On that same occasion, when Gurguit Barbtruc was returning home via the Orkney Islands after his victory, he came upon thirty ships full of men and women. Gurguit asked what they were doing there. Their leader, whose name was Partholoim, went up to Gurguit, did obeisance to him and asked for his pardon and peace. Partholoim then described how he had been expelled from certain regions in Spain and how he was now cruising in those waters in search of a land where he might settle.... When Gurguit Barbtruc learned that these men came from Spain and were called Basclenses, and when he understood just what they wanted of him, he ordered his representatives to go with them to the island of Ireland, which at that time was a completely uninhabited desert. He granted the island to them. They have increased and multiplied there and they still hold the island today. [III.12]

THE ORKNEY ISLANDS first appear in the Historia when Gurguit Barbtruc comes across refugees adrift in that area. These displaced "Bascalenses" do not settle in the Orkneys, however, but in Ireland instead. The island next appear after peace has been made between Arvirargus and the Romans under Claudius:

His nobles persuaded Arvirargus to abandon his plans for battle and to accept the proposals of Claudius. Their argument was that it could be no disgrace for him to submit to the Romans, since they were the acknowledged overlords of the whole world. Arvirargus was swayed by these arguments and by others of a similar nature. He accepted their advice and submitted to Claudius. Claudius soon sent to Rome for his daughter. With the help of Arvirargus he subdued the Orkneys and the other islands in that neighbourhood. [IV.14]

The islands are next mentioned during the Arthurian period:

Arthur then steered his fleet to Iceland, defeated the people there and subdued the island. A rumour spread through all the other islands that no country could resist Arthur. Doldavius, King of Gotland, and Gunhpar, King of the Orkneys, came of their own free will to promise tribute and to do homage. [IX.10]

Gunhpar is among the dignitaries attending Arthur's plenary court, IX.12. The islands also offer Arthur support for his campaign against Rome:

The kings of the other islands, who had not yet developed the habit of using cavalry, promised as many foot-soldiers as each man owned, so that from the six islands of Ireland, Iceland, Gotland, the Orkneys, Norway, and Denmark one hundred and twenty thousand men were counted. [IX.19]

After Arthur, the islands appear twice:

Malgo came next.... He became ruler of the entire island; and then in a series of bloodthirsty wars he subjected to his authority the six neighbouring Islands of the Ocean: that is, Ireland, Iceland, Gotland, the Orkneys, Norway and Denmark. [XI.7]

When Peanda was beaten, Cadwallo assembled his nobles who had been dispersed so long, and marched against Edwin in the direction of Northumbria, ravaging the country as he went. This was reported to Edwin. He made a treaty with the petty kinglets of the Angles, marched out to meet Cadwallo in a field called Hedfield, and there joined battle with the Britons. The fighting was quickly over. Edwin was killed and so were almost all the people he had under command, and his son Offrid, together with Godbold, King of the Orkneys, who had come to help them. [XII.8]

It is clear from the context in which they often appear that Geoffrey thinks of the Orkneys as northern and Scandinavian. For an overview of the area's Norse associations, see the Orkneyjar site. The Heart of Neolithic Orkney is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Visit Orkney tourist site has live webcams of the area.