Note 51 — Chapter II · The Kingdom of Scotland—843–900.

This account of the wars of Sigurd and Thorstein is taken from the Sagas already quoted, the Ulster annals and Chron. 3 in Innes’s Appendix. They must have occurred between the deaths of Olave, about 871, and of his son in 875; and the decisive conflict between the Picts and Dugall in 875, when the former were defeated with great slaughter (An. Ult.), the battles of Dollar and Coach-Cochlum, two years before the death of Constantine, i.e., in the same year; and finally the death of Oistin or Thorstein MacOlave, placed by the Ulster annals under the same date, all mark the year 875 to have been the era of his brief triumph. All accounts agree that Thorstein perished by unfair means. “He was betrayed by the Scots and slain in battle.”—Landnamaboc. “The Scots did not keep the treaty long, but betrayed him in confidence”—Laxdæla Saga. These authorities are confirmed by the Ulster annals, which record the death of Thorstein Olaveson per dolum.