Earldom of Møre

Origins

Møre, the coastal land between Romsdal and the fjords to the south, was a petty kingdom in the 8th century. The sagas say that Harald Fairhair, after conquering it, gave the region to his ally Rognvald Eysteinsson as earl in the late 9th century, joining North and South Møre under one lord.

Rule and society

The earls held power through their fleets, their great farms and their command of the sea lanes along the coast. Rognvald's family spread overseas: his brother Sigurd became the first Earl of Orkney, his son Torf-Einarr later ruled there, and Icelandic saga tradition made Rollo, founder of Normandy, another son. The earls answered to the king but acted largely on their own.

Decline and legacy

Rognvald was killed, according to the sagas, when sons of Harald Fairhair burned him in his hall. His descendants kept the earldom for a time, but by around 1000 Møre was governed directly by the kings of Norway or by the earls of Lade, and it became part of the Kingdom of Norway.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.