Chapter VI
1
O.S., 57, 58.
2
O.S., 56, 57.
3
O.S., 58.
4
O.S., 58.
5
Pope, Torfaeus (trans.), note p. 133.
6
Can she have inhabited the Broch at Feranach, which had six chambers in the thickness of the wall, (Curle’s Inventory, No. 314), or is the site of her homestead (probably of wood) now undiscoverable? She was burnt in her homestead, not in her residence. The Saga account points to a site on the west bank of the river.
7
O.S., 58.
8
O.S., 59.
9
O.S., 61, 62, 63, 65, c.f. the modern phrase “a young hopeful.”
10
O.S., 66.
11
O.S., 68.
12
O.S., 69, 70, 71, 72, 73-80.
13
See Tudor, Orkney and Shetland, pp. 35 and 375.
14
See note to Hjaltalin and Goudie O.S., p. 107, where Atjokl’s-bakki is suggested as an emendation, and also p. 115.
15
Maiming made a Northman impossible.
16
O.S., 81.
17
O.S., 81.
18
O.S., 82.
19
Guides would be easily got from Elgin. For the MacHeths, constantly fled to the wilds of Cat for refuge, before, in 1210 or later, they settled there, getting land in Durness after 1263.
21
O.S., 88. Earl Waltheof must have been a neighbour of Freskyn in Moray.
22
O.S., 86.
23
O.S., 89. Ragnvald’s verses are collected in Corpus Poet Boreale, vol. ii, pp. 276-7. See Tudor, O. and S. p., 471.
26
O.S., 89-99.
27
O.S., 99 and 100.
28
He was grandson of Hacon Paulson, a grandson of Thorfinn, and he was also a grandson of Helga, Moddan’s daughter.
29
O.S., 100.
30
See Tudor, O. and S., p. 344.
31
O.S., 101. Who this Erlend the Young was is unknown, but he can hardly have been Jarl Erlend Haraldson, Margret’s nephew. Dasent, Rolls Edit., trans., p. xi. Tudor, O. and S., p. 445.
33
O.S., 102, not “from Beruvik,” but “from the bridal” (brudkaupi) probably.
34
This may be another headland. Brimsness is suggested. O.P., ii, 801, contra.
35
O.S., 103, 104.
36
O.S., 105. See as to Ellar-holm (Helliar-holm) Tudor, O. and S., 283.
37
O.S., 110, 111.
38
O.S., 111.
39
Curle, Early Mon. Suthd., p. 108 No. 316; and note that the horns of the elk or reindeer have been found in Sutherland. See Proceedings of Scot. Antiq., viii, p. 186; and ix, p. 324.
40
Thorsdale is the valley of the Thurso River. Calfdale is the Calder Valley.
41
Force; possibly Forsie, or some waterfall said to be near Achavarn on Loch Calder at the S.E. end of it. Halvard is in the Flatey Book called Hoskúld. O.P., ii, 761, at a ruin of a castle, Tulloch-hoogie.
42
O.S., 112, 113. “Ergin” is the plural of airidh, airidhean or “sheilings.”
43
Torfaeus. Lib. 1, c. 36, sub. fin., with Papal authority (sed quaere).
44
Ingibiorg or Elin possibly married Gilchrist, Earl of Angus, as his second wife. But as to this the Sagas are silent.
Notes
20 i.e. The Minch. It is said that he was the ancestor of the Macaulays of the Lewis, but Macaulay means son of Olaf, not of Olvir.
24 Whence the English expression “bound” for a destination by sea, i.e. “equipped,” which is also a Norse word which has nothing to do with the Latin “equus” a horse.
25 O.S., 91. Bilbao=the sea-borg on the River Nervion, not Narbonne, see Rolls Ed., p. 163, note, and Introduction, p. lix.
32 O.S., 102. Ingigerd would thus be born not later than 1136. She is possibly the “Ingigerthr, of women the most beautiful” in the Runes of Maeshowe.
45 O.S., 113. See O.S., Dasent trans., p. 225. Hakon Saga, 169, Rolls edition.