Jón vængr, junior, was a systur-son of Jón vængr, senior, and became earl Harald’s _ármaðr_, or steward. He had two brothers, Blánn (Gaelic, _Flann_) and Bunu-, or Hvínu-Pétr; (_buna_, a purling stream, and _hvína_, to whistle or whine). These two were ignominiously disgraced by Sveinn in a mock execution, to shame their brother Jón, who had given Sveinn a bad character. Of Svein’s companions may be mentioned Grímr, in Svíney, a _félitill_, poor, man, and his Sons Asbjörn and Murgaðr (Gael., _Murchadh_, Murdock). Sveinn, who was sýslumaðr for the earl in Caithness, on one occasion, in his absence, deputed his office to Murgaðr, who turned out _sakgæfinn_, quarrelsome, and _áleitinn_, provocative, and was _úvinsæll_, unpopular, for his _újafnaðr_, tyranny. Along with Sveinn, he did much _úspektir_, uproars, _í ránum_, in plunder, in Katanes. As has already been mentioned, Ólafr Svein’s father was burnt in his house in Caithness at the instigation of the hag, Frakök, whom Sveinn, in turn, burnt in her house. Svein’s father had estates both in Orkney and Caithness, and as he resided in Caithness, where he had the _yfirsókn_, the stewardship, of the earldom, and where Sveinn was afterwards sýslumaðr, the family appears to have been a Caithness one, and the Caithness Clan Gunn claim to be descended from Gunni Sveinsson. This, taken in conjunction with the personal characteristics and the numerous Gaelic names of members of the family, relations and friends, makes it probable that these families were all of Gaelic descent in the male line. Sveinn brjóstreip, _circa_ 1136, had a kinsman Jón, of whose family nothing more is known. He was a hirðmaðr of earl Páll, by whom he was well esteemed, _metinn vel af honum_. He spent the summer in víking and the winter with the earl. He was a _mikill_ man and _sterkr_, strong, _svartr_, of dark complexion, and rather evil-looking, _úhamingju-samligr_, he was a great wizard, _forn mjök_, and had always sat out at night (as a wizard), _úti setið_, in order to raise _troll_, ghosts, which, in accordance with Old Gulathinglaw, was _úbótaverk_, an unfinable crime punished by outlawry. He was one of the earl’s forecastle men, _stafnbúi_, and was the foremost of all the earl’s men in battle, and fought bravely, _barðist all-hraustliga_. Sveinn preferred “sitting out” to attending midnight mass on Yule. The bishop hailed his slaughter as a cleansing of the land of miscreants, _land-hreinsan_. It was the opinion of Ragna of Rinansey, that the earl had little scathe in Sveinn, even though he were a great warrior or bravo, _garpr mikill_, and that the earl had suffered much unpopularity, _úvinsældir miklar_, through him. There can be little doubt as to the race of the swarthy wizard Sveinn, notwithstanding his Norse name. With him compare the Icelandic-named Gaelic witch, Þórgunna, in _Eyrbyggja Saga_.