THE NORSE OCCUPATION. 37 



informed his Royal master that the lord of Galloway had 

 openly avowed his intention, not only of subduing the 

 whole of the Hebrides, but of attacking Norway herself. 

 At the Norwegian Court, Olave found three Sudreyan 

 chiefs described as " kings " who, having failed to pay 

 tribute to Hakon for their possessions in the Hebrides, had 

 apparently been summoned to his Court to answer for 

 their contumacy. These were Dugall Scrag or Shrill- 

 voice, and Duncan (sons of Dugall, son of Somerled the 

 Great), and Somerled their cousin, son of Gillecolum who 

 was killed during his father's attempted conquest of 

 Scotland. The submission of the Sudreyan chiefs 

 appears to have come too late, for Hakon had already 

 appointed one Uspak whom he honoured by conferring 

 his own name upon him to act as his Viceroy in the 

 Sudreys, and the disappointed Somerledians had to 

 return home empty-handed. But they were not prepared 

 to submit tamely to being ousted by Uspak-Hakon, and 

 they resolved to fight. Anticipating their resentment and 

 their resistance, the King of Norway got ready a powerful 

 fleet to enforce the rule of his favourite. Olave the 

 Black was commanded to co-operate with Uspak, and 

 with that object, sailed from Norway with Paul Bal- 

 kasson, who had probably accompanied him to the 

 Norwegian Court. Reinforcements were obtained in the 

 Orkneys, and probably also in the Nordereys, and the 

 combined fleets, under the joint command of Uspak and 

 Olave, proceeded to the Sudreys to attack the trio of 

 Somerledians who awaited them in the Sound of Islay. 

 In the meantime, Balka, a son of Balkasson, and a loyal 

 Sudreyan chief named Ottar Snaekollsson (Snowball) 

 went to Skye, where they attacked a Lewis chief named 

 Torquil, son of Tormod (Munch calls him " Torquil 

 MacDermot " ), and killed him with two of his sons. The 

 third son, Tormod, managed to escape by jumping into 

 a cask floating in the water, which drifted across to the 

 mainland, whence he reached Lewis in safety. 



The campaign against the Somerledian chiefs was 



