so enraged that the punishments inflicted by him for the burning of the
Bishop, by mutilation and death, confiscation and outlawry from the
land, are still in fresh memory.
And now we cannot relate more distinctly than we have here done the
events concerning the Earls of Orkney.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPENDIX.
-------
SAGA OF OLAF, TRYGGVI’S SON.
(_From the Flateyjarbók._)
THE DOMINIONS OF KING HARALD AND EARL RÖGNVALD.
179. Earl Rögnvald assisted Harald Harfagri (fair-haired) to conquer the
country (Norway), and he gave him the revenues of both Mœri and
Raumsdal. Rögnvald had married Ragnhild, the daughter of Hrólf Nefia
(nose). They had a son named Hrólf, who conquered Normandy. Hrólf was so
big that no horse could carry him, and he was therefore called
Gönguhrólf (Hrólf the walker). From him the Earls of Rúda (Rouen) and
the Kings of England are descended. They had two other sons, Ivar and
Earl Thórir Thegiandi (the silent). Rögnvald had also sons by his
concubines. They were Hallad, Hrollaug, and Einar, who was the youngest.
One summer Harald Harfagri went to the west across the sea to punish the
Vikings, as he was weary of their devastations. They plundered in Norway
during the summer, and spent the winters in Hjaltland or the Orkneys.
Harald subdued Hjaltland, the Orkneys, and the Sudreyar (Hebrides). He
went west as far as the Isle of Man, and destroyed all the dwellings in
Man. He fought many battles there, and extended his dominion so far to
the west that none of the Kings of Norway since his time has had wider
dominions. In one of these battles, Ivar, the son of Earl Rögnvald,
fell. So when King Harald sailed from the west he gave Hjaltland and the
Orkneys to Earl Rögnvald as a compensation for [the loss of] his son;
but Earl Rögnvald gave the Islands to his brother Sigurd, who was King
Harald’s forecastleman; and the King gave him the title of Earl before
he left the west. Sigurd remained out in the west.
EARL MELBRIGD SLAIN BY SIGURD.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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