thumb|An example of a page from the Orkneyinga saga, as it appears in a printed copy of the 14th-century [[Flateyjarbók.]]

The Orkneyinga saga (Old Norse: ; ; also called the History of the Earls of Orkney and Jarls' Saga) is a narrative of the history of the Orkney and Shetland islands and their relationship with other local polities, particularly Norway and Scotland, written in Old Norse. The saga has "no parallel in the social and literary record of Scotland" and is "the only medieval chronicle to have Orkney as the central place of action". The main focus of the work is the line of jarls who ruled the Earldom of Orkney, which constituted the Norðreyjar or Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland and there are frequent references to both archipelagoes throughout.

The narrative commences with a brief mythical ancestry tale and then proceeds to outline the Norse take-over of the Norðreyjar by Harald Fairhair – the take-over is not in doubt although the role of the king is no longer accepted by historians as a likelihood. The saga then outlines, with varying degrees of detail, the lives and times of the many jarls who ruled the islands between the 9th and 13th centuries. The extent to which the earlier sections in particular can be considered genuine history rather than fiction has been much debated by scholars.

There are several recurring themes in the Orkneyinga saga, including strife between brothers, relationships between the jarls and the Norwegian crown, and raiding in the Suðreyjar – the Hebrides and elsewhere. In part, the saga's purpose was to provide a history of the islands and enable its readers to "understand themselves through a knowledge of their origins" but even where its historical accuracy is lacking it provides modern scholars with insights into the motives of the writers and the politics of 13th century Orkney.

Development and versions

thumb|upright=1.65|An early 19th-century illustration of "[[Hekla|Mount Hekla from Odde"]]

The original text of this Norse saga was written in the late twelfth century. It no longer exists. A new version was written in the early thirteenth century (three centuries after some of the earliest events it records) by an unknown Icelandic author who was probably associated with the cultural centre at Oddi. Orkneyinga saga belongs to the genre of "Kings' Sagas" within Icelandic saga literature, a group of histories of the kings of Norway, the best known of which is Heimskringla, written by Snorri Sturluson. Indeed, Snorri used Orkneyinga saga as one of his sources for Heimskringla which was compiled around 1230 (and then Heimskringla became in turn a source for later versions of the Orkneyinga saga).

As was generally the case with Icelandic language writing of this period, the aims of the saga were to provide a sense of social continuity through the telling of history combined with an entertaining narrative drive. The saga is thought to have been compiled from a number of sources, combining family pedigrees, praise poetry and oral legends with historical facts. In the case of the Orkneyinga saga the document outlines the lives of the earls of Orkney and how they came about their earldom. Woolf (2007) suggests that the task that the Icelandic compiler was faced with was not dissimilar to trying to write a "history of the Second World War on the basis of Hollywood movies". He also notes that a problem with medieval Icelandic historiography in general is the difficulty of fixing of a clear chronology based on stories created in a largely illiterate society in which "AD dating was probably unknown".

As the narrative approaches the period closer to the time it was written down, some historians have greater confidence in its accuracy. For example, there are significant family connections between Snorri Sturluson and Earl Harald Maddadsson (d. 1206) and the original saga document was probably written down at about the time of Harald's death.

Gudbrand Vigfússon (1887) identified several different components to the saga, which may have had different authors and date from different periods. These are:

  • Fundinn Noregr chapters 1–3
  • Iarla Sogur chapters 4–38 (of which the sections regarding Earl Einarr are the oldest texts in the saga as a whole)
  • St Magnus saga chapters 39–55
  • Iarteina-bok (Magnus's "Miracle book") chapter 60
  • The History of Earl Rognwald and Swain Asleifsson chapters 56–59 and 61–118.

A Danish translation dating to 1570 indicates that the original version of the saga ended with the death of Sweyn Asleifsson, who (according to the saga) was killed fighting in Dublin in 1171. Various additions were then added circa 1234-5 when a grandson of Asleifsson and a lawmaker called Hrafn visited Iceland. The oldest complete text is found in the late 14th century Flateyjarbók but the first translation into English did not appear until 1873.

Narrative

The first three chapters of the saga are a brief folk legend that sets the scene for later events. It commences with characters associated with the elements – Snaer (snow), Logi (flame), Kari (storm) and Frosti (frost) and also gives a unique explanation for how Norway came to be named as such, involving Snaer's grandson Nór. There is also a reference to claiming land by dragging a boat over a neck of land (reprised in chapter 41 when Magnus Barefoot uses the same trick) and the division of the land between Nór and his brother Gór, which is a recurring theme in the saga. This legend also gives the Orkney jarls an origin involving a giant and king called Fornjót who lived in the far north. This clearly distinguishes them from the Norwegian kings as described in the Ynglingatal and may have been intended to give the jarls a more senior and more Nordic ancestry.

Having dealt with the mythical ancestry of the earls, the saga then moves on to topics that are apparently intended as genuine history.

Harald Fairhair and the voyage to the west

170 px|right|thumb|alt=Black and white drawing of a snapshot showing shipmasts with flags and warriors marching below.|[[Magnus Barefoot's army in Ireland. It has been argued that Magnus's actions in the west form the basis of the saga narrative about the submission of Orkney and Shetland to Harald Fairhair's fleet.]]

The next few chapters deal with the creation of the Earldom of Orkney; they are brief and contain much less detail than the later events the saga describes. The saga states that Rognvald Eysteinsson Earl Rognvald retains the rule of Møre by the King of Norway, Harald Fairhair. Earl Rognvald accompanied the king on an expedition where they conquer the islands of Shetland, called Hjaltland, and Orkney, before they continued on to Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man. During this campaign Rognvald's son Ivarr was killed and in compensation Harald granted Earl Rognvald to rule over Orkney and Shetland. Rognvald Earl thereafter returned to Norway, giving these islands to his brother Sigurd Eysteinsson. Sigurd had been the forecastleman on Harald's ship and after sailing back east the king "gave Sigurd the title of earl".

Sigurd "the Mighty" then died in a curious fashion, following a battle with Máel Brigte of Moray. Sigurd's son Gurthorm ruled for a single winter after this and died childless. Rognvald's son Hallad then inherited the title. However, unable to constrain Danish raids on Orkney, he gave up the earldom and returned to Norway, which "everyone thought was a huge joke."

First written down in the early 13th century, the saga is informed by the Norwegian politics of the day. Once, historians could write that no-one denied the reality of Harald Fairhair's expeditions to the west (recounted in detail in the Heimskringla), but this is no longer the case. Thomson (2008) writes that Harald's "great voyage is so thoroughly ingrained in popular and scholarly history, both ancient and modern, that it comes as a bit of a shock to realise that it might not be true." The Norwegian contest with the Kings of Scots over the Hebrides and the Isle of Man in the mid 13th century is the backdrop to the saga writer's intentions and in part at least the sagas aim to legitimise Norwegian claims to both the Northern Isles and the Kingdom of the Isles in the west.

It may be that the saga writers drew on a genuine tradition of a voyage by Harald to the west, or that they simply invented it wholesale for political purposes, but it is possible that there are elements included in the narrative that are drawn from the much later expeditions undertaken by Magnus Barefoot. The situation faced by Earl Harald Maddadsson of Orkney in 1195, shortly before the time that the sagas were first written down, when he was forced to submit himself to royal authority after an ill-judged intervention in Norwegian affairs would have made legendary material of this nature of considerable interest in Orkney at the time. Nonetheless, the view that the Orkney earldom was created by "members of the Møre family" continues to receive academic support.

Torf-Einarr

Hallad's failure led to Rognvald flying into a rage and summoning his sons Thorir and Hrollaug. He asked which of them wanted the islands but Thorir said the decision was up to the earl himself. Rognvald predicted that Thorir's path would keep him in Norway and that Hrollaug was destined seek his fortune in Iceland. Einarr, the youngest of his natural sons, then came forward and offered to go to the islands. Rognvald said: "Considering the kind of mother you have, slave-born on each side of her family, you are not likely to make much of a ruler. But I agree, the sooner you leave and the later you return the happier I'll be." Despite his father's misgivings, on arrival on the islands, Einarr fought and defeated two Danish warlords who had taken residence there. Einarr then established himself as earl and founded a dynasty which retained control of the islands for centuries after his death.

The scene in which Einarr's father scorns him is a literary device which often figures in Old Norse literature. The dialogue between the father and his sons has been interpreted as being about Rognvald's desire to cement his own position as Earl of Møre and an allusion to the early history of Iceland, where the saga was written. Thorir is a compliant son who Rognvald is happy to keep at home. Hrolluag is portrayed as a man of peace who will go to Iceland. Einarr is aggressive and a threat to his father's position so can be spared for the dangers of Orkney. (In the Landnámabók version the equally aggressive brother Hrolfr is also present, and his destiny is anticipated to be in conveniently far-away Normandy.)

thumb|"Odin Rides to Hel" (1908) by [[W. G. Collingwood]]

Einarr is also provided with various characteristics associated with Odin. Both have but one eye and the death of an opponent at Einarr's hands is offered to the god—an act that contains a hint of Odin's own sacrifice to himself in the Hávamál. Einarr is a man of action who is self-made, and he is a successful warrior who (unlike his brothers) avenges his father's death. He leads a dramatic and memomorable life and emerges as "ancient, powerful and mysterious—but as a literary figure rather than a real person". He is also a whose appearance at the commencement of the saga contrasts with the later martyrdom of his descendant St Magnus. That event marks a "moral high-point" of the story.

Sigurd the Stout

The death of Earl Sigurd Hlodvirsson (980–1014) is the subject of earliest known contemporary reference to the earldom of Orkney. The 12th-century Irish source, the Cogadh Gaedhil re Gallaibh, records the events of the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. The "foreigners and Leinstermen" were led by Brodir of the Isle of Man and Sigurd, and the battle lasted all day, but the Irishmen ultimately drove back their enemies into the sea. His death is corroborated by the Annals of Ulster, which record that amongst the dead was "Siuchraid son of Loduir, iarla Innsi Orcc" (i.e. of Sigurd, son of Hlodvir, Earl of Orkney).

thumb|left|alt=A group of warriors in medieval garb surround two men whose postures suggest they are about to embrace. The man on the right is taller, has long fair hair and wears a bright red tunic. The man on the left his balding with short grey hair and a white beard. He wears a long brown cloak.| [[Olaf I of Norway|King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway, who is said to have forcibly Christianised Orkney. Painting by Peter Nicolai Arbo.]]

According to the Orkneyinga saga, the Northern Isles had been Christianised by King Olaf Tryggvasson in 995 when he stopped at South Walls on his way from Ireland to Norway. The King summoned jarl Sigurd and said "I order you and all your subjects to be baptised. If you refuse, I'll have you killed on the spot and I swear I will ravage every island with fire and steel." Unsurprisingly, Sigurd agreed and the islands became Christian at a stroke. However, when the sagas were written down Orkney had been Christian for 200 years or more and the conversion tale itself has been described as "blatantly unhistorical". Some have argued that when the Norse arrived in the Northern Isles they would have found organised Christianity already thriving there, although there is no mention of this at all in the sagas.

Earl Thorfinn

Virtually nothing about Thorfinn Sigurdsson's life is corroborated from contemporary sources and the saga writer seems to have obtained most of his material from the poem Þórfinnsdrápa, which was written by his court poet Arnór immediately following his death.

The Orkneyinga Saga says that a dispute between Thorfinn and Karl Hundason began when the latter became "King of Scots" and claimed Caithness, his forces successfully moving north and basing themselves in Thurso. In the war which followed, Thorfinn defeated Karl in a sea-battle off Deerness at the east end of the Orkney Mainland. Then Karl's nephew Mutatan or Muddan, appointed to rule Caithness for him, was killed in Caithness by Thorkel Fosterer. Finally, a great battle at "Torfness" (probably Tarbat Ness on the south side of the Dornoch Firth) ended with Karl either being killed or forced to flee. Thorfinn, the saga says, then marched south through Scotland as far as Fife, burning and plundering as he passed. As a result of his military exploits Thorfinn became Mormaer of Caithness and during the first twenty years of his long earldom he was often based there. He was thus a vassal of both the King of Norway and the King of Scots, a status and title that was held by many of his successors. Thorfinn also became King of the Isles from 1035, which title was only held amongst the earls of Orkney by Sigurd Eysteinsson before him, and after him possibly by Einar Sigurdsson and for a brief period by Sigurd Magnusson as the under-age son of Magnus Barefoot.

St Magnus

Magnus Erlendsson, Thorfinn's grandson, had a reputation for piety and gentleness, which the Norwegians viewed as cowardice. Having been taken hostage by King Magnus Barefoot, he refused to fight in a Viking raid in Anglesey because of his religious convictions, and instead stayed on board the ship during the Battle of Menai Straits, singing psalms. His brother Erling died while campaigning with King Magnus, either at that same battle or in Ulster.

thumb|right|The ruins of St Magnus Church, on the island of [[Egilsay]]

Magnus was obliged to take refuge in Scotland, but returned to Orkney in 1105 and disputed the succession with his cousin Haakon Paulsson. Having failed to reach an agreement, he sought help from King Eystein I of Norway, who granted him the earldom of Orkney and he ruled jointly and amicably with Haakon until 1114.

Magnus took refuge in the island's church overnight, but the following day he was captured and an angry Haakon made his cook Lifolf kill Magnus by striking him on the head with an axe. It was said that Magnus first prayed for the souls of his executioners.

Magnus's nephew, Rögnvald Kali Kolsson, laid claim to the Earldom of Orkney, and was advised by his father Kol to promise the islanders to "build a stone minster at Kirkwall" in memory of his uncle the Holy Earl, and this became St Magnus Cathedral. When the cathedral, begun in 1137, was ready for consecration the relics of St Magnus were transferred there.

Sweyn Asleifsson and Earl Rögnavald

thumb|left|The interior of [[St. Magnus Cathedral, which was constructed in the 12th century under the supervision of Kol, father of Earl Rögnvald Kali Kolsson]]

As this part of the saga was written only a few decades after Asleifsson's death it is reasonable to suppose these chapters more accurately reflect the events they describe than the histories of earlier times. Asleifsson is depicted as the quintessential Viking, a freebooter whose activities include drunkenness, murder and plundering and whose support is crucial to the politics of the Orkney earldom. Although he was not an earl his activities take up fully one quarter of the saga and the oldest version ends with his death.

His tale is closely bound up with that of Earl Rögnvald, a more rounded character who is also a troubadour and, like his uncle Magnus, ultimately a saint, and it may be that the saga writers were seeking to portray them as exemplars of the Viking lifestyle. However, there may also be a more complex moral to the story. Although Ásleifsson's dying words are "Be it known to all men... that I belong to the bodyguard of Saint Rögnvald the Earl", he also blackmailed Rögnvald and caused him a great deal of trouble. It is possible that the saga intends to cast Rögnvald as a weak leader who was unable control his nobles.

Another interpretation of the narrative is that rather than seeing these two men as protagonist and antagonist that together they live in a golden age where the earl is a cultured ruler and primus inter pares but who owes his position in part to his band of "worthy warriors" and is by no means a despot who rules by divine right. In this case the whole story may be seen as a reaction to the Norwegian royal propaganda of the age that sought to promote the central authority of the crown.

If the height of the earls' military strength was during the 11th century time of Thorfinn "the Mighty", the reign of Earl Rögnvald Kali Kolson marks the 12th century cultural high point of the saga.

Later Earls

Earl Harald "the Old" Maddadsson (c. 1134 – 1206) ruled jointly with Earl Rognvald for part of his long tenure. When King Eystein Haraldsson undertook a raiding expedition from Norway against Orkney he encountered Harald near Thurso and captured him. Harald was freed in return for a ransom in gold and by giving his oath to Eystein. Eystein then went on to raid the coasts of Scotland and England.

Possibly as a result of Eystein's activities, King David I granted half of Caithness to Harald's cousin, Erlend Haraldsson. The result was a political struggle which ended with Erlend's murder in 1154. Sweyn Asleifsson was again heavily involved in this dynastic conflict. In 1153 King David died and was succeeded by his young grandson, Malcolm IV. King Eystein too died in a war with his brothers Ingi and Sigurd. As a result, by 1158 Harald Maddadsson was undisputed Earl of Orkney, with neither the King of Scots nor the King of Norway in a position to contest his power.

The final, brief chapters of the later version of the saga depict the lives of Harald's four successors who ruled until the murder of Jon Haraldsson in 1231, bringing the line of specifically Norse earls of Orkney to an end although Orkney and Shetland remained part of Norway until the 15th century.

History or fable?

thumb|[[Orkney and Shetland at centre, in relation to nearby territories]]

There is clearly doubt about the historicity of many of the claims in the Orkneyinga saga and the extent to which euhemerism may be an appropriate approach. Just as the backdrop to the supposed great expedition to the west undertaken by King Harald Fairhair that led to the founding of the Orkney earldom was the mid-13th century Norwegian contest with the Kings of Scots over the Hebrides, so also events that have been included in the saga as embellishments to the life of Earl Thorfinn have a number of parallels with the life of Harald Maddadsson. Woolf (2007) speculates that aspects of Thorfinn's story may have been included to legitimise the latter's adventures.

Early in the narrative in particular, there are examples of obviously fictional elements such as Earl Sigurd's raven banner and also in some later events such as the effects of the poisoned shirt that supposedly killed Earl Harald Haakonsson.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

Primary sources

Secondary sources

Other primary sources

  • Original Old Norse text:
  • Orkneyinga saga heimskringla.no
  • English translation:
  • Orkneyinga Saga. Trans. Joseph Anderson (1873). Edinburgh.
  • Orkneyinga Saga. Trans A.B. Taylor (1937). London.
  • The Orkneyingers Saga (Icelandic Sagas, and other historical documents relating to the settlements and descents of the Northmen on the British Isles, Volume III). Translated by George Dasent (1894). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Reprinted 1964 by Kraus Reprint. Text available at Sacred Texts and Northvegr.
  • "Fundinn Noregr" ('Discovery of Norway'), opening portion of The Orkneyingers Saga. Trans. Chappell, Gavin (2004) Northvegr.
  • Proverbs and proverbial materials in Orkneyinga saga