Кетиль Плоский: Норвежский король Шотландских островов IX века

9th century Norse King of the Scottish Isles

Ketill Björnsson, nicknamed Flatnose (Old Norse: Flatnefr), was a Norse King of the Isles of the 9th century.

The story of Ketill and his daughter Auðr (or Aud) was probably first recorded by the Icelander Ari Þorgilsson (1067 – 1148). Ari was born not long after the death of his great grandmother Guðrún Ósvífrsdóttir – a prominent character in the Laxdæla saga whose husband, Thorkell Eyjolfsson, was descended from Auðr. Ari was thus a direct descendant of Ketill and so, when he wrote his story of Ketill, he was drawing in part on oral traditions amongst his own relatives. and from Sogn in the Landnámabók. After Harald Fairhair had won the decisive Battle of Hafrsfjord in the late 9th century, many fled from Norway. According to the Orkneyinga saga, some of these Vikings began to raid Norway in summer from the Orkney and Shetland islands north of mainland Scotland. For this reason Harald set sail to uproot the attackers. He defeated them and also took possession of the Hebrides and the Isle of Man. This story is retold in the Eyrbyggja saga, but here it is Ketill rather than Harald who led the expedition, and after the initial victory the former retained the islands as "personal domain" rather than bringing them under Harald's rule. In the Laxdaela saga the same story is told, but here Ketill is one of the Vikings who have fled to the Isles to escape Harald's tyranny. In the Landnámabók the initial conquest is led by Harald, but as soon as he returned to Norway the raiders regrouped. At this point Harald sent Ketill to win the islands back again. Ketill did so but paid no tribute, at which point Harald took possession of what was owed from possessions of Ketill in Norway and sent away Ketill's sons. Some sources refer to Ketill as "King of the Sudreys" although there is little evidence that he himself claimed that title. According to the Landnámabók, Ketill became ruler of a region already settled by Scandinavians. He left no successors there, and there is little record of Norse activity in the west of Scotland in the first four decades of the 10th century.

Hunter (2000) states that Ketill was "in charge of an extensive island realm and, as a result, sufficiently prestigious to contemplate the making of agreements and alliances with other princelings". However, Woolf (2007) suggests that the story of his failing to pay tax to Harald "looks very much like a story created in later days to legitimise Norwegian claims to sovereignty in the region" and some scholars believe that this entire story of Harald's expedition is apocryphal and based on the later voyages of Magnus Barefoot. Although Norse military activity in Ireland in the 9th century is well documented in Irish sources, they contain no record at all of Harald Fairhair's voyage to the west. Furthermore, Harald is assumed to have annexed the Northern Isles (comprising Orkney and Shetland) in 875 or later. If Ketill's suzerainty post dates this time, it is hard to see how Thorstein the Red, an adult grandson of his, could have been active in the 870s and 880s. It is therefore likely that Ketill's floruit in the Hebrides was at a period that pre dates Harald's victory at Hafrsfjord.

Ketill Flatnose is also sometimes equated with Caittil Find, a reported leader of the Gallgáedil recorded in the Annals of Ulster as fighting in Ireland in 857. This source states simply that "Ímar and Amlaíb inflicted a rout on Caittil the Fair and his Norse Irish in the lands of Munster." (Ímar and Amlaíb are well attested Norse leaders active in Ireland and the Isles in the 9th century.) The Ketill/Caittil relationship was first proposed by E. W. Robertson in 1862, and then rejected by J. H. Todd in 1867. Robertson's position has since been supported by, among others, W. F. Skene and A. P. Smyth, and Donnchadh Ó Corráin are more skeptical. In more recent scholarly debate, Claire Downham has endorsed Ó Corráin's view. The connection is described by Woolf (2007) as "extremely tenuous", yet here Caittil is clearly the enemy of Amlaíb. The Norse sources have Ketill's daughters Thorunn marrying Helgi inn magri, a grandson of Cerball mac Dúnlainge, and Auðr marrying Olaf the White, both of whom were prominent figures in Ireland, suggesting significant connections between Ketill and the mid 9th century political landscape of that region. An individual can have more than one nickname, and dynastic marriages do not always equate to friendship. They note the correspondence between the Gaelic name Dál Riata and the fact that when Auðr, settled in the Breiðafjörður region of western Iceland it was in a region called Dalir or Dalaland (modern Dalasýsla). Examples include islands called Pjattland (Pictland) and Írland (Ireland) and the nearby Patreksfjörður and Trostansfjörður named in honour of two Celtic saints. Fraser (2009) has suggested that Little Dunagoil near Kingarth could have been the Dalriadan Cenél Comgaill capital prior to the Norse incursions.

The Chronicum Scotorum refers to a battle that took place in 904 in which two grandsons of Ímar and their ally "Catol" were victorious against "Aed" who was evidently a leader in either Ireland or Pictland. It has been suggested that Catol was Ketill Flatnose (although once again the chronology is problematic), or alternatively that he was Cadell ap Rhodri, a King of Gwynedd.

Ketill Flatnose is portrayed by Adam Copeland (better known in WWE by the ring name Edge) in the 5th and 6th season of the historical drama television series Vikings.