Scandinavian-Britain

THE EARLDOM OF ORKNEY 255Jarl Harald Maddadh's son, having got rid of rivals,spent the rest of his long reign in making enemies.By his second marriage with Gormflaith, daughter ofMalcolm MacEth (the adventurer Ve'mund, once amonk of Furness), he became enemy of King Williamthe Lion, and lost a great part of Caithness ; by hispartisanship in Norse affairs he became enemy ofKing Sverrir and lost Shetland and; by the outrageupon bishop John, who was blinded at Scarabolstad(Scrabster in Caithness), he made the Church hisenemy. He died in 1206, aged 73. Shetland remainedthe immediate property of the Norse crownuntil it was granted to St. Clair in 1379. The outrageupon one bishop led to the extortions and the murderof the next, bishop Adam ;and jarl Harald's survivingson, John, was killed in 1231, ending the Norseline which had ruled Orkney for 350 years.In 1232 king Alexander II. of Scotland grantedNorthern Caithness to Magnus, son of Gilbride, earlof Angus, and perhaps of a daughter of Harald, son ofMaddadh. The king of Norway granted Magnus thejarldom of Orkney also and thus;a portion of theold realm was placed under a ruler of Norse nameand probably Norse descent, but governing the twoparts of his country under two different kingdoms.His grandson Magnus accompanied King HakonHakonarson to the battle of Largs in 1263. John,the grandson of this Magnus, was one of those whosigned the petition that the son of Edward I. shouldmarry Margaret the Maid of Norway, who died (1290)on her way to England, at Margaret's Hope