Thorfinn the Mighty

Joint earldoms were a frequent feature of the Norse earldom of Orkney, although the Orkneyinga saga is less than explicit about how these shares were divided up geographically.[Note 3] Sumarlidi died in his bed not long after his father, most likely no later than 1018[17] and Einar took his share, ruling two-thirds of the earldom with the remaining third held by Brusi. Einar soon became unpopular, demanding heavy taxes and frequent military service from the farmers, and gaining little booty on his raids. He was, the saga says, "a great bully", whereas Brusi was "well liked by everyone".[18]

The Brough of Deerness - a Viking age ecclesiastical ruin here is associated with Thorkel Fosterer.[19]

The farmers of the isles opposition to Einar's rule were led by Thorkel Amundason and, in danger of his life, he fled to Thorfinn's court in Caithness. He became his foster-father, hence his by-name, "Thorkel Fosterer".[20] After Sumarlidi's death the disposition of his third share in Orkney and Shetland became a matter of dispute when Thorfinn claimed it as his. While Brusi was willing to grant it to him, Einar, who was "ruthless and grasping, a hard and successful fighting man"[20] and somewhat like Thorfinn in temperament[21] was not.[20] Einar and Thorfinn each began raising an army to settle matters by force, but Earl Brusi made peace between them by raising his own men to come between them and then persuading Einar to give Thorfinn what he asked for.[22] It was also agreed that on the death of either Brusi or Einar, the surviving brother would inherit the other's share.[21]

Thorfinn appointed Thorkel Fosterer as his tax-gatherer in the islands, but Einar had not forgotten their earlier dispute and Thorkel again left the islands in fear of his life, returning to Thorfinn's base in Caithness (probably at Duncansby[12]). Thorkel then travelled to Norway with Thorfinn's support, to meet with King Olaf Haraldsson. He was well received there, for Olaf bore his own grudge against Einar for the killing of his comrade Eyvind Aurochs-Horn some years earlier. Olaf invited Thorfinn to Norway, and he too was welcomed to Olaf's court. Thorfinn and Thorkel returned to Orkney to find Einar raising an army against them. Brusi again made peace between them, and it was agreed that Einar and Thorkel would entertain one another to a feast.[21]

In October 1020[23] Einar attended Thorkel's hall at Hlaupandanes in Deerness in a sour mood. On the last day of the feast Thorkel was supposed to travel with Einar for the reciprocal event, however his spies reported to him that ambushes had been prepared against him along his route. Thorkel therefore delayed his departure, leaving Einar to wait for his arrival by the fire in his great hall. Thorkel arrived by stealth, walked into the hall with one of his men and they killed Einar. Thorkel then escaped to Norway.[24][25][26][27]

A coin from the reign of Olaf Haraldsson of Norway dated 1023–28.

The death of Einar did not end the dispute over Sumarlidi's third of the islands. Brusi considered that it belonged to him, as he and Einar had agreed when Thorfinn received a third of the islands. Thorfinn thought that the islands should be divided equally. However, Thorfinn could count on the assistance of his grandfather, King Malcolm, while Brusi had only the forces he could raise from his share of the islands, making any conflict a very unequal one. Brusi went to Norway to have King Olaf judge the dispute, and Thorfinn joined him there. Brusi surrendered the earldom to Olaf, who granted a third to each brother, and kept a third for himself. Thorfinn attempted to use his relationship with the King of Scots as a means to avoid acknowledging Olaf as his overlord in Orkney and Shetland, but Olaf threatened to appoint another to rule Thorfinn's share. Following Thorkel Fosterer's advice, Thorfinn agreed to Olaf's settlement. After Thorfinn left Norway, Olaf gave Brusi the disputed third to rule on his behalf, but kept Brusi's son Rognvald in Norway as a hostage.[28] These events have been dated to 1021.[23]

This arrangement lasted while Olaf was king but in 1030 he was overthrown by the Danish king Cnut the Great at the Battle of Stiklestad.[29] After this Orkney was raided by Norwegians and Danes and Brusi agreed to give the King's third to Thorfinn in return for his seeing to the defence of the islands. This agreement lasted until Brusi's death, some time between 1030 and 1035. After that, Thorfinn was sole ruler of the Orkney earldom[30] as a vassal of the King of Norway and as Earl of Caithness responsible to the King of Scots.

The saga states that Thorfinn's grandfather was "King Malcolm of Scotland"[61] and it is often assumed that this was Malcolm II.[21] However, both the Irish annals for this period and the Norse sagas have a tendency to refer to a "king of Scots" when discussing a regional chief or mormaer. Woolf (2007) suggests that the reference may then be to Máel Coluim mac Máil Brigti a Pictish Mormaer of Moray or alternatively that, as elsewhere in Icelandic literature, Melkólmr was simply used as a generic name, in this case for Scottish royalty.[8][Note 8]

One of two surviving pages of an early version of the Heimskringla known as the "Kringla leaf", which is kept in the National and University Library of Iceland. The text is part of Óláfs saga helga.[63]

The chronology of Thorfinn's life is problematic,[64] the dating of his assumption of the earldom being an example. The Heimskringla states that Thorfinn was 5 years old when his father Sigurd was killed at Clontarf, reliably dated to 1014.[4][5] "When Thorfinn came of age he asked Earl Einar for a third of the islands"[1] and it is clear from the text of the Orkneyinga saga that Einar, Brusi and Thorfinn were joint earls for a period. Muir (2005) states that Einar died in October 1020[25] but if Thorfinn was five years old in 1014 this would have made him only eleven by then. A rather earlier birthdate for Thorfinn is thus implied, with a coming of age c. 1016 at about the time of Sumarlidi's death. Similarly, Thorfinn is often stated as dying c. 1064, although Woolf (2007) states that "there is no reason why a date in the late 1050s is not just as credible."[65]

St Olaf's saga states that Thorfinn "took the earldom when he was five winters old, and he ruled for more than sixty winters" although this implies a very late death date of 1074.[66] One version of the Icelandic Annals has his rule lasting 52 years, providing the more commonly quoted year of death as c. 1065.[66]

Related to this are the actions of his widow. Historians offering a later date for Thorfinn's death have proposed that Malcolm Canmore married a postulated daughter of Thorfinn named Ingibiorg rather than his widow. If a date in the 1050s is presumed, then Malcolm could well have married Ingibigiorg as the saga suggests.[67]

Duncan (2002) argued that Malcolm came to marry Thorfinn's widow because he spent some or all of the period of MacBeth's reign in Orkney or Caithness at Thorfinn's court. Thorfinn and Malcolm were both descendants of Malcolm II, daughter's son and daughter's grandson respectively, and both had good reason to be hostile to MacBeth and his Moray kinsmen.[68] Malcolm Canmore became king of Scots c. 1058 and the Orkneyinga Saga records that he and Ingibiorg had a son, Duncan who was later king.[57] There is some circumstantial evidence that Ingibiorg may have backed Malcolm's claim to the kingship which adds further weight to a slightly earlier death date for Thorfinn, although the evidence for her marriage to Malcolm is not entirely convincing.[69]

The identity of Karl Hundason, unknown to Scots and Irish sources, has long been a matter of dispute. His existence rests solely on the Orkneyinga saga, and more particularly on those elements of Þórfinnsdrápa which are preserved within it.[Note 9]

Robertson (1862) proposed that Hundason should be identified with Duncan I.[71] Skene (1902) suggested that Karl (or Kali) Hundason should be identified with "Malcolm MacKenneth", a son of Kenneth III.[72] Another candidate is MacBeth[73] whose father may be called "jarl Hundi" in Njál's saga.[31] Woolf (2007) proposes that Hundason, rather that being some hitherto unknown Scots king, was the son of Thorfinn's brother Hundi.[74] However, Thomson (2008) notes that both the Orkneyinga saga and St Olaf's saga suggest Hundi only lived "a short while" and was unlikely to have had a son himself.[75] Anderson (1990) suggested that this is "a fabulous story" and concluded that "[n]o solution to the riddle seems to be justified".[76]

Muir (2005) points out that a literal translation of "Karl Hundisson" is "peasant son-of-a-dog", an insult that would have been obvious to Norse-speakers hearing the saga and that "we can assume this wasn't his real name".[77] The implication is that there is no purpose in seeking phonetic parallels with known Scots personages. Thomson points out that both "Karl" and Hundi" are names used in other contexts without disparaging intentions[75] although the combination is otherwise unknown.

Thomson (2008) notes that the war with Hundasson seem to have taken place between 1029 and 1035 and that the Annals of Ulster record the violent death of Gillacomgain, brother of Máel Coluim mac Máil Brigti and Mormaer of Moray, in 1032. He too is thus a candidate for Thorfinn's Scots foe—and the manner of his death by fire bears comparison with Arnór's poetic description of the aftermath of the battle at Torfness.[78]

Whoever Karl son of Hundi may have been, it appears that the saga is reporting a local conflict with a Scots ruler of Moray or Ross:

[T]he whole narrative is consistent with the idea that the struggle of Thorfinn and Karl is a continuation of that which had been waged since the ninth century by the Orkney earls, notably Sigurd Rognvald's son, Ljot, and Sigurd the Stout, against the princes or mormaers of Moray, Sutherland, Ross, and Argyll, and that, in fine, Malcolm and Karl were mormaers of one of these four provinces.[79][Note 10]

It is therefore entirely possible that Thorfinn's campaign was not fought against the Scottish crown as such but that rather the Scots may have been his allies in a struggle they both had against the power of Moray.[81] According to local tradition, a series of stone mounds on a hillside near Kirkhill, west of Inverness, marks the site of a battle between Thorfinn and 'Malcolm'. The location may have been close to the northern boundary of the medieval lordship of Moray at the time.[82]

Modern statue in Bremen Cathedral of Archbishop Adalbert of Hamburg, who may have met with Earl Thorfinn and who appointed Bishop Thorulf of Orkney.[50]

The joint rulership of earls was a recurring theme in the period up to 1214 and was "inherently unstable and usually ended in violence".[83] Thomson (2008) identifies these family feuds as being the main theme of the Orkneyinga saga, culminating in the martyrdom of St Magnus c.1115, and that the saga writer regularly emphasises the doom of "kin-slaying".[83] In this case the Sigurdsson brothers do not assassinate one another, but rather Thorkel Fosterer becomes an intermediary, killing both Einar rangmunnr and, at a later date, Rögnvald Brusasson on behalf of Thorfinn.[25][84]

It is also clear that there is a moral element to the tale, with Brusi cast as the peacemaker who is father to the noble Rögnvald and who stands in contrast to his greedy half-brother. Notwithstanding these roles, Thorfinn's Christianity is emphasised in the saga materials. The Norse in the Northern Isles would have been strongly influenced by the neighbouring Christian countries and it is likely that marriages to individuals from such polities would have required baptism even before his time. Informal pagan practice was likely conducted throughout his earldom,[85] but the weight of archaeological evidence suggests that Christian burial was widespread in Orkney even during the reign of Sigurd Hlodvirsson, Thorfinn's father.[86]

Furthermore, Brusi has a relatively minor role to play compared to Thorfinn "the Mighty", whose conquests included expansion well into north mainland Scotland and whose rule may have marked the zenith of Scandinavian influence in Scotland.[56] As there were only seven traditional Scottish earldoms in total, the sagas claim that he held this many seems to suggest that he was King of Scots. However, this may reflect either a royal pretension of Thorfinn's, or given that his conquests were in the north and west rather than in the lowland heartland of Scotland, that they are references to local chieftainships.[87]

Although the saga suggests that the first Bishop of Orkney was installed towards the end of Thorfinn's time as earl, the first recorded bishop was Henry of Lund (also known as "the Fat") who was appointed sometime prior to 1035. He may have been more of a missionary bishop than a permanent resident in the islands,[88] indeed there is no record of his ever having visited Orkney.[89] The bishopric appears to have been under the authority of the Archbishops of York and of Hamburg-Bremen at different times during this early period.[90][Note 11]

The Scar boat burial whalebone plaque found on the island of Sanday

The role of the Norwegian crown is another recurring aspect of the saga. Crawford (1987) observes several sub-themes: "submission and of overlordship; the problem of dual allegiance and the threat of the earls looking to the kings of Scots as an alternative source of support; the Norwegian kings' use of hostages; and their general aim of attempting to turn the Orkney earls into royal officials bound to them by oaths of homage, and returning tribute to them on a regular basis."[91] King Olaf was a "skilled practitioner" of divide and rule and the competing claims of Brusi and Thorfinn enabled him to take full advantage.[91]

Thorfinn's journey in 1020 is the first occasion on which an earl of Orkney is known to have visited the royal court in Norway.[92] The Icelandic annals have little to say about Orkney but under the year 1021 it is recorded that "Earl Thorfinn and earl Brusi, Sigurd's sons, gave the Orkneys into the power of King Olaf."[91] Although the saga writer paints a vivid and plausible picture of the scene, this "merely tell us that the thirteenth-century saga writer knew his Orkney traditions and the recurring factors which did indeed come to the fore on occasions during the thirteenth century when the kings and earls fought or negotiated from their related positions of strength".[91]

Although Thorfinn is clearly stated to be fighting in and around Fife[93] Thomson (2008) suggests that his presence so far south may have been as an ally of his grandfather rather than at the head of an invading army. He adds that King Cnut was in Scotland c. 1031 receiving the submission of Malcolm II, MacBeth and a third king called "Iehmarc"[Note 12] and that the location of the meeting is stated as being in Fife in a verse by Sigvatr Þórðarson. Thomson therefore speculates that Thorfinn's visit to Fife may have involved an attempt by Cnut to avoid a threat to his position from Orkney and that this issue was one of the factors involved in the feud between Thorfinn and earl Rögnvald, who supported Cnut's rival Magnus Olafsson.[87][Note 13]

Finally, Thorfinn's death may have created a power vacuum and been a cause of the invasion of the Irish Sea region nominally led by King Harald harðraði's young son Magnus Haraldsson dated to 1058.[8]

MV Earl Thorfinn in Kirkwall harbour

The basis of Dorothy Dunnett's 1982 novel King Hereafter is a point made by W. F. Skene, who noted that the historical sources which mention Thorfinn do not refer to MacBeth, and vice versa. Pursuing this idea, Dunnett wrote the novel on the premise that MacBeth and Thorfinn were the same person (Thorfinn is his birth name and Macbeth his baptismal name).[94]

In his historical novel MacBeth the King Nigel Tranter portrayed Thorfinn as a half-brother of Macbeth, with a common mother. It also seeks to tie together the pilgrimages made to Rome by both, as one and the same.

The MV Earl Thorfinn is a Ro-Ro vehicle ferry operated by Orkney Ferries on the northern route to Westray, Stronsay and neighbouring isles. It is identical to its sister ship MV Earl Sigurd.[95]