ORKNEYINGA SAGA.
CHAPTER I.
OF THE EARLS.
It is said that the Orkney Islands were colonised in the days of Harald the Fairhaired,[[223]] but previously they were a station for Vikings.[[224]]
The first Earl of the Orkneys was called Sigurd. He was the son of Eystein Glumra (the loud-talking), and brother of Rögnvald, Earl of Moeri.[[225]]
After Sigurd his son Guttorm ruled one year.
Torf-Einar,[[226]] son of Earl Rögnvald, succeeded him. He was a man of great power, and was Earl a long time. Hálfdán Hálegg[[227]] (high-legs) made an expedition against Torf-Einar, and drove him from the Orkneys. Einar returned, and slew Hálfdán in Rinansey.[[228]] Thereupon King Harald brought an army over to the Orkneys. Then Einar fled to Scotland. King Harald made the Orkneymen swear oaths of fealty to him for themselves and all their possessions. The Earl and King Harald were afterwards reconciled. He became the King’s man, and held the land as a fief from him. He had, however, no tribute to pay, as there was much predatory warfare then in the islands; but he paid the king sixty marks of gold[[229]] (once for all). After this, King Harald made a raid on Scotland, as is told in the Glumdrapa.[[230]]
After Torf-Einar, Arnkell, Erlend, and Thorfinn Hausakliuf (skull-splitter), his sons, succeeded him. In their days Eirik Blódöx[[231]] (bloody axe) came over from Norway, and the Earls were his vassals. Arnkell and Erlend fell in battle,[[232]] but Thorfinn governed the land and became an old man. His sons were Arnfid, Hávard, Lödver, Ljót, and Skúli; their mother was Grélaug, daughter of Earl Dungad (Duncan) in Caithness.[[233]] Her mother was Gróa, daughter of Thorstein the Red.
In the days of Earl Thorfinn the sons of Eirik Blódöx arrived from Norway, when they had fled from Earl Hákon, and they did many deeds of violence in the islands. Earl Thorfinn died on a sickbed, and his sons, of whom there are extensive histories, succeeded him. Lödver survived his brothers, and ruled the land alone. His son was Earl Sigurd the Stout; he was a powerful man, and a great warrior.