Hello, I'm Dr. Eleanorianaga, and welcome to Gone Medieval from History Hit, the podcast that delves into the greatest millennium in human history.

We uncover the greatest mysteries, the gobsmacking details, and the latest groundbreaking research from the Vikings to the Normans, from kings to popes, to the

crusades. We delve into the rebellions, plots, and murders that tell us who we really were.

And how we got here.

Should the winds ever rise to catch your sails, drawing you away northwards from mainland Britain,

you will come across a small archipelago, a flat expanse of barren sands and wind-swept grass. And a welcome respite before your ship plows through the ferocious North Atlantic waves towards Norway. There are few trees on

Orkney, and those which do push through the earth are soon left as knotted roots by the dark winter gales.

These are islands rich with the relics of buried civilizations.

Instead of trees, monolith looms so large that they could only have been planted by giants.

Here, people once farmed and rooted their power into the land. As the family tree grew and twisted over the generations, tales of bloodshed followed.

Greed polluted the bloodlines as powers slipped between the fingers of these new earls like grains of sand.

This small chain of islands bore witness to the true brutality of brother against brother, blood against blood.

However, just as violence was carried by the winds of the island, there were short breaths of peace, piety, and holiness.

As in this story of St. Magnus the martyr.

Earl Magnus was a man of great worth, righteous in all his deeds, beloved by his people, and steadfast in his faith.

Descended from the most ancient of Earls, Magnus and his cousin Hakon had shared defense of

these islands. Bound by blood, Magnus and Hakon ruled together peacefully, at first. As the winter winds began to quiet,

a much greater storm took hold of Earl Hakon. Ambition and greed poisoned his mind. He was cruel

and covetous, hungry to rule alone.

In the spring, he sent word that he wished to meet Magnus on Egelseh under the guise of peace.

Magnus, trusting in God, gathered his men and went, though he suspected treachery.

He agreed with Hakon to make the short journey from the mainland with two ships of men.

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