Cairston: a strategic place?
15/07/2024
There are three Cairstons in Orkney all in close to proximity to each other, the modern settlement so-named near Stromness on Orkney’s west Mainland, Cairston Roads offshore near Inner and Outer Holm, and Bu of Cairston on the coast of the Bay of Ireland. Cairston occurs twice in the Saga of the Earls of Orkney …
A Clerical Conundrum
07/07/2024
Two anecdotes in the Saga of the Earls of Orkney involve close encounters between the 12th-century Earl of Orkney Rǫgnvaldr Kali Kolsson and some strange-looking clergymen. In Chapter 71, we’re told that ‘Earl Rǫgnvaldr had arrived in Westray’, and in Chapter 72 that: On Sunday Earl Rǫgnvaldr attended the service there in the village, and …
Knarston: a man or a ship, a staðr or a stǫð?
26/06/2024
Knarston occurs six times in the Saga of the Earls of Orkney and its earliest attestations are in the AM 325 I 4° manuscript (ca. 1290–1310). We hear in the saga that ‘Jaddvǫr, the daughter of Earl Erlendr, lived at Knarston with her son Borgarr’ (chapter 56), that later ‘Arnkell… lived there, along with his …
Damis eý, a dam(n) difficult meaning to work out
03/06/2024
Damsay lies in the Bay of Firth almost within touching distance of Mainland. It occurs in the Saga of the Earls of Orkney (Orkneyinga saga) several times. We are told, for instance, that Damsay was visible from a hill on the estate of Orphir and that it was possible to see upon it the ‘castle… …