Sigurd "the Stout" Hlodvirsson Earl of Orkney ¹⁸⁸³

   Cause of his death was Died at the Battle of Clontarf.¹⁸⁸⁴

  General Notes:

Hlodver Thorfinn's son took the earldom after Ljot, and was a great chief; he had to wife Edna, daughter of Kjarval, the Irish king; their son was Sigurd the stout. Hlodver died of sickness, and is buried under a "how" at Hofn in Caithness. Sigurd, his son, took the earldom after him; he was a great chief and wide of lands. He held by main force Caithness against the Scots, and had a host out every summer. He harried in the Southern Isles, in Scotland and Ireland. It chanced one summer that Finnleik, the Scot-earl, staked in a battle-field for Sigurd on Skidmoor by a day named, but Sigurd went to ask his mother's counsel, for she knew many things. (1) The earl told her that there would not be less odds against him than seven men for one. She answers: "I had reared thee up long in my wool-bag had I known thou wouldest like to live for ever; and fate rules life, but not where a man is come; better it is to die with honour than to live with shame. Take thou here hold of this banner which I have made for thee with all my cunning and I ween it will bring victory to those before whom it is borne, but speedy death to him who bears it." The banner was made with mickle needlecraft and famous skill. It was made in raven's shape; and when the wind blew out the banner, then it was as though the raven spread his wings for flight. Earl Sigurd was very wrath at the words of his mother, and gave the Orkneyingers their allodial holdings for their help, and so he fared to meet earl Finnleik on Skidmoor, and each drew up his host in battle array. And when the battle was joined, the banner bearer of earl Sigurd was shot to death. The earl bade another man go and bear the banner, and after they had fought a while that man fell. So three banner bearers of the earl fell, but he had the victory, and then the Orkneyingers got back their allodial rights.

"Olaf Tryggvi's son was four years in warfare in the western lands since he had come from Vindland--- the land of the Wends--- ere he let himself be baptized in the Scilly isles. Thence he fared to England --- read Ireland--- and got there to wife Gyda, the daughter of Kvaran the Irish king. After that he stayed a while in Dublin until earl Hacon sent Thorir the whiner to lure him thence. Olaf sailed from the west with four ships and came first to the Orkneys. There he met earl Sigurd in Osmund's voe in South Rognvaldsey with three ships, and he was boun for warfare. King Olaf let the earl be called on board his ship and said he wished to talk with him; and when they met king Olaf spoke to him, "It is my will that thou lettest thyself be baptized and all the folk that serve thee, else thou shalt die here at once, but I will fare with fire and flame over all the isles." But when the earl saw into what a strait he had come he gave up all his suit into the king's power. The king then let him be baptized, and took as a hostage his son whose name was Hound or Whelp, but the king let him be baptized in the name of Hlodvir. Then all the Orkneys became Christian. But king Olaf then sailed east to Norway, and Hlodvir fared with him, but he lived a short while. But after that earl Sigurd yielded no obedience to king Olaf. He went into a marriage with a daughter of Malcolm the king of the Scots, and their son was earl Thorfinn. Earl Sigurd had before had three sons who were then alive, the name of one of them was Summerled, of the second Brusi, the third Einar.

"A little while after the agreement between king Olaf and earl Sigurd Hlodverson, the earl took to wife the daughter of Malcolm, the Scot-king, and their son was earl Thorfinn. Earl Sigurd had three other sons, one was called Brusi, the second Summerled, the third Einar wry-mouth. Five winters (3) after the battle at Svolder, earl Sigurd fared to Ireland, to help king Sigtrygg silk-beard, but he set up his elder sons over the lands, but his son Thorfin, he gave over into the hands of the Scot-king, his mother's father, to foster. But when earl Sigurd came to Ireland, he and king Sigtrygg marched with that host to meet Brian, the Irish king, and their meeting was on Good Friday. Then it fell out that there was no one left to bear the raven banner, and the earl bore it himself, and fell there, but king Sigtrygg fled. King Brian fell with victory and glory."

From The Orkneyingers' Saga ¹⁸⁸⁴

  Death Notes:

Battle of Clontarf

Sigurd married Unknown Daughter of Malcolm II, daughter of Malcolm II King of Scotland and Unknown.