THE ORKNEYS AND SHETLANDS 



213 



The Orkney sages tell the adventures 

 of a long line of warlike, tricky, and mur- 

 derous earls, who plundered the coasts, 

 burning, killing, or stealing what came 

 within their power, quarreling among 

 themselves, ruling as absolute sovereigns 

 so long as their power lasted, and usually 

 dying a tragic death for much the same 

 reason that Nature decrees a violent end 

 for most of the wild beasts. 



It is curious, therefore, to find among 

 these dauntless leaders and ruthless con- 

 querors two whose piety was so marked 

 that their names were afterward included 

 in the catalogue of saints. The history 

 of these two men, St. Magnus and St. 

 Rognvald, together with that of Swein 

 Asliefson, "the last of the Vikings," must 

 become known to every visitor to the 

 Orkneys, for it is through them that the 

 islands came into possession of their 

 greatest monument, the Cathedral of St. 

 Magnus in Kirkwall. 



THE STORY OF ST. MAGNUS 



Magnus, the son of Erlend, and Hakon, 

 the son of Paul, became joint earls of 

 Orkney in 1103. Magnus is described as 

 "a man of noble presence and intellectual 

 countenance. He was of blameless life, 

 victorious in battles, wise, eloquent, 

 strong-minded, liberal and magnanimous, 

 sagacious in counsel, and more beloved 

 than any other man." 



For a time the cousins were friendly 

 and peace and prosperity came to the 

 islands. But Hakon became jealous of his- 

 kinsman's greatness and, after the two 

 had nearly reached the point of open 

 warfare, treacherously suggested a meet- 

 ing for the purpose of peace and recon- 

 ciliation. This was to be held on the 

 island of Egilsey, where there is today 

 the ruin of an ancient church which was 

 built before the first Norsemen came to 

 Orkney. 



Each man was to have two ships and 

 a stipulated number of followers. Mag- 

 nus arrived first, with the proper quota, 

 but when Hakon came, it was seen that 

 he had eight ships and a large army, and 

 Magnus knew at once that his hour had 

 come. The saga relates that he met his 

 fate with noble resignation, facing death 

 with the cheerful courage of a Christian 

 martyr. 



It was said that the place where he 

 was slain, though previously covered 

 with moss and stones, became at once 

 a beautiful greensword. typifying the en- 

 trance of a saint into the "beauty and 

 verdure of Paradise." 



Hakon, after this murder, violated all 

 the rules of poetic justice by becoming a 

 pretty good ruler, and eventually died in 

 his bed. His sons, Paul and Harold, suc- 

 ceeded, but, as usual, quarreled, until one 

 day Harold insisted on taking for him- 

 self a splendid garment that his mother 

 and her sister had made for Paul. It 

 turned out to be poisoned, and so Harold 

 promptly curled up and died and Paul 

 reigned alone. 



ROGNVALD, THE POET ADVENTURER 



But a new claimant now arose in the 

 person of Kali, a very popular young 

 man with red hair, who wrote poetry. 

 He obtained from King Sigurd of Nor- 

 way the grant of one-half the islands, 

 and was permitted to change his name to 

 Rognvald, after one of the most accom- 

 plished of the Orkney earls. This was 

 intended to bring good luck. 



Rognvald's father was Kol, a very foxy 

 old gentleman, who lived in Norway. He 

 tried various schemes for securing to his 

 son the half of the islands, which Earl 

 Paul flatly refused to surrender, but noth- 

 ing came of them and Paul seemed 

 stronger than ever. At last he hit upon 

 the right solution. Rognvald must pray 

 to St. Magnus, who was his mother's 

 brother and to whom trie possessions 

 rightfully belonged, and ask his permis- 

 sion to enjoy them. He must promise 

 that if successful he would build a stone 

 minster at Kirkinvag (Kirkwall) "more 

 magnificent than any other in these 

 lands," dedicating it to Earl Magnus the 

 Holy. 



Rognvald promptly made the vow. 



Paul had arranged beacons on the 

 islands as signals of the enemy's ap- 

 proach, that on Fair Island to be lighted 

 first, the others to be lighted when this 

 was seen. 



Kol cunningly contrived to deceive the 

 keeper of the first beacon by pretending 

 to approach with a great licet. The bea- 

 cons were all fired and the country 

 aroused, but Kol quietly retired. Then 



