Thorfinn Torf-Einarsson

Thorfinn was the youngest son of Torf-Einarr, himself the son of Rognvald Eysteinsson, the first Earl of Orkney. Torf-Einarr had two other sons, Arnkel and Erlend who "fell in a war expedition" at an unspecified location in England along with Erik Bloodaxe, who was Torf-Einarr's kinsman through his sister Álöf who was married to Torf-Einarr's brother Thorir. Erik's widow, Gunnhildr then fled north to Orkney with her sons who used the islands as a base for summer raiding expeditions. each of whom had a son called Einar - Einar kliningr ("Buttered-bread") and Einar harðkjotr ("Hard-mouth"). Gunnhildr and her family later set out for Norway, but before they left they "gave" their daughter Ragnhild Eriksdotter to Arnfinn Thorfinnsson in marriage. In the later days of Thorfinn's rule, the sons of Eric Bloodaxe fled Norway and returned to Orkney where they "committed great excesses". ==Death and legacy==

Thorfinn Torf-Einarsson lived to be an old man According to ''St Olaf's Saga his sons became Earls after him who then ruled as earl for a time. Not content with this new arrangement Ragnhild then conspired with her nephew Einar kliningr, who killed Havard at the battle of Havarðsteiger near Stenness. Einar and Ragnhild then fell out and the latter persuaded Einar harðkjotr to attack and kill his cousin Einar kliningr'' in turn. Ragnhild's ambitions were still not assuaged and this "female spider" then colluded with Ljot Thorfinnson whom she married and then he had the second Einar killed. and mill pond at Ham, Caithness Skuli gave allegiance to the Scots king who gave him the title Earl of Orkney but he never gained control of the islands, being killed in battle against Ljot in the Dales of Caithness at which Ljot "fought like a hero". Ljot then took control of Caithness but this angered the Scots and the Mormaer of Moray brought a large army north. They engaged in battle at Skitten Mire (now called the Moss of Killimister) near Wick and although outnumbered Ljot had the victory. However he later died of wounds suffered there and "people thought it a great loss". ==Interpretations==

Kjarvalr Írakonungr appears in the Landnámabók and has been identified as Cerball mac Dúnlainge, King of Osraige who died in 888. There is clearly a chronological problem with Earl Hlodvir, whose son Sigurd was killed at Clontarf in 1014, marrying the daughter of a king who died more than 120 years before that. Furthermore, Thorstein "the Red" Olafsson (fl. late 9th century and Hlodvir's great-grandfather) was apparently married to a granddaughter of Kjarvalr. Woolf (2007) concludes that the saga writers may have confused this story about the provenance of Sigurd Hlodvirsson with one about Thorstein, a close ally of Sigurd Eysteinsson. Thomson (2008) concludes that there is "no real reason to trust the details of this bloodthirsty story" about Thorfinn's children, and speculates about the saga writer's intentions. ==See also==