Rognvald of Orkney

Kali Kolsson

Earl of Orkney

Norway

1151, 1153

Rognvald's name in early life was Kali Kolsson. Likely brought up in Norway, he was appointed earl of Orkney and given the name Rognvald by King Sigurd Magnússon towards the end of the 1120s. He commissioned the building of St Magnus cathedral in the 1130s, and set out to Jerusalem in 1151, following closely in the footsteps of King Sigurd. On the journey he wrote poetry in addition to participating in battles. Rognvald was killed only a few years after his return home, and was buried in St Magnus cathedral. It is likely that Pope Celestine III canonized him in the 1190s.

Bishop William of Orkney, Eindridi the Young, Jon Petersson, Armod, Erling Wry-neck, Aslak Erlendsson, Guthorm Mjolukoll, Magnus Havardsson, Svein Hroaldsson, Oddi the Little, Sigmund Fish-Hook, Thorbjorn the Black

Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney, trans. Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards (London: Penguin, 1981), 156–82; Orkneyinga Saga, ed. Finnbogi Guðmundsson (Reykjavík: Hið Íslenzka Fornritafélag, 1965), 208–37

James Doherty, "The Presentation of Crusader Masculinities in Norse Sagas," Crusading and Masculinity, ed. Natasha Hodgson, Katherine Lewis and Matthew Mesley (New York: Routledge, 2019).