Olaf, Tryggvi’s son, fell at the battle of Svöldr, A.D. 1000. Footnote 237: The battle of Clontarf, A.D. 1014 (see the Introduction). The Iceland Annals say that he held the earldom for sixty-two years, so that he must have become Earl in A.D. 952; but Munch makes his true period to be 980-1014. Footnote 238: The word _Bóndi_ (pl. _Bœndr_), literally “a resident” or “dweller,” has no English equivalent, although the form remains in the words “husband” and “husbandman,” (hus-bondi, house-dweller or house-master). The Bœndr were freeholders by odal tenure, proprietors of the lands which they had inherited by succession from the original “land-takers.” “In the primitive form of Scandinavian society,” says Balfour, in his Odal Rights and Feudal Wrongs, “land was the only wealth, its ownership the sole foundation of power, privilege, or dignity. As no man could win or hold possession without the strong arm to defend it, every landowner was a warrior, every warrior a husbandman. King Sigurd Syr tended his own hay harvest, and Sweyn of Gairsay and Thorkel Fóstri swept the coasts of Britain or Ireland while the crops which they and their rovers had sown grew ready for their reaping.” The use of the ancient term survived in Orkney till 1529, as we learn from the description by Jo. Ben, that in the parish of Rendale the people saluted each other with “Goand da boundæ” (i.e. _godan dag bondi!_) instead of the “Guid day, gudeman,” of the Scottish vernacular. Among the documents found in the king’s treasury at Edinburgh in 1282, was one entitled “A quit-claiming of the lands of the _bondi_ of Caithness for the slaughter of the Bishop,”—viz. Bishop Adam, who was burned at Halkirk in 1222 by the “_bondi_,” exasperated by his exactions. Although the word is Icelandic, it has been retained in the translation as a convenient term to designate the class, in preference to such periphrastic renderings as “farmer-lairds,” “peasant proprietors,” or “peasant nobles,” as are usually employed. Footnote 239: Hrossey (Horse Isle) was the name given by the Norsemen to the mainland of the Orkney group. The Sandvik here mentioned as the residence of Amundi and Thorkel can only be the Sandvik (now Sandwick) on Deerness. When Thorfinn drew his vessels in under Deerness before he was attacked by Kali Hundason (chap. v.), he sent to Thorkel asking him to collect men and come to his assistance. Thorkel’s residence could not therefore have been far from Deerness, although the mention of Laufandaness is somewhat suggestive of Lopness in Sanday. Footnote 240: The Things were local or general assemblies for determining by public agreement the course that should be pursued with reference to matters affecting the common weal or the public peace. All odal-born freemen (not under outlawry) had an equal voice, and king, earl, or common bondi, met on the thingstead on equal terms, as thingmen.