Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Thorfinn was buried at the Christ Church he himself had built. He is known to history as "Thorfinn the Mighty", and at his height of power, he controlled all of Orkney and Shetland, the Hebrides, Caithness and Sutherland, and his influence extended over much of the north of Scotland.
Thorfinn Torf-Einarsson [1] also known as Thorfinn Skull-splitter [2] (from the Old Norse Þorfinnr hausakljúfr) [3] was a 10th-century Earl of Orkney. He appears in the Orkneyinga saga and briefly in St Olaf's Saga, as incorporated into the Heimskringla. These stories were first written down in Iceland in the early 13th century and much of ...
Paul and Erlend's father Thorfinn may have visited the Pontiff in Rome and c. 1050 Thorulf, the first Bishop of Orkney was installed at the "Christ Church" in the "city of Blascona". Thorfinn and Thorulf's Christ Church has been identified with the Romanesque ruins on the tidal island known as Brough of Birsay , but there is also evidence that ...
Notes 1] He was succeeded by his son Thorfinn Skull-splitter (c.910–963) and during this time the deposed Norwegian King Eric Bloodaxe often used Orkney as a raiding base before being killed in 954. Thorfinn's death and presumed burial at the broch of Hoxa, on South Ronaldsay, led to a long period of dynastic strife. [7] [8]
It was once thought that Earl/Jarl Thorfinn's hall could have been located on the brough but it is today thought to have been nearby on the Mainland. [6]: 59 Today, many of the remains of the settlement are visible. The most significant being the remains of a fine, though small Romanesque church. This dates back to the 12th century and was ...
The church was built in 1664 on the site of a previous church, built between 1050 and 1064 by Earl Thorfinn of Orkney. It was originally called Christ Church (or Christ's Kirk). The earlier church is the temporary burial location of Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney, also known as St Magnus, who was murdered on the island of Egilsay in 1116.
Little is known of the culture and language of the early inhabitants. Only two languages are found in pre-Norse Orkney, Old Gaelic (Old Irish) and Latin. The Romans were aware of (and probably circumnavigated) the Orkney Islands, which they called "Orcades", thought to be a Brythonic Celtic name.
Pages for logged out editors learn more. Contributions; Talk; Thorfinn Sigurdsson, Earl of Orkney