Allodial tenures were abolished, and the Jarls were required to become his vassals.
In the course of the next summer, 1006, there came to Brattahlid from Iceland a notable personage, a man of craft and resource, wealthy withal and well born, with the blood of many kinglets orjarls flowing in his veins.
Many of his jarls were wealthy men, and had joined him, some with ten or twenty, and others with thirty, or even forty, ships of various sizes.
For he robbed whom he pleased, made and undid jarls and earls as he chose, and was the friend or tool of more than one Scottish king.
In 1098 King Magnus had deposed and carried off Jarls Paul and Erlend to Norway, where they died soon after; and in the meantime he had appointed his own son, Sigurd, to be ruler of Orkney and Shetland in their place.
The Isles of Orkney and Shetland and the whole of the Sudreyar or Hebrides, however, owed allegiance, whether their jarls admitted it or not, to the Crown of Norway, and the Scottish kings had no authority over them.
The same process was at work, probably to a greater extent, among those of lower rank, who could not find or import Norse wives, if they would, as the jarls frequently did.
Nowhere were military tenants so essential as they then were in the extreme north of Scotland on lands immediately adjoining the territories of Norse jarls owing double allegiance, and therefore of doubtful loyalty to the Scottish Crown.
The distinction between Kings and Jarlscomes out very strongly in the account of the battle of Ashdown (Æscesdune) in the Chronicles in 871.
So in the Song of Brunanburh we read of the five Kings and seven Jarls who were slain.
A silly question that," replied Har; "dost thou imagine that Allfather would invite kings and jarls and other great men and give them nothing to drink but water?
There were Frena, and Guthrun, and Sidric the elder, and Sidric the younger, and Hungwar and Hubba, all jarls of fame.
Two jarls led the foe," the man answered, "and mighty warriors both.
Then, when the jarls heard this thrall-boy's words, they cried out that he should be beaten with sticks for his presumption.
After Streone's death it was plain that Cnut was king indeed, for his Danish jarls knew him too well to despise him.
Eirik and Ulf and Thorkel the jarls may gather them for Cnut," I answered.
And Swein has held Norway, my own land, with the help of the heathen jarls who are yet there.
I think that Cnut and his jarls will have lost their journey through your coming hither.
I think it would have been the same with the Danish host had they been in their own country; but here they must needs hold together, and Cnut and his jarls wielded that mighty force as a man wields his sword.
Such was the creed of the Norse Jarls sixteen years after the conversion of Sigurd of Orkney by St. Olaf, and the sole fruit of their last visit to Ireland.
Besides the jarls some thirty of their minor leaders were in the house, and but five or six of them escaped.
The two jarls fought in a manner worthy of their renown, but the Saxon spears proved more than a match for their swords, and they died fighting bravely till the last.
On the third day the work was finished, and the Danish kings with their jarls made a circuit round the walls, evidently to select the place for attack.
The jarls and other leading men formed the inner line of a circle some thirty yards in diameter, the others stood without; Jarl Eric entered the ring with Sweyn, while Edmund, accompanied by Siegbert, entered at the other side of the circle.
Three jarls and one of their kings were buried separately.
Three days after their arrival two of the jarls were attacked by the Berkshire fyrd, under Ealdorman Aethelwulf, at Englefield Green, in Windsor Forest, and defeated; one of them was slain.
Halfdene and the surviving jarls succeeded in reaching Reading, and only a few days later they were joined by large reinforcements from the Continent.
After Easter, in 912, thejarls of Northampton and Leicester raided Mercia.
King of East Anglia, attempted to stem the attack by establishing a base on English soil at Tempsford, at the junction of the Great Ouse and the Ivel, while the jarls of Leicester and Northampton made a raid on the neighbourhood of Aylesbury.
The kings appear to have established this camp while the jarls began to ravage.
King Baegsceg and five jarls were slain, and the Northmen broke and fled headlong.
In the reign of Harold Harfagr (the Fair-haired), an attempt was made by the king to deprive the petty jarls of their ancient udal or feudal rights, and to usurp all authority for the crown.
To this the proud jarls would not submit; and, feeling themselves degraded in the eyes of their retainers, they resolved to leave those lands and homes which they could now hardly call their own.
Odin has all the jarls that in conflict fall; but Thor the race of thralls.
A very silly question is that," replied Har; "dost thou imagine that All-Father would invite kings and jarls and other great men and give them nothing to drink but water!
Jarls came forward of great sagacity, from her sad state of mind to divert her.
To thy jarls it would seem more desirable, that thou with men wouldst talk, and on me wouldst look.
Jarls Edwin and Morkar made strenuous efforts to arrest the invaders, but the northern forces were insufficient to meet so numerous and powerful an army as that of Hardrada.
And Sigurd the Bishop said, 'The old gods are not dead, For the great Thor still reigns, And among the Jarls and Thanes The old witchcraft is spread.
A silence fell upon Egwina and Siegbert and those of the jarls who were near enough to hear the words.
Knowing naught of the cause, the jarlsrushed forth from the mead hall with Guthrum at their head.
The two jarls Sidroc were appointed to guard the rear and the baggage over the rivers.
To these also the fact that Guthrum and many of his jarls had embraced Christianity proved galling, and so many were the manors and broad the fields assigned to those who remained.
The Orkney jarlswere our friends, and for us Harald cared not.
Then Ulf the Silent stepped forward from behind the throng, and laid before the jarls a package that was carefully wrapped in deerskin.
Half-a-dozen longships of otherjarls happened to be in port at the time and Jarl Sigurd was not sorry to let his visitors see what his young people could do.
Then came a man, riding swiftly, to say that thejarls had left their hunting, and that we were to be taken to the great house.
And while he lay there, all men held their peace, looking in one another's faces, and only the jarls and Osritha and myself stood near him.
And now that the jarls knew that Lodbrok was dead, the hardest was to tell them how he died, and why I was here thus.
I was glad to find that no watch was kept on me, for it seemed as if Hubba's words were indeed true, and that the jarls believed my story.
The only other king of the host beside the three jarls was Bagsac.
Soon I stood with the jarls and Osritha at the landing place, and behind us were the courtmen in their best array.
I had spoken of the falcon once or twice, telling the jarls how she had taken to me, and I think they had doubted it a little.
The two jarlswere busy at the mooring place, and I could only answer her that I could look to her alone for help.
The jarls bid me say that Wulfric of Reedham, Lodbrok's preserver, is a welcome guest in their hall, and they would see him there at once.
At this proud answer Harold loved her more than ever, and vowed that he would never cut his hair [Pg031] until he had conquered all the jarls and could claim Gyda's hand.
Nay, only lately for a few rude jests, he caused some of his chief jarls to be slain without a trial.
Instead of jarls in the various parts, there is from this time on a jarl for the whole kingdom at the side of the king, whom he assists in the government of the state, sometimes obtaining a power rivalling that of his master.
Nein," came Jan Steenbock's unexpected answer; "ze schgooners vas not go to Jarls Islant.
She hath spoken to Brander the Brave and to jarls and chiefs and kings that were of old.
All these were disappointed, but there were wise old vikings and jarls of note who said to Hilda: "Thy foster son hath done well.
He is not a king," said the Druid, "but I know of jarls and of their pedigrees.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "jarls" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
