[468] Heimsk. Saga xiv. c. 20. Antiq. Celt.-Scand., p. 267. Marks “in gold” i.e. paid according to the value of gold, on account of the depreciation of the silver currency.
[469] Wilson’s Archæology, etc., of Scotland, p. 429. Torf. Orc., l. 1, c. 32.
[470] Torf. Orc., l. 1, c. 33.
[471] Torf. Orc., l. 1, c. 36.
[472] Antiq. Celt.-Scand. p. 261.
[473] Torf. Orc., l. 1, c. 34 to 37. Sweyne eventually lost his life in an attempt to restore Asgal Mac Ragnal to Dublin, on which occasion his desperate courage earned the respect of his opponents, the English invaders. A. F. M. 1171, where he is called Eoan, or John. A comparison of the coasts of Norway and Denmark with the western coasts of Scotland will at once point out the reason of that similarity which long existed between the respective inhabitants in their manners of life. Local circumstances have far more influence in forming the character of primitive, or semi-barbarous nations, than any fancied peculiarity of race. Like the coasts of Norway and the isles of Scotland, the eastern shores of the Adriatic and the Archipelago seem to have been formed by nature for the haunts of pirates.
[474] Hoveden 1196, p. 436. Fordun, l. 8, c. 59. According to Torfæus (Orc., l. i., c. 38), Harald’s first wife, Afreca, was dead before his second marriage with “the Earl of Moray’s daughter,” by whom he had his sons, Thorfin, David, and John.
[475] Chron. Mel. 1197. Fordun, l. 8, c. 59. This battle must have occurred in 1196, for as Thorfin was given up as a hostage for his father at the close of that year, he could not have fought against the royal forces in the following year.
[476] Hoveden 1196, p. 436.
[477] “Quod si tradidissem eos vobis non evaderent manus vestras,” means, I suppose, a discreet insinuation that the king intended to consign “his enemies” either to immediate execution or to a hopeless captivity. When he said that Thorfin was his only heir, either the earl was deceiving the king, or his sons, John, David, and Henry, were by the second marriage. The port of Lochloy was a spot not far from Nairn, now covered by the sea.