In the Saga of Hakon Hakonson it is stated that Kolbein Hruga’s castle was on the island of Vigr, now Weir. It was to this stronghold that Snækoll Gunnason fled when he had slain Earl John (son of Harald Maddadson), the last of the Norse Earls of Orkney, in A.D. 1232; and the Saga states that the castle was so strong that it resisted all the efforts of the Earl’s friends to take it. In 1529 we learn from Jo. Ben that the ruins were still visible. Barry describes it as a small square tower, 15 feet square inside, and the walls 7 feet thick, strongly built with large stones, well cemented with lime. It is now a green mound, like the older Pictish towers; but to this day among the peasantry of the locality the mound bears the name of _Cobbie Row’s_ (Kolbein Hruga’s) Castle. Footnote 370: See note on p. 84. Footnote 371: Probably in the body-guard of the Greek Emperor, which, the Byzantine historians of the period inform us, was composed of natives of the remote north, whom they call Varangians. The name Varangi first appears with them in the year 935, but they are said to have served of old in the body-guard, and to have come partly from Thule and partly from England. In the Saga of Harald Hardradi his exploits during his sojourn in the East are minutely detailed, and it is recorded that he became chief of the Værings, who were at that time in the Imperial service. For several centuries these mercenaries in the pay of the Emperors were renowned for their bravery, discipline, and fidelity. After the Norman conquest of England, a body of Anglo-Saxon youth, under Siward of Gloucester, choosing exile rather than the ignominy of submission to the conquerors, went to Constantinople, and enrolled themselves among the Værings. So many followed them that a mixture of Danish and Saxon became the official language of the guards of the Imperial Palace. Hoards of Eastern coins and ornaments are almost annually discovered in Norway and Sweden, and occasionally in Orkney and the North of Scotland. The museum of Stockholm possesses a collection of more than 20,000 Cufic coins found in Sweden, dating from the close of the 8th to the end of the 10th century, and vast quantities of those silver ornaments of peculiar forms and style of workmanship, which are also believed to have been brought from the East, partly by trade and partly by the returning Værings. Footnote 372: The scene of the shipwreck seems to have been near Gulberwick. Footnote 373: The MS. translation at Stockholm reads “two Icelanders.” Footnote 374: Having studied probably at the University of Paris. Schröder gives the names of several Swedish students at the University of Paris as early as 1275. (De Universitate Parisiensi: Joh. Hen. Schröder.) Footnote 375: Valland, probably for Gaul-land, the Norse name for the west coast of France. Footnote 376: Verbon has not been identified. Footnote 377: