Orkney (Harald)

Who he is

Name

Harald Maddadsson

Title

Earl of Orkney

Since

1139 (sole earl from 1158)

Born

About 1134

Family

See Orkney

Confidence

high

See Orkney. Since his submission at Bergen (1195) Sverre has had half the court fines of Orkney collected by a royal sysselman (Sverris saga, as summarised by modern writers).

Overlord

Sverre, king of Norway

What it holds

• The Orkney islands
• Claim to Caithness (see Caithness)

How it was acquired

Inheritance and Norwegian grant.

Allies and rivals

See Orkney.

How things stand that morning

Held by Harald.

Wealth

See Orkney.

Military

The Orkney fleet.

Threats

• See Orkney

Places of note

• Orphir: Earl's hall

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: See Orkney.

On the map: Caithness is shown as claimed: Harald is out of possession this winter on the likeliest reading of the sources.

Primary sources for Orkney

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Saga of the Earls of Orkney, Anonymous (Icelandic) (about 1200 to 1230; surviving text mainly from Flateyjarbok, about 1390). The saga's last chapters are about Earl Harald Maddadsson, who in 1200 held Orkney under King Sverre of Norway and Caithness under William the Lion: his long rule, his quarrel with the Scottish king that cost him Caithness in 1196 to 1197, his recovery of it, and the maiming of Bishop John of Caithness and the king's revenge in 1201 to 1202. Read online
• The saga of King Sverre of Norway, Karl Jónsson and a continuator (begun about 1185 under Sverre's own supervision, completed about 1210 to 1220). The king's own authorised saga. Read online
• The Norwegian diplomatarium and the Norwegian regesta (documents of 1050 to 1590; Regesta vol. 1 covers 991 to 1263 and was published 1898). The Norwegian documents of the year are few and mostly papal: Innocent III's letters on Sverre's excommunication and the interdict, the correspondence of the exiled Archbishop Eirik and the bishops, and a handful of church grants. Read online
• Early Sources of Scottish History, Various; collected and translated by A. O. Anderson (sources of the 6th to 13th centuries; collection published 1922). The quickest way to every non-English witness to Scotland and the Isles in 1200, in translation and in date order: the Irish annals on the Isles and Galloway, Orkneyinga saga and the Norwegian sagas on Harald Maddadsson of Orkney and Caithness and his war with William the Lion, the Chronicle of Mann on Ragnall and the Hebrides, Melrose and Holyrood, and Scottish charters. Read online