Farewell from the Ragna’s Islands project team… and some exciting news!
25/07/2025
The Ragna’s Islands project has now come to an end. The project was made possible by funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and administrative support from the School of English, University of Nottingham. We have many people to thank for their contributions over the last year and a half. A special thank you …
Gaitnip: a case of ‘synonym substitution’
09/05/2025
Geitaberg now Gaitnip (St. Ola) occurs once in the Saga of the Earls of Orkney where we hear in chapter 76 that ‘Borgarr, the son of Jaddvǫr Erlendsdóttir, who lived at Gaitnip… had seen the cargo-ship as it sailed from the south and back south’, with Sveinn Ásleifarson aboard. Sveinn had come ‘to meet Earl …
Pinpointing Paplay… the priests, the parish, the place-name…
28/04/2025
The place-name Paplay occurs in the Saga of the Earls of Orkney (Orkneyinga saga) on several occasions. In chapter 42 we hear that Gunnhildr, daughter of the late Earl Erlendr who had died in Trondheim, was married off by King Magnús to Kolr Kalason a well-connected Norwegian landowner, and that ‘some properties in the Orkneys …
Scapa…part two… the klif-hanger…
14/04/2025
In Scapa… part one… we concluded by saying that the name describes an important, traversable, isthmus in close proximity to Kirkwall and that the saga attests to it being a recognisable landing-site used for expeditious access to Kirkwall for assemblies and social gatherings, and for trade (as evidenced by the mention of cargo ships). We …
Scapa…part one…
09/03/2025
Skálpeið is mentioned several times in the Saga of the Earls of Orkney and we find the place-name ‘Scapa’ applied to a number of places in Orkney: Scapa Flow and Scapa Bay in the sea, and on land at two farms (Upper and Nether Scapa), Scapa House, not to mention the modern Scapa Distillery near …
In the wake of Sveinn Ásleifarson: the lost place-names of Hellisey and Vǫlunes
15/02/2025
In chapter 95 of the Saga of the Earls of Orkney we hear of one of the many scrapes of the ever-quarrelsome Sveinn Ásleifarson. On leaving Gairsay after a failed attempt to confront Earl Haraldr ( who was not there as he ‘had gone to a small island to hunt hares’), Sveinn ‘made for Hellisey; …
8. At last… some Christmas presents and games
24/12/2024
We conclude our quick tour through the Christmases of the Saga of the Earls of Orkney with some presents and some party games! In chapter 85 Earl Rǫgnvaldr ‘had a great Christmas feast and invited people and gave gifts’. Having distributed the gifts, Rǫgnvaldr proceeded to play some twelfth-century Christmas games: He reached out a …
7. A choice: more ale or more prayers?
23/12/2024
Elsewhere (see the last blog!) we hear that at the Earl’s palace, the then earl being Páll Hákonarson, at Orphir, there was a church next to a large drinking hall, and that whilst there ‘during the night people got up to listen to the canonical hours, and after high mass people went to eat’. Thus …
6. A strange Christmas visitor in a (blue) cape and a hood
22/12/2024
Religion does occasionally creep into Christmas in the saga, and does when we hear that once ‘Earl Rǫgnvaldr had ruled for two winters’… he attended a Christmas feast at his estate by the name of Knarston’. Here, on the sixth day of Christmas, a ship arrived and off the ship came ‘a man in a …
5. Time to relax (and worry) with friends… plus some Christmas travel chaos
21/12/2024
With the tendency to gather in followers and retainers in winter’s darkest days Christmas seems to have also been a good time to find people at home, and with the men in the saga acting like… men in a saga… this was a good time to go visiting. In Gairsay we find Sveinn Ásleifarson at …