3. Christmas preparations, a time for family… and killing (the family)
19/12/2024
Returning to Earl Þorfinnr from ‘The host with the most…’, the saga tells us that he was in the midst of a conflict with his nephew Rǫgnvaldr who also had a claim to the earldom: ‘And a little before Christmas Earl Rǫgnvaldr went with a great troop to Papa Stronsay to get malt which was …
2. Christmas, a time for family… and killing
18/12/2024
Given the number of festive passages in the saga, some only passing references to the time of year, we know that Christmas loomed large and punctuated the year. It was, as we have seen, a time for great lords to show generosity and to be seen showing that largess. In one passing reference to Christmas …
Fishing for solutions: the place-name Stronsay
03/12/2024
Stronsay occurs several times in the various manuscripts containing the Saga of the Earls Orkney (Orkneyinga Saga). The name occurs as Straumsey Streaumsey, Striansey, Striensø, Strionsey, and Strionsø. The last element is ON ey ‘island’, common in Orkney place-names. What then of the first element? In 1915 Magnus Olsen proposed that Norwegian place-names containing the …
Egilsay: Earls, Churches, and Island(s)
26/11/2024
Egilsay is a relatively small, carrot-shaped island which lies around 19 miles north of Kirkwall, Mainland. The island forms one of the Inner North Isles, alongside Wyre and Rousay, and is connected to both islands and Tingwall, Mainland by ferry. Though not mentioned exceptionally frequently in Orkneyinga saga, appearing only six times, Egilsay provides the …
Kolr Kalason, the forgotten hero of The Saga of the Earls of Orkney
16/11/2024
Working in the Orkney Archive not long ago, I came across an intriguing booklet called The Saga of Kol Kalison, about the Norwegian father of the twelfth-century Earl of Orkney Rǫgnvaldr Kali Kolsson: The author, Charles Grant, kindly sent me the following information about it: The book was written for the Jarl Squad 2008 Lerwick …
‘Cancelled, no room to write’!
06/11/2024
The Ordnance Survey Name Books are a valuable and productive resource for place-names research… but for places like the small island of Fair Isle it seems there just wasn’t enough room to write all the names that were collected onto the map! A bit of background first: these books contain place-name information and the sources …
Crossing the Sea of Orcs
16/09/2024
The Pentland Firth is the large body of water which separates the Orkney Isles and mainland Scotland. Ferries that run to the islands cross this body of water, which is roughly 7.5 miles (12km) in length. As such a prominent water feature, and the main crossing point to Orkney from the south, it is not …
Who were the Papar of Papay?
07/09/2024
The place-name Papay (officially known as Papa Westray) derives from the ON term papi /papar meaning priest/priests and ON ey ‘island’ giving a meaning of ‘island of priests’. There are in fact several Papar names in Orkney, Papa Stronsay, the Steeven of Papy (North Ronaldsay), Papleyhouse (Eday), Papdale (Kirkwall, Mainland), Paplay (Holm) and Papley (South …
Swona: A pig of a name?
13/08/2024
Swona lies in the Pentland Firth to the east of South Ronaldsay. It is unusual in that, for some reason, it does not feature in Marwick’s Orkney Farm Names. Understood to mean ‘Sveinn’s island’ by those that lived there, there is a rock called Grimsalie where Grimr of saga fame met the eponymous Sveinn (William …
Sword-storm off Rauðabjǫrg?
03/08/2024
Rauðabjǫrg is the location of the great sea battle between Earl Þorfinnr and Earl Rǫgnvaldr in the Saga of the Earls of Orkney in which we hear that: ‘Earl Rǫgnvaldr gathered his army in the Orkneys and intended to go over to Ness, and when he arrived at the Pentland Firth then he had thirty …