There is clearly doubt about the historicity of many of the claims in the Orkneyinga saga and the extent to which euhemerism may be an appropriate approach. Just as the backdrop to the supposed great expedition to the west undertaken by King Harald Fairhair that led to the founding of the Orkney earldom was the mid-13th century Norwegian contest with the Kings of Scots over the Hebrides,[25] so also events that have been included in the saga as embellishments to the life of Earl Thorfinn have a number of parallels with the life of Harald Maddadsson.[40] Woolf (2007) speculates that aspects of Thorfinn's story may have been included to legitimise the latter's adventures.[65]
Early in the narrative in particular, there are examples of obviously fictional elements such as Earl Sigurd's raven banner and also in some later events such as the effects of the poisoned shirt that supposedly killed Earl Harald Haakonsson.[17] Furthermore, there is the regular use of standard Norse dramatic sitations. For example, the story of the killing of Rognvald Brusason by Earl Thorfinn "is saga-fiction, and it contains some stock-episodes which are repeated elsewhere in the saga".[66] Another example of the saga writer's fictional devices is found in the tale of Haakon Paulsson's travels through Scandinavia where he meets a fortune teller. The sooth-sayer's predictions are in effect a "table of contents" for his later travails with his cousin Magnus and an example of "the frequent need to disentangle the historical Magnus from the saga's story-telling techniques".[67]
However, there are also examples of events depicted in the saga that have been thought of as essentially fictional, but have later been shown to have some basis in fact. For example, towards the end of his reign as earl, Sigurd Eysteinsson is said to have challenged a native ruler, Máel Brigte the Bucktoothed, to a 40-man-a-side battle. Treacherously, Sigurd brought 80 men to the fight and Máel Brigte was defeated and beheaded. Sigurd strapped the head to his saddle as a trophy, but as Sigurd rode home, 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 tumulus known as Sigurd's Howe, or Sigurðar-haugr. The location of Sigurd's Howe is most probably modern-day Sidera or Cyderhall near Dornoch, which discovery was not made until the late 19th century.[68][g] Another example concerns a King of Scots, apparently named Karl Hundason.
Who was Karl Hundason?
The identity of Karl Hundason, unknown to Scots and Irish sources, has long been a matter of dispute. His existence rests solely on the Orkneyinga saga, and more particularly on those elements of Þórfinnsdrápa which are preserved within it.[h]
Robertson (1862) proposed that Hundason should be identified with Duncan I.[71] William Forbes Skene suggested that Karl (or Kali) Hundason should be identified with "Malcolm MacKenneth", a son of Kenneth III.[72] Another candidate is MacBeth whose father may be called "jarl Hundi" in Njál's saga.[73] Woolf (2007) proposes that Hundason, rather that being some hitherto unknown Scots king, was the son of Thorfinn's brother Hundi.[74] However, Thomson (2008) notes that both the Orkneyinga saga and St Olaf's saga suggest Hundi only lived "a short while" and was unlikely to have had a son himself.[75] Anderson (1990) suggested that this is "a fabulous story" and concluded that "[n]o solution to the riddle seems to be justified".[76]
Muir (2005) points out that a literal translation of "Karl Hundisson" is "peasant son-of-a-dog", an insult that would have been obvious to Norse-speakers hearing the saga and that "we can assume this wasn't his real name".[77] The implication is that there is no purpose in seeking phonetic parallels with known Scots personages. Thomson points out that both "Karl" and Hundi" are names used in other contexts without disparaging intentions although the combination is otherwise unknown.[78]
Thomson also notes that the war with Hundasson seem to have taken place between 1029 and 1035 and that the Annals of Ulster record the violent death of Gillacomgain, son of Mael Brigte and Mormaer of Moray in 1032. He too is thus a candidate for Thorfinn's Scots foe—and the manner of his death by fire bears comparison with Arnór's poetic description of the aftermath of the battle at Torfness.[79]
Whoever Karl son of Hundi may have been, it appears that the saga is reporting a local conflict with a Scots ruler of Moray or Ross:
[T]he whole narrative is consistent with the idea that the struggle of Thorfinn and Karl is a continuation of that which had been waged since the ninth century by the Orkney earls, notably Sigurd Rognvald's son, Ljot, and Sigurd the Stout, against the princes or mormaers of Moray, Sutherland, Ross, and Argyll, and that, in fine, Malcolm and Karl were mormaers of one of these four provinces.[80][81][i]
It is therefore entirely possible that Thorfinn's campaign was not fought against the Scottish crown as such but that rather the Scots may have been his allies in a struggle they both had against the power of Moray.[83]
