22. A Viking Jerk Who Terrorized Scotland
Sigurd Eysteinsson, also known as Sigurd the Mighty (died 892), was a fearsome Viking Earl who ruled the Orkney and Shetland Islands off Scotland’s north coast. From his base in the Shetlands, Sigurd formed an alliance with other Viking chieftains, and launched an invasion of the Scottish mainland. The invaders swiftly conquered northern Scotland, overran Sutherland and Caithness, and asserted Viking control as far south as Moray. Sigurd’s exploits during that conquest earned him the epithet “the Mighty” from fellow Vikings.
He had gained his earldom after a recently-unified Norway’s Viking king sent Sigurd’s brother, Rognvald Eysteinsson, to conquer the Shetland and Orkney Islands. Those locales were a thorn in the side of Norway’s king; they had become a refuge for Norwegian exiles, from which they raided their homeland. During the conquest, Rognvald lost a son, so the king compensated him by giving him the islands and making him earl. Rognvald had interests elsewhere, however, so he gave the islands, and the title, to his younger brother Sigurd.
