The Earldom of Orkney is a Norwegian dignity in Scotland which has its origins in the Viking period.

The title of Earl of Orkney is passed down the same family line through to the Middle Ages.

By the 12th century, Orkney is under Norwegian control and by the 13th century, the Orkneyingasaga was written in Iceland, providing one of the earliest and most repeated versions of the history of Norse life on these isles.

The Orkneyingasaga is largely fictional however and was not, being written in Iceland, any sort of primary source.

Instead, it should be culled for historical details with great care and these data should be matched and compared against data from other sources.