Paul and Erlend Thorfinnsson  The saga provides few accurate dates and it is not certain when Earl Thorfinn died save that it was in the later days of Harald Hardrada. It is frequently stated that Thorfinn's demise was in 1065, but it may have been earlier. The "Orkneyinga Saga" fails to mention a campaign in the Irish Sea by Magnus Haraldsson in 1058, (which is the first such event attested in contemporary sources in the British Isles). Woolf (2007) suggests that Torfinn's death provoked Magnus's expedition, and that this was the occasion on which Paul and Erlend Thorfinnsson submitted to Harald. Whatever the timing, on the death of their father the brothers became joint earls although Paul, who was the elder of the two, was "very much the one in charge". Soon after they became Earls the brothers accompanied the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada and Tostig Godwinson on the ill-fated expedition to England in 1066. Paul and Erlend were with Harald's son Olaf Kyrre, guarding the ships at Riccall, when the battle of Stamford Bridge was fought. The Norwegian army was heavily defeated and both Harald and Tostig were killed but Olaf and the earls were allowed to leave with the survivors by king Harold Godwinson after giving pledges not to attack England again. The losses suffered were so severe that according to the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" only 24 ships from the Norse fleet of over 300 were needed to carry the survivors away. They withdrew to Orkney, where they spent the winter, and in the spring Olaf returned to Norway still on good terms with the Thorfinssons. The "Orkneyinga saga" says that Paul and Erlend remained on friendly terms until their children grew to adulthood, after which the disputes between their sons led to a quarrel and open hostility between the brothers. As the disputes between the descendants of Paul and Erlend loomed large in the affairs of 12th century Orkney, the saga goes into some detail about their family relationships. Paul was married to an unnamed daughter of Norwegian earl Hakon Ivarsson and they had two sons and four daughters. Of these, Hakon Paulsson played the greatest part in later Orcadian events. Their other children were Thora, Brynjolf, Ingirid, Herbjorg and Ragnhild.