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Pearsall Surname Project
Number of Pearsalls By Location
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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
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him
the alternative of immediate execution, or of at once embracing the
Christian faith, and acknowledging himself a tributary of Norway.
Any lingering love of Odinism vanished before
the necessity of the case, Christianity became the religion of the
islands, and Olave carried off Hundi Sigurdson as a
hostage for the fidelity of his father. His allegiance to Norway
sat lightly on the Jarl, and ceased with the life of his son a few years
afterwards; but as the conversion of the Orkney-men dates from this
summary proceeding, and no allusion is ever made to a relapse, it may
perhaps be concluded that his Christianity was more enduring.
About
the same time as Malcolm's disaster before Durham, when he was defeated
by Uhtred, Finlay MacRory,
who had succeeded his brother Malbride, in the
chieftainship of Moray-in the words of the Norwegian Saga-"marked
out a battlefield for Jarl Sigurd on Skida Moor." To decline the proffered con-test
would have been disgraceful, but the Jarl had serious doubts about the
result, for he was afraid that the Scots would outnumber him; and as his
followers were infected with a similar misgiving, they murmured at the
risk until Sigurd promised to restore the Odal privileges which their ancestors had resigned in
the days of Einar Ragnwaldson.
On this agreement they followed him with alacrity, and to increase their
confidences, Sigurd bore with him one of those
mystic banners, so famous amongst the ancient Northmen,
wrought in the form of a flying raven whose wings expanded in the wind.
It was the work of the Jarl's mother, the daughter of the Irish Kerval, and upon it she expended all the magic lore
for which she was renowned, promising victory to all who followed, but
death to him who bore it. On this occasion the charm was successful,
three warriors who carried the fated standard falling one after the other
in the battle; but Jarl Sigurd won the day, and
the Bonders of Orkney were rewarded for their valor by the restitution of
their Odal privileges. [Scotland Under Her
Early Kings, by E. William Robertson, vol. 1, page 82-95 and 111-113.]
The
success of Sigurd against the Moray Mormaor, far from embroiling him with Malcolm,
appears to have been rather gratifying to the Scottish king, who
immediately gave him the hand of his younger daughter in marriage; and
from this union sprung *12 THORFIN SIGURDSON, who upon the death of his
father in the memorable battle of Clontarf, was
immediately confirmed by Malcolm in the mainland earldom of Sutherland
and Caithness, whilst the Orkneys and other
island possessions fell to the share of the elder sons of Sigurd.
Another
of Malcolm's daughters, a younger sister of Beatrice, married Sigurd Lodverson soon after
his victory over the Mormaor Finlay, the father
of Mac¬beth, when it was evidently the object
to the late king to secure the alliance of the Orkney Jarl as a
formidable rival to the hostile family of Moray. After the fall of Sigurd in the battle of Clontarf,
his son *13 THORFIN, as has been already mentioned, when a mere child was
placed by his grandfather over the earldom of Sutherland and Caithness, whilst the
Orkneys were inherited by his three half-brothers, *16 EINAR, *14
SOMARLED, and *15 BRUSI. Upon the death of Somarled,
a few years later, Thorfin claimed a share of
the islands, when Einar prepared to resist his
pretensions by force, but through the intervention of the other brother, Brusi, Thorfin succeeded in
attaining his object, and in this manner he first acquired a footing in
the Orkneys.
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