Moddan, of Dalr

HELGA, daughter of MODDAN of Dalr in Caithness & his wife ---. Orkneyinga Saga names “Helga” daughter of “a farmer…Moddan…living in the Dales of Caithness” as “Earl Hakon´s mistress”[942]. Her stepson banished her and her sister Frakok to the latter's estates in Helmsdale, Sutherland after the death of her son [1131]. (Cawley's Medlands)

Notes Thurso is a long established town with origins dating back to Viking times when it was an important Norse settlement, the major gateway to mainland Scotland. It later grew to become a market town and was noted for its trade with Scandinavian and Baltic ports from as early as the 14th century. Situated on the Pentland Firthin the beautiful sheltered Thurso Bay it is the most northerly town on the Scottish mainland. The bay sweeps from Holborn Head in the west to Dunnet Head in the east. Thurso has a fine harbour and beach and looks out over the Firth to the Orkney Island of Hoy

Prof. Skene believed him to be a Jarl of Caithness, but this is highly doubtful because even someone as powerful as Haakon of Orkney could not have gotten away with taking another Jarl's daughter as his leman. There would have been bloody war over the insult. (The Norse Sagas are full of people killing each other for less!)

The Sagas also tend to call people "noble" when what they mean is that they had excellent character rather than inherited titles.