The Earls of Orkney 245 



virtue of that inheritance he sent to demand the crown 

 of England, which Hardacnut had also worn before he 

 died, of Hardacnut's half-brother, our Edward the 

 Confessor : but he never enforced his demand by arms. 

 This reign of Magnus in Norway is contemporary 

 with the greatest period in the history of the Earls of 

 Orkney, of which the Jarla Sogur, or Orkneyinga Saga, 

 gives us a vivid account. The possessions of the Earls 

 of Orkney consisted at that time of both the Orkney 

 and Shetland groups of islands, and of Caithness on 

 the Scottish mainland ; but the latter county was held 

 from the Kings of Scotland, and belonged without dis- 

 pute to Thorfinn, called in the Orkney history Thorfinn 

 the Great, one of the joint Earls of Orkney. The other 

 Orkney Earl was Thorfinn's uncle, not much his senior 

 in age, Eognvald Brusason, a man who had spent much 

 time at the Norwegian Court, and was high in favour 

 with the Norwegian monarchs who claimed to be the 

 suzerains of Orkney, both with Olaf the Saint and his 

 son Magnus. Eognvald fought by the side of Olaf at 

 Stiklestad, and aided Harald Hardradi to escape from 

 the battle in a way that we shall immediately have to 

 relate. Eognvald returned for a while to the Orkneys ; 

 ruled at first in harmony with Thorfinn, but was 

 eventually driven out by his nephew; he returned 

 and drove away Thorfinn for a time, and was finally 

 slain by the latter. 



We now come to the history of that brother of Olaf 

 the Saint who had fought by his side at Stiklestad, the 

 son of King Sigurd Syr and of Aasta, Harold Sigurd- 

 son (or as we English know him best), Harald Hardradi, 



