Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Scandinavian Britain - III. The Norse Settlements - 6. The Earldom of Orkney
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Margaret, widow of Maddadh and Harald’s mother, to
the broch of Mousa, and not only defended it against
the young jarl, but, with the support of King Eystein
of Norway and Svein Asleifarson the viking, made
good his claim to the greater part of Orkney and
Caithness. When Ragnvald returned there were
three jarls, who met in battle at Knarrarstad (Knarstoun)
in 1156. Erlend, however, did not long survive,
and Ragnvald fell at Kalfadal (Calder, in Caithness)
shortly afterwards. His father Kol and he had founded
(about 1137) and partly built the cathedral of St.
Magnus at Kirkwall, completing the choir, according
to Dietrichson and Meyer, before 1153. To provide
money for the building Ragnvald restored full odal
rights to the Orkneymen, and as jarl Sigurd had
already made a similar restitution, it is thought that on
the first occasion the rights were restored only for the
owner’s lifetime, while Ragnvald granted them in
perpetuity. By his "pilgrimage" and church-building
this poet-jarl, no saintly person, died in odour of
sanctity, and was canonised in 1192.
At his death, about 1158, the Cistercian abbey on
Eyin helga (Enhallow) may have been already founded,
and during this period Kolbein Hruga built his small
stone keep on the island of Weir, where "Cobbie
Row," according to tradition, used until modern
times to haunt the ruins. His son was Bjarni, bishop
of Orkney 1188-1223, who continued the building of
the cathedral, and according to Dr. Jón Stefánsson
(Orkney and Shetland Old Lore, April 1907) wrote the
Jarla-sögur, which we know as Orkneyinga-saga.
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