered all these matters, he had a general
meeting summoned by the blowing of a trumpet, to which the Earls were
also called.
The King said: “I will now make publicly known the treaty between me and
the Earls of the Orkneys. They have acknowledged my suzerainty over all
the Orkneys and Hjaltland (Shetland), promising to become my men, and
confirming these their promises with oaths. In return, I will give to
Brúsi one-third of the land, and to Thorfinn another third, which they
had before; but the last third, which belonged to Earl Einar, I adjudge
to be forfeited to me, because he slew Eyvind Urarhorn, my henchman[249]
and beloved comrade. Of this portion I will dispose as I shall think
fit; and I make it a condition with you, my Earls, that you be
reconciled to Thorkel Amundi’s son concerning your brother Einar’s
slaying, and I wish to act as an arbitrator between you if you agree to
this.”
The Earls consented to this, as to everything else which the King
proposed. Then Thorkel stepped forward and submitted his case to the
King’s decision, after which the meeting was dissolved. King Olaf
awarded a weregild[250] for Earl Einar as for three Lendermen;
one-third, however, should be remitted in consideration of the Earl’s
guilt.
Earl Thorfinn asked permission to depart, and when he had obtained it,
he made himself ready in great haste. One day, when all was ready, and
the Earl was drinking on board his ship, Thorkel, Amundi’s son, came and
laid his head on the Earl’s knees, and asked him to do with it what he
liked.
The Earl said: “Why do you do this? We are reconciled according to the
King’s arbitration; arise.”
He rose and said: “I will abide by the King’s arbitration concerning
differences between me and Brúsi; but, as far as you are concerned, I
leave everything to you. Although the King has reserved for me
possessions and safety in the Orkneys, I am so well acquainted with your
disposition that I know it would be impossible for me to go there unless
I have your confidence; and I will promise you never to go to the
Orkneys, whatever the King says.”
The Earl replied slowly, and said: “Would you rather have me to adjust
our affairs than abide by the King’s decision? If so, I make it the
first condition that you shall go with me to the Orkneys, and remain
with me, and not leave me except with my permission; that you shall be
in duty bound to defend my land, and to do everything I wish to have
done while we are both alive.”
Thorkel replied: “I leave this to you, like everything else that
concerns me.” Thereupon he submitted his case to the Earl’s decision.
The Earl said he would fix the money payment [for his brother’s death]
afterwards, and received oaths from Thorkel according to their
agreement; and Thorkel prepared to go with him. The Earl left as soon as
he was ready, and he and King Olaf never met afterwards.
Earl Brúsi remained behind, and prepared for his departure more
leisurely. Before he left, King Olaf had an interview with him, and
said: “I think it advisable to make you my confidential agent in the
western parts. I intend to give you two-thirds of the islands, which you
had before, because I do not wish you to have less power, now that you
are my man, than you had before; and as a pledge of my good faith, I
will keep your son Rögnvald with me. I see that with two-thirds of the
land and my assistance you may well hold your own against Earl
Thorfinn.”
Brúsi was thankful for two-thirds of the land. He stayed a little while
yet before he left, and came west to the Islands (the Orkneys) in the
autumn. His son Rögnvald remained with King Olaf. These facts are
mentioned by Ottar Svarti (the swarthy):
Readily these noble people
Will obey thee as thy subjects.
Use your power with moderation;
Hjaltlanders! your fame is well known.
Till we had thee, fierce in battle,
To these eastern shores, there was not
Any prince on earth who conquered
Those far distant western islands.
When the brothers Thorfinn and Brúsi came west to the Islands, Brúsi
took possession of two-thirds of the domain, and Thorfinn of one, but he
was all the time in Caithness, in Scotland, and placed deputies over the
islands. Brúsi alone had to defend them, for they were in those times
very much exposed to the ravages of Norwegians and Danes, who called
there on their viking expeditions to the west, and plundered in the
outlying parts. Brúsi made complaints to his brother Thorfinn on account
of his not contributing anything to the defence of the Orkneys or
Hjaltland (Shetland), although he received his full share of all the
land-dues and revenues. Then Thorfinn proposed to Brúsi to take
two-thirds of the Islands, undertaking the defence of the whole, and
leave Brúsi one-third. Although this division did not take place
immediately, yet it is said in the History of the Earls that it did take
place, and that Thorfinn had two-thirds of the Islands, and Brúsi
one-third, when Canute the Great conquered Norway, after the flight of
King Olaf.
King Olaf, Harald’s son, received no homage from Earl Thorfinn after he
made the treaty with him and Brúsi.
Earl Thorfinn now became a powerful chief. He was a man of very large
stature, uncomely, sharp-featured, dark-haired, and sallow and swarthy
in his complexion. Yet he was a most martial-looking man, and of great
energy; greedy of wealth and of renown; bold and successful in war, and
a great strategist. He was five years old when he received the title of
Earl and the revenues of Caithness from King Malcolm,[251] his
grandfather, and fourteen when he went forth from his own territory on
maritime expeditions, and attacked the possessions of other chiefs. So
says Arnór Jarlaskáld (the Earls’ poet):
By the prince in storm of helmets
Was the sword’s edge deeply crimsoned.
Scarcely fifteen, the great-hearted
Sought renown on fields of battle,
Ready to defend his own land,
Or to ravage in another’s.
Under heaven a braver leader
Ne’er was found than Einar’s brother.
Earl Thorfinn was greatly supported by the King of Scots. This
assistance being so near, it much increased his power in the Orkneys.
The King of Scots died after the reconciliation of the brothers. Karl
Hundason[252] took the kingdom in Scotland. He considered Caithness to
belong to him, as to the former kings, and demanded tribute from it as
from other places. Thorfinn, however, did not think his inheritance from
his mother’s father large, though he had Caithness; and besides,
according to his own opinion, it had been given to him first; he was
therefore unwilling to pay any tribute. Thus they became open enemies,
and made war on each other. King Karl wished to appoint a chief, by name
Moddan, over Caithness; he was his sister’s son, and he gave him the
title of Earl. Then Moddan went down from Scotland and collected forces
in Sutherland.
When Earl Thorfinn heard of this, he gathered together an army in
Caithness. Thorkel Fóstri also came to Earl Thorfinn from the Orkneys
with many men, and their united forces were somewhat more numerous than
those of the Scots. When the Scots knew this they hesitated in their
invasion, and returned to Scotland. Earl Thorfinn subdued Sutherland and
Ross, and plundered far and wide in Scotland, and returned again to
Caithness, and Thorkel went back to the Islands; their men also returned
home. Earl Thorfinn stayed at Dungalsbæ, in Caithness, where he had five
war-ships and followers numerous enough to man them.
Moddan came to find King Karl (at Beruvik)[253] and informed him of his
unsuccessful expedition. The King became very angry at his land being
plundered, and started immediately with eleven war-ships and a numerous
army. He sailed northward along Scotland, after having despatched Moddan
to Caithness a second time with many troops. Moddan went by land, and it
was intended that he should make the attack from that side, so that Earl
Thorfinn might be placed between the two armies.
Now, it is to be told of King Karl that he did not stop until he arrived
at Caithness, and he and Earl Thorfinn were not far from each other.
Thorfinn went on board his ships, and sailed out on the Pentland Firth,
intending to go to the Orkneys; and so near were they that King Karl saw
their sails as he sailed into the Firth from the east, and immediately
sailed after them. Earl Thorfinn directed his course to the east of the
Orkneys, intending to go to Sandvik.[254] He moored his ships on the
east side of Dyrness, and immediately sent word to Thorkel to collect
troops.
Earl Thorfinn arrived at Dyrness late in the evening; but as soon as it
was daylight next morning, King Karl came upon them unawares with eleven
war-ships. There were only two alternatives—one to run on shore, and
leave the ships with all their valuable contents to the enemy; the other
was to meet the King, and let fate decide between them. Earl Thorfinn
exhorted his men, and ordered them to have their arms ready. He said he
would not flee, and told them to row briskly towards the enemy. Then
both parties fastened their ships together. Earl Thorfinn addressed his
men, advising them to be smart and to make the first attack fiercely,
and saying that few of the Scotsmen would be able to make a stand. The
fighting was long and fierce. Arnór Jarlaskáld says:
Once, off Dyrness, to the eastward,
Came King Kali in a mail-coat
Famous for its strength and brightness;
But the land was not defenceless,
For, with five ships, nothing daunted,
Scorning flight in warlike temper,
Valiantly the Prince went forward
’Gainst the King’s eleven vessels.
Then the ships were lashed together—
Know ye how the men were falling?
All their swords and boards were swimming
In the life-blood of the Scotsmen;
Hearts were sinking—bowstrings screaming,
Darts were flying—spear-shafts bending;
Swords were biting, blood flowed freely,
And the Prince’s heart was merry.
Now Earl Thorfinn incited his men to the utmost, and a fierce conflict
ensued. The Scots in the King’s ships made but a feeble resistance
before the mast, whereupon Thorfinn jumped from the quarter-deck, and
ran to the foredeck, and fought fiercely. When he saw the crowd in the
King’s ships getting thinner, he urged his men to board them. King Karl,
perceiving this, gave orders to his men to cut the ropes, and get the
ships away instantly; to take to their oars, and bear away. At the same
time Thorfinn and his men fastened grappling-hooks in the King’s ship.
He called for his banner to be borne before him, and a great number of
his men followed it. King Karl jumped from his ship into another vessel,
with those of his men who still held out; but the most part had fallen
already. He then ordered them to take to their oars; and the Scots took
to flight—Thorfinn pursuing them. Thus says Arnór:
Never was a battle shorter;
Soon with spears it was decided.
Though my lord had fewer numbers,
Yet he chased them all before him;
Hoarsely croaked the battle-gull, when
Thickly fell the wounded king’s-men;
South of Sandwick swords were reddened.
King Karl fled all the way south to Breidafiord,[255] where he went on
shore, and collected an army anew. Earl Thorfinn went back after the
battle, when Thorkel Fóstri came to him with a numerous army. They then
sailed south to Breidafiord in pursuit of King Karl, and when they came
to Scotland they began to plunder. Then they were told that Earl Moddan
was at Thurso, in Caithness, with a large army. He had sent to Ireland
for men, because he had there many relatives and friends, and he was
waiting for these troops. Then it was thought advisable that Thorkel
should go to Caithness with a portion of the army; but Thorfinn remained
in Scotland, and plundered there. Thorkel went secretly, because all the
inhabitants of Caithness were true and faithful to him; and no news went
of his journey till he came to Thurso by night, and surprised Earl
Moddan in a house, which they set on fire. Moddan was asleep in an upper
storey, and jumped out; but as he jumped down from the stair, Thorkel
hewed at him with a sword, and it hit him on the neck, and took off his
head.
After this his men surrendered, but some escaped by flight. Many were
slain, but some received quarter.
Thorkel did not stay there long, but went to Breidafiord, bringing with
him all the men he had been able to collect in Caithness, Sutherland,
and Ross. He met Earl Thorfinn in Moray, and told him what he had done
in his expedition, for which he received hearty thanks from the Earl,
and there they both stayed for a while.
CHAPTER VI
OF THE ORKNEYMEN.
NOW it is to be told of King Karl that he went to Scotland after the
battle with Earl Thorfinn, and collected an army as well from the south
as the west and east of Scotland, and all the way south from Satiri
(Kintyre); the forces for which Earl Moddan had sent also came to him
from Ireland. He sent far and near to the chieftains for men, and
brought all this army against Earl Thorfinn. They met at Torfnes,[256]
on the south side of Bæfiord. There was a fierce battle, and the Scots
were by far the most numerous. Earl Thorfinn was among the foremost of
his men; he had a gold-plated helmet on his head, a sword at his belt,
and a spear in his hand, and he cut and thrust with both hands. It is
even said that he was foremost of all his men. He first attacked the
Irish division, and so fierce were he and his men, that the Irish were
immediately routed, and never regained their position. Then King Karl
had his standard brought forward against Earl Thorfinn, and there was
the fiercest struggle for a while; but it ended in the flight of the
King; and some say he was slain. Thus Arnór Jarlaskáld:
Reddened were the wolf’s-bit’s edges
At a place—men call it Torfness;—
It was by a youthful ruler
This was done, upon a Monday.
Pliant swords were loudly ringing
At this War-Thing, south of Ekkial,
When the prince had joined in battle
Bravely with the King of Scotland.
High his helm the Lord of Hjaltland
Bore amid the clang of weapons;
In the battle ever foremost,
Reddened he his gleaming spear-point
In the wounds it gave the Irish.
Thus my lord his mighty prowess
Showed beneath his British buckler—
Taking many warriors captive;
Hlödver’s kinsman burnt the country.
Earl Thorfinn drove the fugitives before him through Scotland, and
subdued the country wherever he went, and all the way south to Fife.
Then he sent Thorkel Fóstri away with some of his men. When the Scots
heard that the Earl had sent away some of his men, those that had
submitted to him meant to attack him. As soon, however, as he was aware
of their treachery, he called his men together and went to meet them;
but when they knew he was prepared, they hesitated to make the attack.
Earl Thorfinn resolved to give battle to the Scots as soon as he met
them; but they had not the manliness to defend themselves, and ran away
into woods and deserted places; and when he had pursued the fugitives,
he called his men together, and said he would burn the whole district,
and thus pay the Scots for their treachery. Then the Earl’s men went
over hamlets and farms, and burnt everything, so that scarcely a hut was
left standing. Those of the men whom they found they killed, but the
women and old people dragged themselves into woods and deserted places,
with wailings and lamentations. Some of them they drove before them, and
many were taken captives. Thus says Arnór Jarlaskáld:
Fast the flames devoured the homesteads;
Lives that day were in great peril;
Fire the Scottish kingdom ravaged—
All reduced to smoking ashes;
Great the mischief done that summer
By the mighty Slaughter-Teacher;
Three times were the luckless Scotsmen
By the Prince completely vanquished.
After this Thorfinn went through Scotland to the north, till he reached
his ships, and subdued the country wherever he went, and did not stop
till he came to Caithness, where he spent the winter; but every season
after this he went out on expeditions, and plundered in the summer time
with all his men.
CHAPTER VII
OF THE FAMOUS DEEDS OF EARL THORFINN.
EARL THORFINN made himself famous in the Orkneys by entertaining his own
men and many other men of note throughout the winter, so that no one had
to go to inns—providing food and drink at his own charges, in the same
manner as chiefs in other countries, Kings, and Earls entertain their
henchmen and guests at Christmas time. About this time Earl Brúsi died,
and Earl Thorfinn took possession of all the islands. But of Rögnvald,
Brúsi’s son, it is said that he was in the battle of Stiklestad[257]
when King Olaf was killed. Rögnvald escaped, with other fugitives, and
carried away King Olaf’s brother, Harald Sigurdson, who was dangerously
wounded, and brought him to a small Bondi to be cured; but he himself
crossed the Kjöl,[258] and went to Jamtaland, and thence to Sweden to
see King Onund. Harald stayed with the Bondi until he had recovered from
his wounds. The Bondi then gave him his son as an attendant, and he went
through Jamtaland to Sweden secretly. At their parting, which took place
in a certain copse, Harald sang:
Though now thus here and there I’m hunted
Through the covert—small’s the honour,
Who knows but that far and wide yet
Some day shall my name be famous?
Harald met Rögnvald in Sweden, and they went both of them east to
Gardariki (Russia), along with many others who had been with King Olaf.
They did not stop till they came east to King Jarizleif, in
Hólmgard;[259] and he received them most heartily for the sake of King
Olaf the Holy. He took them both, as well as Erling, Rögnvald’s son,
into his service as defenders of his country.
CHAPTER VIII
MAGNUS, OLAF’S SON, ACCEPTED KING OF NORWAY.
RÖGNVALD, Brúsi’s son, remained in Gardariki (Russia) when Harald,
Sigurd’s son, went to Mikligard (Constantinople); he had the defence of
the frontier in summer, and spent the winters in Hólmgard. The King as
well as the people esteemed him highly. Rögnvald was a man of large
stature and great strength, and one of the handsomest men in appearance,
and his accomplishments were such that his equal was hardly to be found.
Arnór Jarlaskáld says that he fought ten battles in Gardar:
So it happened that ten battles
Fought the soldier fierce in Gardar.
Einar Thambarskelfir and Kálf Arnason brought Magnus, Olaf’s son, from
Gardariki (Russia). Rögnvald met them in Aldeigiuborg.[260] He had
nearly made an attack on Kálf before he had informed him of their
business. Einar said that Kálf repented of (his share in) the great
crime of having deprived King Olaf the Holy of his life and kingdom, and
that he now wished to make amends to his son Magnus. He further told
Rögnvald that Kálf wished to place Magnus on the throne, and support him
against the Vikings in the pay of the Canutes. By this Rögnvald was
softened, and now Einar Thambarskelfir asked him to go with them up to
Hólmgard, and introduce them and their business to King Jarizleif. He
should tell him that the Norwegians were so disgusted with the rule of
the Canutes, but most of all with Alfifa,[261] that they would prefer
any hardships to serving them longer; and then he should ask King
Jarizleif to permit Magnus, Olaf’s son, to become their chief. When they
came there, Rögnvald, Queen Ingigerd,[262] and many of the noblemen,
pleaded their cause. King Jarizleif was unwilling to trust Magnus into
the hands of the Norwegians, because of their treatment of his father.
At last, however, they succeeded so far that twelve of the noblest men
made oaths to the effect that their offers were sincere; but King
Jarizleif trusted Rögnvald so much that he did not require him to swear.
Kálf promised King Magnus with an oath that he would accompany him both
within his kingdom and out of it, and do everything to support his power
and to secure his safety. Thereupon the Norwegians accepted Magnus as
their King, and swore fealty to him.
Einar and Kálf stayed in Hólmgard till after Christmas. Then they went
down to Aldeigiuborg (Ladoga), and procured ships. As soon as the sea
was open in the spring, Rögnvald, Brúsi’s son, made himself ready to go
with King Magnus. They went first to Sweden, then to Jamtaland, crossed
the Kjöl, and came to Veradal. When King Magnus came to Thrándheim, all
the population submitted to him. Then he went down to Nídarós,[263] and
was accepted King of the whole country at the Eyrar-Thing. After this
came the dealings of King Magnus and King Sveinn.
CHAPTER IX
RÖGNVALD ASKS MAGNUS FOR LEAVE TO GO TO THE ISLANDS.
WHEN Rögnvald, Brúsi’s son, came to Norway, he heard of the death of his
father Brúsi, and at the same time, that Earl Thorfinn had taken
possession of the whole of the Islands. Then he wished to visit his odal
possessions, and asked King Magnus to permit him to go. The King saw
that it was necessary for him to go, and willingly gave him permission.
At the same time, he gave him the title of Earl, and three war-ships
well equipped. He also gave him a grant of that third part of the
Orkneys which King Olaf had possessed,[264] and had given to his father
Brúsi. At last King Magnus promised his foster-brother his full
friendship, adding that his assistance should be at his service whenever
he required it. Thus they parted the best of friends.
CHAPTER X
OF ROGNVALD’S VOYAGE.
EARL RÖGNVALD sailed for the Orkneys, and went first to the estates
which his father had possessed. Thence he sent messengers to his
kinsman, Earl Thorfinn, and asked for that third part (of the Islands)
which had belonged to his father. He also requested them to tell him
that he had obtained from King Magnus a grant of that third which had
belonged to King Olaf. He therefore demanded two-thirds, if it was the
pleasure of his kinsman Thorfinn. At this time Thorfinn had great
quarrels with the Irish and the inhabitants of the Sudreyar (Hebrides),
and felt himself greatly in want of assistance. He therefore gave
Rögnvald’s messengers the following reply:—That Rögnvald should take
possession of that third which rightly belonged to him. “As for the
third which Magnus calls his own,” he said, “we gave that up to King
Olaf the Holy because we were then in his power, but not because we
thought it just. I and my kinsman Rögnvald will agree all the better the
less we talk of that third, which has been long enough a cause of
dispute. But if Rögnvald wishes to be my faithful friend, I consider
those possessions in good hands which he has for his pleasure and for
the good of us both. His assistance will soon be of greater value to me
than the revenues which I derive from them.”
Upon this the messengers returned, and said he had yielded up to
Rögnvald two-thirds on condition that they should be allies, as it was
right they should be, on account of their relationship. Rögnvald said,
however, that he did not demand more than what he considered his own;
but as Thorfinn had so willingly given up the lands, he would indeed
assist him, and be his firm friend, which was but natural, as they were
so nearly related. Accordingly Rögnvald took possession of two-thirds of
the islands.
CHAPTER XI
THE BATTLE OF THE KINSMEN THORFINN AND ROGNVALD.
EARLY in the spring Thorfinn sent word to his kinsman Rögnvald, and
asked him to go out with him on an expedition, bringing as many men as
he could. As soon as Rögnvald received this message, he collected
together as many men and vessels as he could, and when he was ready he
went to meet Earl Thorfinn, who was also ready with his band. He
received his kinsman Rögnvald very well; and they joined their forces.
During the summer they plundered in the Sudreyar (Hebrides), and in
Ireland, and in Scotland’s Fiord;[265] and Thorfinn conquered the land
wherever he went. They had a great battle at a place called
Vatnsfiord.[266] It began early in the morning, and the kinsmen gained
the victory. This is mentioned by Arnór Jarlaskáld:
Know ye that place, Vatnsfiord?
There was I in greatest danger;
Marks are there of my Lord’s doings,
He who tries the strength of warriors.
Forth the people quickly carried
From the ships the shields of many;
Then was heard the dismal howling
Of the gray wolf o’er the corpses.
After this battle they returned to the Orkneys, and stayed at home
during the winter. Thus eight winters passed that Earl Rögnvald had
two-thirds of the islands without any objection on the part of Earl
Thorfinn. Every summer they went out on war expeditions, sometimes both
together, sometimes separately, as Arnór says:
The chief beloved did many deeds.
Everywhere there fell before him
Irishmen, or British people;
Fire devoured the Scottish kingdom.
The kinsmen agreed very well whenever they met; but when bad men went
between them dissensions often arose. Earl Thorfinn dwelt for the most
part in Caithness, at the place called Gaddgedlar,[267] where Scotland
and England (?) meet.
CHAPTER XII
OF EARL THORFINN’S WARFARE.
ONE summer Earl Thorfinn made war in the Sudreyar (Hebrides) and in
Scotland. He had sent men into England to foray, and they carried away
all the spoil they could find. But when the English became aware of the
presence of the Vikings, they gathered together and attacked them. They
took from them all the cattle, and killed all the men that were of any
note, but sent back some of the reivers, and requested them to tell Earl
Thorfinn how they had made the Vikings tired of plunder and rapine, to
which they added many insulting words. Thereupon the reivers went to
Earl Thorfinn and told him of their mishaps. He was greatly annoyed at
the loss of his men, yet he said he could not then do anything, and that
they would have to refrain at this time; but he said he was quite able
to repay the Englishmen for their mockery, and would do so if he were
well next summer.
CHAPTER XIII
OF EARL THORFINN’S EXPEDITION TO ENGLAND.
AT that time Hardicanute was King of England and Denmark. Earl Thorfinn
went to the Orkneys and spent the winter there. Early in the spring he
called out a levy from all his domains, and sent word to his kinsman
Rögnvald. Rögnvald assented, and called out men from all his
possessions. Earl Thorfinn collected troops in Caithness and the
Orkneys. He also had many from Scotland and Ireland, and from the
Sudreyar (Hebrides), and with all these forces he sailed to England as
he had promised. Hardicanute was in Denmark at the time. As soon as the
Earls came into England they began to harry and plunder; but the chiefs
whose duty it was to defend the land went to meet them with an army.
There was a great and fierce battle, in which the Earls gained the
victory. After this they plundered far and wide in England, slaying men,
and burning the dwellings of the people. This is mentioned by Arnór:
Not forgotten was this battle
By the English, or men ever.
Hither came the rich ring-giver,
With his warriors, nearly doubled;
Swords cut keenly; under shield-boss
Rushed all Rögnvald’s men together;
Strong were all the old one’s people.
South of Man did these things happen.
On the native land of Britons
Brought the Earl his banner forward;
Reddened then his beak the eagle;
Forward pressing hard his warriors,
Battle waxed, and men diminished;
Fugitives were chased by victors;
Blazed the fire, with red rays gleaming
Of the wood’s foe, leaping heavenward.
Earl Thorfinn had two pitched battles in England. Besides, he had many
casual encounters, and slew many people. He stayed there throughout the
summer, and went back in autumn to the Orkneys for the winter.
CHAPTER XIV
KALF FLEES TO THE ORKNEYS.
ABOUT this time Kálf Arnason was banished by King Magnus. He crossed the
seas, and went to Earl Thorfinn, his brother-in-law. Thorfinn’s wife was
then Ingibiorg, the mother of the Earls (Paul and Erlend), and daughter
of Earl Finn Arnason. There was great friendship between Kálf and Earl
Thorfinn. The Earl had a great many of his men about him, which became
very expensive to him. Then there were many who advised him not to leave
two-thirds of the Islands to Rögnvald, since his own expenses were so
large. Thereupon Earl Thorfinn sent men into the Islands to demand from
Rögnvald that third portion which had belonged to Earl Einar Rangmuth
(wry-mouth).
Upon receiving this message, the Earl (Rögnvald) consulted with his
friends. Then he called Earl Thorfinn’s messengers, and told them that
he had received that portion of the Islands which they claimed as a fief
from King Magnus, and that the King called it his patrimony. “It was
therefore,” he said, “in the power of King Magnus to decide which of
them should have it; and he would not give it up if the King wished him
to retain it.”
The messengers went away, and told these words to Earl Thorfinn, adding
that the third portion [which he had demanded] would certainly not be
got without trouble. On hearing this, Earl Thorfinn became very angry,
and said that it was unfair if King Magnus should have the inheritance
of his brother, adding that he had yielded to the demand more because he
was then in King Olaf’s power than because it was a just claim. “Now,”
he said, “I think Rögnvald does not return me well my good will in
having left him in quiet possession for a time, if I am not to have the
inheritance of my brother now except by fighting for it.” Now Earl
Thorfinn became so enraged that he straightway sent men to the Hebrides
and to Scotland, and collected together an army, making it known that he
would march against Rögnvald, and demand that without abatement which he
had not got when he asked peacefully for it.
When this was told to Earl Rögnvald, he called his friends together, and
complained to them of his kinsman Thorfinn intending to come and make
war on him. He then asked what help they would offer him, saying that he
would not give up his own without a trial of strength. But when he asked
them to declare themselves, their opinions were very different. Some
spoke in favour of Earl Rögnvald, and said that one could not be hard
upon him for not being willing to part with his possessions; others
again said it was excusable on the part of Earl Thorfinn to desire to
have those possessions for a while which Rögnvald had had before, and
which had belonged to Earl Einar. Further, they said it was the greatest
foolishness for Rögnvald to fight with such troops as he could get from
two-thirds of the Islands against Thorfinn, who had one-third, with
Caithness, a great deal of Scotland, and all the Hebrides besides. There
were also those who advised reconciliation. They asked Earl Rögnvald to
offer Earl Thorfinn one-half of the Islands, so that they might still be
friends, as it was meet they should be, owing to their relationship. But
when Rögnvald found that their opinions were divided, and that they all
dissuaded him from resistance, he made known his determination that he
would not part with his possessions by any arrangement, but that he
would rather leave them for a time, and go to King Magnus, his
foster-brother, and see what assistance he would give him to retain
them. Then he made ready, and went to Norway, and did not rest until he
came to King Magnus, and told him how matters stood.
The King received Earl Rögnvald very well, and invited him to stay as
long as he liked, and to receive such lands from him as were sufficient
to keep him and his men; but Earl Rögnvald said he wished assistance to
recover his possessions. King Magnus said he would certainly give him
such aid as he stood in need of. Rögnvald stayed a short time in Norway,
until he had made ready his expedition for the Orkneys. He had a
numerous and well-equipped army, which King Magnus had given him. The
King also sent word to Kálf Arnason that he should have his estates
restored to him, and be permitted to stay in Norway, if he took Earl
Rögnvald’s part in his dispute with Earl Thorfinn.
CHAPTER XV
BATTLE OF RAUDABIORG.
EARL RÖGNVALD sailed from Norway for the Orkneys, and landed in
Hjaltland (Shetland), where he collected men, and went thence to the
Orkneys. There he summoned his friends to meet him, and obtained
reinforcements. Earl Thorfinn was in Caithness, and news soon reached
him of Earl Rögnvald’s proceedings. He collected forces from Scotland
and the Sudreyar (Hebrides). Rögnvald immediately sent King Magnus’s
message to Kálf Arnason, who apparently received very well all that the
King had said. Earl Rögnvald collected his army together in the Orkneys,
intending to cross over to Caithness, and when he sailed into the
Pentland Firth he had thirty large ships. There he was met by Earl
Thorfinn, who had sixty ships, but most of them small. They met off
Raudabiorg[268] (red cliff), and at once prepared for battle.
Kálf Arnason was there also; he had six ships, all of them large, but
did not take part in the fight.
Now the battle began with the utmost fury, both Earls encouraging their
men. When the fighting had thus continued for a while, the loss of men
began to be heaviest on Earl Thorfinn’s side, the chief cause being the
great difference in the height of the ships. Thorfinn himself had a
large ship, well equipped, in which he pressed forward with great
daring; but when the smaller vessels were cleared, the Earl’s ship was
attacked from both sides, and they were placed in great danger. Many of
the Earl’s men were killed, and others dangerously wounded. Then Earl
Rögnvald commanded his men to leap on board; but when Thorfinn perceived
the imminent danger, he caused the ropes to be cut with which his ship
was fastened to the other, and rowed towards the shore. He had seventy
dead bodies removed from his ship, and all those who were disabled by
wounds went also on shore. Then Thorfinn ordered Arnór Jarlaskáld, who
was among the Earl’s men and high in his favour, to go on shore; and on
landing he sang these verses:—
This will I not hide from comrades,
Though ’tis right one’s chief to follow,
Yet am I myself unwilling
Thus to meet the son of Brúsi.
When these Earls so fierce in battle
Close in fight, then will our case be
Hard beyond the case of most men
In this trial of our friendship.
Earl Thorfinn selected the ablest of his men to man his ship, and then
he went to see Kálf Arnason, and asked his assistance. He said that Kálf
would not be able to buy king Magnus’s friendship, since he had already
been banished, and was therefore unable to keep the king’s favour, even
when they were once reconciled. “You may be sure,” he added, “that if
Rögnvald overcomes me, and he and King Magnus become masters here in the
west, you will not be welcome in this quarter, but if I come off
victorious you shall lack nothing that it is in my power to give you. If
we two keep together we shall be a match for any one here in the west,
and I hardly think you will allow yourself to lie crouching aside like a
cat among stones while I am fighting for behoof of us both. Moreover our
ties are so close that it is more seemly for us to aid each other, since
you have no ties of blood or affinity with our enemies.”
When Kálf heard Thorfinn’s persuasions he called his men and gave orders
to fall to and fight on the side of Earl Thorfinn. Now Thorfinn and Kálf
both rowed back to the fight, and when they arrived Thorfinn’s men were
ready to fly, and many of them had been slain. The Earl pushed his ship
forward against that of Earl Rögnvald, and a fierce fight ensued. As is
said by Arnór Jarlaskáld—
Then I saw the two wealth-givers
Hewing down each other’s warriors.
Fierce the fight was in the Pentland,
As the sea swelled and the red rain
Crimsoned all the yielding timbers,
While from shield-rims sweat of hot blood
Dripping, stained the warriors’ garments.
Kálf attacked Rögnvald’s smaller ships, and speedily cleared them, as
there was a great difference in the height of the ships. When the hired
troops from Norway saw the vessels beside them cleared they cut away
their ship and fled. Then only a few ships remained with Earl Rögnvald,
and the victory began to lean the other way. So says Arnór Jarlaskáld:—
Then the prince so fierce in battle,
Valiant kinsman of the Vikings,
All the old land might have conquered
With assistance of the Islesmen.
Fewer were his slaughtered heroes;
But the chief’s strong men in helmets,
All the way to northern Hjaltland,
Chased the weak and flying remnant.
And when the main portion of the troops had fled, Kálf and Earl Thorfinn
attacked Earl Rögnvald’s ship together, and then a great number of his
men were slain. When he saw the imminent danger, and that he would not
be able to overcome Thorfinn and Kálf, he had the cables cut, and fled.
It was now late in the day, and darkness was coming on. Earl Rögnvald
stood out to sea the same night, and sailed for Norway, and did not stop
till he found King Magnus, who received him well, as he had done before,
and invited him to remain with him, and there he stayed some time.
CHAPTER XVI
EARL THORFINN SUBDUES THE ISLANDS.
NOW it is to be told of Earl Thorfinn that on the morning after the
battle he sent boats to all the islands to search for the fugitives.
Many were killed, and some were pardoned. Earl Thorfinn subdued all the
Islands, and made all the inhabitants his subjects, even those who had
sworn allegiance to Earl Rögnvald. Thorfinn then fixed his residence in
the Orkneys, keeping a great number of men about him; he imported
provisions from Caithness, and sent Kálf Arnason to the Sudreyar
(Hebrides), and ordered him to remain and maintain his authority there.
When Earl Rögnvald had stayed with King Magnus for some time, he said to
the King that he wished to go back to the Islands. When the King heard
this he said it was not wise, and advised him to remain until the winter
had passed away and the sea was free from ice. Yet he said that he would
give him as many men as he wanted, and a sufficient number of ships.
Rögnvald in reply said that this time he would go without the King’s
men, adding that he could not lead an army against Earl Thorfinn without
a great loss of men, as he had such extensive dominions in the west.
“This time,” he continued, “I intend to go to the west in a single ship,
as well manned as possible; thus I expect there will be no news of us
beforehand; and if I get to the Islands I shall take them by surprise,
and then we may speedily gain such a victory as could hardly, if at all,
be gained by a number of troops; but if they become aware of our
movements we can still let the sea take care of us.”
King Magnus said he might go as he pleased, and return to him when he
wished.
After this Rögnvald made his ship ready, and selected the crew
carefully. Several of King Magnus’s henchmen went with him, and
altogether he had a picked crew in his vessel. When they were ready they
sailed out to sea and had a fair wind. This was early in the winter.
CHAPTER XVII
RÖGNVALD COMES TO THE ISLANDS.
RÖGNVALD first came off the coast of Hjaltland (Shetland), and heard
that Earl Thorfinn was in the Orkneys with few men, because he did not
expect any enemies in the depth of winter. Rögnvald went straightway to
the Orkneys. Earl Thorfinn was in Hrossey,[269] suspecting nothing. When
Rögnvald arrived in the Orkneys, he went where he had heard that Earl
Thorfinn was, and came upon him unawares, so that his presence was not
known until he had secured all the doors of the house in which the Earl
and his men were. It was in the night time, and most of the men were
asleep, but the Earl was still sitting over his drink. Rögnvald and his
men set fire to the house. When Earl Thorfinn became aware of the
presence of enemies he sent men to the door to know who they were. They
were told that it was Earl Rögnvald. Then they all leaped to their
weapons, but they were unable to do anything in the way of defence, as
they were all prevented from getting out. The house was soon in flames,
and Earl Thorfinn said that permission should be asked for those to go
out who were to receive quarter. When this was asked of Earl Rögnvald he
permitted all the women and thralls to go out, but he said that most of
Thorfinn’s henchmen would be no better to him alive than dead. Those who
were spared were dragged out, and the house began to burn down. Earl
Thorfinn bethought him of a plan, and broke down part of the woodwork of
the house and leaped out there, carrying Ingibiorg, his wife, in his
arms. As the night was pitch dark he got away in the smoke unperceived
by Earl Rögnvald’s men, and during the night he rowed alone in a boat
over to Ness (Caithness). Earl Rögnvald burnt the house, with all who
were in it, and no one thought otherwise than that Earl Thorfinn had
perished there.
After this Rögnvald went over the Islands and took possession of them
all. He also sent messages over to Ness (Caithness), and to the Sudreyar
(Hebrides), to the effect that he intended to have all the dominions of
Thorfinn, and nobody spoke against him. Earl Thorfinn was then in
Caithness in hiding with his friends, and no news went abroad of his
escape from the burning.
CHAPTER XVIII
EARL RÖGNVALD SLAIN.
EARL RÖGNVALD resided in Kirkiuvag (Kirkwall), and brought there all
necessaries for the winter; he had a great number of men, and
entertained them liberally. A little before Christmas the Earl went with
a numerous following into little Papey[270] to fetch malt for the
Christmas brewing. The evening which they stayed in the islands they sat
a long time round the fires to warm themselves, and he who had to keep
up the fires said they were running short of fuel. Then the Earl made a
slip of the tongue in speaking, and said: “We shall be old enough when
these fires are burnt out,” but he intended to have said that they would
be warm enough; and when he noticed his blunder he said: “I made a slip
of the tongue in speaking just now; I do not remember that I ever did so
before, and now I recollect what my foster-father King Olaf said at
Stiklestad when I noticed a slip of the tongue which he made—namely,
that if it ever so happened that I should make a slip in my speech I
should not expect to live long after it. It may be that my kinsman
Thorfinn is still alive.”
At that moment they heard that the house was surrounded by men. It was
Earl Thorfinn and his men. They set the house on fire immediately, and
heaped up a large pile before the door. Thorfinn permitted all others to
come out except Earl Rögnvald’s men, and when most of them had gone out
a man came to the door dressed in linen clothes only, and asked Earl
Thorfinn to lend a hand to the deacon; this man placed his hands on the
wall and sprang over it and over the ring of men, and came down a great
way off, and disappeared immediately in the darkness of the night. Earl
Thorfinn told his men to go after him, saying: “There went the Earl, for
that is his feat and no other man’s.” They went away, and divided into
parties to search for him. Thorkel Fóstri with some others went along
the beach, and they heard the barking of a dog among the rocks by the
sea. Earl Rögnvald had had his favourite dog with him. Thorkel had the
Earl seized, and asked his men to kill him, offering them a reward in
money. But no one would do it. So Thorkel Fóstri slew Earl Rögnvald
himself, as he knew that one of the two (Earls) must die. Then Earl
Thorfinn came up, and did not find fault with the deed. They spent the
night in the island, and all were killed who had accompanied Earl
Rögnvald thither.
Next morning they took a barge and filled it with malt; then they went
on board and ranged the shields which had belonged to Earl Rögnvald and
his men along the bulwarks, neither had they more men in the barge than
Rögnvald had had. So they rowed to Kirkiuvag (Kirkwall); and when those
of Rögnvald’s men who were there saw the vessel they thought it was Earl
Rögnvald and his men returning, and they went unarmed to meet them.
Thorfinn seized thirty of them and slew them; most of them were henchmen
and friends of King Magnus. To one of the King’s henchmen the Earl gave
quarter, and told him to go east to Norway and tell King Magnus the
tidings.
CHAPTER XIX
EARL RÖGNVALD’S BURIAL.
THE body of Earl Rögnvald was brought to the larger Papey[271] and
buried there. Men said that he was one of the most accomplished and
best-beloved of all the Earls of the Orkneys; and his death was greatly
lamented by all the people.
After this Earl Thorfinn took possession of the whole of the Islands,
and no one spoke against him.
Early in the spring these tidings came east to Norway to King Magnus. He
regarded the death of Rögnvald, his foster-brother, as a great loss, and
said he would avenge him by and by, but just then he was at war with
King Swein, Ulf’s son.[272]
CHAPTER XX
EARL THORFINN COMES TO KING HARALD.
ABOUT this time King Harald, Sigurd’s son,[273] King Magnus’s uncle,
arrived in Norway, and King Magnus gave him the half of the kingdom. One
winter they called out men from the whole of Norway, intending to go
south to Denmark, but while they lay in Seley[274] two war ships rowed
into the harbour and up to King Magnus’s ship. A man in a white cloak
went from the [strange] ship, and along the [King’s] ship, and up to the
quarterdeck. The King sat at meat; the man saluted him, and taking up a
loaf he broke it and ate of it. The King received his salutation, and
handed the cup to him when he saw that he ate the bread. The King looked
at him and said: “Who is this man?”
“My name is Thorfinn,” he said.
“Art thou Earl Thorfinn?” said the King.
“So am I called in the west,” he said, “and I am here with two ships of
twenty benches, well manned considering our means, and I wish now to
join in this expedition with you, if you will accept my assistance; all
my men and I myself are in God’s power and yours, my lord, on account of
my great misdeeds by which I have offended you.”
In the meantime some men gathered together and listened to their
conversation.
“It is true, Earl Thorfinn” (said the King), “that I intended, in case
we should meet, that you should not have to tell of our parting, but now
matters stand so that it does not become my dignity to have you slain,
and you shall go with me now, but the terms of our reconciliation I will
declare when I am more at leisure.”
Earl Thorfinn thanked the King and returned to his ship. The King stayed
a long time in Seley, and men gathered to him from Vík;[275] for he
intended to sail to Jutland when he obtained a fair wind. Thorfinn was
often in conversation with the King, who treated him in a friendly
manner, and had him frequently present at his councils.
One day the Earl went on board the King’s ship, and went up to the poop.
The King asked him to sit down. The Earl sat down, and they both drank
together and were merry. A tall brave-looking man, dressed in a red
tunic, came to the poop and saluted the King, who received his greeting
graciously. He was one of the King’s henchmen. He said: “I have come to
see you, Earl Thorfinn.”
“What is your business with me?” said the Earl.
“I wish to know what compensation you intend to give me for my brother
who was killed by your orders out west in Kirkiuvag (Kirkwall), along
with others of King Magnus’s henchmen.”
“Have you never heard,” said the Earl, “that it is not my wont to pay
money for the men whom I cause to be killed?”
“I have nothing to do with how you have treated other people, if you pay
the manbote for him for whom it devolves on me to seek compensation. I
also lost some money there myself, and was shamefully treated. It is
more binding on me than any one else to seek redress for my brother and
myself, and therefore I now demand it. The King may remit offences
committed against himself, even if he thinks it of no importance that
his henchmen are led out and slaughtered like sheep.”
The Earl answered: “I understand it to be to my advantage here that I am
not in your power. Are not you the man to whom I gave quarter there?”
“True enough,” said he, “it was in your power to have killed me like the
others.”
Then the Earl said: “Now the saying proves true—‘That often happens to
many which they least expect.’ I never thought I should be so placed
that it would be injurious to me to have been too generous to my
enemies; but now I have to pay for having given you quarter; you would
not have denounced me to-day in the presence of chiefs if I had caused
you to be killed like your comrades.”
The King looked at the Earl and said: “There it comes out still, Earl
Thorfinn, that you think you have killed too few of my henchmen without
compensation.” While saying this the king turned blood-red [with anger].
The Earl started up and left the poop, and returned to his own ship, and
all was quiet during the evening. In the morning, when the men awoke, a
fair wind had sprung up, and they rowed away from the harbour. The King
sailed south to Jutland with the whole fleet. In the earlier part of the
day the Earl’s ship stood out farther to sea, and in the afternoon he
took a westerly course, and there is nothing to be told of him till he
arrived in the Orkneys, and resumed the government of his dominions.
King Magnus and Harald sailed to Denmark, and spent the summer there.
King Swein was unwilling to meet them, and stayed in Skàney[276] with
his army. That summer King Magnus was seized with an illness of which he
died; but he had previously declared that he gave the whole kingdom of
Norway to his uncle Harald.
CHAPTER XXI
EARL THORFINN’S MESSAGE TO KING HARALD (HARDRADI).
EARL THORFINN now ruled the Orkneys and all his dominions. Kálf Arnason
was frequently with him. Sometimes he made viking expeditions to the
west, and plundered in Scotland and Ireland. He was also in England, and
at one time he was the chief of the Thingmen.
When Earl Thorfinn heard of the death of King Magnus, he sent men to
Norway to King Harald with a friendly message, saying that he wished to
become his friend. When the messengers reached the King he received them
well, and promised the Earl his friendship. When the Earl received this
message from the King he made himself ready, taking from the west two
ships of twenty benches, with more than a hundred men, all fine troops,
and went east to Norway. He found the King in Hördaland, and he received
him exceedingly well, and at their parting the King gave him handsome
presents. From thence the Earl went southwards along the coast to
Denmark. He went through the country, and found King Svein in
Alaborg;[277] he invited him to stay, and made a splendid feast for him.
Then the Earl made it known that he was going to Rome;[278] but when he
came to Saxland he called on the Emperor Heinrek, who received him
exceedingly well, and gave him many valuable presents. He also gave him
many horses, and the Earl rode south to Rome, and saw the Pope, from
whom he obtained absolution for all his sins.
Then the Earl returned, and arrived safely home in his dominions. He
left off making war expeditions, and turned his mind to the government
of his land and his people, and to the making of laws. He resided
frequently in Birgishérad (Birsay), and built there Christ’s Kirk, a
splendid church; and there was the first Bishop’s see in the Orkneys.
Thorfinn’s wife was Ingibiorg, [called] the mother of the Earls. They
had two sons who arrived at manhood; one was called Paul, the other
Erlend. They were men of large stature, fine-looking, wise, and gentle,
more resembling their mother’s relations. They were much loved by the
Earl and all the people.
CHAPTER XXII
OF EARL THORFINN’s DEATH.
EARL THORFINN retained all his dominions to his dying day, and it is
truly said that he was the most powerful of all the Earls of the
Orkneys. He obtained possession of eleven Earldoms in Scotland, all the
Sudreyar (Hebrides), and a large territory in Ireland. So says Arnór
Jarlaskáld—
Unto Thorfinn, ravens’ feeder,
Armies had to yield obedience
From Thussasker[279] right on to Dublin.
Truth I tell, as is recorded.
Earl Thorfinn was five winters old when Malcolm[280] the King of Scots,
his mother’s father, gave him the title of Earl, and after that he was
Earl for seventy winters. He died towards the end of Harald Sigurdson’s
reign.[281] He is buried at Christ’s Kirk in Birgishérad (Birsay), which
he had built. He was much lamented in his hereditary dominions; but in
those parts which he had conquered by force of arms many considered it
very hard to be under his rule, and [after his death] many provinces
which he had subdued turned away and sought help from the chiefs who
were odal-born to the government of them.[282] Then it soon became
apparent how great a loss Thorfinn’s death was to his dominions.
The following stanzas were made about the battle between Earl Rögnvald,
Brùsi’s son, and Earl Thorfinn:—
Since the Earls have broken friendship
Peace I can enjoy no longer.
Feasts of corpses to the ravens
Each has in his turn provided.
Off the Islands were the blue tents
By the mighty rent asunder,
Dabbled were the foul birds’ feathers
In red blood ’neath lofty branches.
Have ye heard how Kalfr followed
Finnr’s son-in-law in battle?
Quickly didst thou push thy vessels
’Gainst the Earl’s ships on the water.
To destroy the son of Brúsi,
Thou, courageous ship’s commander
Wast unwilling, but of hatred
Mindful, didst thou help Thorfinn.
When the Earls had joined in battle
Misery there was unbounded.
Thick and fast the men were falling
In the struggle; sad the hour when
Nearer went the daring Eastmen
To the unexampled fire-rain.
In that battle off the Red Biorg
Many a noble man was wounded.
Swarthy shall become the bright sun,
In the black sea shall the earth sink,
Finished shall be Austri’s labour,
And the wild sea hide the mountains,
Ere there be in those fair Islands
Born a chief to rule the people—
May our God both help and keep them—
Greater than the lost Earl Thorfinn.
CHAPTER XXIII
OF THE EARLS PAUL AND ERLEND, AND GENEALOGIES.
NOW the sons of Earl Thorfinn succeeded him. Paul was the elder of the
two, and he ruled for both of them. They did not divide their
possessions, yet they almost always agreed in their dealings.
Ingibiorg, the mother of the Earls, was married to Malcolm, King of
Scots,[283] who was called Langháls (Longneck), and their son was
Duncan, King of Scots, the father of William the excellent man; his son
was called William Odling (the Noble), whom all the Scots wished to have
for their King.[284]
Earl Paul, Thorfinn’s son, married the daughter of Earl Hákon, Ivar’s
son, by whom he had many children. They had a son called Hákon, and a
daughter called Thóra, who was married in Norway to Haldór, son of
Brynjúlf Ulfaldi (camel). Another son of theirs, named Brynjúlf, married
Gyrid, Dag’s daughter. A second daughter of Paul, called Ingirid, was
married to Einar Vorsakrák. Herbiörg was the third daughter of Paul. She
was the mother of Ingibiorg Ragna, who was married to Sigurd of
Westness; their sons were Hákon Pík, and Brynjúlf. Sigrid was a second
daughter of Herbiörg. She was the mother of Hakon Barn and of Herborg,
who was married to Kolbein Hruga. The fourth daughter of Earl Paul was
Ragnhild, who was the mother of Benidikt, the father of Ingibiorg, the
mother of Erling Erkidiákn (archdeacon). Ragnhild had a daughter, by
name Bergliót, who was married to Hávard, Gunnar’s son. Their sons were
Magnus, Hákon Kló (claw), Dúfniál, and Thorstein. All those were the
families of Earls and chiefs in the Orkneys, and all of them will be
mentioned in this Saga afterwards. The wife of Earl Erlend, Thorfinn’s
son, was Thóra, the daughter of Sumarlidi, Ospak’s son; the mother of
Ospak was Thórdís, the daughter of Hall of Sída (in Iceland). Their sons
were Erling and Magnus, and their daughters Gunnhild, and Cecilia, who
was married to Isak, and their sons were Indridi and Kol. Erling had a
natural daughter called Játvör; her son was Berg.
CHAPTER XXIV
HERE IS TOLD OF THE DEATH OF KING HARALD AND HIS DAUGHTER.
When the brothers Paul and Erlend had succeeded to the government of the
Orkneys, King Harald Sigurdson (Hardradi) came from Norway with a large
army. He first touched Hjaltland; from thence he went to the Orkneys,
and left there his Queen Ellisif, and their daughters Maria and
Ingigerd. From the Orkneys he had many troops; both the Earls went with
him on the expedition. He went from Orkney to England, and landed at a
place called Klifland (Cleaveland), and took Skardaborg (Scarborough).
Then he touched at Hallarnes (Holderness), and had a battle there, in
which he was victorious. The Wednesday next before Matthiasmas (20th
September) he had a battle at Jórvík (York) with the Earls Valthióf and
Mórukári. Mórukári was slain there.[285] Next Sunday the borg at
Stamfordbridge surrendered to him; and he went on shore to arrange the
government of the town; and there he left his son Olaf, the Earls Paul
and Erlend, and his brother-in-law Eystein Orri. While he was on shore
he was met by Harald Gudinason (Godwinson) at the head of a numerous
army. In that battle King Harald Sigurdson fell. After the death of the
King, Eystein Orri and the Earls arrived from the ship, and made a stout
resistance. There Eystein Orri fell, and almost the whole army of the
Northmen with him.
After the battle King Harald (Godwinson) permitted Olaf, the son of King
Harald Sigurdson, and the Earls to leave England, with all the troops
that had not fled. Olaf sailed in the autumn from Hrafnseyri[286] to the
Orkneys. The same day and at the same hour as King Harald fell, his
daughter Maria died, and it is said that they had but one life.
Olaf spent the winter in the Orkneys, and was very friendly to the
Earls, his kinsmen. Thóra, the mother of King Olaf, and Ingibiorg, the
mother of the Earls, were daughters of two brothers. In the spring Olaf
went to Norway, and was made King along with his brother Magnus.
While the brothers (Paul and Erlend) ruled the Orkneys they agreed
extremely well a long time; but when their sons came to manhood Erling
and Hákon became very violent. Magnus was the quietest of them all. They
were all men of large stature, and strong, and accomplished in
everything. Hákon, Paul’s son, wished to take the lead among his
brothers; he considered himself of higher birth than the sons of Erlend,
as he was the daughter’s son of Earl Hákon Ivar’s son, and Ragnhild, the
daughter of King Magnus the Good. Hákon wished his friends to have the
lion’s share of everything before those who leant to the sons of Erlend,
but Erlend did not like his sons to be inferior to any in the Islands.
Matters went so far that the kinsmen could not be together without
danger. Then their fathers persuaded them to compose their differences.
A meeting was appointed, but it soon became apparent that each [of the
fathers] was inclined to take the part of his sons, and therefore they
did not agree. Thus dissensions arose between the brothers, and they
parted without coming to an agreement, which was by many considered a
great misfortune.
CHAPTER XXV
A MEETING OF PEACE.
AFTER this well-disposed men interfered and tried to reconcile them. A
meeting for reconciliation was appointed in Hrossey,[287] and at that
meeting they made peace on the understanding that the Islands should be
divided in two shares, as they had been between Thorfinn and Brúsi, and
thus matters stood for a while.
When Hákon had arrived at the age of manhood he was continually on war
expeditions. He became a very violent man, and greatly molested those
who adhered to Erlend and his sons; and this went so far that they came
to open enmity a second time, and attacked each other with numerous
troops. Hávard, Gunnar’s son, and all the principal friends of the
Earls, consulted once more and tried to make peace between them. This
time Erlend and his sons refused to make peace if Hákon remained in the
Islands; and because their friends considered their quarrels so
dangerous to themselves, they besought Hákon not to let the condition
that he should leave the Islands for a time stand in the way of peace.
Then, by the advice of good men, they became reconciled.
After this Hákon left the Islands, and first went east to Norway, and
saw there King Olaf Kyrri (the quiet), and stayed with him for a while.
This was towards the end of his reign. After that he went east to Sweden
to King Ingi, Steinkel’s son, who received him well. He found friends
and kinsmen there, and was highly honoured on account of the esteem in
which Hákon, his mother’s father, was held. He had possessions from
Steinkel, the King of the Swedes, ever since he was banished by King
Harald, Sigurd’s son, and became greatly beloved both by the King and
the people. A second daughter’s son of Earl Hákon, Ivar’s son, was Hákon
who was called the Norwegian; he was the father of King Eirík Spaki (the
wise), who was King of Denmark after Eirík Eymuni (the ever-remembered).
Hákon remained in Sweden for a while, and was well treated by King Ingi.
But when some time had passed in this way he felt so home-sick that he
wanted to go west again to the Islands. Christianity then was young, and
newly planted in Sweden. Many men still dabbled in ancient lore, and
were persuaded that by such means they were able to ascertain future
events. King Ingi was a good Christian man, and loathed all those that
meddled in ancient [superstitious] lore, and made strenuous efforts to
abolish the evil customs which for a long time had accompanied
heathenism; but the chiefs and leading Bœndr murmured loudly if they
were reproved for their evil habits, and at last matters went so far
that the Bœndr elected another King, Swein, the brother of the Queen,
who permitted them to make sacrifices, and was therefore called
“Sacrificing Swein.” King Ingi had to flee from him to Western Gautland
(Gothland); but their dealings ended thus, that King Ingi caught Swein
by surprise in a house, and burnt the house and him in it. After this he
subdued the whole country, and uprooted many wicked customs.
CHAPTER XXVI
OF THE WORDS OF THE SPAE-MAN.
WHEN Hákon, Paul’s son, was in Sweden he had heard of a man in that
country who practised sorcery and spae-craft, whether he used for those
purposes witchcraft or other magical arts. Hákon became very curious to
see this man, and anxious to know what he could ascertain about his
future. So he went in search of the man, and at last he found him in a
seaside district, where he went from one feast to another, and foretold
the seasons and other things to the country people. When Hákon had found
this man, he inquired of him whether he would succeed in regaining his
dominions, or what other fortune awaited him. The spae-man asked him who
he was, and he told him his name and family—that he was the daughter’s
son of Hákon, Ivar’s son.
The spae-man then said: “Why should you ask foresight or knowledge of
the future from me? You know well that your kinsmen have had little
liking for such men as I am; and yet it might be necessary for you to
try to ascertain your fate from your friend, Olaf the Stout, in whom all
your faith is placed; but I suspect that he would not condescend to tell
you what you are anxious to know, or else he may not be so mighty as you
call him.”
Hákon answered: “I will not reproach him, and I should rather think I
was not worthy to learn wisdom from him, than that he was incapable; so
that I might learn from him for that matter. But I have come to you,
because I thought that we had no reason to envy each other on account of
virtue or religion.”
The spae-man replied: “I am glad to find that you place your entire
trust in me, and not in that faith which you and your kinsmen profess.
Truly they who apply themselves to such things are strange men. They
keep fasts and vigils, and believe that by such means they will be able
to ascertain that which they desire to know; but the more they apply
themselves to these things, the less they ascertain of what they wish to
know when it is most important to them to know it. But we undergo no
bodily pains, yet we always obtain knowledge of those things which it is
of importance to our friends not to be ignorant of. Now matters will go
between us in this way, that I shall help you because I understand that
you think you will rather obtain the truth from me than from the
preachers of King Ingi, in whom he puts his entire trust. After three
nights’ time you shall come to me, and then we shall try whether I may
be able to tell you any of the things you wish to know.”
Upon this they parted, and Hákon stayed in the district. When three
nights had passed, he went again to see the spae-man. He was in a
certain house alone, and groaned heavily as Hákon entered. He passed his
hand across his forehead, and said that it had cost him much pain to
obtain the knowledge which Hákon desired. Hákon then said he wished to
hear his future.
The spae-man said: “If you wish your whole fate unfolded, it is long to
tell, for there is a great future in store for you, and grand events
will happen at certain periods of your life. I foresee that you will at
last become the sole ruler of the Orkneys; but you will perhaps think
you have long to wait. I also see that your sons will rule there. Your
next journey to the Orkneys will be a very eventful one, when its
consequences appear. In your days you will also commit a crime,[288] for
which you may or may not obtain pardon from the God in whom you believe.
Your steps go farther out into the world than I am able to trace, yet I
think you will rest your bones in the northern parts. Now I have told
you what has been given me to tell you at this time, but what
satisfaction you may have derived from your visit rests with yourself.”
Hákon replied: “Great things you have foretold, if they turn out to be
true; but I think my fate will prove itself better than you have said;
and perhaps you have not seen the truth.”
The spae-man said he was free to believe what he liked of it, but that
such events would not the less surely come to pass.
CHAPTER XXVII
OF THE SCHEMES OF HAKON, PAUL’S SON.
AFTER this Hákon went to see King Ingi, and stayed with him a short
while. Then he obtained leave from the King to depart. He went first to
Norway to see his kinsman, King Magnus, who received him very well.
There he heard that the government of the Orkneys was almost exclusively
in the hands of Earl Erlend and his sons, and that they were greatly
loved, but that his father Paul took little part in the government. He
also thought he could perceive from conversations with men from the
Orkneys, who gave him a true account of the state of matters, that the
Orkneymen had no desire for his return home. They were living in peace
and quiet, and were afraid that Hákon’s return would give rise to
disturbance and strife. When Hákon was turning this over in his mind, he
thought it likely that his kinsmen would try to keep him out of his
possessions, and that it would be dangerous for him if he did not go
west with a numerous retinue. Then he devised a scheme to induce King
Magnus to put him into his possessions in the Orkneys.
CHAPTER XXVIII
HAKON’S INTERVIEW WITH KING MAGNUS.
THIS was after King Magnus had put Steigar Thórir and Egil to death, and
put down all opposition to his rule. Hákon was a sagacious man, and he
thought he could understand from King Magnus’s conversation that he was
ambitious of grand undertakings, and covetous of the possessions of
other rulers. Hákon began to tell the King that it would be a princely
feat to make an expedition to the west, and subdue the Islands, as
Harald the Fairhaired had done. He also said that if he established his
power in the Sudreyar (Hebrides), he might easily make forays into
Ireland and Scotland from them. Then, having subdued the western
countries, he might attack the English, with the help of the Northmen,
and thus take revenge for his grandfather Harald, Sigurd’s son.
When they were speaking about these things, it became evident that the
King was pleased with this proposal, and said it was spoken like a
nobleman, and quite according to his own mind. “But I wish you not to be
surprised, Hákon,” said the King, “in case I shall be persuaded by your
words to carry an army into the west, if I put forward a strong claim to
the possessions there, without regard to the claims of any man.”
When Hákon heard this suggestion, he was not so well pleased, because he
suspected the real meaning of the King’s words; and after this he no
longer persuaded the King to go; neither was it required, for after
their conversation, the King sent messages throughout his dominions to
make known that he was soon to lead out an expedition, and then he made
it known to the people that he was going to the west, whatever might be
the result. Preparations were made for the expedition throughout the
whole kingdom. King Magnus took with him his son Sigurd, who was eight
winters old, and a hopeful boy.
CHAPTER XXIX
THE WESTERN EXPEDITION OF MAGNUS BARELEGS.
WHEN the brothers Paul and Erlend ruled the Orkneys, King Magnus came
from Norway. He had a large army. Many of his vassals followed him,
among whom were Vidkunn Jonsson, Sigurd Hrani’s son, Serk from Sogn, Dag
Eilif’s son, Skapti from Gizki, Ogmund, Finn and Thórd, Eyvind Olnbogi
(the King’s High Steward), Kali, Snæbiörn’s son from Agdir, the son of
Thorleif Spaki (the wise) who was maimed by Hallfred, and Kol his son.
Kali was a very wise man, much esteemed by the king, and made verses
well.
When King Magnus came to the Orkneys, he seized the Earls Paul and
Erlend, and sent them east to Norway, but placed his son Sigurd over the
Isles, and gave him counsellors. King Magnus went to the Sudreyar
(Hebrides), accompanied by Magnus and Erling, the sons of Earl Erlend,
and Hákon, Paul’s son. But when King Magnus came to the Islands, he
began hostilities first at Liódhús (Lewis), and gained a victory there.
In this expedition he subdued the whole of the Sudreyar, and seized
Lögman, the son of Gudröd, King of the Western Islands. Thence he went
to Bretland (Wales), and fought a great battle in Anglesea Sound with
two British chiefs[289]—Hugh the Stout and Hugh the Bold. When the men
took up their arms and buckled for the fight, Magnus, Erlend’s son, sat
down on the foredeck, and did not take his arms. The King asked why he
did not do so. He said he had nothing against any one there, and would
not therefore fight.
The King said: “Go down below, and do not lie among other people’s feet
if you dare not fight, for I do not believe that you do this from
religious motives.”
Magnus took a psalter and sang during the battle, and did not shelter
himself. The battle was long and fiercely contested, and both swords and
missiles were used. For a long time the result of the battle was
doubtful. King Magnus shot from a bow, and a man from Hálogaland[290]
was with him. Hugh the Bold fought valiantly. He had a suit of armour
which covered him entirely, except his eyes. King Magnus ordered the man
from Hálogaland to shoot at the same time as he did, and they shot both
at once. One of the arrows struck the nose-piece of the helmet, and the
other pierced the eye, and that was said to be the king’s arrow.
CHAPTER XXX
KALI’S DEATH.
AFTER Hugh’s death the British (Normans) fled, and King Magnus obtained
a great victory. He lost there many brave men, and many others were
wounded. Kali had received many wounds, but none mortal. After the
battle King Magnus sailed from the south along the coasts of Bretland
and Scotland, having conquered all the Sudreyar and Anglesea, which is
one-third of Bretland.
King Magnus had appointed Magnus, Erlend’s son, as one of the waiters at
his table, and he performed continually the duties of that office; but
after the battle in Anglesea Sound the king showed that Magnus had
incurred his serious displeasure. He had not been wounded, although he
had not sheltered himself. During the night he stole away from the King,
and hid himself for some time in the woods, while the King’s men made a
search for him. Magnus made his way to the court of Malcolm,[291] the
King of Scots, and remained there a while. For some time he was with a
certain bishop in Bretland. He was also in England; but he did not come
to the Orkneys while King Magnus was alive.
King Magnus held northward, along the coasts of Scotland, and messengers
came to him from Malcolm, the King of Scots, to ask for peace. They said
that the King of Scots was willing to give him all the islands lying
west of Scotland, between which and the mainland he could pass in a
vessel with the rudder shipped. Thereupon King Magnus landed in Satiri
(Kintyre), and had a boat drawn across the neck (isthmus) of
Satiri,[292] he himself holding the helm, and thus he gained possession
of the whole of Satiri, which is better than the best island of the
Sudreyar, Man excepted. It is in the west of Scotland, and on the land
side there is a narrow isthmus, across which vessels are frequently
drawn. Thence King Magnus went to the Sudreyar, and sent his men into
Scotland’s Fiord.[293] They rowed in along one coast and out along
another, and thus took possession of all the islands west of Scotland.
Then the King made it known that he was going to spend the winter in the
Sudreyar, but gave permission to those who had most urgent business to
go home. When the troops knew this, they all wished to go home, and
murmured greatly at being longer detained. The King then held a council
with his advisers, and looked at the wounds of his men. He saw Kali, and
asked about his wounds. Kali said they did not heal well, and that he
did not know what the end would be. The King asked for his advice. Kali
said: “Is it not so that your friends are now failing you?” The King
said he did not think so. Kali asked him to hold a wapinschaw, and thus
to ascertain the number of his troops. This the King did; then he missed
many men. This he told to Kali. Then Kali sang:
How do thy great chiefs repay thee
For the bounties lavished on them?
Now, O King, of this make trial—
On western currents ships are shaken.
The King replied:
Surely it was in my folly
That my wealth I gave to these men;
Yet my long ships, swiftly speeding,
Still shall climb the chilly billows.
After this the King kept a watch to prevent men from deserting.
When King Magnus was in the Sudreyar, he obtained the hand of Biadmonia,
the daughter of Mýrkiartan,[294] the son of Thiálbi, the King of the
Irish in Kunnáttir (Connaught), for his son Sigurd, who was then nine
winters old, and she five. This winter Kali died from his wounds. Sigurd
Sneis (slice), Kali’s kinsman, a Lenderman from Agdir, had fallen in
Anglesea Sound.
CHAPTER XXXI
BIRTH OF KALI, SON OF KOL.
EARLY in the spring King Magnus left the Sudreyar, and went first to the
Orkneys, where he heard of the death of the Earls. Erlend died in
Nidaros,[295] and was buried there; and Paul died in Biörgvin (Bergen).
Then King Magnus married Gunnhild, the daughter of Earl Erlend, to Kol,
Kali’s son, in order to compensate him for (the loss of) his father. Her
dowry consisted of possessions in the Orkneys, including a farm at
Papul.[296] Some say that Erling, Erlend’s son, fell in Anglesea Sound,
but Snorri Sturluson says he fell in Uladstir[297] with King Magnus. At
his wedding Kol became King Magnus’s vassal. Afterwards he went to
Norway with the King, and home to Agdir with his wife, and went to
reside at his estates there. Kol and Gunnhild had two children; their
son was called Kali, and their daughter Ingirid. They were both very
promising children, and brought up with affectionate care.
CHAPTER XXXII.
SIGURD MADE KING.
When Magnus had been king nine winters, he went to the west, and made
war in Ireland, and spent the winter in Kunnáttir (Connaught). The next
summer, on St. Bartholomew’s Day, he fell in Uladstir (Ulster). When
Sigurd heard in the Orkneys of the death of his father, he went
immediately to Norway, and was made king, along with his brothers
Eystein and Olaf. He had left the daughter of the Irish king in the
west.
One winter or two after the death of King Magnus, Hákon, Paul’s son,
came from the west, and the kings gave him an earl’s title and
possessions beseeming his birth. Then he returned to the west and took
possession of the Orkneys. He had always accompanied King Magnus while
he was alive. He was with him in his expedition to Gautland, which is
mentioned in the song made about Hákon, Paul’s son.
CHAPTER XXXIII
MAGNUS (ERLEND’S SON) OBTAINS THE TITLE OF EARL.
WHEN Earl Hákon had ruled the Orkneys for some time, Magnus, the son of
Earl Erlend, came from Scotland, and wished to take possession of his
patrimony. The Bœndr were highly pleased with this, for he was beloved
among them, and had many kinsmen and connections who wished to help him
to his dominions. His mother was married to a man called Sigurd. Their
son was named Hákon Karl (man). They had estates in Papul. When Earl
Hákon heard that Earl Magnus had come to the Orkneys, he collected men
together, and refused to give up any part of the Islands. But their
friends tried to make peace between them, and at last they succeeded so
far that Hákon consented to give up half of his dominions if the Kings
of Norway approved of it. Magnus went immediately to Norway to see King
Eystein, for King Sigurd had then gone to Jerusalem.[298] King Eystein
received him exceedingly well, and gave up to him his patrimony,
one-half of the Orkneys, with the title of Earl. Thereupon Magnus went
west to his dominions, and his kinsmen and friends and all the people
were glad to see him back. Through the kind offices of mutual friends,
Magnus and Hákon agreed very well. So long as their friendship continued
there were good times and peace in the Orkneys.
CHAPTER XXXIV
OF EARL MAGNUS (ERLEND’S SON).
THE holy Magnus, Earl of the Islands, was a most excellent man. He was
of large stature, a man of a noble presence and intellectual
countenance. He was of blameless life, victorious in battles, wise,
eloquent, strong-minded, liberal and magnanimous, sagacious in counsels,
and more beloved than any other man. To wise men and good he was gentle
and affable in his conversation; but severe and unsparing with robbers
and vikings. Many of those who plundered the landowners and the
inhabitants of the land he caused to be put to death. He also seized
murderers and thieves, and punished rich and poor impartially for
robberies and thefts and all crimes. He was just in his judgments, and
had more respect to divine justice than difference in the estates of
men. He gave large presents to chiefs and rich men, yet the greatest
share of his liberality was given to the poor. In all things he strictly
obeyed the divine commands; and he chastened his body in many things,
which in his glorious life were known to God, but hidden from men. Thus,
he made known his intention to espouse a maiden of a most excellent
family in Scotland, and having celebrated his marriage, he lived with
her for ten winters free from the defilement of carnal lusts, for he was
pure and spotless with regard to all such sins, and if he were tempted,
he bathed in cold water, and prayed for divine assistance. Many other
glorious virtues he exhibited to God himself, but concealed from men.
CHAPTER XXXV
OF MAGNUS AND HAKON.
MAGNUS and Hákon ruled their lands and defended them for some time, the
two agreeing very well. In a song made about them, it is said that they
fought with a chief called Dúfniál, their third cousin, who fell before
them. They also slew a famous man named Thorbiörn, in Borgarfiord,[299]
in Hjaltland. Other deeds of theirs are set forth in song, though not
specially narrated here. When they had ruled the land for some time, it
happened, as often is the case, that men of evil dispositions were found
who destroyed their good understanding. Hákon was more disposed to
listen to these miserable men, because he was very jealous of the
popularity and greatness of his kinsman Magnus.
CHAPTER XXXVI
OF EARL MAGNUS.
TWO men with Earl Hákon are chiefly mentioned as being the worst in
creating enmity between the two kinsmen. These were Sigurd and Sighvat
Sokki (sock). Through the slander of wicked men this enmity went so far
that the Earls gathered troops together and went to meet each other.
Both went to Hrossey, where the Orkney Thingstead[300] was, and when
they arrived there, both drew up their troops in battle array, and
prepared to fight. There were both the Earls and all the chief men, many
(of whom) were friends of both, and did all they could to make peace
between them, showing much goodwill and virtuous disposition. This
meeting was during Lent. But, as many well-disposed men joined
themselves together to avert hostilities between them, and to assist
neither of them against the other, they confirmed their reconciliation
with oaths and shaking of hands.
Some time after this, Earl Hákon, with hypocrisy and fair words,
appointed a day of meeting with the blessed Earl Magnus, so that their
friendship and the newly-made peace should neither be disturbed nor
destroyed. This meeting, which was to confirm their peace and
reconciliation, should take place in the spring, in the Pasch week, in
Egilsey.[301] Earl Magnus was well pleased with this arrangement, as he
thought it was meant to confirm a sincere peace, without any suspicions,
treachery, or covetousness. Each of them should have two ships and an
equal number of men (at the conference). Both swore to keep the peace,
on conditions dictated by the wisest men.
Immediately after Easter, preparations were made for the meeting. Earl
Magnus summoned all those whom he knew to be best disposed to him, and
most likely to make matters smooth between them. He had two ships, and
as many men as had been agreed upon, and when he was ready he went to
Egilsey. As they were rowing in calm and smooth water a great wave rose
under the ship, which was steered by the Earl, and broke over it where
he sat. His men wondered very much at such an occurrence,—that a breaker
should rise in smooth water where no man could remember a breaker to
have arisen, and where the water was so deep. Then the Earl said: “No
wonder that you are surprised at this. Indeed, I take this as a
foreboding of my death. Perhaps it will come to pass as was prophesied
about Earl Hákon, and this may be to prepare us for Hákon, my kinsman,
not dealing honestly with me at this meeting.” The Earl’s men became
very sorrowful when he spoke of his death being near at hand, and begged
him to take care of his life, and not to trust himself to the good faith
of Earl Hákon. Earl Magnus answered: “Let us go this time, and let all
that depends on our journey be in God’s will.”
CHAPTER XXXVII
EARL HAKON AND EARL MAGNUS.
NOW it is to be told of Earl Hákon that he gathered together a numerous
army, and had many ships equipped as if for battle. And when the troops
were assembled, he made known to his men that he intended that this
meeting should decide between him and Earl Magnus, so that both of them
should not rule over the Orkneys. Many of his men approved of this plan,
adding many wicked suggestions to it, yet Sigurd and Sighvat Sokki
counselled the worst things.
Then they began to row fast, and went along quickly. Hávard, Gunnar’s
son, who was the friend and counsellor of the Earls, and equally
faithful to both, was on board the Earl’s ship. Hákon had concealed this
wicked plan from him, in which he would by no means have had any part.
And when he knew that the Earl was so resolute in this wicked purpose,
he jumped overboard, and swam to a certain uninhabited island.
Earl Magnus arrived first with his men at Egilsey, and when they saw
Earl Hákon coming they perceived that he had eight war-ships. Then Earl
Magnus suspected that he intended to act treacherously towards him. So
he walked along the island with his men, and went into the church to
pray. His men offered to defend him. The Earl replied: “I will not put
your lives in danger for mine, and if peace cannot be established
between us, let it be as God wills.” His men now recognised the truth of
his words, and as he foreknew the hours of his life—whether from his
wisdom or from a divine revelation—he would neither fly nor avoid his
enemies. He prayed devoutly, and had a mass sung for him.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE OFFERS OF EARL MAGNUS.
HAKON and his men came up in the morning, and ran first to the church
and ransacked it, but did not find the Earl. He had gone to another part
of the island, to a certain hiding-place, accompanied by two men. But
when the holy Earl Magnus saw that they searched for him, he called to
them, and thus made known to them where he was, and said they need
search no farther. And when Hákon saw him, he and his men ran thither
with loud yelling and clangour of their weapons.
Earl Magnus was praying when they came up to him, and when he had
finished his prayer he made the sign of the cross, and said firmly to
Earl Hákon: “You did not act well, kinsman, when you broke your oaths,
and it is highly probable that you were instigated to this more by the
wickedness of others than your own. Now, I will make you three offers,
that you may rather accept one of them than break your oaths, and slay
me who am innocent.”
Hákon’s men asked what these offers were.
“The first is, that I shall go to Rome, or away to Jerusalem, and visit
the holy places, taking with me two ships from the Orkneys, with the
necessary equipment for the journey, and obtain benefits for the souls
of us both. I shall swear never to return to the Orkneys.”
This offer was promptly rejected.
Then said Earl Magnus: “Now, because my life is in your power, and I
have offended against Almighty God in many things, you shall send me to
Scotland, to our mutual friends, and keep me in custody there, with two
men for companionship. Make such provision that I shall not be able to
escape from this custody.”
This too was promptly refused.
Magnus then said: “There is yet one more offer which I will make, and
God knows that I think more of your soul than of my own life, for it
were better that you should do as I shall offer you than that you should
take my life. Let me be maimed as you like, or deprived of my eyes, and
throw me into a dark dungeon.”
Then said Earl Hákon: “This offer I accept, and I ask for no more.”
But the chiefs started up and said to Earl Hákon: “One of you will we
kill now, and from this day you shall not both rule the lands of the
Orkneys.”
Earl Hákon replied: “Slay him then, for I will rather have earldom and
lands than instant death.”
Thus their conversation was related by Höldbodi, a truthful Bondi in the
Sudreyar, who was one of the two of Earl Magnus’s men who were with him
when he was taken.
CHAPTER XXXIX
THE BEHEADING OF EARL MAGNUS.
THE worthy Earl Magnus was as cheerful as if he were invited to a
banquet, and spoke neither words of offence nor anger. After these words
had passed, he fell on his knees to pray, hiding his face in his hands,
and shedding many tears before God. Then, when the holy Earl Magnus was
thus doomed to death, Hákon ordered his banner-bearer, Ofeig, to slay
the Earl, but he refused, with the utmost wrath. Then forced he Lífólf,
his cook, to be the slayer of Magnus, but he began to weep aloud. “Weep
not thus,” said Earl Magnus, “for this is an honourable task. Be firm,
and you shall have my clothing, according to the custom and laws of the
men of old. Be not afraid, for you do this against your will, and he who
forces you sins more than you.”
When he had said this, he took off his tunic and gave it to Lífólf. Then
he asked for permission to pray, which was granted to him. He fell upon
the earth, and gave himself to God, offering himself as a sacrifice. He
prayed not only for his friends, but also for his enemies and murderers,
and forgave them, with all his heart, their offences against himself. He
confessed his sins to God, and prayed that they might be washed from him
in the shedding of his blood. He commended his spirit to God’s keeping,
and prayed that His angels might come to meet his soul and carry it into
the rest of paradise. Some say that he took the sacrament when the mass
was sung. Then, when God’s friend was led to execution, he said to
Lífólf: “Stand before me, and hew me a mighty stroke on the head, for it
is not fitting that high-born lords should be put to death like thieves.
Be firm, poor man, for I have prayed to God for you, that he may have
mercy upon you.” After that he signed the sign of the cross, and stooped
under the blow, and his spirit passed into heaven.
CHAPTER XL
THE SAINTSHIP OF EARL MAGNUS MADE MANIFEST.
THE place where Earl Magnus was slain was previously covered with moss
and stones, but shortly afterwards his merits before God became manifest
in this wise, that it became green sward where he was beheaded. Thus God
showed that he had suffered for righteousness’ sake, and had obtained
the beauty and verdure of paradise, which is called the land of the
living.
Earl Hákon did not permit his body to be brought to the church (for
burial).
The day of Earl Magnus’s death was two days after Tiburtiusmas (14th
April). Then he had been seven winters Earl in the Orkneys along with
Earl Hákon. Seventy-four winters had passed since the death of King
Olaf. The Kings of Norway were at this time Sigurd, Eystein, and Olaf.
It was one thousand and ninety-one winters after the birth of
Christ.[302]
CHAPTER XLI
THE EARL’S BODY BROUGHT TO CHURCH.
THORA, the mother of Earl Magnus, had invited both the Earls to a
banquet after their meeting, and Earl Hákon went there after the murder
of the holy Earl Magnus. Thóra herself served at the banquet, and
brought the drink to the Earl and his men who had been present at the
murder of her son. And when the drink began to have effect on the Earl,
then went Thóra before him and said: “You came alone here, my lord, but
I expected you both. Now, I hope you will gladden me in the sight of God
and men. Be to me in stead of a son, and I shall be to you in stead of a
mother. I stand greatly in need of your mercy now, and (I pray you to)
permit me to bring my son to church. Hear this my supplication now, as
you wish God to look upon you at the day of doom.”
The Earl became silent, and considered her case, as she prayed so
meekly, and with tears, that her son might be brought to church. He
looked upon her, and the tears fell, and he said, “Bury your son where
it pleases you.”
Then the Earl’s body was brought to Hrossey, and buried at Christ’s Kirk
(in Birsay), which had been built by Earl Thorfinn.
CHAPTER LXII
THE MIRACLE-WORKING OF MAGNUS THE MARTYR.
SOON after this a heavenly light was seen above his burial-place. Then
men who were placed in danger began to pray to him, and their prayers
were heard. A heavenly odour was frequently perceived above his
burial-place, from which people suffering from illness received health.
Then sufferers made pilgrimages thither both from the Orkneys and
Hjaltland, and kept vigils at his grave, and were cured of all their
sufferings.[303] But people dared not make this known while Earl Hákon
was alive.
It is said of the men who were most guilty in the murder of the holy
Earl Magnus that most of them met with a miserable death.
CHAPTER XLIII
THE MIRACLES WROUGHT BY THE BLESSED FRIEND OF GOD, MAGNUS.
William was Bishop of the Orkneys at this time. He was the first bishop
there. The bishop’s seat was at Christ’s Kirk in Birgishérad (Birsay).
William was bishop for six winters of the seventh decade.[304] For a
long time he disbelieved in the sanctity of Earl Magnus, until his
merits became manifest to such a degree that God made his holiness grow
the more conspicuous the more it was tried, as is told in the book of
his miracles.
CHAPTER XLIV
THE JOURNEY OF EARL HAKON TO THE SOUTH.
AFTER the murder of Earl Magnus, Hákon, Paul’s son, took possession of
all the Orkneys, and exacted an oath of fealty from all men, and took
submission from those who had served Earl Magnus. He became a great
chief, and made heavy exactions from those of Earl Magnus’s friends who
in his opinion had taken part against him.
Some winters after this he prepared to leave the country, and went to
Rome. Then he also went to Jerusalem, according to the custom of the
palmers, and brought away sacred relics, and bathed in the river Jordan.
After that he returned to his dominions, and resumed the government of
the Orkneys. He became a good ruler, and established peace throughout
his dominions; he also made new laws for the Orkneys, which the
landowners liked better than the former ones. Then he became so popular
that the Orkneymen desired no other rulers than Hákon and his issue.
CHAPTER XLV
GENEALOGICAL.
WHEN Earl Hákon ruled over the Orkneys there lived a noble and wealthy
man, by name Moddan, at Dal (Dale), in Caithness. His daughters were
Helga and Frákork Thórleif. Helga, Moddan’s daughter, was the concubine
of Earl Hákon, and their son was Harald, who was called Sléttmáli
(smooth-talker), and their daughter was Ingibiorg, who was married to
Olaf Bitling (little bit), the King of the Sudreyar. Their second
daughter was Margarét. Moddan’s daughter, Frákork, was married to a man
who was named Liót Níding (miscreant), in Sutherland, and their daughter
was Steinvör the Stout, who was married to Thorliót, at Rekavík.[305]
Their sons were Olvir Rosta (strife), Magnus Orm, and Moddan Eindridi,
and their daughter Audhild. A second daughter of Frákork was Gudrún,
married to Thorstein Höld, Fiaransmunn (open-mouth). Their son was
Thorbiörn Klerk (clerk).
Hákon, Paul’s son, had a son named Paul, who was called Umálgi
(speechless); he was a reserved man, but popular. When the brothers grew
up they never agreed. Hákon, Paul’s son, died on a sick-bed in the
Islands, and his death was considered a great loss, for in the later
days of his reign there was unbroken peace, and the Islanders suspected
that the brothers would not agree well.
CHAPTER XLVI
THE SLAYING OF THORKEL FÓSTRI.
AFTER the death of Earl Hákon, his sons succeeded him; but they soon
disagreed, and divided the dominions between them. Then also dissensions
arose between the great men, and the vassals of each were divided into
factions. Earl Harald held Caithness from the King of the Scots, and he
resided frequently there, but sometimes also in Scotland (Sutherland?),
for he had many friends and kinsmen there.
When Earl Harald was staying in Sutherland there came to him a man
called Sigurd Slembir,[306] who was said to be the son of the priest
Adalbrekt. He came from Scotland, having been staying with King David,
who had held him in high esteem. Earl Harald received him extremely
well. Sigurd went into the Islands with Earl Harald and Frákork,
Moddan’s daughter, for her husband, Liót Níding, was dead. She and her
sister took a large share in the government with Earl Harald. Sigurd
Slembir was a great favourite with all of them. At that time Audhild,
the daughter of Thórleif, Moddan’s daughter, was his concubine.
Afterwards she was married to Hákon Kló (claw). Before that time she had
been married to Eirík Stræta; their son was Eirík Slagbrellir.
When Sigurd and Frákork came to the Islands great dissensions arose, and
both of the Earls called together as many of their friends as they could
get. The most attached to Earl Paul was Sigurd, at Westness,[307] who
had married Ingibiorg the Noble, a kinswoman of the Earls’, and Thorkel,
Sumarlidi’s son, who was always with Earl Paul, and was called his
foster-father. He was a kinsman of the holy Earl Magnus, and a most
popular man. The friends of the Earl thought that no man would less
deplore their dissensions than Thorkel, because of the injury done him
by their father Hákon. At last Earl Harald and Sigurd Slembir went to
Thorkel Fóstri,[308] and slew him. When Earl Paul heard this, he was
very much displeased, and gathered men together; but when their mutual
friends became aware of this, they went between them and tried to
reconcile them; and all took part in making peace. Earl Paul was so
wroth that he would not make peace, unless all those who were concerned
in the manslaying were banished. But as the islanders thought their
dissensions a great calamity, they all tried to pacify them; and the
result was that Sigurd and all those who, in Earl Paul’s opinion, were
most concerned in this crime, were banished from the Orkneys. Earl
Harald paid the manbote (compensation) for the slaughter of Thorkel. The
terms of this peace were that their friendship should be confirmed, and
that they should spend Christmas and all the chief festivals together.
Sigurd Slembir left the Orkneys, and went to Scotland, and stayed for a
while with Malcolm, King of Scots, and was well entertained. He was
thought a great man in all manly exercises. He remained for a time in
Scotland, until he went to Jerusalem.
CHAPTER XLVII
EARL HARALD SLAIN BY SORCERY.
ONCE the brothers were to be entertained at Orfjara (Orphir), one of
Earl Harald’s estates, and he was to bear the expense of the
entertainment for both of them that Christmas. He was very busy, and
made great preparations. The sisters Frákork and Helga were there with
the Earl, and sat sewing in a little room.[309] Earl Harald went into
the room where the sisters were sitting on a cross-bench, and saw a
linen garment, newly made, and white as snow, lying between them. The
Earl took it up, and saw that it was embroidered with gold. He asked,
“To whom does this splendid thing belong?”
Frákork replied, “It is intended for your brother Paul.”
“Why do you make such a fine garment for him? You do not take such pains
in making my clothing.”
He had just come out of bed, and was dressed in a shirt and linen
drawers, and had thrown a mantle over his shoulders. He threw off the
mantle, and spread out the dress. His mother took hold of it, and asked
him not to envy his brother of his fine clothing. The Earl pulled it
from her, and prepared to put it on. Then Frákork snatched off her
head-gear, and tore her hair, and said that his life was at stake if he
put it on, and both of the women wept grievously. The Earl put on the
garment nevertheless; but as soon as it touched his sides a shiver went
through his body, which was soon followed by great pain, so that he had
to take to his bed; and he was not long in bed until he died. His
friends considered his death a great loss.
Immediately after his death his brother Paul took possession of his
dominions, with the consent of the Bœndr. Earl Paul considered that the
splendid underclothing which Earl Harald had put on had been intended
for him, and therefore he did not like the sisters to stay in the
Orkneys. So they left the Islands with all their attendants, and went
first to Caithness, and then to Scotland to the estate which Frákork had
there. Her son Erlend was brought up there while he was young. Olvir
Rosta, the son of Thorliót, from Rekavík (Rackwick), and Steinný
(Steinvor?), Frákork’s daughter, were also brought up there. Olvir was a
man of great strength, a violent man and a great fighter. Thorbiörn
Klerk, the son of Thorstein Höld, was brought up there, and also
Margarét, the daughter of Earl Hákon and Helga, Moddan’s daughter, and
Eirík Slagbrellir. All these were men of great families, and
accomplished, and thought they had claims to the Orkneys. The brothers
of Frákork were Magnus Orfi (the liberal) and Earl Ottar, in Thórsey
(Thurso), who was a noble man.
CHAPTER XLVIII
OF EARL PAUL.
EARL PAUL then ruled the Orkneys, and was very popular. He was somewhat
taciturn, spoke little at the Things, and gave others a large share in
the government with himself. He was a modest man, and gentle to the
people, liberal with his money, and spared nothing with his friends. He
was not warlike, and kept himself very quiet. At that time there were
many noble men descended from Earls in the Orkneys. Then there lived at
Westness, in Hrólfsey (Rousay), a noble man, by name Sigurd, who had
married Ingibiorg the Noble. Her mother Herborg was the daughter of Earl
Paul, Thorfinn’s son. Their sons were Brynjúlf and Hákon Pík (peak). All
these were Earl Paul’s vassals; so were also the sons of Hávard, Gunni’s
son—Hákon Kló, Thorstein, and Dûfniáll. Their mother was Bergliót, and
her mother was Ragnhild, the daughter of Earl Paul. There was a man
named Erling, who lived in Caithness. He had four sons, all of them
accomplished men. A man named Olaf lived in Gáreksey (Gairsay), and had
another estate at Dungalsbæ, in Caithness. Olaf was a great man, and
highly honoured by Earl Paul. His wife was named Asleif, a wise woman,
accomplished, and of a great family. Their sons—Valthióf, Swein, and
Gunni—were all accomplished men. Their sister was named Ingigerd.
Sigurd, the Earl’s brother-in-law, had married Thóra, the mother of Earl
Magnus, and their son was Hákon Karl (man). Both Sigurd and his son were
great chiefs. In Rínarsey (North Ronaldsay) there lived a woman, by name
Ragna, and her son was named Thorstein, a man of great strength. A
farmer named Kugi, a wise and wealthy man, lived at Gefsisness,[310] in
Westrey. A farmer named Helgi lived at a hamlet in Westrey. Thorkel
Flétta (a braid), a violent and powerful man, lived in Westrey.
Thorstein and Haflidi were unpopular men. At Swiney (Swona), in the
Pentland Firth, lived a poor man, and his sons were Asbiörn and Margad,
sturdy fellows. In Fridarey (Fair Isle) lived a man by name Dagfinn. A
man named Thorstein lived at Fluguness,[311] in Hrossey (the Mainland of
Orkney), and his sons were Thorstein Krôkauga (crooked eye) and Blán,
both of them wild fellows. Játvör, the daughter of Earl Erlend, and her
son Borgar, lived at Knarrarstadir;[312] they were rather unpopular. Jón
Vœng (wing) lived at Uppland, in Háey (Hoy). Rikgard lived at
Brekkur,[313] in Straumsey. They were poor men, and relatives of Olaf
Hrólfsson. A man named Grímkell lived at Glettuness.[314] All these men
will be mentioned in the saga afterwards.
CHAPTER XLIX
OF KALI, WHO AFTERWARDS BECAME AN EARL.
KOL, who was a very wise man, resided on his estates at Agdir (in
Norway), and did not go to the Orkneys. His son Kali grew up there, and
was a most promising man. He was of middle size, well proportioned, and
very handsomely shaped; his hair was of a light auburn colour. He was
very affable and popular, and highly accomplished. He made the following
verses:—
At the game-board I am skilful;
Knowing in no less than nine arts;
Runic lore I well remember;
Books I like; with tools I’m handy;
Expert am I on the snow-shoes,
With the bow, and pull an oar well;
And, besides, I am an adept
At the harp, and making verses.
Kali was frequently with his kinsman Sölmund, the son of Sigurd Sneis.
He was treasurer at Túnsberg, and had estates at Austragdir. He was a
great chief, and had a numerous retinue.
CHAPTER L
OF KALI AND GILLICHRIST.
WHEN Kali was fifteen winters old, he went with some merchants to
England, taking with him a good (cargo of) merchandise. They went to a
trading place called Grímsbœ (Grimsby). There was a great number of
people from Norway, as well as from the Orkneys, Scotland, and the
Sudreyar. Kali met there a man who was called Gillichrist. The latter
asked Kali about many things in Norway, and spoke chiefly with him, so
that they became companions. Then he told Kali in confidence that his
name was Harald,[315] that Magnus Barelegs was his father, and his
mother was in the Sudreyar. He further asked him how he would be
received in Norway if he came there. Kali said that he thought King
Sigurd would be likely to receive him well, if others did not set him
against him. Gillichrist and Kali exchanged presents, and at parting
they promised each other mutual friendship wherever they might meet.
CHAPTER LI
OF KALI AND JON.
AFTER that Kali went from the west in the same ship. They touched at
Agdir, and from there they went to Biörgvin (Bergen). Then he made a
stanza:—
Unpleasantly we have been wading
In the mud a weary five weeks.
Dirt we had indeed in plenty,
While we lay in Grimsby harbour;
But now on the moor of sea-gulls
Ride we o’er the crests of billows,
Gaily as the elk of bowsprits
Eastward ploughs its way to Bergen.
When they came to the town, there was a great number of people from the
north and the south (of Norway), and from foreign lands, who had brought
much merchandise. The crew of the ship went to some public places to
amuse themselves. Kali was a great dandy, and made a great display, as
he was newly arrived from England. He thought a great deal of himself,
and many others thought a great deal of him too, because he was of a
good family, and highly accomplished. In the inn where he sat drinking
there was a man named Jón Pétrsson, the son of Serk, from Sogn. He was
the king’s vassal at the time. His mother was Helga, the daughter of
Hárek, from Setr. Jón was a great dandy too. The dame who kept the inn
where they were drinking was Unn by name, a woman of good repute. Jón
and Kali soon became companions, and parted great friends. Whereupon Jón
went home to his estates, and Kali went to his father, Kol, at Agdir.
Kali stayed frequently with his kinsman Sölmund. Thus some years passed,
in which Kali made trading trips during the summer, and spent the
winters at home or with Sölmund.
CHAPTER LII
KALI GOES INTO DOLLS CAVE.
ONE summer Kali went to Thrándheim; he was detained by weather in an
island called Dolls, and there was a cave called Dollshellir. It was
said that money was hidden there. The merchants went into the cave, and
found it very difficult to penetrate into it. They came to a sheet of
water stretching across the cave, and no one dared to cross it except
Kali, and one of Sölmund’s domestics called Hávard. They swam across the
lake, having a rope between them. Kali also carried firewood and
fire-making gear between his shoulders. They came to the opposite shore,
which was rugged and stony; the smell also was there very bad, so that
they could hardly make a light. Kali said they should not go any
farther, and piled up stones as a monument. Then Kali sang a song:
Here I raise a mighty stone-pile,
In remembrance of our daring,
In this Dolls cave, dark and gloomy,
Where we sought the goblins’ treasure.
Yet I know not how the captain
Of the ocean’s gliding snow-skates
May re-cross the dismal water:
Long and dreary is the journey.
Then they returned, and came safe to their men, and it is not mentioned
that anything else happened during their journey. When they came to
Biörgvin, Kali went to the same inn, to Dame Unn. Jón Pétrsson was
there, and one of his domestics, by name Brynjúlf. Many other men were
also there, although their names are not mentioned here.
CHAPTER LIII
OF HAVARD AND BRYNJULF.
ONE evening, when Jón and Kali had gone to bed, many remained drinking,
and talked a great deal. The guests were getting drunk, and at last they
began comparing men,[316] and disputing about who were the greatest of
the landed men of Norway. Brynjúlf said that Jón Pétrsson was the best
man, and of the noblest family of all the young men south of Stád.
Hávard, the companion of Kali, spoke of Sölmund, and said that he was in
nothing inferior to Jón, adding that the men of Vík would esteem him
more than Jón. Out of this a great quarrel arose, and as the ale spoke
in them, they kept so little within bounds that Hávard jumped up, took a
piece of wood, and struck Brynjúlf a blow on the head, so that he
fainted. Those present took hold of Brynjúlf, and sent Hávard away to
Kali, who again sent him to a priest called Rikgard, in Alvidra. “And
tell him from me,” said Kali, “to keep you till I come to the east.”
Kali sent a man with him, and they rowed to the south till they came to
Grœningiasund. Then Hávard said to his fellow-traveller: “Now, as we are
out of their reach, let us rest ourselves, and lie down to sleep.”
When Brynjúlf recovered, he was conducted to Jón, and he told him all
that had happened, and also that the man had been sent away. Jón guessed
the truth about Hávard’s destination, and ordered ten men, led by
Brynjúlf, to take a rowing boat, in which they rowed till they came to
Grœningiasund, and by that time it was daylight. They saw a boat on the
beach. Brynjúlf said: “Perhaps these men may be able to tell us
something of Hávard.” Then they went up and found them when they had
just woke up. Brynjúlf and his men attacked them immediately with arms,
and Hávard and his companion were both slain. After this they returned
to the town and told the news to Jón, and then it was known to the whole
town.
Kali considered these slaughters a great offence against himself; and
when mediators went between him and Jón, the latter said that he would
leave to him to say what amends he wished for the offence, without
prejudice to the right of the King and the parties to the suit. Kali
agreed to this, yet they were no friends from this time. Kali went home
after this occurrence, and when he saw his father he told him the news
and the result.
Then Kol said: “I think your judgment was rather strange, in that you
should have agreed to any terms of reconciliation before Sölmund knew. I
think your position is difficult, and that you can do little else than
try to be reconciled. But Sölmund would not have acted like you if your
man had been killed.”
Kali replied: “I suppose it is true, father, that I have judged rather
hastily in this matter, and you were too far away to advise me. It will
often appear that I am not so deeply wise as you. But I thought that
Sölmund had not a better chance of gaining honourable amends, though I
refused what was offered to me. And I consider it no dishonour for you
and Sölmund if he offers to allow you to determine your compensation,
though I doubt whether such an offer will be made. But I consider myself
under no obligation to Brynjúlf, while I have made no award and no money
has been received.”
Father and son had a long talk about this, and did not agree; then they
sent men to tell Sölmund the news.
CHAPTER LIV
OF JON AND SOLMUND.
AFTER that, Kol and Kali had an interview with Sölmund. Kol wished to
send men to Jón to try to make peace between them; but Sölmund and
Hallvard, Hávard’s brother, refused everything but blood-revenge, and
said it was not becoming to ask for settlement. Yet Kol’s advice was
taken, because he promised not to withdraw from the case until Sölmund
had received honourable amends; and Kol was to lay all the plans. When
the messengers returned, they said they had received a most unfavourable
reply to their demands, and that Jón refused positively to make
compensation for a man who by his own act had forfeited his personal
security. Sölmund said that this had turned out just as he
expected—namely, that little honour would be gained by asking Jón for
settlement; and then he begged Kol to propose a plan that might be of
some avail.
Kol replied: “Is Hallvard willing to run any risk in order to avenge his
brother, even though it may come to little?”
Hallvard said he would not spare himself in order to take revenge, even
if there were danger connected with it.
“Then,” said Kol, “you shall go secretly to Sogn, to a man called Uni,
who lives not far from Jón. He is a wise man, but rather poor, for he
has been a long time oppressed by Jón; he is a great friend of mine, and
considerably advanced in years. You shall take to him from me six marks
(of silver) weighed, in order that he may give you advice how to take
revenge on Brynjúlf, or some other of Jón’s men, whom he considers not
less a loss to him. And if this can be brought about, Uni shall send you
to my kinsman Kyrpinga Orm, at Studla, and his sons Ogmund and Erling,
and there I consider you will be as if you were at home. Tell Uni to
sell his farm and come to me.”
Hallvard prepared to go, and we are not told of his journey or night
quarters, until he came to Uni one evening. He did not tell his true
name. They inquired of each other for current news; and in the evening,
when they were sitting round the fire, the guest asked a great deal
about noble men in Sogn and Hördaland. Uni said that none of the landed
men were considered more powerful than Jón, on account of his family and
his violence; and he further asked whether they had no experience of it
in the south. When he had said this, the guest became silent. Then the
people arose from the fire, and the two remained.
Then Uni said: “Did not you say just now that your name was Hallvard?”
“No,” said the guest; “I called myself Saxi this evening.”
Uni said: “Then I am out of all difficulties; but if my name were
Brynjúlf, I should think yours was Hallvard; and now let us go to
sleep.”
The guest took hold of him and said: “Let us not go yet.” Whereupon he
delivered the purse, and said: “Kol sends you his greeting and this
silver, in order that you may be willing to advise me how to avenge my
brother Havard on Brynjúlf.” Then he told him Kol’s plans.
Uni said: “Kol deserves well of me, but I cannot know what may be done
about the revenge on Brynjúlf; but he is expected here to-morrow to
fetch his concubine’s clothes.”
Thereafter he went with Hallvard to a stable which stood opposite the
door of the house, and concealed him in the manger. This was before the
people got up, but he had slept in the house during the night. When
Hallvard had been a little while in the stable, he saw a brisk man
coming to the house. He called into the house, and told the woman to
make herself ready. She took her clothes and brought them out. Then
Hallvard thought he knew who the man was, and walked out. Brynjúlf had
put down his weapons while he was tying the clothes; and when Hallvard
met him he dealt him a deadly blow, and returned to the stable and hid
himself. While the slaughter was being committed the woman had gone into
the house to take leave of the inmates, but when she came out she saw
what had occurred, and ran in crying and frightened to such a degree
that she was nearly fainting, and told the news. Farmer Uni ran out, and
said that the man had probably been an assassin. He despatched a man to
tell Jón the news, and urged his men with great eagerness to search for
the murderer; therefore no one suspected him. Hallvard remained in the
stable until the search had slackened. Then he went, with Uni’s advice,
to Orm and his sons at Studla, and they sent men with him to the east.
Kol and Sölmund received him well, and were then well satisfied with
their case. After a while the truth came out, and Jón was very much
grieved. Thus that year passed.
Next winter, towards Yuletide, Jón left his home with thirty men, saying
that he was going to pay his uncle Olaf a visit. This he did, and was
very well received. Jón told his uncle that he was going to Agdir to see
Sölmund. Olaf dissuaded him from it, and said that he had held his own
though they parted as matters stood then. But Jón said he was not
satisfied to let Brynjúlf remain unavenged. Olaf said he thought he
would gain very little by trying; yet he had from there thirty men, and
thus he went with half a hundred men across the hills, intending to take
Sölmund and Kol by surprise. When Jón had just gone from the north, Uni
went in haste to Orm and his sons at Studla, and they sent men with him
to Kol. He arrived there at Yule, and told them that Jón was going to
attack them. Kol despatched scouts immediately to all parts where Jón
was expected; and he himself went to see Sölmund, and they and their
kinsmen waited with a great number of men about them. They had news of
Jón’s movements, and started immediately to meet him. They met at a
certain wood, and the fight began immediately. Kol’s men were much more
numerous, and came off victorious. Jón lost many men, and fled into the
wood. He was wounded in the leg, and this wound healed so badly that he
was lame ever after, and was called Jón Fót (leg). He came to the north
during Lent, and his expedition was considered rather ignominious. The
winter thus passed, but the next summer Jón caused two of Kol’s kinsmen
to be killed, Gunnar and Aslák.
CHAPTER LV
THE RECONCILIATION OF THE ORKNEYMEN.
SHORTLY afterwards King Sigurd came to the town, and these difficulties
were laid before him. Then the King summoned both to appear before him,
and they came accompanied by their kinsmen and friends. An attempt was
made to reconcile them, and the result was, that the King should judge
all their differences, which both parties confirmed by shaking of hands.
King Sigurd, assisted by the advice of the wisest men, then made peace
between them. One part of the agreement was, that Jón Pétrsson should
marry Ingirid, Kol’s daughter, and their friendship should be confirmed
by the connection. The killed were set off against each other. The
attack on Kol, and Jón’s wound, were set off against the loss of men in
the east. Further wounds were matched, and the difference made up. Each
should assist the other, both at home and abroad. As a result of this
reconciliation, King Sigurd gave Kali, Kol’s son, the half of the
Orkneys, jointly with Paul, Hákon’s son, and made him an Earl at the
same time. He also gave him the name of Earl Rögnvald, Brúsi’s son,
because his mother, Gunnhild, said that Rögnvald was the most
accomplished of all the Orkney Earls, and thought the name would bring
good fortune. This part of the Orkneys had belonged to Earl Magnus,
Kali’s mother’s brother. After this reconciliation, they who were
enemies before parted good friends.
CHAPTER LVI
KING SIGURD’S DEATH.
THIS winter King Sigurd resided in Osló.[317] During Lent he was taken
ill, and died one night after Lady-day. His son Magnus was in the town,
and held a Thing, and was accepted king throughout the land, agreeably
to the oaths which the inhabitants had sworn to King Sigurd. He also
took possession of all the royal treasures.
Harald Gilli was at Túnsberg when he heard of the death of King Sigurd.
He had meetings with his friends, and sent for Rögnvald and his father,
because they had always been friends since they met in England. Rögnvald
and his father had also done most to help Harald to prove his paternity
to Sigurd. In this they were assisted by many barons; among others
Ingimar, Swein’s son, and Thióstólf, Ali’s son. Harald and his party
resolved to hold the Hauga-Thing[318] at Túnsberg, and there Harald was
accepted king of one-half of the land. The oaths with which he had given
up his patrimony in order to be permitted to prove his paternity by an
ordeal[319] were said to have been given under compulsion. Then people
flocked to him, and gave in their allegiance, and soon he had many men
about him.
Messages went between him and King Magnus, but it was not until four
winters had passed that they were reconciled, on the terms that each of
them should have one-half of the kingdom; but King Magnus had the long
ships, and the table-service, and all the treasures (of his father), yet
he was dissatisfied with his portion, and showed enmity to all the
friends of King Harald. King Magnus would not hold valid King Sigurd’s
gift of the Orkneys and the earldom to Rögnvald, because he was the
firmest partisan of King Harald, until all their dealings were
concluded. Magnus and Harald were three winters Kings of Norway, and
nominally at peace, but the fourth summer they fought at Fyrileif,[320]
where King Magnus had nearly 6000, but Harald only 1500 men. These
chiefs were with King Harald: his brother Kriströd, Earl Rögnvald,
Ingimar from Ask, Thióstólf Ali’s son, and Sölmund. King Magnus gained
the victory, and Harald fled. Kriströd and Ingimar were killed. Ingimar
made the following stanza:—
Fiends me drove to Fyrileif;[321]
Not with my will did I fight there.
Bit by arrows from the elmbow,
Ne’er to Ask shall I return.
King Harald fled to his ships in Vík,[322] and went to Denmark to King
Eirik Eymuni,[323] who gave him Halland for his maintenance, and eight
long ships without rigging. Thióstólf, Ali’s son, sold his lands, bought
ships and arms, and went in autumn to King Harald, in Denmark. At
Yuletide King Harald came to Biörgvin, and lay in Flóruvagár till after
Yule. Then they attacked the town, and met with little resistance. King
Magnus was seized on board his own ship, and maimed. King Harald then
took possession of the whole kingdom, and the next spring he renewed the
gift of the Islands and the title of Earl to Rögnvald.
CHAPTER LVII
KOL’S SCHEMES.
KOL resolved to send men to the Orkneys to ask Earl Paul to give up half
the Islands which King Harald had given to Rögnvald, and they should be
friends and good kinsmen. But if Earl Paul refused, the same men should
go to Frákork and Olvir Rosta, and offer them one-half of the land,
jointly with Earl Rögnvald, if they were willing to take it from Earl
Paul by force of arms. When they came to Earl Paul in the Orkneys, and
delivered the message, he replied: “I understand this claim; it has been
planned advisedly, and with long forethought; they sought the help of
the Kings of Norway to obtain my possessions. Now, I will not repay this
perfidy by giving away my possessions to a man who is not nearer to me
than Rögnvald is, and refusing them to my brother’s son or sister’s son.
There is no need to talk any more of this, for with the assistance of my
friends and kinsmen I shall defend the Orkneys as long as God grants me
life.”
Then the messengers saw what would be the result of their message to
Earl Paul, and went away across the Pentland Firth to Caithness, and
south into the country to Frákork, and delivered their message, to the
effect that Kol and Rögnvald offered her and Olvir half the Islands if
they were willing to conquer them from Earl Paul.
Frákork replied: “It is true that Kol is a very clever man, and it was
wisely planned to seek assistance here, as we have a great many
relatives and connections. I have now married Margaret, Hákon’s
daughter, to Moddan, Earl of Atjöklar (Athole), who is of the noblest
family of all the Scottish chiefs. His father, Malcolm, is the brother
(uncle?) of King Malcolm, the father of David, who is now King of Scots.
We have many and just claims on the Orkneys. We ourselves have also some
power. We are said also to be rather far-seeing, and during hostilities
all things do not come on us unawares; yet we will be glad to enter into
alliance with Kol and his son for many reasons. Tell them from me that I
and Olvir shall bring an army to the Orkneys against Earl Paul about the
middle of the next summer. Let Earl Rögnvald meet us then, and come to a
decisive battle with Earl Paul; and I will collect forces together
during the winter from my kinsmen, friends, and connections in Scotland
and the Sudreyar (Hebrides).”
The messengers returned to Norway, and related how matters stood. Next
winter Earl Rögnvald prepared to go west, and the chiefs Sölmund and Jón
with him. They went the next summer, and had a fine body of troops,
though not numerous, and five or six ships. They arrived at Hjaltland
(Shetland) about the middle of the summer, but heard nothing of Frákork.
Strong and contrary winds sprung up, and they brought their ships to
Alasund,[324] and went a-feasting over the country, for the Bœndr
received them well.
But of Frákork it is to be told that in the spring she went to the
Sudreyar, where she and Olvir gathered troops and ships together. They
got twelve ships, all of them small and somewhat badly manned; and about
the middle of the summer they directed their course to the Orkneys,
intending to meet Earl Rögnvald, according to their agreement. The wind
was rather unfavourable. Olvir Rosta was the commander of these troops,
and he was to obtain an earldom in the Orkneys if they gained the
victory. Frákork was there also with many of her retainers.
CHAPTER LVIII
THE FIGHT BETWEEN EARL PAUL AND OLVIR ROSTA.
EARL PAUL was then at a feast with Sigurd at Westness, in Hrólfsey
(Rousay), and when he heard that Earl Rögnvald had arrived in Hjaltland,
and at the same time that an army which was going to attack him was
gathering in the Sudreyar, he sent word to Kugi, in Westrey, and Thorkel
Flettir, who were wise men, and many others of his chief men he called
together. At this meeting Earl Paul sought advice from his friends, but
they differed in their opinions. Some wished him to share his
possessions with one of the two parties, so as not to have both as
enemies. Others advised him to go over to his friends in Ness
(Caithness), and see what assistance he could get there.
Earl Paul replied, “I will not offer them my possessions now, since I
refused peremptorily when they asked civilly. Besides, I think it would
be unworthy of a chief to flee from my lands without a trial of
strength. My counsel is to send men to-night to collect troops
throughout all the Islands. Let us then go to meet Earl Rögnvald, and
have matters decided between us before the Sudreymen come.” Earl Paul’s
plan was adopted.
With Earl Paul there was a man by name Swein, called Brióstreip
(breast-rope), who was his henchman, and highly esteemed by him. In the
summer he was always on viking-raids, but in the winter [he stayed] with
the Earl. Swein was a man of large stature and great strength, swarthy
and ill-favoured. He was greatly skilled in ancient lore, and had
frequently been engaged in outsittings.[325] His place was in the
forecastle of the Earl’s ship.
During the night the following chiefs came to Earl Paul:—Eyvind,
Melbrigdi’s son, in a ship fully manned; Olaf, Rólf’s son, from Gáreksey
(Gairsay), had another; Thorkel Flettir the third; Sigurd the fourth;
and the Earl himself the fifth. With these five vessels they went to
Hrólfsey (Rousay), and arrived there in the evening about sunset. Troops
gathered to him during the night, but more ships were not to be had. The
next day they were going to sail to Hjaltland to meet Earl Rögnvald; but
in the morning, shortly after sunrise, some men came to Earl Paul, who
said they had seen longships coming from the Pentland Firth; whether ten
or twelve they did not know. The Earl and his men were convinced that
this was Frákork’s party, and the Earl ordered his men to row against
them as fast as possible. Olaf and Sigurd advised them to go leisurely,
saying that their troops might arrive at any moment.
When they were east of Tannskáruness (Tankerness), the longships, twelve
together, sailed to the west from Múli.[326] The Earl and his men
fastened their ships together; then the Bondi, Erling from
Tannskáruness, and his sons, came to the Earl and offered him their
assistance; and then their ships were so crowded that they thought they
could not use more men. The Earl asked Erling and his men to bring
stones to them, until they were prevented by the fighting. When they had
prepared themselves, Olvir came up and made the attack with a superior
force, but his ships were smaller. Olvir (himself) had a large ship,
which he placed beside the Earl’s ship, and there was the severest
fighting. Olaf, Rólf’s son, attacked the smallest ships of Olvir, and
cleared three of them in a short time. Olvir attacked the Earl’s ships
so fiercely that all the forecastle men were driven abaft the mast. Then
Olvir urged his men strongly to board, and jumped himself from the
quarterdeck to the forepart of the ship, and was the first to board.
Swein Brióstreip was the foremost of all the Earl’s men, and fought
bravely. When the Earl saw that Olvir had boarded his ship, he urged his
men forward, and jumped himself from the quarterdeck to the forepart of
the ship. When Olvir perceived this, he grasped a spear, and hurled it
at the Earl, who received it with his shield, but fell down on the deck.
Then there was a great shout; but in the same moment Swein Brióstreip
seized a huge stone,[327] and threw it at Olvir. It hit him in the chest
with such force that he was thrown overboard, and sank; but his men were
able to drag him up into one of their ships, and it was not known
whether he was dead or alive. Then some cut the cables, and wanted to
flee. All Olvir’s men were also driven down off the Earl’s ship, and
began to withdraw. At that moment Olvir recovered, and asked them not to
flee; but all pretended not to hear what he said. The Earl pursued the
fugitives along the east of Hrossey and Rögnvaldsey, and into the
Pentland Firth, where they parted. Then he returned, and five of Olvir’s
ships remained where they had fought. The Earl took them, and manned
them with his troops. The battle took place on Friday, but in the night
the Earl had the ships made ready, and many troops and two longships
came to him, so that in the morning he had twelve ships all well manned.
On Saturday he sailed to Hjaltland, and took by surprise those that had
charge of Earl Rögnvald’s ships. He killed the men, and seized the ships
with all their contents. In the morning Earl Rögnvald had news of this,
and his men gathered together, and a great many of the Bœndr. Then they
went down to the beach, and challenged Earl Paul and his men to come on
shore and fight. Earl Paul did not put much faith in the Hjaltlanders,
and would not go on shore; but he told them to take ships, and then they
might fight. Earl Rögnvald saw, however, that they could get no ships in
Hjaltland, such as would give them any chance, and they parted thus as
matters stood. Earl Paul and his men went back to the Orkneys, but Earl
Rögnvald and his men remained in Hjaltland during the summer. In the
autumn they went back to Norway with some merchants, and it was thought
their expedition had come to a most ridiculous end.
When Earl Rögnvald came to the east, he saw his father Kol, who asked
him whether he was dissatisfied with his expedition. He replied that the
result had brought little honour to himself.
Kol replied: “I do not think so; I think a great deal has been done,
since the Hjaltlanders are your friends, and the journey was better than
staying at home.”
Rögnvald replied: “If you praise this journey, then you are either more
indifferent about my case than I thought, or you see something in it
which I do not perceive. I should wish very much to have your counsels,
and that you would go with us yourself.”
Kol replied: “I shall not do both—call everything easy for you, and come
nowhere near myself; but I think I shall hold fast to my own plans, so
that there is no prejudice to your honour.”
Rögnvald replied: “I will gladly follow your counsels.”
Kol replied: “First, I advise you to send word to King Harald and other
friends of yours, and ask them to give you men and ships to go to the
west in the spring; but during the winter we ourselves will collect all
the forces we can, and then try a second time whether we can gain
possession of the Islands, or find our graves there.”
“I have made up my mind,” said Earl Rögnvald, “not to make another
journey like that we made just now, and I think that most of us who went
are of the same mind.”
CHAPTER LIX
EARL RÖGNVALD’S PLANS.
EARL PAUL went back to the Orkneys, after having taken the ships of Earl
Rögnvald. He had gained a great victory, and feasted all his friends and
vassals.
It was now resolved to make a beacon in Fridarey (Fair Isle), which
should be lighted if enemies were seen coming from Hjaltland. Another
beacon was made in Rínarsey (North Ronaldsay), and others in some other
islands also, so that they might be seen all over the Islands.
Thorstein, the son of Hávard, Gunni’s son, was to have charge of that on
Rínarsey; his brother Magnus of the one in Sandey; Kugi of that in
Westrey; and Sigurd, at Westness, of the one in Rólfsey. Olaf, Rólf’s
son, went to Dungalsbæ, in Caithness, and was to have the emoluments of
that place. His son Valthióf lived at that time in Straumsey (Stroma).
Earl Paul gave presents to his men, and all promised him their unfailing
friendship. He had many men about him in the autumn, until he heard that
Rögnvald and his men had left Hjaltland. Nothing happened in the Islands
until Yule. Earl Paul had a grand Yule feast, which he prepared at his
estate in Jórfiara (Orphir), and invited many guests. Valthióf, Olaf’s
son, from Straumsey (Stroma), was invited. He went with his men in a
ten-oared boat, and they perished all of them in the West Firth on Yule
Eve. That was thought sad news, as Valthióf was a most accomplished man.
His father, Olaf, had a large party in Caithness. There were his sons
Swein and Gunni, and the sons of Grím of Swiney,[328] Asbiörn and
Margad, brave-looking fellows, who always followed Swein. Three nights
before Yule, Swein, Olaf’s son, Asbiörn, and Margad, had put out to
sea-fishing, and Asleif and her son, and Gunni, Olaf’s son, had gone a
short distance to visit their friends. The night after that Olvir Rosta
arrived at Dungalsbæ with the party that had been out with him on a
viking-raid during the summer. He surprised Olaf in the house, and set
it on fire immediately. There he was burnt with five others, but the
rest were permitted to escape. Olvir and his men took all the movable
property, and then went away.
After this Swein was called Asleif’s son. He came home on Yule Eve, and
went immediately out north, on the Pentland Firth. At midnight they came
to Grím, the father of Asbiörn and Margad, in Swefney (Swona); he went
into the boat to them, and they brought Swein to Knarrarstadir
(Knarstane), in Skálpeid (Scapa). A man, by name Arnkel, lived there.
His sons were Hánef and Sigurd. Grím and his sons returned, and Swein
gave him a finger-ring of gold. Hánef and Sigurd accompanied Swein to
Jórfiara (Orphir), where he was well received; and he was conducted to
his kinsman Eyvind Melbrigdi’s son. Eyvind conducted him to Earl Paul,
who received him well, and asked his news. He told him of his father’s
death, at which the Earl was much grieved, and said it had in a great
measure happened through him. He invited Swein to stay with him, and he
accepted the invitation with thinks.
CHAPTER LX
SWEIN SLAYS SWEIN.
THEN they went to evensong. There was a large homestead there (at
Orphir); it stood on the hill-side, and there was a height behind the
houses. From the top of the hill Aurridafiörd[329] may be seen on the
other side; in it lies Damisey. In this island there was a castle; the
keeper of it was a man by name Blán, the son of Thorstein, at
Flydruness.[330] In Jórfiara there was a large drinking-hall;[331] the
door was near the east gable on the southern wall, and a magnificent
church was in front of the door; and one had to go down to the church
from the hall. On entering the hall one saw a large flat stone[332] on
the left hand; farther in there were many large ale vessels; but
opposite the outer door was the stofa.
When the guests came from evensong, they were placed in their seats. The
Earl had Swein, Asleif’s son, next to him. On the other side, next to
the Earl, was Swein Brióstreip, and then Jón his kinsman. When the
tables were removed, there came in men with the tidings of Valthióf’s
drowning. This the Earl considered sad news. He said that no one should
tell it to Swein while the Yule feast lasted, adding that he had cares
enow already. In the evening, when they had finished drinking, the Earl
went to bed, and so did most of his guests. Swein Brióstreip went out
and sat out all night, as was his wont. In the night (at midnight?) the
guests arose and heard mass, and after high mass they sat down to the
table. Eyvind Melbrigdi’s son, shared the management of the feast with
the Earl, and did not sit down to the table. Table-boys and candle-boys
were standing before the Earl’s table,[333] but Eyvind handed
drinking-cups to each of the Sweins. Swein Brióstreip thought Eyvind
poured more into his cup than Swein, Asleif’s son’s, and that he took
the cup away from the latter before he had emptied it, so he called
Swein, Asleif’s son, a sluggard at his drink. There had long been a
coldness between Swein Brióstreip and Olaf, Hrólf’s son, and also
between him and Swein, Asleif’s son, since he grew up. When they had
been drinking for a while, the guests went to nones’ service. When they
came in again, memorial toasts[334] were proposed, and they drank out of
horns. Then Swein Brióstreip wished to exchange horns with his namesake,
saying his was a small one. Eyvind, however, put a big horn into Swein
Asleif’s son’s hand, and this he offered to his namesake. Then Swein
Brióstreip became angry, and was overheard by the Earl and some of the
men muttering to himself, “Swein will be the death of Swein, and Swein
shall be the death of Swein.” But nothing was said about it. The
drinking went on until evensong; and when the Earl went out, Swein,
Asleif’s son, walked before him; but Swein Brióstreip remained behind
drinking. When they came out to the ale-room, Eyvind followed them, and
craved a word alone with Swein, Asleif’s son.
He said, “Did you not hear what your namesake said when you offered him
the horn?”
“No,” he replied.
Then Eyvind repeated his words, and said that it was surely the devil
that had spoken through his mouth in the night. “He intends to kill
you,” he added, “but you should forestall him, and slay him.”
Eyvind put an axe into his hand, and told him to stand in the shadow
beside the flat stone; he should strike him in front if Jón preceded
him; but from behind if Jón followed him.
The Earl went to the church, and no one took heed of Eyvind and Swein;
but when Swein Brióstreip and Jón walked out shortly after, the latter
had a sword in his hand, as was his habit, though the others were
unarmed. Jón walked in front. Some light came through the outer door,
but outside the sky was cloudy. When Swein Brióstreip came into the
doorway, Swein, Asleif’s son, struck him on the forehead, so that he
stumbled, but did not fall; and when he regained his footing, he saw a
man in the door, and thought it was he who had wounded him. Then he drew
his sword, and struck at his head, splitting it down to the shoulders.
This, however, was Jón, his kinsman, and they fell there both. Eyvind
came up at the same moment, and led Swein, Asleif’s son, into the stofa,
opposite the door, and he was dragged out through a window. There
Magnus, Eyvind’s son, had a horse ready for him, and accompanied him
away behind the house, and into Aurrida Firth. There he took a boat, and
brought Swein to the castle in Damisey; and the next morning Blán
accompanied him to Bishop William, in Egilsey. When they arrived there
the Bishop was at mass, and after the mass Swein was conducted to him
secretly. Swein told the Bishop the news—the death of his father and
brother Valthióf, and the slaughter of Swein and Jón; then he besought
the Bishop’s assistance. The Bishop thanked him for the slaughter of
Swein Brióstreip, and said it was a good riddance.[335] He kept Swein,
Asleif’s son, during the Yule-tide, and after that he sent him to a man
called Höldbodi, Hundi’s son, in Tyrvist (Tiree), in the Sudreyar
(Hebrides). Höldbodi was a great chief, and received Swein very well,
and there he spent the winter highly esteemed of all the people.
CHAPTER LXI
OF EARL PAUL.
A SHORT time after the slaughters had been committed in Jórfiara, the
men ran from the church, and carried Swein into the house, for he was
not yet dead, but insensible, and he died during the night. The Earl
commanded every one to take his seat, as he wished to know for certain
who had committed the manslaughters. Then Swein, Asleif’s son, was
missed, and it was thought clear that he had done the deed.
Then Eyvind came and said that it was plainly seen that Swein Brióstreip
must have killed Jón.
The Earl said that no one should touch a hair of Swein Asleif’s son’s
head, as this had not been done without provocation. “But if he avoids
meeting with me,” he said, “he will harm himself by so doing.”
It was thought most probable that Swein had gone to Hákon Karl in
Papuli,[336] the brother of Earl Magnus the holy. He was a great chief,
a quiet man and moderate. The Earl did not hear of Swein that winter,
and then he outlawed him. In the spring the Earl visited many of the
northern islands, to collect his land-dues. He made great friends of the
chiefs, and bestowed presents with both hands. The Earl visited
Straumsey (Stroma), and gave Thorkel Flettir the farm which Valthióf
had, till such time as he should know where Swein was.
Thorkel said: “Here the saying does not prove true, that ‘the King has
many ears.’ Although you are an Earl, I think it strange that you have
not heard of Swein, for I knew immediately that Bishop William had sent
him to Höldbodi, Hundi’s son, in the Sudreyar, and there he has been all
winter.”
The Earl replied: “What shall I do with a Bishop who has acted thus?”
Thorkel replied: “The Bishop should not be blamed for this in critical
times like these; and you will need all your friends if Rögnvald and his
men come from the east.”
The Earl said that was true.
From Straumsey he went to Rínarsey, and received an entertainment from
Ragna and her son Thorstein. Ragna was a wise woman. They (she and her
son) had another farm in Papey. The Earl spent three nights there, as he
was prevented by weather from going to Kugi, in Westrey. The Earl and
Ragna spoke of many things.
She said to him: “There was no great loss in Swein Brióstreip, although
he was a brave warrior, for he brought on you the hatred of many. I
should therefore advise you, in presence of the difficulties that face
you, to make as many friends as possible, and be slow to resent
offences. I could wish that you would not attach blame to Bishop William
and other kinsmen of Swein, Asleif’s son, but rather take the Bishop
into favour, and send word to the Sudreyar after Swein to pardon him and
restore him his possessions, in order that he may be to you such as his
father was. It has long been the custom of the noblest men to do a great
deal for their friends, and thus to secure support and popularity.”
The Earl replied: “You are a wise woman, Ragna, but you have not yet
been made Earl of the Orkneys, and you shall not rule the land here. Is
it come to this, that I must give Swein money in order to be reconciled
to him, thinking that it would be to my advantage?” Then he became
wroth, and continued: “Let God decide between me and my kinsman
Rögnvald, and may He let it happen to each of us according to his deeds.
If I have offended against Rögnvald, I now make offer of reparation; but
if he will invade my dominions, I will think him my greatest friend who
assists me to defend them. I have never seen Rögnvald; and, so far from
having ever offended him with my knowledge, it is known that I had no
part in what my kinsmen did.”
Many replied that to try to deprive him of his possessions by force of
arms would be a most unprovoked assault; and no one spoke against this.
When the spring advanced, Earl Paul had beacons kept up in Fridarey
(Fair Isle) and Rínarsey (North Ronaldsay), and almost all the Islands,
so that each could be seen from the other. A man named Dagfinn,
Hlödver’s son, an active fellow who had a farm in Fridarey, was to keep
that beacon, and light it if an army were seen coming from Hjaltland.
Earl Rögnvald spent the winter at home at Agdir (in Norway), where he
and his father had farms, and sent messages to his kinsmen and friends.
Some of them he visited himself, and asked them to assist him with
troops and ships to go to the west, and most of them were willing to
help him in his need.
During the month of Gói,[337] Kol sent away two transport vessels; one
west to England to buy provisions and arms. Sölmund took the other south
to Denmark, to buy such things as Kol told him, because he had all the
management of their equipment. It was intended that these vessels should
return about Easter, and they had arranged to start in the week after
Easter. Kol and Rögnvald had one war-ship each, and Sölmund a third;
they had also a transport ship with provisions. When they came to
Biörgvin, King Harald was there, and he gave Rögnvald a war-ship fully
manned. Jón Fót (leg) had a war-ship also. Aslák, the son of Erlend,
from Hernur, and the daughter’s son of Steigar Thórir, had the sixth; he
had also a barge with provisions. Thus they had six large ships, five
boats, and three transports. When they were waiting for fair wind at
Hernur, a ship came from the west, and they asked for news from the
Orkneys, and also what preparations Earl Paul would have if Earl
Rögnvald came to the west.
CHAPTER LXII
KOL’S COUNSELS.
WHILE they were lying at Hernur, Earl Rögnvald called together a meeting
of his men, and spoke of Earl Paul’s preparations, and also of the great
enmity the Orkneymen showed against himself, since they were going to
prevent him taking possession of his patrimonial inheritance, which had
been justly given him by the Kings of Norway. He made a long and
eloquent speech, the conclusion of which was that he intended to go to
the Orkneys and gain them or die there. His speech was approved of by
all, and every one promised him faithful support.
Then Kol arose and said: “We have heard from the Orkneys that all the
islanders will rise with Earl Paul against you to keep you out of your
inheritance. They are slow to lay aside the enmity which they have
conceived against you, kinsman. Now it is my counsel to seek for help
where it is likely to be had effectually, and to pray that he may permit
you to enjoy these possessions, to whom they rightly belong—namely, the
Holy Saint Magnus, your mother’s brother. It is my wish that you should
make a vow to him, that he may grant you your patrimony and his
inheritance. You should promise one thing—that if you obtain those
dominions you will build a stone minster at Kirkiuvag (Kirkwall) in the
Orkneys, more magnificent than any other in these lands, dedicating it
to your kinsman, Earl Magnus the Holy, endowing it with money, so that
it may be fitly established, and that his relics and the Bishop’s see
may be brought there.”
Every one thought this good advice, and the vow was made and confirmed.
Then they stood out to sea, and had a fair wind. They landed in
Hjaltland, and the inhabitants there, as well as the Norwegians, were
glad to see each other. The Hjaltlanders were able to tell them much
from the Orkneys, and there they stayed for some time.
CHAPTER LXIII
OF KOL AND UNI.
UNI, who has been mentioned before, and who was an accomplice in the
slaughter of Brynjúlf, was now advanced in years.
Once Kol said to him: “What plan would you propose, Uni, in order to get
the beacon in Fridarey discontinued, or how would you manage to prevent
it from being lighted a second time? I put this question to you, because
I know you are more ready-witted than most others here present, although
here are men of more distinction.”
Uni replied: “I am not a man of invention, and I do not wish the
expedition to be made according to my plans; I would rather choose to
come afterwards, for then I should follow my own devices.”
Shortly after, Kol had many small boats made ready, and directed their
course to the Orkneys. No chiefs took part in this expedition except
Kol. When they had gone so far that they thought they could be seen from
Fridarey, Kol had the sails spread on all the boats, but ordered his men
to row backwards, in order that their speed might be as slow as
possible, although the wind was right astern. The sails were at first
hauled to the middle of the masts only, but afterwards higher, as if
they were coming nearer to the island.
Kol said: “These manœuvres will be seen from Fridarey as if the boats
were approaching nearer. They will then perhaps light the beacon, but
they will go themselves to Earl Paul to tell him the news.”
So when the beacon in Fridarey was seen, Thorstein, Ragna’s son, lighted
the beacon in Rínarsey; then the beacons were lighted one after another
in all the Islands, and all the Bœndr went to the Earl, and there was a
great gathering of men.
When Kol saw the beacon burning, he ordered his men to turn back, saying
that this would now cause dissensions among their enemies. This done,
Kol went back to Hjaltland, and said to Uni that he should now carry out
his scheme.
Uni took with him three Hjaltlanders, and they took a six-oared boat,
some provisions, and fishing tackle. They went to Fridarey. Uni said he
was a Norwegian, but had been married in Hjaltland, and had sons there.
He further said that he had been robbed by Earl Rögnvald’s men, and
spoke very ill of them. He took a house there, but his sons went out
fishing, and he stayed at home himself and took care of the fish they
caught. He entered into conversation with the men of the island, and
became familiar with them, and was well liked.
CHAPTER LXIV
OF THE ORKNEYMEN.
WHEN Dagfinn had lighted the beacon, he went to Paul, as has been
mentioned before. All the Earl’s leading men came to him also. A watch
was kept for Rögnvald’s movements, and it was thought strange that he
nowhere appeared. Still the troops were kept together for three days.
Then the Islanders began to murmur, saying that it was great foolishness
to light beacons when fishermen were seen in their boats.
Thorstein, Ragna’s son, was blamed for having lighted the beacon in
Rínarsey. He replied that he could do nothing but light his beacon when
he saw the blaze in Fridarey, and said that this had all happened
through Dagfinn.
Dagfinn replied: “People come more frequently to harm through you when
you cannot blame me for it.”
Thorstein told him to be silent, and leapt up with an axe and dealt him
a heavy blow. Then each man seized his weapons, and there was a fray.
This was in Hrossey, not far from Kirkiuvag. Sigurd from Westness, and
his son Hákon Kló, and Brynjúlf, took part with Hlödver, Dagfinn’s
father, but Thorstein was aided by his kinsmen. Then the Earl was
informed of what was going on, and it was a long time until he could
part them.
Kugi of Westrey made a long speech, and said: “Do not disgrace the Earl
by fighting among yourselves. Ere long you will need all your men; let
us take care then not to be disabled or at enmity among ourselves. This
has probably happened according to the designs of our enemies, and has
been a device of theirs to destroy the beacons in this way. Now they may
be expected every day, and let us make our plans accordingly.”
Dagfinn said: “No one has had any evil intention in this, but we have
acted with more thoughtlessness than we ought to have done.”
Kugi guessed the whole truth, and spoke many wise words about it. At
last they both agreed that the Earl should judge between them; and it
was resolved to disperse the gathering, and the people went home.
A man by name Eirik was now appointed to take charge of the beacon in
Fridarey. When Uni had stopped there a short time, he came to Eirik, and
said: “Would you like me to take care of the beacon; I have nothing else
to do, and can give it my undivided attention.” Eirik accepted his
offer, and when no one was near Uni poured water over it, and made it so
wet that it could not be lighted.
CHAPTER LXV
THE BEACONS OF THE ORKNEYS DESTROYED.
EARL RÖGNVALD and his men said they would wait until the tidal currents
were met by an east wind, for then it is hardly possible to go from
Westrey to Hrossey, but with east wind one can sail from Hjaltland to
Westrey. For this Rögnvald and his men waited, and came one Friday
evening to Höfn,[338] in Westrey, to Helgi, who dwelt there.
No beacons could be lighted, for when the sails were seen from Fridarey,
Eirik prepared to go to Earl Paul, and sent a man to Uni to light the
beacon, but when he came there Uni was away. When the man tried to light
the beacon himself, it was so wet that it would not burn. When Eirik
heard this, he knew what was the matter, and went to Earl Paul and told
him.
When Earl Rögnvald had arrived in Westrey, the islanders ran together.
Helgi and Kugi put themselves at their head, and their first plan was to
try to make peace with the Earl; and their dealings ended in such a way
that the Westreymen submitted to Earl Rögnvald, and swore him oaths of
fealty.
CHAPTER LXVI
ROGNVALD RULES THE ORKNEYS.
ON Sunday Earl Rögnvald had mass celebrated there in the village.[339]
As they were standing outside the church, they saw sixteen men
approaching unarmed, and with their hair close cut. The Earl’s men
thought their dress singular, and spoke among themselves of who they
might be. Then the Earl made a ditty:
Sixteen have I seen together,
With a small tuft on their foreheads;
Surely these are women coming,
All without their golden trinkets.
Now may we of this bear witness.
In the west here all the maidens
Wear their hair short—that isle Elon[340]
Lies out in the stormy ocean.
After Sunday, Earl Rögnvald’s men visited the neighbouring districts,
and all the people gave in their submission to the Earl. One night in
Westrey the Earl’s men became aware that the islanders were holding a
secret meeting to devise some treachery against Earl Rögnvald. When the
Earl heard of it, he rose and went to the place of meeting. When he came
there, his men had beaten many of the islanders, and had taken Farmer
Kugi and put him in fetters, saying that he was the author of all these
proceedings. Kugi pled his cause eloquently, and many put in a word for
him, and protested his innocence with him. Then the Earl sang:
I can see the crooked irons
Fastened round the legs of Kugi;
Stray thou canst not in thy fetters,
Old man! fond of making night trips;
Now you must not hold night meetings,
And must keep the peace established;
Kugi! all your tricks are hinder’d,
And your oaths you must keep sacred.
The Earl pardoned them all, and they renewed their compact.
CHAPTER LXVII
OF EARL ROGNVALD AND PAUL.
AFTER Earl Rögnvald’s arrival in the Orkneys, and when many had
submitted to him, Earl Paul held a meeting in Hrossey with his men for
consultation. The Earl asked their opinion of what was to be done in
these difficulties. There were considerable differences of opinion. Some
advised Earl Paul to share his dominions with Earl Rögnvald. But most of
the more powerful men and Bœndr wished to buy Rögnvald away with money,
and offered their means for that purpose. Others were for fighting, as
they said that this had been the successful way before.
Earl Rögnvald had spies at the meeting, and when they came to him, the
Earl asked a certain skald, who had been there, for news. He sang:—
Of our foes I gain’d this knowledge
That o’er secrets they are brooding.
From the meeting of the Bœndr
Has the great chief heard the tidings
That among the powerful feeders
Of the wolves, the wish prevails that
All your ships should leave the islands
And that Paul should rule the land here.
Then Earl Rögnvald sent men to see the Bishop, and asked for his
intervention. He also sent for Thorstein, Ragna’s son, and Thorstein,
Hávard’s son, in Sandey, and requested them to try to make peace between
him and his kinsman. The Bishop procured a fortnight’s truce, in order
that they might endeavour to establish a more lasting peace. Then the
islands were allocated that should maintain each of them in the
meantime.[341] Earl Rögnvald went to Hrossey (Mainland), and Earl Paul
to Hrólfsey (Rousay).
At this time it happened that the kinsmen Swein, Asleif’s son, Jón Væng
of Uppland in Háey, and Rikgard of Brekkur in Stiórnsey (Stronsay),
attacked Thorkel Flettir on the estate which had belonged to Valthióf,
and burnt him in the house, with nine others. After that they went to
Earl Rögnvald, and told him that they would go to Earl Paul with the
whole body of their kinsmen, if he would not receive them; but he did
not turn them away.
As soon as Haflidi, Thorkel’s son, heard of his father’s burning, he
went to Earl Paul, who received him well.
After this Jón and his men bound themselves to serve Earl Rögnvald, who
had now many followers in the Islands, and had become popular. Earl
Rögnvald gave leave to Jón, Sölmund, and Aslák, and many others of his
partizans, to go home, but they said they preferred to wait until
matters should be definitely settled. Earl Rögnvald replied: “If it is
the will of God that I should gain possession of the Orkneys, I think He
and the Holy Earl Magnus, my kinsman, will give me strength to hold
them, even if you go home to your estates.”
Then they went home to Norway.
CHAPTER LXVIII
SWEIN TAKES EARL PAUL CAPTIVE.
EARLY in the spring, Swein, Asleif’s son, left the Sudreyar (Hebrides),
and went to Scotland to see his friends. He stayed a long time at
Atjöklar (Athole) with Earl Maddad and Margaret, Hákon’s daughter, and
had many secret consultations with them. Swein heard that there were
disturbances in the Orkneys, and became desirous of going there to see
his kinsmen. He went first to Thórsey (Thurso), in Caithness,
accompanied by a nobleman by name Liótólf. Swein had stayed with him a
long time in the spring. They came to Earl Ottar, at Thórsey, the
brother of Frákork. Liótólf tried to make them compose the matters that
had been done by Frákork’s orders, and Earl Ottar made compensation for
his part. He promised his friendship to Swein, and he promised to Ottar,
in return, to help Erlend, the son of Harald Sléttmáli (smooth-talker),
to obtain his patrimony in the Orkneys when he should wish to claim it.
Swein changed ships there, and took a barge manned by thirty men. He
crossed the Pentland Firth with a north-westerly wind, and so along the
west side of Hrossey, on to Efjusund,[342] and along the sound to
Hrólfsey (Rousay). At one end of the island there is a large headland
and a vast heap of stones beneath it. Otters often resorted to this
stone-heap. As they were rowing along the sound, Swein said, “There are
men on the headland, let us land and ask them for news; let us change
our dress, untie our hammocks,[343] and twenty of us lie down there, and
ten keep on rowing: let us go leisurely.” When they came near the
headland the men in the island called to them to row to Westness, and
bring Earl Paul what was in their vessel, thinking they were speaking to
merchants. Earl Paul had spent the night at a feast with Sigurd, at
Westness. He had been early up in the morning, and twenty men had gone
south on the island to catch otters, which were in the stone-heap
beneath the headland. They were going home to get a morning draught. The
men in the barge rowed near the land; they asked the men on shore about
all the news, and were asked what news they brought, and whence they
came. Swein’s men also asked where the Earl was, and the others said he
was on the stone-heap there. This was heard by Swein and those that lay
hid with him in the skin-bags. Swein told them to row to land, where
they could not be seen from the headland. Then he told his men to get
their weapons, and slay the Earl’s men wherever they found them, and so
they did. Swein’s party killed nineteen men, and lost six. They seized
Earl Paul with violence, and brought him on board their ship, and stood
out to sea, returning by the same way, by the west side of Hrólfsey, and
through the channel between Háey and Grimsey, and then by the east of
Svelgr,[344] thence to Breidafiord (the Moray Firth), until they came to
Ekkialsbakki.[345] There he left his ship with twenty men, and continued
his journey until he came to Earl Maddad[346] and Margaret, Earl Paul’s
sister, at Atjöklar (Athole). There they were well received. Earl Maddad
placed Earl Paul in his high seat, and when they were seated, Margaret
entered with a long train of ladies, and advanced to her brother. Then
men were procured to amuse them; but Earl Paul was moody, and it was no
wonder, for he had many cares.
It is not recorded what passed between Earl Paul and Swein while they
were on the journey together. Earl Maddad, Margaret, and Swein, had a
consultation together; but in the evening, when the drinking was
finished, Swein’s followers were conducted to a sleeping-room by
themselves, and the key turned upon them. This was done every evening
while they were there.
CHAPTER LXIX
OF SWEIN, ASLEIF’S SON’S, RETURN TO THE ORKNEYS.
ONE day Margaret announced that Swein, Asleif’s son, should go to the
Orkneys to see Earl Rögnvald, and ask him whom he preferred to share in
the dominion of the Orkneys with him—Earl Paul, or Harald, the son of
(her husband) Maddad, who was then three winters old.
When Earl Paul heard this, he said: “So far as my mind is concerned, I
will say that I have left my dominions in such a way as has never been
heard of before, I think; and I shall never return to the Orkneys any
more. I see that this must be God’s vengeance for the theft which I and
my kinsmen committed. But if God thinks the dominion mine, then will I
give it to Harald, if he may enjoy it; but I wish some money given to
me, so that I may establish myself in some monastery, and you can take
care that I do not escape. And you, Swein, shall go out to the Orkneys,
and say that I have been blinded, or still more mutilated, because my
friends will fetch me if I am an unmaimed man. In that case I may not be
able to refuse to return to my dominions with them, for I suspect that
they will consider our parting a greater loss than it is.”
What more the Earl said has not been placed on record.
Then Swein, Asleif’s son, went to the Orkneys, and Earl Paul remained
behind in Scotland.
This is how Swein related these matters. But some men tell the story in
a way by no means so creditable (to those concerned)—namely, that
Margaret induced Swein, Asleif’s son, to blind her brother Earl Paul,
then threw him into a dungeon, and subsequently induced another man to
put him to death. We do not know which of these two statements is the
more correct; but it is well known that Earl Paul came never again to
the Orkneys, and that he had no dominions in Scotland.
CHAPTER LXX
OF EARL ROGNVALD AND SWEIN, ASLEIF’S SON.
IT happened at Westness, when the Earl did not come home, that Sigurd
sent men to search for him. When they came to the stone-heap they saw
the slain, and then they thought the Earl had been killed. They went
home and told the news. Sigurd went immediately to examine the bodies,
and they recognised nineteen as the Earl’s men; but six they did not
know. Then Sigurd sent men to Egilsey, to the Bishop, to tell him the
news. He went immediately to Sigurd. When they were talking about what
had happened, Sigurd hinted that it had been done at the instigation of
Earl Rögnvald; but the Bishop replied that it would be proved that Earl
Rögnvald had not acted treacherously towards his kinsman Earl Paul. “It
is my opinion,” he said, “that some others have committed this crime.”
Borgar, the son of Játvör, Erlend’s daughter, who lived at
Geitaberg,[347] had seen the barge coming from the south, and returning.
When this was heard, it was believed to have been done at the
instigation of Frákork and Olvir.
When the news spread in the Islands that Earl Paul had disappeared, and
no one knew what had become of him, the Islanders had a consultation,
and most of them went to Earl Rögnvald, and swore fealty to him; but
Sigurd, of Westness, and his sons, Brynjúlf and Hákon Kló, said they
would not swear oaths of fealty to any man while they did not know
anything of Earl Paul, or whether he might he expected to return or not.
There were others also who refused to swear oaths to Earl Rögnvald.
Others again fixed an hour or a day when they would become Earl
Rögnvald’s men, if Earl Paul had not then been heard of. But when Earl
Rögnvald saw that he had to do with many powerful men, he did not refuse
peremptorily anything which the people asked; and, as the time passed,
he had frequent meetings with the inhabitants, and at each of them some
submitted to him.
One day it happened in Kirkiuvag (Kirkwall) when Earl Rögnvald was
holding a Thing meeting with the Bœndr, that nine armed men were seen
walking from Skálpeid (Scapa) to the meeting. When they came near,
Swein, Asleif’s son, was recognised, and all were curious to know what
news he had to tell. He had come in a ship to Skálpeid, and left it
there, while he and his men walked to Kirkiuvag. When Swein came to the
meeting, his kinsmen and friends turned to him, and asked him for news,
but he did not say much. Swein sent for the Bishop, who welcomed him
heartily, because they had long been friends. They went aside to talk,
and Swein told the Bishop the whole truth about what he had done, and
asked for his advice in these difficult circumstances.
The Bishop said: “Those are weighty tidings you have brought, Swein, and
we shall probably not be by ourselves sufficient in this matter. I wish
you to wait here for me; but I shall plead your cause before the people
and Earl Rögnvald.”
Then the Bishop went to the meeting, and asked for silence. When silence
was obtained, the Bishop pleaded Swein’s cause, explaining for what
reason he had left the Orkneys, and what penalties Earl Paul had
inflicted on him for the slaying of Swein Brióstreip, a most wicked man.
The Bishop concluded by asking Earl Rögnvald and all the people to grant
security to Swein.
Earl Rögnvald replied: “For my part, I promise Swein three nights’
security; but I think I can see from your countenance, Sir Bishop, that
you and Swein know some great news which you have not yet made known. I
wish you to take Swein into your keeping, and to be responsible for him,
and I will speak to him to-morrow.”
“I will,” said the Bishop; “and he will be very glad to speak to you as
soon as possible; for he wishes to become your man, if you are willing
to receive him.”
The Earl replied: “I do not think my friends are too many in these
lands, yet I shall have some farther talk before I consent to this.”
Then these four—Earl Rögnvald, his father Kol, the Bishop, and Swein,
Asleif’s son—had a private interview. Swein repeated everything, good
and bad, that had happened between him and Earl Paul, and they came to
the conclusion to send away the bulk of the people at the meeting. The
Earl arose next morning and gave the people permission to go home; but
when the multitude had gone away, he called together all those that
remained, and made them all renew their promise of security to Swein,
while he told the news.
In the morning, Magnus[348] Karl, the brother of the Holy Earl Magnus,
was persuaded to tell Sigurd of Westness and his sons of Earl Paul’s
abduction, that he was not to be expected back to his dominions, and
that he had been maimed.
Sigurd said: “Great news do I think this, about the carrying away of the
Earl; yet to me the saddest of all is that he should have been maimed,
for he would not be anywhere where I would not go to him.” Afterwards he
told his friends that Hákon would not have left him unharmed, if he had
had a sufficient force with him when he told him these tidings, so
greatly was he moved by them.
When the news became generally known, all the Orkneymen submitted to
Earl Rögnvald, and he became the sole ruler of Earl Paul’s dominions.
Not long after this the foundations of St. Magnus’ Church[349] were
marked out, and craftsmen procured, so that more was done during that
year than in the ensuing four or five. Kol took great interest in the
erection of the building, and had the principal oversight of the whole;
but as it proceeded, it became very expensive to the Earl, and his means
were nearly exhausted. Then he consulted his father, and he advised him
to pass a law declaring that the Earls should be considered to have
inherited all the odal possessions from the owners, but that they were
to be redeemable by the heirs.[350] This was considered a great
hardship. Then Earl Rögnvald called a Thing meeting, and proposed to the
Bœndr that they should purchase the odal possessions, so that it would
not be necessary to redeem them afterwards, and an agreement was made
with which all parties were satisfied. It was to this effect, that they
should pay the Earl one mark (eight oz. of silver) for each plough’s
land all over the Islands. From that time there was no want of money to
build the church; and it was made a magnificent structure.
CHAPTER LXXI
BISHOP JÓN ARRIVES FROM SCOTLAND.
WHEN Earl Rögnvald had ruled the Orkneys two winters he had a Yule-feast
at his estate called Knarrarstadir.[351] The sixth day of Yule a ship
was seen crossing the Pentland Firth from the south. It was a fine day,
and the Earl was outside the house, with many men, looking at the ship.
There was also a man named Hrólf, the Earl’s court priest. When the
strangers landed, they left the ship, and the Earl’s men calculated
their number to be fifteen or sixteen.[352] In front of them walked a
man in a blue cloak, with his hair tucked up under the cap; the lower
part of the chin was shaved,[353] but the lips unshaved, and the long
beard was hanging down (from them). They thought this man somewhat
strange, but Hrólf said it was Bishop Jón from Atjöklar (Athole), in
Scotland. Then the Earl went to meet them, and gave the Bishop a
gracious welcome. He placed him in his high seat, but served at the
table himself like a waiter.
Early next morning the Bishop held a service, and went to Egilsey to see
Bishop William. This was the tenth day of Yule. Then both the Bishops
went with a noble suite to visit Earl Rögnvald, and told him their
business, explaining the agreement between Swein, Asleif’s son, and Earl
Maddad—namely, that their son Harald should bear the title of Earl, and
have half the Orkneys jointly with Earl Rögnvald, but Earl Rögnvald
should have the government in his hands, even when Harald grew up; and
if a difference arose between them, Earl Rögnvald should have his own
way.
Swein was present, and confirmed the Bishop’s statement. It was resolved
to hold a meeting during Lent in Caithness, and there they agreed upon
the terms above mentioned, and their agreement was confirmed by the
oaths of the best men of the Orkneys and Scotland. Then Harald, Maddad’s
son, went to the Orkneys with Earl Rögnvald, and was invested with the
title of Earl.
Harald was accompanied to the islands by Thorbiörn Klerk, the son of
Thorstein Höld, and Gudrún, the daughter of Frákork. He was a wise and a
great man. He was foster-father to Harald at that time, and had great
influence with him. Thorbiörn married in the Orkneys Ingirid, Olaf’s
daughter, sister to Swein, Asleif’s son. He was sometimes in the
Orkneys, and sometimes in Scotland. He was a most valiant man, but
overbearing in most things.
Swein, Asleif’s son, took possession of all the estates that belonged to
his father Olaf and his brother Valthióf; he became a great chief, and
had always many men with him. He was a wise man, and far-seeing in many
things; but overbearing and rash. No two men in the west were considered
at that time greater than the brothers-in-law Swein and Thorbiörn, and
there was a warm friendship between them.
CHAPTER LXXII
THE BURNING OF FRAKORK.
ON one occasion Swein, Asleif’s son, asked Earl Rögnvald to give him
troops and ships to take vengeance on Olvir and Frákork for the burning
of his father Olaf.
The Earl said: “Do you not think, Swein, that Olvir and that old hag
Frákork, who is good for nothing, will scarcely be able to do us any
harm now?”
Swein replied: “They will always be mischievous while they live; and I
expected something else when I did great things for you, than that you
would refuse me this.”
The Earl replied: “What will you be satisfied with?”
Swein said: “Two ships well equipped.”
The Earl said he should have what he wished.
Then he made preparations for going. When he was ready he sailed south
to Borgarfiord,[354] and had a northwest wind to Dúfeyrar,[355] which is
a trading-place in Scotland. From there he passed Moray to
Ekkialsbakki,[356] and from there he went to Earl Maddad at Atjöklar
(Athole). He gave Swein guides who knew the way across mountains and
forests wherever Swein wished to go; and he went through the interior of
the country, over mountains and through woods, away from all
habitations, and came down in Hjálmundal,[357] near the middle of
Sutherland. Olvir and Frákork had had spies wherever they thought they
might expect enemies from the Orkneys, but this way they did not expect
any. They did not, therefore, perceive the enemy till Swein and his men
were in a certain slope behind the house. Olvir Rosta met them there
with sixty men, and the fight began immediately. There was little
resistance on the part of Olvir’s men, and they retreated towards the
houses, because they could not reach the wood. A great many were killed,
and Olvir ran to Hjálmundal’s river, and then up on the mountains. After
that he went to Scotland’s Firth (on the west coast), and from there to
the Sudreyar (Hebrides), and he is not mentioned further in this Saga.
When Olvir escaped, Swein and his men approached the houses, and
plundered everything. Then they burnt the houses, with all the inmates,
and there Frákork perished. Swein and his men committed many ravages in
Sutherland before they went to their ships. After that they were out on
raids during the summer, and ravaged in Scotland.
In the autumn Swein came to Earl Rögnvald in the Orkneys, and was well
received. Then he crossed over to Ness (Caithness), and spent the winter
in Dungalsbæ. At this time Swein received a message from Höldbodi, in
the Sudreyar, that he should come and help him, because Höld from
Bretland had been there, driven him from his estates, and taken much
booty. The messenger was named Hródbjart (Robert), of English descent.
When Swein received the message, he quickly left for the Orkneys, and
called on Earl Rögnvald, and requested him to give him troops and ships.
The Earl asked Swein what he was going to do then. He said that he had
received a message from a man whom he ought least of all to refuse, and
who had proved his best friend in his greatest need, and when most
others were his enemies.
The Earl said: “It is well if you part good friends, but most of those
Sudreyarmen are treacherous. You must, however, act a manly part, and I
will give you two ships fully manned.”
Swein was well pleased with this, and went to the Sudreyar, but did not
find Höldbodi till he came to the Isle of Man, because the latter had
fled thither. When Swein came to the Isle of Man, Höldbodi was very glad
to see him. The British Höld had plundered and killed men, to a large
extent in the Isle of Man as well as in the Sudreyar. He had killed a
nobleman named Andrew, who left a widow by name Ingirid, and a son by
name Sigurd. Ingirid was wealthy, and had large estates. Höldbodi
advised Swein to woo her; and when he proposed marriage, she made it a
condition of her acceptance that he should avenge her late husband
Andrew.
Swein replied: “I may inflict some loss on the British, but we cannot
know how we may succeed in manslaying.”
Then Swein and Höldbodi went out on an expedition with five ships. They
plundered in Bretland, landing at a place called Jarlsness,[358] and
committing great ravages. One morning they went into a certain village,
and met with a little resistance. The inhabitants fled from the village,
and Swein and his men plundered everything, and burnt six homesteads
before dinner. An Icelander, named Eirík was with Swein, and sang the
following:
Half-a-dozen homesteads burning,
Half-a-dozen households plundered:
This was Swein’s work of a morning—
This his vengeance; coals he lent them.
After this they went to their ships. They were out reiving all the
summer, and obtained much booty, but Höld fled into an island called
Lund,[359] where there was a strong place. Swein besieged it for some
time, to no purpose. In the autumn they went back to the Isle of Man.
CHAPTER LXXIII.
OF SWEIN AND HOLDBÖDI’S RAIDS.
THIS winter Swein married Ingirid, and remained there, greatly honoured.
In the spring he gathered men together, and went to see Höldbodi, and
asked for his assistance, but he excused himself, saying that many of
his men were occupied, and some on trading trips; so Swein got none
there. But the truth was, that he had secretly made peace with Höld, and
confirmed their alliance by exchanging presents. Swein went out,
nevertheless, with three ships, but made little booty in the earlier
part of the summer. Later they went south, under Ireland, and seized a
barge belonging to some monks in Syllingar,[360] and plundered it. He
made inroads in Ireland in many places, obtained a large booty, and
returned to the Isle of Man in autumn.
When Swein had been a short time at home, he heard a report to the
effect that Höldbodi was not faithful to him, but Swein shrank from
believing it. One night in the spring Swein’s watchmen came to him and
said that enemies were approaching them. Swein and his men seized their
arms, and ran out, and saw a great number of men carrying fire to the
homestead. Then Swein and his men ran to a hill, and defended themselves
from it. They had a horn[361] which they sounded. The neighbourhood was
thickly inhabited, and men came flocking to help Swein, so that the
assailants at last gave way. Swein and his men pursued them, and killed
many in the flight, but many of both sides were wounded before they
parted. The chief of the attacking band was Höldbodi. He escaped in the
flight, and did not stop till he came to Lundey (Lundy Isle). Höld
received him well, and they remained together. Swein went home, and kept
a large number of his men about him, maintaining a strict watch, because
he distrusted the Sudreyarmen. Late in the winter he sold his lands, and
went early in the spring to Liódhús (Lewis). During this expedition he
had committed many ravages.
CHAPTER LXXIV
OF EARL ROGNVALD AND SWEIN.
WHILE Swein was in the Sudreyar, Earl Rögnvald went over to Caithness,
and was entertained at Vík (Wick) by a man named Harald. His son was
named Swein, an active fellow. While the Earl was there, Thorbiörn Klerk
came up from Scotland, and said that his father, Thorstein Höld, had
been killed by a certain Earl. People talked of how frequently Earl
Rögnvald and Thorbiörn spoke together, because the Earl scarcely took
leisure to discharge his duties for that reason. Thorbiörn went with the
Earl out to the Islands (Orkneys), and Swein, Harald’s son, became the
Earl’s tableboy Thorbiörn had been in Scotland for some time. He had
slain two men who had been with Swein, Asleif’s son, at the burning of
Frákork.
When Swein came from the Sudreyar, he went home to his farm in Gáreksey
(Gairsay), and not to Earl Rögnvald, as he used to do when he came from
his expeditions. So when the Earl heard that Swein had come home from
the Sudreyar in the summer, he asked Thorbiörn for what reason he
thought Swein did not come to him.
Thorbiörn replied: “I suppose Swein is offended with me because I had
those men slain who were with him at the burning of Frákork.”
The Earl said: “I do not like you to be enemies.”
Then Earl Rögnvald went to Gáreksey, and tried to reconcile them, which
was easy, because they both wished the Earl to judge between them. Then
he made peace between them, and it lasted for a long time after.
CHAPTER LXXV
EARL ROGNVALD’S PLEASANTRIES.
AT this time there came a certain Icelandic ship to the Orkneys, in
which was a man by name Hall, the son of Thórarinn Breidmagi (broad
waist). He went to Rínarsey (North Ronaldsay), to stay with Thorstein
and Ragna. He became tired of staying there, and asked Thorstein to
bring him to Earl Rögnvald. They went to see him, but the Earl would not
receive Hall. When they came home, Ragna asked how they had succeeded,
and Hall replied by a ditty:
It was to thy own son, Ragna,
(Let truth be known among the people)
I gave the noble task of asking
My reception ’mong the courtiers;
But the generous ring-giver,
Who enjoys the highest honour,
Has declined my clownish service,
Having plenty of the bravest.
Shortly afterwards Ragna went to see Earl Rögnvald on this errand
herself. She was so dressed that she had a red head-gear of horse’s
hair; and when the Earl saw her he sang:
Never did I know before this
How the ladies of the cross-bench
Deck their heads with finest kerchiefs.
If I use the proper language,
Seems to me that this gold-wearer
Hides the tresses of her hind-head
With a chestnut filly’s tail-locks,
And her head-dress shows her temper.
Ragna said: “Now the saying comes true, ‘that few are so wise that they
see everything as it is,’ for this [hair] is of a horse, and not of a
mare.”
Then she took a silken kerchief and wrapped it round her head,
continuing, nevertheless, her business with the Earl. He gave her a
rather cold answer at first, but became more pleasant as they spoke
longer, and she obtained what she wanted—namely, to procure for Hall a
place at the (Earl’s) court. He remained a long time with Earl Rögnvald.
They made jointly the “Old Metrekey,”[362] with five verses for each
different metre. Afterwards that was thought too much, and now two
verses only are made for each different metre.
CHAPTER LXXVI
OF EARL ROGNVALD AND SWEIN, ASLEIF’S SON.
SWEIN, Asleif’s son, is said to have heard that Höldbodi had arrived in
the Sudreyar. Then he asked Earl Rögnvald to give him troops to avenge
himself. The Earl gave him five ships, and Thorbiörn Klerk was the
commander of one of them; Haflidi, the son of Thorkel Flettir, of
another; Dúfniál, the son of Hávard, Gunni’s son, the third; Rikgard
(Richard), Thorleif’s son, the fourth; and Swein, Asleif’s son, the
fifth. When Höldbodi heard of Swein, he fled from the Sudreyar. Swein
and his men killed many people in the Sudreyar, and ravaged and burnt
far and wide. They obtained great booty, but could not catch Höldbodi,
and he never came to the Sudreyar after that. Swein wished to remain in
the Sudreyar during the winter, but Thorbiörn and the others wished to
go home, and went in the autumn to Caithness, and arrived at Dungalsbæ.
When they were going to divide their booty, Swein said they should all
share equally, but that he himself should have a chief’s share besides,
saying that he had been the chief, and that the Earl had sent the others
to his assistance. Besides, he added further that he alone had the
quarrel with the Sudreyarmen, while the others had none. Thorbiörn,
however, said he did not deserve less than Swein, and had not been less
a leader than he. They also wished that all the ships’ commanders should
have equal shares; but they had to submit to Swein, because his men were
by far the most numerous there on the Ness (in Caithness).
Thorbiörn went out to the Orkneys and told Earl Rögnvald how matters had
gone between him and Swein, and that they were very much displeased to
have been deprived by him of their just proportion of the spoil.
The Earl said it would not be only once that Swein had turned out not to
be an equitable man, yet he would in the end receive retribution for his
injustice; but, he added: “You shall not quarrel about this. I shall
give you as much money of my own as you have lost through him, and it is
my will that you do not claim it of him. It will be a good thing if this
does not lead to greater difficulties with him.”
Thorbiörn replied: “May God reward you, my lord, for the honour you do
us, and we shall not quarrel with Swein about this; but I shall never be
his friend any more, and I shall do him some despite in return.” And
after that Thorbiörn divorced himself from Ingirid, Swein’s sister, and
sent her to him over to Ness (Caithness). Swein received her well, but
considered Thorbiörn’s conduct a great insult to himself. There was then
fierce enmity between them. Then the saying proved true that monsters
are best matched together.
When Swein was in the Sudreyar, he had placed Margad, Grím’s son, over
his affairs at Dungalsbæ, and transferred to him the office (of deputy
or factor) which he held from Earl Rögnvald, but Margad was resentful
and overbearing, and became unpopular on account of his violence. Those
who were the first objects of his oppression ran to Hróald (at Wick),
and remained there. From this enmity arose between the two. Shortly
after Margad went south to Vík (Wick) on business with nineteen men, and
before he left he attacked Hróald, and killed him and several others.
Then he went to Dungalsbæ to see Swein. The latter gathered men
together, and went to Lambaborg,[363] where he fortified himself. It was
a strong place, and there he remained, with sixty men, and brought
thither provisions and other necessaries. The borg (castle) was situated
on a sea-girt rock, and on the landward side there was a well-built
stone wall. The crags ran a long way along the sea on either side. Swein
and his men committed many violent robberies in Caithness, and brought
everything into the stronghold, and became greatly hated.
CHAPTER LXXVII
OF SWEIN, ASLEIF’S SON’S MOVEMENTS.
THIS news came to the ears of Earl Rögnvald, and Swein, Hróald’s son,
and he asked the Earl to help him to obtain redress in this cause; and
many supported Swein’s request. At last Earl Rögnvald crossed over to
Ness (Caithness), and the following chiefs with him:—Thorbiörn; Haflidi,
Thorkel’s son; and Dúfniál, Hávard’s son. These counselled the most
severe measures against Swein. They went to Dungalsbæ, but Swein was not
there. They heard that he was in Lambaborg, and then the Earl went
thither. When they came to the borg, Swein asked who their leader was,
and he was told that it was Earl Rögnvald. Swein asked him what he
wanted. The Earl said he wished him to deliver Margad up to them. Swein
asked whether he was to receive quarter. The Earl said he would not
promise. Then Swein said: “I have not the heart to deliver Margad into
the power of Swein, Hróald’s son, or of my other enemies who are with
you, but I should wish very much to be at peace with you, my lord.”
Then Thorbiörn Klerk said: “Hear what the traitor says, that he would
willingly be at peace with his lord after he has plundered his land, and
betaken himself to the highways like a thief. You make a bad return to
the Earl for all the honour he has done you, and so you will do to all
you can.”
Swein replied: “You need not say much in this case, Thorbiörn, for no
respect will be paid to your words. But it is my foreboding that you
will repay him worse for all the honour he has done to you, before you
part, for nobody will gain good fortune from any dealings with you.”
Then Earl Rögnvald said that men should not rail at each other.
Then they besieged the borg, and cut off all communication, and a long
time passed, as they could not make an assault. And when the provisions
were exhausted, Swein called his men together, and consulted with them.
But they all said, as with one mouth, that they wished to follow his
guidance as long as they were able.
Then Swein said: “I think it most disgraceful to starve here, and
afterwards to surrender to our enemies. It has turned out, as was
likely, that our skill and good fortune should fail against Earl
Rögnvald. We have tried to obtain peace and security for life, but
neither was to be had for my companion Margad. Though I know that the
others will be able to obtain quarter, yet I have not the heart to
deliver him under the axe. Still, it is not right that so many here
should suffer for his difficulties, although I am unwilling to part from
him for a time.”
Then he tied together ropes which they had, and during the night they
let Swein and Margad down from the borg into the sea. They swam along
the cliffs till they came to the end of them, then they got on shore and
went to Sutherland, thence to Moray, and then to Dúfeyrar.[364] There
they met with some Orkneymen in a trading vessel. Hallvard and Thorkel
were the commanders, and they were ten altogether. Swein and Margad went
on board with them, when they were twelve together, and then they sailed
south off Scotland, until they came to Máeyar (the Isle of May). There
was a monastery, the head of which was an abbot, by name Baldwin.[365]
Swein and his men were detained there seven nights by stress of weather.
They said they had been sent by Earl Rögnvald to the King of Scots. The
monks suspected their tale, and thinking they were pirates, sent to the
mainland for men. When Swein and his comrades became aware of this, they
went hastily on board their ship, after having plundered much treasure
from the monastery. They went in along Myrkvifiörd (the Firth of Forth),
and found David, the King of Scots, in Edinburgh. He received Swein
well, and requested him to stay with him. He told the King explicitly
the reason of his visit, how matters had gone between him and Earl
Rögnvald before they parted, and also that they had plundered in Máeyar.
Swein and Margad stayed for a while with the King of Scots, and were
well treated. King David sent men to those who had been robbed by Swein,
and told them to estimate their loss themselves, and then of his own
money he made good to every one his loss.
King David proposed to Swein to bring his wife from the Orkneys, and to
bestow upon him such honours in Scotland as he might be well satisfied
with. Swein declared all his wishes to the King. He said it was his wish
that Margad should remain with him, and that the King should send word
to Earl Rögnvald to be reconciled to him; but he said he would himself
leave his case entirely to the decision of Rögnvald, adding that he was
always well pleased when there was friendship between them, but ill at
ease when they were at enmity.
King David replied: “I suppose this Earl is a good man, and you value
nothing except what comes from him, since you prefer the risk of
surrendering yourself to his good faith, and refuse my offers.”
Swein said he would never give up his friendship, yet he asked the King
to grant him this, and the King said it should be as he wished.
King David sent men to the Orkneys with presents, and a message
requesting that the Earl would make peace with Swein. Then Swein went
north to the Islands, and Margad remained behind with the King. King
David’s messengers went to Earl Rögnvald, who received them well, and
also the presents, promising peace to Swein. Then he was fully
reconciled to Swein, who now returned to his estates.
CHAPTER LXXVIII.
EARL VALTHIÓF’S DEATH.
WHEN Swein and Margad had left Lambaborg,[366] those that were in the
fort resolved to surrender it to Earl Rögnvald. He asked them what they
knew last of Swein and Margad, and they told the truth.
When the Earl heard it, he said: “To tell the truth, Swein has no equal
among those that are now with us, and such feats are both brave and
hardy; but I will not abuse my power over you, although you were
involved in these troubles with Swein. Every one of you shall go home in
peace as far as I am concerned.”
The Earl went home to the Orkneys, and sent Thorbiörn Klerk in a ship
with forty men south to Breidafiord (the Moray Firth), to search for
Swein; but he heard nothing of him.
Thorbiörn then said to his men: “Our journey is a strange one; we are
all this time wandering after Swein, but I have heard that Earl
Valthióf, who slew my father,[367] is not far off, with but a few men;
and if you will attack him with me, I will promise you that I shall not
act as Swein did—namely, to deprive you of your share if we get any
booty, for you shall have all we get, except what you wish to give me,
because I think glory is better than booty.”
Then they went to the place where Earl Valthióf was at a banquet, and
surprised them in the house, and set it on fire immediately. Valthióf
and his men ran to the door, and asked who was the raiser of the fire.
Thorbiörn told his name. Valthióf offered compensation for Thorstein’s
slaying, but Thorbiörn said it was useless to ask for peace. They
defended themselves bravely for a time; but when the fire pressed them
they ran out; after that their defence was short, because the fire had
overcome them. Earl Valthióf fell, and thirty men with him. Thorbiörn
and his men got a great deal of booty, and he kept all his promises to
them faithfully. Then they went to the Orkneys to Earl Rögnvald, who was
well satisfied with what they had done. Then there was peace and quiet
in the Islands.
At that time a young man lived in the Islands,[368] by name Kolbein
Hruga (heap), a very overbearing man; he built a fine stone castle,[369]
which was a strong defence. Kolbein’s wife was Herbiörg, the sister of
Hákon Barn (child), but their mother was the daughter of Herborg, Paul’s
daughter. Their children were Kolbein Karl, Bjarni Skáld, Sumarlidi,
Aslák, and Frída; they were all well mannered.
CHAPTER LXXIX
OF EINDRIDI UNGI (THE YOUNG).
AT that time the sons of Harald Gilli[370] ruled over Norway. Eystein
was the oldest of them, but Ingi was a legitimate son, and he was most
honoured by the Lendermen, because he let them have their way in all
things as they liked. At this time the following Lendermen (Barons)
assisted him in the government:—Ogmund and Erling, the son of Kyrpinga
Orm. They advised King Ingi to send word to Earl Rögnvald, and give him
an honourable invitation, saying truly that he had been a great friend
of his father, and desired him to become as intimate with the Earl as he
could, so that he might be a dearer friend of his than of his brother,
whatever might happen between them. The Earl was related to the
brothers, and a great friend of theirs; and when he received this
message, he quickly prepared to go, because he felt a desire to go to
Norway to see his friends and kinsmen. Earl Harald asked to be permitted
to go with him, out of curiosity and to amuse himself; he was then
nineteen winters old.
When the Earls were ready, they started from the west with some
merchants, having a noble retinue, and arrived in Norway early in the
spring. They found King Ingi in Biörgvin (Bergen), and he received them
very well. Earl Rögnvald saw many of his friends and kinsmen, and spent
a great deal of the summer there. Eindridi Ungi (the young) arrived from
Mikligard (Constantinople) that summer; he had been long in service[371]
there, and was able to tell many things from there; and it was thought
good entertainment to inquire from him about things in that part of the
world. The Earl conversed frequently with him.
Once when they were talking, Eindridi said: “It seems strange to me that
you do not think of going out to Jórsalaheim (Jerusalem), and that you
should be satisfied with being told of the things that are there; it
would best suit such men as you are to be there on account of your great
accomplishments, and you will be honoured above all others wherever you
come among noble men.”
When Eindridi had said this, many spoke in favour of it, and exhorted
the Earl to become the leader of such an expedition. Erling made a long
speech in support of the proposal, and said he would join the party
himself, if the Earl would consent to be their chief. And as many men of
note seemed eager for the journey, he promised to go. And when he and
Erling were settling matters between them, many noble men joined the
party. These Lendermen (Barons) were among them: Eindridi Ungi, who was
to be their guide, Jón Pétrsson, Aslák Erlendsson, Guttorm Möl, and Kol
from Halland. It was resolved that none of them should have a larger
ship than with thirty benches, except the Earl, and no one should have
an ornamented vessel but he. This was done in order that no one should
envy another because he had finer men or a better ship than he. Jón Fót
(leg) was to build a ship for the Earl, and to have it as finely fitted
out as possible. Earl Rögnvald went home in the autumn, and intended to
stay at home two winters. King Ingi gave the Earl two long ships—small,
but very beautiful, and specially built for rowing; they were,
therefore, of all the ships the swiftest. Earl Rögnvald gave Harald one
of them, called Fífa; the other was called Hjálp. In these ships the
Earls went to sea, holding westward. Earl Rögnvald had received large
presents from his friends. It was Tuesday evening when the Earls put out
to sea, and they had a fair wind during the night. On Wednesday there
was a great storm, and in the evening they saw land. It was very dark,
and they saw signs of breakers surrounding them on all sides. Up to this
time they had kept together. There was nothing to be done except to run
the vessels on shore, and this they did.[372] The beach before them was
stony and narrow, enclosed behind by crags. All the men were saved, but
they lost a large quantity of their stores. Some of the things were
thrown up by the sea during the night. As usual, Earl Rögnvald bore
himself as the bravest of all the men there. He was so merry that he
played with his fingers, and spoke nearly all his sayings in rhyme. He
took a golden ring from his hand, and sang this ditty:
Thus I hang the hammer-beaten
Hand-ring from my rounded fingers;
Thus I put my fingers through it:
So the nymph of crashing waters
Threw me, joyful, in a rock-rift
There to play me with my fingers.
When they had carried their things up from the sea, they went farther
inland to search for habitations, because they thought they knew they
had landed in Hjaltland. They soon found farms, and distributed
themselves among them. The people were glad to see the Earl, and when he
was asked about his voyage, he sang:
Both my ships on beach went crashing;
When the surges swept my men off,
Sore afflicted by the billows
Were the friends of Hjalp and Fífa.
Certainly this misadventure
Of the danger-seeking rovers
Will not soon be quite forgotten
By those who got such a wetting.
The mistress of the house brought a fur cloak to the Earl, who,
stretching his hands forward to receive it, and laughing, sang this
ditty:
Here I shake a shrunken fur coat;
Surely ’tis not ornamental.
All our clothes are in the ship-field,
And it is too wide to seek them.
Lately, all the young sea-horses
Left we dressed in splendid garments,
As we drove the steeds of mast-heads
To the crags, across the surges.
Large fires were made, and there they warmed themselves. A female
servant entered shivering all over, and her words were unintelligible on
account of her shiver. The Earl said he understood her:
Asa! you seem quite exhausted.
Atatata! ’tis the water.
Hutututu! where shall I sit?
By the fire—’tis rather chilly.
The Earl sent twelve of his men to Einar in Gullberuvík, but he said he
would not receive them unless the Earl came himself. When Earl Rögnvald
heard this, he sang:
Einar said he would give food to
None of all the lads of Rögnvald,
He himself alone excepted—
(Empty words I now am talking),
For I know that he, the friendly,
Never failed to keep his promise.
Go we in then where the fires are
Burning brightly all the evening.
The Earl stayed a long time in Hjaltland, and in the autumn he went
south to the Orkneys, and resided in his dominions. That autumn two
Hjaltlanders[373] came to him. One was named Armód, a poet; the other
was Oddi the little, the son of Glúm: he made verses well. The Earl
received them both as his men. The Earl had a grand Yule feast, to which
he invited guests, and gave his men presents. He handed a spear, inlaid
with gold, to the poet Armód, shook it at him, and told him to make a
song on the spur of the moment:
Princely gifts the battle-fanner
With no niggard hand distributes:
Scaldic honours are not measured
By the gifts bestowed on others.
The defender of his country,
And the best of all commanders,
With his own hand brings to Armód
This blood-candle, golden pointed.
One day during Yule the guests were looking at the tapestry. The Earl
said to Oddi the little: “Make a song about the workman’s handicraft on
the tapestry, and have it made by the time that I have finished my
stanza, and use none of the same words that are in mine.” The Earl sang:
The old one on the hangings standing,
Has a sheath-rod on his shoulder,
But, in spite of all his anger,
He will not get one step farther.
Oddi sang:
For a stroke himself prepares the
Warrior in stooping posture,
Where the tapestry is parted;
Yet his danger will be greatest.
Time it is for ships’ commanders
Peace to make ere harm does happen.
During Yule-tide, the Earl entertained Bishop William and many of his
chiefs. Then he made known his intention to go to Jórsalaheim
(Jerusalem), and requested the Bishop to go with him, because he was a
good Parisian scholar,[374] and the Earl wished him to be their
interpreter. The Bishop agreed to the Earl’s request, and promised to
go. The following chiefs went with Earl Rögnvald:—Magnus, the son of
Hávard, Gunni’s son; Swein, Hróald’s son; and the following men of
lesser note:—Thorgeir Skotakoll, Oddi the little, Thorberg Svarti, Armód
the scald, Thorkel Krókauga, Grímkell of Flettuness, and Bjarni his son.
When the two winters appointed for their preparations were passed, Earl
Rögnvald went early in the spring from the Orkneys east to Norway, to
see how far the Lendermen (Barons) had progressed with their
preparations; and when he came to Biörgvin, he found there Erling, Jón,
his brother-in-law, and Aslák, but Guttorm arrived shortly after. To
Biörgvin came also the ship which Jón Fót had caused to be built for the
Earl. It was a most exquisite piece of workmanship, and all ornamented.
The whole of the carved work on the prow, the vanes, and many other
parts of the ship, were gilt. Altogether, it was a most splendid ship.
Eindridi came frequently to town during the summer, and said he should
be ready in a week. The Earl’s men murmured greatly at having to wait so
long, and some proposed not to wait for him, saying that such voyages as
this had been made without Eindridi. A short time after Eindridi came to
town and said he was ready. Then the Earl commanded his men to set sail
when they thought there was favourable wind; and when the day came when
they thought they might expect a favourable wind, they left the town,
and set sail. The breeze was faint, and the Earl’s ship moved slowly,
because it required strong wind. The other chiefs lowered their sails,
and would not leave the Earl. When they were outside the Islands, the
breeze increased to such a degree that in the smaller vessels they had
to take in sail, but the Earl’s ship now went at a great speed. They saw
two large ships coming after them, and soon they passed them. One of
these two ships was highly finished. It was a dragon; both its head and
stem were richly gilded; it was white on the bows, and painted
everywhere above the sea where it was thought it would look well. The
Earl’s men said that was very likely Eindridi’s, adding: “He has not
kept well the agreement that no one should have an ornamented ship
except you, sire.”
The Earl replied: “Eindridi’s pride is great, and he may be excused for
not liking to be on the same level with us, as we are so much his
inferiors; but it is difficult to see whether his good fortune runs
before him or goes along with him. But let us not direct our movements
according to his hotheadedness.”
Eindridi soon passed them in the larger vessel, but the Earl kept all
his ships together, and had a successful voyage. They arrived all safe
in the Orkneys in the autumn.
CHAPTER LXXX
OF EARL ROGNVALD AND THE ORKNEYMEN.
IT was resolved that they should spend the winter there. Some lived at
their own expense, others were quartered with the Bœndr, and many were
with the Earl. There was a great turmoil in the Islands; the Orkneymen
and the Eastmen quarrelled frequently about bargains, and women, and
other things. The Earl had a very difficult task to keep peace among
them, for both parties considered that he deserved well of them and they
of him.
[Illustration: DRAGON SHIP OF THE VIKING PERIOD
(from Holmberg’s Nordbon i Hednatiden.)]
Of Eindridi it is to be told that when they came to Hjaltland (Shetland)
his fine ship was totally wrecked, and he lost a great quantity of
goods, but the smaller ship was saved. He spent the winter in Hjaltland,
and sent men to Norway to have another ship built for the voyage to the
East.
One of Eindridi’s crew was called Arni Spítulegg (stick-leg). He went to
the Orkneys during the winter with nine men. Arni was a very violent
man, daring and turbulent. He and his comrades lived at their own
expense during the winter. He bought malt and meat of a tenant of Swein,
Asleif’s son, and when he demanded payment Arni delayed to pay. When he
demanded it a second time, he was overwhelmed with abuse; and before
they parted Arni struck him with the back of his axe, saying, “Go and
tell your champion, Swein, whom you are always praising, to obtain
redress for you; you will need no more.” The man went and told Swein,
requesting him to obtain redress. He gave him a cold answer, and said he
would promise nothing. One day in the spring Swein went to collect his
rents. They were four together in a ten-oared boat. They had to pass the
island in which Arni was staying, and Swein said he would land there. It
was ebbing tide. Swein went on shore alone, carrying an axe with a short
handle, and no other weapon. He told his men to keep the boat from
getting aground. Arni Spítulegg and his comrades were lying in an
outhouse not far from the sea. Swein walked up, and found them indoors.
They greeted him. He acknowledged their greeting, and spoke to Arni,
saying that he should settle the farmer’s account. Arni replied that
there was plenty of time for that. Swein asked him to do it for his
intercession, but still Arni refused. Then Swein said he would not ask
any further, and at the same time he drove the axe into Arni’s skull, so
that the iron was buried in it, and he lost hold of the handle. Swein
ran out, and Arni’s companions after him, to the beach. As they ran fast
along the muddy shore, one of them, who was the swiftest, came to close
quarters with him. There were large roots of seaweed lying in the mud.
Swein seized one of them, and thrust it into the face of the man who had
come up with him, and he grasped at his eyes to clear the mud away, but
Swein escaped to his boat, and went home to Gáreksey. Shortly after he
went on his own business over to Caithness, and sent word to Earl
Rögnvald to settle the matter about Arni Spítulegg’s slaying. And when
the Earl received the message, he summoned together those who were
entitled to compensation for Arni, and settled the matter to their
satisfaction, he himself paying the compensation money. Many other acts
of violence perpetrated by the Eastmen and the Orkneymen during the
winter the Earl made good out of his own [funds].
Early in the spring he called a Thing meeting in Hrossey (Mainland), to
which came all the chiefs residing in his dominions. He then made it
known to them that he intended to leave the Orkneys and to go to
Jórsalaheim (Jerusalem), saying that he would leave the government in
the hands of his kinsman Harald, and praying all his friends to obey
him, and help him faithfully in whatever he required while he was
obliged to be away himself. Earl Harald was then nearly twenty, tall and
strong, but ugly; yet he was a wise man, and the people thought he would
be a good chief.
In the summer Earl Rögnvald prepared to leave the Orkneys; but the
summer was far advanced before he was ready, because he had to wait a
long time for Eindridi until his ship came from Norway. When they were
ready, they left the Orkneys in fifteen large ships. The following were
commanders of ships:—Earl Rögnvald; Erling Skakki; Bishop William;
Aslák, Erlend’s son; Guttorm; Magnus, Hávard’s son; Swein, Hróald’s son;
Eindridi Ungi; and the others who were with him are not named. From the
Orkneys they sailed to Scotland, and then to England, and when they
sailed to Nordymbraland (Northumberland), off the mouth of Hvera (the
Wear), Armód sang:
High the crests were of the billows
As we passed the mouth of Hvera;
Masts were bending, and the low land
Met the waves in long sand reaches;
Blind our eyes were with the salt spray
While the youths at home remaining,
From the Thing-field fare on horseback.
Then they sailed till they were south off England, and so on to
Valland.[375] There is no account of their voyage until they came to a
seaport called Verbon (Nerbon).[376] There they learned that the Earl
who had governed the city, and whose name was Geirbiörn, had lately
died; but left a young and beautiful daughter, by name Ermingerd. She
had charge of her patrimony, under the guardianship of her noblest
kinsmen. They advised the Queen to invite Earl Rögnvald to a splendid
banquet, saying that her fame would spread far if she gave a fitting
reception to noblemen arrived from such a distance. The Queen left it to
them; and when this had been resolved upon, men were sent to the Earl to
tell him that the Queen invited him to a banquet, with as many men as he
himself wished to accompany him. The Earl received her invitation
gratefully, selecting the best of his men to go with him. And when they
came to the banquet there was good cheer, and nothing was spared by
which the Earl might consider himself specially honoured. One day, while
the Earl sat at the feast, the Queen entered the hall, attended by many
ladies. She had in her hand a golden cup, and was arrayed in the finest
robes. She wore her hair loose, according to the custom of maidens, and
a golden diadem round her forehead. She poured out for the Earl, and the
maidens played for them. The Earl took her hand along with the cup, and
placed her beside him. They conversed during the day. The Earl sang:
Lady fair! thy form surpasses
All the loveliness of maidens,
Though arrayed in costly garments,
And adorned with precious jewels:
Silken curls in radiant splendour
Fall upon the beauteous shoulders
Of the goddess of the gold-rings.
The greedy eagle’s claws I redden’d.
The Earl stayed there a long time, and was well entertained. The
inhabitants of the city solicited him to take up his residence there,
saying that they were in favour of giving the Queen to him in marriage.
The Earl said he wished to complete his intended journey, but that he
would come there on his return, and then they might do what they thought
fit. Then the Earl left with his retinue, and sailed round Thrasness.
They had a fair wind, and sat and drank, and made themselves merry. The
Earl sang this song:
Long in the Prince’s memory
Ermingerda’s soft words shall linger;
It is her desire that we shall
Ride the waters out to Jordan;
But the riders of sea-horses,
From the southern climes returning,
Soon shall plough their way to Verbon
O’er the whale-pond in the autumn.
Then Armód sang:
Ne’er shall I see Ermingerda
More, from this time, if it be not
That my fate shall be propitious;
Many now are grieving for her.
Happy were I if I could but
Be beside her just for one day;
That, indeed, would be good fortune,
Once again to see her fair face.
Then Oddi sang:
Truth to tell, we two are scarcely
Worthy of fair Ermingerda;
For this wise and lovely Princess
May be called the Queen of Maidens:
This the title that beseemeth
Best the splendour of her beauty.
While she lives beneath the sun-ray,
May her lot be ever happy.
They went on till they came west to Galicialand,[377] five nights before
Yule-tide, and intended to spend it there. They asked the inhabitants
whether they were willing to sell them provisions; but food is scarce in
that country, and they thought it a great hardship to have to feed such
a numerous host. It so happened that the country was under the rule of a
foreigner, who resided in the castle, and oppressed the inhabitants
greatly. He made war on them if they did not do everything he wished,
and menaced them with violence and oppression. When the Earl asked the
inhabitants to sell him victuals, they consented to do so until Lent,
but made certain proposals on their part—to wit, that Earl Rögnvald
should attack their enemies, and should have all the money which he
might obtain from them. The Earl communicated this to his men, and asked
them what they would be inclined to do. Most of them were willing to
attack the castle, thinking that it was a very likely place to obtain
booty. Therefore Earl Rögnvald and his men agreed to the terms of the
inhabitants.
When the Yule-tide was close at hand the Earl called his men together,
and said: “We have been resting for a while, and have not disturbed the
men of the castle, and the inhabitants are getting tired of supplying
us. I suppose they will think our promise will come to nothing; and it
is not manly in us not to try to do what we promised. Now, I wish to
hear your advice as to how we are to take the castle, as I know you here
are men of great discretion; therefore I ask every one here present to
state what plan he thinks most likely to succeed.”
Erling replied to the Earl, and said: “I will not be silent since you
command us to speak, although I am not a man of sage counsels; and those
ought rather to be asked who have seen more and are more experienced in
such undertakings, as Eindridi Ungi. But I suppose we must do here as
the saying is, ‘Shoot at the bird before we catch it.’ I may try to give
some advice, whatever may be its value. If you and the other
ship-commanders do not think it a bad plan, we shall to-day go all of us
to the wood, and carry three bundles of faggots each to the castle,
because it appears to me that the lime would not stand well if much heat
were applied to it. Let us do this for the next three days, and see what
happens.”
They did as Erling advised, and when they had finished their work Yule
was close at hand. The Bishop would not permit the inhabitants of the
castle to be attacked during the Yule-tide.
The chief inhabiting the castle was named Gudifrey. He was a wise man,
and somewhat advanced in years. He was a good scholar, had travelled
much, and knew many languages. He was a covetous man, and overbearing.
When he saw what the strangers were doing, he called his men together,
and said: “The plan adopted by the Northmen seems to me a wise one, and
likely to do us great harm. We shall see, when fire is applied to the
stone wall round the castle, that it is not strong. Moreover, the
Northmen are valiant, and men of great strength, and we may expect a
fierce attack from them if they get an opportunity. Now, I wish to hear
your advice about the difficult position in which we are placed.”
But all his men asked him to do what he thought best.
Then he said: “My first plan is to tie ropes together, and you shall let
me down over the castle wall. I will dress myself in rags, and go to the
camp of the Northmen, and see what I can ascertain.”
They did as he told them, and he came to Earl Rögnvald pretending to be
a beggar, and speaking Valska, as they understood a little of it. He
walked throughout the camp and begged food. He perceived that there was
much jealousy among the Northmen, and that they were divided into two
factions. Eindridi Ungi was the leader of one, and the Earl of the
other.
Gudifrey went to Eindridi and spoke to him. He said that the chief of
the castle had sent him there, wishing to form an alliance with him. “He
expects that you will give him quarter if the castle is taken; and he is
more willing to let you have his treasure, if you will do this in
return, than those who wish to have him a dead man.”
Such things they spoke, and many others, but it was concealed from the
Earl, as at first they observed profound secrecy. When Gudifrey had been
some time with the Earl’s men, he returned to his castle. But they did
not remove their property from it, because they did not know whether the
attack would be successful, and they could not put faith in the
inhabitants.
CHAPTER LXXXI
EARL ROGNVALD TAKES A CASTLE.
THE tenth day of Yule-tide was a fine day, and Earl Rögnvald arose and
commanded his men to arm themselves, and summoned them with trumpets to
the attack of the castle. They dragged the wood close to it, and heaped
up large piles round the walls. Then the Earl gave orders where each
should make the attack. He himself with the Orkneymen had the attack
from the south, Erling and Aslák from the west, Jón and Guttorm from the
east, and Eindridi Ungi from the north. When they were ready for the
attack, they set fire to the wood, and the Earl sang:
Maids in lace and snow-white linen
Bring us here the white wine sparkling.
Fair to see was Ermingerda,
When we met her in our travels.
Fare we now to try the castle
With our flaming oaken firebrands;
Quickly leaping from the scabbard
Gleams the sharp-edged smiter. Forward!
Now they began to attack the castle vigorously, both with weapons and
with fire. They shot missiles into it, for that was the only way of
attack. The besieged did not stand firm on the walls, because they had
to guard themselves against the missiles. They poured down burning pitch
and brimstone, which, however, did very little harm to the Earl’s men.
What Erling had foretold came to pass; the lime could not stand the
fire, and the wall fell down, leaving large breaches open.
A man named Sigmund Ongul (fish-hook), the Earl’s stepson, was one of
the keenest in the attack, and frequently went in front of the Earl,
although he was then hardly a full-grown man. When the attack had lasted
for a while, all the besieged were driven from the wall. The wind blew
from the south, and drove all the smoke towards Eindridi, and when the
fire began to spread rapidly the Earl had water poured on it to cool the
burnt stones, and then there was a short pause in the attack. The Earl
sang a song:
Now I mind me of the Yule-tide
Which I spent with friends and brave men
On the east of Agdir’s mountains,
With the valiant warrior Sölmund;
Now, again, another Yule-tide
Am I in the same way busy
At the south side of this castle,
Adding to the din of weapons.
Further he sang:
Glad I was when that fair lady
Listened to my love-tale’s telling;
Hopelessly was I led captive
By a Valland maid in autumn.
Still I love the noble lady,
And I spread the feast for eagles.
Stone and lime, well bound together,
Now before me fall asunder.
Then Sigmund Ongul sang:
When, in spring-time, o’er the waters
Ye go homeward to the Orkneys,
Tell the lady whom I most love—
Lady of the splendid garments—
That, beneath the castle ramparts,
There was none who stepped more boldly
’Mong the young men than her lover.
Then the Earl and Sigmund prepared to force their way into the castle,
and meeting with little resistance, they entered it, and many were
killed; but those that surrendered to the Earl received quarter. They
obtained a great deal of property, but did not find the chief, and
almost no treasure. There was a great discussion about the escape of
Gudifrey, and how he had effected it; and they soon suspected Eindridi
Ungi that he had given him the means of escaping, and that he had
followed the smoke, and thus gained the forest.
After this Earl Rögnvald and his men stayed a short time in Galicialand,
and directed their course along the west of Spain. They plundered far
and wide in heathen Spainland,[378] and obtained great booty. They went
into a certain village, but the villagers ran together and offered
fight. They made a stout resistance, but fled at last, when many of them
had been killed. The Earl sang:
When in Spainland I went fighting,
Quickly we o’erthrew the foemen,
For, when tired of our hard hewing,
Home they ran to see their sweethearts:
All the land was strewed with corpses.
Our deeds in song shall now be famous;
And my hope is, to be worthy
Of the lovely Ermingerda.
Then they sailed along the west of Spain, and were overtaken by a gale.
There they lay at anchor three days, and great waves broke over them, so
that the vessels nearly foundered. Then the Earl sang:
Here I’m storm-tossed, but undaunted,
While the cables hold together,
And the tackle of the vessel
Breaks not, as she breasts the billows;
I am promised to the fair one
Whom we left out in the North-land;
Now again there comes a fair wind;
Speed we on into the channel.
Then they set sail, and ran into Njörfasund[379] with a fair wind, and
Oddi sang:
When the faithful friend of heroes,
In the guest-hall sweet mead quaffing,
Sat beside the fair ring-giver,
That was a week to be remembered.
Now the splendid steeds of billows
Bear the noble-minded Rögnvald
And his warriors, wearing bucklers,
Quickly through the Sound of Njörfi.
When they were tacking into the Sound, the Earl sang:
By an east wind, breathing softly,
As from lips of Valland lady,
Are our ships now wafted onward,
As we push the yards out farther;
Though we had to tie the canvas
Tighter than we had expected
To the middle of the sailyard,
South off Spain—we bear away now.
They sailed through Njörfasund, and then the gale began to abate; and
when they had cleared the Sound, Eindridi Ungi parted from the Earl with
six ships, and sailed across the sea to Marselia (Marseilles), but Earl
Rögnvald and his men remained at the Sound. It was said that Eindridi
now himself proved that he had allowed Gudifrey to escape. The Earl’s
men sailed out to sea, and stood southwards to Serkland.[380] Then Earl
Rögnvald sang:
Now our good ship, land forsaking,
Laves her breast in limpid waters.
Long ere he who sings these verses,
Sees again the northern islands;
With the sharp prow I the yielding
Earth-surrounding sea am carving,
Far off Spain-land, sweeping southward.
More is not said of the Earl’s progress till they came south off
Serkland, and lay near Sardinia, not knowing where the land was. It was
very calm, and a thick fog spread over the water, so that they could
hardly see anything from the ships, and they sailed therefore slowly.
One morning the mist disappeared, and the crew arose and looked around
and saw two islets. When they looked for them the second time, there was
but one islet. This they told to the Earl. Then he said: “This cannot
have been islets which you have seen; it must be ships such as they have
in this part of the world, and which they call Drómundar.[381] From a
distance they look as big as holms. But where the other Drómund lay, a
puff of wind has probably swept over the water, and she has sailed away;
but they are likely some rovers.”
Then he summoned the Bishop and all the ship-commanders, and said: “I
ask of you my Lord Bishop, and Erling my kinsman, whether you see any
chance or device by which we may overcome those in the Drómund.”
The Bishop replied: “I think you will find it difficult to attack the
Drómund in your long-ships, for you will hardly be able to reach their
bulwarks with a boarding-pike, and they have probably brimstone and
boiling pitch to pour under your feet and over your heads. You may see,
Earl Rögnvald, wise as you are, that it would be the greatest rashness
to place yourself and your men in such jeopardy.”
Then Erling said: “My Lord Bishop, it may be that you are right in
thinking that we shall not obtain the victory by rowing at them; yet I
cannot help thinking that if we try to push close to the Drómund, their
missiles will fall beyond our ships lying close alongside; but if this
be not the case, we can push away quickly, for they will not be able to
chase us in the Drómund.”
The Earl said: “That is bravely spoken, and very much to my own mind. I
will now make it known to the ships’ commanders and all the men, that
every one may arm and prepare himself, each in his own place, as well as
he can. Then let us attack them, and if they are Christian merchants, we
can make peace with them; but if they are heathens, which I think they
are, by the favour of Almighty God we shall be able to overcome them,
but of the booty we obtain we shall give every fiftieth penny to the
poor.”
Then they unfastened their arms, prepared the bulwarks of their ships
for battle, and made themselves ready in other ways as their
circumstances permitted. The Earl assigned to each vessel its place in
the attack; then they pulled vigorously onwards.
CHAPTER LXXXII
RÖGNVALD CONQUERS THE DRÓMUND.
WHEN the men in the Drómund saw the ships pulling towards them, to
attack them, they spread fine clothing and costly stuffs out on the
bulwarks, and made a great shouting, which the Earl’s men took as a
challenge. Earl Rögnvald brought his ship close under the stem of the
Drómund, on the starboard side. Erling did the same on the larboard
side. Jón and Aslák brought theirs under her bows, and the others
amidships on either side, all sticking as close to her as possible. But
when they came close under the Drómund, she was so high in the side that
the Northmen were unable to use their weapons, and the others poured
blazing brimstone and burning pitch over them; but most of it fell
outside the ships, as Erling had foreseen, and they had no need to
shield themselves from it. However, when the attack did not succeed, the
Bishop moved away his ship and two others, and they told off their
bowmen to go in them. After having got to a convenient distance for
shooting, they shot their arrows into the Drómund, and this was the most
effective mode of attack. The men in the Drómund protected themselves
with their shields, and paid little heed to what those were doing who
were in the ships close under the Drómund.
Earl Rögnvald then ordered his men to take their axes, and cut the
planks of the Drómund, where the iron fastenings were fewest; and when
the men in the other ships saw what the Earl’s men were doing, they did
the same. Now, where Erling had stationed himself, there was a large
anchor hanging from the Drómund, which had its fluke hooked over the
gunwale, but the shank hung down towards Erling’s ship. One of his
forecastle men was named Andun Raudi (red); he was lifted up on the
anchor-stock, and then he pulled up others. Standing there as close as
they could, they hacked away at the planks with all their might; and
this was far higher than the others could reach. When they had made an
opening large enough to admit them, they prepared to board the Drómund.
The Earl and his men entered on the lower deck, and Erling and his men
on the upper; and when they both got in, there began to be severe
fighting. Those in the Drómund were Saracens, whom we call Mahometan
infidels. There were also many black men, who withstood them most
fiercely. Erling received a severe wound in the neck, near the shoulder,
when he jumped on board; it healed so badly that he carried his head to
a side ever after, and therefore he was called crick-neck (Skakki).
When Earl Rögnvald and Erling joined each other, the Saracens were
driven to the forepart of the ship; and the Earl’s men boarded one after
another until they were more numerous, and then they pressed the enemy
hard. In the Drómund they saw one man far superior to the others in
appearance and stature, and they were persuaded that he must be their
chief. Earl Rögnvald ordered his men not to wound him, if they could
seize him in any other way. Then they surrounded him, and pressed him
with their shields, and thus caught him. He and a few others with him
were sent to the Bishop’s ship. All the rest they killed, and obtained
great booty and many precious things. When they had finished the hardest
part of their work, they sat down and rested, and the Earl sang:
At the spreading of the banner,
Erling, mighty tree of battle,
Went to victory and honour
Foremost when we fought the Drómund;
Then we felled the black-skinned fighters;
Everywhere the blood ran streaming,
And the keen-edged swords were reddened
As we hewed among the heathen.
We have had our fill of slaughter,
Round us lie the heaps of corpses;
Gory swords have been red-painting
At the Drómund all this morning;
Soon the news will spread to northward
Of this furious sword-tempest;
It will soon be known at Verbon,
How we dealt death-blows this morning.
There was much talk about what had been done; every one told what he had
seen. Then they talked of who had been the first to board, but were not
all of one opinion. Some said it would not be creditable to them if they
did not all relate this great exploit in the same way. At last they all
agreed to let Earl Rögnvald decide, and every one should afterwards tell
the story in the same way as he did. Then the Earl sang:
Audun Raudi was the man who
First, with energy and valour,
Scaled the black sides of the Drómund;
Soon the brave one seized his booty.
By the help of God’s good favour
Have we overcome the heathen;
Steeped our swords are all in red blood;
Round us lie the sable corpses.
When they had cleared the Drómund, they set it on fire. When the big man
whom they had taken prisoner saw this, he changed colour and became
pale, and could not keep himself still. But though they tried to make
him speak, he did not say a word, neither did he make any kind of sign;
he was immovable to fair promises and menaces alike. But when the
Drómund began to blaze up, they saw a glowing stream, as it were, run
into the sea. At this the captive man was greatly moved. They concluded
that they had not made a careful search for the money, and now the
metal, whether gold or silver, had melted in the fire.
Then Earl Rögnvald and his men sailed south, under Serkland, and lay off
a certain town of Serkland, and had seven nights’ truce with the men of
the town, and sold them silver and other valuables. No one would buy the
big man; and then the Earl gave him leave to go away with four men. He
came back on the morning after, with his men, and told them that he was
a nobleman of Serkland, and that he had been ransomed from there with
the Drómund and all its contents. “It grieved me most,” he said, “that
you should burn it, and thus destroy so much treasure, without any one’s
having the benefit of it. Now you are in my power, but it counts for
your benefit with me that you spared my life, and did me such honour as
you could. But I would gladly never see you again, and now may you live
hale and well.” Then he rode away into the country.
Earl Rögnvald sailed to Crete, and anchored in a strong gale. When Armod
kept watch during the night, he sang:
Lie we now, where stormy billows
Break above the sturdy bulwarks;
My lot is to keep the watch well,
On this wave-surmounting seahorse;
While the lads are snugly sleeping,
I, to Crete, look o’er my shoulder.
They lay off Crete until they had fair wind to Jórsalir (Jerusalem), and
arrived early on a Friday morning at Akursborg (Acre). They went on
shore with great pomp and splendour, such as seldom had been seen there.
Thorbiörn Svarti sang:
Oft have I, with comrades hardy,
Been in battle, in the Orkneys,
When the feeder of the people
Led his forces to the combat.
Now our trusty Earl we follow,
As we carry up our bucklers
Gaily to the gates of Acre
On this joyful Friday morning.
They stayed in Akursborg for a while, and a disease broke out among
their men, of which many died. Thorbiörn Svarti died there. Oddi Litli
sang:
Bravely bore the Baron’s vessels
Thorbiörn Svarti, scald and comrade,
As he trod the sea-king’s highway,
Round by Thrasness, south to Acre.
There I saw them heap the grave-mould
Of the High Church o’er the King’s friend.
Earth and stones now lies he under
In that southern land of sunshine.
Earl Rögnvald and his men left Akursborg, and visited all the holiest
places of Jorsalaland. They went all to Jordan and bathed. Earl Rögnvald
and Sigmund Ongul swam across the river, and went to some shrubs and
tied large knots.[382] The Earl sang:
Long the way is I have travelled
To this heath, enclosed by deserts,
And the wise maid will remember,
Too, my crossing over Jordan.
Seems to me, that those who tarry
At their homesteads, will not find it
A short journey here to travel.
Warm the blood falls on the wide plain.
Then Sigmund sang:
This day I have tied a strong knot
For the churlish clown that’s sitting
By the home-hearth; ’tis no falsehood
That we play him now a fine trick.
The Earl sang:
On this feast-day of St. Lawrence,
Tie we knots for this fine fellow.
Tired I came to this nice corner,
Where the shrubs grow close together.
And when they were going from Jorsalaland Earl Rögnvald sang:
From the scald’s neck hangs the cross now,
In his hand a palm he carries.
Now should cease unkindly feelings:
From the heights my men rush downwards.
During the summer Earl Rögnvald and his men left Jorsalaland, and were
going to Mikligard. In the autumn they came to a town called
Imbolum,[383] and stayed there a long time. When two persons met where
the street was crowded, and one of them thought it necessary to go to
one side, he cried out to the other, “Midway, midway!” One evening the
Earl’s men, among whom was Erling Skakki, walked from the town, and on
the bridge leading to the ship, some inhabitants of the town met them,
and cried out, “Midway, midway!” Erling was very drunk, and pretended
not to hear it; and when they met, he jumped from the bridge into the
mud; his men ran to his assistance, and dragged him out, and had to
undress him completely. Next morning, when the Earl saw him, and was
told what had happened, he smiled and sang:
Bad the luck my friend has met with;
In the mud he tumbled, splashing;
As he would not cry out “Midway!”
Loudly, like the foreign people.
I suppose the prince’s brother,
When upset, looked rather rueful.
Black the mud that on the ground is
In Imbol, as Erling knoweth.
Some time after, it happened that they came from the town very drunk,
and Jón Fót was missed by his men, and no one else was missing. They
sent immediately to the other ships to search for him, but he was not
found. They could not search for him on shore during the night; but in
the morning, when it was daylight, they found him murdered under the
wall of the town; but it was never known who had slain him. They buried
him honourably at a holy church, and then they went away, and came north
to Ægisness,[384] and there they waited some nights for a fair wind to
sail to Mikligard. They made their ships look splendidly, and sailed
with great pomp, as they knew Sigurd Jorsalafari had done. While they
were crossing the sea northward the Earl sang this song:
Let us ride the sea-king’s horses,
Leave the plough in field untouched.
As we drive the wet prows onward
All the way to Mikligard.
There we’ll take the royal bounty,
Paid for wielding well our weapons,
While we fill the wolf’s red palate,
And on battlefields win honour.
CHAPTER LXXXIII.
OF EARL RÖGNVALD.
RÖGNVALD and his men came to Mikligard, and were well received by the
Emperor and the Væringiar.[385] At this time Menelaus, whom we call
Manuli,[386] was the Emperor of Mikligard. He gave them a great deal of
money, and offered them pay if they would stay there permanently. They
spent there a great part of the winter. Eindridi Ungi was there when
they came, and was highly honoured by the Emperor. He had little to do
with the Earl and his men, but rather spoke slightingly of them to
others. Rögnvald commenced his journey from Mikligard during the winter,
and went first to Dýraksborg[387] in Bólgaraland. From there they sailed
west to Púll.[388] Earl Rögnvald, Erling, Bishop William, and most
others of their noblest men left their ships there, procured horses, and
rode first to Rómaborg (Rome), and then from Róm until they came to
Denmark. From there they went to Norway, where the people were glad to
see them. This journey became very famous, and all those who had made it
were considered greater men afterwards than before.
Ogmund Dreng, Erling Skakki’s brother, had died while they were away;
while both were alive, he was considered the greater of the two. After
the death of King Ingi, Magnus, the son of Erling and Kristín, the
daughter of Sigurd Jorsalafari, was made King, but the government of
Norway was in the hands of Erling alone. Valdimar, King of the Danes,
gave him the title of Earl, and he became a great chief. Eindridi came
from the south some winters after Earl Rögnvald, and went to King
Eystein, because he would not have anything to do with Erling. But after
King Eystein’s death Eindridi and Sigurd, the son of Hávard Höld of
Reyr, raised a party, and made Hákon Herdabreid,[389] the son of King
Sigurd, son of Harald Gilli, their king. They slew Gregorius Dag’s son
and King Ingi. Eindridi and Hákon fought with Erling, under Sekkr,[390]
where Hákon was killed; but Eindridi fled. Earl Erling had Eindridi Ungi
killed some time after in Vik.[391]
Earl Rögnvald spent the summer in Hördaland, in Norway, and heard many
tidings from the Orkneys. There were great disturbances there, and most
of the chiefs were divided into two factions, few remaining neutral.
Earl Harald was at the head of one of these factions, and Earl Erlend
and Swein, Asleif’s son, of the other. When the Earl heard this, he
sang:
Though the most part of my nobles
Have forgot the oaths they sware me
(Such the wickedness of men is),
Yet will their designs be thwarted.
Traitors plotting in my absence,
Will not by it grow more loyal;
Slow but sure shall be my motto
While a beard on chin I carry.
The Earl had no ships, but he asked his kinsmen and friends to build
some long-ships for him during the winter. They gave a favourable
answer, and consented to everything he proposed, and built the ships.
CHAPTER LXXXIV
EARL RÖGNVALD GOES TO THE ORKNEYS.
IN the summer the Earl made himself ready to go west to his dominions in
the Orkneys, but it was late before he was ready, because many things
kept him back. He went to the west in a merchant-vessel belonging to
Thórhall, Asgrím’s son, an Icelander of a noble family, who had a farm
south in Biskupstungur.[392] The Earl had a numerous train of noblemen
on board the vessel. When they came to Scotland the winter was far
advanced, and they lay at Torfnes.[393] The Earl arrived in his
dominions shortly before Yule.
CHAPTER LXXXV
KING EYSTEIN TAKES EARL HARALD PRISONER.
NOW we have to tell what happened in the Orkneys while Earl Rögnvald was
away. The same summer that the Earl went on his journey, King Eystein,
son of Harald Gilli, arrived from Norway with a numerous army, which he
had landed at Rínarsey.[394] He heard that Earl Harald had gone over to
Caithness in a ship of twenty benches, with eighty men, and lay then at
Thórsá. When King Eystein heard of him, he manned three boats, and
crossed the Pentland Firth, going westward, and on to Thórsá. When he
arrived there the Earl and his men did not know anything of them until
the King’s men boarded the ship, and took the Earl prisoner. He was
brought before the King, and the result was that the Earl ransomed
himself with three marks of gold, and surrendered his dominions to King
Eystein, so that he should hold them from him in the future. Then he
became King Eystein’s man, and confirmed their compact with oaths. From
there King Eystein went to Scotland, and ravaged there during the
summer. During this expedition he plundered in many parts of England,
considering that he was taking revenge for King Harald, Sigurd’s
son.[395]
CHAPTER LXXXVI
OF KING EYSTEIN.
THEN King Eystein returned to his kingdom, and his expedition was
variously thought of. Earl Harald remained in his dominions in the
Orkneys, and most of the inhabitants were satisfied with his rule. At
this time his father, Earl Maddad, was dead; but his mother, Margarét,
had gone to the Orkneys. She was a handsome woman,[396] but a virago. At
this time David, the King of Scots, died, and his son Malcolm[397] was
made king. He was quite a child when he succeeded his father.
CHAPTER LXXXVII.
OF EARL HARALD.
ERLEND, the son of Harald Sléttmáli, spent most of his time in Thórsá.
Sometimes he was in the Sudreyar, or on war expeditions, after the death
of Earl Ottar. He was a very promising man, and accomplished in most
things, liberal in money, gentle, open to advice, and greatly loved by
his men. He had a large following.
There was a man named Anakol, who had fostered Erlend, and to his
counsels he chiefly listened. He was of a noble family, and hardy. He
was Earl Erlend’s right-hand man.
When Earl Rögnvald had left his dominions to go to Jórsalaheim, Erlend
went to Malcolm,[398] the King of Scots, and requested him to give him
an Earl’s title, and Caithness for his support, as his father Earl
Erlend had. And because Erlend had many friends, and Malcolm was a child
in years, it was brought about that he bestowed the title of Earl on
Erlend, and gave him the half of Caithness jointly with his kinsman
Harald. Then Erlend went to Caithness to see his friends.
After that he gathered troops together, went out to the Orkneys, and
sought to be accepted by the inhabitants. When Earl Harald, Maddad’s
son, heard this, he gathered troops together, and had many men. Some
parties went between the kinsmen and tried to make peace between them.
Erlend asked for half of the Islands jointly with Earl Harald, but Earl
Harald refused to give them up. Truce was, however, made between them
for that year; and it was resolved that Erlend should go to the east and
see the King of Norway, and ask for that half which belonged to Earl
Rögnvald, which Earl Harald said he would surrender. Then Erlend went
east to Norway, but Anakol and some of his party remained behind.
Gunni, Olaf’s son, the brother of Swein, Asleif’s son, had children by
Margarét, Earl Harald’s mother, but Earl Harald had banished him, and
therefore enmity arose between him and Swein. The latter sent his
brother Gunni south to Liódhús (Lewis) to his friend Liótólf, with whom
he had been staying himself. Fugl, the son of Liótólf, was with Earl
Harald, and there was therefore coldness between him and Swein. When
Earl Erlend went east to Norway, Earl Harald went over to Caithness, and
resided at Vík (Wick) during the winter. Swein, Asleif’s son, was then
at Thrasvík (Freswick), in Caithness, and took care of the estate which
his stepsons had there, for his former wife was Ragnhild, Ingimund’s
daughter, though they lived but a short time together. Their son was
Olaf. After that he married Ingirid, Thorkel’s daughter. Their son was
Andreas.
On Wednesday in Passion week Swein went with some others to Lambaborg.
They saw a transport vessel coming from the north across the Pentland
Firth, and Swein concluded that they were Earl Harald’s men whom he had
sent to collect his revenues (scat) in Hjaltland. Swein ordered his men
to take a boat and attack the barge, which they did. They seized all its
cargo, and put Earl Harald’s men on shore, and they went to Vík (Wick)
and told him. Earl Harald did not say much to this, yet he said: “Swein
and I shall have our turns.” He distributed his men to be entertained
during Easter. The Caithnessmen called this—that the Earl was in
guest-quarters.
CHAPTER LXXXVIII.
OF SWEIN, ASLEIF’S SON.
IMMEDIATELY after Easter week, Swein, Asleif’s son, went with a barge
and a boat rowed by oars to the Orkneys; and when they came to Skálpeid
(Scapa), they took there a ship from Fugl, Liótólf’s son. He was coming
from his father at Liódhús (Lewis), and was going to Earl Harald. During
the same trip they took twelve ounces of gold from Sigurd Klaufi, a
housecarl of Earl Harald’s. This money had been left at the homestead,
but the owners were in Kirkiuvag (Kirkwall). Then Swein went over to
Ness (Caithness), and up through Scotland. He found Malcolm,[399] King
of Scots, who was then nine winters old, in Apardion (Aberdeen). Swein
spent a month there, and was well entertained. The King of Scots
insisted upon his enjoying all those emoluments of Caithness which he
had before he became Earl Harald’s enemy.
CHAPTER LXXXIX
OF SWEIN AND ANAKOL.
AFTER this Swein prepared to go away, and the King of Scots and he
parted very good friends. Then Swein went to his ships, and sailed from
the south to the Orkneys. Anakol was at Dýrness when Swein sailed from
the south, and they saw them sailing east off Múli.[400] They sent
Gauti, a bondi of Skeggbjarnarstadir,[401] to Swein, and Anakol
requested him to come to terms with Fugl about the seizure of the ship,
because Anakol and Fugl were related to each other. When Gauti found
Swein, and told him Anakol’s message, he sent a messenger back to
Anakol, asking him to go to Sandey, that they might meet there, because
he (Swein) had to be there himself. They had a peaceful meeting there,
and came to terms; and the result was that Swein should make the award
as he liked himself. After that Anakol formed an alliance with Swein,
and bound himself to make peace between Swein and Earl Erlend, when he
came from the east—for they were bitter enemies on account of the
burning of Frákork. Swein and Anakol went to Striónsey, and lay off
Hofsness[402] some nights. At this time Thorfinn Bessason lived at
Striónsey. His wife was Ingigerd, Swein’s sister, who had been deserted
by Thorbiörn Klerk.
CHAPTER XC
THE RECONCILIATION OF EARL ERLEND AND SWEIN.
WHEN Swein and Anakol were lying off Hofsness, Earl Erlend arrived there
from Norway. Anakol and Thorfinn endeavoured to reconcile him to Swein,
but he gave an unfavourable answer, saying that Swein had always been
opposed to his kinsmen, and had not kept the agreement between him and
Earl Ottar, that he should help him to the dominion. Then Swein offered
the Earl his support, and they were negotiating the whole day; yet the
Earl would not be reconciled until Anakol and Thorfinn declared that
they would follow Swein from Orkney if the Earl would not make peace
with him. Earl Erlend then told the message from King Eystein, that he
should have that part of the Orkneys which had formerly been held by
Earl Harald.
When they had made peace, Swein gave the advice that they should go to
Earl Harald before he heard this from others, and ask him to surrender
the dominion. Swein’s advice was acted upon. They found Earl Harald on
board his ship, off Kjárekstadir.[403]
It was in the evening of Michaelsmas that Harald and his men saw
long-ships approaching, and suspecting them to be enemies, they ran from
the ships into the castle. There was a man named Arni, Rafn’s son, who
ran from Earl Harald’s ship to Kirkiuvag. He was so frightened that he
forgot that he had his shield at his shoulder until it stuck fast in the
door. Earl Erlend and Swein ran from their ships, and pursued Earl
Harald to the castle, and attacked them both with arms and fire. The
assailed defended themselves bravely, until night parted them. Many were
wounded on both sides, and Harald and his men would soon have been
exhausted if the attack had lasted longer. The next morning the Bœndr
and their mutual friends arrived, and tried to make peace between them.
Earl Erlend and Swein were very reluctant to make peace. In the end,
however, they agreed, on condition that Harald should swear to let Earl
Erlend have his part of the Islands, and never demand it from him. These
oaths were made in the presence of the best men in the Islands.
After that Earl Harald went over to Ness (Caithness), and to his friends
in Scotland, accompanied by only a few men from the Orkneys.
Earl Erlend and Swein called together a Thing-meeting with the Bœndr in
Kirkiuvag, and they arrived from all the Islands. Earl Erlend pleaded
his cause, saying that King Eystein had given him that part of the
Orkneys of which Earl Harald had charge, and he requested the Bœndr to
receive him, showing them King Eystein’s letters, which proved his
words. Swein, and many others of his friends and kinsmen, spoke in
favour of the Earl; and at last the Bœndr promised obedience to Earl
Erlend. Then he took possession of all the islands, and became ruler
over them. It was an agreement between Earl Erlend and the Bœndr that he
should not hinder Earl Rögnvald from taking possession of that part of
the islands which belonged to him, if it should be granted him to come
back; but if Earl Rögnvald should demand more than one-half of the
islands, they should help Earl Erlend to resist his claims. Swein,
Asleif’s son, was frequently with Earl Erlend, and asked him to be on
his guard, and not to trust Earl Harald or the Scots. The most part of
the winter they were on board their ships, and had scouts on the
look-out. Towards Yule-tide the weather began to grow boisterous, and
Swein went home to his estate in Gáreksey, and asked the Earl not to
relax his vigilance though they parted, and the Earl did so. He remained
on board his ships, and had nowhere a Yule feast prepared for him in the
Islands.
CHAPTER XCI
EARL HARALD COMES UNPERCEIVED TO THE ORKNEYS.
THE eleventh day of Yule-tide, it happened in Gáreksey that Swein was
sitting at his drink with his men. Rubbing his nose, he said: “I think
Earl Harald is now on his way to the Islands.”
His men replied that this was unlikely, on account of the strong gales
prevailing at that time.
He replied: “I know such is your opinion, and I shall not therefore send
intelligence to the Earl now, merely on the strength of my presentiment;
yet I suspect it is necessary.” Then the subject was dropped, and they
went on drinking as before.
Earl Harald commenced his voyage to the Orkneys during Yule-tide. He had
four ships, and a hundred men. Two nights he lay under Gáreksey
(Grimsey?). They landed in Hafnarvag,[404] in Hrossey, and the
thirteenth day of Yule-tide they walked to Fiörd (Firth). They spent the
Yule-holiday at Orkahaug.[405] There two of their men were seized with
madness, which retarded their journey. It was near day when they came to
Fiörd (Firth). There they learned that Earl Erlend was on board his
ship, but that he had been drinking during that day at a house on shore.
There Harald and his men killed two men—one was named Ketill, the name
of the other is not mentioned—and made four prisoners: Arnfinn, Anakol’s
brother, another man called Liótólf, and two others. Harald and
Thorbiörn Klerk returned to Thórsá; the brothers Benedict and Eirík went
to Lambaborg, taking Arnfinn with them.
As soon as Earl Erlend became aware of the enemy, he sent men during the
night to Gáreksey to tell Swein. He pushed out his boats immediately,
and went to see Earl Erlend, according to the message, and they stayed
on board the ships a great part of the winter. Benedict and his brother
sent word that Arnfinn would not be liberated unless Earl Erlend sent
them back their ship which had been seized off Kjárekstadir. The Earl
was willing to give up the ship, but Anakol dissuaded him from it,
saying that Arnfinn would get away without this sacrifice.
On the Wednesday before Lent, Anakol and Thorstein, Ragna’s son, went
over by night to Ness (Caithness) in a boat with twenty men. They hauled
the boat ashore under a cliff in a hidden creek. Then they went up and
hid themselves in some copsewood a short distance from Thrasvík
(Freswick). They had fitted up the boat in such a way that the men
seemed to be each in his place. Some men had come past the boat in the
morning, and had not suspected anything.
Anakol and his men saw some men rowing from the borg[406] and landing at
the river-mouth.[407] Then they saw a man riding from the borg, and
another walking, whom they recognised to be Eirík. Then they divided
themselves into two parties. Ten went along the river down to the sea,
to prevent them from getting to the boat; other ten went to the hamlet.
Eirík came a short time before them to the hamlet, and walked towards
the drinking-hall. Then he heard armed men moving about, and ran into
the hall, and out through another door, and down to his boat; but there
he came upon men who seized him, and brought him out to the Islands to
Earl Erlend. Then messengers were sent to Earl Harald to tell him that
Eirík would not be liberated until Arnfinn and his companions came safe
to Erlend. And the wishes of both were complied with.
CHAPTER XCII
THE RECONCILIATION OF THE EARLS HARALD AND ERLEND.
IN the spring Earl Harald prepared to go from Caithness north to
Hjaltland. His intention was to take the life of Erlend Ungi, who had
wooed his mother Margarét, although the Earl (Harald) had refused him.
Then Erlend gathered men together, and carried her off from the Orkneys,
and took her north to Hjaltland, took up his residence in
Moseyarborg,[408] and made great preparations (for defence). When the
Earl (Harald) came to Hjaltland, he besieged the borg, and cut off all
communication; but it was difficult to take it by assault, and men went
between them and tried to reconcile them. Erlend asked the Earl to give
him the woman in marriage, and in return he offered to assist the Earl,
saying it was of greater consequence for him to recover his dominions
than this, and it would be advisable for him to make as many friends as
he could. Many spoke in favour of Erlend’s proposal; and the result was
that they made peace, and Erlend married Margarét. Then he became an
ally of Earl Harald, and during the summer they both went east to
Norway.
When these tidings came to Orkney, Earl Erlend and his men laid their
plans. Swein counselled to go on a harrying raid to obtain booty. This
they did, and went south to Breidafiord,[409] and made inroads on the
east of Scotland. They went south to Beruvík (Berwick-on-Tweed). There
was a man named Knút the wealthy, who was a merchant, and always resided
in Beruvík. Swein and Erlend seized a large and fine vessel belonging to
Knút. On board was a valuable cargo, and Knút’s wife. Then they sailed
south to Bl['y]hólmar.[410] Knút was at Beruvík when he heard of the
plunder. He induced the Beruvík men for a hundred marks of silver to try
to recover the goods. Of those who went in pursuit most were merchants.
They went in fourteen ships to search for them. When Earl Erlend and
Swein were lying under Bl['y]hólmar, Swein said in the night that they
should sleep without awnings, saying that he expected that the Beruvík
men might come upon them during the night in great numbers. A gale was
blowing, and no heed was paid to Swein’s words, and they slept under the
awnings, except in Swein’s ship, where there was no awning abaft the
mast. Swein was sitting on a chest in a fur coat, saying that he wished
to be ready during the night.
One of Swein’s crew was called Einar Skeif. He said that Swein’s bravery
was much talked of, that he was called a bolder man than others, but now
he dared not have awnings on board his ship. Watchmen were on shore in
the island. Swein, hearing that they did not agree about what they saw,
went up to them and asked what they were disputing about? They said they
were not sure what it was that they saw. Swein had keener sight than any
of his men, and when he looked he saw fourteen ships approaching them
from the north. Then he went on board his ship again, and told his men
to wake up and take down the awnings, and then a great outcry arose,
every one asking Swein what they should do. He told them to be silent,
and said that his advice was to moor the ships between the island and
the mainland, adding: “We shall see whether they do not pass by us, and
if they do we shall part; but if they attack us, we shall row against
them as vigorously as possible, and let us make a stout resistance if we
meet.”
Others spoke against this plan, saying the only way was to sail from
them, and so they did.
Swein said: “If you wish to sail away, then stand out to sea.” Swein was
not so soon ready as the others, but Anakol waited for him. Swein’s ship
was, however, a swifter sailer, and he took in sail and waited for
Anakol, not wishing him to be left behind in a single ship. When they
stood off, with all sail set, Einar Skeif said: “Swein, does our ship
stand still?”
Swein replied: “I do not think so; but I advise you not to question my
courage any more, since through your fright you cannot tell whether the
ship moves or stands still, yet it is one of the swiftest sailers.”
They put in under Mosey,[411] and Swein sent men to Eidinaborg to tell
the King of Scots of his plunder; but before they came to the town they
met twelve men on horseback who had saddle-bags filled with silver, and
when they met they inquired after Swein, Asleif’s son. The others told
where he was, and asked what they wanted with him. The Scots said they
had been told that Swein was taken prisoner, and the King of Scots had
sent them to ransom him. Thus they told their errand.
The King did not make much of Knút’s loss, but sent a costly shield to
Swein, and other presents besides.
Earl Erlend and Swein arrived rather late in the Orkneys in the autumn.
This summer Earl Harald went east to Norway. At the same time, Earl
Rögnvald and Erling Skakki came to Norway from Mikligard, and he arrived
at his dominions in the Orkneys shortly before Yule.
CHAPTER XCIII
PEACE BETWEEN EARL RÖGNVALD AND EARL ERLEND.
THEN there went men immediately between Earl Erlend and Earl Rögnvald,
and tried to make peace between them, the Bœndr pleading the agreement
they had come to with Earl Erlend, that he should not prevent Earl
Rögnvald from taking possession of his part of the Islands. A conference
took place between the Earls at Kirkiuvag (Kirkwall), and at that
conference they confirmed their peace with oaths. It was two nights
before Yule when they made peace, and the terms were, that they should
each have one-half of the Islands, and both should defend them against
Earl Harald or any other if he claimed them. Earl Rögnvald had no ships
till his own came from the east in the summer. This winter all was
quiet, but in the spring the Earls prepared their plans in case Earl
Harald should come from the east. Earl Erlend went to Hjaltland to
intercept him if he should come there. Earl Rögnvald went over to
Thórsá, because Earl Harald was expected to go there if he came from the
east, as he had there many friends and kinsmen. Earl Erlend and Swein
were in Hjaltland during the summer, and kept back all ships, so that
none went to Norway.
In summer Earl Harald left Norway with seven ships, and landed in the
Orkneys. Three of the ships, however, were driven by stress of weather
to Hjaltland, and these were seized by Swein and Earl Erlend. When Earl
Harald came to the Orkneys he heard of the agreement of Earl Rögnvald
and Earl Erlend, that each of them should have one-half of the Islands;
and then he saw that no territory was intended for him. He resolved to
go over to Ness (Caithness) to Earl Rögnvald before Earl Erlend and
Swein came from the east. They were in Hjaltland, when they heard that
Earl Harald had arrived in the Orkneys with five long-ships, and
prepared to go thither immediately. In Dynröst[412] they had strong
currents and severe gales, and there they parted. Swein was driven back
to Fridarey (Fair Isle), with twelve ships, and they thought the Earl
had perished. From Fridarey they went to Sandey, where they found Earl
Erlend with three ships. It was a joyful meeting for them. Then they
went to Hrossey (Mainland), and inquired about Earl Harald’s movements.
CHAPTER XCIV
PEACE IS TALKED OF.
NOW it is to be told that Earl Harald came to Thórsá with six ships.
Earl Rögnvald was in Sutherland, at the wedding of his daughter Ingirid,
whom he married to Eirík Slagbrellir. He heard immediately that Earl
Harald had arrived at Thórsá, and rode from Beruvík[413] to Thórsá,
attended by many men. Eirík was related to Earl Harald; and with many
others he tried to make peace between them, saying that it was absurd
for them to be at enmity, because of their relationship, their
up-bringing, and their long alliance. At last matters came so far that a
meeting was appointed, and truce made. They should meet in a certain
castle at Thórsá,[414] and talk together alone; but an equal number of
their men should be outside the castle. They talked a long time, and
agreed very well. They had not seen each other since Rögnvald returned.
Late in the day information was given to Earl Rögnvald that Earl
Harald’s men were coming there armed. Earl Harald said that no harm
would be done. Then they heard heavy blows outside, and ran out.
Thorbiörn Klerk had arrived there with a large party, and attacked
Rögnvald’s men immediately. The Earls called to them that they should
not fight. Then the inhabitants of the town came running to the spot to
separate them. Thirteen of Earl Rögnvald’s men were killed, and he
himself was wounded in the face.
CHAPTER XCV
SWEIN’S PLANS.
AFTER this their friends made an effort to establish peace between them,
and the result was that they made peace, which they confirmed by oaths.
They renewed their alliance, pledging their faith and shaking hands; and
it was resolved that they should go that very night out to the Orkneys
to attack Earl Erlend. They went out on the Pentland Firth with ten
ships, taking the course to Rínarsey.[415] They landed in Vidivag,[416]
and went on shore. Erlend and his men lay on board their ships in
Bardvik,[417] and from there they saw a crowd on Rögnvaldsey, and sent
out spies. When they heard of the reconciliation of the Earls, it was
also said that Earl Erlend would not be permitted to plunder on shore,
or to obtain provisions in any other way; and their intention was to
prevent them from getting any food in the island. Earl Erlend held a
meeting and consulted his men, and they agreed to leave it to Swein to
say what should be done. Swein replied that they should sail that very
night over to Caithness, saying that they had no strength to contend
with both the Earls there in the Islands. He gave out that they intended
to go to the Sudreyar (Hebrides), and winter there.
It was Michaelmas-eve when they sailed out on the Firth, but when they
came over to Ness (Caithness), they ran up into the country, and drove
down a great number of cattle, which they brought on board their ships.
There were strong currents and bad weather, so that the Firth was
frequently impassable; but when favourable weather came, Swein sent a
man in a boat from Ness, to give information that Earl Erlend had made a
great strand-hewing[418] in Caithness, and was ready to sail to the
Sudreyar when there was a favourable wind. When this came to the ears of
Earl Rögnvald, he called his men together and made a speech to them,
telling them to be on their guard, to be wary, and sleep every night on
board their ships; “For now,” he said, “Swein may be expected every hour
in the Islands; the more certainly the more he talks of going away.”
Early in the winter Earl Erlend and Swein left Thórsá, and took their
course by the west of Scotland. They had six large long-ships, all well
manned. They had to row, and when they had gone some distance from
Caithness, Earl Rögnvald’s spies went out to the Islands, and told him
the news. Then the Earls moved their ships to Skálpeid (Scapa), and Earl
Rögnvald wished them to stay a while on board.
When Swein and Erlend came west off Staur,[419] the former said that
they should not distress themselves by rowing any farther, and asked his
men to put the ships about and set the sails. This action on the part of
Swein was thought foolish, yet his men did as he desired them. When they
had been sailing for a while the ships began to speed, because there was
a fine breeze, and nothing is said of their voyage until they came to
Vagaland,[420] in Orkney. There they heard that the Earls were lying at
Skálpeid, off Knarrarstadir,[421] with thirteen ships. There were Erlend
Ungi, Eirík Slagbrellir, and many other men of note. Thorbiörn Klerk had
gone out to Papuley,[422] to Hákon Karl, his brother-in-law. It was four
nights before Simon’s-mas when Swein, Asleif’s son, decided to attack
the Earls during the night, but it was thought rather hazardous, as
their followers were so much more numerous. Yet Swein insisted on having
his own way; and so he did, because the Earl wished to follow his
advice.
CHAPTER XCVI
BATTLE BETWEEN THE THREE EARLS.
DURING the night there fell a shower of sleet, and Earl Rögnvald left
his ship with six men, intending to go to his residence at Jórfiara
(Orphir), because he expected no danger. During the shower they came to
Knarrarstadir. An Icelander, by name Bótólf Begla, an excellent skald,
lived there. He pressed Earl Rögnvald with many invitations to stay
there during the night. Earl Rögnvald and his men entered the house;
their clothes were pulled off them, and they went to sleep; but Bótólf
was to keep watch. This same night Earl Erlend and Swein attacked Earl
Harald and his men, and took them by surprise, and they knew of nothing
till they heard the battle-cry. They flew to arms, and defended
themselves bravely. Many were killed, and the attack ended in this
way—that Earl Harald leaped on shore when there were only five men left
in his ship. Bjarni, brother of Erlend Ungi, a noble man, fell there,
and a hundred men with him; and a great number were wounded. All the
Earl’s men jumped from the ships to reach the shore, and fled. Few of
Earl Erlend’s men were killed, and they took fourteen ships belonging to
the Earls, with all the valuables they contained. When the most part of
their work was done, they heard that Earl Rögnvald had left his ship the
evening before, and walked first to Knarrarstadir, and thither they
went. Bondi Bótólf was outside the door when they came, and greeted them
well. They asked whether Earl Rögnvald was there. Bótólf said he had
been there during the night. They became very violent, and demanded
where the Earl was then, saying that he no doubt knew where he was. He
pointed with his hand behind the farm-yard, and sang:
This way went the Prince a-fowling;
Skilful are his men with arrows.
Now is many a heathcock meeting
Death beside the verdant hillocks,
Where the elmbow of the hunter,
Keenly bent, as if by magic,
Makes the moorfowl quickly perish.
The Prince’s sword the land defendeth.
The Earl’s men ran away from the homestead, and he who could run fastest
considered himself luckiest, as he would be the first to catch Earl
Rögnvald. Bótólf went into the house, awoke the Earl, and told him what
had happened during the night, and also what the Earl’s men were doing.
Rögnvald and his men started up instantly, and put on their clothes;
then they went away to the Earl’s residence at Jórfiara; and when they
came there they found Earl Harald in hiding. The Earls [Harald and
Rögnvald] went immediately over to Ness each in a separate boat; one had
two men, the other three. All their men went over to Ness, wherever they
could get a boat.
Earl Erlend and Swein took the ships belonging to the Earl, and a great
quantity of other property. Swein took for his share all Earl Rögnvald’s
treasures that were in his ship, and sent them to him over to Ness.
Swein advised Earl Erlend to move his ships out to Vagaland (Walls), and
to lie in the Firth, where they could see ships coming from Ness, as he
thought it would be convenient to run out upon them if there was
opportunity. But Earl Erlend yielded to the persuasions of his men that
they should go north to Daminsey (Damsey), and in a large castle there
they drank all day, but fastened the ships together every night, and
slept on board. Thus time passed on till the Yule-feast.
CHAPTER XCVII
EARL ERLEND’S DEATH.
FIVE nights before Christmas, Swein, Asleif’s son, went east to
Sandvik,[423] to his kinswoman Sigríd, because he had to make peace
between her and her neighbour by name Björn. Before he went away he told
Earl Erlend to sleep on board by night, and not to be less on his guard
that he himself was absent. Swein spent one night with his kinswoman
Sigríd. A tenant and dear friend of Sigríd’s, by name Gisl, asked Swein
to stay with him, as he had been brewing ale, and wished to entertain
him. When they came to Gisl they were told that Earl Erlend had not gone
on board that night; and as soon as Swein heard it, he sent Margad,
Grim’s son, and two other men to the Earl, and asked him to pay heed to
his advice, although he had not done so the preceding night, and then he
added: “I suspect that I shall not have long to provide for this Earl.”
Margad and his companions found Earl Erlend, and told him Swein’s words.
The Earl’s men said: “He is a strange man; sometimes he is afraid of
nothing, at other times he is so frightened that he does not know where
to look for shelter to himself or others.” They said they would sleep
quietly on shore, and not go on board. The Earl said they should do as
Swein advised them, and he went on board with four-and-twenty men; the
others slept at a house. Margad went to another creek, not far away.
This very night the Earls Rögnvald and Harald surprised Earl Erlend, and
neither the watchmen who kept guard on the island nor those on board the
ship perceived them until they were climbing on board. A man named Orm
and another Ufi were in the forepart of the Earl’s ship. Ufi jumped up
and tried to rouse the Earl, but could not, for he was dead-drunk. Then
he took him in his arms, and jumped overboard with him into a boat
alongside the ship, and Orm jumped overboard on the other side, and
escaped on shore. There Earl Erlend was slain, and most of those on
board. Margad and his men were awakened during the night by the
battle-cry, and took to their oars, and rowed round the headland. It was
clear moonlight, and they saw when the Earls went away; and they felt
sure that fate had decided between them. They rowed away first to
Rennadal (Rendale), and sent men to Swein, Asleif’s son, to tell him
what they had seen. Earl Harald wished to give Earl Erlend’s men peace,
but Earl Rögnvald wished to wait, in order to know whether the Earl’s
body would be found or not. The body was found two nights before Yule. A
spear was seen standing in a heap of seaweed; and that spear was fast in
Earl Erlend’s body.[424] Then it was brought to church, and peace was
given to the Earl’s men, as well as to four of Swein’s men who had been
taken.
A man named Jón Vœng was a sister’s son of that Jón Vœng who was
mentioned before.[425] He had been with Hákon Karl, and had a child by
his sister; then he ran away, and was with Anakol on piratical
expeditions; but now he was with Erlend, yet he was not in the battle.
All Erlend’s men went to Kirkiuvag, and took refuge in St. Magnus’s
church. The Earls went there, and a meeting for peace-making was held in
the church. The Earls would not pardon Jón until he promised to marry
the woman. All the men swore oaths of fealty to the Earls, and Jón Vœng
became Earl Harald’s steward.
CHAPTER XCVIII
SWEIN SLAYS ERLEND.
AFTER Earl Erlend’s death Swein, Asleif’s son, went to Rennadal
(Rendale), and there he saw Margad, who was able to give him all the
tidings of what happened in Daminsey. Then Swein went to Hrólfsey
(Rousay), and arrived there at high-water. He and his men brought all
the tackle of the ships on shore, and placed it in safety. They divided
themselves among the farms, and kept watch on the movements of the Earls
and other chiefs. Swein, Asleif’s son, mounted the hill with five men,
and went down to the sea on the other side; they hid themselves at the
homestead in the darkness, and heard a great talking. There were
Thorfinn, his son Ogmund, and their brother-in-law Erlend.[426] He
boasted of having given Earl Erlend the death-blow, and all of them were
declaring they had done right well. When Swein heard this, he and his
companions went in upon them. Swein was quickest, and immediately dealt
Erlend a death-blow. They took Thorfinn prisoner, and brought him away;
but Ogmund was wounded. Swein went to Thingavöll,[427] to his father’s
brother Helgi; and there they spent the first days of Yule in hiding.
Earl Rögnvald went to Daminsey, but Earl Harald was at Kirkiuvag during
Yule-tide. Earl Rögnvald sent men to Thingavöll, to Helgi, and asked him
to tell his kinsman Swein, if he knew anything of his whereabouts, that
Earl Rögnvald invited him to spend the Yule with him, and he would try
to make peace between him and Earl Harald. When Swein received this
message, he went to Earl Rögnvald, and remained with him during the rest
of the Yule-tide, and was well treated.
CHAPTER XCIX
OF EARL HARALD AND SWEIN, ASLEIF’S SON.
AFTER Christmas a meeting was appointed to make peace between the Earls
and Swein, when they should finally settle all matters about which
reconciliation had been made. When they met, Earl Rögnvald took great
pains to make peace between them. Others, however, who were not Swein’s
friends or kinsmen, spoke against him, saying that he would always be
causing disturbances if he were not expelled from the Islands. At last,
however, they agreed upon this—that Swein should pay a mark of gold to
each of the Earls, and should keep one-half of his estates and a good
long-ship.
When Swein heard the award, he replied: “Our agreement will be good only
in case I am not oppressed.”
Earl Rögnvald would not accept the payment from Swein, saying that he
would in no way oppress him, as he considered his faithfulness and
friendship worth more than money.
After the peace-meeting, Earl Harald went to Gáreksey, and used Swein’s
corn and other property rather wastefully. When Swein heard this he
complained of his loss to Earl Rögnvald, and said, that “this was a
breach of their agreement, and that he would go home to look after his
property.”
Earl Rögnvald said: “Stay with me, Swein: I shall send a message to Earl
Harald, for he will be more than a match for you to deal with, strong
and brave as you are.”
Swein was not to be dissuaded, and went with ten men in a boat to
Gáreksey, and arrived there late in the evening. They went behind the
houses, and Swein wished to set fire to the hall, and burn down the
homestead, and the Earl within it. A man named Swein, Blákári’s son, the
most notable of Swein’s companions, dissuaded him from doing so, saying
that the Earl was not perhaps in the homestead; and if he was there, he
would neither permit Swein’s wife nor his daughter to go out, and it was
never to be thought of to burn them. Then they went up to the door, and
into the entry. Those who were inside the hall jumped up and closed the
door, and then Swein and his men became aware that the Earl was not in
the house. Those who were within soon ceased resisting, surrendered
their weapons to Swein, and went out unarmed. Swein gave quarter to all
Earl Harald’s men. He poured out all his beer, and took away his wife
and daughter. He asked his wife Ingirid where Earl Harald was, but she
would not tell him. He then said: “Say nothing then, but point to where
he is.” She would not do that either, because she was related to the
Earl. Swein gave up some of the arms, when they came on board the ships.
But the effect of this was that their agreement of peace was at an end.
Earl Harald had gone out to a certain island to hunt hares.[428] Swein
went to Hellisey.[429] It rises abruptly from the sea, and there is a
large cave in the cliffs, the mouth of which is flooded at high-water.
When the Earl’s men got their weapons from Swein, they went to Earl
Harald and informed him of these doings of Swein’s. The Earl had his
ship set afloat, and ordered his men to row after him. He said: “This
time our meeting with Swein shall be decisive.” Then they rowed in
pursuit of him, and soon they saw and recognised each other.
When Swein saw that they gained on him, he said: “We must devise some
scheme, because I do not care to meet the Earl with so great odds
against me as I suspect there are. Let us go to the cave and see how we
fare.”
When Swein came to the cave it was ebb tide. They hauled up the boat
into the cave, which ran into the cliff, and the water rose before the
mouth of the cave. During the day Earl Harald and his men searched for
Swein throughout the island, and did not find him, neither did they see
any boat leave the island. They wondered very much at this, as they
thought it unlikely that Swein’s boat had gone down. They rowed round
the island in search of the boat, but did not find it. Then they
concluded that he must have gone to some of the other islands, and they
went where they thought it most likely. It so happened that, when the
Earl rowed away, the tide was back from the mouth of the cave. Swein had
overheard the talk between the Earl and his men. He left his own boat in
the cave, and took a small boat which the monks[430] had, and went to
Sandey. There they landed, and pushed off the small boat, which drifted
about till it was wrecked. They came to a homestead called
Völuness,[431] where a man lived by name Bárd, who was Swein’s kinsman.
They made themselves known to him secretly, and Swein said he wished to
stay there. Bárd said he might do as he liked, but that he dared not
keep him here unless in hiding. They went in, and sat by themselves in a
part of the house separated from the other inmates by a partition-wall.
There was a secret door to it, filled up with loose stones. That evening
Jón Vœng, Earl Harald’s steward, arrived there with six men, and Bárd
received them well. Large fires were made, at which they warmed
themselves. Jón was excited, and spoke of the dealings of Swein and the
Earls. He blamed Swein very much, said he was a truce-breaker, and
faithful to no one. He had lately made peace with Earl Harald, and yet
he went to attack him and burn him in the house, adding that there would
never be peace in the land till Swein was banished from it. Bárd and
Jón’s companions put in some words in Swein’s defence. Then Jón began to
blame Earl Erlend, saying there was no loss in his death, as he was a
violent man, and nobody could live in safety for him. When Swein heard
this, he could not restrain himself, but seized his weapons, and ran to
the secret door. He pushed the stones down, thus making a great noise.
Swein’s design was to leap before the hall-door. Jón was sitting in his
shirt and linen breeches, and when he heard Swein coming he tied on his
shoes and sprang out from the fire and away from the house. The night
was pitch dark, and it was hard frost. During the night he came to
another farm. His feet were very much frost-bitten, and some of his toes
fell off. Through the intercession of Bárd, Swein gave peace to Jón’s
companions. He remained there during the night, but in the morning he
and his men went away in a boat belonging to Bárd, which he gave to him.
They went south to Bardsvík,[432] and stayed in a certain cave.
Sometimes Swein took his meals at a house during the day, but slept
during the night down by his boat, and thus he guarded himself against
his enemies.
CHAPTER C
OF ROGNVALD AND SWEIN.
ONE morning early Swein and his men saw a large long-ship coming from
Hrólfsey (Hrossey?) to Rögnvaldsey,[433] and Swein recognised it
immediately as Earl Rögnvald’s ship, which he used to command himself.
They put in at Rögnvaldsey, where Swein’s boat was lying, and five of
them went on shore. Swein and his men were on a certain headland, and
threw stones at the Earl’s men. When those on board saw this, they drew
forth their arms; and when that was seen by Swein, they ran down to the
beach, and pushed their boat afloat, and jumped into it. The long-ship
stuck fast on the beach. When they rowed past it, Swein was standing up
with a spear in his hand. When Earl Rögnvald perceived it, he took a
shield and held it before him, but Swein did not throw the spear. When
the Earl saw that they would get away from them, he ordered a
truce-shield to be held aloft, and asked Swein to go on shore. When
Swein saw this, he told his men to put to land, saying that it was his
greatest satisfaction to be at peace with Earl Rögnvald.
CHAPTER CI
OF EARL HARALD AND SWEIN.
THEN Earl Rögnvald and Swein went on shore, and had a long conversation
by themselves, and agreed very well. While they were talking, they saw
Earl Harald sailing from Caithness to Vagaland (Walls), and when the
ship approached the island, Swein asked what was to be done. The Earl
said Swein should go over to Ness immediately. This was during Lent.
They left Rögnvaldsey at the same time. The Earl went to Hrossey,[434]
but Swein went west to Straumsey (Stroma). Earl Harald saw the boat, and
thought he recognised it as Swein’s, and went immediately into the Firth
in pursuit. When Swein saw the pursuit, they left the boat, and hid
themselves. When Earl Harald came to Straumsey (Stroma) he saw the boat,
and suspected that the men were somewhere near, and would not therefore
go on shore. A man named Amundi, the son of Hnefi, who was Earl Harald’s
friend, and father’s brother to Swein, Asleif’s son’s stepchildren, went
between them, and succeeded so far that they agreed to keep the
agreement of peace which they had made the previous winter. A gale
arose, and they were both obliged to remain there during the night, and
Amundi put Earl Harald and Swein in the same bed, and many of their men
slept in the same house.
After this Swein went over to Ness (Caithness), and Earl Harald to the
Orkneys. Swein heard that the Earl had said that their agreement to be
at peace had been rather loose. He paid little heed to this, however,
and went south to Dalir, and spent the Easter there with his friend
Sumarlidi; but Earl Harald went north to Hjaltland, and was there a long
time during the spring.
After Easter Swein went from the south, and met on his way two of Jón
Vœng’s brothers—one was called Bunu-Pétr, the other Blán. Swein and his
men seized them, and took from them all their goods, and brought them to
land. A gallows was erected for them, and when everything was ready
Swein said they should be allowed to run up the country, adding that
they were greater shame to their brother Jón alive than dead. They were
a long time out on the hills, and when they came to some habitations
they were very much frost-bitten.
From thence Swein went to Liódhús, in the Sudreyar, and stayed there
some time. When Jón Vœng heard that Swein had taken his brothers
prisoners, and not knowing what he had done with them, he went to Eyin
Helga (Enhallow), and took Olaf, the son of Swein, Asleif’s son, and
Kolbein Hruga’s foster-son, and brought him to Westrey. They met Earl
Rögnvald at Hreppisnes,[435] and when he saw Olaf, he said: “Why are you
here, Olaf?”
He said: “It is the work of Jón Vœng.”
The Earl looked to Jón, and said: “Why did you bring Olaf here?”
He replied: “Swein took my brothers, and I don’t know but he may have
killed them.”
The Earl said: “Take him back again as quickly as you can, and do not
dare to do him any harm, whatever may have become of your brothers, for
if you do, you will not be safe in the Islands from either Swein or
Kolbein.”
CHAPTER CII
OF EARL RÖGNVALD.
AFTER Easter Swein commenced a journey to the Sudreyar, taking with him
sixty men. He went to the Orkneys, and landed first in Hrólfsey
(Rousay). There they took a man, by name Hákon Karl,[436] who had been
with Earl Harald when Earl Erlend was slain. Hákon ransomed himself with
three marks of gold, and thus saved himself from Swein. In Hrólfsey
Swein found the ship which the Earls had taken from him, and two of the
planks were cut, which had been done by Earl Rögnvald’s order, because
Swein had refused to buy it or to accept it as a gift from the Earls.
Swein went from there to Hrossey, and met Earl Rögnvald at Birgishérad
(Birsay). The Earl received him well, and Swein spent the spring with
him. Earl Rögnvald said that he had ordered the planks of the ship to be
cut, because he did not wish him to row about rashly among the Islands
when he came from the Sudreyar. Earl Harald came from Hjaltland in the
spring during the Whitsuntide, and when he came to the Orkneys Earl
Rögnvald sent men to him to say that he wished the compact of peace
between him and Swein to be renewed, and a peace meeting was appointed
in St. Magnus’s church on Friday during the holy week. Earl Rögnvald
carried a broad axe to the meeting, and Swein went with him. Then the
peace compact which had been made in the winter was confirmed.
CHAPTER CIII
OF SWEIN, ASLEIF’S SON.
THEN Earl Rögnvald gave Earl Harald the ship which had belonged to
Swein, but all other things which had been awarded him from Swein he
returned to him. Earl Rögnvald and Swein were standing at the
church-door while the sail, which had been lying in St. Magnus’s church,
was carried out, and Swein looked rather gloomy. The following Saturday,
after noontide service, Earl Harald’s men came to Swein, Asleif’s son,
and said the Earl wished him to come to speak with him. Swein consulted
Earl Rögnvald, but he did not say much in favour of his going, and added
that one did not know whom to trust. Swein went, nevertheless, with five
men. The Earl was sitting on a cross bench in a small room, and
Thorbiörn Klerk beside him. A few other men were with the Earl, and they
sat for a while and drank. Then Thorbiörn left the room, and Swein’s
companions said to him that they distrusted the Earl’s conduct very
much. Thorbiörn returned shortly after, and presented Swein with a
scarlet tunic and a cloak, saying that he did not know whether he would
call it a gift, because these things had been taken from Swein in the
winter. Swein accepted the gifts. Earl Harald restored to him the
long-ship which had belonged to him, and the half of his property and
estates. He asked him to stay with him, and said their friendship should
never be dissolved. Swein accepted all this gladly, and went immediately
the same night and told Earl Rögnvald how matters had turned out between
him and Earl Harald. Earl Rögnvald said he was much pleased with this,
and told Swein to take care that they did not become enemies again.
CHAPTER CIV
OF THE EARLS.
A SHORT time after, the three chiefs—Swein, Thorbiörn, and Eirik—went
out on a plundering expedition. They went first to the Sudreyar, and all
along the west to the Syllingar, where they gained a great victory in
Maríuhöfn[437] on Columba’s-mas (9th June), and took much booty. Then
they returned to the Orkneys.
When the Earls Harald and Rögnvald had made peace with Swein, Asleif’s
son, they were always together, and Earl Rögnvald governed, but they
agreed very well. When they came home from the Syllingar, Thorbiörn
Klerk went to Earl Harald, and became his counsellor. Swein went home to
Gáreksey, and resided there during the winter with many men, living upon
his booty, and other stores which he possessed there in the Islands. He
was most attached to Earl Rögnvald. Every summer he was out on marauding
expeditions. It was said that Thorbiörn did not improve the harmony
between Earl Harald and Earl Rögnvald.
Thórarinn Killinef was one of Earl Rögnvald’s men, a great friend of
his, and was always with the Earl. A man named Thorkel was one of
Thorbiörn Klerk’s followers, and a friend of his. Thórarinn and Thorkel
quarrelled over their drink at Kirkiuvag, and Thorkel wounded Thórarinn,
and then escaped to Thorbiörn. Thórarinn’s companions pursued Thorkel,
but Thorbiörn and his men defended themselves in a loft. The Earls were
informed of this, and they went to part them. Thorbiörn refused to leave
the decision of this case to Earl Rögnvald, as it was his men that were
concerned in the pursuit. When Thórarinn had recovered from his wounds,
he slew Thorkel as he was going to church. He ran into the church, but
Thorbiörn and his men pursued him. Earl Rögnvald was told what was
happening, and he went there with his men, and asked Thorbiörn whether
he was going to break the church open. Thorbiörn said the church ought
not to shelter him who was within. Earl Rögnvald said there should be no
violation of the church at this time, and Thorbiörn was pushed away from
it. No agreement was come to about this case.
Thorbiörn went over to Caithness, and was there for a while. Then many
things happened to estrange them, for Thorbiörn was often guilty of
violence to women, and of manslaying. He went secretly out to the
Orkneys in a boat with thirty men, and landed at Skálpeid, and walked to
Kirkiuvag with three men. In the evening he went alone into an inn where
Thórarinn was drinking, and struck him a death-blow immediately. Then he
ran out into the darkness and far away. For this the Earl made him an
outlaw in every part of his dominions. Thorbiörn went over to Ness, and
remained in hiding with his brother-in-law, Hösvir, who was called the
strong. He had married Thorbiörn’s sister, Ragnhild, and their son was
Stefán Rádgiafi (counsellor), Thorbiörn’s follower. Shortly afterwards
Thorbiörn went to Malcolm, King of Scots, and remained there a while, in
high favour with the King. There was a man called Gillaodran with the
King of Scots. He was of a great family, but a violent man. He had
incurred the displeasure of the King of Scots for violent acts and
manslaughters which he had committed in his kingdom. He fled to the
Orkneys, and the Earls received him. Then he went to Caithness, and
acted as a steward for the Earls. There was a noble Bondi in Caithness,
by name Helgi, a friend of Earl Rögnvald’s. Gillaodran quarrelled with
him about the stewardship, and Gillaodran attacked and killed him. After
the slaughter he went west to Scotland’s Fiord, and was received by a
chief named Sumarlidi Höld,[438] who had possessions in Dalir, on
Scotland’s Fiord. His wife was Ragnhild, the daughter of Olaf Bitling
(little bit), King of the Sudreyar. Their sons were King Dufgall,
Rögnvald, and Engull.[439] They were called the Dalverja family.
Earl Rögnvald sent for Swein, Asleif’s son, before he went out on his
expedition. When they met, Earl Rögnvald asked him to have an eye on
Gillaodran if he had an opportunity. Swein said he did not know how far
he might succeed.
CHAPTER CV
SWEIN SLAYS SUMARLIDI.
THEN Swein went on a marauding expedition, having five long-ships. When
he came west to Scotland’s Fiord, he heard that Sumarlidi Höld had gone
on board a ship, and was about to set out on an expedition. He had seven
ships, and Gillaodran commanded one. He had gone into the firths to
bring up some troops that had not arrived. When Swein heard of
Sumarlidi, he gave him battle, and it was a fierce fight. Sumarlidi Höld
was killed in that fight, and many men with him. When Swein became aware
that Gillaodran was not there, he went in search of him, and slew him in
Myrkvifiörd,[440] and fifty men with him. Then he went on his
expedition, and returned home in the autumn, as his custom was. He went
to see Earl Rögnvald soon after his return, and he was much pleased with
these deeds.
CHAPTER CVI
OF EARL RÖGNVALD AND EARL HARALD.
EVERY summer the Earls were wont to go over to Caithness, and up into
the forests to hunt the red-deer or the reindeer.[441] Thorbiörn Klerk
was with the King of Scots, and sometimes he went to Caithness and
stayed in hiding with his friends. He had three friends in Caithness
whom he trusted most. One was his brother-in-law, Hösvir; the second,
Liótólf, who lived in Thórsdal; and the third was Hallvard, Dúfa’s son,
in Kálfadal (Calder), at a certain promontory off Thórsdal. All these
were his intimate friends.
CHAPTER CVII
THE SLAYING OF EARL RÖGNVALD.
WHEN Earl Rögnvald had been an Earl two-and-twenty winters from the time
that Earl Paul was taken prisoner, the Earls went over to Caithness
during the latter part of the summer as usual, and when they came to
Thórsá they heard a rumour to the effect that Thorbiörn was there in
hiding with not a few men, and that he intended to attack them if he had
an opportunity. Then the Earls called men together, and went with a
hundred men, twenty of whom were on horseback and the rest on foot. In
the evening they went up into the valley,[442] and took up their
quarters for the night. When they were sitting by the fire in the
evening, Earl Rögnvald sneezed very much. Earl Harald said: “That was a
loud sneeze, kinsman.” In the morning they went along the valley.
During the day Earl Rögnvald rode always ahead of his men, and a man
with him called Asólf, and another by name Jómar, his kinsman. They rode
five together along Kálfadal; and when they came to the farm, farmer
Höskuld was on the top of a corn-stack piling up the corn, which his
servants brought to him. Earl Harald was some distance behind. When
Höskuld recognised Earl Rögnvald, he saluted him by name, and asked for
news, speaking very loud, so that he could be heard far away. This was a
short distance from the sitting-room of the house. The homestead stood
on an eminence, and one had to go through narrow and very steep passages
up to it. Thorbiörn was at this farm, and was sitting indoors drinking.
The passages led to the end of the house close to the gable, which had a
door filled loosely with stones. Thorbiörn and his men, hearing the
words of Höskuld when he saluted Earl Rögnvald, seized their weapons,
pushed the stones from the concealed door, and ran out. Thorbiörn ran
round the gable, and on to the wall of the passage. The Earl was then
close to the door. Thorbiörn struck at him, and Asólf warded off the
blow with his hand, and it was cut off; and then the sword touched the
Earl’s chin, inflicting a great wound.
On receiving the blow Asólf said: “Let them serve the Earl better who
have to thank him for greater gifts.” He was then eighteen winters old,
and had lately entered the Earl’s service.
Earl Rögnvald was going to jump off his horse, and his foot stuck fast
in the stirrup. At that moment Stefán arrived and stabbed him with a
spear; and Thorbiörn wounded him again; but Jómar stabbed Thorbiörn in
the thigh, the spear entering the bowels. Then Thorbiörn and his men ran
behind the homestead, and down a steep bank, into a wet morass. Then
Earl Harald and his men arrived and met Thorbiörn. They recognised each
other, and the Earl’s men, when they knew his intentions, advised to
pursue him; but Earl Harald dissuaded them from it, saying that he
wished to wait for Earl Rögnvald’s opinion, “Because,” said he, “I am
very intimately connected with Thorbiörn, as you know, both through
relationship and other ties.”
Those who were with Earl Rögnvald stood sorrowing over his dead body,
and some time passed before Earl Harald heard the news. Thorbiörn and
his men had got out on the bog, and across the moss-hag running along
it. But through the urgency of the Earl’s followers, he and his men ran
down to the bog, and they met at the moss-hag—the two parties standing
one on either side. Thorbiörn’s party defended themselves from the bank,
and his followers ran to his assistance from the neighbouring
homesteads, until they were fifty in number. They defended themselves
bravely, for they had a strong position. The moss-hag was both deep and
broad, and the bog was soft; so they could only hurl spears at each
other. Thorbiörn told his men to throw none back; and when the Earl’s
party had exhausted their missiles they spoke to each other, and
Thorbiörn called to Earl Harald, saying, “Kinsman! I wish to ask you to
give me quarter, and I am willing to leave the decision of this case
entirely in your hands. I will reserve nothing which may contribute to
your honour. I also think, kinsman, you must remember that there have
been quarrels in which you would not have made such a difference between
Earl Rögnvald and me that you would have killed me for having done this
deed, when he had you under his thumb, and left you no more power than
if you had been his page; but I gave you the best gifts, and endeavoured
to further your honour in every way I could. The deed which I have
committed is indeed a great crime, and weighs heavily upon me, but the
whole of his dominions revert to you. You may also know that Earl
Rögnvald intended for me the same fate which he met at my hands. And I
suspect, kinsman, that if it had so happened that I were dead, and Earl
Rögnvald alive, you would not have quarrelled with him; and yet you wish
to take away my life.”
Thorbiörn urged his case with many fair words, and many pleaded for him,
and begged that quarter might be given him. And at last, when so many
pleaded, the Earl began to listen to them.
Then Magnus, the son of Gunni, Hávard’s son, a chief and a kinsman of
the Earl’s, and the noblest born of Earl Harald’s followers, took speech
as follows:—“We are not able to counsel you, Earl, after these great
deeds, but I shall tell you what will be said if quarter is given to
Thorbiörn when he has done such a deed, and even dared to say to your
face, almost in so many words, that he has done this wickedness in your
interest, or for your honour; and it will be an everlasting shame and
dishonour to you and to all the Earl’s kinsmen if he is not avenged. I
think Earl Rögnvald’s friends will believe it to be the truth that for a
long time you have been planning his death, and that it is your plan
which has now been accomplished. Do you think he will acquit you from
complicity in his guilt when he has to defend himself; since no one says
a word for you when he tells you to your face that he has committed this
crime in your interest? And how can you better confirm this suspicion
than by now granting him peace? I have resolved, for my part, never to
give him quarter, if any doughty men are willing to follow me, whether
you like it or not.”
His brother Thorstein, and Hákon, and Swein, Hróald’s son, spoke to the
same effect. Then they left the Earl and went along by the moss-hag,
trying to find a place where they might cross.
When Thorbiörn saw Magnus and his followers walking along the moss-hag,
he said: “Now, I suppose, they must have disagreed in their counsels;
the Earl has wished to give me peace, and Magnus has spoken against it.”
While they were thus talking, Thorbiörn and his men went farther away
from the moss-hag.
Harald’s party stood on the brink, and when he saw that no quarter would
be given, he leapt across in full armour, though it was nine ells[443]
broad. His followers leapt after him, but none of them were able to leap
so far; and most of them caught the bank and crawled up out of the mud.
Thorbiörn’s men urged him to advance against Magnus and his men, and
decide the matter with them; but he said: “I think the best plan is,
that each of you do what he thinks likely to be best, but I shall go to
Earl Harald.”
Most of his men dissuaded him from this, and begged him rather to flee
to the woods and save himself. He did not, however, accept that advice.
Then his followers left him, and tried to save themselves in various
ways, and at last there were eight men only with Thorbiörn. When he saw
that Earl Harald had crossed the ditch, he went to him and fell on his
knees, saying that he brought his head to him. Many of the Earl’s men
asked that peace might be given him; and the Earl said: “Save yourself,
Thorbiörn; I have not the heart to kill you.”
While they were talking, they moved down the valley along
Kalfadalsá,[444] and Magnus’s party pursued them. When the Earl saw it,
he said: “Save yourself, Thorbiörn, I will not fight for you against my
men.” Then Thorbiörn and his men left the Earl’s party, and went to some
deserted shielings called Asgrím’s ærgin.[445] Magnus’s party pursued
them, and set the buildings on fire immediately. Thorbiörn and his men
defended themselves bravely; and when the buildings began to fall down
with the burning, they went out and were attacked by the other party
with their weapons, as soon as they could reach them. They were already
very much exhausted by the fire, and fell there all nine. When
Thorbiörn’s wounds were examined, it was found that the intestines
protruded through the wound inflicted by Jómar. Earl Harald led his men
down the valley, but those who were with Magnus went to Fors (Forss),
wrapped up Earl Rögnvald’s body, and brought it down to Thórsá.
CHAPTER CVIII
THE REMOVAL OF EARL RÖGNVALD’S BODY.
EARL RÖGNVALD KALI died five nights after the summer Marymas.[446] Earl
Harald brought the body with a splendid following to the Orkneys, and it
was buried at the Magnus Kirk; and there it rested until God manifested
Rögnvald’s merits by many and great miracles. Then Bishop Bjarni had his
holy remains exhumed with the permission of the Pope.[447] Where the
blood of the Earl fell on the stones when he died, it may be seen to
this day as fresh as if it had just come from the wounds.
Earl Rögnvald’s death was much lamented, because he was very popular in
the Islands and in many other parts. He had been helpful to many, was
liberal with his money, gentle, and a true friend, highly accomplished,
and a good scald. He left a daughter, Ingigerd, an only child, who was
married to Eirík Slagbrellir. Their children were Harald Ungi, Magnus
Mangi, Rögnvald, Ingibiorg, Elín, and Ragnhild.
CHAPTER CIX
OF HARALD AND SWEIN.
AFTER Earl Rögnvald’s death, Earl Harald took possession of the whole of
the Islands, and became their sole ruler. He was a mighty chief, and a
man of large stature and great strength. His wife was Afreka, and their
children were—Heinrek, Hákon, Helena, and Margarét. When Hákon was only
a few winters old, Swein, Asleif’s son, offered to foster him, and when
he was able to take his part with other men, Swein took him out on
marauding expeditions every summer, and honoured him in everything.
Swein used to reside at home in Gáreksey, in winter, keeping there
eighty men at his own expense. He had such a large drinking-hall that
there was none equal to it anywhere else in the Orkneys. In the spring
he was very busy sowing a large breadth of seed, and he usually did a
great part of the work himself. When this work was finished, he went
every spring on marauding expeditions. He plundered in the Sudreyar and
Ireland, and returned home after midsummer. This he called
spring-viking. Then he stayed at home till the fields were reaped and
the corn brought in. Then he went out again, and did not return until
one month of winter had passed. This he called autumn-viking.
CHAPTER CX
SWEIN GOES TO IRELAND.
ONCE it happened that Swein went out on a spring expedition, taking with
him Hákon, the son of Earl Harald. They had five rowing ships, all
large. They plundered in the Sudreyar. All the inhabitants were so
afraid of him that they hid all their movable property in the ground or
in heaps of loose stones. Swein went all the way south to Man, and
obtained very little booty. Then they went to Ireland and plundered
there, but when they were approaching Dýflin (Dublin) two merchant-ships
came from England, laden with English cloth and other merchandise; they
were going to Dýflin. Swein made for the vessels, and offered them
battle. There was little resistance by the English, and Swein’s party
took every penny in the vessels, leaving to the Englishmen only what
they stood in, and a small quantity of provisions. They sailed away in
the vessels, but Swein’s party went to the Sudreyar, and divided their
booty. They sailed from the west with great pomp. When they were lying
in harbours, they covered their ships with the English cloth, to make a
show; and when they sailed to the Orkneys, they sewed the cloth upon
their sails, and then it looked as if the sails were made entirely of
the fine stuffs. This they named the Skrud-viking.[448]
Swein went home to his estate in Gáreksey. He had taken a large quantity
of wine and English mead from the vessels. When he had been at home a
short time he invited Earl Harald, and prepared a splendid feast for
him. When Earl Harald was at the feast a great deal was said of Swein’s
magnificence. The Earl said: “I wish, Swein, you would now leave off
your marauding expeditions; it is good now to drive home a whole waggon.
You know that your plundering has fed you and your men a long time, but
to most men of violence it happens that they perish in their raiding, if
they do not leave it off in time.”
Swein looked to the Earl and said, smiling: “This is well said, my Lord;
you have spoken like a friend, and it is good to take sound advice from
you; but some complain that you are not an over just man yourself.”
The Earl replied: “I must be responsible for my own acts, but I spoke as
it occurred to me.”
Swein replied: “Your intention is no doubt good, my Lord; and it shall
be so, that I will discontinue my marauding expeditions, for I am
getting old, and my strength is wasting away in the wet work and the
fighting. I am now going to make an autumn expedition, and I wish it to
be not less glorious than the spring one. Then I shall leave off
war-going.”
The Earl replied: “It is difficult to know, comrade, which comes
first—death or lasting fame.”
Then their conversation ceased. When Earl Harald left the feast
honourable gifts were presented to him, and he and Swein parted very
good friends.
CHAPTER CXI
SWEIN, ASLEIF’S SON’S (LAST) EXPEDITION.
SHORTLY after this Swein prepared to go on a marauding expedition with
seven long-ships, all of them large. Hákon, the son of Earl Harald, went
with him. They went first to the Sudreyar, and found there little booty.
Then they went to Ireland, and plundered there in many places. They went
all the way south to Dýflin (Dublin), and took the inhabitants by
surprise, so that they did not know till they were in the town. They
took a great deal of plunder, and took captive the rulers of the city,
and their negotiations ended in the surrender of the town to Swein, and
they promised to pay as much money as he might levy on them. He was to
quarter his men on the town, and have the command of it, and the Dýflin
men confirmed this arrangement with oaths. Swein and his men went down
to their ships in the evening, but in the morning they were to come into
the town and receive hostages from the inhabitants.
Now it is to be told what was going on in the town during the night. The
rulers of the town had a meeting, and considered the difficulties in
which they were placed. They thought it a grievous hardship that they
should have to surrender their town to the Orkneymen, especially to him
whom they knew to be the most exacting man in the whole West; and they
came to the determination to play him false if they could. They resolved
to dig large pits inside of the city gates, and in many other places
between the houses, where it was intended that Swein’s men should come
in, and armed men were hidden in the houses close by. They placed such
coverings over the pits as were sure to fall in when the weight of the
men came upon them. Then they covered all over with straw, so that the
pits could not be seen, and waited till morning.
CHAPTER CXII
SWEIN, ASLEIF’S SON’S FALL.
NEXT morning Swein and his men arose and armed themselves, and went to
the town; and when they came near the gates the Dýflin men ranged
themselves on both sides from the gates along by the pits. Swein and his
men, not being on their guard, fell into them. Some of the townsmen ran
immediately to the gates, and others to the pits, and attacked Swein’s
men with weapons. It was difficult for them to defend themselves, and
Swein perished there in the pit, with all those who had entered the
town. It was said that Swein was the last man who died there, and that
he spake these words before his fall: “Know all men, whether I die
to-day or not, that I am the holy Earl Rögnvald’s henchman, and my
confidence is where he is with God.” Swein’s surviving followers went
then to their ships, and put out to sea; and nothing is said of their
voyage until they came to the Orkneys. Here is the end of Swein’s
history; and it has been said that he was the greatest man in the
Western lands, either in old times or at the present day, of those who
had not a higher title than he had. After his death his sons Olaf and
Andrés divided their patrimony. The next summer after his death they
raised the end walls of the large drinking-hall which he had in
Gáreksey. Andrés, the son of Swein, married Frída, the daughter of
Kolbein Hruga, and sister to Bishop Bjarni.
CHAPTER CXIII
OF EARL HARALD AND HIS SONS.
NOW Earl Harald ruled the Orkneys, and was a great chief.
Afterwards[449] he married Hvarflod,[450] the daughter of Earl
Malcolm,[451] of Mærhæfi (Moray). Their children were Thorfinn,[452]
David, Jón, Gunnhild, Herborga, and Langlíf.
When Bishop William the Second was dead, Bjarni, the son of Kolbein
Hruga, was made bishop after him. He was a very great man, and a dear
friend of Earl Harald. Bishop Bjarni had a large party of kinsmen in the
Islands. The sons of Eirík Slagbrellir were Harald Ungi, Magnus Mangi,
and Rögnvald. The brothers went east to Norway to see King Magnus,
Erling’s son, and he gave Harald the title of Earl, and one half of the
Islands, which had belonged to the holy Earl Rögnvald, his mother’s
father. Earl Harald Ungi went to the west, and with him Sigurd Murt, the
son of Ivar Galli. The mother of Ivar, who fell at Akr with Erling
Skakki, was the daughter of Hávard, Gunni’s son. Sigurd Murt was young,
handsome, and a great dandy. Magnus Mangi remained with the King, and
fell with him in Sogn.
Harald (Ungi) and his followers came first to Hjaltland. Then they went
over to Caithness, and then into Scotland, to William, King of
Scots.[453] Earl Harald requested King William to give him the half of
Caithness which Earl Rögnvald had held. The King granted him this; and
Earl Harald went then down to Caithness, and gathered troops. Then
Lífólf Skalli, his brother-in-law, came to him. He had many noble
kinsmen there. Lífólf had married Ragnhild, the sister of Earl Harald.
He was called Earl Harald Ungi (the younger); but Harald, Maddad’s son,
the elder. Lífólf had the command of the Earl’s troops. They sent men to
the Orkneys, to Earl Harald the elder, requesting him to give up one
half of the Islands, since the King had given them to Earl Harald Ungi.
When the Earl received this message, he refused absolutely to divide his
dominions on any condition. Lífólf Skalli was the messenger, and the
Earl upbraided him greatly before he left. After this, Earl Harald the
elder collected troops, and obtained a great many. Earl Harald Ungi’s
party were in Caithness, and had some gathering too. When they heard
that Harald the elder was collecting troops, they sent Lífólf a second
time across the Pentland Firth to gather information about the enemy’s
forces. He landed east in Rögnvaldsey, and ascended a hill, where he
found three of Harald’s watchmen. Two of them he killed, and one of them
he took with him for information. Then Lífólf saw the Earl’s fleet,
which consisted of many ships, most of them large. Then he went down
from the hill to his boat, and told his companions what he had
ascertained. He said Earl Harald had so large an army that it was quite
hopeless for them to fight with him. “I would advise,” said Lífólf,
“that we should go to-day to Thórsá, and there many troops will come to
us at once. If you wish to offer battle to Earl Harald now, it is most
imprudent, whatever the result may be.”
Then said Sigurd Murt: “Ill has the Earl’s brother-in-law fared across
the Pentland Firth if he has left his heart behind him;” adding,
further, that their prospects were not bright if all should lose heart
when they saw Earl Harald’s army.
Lífólf replied: “It is difficult to see, Sigurd, where each one carries
his heart when courage is required; and I believe you men of mark will
think it a serious matter to remain behind when I run from Harald Ungi.”
They did not go to Thórsá; but shortly after they saw Earl Harald’s
fleet coming from Rögnvaldsey, and then they prepared for battle. Earl
Harald went on shore, and placed his men in battle array. They far
exceeded the others in number. Sigurd Murt and Lífólf arranged the
troops of Earl Ungi. The former was dressed in a scarlet tunic, and
tucked the skirt under his belt. Some said that the same should be done
behind, but he told them not to do it, “for,” said he, “I shall not go
backwards to-day.” Lífólf and Sigurd led one wing each, and when they
had arrayed their men the battle began with great fury. Among the troops
of Earl Harald the elder there were many hardy, fierce, and well-armed
men, the Bishop’s kinsmen, and many others of the Earl’s champions. When
the battle had lasted for a while, Sigurd Murt fell, having borne
himself well and bravely. Lífólf behaved the most valiantly of them all.
The Caithnessmen say he broke three times through the ranks of Earl
Harald’s men, yet he fell in this fight, after having earned great fame.
When both were dead—Lífólf and Sigurd Murt—Earl Ungi’s men fled. Earl
Harald Ungi fell at some turf-pits,[454] and that very night a great
light was seen where his blood fell on the ground. People said he was
truly a saint, and there is now a church where he fell. He is buried in
Ness (Caithness). Innumerable miracles are by God granted through his
merits, which testify that he wished to go to Orkney to his kinsmen Earl
Magnus and Earl Rögnvald. After the battle Earl Harald subdued the whole
of Caithness, and went back triumphant to the Orkneys.
CHAPTER CXIV
OF THE ORKNEYMEN.
WILLIAM, King of Scots, heard that Earl Harald (Ungi) had been killed,
and also that Earl Harald, Maddad’s son, had subdued the whole of
Caithness without asking his leave. He became enraged at this, and sent
men to the Sudreyar to Rögnvald, Gudröd’s son, the King of the Sudreyar.
Gudröd’s mother was Ingibiorg, daughter of Earl Hákon, Paul’s son. King
Rögnvald was the greatest warrior then in the western lands. Three
winters he had been out in war-ships without coming under a sooty
rafter. When this message came to Rögnvald, he collected an army from
all the kingdom of the Sudreyar and from Satiri (Kintyre). He had also a
large army from Ireland. Then he went north to Caithness, took
possession of the whole of the territory, and remained there some time.
Earl Harald kept in the Orkneys, and took no heed of the King’s
movements. Towards winter King Rögnvald prepared to go home to his
dominions in the Sudreyar. He left three stewards (sýslumenn) over
Caithness. One was Máni, Olaf’s son; the second Rafn, the lawman; and
the third, Hlífólf Alli. Some time after, King Rögnvald returned to the
Sudreyar. Earl Harald sent a man over to Ness (Caithness), saying that
he would consider his journey a lucky one if he could kill any of the
stewards or all of them. This man was brought across the Pentland Firth,
and he went on till he came to Lawman Rafn. Rafn asked him where he was
going, and he had little to say in reply. Rafn said: “I can see in you
that Earl Harald has sent you over here for some evil purpose, but I
have not the heart to slay you, because you are my kinsman.” Thus they
parted, and he went away to Hlífólf, and their intercourse ended in
Hlífólf’s murder. Then he fled to the Orkneys to Earl Harald, and told
him what he had done.
CHAPTER CXV
HARALD TORTURES THE BISHOP.
NOW Earl Harald prepared to leave the Orkneys, and when he was quite
ready he went first to Thórsá, and landed from his ships there. The
Bishop was in the borg at Skárabólstad (Scrabster). When the
Caithnessmen saw Earl Harald’s army, they perceived it was so numerous
that they had no chance to withstand them. They were told also that the
Earl was in such an evil temper that there was no knowing what he might
do. Then the Bishop took speech, and said: “If our dealings turn out
well, he will give you peace.”[455] They did as the Bishop told them.
The Earl’s men rushed from the ships up to the borg. The Bishop went to
meet the Earl, and saluted him with bland words, but their dealing
turned out in this way, that Earl Harald had the Bishop seized, his
tongue cut out, and then he caused a knife to be thrust into his eyes,
and blinded him. Bishop Jón prayed to the holy virgin Tröllhæna during
his torture, and then he went on a certain bank, when they let him go.
There was a woman on the bank, and the Bishop asked her to help him. She
saw that blood was flowing from his face, and said: “Be silent, my lord,
and I shall willingly help you.” The Bishop was brought to the
resting-place of the holy Tröllhæna,[456] and there he recovered both
his speech and sight.
Earl Harald went up to the borg, and it was immediately surrendered to
him.[457] He proceeded at once to punish the inhabitants severely, and
imposed heavy fines on those whom he considered most guilty of treachery
to him; and he made all the Caithnessmen acknowledge him by oath as
their lord, whether they liked it or not. Then he took possession of all
the property belonging to the stewards, who had fled to the King of
Scots. Then Earl Harald resided in Caithness with many men.
CHAPTER CXVI
OF THE STEWARDS.
NOW it is to be told of the stewards (sýslumenn) that they went six
together to Scotland, and saw the King during Advent. They were able to
give particular intelligence of everything that had happened in
Caithness during Earl Harald’s stay there. The King was highly enraged
at hearing the news, but he said he would pay back double to those who
had lost their own. The first day they stayed with the King twenty-five
ells of cloth and an English mark in ready money was given to each of
them. They spent the Yule-tide with the King, and were well treated.
After Yule-tide the King sent word to all the chiefs in his kingdom, and
collected a large army throughout the country, and with all these troops
he went down to Caithness against Earl Harald. With this great army he
pursued his journey till he came to Eysteinsdal,[458] where Caithness
and Sutherland meet. The camp of the King of Scots stretched far along
the valleys.
Earl Harald was in Caithness when he heard the news, and he drew troops
together immediately. It is said he obtained six thousand men, and yet
he had no chance to withstand the King of Scots. Then he sent men to him
to sue for peace. When this request was brought before the King, he said
it was no use asking for peace unless he had every fourth penny that was
to be found in all the land of Caithness.
When the Earl received this message, he called together the inhabitants
and chiefs, and consulted with them. As, however, they had no means of
resisting, it was agreed that the Caithnessmen should pay one-fourth of
all their property to the King of Scots, except those men who had gone
to see the King in winter. Earl Harald went out to the Orkneys, and was
to have Caithness as he had it before it was given to Earl Harald Ungi
by the King of Scots. Thorfinn, the son of Earl Harald, who was a
hostage with the King of Scots, was blinded during these hostilities.
When peace had been made, the King returned to Scotland. Earl Harald was
now the sole ruler of the Orkneys. In the later part of the days of Earl
Harald, his brother-in-law, Olaf, and Jón, Hallkell’s son, raised a
party in the Orkneys, and went east to Norway against King Sverrir. They
made Sigurd, the son of King Magnus, Erling’s son, their King. Many men
of noble birth in the Orkneys joined this party, and it was very strong.
They were for a while called Eyjarskeggiar (Islanders) or Gullbeinir
(goldenlegs). They fought with King Sverrir in Flóruvogar, and were
beaten.[459] Both Jón and Olaf were killed, as also their King, and most
of their men. After this King Sverrir became a great enemy of Earl
Harald, laying it to his charge that he was the cause of the party being
raised. At last Earl Harald went from the west, and Bishop Bjarni went
along with him. The Earl left his case without reservation to the
decision of King Sverrir. Then King Sverrir took all Hjaltland from Earl
Harald, with its taxes (scat) and dues, as a fine; and the Earls of
Orkney have never had it since.[460]
Earl Harald was five winters old when he was made Earl, and for twenty
winters he and Earl Rögnvald were together Earls of Orkney. After Earl
Rögnvald’s death, he was forty-eight winters Earl of Orkney, and he died
in the second year of the reign of King Ingi, Bard’s son.[461] Earl
Harald’s sons, Jón and David, succeeded him; and Heinrek, his son, had
Ross in Scotland.
The following have been the most powerful of the Earls of Orkney,
according to the relation of those who have made histories of
them:—Sigurd, Eystein’s son; Earl Thorfinn, Sigurd’s son; and Earl
Harald, Maddad’s son.
The brothers Jón and David ruled the land after their father, until
David died from disease, the same year as Hákon Galinn died in
Norway.[462] After that Jón took the title of Earl of all the Orkneys.
CHAPTER CXVII
THE BURNING OF BISHOP ADAM.
WHEN Bishop Jón, he who was maimed by the order of Earl Harald, died in
Caithness, a man who was called Adam was made Bishop in his stead. None
knew his family, because when a child he was found at the door of a
certain church. The Caithnessmen found him rather exacting in his
office, and blamed a certain monk who was with him chiefly for that. It
was an ancient custom that the Bishop should receive a spann[463] of
butter of every twenty cows. Every Bondi in Caithness had to pay this—he
more who had more cows, and he who had fewer less, and so in proportion.
Bishop Adam wished to increase the impost, and demanded a spann of every
fifteen cows; and when that was obtained, he demanded it of twelve; and
when this too was conceded, he demanded it of ten. But this was thought
by all men most unreasonable.
Then the Caithnessmen went to see Earl Jón, who was then in Caithness,
and they complained of this before the Earl. He said he would have
nothing to do with it, adding that the case was not a difficult one.
There were two alternatives: this was not to be endured, yet he would
not say what the other might be.
Bishop Adam was at Há Kirkia,[464] in Thorsdal, and Earl Jón was a short
distance off. The Caithnessmen held a meeting on a hill above the
village where the Bishop was. Lawman Rafn was with the Bishop, and
begged him to spare the inhabitants, saying that otherwise he feared the
consequences. The Bishop asked him to be of good cheer, saying that the
Bœndr (farmers) would become quiet of their own accord. Then a man was
sent to Earl Jón, requesting him to make peace between them and the
Bishop. But the Earl would not meddle with the matter at all. Then the
Bœndr ran down from the hill in great excitement, and when Lawman Rafn
saw it he warned the Bishop to take care of himself. The Bishop and his
friends were drinking in a loft there, and when the Bœndr arrived the
monk went to the door, and he was immediately hewn across the face, and
fell back into the room dead. When the Bishop heard it, he said: “This
did not happen sooner than might have been expected, for his
interference in our transactions has generally been unfortunate.” Then
Rafn asked the Bishop to tell the Bœndr that he was willing to come to
an agreement with them; and when they heard it, all the wiser men among
them were very glad. Then the Bishop went out to make an arrangement
with them; but when he was seen by the more wicked ones, who were most
furious, they seized the Bishop, brought him into a small house, and set
fire to it, and the house burnt so quickly that those who wished to save
the Bishop could not do anything. Bishop Adam perished there.[465] His
body was not much burnt when it was found. Then the body was buried
suitably and honourably; but those who had been the best friends of the
Bishop sent men to the King of Scots. Alexander, son of the holy King
William, was then King of Scotland. When he heard the tidings, he became
so enraged that the punishments inflicted by him for the burning of the
Bishop, by mutilation and death, confiscation and outlawry from the
land, are still in fresh memory.
And now we cannot relate more distinctly than we have here done the
events concerning the Earls of Orkney.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPENDIX.
-------
SAGA OF OLAF, TRYGGVI’S SON.
(_From the Flateyjarbók._)
THE DOMINIONS OF KING HARALD AND EARL RÖGNVALD.
179. Earl Rögnvald assisted Harald Harfagri (fair-haired) to conquer the
country (Norway), and he gave him the revenues of both Mœri and
Raumsdal. Rögnvald had married Ragnhild, the daughter of Hrólf Nefia
(nose). They had a son named Hrólf, who conquered Normandy. Hrólf was so
big that no horse could carry him, and he was therefore called
Gönguhrólf (Hrólf the walker). From him the Earls of Rúda (Rouen) and
the Kings of England are descended. They had two other sons, Ivar and
Earl Thórir Thegiandi (the silent). Rögnvald had also sons by his
concubines. They were Hallad, Hrollaug, and Einar, who was the youngest.
One summer Harald Harfagri went to the west across the sea to punish the
Vikings, as he was weary of their devastations. They plundered in Norway
during the summer, and spent the winters in Hjaltland or the Orkneys.
Harald subdued Hjaltland, the Orkneys, and the Sudreyar (Hebrides). He
went west as far as the Isle of Man, and destroyed all the dwellings in
Man. He fought many battles there, and extended his dominion so far to
the west that none of the Kings of Norway since his time has had wider
dominions. In one of these battles, Ivar, the son of Earl Rögnvald,
fell. So when King Harald sailed from the west he gave Hjaltland and the
Orkneys to Earl Rögnvald as a compensation for [the loss of] his son;
but Earl Rögnvald gave the Islands to his brother Sigurd, who was King
Harald’s forecastleman; and the King gave him the title of Earl before
he left the west. Sigurd remained out in the west.
EARL MELBRIGD SLAIN BY SIGURD.
180. Earl Sigurd became a great chief. He formed an alliance with
Thorstein the Red, son of Olaf the White, and Aud Djúpaudga (the very
wealthy), and together they conquered all Caithness and much more of
Scotland—Mærhæfui (Moray) and Ross. He built a borg on the southern
border of Mærhæfui. Melbrigd Tönn (tooth), an Earl of the Scots, and
Earl Sigurd, made an arrangement to meet in a certain place, with forty
men each, in order to come to an agreement concerning their differences.
When the appointed day arrived Earl Sigurd was suspicious of treachery
on the part of the Scots. He therefore caused eighty men to be mounted
on forty horses. When Earl Melbrigd saw this, he said to his men:—“Now
we have been treacherously dealt with by Earl Sigurd, for I see two
men’s legs on one side of each horse, and the men, I believe, are thus
twice as many as the beasts. But let us be brave, and kill each his man
before we die.” Then they made themselves ready. When Sigurd saw it, he
also decided on his plan, and said to his men:—“Now, let one-half of our
number dismount and attack them from behind, when the troops meet, while
we shall ride at them with all our speed to break their battle array.”
There was hard fighting immediately, and it was not long till Earl
Melbrigd fell, and all his men with him. Earl Sigurd and his men
fastened the heads [of the slain] to their saddle-straps, in bravado,
and so they rode home triumphing in their victory. As they were
proceeding, Earl Sigurd, intending to kick at his horse with his foot,
struck the calf of his leg against a tooth protruding from Earl
Melbrigd’s head, which scratched him slightly; but it soon became
swollen and painful, and he died of it. Sigurd the powerful was buried
in a mound at Ekkialsbakki.[466]
Sigurd’s son was named Guthorm. He reigned one winter, and died
childless.
When Earl Rögnvald heard of the death of Earl Sigurd and his son, he
sent his son Hallad out to the west, and King Harald gave him the title
of Earl. Hallad came out to the west, and took up his residence in
Hrossey,[467] but Vikings went prowling about the islands and outlying
headlands, slaying men and seizing booty. The Bœndr complained of their
losses to Earl Hallad, but they thought he did not get them much redress
for their wrongs. Then Hallad grew tired of the dignity, and resigned
the earldom, took up his odal rights, and returned to Norway, and his
journey was regarded as a very ignominious one.
EINAR COMES TO THE ISLANDS.
181. Two Danish Vikings took up their quarters in the Islands; one of
them was called Thórir Tréskegg (wooden beard), the other Kálf Skurfa
(scurf). When Earl Rögnvald heard this he became very angry, and called
his sons Thórir and Hrollaug. Hrólf was at that time on a war
expedition. Rögnvald asked which of them would go to the Islands. Thórir
said he would follow his advice.
The Earl replied: “I foresee that your power will be greatest here; and
your ways do not lead from home.”
Hrollaug said: “Father, would you like me to go?”
The Earl replied: “It will never be your fortune to become an Earl. Your
way lies towards Iceland. There you will increase your family, and it
will be a noble one.”
Then Einar, his youngest son, came forward and said: “Would you like me
to go to the Islands? One thing I will promise, which will be very
acceptable to you—viz. that I shall never more come into your presence;
little honour do I enjoy at home, and it is hardly likely that my
success will be less elsewhere than it is here.”
The Earl said: “You are not likely to become a chief, on account of your
birth, for all your kin on the mother’s side are thrall-born; but it is
true that the sooner you go and the longer you stay the more agreeable
it will be to me.” Earl Rögnvald gave him a fully-equipped vessel, with
twenty benches, and King Harald gave him the title of Earl.
THE VIKINGS SLAIN.
182. Einar sailed to Hjaltland, and there many men gathered round him.
Then he went to the Orkneys to meet Kálf Skurfa and Thórir Tréskegg.
There was a great battle, and both the Vikings were killed. This was
said about it:
Tré-skegg gave he to the Trows:
Skurfa fell before Torf-Einar.
Then Einar took possession of the lands, and soon became a great chief.
He was the man who first cut turf (peat) from the ground for fuel at
Torfnes in Scotland, for fuel was scarce in the Islands. Einar was a
tall man, ugly, and with one eye, yet he was very keen-sighted.
BATTLE BETWEEN EARL EINAR AND PRINCE HALFDAN.
183. When the sons of Harald Harfagri grew up they became men of great
violence and turbulence, as has been told before. The sons of Snæfríd,
Hálfdán Hálegg (high legs) and Gudröd Liomi (splendour) killed Rögnvald,
Earl of Mœri. King Harald became very angry at this, and Hálfdán had to
flee over seas to the west, but Gudröd became reconciled to his father.
When Hálfdán Hálegg came to the Orkneys, Earl Einar fled from the
Islands to Scotland, and Hálfdán became King over the Islands. Earl
Einar came back during the same year, and when they met there was a
great battle, in which Einar had the victory, and Hálfdán fled away.
Einar sang this song:
Why are not the spear-shafts flying,
From the hands of Hrólf and Hrollaug,
Thickly ’gainst the press of warriors?
Now, my father! I avenge thee.
While we here are closed in battle,
Sits Earl Thórir all the evening,
Silent o’er his cheerless drink.
Next morning they found Hálfdán Hálegg on Rinar’s Hill. The Earl made a
blood eagle be cut on his back with the sword, and had his ribs severed
from the back-bone, and his lungs pulled out. Thus he gave him to Odinn
as an offering for victory, and sang this song:
Oft it is that bearded men
Are guilty deemed for taking sheep;
But my offence is that I slew
The young son of the Islands’ king.
Men may say that danger waits me
From the great king’s speedy vengeance;
But his wrath shall never daunt me,
In whose shield I’ve made a dint.
Then he had a cairn raised over him, and sang this song:
Vengeance for my father’s death
I have ta’en for my fourth share.
In him the people’s champion fell;
But it was the Norns’ decree.
Heap we now a cairn o’er High-leg,
Thus the hard skatt we shall pay him
Which as victors we are due him.
Let the wise to me now listen.
When this was heard in Norway his brothers became greatly enraged, and
threatened an expedition to the Islands to avenge him, but Harald
delayed their journey. When Earl Einar heard of their threats, he sang:
Men of no ignoble birth
Are they who, from my native land,
Seek my life for vengeance’ sake;
But the truth is, that they know not,
Till their swords have surely slain me,
Whom the eagles’ claws shall rend.
Some time afterwards King Harald set out for the western seas, and came
to the Islands. Einar fled from the Islands to Caithness. Then men went
between them, and they made peace. King Harald imposed a fine upon the
Islands, adjudging them to pay sixty marks of gold. Earl Einar offered
[to the Bœndr] to pay the money himself, on condition that he should
become proprietor of all their freeholds. The Bœndr accepted this,
because the wealthy men thought they might redeem their freeholds, and
the poorer men had no money. Einar paid the whole sum, and for a long
time afterwards the Earls held all the odal lands, until Earl Sigurd
gave back their odal possessions to the Orkneymen. King Harald went back
to Norway, but Earl Einar ruled over the Orkneys a long time, and died
on a sick-bed. He had three sons: one was named Arnkell, the second
Erlend, and the third Thorfinn Hausakliuf (skull-splitter).
When Harald Harfagri died, Eirík Blódöx (bloody-axe) was King for two
winters. Then Hakon, Athelstan’s foster son, came to the land, and Eirík
fled. Arnkell and Erlend, the sons of Torf Einar, fell with Eirík Blódöx
in England. Gunnhild and her sons then went to the Orkneys, and took
possession of them, and stayed there for a time. From thence they went
to Denmark, but before they went away they married Ragnhild, the
daughter of Gunnhild and Eirík, to Arnfinn, the son of Earl Thorfinn
[Hausakliuf], and Earl Thorfinn took up his residence in the Islands: he
was a great and warlike chief. He died on a sick-bed, and was buried in
a mound on Hauga Heath,[468] in Rögnvaldsey, and was considered to have
been a great man.
THE MURDER OF HAVARD.
184. Thorfinn had five sons. One was named Hávard Arsæli (blessed with
good seasons), the second Hlödver, the third Liót, the fourth Skúli, and
the fifth Arnfinn. Ragnhild, the daughter of Eirík, killed her husband
Arnfinn at Myrkhol (Murkle), in Caithness, and then she married Hávard
Arsæli, his brother. He became Earl, and was a good chief, and blessed
with good seasons. There was a man named Einar Klíning (buttered bread),
the son of Hávard’s sister. He was a great chief, and had many men, and
went usually on war expeditions during the summer. He accepted an
invitation from Hávard, and at that feast he and Ragnhild talked much
together. She said that it was more suitable that such a man as he
should be chief and Earl than Hávard his kinsman, adding that the woman
was well married who had him for a husband. Einar told her not to speak
of such things, saying that Hávard was the noblest man in the Islands,
and that she was well matched. Ragnhild replied: “Hávard and I shall not
be long together after this. But it is true that men will be found in
the Islands who will not stick at trifles if you grudge me the dignity.”
By her persuasion Einar was moved to covetousness and treachery against
his kinsman. They agreed that he should kill the Earl, and that she
should marry him. Some time after Einar prepared to take out his men,
but a certain spaeman who was with him said: “Do not engage in this
business to-day; wait till to-morrow, or else family murders will be
frequent in your family.” Einar pretended not to hear this. At this time
Hávard was at Steinsness,[469] in Hrossey. There they met, and there was
hard fighting, and it was not long till the Earl fell. The place is now
called Hávard’s teigar.[470] When this became known, Einar was
considered a great nithing[471] for the deed. Ragnhild would have
nothing to do with him, saying it was a mere lie that she had given him
any promises. Then she sent for Einar Hardkiöpt (hard mouth), who was
the son of another sister of Hávard. And when they met, she said it was
a great shame to Hávard’s kinsmen that they did not avenge him, adding
that she would do anything that the Earl might be avenged. “It is
evident,” she said, “that he who avenges the Earl will be most esteemed
by good people, and will most deserve his dominions.” Einar replied: “It
is said that you sometimes speak differently from what you think. But he
who does this deed will expect in return that you will help him to the
dominions, as well as to other things which he will consider not less
important.” This was the end of their talk. After this Einar Hardkiöpt
went to Einar Klíning and killed him. But Ragnhild sent for their
brother Liót, and married him. Liót became Earl, and was a great chief.
Now Einar Hardkiöpt had killed his kinsman, and was not any nearer the
earldom than before. He was highly dissatisfied, and wished to collect
men together and subdue the Islands by force. He had great difficulty in
getting men, for the Orkneymen wished to serve the sons of Thorfinn
Hausakliuf. Some time afterwards the Earl had Einar Hardkiöpt slain.
BATTLE BETWEEN LIOT AND SKULI.
185. Skúli, the brother of Liót, went to Scotland, and had an Earl’s
title given him by the King of Scots. Then he went down to Caithness,
and collected forces together; from thence he went to the Islands, and
fought with his brother for the dominion of them. Liót collected a
numerous army, and went against Skúli. When they met, Skúli would
nothing but fight. There was a severely contested battle. Liót gained
the victory, and Skúli fled over to Ness (Caithness). Liót pursued him,
stayed there for a while, and got many men together. Then Skúli came
down from Scotland with a large army, and met Liót at Dalir (Dale), in
Caithness, and a great battle ensued. Skúli had a large army given him
by the King of Scots and Earl Magbiód.[472] In the beginning of the
battle the Scots fought hotly. Earl Liót told his men to act on the
defensive, and to stand firm; and when the Scots could not make any
impression on them, Liót incited his men, and fought very fiercely
himself. When this had been going on for some time, the array of the
Scots was broken, and then they fled; but Skúli continued the battle,
and was ultimately killed. Liót took possession of Caithness, and he and
the Scots were at war, because they were vexed at their defeat. When
Earl Liót was in Caithness, Earl Magbiód came down from Scotland with a
large army, and they met at Skida-mire (Skitten), in Caithness. Although
Earl Liót’s forces were not equal to those of the Scots, he fought so
bravely that the Scots gave way, and the battle had not continued long
when those of the Scots who were left alive fled, and many of them were
wounded. Liót returned from the pursuit victorious, but with many men
wounded, and he himself had received wounds, of which he died.
BATTLE.
186. Hlödver was Earl after Liót, and became a great chief. He married
Audna, the daughter of Kiarval, the King of the Ivar.[473] Their son was
Sigurd the stout. Hlödver died on a sick-bed, and was buried at Hofn
(Huna), in Caithness. His son Sigurd succeeded him, and became a great
chief, with extensive possessions. He kept Caithness by main force from
the Scots, and went every summer on war expeditions to the Sudreyar
(Hebrides), Scotland, and Ireland. One summer Finnleik, an Earl of the
Scots, challenged Sigurd to meet him at Skida-mire on a certain day; but
Sigurd went to consult his mother, who was a wise woman. The Earl told
her that the difference in numbers would not be less than seven to one.
She replied: “I should have reared thee up long in my wool-bag if I had
known that thou wouldst wish to live for ever. It is fate that rules
life, and not the place where a man may go. It is better to die with
honour than live with shame. Take thou here this banner which I have
made with all my skill, and I ween that it will bring victory to him
before whom it is borne, but death to its bearer.” The banner was
wrought with cunningly executed handiwork and elaborate art. It was made
in the shape of a raven, and when floating in the wind it resembled the
raven flying. Earl Sigurd was very wroth at his mother’s words. He
restored their odal rights to the Orkneymen to induce them to assist
him, and went to meet Earl Finnleik at Skida-mire, where they both
placed their men in battle array. When the forces met, Earl Sigurd’s
standard-bearer was killed by an arrow. The Earl ordered another to bear
the banner, and when they had fought for a while he also fell. Three
standard-bearers were killed, but the Earl gained the victory, and the
Orkneymen regained their freeholds.
MEETING BETWEEN OLAF (TRYGGVI’S SON) AND THE EARL.
187. Olaf, Tryggvi’s son, sailed west to the Orkneys, as has been
mentioned before. But as the Pentland Firth was not to be passed at the
time, he moored his ships in Asmundarvag (Osmondwall) opposite
Rögnvaldsey. Earl Sigurd, Hlödver’s son, was there before him with three
ships, for he was going on a war expedition. When King Olaf became aware
that the Earl was there, he called him into his presence. But when the
Earl came to the King’s ship, the King spoke as follows:—
“You know, Earl Sigurd, that Harald Harfagri came here to the west with
an army when he had obtained possession of all Norway. King Harald
conquered the Orkneys and Hjaltland, and many other lands here in the
west. The King gave the Islands to Rögnvald the Powerful as a
compensation for his son, but Rögnvald gave them to his brother Sigurd,
and he became the Earl of King Harald. King Harald went a second time
against Earl Einar with a large army; but well-disposed men mediated
between them, and they agreed to the following terms:—The King claimed
all the Orkneys and Hjaltland as his own; and the result of their
negotiations was that the Earl paid the King sixty marks of gold for the
murder of his son, Halfdan Hálegg, and Earl Einar then held the lands
from King Harald. Shortly afterwards, King Eirík, Harald’s son, came
from Norway. Then also the Earls, the sons of Torfeinar, were his
vassals. This appears from the fact that they gave him many men for his
war expeditions. When King Eirík came to the Islands a second time, he
took away with him the two Earls, Arnkell and Erlend, and appointed
their brother Thorfinn to rule over the land. They were both killed in
England with King Eirík. Then the sons of Eirík came from England and
ruled over the Islands, and when they departed they appointed Arnfinn,
their brother-in-law, ruler of the Islands. Havard first succeeded his
brother (Arnfinn), then Liót, and lastly your father, Hlödver. Now you,
Sigurd, are Earl over these lands which I claim as my possessions, with
all other lands possessed by Harald Harfagri and his kinsmen, and
descending from them to me by inheritance from generation to generation.
You know that most of the sons of Eirík and Gunnhild have now been
killed. And although their sister Ragnhild is still alive, it seems to
me that she has been guilty of such wickedness in the Orkneys that she
ought not to have dignity or power anywhere; indeed, my view is that she
has completely forfeited both property and life if it be true that she
has done all the shameful deeds that are reported of her, and generally
believed. Now, since it has so happened, Earl Sigurd, that you have come
into my power, you have to choose between two very unequal alternatives.
One is, that you embrace the true faith, become my man, and be baptized
with all your subjects. In that case you may have certain hope of honour
from me. You shall hold in full liberty as my subject, and with the
dignity of an Earl, all the dominions which you have had before. And
besides, you will gain what is much more important—namely, to reign in
eternal joy in the kingdom of Heaven with the Almighty God. Of this you
may be sure if you keep his commandments. The other alternative is a
very hard one, and quite unlike the former—viz. that you shall be slain
on the spot, and after your death I will send fire and sword throughout
the Orkneys, burning homesteads and men, unless this people is willing
to accept immunity by believing in the true God. And if you and your
subjects choose the latter alternative, you and they, who put your trust
in idols, shall speedily die, and shall thereafter be tormented in
hell-fire, with wicked devils, without end.”
When Earl Sigurd had listened to King Olaf’s long and eloquent harangue,
he hardened his mind against him, and said: “I will tell you, King Olaf,
that I have absolutely resolved that I will not, and I dare not,
renounce the faith which my kinsmen and forefathers had before me,
because I do not know better counsels than they, and I do not know that
the faith which you preach is better than that which we have had and
have held all our lives.”
When the King saw that the Earl persisted obstinately in his error, he
caught hold of his young son, who was with him, and who had been brought
up in the Islands. The King carried this son of the Earl to the forepart
of the ship. There he drew his sword, and made ready to hew the boy
down, saying at the same time: “Now I will show you, Earl Sigurd, that I
shall spare no man who will not serve Almighty God, or listen to my
preaching of the blessed message. Therefore I shall kill your son before
your eyes this instant, with the sword now in my hand, unless you and
your men will serve my God. For I shall not leave these Islands until I
have completely fulfilled his blessed commission, and you have been
baptized along with this son of yours whom I now hold.”
And because the Earl was situated as he was, he chose the better
alternative of doing as the King desired, and so he embraced the true
faith. Then the Earl was baptized, and so were all the people of the
Orkneys. Then Earl Sigurd became the Earl of King Olaf according to this
world’s dignity, and held from him lands and dominions, and gave him as
a hostage his son who has already been mentioned. His name was Hvelp or
Hundi (whelp or hound). King Olaf had him baptized by the name of
Hlödver, and took him with him to Norway. Earl Sigurd confirmed all
their agreement with oaths. After this King Olaf sailed from the
Orkneys, leaving priests to instruct the people in the holy faith. King
Olaf and Earl Sigurd parted friends. Hlödver lived but a short time, and
after his death Earl Sigurd paid no homage to King Olaf. Then he married
the daughter of Melkolf, the King of Scots, and their son was Thorfinn.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
INDEX.
Aberbrothock, liv.
Aberdeen (Apardion), 155.
Acre (Akursborg), 147.
Adalbert, Archbishop, lxxii.
" Bishop, lxxii.
Adalbrekt, Priest, 70.
Adam, Bishop of Caithness, xliv, lxxxi, lxxxiii.
Adam of Bremen, lxxii.
Adamnan, x, xiii.
Adriatic, 150.
Aedan, King, xi.
Ægean Sea, 149.
Ægisness, 149.
Ægos, 149.
Afreka, xlii, 188.
Agdir, in Norway, 57, 58, 75, 82, 97, 140.
Akursborg (Acre), 147.
Alaborg (Aalborg in Jutland), 43.
Alan, Bishop of Caithness, lxxxiv, lxxxvi.
Alasund (Yell Sound, Shetland), 86.
Albania, 150.
Aldeigiuborg (Ladoga), 24.
Alexander I., King of Scots, 108.
" II., King of Scots, 201.
" Bishop of Caithness, lxxxvii.
Alvidra, 78.
Amundi, 5, 6.
" son of Knefi, 176.
Anakol, 154, 156, 160, 162.
Andrew, Bishop of Caithness, lxxxv.
Andreas, Swein’s son, 155, 191.
Anglesea Sound, 54, 58.
Angus, Earls of, xlvi.
Anselm, Archbishop, lxxiii.
Apardion (Aberdeen), 155.
Archibald, Bishop of Caithness, lxxxiii.
Apulia (Pull, Puglia), 150.
Ard, Alexander de, lix.
" Matilda de, lvii.
" Wayland de, lvii.
Ari Frodi, xiii, xx.
Argyle, xi.
Armagh, xxi.
Armod, Skald, 130, 131, 134, 146.
Arnfinn, 211.
Arni, Rafn’s son, 157.
" Spítulegg, 133, 134.
Arnkell, Einar’s son, Earl, xxv, 2, 207, 211.
" of Scapa, 92.
Arnor Jarlaskald, 17, 19, 20, 22, 28, 30, 33-35, 44, 107.
Arran, xlviii.
Asbiörn, son of Grim of Swiney, 74, 91, 92.
" Skerablesi, xxii.
Asgrim’s ærgin, 187.
Ask, 84, 85.
Askary, in Caithness, 187.
Aslak, Erlend’s son, 98, 105, 128, 134, 139, 144.
" Kolbein Hruga’s son, 126.
Asleif, 91.
Asmund the White, xxix.
Asmundarvag (Osmondwall), xxvii, 3, 8, 210.
Asolf, 183, 184.
Assary; _see_ Askary.
Assynt, Sutherlandshire, 167.
Athole (Atjöklar), 86, 105, 107, 113, 115.
Atjoklsbakki, 107.
Aud the Wealthy, xxii, 203.
Audfinn, Bishop of Bergen, li, liii, lxxvii.
Audna, Kiarval’s daughter, xxvi, xxix, 209.
Audun Raudi, 144, 146.
Aulver Illteit, xlvi.
Aurridafiord (Bay of Frith, Orkney), 92, 95.
Austragdir, 75.
Baefiord, xxxi, 21.
Baldwin, Abbot, 124.
Balliol, Edward, lvii.
Bardsvík, 166, 175.
Barthhead, 175.
Beaufort Castle, 21.
Beauly Firth, 21.
Beaumont, Henry de, lvii.
Bellaland, 192.
Benedict, 159, 160.
Beorhtric, King, xxi.
Berg, Borgar, 47, 74, 110.
Bergen (Biörgvin), 57, 76, 77, 85, 98, 127, 131.
Bergliót, 47.
Beruvik (Berriedale in Caithness), xxx, 18, 165.
" (Berwick-on-Tweed), 161, 162.
Bharruick, Caistal a, 18.
Biadmonia, 57, 58.
Birgishérad (Birsay), 43, 44, 68, 178.
Birsay, Brough of, church at, xcviii.
Bishops of Caithness, list of, lxxix.
" of Orkney, " lxxi.
Bjarni, Grímkell’s son, 131.
" Skald, Bishop of Orkney, xxxix, lxxv, lxxx, 126, 188, 191, 193,
199.
Björn Brynjúlfson, cxi.
Blan, Thorstein’s son, 74, 92.
Blingery, in Caithness, 187.
Bly-holmar, 162.
Bolgaraland, 150.
Borgar, 47, 74, 110.
Borgarfiord, 60, 115.
Botolf Begla, 167, 168.
Boyamund de Vitia, lxxxiv.
Bracadale, Loch, 27.
Breidafiord (Moray Firth), 20, 21, 107, 125, 161.
Brekasettr, 60.
Brekkur, 74, 105.
Bressay (Brusey), xv.
" sculptured stone at, xv, xvi, xvii.
" Sound, xlvii.
Bretland (Wales), 7, 54, 56, 117.
Brian Borumha, King, xxviii, 4, 57.
Brian’s battle (Clontarf), xxviii, 4.
Britons, 30, 113.
Brogar, standing stones of, cvi.
Bruce, Isabel, li.
" Robert, li, lii, liv.
Bruide Mac Bile, King, xi.
" Mac Meilcon, x.
Brúsi, Thorfinn’s son, Earl, xxix, 3, 4, 7, 10, 12, 15, 16, 23, 26, 34.
Brynjúlf, Paul’s son, 46.
" Sigurd’s son, 46, 73, 110.
" Ulfaldi, 46.
Brynjúlf, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 99.
Bucholly Castle, 122.
Burghead, 115.
Burial customs of the Northmen, cxvii.
Burra Firth (Borgar Fiord) in Shetland, 60.
Burrian, in N. Ronaldsay, xiv, xv.
Burswick, 166.
Bute (Bót), xlviii.
Cæsar, 113.
Caithness (Nes, Katanes), 2, 4, 8, 16, 18, 21, 23, 28, 29, 31-33, 35,
37, 70, 72, 73, 86, 87, 91, 116, 121, 122, 134, 152, 154, 155, 158,
160, 161, 164, 166, 169, 176, 180, 182, 193, 195, 196-200, 204, 206,
207, 209.
Calder (Kalfadal) in Caithness, 182, 187.
" Burn of, 187.
" Loch of, 187.
Canisbay (Conansbæ), 3.
Canterbury, lxxii, lxxiii.
Canute (Knut) the Great, King, 16.
Careston, 157.
Carisness, Carness, 157.
Cecilia, Erlend’s daughter, 47.
Chester, Hugh, Earl of, 54.
Cholmogori (Hólmgard, Novgorod), 24.
Christ’s Kirk in Birsay, xxxiii, lxxi, xciii, xcv, 43, 44, 67, 112.
Churches, ancient, of Orkney, lxxxvii.
" round, of Britain, xciii.
" towered, of Shetland, ci.
Cleveland (Klifland), 47.
Clontarf, battle of, xxvii, xxviii, xciii, 4.
Cobbie Row (Holbein Hruga), lxxv, 126.
Conchobhar (Konufogr), King, xxx, 7.
Connaught (Kunnaktir), 57, 58.
Constantinople (Mikligard), 24, 127, 148, 149, 150, 163.
Cormac, x, xiii.
Cornwall, xv.
Cragy, James of, lxiii.
Crete (Krit), 146, 147.
Cufic coins, 127.
Culbinsbrugh, Shetland, xv.
Culen Induffson, King, 17.
Cullen, in Banffshire, lv.
Cumbria, 192.
Cyder Hall (Siwardhoch), Sutherlandshire, 107.
Dag, Elif’s son, 54.
Dagfinn, Hlödver’s son, 74, 97, 100.
Dal, in Caithness, 69.
Dalir, in Caithness, 209.
" (Argyle), 176, 181.
Dalriad Scots, xi.
Dalverja family, 181.
Daminsey, Damisey (Damsay), Orkney, 92, 95, 169, 171.
Dardanelles, 149.
David I., King of Scots, lxxx, 70, 80, 108, 124, 125, 153.
" II., lx.
" son of Harald Maddadson, Earl, xliv, 192, 199.
David, Bishop of Caithness, lxxxvi.
Deer, Book of, lxxx.
Deerness (Dyrnes), Orkney, 5, 9, 19, 88, 156.
" Brough of, and chapel at, xcix.
" Parish Church of, c.
Denmark, 29, 40, 42, 85, 98, 150.
Dicuil, xi.
Dolgfinn, Bishop of Orkney, lxxvi.
Doll’s Cave, 77.
Donald Bane, xxxiii, 56.
Dornoch, lxxix, lxxxii, lxxxiii.
Dornoch Firth, 21, 107.
Dorrery, in Caithness, 187.
Doune Castle, lxxi.
Drómund, 142-146.
Drontheim (Nidaros), 25, 57.
Drummond, John de, lxvii.
Dublin (Dýflin), xxi, xxiii, xxvii, 44, 189, 190, 199.
Dúfeyrar (Duffus, Morayshire), 114, 123.
Dufgall (Dugald) of the Isles, 181.
Dufniall, 73.
" Havard’s son, 120, 122.
Duncan (Dungal), Earl of Duncansbæ, xxiii, 2.
" Earl of Fife, xlii.
" Crinan’s son, King of Scots, 17.
" son of Malcolm Canmore, King of Scots, xxxiii, 46.
Duncansbay (Dungalsbæ), xxiii, xxvi, 2, 18, 73, 91, 92, 116, 121, 122.
Dunfermline, lxxx.
Dungad, Dungal; _see_ Duncan.
Dunkeld, lxxx.
Dunnet Head, 33.
Dunrossness, xiv.
Durazzo, 150.
Durness (Dyrness), Sutherlandshire, xlviii, lxxxiii.
Dýflin; _see_ Dublin.
Dynröst, 164.
Dyrness (Deerness), in Orkney, 5, 9, 19, 88, 156.
Dyrachium (Dýraksborg), 150.
Eadburh, xxi.
Ebissa, x.
Edgar, King of Scots, xxxiv, 56.
Edinburgh (Eidinaborg), xli, 163.
Edward I., King of England, lxxxiv.
Efjusund (Evie Sound), Orkney, 106.
Egill Skalagrimson, cxi.
Egilsey, 61, 63, 109, 113.
" church of, xci, xciii, 63.
Eilif, Archbishop of Nidaros (Drontheim), lxxvii.
Einar of Gulberwick, 130.
" Hardkiöpt, 208.
" Klining, xxv, 207.
" Rögnvald’s son, Earl; _see_ Torf Einar.
" Skeif, 162, 163.
" Thorfinn’s son (Rangmuth), Earl, xxix, 3, 4, 7, 9, 30, 31.
" Thambarskelfir, 24.
" Vorsakrák, 46.
Eindridi Ungi, xxxvi, 126, 127, 133, 134, 137, 142, 157.
Eirik Blodöxe, King, xxv, 2, 11, 207, 211.
" Eymuni, King, 49, 85.
" the Icelander, 116.
" Slagbrellir, xxxviii, 70, 73, 164, 167, 179, 193.
" Spaki, King, 49.
" Stræta, 70.
Ekkial (Oikel river), 21, 22, 107.
Ekkialsbakki, xxiii, lxxix, cxii, cxvii, 21, 107, 115, 204.
Elgin, chanonry church of, lxxxvi.
Eller Holm (Hellisey), 103, 173, 174.
Elon, Isle, 103.
Ellisif, Queen, 47.
Elwick Bay, xlvii.
England, 28, 47, 56, 75, 98, 134, 135, 189.
Engull (Angus of the Isles), 181.
Enhallow (Eyin Helga), Orkney, xx, 177.
Erlend, Einar’s son, Earl, xxv, 2, 207, 211.
Erlend, Harald’s son (Ungi), Earl, xxxvii, cxi, 106, 151, 154, 156,
158-160, 164, 166-168, 170, 171.
" Thorfinn’s son, Earl, xxxiii, 30, 43, 47, 52, 54.
Erling Erkidiákn, 47.
" Erlend’s son, 47, 48, 54, 58.
" Kyrpinga Orm’s son, 80, 127.
" Skakki, 134, 139, 144, 145, 149-151, 163, 193.
" Vidkunnson, lv.
Erngisl Suneson, Earl of Orkney, lviii, lxii.
Evie Sound (Efjusund), Orkney, 106.
Eyarskeggiar, xxxix, 199.
Eyin Helga; _see_ Enhallow.
Eyrar Thing, 25.
Eystein Glumra, 1.
" Harald Gilli’s son, 126, 151-153, 157, 158.
" Magnus’, son, King, xxxvii, lxxiii, 58, 59, 66.
" Orri, 47, 48.
Eysteinsdal, xliv, 198.
Eyvind, Maelbrigdi’s son, 88, 92, 93, 94, 95.
" Olnbogi, 54.
" Urarhorn, 7, 14, 26.
Fair Isle (Fridarey), xxxv, 74, 91, 97, 99-101, 164.
Faroe Isles, xii, cxiii.
Ferquhard, Bishop of Caithness, lxxxvi.
Ferne, Abbey of, lxxxvi.
Fifa, 128, 129.
Fife (Fifi), 22.
Finn Arnason, 30.
Finnleik, Earl, xxv, 210.
Frith (Fiord), in Orkney, 92, 159.
Flettuness (Glettuness), in Orkney, 74, 131.
Floruvagar, in Norway, 85, 199.
Fluguness, in Orkney, 74, 92.
Flydruness, in Orkney, 74, 92.
Foula, cxiii.
Frákork, Moddan’s daughter, xxxv, 69-72, 85-88, 106, 110, 114-116, 156.
Freswick (Thraswick), in Caithness, 154, 160.
Frida, Kolbein Hruga’s daughter, 126, 191.
Fridarey; _see_ Fair Isle.
Frisic sea, x.
Fugl, Liotolf’s son, 154, 155, 156.
Fyrileif, in Norway, 84, 85.
Gaddgedlar, 28.
Gairsay (Gáreksey), 73, 119, 134, 158, 159, 172, 179, 188, 189, 191.
Galicialand, 136, 140.
Gallgael, 28.
Gallipoli, 149.
Galloway, 28.
Gardariki (Russia), 24.
Gáreksey; _see_ Gairsay.
Gatnip, near Scapa, Orkney, 74, 110.
Gauti of Skeggbjarnarstadir, 156.
Gautland, 58.
Gefsisness, in Orkney, 74.
Geirbiörn, 135.
Geitaberg, 74, 100.
Gerard, Archbishop of York, lxxiii.
Gibraltar, Straits of (Njörfasund), 141.
Gigha (Gudey), island of, xlviii.
Gilbert, Bishop of Hamar, xlviii.
" Bishop of Caithness, lxxxii.
Gilbride, Earl of Angus, xlvi.
" Earl of Orkney, xlvii.
Gillaodran, 180, 181.
Gilli, Earl, xxviii.
Gillichrist, 75, 76.
Glaitness (Glettuness), 74, 131.
Glumdrapa, 2.
Goi, 98.
Gorm the Old, King, cv.
Gormlath (Hvarflod), xxxviii, xlii, 192.
Graemsay (Grimsey), 107, 159.
Gregorius Dagson, 151.
Grelaug, xxiv, xxv, 2.
Grim Kamban, xii.
Grim of Swiney, 91, 92.
" Ormson, lxxvii.
Grímkell of Glettuness, 74, 131.
Grimsby (Grimsbæ), 75, 76.
Grimsey; _see_ Graemsay.
Groa, xxiv, 2.
Groeningiasund, 78.
Gudifrey, 138, 142.
Gudröd, King of Man and the Isles, 54.
Gudrun, Frákork’s daughter, 69, 114.
Gulberwick in Shetland (Gulberuvik), xxxvi, 127.
Gullbeinir, 199.
Gunhild, Erlend’s daughter, 57, 58, 83.
" wife of Eirik Blodöxe, 207, 211.
Gunnar Lambi’s son, xxviii.
Gunni, Olaf’s son, 73, 91, 153, 154.
Guthrod, son of Harald Harfagri, xxiv, 205.
Guttorm, Sigurd’s son, Earl, xxiv, 1, 204.
" Mol, 128.
" Sperra, lix, lxv, lxvi.
Gyrid, Dag’s daughter, 46.
Hæretha-land, xxi.
Haey; _see_ Hoy.
Haflidi, Thorkel’s son, 105, 120, 122.
" Steinson, priest, liv.
Hafnarvag, 159.
Hafursfiord, xxi.
Hákirkia (Halkirk in Caithness), xliv, lxxix, 200.
Hakon Athelstan’s foster-son, 207.
" Barn, 126.
" Brynjúlfson, 46.
" Gallin, 200.
" Hakonson, King, xlvii, xc.
" Harald’s son, 188, 189.
" Herdabreid, 151.
" Ivar’s son, 46, 48, 50.
" Karl, 59, 73, 95, 111, 170, 177.
" Klo, 47, 70, 73, 110.
Hakon Magnusson, King, xl, li.
" the Norwegian, 49.
" Paul’s son, Earl, xxxiii, xxxv, lxxiii, xcv, 46, 48, 50-54, 58-60.
" Pik, 46, 73.
Haldór Brynjúlfson, 46.
Halfdan Hálegg, xxiv, 1, 205, 206, 211.
Haliburton, Janet, lxiii.
" Walter, lxiii.
Halkel Huk, 84.
Halkirk, in Caithness, xliv, lxxix, 200.
Hall of Sida, 47.
" Thórarinn’s son, 119.
Hallad, Earl, xxiv, 203, 204.
Halland, 85, 124.
Hallvard, 9, 79, 80, 81.
" Dúfa’s son, 182.
Hálogaland, 55.
Halsary, in Caithness, 187.
Hanef Ungi, xlv.
Harald of Borgarfiord, 60.
" Gillichrist, King, 75, 83-85, 98, 126.
" Godwinson, King, xxxiii, 47, 48.
" Harfagri, xiii, xxi, 1, 2, 11, 53, 112, 203, 205, 207, 210, 211.
" son of Earl John, xlv.
" Maddadson, Earl, xxxv-lxvi, lxxx, cxi, 108, 134, 151, 153, 154,
157-159, 163-165, 168, 170-179, 182-199.
" Sigurdson (Hardradi), King, xxxii, 23, 40, 43, 44, 47, 48, 153.
" Slettmali, Earl, xxxv, 49, 53, 69, 71, 72.
" Ungi, Earl, xlii, 188, 193-195, 198.
Hardicanute, xxxi, 29.
Hauga Thing, 83.
Hauga Heath in Rögnvaldsey, 207.
Havard, 77-79.
" Earl, xxv, cvi, cviii, 2, 207, 208, 211.
" Gunnarson, 47, 49, 62, 73, 120, 131.
Havardsteigar, 208.
Hebrides (Sudreyar), 26, 27, 29, 31, 32, 35, 37, 44, 53, 56, 64, 75,
86, 95, 97, 105, 115, 120, 121, 153, 166, 177, 179, 189, 190, 195,
196.
Hebrista, Holm of, Shetland, 60.
Hedin, cxiii.
Heinrek, Emperor, 43.
Helga, Harek’s daughter, 69, 71, 72.
Helgi of Westrey, 74, 192.
Helene Holm, Orkney, 103.
Hellisey, 173.
Helmsdale (Hjalmundal), 115.
Henry, Bishop of Orkney, xlviii, lxxvi.
" II., Bishop of Orkney, lxxxviii.
" of Nottingan in Caithness, lxxxiv.
Herbiörg, Paul’s daughter, 46, 73, 126.
" Sigrid’s daughter, 46, 126.
Herdis, Thorvald’s daughter, lxvi.
Hernur, 98.
Hiluge, cxiv.
Hildina, cxiv.
Hjalp, 128, 129.
Hjalmundal; _see_ Helmsdale.
Hjaltland; _see_ Shetland.
Hjaltlanders, 99, 100, 130.
Hlifolf, 65.
" Alli, 196.
Hlödver, Thorfinn’s son, Earl, xxvi, 2, 3, 209, 211.
Hofn, in Westray (Pierowall), 102.
" in Caithness (Huna), xxvi, 209.
Hofsness, 156.
Hogboy (Haugbui), ci.
Hogni, cxiii.
Holdbodi, Hundi’s son, 64, 95, 96, 116, 118, 120, 121.
Holderness (Hallarness), 47.
Holm of Houston, 159.
Hólmgard (Novgorod), 24, 25.
Hördaland (Hæretha-land), xxi, 48, 80, 151.
Höskuld, 183, 184.
Hoy (Haey), cxiii, 3, 74, 91, 105, 107.
Hoxa, How of, in S. Ronaldsay, 207.
Hrafn the Red, xxix.
Hrafnseyri (Ravensere), 48.
Hreppisness (Rapness) in Westray, 177.
Hróald, 122.
Hródbjart, 116.
Hrólf, priest, 113.
" Nefia, 203.
" Rögnvald’s son (Gönguhrolf), 203, 205, 206.
Hrólfsey (Rousay), 73, 88, 105, 106, 107, 171, 177.
Hrollaug, 203, 205, 206.
Hrossey (the Mainland), Orkney, xxviii, 5, 36, 49, 60, 67, 74, 89, 102,
104, 105, 106, 107, 159, 164, 175, 178.
Hugh the Bold, Earl of Montgomery, xxxiv, 54.
" the Stout, Earl of Chester, xxxiv, 54.
" Earl of Ross, lvi.
Huipness, 156.
Hundi, Earl, xxvi.
" Sigurd’s son, 3, 212.
Hvarflod (Gormlath), xxxviii, xlii, 192.
Hvera (the Wear), 134.
Ibn Fozlan’s narrative, cxviii.
Iceland, xii.
Icelander, 117.
Il; _see_ Isla.
Imbolum, 148, 149.
Inganess, Orkney, xlvii.
Ingelram, Archbishop of Dunkeld, lxxxvi.
Ingi, Bard’s son, King, 199.
" Harold, Gilli’s son, King, 126, 127, 151.
" Steinkel’s son, King, 49, 50, 52.
Ingibiorg, Benedikt’s daughter, 46.
" Earl’s mother, xxxi, xxxiii, 30, 43, 45, 48.
" Erling’s daughter, li, liii.
" Eirik’s daughter, cv.
" Hakon’s daughter, 195.
" Moddan’s daughter, 69.
" Ragna, 46, 70, 73.
Ingigerd, Queen, 25.
" Harald’s daughter, 47.
" Olaf’s daughter, 73, 156.
" Rögnvald’s daughter, cv, 188.
Ingilbert Lyning, lxxvii.
Ingimar, Swein’s son, 83, 84.
Ingirid, Kol’s daughter, 58, 83.
" Olaf’s daughter, 114, 121.
" Paul’s daughter, 46.
" Thorkel’s daughter, 155.
Ingulf, xii.
Inispatrick, xxi.
Invernairn, xli.
Iona, xiii, xxi.
Ireland (Irland), 4, 7, 21, 27, 29, 44, 53, 107, 189, 195, 210.
Isla, xxxviii
Islendingabók, xiii.
Istambol, 148.
Ivar Galli, 193.
" son of Rögnvald, Earl of Moeri, xxii.
Ivist (Uist), xxxiv.
Jala (Yell), in Shetland, 86.
James I., King of Scotland, lxi.
" II., " " lxi.
" III., " " lxx.
Jamtaland, 23, 25.
Jarizleif, King, 24, 25.
Jatvor, 47, 74, 110.
Jellinge in Denmark, cv.
Jerusalem (Jórsalaheim), 59, 68, 71, 128, 130, 134, 147, 154.
Jofreyr, Bishop of Orkney, lxxv.
John, Bishop of Athole, 113.
" " of Caithness, xliii, lxxx, 196, 197, 200.
" " of Orkney, lxxviii.
" Earl of Orkney, xlix, lv.
" of Courcy, xlii.
John Comnenus, Emperor, 150.
" Hallkell’s son, 199.
" son of Harald Maddadson, Earl, xliv, 199.
" Earl of Sutherland, lxxxiii.
" Pétrsson (Fót), 76-83, 98, 105, 128, 131, 139, 144, 149.
" Vœng, 74, 105, 170, 174, 176, 177.
Jórfiara; _see_ Orfjara.
Jordan, 68, 147, 148.
Jorsala-farers, xxxvi, ciii, cv.
Jórsalaheim; _see_ Jerusalem.
Jorsalaland (Palestine), 147, 148.
Jutland, 40.
Kalf Arnason, 24, 30, 32, 33, 34, 42.
" Skurfa, 204, 205.
Kalfadal in Caithness (Calder), 182, 183.
Kalfadalsá (Calder Water), 187.
Kali, Kol’s son (Earl Rögnvald II.), xxxv, 58, 75-79, 83.
" Hundason; _see_ Karl.
" Snæbiorn’s son, 54, 55, 57.
Kari, xxviii.
Karl Hundason, xxx, 17, 18.
Karston, 157.
Katanes; _see_ Caithness.
Katharina, Countess of Caithness, lv.
Ketil Flatnef, xxii.
Kiarval, King of Dublin, xxvi, 209.
Kintradwell, Sutherlandshire, 197.
Kintyre (Satiri), xxxiv, cxii, 21, 56, 195.
Kirkiboll, Sutherlandshire, 18.
Kirkiuvag; _see_ Kirkwall.
Kirk o’ Taing, Caithness, 33.
Kirkwall (Kirkiuvag), lxxxvii, lxxxix, 37, 39, 41, 99, 110, 155, 157,
158, 163, 170, 171, 179.
Kjárekstadir, 157, 160.
Kjölen Mountains, 23, 25.
Klifland, 47.
Kol of Halland, 128.
" Isak’s son, 47.
" Kali’s son, xxxv, lxxxviii, 57, 58, 75, 79, 80, 83, 85, 86, 90, 98,
100, 111.
Kolbein Hruga, lxxv, xcvii, cxxiii, 46, 126, 177.
" Karl, 126.
Konufogr (Conchobhar), King, 7.
Kormak, Archdeacon of Sudreyar, lxxvi.
Knut (Canute) the Great, King, 16.
" the Wealthy, 161.
Kristín, Sigurd’s daughter, 151.
Kugi of Westrey, 73, 91, 96, 101, 102-104.
Kunnaktir (Connaught), 57, 58.
Kyle Scow, Sutherlandshire, 182.
" of Sutherland (Ekkialsbakki), xxiii, lxxix, cxii, 21, 107, 115.
" of Tongue, 18.
Kyrpinga Orm, 80.
Ladoga (Aldeigiuborg), 24.
Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, lxxii.
Largs, battle of, xlviii.
Larne, Lough (Ulfreksfiord), 7.
Lambaborg, 122, 125, 155, 159, 160.
Laufandaness, 5.
Laurentius, priest, xlii.
" Bishop of Hole, lxxvii.
Leif, xii.
Lewis (Liodhus), xxxiv, 54, 118, 154, 155, 177.
Lifolf Skalli, 193, 194.
Liodhus; _see_ Lewis.
Liot, Earl, xxv, 209, 211.
" Níding, 69, 70.
Liotolf, 106, 154, 159.
Lingrow, 74.
Linlithgow, palace of, lxxi.
Lisbon, 140.
Lochloy, xli.
Lodbrok, cvi.
Logierait, xxxvi.
Lögman Gudrodson, 54.
Lödver; _see_ Hlödver.
Lomberd, xliii.
Lopness, in Sanday, 5.
Lubeck, lii.
Lundy island, 117, 118.
Lybster, in Caithness, 91.
" in Reay, Caithness, church of, xcvii.
Macbeth, xxv, 43, 209.
Macgarvey, battle of, xxxix.
Maddad, Earl of Athole, xxxvi, cxi, 86, 105, 108, 113, 115, 153.
Moddan, 69.
" Eindridi, 69.
Maeshow, ci, cv, 159.
Maeyar (Isle of May), 123.
Magbiód, xxv, 209.
Magnus Barelegs, King, xxxiii, 52-55, 58, 66, 75.
" Erlend’s son, Earl (St. Magnus), xxiv, 47, 48, 52, 54, 55, 58,
59-66, 71, 83, 95, 99, 105.
" Erlingson, King, xxxix, 151, 193, 199.
" Eyvind’s son, 95.
" Gilbride’s son, Earl, xlvi, xlvii, xlix.
" Harald’s son, King, 48.
" Havard’s son, 47, 73, 91, 131, 134, 185.
" John’s son, Earl, liv.
" Magnusson, Earl, xlix.
" Mangi, 188, 193.
" Olaf’s son, King (the Good), xxxi, 24-26, 30-32, 34-36, 39-41, 43,
48.
" Orfi, 72.
" Orm, 69.
" Sigurd’s son, King (the Blind), 83, 84.
Mainland (Meginland) of Orkney (Hrossey), xxviii, 5, 36, 49, 60, 67,
74, 89, 102, 104, 105, 106, 107, 159, 164, 175, 178.
Malbrigd, xxiii, 107, 203, 204.
Malcolm, Bishop of Caithness, lxxxvi.
" Scottish Earl, xxvii.
" II. (Melkolf), King of Scots, xxix, xxxiii, 3, 16, 44, 212.
" Canmore (Langhals), 46, 55, 71, 86.
" the Maiden, 108, 153, 154, 155, 180, 181, 192.
" M’Heth, Earl of Moray, xxxviii, xlii, 181, 192.
Malise, Earl of Stratherne, lv.
" the Younger, lvi.
" Sperra, lx.
Malvoisin, Bishop of St. Andrews, lxxxi.
Man, Isle of, 116, 118, 203.
Mani, Olaf’s son, 196.
Manuel I., Emperor, 150.
Margad, Grim’s son, 74, 91, 92, 122, 124, 125, 169, 170.
Margaret, Hakon’s daughter, xxxvii, cxi, 72, 86, 105, 108, 109, 153,
154, 161.
" Moddan’s daughter, 69.
" the Maiden of Norway, xlix, l, xci.
" the false Maiden of Norway, l, lii.
Maria, Harald’s daughter, 47.
Mariuhofn, 179.
Marseilles (Marselia), 142.
Maurice de Moravia, lvii.
May, Isle of, 123, 124, 163.
" Monastery of, 124.
Medalland’s hofn (Midland harbour), in Orkney, 159.
Melbrigd; _see_ Malbrigd.
Melkolf; _see_ Malcolm.
Melsnati, xxvi.
Menelaus, Emperor, 150.
Menteith, Johanna de, lvii.
" Sir John de, lvii.
Menzies, Sir David, lxviii.
Mikligard (Constantinople), 24, 127, 148-150, 163.
Moddan, 17, 20.
Montgomery, Hugh, Earl of, 54.
Moors, 140.
Moravia, Maurice de, lvii.
" Sir John de, lvii.
Moray (Mærhæfi), 21, 204.
" Firth (Breidafiord), 20, 21.
Morukari (Morkere), 47.
Moseyarborg; _see_ Mousa.
Moslems, 141.
Moulhead of Deerness, 88, 156.
Mousa, Borg of (Moseyarborg), cix, cxi, 113, 161.
Mowat of Bucholly, 122.
Murcadh, son of Brian Borumha, xxviii.
Muirceartach, xxxiv.
Murdoch, Duke of Albany, lxx.
Munkalif, monastery of, lxxv.
Myrkhol (Murkle), in Caithness, xxv, 195, 207.
Mýrkiartan, 56.
Myrkvifiörd, 124, 181.
Navidale, xiv.
Nennius, x.
Ness (Caithness), 8, 37, 87, 116, 121, 122, 155, 158, 160, 164, 166,
169, 180, 195, 209.
" river, x.
Nicolas, Abbot of Scone, lxxxiii.
Bishop of Caithness, lxxxvi.
Nidaros (Drontheim), 25, 57.
Njal’s burning, xxviii.
Njörfasund (Straits of Gibraltar), 141, 142.
Norfolk, round-towered churches of, xciii.
Normandy, lxxxix, 203.
Northumberland (Nordymbraland), 134.
Norway, 2, 3, 8, 12, 16, 26, 32, 35, 42, 47-49, 52, 54, 58, 75, 85, 86,
90, 105, 126, 127, 131, 133, 150-152, 161, 164.
Novgorod (Hólmgard), 24, 25.
Nottingan, in Caithness, lxxxiv.
Ochtha, x.
Oddi Litli, 130, 131, 147.
Odin, xiii, cxiv, cxvii, 206.
Offa, King, 21.
Ogmund Dreng, 151.
Ogmund, Kyrpinga, Orm’s son, 80, 127.
" Thorfinn’s son, 151.
Olaf Bitling, King of Sudreyar, 181.
" Haraldson, King (the Holy), xxx, 8, 11, 14-16, 26, 38.
" Kyrri, King, 48, 49, 93.
" Magnusson, King, 58.
" the Stout, 50.
" Rolf’s son, 74, 88, 89, 91, 92, 94.
" Swein’s son, 177, 192.
" Tryggvi’s son, King, xxvii, xcii, 3, 4, 11, 117, 210, 211, 212.
" the White, xxi, xxiii, 203.
Olvir Rosta, 69, 72, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 92, 110, 114-116.
Onund, King, 23.
Ord of Caithness, 115, 165.
Orfjara (Orphir), 71, 92, 95, 159, 167, 168.
Orkahaug, ci, cv, 159.
Orkhill, 159.
Orkneys (Orkneyar), 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 11, 14-16, 23, 26, 28, 29, 32, 36,
42, 47, 48, 52, 56, 58, 62, 64, 66, 68, 69, 72, 75, 85, 86, 98-100,
105, 106, 109, 114, 116, 121, 125, 126, 131, 132, 134, 140, 147,
151, 152, 156, 157, 163, 164, 178, 188, 189, 196, 203, 205, 207,
210.
Orkneymen (Orkneyingar), 2, 69, 112, 124, 132, 133, 134, 139, 191, 207.
Orm, 170.
Orphir (Orfjara, Jórfiara), 71, 92, 95, 159, 167, 168.
Osloe (now Christiania), 83.
Osmondwall (Asmundarvag), xxvii, 3, 8.
Ottar, Earl, 72, 106, 153, 157.
" Svarti, 16.
Papas, xii.
Papey, xii, xx, 96.
Meiri (Papa Westray), 38, 39.
Papey Minni (Papa Stronsay), xxxii, 38.
Papuli (Papley), xii, xx, 38, 58, 59, 73, 95, 167.
Patrick, Bishop of Orkney, lxxviii.
Paris, University of, 131.
Paul Hakonsson (Umálgi) Earl, xxxv, xcv, 69, 71-73, 83, 85-98, 104-111,
183.
" Thorfinnson, Earl, xxxiii, lxxii, 30, 43, 44, 52, 54.
Pentland Firth (Petlandsfiord), 18, 33, 34, 74, 86, 88, 92, 106, 113,
152, 155, 165, 193, 194, 196.
" Skerries (Petlandsker), lv.
Peter, Bishop of Orkney, lxxvi.
Pictish Towers, cix, cxxii, cxxiii, 33, 113, 161.
Pierowall (Hofn), in Westray, cxxii, 102.
Pull, Puglia (Apulia), 150.
Rafn, Lawman, 196, 200, 201.
Ragna of Rinansey, 73, 96, 97, 119, 120.
Ragnhild, Eirik’s daughter, xxv, 193, 207, 208, 211.
" Hrólf’s daughter, 203.
" Ingimar’s daughter, 154.
" Paul’s daughter, 46.
" Simon’s daughter, 60.
Ralph, Bishop of Orkney, lxxii.
Rapness, 74, 177.
Rattar Brough (Raudabiorg), 33.
" Burn of, 33.
Raudabiorg, xxxi, 33, 45.
Ravenscraig, lxxi.
Ravensere (Hrafnseyri), 48.
Reginald, Bishop of Rosemarkie, xlii, lxxx.
" of the Isles, xlii, xliv.
Reindeer in Scotland, 182.
Scalpeid, 69.
Renfrew, 181.
Rendale (Rennadal), 170, 171.
Reppisness, 74.
Restalrig, 197.
Richard I., King, 142.
Rikgard of Brekkur, 74, 105.
" priest, 78.
" Thorleif’s son, 120.
Rinansey, Rínarsey (N. Ronaldsay), xv, cxvii, 1, 73, 91, 96, 97, 100,
119, 152, 165.
Rinar’s Hill, 206.
Robert, Bishop of Caithness, lxxxvii.
Roger, Bishop of St. Andrews, xliii.
" Bishop of Orkney, lxxiii.
Rögnvald Brúsi’s son, Earl, xxxi, lxxiv, 7, 11, 15, 23, 24-26, 28, 30,
31-39, 44.
" Eirikson, 183.
" (Kali) Kol’s son, Earl, xxxv-xxxvii, lxxxviii, xc, 58, 75-79,
83-91, 96, 97, 100, 102, 104, 105, 108-114, 118-154, 158, 163,
165-172, 175-184, 188, 192, 193, 199.
" Earl of Moeri, xxiv, 1, 203, 204, 210.
" (Reginald) of the Isles, xlii, xliv, lxxx, 181, 195.
Rögnvaldsey (S. Ronaldsay), 89, 91, 165, 166, 175, 176, 194.
Ronaldsay, North; _see_ Rinansey.
Rögnvaldsvoe, xlvii.
Rome (Rómaborg), xxxii, xxxv, xxxvii, lxxi, 43, 63, 68, 150.
Rorvag, 3.
Ross, 18, 21, 199.
" Hugh de, lxi.
" Hugh, Earl of, lvi, lxi.
" John of, lxx.
" William, Earl of, lvi, lxi.
Rouen (Ruda), 203.
Rousay (Hrólfsey), 73, 88, 91, 105, 106, 107, 171, 177.
Roxburgh Castle, xliv, 192.
Runic inscriptions, ciii, cxv, cxvi.
Rurik, King, 24.
Russia (Gardariki), 24.
St. Adamnan, xx.
St. Anschar, lxxiii.
St. Brigid, xiv.
St. Columba, x, xiii, xiv, 82.
St. Clair, Alexander, lxi.
" David, lxvii.
" Elisabeth, lxvii.
" Henry, ballivus of King Robert Bruce, lv, lxi.
" Henry, Earl, xl, lx.
" Isabella, lxii, lxvii.
" John, lxviii.
" Lucia, lxi.
" Thomas, lxi.
" William, Earl, lxi, lxix.
St. Kilda, cxxi.
St. Lawrence, xv.
St. Magnus, xv, lxxii, lxxxix, xc, xciii, xcv, cxv, 99.
" church of, xxxv, lxxiv, lxxxviii, 112, 173, 178, 188.
St. Mary’s, in the Scilly Isles, 179.
St. Ninian, xiv, xx.
St. Olaf, xv.
" church of, Kirkwall, lxxxix.
St. Oran’s chapel, Iona, xxxiv.
St. Patrick’s church, Down, xxxiv.
St. Peter, xv.
St. Peter’s church, S. Ronaldsay, xviii.
" Brough of Birsay, xcviii.
" Weir, xcvii.
St. Regulus, 197.
St. Sunniva, lxxvii.
St. Triduana (Tredwell), xiv, 197.
St. Vigeans, xx.
Sanday, 5, 104, 174.
Sandwick (Sandvik), in Deerness, Orkney, xxx, 5, 9, 169.
Saracens, 144.
Sardinia, 142.
Satiri (Kintyre), 21, 56, 195.
Saxi, 81.
Saxland, 43.
Saverough, xiv.
Savigny, 192.
Scapa (Scalpeid), xlviii, 74, 92, 110, 155, 166, 180.
Scarborough (Skardaborg), 47.
Scrabster (Skarabolstadr), xliii, lxxxiii, 196.
Scilly Islands (Syllingar), 117, 179.
Scone, lxxii, 108, 192.
Scotland (Skotland), 2, 17, 21-23, 28-31, 53, 60, 64, 70, 72, 75, 86,
105, 109, 114, 118, 152, 161, 210.
Scotland’s Firth (Skotlandsfiord), 27, 56, 115, 180.
Sculptured stones of Scotland, symbols of, xix.
Scytheboll (Skibo), 107.
Sekkr, 151.
Seley, 40.
Sepulchre, church of the Holy, xciii.
Serk, 54, 76.
Serkland, 142, 146.
Serlo, monk of Newbottle, xliv, lxxxi.
Setr, 76.
Shetland (Hjaltland), 14, 16, 22, 32, 35, 36, 47, 60, 67, 86-89, 91,
97, 99, 102, 130, 133, 155, 161, 164, 176, 178, 203, 205, 210.
Shurrery, in Caithness, 187.
Siddera, Sutherlandshire, 107.
Sigæum, promontory of, 149.
Sigmund Brestisson, 88, 89.
" Ongul, 139, 147, 148.
Sigtrygg, King, xxvii.
Sigurd, Andrew’s son, 116.
" Archbishop of Drontheim, lxxvi.
" Arnkell’s son, 92.
" Eystein’s son, Earl, xxiii, cxvii, 1, 107, 199, 204.
" Harald Gilli’s son, 151.
" Havard Hold’s son, 151.
" Hlödver’s son, Earl, xxv, xxvi, 3, 4, 11, 112, 209, 210, 211, 212.
" Hrani’s son, 54.
" Klaufi, 155.
" Magnusson (the Jorsala-farer), King, xxxiv, lxxiii,
Sigurd Murt, xli, 193, 194.
" Slembir, 70, 71.
" Sneis, 57, 75.
" Syr, King, 5.
" of Gloucester, 127.
" of Papuli, 59, 73.
" of Westness, 46, 70, 87, 91, 109, 110, 111.
Sigurdhaug (Siwardhoch), cxvii, 107.
Sinclair; _see_ St. Clair.
Skaill, 33.
Skálpeid (Scapa), xlviii, 74, 92, 110, 155, 166, 180.
Skaney, 42.
Skapti, 54.
Skarabolstadr (Scrabster), near Thurso, xliii, lxxxiii, 196.
Skebro Head, 156.
Skeggbjarnarhöfdi, 156.
Skeggbjarnarstadir, 156.
Skida Myre (Skitten), in Caithness, xxvi, 112, 209, 210.
Skinnet, church, of, in Caithness, lxxxii.
Skuli, Earl, xxv, 2, 209, 211.
Skye (Skidh), xxxiv, 27, 28, 192.
Snæfrida, 205.
Snækoll Gunnason, xlvi, 126.
Snorri Sturluson, 58.
Sogn, 54, 76, 80.
Sölmund, 75, 77-82, 84, 86, 98, 105, 140.
Spain (Spánland), 140, 141.
Stamford Bridge, xxxiii, 40.
Staur (Ru Stœr), 167.
Stefán Radgafi, 180.
Steigar Thórir, 98.
Steinsnes (Stennis), in Orkney, xxv, cvii, cviii, 61, 157, 159, 208.
Steinvor the Stout, 69, 72.
Stewart, Alan, lxi.
" David, lx.
" Walter, lxi.
Stiklestadir, 23, 38, 118.
Stratherne, Elizabeth de, lxiii.
Stratherne, Euphemia de, lxi.
" Malise, Earl of, lv-lx.
" Marjory de, lviii.
" Matilda de, lviii.
Strickathro, 192.
Stroma (Straumsey), 91, 96, 176.
Stromness, 157.
Stronsay (Stiórnsey), 156.
Studla, 80, 81.
Sudreyar (Hebrides), xxii, 26, 27, 29, 31, 32, 35, 37, 44, 53, 56, 64,
75, 86, 95, 97, 105, 115, 120, 121, 153, 166, 177, 179, 189, 190,
195, 196, 203, 210.
Sudreyarmen, 116, 118.
Sumarlidi Hold, 176, 180, 181, 192.
" Kolbein Hruga’s son, 126.
" Thorfinn’s son, Earl, xxix, 3, 4.
Sumburgh, 74.
" Head, 164.
" Roost (Dynröst), 164.
Sutherland (Sudrland), 4, 17, 18, 21, 70, 115, 116, 123, 164.
Svelgr; _see_ Swelkie.
Sverrir, King, xxxix, xli, 199.
Svöldr, 4.
Swefney; _see_ Swona.
Swein Asleifson, xxxvi, xc, 5, 73, 91-95, 97, 105, 106, 108-110,
113-125, 133, 151, 155, 156, 158, 164-166, 168-181, 188-190.
" Blakari’s son, 172.
" Brióstreip, 87, 89, 93-95, 97, 111.
" Harald’s son, 119.
" Hróald’s son, 131, 134, 186.
" Ulf’s son, King, xxxii, 39, 42, 43.
Swelkie of Stroma (Svelgr), xlviii, 107.
Sweden, 23, 49.
Swona (Swefney, Swiney), 74, 91, 92.
Swynbrocht, 74.
Syllingar (Scilly Isles), 117, 179.
Sytheraw, 107.
Tankerness (Tannskarunes), 88.
Tarbatness (Torfnes), 21.
Thiálbi, King, 57.
Thing, 6, 61, 73, 83, 110, 112, 135, 158.
Thingstead, Thingavöll, 61, 171.
Thiostolf, Ali’s son, 83, 84, 85.
Thomas, Archbishop of York, lxxiii.
" de Fingask, Bishop of Caithness, lxxxvi.
" Tulloch, Bishop of Orkney, xlvi, lxviii, lxxviii.
Thony, Robert de, lviii.
Thora, Paul’s daughter, 46.
" Sumarlidi’s daughter, 47, 73.
Thórarinn Breidmagi, 119.
" Killinef, 179.
Thorberg Svarti, 131.
Thorbiörn of Borgarfiord, 60.
" Hornklofi, 2.
" Klerk, xxxviii, 69, 72, 114, 118, 119, 120-123, 125, 156, 159, 165,
167-180, 183-185.
" Svarti, 147.
Thordis, Hall’s daughter, 47.
Thore Hakonson, li, liii.
Thórir Thegiandi (the Silent), 203, 206.
" Tréskegg, 204, 205.
Thorfinn Bessason, 156, 157.
" Harald’s son, xliv, 192, 198.
" Hausakliuf, Earl, xxiv, xxv, 2, 3, 207, 208.
" Sigurd’s son, Earl, xxix-xxxiii, lxxii, xciii, xcv, 4-9, 12, 14,
15, 18, 19, 26, 28, 29-45, 67, 179, 212.
Thorgeir Skotakoll, 131.
Thórhall, Asgrim’s son, 152.
Thorkel Flettir, 74, 88, 96, 120.
" Fóstri, Amundi’s son, xxx, 5-9, 13, 18, 19, 20, 22, 38.
" Sumarlidi’s son, 71.
Thorleif; _see_ Frákork.
" Spaki, 54.
Thorliót, 69.
Thorolf, Bishop, lxxii.
Thorsa, Thórsey; _see_ Thurso.
Thorsdal, 182.
Thorstein of Fluguness, 74, 92.
" Havard’s son, 47, 73, 91, 104, 186.
" Hold, 69, 72, 114, 118, 126.
" Krokauga, 74, 131.
" Ragna’s son, 73, 100, 101, 104, 119, 160.
" son of Hall of Sida, xxix.
" the Red, xxiii, 2, 203.
Thorvald Thoresson, 60.
Thrasness, 136.
Thraswick (Freswick), in Caithness, 154.
Thule, xi.
Thurso (Thorsa), 20, 73, 106, 152, 153, 159, 164, 165, 183, 194.
Thussasker, 44.
Tingwall, in Rendal, 61.
Tiree (Tyrvist), xxxiv, 95.
Torf Einar, Earl, xxiv, cxvii, 1, 2, 112, 203, 205, 207, 211.
Torfness, 21, 22, 152, 205.
Tröllhæna, 197.
Tunsberg, 75, 83, 84.
Turgot, Bishop of St. Andrews, lxxiii.
Tyrvist; _see_ Tiree.
Uist (Ivist), xxxiv.
Uladstir; _see_ Ulster.
Ulfreksfiord, xxx, 7.
Ulli, Strath, 115.
Ulbster, in Caithness, xx.
Ulster (Uladstir), xxxiv, 58.
Uni, 80, 81, 99-102.
Unn, 76, 77.
Uppland, in Hoy, 74, 105.
Upsala, 120.
Værings, 127, 150.
Vagaland (Walls), in Hoy, 167, 169, 176.
Valdimar, King, 151.
Valland, 135.
Valkyriar, xxvii.
Valthióf, Earl, 47, 125, 126.
" Olafson, 73, 91, 93, 96, 114.
Varangians, 127, 150.
Veradal, 25.
Verbon (Nerbon), 135, 145.
Vidivag (Widewall), 166.
Vidkunn Jonsson, 54.
Vigr (Weir), island of, 126.
Vik, in Norway, 40, 78, 85, 151.
in Caithness (Wick), 118, 122, 154, 155.
Vikings, xxii, xxiv, xxxvi, cxxi, 1, 25, 29, 33, 35, 59, 113.
Volga, cxviii, cxxiii.
Völuness, 174.
Walls (Vagaland), in Hoy, 167, 169, 176.
Walter, Bishop of Caithness, lxxxiii.
Wales (Bretland), xv, 7, 54, 56, 117.
Warrenne, John de, Earl of Surrey, lvi.
Wear (Hvera), river, 134.
Weir (Vigr), island of, 126.
Weir, church of, xcvi.
" castle of, cxxiii, 126.
Westness, in Rousay, 46, 70, 73, 91, 101, 109.
Westray, cxvii, cxxii, 74, 91, 96, 102, 177.
Wick (Vik), in Caithness, 118, 122, 154, 155.
William the Old, Bishop of Orkney, xxxvi, lxxii, lxxiv, lxxxix, xcv,
68, 95-97, 105, 109, 111, 113, 131, 134, 137, 143, 144, 150.
" II., Bishop of Orkney, lxxv, 193.
" III., Bishop of Orkney, lxxvi.
" IV., Bishop of Orkney, lxxvii.
" V., Bishop of Orkney, lxxviii.
" Tulloch, lxxix.
" Bishop of Caithness, lxxxiii.
" Earl of Ross, lvi.
" Fitz Duncan, 46.
" Freskyn, xlvi.
" of Egremont, xxxviii, 46, 181.
" the Lion, King of Scots, xxxix, xl, lxxx, 193, 195.
Wimund, Bishop, xxxvii, 181, 192.
Wulstan, Bishop, lxxii.
York (Yorvik), 47.
Yell (Jala), 86.
Yell Sound (Alasund), 86.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnotes
-----
Footnote 1:
Writing of the barrows and cairns of Orkney, Captain Thomas states
that at least 2000 might still be numbered. We have no estimate of the
number in Shetland, but there also they are very numerous. Not less
remarkable is the number of the early “dwellings of strength,” of
which Mousa is the type—huge edifices, constructed with amazing labour
and wonderful skill. (See under Maeshow and Mousa.)
Footnote 2:
The Frisic Sea is supposed to mean the Firth of Forth.
Footnote 3:
The “Historia Britonum” of Nennius (whoever he may have been) is
believed, on what seems reliable evidence, to have been written about
A.D. 858. (See the Irish Nennius, Irish Archæological Society, p. 18.)
Footnote 4:
Ireland was then called Scotia.
Footnote 5:
St. Ninian was commemorated at Dunrossness in Shetland (Sibbald’s
Description, 1711, p. 15); at Stove in South Ronaldsay, Orkney
(Peterkin’s Rentals, No. III.); at the north head of the bay of Wick
in Caithness; and at Navidale in Sutherland. St. Columba’s three
chapels in South Ronaldsay were at Grymness, Hopay, and Loch of
Burwick (Peterkin’s Rentals, No. III. p. 86). There were also
dedications to St. Columba in the islands of Sanday and Hoy in Orkney,
at Olrig and Dirlet in Caithness, on Island Comb, at Tongue, and at
Kilcalmkill in Sutherlandshire (Bishop Forbes’s Calendar of Scottish
Saints). St. Triduana, whose name has been corrupted into St. Tredwell
and St. Trudlin (the Tröllhæna of the Saga), had dedications in Papa
Westray in Orkney (Martin’s and Brand’s Descriptions), and at
Kintradwell in Sutherlandshire. It seems also, from the narrative of
Bishop John’s mutilation in the Saga, that there was a dedication to
her near Thurso. St. Brigid had chapels in Stronsay and Papa Stronsay
in Orkney. But it is impossible to tell how many of these early
religious sites had similar dedications, as scarcely a tithe of those
that are known have preserved their names. Brand and Sibbald both
mention the fact that in their time there were still recognisable the
sites of 24 chapels in the island of Unst, 21 in the island of Yell,
10 or 11 in the island of Fetlar: 55 religious foundations in the
three most northerly islands of the Shetland group. The Christian
period of the Norse occupation is marked by dedications showing the
influence of the Crusades or of the national religious feeling. The
dedications to the Holy Cross, St. Mary, St. Peter, St. Lawrence, St.
Olaf, and St. Magnus, are probably all of this period.
Footnote 6:
Unfortunately, the readings of these inscriptions which have been
attempted are far from satisfactory. The Shetland and Orkney specimens
are in different styles of the Ogham writing, and the whole subject of
the reading and interpretation of the inscriptions in this character
is beset with difficulties of no ordinary kind. One rendering of the
Bressay inscription makes it “the cross of Natdod’s daughter here,”
and on the other edge of the stone, “Benres of the sons of the Druids
here;” while the language is supposed to be a mixture of Celtic and
Icelandic. (Sculptured Stones of Scotland, vol. i. p. 30.)
Footnote 7:
Sculptured Stones of Scotland (Spalding Club), by John Stuart, LL.D.,
_passim_.
Footnote 8:
Sir James Simpson’s reading of the inscription, given in the
Sculptured Stones of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 71.
Footnote 9:
In Orkney we have the islands of Papa Westray and Papa Stronsay (the
_Papey meiri_ and _Papey minni_, or greater and lesser Papa of the
Saga), Paplay in South Ronaldsay, Paplay in the parish of Holm, and
Papdale, near Kirkwall, in the Mainland. In Shetland we have the isles
of Papa—Papa Stour (_Papey stora_) and Papa Little (_Papey litla_),
and Papill in the islands of Unst and Yell. Papa Stronsay, Papa
Westray, and Paplay, in the Mainland of Orkney, are mentioned in the
Saga. Papa Stour occurs in a deed of A.D. 1229 (Diplom. Norveg. i.
89), Papill in Unst in a deed of A.D. 1360 (Ibid. iii. 310), and a
“Sigurdr of Pappley” is mentioned in the agreement between Bishop
William of Orkney and Hakon Jonson, May 25, 1369 (Ibid. i. 404).
Footnote 10:
There is a cairn in Sanday called Ivar’s Knowe, which may be his
burial mound.
Footnote 11:
Olaf Tryggvason’s Saga, Flateyjarbók, chap. 180, in the Appendix; and
Ynglinga Saga, Heimskringla, chap. 22. Earl Sigurd’s grave-mound, on
the estuary of the Oykel (Ekkialsbakki), was known in the 12th century
as _Siwardhoch_, or Sigurd’s How, and is still identifiable in the
modern Cyderhall. (See the note on Ekkialsbakki, p. 107 of the Saga.)
Footnote 12:
Landnamabók, chap. ii.
Footnote 13:
Laxdæla Saga, chap. iv.
Footnote 14:
Olaf Tryggvason’s Saga, Flateyjarbók, chap. 180, in Appendix.
Footnote 15:
This was done by hewing the ribs from the backbone, and tearing out
the heart and lungs.
Footnote 16:
Bœndr, the odal landholders. (See note on this word, chap. i. of the
Saga.)
Footnote 17:
Olaf Tryggvason’s Saga, Flateyjarbók, chap. 183, in Appendix.
Footnote 18:
Finnleik has been conjectured to be Finlay, the father of Macbeth.
Footnote 19:
Olaf Tryggvason’s Saga, Flateyjarbók, chap. 184, in Appendix.
Footnote 20:
Ibid. chap. 185.
Footnote 21:
This is probably the Celtic name Maelbrigd. Though it is suggestive of
Macbeth, the date is too early for Macbeth MacFinlay.
Footnote 22:
The locality of Skida Myre has been identified by Munch with the Loch
of Scister, in the parish of Canisbay. It seems rather to be indicated
by the modern Skitten, as the name formerly applied to the great tract
of moorland in the north-west corner of the parish of Wick, now
generally known as the Moss of Kilmster.
Footnote 23:
Olaf Tryggvason’s Saga, Flateyjarbók, chap. 186, in Appendix.
Footnote 24:
“He kept Caithness by main force from the Scots.” (See Appendix, p.
209.)
Footnote 25:
Njal Saga, chap. lxxxvii.
Footnote 26:
Njal Saga, _loc. cit._ This Hundi should be the father of the Kali
Hundason of the subsequent narrative.
Footnote 27:
Njal Saga, chap. clvi.
Footnote 28:
War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 191.
Footnote 29:
Hrafn the Red, whose denunciation of the raven-banner as the earl’s
devil may not altogether be accounted for by the fervour of his
Christianity, was chased into the river, where he was in danger of
being drowned by the rising tide. In this emergency he made a vow as
follows:—“Thy dog, Apostle Peter, hath run twice to Rome, and he would
run the third time if thou gavest him leave.” The Irish Chronicle
states that the full tide in Dublin Bay on the day of the battle
coincided with sunrise, and that the returning tide in the evening
aided in the destruction of the defeated foreigners. The date assigned
by the Chronicle for the battle is Good Friday, 23d April 1014. It has
been found by astronomical calculation that the full tide that morning
did coincide with sunrise—a remarkable attestation of the authenticity
of the narrative.
Footnote 30:
See the account of him in the Saga, chap. v. and note.
Footnote 31:
Rattar Brough, a little to the east of Dunnet Head, seems to be the
modern form of Rauda Biorg.
Footnote 32:
See the Saga account, chap. xxiii. and note. The dates do not bear out
the statement that Thorfinn was Earl for seventy years.
Footnote 33:
Fordun, v. 24.
Footnote 34:
Saga Magnus Berfoetts, Heimskringla, chap. xxv.
Footnote 35:
Chron. Manniæ, Munch’s edition, p. 59.
Footnote 36:
See the account of his death in the Saga, chap. xxxix. His feast days
were 16th April and 13th December, the former commemorating his death,
and the latter the removal of his relics from Birsay by Bishop
William. (Den Norske Kirkes Historie af R. Keyser: Christiania, 1856,
p. 162.)
Footnote 37:
The Earls of Athole seem at this time to have occupied the _rath_ or
fortress at Logierait. It is mentioned in one of the Scone charters as
the capital of the earldom in the 12th century. (Lib. Eccles. de Scon,
p. 35.)
Footnote 38:
This was the occasion in which he and his men spent the Yule-feast day
in the Orkahaug, which seems to be Maeshow. See the Saga, chap. xci.
Footnote 39:
See the notice from the Saga of Egill Skalagrimson, in the chapter on
Mousa.
Footnote 40:
Some years after his death Earl Rögnvald was canonised, but his name
is not commemorated in any of the dedications now remaining in the
Islands.
Footnote 41:
Munch, Chron. Manniæ, p. 84.
Footnote 42:
Fordun’s Annals, xvi.
Footnote 43:
From this time till 1379 Shetland passed into the immediate possession
of the crown of Norway. So we find in 1312-1319, that King Hakon
Magnusson grants to the Mary-Kirk in Oslo (Christiania), for the
completion of the fabric of the kirk, “all our incomes of Hjaltland
and the Faroes, so that those who have charge of the kirk’s building
and fabric every year shall render account thereof to our heirs, and
when the fabric is altogether completed, then shall the foresaid
revenues of Hjaltland and the Faroes revert to the crown.”
(Nicolaysen, Norske Fornlevninger, p. 426.)
Footnote 44:
Chronica Rogeri de Hoveden (Rolls Ed.), iv. pp, 10, 12.
Footnote 45:
In the Chronicle of Melrose, under the date 1175, it is stated that
“Laurentius, Abbot in Orkney, was made Abbot of Melrose.” But as his
death is recorded in the year 1178, the priest here mentioned by
Hoveden must have been a different person, though of the same name. At
the same time, as this passage shows that Earl Harald had a
hird-priest named Laurentius, it is not improbable that the so-called
Orkney abbot, who was made abbot of Melrose, may also have been
Harald’s family or court priest. Being himself the son of a Scottish
earl, and allied by marriage first with the family of the Earl of
Fife, and subsequently with the MacHeths, and having, moreover, such
close relations with the abbey of Scone, it is not unlikely that he
may have had Scottish priests about his family in preference to those
of Norwegian extraction.
Footnote 46:
So says the Saga. Fordun says that the use of his tongue and of one
eye was in some measure left him. The letter of Pope Innocent,
addressed to the Bishop of Orkney, prescribing the penance to be
performed by the man who mutilated the bishop, only mentions the
cutting out of the tongue. It is as follows:—
“We have learnt by your letters that Lomberd, a layman, the bearer of
these presents, accompanied his earl on an expedition into Caithness;
that there the Earl’s army stormed a castle, killed almost all who
were in it, and took prisoner the Bishop of Caithness; and that this
Lomberd, as he says, was compelled by some of the earl’s soldiery to
cut out the bishop’s tongue. Now because the sin is great and
grievous, in absolving him, according to the form of the church, we
have prescribed this penance for satisfaction of his offence, and to
the terror of others:—That he shall hasten home, and bare-footed, and
naked, except breeches, and a short woollen vest without sleeves,
having his tongue tied by a string, and drawn out so as to project
beyond his lips, and the ends of the string bound round his neck, with
rods in his hand, in sight of all men, walk for fifteen days
successively through his own native district, the district of the
mutilated bishop, and the neighbouring country; he shall go to the
door of the church without entering, and there, prostrate on the
earth, undergo discipline with the rods he is to carry; he is thus to
spend each day in silence and fasting until evening, when he shall
support nature with bread and water only; after these fifteen days are
passed he shall prepare within a month to set out for Jerusalem, and
there labour in the service of the Cross for three years; he shall
never more bear arms against Christians; for two years he shall fast
every Friday on bread and water, unless by the indulgence of some
discreet bishop, or on account of bodily infirmity, this abstinence be
mitigated. Do you then receive him returning in this manner, and see
that he observe the penance enjoined him.” (Epist. Innoc. III. Lib.
iii. No. 77; Diplom. Norvegicum, vii. 3.)
Footnote 47:
Chron. de Mailros, p. 114; see also p. lxxxi. _infra_.
Footnote 48:
Magnus, son of the Earl of Angus, appears among those present at the
perambulation of the boundaries of the lands of the Abbey of
Aberbrothock on 16th January 1222 (Regist. Vet. de Aberbrothock, p.
163); but he seems to have been Earl of Angus as well as of Caithness
at the date after mentioned. A charter of King Alexander II. to the
chapel of St. Nicholas at Spey, dated 2d October 1232, is witnessed by
M. Earl of Angus and Kataness (Regist. Moraviense, p. 123).
Footnote 49:
The title prefixed to the translation of this document by Dean Gule,
made for William Sinclair of Roslin, in 1554, calls it:—“A Diploma or
Deduction concerning the Genealogies of the ancient Earls of Orkney,
drawn up from the most authentic records, by Thomas, Bishop of Orkney,
with the assistance of his clergy and others, in consequence of an
order from King Eirik of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, to investigate
the rights of William Sinclair to the earldom.” But in the document
itself King Eirik is spoken of as “our former lord of illustrious
memory,” and the date is evidently erroneous. It is probably to be
assigned to about 1443. It was first printed by Wallace in 1699, and
subsequently by Jonæus in the appendix to the Orkneyinga Saga in 1780;
by Barry in his History of the Orkneys in 1805; in the Bannatyne
Miscellany, 1848; and by Munch in his Symbolæ, Christiania, 1850.
Footnote 50:
Among the documents found in the King’s Treasury at Edinburgh in 1282,
were the letters addressed by the King of Norway (presumably Hakon) to
the inhabitants of Caithness. The inhabitants of Caithness seem to
have been also obliged by the Scottish King to give hostages for their
fealty to him. In the accounts of Laurence Grant, Sheriff of
Inverness, for the year 1263, there is a charge of £15:6:3 for the
expenses of twenty-one hostages from Caithness, at the rate of one
denarius (penny) for each per day for twenty-five weeks, “and then
they were set at liberty.” (Compota Camerarium Scotiæ, i. p. 31.)
Footnote 51:
Acta Parl. Scot., vol. i. p. 82.
Footnote 52:
Iceland Annals, _sub anno_.
Footnote 53:
The Scala Cronica says off the coast of Buchan. “One Master Weland, a
clerke of Scotlande, sent yn to Norway for Margaret, dyed with her by
tempeste on the se cumming oute of Norway to Scotland yn costes of
Boghan.” (Scala Cronica, Mait. Club, pp. 110, 282.) Wyntoun says she
was “put to dede by martyry,” and assigns as the reason that the
Norwegians would not have one who was of another nation and a female
to be heir to the throne of Norway, though their laws allowed it. He
had probably heard the story of the “false Margaret.” (See p. lii.)
Footnote 54:
In the Wardrobe Rolls of King Edward I. (1290) the following payments
occur:—“Sept. 1.—To Lord Eli de Hamville going by the king’s orders
with the Lord Bishop of Durham towards Scotland to meet the messengers
of the King of Norway and the princess, and was to return with the
news to the king. To John Tyndale, the messenger from the Bishop of
St. Andrews, who brought letters from his master to the king
concerning the rumours of the arrival of the Princess of Scotland in
Orkney—by gift of the king, xxsh. To William Playfair, messenger of
the Earl of Orkney, who brought letters to our Lord the King, on the
part of Lord John Comyn, concerning the reported arrival of the
Scottish Princess in Orkney—by gift of the king, xiiish. 4d.” There is
also a detailed account of the expenses of two messengers who left
Newcastle on the 15th September, were at Haberdene on the 23d, at the
Meikle Ferry in Sutherland on the 30th, where they met the messengers
from Scotland, then proceeded by Helmsdale and Spittal to Wick, which
they reached on the 4th October. They left Wick on the 6th October,
and arrived at Norham on the 21st November. On the 13th May of the
following year (1291) Earl John of Orkney had a safe conduct to come
to King Edward till the 24th June, when the earl would doubtless
communicate to the king all that he knew of the princess’s death.
Footnote 55:
This letter was dated 1st February 1320, and the substance of it is
given by Suhm, vol. xii. p. 29. It does not seem to be known from the
original document however, but from a later “paraphrase,” as Munch
calls it, preserved in the Royal Library at Stockholm. (Det Norske
Folks Historie, vol. iv. part 2, p. 348.)
Footnote 56:
Under the date 1293 the following entry occurs in the Chronicle of
Lanercost:—“Dominica etiam post festum Sancti Martini (Nov. 15)
desponsata est filia Roberti de Carrick regi Norwagiae Magno.” (Chron.
de Lanercost, p. 155.) Magnus is plainly a mistake for Eirik, the son
of Magnus, who reigned from 1280 to 1299.
Footnote 57:
Rymer’s Fœdera, Syllabus I. p. 114.
Footnote 58:
Det Norske Folks Historie, vol. iv. part 2, p. 202.
Footnote 59:
Munch, Det Norske Folks Historie, vol. iv. part 2, pp. 195, 344.
Footnote 60:
Haflidi Steinson died nearly nineteen years after this as priest of
Breidabolstad in Iceland. The Iceland Annals, recording his death in
1319, recount the story as if this were the real Margaret (whose death
they record in 1290), and add that “to this Haflidi himself bore
witness when he heard that this same Margaret had been burnt at
Nordness.” (See Wyntoun’s Statement, p. 1, note 1.)
Footnote 61:
On the 2d April 1320 Bishop Audfinn writes to the Archbishop that on
the 1st February he had issued a prohibition against the bad custom of
making pilgrimages to Nordness, and offering invocations to the woman
who had been burnt many years ago for giving herself out as King
Eirik’s daughter. He also complains to the archbishop that opposition
had been offered to the reading out of the prohibition in the Church
of the Apostles of Bergen. (Munch, Det Norske Folks Historie, iv. part
2, p. 348.)
Footnote 62:
This noble document was signed by eight earls and thirty-one barons of
Scotland, at the abbey of Aberbrothock on the 6th April 1320. After
asserting the legitimate claims of King Robert the Bruce, and
narrating his struggles in the cause of Scottish independence, it goes
on to say that “If he were to desist from what he has begun, wishing
to subject us or our kingdom to the King of England or the English, we
would immediately endeavour to expel him as our enemy, and the
subverter of his own rights and ours, and make another king who should
be able to defend us. For so long as a hundred remain alive, we never
will in any degree be subject to the dominion of the English. Since
not for glory, riches, nor honour, we fight, but for liberty alone,
which no good man loses but with his life.” The duplicate, preserved
in the General Register House, is printed in facsimile in the National
Manuscripts of Scotland, published under the superintendence of the
Lord Clerk Register.
Footnote 63:
The lands are those of Stufum, Kuikobba, Klaet, Thordar, Borgh, Leika,
Lidh, Haughs-æth and Petland-Sker. (Diplom. Norvegicum, ii. 146.)
Footnote 64:
Munch, in his Genealogical Table of the Earls of Orkney, makes
Katharina to be the daughter of Earl John (following Douglas’ Peerage
of Scotland), and Magnus to be a son of Malcolm of Caithness, whom he
conjectures to have been a son of the first Magnus. But in a note on
this subject in the second series of his History, he acknowledges the
mistake, referring to this document in proof of Magnus’ descent from
Earl John. (Det Norske Folks Historie, Anden Afdeling, vol. i. p.
317.)
Footnote 65:
An entry in the Chamberlain Rolls for that year mentions the dues of
the fourth part of Caithness, which the Earl of Stratherne had. (Comp.
Camer. Scot. i. p. 235.)
Footnote 66:
This document is not now to be found, but Mr. Cosmo Innes says (Lib.
Insule Missarum, p. xliii) that he made a note of its purport as given
above in the Dunrobin charter-room. Sir Robert Gordon, in his
Genealogy of the Earls of Sutherland (p. 49), gives the purport of the
document in precisely similar terms, but says that it is dated 28th
May 1344. Sir James Balfour, in his Catalogue of the Scottish
Nobility, also gives 1344. The confirmation of this contract by David
II. is recorded as a “confirmation of a contract of marriage betwixt
Malisius, Earl of Stratherne, Caithness, and Orkney, and William, Earl
of Ross.” (Robertson’s Index of Missing Charters, p. 51.)
Footnote 67:
There is also on record a confirmation by Robert I. of a charter of
the lands of Kingkell, Brechin, to Maria (Marjorie?) de Stratherne,
spouse of Malise of Stratherne. (Robertson’s Index, p. 19.)
Footnote 68:
Chronicle of the Earls of Ross, Mis. Scot., vol. iv. p. 128.
Footnote 69:
There is an entry in the Chamberlain Rolls, in 1340, in regard to a
payment by Johannes More, “pro terris de Beridale in Cattania, de
quibus dicit se hereditarium infeodari per comitem de Strathern et per
Regem confirmari.” (Comp. Camerar. Scot. i. p. 265.)
Footnote 70:
Sir James Balfour (Catalogue of the Scottish Nobility) says:—“This
Earl Malisius was forfaulted by King David II. for alienating the
earldom of Stratherne to the Earl of Warrenne, an Englishman, the
king’s enemy, and all his possessions annexed to the crown.” Sir
Robert Gordon says that the charter by King David granting the earldom
of Stratherne to Maurice Moray is dated the last day of October 1345.
Footnote 71:
A dispensation granted by Pope Benedict XII. in July 1339 for the
marriage of Maurice de Moravia with Johanna, widow of John, Earl of
Athole, styles her Countess of Stratherne. (Theiner’s Monumenta, p.
275.) Maurice fell at the battle of Durham in 1346. Johanna, Countess
of Stratherne, in her widowhood executed a charter in favour of Robert
of Erskine and his wife, Christian of Keith, her cousin, which is
confirmed by Robert, Steward of Scotland and Earl of Stratherne in
1361. (Chartulary of Cambuskenneth, Grampian Club, p. 255.)
Footnote 72:
Third Report of Com. on Hist. MSS. p. 416.
Footnote 73:
Rymer’s Fœdera, Syllabus i. p. 272.
Footnote 74:
Robertson’s Index of Charters, pp. 18, 34.
Footnote 75:
Hist. Doc. Scot. i. p. 394.
Footnote 76:
Balnagown Charters, Orig. Paroch. ii. 487.
Footnote 77:
Robert Stewart, Seneschal of Scotland and Earl of Stratherne,
certifies that, in his court held at Crieff, 8th May 1358, he had seen
read and confirmed the charters granted to the abbot and convent of
Inchaffray of the annual of 42 marcs of the thanage of Dunyne, given
by the former earls of good memory—Malise the first and Malise the
second, his predecessors. (Liber Insula Missarum, p. 55.) Et nihil hic
de terris quondam Malesii infra comitatu Cathanie quia comes de Ross
se intromittit de eisdem. (Conqu. Camerar. Scot., _an._ 1357, i. p.
320.) That the second Malise of Robert Stewart’s deed is the last
Malise who was Earl of Stratherne seems to be shown by another deed of
Robert Stewart, dated in 1361, in which, as Seneschal of Scotland and
Earl of Stratherne, he grants to James Douglas the lands of Kellor in
Stratherne, “which the late Malise gave.” In the confirmation of this
grant by Eufamia, Countess of Moray and Stratherne, he is styled “the
late Malise of good memory.” (Regist. Honoris de Morton, ii. pp. 60,
86.)
Footnote 78:
See p. lvi.
Footnote 79:
Called in the Diploma “Here Ginsill de Swethrik,” for “Erengisle de
Suecia.” He was lawman of Tisherad in Sweden in 1337.
Footnote 80:
In the Diploma he is called “quodam Gothredo, nomine Gothormo le
Spere”—_Gothredo_ being a misreading for _Gothricio_, “a native of
Gothland.” (Munch, Symbolæ, p. 55.)
Footnote 81:
Munch, Norske Folks Historie, 2d series, i. p. 595.
Footnote 82:
In 1360 he grants certain lands to the monastery of Calmar for the
souls of his deceased wives, Meretta and Annot or Agneta, the latter
being probably Malise’s daughter, as the name is not a common one in
Sweden.
Footnote 83:
He styles himself “Comes Orchadensis” in a deed of 4th March 1388.
(Diplom. Norvegicum, v. 246.)
Footnote 84:
Diplom. Norvegicum, ii. 337-339.
Footnote 85:
See the document dated at Cullen, 4th August 1321, quoted on p. lv,
_supra_.
Footnote 86:
In a deed executed at Kirkwall, 20th January 1364, by which Bernard de
Rowle resigns to Hugh de Ross (brother of William, Earl of Ross) the
whole lands of Fouleroule in Aberdeenshire, the witnesses are John de
Gamery and Symon de Othyrles, canons of Caithness; Euphemia de
Stratherne, one of the heirs of the late Malise, Earl of Caithness;
Thomas de St. Clair, “ballivus regis Norvagie;” and Alexander St.
Clair. (Regist. Aberdonense, i. 106.)
Footnote 87:
Sir James Balfour calls her Lucia. She is also called Lucia by William
Drummond, author of the “Genealogie of the House of Drummond, 1681,”
but in neither case is any documentary authority cited. Camden says
the eldest daughter.
Footnote 88:
Barbour’s Bruce (Spald. Club), p. 482.
Footnote 89:
Munch’s Norske Folks Historie, 2d series, vol. ii. p. 96. See also the
deed of investiture, which is printed at length in the Diplomatarium
Norvegicum, vol. ii. pp. 353-358.
Footnote 90:
Balfour, Oppressions of Orkney (Maitland Club), p. xxvi. Such was not
the opinion of Father Hay, the panegyrist of the St. Clairs of Roslyn.
He says that “Henry, prince of Orknay, was more honoured than any of
his ancestres, for he had power to cause stamp coine within his
dominions, to make laws, to remitt crimes;—he had his sword of honour
carried before him wheresoever he went; he had a crowne in his armes,
bore a crowne on his head when he constituted laws; and, in a word,
was subject to none, save only he held his lands of the King of
Danemark, Sweden, and Noraway, and entred with them, to whom also it
did belong to crowne any of those three kings, so that in all those
parts he was esteemed a second person to the king.” (Genealogie of the
St. Clairs, p. 17.) Father Hay’s romances receive no countenance
whatever from the deed of investiture.
Footnote 91:
About £333 sterling.
Footnote 92:
Father Hay states (Genealogie of the St. Clairs, p. 17) that Henry St.
Clair “married Elisabeth Sparres, daughter of Malesius Sparres, Prince
of Orkney, Earl of Caithness and Stratherne, through which marriage he
became Prince of Orkney.” But Malise Sperra never had any connection
with the earldoms of Caithness or Stratherne. In another place, p. 33,
he says that Sir William Sinclair (who fell fighting with the Saracens
in Spain in 1330) “was married to Elizabeth Sparre, daughter to the
Earle of Orkney, and so by her became the first Earl of Orkney of the
Saintclairs. His name was Julius Sparre. He is also reputed Earl of
Stratherne and Caithness.” But this is manifestly a tissue of
impossibilities. He seems to have copied the last statement from the
Drummond MS. (1681), where the additional statement is made that
Elizabeth’s mother was Lucia, daughter of the Earl of Ross.
(Genealogie of the House of Drummond: Edinburgh, 1831, p. 237.) Both
writers seem to have confounded Malise, Earl of Stratherne, with his
daughter’s son, Malise Sperra.
Footnote 93:
Iceland Annals, _sub anno_. Munch, Det Norske Folks Historie, 2d
series, vol. ii. p. 106.
Footnote 94:
He seems to have held lands in Banffshire. In the Chamberlain Rolls,
1438, there is an entry of a receipt of £9 from James M’fersane for
the land formerly belonging to Malis Speir, knight in the Sheriffdom
of Banff, remaining in the king’s hands. (Diplom. Norvegicum, i. 366.)
Footnote 95:
The Iceland Annals, under the date 1389, have the following
entry:—“Malise Sperra slain in Hjaltland, with seven others, by the
Earl of Orkney. He had previously been taken captive by him. From that
conflict there escaped a man-servant who with six men in a six-oared
boat got away safely to Norway.”
Footnote 96:
Diplom. Norvegicum, ii. 401. Regist. Mag. Sigill. 196.
Footnote 97:
This deed is said by Robert Riddell to be in the Perth Charter-chest.
A copy of it is in one of his MS. note-books in the Advocates’
Library. See also Robertson’s Index of Charters, p. 128. The “double”
of this deed is said by William Drummond (1681) to have been given to
him by a friend, and the substance of it is given by him as
follows:—“Sir John Drummond and his lady Elisabeth Sinclair oblige
themselves to a noble and potent Lord, Henry, Earle of Orkney, Lord
Roslin, their father, that they nor their aires shall never claime any
interest or right of propertie to any lands or possessions belonging
to the said earle or his aires lying within the kingdome of Norroway,
so long as he or any air-male of his shall be on lyfe to inherit the
same; bot if it happen (which God forbid) the said earle to die
without any air-male to succeed to him, then it shall be lawful for
them to claim such a portion of the aforesaid lands as is known by the
Norwegian laws to appertain to a sister of the family. Sealled at
Rosline 13th May 1396.” (Genealogie of the House of Drummond, p. 91.)
Footnote 98:
Henry himself had married a daughter of Malise. See p. lxiii.
Footnote 99:
Father Hay says that he escaped through the instrumentality of one
John Robinsone, indweller at Pentland, one of his tenants, who went to
the place where his master was confined and played the fool so
cunningly that he was allowed access to the prison, and so found means
to convey the earl out in disguise. (Genealogie of the St. Clairs, p.
81.)
Footnote 100:
Balfour’s Annals, i. 148.
Footnote 101:
Diplom. Norvegicum, ii. 482.
Footnote 102:
Fordun, Scotichron. xv. chap. 32.
Footnote 103:
Douglas’ Peerage. The Diploma says nothing of his wife, but he is said
to have married Egidia Douglas, daughter of Lord William Douglas, and
Egidia, daughter of Robert II. (Extracta ex Cronicis Scocie, p. 200.)
Footnote 104:
Diplom. Norvegicum, ii. 489. This document is endorsed—“Biscop Thomes
breff af Orknoy, at han skal halde Orknoy til myn herres konnungens
hand, oc hans effterkommende, oc lade him with Noren lagh.”
Footnote 105:
Diplom. Norvegicum, ii. 498. This document is endorsed—“Item biscop
Thomes aff Orknoy bref um Kirkwaw slot i Orknoy, oc um landet oc
greveschapet ther samestads.”
Footnote 106:
This document is printed at length in Torfæus, pp. 179-182; in
Balfour’s Oppressions of Orkney (Maitland Club), pp. 105-110; and also
in the Norse language of the time in the Diplomatarium Norvegicum, ii.
514.
Footnote 107:
Torfæus, Hist. Orc. 182. The document of which Torfæus here gives a
copy, however, is that of the 31st year of the reign of King Eirik
(1420), previously noticed, and refers not to the bishop’s second
appointment but to his first.
Footnote 108:
Torfæus, p. 183.
Footnote 109:
Balfour’s Annals, i. 155.
Footnote 110:
Diplom. Norveg. vii. 430.
Footnote 111:
He had received a grant of the earldom of Caithness from King James
II. 28th August 1455, as formerly mentioned, p. lxi.
Footnote 112:
Diplom. Norvegicum, v. 599.
Footnote 113:
Ibid. v. 605.
Footnote 114:
These islands had been ceded by Norway to Scotland in 1266 on
condition of an annual payment of 100 marks, which at this time had
fallen into arrear for 26 years.
Footnote 115:
His words imply that it was by request of the Orkneymen themselves
that Adalbert sent them preachers “extremi venerant Islani, Gronlani,
et Orchadum legati petentes ut prædicatores illuc dirigeret, quod et
fecit.”
Footnote 116:
Keyser, Den Norske Kirkes Historie, i. 158; Torfæus, i. 160; Munch,
Det Norske Folks Historie, ii. p. 216; Grub’s Eccles. Hist. i. 252.
Footnote 117:
Twysden, Decem Scriptores, pp. 1709-13.
Footnote 118:
Printed in the Notes and Illustrations to the Scala Cronica (Maitland
Club), p. 234.
Footnote 119:
Monasticon Anglicanum, vi. p. 1186.
Footnote 120:
Flor. Wig. Chron. Monum. Hist. Britann. p. 644.
Footnote 121:
The name Christ’s Church, says Munch, was only given to a cathedral
church.
Footnote 122:
Sir Henry Dryden’s Notices of Ancient Churches in Orkney, in the
_Orcadian_, 1867.
Footnote 123:
Munch’s Catalogue of the Bishops of Orkney, Bannatyne Miscellany, iii.
181.
Footnote 124:
See the Saga, p. 126.
Footnote 125:
Fornmanna Sögur, vol. vi.
Footnote 126:
Diplom. Norvegicum, vii. p. 2.
Footnote 127:
See p. lxxx.
Footnote 128:
Hakonar Saga hins gamla, Flateyjarbók, iii. 52.
Footnote 129:
Diplom. Norvegicum, vii. p. 13.
Footnote 130:
Ibid. i. 32.
Footnote 131:
Keyser, Den Norske Kirkes Historie, ii. 210. Torfæus Hist. Orc., p.
172.
Footnote 132:
Diplom. Norvegicum. The Chron. de Lanercost, under the date 1275,
incidentally notices a Bishop of Orkney, named William, who related
many wonderful things of the islands under Norwegian rule, and
specially of Iceland. Munch supposes him to have been one of the
titular bishops consecrated at York, and suggests that he may have
been the author of the curious fragment of a Chronicon Norvegiæ
preserved in the Panmure transcript, along with the transcript of the
Diploma of the succession of the Earls of Orkney, printed at
Christiania, 1850. (Munch, Symbolæ, pp. 2, 18; Det Norske Folks
Historie, iv. part 1, p. 678; Chron. de Lanercost, p. 97.)
Footnote 133:
Keyser, Den Norske Kirkes Historie, ii. 216.
Footnote 134:
Diplom. Norvegicum, vii. p. 134.
Footnote 135:
Ibid. p. 134.
Footnote 136:
Printed from the Panmure transcript in the Miscellany of the Spalding
Club, vol. v. p. 257.
Footnote 137:
Theiner, Vetera Monumenta, p. 376.
Footnote 138:
Among the persons mentioned in this record are Sir Richard of Rollisey
(Rousay), Sir Christen of Sanday, John of Orkney, Sigurd of Pappley,
John of Dunray (Downreay in Caithness). The title “sir” is equivalent
to our “reverend.” (Diplom. Norvegicum, i. 308.)
Footnote 139:
See p. lxix. Both these documents are printed at length in the second
volume of the Diplomatarium Norvegicum, and are exceedingly curious
specimens of the language of the time.
Footnote 140:
Diplom. Norveg. v. 605.
Footnote 141:
There was a monastery at Dornoch before the death of Earl Rögnvald in
1158. King David of Scotland addressed a missive to Rögnvald, Earl of
Orkney, and to the Earl of Caithness (Harald Maddadson), and to all
good men in Caithness and Orkney, requesting them to protect the monks
living at Durnach in Caithness, their servants and their effects, and
to see that they sustained no loss or injury. (Regist. de Dunfermelyn,
p. 14.)
Footnote 142:
Regist. de Dunfermelyn, p. 14.
Footnote 143:
Ibid. p. 74.
Footnote 144:
Diplom. Norveg. vii. p. 2.
Footnote 145:
The Book of Deer (Spald. Club), p. 95.
Footnote 146:
Diplom. Norvegicum, vii. p. 2.
Footnote 147:
See p. xliii, and also the account of these transactions in the Saga,
chap. cxv.
Footnote 148:
Printed in Theiner’s Vetera Monumenta, p. 21.
Footnote 149:
Chron. de Mailros, pp. 139, 150.
Footnote 150:
Printed in the Miscellany of the Bannatyne Club, vol. iii.
Footnote 151:
The bones of St. Fergus, the patron saint of Caithness, were deposited
in the abbey of Scone. Harald Maddadson, Earl of Orkney and Caithness,
granted a mark of silver yearly to the canons of Scone for the souls
of himself and wife, and the souls of his predecessors. The grant is
witnessed by his son “Turphin.” The Abbot of Scone obtained a royal
precept from King Alexander II. addressed to the sheriffs and bailies
of Moray and Caithness, for the protection of the ship of the convent
when on its voyages within their jurisdiction. The Abbey of Scone was
proprietor of the church of Kildonan, which, with its chapels and
lands, was confirmed to the canons of Scone by Pope Honorius III. in
1226. (Liber Ecclesie de Scon, pp. 37, 45, and 67.)
Footnote 152:
Sir Robert Gordon mentions a tradition that he was the builder of the
noble castle of Kildrummy, in Mar.
Footnote 153:
Theiner, Vet. Mon. Hib. et Scot. p. 89.
Footnote 154:
Ibid. p. 104.
Footnote 155:
There was collected in the year 1274—From Olric (Olrig), 2 marcs;
Dinnosc (Dunnet), 32s. 4d.; Cranesby (Canisbay), 40s.; Ascend
(Skinnet), 5s. 4d.; Haukyrc (Halkirk), 14s. 2d.; Turishau (Thurso),
26s. 7d.; the chapel of Haludal (Halladale), 9s. 4d.; Lagheryn
(Latheron), 27s. 10d.; Durness, 14s. 8d. There was collected in the
year 1275—Laterne (Latheron), 32s.; Cananby, 32s.; Thorsau, 2 marcs;
the chapel of Helwedale (Halladale), 9s. 4d.; Ra (Reay), 9s. 4d.;
Haukyrc (Halkirk), 13s. 9d.; Olric (Olrig), 2 marcs; the church of
Scynand (Skinnet), 18s. 8d.; the church of Dunost (Dunnet), 2 marcs;
Keldoninave (Kildonan), 2 marcs. The personal contributions include
one from Magister H. de Notingham—doubtless the Notingham near Forse
which still bears the name unchanged. (Theiner, Vet. Monum. pp. 112,
115.)
Footnote 156:
Theiner, Vet. Monum. p. 124.
Footnote 157:
Henry of Nothingham was a canon of Caithness in 1272. (Lib. Eccles. de
Scon, p. 85.)
Footnote 158:
Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. p. 6.
Footnote 159:
Ibid. vol. i. p. 7.
Footnote 160:
Theiner, Vet. Monum, p. 161.
Footnote 161:
Ibid.
Footnote 162:
Ibid. p. 163.
Footnote 163:
Ibid.
Footnote 164:
Comp. Camerar. Scot. i. 25-26.
Footnote 165:
See a paper by Joseph Robertson, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. vol. ii. p.
31, _note_.
Footnote 166:
Theiner, Vet. Monum., p. 276.
Footnote 167:
Ibid.
Footnote 168:
Ibid. p. 277.
Footnote 169:
Origines Parochiales, ii. 485.
Footnote 170:
Regist. Morav. p. 368.
Footnote 171:
There is a writ of Pope Innocent VI., dated in May 1360, preferring
Thomas to be bishop of the “Ecclesia Cathayensis,” and ordering him to
repair to his diocese on being consecrated by the Bishop of Preneste.
It appears from subsequent documents, however, that he was obstructed
and interfered with by the bishops of Limerick, Ardfert, and
Clonmacnoise, who laid many charges of criminal and illegal
proceedings against him, asserting that the “Ecclesia Cathayensis” was
a parochial and not a cathedral church, and the Pope appointed George,
Archbishop of Cashel, to report on the matter. Owing to the death of
the archbishop the report was not made, and the remit was renewed by
the successor of Pope Innocent VI. to the Bishop of Lismore. It is not
clear whether this was a preferment to the see of Caithness following
on the death of Thomas de Fingask, or a series of mistakes. See
Theiner’s Vetera Monumenta, pp. 316, 318, 324.
Footnote 172:
Theiner, Vetera Monumenta, p. 333.
Footnote 173:
Diplom. Norvegicum, vii. p. 309.
Footnote 174:
Regist. Morav. p. 200.
Footnote 175:
Regist. Episc. Brechinensis, p. 39.
Footnote 176:
For the details of the structure by Sir H. Dryden, see the
Transactions of the Architectural Institute of Scotland, 1869-73. See
also Billings’ Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities, 1848; and
Worsaae’s Danes and Northmen, 1852.
Footnote 177:
Sir Henry Dryden recognises the following styles in the building:—1st
style, 1137 to 1160; 2d style, 1160 to 1200; 3d style, 1200 to 1250;
4th style, 1250 to 1350; 5th style, 1450 to 1500. (Guide to St.
Magnus’ Cathedral by Sir H. Dryden, Daventry, 1871.)
Footnote 178:
Magnus Helga Saga (edidit Jonæus: Hafniæ, 1780), pp. 536, 538.
Footnote 179:
The present church of St. Olaf’s, which is not older than the 16th
century, and is said by Wallace to have been built by Bishop Reid, in
all probability stands on the site of the older one. The veneration of
St. Olaf extended both to Scotland and England. There was a church
dedicated to him at Cruden, and among the articles enumerated in an
inventory of the treasury of the cathedral of Aberdeen in 1518, there
is “a small image of St. Olaf of silver decorated with precious
stones.”—(Regist. Episc. Aberdonense, ii. p. 172.)
Footnote 180:
Neale, in his Ecclesiological Notes (p. 116), states that Earl
Rögnvald’s remains were first interred in the church of Burwick, South
Ronaldsay, but gives no authority for the statement. The Saga, on the
other hand, states expressly that his remains were taken to Kirkwall,
and interred in the cathedral. It is not likely that the founder of
the cathedral would have been interred anywhere else.
Footnote 181:
See p. liii, _antea_.
Footnote 182:
In the engraving given of this church by Hibbert, the church and tower
are both represented as covered by a stone roof, that of the tower
being a conical cap resembling the usual termination of the Irish
Round Towers.
Footnote 183:
In Jo. Ben’s description of the islands (1529) it is said that the
church of Egilsey was dedicated to St. Magnus. But as he adds that St.
Magnus was born in Egilsey, and brought up there from his infancy, and
that he gave a piece of ground to his nurse, on which she made an
underground house with all its furniture of stone, it is plain that he
is merely repeating the absurd traditions of the time.
Footnote 184:
There were three towered churches in Shetland (see p. ci.)
Footnote 185:
“Its style of architecture,” says Sir Henry Dryden, “discarding
certain indications of an earlier date, prevents our assigning to it a
date later than the beginning of the 12th century. When we contrast it
with the Kirkwall Cathedral begun in 1137, we are forced to give an
earlier date than that to Egilsey, and this opinion is corroborated by
the churches at Orphir and Brough of Birsay.”—(Ruined Churches in
Orkney and Shetland, in the _Orcadian_ of 1867.)
Footnote 186:
Those in Britain are Cambridge, consecrated in 1101; Northampton,
about 1115; Maplestead, 1118; the Temple Church, London, 1185; the
small Norman church in Ludlow Castle, and the Earls’ Church at Orphir
in Orkney—the only example in Scotland. “The round churches at
Cambridge, Northampton, and London,” says Ferguson, “were certainly
sepulchral, or erected in imitation of the church at Jerusalem”
(History of Architecture, ii. p. 60). Wilson, on the other hand,
supposes that the early dry-built beehive houses of the Western
Islands may have served as a model for some of the earliest Christian
oratories, of which that at Orphir, he remarks, is an interesting
example (Prehistoric Annals, ii. p. 369). But there is no analogy
whatever between the architectural features of Orphir and those of the
beehive houses, nor has it any resemblance to the earlier oratories
and chapels of the Western Isles.
Footnote 187:
Pope’s Translation of Torfæus (Wick, 1866), p. 108.
Footnote 188:
Sir H. Dryden says this mode of putting on the arch was probably
resorted to in order to give a support to the centre on which the arch
was built. This seems highly probable, and in some cases it would seem
as if the original supports still remain in the shape of two long thin
slabs resting on the imposts on either side and meeting in the centre
of the arch. See the engraving of the doorway in St. Mary’s Church,
Kilbar, Barra, in Mr. Muir’s Characteristics of Old Church
Architecture, p. 230.
Footnote 189:
Caithness and Part of Orkney, an Ecclesiological Sketch, by T. S.
Muir, p. 25.
Footnote 190:
From an expression of Jo. Ben’s it would seem to have been dedicated
to St. Peter:—“Weir, insula est parva, Petro Apostolo dicata.”
Footnote 191:
This church, which was called St. Peter’s in 1726, is called St.
Mary’s by Mr. Muir.
Footnote 192:
Sir Henry Dryden remarks that the same mode of making doorways is to
be seen in the chapels at Lybster in Caithness, at Weir, at Linton in
Shapinsay, Uyea in Shetland, and in some of the early oratories in
Ireland, and suggests the question—Were there doors in these churches,
and if so, where were they placed and how were they hung? “It is
known,” he adds, “that in many cottages in old time the door was an
animal’s hide hung across the opening, and probably this may have been
the case in these unrebated church entrances.” The custom of closing
the entrances to the places of worship by a skin or heavy curtain
survives in the East to the present day. The “veil of the Temple,”
covering the entrance to the Holy of Holies, is a familiar
illustration of this ancient custom among the Jews.
Footnote 193:
The minister of Birsay in 1627 says:—“There is likewise ane litill
holm within the sea callit the Brughe of Birsay, quhilk is thocht be
the elder sort to have belongit to the reid friaris, for there is the
foundation of ane kirk and kirkyard there as yet to be
seen.”—Peterkin’s Rentals, No. III., p. 98.
Footnote 194:
Low’s Tour through Orkney and Zetland, MS. in the possession of David
Laing, Esq.
Footnote 195:
See the article on “The Twin-towered Churches of Denmark,” by J.
Kornerup, in the Aarboger for Nordisk Oldkindighed for 1869, p. 13.
Footnote 196:
Detailed accounts of the excavation, with translations and facsimiles
of the inscriptions of Maeshow, have been given in a privately-printed
work by Mr. Farrer, and in a work published by the late Mr. John
Mitchell. An account of the structure of Maeshow, with notices of the
inscriptions, is given by Dr. John Stuart, secretary to the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland, in their Proceedings, vol. v. p. 247. A
notice, with readings of the inscriptions, by Dr. Charlton, is given
in Archæologia Æliana, vol. vi. p. 127 (1865). See also the splendid
work on The Runic Monuments of Scandinavia and England, by Professor
George Stephens, Copenhagen, 1866-68.
Footnote 197:
Hogboy is the Norse word _Haug-bui_, the tenant of the _haug_, how, or
tomb—a hoy-laid dead man, or the goblin that guards the treasures
buried in the how. (Ordbog det Norske Gamle Sprog, _sub voce_.)
Footnote 198:
The leading specific feature of the Orkney group of chambered cairns
is the formation of small cells or loculi off the principal chamber.
The Caithness group is distinguished by the tricameration of the
chamber, and the Clava group by having a circular or oval chamber
undivided and unfurnished with _loculi_.
Footnote 199:
See Chap. xci.
Footnote 200:
The first par of the word seems analogous to the last part of our own
Carling-wark, indicating astonishment at the amount of labour required
for the rearing of such a structure.
Footnote 201:
In his recent work on Rude Stone Monuments of all Countries (London:
John Murray, 1872), Mr. Ferguson suggests that Maeshow may have been
erected for Earl Havard, who fell at Stennis about A.D. 970. But apart
from its Celtic structural character, if it had been Earl Havard’s
tomb his countrymen could scarcely have so completely forgotten the
fact in the short space of 200 years.
Footnote 202:
The most detailed account of these is to be found in an elaborate
paper on the Celtic Antiquities of Orkney, by Captain F. W. L. Thomas,
R.N., in the Archæologia, vol. xxxiv.
Footnote 203:
Flateyjarbók (Christiania, 1860-68), vol. i. p. 225. See the
translation in the Appendix, p. 208.
Footnote 204:
The following enumeration of the known sites of the “Pictish Towers,”
Borgs, or Brochs, will give some idea of their number and
distribution. In Shetland there are, in the island of Unst, 7; in
Whalsay, 3; in Yell, 9; in Fetlar, 4; in Mainland and its outlying
islets, 51; in Foula, 1—total, 75. In Orkney, in the island of North
Ronaldsay, 2; in Papa Westray, 2; in Westray, 5; in Sanday, 9; in
Eday, 1; in Stronsay, 3; in Shapinsay, 1; in Gairsay, 1; in Rousay, 3;
in Mainland, 35; in South Ronaldsay, 4; in Hoy, 1; in Hunday, 1; in
Burray, 2—total, 70. In Caithness, 79. In Sutherland, 60. In Lewis and
Harris, 38. In Skye, 30. (For detailed descriptions of Mousa, and many
others of these Towers, and lists of their sites, so far as known, see
the Archæologia Scotica, “Transactions of the Scottish Society of
Antiquaries,” vol. v.)
Footnote 205:
Detailed accounts of these are printed in the Proceedings and
Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
Footnote 206:
No instance of a flint arrow-point, a flint celt, a polished stone
axe, or perforated stone hammer, has yet been found in a Broch or
“Pictish Tower.”
Footnote 207:
As the people of the islands did universally to a comparatively recent
period, and as in some of the islands they do to this day.
Footnote 208:
See the Saga, p. 161.
Footnote 209:
_Scat_ still remains _the_ Orkney grievance. “Scalds” were got rid of
in the 17th century, having been then solemnly abolished by the
kirk-session of Kirkwall, on pain of 40s. penalty and four hours in
the cuckstool, as slanderers and persons offensive to their
neighbours.
Footnote 210:
Fasti Eccles. Scot. v. p. 441. This statement must be taken _cum grano
salis_. There can be no doubt, however, that the old language was in
use in Shetland at that date. The latest known document in the Norse
language, written in Shetland, is dated 1586, and among those
mentioned in it is “Mons Norsko minister i Jella”—Magnus Norsk,
minister in Yell. (Mem. de Soc. Antiq. du Nord, 1850-60, p. 96.)
Footnote 211:
See Lyngbye’s Faeroiske Qvæder, with Muller’s Introduction: Randers,
1822. The old man, William Henry, of Guttorm, in Foula, from whom Low
took down the Shetland ballad, spoke to him of “three kinds of poetry
used in Norn and recited or sung by the old men—viz., the Ballad, the
Vysie or Vyse, now commonly sung to dancers, and the simple song. By
the account he gave of the matter, the first seems to have been valued
chiefly for its subject, and was commonly repeated in winter by the
fireside; the second seems to have been used in public gatherings, now
only sung to the dance; and the third at both.” (Low’s MS.)
Footnote 212:
In the Stockholm edition of Snorro’s Edda, it was Hilda, by her
enchantments, who raised the slain, as fast as they fell, to renew the
combat, and the episode of Ivar Liomi and the Christian additions do
not occur. Allusions to Hogni’s daughter Hilda occur in the stanzas of
Eyvind Skaldaspiller (Saga of Harald Harfagri, chap. 13), and in those
of Einar Skalaglum (Harald Grafeld’s Saga, chap. 6, and Olaf
Tryggvason’s Saga, chap. 18).
Footnote 213:
For descriptions and readings of these see Munch’s Chronicon Manniæ,
Christiania, 1860; Cumming’s Runic and other Monumental Remains in the
Isle of Man, London, 1857; and Worsaae’s Danes and Northmen, London,
1852.
Footnote 214:
It is no less singular to find a Rune-inscribed stone so far up the
valley of the Spey as Knockando in Morayshire. See Sculpt. Stones of
Scotland, i. p. 61.
Footnote 215:
This fragment, which is now in the museum of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland, is figured and described by Professor George
Stephens of Copenhagen, in the “Illustreret Tidende” for 20th July
1873, and will be included in the third volume of his great work on
the Runic monuments of Scandinavia and England, now preparing for the
press.
Footnote 216:
See the note at p. 107 of the Saga.
Footnote 217:
“Description by Ahmed Ibn Fozlan (an eye-witness) of the ceremonies
attending the incremation of the dead body of a Norse chief, written
in the early part of the 10th century. Translated from Holmboe’s
Danish version of the Arabic original, with notes on the origin of
cremation and its continuance, by Joseph Anderson, Keeper of the
Museum.” Printed in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland, vol. ix.
Footnote 218:
A large number of these stone kettles, made of steatite, and furnished
with iron “bows,” exactly like those of our modern cast-iron pots, are
preserved in the Christiania Museum, filled, as they were found, with
the burned bones of the former owners. Sometimes the sword of the
owner is found twisted and broken, and laid on the top of the bones.
Footnote 219:
There are upwards of 400 of these brooches in the museum at Stockholm,
nearly half as many in Christiania, and a large number in Copenhagen.
Footnote 220:
The other one is in the museum at Copenhagen, and is figured in
Worsaae’s Danes and Northmen, p. 255.
Footnote 221:
Mem. de la Soc. Antiq. du Nord, 1840-44, p. 79.
Footnote 222:
For full details of this remarkable group of interments, see Wilson’s
Prehistoric Annals of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 303, and Journal of the
British Archæological Association, vol. ii. p. 329.
Footnote 223:
The events narrated in this chapter are told with greater fulness of
detail in the extracts from the Flateyjarbók given in the Appendix.
Footnote 224:
_Vikinga-boeli_, a vik-ing station, or haunt of the sea-rovers, who
harried the coasts wherever they could find plunder. From _vik_, a bay
or creek, are formed the nouns _viking_, denoting the species of
plundering, and _vikingr_, denoting a person engaged in it.
Footnote 225:
Moeri, a province of Norway, lying southwards of Drontheim (Saga of
Harald Harfagri, chap. x). The word signifies a plain bordering on the
sea.
Footnote 226:
“He was called Torf-Einar because he cut peat for fuel.” (See
Appendix).
Footnote 227:
A son of Harald Harfagri.
Footnote 228:
Rinansey, North Ronaldsay. Munch suggests that the form Ronansey
implies its derivation from St. Ronan or Ninian, and that the name is
therefore older than the Norse colonisation. St. Ninian is often
called St. Ringan, and Ringansey seems quite a probable derivation of
Rinansey.
Footnote 229:
This is represented in the Saga of King Harald as a fine exacted by
Harald for the death of his son, and paid by the Earl for the _bœndr_
or freeholders who surrendered their odal lands to him in
consideration of being freed from this payment (see Appendix).
Footnote 230:
A poem by Thorbiörn Hornklofe, quoted in the Saga of Harald Harfagri.
Footnote 231:
Son and successor of Harald Harfagri.
Footnote 232:
They fell in battle in England, with King Eric Bloodyaxe, and “five
kings,” as told in the Saga of Hakon the Good. The place where this
battle was fought has not been satisfactorily identified.
Footnote 233:
Dungad, called also Dungal, was a native chieftain, Maormor, or
“Jarl,” in the north-east corner of Caithness, who seems to have
considered the policy of conciliation preferable to that of
resistance, judging from the intimate relations he formed with the
foreigners, marrying the daughter of one, and giving his daughter in
marriage to another, of the chiefs of the invaders. His _bœ_ or hamlet
of residence became on this account so well known to the Norsemen,
that they named the district of Dungalsbae (now Duncansbay) by it, and
spoke of the headland (now Duncansbay Head) on which it was situated,
as Dungalsness, or Duncan’s cape. The supposed remains of his castle
were seen by Pennant in 1796, and are described by him as the ruins of
a circular building, in all probability one of the “burghs” or
circular towers so common in the north of Scotland, which seem to have
been the defensive habitations of the native Celtic or Pictish
population of the period between the 6th and 9th or 10th centuries. It
is now a green mound. From the Session Records of the parish it
appears that the district retained its ancient name of “Dungasby” down
to the beginning of the last century, when it first appears as
Duncansbay, and to this day it is called “Dungsby” by the older
inhabitants. The name of the adjacent district of Canisbay, now
applied to the whole parish, is similarly derived from _Conan’s bæ_.
It appears between 1223 and 1245 as Canenesbi (Sutherland Charters),
and in Blaeu’s Atlas, the MS. maps of which were drawn (_circa_ 1620),
by Mr. Timothy Pont, the minister of the adjacent parish of Dunnet, it
is marked Conansbay. These two, Duncan and Conan, are the only native
chieftains of Caithness at the time of the Norse invasion whose names
have come down to us, probably because they were the only ones who
held friendly relations with the invaders.
Footnote 234:
In the Saga of Olaf, Tryggvi’s son, it is said that Earl Sigurd lay at
Asmundarvag, now Osmundwall, in the south end of the island of Hoy.
There is a place called Roray on the west side of the island, which
might be the ancient Rörvag.
Footnote 235:
Munch (Chronicon Manniæ, p. 46) alludes to the mistake so common among
the historians of Scotland to confound the _two_ Malcolms, and to make
one of them, as if one Malcolm only (Malcolm II.) reigned from 1004 to
1034. Though this theory has been ingeniously supported from a Norse
point of view, it is at variance with the concurrent testimony of the
early Scottish Chronicles. The Saga is the only authority for this
marriage; but admitting its testimony on this point to be unassailable
scarcely necessitates the repudiation of the authority of the Scottish
Chronicles on the question of the succession. (Compare Skene’s
Highlanders, chap. 5; Robertson’s Scotland under her Early Kings, vol.
ii. p. 447; and Fordun (Skene’s edition), text and notes.)
Footnote 236:
Olaf, Tryggvi’s son, fell at the battle of Svöldr, A.D. 1000.
Footnote 237:
The battle of Clontarf, A.D. 1014 (see the Introduction). The Iceland
Annals say that he held the earldom for sixty-two years, so that he
must have become Earl in A.D. 952; but Munch makes his true period to
be 980-1014.
Footnote 238:
The word _Bóndi_ (pl. _Bœndr_), literally “a resident” or “dweller,”
has no English equivalent, although the form remains in the words
“husband” and “husbandman,” (hus-bondi, house-dweller or
house-master). The Bœndr were freeholders by odal tenure, proprietors
of the lands which they had inherited by succession from the original
“land-takers.” “In the primitive form of Scandinavian society,” says
Balfour, in his Odal Rights and Feudal Wrongs, “land was the only
wealth, its ownership the sole foundation of power, privilege, or
dignity. As no man could win or hold possession without the strong arm
to defend it, every landowner was a warrior, every warrior a
husbandman. King Sigurd Syr tended his own hay harvest, and Sweyn of
Gairsay and Thorkel Fóstri swept the coasts of Britain or Ireland
while the crops which they and their rovers had sown grew ready for
their reaping.” The use of the ancient term survived in Orkney till
1529, as we learn from the description by Jo. Ben, that in the parish
of Rendale the people saluted each other with “Goand da boundæ” (i.e.
_godan dag bondi!_) instead of the “Guid day, gudeman,” of the
Scottish vernacular. Among the documents found in the king’s treasury
at Edinburgh in 1282, was one entitled “A quit-claiming of the lands
of the _bondi_ of Caithness for the slaughter of the Bishop,”—viz.
Bishop Adam, who was burned at Halkirk in 1222 by the “_bondi_,”
exasperated by his exactions. Although the word is Icelandic, it has
been retained in the translation as a convenient term to designate the
class, in preference to such periphrastic renderings as
“farmer-lairds,” “peasant proprietors,” or “peasant nobles,” as are
usually employed.
Footnote 239:
Hrossey (Horse Isle) was the name given by the Norsemen to the
mainland of the Orkney group. The Sandvik here mentioned as the
residence of Amundi and Thorkel can only be the Sandvik (now Sandwick)
on Deerness. When Thorfinn drew his vessels in under Deerness before
he was attacked by Kali Hundason (chap. v.), he sent to Thorkel asking
him to collect men and come to his assistance. Thorkel’s residence
could not therefore have been far from Deerness, although the mention
of Laufandaness is somewhat suggestive of Lopness in Sanday.
Footnote 240:
The Things were local or general assemblies for determining by public
agreement the course that should be pursued with reference to matters
affecting the common weal or the public peace. All odal-born freemen
(not under outlawry) had an equal voice, and king, earl, or common
bondi, met on the thingstead on equal terms, as thingmen.
Footnote 241:
Ulfreksfiord seems to have been the Norse name of Lough Larne, which
in a document of the reign of the Irish King John (A.D. 1210) is
styled _Wulvricheford_ (Worsaae’s Danes and Northmen, p. 311). It is
suggestive of the identification of this Lough as the scene of Earl
Einar’s defeat, that Norse burials have been discovered at Larne. One
of these is described in the Crania Britannica, pl. 56. The form of
the iron sword found buried with the skeleton, having a short guard
and triangular pommel, establishes its Norwegian character.
Footnote 242:
Konufögr is plainly the Norse form of the Irish Conchobhar. Several
Irish kings of this name are mentioned in the Annals.
Footnote 243:
Eyvind Urarhorn was a Lenderman (or Baron) of King Olaf Haraldson. He
had gone to Ireland to King Conchobhar previous to Einar’s expedition,
and had assisted the Irish against the Orkneymen. The Saga of Olaf
Haraldson says that Earl Einar was much displeased with the Northmen
who had been in the battle on the side of the Irish king, and seized
this opportunity of wreaking his vengeance on Eyvind, their leader.
Footnote 244:
Asmundarvag, now Osmundwall, in the south end of the island of Hoy.
The termination _vágr_ usually becomes _wall_, as Kirkiuvagr, which in
the modern form is Kirkwall.
Footnote 245:
Olaf Haraldson, surnamed “the Holy,” and afterwards known as St. Olaf,
who became king in the year 1015.
Footnote 246:
Now Sandwick, in Deerness.
Footnote 247:
In the Saga of Harald Harfagri it is stated (chap. vi.) that “King
Harald made this law over all the lands he conquered, that all the
odal possessions should be his, and that the Bœndr, both great and
small, should pay him land-dues for their possessions.” Thus he put an
end to odal right, in its pure and simple form at least, wherever he
extended his authority; and the Bœndr, thus taxed and deprived of
their odal rights, complained, with justice, that they were changed
from a class of proprietary nobles into a class of tributary tenantry.
Having assumed the ownership of the earldom of Orkney as his own by
conquest, his heirs became the odal-born lords of Orkney, while the
Earls were theoretically the liegemen of the Kings of Norway, though
having also an odal right to the earldom which the royal prerogative
could not set aside.
Footnote 248:
If like meets like, or if you be met in the same spirit as you come.
Footnote 249:
The word is _hirdman_. The hirdmen were the King’s body-guard.
Footnote 250:
The _manbote_ (or fine for manslaughter) for every Norwegian Lenderman
or Baron was fixed at 6 marks of silver, by the Older Gula-thing.
Footnote 251:
Malcolm II., King of Scotland.
Footnote 252:
The identity of Karl or Kali Hundason is one of the historical puzzles
which exercise the ingenuity of modern historians. Supposing the Saga
name of this individual to be a Norse corruption of the name of a
Scottish king, it resembles none more nearly than that of Culen
Induffson, the Culen Mac Induff of the _Chronica Pictorum_. But if
Kali Hundason be intended for Culen Induffson, the dates do not agree
by more than sixty years. On the other hand, supposing the events here
narrated to be of the period assigned to them by the Saga, Kali
Hundason ought to be Duncan, son of Crinan, Abbot of Dunkeld, who was
the grandson and successor of King Malcolm Mac Kenneth. But Fordun
states that Duncan’s succession was a peaceful one. It is not to be
overlooked, however, that Earl Thorfinn was also a grandson of Malcolm
Mac Kenneth; and if we could account for the discrepancy as to the
name given by the Saga, the war between the two grandsons of the
deceased monarch might readily be accounted for. For full details of
the speculations regarding the identity of Kali Hundason, see Skene’s
Highlanders of Scotland, chap. v.; the Irish version of “Nennius”
(Irish Archæological Society), Appendix, p. 78; Robertson’s Scotland
under her Early Kings, vol. ii. p. 477; and Munch’s Norske Folks
Historie, vol. i. pt. 2, p. 854.
Footnote 253:
The words “at Beruvik” in Jonæus’s edition are not in the
Flateyjarbók. Two places of this name are mentioned in the Saga. One
of these is plainly Berwick-on-Tweed (chap. xcii.) The locality of the
other (which must be the “Beruvik” of this passage) is fixed by the
statement in chap. xciv., where it is said that Earl Rögnvald was then
in Sutherland celebrating the marriage of his daughter with Eirik
Slagbrellir; and when word was brought to him that Harald had come to
Thurso, he rode with a number of his followers “from Beruvik to
Thurso.” It has been conjectured that the place here indicated was
_Caistal a Bharruick_, an old square tower situated on an eminence
near Kirkiboll, on the east side of the shore of the Kyle of Tongue
(_Orig. Parochiales_, vol. ii. p. 717). Judging from the context,
however, it seems more likely that it may have been the _vik_ or inlet
at the mouth of the water of Berriedale (Berudal), on the southern
border of Caithness, where there are also the ruins of an old square
tower—the Castle of Berriedale. This agrees with the statement that
King Kali, sailing _northward_ from Beruvik, saw the sails of
Thorfinn’s ships going towards Deerness, as he sailed into the mouth
of the Firth from the east. Had Kali come from the Kyle of Tongue, he
would have sailed _east_, and Thorfinn would have seen and intercepted
him from Duncansbay.
Footnote 254:
Now Sandwick, in Deerness, Orkney.
Footnote 255:
Broad Firth—the Moray Firth.
Footnote 256:
Torfness, the scene of the final conflict between Earl Thorfinn and
Kali Hundason, is here described as on the south side of Bæfiord, and
by Arnor, the Earls’ skald, as south of Ekkial, the river Oikel, which
gave its name to Ekkiálsbakká, or the district along the banks of the
Oikel and its estuary—the Kyle of Sutherland—which formed the march
between the territory of the Norse earls and Scotland. Torfness may
thus be conjectured to be Tarbatness, although we have nothing to fix
the locality more definitely. Bæfiord, in this case, would be the
wider portion of the Dornoch Firth. Munch suggests that the seemingly
French name of Beaufort Castle may be a corruption of Bæfiord (which
in that case would be the Beauly Frith); but in all probability the
name Beaufort is what it seems to be, and much more modern.
Footnote 257:
In which King Olaf Haraldson (the Holy) was killed, A.D. 1030.
Footnote 258:
The Kjölen mountains, part of the range separating Norway from Sweden.
Footnote 259:
Hólmgard, now Novgorod, formerly Cholmogori, in Russia, which the
Northmen called Gardariki.
Footnote 260:
The town of Ladoga, which Rurik, the first King of Russia, made his
capital in the 9th century. It is now a mere hamlet.
Footnote 261:
Alfifa, queen of Canute the Great.
Footnote 262:
Ingigerd, daughter of King Olaf of Sweden, was married to King
Jarizleif. She stipulated that Rögnvald should accompany her to
Russia, and he received the town and earldom of Ladoga (Aldeigiuborg).
Footnote 263:
Nídarós, now the town of Drontheim, so called from its being situated
at the mouth of the river Nid.
Footnote 264:
King Olaf adjudged Earl Einar’s third of the islands to be forfeited
for the slaying of Eyvind Urarhorn. (See chap. v.)
Footnote 265:
_Skotlandsfiord_, Scotland’s Firth, was the name given to the channel
between the Hebrides and the mainland of Scotland. (See chap. xxx.)
Footnote 266:
Vatnsfiord, probably Loch Vattin, an arm of the sea branching off Loch
Bracadale, in Skye.
Footnote 267:
Gaddgedlar.—This passage has given rise to a variety of conjectures.
None of the explanations which have yet been offered are free from
difficulties. Munch (_Chronicon Manniæ_, p. 46) says that, considering
the situation of Caithness, and how well the author of the saga must
have known it, it becomes evident that between “Caithness” and “at the
place” an _and_ must have been dropped by the subsequent writer, who,
living about A.D. 1380, and in Iceland (this part of the saga existing
only in the _Codex Flateyensis_), might easily have dropped an _ok_
(or the abbreviation thereof), not conscious of the great blunder he
committed. He further adds that Gaddgedlar is evidently the Norse
corruption of “Galwydia,” Galloway. This explanation is open to the
objections that, besides the improbability of Thorfinn having dwelt
for the most part in Caithness and in Galloway, the latter place does
not fit the description that there Scotland and England meet. The word
_eingland_, signifying meadow, or strath land, may possibly have been
used as a general term for “The Dales of Caithness,” if it may not be
supposed to be a mis-transcription of the word _eignarland_, meaning
Thorfinn’s own territory. Gaddgedlar might be the Norse pronunciation
of the native word Gall-gael, applied to the mixed population of the
districts where the Norse element had not entirely displaced the
Celtic, or the border districts between the Norse earldom and the
purely Celtic territory “where Scotland and his (Thorfinn’s) own land
meet.”
Footnote 268:
Raudabiorg, or Red Headland, must be looked for in the neighbourhood
of Dunnet Head, where the red beds of the Old Red Sandstone form the
distinctive feature of the coast. A little to the east of Dunnet Head
there is an outlying crag named Brough of Rattar, or Rattar Brough—in
all probability a corrupted form of the old name Raudabiorg. Still
farther to the eastward, where the burn of Rattar enters the Firth,
are the ruins of an old “Pictish tower,” or broch—in old Norse,
_borg_. In its immediate vicinity is a little promontory called Kirk
o’ Taing (_Kirkiu Tunga_, the Tongue, or Ness of the Kirk), on which
are the ruins of one of the small rudely-built chapels of the early
Christian time. On the north side of the chapel the edges of a number
of stone cists are visible through the turf; and from two of these,
which were dug up in cutting a drain in the spring of 1872, eight
silver armlets of the ancient penannular form were obtained. These
correspond exactly with the armlets which formed part of the great
hoard exhumed at Skaill, in Orkney, on the opposite side of the Firth,
with Cufic and Anglo-Saxon coins of the tenth century—in all
probability a hoard deposited by some of the vikings on their return
from a plundering expedition. As Earl Thorfinn and his men were
Christians, it seems probable that, if the chapel was then in
existence, the bodies of the seventy slain in the fight off
Raudabiorg, which were landed here, would be buried in the consecrated
ground attached to this chapel.
Footnote 269:
The Mainland of Orkney.
Footnote 270:
The two Papeys, the great and the little (anciently Papey meiri and
Papey minni), now Papa Westray and Papa Stronsay, are both mentioned
in the Saga. Fordun, in his enumeration of the islands, has a “Papeay
tertia,” which is not now known. There are three islands in Shetland
called Papey, and both in Orkney and Shetland there are several
districts named Paplay or Papplay, doubtless the same as the Papyli of
Iceland. Munch considers that these names betray a Kelto-Christian
origin. They probably indicate the settlements of Irish ecclesiastics
in the islands previous to the arrival of the Northmen. The recent
discoveries in Orkney of ecclesiastical bells of the early square
form, and of stone monuments with Ogham inscriptions (in one case
associated with a figure of the cross of an early form), seem to point
to the settlement of ecclesiastical communities in the islands at a
very early period. (See Introduction.)
Footnote 271:
Now Papa Westray.
Footnote 272:
King of Denmark.
Footnote 273:
Harald Sigurdson is the famous Harald Hardradi who afterwards fell at
the battle of Stamford Bridge, near York, fighting against Harald
Godwinson the Saxon King of England, in 1066.
Footnote 274:
A small island off Lindesnes, in the south of Norway.
Footnote 275:
The district round the head of the Christiania Fiord.
Footnote 276:
Scania, the southern part of Sweden.
Footnote 277:
Aalborg, in Jutland.
Footnote 278:
Earl Thorfinn’s pilgrimage to Rome took place most probably about the
year 1050. King Magnus died in A.D. 1047, and some time must have
elapsed before Thorfinn heard of his death. Then his messengers went
to Norway, and returned; and his own expedition was thereafter
prepared. After visiting King Harald Hardradi in Norway, he stayed
some time with Svend Estridson, the King of Denmark. Then he visited
Henry III., Emperor of Germany, and would probably reach Rome soon
after the accession of Pope Leo IX., who occupied the Papal throne
from 1049 to 1055. As Macbeth, the only Scottish sovereign who ever
visited the city of Rome, made his pilgrimage thither in the year
1050, and Thorfinn and he were close friends and allies, it is
probable that they went together. (Compare Saga of King Harald
Hardradi; Wyntoun, vol. ii. pp. 468, 469; Marianus Scotus, in Mon.
Hist. Brit., p. 604; Florence of Worcester; Chron. de Mailros;
Ritson’s Annals, vol. ii. p. 116; Skene’s Highlanders, chap. v.;
Grub’s Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, chap. xiii.)
Footnote 279:
This quotation from Arnór seems to have reference only to Thorfinn’s
conquests in Ireland. Doubtless the extent of these is considerably
exaggerated. The Thussasker appear to be the outlying skerries off the
S.E. of Ireland, still known as the Tuscar Rocks.
Footnote 280:
Malcolm II., Mac Kenneth.
Footnote 281:
Harald Sigurdson (Hardradi) was slain at Stamford Bridge in 1066, and
Earl Thorfinn died in 1064.
Footnote 282:
Transferred their allegiance to the native chieftains, to whom they
belonged by hereditary right.
Footnote 283:
This marriage is unknown in Scottish history, and rests on the
authority of the Sagas alone. Duncan is said by the Scottish
historians to have been a bastard, while the Sagas make him the
legitimate offspring of Malcolm and Ingibiorg, who must by this time
have been old enough to be Malcolm’s mother. She was married to Earl
Thorfinn before Kálf Arnason was banished by King Magnus (chap. xiv.),
which was some time between 1036 and 1041. Earl Thorfinn died in 1064,
seven years after King Malcolm was crowned at Scone, in 1057.
Malcolm’s marriage with the Princess Margaret of England took place in
1067, or less than three years after Ingibiorg became a widow. Munch
supposes that Ingibiorg must have died in childbed with Duncan, and
suggests that the fact that Duncan claimed the crown before Edgar, the
son of Malcolm by Margaret, may be taken as showing that he must have
been the offspring of a previous marriage. Macpherson (Wyntoun, vol.
ii. p. 472), while accepting the statement of the Saga, accounts for
Duncan being called a bastard from the circumstance that Malcolm’s
marriage with Ingibiorg was within the degrees of propinquity
forbidden by the canon law.
Footnote 284:
This William Odling (the Noble) is William of Egremont (the boy of
Egremont), son of William Fitz Duncan, and consequently grandson of
Duncan. The reference here to him as the person whom all the Scots
wished to have for their king is explained by the fact that, on the
death of David I., by the old Celtic law of succession, he became in
the eyes of the Celtic population the rightful heir to the throne; and
his claims were supported by no fewer than seven Earls, among whom
were those of Strathern, Ross, and Orkney. The insurrection was
speedily put down, but the claim was subsequently revived by Donald
Bane Macwilliam, who, on the same principle, obtained the support of
the northern chiefs. (See Skene’s Highlanders of Scotland for a full
account of the conflict between the feudal and the Celtic systems of
succession.)
Footnote 285:
This is a mistake. Morkere was present at the battle of Hastings, and
he and Waltheof went afterwards to Normandy with William the
Conqueror.
Footnote 286:
Fordun (v. chap. i.) records the landing of Macduff “at Ravynsore in
England.” Camden mentions a place on Holderness, at the mouth of the
Humber, formerly called Ravensere. It no longer exists, having been
destroyed by the encroachments of the sea.
Footnote 287:
Now called the Mainland of Orkney.
Footnote 288:
The reference here must be supposed to be to the murder of St. Magnus.
Footnote 289:
“Hugh the Stout” was Hugh, Earl of Chester; and “Hugh the Bold,” Hugh
of Montgomery, Earl of Salop. According to Odericus Vitalis, King
Magnus came into the Menai Straits with only six ships, carrying a red
shield on the mast as a sign of peace and commercial intercourse. The
Welsh King Griffith was at that time engaged in war with the Norman
Earls above mentioned, who had invaded his territories, and advanced
as far as the Straits, when the arrival of King Magnus gave an
unexpected turn to the course of events, in the death of the Earl of
Montgomery, as here narrated.
Footnote 290:
Hálogaland, the most northern part of Norway.
Footnote 291:
The Saga writer (says Munch) has been here misled by the Scottish
denomination of the reigning monarch, Edgar MacMalcolm. Malcolm
Canmore died in 1093, the year of King Magnus’s first expedition to
the west. The second expedition, which was in 1098, was the one in
which he fought with the two Norman Earls in Anglesea Sound. The
events of the two expeditions are here mixed up together, and the
references to Malcolm Canmore do not synchronise with either. It is
possible that the offer of the islands (as here mentioned) may have
come to King Magnus from Donald Bane, the brother of King Malcolm, to
secure the support of King Magnus in his attempt to retain the throne
against Edgar, although the incident of the drawing of the boat across
the isthmus may have taken place in the reign of Edgar. The
“Fagrskinna” (p. 156) adds that King Malcolm of Scotland, sent his
daughter out to the Orkneys to be married to Magnus’s son Sigurd, he
being then nine and she five years of age, and that he left her in the
Orkneys when he went to Norway. The author has confounded Malcolm with
Mýrkiartan.
Footnote 292:
Pennant mentions (1772) that not long previously it was customary for
vessels of nine or ten tons to be drawn across the isthmus by horses,
in order to avoid the dangerous and circuitous passage round the Mull.
Footnote 293:
Scotland’s Firth—the channel between the west coast of Scotland and
the Hebrides.
Footnote 294:
Muircearteach, grandson of Brian Boroimhe, King of Munster.
Footnote 295:
Now Drontheim, so called because situated at the mouth of the Nid.
Footnote 296:
See note at p. 38.
Footnote 297:
Ulster, in Ireland.
Footnote 298:
King Sigurd, the Jorsala-farer, set out on his pilgrimage to Jerusalem
in 1107.
Footnote 299:
Borgarfiord, the “fiord of the Borg,” now Burra Firth, on the west
side of the Mainland of Shetland, so named by the Norsemen on account
of the “borg,” or “Pictish tower,” which still stands on the little
holm of Hebrista, though greatly ruined. It is probable that the
reason of Thorbiörn’s connection with Borgarfiord was its affording
him and his followers a shelter and defensive position in the borg.
The old name Borgarfiord occurs in a document in the Norse language
dated 1299. It is a record drawn up in the Lagthing of certain charges
made against Herr Thorvald Thoresson, by a woman named Ragnhild
Simonsdatter, who accuses him of malversation of the land-rents of
Brekasettr. (_Diplom. Norvegicum_, vol. i. p. 81.) Harald of
Borgarfiord in Shetland witnesses a document in 1498.
Footnote 300:
The place where the Orkney Things were held is nowhere more
particularly indicated. Stennis has been suggested, on the supposition
that the great stone circle there would have been thus utilised by the
Northmen. It does not appear, however, that the occasion on which
Havard, son of Thorfinn Hausakliuf, was killed at “Steinsness” was a
Thing meeting there, and this is the only occasion on which Stennis is
mentioned in the whole of the Flateyjarbók. “Tingwale,” in the parish
of Rendale, occurs in the Orkney Land List of 1502. This seems to be
the only trace of the old Thing-völl in Hrossey.
Footnote 301:
Egilsey, in Jo. Ben’s description of the Orkneys (1529) called
“Insularum Ecclesia,” is regarded by Munch as deriving its name not
from the Norse proper name _Egil_, but from the Irish _Eaglais_, a
church. “To this day,” he says, “Egilsey contains a church shown by
its construction to have been built before the Northmen arrived in
Orkney, or at all events to belong to the more ancient Christian
Celtic population. (See under “Egilsey” in the Introduction).
Footnote 302:
These dates are self-contradictory, and utterly irreconcilable. King
Magnus Barelegs fell in Ireland in the year 1103; and it is stated in
the Saga of Sigurd, the Jorsala-farer, that Hákon, Paul’s son, came to
Norway to King Sigurd “a year or two after King Magnus’s fall.” The
King gave him the earldom and government of the Orkneys, and he went
back immediately to Orkney. Then it is added that four years after the
fall of King Magnus—that is, in 1107—King Sigurd set out on his
pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Now, it is mentioned in this Saga (chap.
xxxiii.) that Earl Magnus went to Norway to see King Eystein, “for
King Sigurd had then gone to Jerusalem.” This must have been after
1107. King Eystein gave him his patrimony, one-half of the Orkneys. If
his visit to Norway was in the year after King Sigurd’s departure, as
seems likely from the narrative, or in 1108, and “he had been seven
winters Earl in the Orkneys along with Earl Hákon,” this would bring
the date of his death exactly to the year assigned in the Iceland
Annals appended to the Flateyjarbók, or to 1115. The entry in the
“Annalar” for that year is: “Pindr enn heilagi Magnus jarl i
Orkneyium.” Torfæus dates this event in 1110. The Saga of St. Magnus
says he had been twelve winters Earl of the Orkneys jointly with
Hákon, counting evidently from the vacancy of earldom in 1103 by the
accession of Sigurd, Magnus’ son, then Earl of the Orkneys, to the
throne of Norway. This also gives the date 1115.
Footnote 303:
A curious catalogue of cases in which diseased and infirm people were
miraculously restored to health and vigour, after paying their vows at
the shrine of St. Magnus, is given in the Magnus Saga. These pilgrims
mostly came from Shetland. Two of the cases are interesting as
affording the earliest notices of leprosy (_líkthrá_) in Shetland—a
disease which seems to have continued in the Islands till towards the
close of the last century.—(Sir James Simpson’s Archæological
Essays—Leprosy and Leper Hospitals in Britain.) These cases appear to
have been overlooked by Sir James. Schröder has published a curious
Swedish version of the story of St. Magnus, in which the account of
his miracles is considerably varied.
Footnote 304:
That is for sixty-six years. As William died, according to the
Icelandic Annals, in 1168, and was bishop in the year of St. Magnus’s
death, 1115, he was undoubtedly bishop for fifty-three years. That he
was bishop for the long period of sixty-six years, as this passage
seems to imply, may be open to some doubt. Munch supposes that the
“seventh decade” may be an error for “sixth.” This would place his
consecration to the see of Orkney in 1112; but the Saga of St. Magnus
says he was bishop sixty-six years.
Footnote 305:
Rekavík is either the modern Rackwick, on the northern point of the
Island of Westray, in Orkney, or Rackwick, in the Island of Hoy; more
probably the latter.
Footnote 306:
Sigurd Slembir or Slembidiakn had a most romantic history. In his
youth he was considered the son of a priest, Adalbrekt by name, and
was brought up for the church. His tastes appear to have lain in quite
another direction, however; and he soon broke loose from the
restraints of ecclesiastical life. He gave himself out as an
illegitimate son of King Magnus Barelegs, and commenced a life of
roving and adventure, visiting the Holy Land, and turning an honest
penny occasionally by trading expeditions to Scotland, the Orkneys,
Ireland, and Denmark. In the latter country he proved his paternity by
the ordeal of hot iron, as King Harald Gilli had done. He then went to
King Harald, and asked him to recognise him; but instead of this he
was placed on his trial for the slaying of Thorkel Fóstri, Sumarlidi’s
son. He managed to make his escape by jumping overboard with two of
his guards in his arms, and soon after returned and killed King Harald
Gilli in his bed in Bergen. Then he tried to place Magnus the Blind on
the throne by assistance from Denmark; but the expedition was met on
the south coast of Norway by the sons of King Harald, and totally
defeated. Magnus was slain, and Sigurd Slembir was taken, and put to
death with almost incredible tortures. (See the account of him in the
Sagas of Magnus the Blind and the sons of Harald in the Heimskringla.)
Footnote 307:
Westness, in Rousay (Hrólfsey), see p. 73.
Footnote 308:
Thorkel Fóstri Sumarlidi’s son, foster-father to Earl Paul, not to be
confounded with Thorkel Fóstri, Amundi’s son, previously noticed as
foster-father to Earl Thorfinn Sigurdson.
Footnote 309:
Stofa. In the twelfth century men began to live more comfortably, and
broke up their large halls into separate compartments. Thus, a portion
of the Skáli at the upper end, where the pall or dais was, was shut
off, and called _stofa_.—(Dasent’s preface to the Njals Saga.)
Footnote 310:
Gefsisness. No place answering to this name can now be traced in
Westray, but a various reading of the passage has Reppisness; and
there is a place on the south-east side of the island still called
Rapness, probably the place here indicated.
Footnote 311:
Fluguness does not again occur in the saga, and has not been
identified. It is the same as the Flydruness of p. 92.
Footnote 312:
Knarrarstadir seems to signify the district at the head of Scapa Bay,
south of Kirkwall. Munch derives the name from _knörr_, a
merchant-ship. It is said at p. 110 that Játvör and her son Borgar
lived at Geitaberg, which seems to be the place now called Gatnip, on
the east side of Scapa, anciently Scalpeid.
Footnote 313:
Brekkur in Straumsey may have been the name of a homestead in the
island of Stroma. There is some confusion as to the locality, however.
It is said in chap. lxvii. to have been in Stronsay. The name is not
now recognisable in either of the islands.
Footnote 314:
Glaitness, near Kirkwall, is probably the modern representative of the
ancient Glettuness. In the testament of Sir David Synclair of
Swynbrocht (Sumburgh, in Shetland), in the year 1506, there is a
bequest “to Thorrald of Brucht, and to his wife and his airis, ten
merks land in Glaitness, and fifteen merks land in Linggo, with all
guids there contenit, and twenty-two merks in Pappale, ten merks in
Brucht.”
Footnote 315:
Harald Gillichrist, who subsequently became King of Norway, under the
name of King Harald Gilli. See p. 84, note.
Footnote 316:
Comparing men. This was a favourite occupation of their leisure hours
among the Northmen. A curious instance of it occurs in the Saga of
King Sigurd, the Jorsala-farer, in the Heimskringla, where the
narrative states that as the ale was not good the guests were very
quiet and still, until King Eystein said, “It is a common custom over
the ale-table to compare one person with another, and now let us do
so.” As in this case, a quarrel was the usual result.
Footnote 317:
Osló, or Opslo, was the old capital of Norway. Its site is now
included in that of Christiania.
Footnote 318:
Hauga-Thing, so called apparently because the place of meeting was a
_haug_, or barrow. Whether this was a local name at Túnsberg, or
whether it refers to a special assembly held at the burial-place of
the King, is not clear.
Footnote 319:
Harald Gillichrist, illegitimate son of King Magnus Barelegs, was of
Celtic extraction, his mother being a native of the Hebrides. He and
his mother were brought over to Norway from the Southern Hebrides in a
ship belonging to a Norwegian merchant named Halkel Húk. When the
story of Harald’s parentage was told to King Sigurd, he consented to
allow Harald to prove his paternity by the ordeal of hot iron, but on
condition, that if he succeeded in proving his descent according to
his claim, he should not desire the kingdom in the lifetime either of
King Sigurd or of his son, King Magnus, and to this Harald bound
himself by oath. This seems to be the oath referred to as given under
compulsion. “The ordeal,” it is added in the Saga of King Sigurd, “was
the greatest ever made in Norway, for nine glowing ploughshares were
laid down, and Harald walked over them with bare feet, attended by two
bishops, and invoking the holy St. Columba”—another testimony to his
Celtic birth. His feet were then bound up, and he was laid in bed.
After the customary three days had elapsed, his feet were examined,
or, as the Saga has it, “the ordeal was taken to proof, and his feet
were found unburnt.” His claims were therefore held to have been
proven, and made good. It is curious to find that among the privileges
granted by the Scottish King David to the monks of Holyrood, they were
specially empowered to make trials by the ordeal of hot iron.
Footnote 320:
In Vík, in the south of Norway.
Footnote 321:
Now Ferlof, in Sogn, Norway.
Footnote 322:
Vík meant properly the bay of Oslo, the upper part of which is now
called the Christiania Fiord, but it was also applied to the district
bordering on the bay.
Footnote 323:
Harald and Eric, Kings of Denmark, had sworn mutual brotherhood.
Footnote 324:
Alasund is now Yell Sound, the ancient name for the island of Yell
being Jala. In the latest known Hjaltland document, written in Norse,
and dated in 1586, the name of the island appears as “Yella.”
Footnote 325:
Outsittings, a peculiar kind of sorcery resorted to in order to obtain
foreknowledge of the future, in which the person sat out at night
under the open sky, and by certain magical rites or incantations
summoned the dead from their graves to consult them. A curious
instance is given in the 40th chapter of the Færeyinga Saga, in which
Sigmund Brestisson is brought from the dead, with his head in his
hand, to show who was his murderer.
Footnote 326:
The Moul Head of Deerness.
Footnote 327:
The Norsemen were in the habit of carrying stones on board their
warships to be used as missiles. It is told in the Færeyinga Saga of
Sigmund Brestisson that when about to attack the ships of another
Viking lying on the opposite side of an island on the coast of Sweden,
he spent the whole night in landing the goods and plunder from his
vessels, and breaking up stones, and loading his vessel with them to
serve as missiles in the attack. The same thing had been done by the
Earl’s men in this case before the commencement of the fight.
Footnote 328:
Probably at the place now called Swiney, in Caithness, near Lybster.
Though the context here seems to imply that Swiney, in Caithness, is
meant, it seems that Grim was in the island of Swona (the small island
between Hoy and South Ronaldsay), when Swein, Asleif’s son, visited
him (see p. 92). Perhaps Swiney, in Caithness, was so named from its
being the property of Grim of Swona.
Footnote 329:
Aurrida Firth, or Salmon-trout Firth, now the Bay of Firth.
Footnote 330:
Flydruness seems to be the same as Fluguness, in Hrossey (Mainland),
mentioned as the residence of Blan and his father Thorstein, at p. 74.
Footnote 331:
The Earl’s seat at Orphir appears to have consisted of a cluster of
buildings, of which the main hall or skáli answered to the public room
of the residence. The descriptions given of the Orkney skális are
wanting in that minuteness which is necessary to enable us to
understand the details of their construction. No doubt they were
similar to those of Iceland, the larger of which were constructed
partly of stone and partly of timber, the middle division of the hall
being higher in the roof than the “aisles” on either side of it, and
separated from them by a row of pillars running parallel to each of
the side walls. The walls of the aisles and the spaces between the
pillars were covered with wainscoting, sometimes with carved work, and
on high days hung with tapestry. Shields and weapons were hung along
the sides of the hall, above the benches, and the fires were lit on
hearths in the middle of the floor. The benches were ranged along both
sides of the hall; the “high seat” of the Earl, or owner of the skáli,
was in the centre of the south side, and the seats of highest honour
were those next to him on either side.
Footnote 332:
Probably a large flagstone set on end to serve as a partition-wall.
This is a common feature of the ancient structures in Caithness and
Orkney. It was in the shadow of this flagstone that Swein, Asleif’s
son, stood when he killed Swein Brióstreip (see p. 95).
Footnote 333:
Serving the table, and holding lights. The light-bearers or
candle-holders were a distinct class of servants at the King’s court.
This custom is said to have been first introduced by King Olaf Kyrre
in the latter half of the eleventh century.
Footnote 334:
The emptying of horns of ale to the memory of departed heroes and
comrades, with the accompaniment of speeches setting forth their
famous deeds, was a recognised custom at the festivals of the
Northmen.
Footnote 335:
Besides his evil repute as a turbulent fellow, Swein was suspected of
sorcery, and thus obnoxious to the church (see p. 88).
Footnote 336:
This must either he Paplay in South Ronaldsay, or Paplay on the
Mainland. Munch says that the circumstance that the name of the island
is always carefully added in the Saga when a Mainland district is not
the one alluded to favours the supposition that it is the latter which
is here meant.
Footnote 337:
Gói, the fourth month of the year, corresponding to our February and
part of March. The ancient mode of reckoning among the Northmen was by
“winters,” the year commencing on the 23d November. Gói was sometimes
called “horning-month”—the month in which the deer shed their horns;
and it was also the month in which, in heathen times, the great annual
sacrifice took place at Upsala, as mentioned in the Saga of King Olaf
the Holy.
Footnote 338:
_Höfn_, the haven, in Westray, is probably the modern Pierowall, the
only safe natural harbour in the island, and the only place entitled
to the name of “the haven.”
Footnote 339:
The _thorp_ or village of Höfn here mentioned most likely stood on the
shore by the landing-place at Pierowall. The fact that there are a
number of graves on the links here, in which have been found the
swords peculiar to the Norse viking period, shield-bosses, bronze
tortoise brooches (a distinctively Scandinavian form), and other
relics unquestionably of Norse origin, shows that the neighbourhood
must have been largely frequented by the Northmen, and perhaps made a
permanent settlement long before this time. The Church of Westray is
mentioned among those vacant in 1327-28 by the Papal Nuncio, who
collected the tithes for these years.
Footnote 340:
Although there is a curious similarity between this incident and that
related in chap. lxxi. on the occasion of the visit of Bishop John to
the Orkneys, yet the fact of Earl Rögnvald turning the procession into
ridicule, whereas Bishop John’s party appear to have been received
with all due respect, suggests that the two narratives can scarcely
refer to the same incident. The reference here to the “isle Elon,”
taken in connection with the statement in chap. xcix. that there were
monks on Eller Holm (named “Helene-holm” by Fordun), may mean that
there was a colony of clerics on the little island, whose dress and
tonsure may thus have tickled the fancy of the rhyming Earl. In the
rental of Shapinsay (1642), Elgin-holme is set in feu to Sir John
Buchanan for payment of 12s. annually. In 1529 Jo. Ben mentions that
there were foundations of houses and even of a chapel on Eloerholme,
though it was then waste and uninhabited (see chap. xcix). Neale
notices “the ruins of a very small chapel” on Ellerholm
(Ecclesiological Notes, p. 111).
Footnote 341:
The Iceland Annals place Earl Rögnvald’s winning the Orkneys in the
year 1136.
Footnote 342:
Evie Sound; from _Efja_, now Evie.
Footnote 343:
_Húdfat_—skin-bags, or sleeping haps, made of hides sewed together, so
as to envelope the sleeper as in a sack.
Footnote 344:
Still known as the Swelkie, a dangerous whirlpool in certain states of
the tide, off the island of Stroma, fabled to be caused by the waters
being sucked down through the eye of the quern “Grotti,” which once
belonged to King Fródi. Grotti was found in Denmark, and was the
largest quern that had ever been known. It would grind for King Fródi
gold or peace, which he pleased. But the sea-king M['y]sing took
Grotti, and caused white salt to be ground in his ships till they sank
in Pentland’s Firth. This is why the Swelkie has been there ever
since. As the waters fall through the eye of the quern, the sea roars
as the quern grinds; and, moreover, this is how the sea first became
salt.—(Elder Edda, Grottasöng.) Traces of this legend still linger in
the locality.
Footnote 345:
Ekkialsbakki is three times mentioned in the Flateyjarbók, and Ekkial
once by Arnór Jarlaskáld (see p. 22). Earl Sigurd, Eystein’s son, who
killed Malbrigd (Maormor of Mar according to Skene), was “hoy-laid”
(buried in a how or barrow, _haugr_), on Ekkialsbakki. “There cannot
be the least doubt,” says Worsaae, in his ‘Danes and Northmen,’ “that
Ekkial is the river Oykill (Oykel), which still forms the southern
boundary of Sutherland. But nobody is able to point out the barrow of
Sigurd Jarl. The tradition relating to it has vanished with the
Norwegian population.” But, fortunately, there are records more
permanent and reliable than popular tradition, by which the truth of
the Saga narrative may be verified, and the locality of Sigurd’s
grave-mound indisputably fixed. There is a place near the Ferry on the
north bank of the Dornoch Firth (into which the Oykel runs) which is
now somewhat inappropriately called Cyder Hall. In Blaeu’s Atlas
(1640) it appears as Siddera. In older charters it is conjoined with
Skebo, and called Sythera. In a deed of the year 1275 the Bishop of
Caithness claims right to “six davochs of Schythebolle and Sytheraw,
with the ferry.” In the deed of constitution of the Cathedral Chapter
of Caithness, executed between 1223 and 1245, there are assigned to
the treasurer the rectorial tithes of Scytheboll and _Siwardhoch_, its
conjunction with Scytheboll showing it to be the same place which is
called at subsequent periods Sytheraw, Siddera, and Cyder Hall. This
place, named Siward’s Hoch (_Sigurd’s haug_) at that early date, could
be no other than the traditional site of Earl Sigurd’s grave-mound,
and the Ekkialsbakki on which he was buried must thus have been the
north bank of the Oykel’s estuary. But the Ekkialsbakki twice
mentioned in connection with Swein Asleifson’s journey to Athole can
scarcely be the same with that of the earlier narrative. It seems
probable that in Swein Asleifson’s narrative the word may have been
originally Atjoklsbakki—the coast on the side of the Breidafiord
(Moray Firth) next to Atjöklar (Athole). The word _bakki_ is sometimes
used for a “coast.” The Saga writer may have been misled by the
similarity of sound to substitute Ekkialsbakki for Atjoklsbakki. (See
p. 115.)
Footnote 346:
The name of Maddad, Earl of Athole, appears in contemporary documents
as Maddoc, Madach, and Madeth. In the foundation-charter of Scone by
King Alexander I. and his queen Sibilla, “Madach Comes” is a witness.
“Maddoc” and “Madeth Comes” also witness charters of King David I.
From a charter by King Malcolm the Maiden, granting aid for the
restoration of the Abbey of Scone, we learn that the style of the
Earls of Athole was “Comes de Ethocl,” the Atjokl of the
Saga.—(Regist. de Dunferm. Regist. de Scone.)
Footnote 347:
Geitaberg is probably the place now known as Gatnip, on the east side
of Scapa Bay, near Kirkwall. It is formerly stated that Játvör and her
son Borgar lived at Knarrarstad, which is evidently the name for the
district, while Geitaberg was the name of Borgar’s homestead. Gatnip
is the highest point on that side of the bay, and thus Borgar was able
to notice the barge rowed by Swein’s men as it passed up and down the
Firth.
Footnote 348:
Magnus, in the text here, is clearly a mistake for Hákon.
Footnote 349:
The erection of St. Magnus’ Church was commenced apparently between
the years 1136 and 1138. The remains of St. Magnus appear to have been
transferred to it from Christ’s Church, in Birsay, previous to the
departure of Earl Rögnvald to the Holy Land in 1152. After Earl
Rögnvald’s death, in 1158, the building of the cathedral was carried
on by Bishop William, until his death in 1168, after which we have no
record of its progress.
Footnote 350:
The odal tenure of the lands in the islands was first modified by
Harald Harfagri in the time of the Earl Torf Einar. Earl Sigurd
Hlödverson restored the odal rights in return for the assistance of
the Bœndr at the battle of Skida Myre (see Appendix). This arrangement
subsisted till the imposition of the succession-dues by Earl Rögnvald,
which were subsequently bought up, as here narrated.
Footnote 351:
Knarrarstad, as has been formerly explained, was applied to the
district at the head of the Bay of Scapa. It was so called because it
was the place where the merchant-ships lay—from _Knarrar_, genitive of
_knörr_, a merchant-ship; and _stadr_, a stance or stead. The name is
preserved in old estate-lists as _Knarstane_. In the near
neighbourhood there is an ancient “broch” or “Pictish tower,” recently
excavated by Mr. George Petrie. Remains of very extensive buildings
have been found within and around it, evidently belonging to a
secondary occupation of the tower, of later date than that of its
original construction. Among the relics found in these secondary
buildings there are some which correspond with relics of the later
Viking period found in Scandinavia. This gives a certain amount of
probability to the supposition that the ruins of this “Pictish tower”
may have been occupied and utilised by Earl Rögnvald’s men, as we know
that the similar tower of Mousa, in Shetland, was on different
occasions, one of which is narrated in chap. xcii. of this same Saga.
Footnote 352:
This incident bears a remarkable similarity to that related in chap.
lxvi.
Footnote 353:
It is curious that Cæsar has described the ancient Britons as
observing in his time the same custom of shaving the lower part of the
chin, and wearing the hair long on the upper lip.
Footnote 354:
Borgarfiord seems here to be a misreading for Breidafiord (the Moray
Firth), unless we suppose that there was another Borgarfiord besides
the one in Shetland. Jonæus has _nordr_ instead of _sudr_, thus making
Swein sail north to Borgarfiord, which in this case would be in
Shetland. But it is hardly probable that he would have taken Shetland
in his route from Orkney to the coast of Moray.
Footnote 355:
Dúfeyrar must have been situated on the sandy shore of the parish of
Duffus, on the Moray coast, _eyri_ signifying a spit of sand. It has
been supposed, with some degree of probability, that Burghead is the
place here meant.
Footnote 356:
Ekkialsbakki, probably for Atjoklsbakki. (See note on p. 107.)
Footnote 357:
Hjalmundal, Strath Helmsdale, or Strath Ulli, which runs up along the
south side of the Ord, the mountain chain separating Caithness from
Sutherland. The expression “near the middle of Sutherland” must mean
that Swein came up through the central or inland region of the
country, and thus came down into Strath Helmsdale, a long way from the
coast, or “near the middle of the land.”
Footnote 358:
_Ines_ in Jonæus; it has not been identified.
Footnote 359:
Probably Lundy Island, in the Bristol Channel.
Footnote 360:
Syllingar, the Scilly Islands. There was an ecclesiastical settlement
there in Olaf Tryggvason’s time. It was in the Scilly Islands that he
was baptized, and embraced the faith which he afterwards propagated
with the strong hand both in his own kingdom and in Orkney.
Footnote 361:
_Lúdr._—This same signal was used by the army of the Bœndr at the
battle of Stiklestad (Flateyjarbók, ii. 352). The signal-horn used at
the present day by the Shetland fishermen still retains the ancient
name, “the ludr-horn.”
Footnote 362:
_Clavis Rhythmica_, apparently a kind of rhyming dictionary or
repertory of versification. Torfæus states that this joint production
of Earl Rögnvald and Hall, Ragna’s son, is still extant in the library
at Upsala.
Footnote 363:
From the description of Lambaborg, and its situation with regard to
the coast and the river at Freswick, it seems to have been the
fortalice now called Bucholly Castle, from a Mowat of Bucholly who
possessed it in the 17th century, and by whom it was partially
rebuilt.
Footnote 364:
Probably now represented by Duffus in Moray.
Footnote 365:
This passage supplies the name of a prior of the monastery of May, not
otherwise on record. (See records of the Priory of the Isle of May,
issued by the Soc. Antiq. Scot. 1868).
Footnote 366:
See p. 123.
Footnote 367:
See chap. lxxiv.
Footnote 368:
The Stockholm translation of the Saga has “in Vigr,” instead of “in
the Islands.”
Footnote 369:
In the Saga of Hakon Hakonson it is stated that Kolbein Hruga’s castle
was on the island of Vigr, now Weir. It was to this stronghold that
Snækoll Gunnason fled when he had slain Earl John (son of Harald
Maddadson), the last of the Norse Earls of Orkney, in A.D. 1232; and
the Saga states that the castle was so strong that it resisted all the
efforts of the Earl’s friends to take it. In 1529 we learn from Jo.
Ben that the ruins were still visible. Barry describes it as a small
square tower, 15 feet square inside, and the walls 7 feet thick,
strongly built with large stones, well cemented with lime. It is now a
green mound, like the older Pictish towers; but to this day among the
peasantry of the locality the mound bears the name of _Cobbie Row’s_
(Kolbein Hruga’s) Castle.
Footnote 370:
See note on p. 84.
Footnote 371:
Probably in the body-guard of the Greek Emperor, which, the Byzantine
historians of the period inform us, was composed of natives of the
remote north, whom they call Varangians. The name Varangi first
appears with them in the year 935, but they are said to have served of
old in the body-guard, and to have come partly from Thule and partly
from England. In the Saga of Harald Hardradi his exploits during his
sojourn in the East are minutely detailed, and it is recorded that he
became chief of the Værings, who were at that time in the Imperial
service. For several centuries these mercenaries in the pay of the
Emperors were renowned for their bravery, discipline, and fidelity.
After the Norman conquest of England, a body of Anglo-Saxon youth,
under Siward of Gloucester, choosing exile rather than the ignominy of
submission to the conquerors, went to Constantinople, and enrolled
themselves among the Værings. So many followed them that a mixture of
Danish and Saxon became the official language of the guards of the
Imperial Palace. Hoards of Eastern coins and ornaments are almost
annually discovered in Norway and Sweden, and occasionally in Orkney
and the North of Scotland. The museum of Stockholm possesses a
collection of more than 20,000 Cufic coins found in Sweden, dating
from the close of the 8th to the end of the 10th century, and vast
quantities of those silver ornaments of peculiar forms and style of
workmanship, which are also believed to have been brought from the
East, partly by trade and partly by the returning Værings.
Footnote 372:
The scene of the shipwreck seems to have been near Gulberwick.
Footnote 373:
The MS. translation at Stockholm reads “two Icelanders.”
Footnote 374:
Having studied probably at the University of Paris. Schröder gives the
names of several Swedish students at the University of Paris as early
as 1275. (De Universitate Parisiensi: Joh. Hen. Schröder.)
Footnote 375:
Valland, probably for Gaul-land, the Norse name for the west coast of
France.
Footnote 376:
Verbon has not been identified.
Footnote 377:
Galicialand, the modern Galicia, the north-west corner of Spain.
Footnote 378:
Heathen Spainland must refer to the provinces then in possession of
the Moors. The Saga of Sigurd the Jorsala-farer says that when he
visited Lisbon, four years after the fall of King Magnus Barelegs
(circa A.D. 1107), “there lies the division between Christian Spain
and heathen Spain, and all the districts that lie west of the city are
occupied by heathens”—meaning Moslems.
Footnote 379:
Njörfasund, the Straits of Gibraltar.
Footnote 380:
Serkland, or Saracen land—the north coast of Africa.
Footnote 381:
_Dromones_, originally used for long and swift ships, was in later
times applied to the larger ships of war (Du Cange _sub voce_). In the
early French romances it appears as “Dromons,” and “Dromont.” Matthew
Paris, in his account of the crusading expedition of Richard I. of
England (A.D. 1191) notices the capture of a Saracen ship—“navis
permaxima quam Drómundam appellant.”—_Hist. Angl._ vol. ii. p. 23,
Rolls Ed.
Footnote 382:
The tying of knots at the Jordan is also alluded to in the saga of
Sigurd the Jorsala-farer. King Sigurd and his brother Eystein are
“comparing each other’s exploits,” and Sigurd says:—“I went to
Palestine, and I came to Apulia, but I did not see you there, brother.
I went all the way to Jordan, where our Lord was baptized, and swam
across the river; but I did not see thee there. On the edge of the
river-bank there was a bush of willows, and there I twisted a knot of
willows, which is waiting thee there; for I said this knot thou
shouldst untie, and fulfil the vow, brother, that is bound up in it.”
The tying of knots seems also to have had another meaning covertly
alluded to in the stanzas.—(See the story of Gunnhild and Hrut in the
Njáls Saga, p. 18.)
Footnote 383:
This seems to be no place-name, but a name formed, as the Turks formed
the name Istambol, from hearing the Greeks constantly talking of going
“εις την πολιν”—“to the city,” meaning Constantinople.
Footnote 384:
Probably the promontory of Sigeum, at the mouth of the Dardanelles. It
might be called Ægisness, from its being at the entrance to the Ægean
Sea. It is called Engilsness in the saga of “King Sigurd the
Jorsala-farer,” and it is stated that Sigurd’s fleet also lay here for
a fortnight waiting a side-wind, that they might show off their sails
(which they had stitched over with silks) as they passed up to
Constantinople. There was, however, a town called Ægos, at the mouth
of a stream of the same name, near the northern end of the
Dardanelles, a little below the modern Gallipoli.
Footnote 385:
See note at p. 127.
Footnote 386:
Manuel I., successor of John Comnenus, who reigned from 1143 to 1180.
Footnote 387:
Dýraksborg must be Durazzo, the ancient Dyrachium, a seaport in
Albania, on the Adriatic, opposite to Brundusium in Italy.
Footnote 388:
Pull, the ancient Apulia or Puglia, in Italy, on the opposite shore of
the Adriatic from Dyrachium. Apulia had been under the dominion of its
Norman dukes from the middle of the eleventh century, and this may
have been the reason why the route homewards through Apulia was chosen
both by Sigurd the Jorsala-farer and Earl Rögnvald.
Footnote 389:
Hákon Herdabreid (the broad-shouldered) became King in 1161. (For an
account of his death, and that of King Ingi and Gregorius Dagson, see
the sagas of the sons of Harald Gilli and Hákon Herdabreid, in the
Heimskringla.)
Footnote 390:
Near Bergen.
Footnote 391:
Viken, in the south of Norway.
Footnote 392:
Bishop’s-tongues, a district lying between three rivers in the south
of Iceland, also mentioned in the Njáls Saga.
Footnote 393:
See note on p. 21.
Footnote 394:
One of the MS. copies of the saga has “Rögnvaldzeyiar.”
Footnote 395:
Harald Hardradi, son of Sigurd Syr, who was slain in the battle of
Stamford Bridge. See p. 47.
Footnote 396:
See the account of her elopement with Earl Erlend Ungi in chap. xcii.,
and of her relations with Gunni, Olaf’s son, chap. lxxxvii.
Footnote 397:
This was Malcolm the Maiden, the grandson, and not the son, of King
David I.
Footnote 398:
Malcolm the Maiden.
Footnote 399:
Malcolm the Maiden was twelve years old when he came to the throne.
Perhaps the Saga-writer meant that he had then been nine winters king.
Footnote 400:
The Mull of Deerness, or Moulhead of Deerness, as it is called in the
maps, in the north-east of the Mainland, Orkney.
Footnote 401:
Skeggbjarnarstad was probably a homestead on Skebro Head, in Rousay.
The old form of Skebro Head might be Skeggbjarnarhöfdi.
Footnote 402:
Hofsness, probably Huipness, the most northerly point of Stronsay.
Footnote 403:
Kjarekstad.—Munch identifies this place with the modern Karston or
Careston, which lies on the inlet leading to the Loch of Stennis, a
little to the north-east of Stromness. But this would make Arni,
Rafn’s son, run a good ten miles without once remembering that he had
his shield on his shoulder until it stuck in the door at Kirkwall. If
this Kjarekstad be not the same with Knarrarstad at Scapa, which was
Earl Rögnvald’s homestead (see p. 113), and might be the castle here
spoken of, there is a Carness near Kirkwall (in old maps Carisness)
which may be more readily supposed to be the Kjarekstad from which
Arni ran than Careston near Stromness.
Footnote 404:
Munch says of this passage that the text reads, very improperly,
“Gáreksey” for “Grimsey.” Hafnarvag he identifies with the Medalland’s
hofn of Hakon Hakonson’s saga, which is the “Midland Harbour” lying
between the Holm of Houston and the Mainland on the south side of
Orphir. The name Hafnarvag, however, simply signifies a landing-place
in a voe or inlet, and might more appropriately be applied to some
place near the head of the inlet immediately opposite Grimsey, which
goes up to the Loch of Stennis. If Harald and his men landed at
“Midland Harbour,” they took the longest land route to walk to Firth;
if they landed near the head of the inlet above mentioned, they chose
the shortest land route.
Footnote 405:
The word Orkahaug is only known to occur twice—once here, and once in
one of the Runic inscriptions on the walls of the chamber of Maeshow.
Here it is given merely as the name of the place where Earl Harald and
his men had a Yule-tide carouse, which disabled two of them from
proceeding on their journey, so that they failed in surprising Earl
Erlend at his Yule feast. In the inscription in the chamber of Maeshow
it appears as the name of the burial-mound which was broken into by
the Jorsala-farers in search of treasure. There seems to be little
doubt that this name “Orkahaug” was the name by which the Maeshow was
then known. The Orkahaug of the text must either mean the actual “how”
itself, or a homestead near it which was named from it. There is an
Orkhill (Orquill) not very far from Maeshow, and there was another
Orkhill near Knarstane, Scapa, which is called Orquile in “the coppie
of my Lord Sinclairis Rentale that deit at Flowdin.” No other
Orkahaug, however, is known. (See under Maeshow in the Introduction.)
Footnote 406:
The castle at Freswick, elsewhere called Lambaborg (see p. 122).
Footnote 407:
The mouth of the burn of Freswick.
Footnote 408:
Moseyjar-borg, the burg or castle on the little island of Mousa, in
Shetland. This curious structure is the best preserved example of the
old Celtic strongholds, or “Pictish towers,” which were so thickly
planted over the northern and western districts of Scotland, and
specially in those districts exposed to the ravages of the Northmen.
We learn from the Saga of Egill Skalagrimson that fully two centuries
before the event here narrated Mousa had been occupied in a precisely
similar manner by a couple who fled from Norway, and after celebrating
their marriage in the deserted burg, lived in it for a whole winter.
(See under Mousa in the Introduction.)
Footnote 409:
The Moray Firth.
Footnote 410:
Bly-holmar (lead islands) must refer to a group of islands not far to
the south of Berwick, probably the Fern Islands.
Footnote 411:
Mosey, the Isle of May.
Footnote 412:
Off Sumburgh Head, now called Sumburgh Roost.
Footnote 413:
Beruvik, probably the inlet at the mouth of the Berriedale water, on
the north side of the Ord of Caithness, where there is an old tower
called Berriedale Castle. (See note at p. 18.)
Footnote 414:
This was probably the castle which was destroyed by King William the
Lion in the end of the twelfth century, when he sent his troops
against Earl Harald “to Turseha,” and destroyed the Earl’s residence
there.
Footnote 415:
This is evidently a mistake in the text for Rögnvaldsey, or South
Ronaldsay. In the MS. the contraction R.ey is used both for Rínarsey
and Rögnvaldsey.
Footnote 416:
Vidivag, the voe or creek of the beacon; now Widewall, in South
Ronaldsay.
Footnote 417:
Bardvik, the bay beside Barth Head; now Burswick, in South Ronaldsay.
Footnote 418:
Strandhögg, strand-hewing, or victualling the ships of a viking
squadron, by driving cattle to the shore, and killing them there.
Footnote 419:
Ru Stoer in Assynt, on the west coast of Sutherlandshire.
Footnote 420:
Walls, in the Island of Hoy, Orkney.
Footnote 421:
Knarston, at Scapa, in the Mainland of Orkney. (See note at p. 113.)
Footnote 422:
Paplay, in Mainland, where Hákon Karl, the brother of Earl Magnus the
Holy, had his residence. (See p. 96.)
Footnote 423:
Sandwick, in Deerness.
Footnote 424:
The Iceland Annals place the fall of Earl Erlend in A.D. 1154.
Footnote 425:
See p. 74.
Footnote 426:
None of these men are again mentioned in the Saga.
Footnote 427:
In the “Coppie of my Lord Sinclaire’s Rentale, that deit at Flowdin,”
dating between 1497 and 1503, there is a Tyngwale in Rendale, set to
John Selatter. The name still remains, but there is no other trace of
an Orkney thing-stead in the Islands. (See p. 61.)
Footnote 428:
Mackaile and Sir Robert Sibbald both notice the existence of white
hares in the hill of Hoy. Low, in his “Fauna Orcadensis,” states that
they did not exist in his day; and he adds, “nor is there a hare of
any kind to be found in the Orkneys.”
Footnote 429:
Cave Isle—now Eller Holm, a small island between Shapinsay and the
Mainland of Orkney.
Footnote 430:
This seems to indicate that there was an ecclesiastical settlement on
Eller Holm. Possibly it may have been the “isle Elon” referred to in
the stanza made by Earl Rögnvald on the occasion of the singular
apparition of the sixteen shaven crowns described in chap. lxvi. It is
suggestive of this that Fordun gives the name of this island as
Helene-holm instead of Eller Holm. (See note, chap. lxvi.)
Footnote 431:
Völuness has not been identified.
Footnote 432:
This must be Barswick, near Barthhead, in South Ronaldsay, as it is
afterwards stated that from this headland Rögnvald and Swein saw Earl
Harald’s ship coming across the Firth from Caithness to Walls.
Footnote 433:
In the text it is “Hrólfsey to R(inans)ey”—Rousay to North Ronaldsay,
but Munch’s reading of the passage seems to be the true one. (See the
next chapter.)
Footnote 434:
The Mainland of Orkney. This shows that in all likelihood it is
Hrossey that is meant where the text has Hrólfsey at the beginning of
the previous chapter.
Footnote 435:
Probably Rapness, in the south-east of the island of Westray.
Footnote 436:
It does not appear whether this is the Hákon Karl who lived at Papuli
or not.
Footnote 437:
St. Mary’s, the largest of the Scilly Isles, called Syllingar in the
Sagas.
Footnote 438:
This was the famous Somerled, styled by the Chronicle of Man “Regulus
Herergaidel”—ruler of Argyle. This chronicle also adds the information
that his marriage with Ragnhild was the cause of the ruin of the
monarchy of the Isles. Although the Saga here makes Swein, Asleif’s
son, kill Somerled about the year A.D. 1159, we learn from the more
trustworthy sources of Fordun and the Chron. de Mailros that Somerled
was killed at Renfrew on the 1st January 1164, having landed there
with a fleet of 160 galleys in the attempt to make a conquest of
Scotland. He had given his sister in marriage to Wimund, ex-bishop,
_alias_ Malcolm M’Heth, whom the Saga calls Earl of Moray. After the
unsuccessful termination of Malcolm M’Heth’s attempt to gain
possession of the crown of Scotland, his brother-in-law, Somerled,
seems to have continued the hostilities against King David, and to
have joined the party against Malcolm IV. when the attempt was made to
place the “Boy of Egremont” on the throne. (See Fordun Skene’s ed.)
II. 250, and Munch, _Chron. Man._ p. 80.
Footnote 439:
Dugald, Reginald, and Angus; from Reginald sprang the Macrories,
Macdougalls, and Macdonalds of the Isles.
Footnote 440:
This is the Firth of Forth in chapter lxxvii. Here it evidently refers
to one of the sea-lochs on the west coast, and may probably be Loch
Gleann Dubh, the inner portion of Kyle Scow. At least the Norse name
“Dark Fiord,” and the Gaelic “Loch of the Dark Glen,” are suggestively
similar, and both equally descriptive of the upper part of the Kyle.
Footnote 441:
In reference to this passage, Jonæus, in his edition of the Saga
(Hafniæ, 1780), says, that what is of the greatest moment is the fact
which it points out, that at this date (circa 1158) there were
reindeer in Scotland. In his Latin version of the original he
translates the phrase “_at veida rauddyri edr hreina_” as “_feras
rubras et rangiferos venari_,” and has no doubt or hesitancy about the
matter. It is established by geological evidence that the reindeer was
widely distributed in Great Britain in post-glacial times, although
the instances of its occurrence within the human period, and in
association with the remains of man, have been comparatively rare.
Recently, however, evidence has been supplied by excavations in the
ruins of the brochs, or “Pictish towers,” of the north of Scotland,
which fully corroborates the statement of the Saga that the reindeer
was actually hunted and eaten by the later occupants of these
structures, their latest occupation on record being an occasional one
by the Norsemen. In the refuse-heaps of several of these towers, the
horns of the reindeer have been found, in some instances cut and sawn
as if to be utilised for artificial purposes; while in other cases it
is evident that the animals must have been killed when the horns were
in the velvet. It is also significant that the reindeer moss
(_Cladonia rangiferina_) still grows abundantly in Caithness. The
question is very fully and ably discussed in a paper on “The Reindeer
in Scotland,” by Dr. J. A. Smith, in the eighth volume of the
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
Footnote 442:
It is plain from the original that some words are here omitted from
the text. One of the MS. copies of the Saga has had the additional
words, which are thus rendered in the Danish translation preserved at
Stockholm, “_Der som vaar noget_ erg, _det kalde vi setter_,” etc.
“There were there some shielings (erg), which we call setter; and
there they took up their quarters for the night.” What is remarkable
about this passage is that the Gaelic word for a shieling, _Airidh_,
given phonetically by the old Norse saga-writer as “erg,” is glossed
in the Danish translation by the word “setter”—summer pasturing-place,
where rude huts were erected for temporary occupation. The word
setter, which is common in the place-names of Caithness and the
Northern Isles, is to this day understood by the inhabitants in the
same sense, although the custom of sending the cattle to the
hill-pastures in summer, and living in “shielings,” has now ceased, on
the mainland at least. (See also the note on “Asgrim’s ærgin,” p.
187.)
Footnote 443:
A Norwegian ell is half a yard. The leap was thus four yards and a
half.
Footnote 444:
Kalfadalsá, the Kalfadal’s stream, is the Burn of Calder, which,
issuing from the Loch of Calder, falls into the Thurso water. The
situation of Kalfadal, a valley running up from the valley of the
Thurso water towards Forss, is exactly that of the valley of Calder.
Footnote 445:
The word _ærgin_ is not Norse. It is, however, a Norse corruption of
the Gaelic word for a shieling—_airidh_, plur. _aridhean_, which
enters into the composition of many of the place-names in
Caithness—_e.g._ Halsary, Dorrery, Shurrery, Blingery, etc. Asgrim’s
_ærgin_ is still recognisable in the modern Askary or Assary, near the
north end of the Loch of Calder. It is curious to find thus
incidentally in the Saga an indication of the blending of the
folk-speech of the time, and to find also in the modern names of Norn
Calder and Scotscalder a record (preserved on the spot) of the time
when one portion of the dale was possessed by the Norsemen and another
by the natives. Passing from Calder towards the coast the place-names
are mostly Norse; and passing from Calder in the opposite direction
towards the uplands, the place-names are almost entirely Gaelic.
Footnote 446:
The feast of the Assumption of St. Mary, or the 15th August. The
Iceland Annals give 1158 as the year of Rögnvald’s death.
Footnote 447:
Earl Rögnvald was canonised A.D. 1192.
Footnote 448:
Skrud, a general term for fine cloth and costly stuffs.
Footnote 449:
After the divorce of his first wife Afreka. (See chap. cix.)
Footnote 450:
The Celtic form of her name is Gormlath.
Footnote 451:
This “Malcolm, Earl of Moray,” has a curious history. He appears first
as Wimund, a monk of Savigny, and priest in the Isle of Skye.
Afterwards he became Bishop of Man, and subsequently appeared in the
character of a pretender to the Scottish crown, giving himself out to
be Malcolm MacHeth, son of that Angus MacHeth who was defeated by King
David, and slain at Strickathro A.D. 1130. Assisted by Somerled of
Argyle and by this alliance with the Earl of Orkney, he ravaged the
western coasts of Scotland, until he was captured by King David, and
confined in the Castle of Roxburgh in 1134. He was released by Malcolm
the Maiden after the death of King David, and received from the young
king the sovereignty of a portion of the ancient kingdom of Cumbria.
His tyranny was such that his subjects revolted, took him prisoner,
put out his eyes, and confined him in the monastery of Bellaland
(Byland), in Yorkshire. (Munch, _Chron. Man._ p. 80.)
Footnote 452:
Thorfinn, the son of Earl Harald, appears on record about the year
A.D. 1165. In the Chartulary of Scone there is a document by “Harald,
Earl of Orkney, Hetland, and Cataness,” granting to the monks of Scone
a mark of silver to be paid annually by himself, his son Turphin, and
their heirs.—_Lib. Eccles. de Scone_, p. 37. Thorfinn died in prison
in Roxburgh Castle, after being mutilated by King William the Lion, to
whom he had been given as a hostage for his father.
Footnote 453:
William the Lion.
Footnote 454:
The “Fagrskinna” has (p. 148) “er fell i Vik”—he fell at Wick; but
there is nothing to fix the locality of this battle more definitely.
The tradition of the district points to Clairdon Hill, between Murkle
and Thurso, as the scene of the encounter. The church which is here
said to have been erected on the spot where Harald fell, and which is
spoken of as standing there when the Saga was written, is not now in
existence. The ruins of a chapel, which was traditionally believed to
mark the spot, were removed when the ground was brought under
cultivation by the late Sir John Sinclair. A remonstrance by the late
Rev. Mr. Pope, of Reay, seems to have had the effect of causing the
erection of an edifice (now used as the tomb of the Sinclair family)
over the place where an old chapel stood. It is now known locally as
“Harold’s Tower.” Large quantities of human bones, and several of the
peculiarly-shaped Norse swords which Mr. Pope describes as “odd
machines resembling ploughshares, all iron,” have been dug up in the
neighbourhood.
Footnote 455:
The Bishop advised the people to allow him first to speak with the
Earl, in the hope that he would be able to mollify him.
Footnote 456:
This seems to imply that it was at the grave of the holy Tröllhæna
that the Bishop received his sight. Tröllhæna seems to be the Celtic
St. Triduana or St. Tredwell, who, according to her legendary history,
came from Achaia with St. Regulus in the fourth century. Being of
extraordinary beauty, she was solicited by a Gallic prince, and to put
an end to his solicitations she cut out both her eyes, and sent them
to him skewered on a twig. Sir David Lindsay alludes to this:—
“Sanct Tredwall, als, there may be sene,
Quhilk on ane prick hes baith her ene.”
She died at Restalrig, near Edinburgh, and her tomb there continued,
so late as Lindsay’s time, to be a resort of pilgrims who came to
“mend their ene.” There is a chapel dedicated to St. Tredwell in the
island of Papa Westray, which Munch considers likely to have been
erected by Celtic ecclesiastics previous to the Norse invasion. There
was another chapel dedicated to her at Kintradwell, in
Sutherlandshire, where she is known as St. Trullen; but there is now
no trace of a St. Tredwell’s chapel in Caithness.
Footnote 457:
The letter of Pope Innocent to the Bishop of Orkney, prescribing the
penance to be performed by the man Lomberd, who cut out the Bishop’s
tongue, gives the additional information that when the Earl’s men took
the “borg” they killed almost all that were in it. (See the
Introduction.) The “borg,” or castle, at Scrabster, may have been an
earlier building on the site of the “Bishop’s Castle,” an old
fortalice on the cliff near the present hamlet of Scrabster, or it may
have been the ruins of one of the still older Pictish towers, not far
off, which the Caithnessmen may have occupied for the occasion as a
defensible position.
Footnote 458:
Eysteinsdal is not now represented in the topography of the district.
Footnote 459:
The battle of Floruvogar took place in 1194, according to the Iceland
Annals appended to the Flateyjarbók.
Footnote 460:
Shetland then passed into the immediate possession of the Crown of
Norway. Its revenues were granted by King Hakon Magnusson, in 1312-19,
to the Mary-kirk in Osloe (Christiania) for the completion of the
fabric, with the proviso that then they should revert to the crown.
Footnote 461:
According to the Iceland Annals of the Flateyjarbók, King Ingi Bardson
“took the kingdom” in 1204, and Harald Maddadson died in 1206.
Footnote 462:
The death of Hakon Galinn took place in the year 1214, according to
the Annals appended to the Flateyjarbók.
Footnote 463:
A spann = 24 marks, or 12 lbs. Scottish.—_Balfour’s Odal Rights_, p.
99.
Footnote 464:
Halkirk, in the Thurso valley.
Footnote 465:
The Icelandic Annals place the burning of Bishop Adam in the year
1222, and add that the King of Scots caused the hands and feet to be
hewn off eighty men who had been concerned in the Bishop’s burning.
Among the documents found in the King’s treasury at Edinburgh in 1282
(and subsequently lost) was one entitled: “A quit-claiming of the
lands of the Bondi of Caithness for the slaughter of the Bishop.” A
bull of Pope Honorius, dated 23d January 1223, and addressed to the
Bishops of St. Andrews, Glasgow, Dunkeld, and Dunblane, speaks in
terms of high commendation of King Alexander’s zealous desire to
avenge such an unheard-of crime as the burning of a bishop, and
thoroughly corroborates the Saga account of the manner of Adam’s
death, stating that these “wolves” and “demons,” having stripped their
Bishop of his garments, stoned him, mortally wounded him with an axe,
and finally burned him in his own kitchen. (Theiner’s _Vetera
Monumenta_, p. 21.)
Footnote 466:
See note at p. 107.
Footnote 467:
The Mainland of Orkney.
Footnote 468:
Haugaheith, now Hoxa, a peninsula on the north-west side of South
Ronaldsay, on which there are still several ancient grave-mounds, and
one mound larger than the rest, which has been ascertained to cover
the ruins of a Pictish tower. The grave-mound of Earl Thorfinn has not
been identified, but Low mentions that in his time there was a
tradition that the son of a King of Norway had been buried in the How
(_haug_) of Hoxa (_Haugs-heith_).
Footnote 469:
Steinsness, in Hrossey, is the “ness” or promontory at the Loch of
Stennis on the Mainland of Orkney, now so well known as the site of
the “standing stones of Stennis.” The Norsemen evidently named it
Steinsness from the stone circles and monoliths which stood on it when
they first knew it. (See the Introduction, under “Stennis.”)
Footnote 470:
There is a place at Stennis called Havard’s-teigr by the country
people to the present day; _teigr_ meaning an individual’s share of
the tún-land.
Footnote 471:
Nithing—cowardly miscreant.
Footnote 472:
The name Magbiód is suggestive of Macbeth, but the date is too early
for Macbeth Mac-Finlay.
Footnote 473:
Audna is probably the Irish name _Eithne_. Kiarval, her father, is the
Cearbhal or Carrol of the Irish Annals, who was King of Dublin
872-887. He is mentioned in the opening chapter of the Landnamabók as
King of Dublin when Harald Harfagri ruled in Norway and Sigurd was
Earl of the Orkneys. The two branches of the Hy Ivar, Kings of Dublin
and Limerick, were the descendants of Ivar the Boneless, son of Ragnar
Lodbrok. (See War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, App. pp. 271, 299.)
-------
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
● Transcriber’s Notes:
○ The Errata was applied to the text. The corrections made are as
follows:
▪ Page lxxix.—For “Há Kirkiu”, read “Há Kirkia”.
▪ Page 44.—For “She was married to Kolbein Hruga, read “She was
the mother of Hakon Barn and of Herborg, who was married to
Kolbein Hruga.”
▪ Page 135.—After “Verbon”, read “(Nerbon).”
▪ Page Footnote 1 on p. 157 (footnote 403).—For “Corness”, read
“Carness”.
▪ Page Footnote 1 on p. 192 (footnote 449).—For “death”, in Note
1, read “divorce”.
○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.
○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.
○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only
when a predominant form was found in this book.
○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_);
text that was bold by “equal” signs (=bold=).
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Orkneyinga Saga" ***
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