This novel began with a fateful trip to Orkney and an interest in the Viking prince who stopped off at Narbonne on his pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Jarl Rognvald makes a larger-than-life appearance in my novel Song at Dawn, Book 1 of The Troubadours series, where he is a foreigner amid southern sophistication. I wanted to meet him on his own terms and in Orkney, where Rognvald is a legend.
I knew nothing of Viking Orkney. When I stood as a tourist in the prehistoric burial chamber of Maeshowe and discovered the 12th century graffiti runes made by Rognvald’s men on the walls around me, the connections exploded into a story I had to write. Especially when I saw the exquisite dragon carved by one of those men.
Then the work and pleasure of research began. Viking culture is very different from the Occitania of The Troubadours series (nowadays southern France and northern Spain), and even though Christianity had gained hold in Orkney, the Norse myths, legends and ‘old gods’ were part of people’s lives.
The pathfinder brooch worn by Rognvald is based on Vegvisir (pronounced VEGG-vee-seer). The only reference to this Viking symbol is in the 'Huld' manuscript: If this sign is carried, one will never lose one’s way in storms or bad weather, even when the way is not known.
Historians cannot trust the accuracy of the 19th century Huld manuscript and there's no medieval evidence of the Vegvisir but neither is its existence discredited. As a historical novelist, I make my stories from what might have been and in that shadowy borderline between religion and magic, what is more plausible than a wayfinder symbol that looks runic? Also, I find it beautiful, as an artefact and as a metaphor, so Rognvald’s pathfinder brooch plays a significant role in the Troubadours series.
My research material included shipping charts, videos on Glima wrestling, a forensic anthropologist’s report on St Magnus’ bones and a historian’s reconstruction of Rognvald’s shipwreck off the coast of Shetland. The most important primary source, the Orkneyinga Saga, was written in the 13th century as a work of literature so it is even less trustworthy than most histories but what great stories it tells!
Given the oral culture before the sagas were written, it seems likely that the poems included were indeed passed down through the generations and I’ve used several of Rognvald’s, in my words. I wrote Skarfr’s kennings and verses. The first two dragon riddles are based on the dragon riddles in the Saga of King Heidrek the Wise and I wrote the third riddle in the same style, aware that I was following in Tolkien’s footsteps and hoping he would approve.
I’ve taken huge liberties with the poetry because I find literal translations so weighed down with allusions that pages of explanation are needed and the beauty is lost. Apart from the music of the language and use of alliteration, Norse poetry is full of clever puzzles and ‘aha’ moments – for a Viking audience.
Ploughing through verse-seas is likely to drag the modern reader down into a swelchie. (And yes, ‘the Swelchie’, a whirlpool, does exist). We don’t have the same frames of reference to instantly understand allusions within allusions but the more Norse poetry I read in translation, the more I enjoy it. I did keep some archaic turns of phrase and word order as one characteristic of skaldic verse is to keep the subject and ‘aha’ moment for the end of the poem. If you want a scholarly translation that still captures the feel of the original poetry, do read Ian Crockatt’s superb work.
Where historians disagree or where there is no evidence at all, a novelist can have fun. We can infer that Rognvald was married as his daughter’s marriage and husband’s name are recorded. There is also a poignant poem showing grief over his lady’s illness, which I’m taking as autobiographical. In one of his poems, he says he proposed marriage to Ermengarda of Narbonne, which suggests he was single at this point, so I deduce that his wife died. But there is no other information about her, not even a name.
If his wife had been an important noble, she might have been named, but for the daughter to make as good a match as she did (from which came powerful descendants) the wife probably wasn’t low-born. Given the lack of suitable candidates, I invented Gertrud, a sister of the infamous Frakork. There were indeed unnamed siblings, according to my research, and that family tree offers fruitful possibilities (pun intended).
Hlif’s background was inspired by the suggestion that she might be Hlifolf’s daughter, in Michael P. Barnes’ The Runic Inscriptions of Maeshowe, Orkney, an in-depth work analysing each message. Barnes gives alternative readings and draws few conclusions, and the Orkneyinga Saga is contradictory and does not match the messages in the runic inscriptions, so I’ve followed the story as I saw it. All the runic messages I’ve included in the Maeshowe scene are on the walls in the burial chamber, including those anonymous ones that I’ve ascribed to Rognvald, although he is not named in any of the runes. My feeling is that he could have been there; a man so powerful and confident would not need to sign his work.
Four events are recorded in the runes, which have not been dated exactly beyond ‘mid 12th century’. This is the order I’ve taken them in.
Hakon/ Hokon alone carried treasure from this mound.
Some time before the pilgrims broke into the mound, others were there and took treasure away. There would surely have been grave goods but these could have been stolen hundreds of years earlier and the tomb sealed, as it appears to be when the pilgrims ‘broke in’. So I take the naming of Hakon/Hokon in the runes to be a joke.
The Jerusalem-farers broke Orkhaugr. Hlif, the Earl's housekeeper, carved.
I take this as a fact, indicating that Rognvald’s band broke into and discovered the burial chamber, not Jarl Harald. According to The Orkneyinga Saga, Jarl Harald spent Yuletide in Orkhaugr, where two of his men went mad, and there is some confusion about whether it was Rognvald or Harald who broke into Maeshowe and when. Archeologists agree that there was a break-in through the roof and I prefer the idea that at least some of the pilgrims’ graffiti dates from before their voyage.
Many a woman has stooped to come here.
This jibe relies on the pun ‘stooped’ as the tunnel entrance has no headroom so physical stooping is required. And the more vulgar messages make clear the other way in which women lowered themselves. The burial chamber became a meeting-place for sexual encounters. This must have happened after the initial discovery, over time. So it makes sense to me that Harald sheltering in Maeshowe was the fourth event, at a time when the place was entered by the tunnel and known as a shelter.
I’ve ascribed the dragon-carving to one of Rognvald’s men during the first rune-writing break-in but there could well have been further visits by the pilgrims when they came back from Jerusalem and carved some more messages and crosses, and maybe a dragon. Or lion of St Mark. Or griffon with sea eagle. But Skarfr and I know what the carving is, truly.
Another apparent divergence from The Orkneying Saga is that Botolf, the Icelandic skald, is not dead at this stage of events in the saga version. I’ve used poetic license and no doubt I’ll understand why as further adventures unfold.
The ‘real’ account of Magnus’ murder, as told by Hlif, draws on the forensic report of R.W. Reid, who studied the bones of both St Magnus and St Rognvald, as preserved in St Magnus Cathedral. His findings do contradict the saga tale of the saint’s murder but they also show a high probability that these are indeed the bones of the two saints, so the report was received with mixed feelings. I think it brings history to life to read such an autopsy and find that Magnus had good teeth and Rognvald had rheumatism. You might be surprised to learn that in with St Magnus’ remains really were six long bones from birds, as in my story. As with so much of this novel, strange facts made perfect sense to me as I travelled with Skarfr and Hlif.
I hope you enjoyed this journey into the past as much as I did. May we travel dangerous roads together again soon!