Máel Brigte, also known as Máel Brigte the Bucktoothed or Máel Brigte TuskThomson (2008) p. 28. was a 9th-century

Pictish Pictish is an extinct Brittonic Celtic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from late antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geog ...

nobleman, most probably a

mormaer of Moray The title Earl of Moray, or Mormaer of Moray (pronounced "Murry"), was originally held by the rulers of the Province of Moray, which existed from the 10th century with varying degrees of independence from the Kingdom of Alba to the south. Until ...

. He was responsible – in a bizarre posthumous incident – for the death of Earl Sigurd the Mighty of Orkney.

Death

Battle with Sigurd the Mighty

Little is known of Máel Brigte's life, but the story of his death is recorded in the ''

Orkneyinga Saga The ''Orkneyinga saga'' (Old Norse: ; ; also called the ''History of the Earls of Orkney'' and ''Jarls' Saga'') is a narrative of the history of the Orkney and Shetland islands and their relationship with other local polities, particularly No ...

''. According to this text, Máel Brigte was challenged by Sigurd to a 40-man-a-side battle to "settle their differences". Treacherously, Sigurd brought 80 men to the fight, and Máel Brigte knew he had been betrayed when he saw that each of Sigurd's horses had two men's legs on its flanks. Máel Brigte exhorted his men to "kill at least one man before we die ourselves" and although a fierce fight ensued, Máel Brigte was defeated and killed.

Posthumous killing of Sigurd

Sigurd had his enemies' heads strapped to his victorious men's saddles as trophies, but as Sigurd rode home, Máel Brigte's buck-tooth scratched his leg. The leg became inflamed and infected, and as a result Sigurd died.Pálsson and Edwards (1981) "A poisoned tooth". pp. 27-28.

Legacy

The site of the battle is unknown. However the saga states that Earl Sigurd built a stronghold in the south of Moray, then a much larger province than today and that he was buried in a mound on the banks of the

River Oykel The River Oykel ( or , ) is a major river in northern Scotland that is famous for its salmon fishing. It rises on Ben More Assynt, a few miles from Ullapool on the west coast of Scotland, and drains into the North Sea via the Kyle of Sutherland. ...

. Máel Brigte's power centre was probably in or near modern

Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...

. In the 13th century a farm near

Dornoch Dornoch (; ; ) is a town, seaside resort, parish and former royal burgh in the county of Sutherland in the Highlands of Scotland. It lies on the north shore of the Dornoch Firth, near to where it opens into the Moray Firth to the east. ...

, now called Cyderhall is recorded as "Syvardhoch", meaning "Sigurd's mound". It is therefore possible that the battle was staged in

Easter Ross Easter Ross () is a loosely defined area in the east of Ross, Highland, Scotland. The name is used in the constituency name Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, which is the name of both a British House of Commons constituency and a Scotti ...

somewhere between these two places. The ''Orkneyinga Saga'' records few specific dates and was not written down until circa 1200, some three centuries after the events it recorded about Máel Brigte and Sigurd took place. However it is thought that Sigurd Eysteinsson (aka "the Mighty"), ruled from about 875–92Ashley, pp. 440–441. so Máel Brigte's death may have taken place in the last quarter of the 9th century. There is no other record of Máel Brigte's life, although another of this name is described in the mid 11th century as being the father of the Mormaer

Máel Coluim of Moray Máel Coluim mac Máil Brigti was King or Mormaer of Moray (1020–1029), and, as his name suggests, the son of a Máel Brigte (a different person from Máel Brigte the Bucktooth, who died in 892). As with his predecessor Findláech mac Ruaidr ...

.Thomson (2008) p. 77.

Notes

References

* Ashley, Mike (1998). ''The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens''. London. Robinson. * Oxford Companion to Scottish History. Edited by Michael Lynch. Oxford University Press. . * Pálsson, Hermann and Edwards, Paul Geoffrey (1981). ''Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney''. Penguin Classics. * Thomson, William P. L. (2008) ''The New History of Orkney''. Edinburgh. Birlinn.

External links

''Orkneyinga saga'' at Sacred texts

''Orkneyinga saga'' at Northvegr
* {{gbmapping, NH758884 - likely location of Sigurd's Howe Nobility from Moray Pictish people Scandinavian Scotland Orkneyinga saga characters 9th-century Scottish people 9th-century counts in Europe Mormaers of Moray