Sigurd Eysteinsson (aka
Sigurd the Mighty, ruled
circa 875–92) was the second
VikingA Viking is one of the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the late eighth to the early eleventh century. These Norsemen used their famed longships to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga River in Russia, and as far...
Earl of OrkneyThe Earl of Orkney was originally a Norse jarl ruling Orkney, Shetland and parts of Caithness and Sutherland. The Earls were periodically subject to the kings of Norway for the Northern Isles, and later also to the kings of Alba for those parts of their territory in mainland Scotland . The Earl's...
, who succeeded his brother Rognvald Eysteinsson. He was a leader in the Viking conquest of what is now northern Scotland. Bizarrely, he was killed by the
severed headDecapitation is the separation of the head of an animal from its body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by means of a guillotine...
of one his enemies,
Máel BrigteMáel Brigte, also known as Máel Brigte the Bucktoothed or Máel Brigte Tusk was a 10th century Pictish nobleman, most probably a Mormaer of Moray who was responsible for the death of Sigurd the Mighty, Earl of Orkney....
, who may have been
mórmaer of MorayThe Mormaerdom or Kingdom of Moray was a lordship in High Medieval Scotland that was destroyed by King David I of Scotland in 1130. It did not have the same territory as the modern local government council area of Moray, which is a much smaller area, around Elgin...
. Sigurd strapped Máel Brigte's head to his saddle as a trophy of conquest, and as he rode, Máel Brigte's teeth grazed against Sigurd's leg.
Sigurd Eysteinsson (aka
Sigurd the Mighty, ruled
circa 875–92) was the second
VikingA Viking is one of the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the late eighth to the early eleventh century. These Norsemen used their famed longships to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga River in Russia, and as far...
Earl of OrkneyThe Earl of Orkney was originally a Norse jarl ruling Orkney, Shetland and parts of Caithness and Sutherland. The Earls were periodically subject to the kings of Norway for the Northern Isles, and later also to the kings of Alba for those parts of their territory in mainland Scotland . The Earl's...
, who succeeded his brother Rognvald Eysteinsson. He was a leader in the Viking conquest of what is now northern Scotland. Bizarrely, he was killed by the
severed headDecapitation is the separation of the head of an animal from its body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by means of a guillotine...
of one his enemies,
Máel BrigteMáel Brigte, also known as Máel Brigte the Bucktoothed or Máel Brigte Tusk was a 10th century Pictish nobleman, most probably a Mormaer of Moray who was responsible for the death of Sigurd the Mighty, Earl of Orkney....
, who may have been
mórmaer of MorayThe Mormaerdom or Kingdom of Moray was a lordship in High Medieval Scotland that was destroyed by King David I of Scotland in 1130. It did not have the same territory as the modern local government council area of Moray, which is a much smaller area, around Elgin...
. Sigurd strapped Máel Brigte's head to his saddle as a trophy of conquest, and as he rode, Máel Brigte's teeth grazed against Sigurd's leg. The wound became infected and Sigurd died.
The two main sources for Sigurd's life are the Norse
HeimskringlaHeimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...
and
OrkneyingaThe Orkneyinga saga is a unique historical narrative of the history of the Orkney Islands, Scotland, from their capture by the Norwegian king in the ninth century onwards until about 1200....
sagas. According to the sagas, after the
Battle of HafrsfjordThe Battle of Hafrsfjord has traditionally been regarded as the battle in which western Norway for the first time was unified under one monarch. Eastern Norway was ruled by the Danish king...
unified the
Norwegian kingdomNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
in or after 872, the Orkney and Shetland islands became a refuge for exiled Vikings, who raided their former homeland. The king of Norway, Harald Finehair, subdued the pirate Vikings with the aid of Rognvald Eysteinsson of
Møreis a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Sør-Trøndelag, Oppland and Sogn og Fjordane. The county administration is located in Molde, while Ålesund is the largest city.-The name:...
. During the conquest, Rognvald's son, Ivar, was killed, and in compensation for his loss Harald gave Rognvald the islands along with the title of Jarl or Earl. With the consent of Harald, Rognvald transferred the title and lands to his brother Sigurd, who was one of Harald's forecastlemen. The
Historia NorvegiæHistoria Norwegiæ is a short Latin history of Norway written by an anonymous monk. The only extant manuscript, in the private possession of the Earl of Dalhousie and kept at Brechin Castle, Scotland, is fragmentary; what we have of the Historia is found on folios 1r-12r...
, written around the same time as the sagas but from a different source, corroborates the conquest of the islands by Rognvald's family, but omits any details.
In league with
Thorstein the RedThorstein the Red or Thorstein Olafsson was a viking chieftain who flourished in late ninth-century Scotland. He was born around 850 AD and was the son of Olaf the White, King of Dublin, and Aud the Deep-minded, who was the daughter of Ketil Flatnose...
, Sigurd expanded his domains to the Scottish mainland, and conquered
CaithnessCaithness is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic local government area of Scotland. The name was used also for the earldom of Caithness and the Caithness constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . Boundaries are not identical in all contexts, but the Caithness area is...
and
SutherlandSutherland is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic administrative county of Scotland. It is now within the Highland local government area. In Gaelic the area is referred to according to its traditional areas: Dùthaich 'Ic Aoidh , Asainte , and Cataibh...
at least as far south as
Ekkjalsbakka, which some sources say was in
MorayMoray is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland....
, but was much more likely to be farther north somewhere along the banks of the
river OykelThe River Oykel is a major river in northern Scotland that is famous for its salmon fishing. It rises on Ben More Assynt, a few miles from Ullapool on the west coast of Scotland, and drains into the North Sea via the Kyle of Sutherland...
. His exploits in conquering the north of Scotland became legendary and earned him the epithet, "the Mighty", or in Norse,
ríki.
According to the
Orkneyinga sagaThe Orkneyinga saga is a unique historical narrative of the history of the Orkney Islands, Scotland, from their capture by the Norwegian king in the ninth century onwards until about 1200....
, towards the end of his reign, Sigurd challenged a native ruler, Máel Brigte the Bucktoothed, to a 40-man-a-side battle. Treacherously, Sigurd brought 80 men to the fight. Máel Brigte was defeated and beheaded. Sigurd strapped the head to his saddle as a trophy, but as Sigurd rode, Máel Brigte's buck-tooth scratched his leg. The leg became inflamed and infected, and as a result Sigurd died. He was buried in a
tumulusA tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world...
known as Sigurd's Howe, or in Norse as
Sigurðar-haugr, possibly modern-day Sidera or Cyderhall near
DornochDornoch is a town and seaside resort, and former Royal burgh in the Highlands of Scotland, on the north shore of the Dornoch Firth, close to where it opens into the Moray Firth to the east...
.
Sigurd's death was apparently followed by a period of instability. He was succeeded by his son Guttorm, who died within a few months. Rognvald made his son Hallad Earl of Orkney, but Hallad could not contain the pirate Vikings, resigned his earldom and returned to Norway in disgrace. The sagas say that Rognvald's other sons were more interested in conquering places other than Scotland, and so the earldom was given to Rognvald's youngest son,
EinarrEinarr Rögnvaldarson, Torf-Einarr or Turf-Einar was one of the Norse Earls of Orkney. His rise to power is related in sagas which apparently draw on verses of Einarr's own composition for inspiration...
, whose mother was a slave.