Chapter 2 - (Clan) Gunn Orkney Islands / Norse / Viking origin myth
2. The Gunns Orkney Islands / Norse / Viking origin myth
The individual chapters can be downloaded as pdfs from latrobe.academia.edu/AlastairGunn
A theory is the more impressive the greater is the simplicity of its premises...[1]
Albert Einstein
People all around the world have an inherent interest in their origins and display great creativity when attempting to explain the present in terms of the past. Although the specific of the origin myths of people change according to circumstance, they tend to reflect several common ideas and concerns. First they are rooted in the deep past to provide a sense of solidarity and historical continuity for people who may be heterogeneous in reality. Second, these myths usually connect their ethnonym with the name of an historic character on the basis of similarity in sound. Third, origin myths seek to raise the prestige of the group by choosing a high-status legendary founder...[2]
Michael Newton
Having discussed why Gunns are usefully considered as a non-kindred – not related - tribe or tribes of northern mainland Scotland one needs to consider the main competing concept namely that Gunns have an Orkney Islands / Viking / Norse[3] origin.
There are two theories concerning this myth –
1. Gunns ‘claim descent from Guinn, second son of Olave the Black, King of Man and the Isles’[4]. This idea is now generally discounted for many reasons not least being that Guinn is not regularly given as a son in various histories. The little evidence for a son Guðrøðr – the closest to Guinn – gives this son dying without issue.[5]
2. There is the much more commonly argued origin idea namely that Gunns are Norse from the Orkney Islands.[6] The original Gunn – the eponym - is meant to be Gunni Andresson who lived in the Orkney Islands[7] and who was the grandson of the famous pirate Sweyn Assleifsson. Gunni Andresson was meant to have two sons born about 1200[8] namely Snaekoll and Andreas. Gunns are meant to descend from Gunni Andresson, then Snaekoll; there are insurmountable problems associated with this belief which are discussed in chapter 2.2
A linked, but now generally ignored, version of this story is that Gunns ‘according to Calder in his History of Caithness … descend from Gunn, a brother of the pirate Sweyne.’[9] This Gunni ‘had children by the Dowager Countess of Atholl … (and was) banished from the Isles (of Orkney)… Sweyne sent Gunni south to (the Isle of) Lewis’[10]. At which point Gunni disappears from the history books.
2.1 The Gunn surname is not of Orkney Islands / Norse / Viking origin
surnames were generally adopted in the 17th century[11]
Lord Lyon Court
The first complication concerning the supposed Gunn Orkney Islands / Norse / Viking origin is the surname Gunn[12].
The problem is that ‘Many Scottish surnames originated in patronymics, whereby a son’s surname derived from the father’s forename, e.g. John Donaldson’s son might be Peter Johnson, whose son might be Magnus Peterson, and so on. Patronymics present something of a challenge for the family historian in that the surname changed with each successive generation. This practice died out in Lowland Scotland after the 15th century, as patronymic surnames became permanent family names. It persisted, however, in the Highlands & Islands well into the 18th century….’[13]
What this means is simple. Gunni Andresson (born around 1180[14]) who was the supposed founder of the ‘Clan Gunn’ certainly had Snaekoll Gunnison but Snaekoll’s fictional child – I deal with his supposed son in chapter 2.3 - would have had Snaekollson as his surname, and changed surnames would have continued with each generation until the 1600s-1700s. These surnames would not have been Gunn, nor early versions of it. So those who believe in the Gunn Orkney Islands / Norse / Viking origin idea have to explain how the Gunn surname was fixed roughly five or six hundred years before everyone else's surnames were in the Highlands of Scotland and also, therefore, when normal[15] Highland families (similar to the Gunns) were doing something totally different to the Gunns with regard to their surnames.
Some might argue that the Gunns did not have the surname continuously since 1200 rather Gunns decided to have a surname based on Gunni Andresson some time after his death. That’s not logical - why choose Gunni Andresson to be the foundation person of a Clan? Gunni Andresson is anonymous; there are no stories about him. All he did was marry well. But Gunni’s grandfather ‘pirate’ Sweyne Assleifsson was the sort of person from whom Clans could easily originate. But Gunns are not Sweynesson / Swanson, they are Gunns. Certainly ‘some clans take their name not from the founder of a clan but from a later descendant who substantially improved the clan’s position or was a great hero, or was an outstanding figure in one way or another’[16] but this is demonstrably not true about Gunni Andresson who was, as already said, invisible in history. And, given that surnames were not fixed until say the 1600s when was the name Gunn chosen? After all, Coroner Gunn was alive before the 1450s…
The idea that Gunn is derived from Gunni Andresson goes totally against historical understanding of surnames in Scotland and, as such, there go Gunn links to the Orkney Islands and Norway.
SUMMARY If you accept the Orkney Islands origin myth[17] you have to accept an impossibility about the surname Gunn. Gunn as a tribal / group name, however, explains why the name Gunn was around from before the 1450s when Coroner Gunn was alive. This tribal / group name later evolved into the surname Gunn.
2.2 The supposed ‘Gunn Chief’ Snaekoll Gunnison did not have children problem
Snaekollr Gunnison … went to Bergen (Norway) in 1232 … but never seems to have come home again.[18]
Barbara Crawford[19]
Despite his part in the murder of the earl Snaekoll was not condemned to death at the trial in Bergen but "remained long with earl Skuli and King Hacon" and there is no evidence that he ever returned to Orkney or Caithness (then footnoted) ‘Despite the claims of Clan Gunn to be descended from him.’ [20]
Barbara Crawford
With Snaekoll, the line of Erland became extinct.’[21]
The generally accepted first Gunns, in order, by those who support the Orkney Islands / Norse / Viking origin myth are[22] -
Hrolf
Olaf Hrolfson c.1100-c.1136
Sweyn Assleifsson c.1130-c.1171 (Unusually the surname starts with his mother’s first name.)
Andres Sweynson
Gunni Andresson c.1180 (As said, the supposed first ‘Gunn’...)
Snaekoll Gunnison c.1200-1239/1240
‘Ottar Snaekollson’
The ‘Clan Gunn Chief’ line[23] (somehow)
I have no problem with the descent from Hrolf to Snaekoll Gunnison; the Orkneyinga Saga[24] supports it.
The problem for the myth believers[25] is that Snaekoll Gunnison[26] never married, nor had children (the identification of his son ‘Ottar’ is just wrong as I discuss in chapter 2.3), nor did Snaekoll return to Scotland from Norway where he had been in exile imposed by the Norwegian King. He most likely died in Norway after being a major participant in a failed rebellion against the King.
Snaekoll Gunnison 1200 - 1239/1240; a life
Snaekoll Gunnison was a seriously unpleasant character.
Snaekoll was born into an aristocratic Orkney family due to his mother’s importance – it was her family which had the money and connections, not Gunni Andresson. He was ‘proud of his high birth, and ambitious to obtain wealth.’[27] He argued with Earl / Jarl John (the King of Norway’s delegated ruler for the Orkney Islands and Caithness) that he – Snaekoll - should have his great-grandfather (on his mother’s side) St Rognvald’s share[28] of the Orkney Islands.[29] After the argument with the Earl / Jarl, Snaekoll fled to Hanef for protection - Hanef was the King of Norway’s administrative representative on Orkney, he collected taxes amongst other activities. Both Snaekoll and Hanef later went to Thurso where the Jarl / Earl was, and Snaekoll murdered the Earl / Jarl[30] and others[31] - Hanef was also involved. Obviously aware of the consequent issues as killing the Norwegian King’s representative is not a sensible move, Snaekoll, Hanef and their associates fled to the Orkney Islands to a castle on the island of Wyre.
A long siege ensured solved with both Snaekoll and Earl / Jarl John’s sides going to King Haakon IV of Norway for ‘advice’ in 1232[32] who was ‘disposed to give a patient audience to the Earl’s friends, but so enraged at the cruelty of the murderers, that he put some of them to death.’[33] Hanef and Snaekoll, perhaps due to their aristocratic connections, were not executed. The ‘best men of the islands’[34] were allowed to return to Scotland but these men drowned on the return trip.
Snaekoll was certainly not one of the ‘best men’ of the Orkney Islands. He was in disgrace; he ‘was imprisoned in the Royal castle of Bergen … he was released into the guardianship of the King’s father-in-law Skuli Bardarson. Duke Skuli[35] plotted to take the throne from Hakon and with Snaekoll … went north[36] and reformed the Wolfcloaks (Varbelgs) warband. Snaekoll was made a captain or steward of the Wolfcloaks.’[37] The rebellion started against King Haakon IV on 6 November 1239, about seven years after Snaekoll’s arrival in Norway.
The Norwegian Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar[38] is the main source of Norwegian history for this period. Section 208 details the capture of Snaekoll. It says, in a simple translation,[39] that
King Håkon sent some leaders north against the varbelgs (Wolfcloaks), that was Gunnar the King´s friend, Peter from Giske and Åsulv the farmer, they had 25 ships ... When they came to Borgund (Sunnmøre near Ålesund) they met Olav Kåbein, Snekoll (Snaekoll Gunnison) and Andres Skjæla. Some of the "varbelgs" men were killed (no names) and the others got "grid".
In other words, King Haakon's men defeated Skuli's supporters who included ‘Snekoll’. Snaekoll was obviously a significant rebel as he was listed by name – three leaders are given from King Haakon’s side, three leaders are from the rebel side. Some rebels were killed and some were 'grid'. 'Grid' means 'freed'. Some, surely, died of wounds.
But this Saga is the official history with the sub-text of showing King Haakon as heroic and glorious. If Snaekoll did not die in the battle or soon after then he may have been freed[40] but was not given Scottish land[41] nor any wealth, as that would have been mentioned in the Saga to show that Haakon was generous and such mention is not in the Saga. Equally it's logical that Snaekoll wouldn't be given lands and wealth. Why would a King reward a senior rebel, especially one already in disgrace and lucky to be alive given he had already killed an Earl / Jarl on the King’s side. That would encourage another rebellion. Logic dictates the three rebel leaders mentioned died fighting as they knew what would happen to them; leaders of failed rebellions do not live, especially in the 1200s. Note that Haakon ‘crushed’[42] Skuli ‘and his closest men’[43]; they did not live. Given King Haakon did not show mercy to Skuli Bardarson who was his father-in-law why would he show mercy to the failed rebel Snaekoll and reward him with lands and wealth as is required by Gunn myths? It’s not conceivable that he would do so.
Consider, as well, what happened to the renowned, well-born Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson.[44] Snorri Sturlsson supported – but did not take part in - Duke Skuli’s rebellion and was, in consequence, put to death by the King’s emissary in Iceland in 1241. This execution of Snorri Sturluson shows again how unlikely it would have been for King Haakon to have pardoned and rewarded Snaekoll and allowed him to go back to Scotland. King Haakon was not that sort of person.
After 1239, or perhaps 1240, it is legitimate to assume that Snaekoll is dead and that he died in Norway as there is no reference to him in any Saga after this time.
SUMMARY The Orkneyinga Saga records Snaekoll’s life and times in detail; there is no mention of marriage nor children for Snaekoll in the Orkneyinga Saga. The Norwegian Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar also details Snaekoll’s life, especially in Norway. Neither marriage nor children are mentioned in that Saga, either, and such events and people would have been mentioned as Snaekoll was too important – and well known - to ignore. There is also no mention of Snaekoll’s return to Scotland[45] in these texts and it’s just not plausible that King Haakon would have pardoned and rewarded a major rebel - and if he had it would be mentioned in his Saga.
There is absolutely no support for the idea that Snaekoll married, had children, and returned to Scotland; there are many, many reasons to suggest Snaekoll died unmarried in Norway. He was never ‘Clan Gunn.’
2.3 The supposed ‘Gunn Chief’ Ottar Snaekollson was not a Gunn problem
2.3.1 Introduction
The traditional view of ‘Chief Ottar Snaekollson Gunn’ is put forward by Mark Rugg Gunn;
Ottar is mentioned twice in Eirspennill’s Hakon Hakon’s Son’s Saga.[46] The first occasion is when he visited Norway. ‘After that King Hakon went to Bergen. There Gillechrist and Ottar, Snaekoll’s son, and many Hebrideans, came to meet him there from the west beyond the sea and they had many letters concerning the needs of their lands. It is not at all clear what lands Ottar held, or his relationship to the King of Norway. Snaekoll had retired to Caithness to lands outside the King’s immediate jurisdiction, and it is possible that Ottar was attempting to claim some of Snaekoll’s former property’.[47]
And
(Starting with Olaf the Black, King of Man) ‘Olaf remained for four nights in the town (Bergen) before he went west. Olaf went in the ship with Paul Baki’s son, to the Orkneys; and then Earl John gave him the ship that was called the Ox. They had from Orkney twenty ships. And when Balki the young, Paul’s son and Ottar Snaekollr learned that, they went before south to Skye.’[48]
The myth believers accept Mark Rugg Gunn’s Ottar as being Snaekoll Gunnisson’s son[49] as then the huge problems associated with the lack of evidence for Snaekoll returning to Scotland, the lack of record of his marriage or his having children can be ignored as if there was a son such events must have happened. The first problem with this ‘proof’, which is shared by others,[50] is that it relies on the assumption that only one person can be called Ottar Snaekollson at one time. Obviously, that’s a faulty assumption.
2.3.2 Ottar Snaekollson was not Snaekoll Gunnison’s son
R. Andrew McDonald in The Kingdom of The Isles Scotland’s Western Seaboard c 1100-c.1336 [51] agrees with the quotation provided by Mark Rugg Gunn but provides a time; 1224[52]. ‘As early as 1224, Hakon’s Saga relates how, while King Hakon was in Bergen, Gilliecrist and Ottar, Snaekoll’s son, and many Hebrideans, came to meet him there from west beyond the sea; and they had many letters concerning the needs of their lands’[53] And Macdonald continues ‘‘the (Hebridean) emissaries may have gone to Norway as a result of the perception on the part of the Islesmen that King Alexander of Scotland, after his campaign in Scotland in 1221 or 1222, was preparing a follow-up campaign against the Hebrides. Or they may have been responding to the increased unrest in the Isles.’[54]
1224 is crucial as we know when Ottar’s supposed father Snaekoll was born – about 1200.[55] It is absurd to believe that Ottar Snaekollson was in Bergen aged about four - which he had to be if Snaekoll Gunnison was his father - to discuss issues with the King of Norway, especially given his supposed father Snaekoll was well-known and ambitious; Snaekoll would have been in Norway to meet the King as he had not yet killed Earl / Jarl John. Obviously, the person identified as Ottar Snaekollson in Bergen has nothing to do with the Snaekoll of the preceding section.
The Ottar Snaekollsson who went to Bergen was a Sudreyan Chief who later became Chief of the MacNichols[56] on Skye, and was at Finlaggan on Islay in 1240. (The Sudreys mean the Hebrides and sometimes the Isle of Man.[57]) There is accepted history for Ottar Snaekollson in a major role[58] around 1230 and it concerned Isle of Man events and the King of Norway. Other people in the accepted history confirm the time; Olav (Olaf) the Black who died 1237[59] and was King of the Isle of Man and part of the Hebrides, Allan of Galloway[60] who died 1234 and Paul Balkasson ‘son of Boke or Bakki, who was for a time Sherriff of Skye under the King of Norway in 1223.’[61] Olaf the Black and Paul Balkasson are also mentioned in the 1224 Saga extract used by Mark Rugg Gunn; this provides further support for the‘loyal Sudreyan chief named Ottar Snaekollsson’[62] being the person who also visited Norway in 1224.
There were also suitable Hebridean Gillecrists / Gilchrists alive around 1224 to accompany Ottar Snaekollsson. The choices were probably either Gilchrist Maclachlan who was Chief of the Maclachlans[63] in 1230, for a full discussion of Gilchrist Maclachlan see W.D.H. Sellar’s ‘Family Origins in Cowal and Knapdale.’[64] Alternatively there was Gilchrist, son of Muirchertach / M’Ercher known 1228[65].
But the year is 1224 so could Gillecrist be a northern Scot? Important Gillecrists of North Scotland are not visible. Snaekoll Gunnisson was of a high social status, so Gilliecrist should also be. Gillecrist, Earl of Angus was dead by 1206 (he had married one of Snaekoll Gunnissson’s aunts and so would have been ideal if Ottar had been Snaekol Gunnison’s son). Gilcrist, Mormaer of Mar died c. 1203. No other Gillecrists from this time from North Scotland are known to the author.
SUMMARY The Ottar Snaekollson identified by Gunn mythology as the son of Snaekoll Gunnisson is an impossibility[66] on age grounds and as Ottar was actually a Sudreyan Chief from the Hebrides. This further proves that Gunns have no ‘chief’ origin links to the Orkney Islands.[67]
***
[1] Paul Arthur, Schilpp (editor). Autobiographical Notes. A Centennial Edition. p. 31 (As quoted by Don Howard, John Stachel. Einstein: The Formative Years, 1879-1909 (Einstein Studies, vol. 8). p. 1. Occam’s razor also comes to mind…
[2] Page 55, Michael Newton, Warriors of the Word: the World of the Scottish Highlanders. He points out, page 58, that one ancient idea was that the Clan Mackay Chief line had descended from the Pharoahs – that is even more unlikely than the ‘Clan’ Gunn claim of descent from the Orkney Islands aristocracy.
[3] Given the supposed Orkney Islands / Norse origin of ‘Clan’ Gunn why are there no Norse place names associated with the Gunns in ancient Caithness? The obvious answer is that Gunns have no Orkney / Norse origin and so will have no Norse place names attached to them. There are many Norse personal names which are place names in Sutherland but none for Gunns, see pages 11 and 12 of Alex MacBain's Place Names; Highlands & Islands of Scotland.
[4] Page 224, Frank Adams (rev. by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney) The Clans Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands.
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olaf_the_Black#Ancestry accessed 11 February 2016.
[6] Mark Rugg Gunn’s view in is that ‘The Gunns were of Nordo-Celtic descent. Though the main stem was Norse, successive generations of intermarriage with their Celtic neighbours produced a race which was more Celtic than Nordic’ Page 9, Mark Rugg Gunn, Clan Gunn; he does qualify the comment in later discussion. The Morrison name also suffers from the Norse origin delusion; see page 14 A. W. Morrison The Genealogy of the Morrison Origins in Scotland.
[7] For a possible reason why the Orkney origin myth may have started see Appendix 4.
[8] The death date of Gunni’s wife’s first husband – Lifolf Skalli - is well known as he died at the Battle of Wick in 1198. See chapter CXIII Orkneyinga Saga. Gunni’s wife was Ragnhild, her mother was Ingrid daughter of Jarl St Ragnvald; they were the important family.
[9] Page 194, R. M. Douglas, The Scots Book.
[10] See http://www.fionamsinclair.co.uk/genealogy/isles/EO_28_Harald.htm accessed 7 October 2018.
[11] Page 4 Lyon Court booklet ‘Coats of Arms and Crest Badges’. This has common agreement – for example ‘Surnames as we understand them did not come into general use in the Highlands until the 17th century’. Page 16, Margaret MacLaren of MacLaren, The Maclarens.
[12] A similar problem can be found in Alexander W. Morrison’s ‘The Ay Mac Hormaid Myth of the Morrisons of Durness.’
[13] From ‘Scotlands People’ http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/Content/Help/index.aspx?r=551&560 accessed 1 May 2014.
[14] The year is derived from his marriage around the year 1200, see footnote 88.
[15] A few, very elite families had early fixed surnames; families with descent from Norman invaders or from the Lord of the Isles being the main examples. These families are massively detailed in history texts. Gunns are not descended from the Normans nor from the Lord of the Isles so should not have a surname at an early time.
[16] Page 16, Margaret MacLaren of MacLaren The Maclarens.
[17] For a similar problem applied to Clan Morrison see ‘Chapter 4 The Clan Morrison Hoax of the Norse Origin on Lewis and Harris’ A. W. Morrison The Genealogy of the Morrison Origin in Scotland. When checking various DNA sites on the internet such as https://www.familytreedna.com/public/Gunn?iframe=yresults accessed 31 October 2019 the marked shortage of I-M253 / Norse type Y chromosomes on those with the surname Gunn is noticeable. There is a strong Pictish DNA on Gunn occupied land. See https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-general/scots-dna-0012530 accessed 31 October 2019.
[18] Page 8, B. E. Crawford 'Medieval Strathnaver’ in ed. John R. Baldwin The Province of Strathanaver.
[19] ‘Dr Barbara Crawford M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S.E., F.S.A., F.S.A. Scot., Member of the Norwegian Academy … Honorary Reader in History at the University of St. Andrews … Dr. Crawford is a Member of the Norwegian Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. She was a Commissioner of the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland from 1991-2001, chaired The Treasure Trove Advisory Panel for Scotland from 1993-2001, and was President of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland from 2008-2011. She was awarded an OBE in 2011 for services to history and archaeology, and has recently been awarded an Honorary Professorship at the University of the Highlands and Islands….’ From https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/staff/barbaracrawford.html accessed 14 March 2016. If one of the most important academics in Scottish Highland history can not find support for the return of Snaekoll to the Orkney Islands or Caithness then he almost certainly did not return.
[20] http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/handle/10023/2723 accessed14 March 2016; page 8.
[21] Page 186 Old-lore Miscellany of Orkney, Shetland, Caithness, and Sutherland, Volume 10, Parts 3-5.
[22] Drawn from p.24 Mark Rugg Gunn’s, Clan Gunn being in the nature of an official history given it is on the ‘Clan Gunn Society of North America’ website http://www.clangunn.us/storekeepernotes.htm accessed 31 December 2012; the UK Society seemingly does not have a web-based store http://www.clangunnsociety.org/ accessed 31 December 2012 but Mark Rugg Gunn was a long-time member of that society.
[23] It’s worth noting the ‘People of Medieval Scotland’ 1093-1314 website http://www.poms.ac.uk/ supports the complete non-existence of the Gunn ‘chief line’ in Caithness and Scotland before 1314 as historical records do not exist for them.
[24] Snaekoll Gunnison was extremely well known; to kill an Earl / Jarl, claim Jarldoms and such like would have had the people of Orkney Islands and Caithness talking about you and that is why he is in the Orkneyinga Saga (which is the later summary of the history / news). And that is also why it is important what isn’t said about him in the Orkneyinga Saga as he was too important – and newsworthy - a person too ignore; with him it is legitimate to infer events didn’t happen if they are not mentioned. The Orkneyinga Saga is considered very reliable on the later years which included Snaekoll. See also page 277, Alex Woolf From Pictland to Alba 789-1070.
[25] The myth continues in Diana J Muir’s (2018?) The House of Gunn where she constructed a massive set of Scandinavian ancestors for Gunns based on the fantasy that Snaekoll Gunn started the Gunn Chief line. Her work lacks any evidence to support that claim. Another of her works is The Lost Templar Journals of Prince Harry Sinclair Book 1 1353-1395 - the Gunn Westford Knight myth is exposed as fiction in chapter 5 but here is ‘fact’ supposedly written by her ancestor. Diana Muir’s work should be ignored.
[26] One of the many Gunn myths concerns Johanna of Strathnaver - ‘When Snaekoll went to Norway there was some evidence that he left behind him an infant daughter named Johanna who in the course of time would be heiress to the Moddan estates and parts of Caithness. As Johanna of Strathnaver...’ page 30, Mark Rugg Gunn, History of the Clan Gunn. See, as well, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=m-RBAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA709&dq=Johanna+of+strathnaver&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vpXUUPPuFOi30QWj1YHABw&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Johanna%20of%20strathnaver&f=false for discussion of Johanna being a ‘Gunn’ accessed 30 December 2012. The main problem with this idea is that there is no primary source evidence to support it and Snaekoll’s marriage and child would have been mentioned in the Orkneyinga Saga which details Snaekoll’s life in detail when he was on the Orkney Islands – and it isn’t so mentioned. Mark Rugg Gunn’s book does not state his ‘evidence’. The marriage is also not mentioned in key texts of the area such as Barbara E. Crawford The Northern Kingdoms; Orkney and Caithness from AD 870 to 1470.
[27] Page 181, George Barry, The History of the Orkney Islands; in which is comprehended an account of their present as well as their ancient state; together with the advantages they possess for several branches of industry, and the means by which they might be improved.
[28] St. Rognvald was also known as Rognvald Kali Kolsson. ‘Snaekoll … Gunnison (had) estates in Orkney that he laid claim to and it was the Orkney Earldom which Earl John feared he was going to take from him’ Page 159 -160, B. E. Crawford, The Earls of Orkney-Caithness and their relations with Norway and Scotland: 1158-1470.
[29] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormaer_of_Caithness Was he trying to be Mormaer of Caithness given Harald the Younger was a Mormaer?
[30] Page 275 Barbara Crawford, The Northern Earldoms Orkney and Caithness from AD 870 to 1470.
[31] Snaekoll also killed ‘other members of the earl’s following’ Page 275, Barbara E. Crawford ibid.
[32] Page 8, B. E. Crawford ' Medieval Strathnaver' in John R. Baldwin ed., The Province of Strathnaver.
[33] Page 181 George Barry, The History of the Orkney Islands.
[34] Page 275-279 B. E. Crawford, The Northern Earldoms.
[35] ‘Snekoll was long afterwards with earl Skuli and Hacon’ Page 158, George Webbe Dissant, Icelandic Saga and other Historical Documents relating to the settlements and descent of the Northmen of the British Isles Volume 4.
[36] ‘‘Earl Skuli went north to Drontheim (Trondheim) in the autumn, and these with him Hanef, and Kolbein, and Snaekoll ‘ Page 158. Rerum Britannicarum Medii Ævi Scriptores: Or, Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland During the Middle Ages, Issue 88, Vol 4.
[37] See http://www.caithness.org/caithness/castles/freswick/ accessed 5 February 2013.
[38] The Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar (The Saga of Haakon Haakonarson) is an Old Norse kings' sagas, telling the story of the life and reign of King Haakon Haakonarson of Norway. The saga was written by the Icelandic historian and chieftain Sturla Þórðarson, in the 1260s. Sturla was at the court of Haakon's son Magnus when he learned of his father's death, and he is said to have immediately commissioned Sturla to write his father's saga. It is the main source to Norwegian history for the period of 1217 (Haakon's accession) to his death in 1263. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A1konar_saga_H%C3%A1konarsonar accessed 30 January 2019.
[39] The original reads - Kong Håkon sendte noen sveitehøvdinger nordover mot vårbelgene, det var Gunnar kongsfrende, Peter fra Giske og Åsulv bonde, de hadde 25 skip. Før de seilte fra byen, talte han til dem og sa at de skulle seile så langt nordover som det var trygt. Han sa at de skulle holde kirkefreden og kvinnefreden, slik som alt hans forfedre før ham hadde gjort. Så tok de av sted, og da de kom til Borgund, var vårbelgenes sysselmann der, det var Olav Kåbein, Snekoll og Andres Skjæla. Det falt noen mann av vårbelgene før de kunne komme seg i kirken. Birkebeinene tok leidangen som de hadde samlet, men mennene fikk grid for å møte kongen…. Peter og hans menn fikk greie på at det ikke var flere vårbelger på vei nordfra, men at hertugen satt med mange menn i Nidaros, så at det ikke var trygt å komme der. De snudde da og seilte sørover tilbake til Bergen med det gods og de menn de hadde tatt....
[40] I suspect the only varbelgs freed were unimportant men, probably forcibly drafted onto the varlberg side.
[41] There is no logic for Snaekoll to go to mainland Scotland; his connections were with the Orkney Islands.
[42] Page 295, R. K. Emmerson (ed), Key Figures in Medieval Europe; An Encyclopedia.
[43] http://nbl.snl.no/Skule_B%C3%A5rdsson accessed 8 October 2018.
[44] Page xiv, Lee M. Holder (ed.) of Snorri Sturlsuson’s Heimskringla.
[45] Page 34 Mark Rugg Gunn The Gunns. There is an absurd story that a Gunn (presumably Snaekoll or his supposed son Ottar) married the King of Norway’s daughter but the Gunn was already married so when the boat bringing her to Scotland was due, the Gunn organized for the ship carrying her to be wrecked. The story does not appear in any Scandinavian history which it presumably would do so as it concerned a royal so it is just another myth, perhaps loosely using the history of the death of the Maid of Norway in 1290 – she was a Norwegian princess recognized as Queen of the Scots but who died in the Orkney Islands on the way to mainland Scotland. The subject matter was well known by the 15th century in the Highlands – see Ian Grimble Chief of Mackay Page 21. This story is discussed more fully in chapter 8.5.
[46] More accurately, Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar.
[47] Pages 31-32, Mark Rugg Gunn, Clan Gunn.
[48] Page 23, quoted in Mark Rugg Gunn ibid.
[49] ‘The most reliable authority yet found on early Gunn family records is an original family tree, prepared in 1893 by Mr Alex. Gunn of Braemore.... Then he gives us two sons, Snakulus, dated 1224, and does not list the name of the second son... Sanekol, or Snakolus, as it is spelled both ways in the original chart, is followed in the line by Ottor or Ottow Gunn....’ Pages 35-37 Robert R, Gunn The Gunns.
[50] For example, ‘The male line of the Gunns, according to a pedigree which the writer has seen, was continued after his flight by Snaekoll, who, it is stated had a son, Ottar,’ Pages 56, James Gray, Sutherland and Caithness in Saga-time or The Jarls and the Freskyns.
[51] Scottish Historical Review Monograph 4, Tuckwell Press, Scotland, 1998.
[52] ‘In 1224 representatives from the islands were in Bergen to ask King Hakon Hakonsson for assistance and settle disputes between them... ‘Page 48, Randi Bjorrshol Waerdahl, The Incorporation and Integration of the King’s Tributary Lands into the Norwegian Realm c 1195-1397.
[53] Page 88, R. Andrew McDonald, The Kingdom of the Isles Scotland’s Western Seaboard c. 1100 – c. 1336.
[54] Pages 88-89 R. Andrew McDonald, ibid.
[55] ‘Snaekoll's date can be ascertained with some accuracy as his mother’s first husband, Lifolf Baldpate, died in 1198 at the battle of Clairdon, so she can hardly have married Snaekoll's father, Gunni, much before 1199. From these dates Snaekol could have been born by 1200 or so.’ http://southerlandweb.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/on-lairds-of-duffus.html accessed 30 December 2012
[56] http://www.houseofnames.com/McNichols-history/?A=54323-523 accessed 29 December 2012.
[57] The Norwegian diocese of Sodor was formed in 1154 covering the Hebrides and the other islands along the west coast of Scotland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocese_of_Sodor_and_Man accessed 28 December 2012. Page 130, Gareth Williams ‘These People were high-born and thought a lot about themselves’: the Family of Moddan of Dale in ed. B.B. Smith, S. Taylor, G. Williams West over Sea: Studies in Scandinavian Sea-Borne Expansion and Settlement Before 1300 which includes Ottar Jarl of Thurso and other related Ottars. Was one (or more) of these Ottars blurred into the non-existent Gunn Snaekoll’s son by the nineteenth century and from this came the Gunn mythic non-link to the Moddan / Johanna of Strathnaver being Snaekoll’s daughter?
[58] After the death of Reginald, Olave deemed it politic to pay a visit to the Court of Norway at Bergen, to do homage to his superior, and to seek help against the growing power of Allan of Galloway. He was well received by Hakon, and entertained right royally. Evidently affairs in the Hebrides were getting into a critical state. According to the account which has been preserved of Olave's mission to Bergen, he informed his Royal master that the lord of Galloway had openly avowed his intention, not only of subduing the whole of the Hebrides, but of attacking Norway herself. At the Norwegian Court, Olave found three Sudreyan chiefs described as "kings" who, having failed to pay tribute to Hakon for their possessions in the Hebrides, had apparently been summoned to his Court to answer for their contumacy. These were Dugall Scrag or Shrill- voice, and Duncan (sons of Dugall, son of Somerled the Great), and Somerled their cousin, son of Gillecolum who was killed during his father's attempted conquest of Scotland. The submission of the Sudreyan chiefs appears to have come too late, for Hakon had already appointed one Uspak whom he honoured by conferring his own name upon him to act as his Viceroy in the Sudreys, and the disappointed Somerledians had to return home empty-handed. But they were not prepared to submit tamely to being ousted by Uspak-Hakon, and they resolved to fight. Anticipating their resentment and their resistance, the King of Norway got ready a powerful fleet to enforce the rule of his favourite. Olave the Black was commanded to co-operate with Uspak, and with that object, sailed from Norway with Paul Balkasson, who had probably accompanied him to the Norwegian Court. Reinforcements were obtained in the Orkneys, and probably also in the Nordereys, and the combined fleets, under the joint command of Uspak and Olave, proceeded to the Sudreys to attack the trio of Somerledians who awaited them in the Sound of Islay. In the meantime, Balka, a son of Balkasson, and a loyal Sudreyan chief named Ottar Snaekollsson (Snowball) went to Skye, where they attacked a Lewis chief named Torquil, son of Tormod (Munch calls him " Torquil MacDermot "), and killed him with two of his sons. The third son, Tormod, managed to escape by jumping into a cask floating in the water, which drifted across to the mainland, whence he reached Lewis in safety.’ Being from Pages 36-37. W. C. Mackenzie History of the Outer Hebrides.
[59] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olaf_the_Black accessed 28 December 2012.
[60] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_of_Galloway accessed 28 December 2012.
[61] Page 247, Place names of Skye and adjacent islands, Alexander Robert Forbes.
[62] See Page 181 of Thormudus Torfaeus, Ancient History of Orkney, Caithness & the North, translated, with copious notes by the Rev. Alexaner Pope, Ottar is clearly mentioned; ‘Paul Baikie, Ottar and Sudbollus, sailed south from the Isle of Skye.’
[63] http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/m/maclach2.html accessed 30 December 2012.
[64] Scottish Studies, Volume 15.
[65] PoMS, no. 1508 (http://db.poms.ac.uk/record/person/1508/; accessed 30 December 2012 and http://www.douglashistory.co.uk/famgen/getperson.php?personID=I269159&tree=tree1 ‘The Douglas Archives’ accessed 29 December 2012.
[66] And with it goes Gunn links to Christian Saints, Viking aristocracy and Scottish Mormaers. Mythic Gunn history has a very snobbish panoply.
[67] ‘The Rev. William Findlater, the minister of Durness, has in 1834 a peculiar observation – (Gunns have) … ‘dark eyes and dark complexion’’. Page 10 Thomas Sinclair The Gunns.
The individual chapters can be downloaded as pdfs from latrobe.academia.edu/AlastairGunn
A theory is the more impressive the greater is the simplicity of its premises...[1]
Albert Einstein
People all around the world have an inherent interest in their origins and display great creativity when attempting to explain the present in terms of the past. Although the specific of the origin myths of people change according to circumstance, they tend to reflect several common ideas and concerns. First they are rooted in the deep past to provide a sense of solidarity and historical continuity for people who may be heterogeneous in reality. Second, these myths usually connect their ethnonym with the name of an historic character on the basis of similarity in sound. Third, origin myths seek to raise the prestige of the group by choosing a high-status legendary founder...[2]
Michael Newton
Having discussed why Gunns are usefully considered as a non-kindred – not related - tribe or tribes of northern mainland Scotland one needs to consider the main competing concept namely that Gunns have an Orkney Islands / Viking / Norse[3] origin.
There are two theories concerning this myth –
1. Gunns ‘claim descent from Guinn, second son of Olave the Black, King of Man and the Isles’[4]. This idea is now generally discounted for many reasons not least being that Guinn is not regularly given as a son in various histories. The little evidence for a son Guðrøðr – the closest to Guinn – gives this son dying without issue.[5]
2. There is the much more commonly argued origin idea namely that Gunns are Norse from the Orkney Islands.[6] The original Gunn – the eponym - is meant to be Gunni Andresson who lived in the Orkney Islands[7] and who was the grandson of the famous pirate Sweyn Assleifsson. Gunni Andresson was meant to have two sons born about 1200[8] namely Snaekoll and Andreas. Gunns are meant to descend from Gunni Andresson, then Snaekoll; there are insurmountable problems associated with this belief which are discussed in chapter 2.2
A linked, but now generally ignored, version of this story is that Gunns ‘according to Calder in his History of Caithness … descend from Gunn, a brother of the pirate Sweyne.’[9] This Gunni ‘had children by the Dowager Countess of Atholl … (and was) banished from the Isles (of Orkney)… Sweyne sent Gunni south to (the Isle of) Lewis’[10]. At which point Gunni disappears from the history books.
2.1 The Gunn surname is not of Orkney Islands / Norse / Viking origin
surnames were generally adopted in the 17th century[11]
Lord Lyon Court
The first complication concerning the supposed Gunn Orkney Islands / Norse / Viking origin is the surname Gunn[12].
The problem is that ‘Many Scottish surnames originated in patronymics, whereby a son’s surname derived from the father’s forename, e.g. John Donaldson’s son might be Peter Johnson, whose son might be Magnus Peterson, and so on. Patronymics present something of a challenge for the family historian in that the surname changed with each successive generation. This practice died out in Lowland Scotland after the 15th century, as patronymic surnames became permanent family names. It persisted, however, in the Highlands & Islands well into the 18th century….’[13]
What this means is simple. Gunni Andresson (born around 1180[14]) who was the supposed founder of the ‘Clan Gunn’ certainly had Snaekoll Gunnison but Snaekoll’s fictional child – I deal with his supposed son in chapter 2.3 - would have had Snaekollson as his surname, and changed surnames would have continued with each generation until the 1600s-1700s. These surnames would not have been Gunn, nor early versions of it. So those who believe in the Gunn Orkney Islands / Norse / Viking origin idea have to explain how the Gunn surname was fixed roughly five or six hundred years before everyone else's surnames were in the Highlands of Scotland and also, therefore, when normal[15] Highland families (similar to the Gunns) were doing something totally different to the Gunns with regard to their surnames.
Some might argue that the Gunns did not have the surname continuously since 1200 rather Gunns decided to have a surname based on Gunni Andresson some time after his death. That’s not logical - why choose Gunni Andresson to be the foundation person of a Clan? Gunni Andresson is anonymous; there are no stories about him. All he did was marry well. But Gunni’s grandfather ‘pirate’ Sweyne Assleifsson was the sort of person from whom Clans could easily originate. But Gunns are not Sweynesson / Swanson, they are Gunns. Certainly ‘some clans take their name not from the founder of a clan but from a later descendant who substantially improved the clan’s position or was a great hero, or was an outstanding figure in one way or another’[16] but this is demonstrably not true about Gunni Andresson who was, as already said, invisible in history. And, given that surnames were not fixed until say the 1600s when was the name Gunn chosen? After all, Coroner Gunn was alive before the 1450s…
The idea that Gunn is derived from Gunni Andresson goes totally against historical understanding of surnames in Scotland and, as such, there go Gunn links to the Orkney Islands and Norway.
SUMMARY If you accept the Orkney Islands origin myth[17] you have to accept an impossibility about the surname Gunn. Gunn as a tribal / group name, however, explains why the name Gunn was around from before the 1450s when Coroner Gunn was alive. This tribal / group name later evolved into the surname Gunn.
2.2 The supposed ‘Gunn Chief’ Snaekoll Gunnison did not have children problem
Snaekollr Gunnison … went to Bergen (Norway) in 1232 … but never seems to have come home again.[18]
Barbara Crawford[19]
Despite his part in the murder of the earl Snaekoll was not condemned to death at the trial in Bergen but "remained long with earl Skuli and King Hacon" and there is no evidence that he ever returned to Orkney or Caithness (then footnoted) ‘Despite the claims of Clan Gunn to be descended from him.’ [20]
Barbara Crawford
With Snaekoll, the line of Erland became extinct.’[21]
The generally accepted first Gunns, in order, by those who support the Orkney Islands / Norse / Viking origin myth are[22] -
Hrolf
Olaf Hrolfson c.1100-c.1136
Sweyn Assleifsson c.1130-c.1171 (Unusually the surname starts with his mother’s first name.)
Andres Sweynson
Gunni Andresson c.1180 (As said, the supposed first ‘Gunn’...)
Snaekoll Gunnison c.1200-1239/1240
‘Ottar Snaekollson’
The ‘Clan Gunn Chief’ line[23] (somehow)
I have no problem with the descent from Hrolf to Snaekoll Gunnison; the Orkneyinga Saga[24] supports it.
The problem for the myth believers[25] is that Snaekoll Gunnison[26] never married, nor had children (the identification of his son ‘Ottar’ is just wrong as I discuss in chapter 2.3), nor did Snaekoll return to Scotland from Norway where he had been in exile imposed by the Norwegian King. He most likely died in Norway after being a major participant in a failed rebellion against the King.
Snaekoll Gunnison 1200 - 1239/1240; a life
Snaekoll Gunnison was a seriously unpleasant character.
Snaekoll was born into an aristocratic Orkney family due to his mother’s importance – it was her family which had the money and connections, not Gunni Andresson. He was ‘proud of his high birth, and ambitious to obtain wealth.’[27] He argued with Earl / Jarl John (the King of Norway’s delegated ruler for the Orkney Islands and Caithness) that he – Snaekoll - should have his great-grandfather (on his mother’s side) St Rognvald’s share[28] of the Orkney Islands.[29] After the argument with the Earl / Jarl, Snaekoll fled to Hanef for protection - Hanef was the King of Norway’s administrative representative on Orkney, he collected taxes amongst other activities. Both Snaekoll and Hanef later went to Thurso where the Jarl / Earl was, and Snaekoll murdered the Earl / Jarl[30] and others[31] - Hanef was also involved. Obviously aware of the consequent issues as killing the Norwegian King’s representative is not a sensible move, Snaekoll, Hanef and their associates fled to the Orkney Islands to a castle on the island of Wyre.
A long siege ensured solved with both Snaekoll and Earl / Jarl John’s sides going to King Haakon IV of Norway for ‘advice’ in 1232[32] who was ‘disposed to give a patient audience to the Earl’s friends, but so enraged at the cruelty of the murderers, that he put some of them to death.’[33] Hanef and Snaekoll, perhaps due to their aristocratic connections, were not executed. The ‘best men of the islands’[34] were allowed to return to Scotland but these men drowned on the return trip.
Snaekoll was certainly not one of the ‘best men’ of the Orkney Islands. He was in disgrace; he ‘was imprisoned in the Royal castle of Bergen … he was released into the guardianship of the King’s father-in-law Skuli Bardarson. Duke Skuli[35] plotted to take the throne from Hakon and with Snaekoll … went north[36] and reformed the Wolfcloaks (Varbelgs) warband. Snaekoll was made a captain or steward of the Wolfcloaks.’[37] The rebellion started against King Haakon IV on 6 November 1239, about seven years after Snaekoll’s arrival in Norway.
The Norwegian Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar[38] is the main source of Norwegian history for this period. Section 208 details the capture of Snaekoll. It says, in a simple translation,[39] that
King Håkon sent some leaders north against the varbelgs (Wolfcloaks), that was Gunnar the King´s friend, Peter from Giske and Åsulv the farmer, they had 25 ships ... When they came to Borgund (Sunnmøre near Ålesund) they met Olav Kåbein, Snekoll (Snaekoll Gunnison) and Andres Skjæla. Some of the "varbelgs" men were killed (no names) and the others got "grid".
In other words, King Haakon's men defeated Skuli's supporters who included ‘Snekoll’. Snaekoll was obviously a significant rebel as he was listed by name – three leaders are given from King Haakon’s side, three leaders are from the rebel side. Some rebels were killed and some were 'grid'. 'Grid' means 'freed'. Some, surely, died of wounds.
But this Saga is the official history with the sub-text of showing King Haakon as heroic and glorious. If Snaekoll did not die in the battle or soon after then he may have been freed[40] but was not given Scottish land[41] nor any wealth, as that would have been mentioned in the Saga to show that Haakon was generous and such mention is not in the Saga. Equally it's logical that Snaekoll wouldn't be given lands and wealth. Why would a King reward a senior rebel, especially one already in disgrace and lucky to be alive given he had already killed an Earl / Jarl on the King’s side. That would encourage another rebellion. Logic dictates the three rebel leaders mentioned died fighting as they knew what would happen to them; leaders of failed rebellions do not live, especially in the 1200s. Note that Haakon ‘crushed’[42] Skuli ‘and his closest men’[43]; they did not live. Given King Haakon did not show mercy to Skuli Bardarson who was his father-in-law why would he show mercy to the failed rebel Snaekoll and reward him with lands and wealth as is required by Gunn myths? It’s not conceivable that he would do so.
Consider, as well, what happened to the renowned, well-born Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson.[44] Snorri Sturlsson supported – but did not take part in - Duke Skuli’s rebellion and was, in consequence, put to death by the King’s emissary in Iceland in 1241. This execution of Snorri Sturluson shows again how unlikely it would have been for King Haakon to have pardoned and rewarded Snaekoll and allowed him to go back to Scotland. King Haakon was not that sort of person.
After 1239, or perhaps 1240, it is legitimate to assume that Snaekoll is dead and that he died in Norway as there is no reference to him in any Saga after this time.
SUMMARY The Orkneyinga Saga records Snaekoll’s life and times in detail; there is no mention of marriage nor children for Snaekoll in the Orkneyinga Saga. The Norwegian Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar also details Snaekoll’s life, especially in Norway. Neither marriage nor children are mentioned in that Saga, either, and such events and people would have been mentioned as Snaekoll was too important – and well known - to ignore. There is also no mention of Snaekoll’s return to Scotland[45] in these texts and it’s just not plausible that King Haakon would have pardoned and rewarded a major rebel - and if he had it would be mentioned in his Saga.
There is absolutely no support for the idea that Snaekoll married, had children, and returned to Scotland; there are many, many reasons to suggest Snaekoll died unmarried in Norway. He was never ‘Clan Gunn.’
2.3 The supposed ‘Gunn Chief’ Ottar Snaekollson was not a Gunn problem
2.3.1 Introduction
The traditional view of ‘Chief Ottar Snaekollson Gunn’ is put forward by Mark Rugg Gunn;
Ottar is mentioned twice in Eirspennill’s Hakon Hakon’s Son’s Saga.[46] The first occasion is when he visited Norway. ‘After that King Hakon went to Bergen. There Gillechrist and Ottar, Snaekoll’s son, and many Hebrideans, came to meet him there from the west beyond the sea and they had many letters concerning the needs of their lands. It is not at all clear what lands Ottar held, or his relationship to the King of Norway. Snaekoll had retired to Caithness to lands outside the King’s immediate jurisdiction, and it is possible that Ottar was attempting to claim some of Snaekoll’s former property’.[47]
And
(Starting with Olaf the Black, King of Man) ‘Olaf remained for four nights in the town (Bergen) before he went west. Olaf went in the ship with Paul Baki’s son, to the Orkneys; and then Earl John gave him the ship that was called the Ox. They had from Orkney twenty ships. And when Balki the young, Paul’s son and Ottar Snaekollr learned that, they went before south to Skye.’[48]
The myth believers accept Mark Rugg Gunn’s Ottar as being Snaekoll Gunnisson’s son[49] as then the huge problems associated with the lack of evidence for Snaekoll returning to Scotland, the lack of record of his marriage or his having children can be ignored as if there was a son such events must have happened. The first problem with this ‘proof’, which is shared by others,[50] is that it relies on the assumption that only one person can be called Ottar Snaekollson at one time. Obviously, that’s a faulty assumption.
2.3.2 Ottar Snaekollson was not Snaekoll Gunnison’s son
R. Andrew McDonald in The Kingdom of The Isles Scotland’s Western Seaboard c 1100-c.1336 [51] agrees with the quotation provided by Mark Rugg Gunn but provides a time; 1224[52]. ‘As early as 1224, Hakon’s Saga relates how, while King Hakon was in Bergen, Gilliecrist and Ottar, Snaekoll’s son, and many Hebrideans, came to meet him there from west beyond the sea; and they had many letters concerning the needs of their lands’[53] And Macdonald continues ‘‘the (Hebridean) emissaries may have gone to Norway as a result of the perception on the part of the Islesmen that King Alexander of Scotland, after his campaign in Scotland in 1221 or 1222, was preparing a follow-up campaign against the Hebrides. Or they may have been responding to the increased unrest in the Isles.’[54]
1224 is crucial as we know when Ottar’s supposed father Snaekoll was born – about 1200.[55] It is absurd to believe that Ottar Snaekollson was in Bergen aged about four - which he had to be if Snaekoll Gunnison was his father - to discuss issues with the King of Norway, especially given his supposed father Snaekoll was well-known and ambitious; Snaekoll would have been in Norway to meet the King as he had not yet killed Earl / Jarl John. Obviously, the person identified as Ottar Snaekollson in Bergen has nothing to do with the Snaekoll of the preceding section.
The Ottar Snaekollsson who went to Bergen was a Sudreyan Chief who later became Chief of the MacNichols[56] on Skye, and was at Finlaggan on Islay in 1240. (The Sudreys mean the Hebrides and sometimes the Isle of Man.[57]) There is accepted history for Ottar Snaekollson in a major role[58] around 1230 and it concerned Isle of Man events and the King of Norway. Other people in the accepted history confirm the time; Olav (Olaf) the Black who died 1237[59] and was King of the Isle of Man and part of the Hebrides, Allan of Galloway[60] who died 1234 and Paul Balkasson ‘son of Boke or Bakki, who was for a time Sherriff of Skye under the King of Norway in 1223.’[61] Olaf the Black and Paul Balkasson are also mentioned in the 1224 Saga extract used by Mark Rugg Gunn; this provides further support for the‘loyal Sudreyan chief named Ottar Snaekollsson’[62] being the person who also visited Norway in 1224.
There were also suitable Hebridean Gillecrists / Gilchrists alive around 1224 to accompany Ottar Snaekollsson. The choices were probably either Gilchrist Maclachlan who was Chief of the Maclachlans[63] in 1230, for a full discussion of Gilchrist Maclachlan see W.D.H. Sellar’s ‘Family Origins in Cowal and Knapdale.’[64] Alternatively there was Gilchrist, son of Muirchertach / M’Ercher known 1228[65].
But the year is 1224 so could Gillecrist be a northern Scot? Important Gillecrists of North Scotland are not visible. Snaekoll Gunnisson was of a high social status, so Gilliecrist should also be. Gillecrist, Earl of Angus was dead by 1206 (he had married one of Snaekoll Gunnissson’s aunts and so would have been ideal if Ottar had been Snaekol Gunnison’s son). Gilcrist, Mormaer of Mar died c. 1203. No other Gillecrists from this time from North Scotland are known to the author.
SUMMARY The Ottar Snaekollson identified by Gunn mythology as the son of Snaekoll Gunnisson is an impossibility[66] on age grounds and as Ottar was actually a Sudreyan Chief from the Hebrides. This further proves that Gunns have no ‘chief’ origin links to the Orkney Islands.[67]
***
[1] Paul Arthur, Schilpp (editor). Autobiographical Notes. A Centennial Edition. p. 31 (As quoted by Don Howard, John Stachel. Einstein: The Formative Years, 1879-1909 (Einstein Studies, vol. 8). p. 1. Occam’s razor also comes to mind…
[2] Page 55, Michael Newton, Warriors of the Word: the World of the Scottish Highlanders. He points out, page 58, that one ancient idea was that the Clan Mackay Chief line had descended from the Pharoahs – that is even more unlikely than the ‘Clan’ Gunn claim of descent from the Orkney Islands aristocracy.
[3] Given the supposed Orkney Islands / Norse origin of ‘Clan’ Gunn why are there no Norse place names associated with the Gunns in ancient Caithness? The obvious answer is that Gunns have no Orkney / Norse origin and so will have no Norse place names attached to them. There are many Norse personal names which are place names in Sutherland but none for Gunns, see pages 11 and 12 of Alex MacBain's Place Names; Highlands & Islands of Scotland.
[4] Page 224, Frank Adams (rev. by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney) The Clans Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands.
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olaf_the_Black#Ancestry accessed 11 February 2016.
[6] Mark Rugg Gunn’s view in is that ‘The Gunns were of Nordo-Celtic descent. Though the main stem was Norse, successive generations of intermarriage with their Celtic neighbours produced a race which was more Celtic than Nordic’ Page 9, Mark Rugg Gunn, Clan Gunn; he does qualify the comment in later discussion. The Morrison name also suffers from the Norse origin delusion; see page 14 A. W. Morrison The Genealogy of the Morrison Origins in Scotland.
[7] For a possible reason why the Orkney origin myth may have started see Appendix 4.
[8] The death date of Gunni’s wife’s first husband – Lifolf Skalli - is well known as he died at the Battle of Wick in 1198. See chapter CXIII Orkneyinga Saga. Gunni’s wife was Ragnhild, her mother was Ingrid daughter of Jarl St Ragnvald; they were the important family.
[9] Page 194, R. M. Douglas, The Scots Book.
[10] See http://www.fionamsinclair.co.uk/genealogy/isles/EO_28_Harald.htm accessed 7 October 2018.
[11] Page 4 Lyon Court booklet ‘Coats of Arms and Crest Badges’. This has common agreement – for example ‘Surnames as we understand them did not come into general use in the Highlands until the 17th century’. Page 16, Margaret MacLaren of MacLaren, The Maclarens.
[12] A similar problem can be found in Alexander W. Morrison’s ‘The Ay Mac Hormaid Myth of the Morrisons of Durness.’
[13] From ‘Scotlands People’ http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/Content/Help/index.aspx?r=551&560 accessed 1 May 2014.
[14] The year is derived from his marriage around the year 1200, see footnote 88.
[15] A few, very elite families had early fixed surnames; families with descent from Norman invaders or from the Lord of the Isles being the main examples. These families are massively detailed in history texts. Gunns are not descended from the Normans nor from the Lord of the Isles so should not have a surname at an early time.
[16] Page 16, Margaret MacLaren of MacLaren The Maclarens.
[17] For a similar problem applied to Clan Morrison see ‘Chapter 4 The Clan Morrison Hoax of the Norse Origin on Lewis and Harris’ A. W. Morrison The Genealogy of the Morrison Origin in Scotland. When checking various DNA sites on the internet such as https://www.familytreedna.com/public/Gunn?iframe=yresults accessed 31 October 2019 the marked shortage of I-M253 / Norse type Y chromosomes on those with the surname Gunn is noticeable. There is a strong Pictish DNA on Gunn occupied land. See https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-general/scots-dna-0012530 accessed 31 October 2019.
[18] Page 8, B. E. Crawford 'Medieval Strathnaver’ in ed. John R. Baldwin The Province of Strathanaver.
[19] ‘Dr Barbara Crawford M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S.E., F.S.A., F.S.A. Scot., Member of the Norwegian Academy … Honorary Reader in History at the University of St. Andrews … Dr. Crawford is a Member of the Norwegian Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. She was a Commissioner of the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland from 1991-2001, chaired The Treasure Trove Advisory Panel for Scotland from 1993-2001, and was President of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland from 2008-2011. She was awarded an OBE in 2011 for services to history and archaeology, and has recently been awarded an Honorary Professorship at the University of the Highlands and Islands….’ From https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/staff/barbaracrawford.html accessed 14 March 2016. If one of the most important academics in Scottish Highland history can not find support for the return of Snaekoll to the Orkney Islands or Caithness then he almost certainly did not return.
[20] http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/handle/10023/2723 accessed14 March 2016; page 8.
[21] Page 186 Old-lore Miscellany of Orkney, Shetland, Caithness, and Sutherland, Volume 10, Parts 3-5.
[22] Drawn from p.24 Mark Rugg Gunn’s, Clan Gunn being in the nature of an official history given it is on the ‘Clan Gunn Society of North America’ website http://www.clangunn.us/storekeepernotes.htm accessed 31 December 2012; the UK Society seemingly does not have a web-based store http://www.clangunnsociety.org/ accessed 31 December 2012 but Mark Rugg Gunn was a long-time member of that society.
[23] It’s worth noting the ‘People of Medieval Scotland’ 1093-1314 website http://www.poms.ac.uk/ supports the complete non-existence of the Gunn ‘chief line’ in Caithness and Scotland before 1314 as historical records do not exist for them.
[24] Snaekoll Gunnison was extremely well known; to kill an Earl / Jarl, claim Jarldoms and such like would have had the people of Orkney Islands and Caithness talking about you and that is why he is in the Orkneyinga Saga (which is the later summary of the history / news). And that is also why it is important what isn’t said about him in the Orkneyinga Saga as he was too important – and newsworthy - a person too ignore; with him it is legitimate to infer events didn’t happen if they are not mentioned. The Orkneyinga Saga is considered very reliable on the later years which included Snaekoll. See also page 277, Alex Woolf From Pictland to Alba 789-1070.
[25] The myth continues in Diana J Muir’s (2018?) The House of Gunn where she constructed a massive set of Scandinavian ancestors for Gunns based on the fantasy that Snaekoll Gunn started the Gunn Chief line. Her work lacks any evidence to support that claim. Another of her works is The Lost Templar Journals of Prince Harry Sinclair Book 1 1353-1395 - the Gunn Westford Knight myth is exposed as fiction in chapter 5 but here is ‘fact’ supposedly written by her ancestor. Diana Muir’s work should be ignored.
[26] One of the many Gunn myths concerns Johanna of Strathnaver - ‘When Snaekoll went to Norway there was some evidence that he left behind him an infant daughter named Johanna who in the course of time would be heiress to the Moddan estates and parts of Caithness. As Johanna of Strathnaver...’ page 30, Mark Rugg Gunn, History of the Clan Gunn. See, as well, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=m-RBAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA709&dq=Johanna+of+strathnaver&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vpXUUPPuFOi30QWj1YHABw&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Johanna%20of%20strathnaver&f=false for discussion of Johanna being a ‘Gunn’ accessed 30 December 2012. The main problem with this idea is that there is no primary source evidence to support it and Snaekoll’s marriage and child would have been mentioned in the Orkneyinga Saga which details Snaekoll’s life in detail when he was on the Orkney Islands – and it isn’t so mentioned. Mark Rugg Gunn’s book does not state his ‘evidence’. The marriage is also not mentioned in key texts of the area such as Barbara E. Crawford The Northern Kingdoms; Orkney and Caithness from AD 870 to 1470.
[27] Page 181, George Barry, The History of the Orkney Islands; in which is comprehended an account of their present as well as their ancient state; together with the advantages they possess for several branches of industry, and the means by which they might be improved.
[28] St. Rognvald was also known as Rognvald Kali Kolsson. ‘Snaekoll … Gunnison (had) estates in Orkney that he laid claim to and it was the Orkney Earldom which Earl John feared he was going to take from him’ Page 159 -160, B. E. Crawford, The Earls of Orkney-Caithness and their relations with Norway and Scotland: 1158-1470.
[29] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormaer_of_Caithness Was he trying to be Mormaer of Caithness given Harald the Younger was a Mormaer?
[30] Page 275 Barbara Crawford, The Northern Earldoms Orkney and Caithness from AD 870 to 1470.
[31] Snaekoll also killed ‘other members of the earl’s following’ Page 275, Barbara E. Crawford ibid.
[32] Page 8, B. E. Crawford ' Medieval Strathnaver' in John R. Baldwin ed., The Province of Strathnaver.
[33] Page 181 George Barry, The History of the Orkney Islands.
[34] Page 275-279 B. E. Crawford, The Northern Earldoms.
[35] ‘Snekoll was long afterwards with earl Skuli and Hacon’ Page 158, George Webbe Dissant, Icelandic Saga and other Historical Documents relating to the settlements and descent of the Northmen of the British Isles Volume 4.
[36] ‘‘Earl Skuli went north to Drontheim (Trondheim) in the autumn, and these with him Hanef, and Kolbein, and Snaekoll ‘ Page 158. Rerum Britannicarum Medii Ævi Scriptores: Or, Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland During the Middle Ages, Issue 88, Vol 4.
[37] See http://www.caithness.org/caithness/castles/freswick/ accessed 5 February 2013.
[38] The Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar (The Saga of Haakon Haakonarson) is an Old Norse kings' sagas, telling the story of the life and reign of King Haakon Haakonarson of Norway. The saga was written by the Icelandic historian and chieftain Sturla Þórðarson, in the 1260s. Sturla was at the court of Haakon's son Magnus when he learned of his father's death, and he is said to have immediately commissioned Sturla to write his father's saga. It is the main source to Norwegian history for the period of 1217 (Haakon's accession) to his death in 1263. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A1konar_saga_H%C3%A1konarsonar accessed 30 January 2019.
[39] The original reads - Kong Håkon sendte noen sveitehøvdinger nordover mot vårbelgene, det var Gunnar kongsfrende, Peter fra Giske og Åsulv bonde, de hadde 25 skip. Før de seilte fra byen, talte han til dem og sa at de skulle seile så langt nordover som det var trygt. Han sa at de skulle holde kirkefreden og kvinnefreden, slik som alt hans forfedre før ham hadde gjort. Så tok de av sted, og da de kom til Borgund, var vårbelgenes sysselmann der, det var Olav Kåbein, Snekoll og Andres Skjæla. Det falt noen mann av vårbelgene før de kunne komme seg i kirken. Birkebeinene tok leidangen som de hadde samlet, men mennene fikk grid for å møte kongen…. Peter og hans menn fikk greie på at det ikke var flere vårbelger på vei nordfra, men at hertugen satt med mange menn i Nidaros, så at det ikke var trygt å komme der. De snudde da og seilte sørover tilbake til Bergen med det gods og de menn de hadde tatt....
[40] I suspect the only varbelgs freed were unimportant men, probably forcibly drafted onto the varlberg side.
[41] There is no logic for Snaekoll to go to mainland Scotland; his connections were with the Orkney Islands.
[42] Page 295, R. K. Emmerson (ed), Key Figures in Medieval Europe; An Encyclopedia.
[43] http://nbl.snl.no/Skule_B%C3%A5rdsson accessed 8 October 2018.
[44] Page xiv, Lee M. Holder (ed.) of Snorri Sturlsuson’s Heimskringla.
[45] Page 34 Mark Rugg Gunn The Gunns. There is an absurd story that a Gunn (presumably Snaekoll or his supposed son Ottar) married the King of Norway’s daughter but the Gunn was already married so when the boat bringing her to Scotland was due, the Gunn organized for the ship carrying her to be wrecked. The story does not appear in any Scandinavian history which it presumably would do so as it concerned a royal so it is just another myth, perhaps loosely using the history of the death of the Maid of Norway in 1290 – she was a Norwegian princess recognized as Queen of the Scots but who died in the Orkney Islands on the way to mainland Scotland. The subject matter was well known by the 15th century in the Highlands – see Ian Grimble Chief of Mackay Page 21. This story is discussed more fully in chapter 8.5.
[46] More accurately, Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar.
[47] Pages 31-32, Mark Rugg Gunn, Clan Gunn.
[48] Page 23, quoted in Mark Rugg Gunn ibid.
[49] ‘The most reliable authority yet found on early Gunn family records is an original family tree, prepared in 1893 by Mr Alex. Gunn of Braemore.... Then he gives us two sons, Snakulus, dated 1224, and does not list the name of the second son... Sanekol, or Snakolus, as it is spelled both ways in the original chart, is followed in the line by Ottor or Ottow Gunn....’ Pages 35-37 Robert R, Gunn The Gunns.
[50] For example, ‘The male line of the Gunns, according to a pedigree which the writer has seen, was continued after his flight by Snaekoll, who, it is stated had a son, Ottar,’ Pages 56, James Gray, Sutherland and Caithness in Saga-time or The Jarls and the Freskyns.
[51] Scottish Historical Review Monograph 4, Tuckwell Press, Scotland, 1998.
[52] ‘In 1224 representatives from the islands were in Bergen to ask King Hakon Hakonsson for assistance and settle disputes between them... ‘Page 48, Randi Bjorrshol Waerdahl, The Incorporation and Integration of the King’s Tributary Lands into the Norwegian Realm c 1195-1397.
[53] Page 88, R. Andrew McDonald, The Kingdom of the Isles Scotland’s Western Seaboard c. 1100 – c. 1336.
[54] Pages 88-89 R. Andrew McDonald, ibid.
[55] ‘Snaekoll's date can be ascertained with some accuracy as his mother’s first husband, Lifolf Baldpate, died in 1198 at the battle of Clairdon, so she can hardly have married Snaekoll's father, Gunni, much before 1199. From these dates Snaekol could have been born by 1200 or so.’ http://southerlandweb.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/on-lairds-of-duffus.html accessed 30 December 2012
[56] http://www.houseofnames.com/McNichols-history/?A=54323-523 accessed 29 December 2012.
[57] The Norwegian diocese of Sodor was formed in 1154 covering the Hebrides and the other islands along the west coast of Scotland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocese_of_Sodor_and_Man accessed 28 December 2012. Page 130, Gareth Williams ‘These People were high-born and thought a lot about themselves’: the Family of Moddan of Dale in ed. B.B. Smith, S. Taylor, G. Williams West over Sea: Studies in Scandinavian Sea-Borne Expansion and Settlement Before 1300 which includes Ottar Jarl of Thurso and other related Ottars. Was one (or more) of these Ottars blurred into the non-existent Gunn Snaekoll’s son by the nineteenth century and from this came the Gunn mythic non-link to the Moddan / Johanna of Strathnaver being Snaekoll’s daughter?
[58] After the death of Reginald, Olave deemed it politic to pay a visit to the Court of Norway at Bergen, to do homage to his superior, and to seek help against the growing power of Allan of Galloway. He was well received by Hakon, and entertained right royally. Evidently affairs in the Hebrides were getting into a critical state. According to the account which has been preserved of Olave's mission to Bergen, he informed his Royal master that the lord of Galloway had openly avowed his intention, not only of subduing the whole of the Hebrides, but of attacking Norway herself. At the Norwegian Court, Olave found three Sudreyan chiefs described as "kings" who, having failed to pay tribute to Hakon for their possessions in the Hebrides, had apparently been summoned to his Court to answer for their contumacy. These were Dugall Scrag or Shrill- voice, and Duncan (sons of Dugall, son of Somerled the Great), and Somerled their cousin, son of Gillecolum who was killed during his father's attempted conquest of Scotland. The submission of the Sudreyan chiefs appears to have come too late, for Hakon had already appointed one Uspak whom he honoured by conferring his own name upon him to act as his Viceroy in the Sudreys, and the disappointed Somerledians had to return home empty-handed. But they were not prepared to submit tamely to being ousted by Uspak-Hakon, and they resolved to fight. Anticipating their resentment and their resistance, the King of Norway got ready a powerful fleet to enforce the rule of his favourite. Olave the Black was commanded to co-operate with Uspak, and with that object, sailed from Norway with Paul Balkasson, who had probably accompanied him to the Norwegian Court. Reinforcements were obtained in the Orkneys, and probably also in the Nordereys, and the combined fleets, under the joint command of Uspak and Olave, proceeded to the Sudreys to attack the trio of Somerledians who awaited them in the Sound of Islay. In the meantime, Balka, a son of Balkasson, and a loyal Sudreyan chief named Ottar Snaekollsson (Snowball) went to Skye, where they attacked a Lewis chief named Torquil, son of Tormod (Munch calls him " Torquil MacDermot "), and killed him with two of his sons. The third son, Tormod, managed to escape by jumping into a cask floating in the water, which drifted across to the mainland, whence he reached Lewis in safety.’ Being from Pages 36-37. W. C. Mackenzie History of the Outer Hebrides.
[59] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olaf_the_Black accessed 28 December 2012.
[60] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_of_Galloway accessed 28 December 2012.
[61] Page 247, Place names of Skye and adjacent islands, Alexander Robert Forbes.
[62] See Page 181 of Thormudus Torfaeus, Ancient History of Orkney, Caithness & the North, translated, with copious notes by the Rev. Alexaner Pope, Ottar is clearly mentioned; ‘Paul Baikie, Ottar and Sudbollus, sailed south from the Isle of Skye.’
[63] http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/m/maclach2.html accessed 30 December 2012.
[64] Scottish Studies, Volume 15.
[65] PoMS, no. 1508 (http://db.poms.ac.uk/record/person/1508/; accessed 30 December 2012 and http://www.douglashistory.co.uk/famgen/getperson.php?personID=I269159&tree=tree1 ‘The Douglas Archives’ accessed 29 December 2012.
[66] And with it goes Gunn links to Christian Saints, Viking aristocracy and Scottish Mormaers. Mythic Gunn history has a very snobbish panoply.
[67] ‘The Rev. William Findlater, the minister of Durness, has in 1834 a peculiar observation – (Gunns have) … ‘dark eyes and dark complexion’’. Page 10 Thomas Sinclair The Gunns.