Genealogy Wylie » Thorfinn Sigurdsson , Earl of Caithness & Orkney (± 1009-± 1056)

Personal data Thorfinn Sigurdsson , Earl of Caithness & Orkney 

• Also known as 18th Jarl of /Orkney/, Thorfinn "Black" Sigurdsson.
• He was born about 1009 in Orkney Islands, Scotland.Sources 1, 3
• He died about 1056 in Christchurch, Birsay, Orkney Islands, Scotland.Source 1
• Alternative: He died about 1065.Source 2
• A child of Sigurd Hlodvesson and Thorda Donada (Olith) Princess of Scotland
• This information was last updated on April 10, 2023.

Household of Thorfinn Sigurdsson , Earl of Caithness & Orkney

(2) He is married to Ingibiorg Finnsdottir.

They got married before 1038 at 1st husband 1st wife.Sources 1, 4

Child(ren):

1. Paul Thorfinnsson  ± 1038-1099 
2. Erlend Thorfinnsson  ± 1040-1099 

Notes about Thorfinn Sigurdsson , Earl of Caithness & Orkney

Thorfinn II ("The Black"), Jarl of Orkney and 1st Earl of (the entireterritory of) Caithness, so created 1014 by his grandfather Malcolm II.[Burke's Peerage]

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EARLDOM of CAITHNESS (I) 1030?

NORSE PREDECESSORS of the EARLS of ORKNEY - subject to King of Norwayuntil after 1379

Thorfinn II the Black, Earl of Caithness 1014, Jarl of one-third ofOrkney (?) 1016, was b. 1009 and was made Earl of Caithness in 1014 byhis grandfather the Scottish King Malcolm MacKenneth, who thereby claimeda right to dispose of territory over which he had previously had nocontrol. Thorfinn "was precocious in growing up immediately to fullmanhood." Thorkel, son of Amundi of Sandwich in Hrossey, "the mostaccomplished of all men in the Orkneys," after having incurred the wrathof Jarl Einar II for having taken the part of the farmers against hishigh-handedness, went to Caithness, where he became devoted to the youngThorfinn and became known as Thorkel Fosterer and his right-hand man.After the death of Jarl Somerled (? 1015) a claim to a part of Orkney wasmade by, or for, Thorfinn. "When Earl Thorfinn grew up" the claim wasrenewed on the advice of Thorkel Fosterer (? Autumn 1017), but "Einar wasslow to diminish his land," and when Thorfinn learned that, he got readyan army from Caithness and went out to the islands. After Jarl Brusi’smediation Thorfinn obtained a third of Orkney (? Spring 1018). Next year,Summer 1019, he sent Thorkel Fosterer to collect his revenues in Orkney,but Jarl Einar II accused him of having instigated Thorfinn to renew hisclaim to a third of Orkney, and Thorkel fled. Thorfinn sent him toNorway, Autumn 1019, to secure the support of the King, St. Olaf, againstJarl Einar II, and in the spring of 1020 the King invited Thorfinn to goto Norway. He went immediately and spent the summer of 1020 at Court, TheKing gave him a longship and another to Thorkel, and they returned toOrkney in the autumn of 1020. where Jarl Einar II prepared to attackThorfinn. Jarl Brusi again made peace between them, and part of thesettlement was that Jarl Einar II should go as Thorkel’s guest toSandwick. Here, however, Thorkel murdered him (after 14 Oct. 1020) andthe same day fled to Norway, where the King approved his deed. Thorfinnwent to Norway, but was unable to secure more than one-third for himself.Thorfinn by Thorkel’s secret advice, accepted his third of Orkney as afief from the King, and was thereafter reconciled with Thorkel, Thorfinnand Thorkel then returned to Caithness in the late summer 1021. When JarlBrusi died (? 1030 autumn), Thorfinn became for the first time Jarl ofall Orkney and Shetland. On the death of Thorfinn’s maternal grandfather,King Malcolm MacKenneth, 25 Nov. 1034, another grandson, Duncan, son ofCrinan, the Lay Abbot of Dunkeld, by Malcolm’s elder dau. Bethoc, becameKing and, according to the Orkneyinga Saga, Karl Hundisson "took dominionover Scotland" and tried to put his sister’s son Moddan, who had manyrelatives and friends in Ireland, as Earl over Caithness, which wasinvaded (?) Summer 1035. Karl Hundisson was defeated by Thorfinn at sea,off Deerness, and again at Torfness in Moray; and Moddan was surprisedand killed by Thorkel Fosterer at Thurso, where he had been joined by anIrish contingent. Thorfinn recovered Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, andraided through Moray down to Fife, In the autumn of 1036 Thorfinnsurrendered one-third of Orkney to Brusi’s son, Ragnvald II, who had beengiven the title of Jarl by King Magnus the Good (1036-1047) with JarlEinar Rangmund’s share (which St. Olaf had given as a fief to Jarl Brusiin the autumn of l021), and sent to Orkney with three longships providedby the King to receive his dominion. In the spring of 1037 Thorfinn andRagnvald II went raiding in the Western Isles, "Scotland’s firths," andIreland, and won a victory at Waterfirth in Skye. Thorfinn laid the landunder him wherever they fared." The alliance lasted for eight years;Thorfinn then asked for a third of Orkney from Ragnvald II, because ofthe expense of maintaining his wife Ingibiorg’s uncle, KaIf Arnesson, arefugee from Norway, and his large retinue. Ragnvald declined tosurrender any part of his dominion and went to Norway in 1046, where heobtained a force of picked men from King Magnus I. He returned andengaged in two sea fights with Thorfinn; in the first Thorfinn wasworsted, but in the second, with the help of Kalf Arnesson, he defeatedRagnvald, who fled to Norway; and Thorfinn took the whole Earldom ofOrkney and Shetland in the autumn of 1046. Ragnvald obtained freshsupport from King Magnus I, surprised Thorfinn in Hrossey and burned hishouse with his bodyguard in it; but Thorfinn and Ingibiorg escaped inthe smoke and fled to Caithness. Ragnvald seized all Orkney, but he wassurprised by Thorfinn, just before Yule, in Little Papey. The house wasset on fire and Ragnvald II, who had escaped unarmed from the blaze, wasslain on the sea-shore by Thorkel Fosterer. Thereafter Thorfinn had thewhole Earldom of Orkney and Shetland once more and, in the spring of 1047went to Norway and made his peace with King Magnus I. In (?) Spring 1048he again went to Norway and was well received by King Harald IIIHardradi, as he was in Denmark by King Sweyn III Estrithsson (1047-1076).From Denmark he went to Saxony, where he was well received by the EmperorHenry III (1028-1055), who provided him with horses for the journey toRome, where he saw the Pope and "took absolution from him for all hismisdeeds." On his return he lived "almost always in Birsay and let thembuild there Christchurch a splendid minster." He d. (? 1065) "of diseaseabout the end" of the reign of King Harald Hardradi, who was killed atStamford Bridge (25 Sep. 1066).

He m., before 1038, Ingibiorg, dau. of Finn Arnesson (d.p. 1062), ofYriar in Austratt, Lenderman under Norway, later Jarl of Halland underDenmark (circa 1051), by Begliot, dau. of Halfdan Sigurdsson (b. p. 995),brother of King Harald III Hardradi. After Thorfinn’s death she m. as his1st wife (circa 1066) Malcolm III Ceannmor, King of Scots and had issue.Thorfinn had two sons who survived childhood, Paul and Erlend. [CompletePeerage, X:Appendix A:11-13]

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Timeline Thorfinn Sigurdsson , Earl of Caithness & Orkney

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