Scandinavian-Britain

1 88 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINfrom the Orkneys ; and, after the battle of Clontarf,Flosi the Icelander (Njdls saga, clvi., seq.) took refugein Wales, where he was followed by Kari Solmundarson,who twenty years earlier had played theviking in these parts, and now sought vengeance onFlosi for the burning of Njal. In some town notnamed Kol Thorsteinsson, one of the men who hadmurdered Njal in Iceland, was making a home forhimself, marketing and courting a lady, with theintent to marry her and settle down. Kari came intothe town and caught him in the act of counting outhis money, and struck off his head" and the headcounted ' ten ' as it flew from his body." Whetherthis incident so vividly told happened in Conway orChester, Milford or Swansea, we cannot guess, butwe can see that the Northmen were at home in Wales,in spite of their turbulent dealings with neighboursnot far away and whatever;legend may be involved,the story adds to the evidence of a definitesettlement.That the Vikings in Ireland were in constantcommunication with the coast of Wales isabundantlyproved. In 1041 King Gruffydd was captured byNorse from Dublin (Caradoc), and Guttorm with KingMurchadh ravaged Wales; but in 1049 the sameIrish-Norse or their near kindred joined Gruffydd in anattack on the Severn (Florence). After this the Vikingsseem to have been used as convenient tools for anydiscontented party English ealdormen in exile, orWelsh princes in defeat but their existence in Walesremained a settled fact. And yet the colony in