Rögnvald Kolssen

• Preferred Name: Rögnvald Kolssen
  
• Alternate Name: Rögnvald Kali
  
• Alternate Name: Kali Kolsson
  
• Gender: M
  
• Title (Nobility): 1129 with note: Description: Jarl (Earl) of Shetland (appointed by King Sigurd I of Norway)
  
• Religion: canonized as a Saint by Pope Celestine III1192
  
• Title (Nobility): BET 1138 AND 1151 with note: Description: Jarl (Earl) of Orkney (co-ruler with Harald Maddadssen)
  
• FSID: 9HF3-Q9T
  
• Title (Nobility): BET 1151 AND 1154 with note: Description: Jarl (Earl) of Orkney (co-ruler with Harald Maddadsson and Erlend Haraldssen)
  
• Title (Nobility): BET 1154 AND 1158 with note: Description: Jarl (Earl) of Orkney (co-ruler with Harald Maddadssen)
  
• Birth: 1100 in Agder, Norway at LATI: N8.7959 LONG: E0.5157 with note:
  
• Religion: Pilgrimage to the Holy Land via Narbonne and ConstantinopleBET 1151 AND 1153 in Jerusalem, Israel at LATI: N1.7804 LONG: E5.2177
  
• Title (Nobility): BET 1136 AND 1138 with note: Description: Jarl (Earl) of Orkney (sole ruler)
  
• Burial: AFT 20 AUG 1158 in St. Magnus's Cathedral, Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland
  
• Death: 20 AUG 1158 in Caithness, Scotland at LATI: N8.4167 LONG: E3.5
  
• Religion: a builder and built a stone minster "St. Magnus Cathedral" in memory of his uncle1137 in Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland at LATI: N8.9667 LONG: E2.95
  
• Notes:

  === Life Sketch ===
  Rögnvald Kali Kolsson (Old Norse Rǫgnvaldr or Rögnvaldr; Nynorsk: Ragnvald Kale Kolsson), also known as Saint Ronald of Orkney (c. 1100 – 1158), was a Norwegian earl of Orkney who came to be regarded as a Christian saint. Two of the Orkney Islands are named after Rögnvald, namely North Ronaldsay and South Ronaldsay.
  
  Rognvald's parents were lendmann Kolr Kalisson and Gunnhildr Erlendsdottir, the sister of Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney. It was through his mother, Gunnhildr, that Rognvald had a claim on the Orkney earldom. Rognvald Kali Kolsson was likely born in Agder. The king's estate at Lista is also believed to be the location of both his birthplace and his childhood home. Rognvald's family owned several farms in Agder where the boy could have spent his childhood.
  
  Rognvald grew up in Norway, where he was known as Kali Kolsson. He also had a sister, Ingirid. Kali was a fine poet and in one of his poems claims to possess nine exceptional skills, having mastered board games, runes, reading and writing, handicrafts (such as metalwork, carving, and carpentry), skiing, archery, rowing, music, and poetry. The sagas support this view of Kali as able and skilled: “Kali Kolsson was of average height, well-proportioned and strong limbed, and had light chestnut hair. He was very popular and a man of more than average ability.”
  
  King Sigurd I of Norway appointed him Earl of Orkney and Shetland in 1129. When he became Earl, Kali was given the name Rognvald, after Earl Rognvald Brusason, who Rognvald's mother Gunnhild thought of as the ablest of all the Earls of Orkney. It was thought this name would bring Rognvald luck. Rognvald should have had one half of Orkney as his uncle Magnus Erlendsson had, but his second cousin Paul Haakonsson had just made himself sole ruler of the islands and would not cede any of them.
  
  Rognvald remained in Norway as one of the leading men of King Harald Gille. His father counselled him to make a vow that if he were successful in establishing himself in Orkney, he would build a church in honour of his murdered uncle Magnus. By sabotaging some beacons on Fair Isle and in the Orkney Islands, Rognvald made a successful landing unopposed. Through the intervention of the bishop, an agreement was reached with Earl Paul. Later, Paul was captured by Sweyn Asleifsson and delivered to the safe-keeping of Maddad, Earl of Athole, who was married to Paul's sister Margaret. What then happened to Earl Paul is unknown. Rognvald was hailed as jarl in 1136.
  
  In 1137, Rognvald initiated the building of St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall, Scotland. Rognvald also served as a guardian to Harald Maddadsson, the five-year-old nephew of Paul Haakonsson. In 1138 Rognvald appointed Harald Maddadsson as Earl along with him. Harald had inherited Caithness, Scotland, and thus was Rognvald master over this area.
  
  In 1151, Earl Rognvald set out on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. This celebrated enterprise takes up five complete chapters of Orkneyinga saga. The telling about their staying in the Holy Land is very short. It seems that the journey is the important part. But the description of the voyage is dominated more by stories about fighting and feasting. The saga tells that the impulse for the pilgrimage came from a distant relative of Rognvald, Eindridi Ungi, who mentions prestige as a motivation for taking this large-scale expedition. The earl, with Bishop William and other well-born companions, including Erling Skakki, left Orkney in the late summer of 1151 in fifteen ships. The fleet sailed through the Strait of Gibraltar, after which Eindridi Ungi went straight to Jerusalem with six ships while Rognvald tarried in Narbonne. During his stay there he composed several verses—included in the saga—in honour of the lovely lady Ermingard, verses which show strong influence from courtly love poetry, possibly the first such examples in skaldic verse.
  
  Having visited Jerusalem, the party made its way back north via Constantinople, where they were received by the emperor Manuel I Komnenos and his Varangian Guard, then sailed to Apulia where they took horses for the journey to Rome, arriving back in Orkney for Christmas 1153. This is evidence of the wide-ranging role of the earls of Orkney as players on the world scene of twelfth-century Europe. They were now participating in the cultural and religious activities of Christian Europe rather than threatening them from the periphery.
  
  While he was abroad, King David I of Scotland granted half of Caithness to the cousin of Harald Maddadsson, Erlend Haraldsson. Earl Harald subsequently displaced Erlend Haraldsson, who was killed in 1156. In August 1158, Rognvald was cut down with his company of eight men by Thorbjorn Klerk, the former friend and counsellor of Harald, who had been made an outlaw by Earl Rognvald for a murder committed in Kirkwall, following a series of acts of violence. His body was taken to Kirkwall and buried in St. Magnus Cathedral. Alleged miracles shall have happened at his grave as well as on the stone where he died. Rognvald was canonized 1192 by Pope Celestine III.But some doubts exist as to the validity of his sainthood, because no existing records seem to confirm it.
  
  === orkneyflag
  http://trees.ancestry.com/rd? ===
  orkneyflag
  http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=094e85d1-9bad-4869-8ae6-d5737e20900b&tid=34762001&pid=408
  
  === https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rögnvald_Kali_Kolsson ===
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rögnvald_Kali_Kolsson
  
  === SWEDISH PUBLICATION C, VOL 1 P.364 TAB 1 ===
  SWEDISH PUBLICATION C, VOL 1 P.364 TAB 1; BOOK E, CHART 59 NUMBER 8; SCOTS PEERAGE VOL 1 P.1, 2; ANCESTRAL FILE, LDS GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY;
  
  === From Ancestral File (TM), data as of 2 J ===
  From Ancestral File (TM), data as of 2 January 1996. From Ancestral File (TM), data as of 2 January 1996.
  
  === Erlend, Jarl of Orkney and apparently Jt ===
  Erlend, Jarl of Orkney and apparently Jt Earl of Caithness. [Burke's Peerage]
  
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  EARLDOM of CAITHNESS (II) 1056? (both Paul & Erlend, co-Earls)
  
  NORSE PREDECESSORS of the EARLS of ORKNEY - subject to King of Norway until after 1379
  
  Paul I and Erlend II, sons of Thorfinn II, joint Jarls of Orkney and Earls of Caithness, (?) 1057 or (?) 1065-1098, when they were deposed and imprisoned by King Magnus Barelegs. "They were tall men and fair, and both more after their mother’s side. They were men wise and meek." In the summer of 1066 King Harald Hardradi arrived with a fleet from Norway and raised men in Orkney for his invasion of England. He started south with one or both Jarls. He or they stayed with the ships during the battle of Stamford Bridge (25 Sep. 1066) and survived to return to Orkney with Hardradi’s second son, Olaf Kyrri (King of Norway 1067-1093), their second cousin, who stayed with them for the winter. The two Jarls ruled their Earldoms peacefully in "agreement great and good", until their sons grew up and caused much trouble by their quarrels. In the spring of 1098 King Magnus III Barelegs (1093-1103), son of King Olaf III Kyrri, came with a large fleet to Orkney and deposed the two Jarls in order to give Orkney to his son Sigurd (afterwards King Sigurd Jorsalafari the Crusader) (1103/1122-1130), whom he made King of Orkney and the Isles (the Nordreys and Sudreys). They both died in captivity, Paul at Bergen and Erlend at Nidaros. The news of this was brought to King Magnus Barelegs when he reached Orkney 1099. Jarl Paul m. a dau, of Hakon Ivarsson (great-grandson through his grandmother of Jarl Hakon the Great, ruler of Norway 976-995), Captain of the Coast Defence in Denmark under King Sweyn Estrithsson (circa 1048-1050) and Jarl of the Uplands in Norway under King Harald Hardradi (circa 1054-1064), by Ragnhild (m. 1050), da, of Magnus I the Good, King of Norway (1036-1047). He had issue Hakon, afterwards Jarl, and four daughters.
  
  Jarl Erlend m. Thora, dau. of Somerled Uspaksson, a descendant on the distaff side of Hrollaug, the brother of Jarl Turf-Einar (see ante, p. 4, note "h"), and had issue Erling, and Magnus, afterwards Jarl, and two daughters. Thora m., 2ndly, Sigurd of Paplay. [Complete Peerage, X:Appendix A:14-6]
  
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  Paul and Erlend, Jarls of Orkney, and Earls of Caithness [S], the two sons of the above, 'ruled jointly without dividing the Earldoms.' The descendants of each sppear also to have, for the most part, ruled jointly. [Complete Peerage II:473]
  
  === : NAME Erland /THORFINSSON JARL OF ORKNE ===
  : NAME Erland /THORFINSSON JARL OF ORKNEY AND CAITHNESS/ !: SOUR AUTH The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints TITL Ancestral File(TM) PUBL June 1998 (c), data as of 5 JAN 1998 REPO @R01@
  
  === Kali (later renamed Rognvald by the King ===
  Kali (later renamed Rognvald by the King of Norway, who also made him Jt Earl of Orkney; made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem; presumably on his return, and certainly following his cousin Erlend Ugni's death, was made (or remade) Earl of Caithness. [Burke's Peerage]
  
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  NORSE PREDECESSORS of the EARLS of ORKNEY - subject to King of Norway until after 1379
  
  Kali-Ragnvald III, son of Kol Kalisson, Lenderman in Agder, by Gunnhild, sister of St. Magnus, Jarl of Orkney and Earl of Caithness (? 1137-1157), b. circa 1100. Kali was at first a merchant, and while at Grimsby in England circa 1115 became the friend of Gillechrist, afterwards Harald IV Gilli, King of Norway 1134-1136. In 1129 King Sigurd I Jorsalafari gave him the title of Jarl and the name of Ragnvald and invested him with the half of Orkney which had been held by his maternal uncle St. Magnus; but he did not leave Norway and after Sigurd’s death (26 Mar. 1130) his successor, Magnus IV the Blind (1130-1134), cancelled the gift, as Kali-Ragnvald was an adherent of his rival Harald Gilli, with whom he was defeated by Magnus IV at Fyrilief in 1134. Harald Gilli, however, deposed Magnus IV at Bergen in December 1134, and in the spring of 1135 renewed the grant of half Orkney to Kali-Ragnvald III and invested him as Jarl thereof, Kali-Ragnvald III sent messengers to Jarl Paul the Silent asking for his half of Orkney, bus Paul refused to give it up. Accordingly Kali-Ragnvald offered Paul’s half to Frakok and her grandson Olvi Riot, if they would help him to secure his own half. In 1136 Kali-Ragnvald seized the Shetlands, but Olvi Riot was defeated by Paul at Tankarness, 26 June, and Kali-Ragnvald’s men were defeated (in his absence) in Yell Sound on 27 June. He returned to Norway in 1136. In 1137 Kali-Ragnvald again seized the Shetlands and Jarl Paul II was kidnapped and deposed (see above), whereupon Kali-Ragnvald III became Jarl of all Orkney and Caithness. In Dec. 1139, at the instance of John, a Scottish Bishop from Atholl (? Bishop of Dunkeld), and William, Bishop of Orkney, he agreed to give half Orkney to Harald Maddadsson, his second cousin once removed, nephew of Jarl Paul the Silent and son of Jarl Hakon Paulsson’s younger daughter Margaret and Maddad or Madach, Earl of Atholl. During Lent 1140 he went to Caithness and brought Harald, aged six, to Orkney and installed him as Jarl of half the Islands. In 1148 he took Harald II to Norway, where they were welcomed at Bergen by King Ingi I Haraldsson (1137 to 1161), who gave them two longships "rather small but very handsome . . . and they were the fastest of all ships"; but both were wrecked on the Shetlands on the return voyage to Orkney. In 1150 Kali-Ragnvald again visited Norway. In 1151 he left Jarl Harald in charge and set oar for Palestine with Bishop William, Erling Skakki and John Petersson, his brother-in-law, in big ships. After many adventures in Spain and off the coast of Barbary he reached Acre; and from Palestine he went to Constantinople, where he spent the winter with the Emperor Manuel I (1143 to 1180) and the Varangians. In the spring he returned overland by way of Durazzo, Rome, and Denmark to Norway, where he remained for some time in Hordaland before returning in December 1155 to Orkney. Here he made an alliance with Erlend, son of Jarl Harald I Slettmali, who had been recognised as Earl of half Caithness by King Malcolm IV (after 24 May 1153), and was at war with Jarl Harald II Maddadsson; but on the return of the latter from Norway in 156 Jarl Kali-Ragnvald III, persuaded by his son-in-law, Eric Slagbrellir (who was Jarl Harald’s second cousin), renewed his friendship with Jarl Harald (25 Sep. 1156). He then repudiated his agreement with Erlend and joined Harald in an attack, in Dec. 1156, in which Erlend was killed. Jarl Kali-Ragnvald was murdered at Force in Colder in Caithness by Thorbiorn Clerk, a grandson of Frakok (20 Aug. 1158); and after his death Jarl Harald II Maddadsson was sole Jarl of Orkney. Jarl Kali-Ragnvald d. s.p.m., and was bur, in St. Magnus’s Cathedral, leaving an only child. [Complete Peerage X:Appendix A:19-21]
  
  === Paul and Erlend Thorfinnsson
  http://tree ===
  Paul and Erlend Thorfinnsson
  http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=31fb22b6-c4ba-459c-bfaf-daadf986d2e2&tid=34762001&pid=408

1. Ingiríðr Rognvaldsdatter of Orkney, b. 1131 in Orkney Islands, Orkney, Scotland