It is related that in the days of Harald Harfager, the king of Norway,
the islands of Orkney, which before had been only a resort for vikings,
were settled. The first earl in the Orkney Islands was called Sigurd,
who was a son of Eystein Giumra, and brother of Ragnvald earl of
More. After Sigurd his son Guthorm was earl for one year. After him
Torf-Einar, a son of Ragnvald, took the earldom, and was long earl,
and was a man of great power. Halfdan Haleg, a son of Harald Harfager,
assaulted Torf-Einar, and drove him from the Orkney Islands; but Einar
came back and killed Halfdan in the island Ronaldsha. Thereafter King
Harald came with an army to the Orkney Islands. Einar fled to Scotland,
and King Harald made the people of the Orkney Islands give up their udal
properties, and hold them under oath from him. Thereafter the king and
earl were reconciled, so that the earl became the king's man, and
took the country as a fief from him; but that it should pay no scat or
feu-duty, as it was at that time much plundered by vikings. The earl
paid the king sixty marks of gold; and then King Harald went to plunder
in Scotland, as related in the "Glym Drapa". After Torf-Einar, his sons
Arnkel, Erlend, and Thorfin Hausakljufer (1) ruled over these lands. In
their days came Eirik Blood-axe from Norway, and subdued these earls.
Arnkel and Erlend fell in a war expedition; but Thorfin ruled the
country long, and became an old man. His sons were Arnfin, Havard,
Hlodver, Liot, and Skule. Their mother was Grelad, a daughter of Earl
Dungad of Caithness. Her mother was Groa, a daughter of Thorstein Raud.
In the latter days of Earl Thorfin came Eirik Blood-axe's sons, who
had fled from Earl Hakon out of Norway, and committed great excesses in
Orkney. Earl Thorfin died on a bed of sickness, and his sons after him
ruled over the country, and there are many stories concerning them.
Hlodver lived the longest of them, and ruled alone over this country.
His son was Sigurd the Thick, who took the earldom after him, and became
a powerful man and a great warrior. In his days came Olaf Trygvason from
his viking expedition in the western ocean, with his troops, landed in
Orkney and took Earl Sigurd prisoner in South Ronaldsha, where he lay
with one ship. King Olaf allowed the earl to ransom his life by letting
himself be baptized, adopting the true faith, becoming his man, and
introducing Christianity into all the Orkney Islands. As a hostage,
King Olaf took his son, who was called Hunde or Whelp. Then Olaf went to
Norway, and became king; and Hunde was several years with King Olaf in
Norway, and died there. After his death Earl Sigurd showed no obedience
or fealty to King Olaf. He married a daughter of the Scottish king
Malcolm, and their son was called Thorfin. Earl Sigurd had, besides,
older sons; namely, Sumarlide, Bruse, and Einar Rangmund. Four or five
years after Olaf Tryrgvason's fall Earl Sigurd went to Ireland, leaving
his eldest sons to rule the country, and sending Thorfin to his mother's
father, the Scottish king. On this expedition Earl Sigurd fell in
Brian's battle (l). When the news was received in Orkney, the brothers
Sumarlide, Bruse, and Einar were chosen earls, and the country was
divided into three parts among them. Thorfin Sigurdson was five years
old when Earl Sigurd fell. When the Scottish king heard of the earl's
death he gave his relation Thorfin Caithness and Sutherland, with the
title of earl, and appointed good men to rule the land for him. Earl
Thorfin was ripe in all ways as soon as he was grown up: he was stout
and strong, but ugly; and as soon as he was a grown man it was easy to
see that he was a severe and cruel but a very clever man. So says Arnor,
the earls' skald:--
"Under the rim of heaven no other,
So young in years as Einar's brother,
In battle had a braver hand,
Or stouter, to defend the land."
ENDNOTES: (1) Hausakljufer--the splitter of skulls.--L.
(2) Brian's battle is supposed to have taken place on the 23rd
April 1014, at Clontart, near Dublin; and is known in Irish
history as the battle of Clontarf, and was one of the
bloodiest of the age. It was fought between a viking called
Sigtryg and Brian king of Munster, who gained the victory,
but lost his life.--L.