Earl Ottir ( non, Óttar jarl; lat-med, Oter comes, lit=Count Oter; died 918), also known as Ottir the Black ( sga, Ottir Dub), was a

jarl Jarl is a rank of the nobility in Scandinavia. In Old Norse, it meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. ''Jarl'' could also mean a sovereign prince. For example, the rulers of several of the petty k ...

who occupied a prominent position among the Norse of Britain and Ireland in the early 10th century. He is believed to be the founder of the settlement, Veðrafjǫrðr (present day

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

) in the year 914. From 917 to his death in 918 Ottir was a close associate of the powerful overking

Ragnall ua Ímair Ragnall mac Bárid ua Ímair ( non, Rǫgnvaldr , died 921) or Rægnald was a Viking leader who ruled Northumbria and the Isle of Man in the early 10th century. He was a grandson of Ímar and a member of the Uí Ímair. Ragnall was most probably ...

, although they are not known to have been related.

Ireland and family

In Ireland, Ottir is particularly associated with raiding and conquests in the province of

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

. The ''

Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib ''Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib'' ("The War of the Irish with the Foreigners") is a medieval Irish text that tells of the depredations of the Vikings and Uí Ímair dynasty in Ireland and the Irish king Brian Boru's great war against them, beginnin ...

'' describes him raiding there alongside Ragnall and associates this with the

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

settlement of

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

. Their base for this activity was present day

Waterford Harbour Waterford Harbour ( gle, Loch Dá Chaoch / Cuan Phort Láirge) is a natural harbour at the mouth of the Three Sisters; the River Nore, the River Suir and the River Barrow in Ireland. It is navigable for shipping to both Waterford and New Ross ...

. Later the same epic describes Ottir conquering the eastern part of Munster from his seat at Waterford, but it is unclear if he ruled it as king outright or was in any way subject to Ragnall, because the annals offer a different chronology. Joan Radner has suggested that Ottir is identical to the Ottir mac Iargni who is recorded in the

Annals of Ulster The ''Annals of Ulster'' ( ga, Annála Uladh) are annals of medieval Ireland. The entries span the years from 431 AD to 1540 AD. The entries up to 1489 AD were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín, ...

killing a son of

Auisle Auisle or Óisle ( non, Ásl or ; died c. 867) was a Viking leader in Ireland and Scotland in the mid-late ninth century. He was the son of the king of Lochlann, identified in the non-contemporary ''Fragmentary Annals of Ireland'' as Gofraid, ...

in alliance with Muirgel daughter of

Máel Sechnaill mac Máele Ruanaid Máel Sechnaill mac Máel Ruanaida (Modern Irish: ''Maolsheachlann Mac Maolruanaidh''), also known as Máel Sechnaill I, anglicised as Malachy MacMulrooney (died 27 November 862) was High King of Ireland. The Annals of Ulster use the Old Irish ...

in 883, but Clare Downham describes this identification as "by no means certain".Downham, p. 266 Mary Valante in any case assumes this Ottar and Muirgel were married because he and his father Iercne (died 852) were apparently allies of Máel Sechnaill. Ottir may also have been the father of Bárid mac Oitir who is recorded killed in battle against Ragnall in 914, although this is far from certain because of Ottir's own close association with Ragnall.

England and Scotland

Earl Ottir had a significant career in Britain as well.

''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''

Under the year 918 (for 917), the ''

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...

'' reports: Another Chronicle scribe, writing in the Worcester Manuscript (p. 99), states that Ohtor and Hroald captured the bishop, Cameleac, in AD 915 and that the jarls were killed in the same year. Their deaths occurred in the battle at "Killdane Field" (or "Kill Dane") in

Weston-under-Penyard Weston under Penyard is a small village in Herefordshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 1,007. It lies on the A40 road two miles east of Ross-on-Wye. The Penyard is a prominent hill. The parish church of St ...

, per the Herefordshire Historic Environment Record reference no. 12549.

Death in battle

Ottir died in battle against

Constantine II of Scotland Causantín mac Áeda ( Modern Gaelic: , anglicised Constantine II; born no later than 879; died 952) was an early King of Scotland, known then by the Gaelic name ''Alba''. The Kingdom of Alba, a name which first appears in Constantine's lifeti ...

in 918. He either joined forces with Ragnall ua Ímair and others, or alternatively may have led a separate expedition on his own. The

Annals of the Four Masters The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' ( ga, Annála Ríoghachta Éireann) or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' (''Annála na gCeithre Máistrí'') are chronicles of medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Deluge, dated as 2,24 ...

report: While the

give a detailed account and place him in Ragnall's army: The latter describes what is referred to as the

Battle of Corbridge The Battle of Corbridge took place on the banks of the River Tyne near the village of Corbridge in Northumberland in the year 918. The battle was referenced in the ''Annals of Ulster'' and the ''Chronicle of the Kings of Alba''. The battle was ...

Notes

References

;Primary sources * ''

'', tr. * *

* ''

'', ed. & tr.

James Henthorn Todd James Henthorn Todd (23 April 1805 – 28 June 1869) was a biblical scholar, educator, and Irish historian. He is noted for his efforts to place religious disagreements on a rational historical footing, for his advocacy of a liberal form of Prote ...

(1867).
Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh: The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill
'. London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer. * ''

Fragmentary Annals of Ireland The ''Fragmentary Annals of Ireland'' or ''Three Fragments'' are a Middle Irish combination of chronicles from various Irish annals and narrative history. They were compiled in the kingdom of Osraige, probably in the lifetime of Donnchad mac Gilla ...

'', ed. & tr. Joan Radner (1978). ''Fragmentary Annals of Ireland''. DIAS
edition
an

available at CELT. * ''

Historia Regum The ''Historia Regum'' ("History of the Kings") is a historical compilation attributed to Symeon of Durham, which presents material going from the death of Bede until 1129. It survives only in one manuscript compiled in Yorkshire in the mid-to-lat ...

'', ed. John Hodgson Hinde (1868).
Symeonis Dunelmensis Opera et Collectanea
'. Publications of the Surtees Society. Volume 51. Durham: Andrews and Co. ;Secondary sources * Downham, Clare,
The historical importance of Viking-Age Waterford
, ''The Journal of Celtic Studies 4'' (2004): 71–96. * Downham, Clare, ''Viking Kings of Britain and Ireland: The Dynasty of Ívarr to A.D. 1014''. Edinburgh: Dunedin. 2007. * Als
JSTOR
* Lewis, Stephen M., "Óttar ’s Story – A Dublin Viking in Brittany, England and Ireland, A.D. 902-918". * Steenstrup, Johannes,
Normannerne, Volumes 3 and 4
'. Copenhagen: Forlagt af Rudolf Klein. 1882. * Valante, Mary A., ''The Vikings in Ireland: Settlement, Trade and Urbanization''.

Four Courts Press Four Courts Press is an independent Irish academic publishing house, with its office at Malpas Street, Dublin 8, Ireland. Founded in 1970 by Michael Adams, who died in February 2009, its early publications were primarily theological, notably t ...

. 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ottir 918 deaths 10th-century rulers of the Kingdom of the Isles 10th-century Irish people Norse-Gaels Viking rulers People from Waterford (city) History of Waterford (city) Monarchs killed in action Year of birth unknown 10th-century Vikings