Sigurd Eysteinsson

Unfortunately, it was literally the clove itself that killed him.

One fall afternoon in the late ninth century, a Viking leader named Sigurd Eistinsson rode his horse across this large field in northeastern Scotland.

Riding on either side of him were two of his commanders, and behind the three of them was Sigurd's entire army.

This field they were traveling across was about to become a battlefield.

And Sigurd and his commanders were riding out to meet the leader of the opposing army who would be taking part in this battle, a horrible bucktooth man named Mael Brigta.

And Mael was actually already in place at the meeting spot, right in the middle of this battlefield.

And he was on his horse and he was flanked on either side by two commanders as well.

And then, you know, well behind him was his sea of warriors that would be taking part in this battle.

Instead, he handed the islands over to his brother Sigurd.

He was later remembered as Sigurd the Mighty, and is the first figure in the sagas present as actually ruling the islands.

He is one of the earliest great warrior Jarls in the story and is remembered not simply for holding Orkney, but for expanding Norse power into northern Scotland.

From the islands, Sigurd crossed the Pentland Firth and attacked territories in Cathness and Sutherland.

The direct Norse dynastic line finally ended in the 13th century.

John Haraldsson, who became Jarl in the early 1200s, is often regarded as the last member of the old native line.

His reign took place in a world very different from that of Sigurd the Mighty or Torf Einar.

Norway and Scotland had become stronger centralised kingdoms, and the Jarls had to negotiate carefully between both.