CONTEMPORARY PRINCES
NORWAY: 940 Hakon the Good; 963 Harald Greyskin
NORMANDY: 943 Richard the Fearless
SCOTLAND: 944 Malcolm I; 953 Indulf; 961 Duff
Upon the death of his brothers Arnkell and Erlend, Thorfinn became sole Earl of the Orkneys, but had to submit for some time to the usurpation of Gunnhild, the Dowager ex-Queen of Northumbria and of Norway, who, with her sons, made conquest of the country, collecting rents and imposing taxes at their pleasure. During the winter they held court in Orkney, and in summer plundered Scotland and Ireland. But on the occasion of war breaking out between Norway and Denmark, Gunnhild resolved to instantly set sail for the latter kingdom. Before embarking she restored Orkney and Shetland to Thorfinn, and gave her daughter Ragnhild in marriage to his son, the doomed Arnfinn.
Thorfinn was a great warrior, and his fame is transmitted as such to posterity. He espoused Grelod, daughter of Earl Duncan in Caithness by his lady Groa, daughter of Thorstein the Red, and thus by this alliance re-united Caithness to the Orcadian earldom. By Grelod, Thorfinn was father of five sons. One was named Havard Arsoeli (blessed with good seasons), the second Hlodver, the third Ljot, the fourth Skuli, and the fifth Arnfinn. The foregoing is the order given in King Olaf Triggveson's Saga, but in the Orkneyinga Saga they are otherwise ranged as follows - Arnfinn, Havard, Hlodver, Ljot, and Skuli.
Thorfinn died a natural death, and was buried in a mound on Hauga Heath, now Hoxa, a peninsula on the north-west side of South Ronaldsay.