|
|
Home
Pearsall Surname Project
Number of Pearsalls By Location
Maps by Family
Surname
History and Genealogy
of the Pearsall Family in England
and America:
Volume I
Front Cover
Inside Front Cover
The Motive
Thanks
Illustrations
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Appendix I
Volume II
Volume III
|
|
the
relations of the deposed king fled to Iceland, the general refuge
of the discontented and the oppressed. In the meantime, Rognvald returned to Norway, leaving his brother Sigurd as his substitute in the government of the
Orkneys. Sigurd expelled the Christian monks
from the islands, and with the aid of Thor-stein the Red, a Viking from Iceland, conquered a small portion of Scotland,
where he built a fortress. Some years afterwards Sigurd
died, and the pirates still continued to infest the seas of this Northern
archipelago, which determined Rognvald to
invest with this fief his natural son *1. Einar,
the child of his slave and concubine. His choice was justified by the
event. Einar drove away the pirates, and
re-established law and order in the isles confided to his rule.
Einar's life was passed in
undisturbed possession of the earldom he had so unexpectedly acquired;
except the incidents related in the second chapter of this work and upon
his death the earldom was equally divided, according to the ancient
custom, amongst his three surviving sons. *2. ARNKEL and *3. ERLEND, the
two eldest, followed the fortunes of Eric Bloodyaxe,
losing their lives in his service, when the whole earldom was again
reunited under the sole authority of the surviving brother *4. THORFIN
the Skull-cleaver. In spite of his formidable name, Thorfin
was of a peaceful character, resembling his uncle Hallad
in his aversion to war, rather than his father Einar.
It happened therefore that when the sons of Eric Bloodyaxe
arrived in the Orkneys with the shattered remnants of their followers, he
at once acknowledged their claim to his allegiance, submitting with-out a
struggle to their authority; though they soon released him from further
annoyance by sailing for Norway to try their fortunes in their ancestral
dominions; when Thorfin ruled his earldom in
peace, dying about the commencement of Kenneth's reign. He married Grelauga, a daughter of Duncan Moraor
of Caithness,
by Groa, the sister of Thorstein
Olaveson, and upon his death left five sons to
inherit his island earldom, and possibly with some claims upon the
mainland inheritance of their maternal grandfather. [Scotland Under Her
Early Kings, by E. William Robertson, vol. 1, page 82-86.]
The
sons of Thorfin are: *5. ARNFIN, *6. HAVARD,
*7. SCHOLER or SKULI, *8. LOITER, *9. LODOUR or Lother
or Lodver.
Three
of the sons of Thorfin in succession married Ragnhilda, the daughter of Eric and Gunhilda. The mother had been celebrated as the most
treacherous as well as the most beautiful woman of her time, and the
daughter appears to have inherited a full share of both the maternal
qualities. After contriving the murder of her first husband *5 ARNFIN,
she married his brother *6 HAVARD, but soon repenting of her second
choice, she released herself with as little compunction as before,
exerting her influence over the Jarl's favorite nephew with such success
that the luckless Havard was surprised and put
to death by a kinsman of whom he harbored not the remotest suspicion; and
the scene of the foul murder, the mysterious and once sacred "stones
of Stennis" are still sometimes known as Havard-Steigr. The first to exclaim against the
treacherous deed was the widowed consort of the Jarl, and Ranghilda's whole soul appeared absorbed in a burning
desire for vengeance; until the hope of winning the favor of the beautiful
mourner induced another relative to undertake the sacred duty of revenge.
Upon his return to claim the promised reward-a fair wife and an
earldom-he
|
|
