Sweyn Asleifsson

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Sweyn Asleifsson, Orcadian adventurer and pirate, c. 1115 - 1171.

1 Early career
2 Quarrels and feuds
3 Death
4 External links
5 Notes and References

[edit] Early career

Sweyn (or Sveinn) was born in Caithness in the early twelfth century, to Olaf Hrolfsson and his wife Asleif. According to the Orkneyinga Saga, he came to prominence when he murdered Earl Paul of Orkney's cup-bearer c. 1134 in a quarrel over a drinking game, and fled to Tiree to take refuge with Holdbodi Hundason.^[1]

In 1140, Holdbodi called on Sweyn to join him raiding the coast of Wales, but they were beaten off, Holdbodi withdrawing to the Isle of Man and Sweyn to Lewis.^[2] In the early summer of 1141, Sweyn arrived in Man to join Holdbodi, but the Hebridean had been persuaded to join forces with the Norman-Welsh lord Robert who had defeated them in the previous year, and attacked Sweyn. This created a feud between the former friends.^[3]

[edit] Quarrels and feuds

Some years later, after falling out with his own captains (led by his brother-in-law Thorbjorn Thorsteinsson), Sweyn was driven out of Orkney by Rognvald Kali Kolsson, but King David I persuaded them to make peace.^[4]

In 1153, there was a falling-out between the three Earls of Orkney (Rognvald Kali Kolsson, Erlend Haraldsson and Harald Maddadsson). Sweyn, backed by the new King, Malcolm IV, threw in his lot with Erlend, attacking the shipping of the other two Earls and raiding the east coast of Scotland in his company.^[5]

After Erlend's death in 1154, Harald drove Sweyn into hiding for a while, but he soon regained his power - the saga claims that he raided as far as the Scilly Isles, although this seems a little implausible. By the time Rognvald died in 1158, Harald and Sweyn were reconciled: and Sweyn even became foster-father to Harald's son Hakon.^[6]

[edit] Death

The circumstances of Sweyn's death are confused. It is clear that the events described in the saga are those of the brief recapture of Dublin from the Normans by its last Scandinavian king, Askulf, in 1171: but there are many discrepancies between the Orcadian and Anglo-Norman accounts. It is possible that the warlord referred to by Giraldus Cambrensis as "John the Furious" was none other than Sweyn. Be that as it may, when the Normans retook Dublin, Sweyn and Hakon were killed.