St Magnus c.1115, and that the writer is emphasising the doom of "kin-slaying". The connection with Erik Bloodaxe may also have been made to illustrate the continuing influence of the Norwegian ruling families in Orcadian affairs, which lessened in the late 10th century when Scandinavian expeditions tended to be directed towards England "by-passing Orkney and allowing the earls greater scope for independent action". In this context Ragnhild may have been not so much the cause of the Thorfinsson's troubles as the "prize for the winner". Although he never became de facto earl, Skuli Thorfinsson's relationship with the Scots offers some insight into the politics of the north of Scotland in the late tenth century. In the Orkneyinga saga it is claimed that he requested the support of the "king of Scots" for his claim to Caithness. However it is far from certain that the kings of Scots were in a position to offer any authority so far north at this time. The Irish annalists referred to the rulers of Moray by the title Ri Alban and it is possible that the saga writer meant the former by this term. Crawford (1987) suggests that "if the late ninth-century conquest of northern Scotland by Thorstein the Red and Sigurd the Mighty had indeed led to permanent colonies in Caithness and along the coastal areas of Sutherland, then the late tenth century struggle may have been a result of aggression from the Scottish side in an attempt to regain control of the northernmost province of the Scottish mainland". See also Battle of Stainmore - where Erik Bloodaxe was killed. Arnkel and Erlend Torf-Einarsson are not mentioned by the Northumbrian sources that record this event. Stone Lud, said to mark the grave of Ljot Thorfinnson. References Notes Footnotes General references Crawford, Barbara E. (1987) Scandinavian Scotland. Leicester University Press. Muir, Tom (2005) Orkney in the Sagas: The Story of the Earldom of Orkney as told in the Icelandic Sagas. The Orcadian. Kirkwall. . Pálsson, Hermann and Edwards, Paul Geoffrey (1981). Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney. Penguin Classics. Sturlason, Snorri Saga of Olaf Haraldson. Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 11 January 2014. Thomson, William P. L. (2008) The New History of Orkney. Edinburgh. Birlinn. Wenham, Sheena "The South Isles" in Omand, Donald (ed.) (2003) The Orkney Book. Edinburgh. Birlinn. Woolf, Alex (2007) From Pictland to Alba, 789–1070. Edinburgh. Edinburgh University Press. Thorfinn Hausakljuv,