Produced by Ted Garvin, Barry Abrahamsen, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net THE ORKNEYINGA SAGA ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Printed by R. & R. Clark FOR EDMONSTON & DOUGLAS, EDINBURGH. LONDON HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. CAMBRIDGE MACMILLAN AND CO. GLASGOW JAMES MACLEHOSE. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: ST. MAGNUS CATHEDRAL (South Transept and part of Choir)] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE ORKNEYINGA SAGA TRANSLATED FROM THE ICELANDIC BY JON A. HJALTALIN AND GILBERT GOUDIE EDITED, WITH NOTES AND INTRODUCTION BY JOSEPH ANDERSON KEEPER OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND EDINBURGH EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS 1873 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PREFACE. ------- THE ORKNEYINGA SAGA is the history of the Orkneymen, Earls and Odallers of Norwegian extraction, who established an Earldom of Norway in the Northern Scottish Isles a thousand years ago, and whose descendants for several centuries held sway over the Hebrides and Northern Mainland of Scotland. Commencing with the conquest of the Isles by Harald Harfagri, the Saga relates the subsequent history of the Earldom of Orkney under the long line of its Norse Jarls, and is, for a period of three centuries and a half, the principal authority for the history of Northern Scotland. The narrative is mainly personal, and therefore picturesque, pourtraying the men in person and character, impartially recording their deeds, and mentioning what was thought of them and their actions at the time. Occasionally the Saga-writer is enabled to do this in the words of a contemporary Skald. The skaldic songs, so often quoted, were the materials from which the Sagas were subsequently elaborated. In estimating their value as historical materials, it must be borne in mind that all history has begun in song. When great events and mighty deeds were preserved for posterity by oral recitation alone, it was necessary that the memory should be enabled to retain its hold of the elements of the story by some extraneous artistic aid, and therefore they were welded by the word-smith’s rhymes into a compact and homogeneous “lay.” Thus, worked into a poetical setting (as the jeweller mounts his gems to enhance their value and ensure their preservation),