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.