Note (return) — Chapter IV

Thorfinn's life forms the subject of no less than twenty-six chapters of the Orkneyinga Saga.22 In his childhood, and later at all the main turning points of his life, he was blessed with the constant care and touching devotion, and with the able counsel and active assistance of his foster-father, Thorkel Fostri, the slayer of his three chief competitors—Jarl Einar and Earl Moddan and Jarl Ragnvald Brusi-son—the captain of his armies, the collector of his revenues and the guardian, in his absence on his Viking cruises and in his travels abroad, of his widespread dominions. There is a tradition23 that Thorkel founded the rock-castle of Borve, near Farr on the north coast of Sutherland, which was demolished by the Earl of Sutherland in 1556; but Thorkel is a common name among Vikings, and the story is otherwise unauthenticated.