
Galinn (died 873) was a Danish warrior and advisor in the service of Jarlskona Soma during the late 9th century AD.
Biography[]
Galinn was born in Denmark, and he became a travelling warrior, fighting in both Scandinavia and England and never being truly accepted by the Anglo-Saxons. He later claimed to have received visions drawing him to the service of Jarlskona Soma, and he joined her ranks in Cambridge and became one of her trusted lieutenants. His fellow lieutenants Birna and Lif disliked him for his idealism, but he initially appeared to be Soma's most trustworthy follower. In 873 AD, however, he betrayed Soma to the Saxons for unknown reasons; it is possible that he wished to seize the city for himself, or had been in league with the Saxons the whole time. He stole Lif's expensive yellow paint and used it to mark his longship (to set it apart from the others) and to designate the entrance to Cambridge's secret tunnel entrance, helping Ealdorman Wigmund of Cambridge's Saxon troops in infiltrating the city and taking it by surprise. Galinn was able to escape, as the Saxons told his ship apart and allowed him to escape. However, his ship was attacked by brigands in the fenlands and sunk, and he was wounded before fleeing to a nearby watchtower. There, Soma and her ally Eivor found him, assuming that he had been injured by the wolves. They rescued him, and he took part in the recapture of Cambridge from the Saxons the next day. However, Soma discovered that Wigmund had used the secret tunnel to escape, meaning that one of her lieutenants had betrayed her. Eivor did some investigating, finding that yellow paint had been used to mark the entrance to the tunnel. He then joined the lieutenants as they fought against Wigmund, including aiding Galinn with the razing of Earnningstone. However, Eivor later found the yellow-painted longship next to the site of Galinn's rescue, deducing that Galinn was responsible. He also grew suspicious when Galinn murdered the captured Saxon captain Letard the Thatcher after interrogation, with Galinn claiming that he did so to prevent the Captain from cursing him; Birna then pointed out that Christians didn't hex people. Convinced of Galinn's guilt, Eivor told this to Soma, who then assembled her lieutenants, drew a knife, came up to Galinn, and held the knife to his throat. Galinn maintained his innocence until his end, but Soma slit his throat.