Chapter CXXV: Appendix (3)

“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: