‘I Have No Quarrel With Any Man’
Magnus, Earl of Orkney, disappointed King Magnus of Norway by refusing to get involved in somebody else’s war.
1098
King William II ‘Rufus’ 1087-1100
The Cathedral of St Magnus-the-Martyr in Kirkwall, Orkney. Magnus died when his cousin Hakon, hoping to win the title of Earl of Orkney, made his cook Lifofl strike him down by the head. The manner in which Magnus faced his murderers, breathing Christian forgiveness and heavenly hope, confirmed his reputation as a saint, and in 1137 work began on a cathedral fit for his shrine. The work was undertaken by his brother-in-law Kol and Kol’s son Rognvald, to whom King Magnus had granted the title of Earl. The See of Birsay was then transferred to Kirkwall, and April 16th was fixed as the Feast of St Magnus-the-Martyr. In 1919, St Magnus’s remains were discovered hidden in a pillar, the better to save them from the extremism of Scotland’s sixteenth-century reformers.
Introduction
In 1098, Magnus III ‘Barelegs’, King of Norway, swept across the Scottish islands, reminding their governors that these territories belonged to the crown of Norway. Three brothers of Orkney, the earls Erlend, Magnus and Hakon, were obliged to accompany him as his fleet sailed west and then south down to Wales, where King Magnus barged into a fight between peoples who owed him no loyalty at all.
THE warlike host sailed down to Wales, and fought a great battle in the Menai Straits with two Welsh Earls, Hugh the Stout and Hugh the Brave.* When the strife was beginning, and everyone was picking up their arms, the young Earl Magnus did not follow their example, but, going to his accustomed seat in the prow, sat down there.
“Why dost thou not prepare thyself for battle?” asked Magnus Bareleg* in surprise.
“Because I have no quarrel with any man,” was the answer, “therefore will I not fight.”*
Then the King’s anger arose, and he jeered at the goodly youth. “Thou canst go below, if thou art such a coward,” he scoffed, “for it is not religion, but fear, that hath brought thee to this mind.”
The young Earl made no answer. He remained quietly where he was, and when the battle began, he took out his Psalter, and recited it so devoutly and earnestly that his voice rang out above the clash of arms.
* ‘Welsh earls’ is perhaps misleading. Hugo the Brave, Hugh of Montgomery (?-1098), 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury, also known as ‘the Red’, and Hugo the Stout, Hugh d’Avranches (?1047-1101), 1st Earl of Chester, also known as ‘the Fat’, were earls in Wales but they were not Welsh earls. Both were Normans, serving King William II ‘Rufus’ in England. Indeed, they had just worsted a real Welshman, Gruffudd ap Cynan (?1055-1137), King of Gwynedd (r. 1081–1137), who for four years had been leading an anti-Norman rebellion. For Snorro Sturluson’s account of King Magnus’s foray into Wales, see Magnus ‘Barelegs’ Steers a Bold Course.
* Magnus III Olafsson ‘Barefoot’ or ‘Barelegs’ (r. 1093-1103), illegitimate son of Olaf III Haraldsson ‘Kyrre’ (the Peaceful), and a grandson of Harald III ‘Hardrada’. Orkney had been a Viking possession since Sigurd the Mighty (?850-870), and the Isles and Man were recognised as loyal to the crown of Norway until 1266, when they were ceded to Scotland, except for Orkney and Shetland, which were Margaret of Denmark’s gift to her new husband James III of Scotland in 1472. The Isle of Man passed under the English crown in 1290, during the reign of Edward I.
* As Grierson indicates, Earl Magnus had not taken any stand against fighting while Magnus Barelegs was reaffirming Norway’s governance of her own lands in the Isles and Man. He laid down his arms only when the King sailed on southwards, and tried to meddle in a dispute that did not involve Norway’s crown or people.
