Eyvind
Úrarhorn was a Norwegian man-of-action who supported King Olaf II Haraldsson of
Norway (aka St. Olaf, r. 1015-1028) by doing such tasks as hunting down
unwanted Vikings in Norwegian waters and forcing out foreign tax collectors who
were trying to extort King Olaf’s borderland subjects. In 1018, however, Eyvind
Úrarhorn decided to take a break from his domestic duties to go raiding abroad.
His Viking expedition brought him to the British Isles, and after some
pillaging, Eyvind apparently signed his crew up as mercenaries for a certain
King Connor in Ireland. Unfortunately for Eyvind Úrarhorn, the contract with
the Irish king brought him into hostile contact with another Viking crew that
was skulking around Ireland. In the fall of 1018, Jarl Einar Wry-Mouth of
Orkney (r. 1014-1020) appeared in Ireland and clashed with the Irish King
Connor. Eyvind Úrarhorn, heeding his mercenary contract, joined the Irish side
in the battle and fought against the army from Orkney.
King
Connor and Jarl Einar Wry-Mouth met in battle at Lough Larne, in Northern
Ireland. According to the accounts of the Orkneyinga Saga and the Heimskringla,
King Connor won a great victory that day and forced the jarl of Orkney to
retreat. The Orkneyinga Saga, describing the battle from Jarl Einar’s point of
view, claimed it was a “crushing defeat with heavy loss of life” (chapter 15).
The rebuffed Jarl Einar Wry-Mouth was sorely aware that a band of Norwegian
mercenaries had aided King Connor during the battle, and although the jarl may
not have known who commanded the mercenaries at the time, he was determined to
discover who led the group and to seek revenge. For the meantime, however,
Eyvind Úrarhorn enjoyed the victory and spent the rest of the year without any
harassment from Orkney.
By
the summer of 1019, Jarl Einar Wry-Mouth had learned of Eyvind’s part in the
battle at Lough Larne, and he was keeping his agents busy searching for the
Norwegian. It was at this inopportune time that Eyvind Úrarhorn decided to
return home to Norway. In a curious move, Eyvind made the bold decision to plot
his course past Orkney during his return trip. He might have been able to get
away with this move if fate had been kinder, but the weather betrayed Eyvind
Úrarhorn, forcing his ship to make landfall. Of all the places he could have
been driven ashore, Eyvind was unlucky enough to find himself beached at a
place called Osmundwall, located in the southern section of the Orkney
archipelago.
Jarl
Einar Wry-Mouth soon learned about Eyvind Úrarhorn’s presence in Orkney and he
quickly mobilized his fleet, eager to exact his revenge. Before Eyvind could
set sail, the jarl’s fleet descended on the Norwegian Vikings and caught them
by surprise. In the encounter that ensued, there was not much of a battle, and Jarl
Einar was allegedly able to take the stranded crew captive without any
difficulty. According to both the Orkneyinga Saga and the Heimskringla,
Jarl Einar Wry-Mouth used the situation to execute Eyvind Úrarhorn. With the
Viking leader’s death, the jarl’s drive for vengeance was sated, and he
ultimately let most of Eyvind’s crew return home. When King Olaf II of Norway
learned of his friend’s death, he took no official act against Orkney, although
he did begin to show public support for Einar’s rivals on the Orkney Islands,
especially for Einar’s brother, Jarl Thorfinn the Mighty (r. 1014-1064), who
traveled to Norway to meet with King Olaf II in 1020. During that very year,
King Olaf II was likely pleased to learn that Einar Wry-Mouth was murdered by
one of Jarl Thorfinn’s associates before the end of 1020.
Written
by C. Keith Hansley
Picture
Attribution: (Scenes from the Bayeux Tapestry, [Public Domain] via flickr.com
and Creative Commons).
Sources:
- Orkneyinga Saga, written anonymously approximately c. 1200, translated by Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards. New York: Penguin Classics, 1981.
- Heimskringla, by Snorri Sturluson and translated by Lee Hollander. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1964, 2018.
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