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gave Orkney to Ragnvald, who made over the jarldom
to his brother Sigurd. He joined Thorstein the Red
in the conquest of all northern Scotland, and died
after his fight with Maelbrigd of the Tusk. The
identification of Thorstein with the Oistin of Irish
annals has led to the placing of these events fifteen
or twenty years too early; if we date the death of
Sigurd 872 (as usually fixed) we are forced to allow
the next important jarl, Torf-Einar, a reign of sixty
years, and to place the invasion of Harald Fairhair
just before, rather than just after, the visit of bishop
Eardwulf to Whithorn, which seems improbable : we
also get too little time for the development of Olaf
the White’s kingdom, and the conquests of Thorstein
the Red. But if we understand "Oistin" as Eystein,
(see p. 225), and place the invasion of Harald
about 880, and the death of Sigurd about 888, the
chronology of the whole period becomes possible.
Dr. J. Anderson identified "Cyder Hall" on the
Oykel with the Siwardhoch of 1224, and the Ekkjal
of the Saga as the scene of Jarl Sigurd’s death and
burial.
Einar, son of jarl Ragnvald, may have come to the
Orkneys about 890, and he died 936. He is said to
have taught the Orkneymen the use of peat as fuel,
whence his name Torf-Einar ; there are traditions that
the islands were covered with coppice before the
coming of the Norse, and, as in Iceland, the earlier
generations were doubtless improvident in their use of
wood. But the knowledge of peat seems to have
been derived from Ireland rather than from Norway.
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