Individual

Go to List of Family Names Go to List of People    < Previous Next >

Birth:          ABT  870 of Maer, More og Romsdal, Norway
Death:           910 Orkney, Orkney Islands

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torf-Einarr
Einarr Rognvaldarson often referred to by his byname Torf-Einarr (sometimes 
anglicised as Turf-Einarr), (fl. early 890s–c. 910) was one of the Norse Earls of Orkney. 
The son of the Norse jarl, Rognvald Eysteinsson and a concubine, his rise to power is 
related in sagas which apparently draw on verses of Einarr's own composition for 
inspiration. After battling for control of the Northern Isles of Scotland and a struggle 
with Norwegian royalty, Einarr founded a dynasty which retained control of the islands 
for centuries after his death.

He is portrayed as a successful warrior and has various characteristics in common 
with the Norse God Odin but his historicity is not in doubt. The reasons for his 
nickname of "Turf" are not certain.
Sources[edit]
The sources for Einarr's life are exclusively the Norse sagas, none of which were 
written down during his lifetime. The Orkneyinga saga was first compiled in Iceland in 
the early 13th century and much of the information it contains is "hard to 
corroborate".[6] Einarr is also referred to in the Heimskringla, which is of a similar 
vintage to the Orkneyinga saga. Torf-Einarr's Saga itself is now lost and a short 
passage is recorded in the Landnámabók.[2] These verses, penned by Einarr himself 
about his feud with Hálfdan Long-Legs, were the source of most of the saga writer’s 
information about him.[5]

Family background[edit]
Einarr was the youngest son of Rognvald Eysteinsson, Earl of Mřre, Norway, by a 
concubine. According to the sagas and the Historia Norvegiae Rognvald's family 
conquered the Orkney and Shetland islands in the late ninth century.[7] Rognvald's 
brother, Sigurd Eysteinsson, was made Earl of Orkney and after his death on campaign 
he was succeeded by his son, Guthorm, who died shortly afterward. Rognvald then 
sent one of his own sons, Hallad, to govern the islands.[8]

The Orkneyinga saga states that Einarr was one of six brothers, the others being: 
Hallad, Hrollaug, Ivar, Hrólfr, and Thorir the Silent. The three eldest, Hallad, Einarr 
and Hrollaug, were natural sons of Rognvald, and were "grown men when their 
brothers born in marriage were still children".[9][10] Ivar was killed on an campaign 
with King Harald Finehair, which resulted in the Norđreyar being gifted to his family as 
compensation. Hrólfr "was so big that no horse could carry him", hence his byname of 
"Göngu-Hrólf" ("Hrólf the Walker"),[9] and he is identified by the saga writers with 
Rollo, ancestor of the Dukes of Normandy.[10] Thorir the Silent was Rognvald's third 
son by his marriage to Ragnhild.[Note 1]

Ari Ţorgilsson quotes a short section from the lost Torf-Einarr’s Saga in the 
Landnámabók. It begins: "Earl Turf-Einarr (of Orkney) had a daughter in his youth, she 
was called Thordis. Earl Rognvald brought her up and gave her in marriage to 
Thorgeir Klaufi, their son was Einar, he went to Orkney to see his kinsmen; they would 
not own him for a kinsman; then Einar bought a ship in partnership with two brothers, 
Vestman and Vemund, and they went to Iceland." The Landnámabók goes on to make 
brief reference to Einar's travels there. It also lists his two sons, Eyjolf and Ljot, and 
some details about them and their descendents.[2][11] The sagas describe Einarr as 
tall, ugly and blind in one eye, but sharp-sighted nonetheless.[12]

Rise to power[edit]
Einarr's brother Hallad was unable to maintain control in Orkney due to the predations 
of Danish pirates. He resigned his earldom and returned to Norway as a common 
landholder, which "everyone thought was a huge joke."[8] Hallad's failure led to 
Rognvald flying into a rage and summoning his sons Thorir and Hrolluag. He asked 
which of them wanted the islands but Thorir said the decision was up to the earl 
himself. Rognvald predicted that Thorir's path would keep him in Norway and that 
Hrolluag was destined seek his fortune in Iceland. Einarr, the youngest of the natural 
sons, then came forward and offered to go to the islands. Rognvald said: "Considering 
the kind of mother you have, slave-born on each side of her family, you are not likely 
to make much of a ruler. But I agree, the sooner you leave and the later you return the 
happier I'll be."[13]

Rognvald agreed to provide Einarr with a ship and crew in the hope that he would sail 
away and never return. Despite his father's misgivings, on arrival in the Scottish 
islands, Einarr fought and defeated two Danish warlords, Ţórir Tréskegg (Thorir 
Treebeard) and Kálf Skurfa (Kalf the Scurvy), who had taken residence there. Einarr 
then established himself as earl of a territory that comprised the two archipelagoes of 
Orkney and Shetland.[14][15]

Relations with Norway[edit]

After Einarr had settled in Orkney two of Harald Finehair's unruly sons, Halvdan 
Hĺlegg (English: Hálfdan Longlegs) and Gudrřd Ljome (English: Gudrod the Gleaming), 
killed Einarr's father Rognvald by trapping him in his house and setting it alight. 
Gudrřd took possession of Rognvald's lands while Hálfdan sailed westwards to 
Orkney and then displaced Einarr. The sagas say that King Harald, apparently 
appalled by his sons' actions, overthrew Gudrřd and restored Rognvald's lands to his 
son, Thorir. From a base in Caithness on the Scottish mainland Einarr resisted 
Hálfdan's occupation of the islands. After winning a battle at sea, and a ruthless 
campaign on land, Einarr spied Hálfdan hiding on North Ronaldsay. The sagas claim 
that Hálfdan was captured, and sacrificed to Odin as a blood eagle.[16]

While the killing of Hálfdan by the Orkney islanders is recorded independently in the 
Historia Norvegić, the manner of his death is unspecified. The blood eagle sacrifice 
may be a misunderstanding or an invention of the sagawriters as it does not feature 
directly in the earlier skaldic verses, which instead indicate that Hálfdan was killed by 
a volley of spears.[17] The verses do mention the eagle as a carrion bird, and this may 
have influenced the saga writers to introduce the blood eagle element.[18] The sagas 
then relate that Harald sought vengeance for his son's ignoble death, and set out on 
campaign against Einarr, but was unable to dislodge him. Eventually, Harald agreed to 
end the fight in exchange for a fine of 60 gold marks levied on Einarr and the allodial 
owners of the islands. Einarr offered to pay the whole fine if the allodial landowners 
passed their lands to him, to which they agreed.[19] Einarr's assumption of control 
over the islands appears well-attested and was considered by later commentators to 
be the moment at which the Earls of Orkney came to own the entire island group in fee 
to the King of Norway.[5] Others have interpreted the payment of 60 gold marks as 
wergild or blood money.[20]

The sagas incorrectly claim that the Earl of Orkney was called "Turf-Einarr" because 
he introduced the practice of burning turf or peat to the islands since wood was so 
scarce. This practice long pre-dates the Norse and the real reason for the nickname is 
unknown.[5] The Orkneyinga saga has him organising peat cutting at Tarbat Ness far 
to the south of the Orkney heartland.[21] While depletion of woodland could have 
caused a cultural shift from burning timber to peat, potentially the name arose because 
the sequestration of the common or allodial rights of the islanders by Einarr forced 
them away from coppicing towards cutting turves.[22]

Legacy[edit]

The remainder of Einarr's long reign was apparently unchallenged, and he died in his 
bed of a sickness, leaving three sons, Arnkel, Erlend and Thorfinn who became jarls 
of Orkney after him. Despite his apparent physical shortcomings, as well as his low-
born mother, Einarr established a dynasty which ruled the Orkney islands until 1470.[5]

At this early period, many of the dates relating to the Orkney earldom are uncertain. 
Einarr's death is stated as being circa 910 in several sources.[2][3][4] Crawford (2004) 
suggests he lived until the 930s[5] and Ashley (1998) states that "allowing for the 
ages of his sons to succeed him he must have ruled to at least the year 920 or 
later."[23]

There are five verses recorded in the Landnámabók attributed to Einarr that describe 
a feud between the families of Rognvald Eysteinsson and that of Harald Finehair. 
Apart from these verses, no other examples of Torf-Einarr's poetry are known to 
survive, though they appear to be part of a larger body of work.[24] A couplet that 
commemorates Einarr's defeat of the two pirate Vikings, Thorir Treebeard and Kalf the 
Scurvy, has a matching metre and alliterative similarities to the attributed verses.[24]

Hann gaf Tréskegg trollum,
Torf-Einarr drap Skurfu.

He gave Treebeard to the trolls,
Torf-Einarr slew Scurvy.[25]

Einarr must have had some fame as a poet, as his name is used in the Háttatal, an 
examination of Old Norse poetry written in the thirteenth-century, to refer to a specific 
type of metre, Torf-Einarsháttr.[24]

Interpretations[edit]
Much of Einarr's story in the sagas appears to be derived from the five skaldic verses 
attributed to Einarr himself[5] and it is not certain that this account Einarr's conquest 
is historically accurate. Though the Historia Norvegić, written at the same time as the 
sagas but from a different source, confirms that Rognvald's family conquered the 
islands, it gives few details. The scene in the sagas where Einarr's father scorns him 
is a literary device which often figures in Old Norse literature. After Hallad's failure in 
Orkney the dialogue between the father and his sons has been interpreted as being 
about Rognvald's desire to cement his own position as Earl of Mřre and an allusion to 
the early history of Iceland, where the sagas were written. Thorir is a compliant son 
who Rognvald is happy to keep at home. Hrolluag is portrayed as a man of peace who 
will go to Iceland. Einarr is aggressive and a threat to his father's position so can be 
spared for the dangers of Orkney.[26] In the Landnámabók version the equally 
aggressive Hrolfr is also present, and his destiny is anticipated to be in conveniently 
far-away Normandy.[27][Note 2]

The writer of the Orkneyinga saga established Einarr's status in two contradictory 
ways. Although in the Historia Rognvald's family are described as "pirates" the saga 
provides them with a legally established earldom instated by the king. Einarr's success 
is however largely down to his own efforts and he negotiates with King Harald rather 
than offers blind obedience. The author is thus able to emphasise both the legitimacy 
and independence of his house.[28]

Einarr is also provided with various characteristics associated with Odin. Both have 
but one eye and Halfdan's hideous death at Einarr's hands is offered to the god—an act 
that contains a hint of Odin's own sacrifice to himself in the Hávamál.[29] Einarr is a 
man of action who is self-made, and he is a successful warrior who (unlike his 
brothers) avenges his father's death. He leads a dramatic and memomorable life and 
emerges as "ancient, powerful and mysterious—but as a literary figure rather than a real 
person".[30] He is also a heathen whose appearance at the commencement of the 
saga contrasts with the later martyrdom of his descendent St Magnus which marks a 
"moral high-point" of the story.[30]

Parents
EYESTEINSSON Rognvald "the Wise" (ABT  830 -  890)
----- ----- ()

Siblings
ROGNVALDSSON Einar (ABT  870 -  910)

Marriage To ----- ----- ()
    m.  

Notes


Children by ----- ----- 
EINARSSON Thorfinn I Rollo "Brico" "Hausakliffer" (ABT  890 - AFT  977)

Produced by Fzip 1.7 6/20/2017