In the
absence at war of Hrolf the Ganger, who became Duke of Normandy and
was an ancestor of the kings of England, two others of Ragnvald's
sons, Thorir and Hrollaug, were summoned to meet their father. At
this meeting it was decided that neither of these should go to Orkney,
Thorir's prospects in Norway being good, and Hrollaug's future lying
in Iceland, where, it was said, he was to found a great family. Then
Einar, the Jarl's youngest son by a thrall or slave woman, and thus
not of pure Norse lineage, asked whether he might go, offering as an
inducement to his father that, if he went, he would thus never be seen
by him again. He was told that the sooner he went, and the longer he
stayed away, the better his father would be pleased. A galley, well
equipped, was given to him, and about the year 891 King Harald Harfagr
conferred on him the title of Jarl of Orkney and Shetland, for which
he sailed. On his arrival there, he attacked Kalf Skurfa and Thorir
Treskegg,[15] the pirate Viking leaders, and defeated and slew them
both. He then took possession of the lands of the jarldom; and, from
having taught the people of Turfness in Moray the use of turf or peat
for fuel, was known thenceforward as Torf-Einar.
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