Caittil Find

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Caittil Find ({{floruit|857}}) was the leader of a contingent of Norse-Gaels, recorded as being defeated in battle in 857 CE. Some historians have considered him to be identical to Ketill Flatnose, a prominent Norse sea-king who had strong associations with the Hebrides of Scotland and Olaf the White.{{cite book |title=Scandinavian Kings In The British Isles 850-880 |last=Smyth |first=Alfred P. |author-link=Alfred P. Smyth |year=1977 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-821865-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N0tnAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Caittil%22 |pages=116–126 }} This view is however not shared by all.

The Annals of Ulster record that in 857 Caittil Find was defeated in battle in Munster, Ireland.

{{Verse translation |lang=sga

|Roiniudh re n-Imar & re n-Amlaiph for Caittil Find cona Gall-Gaedelaibh h-i tiribh Muman.{{cite web |url=http://celt.ucc.ie/published/G100001A/index.html |title=Annals of Ulster 857.1 |access-date=13 March 2009 |work=CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts (www.celt.ucc.ie)}}

|{{lang|sga|Ímar|italic=no}} and {{lang|sga|Amlaíb|italic=no}} inflicted a rout on {{lang|sga|Caitil|italic=no}} the Fair and his Norse-Irish in the lands of Munster.{{cite web |url=http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100001A/index.html |title=Annals of Ulster 857.1 (English translation) |access-date=13 March 2009 |work=CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts (www.celt.ucc.ie) }}

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The name "{{lang|sga|Caittil|italic=no}}" may be a Gaelicisation of the Old Norse "{{lang|non|Ketill|italic=no}}". {{lang|non|Ketill|italic=no}} was a popular name at this period and it is not clear whether the Gaelic {{lang|sga|Caittil}} even represents this Norse name. {{lang|sga|Caittil|italic=no}}'s byname means "white" (or "fair") not "flat-nosed", as Alex Woolf points out.{{cite book |title=From Pictland to Alba 789–1070 |url=https://archive.org/details/frompictlandtoal00wool |url-access=limited |last=Woolf |first=Alex |author-link=Alex Woolf |year=2007 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |location=Edinburgh |isbn=978-0-7486-1233-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/frompictlandtoal00wool/page/n311 295]–296}}

Nor do the Icelandic sources which document {{lang|non|Ketill|italic=no}} hint at his being active in Ireland. {{lang|non|Ketill|italic=no}} was the father-in-law of Olaf the White, yet {{lang|sga|Caittil|italic=no}} is recorded as battling {{lang|sga|Amlaíb|italic=no}} (≈Olaf the White). Other historians propose that {{lang|sga|Caittil|italic=no}} may have been active in Wales prior to his coming to Ireland.{{cite book |title=Viking Kings of Britain and Ireland: The Dynasty of Ívarr to AD 1014 |last=Downham |first=Clare |author-link= |year=2007 |publisher=Dunedin Academic Press |location=Edinburgh |isbn=978-1-903765-89-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j-sWAQAAIAAJ&q=Ketill |page=18n }}

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