CHAP. IV.—continued.
MARITIME EXPEDITIONS OF THE NORTHMEN DURING THE PAGAN TIMES.
SECTION II.
IN THE ORKNEYS, THE HEBRIDES, ICELAND, GREENLAND, NORTH AMERICA, RUSSIA, ETC.
795–1026.
ESTABLISHMENT OF A GOVERNMENT IN THE ORKNEYS.—SUCCESSION OF JARLS, ROGNEVALD, SIGURD, HALLAD, EINAR, SIGURD II., ETC.—DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION OF ICELAND—DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION OF GREENLAND.—ALLEGED DISCOVERY OF NORTH AMERICA.—STATEMENT OF FACTS CONNECTED WITH IT.—FOUNDATION OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE BY THE SCANDINAVIAN RURIC.
|888.|
The Orkney Islands were probably visited by the northern pirates at a period much earlier than is generally supposed. If, from their barrenness and from their limited surface, they offered no inducement to permanent occupancy, they were useful as strongholds,—as ports where the northern ships might anchor in safety. From their position between Scandinavia and Ireland, which we know was hostilely visited in the year 795, they must have been frequently subject to the ravages of the strangers. The Pictish inhabitants, who were not warlike or numerous, had the mortification to witness the frequent seizure of their cattle, their fish, their corn, and such other stores as they had been able to collect or to produce. Their only advantage was in their poverty, which shortened the stay of these avaricious men. But after the battle of Hafursfiord (885), these islands became the perpetual abode of the sea-rovers, who were no longer tolerated in Norway[[1]]; here they fitted out expeditions to ravage every coast from the south of Ireland to the extremity of the Gulf of Finland. So frequent and so formidable were those ravages that in 888—three years after his glorious victory—Harald Harfagre, with a view of suppressing them, sailed with a powerful armament into these seas. The isles of Shetland, of Orkney, of the Hebrides, and Man, were subdued by him. But to conquer was little, unless some measure were adopted to secure the conquest. The monarch determined to place one of his most valiant and most respectable chiefs over the islands, and cast his eyes on Rognevald, jarl of Moria, who, in the present expedition, had lost one of his sons. But Rognevald, attached to his hereditary domains in Norway, induced his royal master to invest his brother Sigurd with the dignity. Sigurd, therefore, was the first jarl, or earl, of the Orkneys.
|889 to 892.|
This chief had qualities worthy of the post: he was valiant, liberal, politic. But he was also ambitious: he longed to reduce a portion of the neighbouring continent; and, as his own forces were unequal to an attempt of such magnitude, he formed an alliance with Thorstein the Red, son of Olaf the White, a chief famous in the annals of Norway. Having effected a junction, the two jarls subdued Caithness and Sutherland, and then extended their ravages into the counties of Ross and Moray. In the latter, Sigurd, who was intent on durable conquest, is said to have built a fortress. But he soon afterwards died,—whether in battle, or in consequence of a wound, is not very clear; and all the advantages which he had gained were lost. He was succeeded, indeed, by his son, Guthrum; but the latter, alike feeble in mind and body, soon paid the debt of nature. The depredations of the pirates were resumed; and Rognevald, who had been the feudal superior of Sigurd, was required to nominate another governor. His choice fell on Hallad, one of his sons. But it was less fortunate than the preceding one. If Hallad had the wish, he certainly had not the power, to contend with the frequent piratical bands who infested the islands: he soon deserted his post, and returned to Norway. The father lamented his unfortunate choice; still more did he lament the stain which want of success had brought upon his name. His children, he bitterly observed, were sadly degenerated from the ancient valour of their line. He could not foresee that Einar, one of them, was about to confer splendour on the family; still less that Rollo, another of them, would become the head of a powerful race of sovereigns. Rollo proposed to clear the islands from the piratical bands; but his proposal was declined, probably from want of confidence in his powers. And when Einar prayed the old jarl to send him to the government, the chief reason of his success was the little favour which he possessed in the eyes of his father. He was an illegitimate son; his mother was of servile condition; he had lost an eye; his countenance was in other respects repulsive; and all these circumstances combined to render the paternal roof disagreeable to him. The saga has preserved the words in which he made the application to his father:—“Thou hast never shown me much honour, nor will my departure afflict thee: wherefore I will proceed to the west, if thou wilt afford me the means. Do this, and I promise thee never to revisit Norway!” The old man gave him a large vessel, manned with good mariners; told him that he had no confidence in his valour or prudence, and expressed a hope that he should see him no more. His prayer was granted.
|893 to 936.|