The Revenge Of Jarl Einar Wry-Mouth Of Orkney Against The Viking, Eyvind Úrarhorn

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.  

The Peculiar Poisoning of Jarl Harald Smooth-Tongue

The 12th century was a tumultuous year for the nobles of Orkney. At the beginning of the century, King Magnus III “Barefoot” reasserted the power of the Norwegian crown over the islands, yet, upon his death in 1103, the jarls of Orkney regained some of their autonomy. The Heimskringla of Snorri Sturluson (c. 1179-1241) and the anonymous Orkneyinga Saga (published around 1200) provided names of the jarls who were said to have ruled Orkney before and after Magnus. According to those aforementioned sources, the sons of the late King Magnus III appointed a certain Jarl Hakon Paulsson to rule in Orkney. Jarl Hakon was said to have executed his cousin, Saint Magnus, in 1117 in order to maintain sole rule over the islands. Not long after that event, Jarl Hakon died and power in Orkney passed to his two sons, Harald Smooth-Tongue and Paul (or Pál) the Silent. Yet, like their father, the siblings were not keen on sharing power.

Harald and Paul were apparently half-brothers, and while Paul’s mother remains unknown, the Orkneyinga Saga did name Harald Smooth-Tongue’s supposed mother. Harald was said to have been born to Helga Moddansdottir, a woman from a prominent family in Caithness, Scotland. Helga reportedly had a sister named Frakokk, who was said to have traveled to Orkney sometime after King David I became king of the Scots in 1124. Frakokk joined Helga in the court of Jarl Harald Smooth-Tongue, and, according to the Orkneyinga Saga, Harald put great trust in their counsel.

Around the time of Frakokk’s supposed arrival in Orkney, the divide between Jarl Harald and Jarl Paul was reaching a breaking point. One of Paul’s staunchest allies, Thorkel Sumarlidason, was reportedly assassinated and the rival factions of the jarls were nearing open war. Peace, however, was said to have been maintained by mutual friends of the two rulers. The jarls even allegedly pledged to work on improving their sibling relationship by spending Christmases together.

During an unknown year, Harald Smooth-Tongue reportedly announced that he would host a Christmas feast on his estate at Ophir and that Jarl Paul was invited. Harald’s mother, Helga, and his aunt, Frakokk, were allegedly still present in Orkney at the time and, according to the Orkneyinga Saga, they spent the days leading up to Christmas by feverishly sewing a magnificent snow-white robe, which was lined with golden thread. As the story goes, this was a special gift that they wanted to present to a certain rival jarl during the upcoming Christmas feast.

In a greatly embellished (or perhaps purely fictitious) section from the Orkneyinga Saga, Jarl Harald Smooth-Tongue discovered the luxurious robe sometime after it was completed. He asked his mother and aunt about the garment, and they quickly responded that it was not for him, but for his brother, Paul. Yet, Harald coveted that white and gold robe, and he was determined to wear it at all costs. The young jarl haughtily marched over to the robe and began unfolding it, and would have completed the task if his mother had not snatched the gift away. The Orkneyinga Saga continued the peculiar scene:

“The Jarl snatched it back and was about to put it on when the sisters pulled off their bonnets, tore their hair and said that if he put on the garment his life would be at risk. Though they were both in tears he didn’t let that stop him, but no sooner was the garment upon his back than his flesh began to quiver and he began to suffer terrible agony. He had to go to bed and not long after that he died” (Orkneyinga Saga, chapter 55).

And so died Jarl Harald Smooth-Tongue, or, at least, that is how the Orkneyinga Saga portrayed his death. Whatever the case, whether the jarl’s death was a nefarious plot gone wrong, an assassination, or simply of natural causes, it followed that Jarl Paul the Silent emerged as the sole ruler of Orkney. Yet, Paul similarly did not live happily ever after. Around 1137, Paul the Silent mysteriously disappeared and was succeeded by Rognvald Kali (read about that HERE).

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (A scene of King Haakon the Good of Norway by Peter Nicolai Arbo (1831–1892), [Public Domain] via 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.
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Magnus-III
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-I

The Disappearance Of Jarl Paul The Silent

According to the Orkneyinga Saga (written around 1200), the earldom of Orkney was often co-ruled by multiple jarls. This was made even more complicated during the reign of St. Olaf of Norway (r. 1015-1028), when the Norwegian crown reportedly claimed direct rule of one-third of Orkney. As portrayed in the sagas, the other two-thirds of Orkney was thereafter often ruled by two jarls, who both competed in befriending the Norwegian crown in hopes of gaining the right to administer the king’s portion of Orkney. In some cases, however, a single jarl claimed sole rule over the earldom by outliving or killing his co-rulers. One such person was Jarl Thorfinn Sigurdsson the Mighty (d. 1064), who outlived his brothers and executed a nephew to become sole ruler, although Orkney was once again split among his sons.

If the genealogy of the Orkneyinga Saga is correct, Jarl Paul the Silent was a great-grandson of Thorfinn the mighty. Paul came to power in Orkney sometime after 1117 and shared power with his half-brother, Harald Smooth-Tongue, until Harald mysteriously died at an unknown time. After Harald Smooth-Tongue’s death, Paul the Silent became sole ruler of Orkney and several members of his family were sent into exile. According to the Orkneyinga Saga, Harald’s son (Erlend), mother (Helga), aunt (Frakokk), and sister (Margaret) were all banished from Orkney or otherwise decided to stay in exile.

Although Jarl Paul the Silent had managed to become sole ruler of Orkney, he had several potential rivals who could claim a piece of the earldom. Two were nephews: the aforementioned Erlend and also Harald Maddadarson, the son of Jarl Paul’s sister, Margaret, and an earl of Atholl. Another threat was Rognvald Kali Kolsson, a Norwegian nobleman who was living the life of a merchant and adventurer. Rognvald Kali was related to the ruling family of Orkney through his mother, Gunnhild, who was a granddaughter of Jarl Thorfinn the Mighty. Rognvald Kali’s uncle was also Jarl Magnus of Orkney, who had been executed by the father of Paul the Silent in 1117.

With his lineage and powerful connections in Norway, Rognvald Kali became the predominant threat to Paul the Silent. King Sigurd the Crusader of Norway (r. 1103-1130) reportedly recognized Rognvald Kali’s claim to a piece of Orkney and elevated him to the rank of jarl around 1129. Before Jarl Rognvald Kali could launch an expedition to Orkney, he was delayed by the death of King Sigurd in 1130 and the chaotic politics of succession. Upon King Sigurd’s death, Norway was divided between the late king’s son, Magnus IV, and a self-proclaimed half-brother of Sigurd named Harald IV. Rognvald Kali joined the camp of the latter and did not return his gaze to Orkney until after Harald IV defeated, captured and blinded Magnus IV in 1135.

After receiving King Harald’s blessing, Rognvald Kali set off for Shetland with five or six ships. He also reached out to the nobles that had been exiled by Paul the Silent, such as the late Harald Smooth-Tongue’s sister and aunt, who were both reportedly powerful women in Scotland through marriage. These women were said to have agreed to help Rognvald Kali and mustered around 12 ships from their domains, which they sent off to Orkney. Yet, the target of all these conspirators was no pushover. Jarl Paul the Silent was said to have raised his own fleet of 17 ships and quickly put to use the tried-and-true strategy of divide and conquer. Jarl Paul defeated the ships from Scotland before they could unite with Rognvald Kali’s force. He then sailed for Shetland, where he defeated the Norwegian ships with a surprise assault. Rognvald Kali survived the attack and reportedly returned to Norway with the help of some merchants.

Around 1136 or 1137, Rognvald Kali returned to Shetland with a reported fleet of 14 ships. This time, the invaders took more time to plan their strategy. One such ploy was to target Jarl Paul’s network of signal fires set up on various islands in Orkney. Rognvald Kali had some of his ships sail up to the islands to trigger the lighting of these signal fires, then retreat without causing any damage. After repeatedly triggering the signal fires over a long period of time, the annoyed men responsible for igniting the signals began to neglect their duties. Taking advantage of this negligence, Rognvald Kali successfully landed his forces on the island of Westray, in northern Orkney, and did so without any signal fires being lit.

Before any bloodshed occurred between Rognvald Kali and Paul the Silent, the local bishop arranged a truce while the different factions negotiated the fate of Orkney. The truce was accepted by both parties, but Jarl Paul’s enemies used it to their own advantage. According to the Orkneyinga Saga, Paul’s sister, Margaret, hired Svein Asleifarson, one of the ablest men then living in the Scandinavian-controlled regions of the British Isles, and sent him on a mission to abduct Jarl Paul the Silent. Svein and the kidnappers successfully infiltrated Orkney and captured Jarl Paul in 1137. They did such a masterful job that no one in Orkney knew what happened next.

The Orkneyinga Saga provided two or three possible outcomes. One version was that Svein Asleifarson brought Jarl Paul to Margaret in Atholl, where she convinced her brother to freely give up his claim to Orkney so that her son, Harald Maddadarson, could become a jarl of Orkney. In this cheerful ending, Paul the Silent lived a quiet life in exile, possibly in a monastery. Yet, the author of the saga also wrote that Jarl Paul may have been imprisoned for life or executed by his captors. With no clear answer, the saga concluded its account of Paul’s life with an eerie statement: “We can’t say which comes nearer the truth, but this much is known, that he never came back to Orkney and he never gained power in Scotland” (Orkneyinga Saga, section 75). With the timely disappearance of Paul the Silent, Rognvald Kali (r. 1137-1158) claimed sole rule over the islands. Yet, not long afterwards, he accepted Margaret’s son, Harald Maddadarson (r. 1139-1206), as a co-ruler of Orkney.

Written by C. Keith Hansley

Picture Attribution: (Social media crop of a Viking Funeral by Carl Schmidt (1858-1923), [Public Domain] via 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. 
• http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/stmagnus/magcath.htm 
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Olaf-II-Haraldsson 
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Harald-IV 
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sigurd-I-Magnusson 
• https://www.britannica.com/place/Scotland/Cultural-life#ref483807  

The Bizarre Way The Norwegian Earl Sigurd Of Orkney Supposedly Died

History about the Scandinavian settlement of British islands, such as the Shetland Islands, the Orkney Islands and the Hebrides, is dubious at best, even during the better-documented times when Harald Finehair was attempting to spread his influence over those regions. Anglo-Saxon sources, such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles and Asser’s Life of King Alfred were more likely to comment on Viking activity in mainland Britain and France than on Scandinavian settlements in the islands of the northern British Isles. Consequently, written history about the medieval Orkney and Shetland Islands has been overwhelmingly shaped by the most prolific lore-keepers of the Scandinavian world—the Icelanders.

Orkney, Shetland, the Hebrides, the Isle of Man, and Ireland were natural stopping points for Vikings who were sailing around the British Isles, looking for settlements to loot. Viking raids in Britain had begun as early as the 790s in the north, and had spread to the southern British kingdoms by the 830s. Viking activity increased dramatically in 865, with the arrival of the so-called Great Heathen Army. King Alfred the Great of Wessex finally forced this army to leave his kingdom in 878, after many years of back-and-forth fighting.  Another Great Heathen Army tried its luck against King Alfred in 892, but the Anglo-Saxon king had improved his kingdom’s defenses by then and the Vikings were driven away by 896.

King Harald Finehair (c. 860-940) was born in the midst of this Viking Age, yet he showed little interest in plundering foreign lands. Instead, while his peers sailed away to raid distant lands, Harald Finehair instead stayed home and spread his influence throughout Norway, becoming the king of the whole region sometime between the years 885 and 900. Only after Harald had become king of all Norway did he reportedly turn his gaze toward Britain, and did so because displaced Norwegians were launching Viking raids against Harald’s kingdom from Shetland, Orkney and other Viking hubs. Therefore, Harald’s navy set sail toward Britain, not to raid the Anglo-Saxons, but to punish the Vikings.

The Saga of Harald Finehair (from Snorri Sturluson’s Heimskringla) and the Orkneyinga saga, both written in 13th-century Iceland, give an account of Harald’s campaign. The Heimskringla claimed that Harald Finehair campaigned successively from the Shetland Islands, to the Orkneys, to the Hebrides, and then all the way down to the Isle of Man. The Heimskringla and the Orkneyinga saga both agree that King Harald gave Shetland and Orkney to Earl Rognvald, who subsequently handed the islands over to his brother, Sigurd. Earl Sigurd allied with Thorstein the Red (a member of the family that gained controlled the Hebrides) and together they meddled in Scottish affairs, going as far as invading Scotland through Caithness. The sagas agreed that the Norwegians encountered stiff Scottish resistance, led by a certain Scot nobleman whom the Icelandic authors named Maelbricht Tooth, and, according to the Laxdæla saga, Thorstein the Red was eventually killed by the Scots. Earl Sigurd, however, continued the war effort and reportedly slew Maelbricht Tooth.

As the Heimskringla and Orkneyinga saga tell it, Earl Sigurd’s pride at overcoming Maelbricht led him to create a morbid trophy from the skull of his fallen Scottish rival. The Orkneyinga saga suggested that Maelbricht naturally had bizarre protruding teeth. The Heimskringla, however, claimed that Earl Sigurd added tusks to the skull to make the trophy all the more intimidating. Whatever the case, both sagas agreed that Earl Sigurd hung the skull from the saddle strap of his horse.

One day, while Earl Sigurd was riding around his domain, showing off his trophy as he went, the earl accidentally stabbed his leg on the protruding tooth or tusk from Maelbricht’s skull. The wound quickly became infected and eventually led to the inglorious death of Earl Sigurd.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Scene from the Halvdan Svartes saga, by Gerhard Munthe (1849–1929), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• Heimskringla, by Snorri Sturluson and translated by Lee Hollander. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1964, 2018.
• Orkneyinga saga in The Viking Age: A Reader, edited by Angus A. Somerville and R. Andrew McDonald. Ontario: University of Toronto Press, 2010.  
• Laxdæla saga in The Viking Age: A Reader, edited by Angus A. Somerville and R. Andrew McDonald. Ontario: University of Toronto Press, 2010. 
• Asser’s Life of King Alfred and Other Contemporary Sources translated, introduced and denoted by Simon Keynes and Michael Lapidge. New York: Penguin Classics, 2004.