Here the Orkneyinga Saga ends, and information about the succeeding earls is derived from documents few and far between.
Earl Haraldr Maddaðarson was succeeded by his sons, earls Davið Haraldsson, d.s.p. 1214, and Jón Haraldsson, slain, 1231, the latter having been predeceased by his son, Haraldr Jónsson, who was drowned in 1226.[5] Earl Jón Haraldsson was succeeded by Malcolm, the Gaelic earl of Angus, from whom the title was transferred to his kinsman (uncle or cousin), earl Magnús, who was succeeded by his son or brother, earl Gilbert (Gaelic, Gilleabart), who was succeeded by his son, earl Magnús Gilbertsson, who was succeeded by his sons, earls Magnús and John and another earl Magnús, after which the earldom passed to Malise, (Gaelic, Maoliosa), Gaelic earl of Strathearn, through his great grandmother, a daughter of earl Gilbert. After Malise, the earldom, after an interregnum, passed to his daughter’s son, Henry St. Clair, in whom the earldom was vested in 1379. His grandson, earl William, after the wadset of Orkney and Shetland to Scotland in 1468–9, resigned his right to the earldom to the crown of Scotland in 1472, when it was annexed to the crown as a royal title.[6]
The Gœðingar: Earl’s men.
The suggestion of Vigfússon in the Oxford Dictionary that the gœðingar of the earls of Orkney were synonymous with the lendir-menn of the kings of Norway can be amply proved by the Saga. One explicit instance gives a clue to the whole mystery, viz., that of Kúgi, a gœðingr (of earl Páll), whom we find living in Hreppisnes, now Rapnes, in Westrey. The bú of Rapnes, Swartmeill, and Wasbuster, were, in 1503, described as boardlands or borlands of the old earldom, paying no skattr. Bordland or borland is a Scottish loanword, meaning, “land kept for the board of the laird’s house.”[7] The Oxford New English Dictionary states that the form bordland is first found in Bracton, c. 1250, by whom it is wrongly derived from bord, a table, whereas it is from M. Lat. borda, a hut, cot, and was applied to land held in bordage tenure by a bordar, a villein of the lowest rank, a cottier. The Gaelic bòrlum, royal castle lands, borlanachd, compulsory labour for a landlord, must also come from the same source.
Boardland in Orkney is, therefore, a translation of Old Norse veizlu-jörð, land granted in fief for military service and for the entertainment of the superior when on circuit. In accordance with the Hirðskrá of king Magnús Hákonsson, the earl, while prohibited from disposing of the earldom lands, was permitted to grant earldom lands at veita or at veizlu, i.e., in return for military service and entertainment. It seems certain that the same privilege was allowed by the older Hirðskrá, which is now lost.
To return to Kúgi, he had the upp-kvöð or útboð, the calling out of the levy, of ships and men, leiðangr, in Westrey. As he was the instigator, upphafsmaðr, of a secret þing, laun-þing, in Westrey, he probably acted as the representative of the earl in the district assembly, héraðs þing. The localities of the other gœðingar support the above conclusion.
Þorkell flatr was also in Westrey; Þorsteinn Hávarðarson Gunnason had the calling out of the levy in Rinansey, and his brother Magnús that of the adjoining island, Sandey, where there were the boardlands of Brugh, Halkisnes, Tofts, Lopnes and Tresnes; Valþjófr Ólafsson was in Stronsey, where there were skatt-fré lands; Sigurðr á Vestnesi in Rousey, where part of Westnes was old earldom land; and this leads to the conclusion that the gœðingar also held skatt-land as well as skatt-fré land of the earldom at veita; Jón vængr abode in Háey, where there is boardland. The earls also gave gifts, veita gjafir, to their friends, the gœðingar.
Gœði means, among other things, profits, emoluments, etc. It seems certain that the gœði in Caithness, which the king of Scotland restored to Sveinn Ásleifarson, in 1152, were the gœði of the earldom, which he had formerly held as gœðingr.
The gœðingar of Orkney (and Shetland?) were thus the feoffees of the earl of Orkney, from whom they received grants of earldom land, veizlu-jörð, at veita or at veizlu, in consideration of military service and the entertainment of the earl, when on circuit. As the feoffees of the earl’s gœði, or emoluments, they received the name of gœðingar, corresponding to the lendir-menn, landed men, of Norway, who were so-called because they held land or emoluments from the king for similar duties. A distinction in nomenclature had to be drawn between the king’s and the earl’s feoffees.