Note 252 — Chapter V · OF THE EARLS BRÚSI AND THORFINN.

The identity of Karl or Kali Hundason is one of the historical puzzles which exercise the ingenuity of modern historians. Supposing the Saga name of this individual to be a Norse corruption of the name of a Scottish king, it resembles none more nearly than that of Culen Induffson, the Culen Mac Induff of the Chronica Pictorum. But if Kali Hundason be intended for Culen Induffson, the dates do not agree by more than sixty years. On the other hand, supposing the events here narrated to be of the period assigned to them by the Saga, Kali Hundason ought to be Duncan, son of Crinan, Abbot of Dunkeld, who was the grandson and successor of King Malcolm Mac Kenneth. But Fordun states that Duncan’s succession was a peaceful one. It is not to be overlooked, however, that Earl Thorfinn was also a grandson of Malcolm Mac Kenneth; and if we could account for the discrepancy as to the name given by the Saga, the war between the two grandsons of the deceased monarch might readily be accounted for. For full details of the speculations regarding the identity of Kali Hundason, see Skene’s Highlanders of Scotland, chap. v.; the Irish version of “Nennius” (Irish Archæological Society), Appendix, p. 78; Robertson’s Scotland under her Early Kings, vol. ii. p. 477; and Munch’s Norske Folks Historie, vol. i. pt. 2, p. 854.