Heimskringla
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Earl Thorfinn sent Thorkel Foster Father to the islands to collect the taxes due him. Earl Einar had laid the blame mostly on Thorkel for the restitution to Thorfinn of his share in the islands. Thorkel hurried back to Caithness and told Earl Thorfinn that he had got wind of Earl Einar’s intention to put him to death, but had been warned by friends and kinsmen. “Now I have the choice,” he said, “either of risking an encounter with the earl and let it come to a decision between us, or else to put a greater distance between us and go to a place where his power can’t reach me.”
The earl encouraged him to journey east to Norway to see King Óláf. “You will be shown high honor,” he said, “wherever you meet chieftains; and I know the disposition of both of you, yours and the earl’s,2 and that it will not be long before you come to blows.” Then Thorkel got ready for the journey and in fall sailed to Norway and there went to the court of King Óláf, where he stayed during the winter, in high favor. The king frequently conversed with Thorkel, because he seemed to him a wise man, as indeed he was, and an outstanding person. The king observed that in his conversation he made a great distinction between the earls, speaking highly about Thorfinn but very ill about Earl Einar. And early in spring the king 1020 sent a ship across the sea with a message to Earl Thorfinn, requesting him to visit the king in Norway. Nor did the earl delay about accepting this invitation, since assurances of the king’s friendship went with it.
Chapter 99. Earl Brúsi Reconciles the Opponents
So Earl Thorfinn sailed east to Norway to meet the king, and was received graciously. He stayed there for a long time during the summer. And when he made ready to return, King Óláf presented him with a warship which was large and well-made and provided with full rigging. Then Thorkel the Foster Father joined the earl [in Norway], and the earl gave him the ship on which he had come east that summer. The king and the earl parted as the closest friends.
Earl Thorfinn arrived in the Orkneys in fall. At the time Earl Einar learned that, he had many men about him and was aboard his ships. Then Earl Brúsi met both his brothers and induced them to come to an agreement. And he succeeded in reconciling them again and confirming their pact with oaths. Thorkel the Foster Father was to be reconciled and bound in friendship with Earl Einar. It was agreed that each of them should entertain the other with a feast, and the earl, to begin with, was to be the guest of Thorkel in Sandvík. And when the earl came there, he was given the noblest entertainment. But he was in ill humor. A great hall was there with doors at both ends.
The day the earl was to depart, Thorkel was to accompany him to the entertainment [at the earl’s hall]. Thorkel sent out men on the way they were to take, to reconnoiter; and when they returned, they reported to Thorkel that they had found three ambushes with armed men—“And we believe,” they said, “that some treachery is afoot.” Now when Thorkel heard that, he tarried about getting ready, and collected his men about him. The earl urged him to get ready, saying it was time to ride away. Thorkel replied that he had much to attend to, and sometimes went out, sometimes in. Fires burned on the floor. [Finally] he entered by one door, together with a man called Hallvarth, an Icelander from the Eastfirths District. He closed the door after him. Thorkel went in front of the fire to where the earl sat. The earl said, “Are you not ready yet?”
Thorkel replied, “Now I am ready,” and with that he struck at the earl’s head so that he slumped to the floor.
Then the Icelander said, “I never yet saw people so much at a loss what to do, that you don’t drag the earl away from the fire,” and he drove [the point of] his battle-axe under the earl’s neckbone and tossed him up on the dais. Both he and Thorkel hurriedly left by the door on the opposite side from where they had entered. There outside stood Thorkel’s men all armed.
Earl Einar’s men took hold of him, but he was dead already. They all were perplexed and did not think of avenging him. Also, things had happened so quickly, and no one had expected that of Thorkel, because all thought it was agreed on, that the earl and Thorkel were to be friends. Moreover most of the men in the hall were unarmed, and many, good friends of Thorkel from earlier times. It just was so fated that, of the two, Thorkel was to live longest. Thorkel had no smaller force on the outside than the earl’s men.
Thereupon Thorkel boarded his ship and the earl’s men departed. Thorkel on that very day sailed east at once. It was after the beginning of winter, but he managed to make Norway safely, and straightway went to see King Óláf, by whom he was received in friendly fashion. The king approved of what Thorkel had done, and the latter stayed with him during the winter.
Chapter 100. Earl Brúsi Appeals to King Óláf for Help
After the fall of Earl Einar, Earl Brúsi took over that part of the lands which before had belonged to Earl Einar, because it was known to many what agreements existed between the brothers Einar and Brúsi [when they shared the rule between them]. But to Thorfinn it seemed most just that each of them had half of the islands, whereas Brúsi during that winter held two thirds of the lands. In the spring following, Thorfinn made a claim to half of the lands, but Brúsi did not consent to that. They met together to debate the matter. Friends of both tried to make them come to an agreement, with the outcome that Thorfinn would not be satisfied unless he obtained half of the islands. He also said that Brúsi did not require more than a third, considering his disposition. Brúsi replied, “I was satisfied with having that third part of the lands which I inherited from my father. Nor did anyone make a claim on it. But now I have fallen heir to another third after my brother according to the agreements made with him. And although I may not be able to contend with you, brother, yet I mean to take other measures than thus yield up to you what rightfully belongs to me.” And with that they broke up the meeting.
But as Brúsi saw that he did not have the power to stand on an equal footing with Thorfinn, because the latter had a much larger dominion and, besides, had the support of the king of Scotland, his maternal grandfather, Brúsi decided to leave his lands, together with his son Rognvald, aged ten years then, and journey east to meet King Óláf. And when they met, he was well received by the king.
The earl laid his case before him, explaining how the dispute between the brothers came about, and prayed the king to lend him support so that he could maintain himself in his possessions, offering in return his fullest friendship. In his reply the king began by stating that Harald Fairhair had taken possession of all the allodial rights in the Orkneys, and that the earls since that time had held these lands in fief, but never as their own property.
“And as proof of this,” he said, “[you know] that when Eirík Bloodyaxe and his sons were in the Orkneys, the earls yielded him homage. And when Óláf Tryggvason, my kinsman, came there, your father, Earl Sigurth, swore him allegiance. Now I have come into the complete inheritance of King Óláf. [As a condition for helping you] I shall stipulate that you swear allegiance to me, when I shall give you the islands in fief. Then, if I give you my backing, we shall see whether that which the king of the Scots gives your brother Thorfinn, is of more avail to him. But if you will not accept this condition, then I shall seek to regain the possessions and allodial rights which our kinsmen and ancestors had there west.”
The earl fixed in his mind what the king had said, and brought it up before his friends, asking their advice which of the king’s conditions he should accept—whether he should make his peace with King Óláf and became his vassal—“but I am not sure what will happen to me, when the king and I part, if I refuse; because the king made clear his claim to the Orkneys. And what with his great resources and the fact that I am here [in his power], it is a small matter for him to do with me what he pleases.” And though the earl saw disadvantages in either condition, he accepted the alternative of placing both himself and his dominions under the suzerainty of the king. Thereupon King Óláf took from the earl the power and government of all his inherited possessions. He became his vassal, and they confirmed that with oaths.
Earl Thorfinn learned that his brother Brúsi had gone east to meet King Óláf and obtain support from him. But because Thorfinn [himself] had previously been to see King Óláf and had won his friendship he thought he stood well with him. He also knew he had many spokesmen there who would plead his case. Nevertheless he expected that there would be more of them if he went there himself. So Earl Thorfinn determined to make ready in all haste to sail east to Norway, believing that there would be little difference between the time he and Brúsi [got to Norway] and that the latter’s business would not be concluded before he, Thorfinn, met with the king.
But it turned out differently from what he had expected, because when he came to see King Óláf, the business between the king and Brúsi had been concluded and the agreement settled. Nor did Earl Thorfinn, before seeing the king, know that Brúsi had given up the hereditary right to his possessions. And when he met King Óláf, the latter raised the same claim to overlordship in the Orkneys as he had done with Earl Brúsi, and demanded the same of Thorfinn: that he should agree to hand over to the king that share of the land which he had had before. The earl answered the king quietly and with composure, saying that he cared greatly for the friendship of the king toward him—“and in case you consider, sire, that you require my support against other chieftains, you have every claim to it from before. However, it will not do for me to swear allegiance to you, because I am already the earl of the king of Scotland and tributary to him.”
Now when the king found evasiveness in the earl’s reply to his demands, he spoke as follows: “If you, sir earl, will not swear allegiance to me, then there is the alternative that I assign the man to rule the Orkneys whom I choose. And it is my wish that you promise on oath that you make no claims on these lands and let them be in peace whom I set over them. But if you will accept neither of these alternatives, then he who will rule the lands can expect hostilities from you. And then you need not be surprised if there is a clash between us.” In his answer the earl requested to be given time to consider the matter, which the king did, leaving the earl time to advise with his men what to decide. Thereupon the earl asked the king to let him have time till the following summer and allow him to cross the sea to the west, for the reason that his counsellors were at home and that he was still a youth. But the king required him to make his decision then and there.
At that time Thorkel the Foster Father was at the court of the king. He sent a man secretly to Earl Thorfinn and begged him, whatever he had in mind, not to think for a moment of parting with the king without having made his peace with him, as he now was in the power of the king. With warnings such as these the earl understood that probably the only choice he had was to let the king decide, that time. Nor did it seem advantageous to have no hope of regaining his ancestral possessions and to make a pledge to let persons who had no rights by birth enjoy them in peace. But because he deemed it impossible to get away, he chose to swear allegiance to the king and become his man, just as Brúsi had done.
The king observed that Thorfinn was a much prouder minded man than Brúsi and resented more than he this humiliation, and so trusted him less than Brúsi. The king saw that Thorfinn might expect the support of the king of Scotland in case he chose to break this agreement. Shrewd as he was, the king discerned that Brúsi only reluctantly entered into any agreement, promising nothing but what he meant to keep; whereas Thorfinn, once he had decided which alternative he would choose, gladly assented to all terms nor refused any which the king made, to start with. But the king suspected that the earl would not adhere to all.
Chapter 102. Earl Thorfinn and Thorkel Are Reconciled
When King Óláf had reflected on this whole matter, he had the trumpets blown for an assembly to be attended by as many as possible, and had the two earls called to be present. Then the king said, “I shall now make known to everybody the agreement between myself and the Orkney earls. They have now consented to my taking possession of the Orkneys and Shetland, and have sworn fealty to me and confirmed that by oaths; and now I shall bestow on them that land in fief: Brúsi is to have one third, Thorfinn, another, just as they had had them before. But that third which Einar Wrymouth had shall fall to my share for the reason that he killed Eyvind Úrarhorn, my follower, companion, and dear friend. I shall administer that part of the land as I consider best. That too I want to stipulate with you, my earls, that you agree to take compensation from Thorkel Ámundason for the slaying of your brother Einar. I desire that you let me be the judge between you if you agree to that.” And the earls agreed to that as they had to all the king said. Then Thorkel came forward and put the award into the king’s hands; whereupon the assembly broke up.
King Óláf adjudged the compensation for the slaying of Earl Einar to be the same as for three landed-men; but because of the offence committed [by Einar], one third of the payment was to be forgiven. Thereupon Earl Thorfinn asked the king for leave to depart; and no sooner did he obtain that but he made ready in the greatest haste.
One day, when Thorfinn was all ready [to sail] and was drinking on his ship, Thorkel Ámundason suddenly stepped up to him and laid his head on the earl’s knees and bade him do with him as he pleased. The earl asked him why he did so, “We are already at peace according to the king’s judgment. Stand up, Thorkel!”
He did so; then he said, “The peace between us which the king made, I shall adhere to so far as Brúsi is concerned; but as between us, it is for you to decide. To be sure the king has adjudged to me my possessions and the right to live in the Orkneys. Yet I know your disposition and that it is unsafe for me to be in the islands unless I have your assurance, sir earl. I shall be willing to bind myself,” he added, “never to come to the Orkneys, whatever the king says about it.”
The earl was silent, and it was a long while before he spoke: “If you so prefer, Thorkel, that I be the judge in this business between us, rather than rely on the king’s judgment, then I shall make that the first condition for our reconciliation that you go with me to the Orkneys, stay with me, nor part from me except by my permission and consent; also that you have the obligation to defend my land and perform such labors as I decide on, as long as both of us live.”
Thorkel said, “Let that be in your hands, sir earl; that, as well as everything else which it is in my power to do.” Thereupon Thorkel by oath confirmed all the earl wished him to. As to the compensation [for Einar], the earl remarked that he would talk about that later. But he made Thorkel give solemn assurances [that he would do as stipulated]. Thereupon Thorkel forthwith got ready to go with the earl, and they sailed at once; nor did they and the king ever meet again.
Earl Brúsi remained behind and allowed himself more time to get ready. And before he departed, the king had a meeting with him and spoke as follows: “It would appear to me, earl, that I can depend on your loyalty when you are west across the sea. I intend that you shall have the same two thirds of the islands to govern as you had before. I do not wish you to be a man of less power, being my man now, than you were before. But I shall assure myself of your allegiance by your leaving your son Rognvald here with me. I shall see to it then that, having my support and two thirds of the islands, you can well maintain yourself and keep what is yours by rights, against your brother Thorfinn.” Brúsi accepted with thanks being given two thirds of the islands. Thereafter he remained in Norway but a short while 1021 before sailing to the Orkneys, where he arrived in fall. Rognvald, Brúsi’s son, remained behind at King Óláf’s court. He was an exceptionally handsome youth with abundant hair, yellow as silk. He soon was tall and strong and most accomplished both as to intelligence and courtly bearing. He remained a long time with King Óláf. All this is mentioned by Óttar in the drápa which he composed about King Óláf:
(82.)
271. Properly do you, peerless
prince, hold onto forbears’
might; therefore ’tis meet that
&n
bsp; men of Shetland obey you.
From eastlands1 no one ever
awed like you and, warlike
youth, brought under yoke the
yeomen of western islands.
Chapter 103. Earl Thorfinn Takes Over the Defence of the Orkneys
When the two brothers, Thorfinn and Brúsi, arrived west in the Orkneys, Brúsi took over two thirds of the islands to govern, and Thorfinn, one third. He was most often in Caithness and Scotland, and assigned his men to administer the islands, so Brúsi alone had to see to the defence of the islands. But in those days they were much exposed to raids, for both Norwegians and Danes were given to marauding on their viking expeditions to the west, and often touched on the Orkneys, either going or coming from the west, and made ness-raids. Brúsi mentioned this to his brother Thorfinn and that the latter took no measures to defend the Orkneys and Shetland Islands though he levied tributes and dues on his portion of them. Then Thorfinn offered Brúsi this alternative, that the latter should retain one third of the lands and let Thorfinn have two thirds, in return for Thorfinn’s taking over the defence of the islands for both. And though this exchange did not come about all at once, yet we are told in the Earls’ Saga1 that it did and that, [as a result], Thorfinn had two thirds of the lands and Brúsi, one third, at the time Knút the Powerful had dominion in Norway and King Óláf had departed from his country.
Earl Thorfinn was the most eminent chieftain in the islands and of all Orkney earls had the greatest power. He took possession of the Shetland Islands, the Orkneys, and the Hebrides, besides wielding great power in Scotland and Ireland. About this speaks Arnór the Earls’ Skald [in this verse]: