After this settlement of their claims, Malcolm II died in 1034 at
the age of eighty; and his death wrecked his policy. For Duncan,
his grandson, the Karl Hundason of the Saga, on his accession to
the Scottish throne claimed tribute from his cousin Thorfinn for
Caithness. Payment was at once refused, and six years of strife,
interrupted by Duncan's unfortunate raids south of the Tweed, ended by
his creating Mumtan or Moddan, his own sister's son, Earl of Caithness
instead of Thorfinn. With a force collected in Sudrland, which thus
appears to have been on the Scottish side, Moddan tried to make good
his title, but Thorfinn raised an army in Caithness, and Thorkel
collected another for him in Orkney, and the Scots retired before
superior numbers. "Then Earl Thorfinn fared after them, and laid under
him Sudrland and Ross and harried far and wide over Scotland; thence
he turned back to Caithness," and "sate at Duncansby, and had there
five long-ships ... and just enough force to man them well."[9]
After his retirement in Caithness, Moddan went to Duncan at North
Berwick, and Duncan sent him back with another force by land to
Caithness, proceeding thither himself by sea with eleven ships.
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